GIVING UP 2: AWAKENINGS
By Vampy

"We'll find her. Said Marit. "Together."
"But." Said Alfred when he realized something. "What happened to Ramu for gods sake? Why didn't he take over command?
"A strange coincident." Said Balthazar sincerely. "I fear that he was injured. On a very sensitive spot. And what's really strange, is that he can't heal himself."
"What caused his injury? A dragonsnake?"
"No." Balthazar looked sharply at Haplo and almost smiled. "It appeared that poor Ramu was bitten by a dog." *

Felina sighted and dropped the book on her lap while she faced the sun. It wasn't hot, but it was just perfect. She was wearing an old T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
Jake was right besides her, dozing. They were in the middle of a park and she was loving every minute of it. Children were laughing, playing. People were talking and having a good time.
Felina could've sworn the people were happier then normal because of the crime free zone, people were certainly breathing easier.
Jake stirred; she looked at him and smiled. Though he still had a serious look on his face he was actually relaxing. And that was all she ever wanted. Jake stirred again and mumbled something. She perked her ears to hear what he was saying but he kept silent.
Oh well...
Felina returned the book to her backpack and lay down in the grass. There was a nasty cloud coming but it would take some time before it would actual threaten the sun. She suddenly felt very sleepy and closed her eyes.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Meanwhile at the hospital...

Doctor Smith was giving some of her patients a private check up, she would do that every now and then to keep in touch and to show the patients that she wasn't only there for business, she was also supporting and cared for her patients and they appreciated that. It was all part of what made her a great doctor. Her final visit was to someone very special to Megakatcity. T-bone.
Even though he couldn't hear her, she would visit him to. Simply because she wanted him to wake up. Even more then the other coma patients. This was one kat who was noble and needed, and -was- was the right word. With Megakatcity crime free, who needed the SWAT kats? Well she could name a few. Herself, his partner, the mayor, the Enforcers and well, every other citizen who lived here. They wanted T-bone to wake up because he didn't deserve it and because they owed him. Him and his partner.
Why was life never easy?
She entered the room, where his still form was lying. 'Okay.' She thought. 'Happy thoughts.' Over the years she had learned from experience that it didn't do coma patients good to talk depressingly towards them. No.. You needed to give them a reason to come back and since they couldn't hear words but only the voices, you would have to keep your optimism level high. 'Yeah right, maybe they'll think: Hey, what's that noise? Are they having a party without me?! I better wake up!'
She sighed and walked towards the bed. "Hey T-bone. How are you doing today?" She picked up the clipboard and told T-bone what it said. Unfortunately it hadn't changed much since half a year.
She did however keep the lightness in her voice while she spoke.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Back at the park...

Felina was waking up with a strange feeling. Everything was dark, why?
She looked up and saw the heavy clouds, the perfect ruining of a perfect day. People were packing up and making themselves ready to leave the park. One woman who was sitting on a bench 15 meters from them pointed at something in her direction. Felina looked at the lady questioning and pointed at herself. But he woman shook her head and pointed again. Felina turned around and saw Jake, he was sweating and trashing about, while murmuring words she couldn't quit catch except 'T-bone' and 'No'. She kneeled besides him and grabbed him by the shoulders to shake him awake, but he started to fight her. She cursed. "Damn it Jake, snap out of it." She slapt him in the face, hard. He was awake a second after impact.
"Wha.." He was shaky. Felina was still holding his shoulders so she let go. He blinked. It was obvious he wasn't clear-headed right then so Felina helped him a bit.
"That was quite a nightmare you had there, bud." She smiled at him, trying to give him some comfort. But all Jake seemed to hear was the word 'bud'. She realized her mistake...
"Oh, I didn't mean to.. I would never try to replace T-bone.. " He shook his head while telling her that it was okay, but his voice told her otherwise.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
He looked up surprised. "About what?"
Felina was sitting in a crouch, ready for a little opening up. "You know, about the dream..." He gave her one unbelieving look, stood up and left. Felina was startled. "Jake?"
Jake turned around, but didn't stop moving. "I have to work on some gadgets. I'll see you.. some other time..."
Felina stood up. "Jake, the city is crime free.." *Sigh* "You don't have to talk to me, just... "
Jake stopped moving. "You don't have to tell me what to do! I'll do whatever I want!"
A child started crying and it started raining. Felina looked up. "Oh, great." She mumbled. "Listen Jake, we could watch a movie or something." It sounded hopefull but Jake was having nothing of that.
"I'm not in the mood, I'll see you later... much later..." And with that he turned and left. Felina balled her fist and wanted to curse the rain but instead kicked a can into a garbage can. A smile appeared on her face for that but it quickly faded away. A crime free city alone just wasn't enough.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

