"Alice think of Robbie, think of Charlie." He told her hand ignoring the doctor as he opened the door to her room and began to exit….
Danny wanted to go to the doctor and drag him back into the room until Alice said something, anything at all.
"C'mon Alice love, Charlie needs you to be her shield again!" he told her urgently.
Alice's head moved across the bed at his request and a large breath seemed to be expelled from her. It made the doctor stop in his tracks and look at the woman in the bed. Then without opening her eyes Alice said, "Charlie…." She sighed. "I'm… here."
Danny smiled at her tears in his eyes. "Yeah I know you are…."
The wide eyed doctor meanwhile was calling for nurses.
"And now he does too." And again he pressed a kiss to her hand, finally finding it within himself to see an end to this, to finally have some hope.
"I'll tell her too." He promised as Alice cracked one open to look at him. "I'll kiss Robbie for you, and I'll tell Charlie that you're here for her and Rosie and Liv too." He nodded as she looked at him tiredly. "I love you so much Alice, do you know what I saying? I love you!"
She blinked an affirmative and he swore he saw a ghost of a smile flash across her face, suddenly though nurses converged and Danny was ushered outside. As soon as he was alone outside he felt the fear that Alice was going to die creep inside him once again, now that he couldn't see that she was awake with his own eyes he began to doubt as to whether it had all been real. This was something that all of them had wished for feverently and he knew how seldom such wishes were granted, what was different about this time then all the other ones? After what felt like an eternity, but had only been an hour and a half, as he was literally counting the minutes as in 90, the doctor, who had originally doubted that Alice had actually been conscious, walked out and headed for Danny looking stunned. Danny took that as a good sign, Alice generally had that effect on people.
"How's Alice?" Danny asked before the doctor stopped walking. "Is she ok? Is there gonna be any lasting damage? Is she still conscious?" was fired rapidly.
The doctor opened his mouth with a reply, then closed it almost as if he didn't know what to say. "She's awake." He merely said. "From here we can't predict where she will go, what medicines we should offer, I can't emphasize enough how rare this is. I mean for a patient to even regain consciousness in second stage but to be cognizant too….." his face full of wonder.
Danny nodded, this was total Alice! "What about the toxins?"
"We have taken samples of her blood to be tested and we are also going to be completing a full body scan on her brain and all her major organs."
Danny felt his heart beating hard in his chest, he felt an overwhelming urge to laugh, he was almost giddy! "So she is awake then?"
"She was when I left, although she was also confused about certain things which is understandable. We are advising that she tries to sleep as much as she can, we believe that overexerting herself will worsen her condition."
Danny rubbed his head. "I need to phone my family," he laughed. "They are gonna be so relieved."
The doctor put his hand on his arm. "Just because your wife had regained consciousness and has had a few moments of lucidity there is no guarantee that she won't relapse. It would be best not to get their hopes up until we have the results from the tests."
Danny knew what he said made sense, he yearned with the need to call his family with the good news that had so much bad recently that they were due something good, and this definitely qualified. "This is still good though right?" needing reassurance.
The doctor frowned obviously not wanting to go on the record, "It isn't bad Mr Trevanion that is all I can say."
"When will the results from her tests arrive?"
"I'll rush them through; it should be sometime tomorrow if we are lucky."
At this exact moment Danny had no idea what to say, think or even feel. There was so much going on inside him, the tentative hope that Alice might live kept getting squashed by cold reality, a nagging voice insisting that she wasn't going to get better, that fate was simply playing a cruel game with him, letting him think he was getting her back to tear him from her in a worse way. "Can I see her?" that voice was harder to hear when she was in front of him and he could see her beautiful eyes.
"Go ahead, just don't expect too much, and don't tire her either. She is still very weak."
"To be honest doctor the only outcome I expected from this was to lose her completely so to be able to talk to her even one more time is beyond my wildest dreams. This is more than I could have ever asked so I don't expect anything. I am just overjoyed to be able to say I loved her one more time and to know that she heard me."
The doctor nodded stiffly, though in his eyes he was clearly moved by Danny's declaration.
Danny meanwhile had already spun and walked towards his wife's room needing to spend as much time as he could, and as soon as he could he planned on getting the family down to talk to her, if there was even the slightest chance they were gonna lose her they all deserved to see her and talk to her one final time. He walked into her room, for the first time without any hesitation found her lain on the bed a nasal cannula replacing the oxygen mask that had been placed upon her. Her eyes were closed but her cheeks were slightly pinker than before…or maybe that was wishful thinking. To be fair everything seemed brighter since he spoke to her, he felt lighter too. He sat beside her and took her hand on both of his, almost immediately her eyes opened a crack.
"Hey handsome…you come here often?" she asked tiredly.
He couldn't believe this, a grin on his face. "You're lying in a hospital bed and you're coming on to me with a pick up line?"
She shrugged a little. "Worth a try." flicked her eyes around. "They….gone?"
He smiled wider. "And you're pretending to be asleep to get rid of the doctors?"
She nodded and cracked a small smile. "Too many….questions. I got…bored." Suppressed a yawn.
He laughed softly. "That is so you." Caressed her cheek and looked in her eyes. "Do you have any idea what you've been through?"
She looked at him a moment. "Only what…. I see in your eyes."
He sat closer to her and pulled her hand to his face like he had when she hadn't been conscious. "How do you feel?"
She raised her eyebrows.
"Bad question?"
"Kinda….." and this time the yawn escaped. "Actually I feel weird. Tired." She blinked.
"Do you know what happened to you?" his lips found her hand and he was buoyed by the warmth it held, unlike before they had been cold. The thumb from his free hand running down her cheek, he couldn't stop touching her.
She finally frowned eyes cloudy. "I heard….second stage Anthrax." She blinked tiredly. "I don't remember anything."
He stood up knowing how tired she was, kissed her forehead gently. "Go to sleep." He urged.
She shook her head infinitesimally. "What if….I don't….wake up?" each break punctuated by an even larger yawn than the previous one. "Anthrax…."
"You will." He promised as his hand rested on her cheek once again, he still stood above her looking down. "I know you will because you're that strong. No one expected you to wake up, this is only the beginning Alice. So sleep, I'll be right here when you wake up."
She closed her eyes a smile on her face, "That's why I love you…." She sighed. "You believe in me more than I believe in myself…. I love you Danny."
"I love you too Alice, more than anything." He sat down and took her hand and all too soon her breathing was slow and deep, he knew she wasn't above pretending so remained still and silent for the longest time. Gradually her hand slackened and he knew she was in a deep slumber. It was then he finally allowed himself to shake. He closed his eyes tightly and lowered his head. "You have to wake up." He whispered. "I know you can do it." And he inhaled deeply to stem the tears of doubt that fell from him.
A/N oh i do hope that alice survives, having this hope given to danny only to be taken away may drive him over the edge, but i have to say i had to write alice as fun and flirty when she woke up, i dunno y it jst fit lol :)
anyway this is a quick short update, haven't got much else written so gonna have to find some time. but nxt few chapters are planned to be rosie and max, who makes a return hmmmm what do i have planned for them? if i have enough material for another chapter i will try for tonight, no promises tho x
