Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for the positive reviews. For the continuation of this story, I promise to write the first eight chapters. The sixteen chapters that follow it will be written if the reviews stay positive and plentiful. Thanks again!

Chapter Two: 1AM to 2AM

1:04AM

            Ephram and Amy sprinted into the hospital lobby. Nina and Sam jumped out of their seats to greet them.

            "How is she?" Ephram instantly asked.

            Nina wiped a tear out of her eye. "They're operating on her right now."

            Ephram's jaw fell. "Operating? My dad said she was stable!"

            "She just went critical about five minutes ago," Nina supplied.

            Sam kicked his chair and looked away. "This is my fault. She was coming to visit me." Sam and Delia had been dating for about two months now. Andy and Nina were furious when they had found out but were forced to let them pursue a relationship when Delia pointed out the 'Ephram and Madison' relationship a decade earlier.

            Amy hugged Sam. "That's not true…"

1:09

            "Come on, people, we're not gonna lose this one!" Dr. Patterson hollered to the nurses after glancing at Delia's vitals monitor.

            Andy and Harold burst in, clad in operating garbs. Andy snapped a pair of gloves on. I lost Julia in a car accident. I'll be damned if I lose Delia too.

            Patterson spotted Andy as he approached the operating table. "Andy, I think you should leave." Patterson returned his attention to Delia and began shouting more orders to his two nurses.

            Harold nodded and placed his hand on Andy's shoulder. "He's right. You know the rules. She's daughter. If you lost her under your watch…"

            "I'm not going to lose her," Andy hastily responded, pushing Harold's hand away.

1:17

            Bright Abbott walked into Ephram and Amy's house, using the spare key under the flowerpot, as per Amy's instructions.

            Bright kept the cell phone up to his ear. "Okay, I'm here. Now…why am I here and where are you guys?"

            Amy rolled her eyes. "I'm on a cell phone, you moron. I'm at the hospital and I need you to watch Colin and Julia."

            "You called me at one in the morning just to trick me into watching your kids? Why don't you just hire a 24-hour nanny? Afraid Ephram might start hitting on her?" Bright smirked.

            Amy laughed. "Oh shut up. Just keep an eye on the twins and try not to make too much noise…"

            Bright walked over to the fridge. "Yeah, yeah. Hey do you guys still have some Rocky Road?"

            "Freezer, third shelf, behind the popsicles."

            Bright rummaged through the freezer. "Geez, how can you guys live like this? There's not a single TV-dinner or frozen pizza in the entire thing."

            "It's called 'cooking,' Bright," Amy muttered, yawning.

            "Well la dee da, Martha Stewart."

            "Look, I have to go, Bright. Just watch the twins, okay?" Amy hung up.

1:29

            Reverend John Keyes hit the keys on his typewriter, trying to finish writing his brail notes before tomorrow's wedding rehearsal. Mark, his eight year old son, walked into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes.

            "Watcha doin', dad?"

            John cocked his head towards his son and smiled. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

            "Your typewriter's too loud."

            John played his son on his lap. "I'm sorry, big guy."

            Mark looked at the typewriter. "Why are you using the brail typewriter?"

            The reverend rubbed his hand across his sun's cheek, trying to picture the perfect little boy's innocent face. "Mommy usually helps me memorize what I have to say for these kinds of things, but since she's visiting Grandma Thora, I'm going to have to type everything out so I can read it for tomorrow. Do you know what I mean?"

            But the little boy had already fallen asleep in his father's arms. John took his son to his room and tucked him in. The doorbell rang.

1:35

            Amy sat down next to Ephram, placing his hand in hers. "You okay?"

            Ephram looked away, trying to hide his tears. He hated crying in front of her. "She can't die. She just can't."

            "She won't."

            Ephram turned to face her. "You don't know that."

            Amy kissed Ephram's forehead. "I don't need to. I have faith. Faith in God, faith in my dad, in your dad, in Dr. Patterson. And I have faith in Delia." Amy gently pulled Ephram in, resting his head on her shoulder. "She'll be okay."