A thunder crack echoed trough the city. Doctor Smith sighed and closed the window of T-bones room. She was about to leave when she remembered she hadn't put the clipboard back on the bed. While she turned back she saw T-bones eye flutter.
She froze.
Had it been her imagination?
It hadn't been, T-bone blinked again and turned his head. She dropped the clipboard, and it fell clatering to the floor.
"T-bone?"
He closed his eyes again. Doctor Smith looked at the hearth monitor and saw he was quite upset. "T-bone? Listen you have to stay awake for a while so I can explain what happened."
He opened his eyes again. And tried to sit up. "What the.. Where am I?"
Doctor Smith held him down. "Easy there, you're at the hospital." She couldn't believe this just happened, it wasn't normally that people came out of a half year of coma. But apparently Chance was someone who did.
He wasn't satisfied with the answer though. "What happened? How did I get here?" She ignored the questions for a while, while she checked his condition. He was doing reasonable fine, so she took a chair to have a talk with him. "What's the last thing you remember?"
Knowing she would stay with him comforted T-bone. "I don't know. It's all fuzzy. How did I end up in here?"
She smiled and took his paw; surprisingly he didn't take it back but allowed it. "You were shot, in the chest near the hart, you almost died because of it but apparently you survived. Do you remember you're name?" T-bone eyes became splits. "My name is Ch.. T-bone." She had to smile at that, even though he was a mess he knew when to say his real name and when to don't. "Well, T-bone, My name is Smith. And I think I should be calling a very worried friend of yours." T-bones eyes became large. "Jake! Where is he? Is he all right? Why isn't he here?" She stood up to ring the nurse call and as suspected a nursed entered the room. "She will keep you company, but try to get some rest, I'll call you're friend. There's nothing to worry about." T-bone couldn't do any other thing then nod. He had the feeling he was forgetting the world but he was too tired to care at a certain point. Jake would be here soon and everything would be okay after that. He let the nurse tuck him in. She had the weirdest excited look on her face that he'd ever seen. Why?... But he was asleep before he could find it out.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

At the scrape yard...

Jake was rubbing his eyes. He had some plans before him on the table. They were one-year-old designs but they didn't made much sense anymore. The answering machine was blaring out a message of Feral in which he reported the progress of the Mariah case. Jake listened and had to think of the little girl that was raped and brutally murdered by Dennis Clover. He sighed, and hoped the bastard didn't enjoy his stay in prison.
Today at the park, the people had been so... Well happy. Careless. Normal. It had been because of the crime-free thing but he knew it wouldn't last very long. Megakatcity had been a crime free zone three months ago. But the villains had gotten back just as hard. But it still felt good. As long as you didn't think about the fact that it did existed, or had existed.
Mariah Perry had been killed and for that he wouldn't be able to sleep very well the upcoming weeks. He couldn't help seeing the picture of her he had found on her file. 17 years. No parents. She had been an orphan but she had managed to survive since she was already in college. She had friends, maybe no family but she had friends, she had a life.
He knew all of that from the investigation he had held before Dark kat appeared and he had to take care of that. Mariah Perry. He would've given his life for her. But somehow that didn't make a difference. He dropped the designs. They didn't make sense and they wouldn't make sense. He had to start all over, but didn't know where to start.
He was about to take a sip of water when the phone rang and he almost choked in it. The answering machine took over. There wasn't a message. Just a beep but most people understood that it was an answering machine and that the people who owned it weren't home at the moment so they could leave a message.
The beep was followed with doctor Smith, cursing.
Jake attention was peeked. Better yet, he was terrified.
Smith seemed to be getting control of herself. "Jake... fuck, I don't know how to tell you this, I would rather say it right to your face, not to a machine..." Jake was to the phone immediately. "Smith? What's wrong?"
"Jake! Thank goodness your there. Come to the hospital immediately. Chance woke up a few minutes ago. Isn't that great?"
Jake was stunned. "Wha..."
"Jake didn't you hear what I said? He's awake!"
"Who's awake?"
"Jake.. Listen to me. Chance is awake; he's going to be all right. He's out of his coma!"
"But, but.."
"Isn't that.."
"NO!" Jake yelled. Smith was utterly surprised.
"NO! It's not all right. They asked me to pull the plug, they advised me to.. to.."
"Oh, Jake, listen to me. You did the right thing. They were wrong, you gave Chance a chance to survive and he did. He survived Jake. The only problem you've got is how you're ever going to tell him what happened to the Turbokat."
"The turbokat? Oh I don't know.."
There was a long pause and Smith waited. Eventually Jake realized what she had tolled him.
"HE'S WHAT?"
"Jake, I'm not going to tell you again, get your tail to the hospital, NOW!" She waited for a response, maybe a good-bye, but there was nothing.
At the scrape yard a phone was bungling from its line while a door slammed shut.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

