Chapter Ten

Cole and Blair stepped out of the elevator to see Doctor Greg Evans running past them. "Grab me a crash cart stat," Blair heard Dr. Evans tell one of the nurses. He went into Marty's room and shut the door behind him.

"Come on Cole, let's go sit over hear while the Doctors look in on your mom," Blair stated as she grabbed Cole's hand and led him to a chair.

"I just want to see if she's okay," Cole said as he got up and headed towards the hospital room."

"I know that you want to see her. I do too, but we have to let the doctors do their job. We don't want to get in the way. Why don't you tell me about school, while we're waiting," Blair said hoping to distract Cole and herself from the worry.

"Um, school's okay, I guess. I made the deans list."

"That's great Cole, I'm sure that your mom is really proud of you."

Todd stepped off the elevator and saw Cole and Blair sitting in the waiting room.
"What's going on?"

"The doctors are in with my mom right now," Cole answered.

"What happened?"Todd asked fearing what the answer would be.

"We don't know. Come over here and sit down. I'm sure that will be out soon," Blair said.

Ten minutes passed and then they saw Dr. Evans exit Marty's room. Todd, Blair and Cole went up to him as soon as he had exited the doorway. "What's going on Evans?" Todd asked.

"Marty's heart stopped, but we were able to get it going again. She's extremely tired and weak so I'm going to limit her visitors to one at a time please. Todd, she's been asking for you, but please keep the visit short. She needs her rest."

"Is there any word yet on a match?" Blair asked.

"Not yet, but I've put a rush on the lab work, I expect to hear something back today," Greg said and then he walked away.

"I'm going to go see my mom," Cole said as he headed for the room.

"Cole, she asked to see me. I think that you should respect your mom and give her what she wants right now," Todd said, he wasn't trying to be a jerk, but he was curious to see what Marty wanted. Todd knew that he would be the last person that Marty would ever ask to see, so he needed to know why she wanted to see him now.

Cole clenched his hands together in anger all he wanted to do was punch Todd, but that wouldn't help anyone, especially his mom. "Fine, but keep it short." Cole muttered and then sat back down in the chair.

Todd walked into Marty's room and went and sat by her bedside. She was sleeping and Todd didn't want to disturb her, she looked so angelic to him in this moment and he knew that she needed her rest. He was about to turn around and leave, when Marty opened her eyes.

"Todd you're here."

Todd wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and sat down; Marty still had the same affect on him that she had always had. He was always nervous around her and often didn't know what to say or how to act. Todd cleared his throat, "the doctors told me that you wanted to see me."

"I did. I wanted you to know that I forgive you for what you did to me in college." Marty didn't know if she really forgave him, but she needed him to hear her say it before she died. She knew that if she died and Todd never got the redemption he was looking for that he would always hate himself. Marty believed that Todd's self hatred and inability to let go of the past was behind his revenge schemes against the people in his life. Marty knew that the last time Todd thought that she died that he went postal and did everything that he could to tear apart Starr and Cole. He even thought that Cole had raped Starr and he had nearly beaten him to death. Marty believed that in that moment Todd saw himself and Marty and that when he was hitting Cole it was an act against the part about himself that he hated.

"Why are you doing this?" Todd asked as he looked down.

"It's about time that we let go of the past, don't you think? Truth is I probably should have forgiven you years ago, but I guess my anger and hurt kept me from saying anything.

"And now?"

"I don't have the time or the energy to let past anger, hurt, and disappointment keep me from what's really important. Promise me that you won't hurt Cole anymore if I don't make it."

"I don't accept your forgiveness because you don't mean it, not really. You're just trying to keep the peace between me and Cole if you don't make it. You're giving up and your offering your forgiveness as a way to assure that I won't hurt your son. I don't care you can hate me, all you want, but you have to fight this. You have to survive. If you want to protect your son then you have to live. Marty, don't you know, you're my conscious and without you in this life, all I have is darkness. When you beat this and you still want to forgive me for our past then I will accept it then and only then, but somehow I doubt you will." Todd knew Marty well and he knew her enough to know that she had reached her breaking point and that her forgiveness and making sure that her son was okay was her last act before she let go of the fight, "you just have to hang on until we find you a match and you get your surgery, if not I promise you that if I lose you then all hell will break lose and the one that will pay the most will be your son."

"You're such a bastard, I don't know why I ever thought that I could reason with you. Get out of my room and don't come back. You will never hurt my child again, do you understand me."

"Yeah I understand you, I'll leave, but you know what you have to do in order to keep Cole safe. His life is in your hands," Todd said and then he left slamming the door behind him. He hated upsetting Marty especially when she was this weak and vulnerable, but he knew that when she was angry she fought with everything in her. Todd needed her to fight and to beat this thing, so much that he was willing to give up the idea of redemption for her.