Author's note: This chapter contains triggering themes (drug overdose) and potential death.

CHAPTER EIGHT

"April Celine!" Cat shouted from the kitchen. "You're gonna be late for work!"

"I don't think she feels good, she's still sleeping," Zoey said as she stole a piece of bacon from the frying pan, but immediately dropping it. "Ow! That's hot!"

"It was in the frying pan, you ding dong," Cat said, placing the pan on a cold burner and turning the stove off. "Get a plate set up for Shelby for me, I'll go drag your Auntie out of bed," she said, kissing her daughter's head.

Cat went upstairs, stopping at April's door and knocking. "April? You're gonna be late for work, get up."

When she didn't get a response, she opened the door and rolled her eyes, seeing that her sister was still asleep. "April. Get up, Sis," Cat said as she walked over to the bed and rolled her twin over. She let out a gasp when she saw that April's lips were starting to turn blue. "Fuck! What the fuck did you do?" Her voice cracked with a sob as she leaned her ear to April's mouth to see if she was breathing.

"Mommy, her ride's here," Zoey said from the doorway.

"Get out! Go get Robbie, hurry up!"

"Is she okay?"

"Get out! Robbie!" Cat screamed. "It's April, get in here!"

Robbie appeared seconds later, moving Zoey out of the way. "What happened?"

"Is Auntie okay?" Zoey's voice cracked.

"Get out!" Cat snapped. "Go downstairs and stay with Shelby, right now!"

As Zoey ran off, Robbie got his phone out of his pocket, dialing 9-1-1.

"What happened to her?" Robbie asked.

"She overdosed," Cat sobbed. "She's not breathing, I need her on the floor."

Robbie quickly and carefully helped Cat get April on the floor.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" The dispatcher asked.

"Uh - my sister-in-law overdosed and she isn't breathing, we need an ambulance right away," Robbie said.

"What's the address?"

"57361 Sapphire Court."

"I'll dispatch the ambulance right now. You said she isn't breathing, does she have a pulse?"

"Does she have a pulse?"

Cat felt each pulse point before placing her head on April's chest. "No pulse, her heart is beating really light. I can barely hear it."

"My wife can't feel a pulse and she can barely hear her heart."

"Okay. Stay calm for me, alright?" The dispatcher asked. "If either of you know CPR, go ahead and start it."

"Start CPR."

"Do you know what she overdosed on?"

"What did she overdose on?"

"It's an oxy / fentanyl mix," Cat said.

"An oxy / fentanyl mix."

"Okay. The ambulance is less than a minute away, help will be there soon," the dispatcher said.

"I think I hear the sirens."

"Okay. I'm gonna let you go now. I hope your sister-in-law is okay."

"Thank you," Robbie said before hanging up. "I hear sirens, I'm gonna go lead them up. Do you want me to tell Zoey anything?"

"No. I don't want her to know what happened. I'll tell her when I'm ready," Cat said.

"Okay. I'll be back," Robbie said before rushing out of the room.

Cat sobbed, continuing to do chest compressions on April. "Why did you do this, April? Please wake up, I need you," she sobbed. "We all need you, please open your eyes, please wake up! Please... please don't leave me..."

"She's not gonna make it, I just know it," Tara's voice cracked.

"Shut up," Cat muttered. "They gave her Narcan. She started waking up in the E.R."

"She swallowed a bottle of pills."

"She took 2 fucking pills. You know why it sent her into an overdose? Because whoever made the pilles used a potentially lethal amount of oxy and fentanyl. She did not do this on purpose."

"We don't know that."

"If she did it on purpose she'd be dead."

"Is the family of April Valentine here?" A doctor asked.

"That's us," Cat said, standing up.

The doctor walked over to her, shaking everyone's hands. "I'm Dr. Meyers. So... this is a complicated situation. April is up and down. She keeps crashing. Does anyone know if she has a DNR?"

"She doesn't."

