Chapter 6

11:52 That Night

Nick's View

The rest of the afternoon Brian spent it in the hospital room with Tiffany. I mostly stayed outside the room or wandering around the halls. I got to visit Tiffany once and that was only when Brian took a break to go eat a little something. I cried again when I sat next to her at her bed. I just couldn't bare seeing her in the state that she was in.

Anyway, I just got home and the house was pretty quiet. That wasn't really normal for my family. I closed the door behind me and hung my jacket up.

"Daddy?" I heard a small voice ask from the stairs. I turned my head and saw little Hannah come walking down the stairs, her blanket in one arm and her teddy bear in the other. She walked up to me with her long pajama shirt and her little fuzzy slippers and looked up at me with big eyes.

"Yeah honey?" I asked.

"Is Aunt Tiffy OK daddy?" she asked hopeful.

I picked her up and hugged her, "She'll be fine sweetie. We just have to wait a little while."

"How long?" she asked.

"I don't know honey, I wish I did."

"Nick?" I heard Darlene's voice coming from the stairs. I looked up and saw her walk over to me, her face was flushed.

"How is she?" she asked.

I sighed and said, "She's the same."

Darlene's View

"The same?" I asked quietly. "No changes or anything?"

He shook his head slowly. My lip began to tremble.

"Aww...honey please don't cry," he said.

"Yeah please don't cry mommy!" Hannah said expanding her arms and leaning toward me in Nick's arms. I took her in my arms and hugged her.

"I can't help it, she's my best friend and I can't imagine her in a coma," I said softly.

"Hannah can you go to bed please?" Nick asked. Hannah nodded her head and then kissed my cheek,

"Night mommy, be happy!" she smiled at me. I kissed her forehead and put her down, "I'll try sweetie."

"Night daddy," she said hugging Nick's leg. Nick leaned down and gave her a kiss on her cheek, "Night Munchkin."

Hannah then ran up the stairs as quickly as she could with those little legs of hers. She looked so cute, I couldn't help but smile. I turned to Nick and I saw him looking at me with sad eyes. He stepped toward me and wrapped me in a tight hug.

"I'm so scared," I said in his ear.

"I know honey, so am I," he said quietly. It sounded like he was going to cry, I knew I was.

"We'll just have to keep praying for her," I said. He just nodded his head. I pulled away from him and looked into his eyes.

"She'll be fine," he said softly. I nodded my head and sighed.

"Lets get to bed, I have had a long day," he said wrapping his arm around my waist and walking toward the stairs. We got in bed and cuddled up next to each other and soon after we both fell into a deep sleep.

Brian's View

I got out of my car sighing deeply. I was going to stay the night at the hospital but one of the nurses kicked me out because supposedly there are no visitors allowed after visiting hours so I'm gonna go see her tomorrow.
I walked up to the front door and walked in. Michelle and Christian were on the couch sleeping, the TV was on and ice cream bowls were found in front of them.

I walked over to them and quietly picked up the bowls. I turned the TV off and started to walk to the kitchen when I heard one of the kids move and call out my name, "Dad?"

"Yeah Christian?" I stopped and turned to him.

"Where have you been all day?" he asked rubbing his eyes and getting up from the couch making sure he didn't wake up Michelle.

"I was at the hospital with Nick visiting Mom," I whispered. He looked up at me and asked, "You went to go see Mom? How is she?"

Michelle groaned and turned over on the couch. I motioned with my head for him to follow me so we could talk so we wouldn't wake Michelle up. He followed me into the kitchen and sat on one of the stools near the island in the middle of the kitchen. I put the dishes in the sink and turned to him.

"Well?" he asked.

"No change, she's so pale and lifeless," I said quietly. Christian just looked at me with a blank face.

"Is she going to be alright?" he asked.

"The doctors aren't sure yet but they believe that she'll be fine once she comes out of her coma."

"When is she going to come out of her coma?" he asked.

"I don't know buddy, I'm hoping it's soon," I said. He looked up at me for a minute and then looked down.

"You OK?" I asked as I watched him wipe his cheek. He just nodded. I frowned and walked around the island to him. I turned him around and he looked up at me. He had tears falling down his face. He wrapped his arms around my stomach and hugged me in his sitting position on the stool. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. He cried into my shoulder.

"It's alright buddy, Mom is going to be fine," I said softly kissing the top of his head. Michelle then walked into the kitchen and stopped when she saw us. She looked at Christian and right away knew what was wrong. Her eyes began to water. I motioned for her to come over and she did so. I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her.

"How is Mom?" she asked through her tears.

"Nothing has changed," I told her. She frowned and hugged me, Christian just sat there crying into my shoulder. We sat there for a few minutes in silence, letting everything out. I didn't cry as much. I guess I was running out of tears, I was surprised I could cry at all.

Finally I pulled away from the both of them and looked at their tear streaked faces.

"You OK?" I asked them. They both nodded their heads and wiped their cheeks.

"How about we get to bed? We need some rest," I said. Christian sniffled and hopped off the stool and walked out of the kitchen, Michelle followed right behind him. I turned the lights off and walked up the stairs stopping by Jason's room and Courtney's room and after that I went to check up on Brianna and Brian Jr.

I walked into the room and up to their cribs. They were on there backs, pacifiers in their mouths, a little teddy bear in Brianna's arms and a little hippo in Brian Jr's arms. I smiled at the sight of them. They looked so adorable. I bent down and kissed their chubby cheeks and then walked out of the room quietly.

I made my way to my room and got undressed. I got into bed and looked at the picture of Tiffany and I at Nick's house in his pool when she was 19 and I was 25. She was on my back, her arms wrapped around my neck, her chin resting on my shoulder, and I had my head resting against hers. We looked so happy and good together. I slightly smiled and then turned over in my bed. I closed my eyes and slowly slipped off to sleep never taking my mind off of Tiffany.