Author's Notes:Ooooooft! This fic is hard to write out fully on an emotional level..! All of my fics are written down, largely in note form, and I needed this and 'Across Time and Space – A Good Place to Start' to run parallel to each other for the sake of giving history and reasons behind things that happen in this one. But writing whole scenarios out is... wow.

Things calmed down a bit after Mike left. The nurse had run into a back office, threatening to call the police just after Dutch had jumped the sofa, and had, mercifully, not seen the full scuffle. Bobby had managed to talk her out of it with some quickly thought-out guff about Dutch trashing the waiting room as a coping mechanism and ensuring her that he'd never seriously hit a person (total bullshit of course) and promised that we'd pay for the damage to the wall. The four of us (myself, Bobby, Jimmy and Johnny) had all helped to get the waiting room back in order, picking up trash, righting the trash can and rescuing the no-longer-standing plant.

Bobby and Johnny had overpowered Dutch and eventually succeeded in getting him to return to his bed, amid furious growls and grumbles on Dutch's part.

After this, Johnny just about convinced me to go back home with him. I reluctantly followed him out of the building and back to his car.

I sat, staring out of the window as we drove in silence. I couldn't get Tommy out of my mind. I just kept seeing him lying there, still and broken, kept alive by machines. Happy, energetic, hyperactive Tommy. He didn't look right without his smile.

I swept a tear away.

"Hey, Johnny,"

"Mm."

"Can you take me to the hospital first thing in the morning?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

"Not going to class?"

"No."

We pulled into the little parking bay at the apartment block where Johnny and I had lived together for the past four months. I sat with my seatbelt still on, staring up at our window. My brain was reminding me of every time Tommy had come over for a visit and wouldn't shut the hell up, no matter how hard I tried. I didn't want to go in. I just wanted to go... where? There was nowhere I could go that wouldn't make me think of him and the fun we'd had.

"Hey." Johnny said, gently. "C'mon. You can't stay here."

I nodded and undid my belt.

Johnny was first in the door. Our apartment was small and haphazard, much like Johnny's old room at his mother's had been. Clothes and books everywhere, dishes still in the sink, mail on the mat. I shifted a pile of magazines off my favourite spot on the sofa and sat down, my brain still chasing its own tail around my skull. I couldn't shake it. The pictures just kept flicking like one of those flip books I used to make as a kid. Tommy sharing his Reese's Pieces with me on the bus the first day we'd hung out properly, Tommy's amazing cannonball at the pool that time a year or so ago, Tommy and I finally completing Dragon's Lair at the arcade and whooping with joy and I'd grabbed Tommy and... shit. Shit! I didn't need to remember that. I ground my knuckles against my forehead in a physical attempt at clearing the images.

Johnny nudged my foot with his and I looked up. He handed me a mug of hot chocolate. He shifted the same pile of magazines off the sofa and onto the floor and took a seat next to me, glancing over at me as he did so.

"He'll pull through. I know it." He said, his hushed voice startlingly loud in the silent apartment.

"You can't know that."

"Well, sure. But I know Tommy. And Tommy's one hell of a fighter. If anyone can get through this, it's him."

I looked up at him, unable to stop my eyes from glassing over.

"And if he doesn't?"

"He will." Johnny looked at me, sympathetically. "C'mere." He held an arm out and I leant against him. Johnny stroked my shoulder with a thumb reassuringly. "We'll go see him first thing. We'll stay all day if that's what you want."

I put a hand on Johnny's chest.

"Thank you."

Johnny did as he promised. When morning came, I woke to find the bed empty and, when I shuffled through to the living area, Johnny was wandering around in his pyjamas, drinking coffee and attempting to read mail.

"You know something? I've tried to read this page about six times and I still haven't taken in a damn thing." He informed me, without looking up.

"What is it? A bill?"

"I think so... Ugh. When did we become adults, huh?" He shot me a quick half-smile and threw the bill down on the kitchen table.

"Tell me about it!" I said, dropping myself into one of the kitchen chairs. I wrapped my arms around myself. I wasn't cold. I was just generally uncomfortable. Like when you're wearing a jacket that's a size too small or when something gets stuck to your skin like a piece of tape or a sticker and you get that weird feeling up your back and you just want it to go away. But I couldn't take this off like a jacket. I had to wear it. I drew my legs up onto the chair and hugged my knees instead but it didn't help.

"Want something to eat?" Johnny asked. "We actually have cereal for a change."

I shook my head.

"Not hungry." I responded, flatly. "But thank you!" I added, quickly.

