Disclaimer:Not mine, marvel's. Sami belons to me though.
Author's Note: This came to me because I didn't like the way I wrote "A Christmas Wish" when Tabitha had been shot. Also, it is one of Falstaff's first line responses!
(So this is hell. The walls need paint.) Tabitha thought through a dim haze of pain. The gunshot wound in her chest felt like, and probably was, a huge gaping hole. The bullet had been removed, and her chest had been bandaged so tightly that it was rather hard to breathe.
Of course, it was hard to do anything at this particular moment in time.
Some how she had managed to make her mouth work long enough to ask Hank if it would be possible to see Sam and Sami. Okay, so she all she could do was croak "Sam?" but it was better than nothing was. She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath-or at least tried to.
The pain was intense. It made her head swim and her heart feel like it was racing. Blood pounded in her head, and she muffled a gasp. Tabitha opened her eyes…and saw an angel.
His hair glowed with a pale white light and his blue eyes shone, even in the harsh light of the infirmary. A second angel, this one much smaller, rested her head on his shoulder, her eyes shut. Tabitha took as shallow breath and whispered "Sam?"
Her voice didn't even sound like her own. It was too hoarse, too harsh, to be hers. (Well, genius, if it isn't yours, whose is it?)
She thought she heard someone whisper her name, but she couldn't be sure. "Sami?" She ground out, her eyes on the small bundle in Sam's arms.
"She's fine sweetie, she's right here." Tabitha thought he said.
Tabitha struggled to make her head nod, tired of hearing the harsh grating voice that didn't sound like her own. She tried to work through the pain long enough to make her fingers grasp Sam's free hand, and managed to succeed.
Tabitha felt Sam squeeze her hand firmly. She tried to smile, but couldn't quite manage it. Sam's face was wet with tears, and Tabitha felt a dreadful fear crept into her soul. She had never seen him cry like that. Oh god, was she going to die?
"I'm scared Sam." She rasped to him, her voice no louder than a whisper.
She he said something to reassure her; he always tried to take care of her, to make her feel better. That was one of the things she loved the most about him. She looked up when she felt a slight pressure and warmth on her hand, and smiled as best she could at Sam.
"Daddy, where are we?" A new voice asked.
Tabitha's eyes fell on her little girl, now awake and looking around. Tabitha opened her mouth to say something to her beautiful child, but no words would come.
The she heard her little girl cry, "Momma! Momma, what's wrong?"
Again Tabitha opened her mouth to say something, and this time she managed to gurgle out "Nothing. Nothing's wrong, baby." She gasped as softly as she could as she felt a knife of pain slice through her chest.
Tabitha was dimly aware of Sami and Sam talking to each other, but she couldn't make out the words. (God, everything hurts. Please make the pain stop.) Tabitha prayed silently.
Suddenly, her vision started to go black. The world spun round, and the darkness was the only thing she knew.
Someplace else….
Tabitha looked around her. She didn't know where she was, only that *this* was not where she was *suppose* to be. It looked something like a long hallway with a blinding white light at the end. For some reason, Tabitha felt drawn to that light, like a moth to a flame.
The young woman slowly made her way down the hall, never looking at anything around her, only at the beautiful white light. Some small part of her mind was jumping up and down, screaming to be recognized, but she didn't listen. There was something good in the light. Something wonderful was there. All she had to do was go into the light. The only thing that mattered was the light.
No. That's not right. Something else mattered…someone else. No, there were two someones that mattered. Two people that she needed…who?
Suddenly two faced danced into her memory. A small child with long red hair, and crystal blue eyes, and a man with the same clear blue eyes and pale blonde hair playing a game with a piece of string. Then their names sprung to her lips.
"Sam! Sami!" She cried, whirling from the light and running back down the corridor…
Reality…
The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the first thing she heard. Two concerned peered down at her, one furry and blue, the other a smooth brown.
"Cecilia? Hank?" Tabitha asked, her voice still scratchy but at least recognizable.
"Thank God. We didn't think you were going to make it." Hank sighed, leaping to the intercom.
"Where's he goin'?" Tabitha asked.
"Probably to call Sam. You know you've been out since three thirty this morning, right?" Cecilia asked.
"I have been?" Tabitha asked, surprised. It hadn't seemed that long!
"Yeah. You seem much, much better now though." Cecilia told her, smiling.
"I feel better." Tabitha admitted. "What time is it?"
"A little past noon." Cecilia replied.
"Are you kidding me!?" Tabitha cried, shocked.
"Nope." The doctor shook her head.
Suddenly the door swung open and Sam and Sami appeared.
"Tabitha!"
"Mommy!"
"Sam! Sami!"
As the two people that Tabitha loved most in the world crowed around her, she knew that the light was nothing compared to this.