Chapter 21 Going Under

"...She's lost a lot of blood, both from that cut and judging by how swollen her ribcage is, I suspect internal bleeding..."

"..if she has broken ribs, then she might have a punctured lung...her breathing sounds chocked, like she has water in her lungs..."

"...she has bruising everywhere, God only knows how long she was laying here before someone found her..."

"...Did you alert the E.R on the way here? Did you tell them that we have a 'Jane Doe'..."

"I'm...I'm not a Jane Doe.." I don't know how I came to long enough to spit those words out but I did and when I opened my eyes, I almost wished I had stayed blacked out. Because opening my eyes opened up the floodgates to every pain conceivable that I sustained from the attack and I nearly gasped when I felt the first wave of it hit me. It was so immense, so infinite that I almost wished it had killed me. No one should have to feel pain this harsh and still be alive. The throbbing in my head was like the worse migraine ever combined with a hundred others. The blood still dripped down the side of my face and into my eyes, sometime blinding me and I didn't have the energy to wipe it away. I couldn't move my body, because every time I did I felt a sharp upswing of pain that made me cry out and reminded me just how badly I had been attacked. I didn't even try to move my leg since I knew my knee was messed up worse then it ever had before. But the worse pain was the one in my chest, the one where it felt like there was a knife twisting and it was a struggle just to draw breath. There were faces hovering above me, blurry faces who were looking down at me and saying things that made me realize they were paramedics. And even though it hurt just to breathe, I fought to tell them my identity. "My...my name...my name is Savannah...Savannah McMahon.."

"Ok, Savannah you need to stay with us. Can you do that? Keep your eyes open for me..." One of the male paramedics said to me as I turned my head when I saw him motion off to the side. I heard the others talking and I saw the darkening sky above me, but other then that I couldn't take in anything else. That would require focus and extra focus right now was painful. The male paramedic had his hands under my shoulders. "Savannah, this is going to hurt, but we need to turn you over..."

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Stop it." I had no idea that a scream that loud could come out of me when I was feeling so much pain. So when I heard it, it surprised even me despite the tidal wave of pain that threatened to consume me again. I knew they were only trying to help me, but any kind of movement forced the broken parts of my body to jolt and that made me scream again. "It hurts, it hurts..."

"I know it does, it's going to be ok though." A female paramedic picked up my hand gingerly and held it between hers as the others forced my body to turn over onto a hard board. I felt my muscles turn to steel and I held back another scream in my throat and gripped this stranger's hand tightly to ward off succumbing to the pain. I felt tears leaking out the side of my eyes, burning my skin like lava. "Savannah, stay with us ok? We're taking you to the hospital, you're going to be ok."

"I..I..." I wanted to say something in response, to say anything at all. But I felt my body grow cold and when I looked up at the sky, I saw everything disappearing into black nothingness...

I don't know how much time had passed or what I was dreaming about, but when I woke up again, I found myself looking up at the ceiling going by and lights shinning down at me. I knew I must be in the hospital right now and that the thing I was on was a stretcher. I saw a new set of faces looking down at me, faces with concerned expressions offset by white coats. I felt something on my face and went to touch it and my fingers met plastic, it was an oxygen mask. And that was bad, even in my state I knew it was bad. If I couldn't breathe on my own without the help of artificial oxygen, then I was worse off then I first thought. I tried to pull it off but I felt a hand take my wrist and pull it away to stop me. I wanted to say something to the doctors surrounding me, but I couldn't. Between the first time I had woken up and now, the pain seemed to intensify. Every time the stretcher turned a corner, I felt the movement reverberate through my body and I couldn't even bring up the energy to cry. I was too warped, too exhausted to do anything except lay there. I could hear the doctors talking to me, they sounded worried. But their voices were so muffled that I couldn't even make out one word. It wouldn't matter anyway as I was suddenly overcome by a fresh wave of pain and my vision started getting dizzy before turning black at the edges. This time it was different, this time I felt myself slipping away more rapidly then before, getting colder to the point where I felt myself shaking despite not wanting to move because of the pain. I was falling away from consciousness. I was scared that I may not wake up this time.

An hour and a half later...

"So how is she doing? You know, after you left her house earlier..."