The hospital seemed far less daunting in the morning sunlight. We pulled into the parking lot and Johnny parked (straight this time). The sky was overcast with light grey so everything looked flat and expressionless. A strange, intrusive thought trespassed on my mind. Seeing as this was a movie world, was this grey sky a reaction to what was happening, I wondered. "Pathetic fallacy" as it's known. I shook my head. This was not the time.

We found Dutch and Jimmy in the day room when we got there. Dutch was looking as pissed off as ever but at least he wasn't kicking over pot plants this time. He barely spoke a word while we were there. Just sat, moodily, in his chair. When we enquired as to where Bobby was, Jimmy informed us he'd gone to class. The Cobras were in their third year and I in my second.

"I got class too." Dutch grumbled after a time.

"Nurse says you only have to be in here a few days, man. Your arm got smashed up, but, other than that, you got pretty lucky." Johnny said, fairly. "They just need to know that nothing else is wrong."

"I'm fine!" Dutch snarled in response.

"Dutch, just... just wait it out? Please?" I pleaded with him. "I want to know you're okay too. Alright? Just do it for me?"

Dutch shifted where he sat.

"What are you? My mom?" He muttered, and went silent.

I felt reassured. That was about as good a response as I could expect from Dutch and I decided not to push it. I ran a hand through my short hair.

"Hey. I'm going to go and see Tommy." I said and stood up. "Johnny, you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a little bit."

I walked into the ICU with its detestable white walls and cold atmosphere and was surprised to see a woman already there. She was pretty old. She had to be in her seventies. She was very small with her greying brown hair simply braided and she sat in a chair by Tommy's bed, her hand on his. She turned to look at me as I walked in.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I'll come back later." I said, and turned to leave.

"You don't need to do that, my dear." The old lady said, kindly. She smiled... and her smile was exactly the same as Tommys! The lines around her eyes crinkled in exactly the same way, her eyes glittered with the same life. I stared. "I'm Thomas's Nana." She introduced herself. "You can call me Ruth."

I was astonished and strangely honoured. I'd never heard Tommy even mention his family before. None of us had ever gone round his house except for Jimmy and he'd never said anything about Tommy's family. And now, here was this grandmother out of nowhere!

"Hi. I'm Jac." I said, strangely awe-struck, extending a hand. Ruth took it in her wizened little bird claw and smiled wider.

"Oh! So you're Jac! Well I should have known really, I suppose. Thomas has told me all about you. Didn't you change your name?"

I ran a hand through my hair again, awkwardly.

"Yeah. I used to go by... something else."

Ruth chuckled and shrugged, good-naturedly.

"You young people are always reinventing yourselves these days aren't you. Well, it's lovely to finally meet you. Thomas talks about you all the time."

"He does!?"

I looked over at poor Tommy on his bed. He hadn't moved a nanometre since yesterday. It was as though I hadn't been away.

"Oh yes. Ever since he was a boy. "Nana, I made this cool new friend! She's from England!" "Hey, Nana, I'm gonna see such-and-such movie with Izzi!" "Nana, Izzi knows some really cool bands!" It's all I'd hear."

Ruth looked down sadly at her battered, unconscious grandson and put a hand out and neatened his hair for him.

"I miss hearing it too." She whispered.

I looked at this poor lady and she looked so vulnerable. I put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her.

"I miss him too." I said, quietly.

Ruth rubbed my hand and smiled bravely.

"Bless you! I'm sure he'll pull through. My Thomas is a tough one. He'll be okay, won't you, sweetheart." She directed the last bit at Tommy himself.

Something occurred to me.

"Has Tommy's Mum and Dad been in already?" I asked, realising his grandma was here but not them.

Ruth inhaled deeply.

"My Rose and her husband passed away a long time ago, dear." She said, calmly and matter-of-factly, but with a deep undercurrent of despair.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-...!"

"No no. No need to feel embarrassed. You didn't know." Ruth said. "Yes, they both passed away in the same accident when Thomas was just three years old. I raised him. It's a blessing for him that he was so young I suppose. He doesn't remember them enough for it to hurt him."

My stomach dropped like a stone. Poor poor Ruth! Her daughter had died in a crash. And now, here was her Grandson clinging to life for the exact same reason. She was unbelievably brave. I sniffed, trying to force myself not to cry on her behalf. But it wasn't working.

"May I hug you?" I asked, my voice tight.

Ruth looked up at me. Despite my best efforts, she must have seen my eyes getting glassy at least.

"Oh, my dear!" Ruth exclaimed, standing up. She put her arms around me and I returned her embrace. I'd only just met this woman but I already felt as though I'd known her for years. As if she was my own family. I felt such a deep sympathy for her.

Please please wake up, Tommy! I tried to project into his mind. Your Nana needs you... and so do I.