Chapter 14

"So whenever, you kicked the door open what did you see?" Lucas was still at the hospital, he was answering some questions for the report.

"Umm.. I saw Charlie standing above Riley looking down at her, there was blood on the brick wall and on the floor from her wound. I'm assuming he slammed her head against that a few times." He watched them writing and couldn't help himself. "Did he admit to it?"

His buddy began to shake his head, "Yeah. He told us in great detail what happened. Word for word, against his lawyers advice. But, I personally think he may plead insanity. He kept saying he loved her over and over. Love makes you do crazy things."

The officers eyes came to a squint. "No. Love doesn't make people do that. That wasn't love it was, I don't even know what that was. The DA needs to ask for maximum." After a few moments he began to mumble. "Do you have his statement with you?"

"I figured you'd ask for it." The officer passed him a piece of paper. "It's a copy, you can keep it or tear it up whatever you want." Lucas shook his hand out of gratitude and opened the door to Riley's room.

"Josh, come get me if something happens. I will be in the waiting room." After Josh agreed Lucas walked to the waiting room and sat down on the pleather gray seats. He took a deep breath before he brought the paper up to his eyes.

Suspect admits to breaking into her home and waiting for her to get there. They had a conversation -full conversation is taped at the precinct- and an altercation broke out. He ran for her neck, victim threw his arm down and elbowed him in the temple. Followed by a punch to the face then one to the stomach. He leaned over from the blow and she kneed him in the face, followed by a kick to the ribs.

"That's my girl." he whispered.

Suspect says, "you don't have to make this so difficult" victim says "sorry, I didn't realize I was supposed to make it easy for you to hurt me" he runs and tackles her into the brick wall and once he got ahold of her neck he slammed her head into the brick 3 maybe 4 times. Victim tried to kick, scratch and break the hold on her neck before blacking out. Suspect dropped the victim to the ground and claims officer Friar broke the door down.

"That freaking psycho." Lucas could see her struggling in his mind, she was probably wondering where he was at. He leaned back in his chair and cleared his throat hoping to push the tears back.

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"Riles, I don't know if you can hear me. But, do you remember when we graduated college and went on our 4 day cruise to the Bahamas? When you wake up I am going to take you on another cruise, where ever you want to go. You, me, Josh and-" The door opening stopped her and Lucas walked in. "And Lucas. All of us are going on a cruise and we are going to have the time of our lives." Maya grasped onto her best friends hand and squeezed tight.

Josh placed his hand on her shoulder and lightly kissed her head. "Food run anyone? I'm going to Whataburger." Everyone started spouting off orders. "Okay, how about this. Text me your order. Maya, will you come with me? I feel like I am going to need some help." After the pair left the room Lucas quickly slid into Maya's place next to Riley.

"Hey beautiful." He grasped her hand.

"Lucas, we will give you some space. We are going to get some coffee, do you want some?" He shook his head and followed her parents out with his eyes.

"Hey, I finally get you to myself again. So, where were we in our last conversation? Oh that's right, umm dancing. We were dancing to Josh Abbott, I felt pretty jealous seeing you dance with Hayden. I just remember how beautiful you looked and your eyes. Those eyes cut right through me everytime. It was hilarious when you kneed that guy, I knew I wouldn't have to handle you like a fragile doll." He tried to keep talking, it was becoming easier to carry on with no response. "You touched my chin and told me i'd let flies in." He felt a squeeze on his hand and he went from staring at her to staring at her hand.

"NURSE! NURSE!"

"What, what is everything okay?" The nurses ran into the room expecting something bad.

"She squeezed my hand! She-" He still had her hand in his and he was trying to contain his excitement as he was running his fingers through his hair.

"Okay. Give us a moment." They checked the placement of her electrodes and scanned over the print out of the brain waves. "I'm going to call the doctor." Lucas leaned over and kissed her cheek, "you're coming back to me." His smile was huge and he just wanted to scream to release the energy that was building up in his stomach. With his one free hand he called her parents, and their friends. He practically hung up on Josh as the doctor walked in.

"Officer, the nurses tell me that this is possibly the second time she has responded to you." He grabbed the paper and started reading the scans when her parents ran through the door. "Hello again."

"What's going on?" Cory questioned

Lucas practically yelled, "I was talking to her and she squeezed my hand!"

"It seems as if she is responding well to Mr. Friar here. So here is the deal, guys. She is responding, minimally. Which is great considering she just had brain surgery last night. But, on the GCS scale she is still in the unresponsive coma state not the MCS state."

"Um, can you break that down for us?" Topanga asked.

"GCS, Glasgow Coma Scale is a rating system, the higher the number the better the possible outcome. Is she opening her eyes? Responding to pain? Is she obeying commands? Once I total up the points she is maybe a 3 or 4 on a scale of of 15." He watched the family and their look of happiness turned to disappointment. "MCS means, Minimally Conscious State. Until she starts squeezing your hand when you ask her, or maybe opens her eyes. I can't move her into the different category."