"She was more agreeable then I thought she was going to be, but then again that's not so surprising. Savannah has never been one to be stubborn when she knows she shouldn't be." Jeff replied with a smile as he tapped his fingers on the tabletop and looked over at Dixie with a knowing look on his face. This meeting had started off so much more about business then anything personal. It had been set up weeks in advanced for the two of them since they were the main driving forces behind the daily running of TNA. But now after nearly two hours of going over budget costs and contract negotiation, the conversation was winding down and turning to someone much more easy going. Even though the subject matter in question was anything but simple or easy going. "I explained to her my concerns about her state of mind and how it wasn't safe for her to wrestle tonight and she actually agreed with me."

"Well, if anyone could get that little girl to agree with authority then it would be you. I've seen the way you two are with each other, she looks at you like one of your kids do. It's very sweet." Dixie sent him a smile as she ran her fingers through her long hair and sat back in her seat with a pen twirling in the fingers of her free hand. She was more stern then she looked but even she could relax when it came to the business, hence why a lot of people claimed TNA was the better company to work for. They ran things differently then the WWE and both Dixie and him loved that, they didn't want their backstage atmosphere to be heavy with tension and manipulation. They would never run the business the way the McMahons did. "But I'm glad you got through to her. She hasn't been looking good lately, she's been dropping weight and just not looking healthy. And her focus has been off since this rape situation started becoming more prominent..."

"Yea, and just remember that it stays between us. She doesn't know that I told you and the only reason I did was so you were aware that her lack of focus wasn't just her being lazy, she is dealing with something very big. But she can't know that you know. She would be mortified." Jeff could have kicked himself for letting Savannah's secret slip to her other boss but it was just something that could not be helped anymore. Now that Savannah had told him and Alex and Chris and then her family, she was going to be dealing with the rape head on for what would be the first time in years. Of course that was going to take her attention away. And sure Jeff could have kept his mouth shut but that would have meant Dixie could have spun her own ideas about why Savannah wasn't acting normally and Jeff didn't want her to get the wrong impression. And Savannah never had to know that he said anything. "Just keep it to yourself, the less she thinks people know the better."

"Unless you tell her then she will never know that I know." Dixie crossed her fingers with a genuine smile that Jeff knew he could trust. Dixie had kids and therefore understood how protective Jeff was over Savannah and if he said it wasn't a good idea for her to know that more people knew, then Dixie would get that. "I'm just glad that she's …."

Knock...knock...

"Sorry to interrupt..." One of the backstage assistants that Dixie and Jeff shared stuck her head into the room and caught their attention with her waving hands and concerned look. Both Dixie and Jeff turned to look at her, but she pointed towards Jeff. "Um, there's a phone call for you on line 2. It's a nurse from the hospital, she says it's urgent..."

"What the fuck?" Jeff didn't even take two seconds to wave the assistant back out of the room before he dove for the phone. The thoughts of any of his kids being hurt flashed through his mind and he was almost overcome with panic. But not so much where he couldn't pick up the phone and hit the now flashing button. "Hello? This is Jeff Jarrett, what the hell is going on?"

"Mr. Jarrett, I'm calling on behalf of the emergency contacts of Ms. Savannah McMahon. I don't know how to tell you this, but she was found in a park severely beaten earlier this evening. She's at the hospital, currently undergoing treatment as we speak.." The nurse said this all as calmly as could possibly be, but Jeff found his vision spinning and he had to grab a hold of the table to steady himself before he fell out of his chair. He heard Dixie speaking to him but he couldn't respond. Savannah was in the hospital? She had been beaten up? What the hell happened? "Mr Jarrett? You're the only person she has on her contact sheet and it's imperative that you understand the situation. You need to get here right away."

"Uh...uh, yea ok. I'll do that. Thank you." Jeff slammed the phone down hard enough where it should have broken but it didn't and he could have cared less if it had. He paused for a second and dared to let himself relax and as soon as he had, he regretted it. Because he felt the first flicker of pure panic and horror wash over him and it took all the strength and courage he had to close it off. Because if he continued to feel it then he would never have the guts to make a move and that was exactly what he had to do. He looked up to find Dixie's kind face filled with worry. "Savannah was attacked in the park earlier tonight. She's in the hospital, they say it could be bad."

"Oh my God." Dixie's face fell hard and her hand quickly came up to cover her shocked mouth until she could gather her composure. "I can't believe this..."

"I have to get out of here. I have to...i have to be there with her." Jeff should have jumped out of his seat right then but he couldn't get his feet to start moving. He was too much in shock to think straight. "I need to find Alex and Chris. But the show..."

