Chapter 13

Jason had stayed by Sam's side the entire night. He knew that she wouldn't wake up since the nurses and doctors had said that they were keeping her sedated, but he knew she could feel his presence. He held her hand throughout the hours, occasionally running his hand through her hair and telling her that everything would be okay.

In the morning, the nurses had to do a shift change and asked for all visitors to leave the ICU for 30 minutes. He took the opportunity to grab a cup of coffee with Alexis, who had spent a few hours with her daughter before excusing herself to update the family and to also grab a few hours of shut-eye, not that she wanted to really sleep. It wasn't like the sleep was very productive anyway.

"Did the nurses give you any sort of update?" Alexis asked as she and Jason searched for a table in the hospital cafeteria. Finally finding a table, they each took their seats.

"Only that her vitals were all stable. They said that that was good but much more they couldn't really say. They weren't immediately able to find any signs of infections which is what they're worried about, but it's still too early to tell. We need to wait until the doctor comes back with the latest blood test results. Then we'll know if she's relatively free and clear."

"Are they worried she has an infection?" Alexis asked.

"Well, with how long we were out there and with her spleen having been removed leading to a slightly weakened immune system, they said it's certainly a possibility."

"Gosh, I certainly hope not," Alexis said taking a sip of her coffee. "This is really the last thing she needs after the last few years she's had."

"What do you mean?" Jason still felt like he was playing a game of extreme catchup after having been away for 5 years. For the most part, his friends and family told him about the good stuff and occasionally that major heartbreaking events, like Morgan being killed in an explosion. He knew about Sam's engagement with Patrick and Danny's bout with cancer. He also knew that Sam had married and now divorced a man whom she thought was Jason. She also had a daughter. Much more beyond that, he didn't know, and he also never wanted to pressure Sam by asking her.

"She's had a few health scares in recent years. Had to be placed in a coma twice in the same year," Alexis broke the news to Jason.

"No one told me this," Jason said quietly but was shocked.

"Well, the first coma was following the birth of Scout. Apparently, Olivia Jerome was alive and well throughout all these decades and resurfaced to kill Julian," Alexis began to explain.

"Right, and it was because of Olivia Jerome that Morgan is dead," Jason knew that much.

"She also threw Sam off a bridge while 8 months pregnant in the middle of winter." Jason was silent. He didn't know what to say.

"Sam was out there for 24 hours. Drew had found her just in time to help deliver Scout, but Sam began hemorrhaging. By some miracle, they made it to the hospital in time. It was at the bottom of that bridge that Sam also contracted toxoplasmosis."

"Toxo... what?"

"Toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that can wreak havoc on your brain. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable. Sam became very irritable, anxious, and paranoid. We all thought that she was suffering from some form of postpartum depression but we should have paid closer attention. It was only after the fact that we found out that she was experiencing hallucinations and that drove her to shoot Sonny," Alexis explained just as Jason took a sip of his coffee. He nearly choked on it.

"Sam shot Sonny?!"

"Yes."

"He's okay, he limped around for a bit but otherwise it was just another day for him," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"I didn't know any of this."

"They're not particularly happy memories to think about. And you would imagine that this would become easier. That after the other two comas and ICU stays, that you don't become as scared and anxious. That you wouldn't worry as much because she's been fine the other two times."

"Sam's going to be okay, Alexis," Jason did his best to comfort her.

"Jason, these traumas have to take their toll. I know Sam is strong and resilient, but you can only be so strong and resilient. This time around, I find myself worrying more than before. I worry that everything that she's been through her whole life will one day catch up to her."

Jason was again silent, but he reached his hand over the table to hold hers. "I'm sorry. I know this can't be easy on you and here I am rambling on."

"It's okay, I understand."

There was a brief moment of silence between the two, where they simply sat and sipped the poor excuse of coffee that was for sale in the hospital. Alexis took stock of Jason and could see that he was visibly worn out and stressed. Not that that was very surprising. Even after all these years, it was clear that there was still a strong bond between them.

"Did something happen out there?" Alexis finally asked, breaking the silence. Sam had confided in her that she wanted some time to herself. That, even though she was still very much in love with Jason, she didn't want to rush into the relationship. She wanted to take some time to absorb everything that had happened. Sam had told her that Jason had done a very decent job at staying away and respecting her wishes. But Alexis had noticed something different in Jason's demeanor. He wasn't being as cautious as he was before, so as to spare Sam and her conflicted feelings.

"What do you mean?" Jason wasn't sure what she was asking for. They had gotten into a car accident, that was obvious.

"Between the two of you. Something is different."

Jason sort of just shrugged his shoulders feeling uncomfortable to confide in Alexis.

"I know Jason. We've never been very close, but you care for my daughter, and she really cares for you which makes me care about you and the relationship between the two of you," Alexis said, trying to encourage Jason to open up.

"There was a moment when Sam was trying to wake me up right after the car crash and I wasn't waking up. She told me afterward that it reminded her...it reminded her of losing me," Jason stumbled. Jason didn't need to say more. Alexis understood. Jason and Sam realized that they didn't want to play this waiting game anymore. Time was too precious.

