Song: Breathing Oxygen by Zayde Wolf

"Grandma, when's mommy coming back?" I looked at my grandson who's eyes were dark and devious.

"Well." I couldn't find the words to fit in my mouth. "Mommy will be back in a little bit." I tried finding other things to get his mind out of the darkness he's currently in. "You remember mommy's baby she had in her stomach?"

"Mhmm." he nods his head.

"Well, the baby wanted to come out and play and so mommy had to go with the baby." Bad wording, but he's still little.

"Did the baby want to play with me?" His face lifted up and I could see the sun shining through those eyes.

"Why yes! Your little brother or sister wanted to play with you, but it's gonna be a little bit longer. How about you color a picture for him or her?"

"Yeah!" His smile grew bigger and his eyes lightened up which made me much more happier.

"Here's some paper and crayons." And off he was, coloring away, being the innocent child that he is.

I walked back to the corner to sit in the chair next to my husband, Daniel.

"Lauren, he should not be going through this." He looked at Aidan coloring away.

"I know, a car crash, a father who's in a coma, a mother who's in surgery, a brother or sister that might not make it, and a grandmother who passed away a few days ago. This kid has so much going on." I rest my head on Daniel's shoulder.

"Do you know how Charlie is doing?"

"No, I have no clue. All I've heard is both of them are fighting and every doctor on the team is doing their best."

"At least they're fighting and everyone's doing their best. That's all we needed to hear right now."

-First Person-(or whatever person)

