A/N:
I was waiting for this chapter to be beta-ed, but since I received such an
outpouring I will go ahead and post. I don't want to hear about grammar
stuff in reviews OK. OH and you better review!!!
Title:
Just Breathe
Name:
Joy
Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com
Rating: PG-13
"You are not allowed to
die on me!" Jondy shouted at Krit's lifeless body. She knew she had seen
paddles around the lab somewhere… CPR, she needed to do CPR. Having worked as a
nurse's aid for a little while would finally bear some fruit. She climbed a top
of Krit's chest and breathed into his mouth. Jondy started compressions on
Krit's chest as Sebastian rolled back to see what the screaming was about.
For a brief second Sebastian mistook
the compressions as a sexual act. Once he understood what was happening he
called Logan's cell phone to ask what to do. "Logan…" the mechanical
voice said.
"Sebastian… I don't have time
to talk right now. Krit and Jondy took off like two bats out of hell,"
Logan said while driving.
"I know, they're here. Krit
seems to be… Jondy is doing CPR," Sebastian responded.
"Dammit!" Logan swore.
"What?!" said Jessica from
beside him.
"You were right. They did the
experiment and it backfired. Jondy is doing CPR on Krit right now."
"Tell Sebastian to let Jondy
have his portable paddles. She has enough medical training to not cause any
permanent damage until I get there," Jess said.
"You get all that
Sebastian?" Logan asked.
"Yeah."
Sebastian rolled into the lab with
the paddles. "Jessica said for you to use these. She's on her way."
"Thank you," she said with
tears in her eyes. She stumbled from the table and opened Krit's shirt. She
checked for breath and a heartbeat before placing the paddles on his chest.
Krit's long lean body lurched up with the force of the electricity. Once again
Jondy checked for a rhythm or breathing but none was found. She charged the
paddles higher and laid them on his bare chest again. His lifeless body lurched
up. Krit breathed in and Jondy could detect a faint heartbeat.
Jondy wept holding Krit's hand,
"You don't get to leave me like this. It's not an option."
Sebastian watched helplessly as
Jondy looked on with love at Krit. He wouldn't woo and she wouldn't fall.
Manticore girls weren't easy. They were very complicated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once Logan and Jessica arrived at
the lab, they turned it into a makeshift hospital. With tubes and wires going
every which way, Krit looked awfully like he did when they would run
experiments on the kids at Manticore. Jondy refused to leave his side despite
his appearance. She had done this to him and she wasn't going to abandon him.
Fiona made the call Jondy had begged
her not too. She didn't want Zack's only freedom he had ever indulged himself
to be cut short. Fiona let Max make the choice since she was whom the serum
would in the end affect the most. Max opted to ask Zack to come to Seattle to
help Jessica find out what went wrong and how to correct it.
"Hello," a perky voice
said in Colorado.
"This is Fiona. I need to speak
to Zack…now," said Fi trying to convey the urgency of her call.
An agitated male voice answered,
"What's wrong?"
"Ya know that stupid Manticore
male pride that drives you to be obnoxious… Krit's drove him to a coma."
"How?" Zack said
frantically.
"Liam had a seizure in womb.
Dr. Spencer has increased Max's tryptophan level to help compensate but each
time it happens Liam has a greater chance of having neurological damage. The
serum was finished yesterday but Jess insisted we wait until you returned to
test it. After seeing what Max and Liam went through Krit decided to run the
experiment anyways. If Jondy hadn't been with him, he would just be dead now.
She is such a trooper, even if she's broken Sebastian's heart."
"I got everything but the last
part," Zack said.
"Oh… Think you, Max and Logan
then Max picking you. Truth is she never had any feelings for Sebastian… That's
not important right now. Right now we need you here!" Fiona responded.
"I'm so stupid for coming
here!" Zack berated himself.
"Are things going well with
Rachel?"
"Yeah?"
"Then it wasn't stupid… Can I
talk to her?" Fi asked.
"Sure, I guess."
"Hello," said Rachel.
"Hey… Zack is going to beat
himself up a lot for coming out there because his brother did something stupid
here. Please don't take it personally. The fact that he came to you should
speak volumes about how much he feels for you… He would never have…" Fiona
was saying when Rachel interrupted her.
"I know… I won't take it
personally… Part of the package. Thanks for caring about my feelings though.
It's good to know the big sister approves. I'll send him on his way. How's
Jondy?"
"Not good. Zack doesn't know
this but Jondy helped Krit do the stupid thing that landed him in a coma. She
hasn't left his side since it happened," Fiona explained.
"I think she has some less then
sisterly feelings toward him."
"She does and he has some less
then brotherly feelings toward her. That is what is making this harder. It seems
that after years of separation a month of working side by side fanned the
ambers between them. Maybe I can convince her to call you and talk about
this," Fiona suggested.
"I'll call her cell if I don't
hear from her today," Rachel stated.
