Title: Ray of Light
Author: Megs
Plot: The night of Zach's murder mystery game Ryan's not the only one rushed to the hospital.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the All My Children characters. I do not own the storylines taken from All My Children. I will stake claim to the original characters and the literature of this story.
Author's Note: I cannot express how thankful I am to my beta, Sammi. She has been a life saver and helped me through with this story since the beginning and even allowed me to rant and rave about…anything and everything. She put up with me and I hope will keep putting up with me cause I need her help. As I've told her many times in the last few weeks, she helps me without even trying. So, Sammi, thank you once again.

Prologue

----August 1, 2006----

Kendall groaned as she threw herself down on her couch. Life was far too demanding these days. It was time that she let herself relax. If only for a few hours, then she'd be up and about again. Greenlee was at home. Resting, hopefully. The woman had been through too much these last few months. Ryan's stupidity that lead him to his 'accidental' death. Not to mention her miscarriage. Those were definitely the kickers for the poor woman. Losing a husband and her unborn child within two months of each other. Not to mention the fact that that psychopath, Jonathan Lavery, had kidnapped them both. That man had issues. Issues that were no longer anyone else's problems; he was dead. Killed himself in a cave explosion.

All the Lavery men were dead. It was sad, but it was reality and nothing could change that now. No matter how much Kendall wished Ryan could be here for Greenlee. The woman just lost her child. Her only piece of Ryan she had left.

With a sigh, Kendall rested her head down on a pillow and curled up on the couch. Kendall wouldn't even attempt to sleep in her own bed. The moment her head touched her pillows the phone would ring and any time she might have used to rest would no longer be available. She'd be called from a peaceful sleep to do something for someone, and it was annoying.

It seemed she was not meant to sleep after all.

The phone rang.

"Kendall Hart," Kendall breathed into the phone as she sat up. It wasn't fair. She just wanted a moment of peace. Just a few hours to relax; possibly sleep, was that too much to ask?

"Hello to you, too, sunshine."

Kendall sighed. "Greenlee I thought you were sleeping."

"Main word in that sentence being 'thought'." Greenlee chuckled when she heard Kendall groan over the line. "I thought you might want to join me."

"Join you? I just left you!" Kendall objected, even as she stood to put her shoes back on. She hated the fact that she couldn't even object wholeheartedly to anything Greenlee wanted. Becoming a better person was really starting to get boring. How Bianca, her younger sister, did this for years was beyond her.

"I know that!" Greenlee stated and smiled. "You're getting ready even as we speak aren't you?" When Kendall didn't immediately answer she laughed brightly. "Good. I want to go to the hospital."

Kendall froze. She was not going to the hospital. She put her shoe back on the ground and sighed. She wasn't going to the hospital today. Greenlee had just gotten out of the hospital seventeen days ago. Kendall was not going to willingly bring her back this soon. No matter how good Greenlee's intentions were.

With a sigh, which seemed the only way to express her moods lately, Kendall moved into her bedroom, but not before unplugging her home phone. With her cell still pressed against her ear, she slipped out of her pants and slid onto her bed. The moan she had been holding in slipped past her lips. She couldn't help it. Her back, finally on her own bed instead of Greenlee's couch. Mmm…this was what people would consider ecstasy. Cloud nine's definition of pleasure.

Greenlee stayed mute on the other line, only muttering a few sounds before clearing her throat. "What are you doing?"

"Sleeping. You should try it sometime," Kendall answered, her eyes already closed. She sighed into the phone again as she curled up into a comfortable position.

"I…uh…but…" Kendall smiled already drifting off.

"Sorry, Greenlee, too tired to go to the hospital. I'll go tomorrow with you, I promise."

"You always say that," Greenlee spat as she huffed while taking a seat.

"Yes, and don't I always come?" Kendall wondered how much money she'd have to pay if she fell asleep while still on the line with Greenlee.