"Forget the show, just find them and get to the hospital. I'll run the taping, you go be with her." Dixie urged him, her face going from shocked and back to business. Jeff knew it wasn't for lack of caring, Dixie was a mother and she cared about her employees like they were her children. But if she had no control over something then she would distract herself with work because it was something she could control. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Jeff go! I'll handle everything."

Jeff finally found feeling in his limbs and he shot out of the room and into the hallway so quickly that he nearly knocked over a group of technicians who were in his way when he came out. He barely was able to utter a incoherent apology before he headed out to track down Alex and Chris. He knew the two of them would be in the same place because they were usually together before a show and that would kill two birds with one stone and he wouldn't have to waste time finding two separate people. He got plenty of weird looks as he rushed through the backstage area and even weirder looks when he started yelling out for Alex and then Chris. He should have stopped and asked if anyone had seen them but his mind was too laser focused to think logically. He had one goal and that was to find them, he couldn't be distracted by things like stopping to...

"Jeff? What the hell is going on?" Alex's voice came from behind him in the hallway and Jeff whirled around on his heels to find him and Chris paused in the middle of the floor looking at him with matching expressions of surprise on his face. "Why are you screaming out our names..."

"No time for questions, just listen to me and don't talk until we're in the car." Jeff walked up to them, not wanting to shout the news of Savannah's attack all over the backstage area and waited until he was within hearing distance of the two younger wrestlers. He knew they weren't going to take it well and drawing it out would be more painful. He would have to pull the band aid off right away. "Savannah was attacked tonight and she's in the hospital. It's pretty serious and we need to get there right away. Follow me right now."

Jeff turned and headed back down the hallway so he could stop by his office and grab his keys. He didn't hear any response from Alex or Chris, just the sound of their footsteps following after him. He didn't have to look at them to know their expressions now matched his own.

30 minutes later

"Fucking traffic, God damn Orlando drivers. Don't they know we have somewhere to get to that's more important then where they're going..."

"Chris, shut up."

"I mean, come on! Couldn't you have at least driven in the break down lane to by pass all that traffic?"

"I said can it!"

"Savannah fucking needs us! She's lying in a bed here somewhere in a lot of pain. We need to get to her before something..."

"Chris, if you don't shut the fuck up then I swear I am going to punch you in the face." Alex snapped at his best friend as they rushed through the hallways of the hospital with Jeff en route to finding the nurses station where they could find out more about Savannah. But Chris's constant babbling out of frantic nervous energy was just pissing Alex off and he was on the verge of striking out against his best friend. Alex was already suffering his own wave of panic and worry after Jeff pulled them aside and told them about the attack. And it had taken every ounce of strength he had to follow his boss out to the parking lot and get into the car. But even with all the horror and worry rushing through him, he couldn't find it in him to express it in any way except anger and frustration. Chris on the other hand couldn't stop talking and his worry came spilling out the entire ride to the hospital. It was only when they had gotten off the elevator and Alex told him to shut up that he finally did. Alex saw his best friend almost deflate and Alex instantly felt bad for his tone. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like such an asshole..."

"It's ok, I was going a little overboard as it is. So you had every right to tell me to shut up. It's just that when I get genuinely shaken up, I show it by not being able to stop talking." Chris replied, his face showing that he wasn't going to hold a grudge being that they had other things to worry about. But then again Chris had never been one to hold a grudge, especially not when he knew there was a good reason for it. "You're already freaked out enough..."

"We all are." Alex muttered, glancing at Chris and then at Jeff who had charged ahead of them like an enraged father on a mission. "Look at him, he will tear this place apart if he has to to get some answers."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from him. I've said it before and I will say it again, he's more of a father to her then Vince is." Chris watched Jeff be the first one to reach the desk at the end of the hall and was practically jumping over it before he started yelling in the face of a very scared looking nurse. "Do you think we should stop..."

"I want to talk to the doctor treating Savannah McMahon right now! Get him here right now before I throw that damn computer at the wall." Jeff shouted at the nurse sitting behind the desk who was staring at him with wide eyes as Alex and Chris walked up behind him and tried to pull him back. But he shrugged them off and went right back to yelling. "Do you know who I am? I'm Jeff Jarrett! One of you people called me earlier about that girl and told me to get here right away. Well I'm here right now and I want some damn answers"

"Jeff, calm down before they call security." Alex told him hurriedly after sensing that Jeff was on the verge of freaking out even further on the nurse and stepped forward to yank his boss back from the desk and pushed him against the wall with the help of Chris. "Stop yelling for two seconds and they can get the doctor here."