"Okay... my next question is harder... do you want us to use extensive measures or do you want us to let her go if she crashes again?"

Cat let out a sob, leaning into Robbie and burying her face in his chest.

"Well obviously, save our daughter," Tara said.

"I don't think April would want that," Robbie said. "She tried to kill herself too many times to make anyone think she wants to be here."

"We aren't just going to give up on her."

"It's not giving up on her. It's letting her be free and ending her suffering."

"We're not doing that. You do whatever you can to save my daughter."

"Who's power of attorney here?" Dr. Meyers asked.

"I am," Cat sniffled, pushing her hair out of her face and crossing her arms over her stomach. "Um... Robbie's right. If constantly bringing her back is going to make her suffer more each time it's done, then don't even do CPR. Let her go."

"No," Tara said. "That's my daughter."

"Well then you should have paid for her rehab!" Cat snapped. "I'm the one who's with her, I'm the one she confides in, I'm the one she comes to when she knows she's thinking of doing something stupid! Me! I'm the one in charge of her! I'm sick of watching her suffer with this disease! If this is the way she wants to go out, let her! We're just making her suffer, Mom! We can't keep her here for our own selfish reasons!"

"You don't know what it's like to lose a child!"

"Yes I do!"

"You got Shelby back!"

"I'm don't talking about Shelby! I'm talking about the baby Daniel and I lost! You know about that baby, I'm so sick of you pretending it never happened!"

"Let's focus on the subject at hand," Dr. Meyers interrupted. "Power of attorney, do we revive her or not?"

"No," Cat sniffled. "If she flatlines again, let her go. I'm tired of seeing her suffer."

"Thank you. I believe she's stable right now. I'll go check on her and if she's still stable, I'll bring you back to see her."

As Dr. Meyers left, Tara stared at Cat for a few seconds.

"How could you just let your sister die?" Tara asked.

"Mom, it's not right to keep reviving her if she isn't strong enough," Cat's voice cracked as she sat down. "I don't want to lose her. I've spent my entire life with her. She's my other half. But seeing her hurt, hurts me too. I've seen her at her worst Mom, it's scary. I don't want her to suffer her last moments on Earth just because I want her to stay for me. I want her to be okay and get away from this disgusting disease that keeps pulling her in. I'm terrified for her, these moments waiting to see if she's dead or alive are the most painful for me. It's not fair to her to make her keep going through resuscitation over and over when it's obvious that her body is tired of holding on. I don't want to lose her anymore than you do, but I'm not going to let my baby sister suffer just to save my own heartache," Cat's voice cracked again.

"Mommy," Zoey said, running over to Cat and sitting in her lap.

"Why is she here?" Tara asked.

"I asked Jade to bring her. If this is it, then... she deserves to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Zoey asked. "To Auntie? Why? Why are you crying?"

Cat nudged Zoey off of her lap and led her away from the others, Jade following when she gestured. She sat down and pulled her daughter into her lap. "You know how Auntie has a disease that makes her do drugs."

"Yeah, she's an addict."

"Well... some of the pills she took had really bad drugs in them and it made her overdose, which is why we had to call the ambulance. The doctors here have been doing their very best to save her, but her heart keeps stopping," Cat said, her voice cracking when she saw tears fill Zoey's eyes.

"Is she gonna die?" Zoey's voice cracked.

"I don't know, honey. A doctor is checking on her right now. He's gonna tell us if she's gonna make it or not and we're gonna go see her."

"What if she dies?"

"Then we'll go love on her and tell her goodbye."

"Why can't they put her on machines? I see it in movies all the time."

"This isn't a movie, Zozo," Jade said. "This is real life. The doctors may not be able to use those machines to save her."

"I don't want Auntie to die," Zoey sobbed. "I want her to come home."

"I know, baby," Cat said, running her hand through Zoey's hair as she laid her head down on her shoulder. "I know it doesn't make a lot of sense to you. I'm sorry that you even have to experience feelings like this," she said, kissing her head. "If it was up to me, I'd keep her here forever and ever, but we have to do what's best for her, not what we want. And unfortunately, the best thing for Auntie this time... is that if her heart stops again, we're gonna let her go," her voice broke.

