Thank you all so much for your reviews - they really mean a lot! :) I won't leave you in suspense any longer - despite all the burritos you might throw at me afterwards, lol!
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"Mrs. Meade, are you alright?" the doctor repeated, noticing her face had turned sheet-white.
"M-My father just went down to call her – oh – wait – you mean me . . . Sorry – I'm not used to being called that . . ." she trailed off, after regaining her composure.
"It's okay. My wife had the same problem for a few weeks after we got married, too. I'm so sorry about your wedding. I'm Dr. Salinger, by the way," he smiled.
He appeared to be no older than Daniel was – mid-thirties, handsome, shockingly charming for a surgeon. She just hoped his medical skills were as good.
Her father and Daniel's family appeared just then and the introductions continued for what seemed like forever. She wished someone would spit out the news – good or bad – she couldn't take the suspense any longer.
Finally, Dr. Salinger seemed to be prepared to deliver the information.
"Daniel lost a lot of blood and went into cardiac arrest during the operation. However, we were able to revive him and stop the internal bleeding. We removed the bullet around his lung and relieved the intracranial pressure in his brain. While the operation was successful, his body endured a lot of stress and shut itself down as a way of healing," he began.
"S-So you're saying h-he's d-dead?" Amanda was the first one to speak, practically blubbering.
"H-He's in a coma, isn't he?" Betty assumed, fearfully, having watched enough medical dramas and been in enough hospitals by then to figure it out.
"Yes, he's in a coma," Dr. Salinger confirmed her fear.
"Oh god, my poor baby boy!" Claire cried.
Tyler and Alexis consoled her.
"Dios mio! ¿Por qué siguen castigando a mi familia?" Ignacio sadly shook his head.
"He's not dead!" Amanda happily sighed, wiping her tears.
"Yeah, but being a vegetable isn't much better," Marc muttered.
"We're not positive if or when he will come out of it. But there is still brain activity and his body, while in a fragile state, is continuing to function so we are hopeful he will make a full recovery," the surgeon explained.
Betty remained quiet, unable to form the words of anger, anxiety, and frustration she felt at that moment. She was right – Daniel wasn't dead – just in a deep sleep. A sleep he had to come out of.
"Betty, are you okay? Because you're going to draw blood from my arm if you don't get your French-tipped claws off of it!" Marc hinted.
"I want to see him. I-I have to see Daniel," she said.
"We're in the process of putting him in a room right now. I'll take you to him, myself," Dr. Salinger offered.
"I'm coming with you," Claire insisted.
"So are we," Alexis spoke for herself and Tyler.
"I'll be right here, Mija," Ignacio told his daughter.
"Gracias, Papi," Betty weakly thanked him.
"So will we," Marc and Amanda assured her.
"Thank you," she said before leaving with the doctor.
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"He'll be able to hear us, right?" Betty asked as they reached the door of Daniel's room.
"Yes, it's important to talk to him, be positive. Listening to the voices of the ones who care about them has been shown to give coma patients a better outcome. But there is something else I'd like you to be aware of – Daniel might make slight movements every so often - a twitch of the mouth . . . a lift of a finger . . . a grasping of a hand – even faint noises. A lot of people mistake them as signs that patients are starting to wake up. However, most of the time, these movements and sounds are involuntary – reflexes. I don't want any of you to falsely get your hopes up," Dr. Salinger informed them.
They all nodded.
"We'll be keeping him monitored. I'll leave you to have some time with him," he told them before leaving.
"Mom, why don't you and Betty go in first? Tyler and I will wait out here," Alexis suggested.
Claire nodded, drying her tears.
"Let's go, dear. We have to be strong – for Daniel's sake," she said, leading Betty into his room.
As they walked in, Betty felt a sense of déjà vu. The same type of bandage wrapped around his head, his face pale, his body frail, the rhythmic beeping of machines . . . And this time, it wasn't just a matter of memory loss – there was a possibility he wouldn't wake up period.
