amelia's POV

mads has been in a coma for 9 days now, and there have been no changes. she isn't brain dead, yet, but that could happen at some point. it is all so scary, not knowing what can happen. at least she hasn't coded again. the only thing that takes my mind off of mads is the fact that a new doctor is coming in today. he is an orthopaedic surgeon, but i don't know his name yet. quickly enough, i find out that his name is atticus lincoln (through hospital gossip) and i briefly see him walk past the rooms. he walks past many times, acting oddly suspiciously before knocking on the door and entering.

"hi, i'm dr lincoln" he introduces himself.

"dr shepherd, may i ask why you're in here?" i question, wondering why mads needs to see an ortho surgeon. "is there something wrong with my daughter?"

"oh sorry, i must be mistaken, i thought this patient was someone i knew, obviously not as i have met her parents before." he says before swiftly exiting. all i can think about is how weird of an experience that was. when i turn around i see mads' eyes fluttering. i rush to her bedside and grab her hand.

"hey mads, it's mum. can you hear me?"

she groans back, so i know she is responding. i call out to get a nurse and luckily tom koracick, a neurosurgeon, comes in as well.

"madison, open your eyes please" he says, giving her a quick check up. after a couple minutes, i see her eyes open.

"mum?" she asks quickly.

"i'm right here bubba, you're alright." i try my best to comfort her

"was link in here?" i'm not too sure who link is and worry that she is imagining things

"who?"

"link, atticus lincoln, i heard him, where is he?" she pushes

"oh, yeah he was, how do you know him?" i am so confused right now. what on earth is going on? why does mads know this random, or not so random man?

madison's POV

i knew i had heard link. i tried to wake myself up when he was here but it didn't work. i still pushed through though because i heard mum and knew she would want me awake. i had missed her so much and i am so glad i can spend time with her again. it feels like ages since i saw her. i'm still not too sure what happened, i just know that waking up was so so hard.

"can we discuss this later? can you just get link? please mum." i beg her. i really can't be bothered to explain it all now. it was quite a confusing situation to be honest. link was, maybe still is, brooke's best friend. i always thought something more would come out of it, but brooke never expressed any feelings towards him and link never said anything to me. he sort of became my big brother, but he moved away just before brooke left. it was another reason i felt so alone when everything happened. the only two people i properly trusted and felt like i could tell anything to were gone. at least i kinda have them back now.

"okay." mum pages him and he quickly arrives.

"hey" i say, hoping he remembers me.

"mac?" he replies.

"yep it's me. i've missed you link" he hugs me and comes to sit down on the end of my bed. he asks about everything and i explain to him that i was kicked out the house and now lived with amelia, my new mum. i keep things vaguely brief though because he doesn't know about the drugs. then it hits me, brooke knows that i did drugs, and when i started. she will have pieced together that her disappearance kinda set me off. omg she must feel awful.

"mum can you page jo?" i ask. i don't use her real name because i want to surprise link, and brooke will be surprised too.

when she opens the door to the room, she starts crying. this isn't exactly the reaction i was expecting. she runs into link's arms and they hug for what feels like forever. i take it they haven't seen each other in a while, mainly because of my sister's reaction.

"right someone needs to explain exactly what is going on here because i want all details." brooke says between tears.

"me too" mum says, with a huge look of confusion on her face. omg mum doesn't know that brooke is my sister. this is going to take a lot of explaining.

"mum remember when i had that really bad nightmare" i start, "about the thunderstorm and everything," she begins nodding her head, "you will probably remember i mentioned a sister. well, jo is my sister. i didn't realise at first because i haven't seen her in years and" i turn to brooke for a look of approval to continue. i can tell she is okay with it by her look and slight nod. "her real name is brooke. she changed it, like me." we all laugh a little. "link was her best friend, and was like a big brother to me. we all hung out together sometimes and then link went away, brooke disappeared and i went spiralling downhill." i feel tears forming in my eyes as i know how link is going to react. i look towards him and he is the only person in the room who doesn't know. "i turned to drugs" i see a look of sadness in his eyes. "but it's okay, because mum helped me get sober, and then my parents came back, and now i've lost my streak." i let a tear fall because i feel awful about what i did. "anyways that's the whole life story and hopefully it's a little clearer to everyone what exactly is going on here."

no one says anything for a couple seconds, then mum speaks up.

"you did lose a sober streak, but you have also started a new one. technically you are 9 days sober, and i know you can beat your last one, and i will help you." 9 days, i was asleep for 9 days. obviously mum notices the shock in my face. "you were in a coma mads, you seized, and your heart stopped, but now you're okay and everything is fine." i feel as thought she says this more to convince herself than me, but i hug her so she knows she has made me feel better. brooke, link and mum all smile at me, telling me i can do this. i love these people: this is my new family.