"No Mommy, please," Zoey sobbed.

"Honey, I can't let her suffer," Cat said as a sob slipped out. "Every time her heart stops, it gets harder and harder to bring her back. It's hurting her, Zozo. She can feel that pain and it's not fair to her. It's time to let her body decide what to do, and if her heart stops, it's telling us it's time to let her go. I don't want to lose her either honey, but we can't keep her alive and keep her in pain."

"She can feel everything her body is doing to her, baby girl," Jade said, tucking Zoey's hair behind her ear. "It's like when you don't feel good, your whole body feels it. It's like that times a hundred for Auntie."

"April Valentine's family?" Dr. Meyers asked.

Cat stood up, placing Zoey in Jade's lap before walking over to the rest of the group. "How is she?"

"She's doing good. She's stable and she's awake. She keeps asking for Catey."

"That's me," Cat said. "Can my daughter come with me?"

"Sure. I'll let you grab her and I'll show you where her room is."

Cat hurried over to Jade. "Come with me. She's stable and away, but I need moral support and so does Zoey."

After the three girls gained their composure, they followed Dr. Meyers to April's room.

"I'll be back to check up in ten minutes," Dr. Meyers said before walking off.

Cat let out a deep breath, looking at Zoey. "I'm gonna go in first. You stay with Aunt Jade for now."

"Tell her I love her," Zoey sniffled.

"You can tell her yourself in a few minutes," Cat said before stepping into April's room and closing the door behind her. She slowly made her way to her sister's bed and took her hand, running her thumb over the back of her hand gently. "Hi," she said quietly.

"I'm sorry," April's voice cracked.

"You don't have to be. I'm just glad you're okay," she said, hugging her sister and kissing her head.

"I didn't mean to, I swear I only took what the bottle said to take," April sobbed.

"I know. I looked and counted it. It was a fentanyl overdose."

"I didn't mean to scare anyone, I'm so sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong, April. I'm not mad, I'm just scared. Zoey thought you were just sleeping."

"Oh god, she didn't see me did she?"

"She only saw for a few seconds, but I'm not sure what she thought she saw."

"I'm sorry," April said with a broken voice.

"I know you are. We almost lost you. If your heart stopped one more time... that was it. No more April. I told them if your heart stopped again, to let you go. And I'm so glad it didn't, cause I don't know what I'd do without you, April," Cat's voice cracked.

April let out a small sob and rubbed her eyes. "Should... should I make Mom my power of attorney? I don't want you to stress out over stuff like this."

"No. If Mom had power of attorney, she'd make them keep trying. After so long, we have to be able to let go. Mom can't do that. She'd hook you up to machines."

"Don't you ever let anyone put me on machines. Not unless I have a chance."

"We need to write out exactly what you want when we get home."

"I only want them to revive me if I'll have brain function. Normal brain function. Not messed up."

"We'll write everything down. I'll have Daniel come sit with us and help us write something out."

"Okay..."

Cat kissed April's head. "Everything will be alright. You're here. You're alive."

"Barely."

"Zoey's really wanting to see you. Are you okay with her coming in?"

"I want by Zobug."

Cat walked to the door and opened it. "Come on. She want's a zug."

Zoey wasted no time in rushing into the room and Jade looked at Cat with furrowed brows.

"What the fuck is a zug?" Jade asked.

"A Zoey hug," Cat said with a smile.

Zoey made a beeline for her aunt, hugging her and sobbing. "I'm so glad you're okay, I thought you were gonna die."

"I felt like I was," April said, kissing her niece's head and hugging her tight. "I'm so sorry I scared you, Zozo. Nothing like this will ever happen again. I promise."

"That's a pretty big promise," Jade said, walking to the bed and hugging April over Zoey.

"A promise I intend to keep."