The heart monitor was unhooked, and standing next to Chances bed doing nothing. It was the first thing Jake noticed when he entered the room. On one site it freaked him out because it wasn't the way it was supposed to be but on the other side.. It meant Chance didn't need it anymore. Jake walked to the bed. Careful, not to wake the occupant up. When he saw Chances face he frowned. There hadn't been many changes. He looked back to the open door. No one was there. It was all just like before. Chance was still...
Chance stirred and turned to lie on his side. Jake eyes went wide and his legs couldn't hold him anymore. He sat down in the chair, tears streaming from his eyes; it wasn't just of cheer joy but also of unbelief and frustration. It just was too much after one year.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and another one holding out a hanky for him. He took it and nodded gratefully at Smith. When she spoke it sounded soft and soothing, like a real professional. "The first thing that he wanted to know, was how you were doing. He's a true friend Jake and so are you."
He had whipped away the tears. "I still can't believe it." He said. "I had given up hope you know. The only reason why I couldn't pull the plug was... because it would be as if I was killing him. I never believed he would wake up. But he did. And now... I don't know what to do..."
Diana sighed. "I know, it's hard, specially for you but you shouldn't be worrying so much. The first thing to concern is that he gets settled in. You can answer his question later. Okay?" She looked Jake in the eyes and he nodded.
"I'll do that. When do you think he'll wake up?"
Smith looked at the clock and then smiled. "Not for a very long time. I think he'll.. " Then she noticed the blood on the floor. "Jake are you bleeding?"
Jake looked up with a confused look on his face. "No, why.." Then he saw a small patch of blood on the floor. Smith was kneeling on the floor and took his foot. "Seems like you stepped into something."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Chance heard voices. 'What the?' His eyes were too tired to open so he listened.
"Really, I swear you wouldn't had noticed if you had been hit by a truck." *Laughter* The laughter stopped abruptly by a laud yell of triumph and a mild swear. "There, there, that wasn't so bad now was it?"
"Oh, it wasn't?!? I could've sworn that was bad! What did you pull out? A propeller or something? Jesus!"
Chance shot up, he recognized that voice. "JAKE?"
Jake looked up, from where he was lying on the other bed, eyes wide. He managed a smile. "Chance! About time you woke up..." But his voice broke.
"What the hell happened buddy?" Chance tried to sit up but his muscles were too stiff.
Jake stood up, Smith wanted to comment that she bandage the wound first but she left instead, closing the door so the two friends would have some privacy.
"You better lie back down." Jake commented. "You've been out of it quite a while..."
Chance nodded and lied back. Jake just stood there, lost. Chance noticed this and asked what was wrong.
"I'm just glad you're okay. You've been.. You were shot, near the hearth." Jake looked down, not willing to face the confused look on Chances face.
"What?! I feel pretty darn good to be shot down. Well.. My body aches but I don't feel as if I was shot down." Chance shook his head. "What the hell is going on?"
Jake sighed and sat in the chair.
Chance wanted his answers. "Jake what happened? What's going on?"
Jake looked up, his eyes teary. "Chance, You've been in a coma for over a year."
"WHAT?!"
"That's why your wound had time to heal." Jake stood up. "That's why you muscles feel so stiff, it's because you haven't used them for over a year."
"No.." Chance couldn't believe it. "No, this can't be... Jake?"
Jake had turned his back to Chance. "Believe it Chance." 'I had to do so, too.'
Chance was starting to get up again. And Jake had to push him back gently. But Chance wouldn't stay down. He looked Jake right in the eyes. "What happened Jake? Who put me in this hospital? Why won't anyone tell me?"
Jake turned his face. "I'll tell you later, I promise but let's just wait till things settle down."
Chance was silent and wondered what Jake couldn't face himself. "Are you okay?"
Jake looked up at him and smiled. "I'm fine. Now that you're back.. Everything is going to be all right." He hugged Chance and Chance hugged him back. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!"
Chance grinned. "What you didn't think I could make it?"

* This is an exerpt from one of my favorite books, called "The Gate Of Death" From Weiss & Hickman.