Greenlee sighed. Kendall was right. Damn her, but she was right. Kendall did always come. It wasn't Kendall's fault that she randomly got the urge to go to the hospital. They'd be at work and she'd want to go, just because she felt she should be there. At least for a few minutes each day. Anna was usually there at least three hours a day. The least Greenlee could do was show up for half an hour. It wouldn't be a problem. It made her feel a little better to be there, to see and know that all was 'well'. Well as could be in a case like this.

Jamie, bless the boys soul, spent just as many hours in the hospital as any of them. He brought music, flowers, and a new poster every week. He tried to make the hospital a home away from home. His life had changed. All of their lives had changed that night and they all felt some form of responsibility for what occurred. Even those that weren't even there.

Kendall knew that Greenlee felt guilty for what happened. But it couldn't have been avoided. No matter what half of Pine Valley thought, what happened was unavoidable and was no one's fault but one. He'd been crucified by everyone. Even Bianca. Then again Bianca had crucified a lot of people since. Babe and JR were both in jail for keeping Miranda from her. Krystal was locked up for life for kidnapping, perjury, theft, tampering with evidence—the list went on. David was the only one to escape Bianca's wrath. He'd been saved for reasons everyone could understand.

Bianca had been on the warpath after she found out about Bess being Miranda. No one had been able to calm her. Not that anyone actually wanted to. JR and Babe kept her child from her. They'd known that Bess was Miranda and pretended to feel bad for her, to love her and care about her broken heart when they were the ones that had caused it to save their own. Selfish bastards. They'd all gotten what they deserved. Bianca hadn't. She'd been robbed of months of her child's life. Of firsts she could never get back, her dreams dashed. A psychopathic murderer, who took more than anyone was willing to admit, ripped the life Bianca had pictured herself and Miranda in from her.

Bianca left for Paris to get a new start. To get away from everything she couldn't handle. She deserved so much better than what she was dealt. So she dealt her own hand and picked up and left for Paris where she started over and was doing wonderfully with her daughter. She was happy, or as happy as a young woman in love in a transatlantic relationship could be.

Bianca, which reminded Kendall! She needed to call Bianca and see how things were with her little sister and favorite niece.

Greenlee's voice took her from her thoughts. Thoughts that shouldn't be there, she was trying to sleep. Not start an internal monologue.

"I know you always come. You just never talk," Greenlee said as she accepted the fact that she wasn't going to visit tonight. Maybe it was for the best. That is, waiting another day before going back to the hospital

"I'm sorry. I just don't feel like talking," Kendall said. It was weird to talk to someone that couldn't respond to you, about your daily life like Greenlee did. But it helped Greenlee and Anna. Hell, it helped Bianca while she was here, but it never changed anything. Their lives were still the same. Talking about their preferred futures didn't change the present.

"If I promise to go tomorrow and to talk, will you let me rest?" Kendall asked, desperate to fall fast asleep. She knew that she only had at least two hours before her mother stormed into her condo demanding to know why she wasn't answering her calls. Jump to conclusions, barge into her home, and demand to know what was so important that she wouldn't pick up her phone. That was her mother's way.

"Whatever," Greenlee stated in an indifferent tone. Then felt bad. Kendall had been running herself into the ground for her for months and she looked like hell warmed over. She sighed. "Sleep well," she whispered gently.

"Thanks…" Kendall yawned back before closing her cell phone. She tossed her cell onto her dresser and pulled the blankets that were under her feet over herself and sighed contently. Finally…sleep.

-----Pine Valley Hospital----

Anna took one last look around the room. Zoning in on the aspects of life that were untouched by the room's occupant. Then on the machines that allowed for suspended life, but never true life.

"Goodbye." Anna whispered as she closed the door and walked away.

Anna Devane slipped her hand through her hair. The hospital was as busy as ever, just not on this floor. Not that Anna expected any less. She was the only person, besides the nurses that were on this floor every day. It was sad, but it was fact. It wasn't very often that Anna ran into a nurse or even a visitor she didn't already know. Two years would do that for you.

