Tim had brought them periodic updates throughout the night, and Ryan had done well enough that the usual visiting schedule was resumed in the morning. It seemed as though little had changed except for the fact that half of Ryan's head had been shaved and was covered in bandages. Things continued smoothly until the evening hours.

Neil had been in Ryan's room with Mrs. Kelly, and Keith in the waiting room with the rest of the family. Fiona had been in with the usual periodic updates until around 10 pm, when she suddenly stopped coming out. At first, everyone assumed that things had simply gotten busy; this had happened before, and she'd eventually come out. But now it was midnight, time for Keith and Raymond to take over in the room, and no one was coming out. Keith, getting restless again, walked into the ICU to see if Neil and Mrs. Kelly were ready to leave and was startled to find Neil standing outside Ryan's door, his head buried in his hands.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, wrapping an arm around Neil, and was surprised to find the older man shaking. Tightening his grip, he pulled him close. "Come on, Neil, talk to me. What's going on?"

Neil looked up at him, and Keith could see the intense stress in his eyes. "I had to get out," he said. "Just for a minute. I've been freaking out, and not letting Mrs. Kelly see it, for the last hour."

"Why?"

"Ryan's alarms have been going off every few minutes for the last hour and a half," Neil explained shakily. "Either it's the ventilator alarm, because it seems like he's trying to fight the ventilator and breathe on his own rhythm, or he tenses up and his heart rate goes sky high. They've tried everything - pain medicine, changing his position, taking his splints off. They even shut down the ventilator for a few minutes to see if he could breathe on his own. He did, but not enough to keep his oxygen levels up, so they had to put it back on again. They said if it doesn't stop they're going to have to give him more medicine to deliberately paralyze his breathing muscles so he stops fighting."

"I'm surprised they haven't made you leave," Keith said.

"I know," Neil said heavily. "Nobody's said, it, but honestly, I think they're afraid he's going to die and they want someone here with him."

"Don't say that!" Keith burst out. "He's not! They'd at least have called the rest of the family in if they thought that was the case!"

"I guess so," Neil said tiredly. "I just know that neither one of us can take any more, but I can't get Mrs. Kelly to leave."

"OK," said Keith. "It's time to switch anyway. Let me get Mr. Kelly in here, and then Raymond and I will take over." He went back out to the waiting room and spoke to the rest of the family, explaining what was going on. Mr. Kelly went in and convinced his wife to leave, and then Keith and Raymond went in to let Neil go.

"It looks like we're in for a rough night", Raymond said. They could see that Ryan's color wasn't good and he was sweating even though the room wasn't hot. Tim, who had just come on, came in to check on Ryan just then.

"Hi, guys," he said. "It's not been an easy time the last hour or so. I wish we could figure out what the problem is and fix it, for right now we're just trying to ease things as much as we can. If either of you has a brain wave about something that might help, don't be afraid to suggest it. It certainly can't hurt."

Ryan suddenly tensed and grimaced, his heart rate monitor alarming as his pulse skyrocketed. Tim hurried over, removing splints and shifting Ryan's position until he relaxed and his heart rate went down again.

"That's been happening about every 10 minutes," Tim said. "That, or the ventilator alarm goes off. I don't suppose I need to tell you that this kind of stress isn't good for him. Sending people out of the room doesn't change anything, so we didn't see the need to exclude visitors, but if it gets to be too much for you, let us know, OK?"

Raymond and Keith nodded. Keith understood now why Neil had been in such bad shape after going through this for the last hour and a half. Neil was strong, despite his gentle nature, but this would wear anybody down. He looked at Raymond.
"If this keeps up, we might need to trade off more frequently," he said. "Good thing there's always somebody in the waiting room." Raymond nodded.

Things were quiet for a few more minutes, and then the ventilator alarm went off, and Tim came in again, trying to adjust the ventilator to match the rhythm Ryan seemed to be trying to use. After a few minutes, things calmed down again. The cycle repeated itself, as Tim had said, about every 10 minutes. By the fourth or fifth cycle, Keith and Raymond were both feeling the strain. Then Ryan tensed again, making an awful face and setting the heart rate monitor off - but just as Tim reached the door, he seemed to relax on his own.

"Well," Tim said, "that's different. I'd just made up my mind to call Dr. Reilly in, but if he's going to settle down on his own, maybe we're turning the corner." He stepped out again, and Raymond suddenly realized that he was hearing an odd, random humming coming from next to him. He turned to look at Keith.

"Is that you?" he said. The humming stopped as Keith turned to look at him and said, "Is what me?"

"You were humming or sort of singing something," Raymond said.

Keith looked away, embarrassed. "I guess I was. The other guys tell me I do that when I'm upset or worried. I don't even know I'm doing it most of the time. I'll try not to if it's bugging you. There's enough stress in here as it is."

"I was just surprised, it wasn't bothering me," said Raymond. "If it helps you, don't try to fight it."

Suddenly the ventilator alarm went off, and Tim hurried in, silenced the alarm and prepared to adjust the ventilator again, then stopped in surprise. "He's stopped fighting it on his own," Tim said. "Maybe things are really going to settle down." He stepped out of the room again. Raymond noticed that Keith was singing again, but didn't say anything.

Things were calm for more than 15 minutes this time, and then Raymond noticed that Keith had stopped singing - and suddenly the ventilator alarm went off again. He made a sudden connection.

"Keith!" he cried out over the alarm as Tim appeared in the doorway. "Come over here and start singing again!"

"What?" Keith said loudly, confused.

"Just do it," Raymond said. "I think I know what's going on."

Keith stepped over next to Ryan and started singing, a random song pulled out of his memory at the moment, and the ventilator alarm immediately stopped. He stopped singing in surprise, and the alarm started going off again almost immediately. He started singing again, and the alarm stopped.

"I knew it!" Raymond exclaimed. "It's you singing that's settling him down! He must be recognizing your voice!"

"Well, that's a new one," said Tim. "I'll take it, though." He looked at Keith. "Can you keep singing until morning, though?"

Keith nodded, then with a grin inserted the phrase "I will if I have to" into the song. The other two laughed, finally relaxing.