I'll say one thing for the record: I thought of several scenarios for the last chapter and this one. I went with the one I found LEAST unpleasant.

Pat roused himself at the smell of perfume. "Nikki," he said. It was her, sure enough, but not as he remembered her and always would, from the photo he still kept tucked away. She looked older, more so than time alone could account for, and less beautiful in the ways he had thought her beautiful, yet it seemed to him there was a new kind of beauty just starting to peek through. She sat down in a seat next to his wheel chair, and they both turned their eyes to Tiffany, resting perfectly still in the hospital bed.

"They say the baby's okay," Pat said, his voice not much louder than the sound of the life-support machines. "It's a girl, by the way. They're going to keep Tiffany going as long as she needs to to come to term. If she doesn't wake up first." He ran his hands across his face, and then leaned back, resting one arm on the cast that encased his leg.

Nikki stroked his shoulder, and he only tensed a little. "Veronica told me about the two of you. I was happy for both of you." Silent minutes passed. "What happened, Pat?"

Pat wheeled around, forcing himself to meet her eyes. "If you're asking, then you're really asking why," he said. "Well, the way things happened, I never felt like we really broke up. We never talked about what went wrong, we never said goodbye, and then there was the restraining order... Not being able to see you made me feel more like you were still a part of me, and all the things people did to get me to accept that you were gone just made me want to reach for you more. I got stuck. I got so I couldn't even give myself a good reason why I wanted to do it, but that didn't matter. I still felt like there was something meant to be between us, even if I didn't understand what it was, and the only way to set things right was to see you, even just once... If you had been there... even once..."

Nikki reached out and clasped his hand, briefly. "I'm here now," she said. "I wanted to be there for you then, too. When I heard how you were in the hospital, I asked if it would help if I came and talked to you. But the doctors said no, and your family cut me off from getting any more information about you."

Pat
nodded, and wheeled to Tiffany's side. She was heartbreakingly unmarred; one could hardly even see the bandages under her bangs. "Did we ever have a chance?" he said, without looking up from his wife's face.

"No," Nikki said, "but we had them. I gave you five years of chances, Pat. I kept waiting, and hoping, because I loved you, and because I knew you could change. Even when I was sure the right thing was to go, I stayed, just so I would be there when it happened. Eventually, I just got tired of waiting."

Pat looked into Nikki's eyes, nodded, and then looked back at Tiffany. "Thank you for telling me that, Nikki," he said as he stroked Tiffany's face. "I think I needed to hear that. Maybe I was meant to hear it. It makes sense of us, and I think it helps me understand her. She couldn't wait for me either. But she was willing to do something about it."

"Pat," Nikki said, "if Tiffany doesn't wake up... what happens after she has the baby?"

Pat leaned forward and rested his head on Tiffany's belly. "Officially, it's the baby on the machines," he said. "Tiffany signed a living will, a while ago, saying she was not to be put on long-term life support. I talked to her about changing that, but I guess she never did. The baby gave us a technicality to argue, and nobody really wanted to fight. But If the baby is delivered, while she's still... asleep... we have to honor the original terms of the will." He rolled back to Nikki's side.

"Pat... Your family asked me to come here," Nikki said. "They asked me here because they say you're hurt yourself, and you aren't letting the doctors help you. They say you're skipping physical therapy, even delaying procedures, so you can stay here with Tiffany."

"I have to be here," he said. "When she wakes up, I need to be here. She will wake up. I believe that."

"I know you do," Nikki said. "I'm not going to tell you you could be wrong. I'm not even going to say she might not get better even if she does wake up. But I want you to think about this. That woman there seduced you, lied to you, offered to break the law for you, married you, and faced three muggers for you, just to get you out of the rut that losing me put you in. How do you think she would feel if she woke up and found out that you spent the whole time sitting on your butt?"

"You're right," Pat said. He rolled back to the bed, and used the side railing to raise himself precipitously from the chair. Nikki ran to his side to steady him, and then grabbed a pair of crutches. "She's probably going to need help. She might not be able to walk... right away. I'll need to be back in shape to help her. And then, sooner or later... she's going to want to dance again. Did you know I learned to dance?"

Nikki nodded, and smiled. She moved to Pat's side. "Tiffany, guess what, I've had my reunion with Nikki," Pat whispered. "It turns out I just needed to talk, and she wanted to talk, too. And she wants you to know she's happy that you are here for me now." He raised Tiffany's hand for Nikki, and she nervously took it. Then she stifled a cry of surprise when Tiffany seemed to squeeze back. "She does that, sometimes. The doctors say it could be reflex."

Then Nikki put her arms around Pat, and he returned the embrace. "Thank you," he whispered. "Now go. I'll be fine. The best thing you gave me was learning how to wait in hope. Now I'm waiting for the right thing."