“Where the ***** is she?” Shane asked, ending the call.  She grasped her cell phone tightly in one hand and began pacing around the hospital waiting room.

“Calm down, Shane.  Dana said she had somewhere to be, remember?  Did you leave her a voice mail?” Carmen asked, grabbing Shane’s shoulders to stop her pacing.

“Yeah,” Shane said with a sigh.

Carmen wrapped her arms around Shane’s waist and tucked her head under Shane’s chin.  “Dana will be here soon.  And Alice is going to be just fine.”

Shane’s trembling hands came up to stroke Carmen’s back.  “I hope so,” she replied, her voice shaky.

Jenny sat in a chair nearby, looking dazed.  “I hope Alice is okay.  Dana is gonna be so upset.  Oh God, and they just had a fight,” she was murmuring.

Hurried footsteps rang out on the linoleum behind them, and all three turned to look.  Bette and Tina were rushing into the waiting room, Angelica strapped into a baby carrier held by Tina.  Shane’s face fell when she realized it wasn’t Dana.

“Where is she?  Is she okay?” Bette demanded immediately, her face pale.

“And where’s Dana?  Was she with Alice?” Tina added, eyes wide.

Shane opened her mouth to speak, but found she just couldn’t seem to get any words out.  Embarrassingly enough, she could feel tears welling in her eyes.  She flashed Carmen a helpless look.

Carmen smoothly took over.  “We don’t know how Alice is yet.  We’re still waiting for news on her condition.  And we don’t know where Dana is, but they weren’t together.”

“They were fighting,” Jenny said softly, wringing her hands together.  “They had an argument and Alice stormed out and left.  Then the accident happened, and Shane got the call, so we all came here.”

“How’d someone know to call?  Did she tell them to?  Was she conscious?” Bette inquired, shooting off questions at a rapid-fire pace.

Shane cleared her throat, finally managing to find her voice once again.  “When they put her in the ambulance, she was saying Dana’s name.  They found Alice’s cell phone and tried calling her, but she didn’t answer.  The paramedics asked if they could call someone else for her, and she told them me.  Then she apparently lost consciousness.”