With a stretch, Anna waited for the elevator. The hallway was quiet except for the nurse's cart. The scraping of the wheels was the only sound on this floor, besides the constant drone and groan of the machines.

The elevator doors opened and with one last look down the empty hallway, Anna stepped inside.

Moving back to Pine Valley hadn't been an easy task, but it was something she had to do. It wasn't expected of her to remain for this long and it surprised her sometimes. How time seemed to fly by while you waited for something important to occur. It never seemed to come, but as you wait for it you wonder how so much time could have passed. Anna wondered about the time that passed. It was all she could do. Think about the past and pray for a better future.

The elevator doors opened. The noise of the ER bombarded the 'vacationing' spy. She flinched as the noise penetrated her thoughts. With a slow step she stepped out of the elevator and walked towards the receptionist's desk. She handed the woman her badge and stepped towards the exit as Dr. Roberts walked past her.

"Have a nice evening, Anna." Dr. Roberts was the ER's chief of staff and had become accustomed to seeing Anna walking out as he came on shift.

"You as well, Allan," Anna called over her shoulder as she stepped out of the hospital.

The night air was warm even this late into the summer. Anna shook her head. Another summer spent cooped up in the hospital. Life was unfair. Life in Pine Valley was even worse. Anna often wondered why she continued to stay, even though there was nothing holding her here. Aidan and Tad would be fine without her working for the agency. She could be back in Paris or England or anywhere again, hunting down criminals and bringing them to justice. But every time she convinced herself to leave she couldn't. Her life was here in Pine Valley now. It had been and would be until things righted themselves. She could do nothing about that. She didn't bother to take her body somewhere else. Not when her mind and heart would always remain here, in this town, at this hospital.

Anna shuffled through her pocket. Her keys jingling above the sound of the ambulances pulling in with wounded men, women and children; The sirens, beeping, scraping, shuffling, moaning, groaning, machines' methodical rhythm, empty promises and constant prognoses. It never stopped! Her life was full of agonized screams and painful tears. Of plugs and death and code blues. She was a spy, or had been once, now she was just another PI who spent all her free time waiting for death and hoping for life. She was no doctor, but the time she spent at the hospital and looking up medical treatments, one would think she was.

Anna grabbed a hold of her keys and unlocked her door.

Pine Valley had changed her. When she left during Michael Cambias' murder trial, she knew that. She knew the people she met, the events she'd witnessed and been apart of while being in Pine Valley, changed her life forever. She hadn't known the extent of that change until Jack called her. Hadn't known how much of her heart she'd placed and left here until she was called back. David, her ex-husband, had been a big part of it. He no longer held any part of her heart, though. She felt no sorrow, sympathy, or love for the man. He'd lost all her respect and no matter how he tried to regain it, he never would. Not from her, not from anyone. Especially Bianca and…

The girl may have spared him her wrath, but that was because out of all those she'd persecuted for keeping her child from her, David was the only one remotely useful to her. Anna frowned at the thought of the young woman. Bianca had the courage and strength to do what she could not. She smiled softly for the brunette. Bianca started over again with her daughter. It was something Anna could never do. Robin was an adult and happy in Paris working as a pathologist. She'd visited a few times and never understood why she stayed. Anna didn't understand either.

Anna stepped into her car and closed the door behind her. With a shaky deep breath, Anna laid her head down on her steering wheel. The tears came soon after. She didn't know why she did this to herself. Why she refused to stop doing this to herself. It was going to make her sick.

