T.J looked at himself in the mirror in his room. His bruises were starting to heal and the ones that were fresh were in places that he could hide under his clothes. He got dressed, fixed his hair, and put on his best cologne. He then glanced down at the pocket watch in his hand. He couldn't wait to see the look on Andrea's face when she found out he had bought it back for her. He put the pocket watch and all the money he had saved into his pocket and went outside skipping merrily.
"Well you're in a good mood." Manny observed when he noticed him. "What's the occasion?"
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Sure."
"Well I've finally convinced Andrea to go out to dinner with me and after we eat I'm going to give her, her father's watch and all the money I earned to pay for her brother's medical bills. Then to top it all off I'm going to tell Andrea that I love her and that she's the one."
"What do you mean the one?"
"I mean the one and only woman I'll pursue from now on. I've given up my womanizing ways and have decided to focus solely on Andrea."
"Uh-huh and how many women before her have you said that to?"
"I'm serious. I really love Andrea and I want to be in a committed relationship with her."
"You sure? You're not just doing all this to get into her pants?"
"No. I would never say false words to get a woman into bed with me."
Manny raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Okay I would never tell I woman that I loved her to just to get her into bed with me. Ask any of my ex girlfriends, they'll all tell you that I never once said that I loved them."
"Hmm...I'm impressed. You've really changed."
"Yes I have."
"But what if she rejects you? What will you do then?"
"Well that all depends on her reasons for rejecting me."
"I don't follow."
"If she rejects me because she doesn't love me I will respect her wishes and turn my heart to other pursuits. But if she rejects me for any reason other than that then I shall just try harder to win her over."
"Why would she reject you if she loved you?"
"Look who's talking. You rejected the woman you loved."
"I didn't love Zoe. I cared for her deeply but it wasn't like that."
"I wasn't talking about Zoe."
Manny went silent when he realized who T.J was talking about.
"I...I have my reasons for that matter."
"Mmm-hmm sure. So you won't tell Andrea what I'm planning right?"
"My lips are sealed."
"Great. I'm on my way to the hospital to pick her up. Wanna come? Frida will be there."
"What's she doing there?"
"The only way I could convince Andrea to go out with me was to get Frida to sit with her brother."
"Ah. Well I'll sit with her because I've got nothing better to do."
At the hospital Andrea was feeling very nervous. She wasn't sure if she had accepted T.J's offer to go to dinner with him. She didn't feel comfortable leaving her comatose brother alone when she didn't have to and she had a feeling that this dinner was just a pathetic attempt for T.J to seduce her into spending the night with him.
"I don't know if I should be doing this." She said to Frida. "Maybe I should cancel."
"No." Frida said sternly. "You have been overworked and over stressed for almost an entire month. You need to take some time off and relax. You are not backing out of this date."
"But Carlos-"
"Carlos will be fine. I will be watching him the whole time you'll be gone."
"You promise that you on't leave the hospital until I get back?"
"I promise. Now you better get ready before he gets here."
"Right."
Andrea went into the bathroom to change her clothes, fix hair, and get ready for her death. While she was in there a new patient was brought into the room. It was a woman and like Carlos she was a comatose. According to the doctor her fiance had left her for another woman and she was so heartbroken that she had overdosed on sleeping pills and thrown herself into the river.
"That poor woman." Frida said when the doctor told her these news. "Do you think she'll recover?"
"For now we can't say for sure. We'll have to run a few tests. Just don't disturb her."
"Oh I wouldn't dream of it."
After the new patient was set up on life support the doctor left the room. At that exact moment, Andrea had finished getting ready and stepped out of the bathroom wearing a dress and heels.
"Wow you look great." Frida said.
"Really? Because I feel ridiculous."
"No way. You look amazing."
"I still can't believe he managed to talk me into doing this."
"Hey at least he actually cares about you and wants to be with you."
"Yeah right. I'm telling you this is just so he can butter me up into sleeping with him which I will never do."
"If you ask me you're not being very fair to him."
"Given his acts as a womanizer, can you blame me?"
"No I guess not still you have to admit he has matured a lot lately. Why not have an open mind tonight? Who knows, you might end up enjoying yourself."
"Fine. I'll keep an open mind but I know that I'm going to regret this."
At six o'clock T.J arrived to take Andrea on their date, leaving Manny and Frida behind to keep an eye on Carlos.
"So we just sit here and watch him lie in bed?" Manny asked her.
