Ch15.

The doctors had been in Teresa's room for almost 2 hours. By this time, everyone was there waiting to see if she was ok; Pilar, Luis and Sheridan, Chad and Whitney, Miguel, the Bennett's, Ivy, Rebecca, Julian... all had rushed over when they heard about what happened.

Everyone was sitting down, talking and comforting each other. Fox was standing in the corner by himself, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

Finally eve walked out.

"Eve!" Pilar rushed to her friend. " How is my daughter?"

"Pilar, Teresa is in a coma."

Everyone gasped.

"A coma? How can this be? Dios mio, my poor baby." Luis grabbed his mother and wrapped her in his arms.

Fox still hadn't moved.

"Eve, what does this mean? Ethan asked. " I mean she's going to be ok right?"

Eve sighed,

"Look, I know this is hard on everyone…but I'm going to be honest with you…Teresa's cancer is still attacking her with full force…now I think that the chemo has made some improvement, but with the weakened state her body has been in recently, she might not be able to fight it anymore."

"So what are you saying? That's she's going to die?"

Everyone turned and looked at Fox, who had finally spoken.

"Teresa is not going to die," he said walking towards the group. "She's a fighter, and she won't just give up like that…I know she wont."

"Fox I hope you're right" eve said.

"I know I am."

Nobody said anything.

"Can we see her eve? Can we see our sister?" Miguel asked.

"Actually I think it would be best not to disturb her room tonight…there are still many doctors in there working with her, trying to find out what we need to do to bring her back to you. You all should just go home and sleep…you can see her first thing in the morning."

"I'm not leaving" Fox said sternly.

"Fox-"

"Eve, nothing you can say is going to make me leave this hospital tonight."

He walked over and sat down.

"Chad and I will stay with him mom," Whitney said.

"Alright. I better get back and see what's going on…if anything happens, I will let you all know as soon as possible.

Eve went back to Teresa's room, and the others left.

Whitney, Chad and Fox sat in the waiting room. For about an hour, nobody really said much. What could you say at a time like this?

Chad and Whitney talked for a while. When they looked back over at Fox, they saw that he had finally fallen asleep.

"Should we wake him?" Chad asked,

"No." Whitney said. "He hasn't slept in days. This is the first time I've seen him look peaceful in the past month."

The two snuggled together on one of the couches in the lobby, until eventually they fell asleep too.

Nobody moved until morning.

Fox woke up, and looked around, disoriented for a minute,

~Maybe it was all just a bad dream~

He soon realized it wasn't as he looked around.

~Ok, obviously not a dream~ he thought.

He looked over and saw Chad and Whitney lying together.

~That's how Teresa and I used to lay together…before all this happened. ~

Just then his eyes flickered.

~TERESA~

He had to see her. This was the longest he had gone in the past month without being beside her.

He walked to her room, and looked in.

"Jesus" he winced.

Teresa was there, a tube down her throat, machines hooked up all over her body.

He slowly crept towards her bed, and pulled up his usual chair. He sat down, and reached for her hand. He hesitated at first, not wanting to hurt her as he took it in his.

He sat there stroking her face, his eyes tracing over ever piece of machinery in the room, every IV and needle that was sticking out of her. He couldn't bear to look at the tube in her throat. Just the thought that she needed help to breath made him sick to his stomach.

~I have plenty of air in my lungs…why can't you just take some of mine and wake up? ~

"Oh Teresa," he finally said. "I am so sorry you are going through this."

"I am just so sorry…" he trailed off, his head falling and collapsing on her bed. "I am so sorry." He whispered over and over, sobbing.

"Fox?"

He looked up, still crying. It was Eve.

"Fox you shouldn't be here if this is going to upset you so much…its not good for you."

"I have to be here when she wakes up Eve. I told her I wouldn't leave her side, and that I would always hold her hand. I need to do that for her."

He knew deep down he needed to do it for him too.

"Alright," she said. "If you need anything just page me ok?"

"Thanks Eve."

After she had left, Fox tried to get a hold of himself. He looked down at his fiancée.

"Teresa I need you. I need you here with me. I don't think I can go on without having you in my life. If you're gone, then my arms, my heart, and my soul…they are all empty…and I don't want to feel empty Teresa. I always felt empty inside growing up. And then I met you…and you made me feel whole. You made me feel like a better man than I ever though I could be. Teresa…you complete me.

He smiled.

"You see that Teresa? That's jerry Maguire…I told you I was the master at movie quotes didn't I? Now if you would just wake up, you could come up with a quote…remember? You said you were going to stump me. You just have to open your eyes."

She didn't move.

"Come on Teresa…just open your eyes, and we can go back to the way we were."

She still didn't move.

"Please open them."

Nothing.

He sighed.

"I guess we'll play later then."