"He's waking up."
Her words spurred the family into action and Jeff politely but firmly refused to be removed from the room, as did the rest of the family, nothing short of another avalanche was going to remove him and his family from the room, the doctor seeing their refusal signalled to the nurse to let them stay.
The nurse returned to the side of the bed helping the doctor, as the family went to the other side of the bed, to keep out of the way of the doctor and nurse as they worked, they could see Allie moving as he fought his way back to consciousness.
His arms flailing out and one of his little hands seemed to be reaching for something, Jeff reached forward his hand grasping Allies tiny one, just as the boy opened his baby blue eyes and stared straight into his fathers before they shut again.
His small body going still and the family for a moment panicked, the doctor reaching forward, checking Allies vitals and the machinery.
"There is nothing to worry about Mr Tracey, your son has just gone back to sleep. Normal sleep this time."
The family collectively breathed a sigh of relief but they were still concerned.
XxX
Ruth had just finished tying off the wool she was using to sew together the pieces of the jumper that she had made for her youngest of her grandchildren when she noticed movement on the bed by which she sat.
She smiled as she watched Allie's hands reach up and rub at his screwed up eyes, it had been many days since young Allie had awoken from the coma he had been in since the avalanche that had taken the life of his mother and so many others.
It was not the first time that he had opened his eyes but the first time that his father, her son, had not been present. Jeff had stubbornly stayed by his son's side even after the doctors had told him his son was no longer in danger and it had taken all of her persuasion to get her son to take some much needed rest and to spend some with his other children.
"Hey sleepy head?" she smiled at him, reaching out to him as he struggled to open his eyes fully.
Alan turned his head and smiled his toothed gapped baby smile at his grandma, his favourite person after his mummy. For a moment the young lad looked distracted as he wondered to himself where his mummy was, he had not seen since he had opened his eyes, not since their cabin had started to shake and there had been that terrible noise that seemed to obliterate all other sounds. As much as he loved his grandmother he wanted his mummy and hoped that she would come and see him soon.
XxX
Jeff stretched on the hotel bed he had been resting in since he had come back from the hospital late last night, his mother had all but ejected him from his sons room, telling him, no ordering him to return to the hotel and get some much needed sleep. As well as spending some time with his other sons, who had been neglected in his worry for the youngest of their family.
He lay on the bed for a moment as he savoured the silence in the room for just a moment; he knew his other boys were in the room adjoining this one as he could hear them moving about. Their movements quieter than was normal for his boys but he had heard his eldest tell Gordon he had thought it was to keep the noise down as father was sleeping.
The murmuring of their voices through the closed door and wall, told him they were not watching television as he did not hear that in the background and by the sound of Scott's voice, he suspected that his eldest was reading a story to the others.
As he lay there listening to his eldest read to the younger three his mind wandered back to just a few weeks ago when he had for in a rare moment of peace had lain in bed, while Lucy had done just as Scott was doing now reading to the boys.
His smile faulted as he realised never again would he hear Lucy's voice or hold her close to him, he still had not told young Alan that his mom was dead; he didn't know how to break it to his youngest without breaking the boys fragile heart. No more than his own heart had been broken when finally his wife and love of his life had been found already passed from this world.
He continued to lay for a few moments and then made the decision to move, to raise from the bed and spend an hour or two with the boys before he returned to the hospital and do the one thing he knew would break Alans young heart, tell him his mummy was dead.
Jeff pushed the blankets back and swung his legs out of the bed before he joined his sons he seriously needed a shower and some coffee!
XxX
The beeping of the machinery in the hospital drowned into the background as Jeff moved with purpose towards his youngest room, the last few hours he had spent with the other children had buoyed him but now it was time to see his youngest and tell the devastating news that he had for him.
This was one part of being a father that he had hoped to never have to face as a parent, he knew that he one day he would have had to tell the boys and Lucy that his mother had died but not once had he thought that Lucy would not be there when that day came, nor that she would be the one to die first before his own mother.
He stopped for a moment at the door to Alan's room, watching through the window of the door as his mother interacted with the boy, it looked as though she was telling him a story and for a moment he smiled at the sight.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and entered the room, his mother looking up as he did so, the expression in her eyes telling him she knew what he was there to do and she rose, laying her hand on his shoulder and squeezing it briefly before she left the room, to give him and Alan privacy. Ruth did not go far; she knew that she would be needed.
The End.