"I don't want to wait two seconds." Jeff protested, still trying to move passed them but he was no match for two people fighting against him right now and he just leaned back on the wall. "I have to know how bad it is."

"We're going to find out, but you have to relax so they can do their job." Chris told him even though the expression in his eyes said that he just wanted to do what Jeff was doing and yell at everyone. But Chris had better control over his emotions then Jeff did. "The more you yell at them, that takes away time for them to call the..."

"Excuse me, Mr. Jarrett?" A kindly older man's voice spoke up from around the corner from them and all three turned to see a tall man in blue scrubs and a white coat come towards them with a file folder stuck in his hands. "I'm Dr. Robertson, I've been treating Savannah since she was admitted..."

"How is she? Is she ok?" Jeff demanded, completely ignoring Alex and Chris as the doctor motioned them to follow him into a nearby room where he shut the door with an expression that could only be described as grim. But Jeff was relentless in his pursuit for answers. "How bad is it? Is she going to be ok? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Mr. Jarrett, you might want to sit down..." Dr. Robertson began to say but true to Jeff's nature, he wouldn't be told what to do.

"I don't want to sit down. I want to know how she is doing, so just fucking tell me already." Jeff snapped, not sounding like his usual self but that couldn't be helped as he was a man on the verge of a mental breakdown. "Just say it, we can take it."

"It's pretty bad. We had to fill out a form listing her injuries to hand to the police as well as photographic evidence in case she wanted to press charges as this was a very vicious attack. Her injuries are extensive." The doctor explained, setting the file down on a nearby table and flipping through it to a page that must have listed the trauma because he started relaying it back to them. "She sustained 4 broken ribs as well as a punctured lung that caused internal bleeding that we needed to go in and repair. She has bruising over half her body and two black eyes. There is a cut on her forehead that needed 10 stitches to close. And her knees was dislocated so we had to pop back into place and immobilize so it can heal properly. And she also suffered a dangerous concussion that has left her unconscious since she was brought in. We treated her as best we could, but now it is up to her to finish the healing process."

Alex felt himself falling downward and thankfully there was a chair right behind him so he didn't fall right to the floor. He sank down onto the wooden chair with his face in his hand and he could tell Chris had done the same. He was in shock and at first he couldn't hear anything going on around him. All he could hear was the doctor's voice telling them what had happened to her and he wanted to throw up. His girlfriend, the woman he loved and wanted to spend the rest of his life with had been beaten to within an inch of her life. He didn't know what he was suppose to do with this information.

"What...what happened?" Jeff's voice was the only one of them to speak up and even he had lost some of his composure from earlier. He looked like he had aged 5 years in just a few minutes and he looked at the doctor like he was going to collapse. "Do you know how this came to be?"

"We don't have much detail on what happened prior to the attack but an elderly couple found her in the park and it was obvious that she had been attacked but there was no sign of her attacker. The couple called 911 and were there when the paramedics and police arrived and they made a statement but until Savannah wakes up, then we won't have exact details."

"Is she going to be ok though?" Jeff questioned, his hands gripping his hair roughly. "She will wake up right?"

"She will, I just don't know when as her body went through such a traumatic beating tonight. So there is no way to tell when she will wake up. It's up to her." The doctor told them, closing the file and settling them with a look that was best described as sympathetic and filled with pity for them. "But this is the time when I suggest that family should be informed and since you are the only one on her emergency contacts, you will have to be the one to do it."

"Of course, I completely forgot that she didn't have them listed. She's been on the outs with them for the last few years, she only started to reach out to them these past few weeks." Jeff seemed to be in another world as he spoke, his eyes no longer on the doctor or them. "I'll go do that right now."

"And if you gentlemen want to come with me, I can take you to see her right now if you like." The doctor added, his statement brought Alex's head up for the first time since he sat down. Jeff was nodding to them as he walked out of the room and Chris was already on his feet to follow after the doctor. "I warn you though, seeing her the way she is might be shocking..."

Alex took the warning as what it was, but even he knew deep down that nothing could prepare him for what he was about to see.

25 minutes later

"...if you need anything, just come to the desk and we'll assist you..." The nurse said on her way out the door and Alex was annoyed by the pitying look she sent their way as they were left alone in the dimly lit room where Savannah was laying in the bed looking completely different then the last time they saw her.