Patient 1: Charlie M Grace

Age: 19

DOB: 10-24-1998

Sex: F

Blood Type: AB

~~~

"I need blood now!"

"Need more hands in here!"

"Suction this up!"

"We need to stop the bleeding!"

Doctor after doctor after doctor rapidly moved their hands as their body stayed in standing position. Patient 1 was bleeding out and they needed to control it and they still had to close her up after the c-section.

"beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep." Went the monitor.

"She's going in defib!" The doctor's hands moved around and around the patient, using every move to quickly start back up the heart.

"beep, beep, beep." The faces of everyone in the room relaxed into relief.

"Good job everyone, now let's get back to work." The main doctor instructed.

Patient 1 was alive, that's what mattered the most. Now, patient 2 wasn't doing so great. She was too small and too weak. She keeps coding and the doctors are running out of resources to keep her alive.

"She's coding again!" A nurse yells. A doctor steps in to pump the heart with CPR, gently and lightly. "Come on." The same nurse whispers.

The doctor stops pumping the heart. He looks at the clock, "time of death, 23:37 am." All the faces in the room grew dark. They all looked down in defeat. "This stuff happens all the time. Out of everyone, you all should know." Every person nods their head and continues back to work while the doctors, who worked on this patient, head to tell grandma and grandpa.

"Here grandma, here's my picture for my little brother or sister." I examined the piece of art work and admired it.

"Oh Aidan! You are so talented. How about you go draw another one. Maybe the whole family this time?"

"Who's in the whole family?" Oh that's right, he's only 4, but soon to be 5.

"Well there's you, your brother or sister, mommy and daddy, me and grandpa, and your other grandma who's your daddy's mom. That's seems good for now."

"Okay!" He soon was back in his own world, drawing and coloring away.

I tilted my head up against the chair just as the door opened to reveal a swarm of doctors cluttering in the room like uncomfortable penguins.

"Mr and Mrs Grace." The doctor, who spoke, looked at Aidan then back to me. "Let's speak outside the room.

I nodded, "Aidan, grandma and grandpa will be right back."

"Okay." I half smiled and walked out the room.

My hands were shaking and Daniel squeezed it ever so gently to help me calm down.

"Is it Charlie?" I knew if I didn't ask I would of been angry with myself even though the doctors are going to tell me anyway.

"No ma'am, it was patient 2. Your daughter's baby. The baby suffered many injuries and complications. It was too weak and small to survive even with machines and help of medicine. The baby had heart problems, coding every hour. The baby's kidneys were shutting down. We did everything in our power." Tears were forming, creating river pools and sinking into my pores and running down my cheeks like waterfalls.

"Oh god." My hand went over my mouth. "How's Charlie then?" I had to know.

"We are not her doctors, but we can certainly get someone to bring you any information they know so far."

"Thank you doctor." I wiped my waterfalls then realized I forgot a question. "Wait! Doctor Stow." He turned around. "What gender of the baby?" He looked straight into my eyes as professional as one can get and with no emotion as he was a doctor. "A girl." With that, he turned around and walked away.

"Oh lord Daniel." The waterfalls came right back as I sunk my head into Daniels chest.

"Hey, don't cry. I know how upsetting this is but there's a little boy in there that needs us right now and the last thing that boy needs is us crying right now." I nodded.

"When do we tell him?"

"Not now, but how about we have him visit Ashton."

"Daddy." Aidan ran to his bedside.

"Careful Aidan. We don't want to hurt daddy." He slowly touched his hand then grabbed it.

"I love you daddy. Please wake up." My eyes watered but I knew I couldn't let that happen right now. Stay strong. "Grandma, can I lay with daddy?" My face turned confused as I didn't know if he could or not.

"Um, let me go ask a nurse okay." I walked out the room to spot a nurse. "Excuse me."

"Yes."

"Are you the nurse for this room?" She looked at the number and patient.

"Why yes."

"Okay good, I just wanted to know if my grandson can lay with his father."

"Yes, it should be perfectly fine. Just not on the patient's right side and just make sure your grandson isn't laying on any tubes then you should be fine."

"Okay thank you so much."

"Yeah, no problem."

I walked back to the room kinda sluggish.

"Okay Aidan. You have to lay on only this side." Daniel helped lift him up and carefully moved any tubes that may have been in the way. I got Aidan comfortable and pulled the blanket over him.

Me and Daniel sat in the chairs in the corner and watched Aidan cuddle with Ashton.

"I really hope Ashton wakes up soon." I say to Daniel.

"Yeah, just look at the guy. Tubes everywhere. Tubes coming from left and right. Machines plugged in." He was right. There were so many tubes and machines for just one person, but it's helping him get stronger and keeping him alive until he gets better.

"When will daddy wake up?" Grandpa looked up at me, then walked towards the bed.

"Well, we don't know yet. He could wake up anytime." I turned my head up to look at daddy's face.

"Can he wake up now?" Grandpa tilted his head down.

"Aidan, your father will wake up. He's fighting very, very hard for you." He touched my back with one hand. I blew out a breath and looked down. "You know what?" My head turned to look. "Did you know that he can hear you?" My face turned to daddy's face. "He can hear you talk to him. And maybe he'll be able to wake up to your voice Aidan."

"Daddy? Grandpa said you can hear me." He didn't move or talk. "But how do I know if he's listening grandpa?" I laid back down into daddy's chest."

"Feel his heart." I put my hand on top of daddy's heart. "Do you feel something?" I closed my eyes.

"Yes! I feel a bump going up and down."

"Now, pay attention to his chest. Is it going up and down too?" I looked.

"Yes."

"You can feel his heart beat and see his breathing. Your dad is listening." I smiled and continued feeling daddy's heart thumps.

I smiled at how peaceful Aidan looked knowing he has no worries of his father not listening to him.

Time seemed like years and every second that went by felt like we all got sucked up into a black hole.

"Daniel." I looked up at my pale, but beautiful wife. "The doctor needs you to sign some papers." Sighing, I got up from the warm chair and gave my wife a kiss on the cheek and left.

I looked at Aidan. He was fast asleep in Ashton's arms. I really hope Ashton wakes up soon and Charlie gets better.

I started to drift off into the darkness and after what felt like forever, I finally did.

"Aidan, slow down." I yelled. That kid has got my head bouncing off walls.

"But Grandma, I wanna see mommy and daddy." He knew this place too well because we were already at his mother's room in a matter of seconds.

He opened the door. "Mommy!" He ran to her side.

Charlie smiled. "Hey bud. How was the water park?" Me and Daniel decided to take Aidan out special to get his mind back to a little kid again and get his father off his mind for a few days.

"It was awesome! I went down the biggest slide with grandpa! And went on the river one too!" I smiled at his little "charades" he tried doing to show what he did.

"Wow! That's amazing! Sounds like a lot a fun." Charlie kissed his cheek. "We'll have to go again soon."

"Yes!" Aidan cheered. "I'm gonna go color the water park!" He ran over to the little table to sit and color.

"How's Ashton?" I asked Charlie.

"He still hasn't woken up. I'm getting worried." She fiddled with her hands.

"Charlie. Do you love him?" She looked at me with fear, like I found out a secret that no one was suppose to know.

I stared blankly into my mom's eyes. "Well yes, of course, he's Aidan father." I used a good enough excuse to cover my actually feelings.

"No Charlie." My eyes widened as my head looked down. "Do you love him?" This time her voice was more stern and demanding.

I gave in. "Yes. I'm in love with him mom." My palms went into my face. "I've been in love with him since day one mom. I've never stopped loving him." A tear slid down my cheek. "I don't know what I'd do if I...we lost him." Ashton has always been in my heart. It wasn't until after the fact I realized I've been making the same mistake over and over again, not choosing Ashton.

"Darling. I had a feeling anyway." My eyebrows scrunched together and I tried thinking of ways she could of found out.

"But how? I never talked about him around you or dad. I never mentioned his name once in these past few years. The only time I talked about him to you was when he wanted to be in Aidan's life." I was still confused even after I explained to her.

"Charlie. You didn't tell me anything." Okay, then how do you know? "When you and Ashton first started dating, you two were perfect for each other. Now of course, me and your father did not like him at first but we grew on him because we knew he was gonna be around for a long time." She took a breath. "Even after we moved away from him, I still knew you had feelings for him. Even when a few years past and you were dating someone else, I didn't see that spark you had or the same laugh you had when you were with Ashton. Charlie, Ashton changed your life even after you left. You became a different person." My god mom. You remembered all that?

"How did you catch all that? You didn't even mention anything to me about this?"

"I knew that you were upset with Ashton and I didn't want to bring up tough times. So I kept it in a box in the back of my head." She smiled, then kissed the forehead.

"Thank you mom. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you and dad." I hugged her the best I could considering I was bed bound.

"Now enough with the cheesy talk. How about we go back to memory lane. What was Aidan's first word again." I smiled as I thought.

"Oh, it was grass." I laughed as I remembered the exact moment.

And that's what we did. We talked about Aidan's first of everything. His first sour food, when his first steps were, and many more. I haven't laughed this much in a while.

"The reason I brought this subject up Charlie is because when Ashton wakes up, you should tell him all of Aidan's first things. I have a feeling that he will very much appreciate how you've changed." I nodded to my mom and we just continued to have fun.

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