A/N: I swear you all probably think I was lying about having this whole fic worked out and I'll have it done ASAP. Heh. Well…my sister got married last weekend. I got so incredibly busy with wedding prep work that I haven't had a moment to work on this or my original (which I don't feel bad about because my co-writer is slacking more than I am). Anyway, I want to say I hope to be done with this before September 24, 2008. Why you may ask? That's the date my fall semester begins and I know I'll never be able to work on it until winter break. Not too many chapters left, but they're all biggies and packed full of drama, romance, and resolution. I hope you all enjoy!!

Chapter 32

"…she?" A female voice asked. It sounded familiar but I couldn't place the name with the voice. I was floating. I was surrounded by darkness; not scary darkness, but comfortable darkness that made me feel happy, content. I felt nothing. I briefly wondered if this is what suspended animation felt like; a concept I had been amazed with through various comic books and cartoons in my childhood.

"Your sister is fine, Ms. Harrison," A second voice said. It was warm, comforting, and carried an authority with it not too many people can manage. "Simply put, your sister collapsed from stress. The brain sometimes has a mind of its own. It decided Jude needed to rest and it needed to process things."

"When will she wake up?"

"It's hard to say. Probably within the next hour or two."

Silence filled the room and I thought I was left alone. That was fine with me. I liked it here, in the darkness. It was calm, peaceful.

"Jude," The female voice said. Through the fog of my brain, I could feel something touch my hand. I looked down, but nothing seemed to be touching me.

"Jude," The voice said again, more insistent.

I wanted to say leave me alone, but my voice wouldn't work. I felt a bit of panic wash over me. My voice…did the darkness steal it?

"Come on honey, it's time to wake up," The voice said again. I felt a stronger pressure on my hand and suddenly, the darkness was gone and I was surrounded in a world of Technicolor. Though the white burned my eyes, I couldn't look away. It was beautiful, the color. More so than the blanket of darkness that had stolen my eyes, my voice.

"Jude?"

I blinked and turned my head, my eyes landing on the concerned face my of sister's.

"Sadie?" I croaked and winced at the sound of my voice. I watched as the relief flooded my sister's features as she turned slightly away from me and poured a glass of water. She handed me the cup and I took my, my hand a little shaky and took a long drink, the water at first burning my throat and then soothing it as it went down. "Where am I?" I finished as I handed the cup back to her.

"The hospital, Sweetie. Don't you remember?" Sadie asked me. I frowned. Hospital? Why was I…and then it hit me. Talking to Kat. Going home. Finding Tommy. Tommy…My chest tightened and suddenly, it was hard to breathe. My lungs burned with the need for oxygen, but I couldn't force myself to inhale; it hurt too much to try.

"Jude, calm down," Sadie said, her voice soothing as she reached out to brush my hair off my forehead. "Just…take a deep breath, ok honey?" Sadie said, her hand brushing against my cheek and into my hair again, trying to comfort me. I closed my eyes and managed to get myself to breathe. To calm down and ask what was going on with me, with Tommy…Bri….

"Bri, where-"

"Kwest is picking her up from school right now." Sadie told me, taking my hand. I nodded, one source of my panic making it easier to breathe.

"Tommy?"

"I…they were still doing tests when I got here; I … I'm sorry Jude, but I was a little more concerned about my sister who collapsed for, seemingly, no good reason." Sadie told me.

"Sadie, please, you have to go find Tommy, I need…" I could feel my throat close and tears burn my eyes. Please God, don't take him from me again. I grabbed the thin blanket covering me and pulled it back. I went to get up and Sadie stopped me with a firm grip on my shoulder.

"Jude, you can't"

"I need to see him," I said, my words coming out in a rush. I don't know if Sadie understood the words, but she sensed my urgency, my panic. Sadie gave me a sympathetic look. She stood up and kissed my cheek before giving my hand a squeeze.

"I'll go find out for you," She told me. I opened my mouth to argue and Sadie pushed me back further onto the bed. "Jude, you collapsed a little over two hours ago. You need to rest. While I'm out, I'll find your doctor and see if he can arrange for a visit, ok?"

I sighed and closed my eyes. I know my sister is right. She's always right. But it didn't help the pain in my heart. I had to see him. I had to see for myself that he was ok. I opened my eyes, prepared to do battle with my sister but her hard, determined look told me it was no use. Sadie, when she put her mind to something, was as easy to move as a giant angry grizzly bear. If you're smart, you don't mess with that bear but let it do battle for you. I sighed and nodded my agreement. Sadie gave me a small smile, her eyes still stern.

