***Willow Pond***

Jennifer and Jonathan are sleeping. It's early. He has one arm draped across her.

The phone is ringing.

She crawls on top of him, and grabs the phone.

"Hello?...Who?...No, I'm sorry, you have the wrong number".

She slams the phone down, waking him up.

"I love it when you wake me up in the middle of the night".

"Calm down, sailor, the phone was ringing. It was a wrong number". She crawls off him and back to her side of the bed.

He is now awake and realizes that his back is throbbing.

He sits up and starts taking deep breaths.

She rolls over to him.

"Darling, are you all right?"

"My back is bothering me".

She looks at the clock. It's 5:11.

She scoots behind him and sleepily gives him a back rub.

"Is this helping?"

"A little".

After about 30 minutes, he gets up and walks around.

"Maybe a hot shower will help".

He headed to the shower and she laid back down and tried to get some more sleep.

She woke up again when the water turned off.

She went to the bathroom.

"Feel better?"

"A little. Think I'm going to take some aspirin".

"I'll get it for you".

She went downstairs and got him a glass of water, just the way he liked it. Tall glass, cubed ice, not crushed, filtered, not tap. She found the aspirin in the cabinet and got him some out of the bottle, and was heading to take it to him, when he came into the kitchen.

"Oh hi, darling. Here is your aspirin. I was just about to bring it to you".

"Thanks".

He took it and drank the whole glass of water. She made him some toast and 2 scrambled egg whites.

"I'm sorry I woke you, my back was just really hurting".

"Darling, you didn't wake me. The phone woke me. And if you wanted to wake me up, you can, you know that".

She was really worried about him. She hadn't seen him sick in a long time.

"I am going to go to the office early, so that if I don't feel better later, I can head to the doctor".

"That's a good idea. And I tell you what, I have an appointment in town, so I will stop by and check on you, just before lunch."

"Perfect."

He kissed her goodbye a few times, and then left.

She went back upstairs to bed for a little bit.

Around 9, she got up and showered and dressed and headed to her appointment.

***Hart Industries***

Jonathan was guzzling water like crazy, and had the air down as far as it would go in his office. He felt like he was on fire, and he had zero energy. He was trying to tie up all the loose ends so that he could just go home.

Whatever this was, it was intensifying. He decided that when Jennifer got there, he would have her drive him to the doctor.

He reached for the phone and was about to dial her car phone number, when everything went black.

***Jennifer***

Jennifer was driving to her appointment, when her phone rang. It was Marcia.

"Hey I know we were supposed to meet today, but I'm backed up. I trust you, so just email me what you were going to write about it and I will call you later".

"Ok, thank you. Sounds good".

Jennifer turned around and headed towards Hart Industries.

She parked next to him, and went inside.

She stepped off the elevator and saw Kelly at her desk.

"Hi Kelly. Listen, Jonathan isn't feeling well, so I am going to stay with him a little bit. So, hold all his calls except the emergency ones, ok?"

"Yes, Mrs. Hart."

She walked into the office.

"Hi darl-Jonathan!"

Jonathan was laying on the floor, unconscious. She ran to him.

"Kelly, call an ambulance".

He was breathing, and had a pulse, but he wasn't responsive.

She grabbed his hand and kissed his lips.

"I'm right here with you, darling. I love you".

Kelly came in. "Ambulance is on its way"

"Ok great. Go get Harold please".

"Yes ma'am".

Harold came running.

"Harold, get everyone in to the conference room. Make up whatever you have to tell them. I just don't want them to see him taken out on a stretcher. And nothing in the press, please".

"Right away".

Everything after that got busy. The paramedics came and took him to the hospital. She rode with him to the hospital.

She had told Kelly to put Stanley and Harold in charge until further notice, and that they plus her were the only visitors allowed.

She held his hand all the way to the hospital, and tried to stay out of the way of the paramedics.

***Cedars Sinai***

They brought him in, and Jennifer kissed him before they took him to a room to start working on him. After she got the paperwork filled out, she was told that he was being admitted and they took her to the room that he was going to be in.

She sat down and tried to make herself comfortable.

She had checked him in as Jonathan Brennan, so that the press wouldn't get wind of it. The last thing that either of them needed was the press in their face.

She just knew they were both going to feel silly when the doctor came in and told them it was just a virus or the flu or something. Better safe than sorry.

Harold got to the hospital around 1. They were still working on Jonathan.

"Hi. Have you heard anything?"

She shook her head.

"I brought you lunch. I hope this wasn't too forward of me, but I was in his office and saw on the calendar that he had written that you and him had lunch reservations for La Scala at 1, so I called and told them to give me your usual order".

"Thank you, that was very sweet".

She was starving, and after a minute or two, began to eat.

The doctor finally came in close to two, to speak to her.

He sat down.

