True Love Never Dies

A General Hospital fan-fiction

Disclaimer: Umm, I don't own anything except the characters I've created. But you knew that, right? Come on tell me you knew that.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Family matters

For the next several days, Angel and Emily took turns sitting vigil beside Zander's bedside. Monica had warned them that the longer he took waking up, the more of a risk it was that he would fall into a deep coma.

Emily had hope though that he would wake up soon, so she refused to leave the hospital. She left his room only to sleep in the doctor's on-call room. Being the chief-of-staff's daughter did have its' advantages.

As for Angel, Sonny managed to get her to leave the hospital every night but she returned bright and early each day.

On the fourth day, Angel arrived alone in his room. Emily was slumped over in her chair with her head resting on the bed. Even though she was fast asleep, her hand clasped Zander's tightly. When Angel leaned over her, she bolted upright. "Oh!"

"It's okay, Emily, it's just me," Angel reassured her.

Emily yawned broadly and shook her head. "I'm sorry," she began, "I must have drifted off."

"Have you gotten any sleep lately?" Angel asked, her brow creasing in concern.

Emily smiled weakly. "A little, but I don't want to leave Zander."

"Well, it's okay if you want to sleep now," Angel told her, "I'll stay with him."

Emily smiled. "I bet you're not going to take no for an answer, are you?"

"No." Angel told her with a grin of her own.

Emily gathered her purse and her blanket in her arms and bent over Zander. Kissing his forehead, she whispered, "I'll be back, Zander. Your mother is here."

At the words 'your mother', Angel felt tears welling up. It still felt surreal to her that Zander was her son. As Emily left the room, Angel turned to Zander. She half-smiled as she watched him sleep, thinking he looked so peaceful. "Hey, Zander," she called to him, her voice barely above a whisper. "I hope you can hear me. I just want you to know that I'm here." She sniffed as she picked up his hand. "I've been thinking about you a lot lately, dreaming actually. You are such an important part of my life already," she told him, "from the time you came to live with us, I could tell you were special. I saw a side to you that you don't let everybody see. You're a good person, Zander," she continued, as the tears began to fall, "underneath all the bravado, underneath the 'tough guy' exterior, underneath it all, you're a good boy." Her voice cracked. "You've just been so alone your whole life. But I want you to know…you're not alone anymore. You have Emily, you have me, you have Nicholas and even Susan, when she's home. And believe it or not, you have Sonny. All of us, we're a family, and family matters above all else. You matter to us, Zander, you matter."

Angel felt Zander grip her hand slightly. She looked down at his hand in shock and back to his face. "Zander?" She saw his eyes flicker until he focused on her. "Hey, you. Don't try to speak. The doctors put a tube down your throat to help you breathe. I'll go get someone now." As she started to leave, Zander gripped her hand tighter. She turned back to him and smiled. "I'll be right back, I promise."

She found Bobbie at the nurses' station. "Bobbie? Zander's awake," she said, excitedly as she approached the counter.

"That's great, Angel!" Bobbie exclaimed, "let me page Monica real quick and I'll be there in a minute."

Angel went back into the room to wait for her. "Bobbie will be here in a minute," she told him.

Bobbie walked into the room as Angel heard Monica being paged over the hospital intercom. "Hi there, Zander," Bobbie gushed, as she approached the bed. "I'm so glad to see you awake. You put quite a scare in all of us."

Zander's eyes followed her as she went to the machines and checked his vitals. Soon, Monica walked in followed by another nurse. Angel stepped aside while they attended to him and removed the tube from his throat.

"Okay, Zander, this is going to hurt a little," Monica warned, "but on the count of three, I want to you to blow out as hard as you can while we take this tube out."

Zander complied and coughed as the tube was extracted. "Take it easy," Monica told him, "your throat will feel rough for a few hours at least."

"Thank you, Monica," Angel said, stepping forward now that they were finished with Zander.

"It's no problem," Monica smiled, adding with a wink, "now I think I'll go tell Emily that Zander's awake."

As Monica left the room, Zander looked up at Angel. "Mom," he croaked.

Angel smiled and sat on the edge of his bed. "Shh," she told him, "don't try to talk. We have plenty of time for that later."

Just then, Emily rushed into the room. Her hair was bedraggled as if she had just awoken. "Zander!" she exclaimed, as tears flowed down her face. "Oh, I'm so happy that you're awake. I knew you'd wake up."

Zander beamed at her. "Emily." His voice was still raspy.

Angel quietly left the room to give the two kids some privacy. As she sank into an over-stuffed chair in the lounge, a sigh escaped her lips. She let the unshed tears flow as she silently thanked God for taking care of Zander.

Sonny rounded the corner and stopped when he spotted Angel in the lounge. He could tell she was crying and hesitated a moment before approaching her. Had something happened to Zander? Sonny stepped slowly closer to her, calling her name quietly, "Angel? Are you alright, baby?"

Angel turned to him suddenly. Tears shining in her eyes, she threw herself in his arms. "Sonny! Oh, my God, Zander woke up!"

Sonny was surprised. "Really? That's great," he said, as he held her.

Angel pulled back and looked at him. "Sonny, what's wrong?"

Sonny shrugged. "Nothing…nothing's wrong," he began, "I just…I mean, I thought something bad had happened when I saw you crying."

"Oh." She touched his face tenderly. "He's alright now. Let's go see him."

The two of them walked back into Zander's room. Emily was sitting next to Zander in the bed. "Hi guys," she beamed, "doesn't Zander look good?"

"He sure does," Angel smiled.

Sonny and Zander stared at each other. Neither knew what to say. Sonny cleared his throat. "It's good that you woke up," he said quietly.

Zander nodded. "Thanks…um, Sonny."

Angel and Emily exchanged glances. They both knew that there was a struggle going on within each of the men. Angel broke the tension first. "So, now that you're awake," she began, "you can begin the road to recovery and come home where you belong."

Zander smiled at her warmly. "Yeah," he said, quietly, "I'd like that."

To be continued…

A/N: I know this is short but this chapter was hard to write. I hope you like it. Please review!