"I'll be right back, OK?" She told me and I sighed heavily in response. Sadie just smiled at me and left the room, leaving me alone.

I sighed again and tried to relax into the pillows. Sadie was on the job. No one got in the way of Sadie when she had her mind on something. I closed my eyes and tried to fall back asleep. Exhaustion suddenly the forefront of my mind.

"Mrs. Quincy?" A booming voice asked. I sighed and opened my eyes, ready to tell off whoever was about to interrupt me and stopped, my eyes taking in who was standing in the doorway. Standing in the doorway, was one of the Toronto Police Officers. His face was blank, but his eyes gave him away.

"Can I help you?" I asked, feeling dazed. What did the police want?

The man stepped into the room and gestured towards the chair Sadie had just vacated.

"May I?" I nodded, unable to speak. "Mrs. Quincy," The man said, raising his eyes to meet mine once he was seated. "I have come on behalf of the Toronto Police Department to offer my sincerest apologies."

Sadie Harrison walked with a purpose. Her pace was quick, her face was hardly set. As she moved, patients, nurses, and even doctors moved out of her way. Satisfaction lit up a part of her that loved the way people seemed to do whatever she wanted, when she wanted. She still had it.

She continued to move, her eyes on her goal, never deviating from the straight line she moved in. Once she approached it, Sadie stopped abruptly at the nurses' station.

"Excuse me?" Sadie said, her voice pleasant enough, betraying the hard look in her eyes. The nurse at the desk glanced up at her and then went back to doing her work.

"I need to find someone." Sadie stated, her voice going from pleasant to slightly irritated.

"Ma'am, you need to go on the first floor to admissions, they'll find whoever you're looking for." The woman said without looking up.

Sadie pursed her lips and slapped a hand down on the desk. The woman started in her seat and looked up at Sadie, her mouth open to say something but Sadie interrupted her.

"I don't care who you are or who's file you're working on. My baby sister is in her room, suffering from undo stress because she's waiting to hear news on her husband. And if I have to go down those stairs, wait in a line at admissions, and then wander around this hospital, trying to find Thomas Quincy, I will make sure that your chief of medicine knows what an incompetent miscreant you are and then I will be contacting my sister's lawyer and we will be suing this hospital for every red cent for the undo-stress that was imposed on her by your inability to turn to your computer and type in a simple name. Now, Ms." Sadie paused only long enough to glance at the name badge and then back into the nurse's eyes. "Stevens, do you really want to send me down to admissions?"

The woman glared at Sadie for a long moment and then sighed. The turned her chair away and typed on the computer.

"You'll find him in ICU Room 8; take the elevator up to the third floor, take a right and it'll be the second door on your left." The nurse said.

Sadie smiled sweetly at the woman, thanked her, and went on her way to the elevator, determined to make her little sister happy.

Kwest made the short drive from his and Sadie's place to the elementary school that Briana attended. His mind was elsewhere, worrying about his best friend and fiancés sister. Those two, he thought, could never get a break it seemed.

Kwest pulled into the "parent's" parking and parked his car. He got out and headed to the office, knowing he was a little late and Briana was probably being kept in there until he could pick her up. He walked briskly through the little school, marveling at the small lockers and smiling slightly as he remembered his days in a similar building.

Shaking his head, he walked into the office and scanned the waiting area. He frowned when his eyes didn't see Briana sitting there. Kwest turned and walked over to the reception desk, waiting impatiently for the woman to finish her phone call. His mind wondering, where was Briana?

"Apologize?" I asked, confusion coming over me. "What would the department have to apologize for?"

"Mrs. Quincy, first I'd like to introduce myself, I'm Chief Redwall, and we do owe you our apologies."

"I think you need to explain a bit, Chief," I answered, unable to wrap my head around what he was telling me. "I don't know of any reason the police department should be apologizing to me."

"Your husband, Thomas Quincy, was in our office earlier today."

"Yes…"

"He wanted us to list a…" He looked down at his notes and then back up again, "Jessica White as a stalker."

"That's right," I said frowning.

"Whenever we get reports like these, we usually do a background check. We like to know who we're doing with, previous offenses things like that." I nodded, in understanding and he gave me a small nod. "Once your husband left, my cadets ran the check, standard procedure, as I told you, when they found something…disturbing."

"Disturbing?" I asked, my heart sinking. "Disturbing how?"