Had made her sick. Two weeks after she arrived Greenlee gave her an ultimatum. She didn't give in and Greenlee had to call in back up. She had practically lived in the hospital for a week and Greenlee's concerns were justified, but at the time were nothing more then bothersome. Anna's inability to leave was more accurate than wouldn't leave. When Tad, Aidan, Jamie and Bianca showed up with David behind them she'd thrown a fit. She'd screamed and lashed out at the people that hadn't done anything. They hadn't stopped it. Not that they could. But she had been emotional and distraught lashing out at the people who were only trying to help. Her relationship with Bianca has never been the same. Anna hit a sore spot with Bianca that night. Hit it so hard it left Bianca recoiling for the weeks following her episode. For the next thirteen months they barley spoke to each other.

Anna lifted her head from her steering wheel and wiped her eyes. She took another moment to compose herself before revving the engine. With one last look at the hospital Anna pulled out of her spot and moved towards the parking lot exit. Anna watched as the yellow light turned red. A quick time check let her know that it was a quarter to seven. Spending an average of three hours in the hospital a day did nothing for her health.

With one look at herself through her rearview mirror she realized her face had suffered. Worry lines, and dark circles under her eyes that had been there for months, with skin as pale as any patient at the hospital. The fact she was withering away to nothing didn't escape her or anyone else's mind. David constantly pointed out that she wasn't eating enough or that she was losing too much weight. Anna ignored him. Their relationship only consisted of a few spoken words to one another every other day. David's words always concerning her health, her words always places where David could shove his concern.

Anna looked up before looking back at the light.

The skyline in the background…

Anna's head shot up when the streetlights that had been flickering into existence suddenly went out. The street light in front of her went black and the lights in the distance and those behind her blinked off. Anna put the car in reverse and went back to her spot. She pulled her cell phone and was about to call Tad to see what was going on when a sudden moment of panic hit her. Looking in her rearview mirror she gasped.

The hospital! Half of the lights were out! Anna opened her car door and listened feeling her heart stop when she heard a doctor step out of the Emergency Room and yell to several of the doctors out smoking.

"Get in here. The generators on floors four to six blew!"

Anna felt her world slowly spin out of control even as she ran into the emergency room with the doctors and nurses that were called back in. They all rushed towards the stairs, at least a dozen of them all piling two at a time into the stairwell and up the stairs. Anna didn't know where they were going, but she knew where she was headed. She had one destination in mind.

The fourth floor.

Her worst nightmare could not be coming true. It was her deepest, darkest secret but sometimes she wished something like this would happen. If only so that people could move on. Live their lives. Now, with the prospect of it happening, she felt sick to her stomach. With a firm resolve she stepped into the hospital room, set on doing whatever was necessary to keep her nightmare from coming true.

-----------Uptown-------------

Kendall grabbed a candle from above the refrigerator. She'd woken up only ten minutes ago to find the power was out. A quick run through the obstacle course that was her living room, she made it to the window. The whole town was out. She moved into her kitchen to find a lighter. Rummaging through her draws she found one and smiled. She was about to light the candle when the door flew open. Kendall jumped and the lighter and candle flew from her hands as her fingers dug into her shirt above her heart.

"Kendall…" Creak "…damnit!" Greenlee swore as she grabbed at her knee after walking right into the couch.

"Greenlee?" A flash of light came her way. Kendall shielded her eyes. Why the hell was Greenlee here? Didn't she tell Greenlee she wanted to stay in tonight? No hospital, no Fusion, no BJ's, no nothing. Just her, her TV, a frozen dinner, and her bed. That plan was mutt now.

"There you are. Come on!" Greenlee grabbed ahold of Kendall's arm and dragged her towards the door.

"Wait!" Kendall protested as she pulled her arm away from Greenlee. "I need my shoes." She bent over and slipped on a pair of sandals before looking up at Greenlee. She couldn't see the woman's face but she heard her 'tsk' at her. She rolled her eyes. So much for having a quiet dinner alone after finally having three hours of rest. "Where are we going?" Kendall asked as she slid her hand along the side table looking for her keys. Once she had them she stepped to the door and grabbed onto the arm holding the flashlight.

"The hospital," Greenlee breathed, obviously out of breath.

