That night AJ stayed the whole night next to Kristen holding her hand even when the nurses objected to him being in there. AJ woke up the next morning feeling a little pressure on his hand. He lifted his head up since he was laying his head on the edge of the bed and looked at his hand and saw that Kristen was gently squeezing it even though the squeeze was very weak. AJ squeezed her hand back then looked up at her face and saw tears rolling down her cheeks although her eyes still remained closed. "You're okay baby," he said to her as he stood up and kissed her on the forehead. He noticed that he left behind tears of his own that fell onto Kristen's forehead. "I"ll be right back, I'm going to go get someone," he said leaving the room. AJ started walking down the hall towards the waiting room when he saw a nurse and stopped her. "You need to get in that room down there," AJ said pointing towards Kristen's room. The nurse followed him to Kristen's room and the nurse checked her out to see how she was doing.
"I don't understand, she's the same as before," the nurse said.
"No, she's not. She was awake. She squeezed my hand and tears started coming out of her eyes. Look her eyes are all wet."
"She's still sleeping sir."
"No, she was awake! You have to do something she's in pain."
"I'm sorry sir but we've already done everything we can. We're not going to be able to get rid of the pain."
"Well you have to. She's hurting. Can't you take some of these tubes or cords away or something?"
"No, she's not breathing correctly on her own. Until she does they remain there. Now if you'll excuse me I have work to do," the nurse said leaving. AJ left and went into the waiting room and grabbed Kevin's arm pulling him up and dragging him back towards Kristen's room. When they got in the room he shoved Kevin down in the chair he was sitting in before.
"You have to stay there until I get back," AJ said.
"Why where are you going?"
"To get some stuff. Now you can't move. I don't care if you're about ready to piss your pants, there's a bed pan over there. Now give me your car keys." Kevin handed him his car keys and gave him a really weird look as he tried to figure out what had brightened AJ up. AJ drove to the mall and went to Spencer's and Natural Lights coming out of both stores with a few bags in his hands. He then drove to a couple of stores that carried a bunch of blankets until he found what he wanted. After that he drove to the florist. He bought seven dozen purple roses and a dozen white roses. Then he drove to the party store and bought two big balloons before heading back to the hospital. He got to the waiting room and saw Brian, Angela, and Howie sitting there and ran up to them. "Come on you guys have to help me with some stuff," AJ said running back out.
"I think he needs to get a little bit more sleep," Brian said as they followed him. "What did you buy?" Brian asked when they reached Kevin's car and saw that it was loaded with stuff.
"A bunch of stuff," AJ said handing them bags and bouquets of flowers.
"What all of a sudden made you so happy?" Howie asked.
"Kristen woke me up this morning by squeezing my hand. She's going to be okay, I know she is," AJ said excitedly as he grabbed some stuff and ran back into the hospital with the other three behind him. "Wait here," AJ said when they got to the waiting room. He set everything down that he had and picked up the white roses and one of the big balloons that said 'Get Well Soon' on it and ran down the hall towards Toni's room. He entered her room to see her sitting up a little talking to Nick.
"Hey AJ," Toni said.
"Hello, these are for you," he said setting the roses down with the balloon. "Now I'd love to stay and chat," AJ said giving her a kiss on the cheek before he continued. "But I have a room to decorate," he said running out.
"He has a room to decorate?" Toni asked Nick confused.
"I haven't a clue what he's up to," Nick answered. AJ flew back into the waiting room and grabbed some more stuff and motioned for everyone to follow him. He happily ran down the hall to Kristen's room and stopped dead in his tracks when he stood in the doorway. Fear struck his soul when he saw Kevin sitting next to an empty bed.
"Where is she?" AJ asked scared of the answer Kevin might give him. Kevin looked up and saw AJ and everyone else standing in the door way.
"Oh, they moved her into another room," he said walking towards them.
"What do you mean they moved her?"
"I mean they moved her. She began breathing on her own without any machines or anything like that and they moved her into a room a couple rooms down from Toni," Kevin explained.
"What the hell are you doing in here then! I told you to stay with her!" AJ yelled at him.
"Wrong, you told me not to move from here so I stayed," Kevin said with a smile.
"You dumbass! I thought you were the intelligent one of the group! Common sense to go with her!"
"Chill out AJ. The nurses told me they didn't want me in the room until everything got situated in there so I stayed here."
"Don't ever do that to me again!" AJ yelled hitting Kevin.
"Hey watch it," Kevin said.
"No! I walk in here and you're sitting next to an empty bed and I think she's dead!" AJ yelled at him leaving the room. "What room is Kristen Bonnell in?" AJ asked the lady at the front desk.
"326," the lady said checking on a clip board. AJ walked to the room and saw Kristen laying there in bed with her eyes closed. She still had a bunch of cords going in and out of her but not as many before. AJ was thankful because he could now see her whole face without the breathing tube in the way.
"Okay what is all this stuff for exactly?" Angela asked as they all went into the room.
"Kristen likes the color purple and smiley faces. So I bought purple roses and just about everything that had a smiley face on it. If she wakes up and sees all these faces smiling at her it would cheer her up."
"If that was me I would be scared shitless to see round faces smiling at me," Brian said.
"Shut up and put this stuff around," AJ said.
"I do not think the nurses are going to go for this," Kevin said helping putting stuff around the room.
"Well the nurses can just kiss my ass now can't they?" AJ said pulling out a large blanket out of a bag. He went up to Kristen and unfolded the blanket and laid it across her.
"You bought her a velvet blanket?" Brian asked.
"She likes velvet. Is there a problem with that?"
"No there's no problem with that," Kevin said butting in. "I never thought that someone squeezing your hand could bring so much excitement into your life."
"You know what you guys can leave now," AJ said when they took everything out of the bags and placed the stuff around the room. Everyone left and AJ shut the door behind them and went and sat down next to Kristen. He sat there for almost three hours just holding her hand and watching her sleep. He jumped up from his chair and stood as close to her as he could when he saw her eyelids slowly begin to open. "Hey baby," AJ said with a smile and tears of joy in his eyes to see Kristen awake.
"AJ I..." Kristen said softly when AJ put his finger to her lips to silence her.
"You can't exactly run away from me now so I want to say something to you and I want you to listen, okay?" AJ asked as Kristen nodded her head slowly. "These past few months have been hell for me without you. I was really happy to come home from tour because I would be able to see you even if you wouldn't talk to me. When Nick told me that you were in the hospital and doctors didn't give you long to live I thought the world was crumbling beneath me. I almost lost you Kristen and I don't want that to ever happen again. All I ever wanted since I met you was for you to love me the way that I loved you."
"AJ stop," Kristen said when AJ went to continue. "I love you and I want you back," she said with a smile.
"You do?" AJ asked confused.
"Yes. I found out that I was going to have a baby boy and I realized that I wanted you to be there with me along with Toni. I'm so sorry for everything but I want you to be there when I'm giving birth to our son," Kristen said as AJ's smile turned upside down.
"I don't think that will be happening," AJ said looking down then back up to meet Kristen's eyes. His eyes started to well up with tears.
"What do you mean? AJ I need you in my life."
"I am in your life but I don't think you're going to be having our baby any time soon," AJ said sadly. Kristen stared at him for a couple of seconds when she realized that what AJ was trying to tell her was that she lost the baby and she burst out in tears. AJ wrapped his arms around her being careful not to hurt her as he kissed her on the forehead. "It's going to be okay," he said as cried along with her.