But she knew she couldn't think like that. It wouldn't help anyone – especially not Daniel. Positive. Perky. Like she was when she first met him. He always loved that about her; how she managed to find the silver lining in the worst situations.
She slowly walked toward him and took his hand.
"Hey, baby – it's me. Not that I'm not grateful that you played hero for me, but did you have to put yourself in a coma over it?" she joked. "Wake up soon – you owe me a honeymoon in Paris," she said, kissing his cheek.
She had so much more she wanted to say to him, but still felt uncomfortable saying it around Claire, even as close as they'd become.
Claire, however, had no trouble at all.
"Daniel, dear, it's your mother. I know I can't order you around like I used to, but I'm doing it anyway. I demand that you fight this or I'll show everyone a certain picture of when you were six that will make the public question why, like Alexis, you didn't also become Danielle," she threatened.
Betty found it hard to contain her laughter, imagining Daniel and Alex playing dress up with Claire's clothes or tea party with their transformers or something.
"You are strong and stubborn – just like your father. And you have so many people who love you in this world – do it for them. If anything, do it for your lovely new wife – no one deserves to be a widow on their wedding day. Well, perhaps there is one exception – but not Betty. She loves you and makes you happier than I've ever seen you before. You deserve to have a future with each other – one that entails a grandchild for your poor mother. Your sister, through no fault of her own, already cheated me out of the first years of DJ's life . . . But I digress. Just open your eyes, son . . . You have so much left to live for," Claire spoke, a crack forming in her voice near the end.
"I'm going to go tell Alexis and Tyler they can come in if they want," Betty said and walked out, needing a moment to collect herself.
Alexis took one look at Betty's expression and squeezed her hand before going into the room.
"Danny's gonna be okay," she insisted.
Betty nodded, and sat beside Tyler, whose head was buried in his hands.
"This is all my fault," he groaned.
"What? Is there something you haven't told us?" she asked, hoping he hadn't been behind Renee's hit.
"There was a woman behind the whole scheme Matt and I had to break you and Daniel up. I never met her or knew who she was – but she was the one who called the shots most of the time. I only talked with her once and that was after I had agreed to help the police. We couldn't trace her phone or where she was,"
"What about Matt? Did he know exactly who she was?" Betty wondered.
"Yeah, he did. He started the whole thing with her to begin with. And I tried everything I could to convince him to give her up, but he wouldn't. Said if he couldn't have you, he didn't give a damn what happened to you or to him," Tyler said.
"Wow. I can't believe I ever saw anything in him. At the time, he was charming and sweet. He had had a childhood similar to Daniel's. But he could also be really vindictive and flakey. He couldn't commit to a career – just obsessed over one thing after another. The only thing he could commit to was me, and I wasn't ready to become as serious as he was. When he found his next muse – going to Africa – maybe he thought there was a chance I'd be there when he got back. Or maybe just finding out that of all the guys I could've been engaged to, Daniel ended up being that guy," Betty reflected.
"Every time I mentioned his name, he'd go off. I wanted to get back at Daniel, but Matt loathed him – almost like he was the one who got in the way of your relationship or something. I don't know – he didn't go into it that much," Tyler told her.
"He and Daniel fought over me – it wasn't romantically on Daniel's part, but I think Matt thought it was. And maybe he could see what Daniel and I couldn't. One time, even though he and I were broken up at the time, Matt accused me at a photo shoot of sleeping with Daniel. Daniel didn't really help matters any by punching him out in front of everyone, but he thought he was. And I secretly loved him for doing it," she smiled.
"Were you?" he asked.
"No. Daniel was getting over his first wife's death at the time," Betty replied.
"Daniel was married before?" Tyler said, surprised.
"To Molly. Her cancer - she had been diagnosed with it before she and Daniel met - had come back not long after they started seeing each other. She refused to go through another round of treatment, even though Daniel tried so hard to fight her on it. He eventually gave Molly what she wanted – to live out the rest of her life the best she could. They had a wedding soon after she found out. Molly died a couple of weeks later," she explained.