"So, what do we do?"

"I'm a firm believer in talking to the unconscious, though there is no proof, scientifically that it works. Something is triggering her brain. Whatever Mr. Friar is doing, i'd keep it up." He walked out of the room and Topanga ran to hug Lucas.

"What are you saying to her? Maybe we can incorporate it into our conversation." Cory suggested.

"I um, well this is embarrasing but you have a point. I am talking to her about all the times we spent together, in order. What we did." he turned to look at Riley, "What I felt." He sat down in the chair, and grabbed her hand. "I tell her how beautiful she was and what the weather was like."

Topanga looked at her husband with love in her eyes, "You aren't going anywhere anytime soon are you?"

"No. I'm not leaving her."

"What about showers? Food? Clothes?"

"There is a shower in her bathroom, Josh can bring me clothes his or mine it doesn't matter, and I can order delivery. Easy."

"You have thought this through." Mrs. Matthews looked at her husband again.

"I have had a lot of time to think." He never once stopped staring at Riley.

Mr. Matthews nodded at his wife. "Lucas, my husband and I have to request something of you."

"For us. For her. We need you to keep talking to her. Topanga and myself will bring you whatever you need."

"You didn't have to ask."

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Three more days had past. There were a few more hand squeezes and an eye flutter. The doctor was optimistic that she would wake up soon. Visiting hours were coming to a close and everyone was preparing to leave. Lucas was exhausted he hardly slept at all and it was beginning to show as bags under his eyes.

"Lucas, are you sure you want to stay? You need to get some sleep eventually. I know we asked you to stay but, you're exhausted."

"I'm okay, I sleep a little at night." Everyone left the room after 15 minutes of arguing, leaving Lucas alone with her again.

"Hey pretty lady. Do you want to pick up where we left off? That's probably best. So, I drew you a bath. I think the candles were winter something apple, and there were bubbles. I remember when you came in with your glass of wine, you were so surprised. Then you told me I could come back in once you were in the tub. I felt like my heart was about to explode, I literally punched the air." He laughed. "You laid in the tub for about an hour and even in candlelight you were glowing." His words started coming out slowly. The green eyed man leaned back in his chair holding onto her hand for dear life and quickly fell asleep.

It was 7 o'clock in the morning, Lucas had slept through the night in the uncomfortable chair, he would have slept longer but Mrs. Matthews walking into the room roused him.

"Oh! Lucas, did you finally get some sleep?"

"I'm sorry Mrs. Matthews I didn't stay awake long enough for anything interesting to happen."

"Why don't you go home honey? You will sleep so much better and you will be refreshed to be up here with her."

"No, i'm okay." Topanga stared at the officer and immediately knew what he was thinking.

"Do you remember what I told you? You can't keep blaming yourself for this."

"Mrs. Matthews, I promised her I would protect her. I didn't. I wasn't there. I'm going to have to live with that for the rest of my life. But, right before she went back for surgery I promised her I wouldn't leave her, that I would be right here. And I intend to be."

"Ya' know Lucas, I am going to go get some coffee but I read somewhere that music or singing a song might rouse them." she walked out of the room and he was thinking about the song Riley sang to her parents. It was worth a shot right?

I never had no one
I could count on
I've been let down so many times, I was tired of hurtin' so tired of searchin'
'til you walked into my life, it was a feelin', i'd never known and for the first time I didn't feel alone
You're more than a lover, there could never be another, that makes me feel the way you do
Oh we just get closer, I fall in love all over, everytime I look at you
I don't know where i'd be, without you here with me, life with you makes perfect sense
You're my bestfriend.

He stared at her with no luck and laid his forehead on her arm. "You're my best friend." A tear managed to escape his eyes. Lucas leaned back in his chair and began singing again.

You stand by me, you believe in me like nobody ever has. When my world goes crazy, you're right there to save me, you make me see how much I have.

All of a sudden her hands flew up, breathing heavily and scratching at her neck brace. Lucas stood up from his chair making it fall to the floor. The monitors were beeping like crazy, her heart rate was speeding up. Lucas grabbed her arms and looked at her in the eyes.

"Look at me! Hey, hey look at me! You're okay! Don't talk." Riley had so much fear in her eyes trying to scan the room and figure out where she was. "Riles, you're okay. Shh, you're okay! Shh, shh, shh." He stroked her cheek. "I'm here, don't be scared, you're okay."

"Sir, please step back!" the nurses were pushing him back out of the room!

"RILEY I AM RIGHT HERE! I AM RIGHT HERE."

He stood outside the door when Topanga ran up. "Wait, why are you out here? Where's Riley?" She saw nurses running into her room. "What's happening Lucas?!"

Lucas was breathing heavily, trying to process what he just saw. He was looking at the ground when he mumbled. "She woke up."

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