"If we hadn't had a photo, I would have thought this was a mistake…" He told me, suddenly looking nervous. He opened a file and showed it to me. "This is Jessica White." He told me and I frowned at the picture attached to the file. That can't be right...it looked nothing like Jessica. "That's the real Jessica White," he told me as I stared wide-eyed at the photo. "She died in 2001."

Sadie followed the nurse's directions to the letter. She walked into room 8 and was pleased to see her brother-in-law in the bed. She frowned when she looked at him. He was too pale and had a few too many machines hooked up to him than her liking.

Sadie turned her head when she saw a nurse walk into the room. She paused and looked at Sadie a moment before taking a few notes on her chart.

"Are you family?"

"Sister-in-law." Sadie stated and the young woman nodded.

"I'll page the doctor down to talk with you." She said, giving her a sweet smile and Sadie couldn't help but smile in return. Finally, she thought, someone who did her job.

"Thank you,"

"No problem," she said, giving Sadie another smile before walking out of the room.

Sadie looked at Tommy laying on the bed and sighed angrily. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Tommy and Jude were supposed to be at home, with Bri, doing…whatever it was they did on a Friday night at home. They shouldn't both be lying in hospital beds. It wasn't right.

"Ms. Harrison?" A male voice asked. Sadie turned and saw a middle-aged man with a white lab coat inside the room. "I'm Doctor Misamki, I'm on call for Dr. Franchi right now." The doctor had to be from Asian lineage, but Sadie didn't think too closely; he was tall and only had a slight accent. Maybe the child of a second generation of mix-breading.

Dr. Misamki offered his hand and Sadie shook it.

"How is he?" She asked, glancing to look at Tommy again and then back at the doctor.

"Your Brother-in-law suffered a Grand Mal Seizure." He started and then continued to explain. "It's one of the worst types of seizures and, when people think of what a seizure is, this is the type they would think about. A grand mal is the result of abnormal electrical activity throughout the brain. Dr. Franchi and I both agree that this is most likely the result of the drugs Mr. Quincy was taking for his memory loss."

"He's going to be ok?" Sadie asked and Dr. Misamki sighed.

"We've stopped medication and allowing it to leave his system. However, with a seizure, especially one as big as a grand mal, there is always a risk of complications."

"Complications?"

"Memory loss, loss of motor function, speech…the possibilities are endless. He could be fine, he could be worst. We've done an MRI and some CT scans and are running a constant EKG, they've all come back normal, but you never really know until they wake up."

Sadie nodded and looked over at Tommy. You better be ok, she thought to him.

"Any other questions?" He asked and Sadie turned her attention back to him.

"Actually, my sister, Jude Quincy is also admitted. She passed out in the waiting room and her doctor wants her to stay in bed the rest of the evening. I just…she's really worried about Tommy and I think it would not be helpful to either of them if she's forced to stay in her room. Could you talk to her doctor and see if there's anything we can do?"

Dr. Misamki looked thoughtful for a moment. He looked at Sadie and then back at his patient.

"They say it helps to have people they love with them." He said, giving her a gentle smile. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," Sadie breathed out, feeling a million times better.

"After all, I wouldn't want the Chief of Medicine to hear how incompetent we all are." He said, giving her a wink before leaving the room. Sadie couldn't help but grin after him.

She turned back to Tommy and approached her brother-in-law.

"You hear that? You don't mess with Sadie H. So you better be waking up and getting your ass out of that bed and continue making my sister happy." Sadie told him sternly, then softened her voice. "I'll be back later. You focus on getting better." She told him, reaching down and giving his hand a squeeze before leaving the room and heading back down to her sister's room.

The receptionist finally ended her phone call and looked at Kwest.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, actually, I'm here to pick up Briana Quincy." Kwest stated and the woman appraised him for a moment and sighed.

"Relation?"

"Jude asked me to pick her up."

"I need to check it in my file."

"I'm Kevin West, I know I'm listed as an emergency contact along with Jude's sister, Sadie Harrison."

The woman gave him a suspicious look as she turned to her computer and pulled up Briana's file. She scanned through it and found Kwest's name.

"ID please." She stated and Kwest sighed before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. He took out his license and handed it to her. She glanced at the name on the license, scrutinized the picture and then handed it back to Kwest, seemingly satisfied.

"You're free to take her home." She told him sweetly and turned away.

"Where is she?"

"Excuse me?" The woman asked. Kwest gestured to the empty chairs littering the cluttered office.

