Author's Note: So, this one's coming down to the end; only like a couple more chapters including the Epilogue. Thanks to all who read this and please give me feedback in a review!

Brandon

A month later, we had long won the war and we had told Chiron all about Big Luke's condition. He wasn't real happy about Big Luke's recklessness but he understood why he did what he did. Unfortunately, there was no funky centaur voodoo that he could pull to help him out. He claimed that it would only worsen his condition. We were finally able to get Brittany to get some sleep and we did our best to do the same. Nothing a little Jameson didn't help.

It turns out that Big Luke had started walking towards John while John still had his Python pointed at Brittany's head. Big Luke tried to tell John who he was working for and that the Greek Gods are real. John pointed the gun at Big Luke and Brittany took the opportunity to get away from John as he fired his gun at Big Luke. With Brittany out of the way, both David and Big Luke opened fire on John. And well, you pretty much know what happened after that.

Everyday for the last month, the four of us; Mathew, Brittany, David and I, all went in to see Big Luke who was still very much in a coma. We weren't always there together but occasionally we were. I kind of felt that it was my duty to fill the unconscious Marine in on everything that happened at camp. It was weird talking to someone who probably couldn't hear me but I didn't really care. I needed something to do to make me feel like I was doing something to help.

I started my morning in the underground shop with KATE. We have this peg board on the wall behind some toolboxes that we moved from upstairs. The whole thing was covered with pictures that we had taken over the years. There was like a dashcam picture of the C5 that we had turned into Swiss cheese last summer. In a different corner was the picture of the graffiti wall with the disguised map underneath. Then there was the snapshot that Brittany took of Big Luke last summer as he was walking away twirling his finger in the air. The Mil-24 Hind spinning its rotors on the left and David and I standing around KATE on the right. It was a weird mix of military meets weekend warriors. Especially since Big Luke was dressed in civilian clothes and throwing a military hand-sign in the air.

Not all the photos were "work related". There was one of me next to the doe I shot on a hunting trip with Big Luke. Not too far away was a backwards shot of KATE's rear quarter panel but not too far behind was a jet car. Yes, a jet car. This picture was taken when Big Luke was at Bonneville. And of course there was the selfie that Big Luke and Brittany took while in the hot tub in Switzerland. Brittany had her lips to his cheek and Big Luke was winking at the camera.

I cleared my throat and pivoted on my left foot to leave. When I walked into the infirmary, nobody was there with the exception of a few patients, including Big Luke. I walked over and stood next to his bed. To stick with my routine, I told him everything that I could think that had happened since I last came in.

"Well, let's see here. . . They say that Will Solace is going to live but he's going to be in a full body cast for a while. Brittany punched out Drew from the Aphrodite cabin because she made Mathew clean her shoes. They've been staying in the underground shop ever since. Oh, hey! Some good news: Dasha is going to be here later today. It only took like seven or eight, two or three hour phone calls to Spain to convince her but she agreed and is on her way."

"You'd better be kidding about that Russian bitch showing up here." Brittany scared the hell out of me when she walked into the room behind me.

I whipped around. "Shit, Brittany! You nearly made me shit myself!"

"Brandon, the last thing I need right now is to have her scrutinizing everything I do in times like this," she explained as she sat on a stool next to Big Luke. She wasn't yelling at me which was good as she took his hand.

"She's coming for me, Brittany. Gods forbid I have a little comfort myself," I told her. "You're not the only one that this is effecting."

She didn't look at me when she sighed deeply. I knew that she knew that I was right. She turned her attention back to Big Luke. "Did you know they essentially gave him an ultrasound? They say that his organs are starting to heal up nicely."

"Well, that's good news."

"Yeah, and I think the pigment in his skin is starting to come back," she mentioned. I looked at his arms and chest.

"I don't see it. Maybe your brain's just playing tricks on you."

We sat in silence for another few seconds. Beep beep. . . . . Beep beep. . . . . Beep beep went his heart monitor and Gshhhhhhhhh. . . Wooooooossssssss. . . gshhhhhhhhhhh went the life support system.

"Do you know if they got a tube down his throat or just the oxygen mask?" I asked Brittany.

"I think it's just the oxygen mask. They have his nose closed so the air doesn't just escape that way," she replied, but she paused for a long time before continuing. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said about Dasha. That was selfish of me."

"Forget it. I'm not really dwelling on it," I told her.

Gshhhhhhhhh. . . Wooooosssssssssss. . . Gshhhhhhhhhhh-cuh cuh!. . .Woooooooosssssss.

"Did you just hear that?" I asked Brittany. At first, I thought I had imagined it so I wasn't trying to get too excited.

"Yes! Jon Luke?! Can you here me?!" Brittany stood up off her stool and leaned over Big Luke. "C'mon, Jon Luke, you gotta wake up!"

I rushed over to the other side of the bed and waited for him to open his eyes but it wasn't happening. "C'mon, Bro! Wake the fuck up!"