1:41

            Dr. Abbott walked into the waiting room with a smile planted on his face. "She's fine. We were able to stop the bleeding and destabilize her blood flow. She'll need a lot of rest over the next few days and a couple weeks of rehab afterwards, but she'll be okay."

            The entire room echoed with sighs of relief.

            Sam got up. "Can I see her?"

            Harold blinked several times, still perplexed by Sam and Delia's relationship. "She hasn't regained consciousness yet. Perhaps tomorrow."

            Ephram walked over to Harold and shook his hand. "Thank you…"

            Harold ignored the gesture. "You should thank your dad. He's the one that performed most of the operation."

            Ephram nodded and turned to Amy. "You should probably go home."

            "What about you?" Amy asked, grabbing the car keys.

            "I'm gonna stick around here a little longer."

            Amy nodded and gave Ephram another kiss before leaving.

1:47

            Bright happily sat on the couch with a pint of ice cream and spoon. Babysitting the twins is so much easier now. No more diapers to worry about,  and no more puking on my expensive new shoes. The doorbell rang.

            Bright trudged over to the door. "What the hell's with this house? It's almost two in the morning and they've got visitors."

            A police officer removed his hat when Bright opened the door. "Can I help you, officer?"

            "Bright Abbott? I'm Officer Jenkins, Wendell Jenkins. Mayor Abbott asked me to come by personally and pick up the twins. She wants them to wait with her at the hospital."

            Bright nodded, still confused. "Yeah, that would be Amy. She gets nervous every time I baby-sit her kids. The twins' rooms are down the hall. Follow me."

1:53

            Andy stood above Delia's bed, quietly watching his daughter. Nina walked in and kissed his cheek.

            "How are you doing?"

            Andy never moved his eyes away from Delia. "I almost lost her tonight. I was never this scared my entire life." Gathering his attention back to Nina, Andy put his arms around her and tried to smile. "You should take Sam home. Both of you could use some sleep."

            Sam walked in. "I'm staying until Delia wakes up."

            Andy smiled and placed his hand on Sam's shoulder. "You could be here for a while."

            Sam remained stoic. "I know."

            Nina smiled. "I'll get some coffee and magazines."

1:56 AM

            Amy opened the door to her home and walked inside. "Bright? Where are you?"

            A cold hand gripped the back of her neck. "Boo!"

            Amy shrieked in horror. Bright nearly bust a gut, trying to hold his laughter.

            "That wasn't funny, jackass. Why are your hands so cold?"

            Bright closed the door and chuckled. "I've been eating ice cream all night. Why are you here, anyway? I thought you were gonna meet the twins at the hospital."

            "What are you talking about?"
            Bright suddenly snapped his eyes wide open. "You know, the cop you sent here to pick up the twins…"

            Amy shook her head; fear slowly chilling her spine. "I didn't send a cop here."

            "Yes you did. You had to. He was right in this house. He said he was going to bring the kids to the hospital, just like you asked him to. Officer Jenkins."

            "Bright, there's no officer named Jenkins on the force!"

            Bright set his spoon down. "You sure? That's impossible, Grover. His squad car was parked right in the driveway. He even had a badge."

            Amy's breathing began to hasten. "You mean to tell me that you let some guy with a badge and a car TAKE MY KIDS?"

            "Amy, he was cop-"

            "There's no cop named Jenkins! There's not even a Jenkins in this town, moron!" Amy began to pace around. Her breathing became erratic. "Bright, where are my kids!"

            Bright suddenly felt as if a thousand pounds of force rested on his shoulders, pushing him down. His legs began to tremble. Blood thundered into his temples. His mind raced like a cyclone, trying to find some reasonable explanation for all of this. None came…

2AM

Author's Note: From now on, at the end of each chapter, there's going to be a preview of the next hour. Also, even though I've promised to write the first eight chapters, I'm also looking for a couple of other authors that might be interested in writing a chapter or two of this story (credit will be given) between the chapters of 9AM to 10 PM. I'm also looking for people with ideas on plot twists, ideas, cliffhangers, etc. Of course, credit will be given to those whose ideas are used. Thanks!