"Mrs. Brennan, your husband presented with unconsciousness and a distended chest when he came in. We did a very thorough exam, and the fact that he was breathing on his own and had a pulse was a definite point in his favor. However, the fact that he was unconscious and couldn't tell us what happened wasn't. We did a series of tests, including an echocardiogram, a head CT, a bi-lateral chest x-ray, and a 4d ultrasound. What was ultimately determined, is that your husband had a massive heart attack. 3 of his arteries were blocked, and needed to be opened. We normally come and speak to the families right away in that instance, but there was no time. We took your husband to the OR and performed open heart surgery. Now this is the part that I want to explain to you. The artery that wasn't blocked was determined to be functioning at 85%. That is actually really good. The other three arteries were determined to be functioning at around 15-25% each. Normally, that would be ok if it was just one artery. But it was 3, and that put too much strain on the heart muscle. So, we took him into surgery, and it was my plan from the beginning to put stents in each of the arteries. That's usually the easiest way to solve this problem, since the stent will just open up the clot and give some room for the blood to flow. However, when we got in there, I changed my mind. So, what we did instead was we cleaned out each artery. If you need a visual, picture a drill bit-type tool chipping and scraping away and making a tunnel through the artery. The artery is shaped more like a big pill, so the drill bit is hollowing out the inside of that. All the stuff that is coming out is plaque and hardened particles from cholesterol. Another way to explain it is to take that pill and poke a hole in it with a straight pin on both ends and then run it under the faucet. The amount of liquid that comes out is only going to be as big as the entranceway and exit way. So, in a sense, the straight pin hole is what he was dealing with before and we just went in and widened those ports and cleaned out the inside."

"Can he handle that?"

"By doing so, we increased the functioning to almost 95% for all of the three arteries that we cleaned, and it also increased the functioning of the one we didn't have to clean, because it no longer has to work so hard".

She nodded.

"Mrs. Brennan, did he have any symptoms before this?"

"Well, early this morning, we woke up because the phone rang and he started saying his back hurt. So I rubbed it for him, and he said it helped but he needed aspirin. He took a hot shower, and then ate breakfast. He was planning on going to his doctor today if he didn't feel better. Then, I stopped by his office, and he was passed out on the floor. But I noticed the air conditioning was dropped all the way, and there were about 12 water bottles all scattered around him".

"That makes sense. He was sweating when he came in, and sometimes, a heart attack can cause back pain, excessive thirst".

She nodded.

"What's the prognosis?"

"Well, pretty good, actually. He is very fit, and seems to be in good physical condition. This wasn't because he wasn't taking care of himself. In fact, I suspect it might have more to do with genetics than anything. I expect him to make a full recovery. Triple bypasses aren't the death sentence they used to be".

She nodded.

"Can I see him?"

"He's in recovery now, he should be brought here within the hour. I expect he will stay here probably about a week, and then he will be able to go home."

"Any physical limitations?"

"He will need to take it easy for a few weeks, and slowly build his strength back up. I also want him to eat a heart healthy diet while he heals from this- not a lot of fatty foods, not a lot of red meat, limited alcohol, very little salt, etc."

"Thank you so much".

The doctor left, and the nurse brought in the machines that he would be hooked up to and got those set up.

Harold was still right there, next to her.

She sighed, holding back tears. She was in a weird place-relieved, yet terrified. Sad, but happy. Depressed, but hopeful.

"Jonathan's got this, Jennifer. You will see him through it, as only you can".

She nodded.

"You know, this is our first tragedy, since…" She couldn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to, Harold knew what she was saying.

"Max was right there with him, and you, the whole time". His tone was calm, kind, and caring.

"Thank you for being here with me, Harold. Now, going forward, I need you and Stanley to run the company for a while. Jonathan and I don't want this in the press, so please, no statements or anything. And you and Stanley and Kelly are the only visitors from the office allowed".

"You got it Jennifer. I will head back to the office now. I told everyone that you and Jonathan had a family emergency and that is why he would be out of the office for a bit. I will check back on you tomorrow".

He leaned down and hugged her.

"Thank you. And thanks for lunch".

"Anytime".

Jennifer finished eating, and walked down the hall to the vending machines and purchased a few bottles of water.

She was waiting in his room when the nurse came and said they were about to wheel him in.

After he was all settled, Jennifer went over and sat next to him, and held his hand.

He looked good, like he was sleeping. His color was pinker than it had been, and his breathing sounded normal. He didn't have any tubes or life-support systems on him. He had an IV and was hooked to the heart and pulse oxygenation monitor.

She leaned down and kissed his cheek.

"Hey sailor, I'm right here. I love you, and I'm not going anywhere". She kissed his lips a few times and then laced her fingers through his. She leaned down and kissed his chest in that one spot that he loved, just for old time's sake.

The nurse came and took his vitals.

"Is it possible for me to get a bed? I would like to stay here with him, I don't want him to be alone".

"Certainly. I will have one brought in".

Jennifer pulled out her phone and made a few phone calls. She wasn't telling anyone he was in the hospital, only that she wasn't going to make her appointments this week.

They brought her a bed, and she made it up, and then she lowered the inside railings, so that she could sleep right next to him. She was afraid to touch him, so she just laid next to him and rubbed his arm, and put her head on his shoulder.

She softly turned the TV on, to his favorite channel.

She leaned over and whispered to him, "The Dodgers are playing….bottom of the 4th. How about we cheer them on together? I'll even let you score a homerun". She kissed his cheek.

She stared at him for a good while, just taking him in.

"Come on, Jonathan Charles, you can do this".