Brittany was still holding his hand when his fingers curled around her hand. "Oh my gods, he's holding my hand!"

Nothing else happened for a second- Gsshhhhhhhhhhh. . . Wooooooossssssssss- but hen his eyes fluttered open and focused on Brittany's face. That classic one-sided grin bled through the fogged over oxygen mask as Brittany removed the Scotch tape over his nostrils with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, Bo," he croaked on his exhale.

"Hi," she replied as he reached up and pulled the oxygen mask off his face.

Then he turned his head to look at me. "Sup, Bro?"

"Not much, man," I replied as I felt the relief in my shoulders.

He turned his head back over to Brittany. "You're not too pissed at me, are you?"

"Furious," answered Brittany through a smile. "Have been for the last month."

"I'm so sorry, Bo. For everything," he mumbled. He still wasn't talking very loud but he still managed to sound convincing.

"You're forgiven," she told him as she gently pulled on his hair.

"So a month huh?"

"Yep," I answered.

"I've been dreaming a lot," he mentioned, looking up at the ceiling trying to remember. "I saw my funeral. Chiron gave the eulogy and you and David lit me on fire. Bo, you slipped something into my hand but I don't know what it was."

"Yeah?" asked Brittany.

"Yeah. Hey, does this tattoo creep you out?" he asked her, pointing to the skeletal Marine on his chest.

Brittany shook her head. "No. Not particularly. Why?"

"Just curious. Where's David?"

"He's around. Do you want me to go get him?" I asked him.

"If you want," he answered.

"OK, back in a sec." I turned around and headed for the door. I rounded a corner and spotted David with his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground. "Dude, buck up. He's up."

"No shit? He's awake?" he asked like he couldn't believe it.

"Yeah. C'mon," I told him and he kinda bunny-hopped right there as he pulled his hands of his pockets and staggered his feet to follow me.

We walked back into the infirmary at an excited pace. We both stood on the same side as I was before when we got there.

"Sup, David?" Jon Luke's voice was still a bit raspy.

"Not much, man. I'm doing better than you are right now," David answered.

"Yeah, I bet." Big Luke tried to sit up but we held his shoulders down. "What?"

"You gotta get some bed rest, Babe. You're still not a hundred percent," Brittany told him.

"Well, how much longer? I've only been awake for like five minutes and I'm already going stir crazy."

"I don't know. We gotta let the doctors take a look at you." Brittany kept a real motherly tone of voice. I looked across the bed and noticed that he was still holding her hand.

"Well, can we tell them to hurry it up? It's not like they're busy," Big Luke asked.

"Here I come, Jon Luke!" I looked up over Brittany's shoulder and saw Jake (the tall, dark-haired surgeon from before) walking down the middle of the infirmary. He asked when he got to the foot of Big Luke's bed: "How are you feeling?"

"C'mon, Doc. Stupid question day was yesterday," retorted Big Luke.

"Yes, well, your ultrasound look good. The baby seems to be developing quite well," Jake teased him. "No, but seriously. You're recovering well. We had to repair several of your internal organs. You're one tough son of a bitch, dude."

"Yeah? So when am I getting out of here?"

"Well, I'd like to start some ambrosia and nectar treatments and make sure you don't burn up. Then we'll try and get you out of here in a few days," Jake answered.

Big Luke's head fell back against his pillow. "Perfect."

"Is your shoulder in any pain? You were injured there too," asked Jake.

"A little, but I'm mostly just numb all over," Big Luke answered.

"Are you gonna put his arm in a sling?" asked Brittany.

"Yeah, we're probably gonna want to do that. I'll have Stacy or one of the other nurses get you some ambrosia and a sling." then he walked off.

A few minutes later, a nurse walked into the infirmary with a tray in her hands and a sling draped over her forearm. "I've got a bone to pick with you, Jon Luke!"

"Uh oh," the three members of the Strike Team mumbled.

"The other nurses and I had a bet going, I thought you were going to wake up a week ago. Now you owe me ten bucks," the nurse explained with a kind smile on her face.

"Oh. . . Sorry," Big Luke responded.

The nurse set the tray in his lap. On the plate was a small square of ambrosia. Then she took the sling asked to borrow his arm from Brittany. She let go of his hand and stepped out of her way. Brittany moved around his bed and started feeding him the ambrosia a little bit at a time while the nurse took his right arm and wrapped the sling around it.

"So, how is that stuff making you feel?" the nurse asked.

"Hungry," Big Luke answered as he finished wolfing down the last of the square.

"Well, you still gotta watch how much you eat. It's probably going to be mostly yogurt, jello, and pudding for a while," the nurse told him.

"Wonderful," Big Luke replied sarcastically. "Am I at least allowed to get up to take a shit?"

"Hey, if you can get up and walk at least that far, I won't be complaining," the nurse answered. "I'll take all your IV's out and get you detached from all your machines."

"Sounds good to me," Big Luke replied.