"Pretty much." She answered.
"This is boring."
"You're the one who offered to stay."
"True."
"I really feel sorry for Andrea and her brother. Here they are finally reunited after all these years only to be separated again by something like this. It's just cruel."
"Do you really think he'll ever wake up?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well it's been like what? Six months? And he's shown no sign of ever waking up. Maybe Andrea should think about...Putting him out of his misery."
"You mean pulling the plug? Andrea couldn't even think of doing that. Don't tell me that you would actually suggest something like that to her."
"No. No of course not. All I'm saying is that I don't want Andrea to suffer anymore than she has to. I'm worried that she might torturing herself."
"I know what you mean but it's her decision and right now she wants to keeping hoping that her brother will wake up. Remember miracles do happen."
"Really? How?"
"Well how about you and your mother? You never thought that you would see her again and now here she is back in your life."
"That's true. I still can't believe Mom is back. I've missed her so much."
"I'm glad to see you so happy for a change."
"What are you talking about?"
"You gotta admit you do tend to be a grouch most of the time but ever since your mother's come back into your life you've been so much happier lately. And I like seeing you happy."
Manny smiled to himself a little.
"You really do care about me don't you?"
"Of course I do." She said with a smile. "You wanna know a secret?"
"What?"
"You're the sweetest guy I've ever known."
"Hey I am not sweet."
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"No i'm not and I'll prove it." He said making a mischievous grin.
"Hold on. What are you doing?"
She started to move away from him but he was too fast for her. He scooped her up and started to tickle her mercilessly.
"No stop! Manny please! I can't breathe!" He said between fit of laughter.
"Say that I'm not sweet!" He demanded in a teasing manner.
"No because that would be a lie!"
"Then suffer the consequences!"
"No fair! You can't punish me for telling the truth! You're such a jerk!"
"So you admit that I'm not sweet?"
"No! You're a jerk but a sweet jerk!"
Just then their tickle feast was interrupted by the lights going out.
"What was that?" Frida asked.
"Probably just a power outage." Manny said.
"Oh my God Carlos!"
At once the two teenagers went to check the machine that kept Carlos alive. It was still working, Manny went to check the light switch but it wouldn't work.
"Strange the lights aren't working but the life support stuff still is."
"Maybe the light bulbs have just gone dead." Frida suggested.
Manny then took notice of the comatose patient lying next to Carlos's bed. Her body was shaking all over like crazy.
"Whoa! Frida take a look at this, I think she's waking up."
Seeing the woman's vibrating body, Frida pressed the button for assistance. The windows of the room blew open allowing powerful wind currents to fill the room.
"What's happening?" Frida asked.
"I don't know."
Manny went to close the windows but the wind was too strong. Next thing the knew the floor was shaking and Manny sensed something was about to burst.
"Watch out."
He transformed from his spirit form and grabbed Frida and Carlos from his bed. There was an explosion which sent them flying out the window but due to Manny's enhanced abilities he was able to land on his feet without any harm coming to all three of them.
"Are you alright?" He asked Frida.
"I'm fine." She said. "But what was that?"
"I have no idea."
"Do you think it was an earthquake?"
"Looks like it but I have a hunch that it might be something else."
"What do you mean?"
"Well the lights went out but nothing else electrical stopped working and before that whole explosion from the ground took place that woman was shaking but I don't think it was because she was waking up."
"What are you saying?"
"I think we might be dealing with something dead and pissed off. We better call T.J."
"Oh of all the days for something like this to happen. it had to be when T.J and Andrea have their big date."
"What can I say? Life sucks now let's go."
"Wait a minute! What about Carlos? We can't just leave him here."
"Oh yeah I forgot about him."
"You go get T.J and I'll stay here."
"No way! From now on when stuff like this happens I am not leaving you alone! We'll drop him off at the front of the hospital."
"Somebody has to stay with him. I promised Andrea-"
"And I promised your dad that I wouldn't let anything happen to you! And the last time I left you alone when things were going crazy you were kidnapped by my uncle and almost mutilated by him! Forget it! I am not leaving you alone! We are dropping Carlos off in front of paramedics or doctors so he'll be alright and you are coming with me to get T.J or Andrea like or not!"
"Alright." She aid without any further argument.
"Good."
After that the two of them left Carlos in front of plenty of doctors, paramedics, and police rushing around to investigate the explosion. Then they went to reluctantly cut T.J and Andrea's date short.