"For me, it was different. To me, it didn't feel like I was gone for 5 years so I thought I could wait for Sam... but seeing her lying there..."

"I know, I know..." It was Alexis's turn to grab Jason's hand and comfort him. "What do we say we head back towards the ICU and see if the doctors have an update?"

"I have Sam's latest test results," the doctor started. He closed his office door and waited for Jason and Alexis to take their seats before sitting down behind his desk.

"And?" Alexis asked, anxious to hear the results.

"Overall, I believe Sam is doing as well as expected. Her white blood cell count is maybe slightly more elevated than we would like, which may indicate an infection but it could also be a response to the trauma so we will continue to monitor her carefully. Her liver enzymes are within a normal range which is great news. It means that her liver is functioning normally. It's the best result we could hope for with the liver contusion. There are also no signs of any continued internal bleeding."

"That's really great news. So what now?"

"Now, we will look to begin lowering her sedation and getting her off the ventilator. A respiratory therapist will come by in a couple of hours to work with Sam so that she can begin breathing on her again. Following that, we will begin to look to transfer her out of the ICU."

"So she's out of the woods?" Jason asked.

"I don't want to say that immediately. There is always a possibility for a complication, but we will continue to carefully monitor her carefully. I think for now I can say that she's stable and on the right path," the doctor answered.

"That is great. Thank you so much," Alexis stood up, extending her hand.

"Please, do not hesitate to have me paged if you have any other questions. I'll be sure to stop by again in the afternoon," the doctor said and shook Alexis's hand before shaking Jason's.

"I saw her hand twitch," Alexis said.

"What?"

"Her hand, it was moving a little bit. Maybe she's waking up." They each sat on either side of Sam's bed, gently encouraging her to wake up. The doctor had lowered her sedation several hours ago and at first, they stood by her side rubbing her arm and such, but after it was clear that it would take a while they decided to take a seat and taking turns to occasionally stand up and encourage Sam to wake up.

"Sam, it's Jason, can you hear me?" Jason moved his one good hand over to her forehead and pulled a few stray hairs out of her face.

"Sam, if you can hear me, can you squeeze my hand," Alexis encouraged. "It's okay Sam, you can do it." They each waited a few more moments. "Ah, there you go Sam. I'm here. Jason and I are both here. Can you open your eyes for us?"

Jason walked over to the entry of the room and turned off the light switch, so Sam's eyes wouldn't experience the harsh glare of the bright fluorescent lights. He then swiftly moved back to his original position next to Sam's side, this time grabbing her hand.

"Come on, Sam, you can do it."

Slowly but surely, they saw some movement in Sam's face. Her eyebrows lifted slightly and then they saw the beautiful brown eyes.

"Sam, hey," Jason welcomed Sam.

Alexis breathed a big sigh of relief and let a stray tear fall down her cheek. "It is so good to see you awake again."

Sam looked around, clearly confused about her surroundings. She felt groggy and tired. Everything in her body felt heavy and it seemed as if everything took twice the effort to accomplish. Simply moving her head seemed to sap so much energy. Looking around, her eyes fell upon a large blue tube sticking out of her mouth.

"It's a breathing tube. You're on a ventilator, but someone will take it out in a moment." Jason could see the anxiety in Sam creep up. He knew what it was like to wake up like this. You wake up feeling confused, slightly claustrophobic from people surrounding you, in pain, and groggy. It was disorientating and distressing. He searched for a call button and finding it, aggressively pressed it.

This was becoming a sickening episode of déjà vu for Sam. Or perhaps even Groundhog day and it didn't get any easier. She had such a strong urge to begin coughing and choking on the tube, even wanting to pull it out but she knew it would cause more problems.

Soon enough, a nurse came running into the room. "I see our patient is awake," the nurse, kindly took Alexis's place, "hi Sam, welcome back. I understand that you might be a little disorientated right now but I want to quickly ask a few questions and then we can see if we can have the tube taken out, alright?" Sam slowly nodded her head. The nurse went ahead and assessed Sam for any obvious signs of pain or potential unknown injuries. "Alright Sam, seeing as you are pretty coherent and I don't notice anything out of the ordinary, I'm going to call respiratory therapist who is going to help ween you off the ventilator, alright?"

The nurse left and Alexis took over the spot again. "You're doing great honey."

"It is so good to see you awake again," Jason said. Noticing her eyes linger to his arm, he could read her mind and already knew what she wanted to ask, "my arm is fine Sam. The cast should come off in 6 weeks. Don't worry about me, okay? I'm just so glad that you're awake. We were all really worried about you." Jason leaned in towards the bed and gave a kiss on Sam's forehead.

They could tell that Sam was beginning to become more orientated to the situation and understand what was going on. Her stress levels were dropping, again to the relief of Jason and Alexis. But with the slightly greater sense of ease, came a bigger sense of fatigue.

"It's okay, sweetie. Go back to sleep. Jason and I will stay by your side and we will wake you up when the respiratory therapist comes by," Alexis assured her daughter. Sam nodded and slowly closed her eyes.

Jason and Alexis looked up to each other and Jason held out his hand over Sam's bed towards Alexis. Alexis grabbed it and they each held on tight and gave each other a small comforting smile.