"Wow . . . that must've been rough," he shook his head.
"It was. Daniel was going through an extremely difficult situation and even though I had been promoted, I still found it tough not to act as his assistant. I tried to juggle my new job with my old along with figuring out what Daniel and I were to each other, since I was no longer directly working for him - Matt had actually become my boss. And I ended up neglecting my new job to help Daniel grieve. I shouldn't have, but I wasn't about to let him deal with something like that alone. Matt and everyone else at MODE took it to mean more than it really was," she replied.
"After the way Daniel reacted to me showing up in town, I always figured he was just a spoiled rich boy who didn't want to share all the attention he got with his illegitimate brother. But I guess he had real problems of his own," Tyler reacted, feeling even guiltier.
"Daniel's had a pretty difficult life – Molly was only one part of it. But I won't bore you with any more stories," she said.
"You're not boring me at all. It actually helps . . . learning more about my brother. I'm beginning to understand him a little more," Tyler assured her.
"Good. I'm glad . . . But back to what you were telling me – about Matt?" she questioned.
"Yeah, so he refused to reveal who she was. I know I should've told you guys about her being connected, but I wasn't getting anywhere and I didn't want to get your hopes up that we would catch her. When you hired that PI and that Mitchell girl was arrested, I just assumed she was the one. I should've tried harder with Matt . . . I'm really sorry, Betty – about everything," Tyler apologized.
"From what you've told me, you couldn't have known. And you tried - I appreciate that. I honestly believe you want to make things right," she said, squeezing his hand in forgiveness.
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Betty solemnly entered Daniel's room again. She was waiting for her father to get her suitcase from the hotel, which kindly continued to hold their luggage free of charge after the disaster at the reception.
It was the first moment alone she had had with him. He looked so peaceful, like he was merely sleeping after a long night. She gingerly crawled in beside him, her gown pooling over the edge of the bed. Maybe the presence and warmth of her body would stir him to consciousness. She was desperate to try anything.
It was supposed to be their wedding night. Daniel should have been unlacing the corset of her dress and enjoying the barely-there lingerie that lay beneath it. They would have been joining the 'mile high' club in the Meade jet by now, floating their way to Paris. Instead, Daniel was lying in a hospital bed, fighting for his life. And she was powerless to do anything about it.
She took a deep breath, deciding the only thing was to talk to him and hope.
"You remember the night you proposed to me?" she started.
A mechanical beep from a machine was the only response she received.
"You wouldn't tell me where you were taking me, only hinted that it was the one touristy place we hadn't explored," she took his hand. "I went down the list in my mind – I couldn't figure it out. I drove you nuts playing 20 Questions. You threatened to kick me out of the cab if I didn't shut up," she mused. "When we got to the London Eye, you stopped. I never even thought of it, because I knew you were afraid of Ferris wheels ever since you got stuck on one in Coney Island with Alex and he tried to throw you out of it," she rolled her eyes at the immense sibling rivalry those two had.
"As you led me into the private capsule, you said it was time for you to face your fear again with someone who would actually catch you if you fell . . . that you knew you could face any fear as long as you had me . . ." she smiled, remembering. "Then you got down on one knee and pulled out the most gorgeous ring I'd ever seen . . ." she glanced down at it.
"You told me I was the only woman who had ever made you feel whole, in every aspect of your life . . . That you wished you could build a time machine and change all the moments we had spent not knowing what we had together . . . That I was the only girl you'd ever pictured growing old with you – but only because I was the best at nagging and bugging the hell out of you," she giggled. ". . . You wanted a little you and a little me – to spoil them like crazy and give them all the love and attention you were lacking as a child . . ." she recalled.
"You wanted a life, Daniel. And I want that too – so much . . . But you have to wake up, baby. Please . . ." she softly pleaded with him, a few tears streaming down her cheeks as she closed her eyes, wishing it was only a horrible dream.