Alex knew it was going to be bad after hearing the list of her injuries and he had even tried to imagine what she would look like in his head before they entered the room. But even his most chaotic thoughts and imaginings could not prepare him for the still form lying on the bed in front of him. Savannah was still recognizable but the damage done to her face and body could not ignored as it was evident in every part of her and it drove a knife right through his chest to see her like this. The black eyes stood out like they had been purposely colored in and the bandage on her forehead covered what had to be a nasty cut. Her right knee was immobilized in a brace and raised off the bed in a sling and her abdomen was clearly strapped up under the hospital gown to keep her broke ribs in place. But the worse thing to see was the I.V. tubes sticking out of her hands and the breathing tube inserted into her mouth to help her breath. She was broken to the lowest degree and it seemed highly unlikely that she would be able to come back from this. How could anyone after suffering this kind of agony?

"Fuck." Alex heard himself mutter and he turned his eyes away from Savannah and towards the window because if he looked at her any longer right now, then he was surely going to lose it and that was something he knew he couldn't reign back in once it started. "Damn it, damn it, damn it."

"Hey, she's going to be ok. The doctor said so, we just have to wait for her to wake up. But she is out of immediate danger." Chris said in comfort, coming up beside him and placed his hand on Alex's shoulder with a heavy squeeze. Chris wasn't one to reach out and hug someone unless it seemed like they would welcome it and right now Alex was not going to welcome it. He didn't want that kind of comfort. He wanted Savannah to wake up and tell him it was ok. But Chris would have to do. "She's a fighter, she'll pull through."

"She just looks so small and seconds away from completely falling apart." Alex looked back at her and wished he could flip a switch and go back to a few hours ago so he could have stayed with her. He moved toward the bed. "I'm afraid to touch her."

"This is my fault." Chris stated suddenly as he appeared to the right of the bed and looked down at her with his forehead furrowed deeply. "I told her to go running and if she didn't listen to me then she wouldn't be here..."

"So I just got off the phone with Vince and he told me that they are all flying out tonight as soon as they can get away. They'll be here sometime in the morning..." Jeff's voice had been so composed when he walked into the room to tell them of his phone call with the McMahon's but it soon trailed off when they watched his eyes travel across the room to the bed where the girl he considered a daughter lay. He then shot away into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Alex and Chris looked at each other as the sound of Jeff heaving came into the room and neither of them made a move to check on him. It wasn't needed as a few minutes later they heard the toilet flush and the faucet running as he rinsed his mouth out and then he returned to the room looking weak and disoriented. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily before walking over to the bed and gently picked up Savannah's hand in a way that Alex wished he could do and Jeff said. "Oh dear God, who did this to you?"

"Come on Jeff, you know who did this. You know it has to be Randy." Alex said sarcastically as he moved to the other side of the bed and looked at his girlfriend while Chris stood at the foot and stared as well. Alex shook his head. There was no questioning it. Randy was the culprit. "Who else would attack her weeks after being suspended."

"We can't do anything about it until she wakes up, even if we do know it was Randy. If there is the slimmest chance that we're wrong, then it could create a lot of trouble for us. And that won't be fair to Savannah, she needs us here." Jeff was the voice of reason in the group even though he looked like he wanted to put his fist through the wall right now. But his temper was more level then Alex or Chris now that he had a chance to calm down from his earlier flare up. "She'll be ok, she has to be."

"Babe, you have to wake up now. You need to wake up so we can go after that asshole." Alex said quietly, his anger slipping away as he reached out to touch her face, his fingers brushing against her bruised skin and he felt himself shudder. He couldn't lose her, not when they had barely begun their lives together. They were suppose to have more time, there were experiences they had yet to have. There were things he wanted with her that he didn't want with any other woman. She had to come back from this or else he would never be the same. He looked down at her still form and touched her hand. "You promised that you would never leave me."

Later that night

"When do you think she'll wake up?" Alex asked out loud a few hours later as he sat in a chair by Savannah's bed and looked around the room at the other two men who were watching her just as he was even though there had been no improvement at all. The machines beeped as steadily as they had when they first entered and never wavered, the morphine drip flowed at the same speed as before and there was no flicker of life from her. Alex had never left his position by the bed and had dragged his chair over so he could stay by her side as long as possible. Chris and Jeff had taken seats at the small table and had been silent and unmoving in the hours that passed since they all last spoke. But when Alex posed this question, their heads shot up quickly as he shrugged. "I mean, what if she doesn't..."

"Don't even say that. I won't listen to it." Jeff frowned darkly, his face turning away from the spot on the wall he had been staring at for the past hour and focused his gaze on Alex with a stormy look. "You heard the doctor, she will wake up. So don't even question that she won't."

