And so Melanie let him. It was strange to her how she could be so open with a man she wanted to hate so badly. Two sides were resting on her shoulders, one that had hate stored for this man beyond comprehension, and the other guiding her heart to a forgiving place. The exchanged stories of their time with Carly, both past and present. Eventually they had tears in their eyes about the good things that came from loving and being loved by Carly. Melanie felt that by hearing about her mother's adventures and love over time for Lawrence, she was beginning to see another side. One whose love was unconditional for someone other than her children, and it made her happy that her mother was capable of such a thing decades, hell even years ago. Her mother was no saint by any means, but she owned being human. Her humanity was her strongest quality, because without that, there was no Carly, the doctor, the mother, the lover, the caretaker, the friend. Without her humanity, Carly didn't exist, she wore it like she wore her eyebrow raise when she knew Melanie wasn't forthcoming, or the lipstick she wore when a day started off right, or the smile she wore knowing that her life had turned out as best it could through all her trials and tribulations.

Carly lay there silently with the machine forcing her chest to rise and fall with a rhythm. Her unconscious state allowed her to have an out of body experience. Currently she was looking at herself on a ventilator and it scared her at how at peace she was with the site, as if she'd planned this a million times in her head, as if she was ready to move on from the world and all her suffering. Yes she had many reasons to live, such as her patients, her friends, her children, and hopefully one day her grandchildren. But that couldn't take away from her suffering, her inability to feel complete without her soul mate. The idea that Lawrence was on the other side waiting for her always had a calming affect on her, even when he was alive, her fantasies of their life on the other side together replaced his cold embrace and demeanor. A smile came to her face of the memory she had of her and Lawrence on the beach. The sweat glistening on their skin from the sun shinning, Lawrence's chest turning as red as a pepper because of his "sensitive" skin, more like he refused to wear sunscreen. Her fantasies had always been better than her reality and that caused heartache. She could hear the monitor spike the same time she felt the emotional pain in her chest. As she came out of her day dreaming, she began to listen to her surroundings since she was technically blind to what surrounded her in reality. She could hear distant voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying or whom they belonged to. She walked out of the room, finding it pointless to sit and look at her comatose body.

As soon as she walked out of the room, a weird event took place, she was back at boarding school looking at her and a young Lawrence or shall we say James, make out on her bed. Although it was forbidden here, since they were from powerful families, they couldn't really be kicked out. She watched on in shock as well as glee at the forgotten memory.

"Katerina, I love you," Lawrence whispered between kisses.

"I love you too James, with everything I have in me," she said and resumed her position.

"I want our first time to be special," he said honestly. "I don't want to be like the other guys who do it in the back of a car or in the bathroom".

"It will be special, because I will be with you and only you. I can't imagine a future without you," she said with a smile illuminating off her face. The happiness spread to his face and resumed to kiss her passionately. Carly was interrupted by someone coming beside her, her brother Frankie.

"What are you doing her Frankie, you're not dead right?" she asked worriedly.

"No of course not," he chuckled. "I'm just apart of your imagination, the only one you can trust to give you the truth".

"Which is?" she asked with an edge.

"That you can't give up on your life. Don't be a child and just wallow that you've lost your true love. It isn't your time to go and you know it. You have so much left to do and live for".

"Well when your soul mate is dead come back and give me a pep talk," she said and tried to walk away but her grabbed her arm.

"Gladly! But you're not running away from your problems anymore. What life would Melanie have without her mother, or Nicky without his? What life would your patients have without the best doctor? What life would Lawrence have if he couldn't hear you protest his every move, yet love him like no one else can through all his flaws?"

"Stop this nonsense! Lawrence is dead," she yelled.

"No he's not," Frankie says as he ushers her back into her hospital room.

"Why are we back here, it's empty besides my bed?" she reasons.

"You can't see because you're in a coma, but listen," he instructs and she does. The voices are becoming louder as she gives it her full attention. She gasps as she recognizes the male voice.

"No…it…it can't be," she says with tears flooding her eyes and hand rushing to her lips to quiet herself.

"Yes it is," he says.

"What are you doing, why would you play this cruel joke?" she demands angrily.

"It's not a joke Katerina, how could I make up that?" he asks and they both hear Melanie and Lawrence laugh at a memory shared by Lawrence. It's true, Carly would've never imagined hearing the two of them getting along and laughing after all that's happened.

"How is he alive?" she asks out loud.

"Why wouldn't he be? He's Lawrence," saying it as if it were a reasonable explanation.

"I stabbed him, I killed him," she says getting lightheaded and reaching for a seat. Who knew comatose patients could get lightheaded.

"Yes you stabbed him, but he survived, you never saw his body in a casket nor in the morgue, and if you did, he could've paid someone to help him fake his death," Frankie reasons. It made senese for Carly, the man who appeared in her office and the events leading up to her coma. She didn't want ot belive it, but she was faced with hard facts.

"So what are you here for?"

"To convince you not to give up and to fight for your life, you have so much to live for," he says and bends down to eye level with his sister. He caresses her cheek and leans to kiss her on her forehead before standing and exiting the door, leaving her to contemplate her fate.

Back in the hospital room, progress had been made between Lawrence and Melanie. Both of them, despite their initial animosity, had become fond of each other. Daniel who Lawrence knew he'd never like, but would have to learn to tolerate for Carly and Melanie's sake interrupted their tender moment.

"Do you have any news dad?" Melanie asked.

"Yes, we've detected that her heart beat is too slow and so we will treat it by implanting a pacemaker".

"What about her brain?" she asks hesitantly.

"We hope that the ventilator is helping her body to get much needed rest and pass the oxygen to her brain without having to do much work. All we can do is monitor brain activity from now and see if she comes back," he answers truthfully.

"How's her brain activity?" Lawrence asks and Daniel turns to him with a cold stare.

"She's showing 5% less brain activity than what she came in with which was 15% less than a normal comatose patient. Unfortunately if those numbers continue to drop, there will be no hope if she returns back," Daniel responds with a heavy heart as he notices Melanie out of the corner of her eye hold back a sob and return to her mother's beside.

"Mom! Mom please wake up. I can't lose you, I need you so much. I've just got you back," she cries repeatedly.