"Thank you."
"No. Thank you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zack arrived in Seattle within hours
having hopped a flight back as soon as he could. For the first time though it
was a hard struggle to do what was right because he didn't want to leave Rachel
behind. His sweet loving girlfriend was so understanding it made him realize
how truly blessed he was. His military brat took the departure in true military
wife style, a large hug and kiss with no clue when he'd be back.
Zack and Jessica worked day and
night to refine the serum. The major benefit Krit had given them was the
knowledge that refining the genes in his body to close the serotonin reuptake
sites in his brain didn't help the problem at all. Krit's body and therefore
Max's and Liam's bodies literally did not make enough serotonin. The serum had
to instruct the brain to make more serotonin and leave the reuptake sites
alone. Weeks rolled passed as day and night the geneticist and the wonder boy
perfected the serum.
"Max? Baby, what's wrong?" Logan asked
walking into the guest room that was quickly becoming the nursery. Max was
crying on the bed cuddling her stomach.
"I'm not strong enough for this
Logan… I'm not. I can't sit with my brother and see him with all those tubes in
him. I can't bear the thought of that happening to Liam when he is born. We're
running out of time Logan… This is the month that his brain is developing the
most…" Max sobbed.
Logan wrapped his arms around his
beloved. "You know that Zack and Jess are going to perfect the serum soon.
We just have to be patient and have faith."
"Faith… Faith in what? God…
Man… Manticore… I don't get to have the happily ever after I hoped for. I don't
get to finish out what Fiona had with Ryan. We aren't going to make it Logan…
One of us is going to die."
The tears that descended his wife
face didn't mask the sincerity of her words. She believed that either the baby
or herself would die along the way. Logan became angry, "You don't get to
give up… Fiona is just a regular old human being. She survived the loss of her
husband, child, parents, and me for lack of a better term. She still had faith
and hope in the world. You have everyone you love working for you and our baby.
Giving up isn't an option. That is my child in there…Strong Irish blood and
will living and breathing. You aren't going to give up on him or yourself. You
hear me?"
Max wouldn't look at him.
"Answer me Max! If you give up there is no hope for either of you… We will
get through this but you have to keep fighting," he said shaking her a
little. "Do you understand?" Max nodded as Logan pulled her into his
arms. "I love you… I need you. Don't give up on yourself or us. We can do
this," he said kissing her lips and cheeks.
"I'm sorry. This emotional
roller coaster is getting ridiculous. It's just so hard. I know Liam can feel
the strain of the last few weeks. I hate that I can't protect him even now from
the world," Max said wiping her face and letting her husband rock her in
his arms.
"I know baby but think we get
to see Liam soon. We even get a new picture tomorrow. Come on I'll get you
settled into bed."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jondy had a comfortable recliner
brought into Krit's room so she could sit with him. Sebastian felt the
furniture was the least he could do to help ease her pain. Feelings or no
feelings, he hated to see her suffer.
"Tomorrow Max will get the newest picture of
little Liam Galen Krit Cale. Such a long name for such a small person,"
Jondy said thoughtfully to Krit. She remembered the thing with coma patients
was they could hear you in some cases. With each day it became less likely that
Krit would ever regain conscience but Jondy wouldn't let go.
"It's been nearly a month Krit.
You'll be so surprised at how big Max is. I could never imagine that little
body could carry that much weight. She's sleeping a lot since her body is
concentrating on creating a person. Zack says he and Jess will have the serum
ready in the next couple days so you better be ready to talk about that
kiss…" Jondy broke down weeping into his bed sheets. It wasn't fair to
have him leave her the way he did… She was supposed to have time with him.
"What…Kiss?" Krit
struggled to say.
Jondy looked up in total disbelief.
He was so pale and sick looking, but his eyes were open and he was smiling. He
began to cough shaking her back to reality. "Here, have some water,"
she said offering a shaky cup.
He took the cup and laid his hand
atop hers. "I should be shaking, not you," he said smiling warmly.
Jondy almost started to cry again. "No, no. No more tears," he said
before kissing her lightly.
Jondy woke bolt up in her chair in
Krit's room. It was early morning. There was no cup of water. Krit hadn't woken
up… It was all just a dream. "No!" Jondy screamed and began to ball
as she rocked herself back and forth. Zack heard her yell and came to check on
her. He pulled her into his arms and held her. She beat her frustration out on
his chest until she collapsed crying again. "It's not fair Zack…It's not
fair. We weren't made to handle emotions this strong… I … It hurts too
much."
"Baby sister…he's going to wake
up. We're almost done. His brain will start behaving right and he'll wake
up," he said with confidence.
"How can you be sure?"
Zack smiled and said, "I
honestly believe that if two chimeras can fall in love with one another, heaven
and earth can't keep them apart." Jondy clung to Zack as she looked over
his shoulder at Krit lying in the bed same as he had been every day for a
month.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~