"Yea dude, you have to trust that they know what they're talking about. If they say she will wake up then she will. Just give it time." Chris backed up Jeff wholeheartedly even though his face showed that he was feeling lower then he had in a very long time. He sat back in his chair and said. "Savannah is going to come back to us, but she'll do it when she's ready."

"But I want her back now!" Alex found himself snapping almost loudly and for a second he was hoping that rise in his voice would send a jolt through Savannah's brain and somehow wake her up, but there was no change.

"Excuse me?" A quiet voice spoke up from the open doorway and they all turned to see a nurse walking in with her tray of equipment that she laid down on the table on the other side of the bed and looked at them with a small smile that they could tell was forced. "I don't mean to interrupt but I have to take her stats."

"It's fine, go ahead." Chris answered for them as he ran his fingers through his messed up hair and watched as the nurse first reached for the bag hanging on the hook above the bed. "Is that the morphine in there?"

"Yes it is and it's being administered over the span of every 4 hours so she won't be in pain and can get the rest that she needs. And by the look of things, she needs plenty of rest." The nurse replied, hanging a full bag of pain medication on the hook and then turned to pick up the thermometer to run it lightly across Savannah's forehead, avoiding the bandage as it beeped. "Well, her temperature is normal."

"Was is a possibility that something could have gone wrong in the surgery?" Jeff asked, asking the question that Alex himself had been wondering since they were told that she had needed the surgery to repair her punctured lung. "Could she had gotten sick somehow?"

"It's always a possibility but for her it didn't happen, so you can be thankful for that." The nurse nodded as she reached for the blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around Savannah's too small arm and inflated it while looking at the monitor. "Well, her pressure is a little low but I suspect that was due to how she was before the attack."

"She's been really stressed these last few weeks and she hasn't been taking care of herself as well as she use to." Alex spoke up, looking at her face and cursing himself for not forcing her to slow down and think of her health. "She lost a lot of weight from stress."

"Well that will definitely have an effect on her blood pressure and we'll just keep a close eye on it." The nurse assured him, removing the cuff and setting it aside before reaching for the bandage on Savannah's head. This was the part that Alex refused to watch and he turned his head away when the bandage was removed. He saw that Chris and Jeff were doing the same and luckily the nurse was quick as she cleaned the wound and replaced the old bandage with a fresh one. "It's covered now, you can look."

"None of us wanted to see that. The rest is hard enough, at least the cut can be covered." Jeff shuddered as if just imagining it was too much for him. And as the nurse was packing up her things, he looked at her. "I know the doctor said she will wake up but do you have any idea when that could be?"

"It's hard to say with her injuries. I've seen people with much worse come back much sooner. It all depends on the person themselves." She said with that sympathetic look she had on when she walked in the room. "It could be a matter of hours or days. And in the worse case scenario, it might be weeks."

"Oh that's reassuring." Alex grumbled, turning his gaze back down to his girlfriend as the nurse prepared to leave.

"Perhaps you all should go home and rest." She suggested, moving towards the door with her equipment all packed up and hanging from one hand. "She's not going to be waking up any time soon..."

"I'm not leaving her side." Alex shook his head without even looking up, he slipped his palm under her small hand and curled his fingers around it, no longer scared of touching her. "I'm staying right here."

"Alex..." Jeff began to say but he was cut off before he could get two full words out.

"No."

"No, he's right. We should be here on the off chance that she could wake up. And if she does then I want to be here too..." Chris nodded his head in response, looking first to Alex and then to Jeff as they all shared the same silent agreement. Then he looked towards the nurse. "We're staying."

"Alright, just let me know if you need anything." The nurse said and then walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving them alone again.

Alex sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as the silence pressed in on them but no one seemed to have the strength to break it. Being in this room stole every ounce of energy from the three of them and all they seemed capable of was just sitting there waiting for something that may of may not happen. Yes, he understood that the doctors had faith that she would wake up, but he also knew that this was a tiny little girl they were dealing with, who had been knocked down so many times that she may not decide to come back from this. And if that happened, then Alex knew it would all be over for him. Everything he wanted out of his own life, everything he wanted from a life with her could be taken away at any minute. What if she died and left him alone despite her promise to the contrary? Or what if she was still alive but she never woke up? How would he be able to adapt with that? Too many questions and no beginnings to answers. All that he had was time to wait until she either woke up on her own or the doctors declared that she wouldn't. Until then, he was in the dark.

"Come on Savannah, open your eyes..."