CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"No," Sheila insists, her eyes blazing. "Leo's paying for a large room. There's enough space for all of us, and we'll get out of the way if the doctors or nurses needs to get at Piper." She turns to look at one of Piper's friends and one of her employees who were with us at the time that the doctor shooed us out. "Would you guys mind getting a hold of Piper's other friends and employees and let them know that it's better to just have the family here?"

They nod, and after hugging us all, they leave.

"Will that work?" Sheila asks the admin. "I used to work at this hospital. I know the rules."

The admin sighs. "For now. But if I hear any more complaints…"

"You won't," I insist.

"Please accept my condolence," he says, although he doesn't sound like he means it.

"How long?" Paige asks in a small voice.

He shakes his head. "That's impossible to say," and he leaves.

"Yeah, right," Sheila mutters. "They just say that so you can't sue them if they're wrong."

Leo hugs Sheila tight. "Thank you, Sheila. You and Darryl have been our Rocks of Gibraltar though this entire ordeal. I don't know what we'd do without you."

She hugs him back, "The same thing we'd do without you guys. Now I'll leave, and let Darryl & Dare know that we can't come back. Be sure to say good-bye to Piper for Dare and give his condolences to the boys."

I very firmly shake my head. "No. Especially after what you just did, what you guys have done for us all along, well, you guys are as much part of Piper's family as we are. We'll all try to stay quiet and keep our comings and goings to as little as possible. But when the time comes, we're all going to be in that room to watch Piper cross over!" and Leo very firmly agrees as do Paige and David.

Even Trish comes over and hugs her. "That's right, Auntie-She! You gotta stay!" and Sam chimes in with "Stay, Auntie-She, stay!"

Sheila smiles, a tear of joy in her eye, then insists that we go downstairs to the cafeteria and get some lunch. None of us really feel like eating, but we figure we better, just to keep up our strength. For hospital food, it's not that bad. I notice that it closes at 7, so I figure I better keep that in mind if we're still around in time for supper. I hope we are, but there's just no saying for sure.

When we get back up to the eighth floor and glance in, Piper is still sleeping, so we return to the family room. Paige decides to take Sam for another "run" and I have to admit that the couch where Leo took his earlier nap looks awful good, after being up so late last night. Insisting that they wake me up if anything starts happening, I sit down and am surprised that I'm actually beginning to fall asleep.

---------------

Piper! Chris! Wyatt! No! No! Piper!