"What, why?" Kendall asked her, door already locked as she followed after Greenlee, her hand now on the woman's shoulder to keep her in sight. It was almost pitch black with the only lights being Greenlee's flashlight and her car's headlights.

"They lost power," Greenlee exclaimed, as she got into her car.

"They lost what?!" Kendall yelled as she threw herself into the car. "How can they lose power? Aren't there supposed to be generators and back up generators there? You know, just in case we get a black out like this?!" Kendall demanded answers, knowing Greenlee wouldn't have them.

"They blew," Greenlee explained, feeling Kendall's aggravation. People's lives were hanging in the balance now. Anna called her cell in shambles. The sound of doctors yelling and the heart monitor code bluing echoed in the background. She rushed out the door even as Anna was talking to her. She'd stopped to get Kendall because she couldn't go there alone. She couldn't go to the hospital and realize she'd lost her chance. All of them had lost their chances. It wouldn't be fair. It wasn't fair. She needed Kendall. Just in case the unthinkable actually happened. She needed Kendall's comforting words, her arms and her strength.

Kendall turned to Greenlee and realized how stiff the woman was as they sped through the deserted streets. Cop cars sat along the roads directing traffic and attempting to keep order. One even began to follow them until they made the turn that lead to PVH. The car had backed off, obviously realizing why they were speeding. Probably thought one of them was dying. Not realizing someone was dying even as they raced along the streets and into the parking lot.

Greenlee took it hard, if possible, even as hard as Anna had with Bianca not far ahead of the two. They all blamed themselves; Greenlee and Bianca blaming themselves while Anna blamed those around her and herself for not being there. Kendall, though, who should feel guilty and responsible couldn't. She hadn't been responsible for what happened and wouldn't be responsible for what happened now. It wasn't her place to feel responsible. So, she wouldn't.

Two years and some change. Two years of visiting this hospital. Two years of

coordinating through these halls. Two years experience of getting past the ER staff and to the elevators without being noticed.

Two dozen months of everyone holding their breath and praying for a miracle recovery that just wouldn't come. Of doctors saying she should be awake. A year and a half of watching Bianca's heart break slowly as she realized she would never have the chance to tell her…

Two years of watching Anna wither away before kicking back and then deteriorating again. Two years of coming to the hospital to sit and listen to people talk to her. Urge her to wake up. Beg her to come back and for forgiveness they didn't need. Two years…it had been two years of people silently wishing that it would end for better or for the 'unthinkable'.

Two years was too long and tonight her resolve to live was being tested. Tested while all they could do was run up the stairs and pray that she hadn't given in. That she hadn't slipped into eternal sleep. That she'd still be alive. Lying day after day in bed breathing with the help of a tube, with nothing more than a little brain activity and a steady heartbeat. It was better than the alternative. A lot was better then the alternative for those concerned.

Kendall felt her heart pound against her ribcage. Her panic overtaking her. One more flight. They burst through the doors and rushed down the hallway. Kendall's long legs no match for Greenlee's short speeding ones. They made it to the door one after the other and piled in single file. The sound of a flat lining heart reaching their deaf ears and freezing them in place.

"No!" Anna wailed from the corner of the room, where David held her back as tears streamed down her face.

The woman was losing her child. As close to a child as someone could be when they weren't blood related. Her heart was breaking and her sobs and wails only made Kendall's heart break faster. Greenlee was already in tears and leaning heavily against her. Shaking her head quietly back and forth, unable to believe what she was seeing. Seeing the doctors push their hands against her chest, breathing into her mouth, her inactive respirator sitting along the wall useless. The batteries of her heart monitor dying out as it whined its last deadly wail. The doctors slowly looked at each other and sighed as they stepped back.

"Time of death…6:45, August 1st 2006."

"Maggie…" Kendall whispered as her first tear fell.

TBC…

So....what do you think? This story is actuall already finished so I will be posting an update for the story every week to 10 days. So I really hope you like where it goes.