"There's no one else here." The woman frowned.

"You sure she wasn't already picked up?" She asked.

"Yes," Kwest said, feeling frustrated. "Her mother and father are in the hospital and so is Sadie, her Aunt. No one else could have picked her up."

The woman frowned and gave him a 'one moment' sign and picked up the clipboard of sign outs and read through it, looking for a Briana Quincy.

"The real Jessica? Then who is,"

"Let me explain, Mrs. Quincy," The Chief said as I began to ramble off questions. "I told my cadets they had to have the wrong woman. We ran it again. Only one hit with all the information your husband had left us with. I pulled the old files, we keep records of incidents like these and I started to dig and I found," The Chief handed me another file. She took it, glancing at the picture first. This was her, I thought. "Information on Monica Remus."

"Who is she?" I asked, studying the picture. I started to glance through some of the information listed and frowned when I saw summaries of reports.

"Monica Remus had been issued a restraining order by your husband three years ago." The Chief said, and paused, letting the information sit.

"Three years ago?" I whispered, frowning. "Tommy never told me about…"

"Ms. Remus had been calling him at work. She'd call claiming to be his wife, claiming to be a best friend or even a sister. She began showing up at G Major and he had told her many times to stay away from him. That's when he called us in."

"When was this?" I asked, feeling a lump forming in my throat.

"In November."

The accident occurred in January. I was frozen. I didn't know what to think. Jessica…Monica, had been stalking my husband and he never told me about it. Why? Why didn't he trust me? Why did….how…? So many questions ran through my head it was hard to form any coherent thought. My mind was spinning and I couldn't figure out what any of this meant.

"As I said, Mrs. Quincy, we owe you both an apology for not looking into this matter before."

"Tommy had said not to." I whispered.

"We had a duty to look into this. We failed you both and I apologize. My department is out in full force looking for Monica Remus. I promise you, Mrs. Quincy that we will find her and bring her in."

I nodded, not sure I could actually say anything. My head was whirling with questions I couldn't get answered.

"Are there any other questions or anything I can do for you?" He asked me and I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak. He gave me a small nod and rose from his chair. "I'll keep you updated on the investigation and search." He told me and I nodded again. He gave me a small smile and wished me good health and left the room, leaving me alone again.

It wasn't long until Sadie came back in the room. She took one look at me and frowned.

"How's Tommy?"

"Sleeping. Like you should be." She told me, giving me a look of disapproval. I rolled my eyes.

"I got a visitor."

"Who?" She demanded.

"The police chief." Sadie raised an eyebrow and I managed to tell her everything in a calm, rational voice.

"I just don't get why he didn't tell me." I whispered. Sadie sat down on the bed and wrapped an arm around me.

"He probably didn't want to worry you." She told me. "Remember, he's a big strong manly, man." She joked and I rolled my eyes.

"I could have handled it." I told her and she nodded.

"I know Sweetie. I'm sure he did too."

I gave her a look of frustration and Sadie just hugged me tighter.

"On the positive side, we'll be getting you to see Tommy soon-ish." She told me and I nodded against her shoulder, feeling my eyes get heavy. "Sleep for a bit Jude. I'll wake you up when it's time." I nodded again and couldn't help but fall back to the darkness. It wasn't as peaceful this time but I welcomed it.

Jude had been sleeping for a good fifteen minutes when her doctor walked in. I nudged her awake and she sat up bleery eyed. The doctor wasn't happy about it, but he hooked her up to a portable IV pole and got her into a wheel chair. He expressed his unhappiness and Jude expressed she'd slit his through with his stethoscope if he didn't let her see Tommy. The doctor knew it would be nearly impossible, but the firey look in my sister's eyes stopped him short. It made me proud.

I watched as Jude sat next to Tommy's bed, whispering to him, holding his hand, stroking his face. As much as I wanted to look away, I couldn't. It wasn't every day you got to witness this kind of love. That kind of devotion.

"Sadie?" I looked up at my name and saw Kwest heading towards me. I turned away from my sister and rushed over to Kwest, throwing my arms around him. For the first time all day, I finally felt like things were going to be ok. Kwest returned the embrace, but he was stiff. Tense. I frowned and pulled away.

"Where's Bri?" I asked, looking around for my favorite little girl on the planet and not seeing her. I looked back up into Kwest's eyes and what I saw there made my stomach drop.

"No," I whispered, my heart stopping as tears sprang to my eyes. Where is Bri? I wondered, even my thoughts panicking.