Manny sat in the hospital waiting room, nervously biting her nail, something she hadn't done since she was a little kid. But she wasn't even worried about that right now. Al she was worried about was Craig. It was her fault that he had been shot. He shouldn't have taken that bullet for her. Now he was going to die, when it should have been her. Crying, Manny slumped farther down in her seat.
"Manny," Emma said, walking into the hospital waiting room. She hurried over to where Manny sat, and wrapped her up in a tight hug, while Manny cried on her shoulder.
"Manny, it's okay," Emma said in the most soothing voice she could muster right now. "He is going to be fine."
Manny just shook her head and kept crying. A doctor walked into the room, and Manny quickly wiped her eyes and stood up.
"Manny Santos?" he asked. Manny nodded. "You were present at the scene of the accident?"
"It wasn't an accident," Emma began, but Manny cut her off and said that yes, she was with Craig when he was hurt.
"Well, Craig is drifting in and out of consciousness, which is sort of a good sign," the doctor explained. "Although it would be even better if he could stay awake, the fact that he is awake and not unconscious is a good sign. He lost a lot of blood."
"Can I see him?" Manny asked.
"Well, normally I would say no, but yes, I suppose you can."
"Wait, uh, sir," Emma called after the doctor. "How is Paige Michaelchuck?"
"Her ankle will be a bit sore for a while, but otherwise she will be fine," the doctor said. "She was released a while ago, and I believe her boyfriend took her to her hotel."
Emma nodded and started walking down the hall towards where Manny had gone, but stopped. Manny needed some time alone with Craig. So Emma sat in the waiting room and waited for J.T. to park the car and come inside.
Meanwhile, all the students who were previously at the reunion had returned to their hotel rooms or homes. Sean had taken Alex to her hotel, and they had talked for awhile while having some coffee in the café. Alex was still a bit shaken up, and Sean was doing his best to comfort her. Spinner and Paige had returned to Paige's hotel room, and weren't doing anything that they shouldn't; Spinner was just holding Paige in his arms, trying to get her to stop shaking. Liberty and John had already caught their flight home, but Liberty was chatting away to John about what kind of kid Rick had been and stuff like that, and Jimmy and Ashley were on the same flight. Both of the couples lived in California now. Hazel was lying in her hotel room, wondering what had happened to Paige. She still hadn't heard the whole story and was terrified that Paige was dead.
Meanwhile, Manny sat by Craig's bed, holding his hand and talking to him. She mostly talked about her life and about the life they had in high school. Then her eyes filled up with tears. The doctor said that Craig would probably wake up and be in and out of it, but she had only seen him asleep.
"Craig," she said. "I know that you probably can't hear me. But please, if you can hear me, please don't leave me. You can't die with me knowing that we probably could have had another chance. Please Craig, I love you."
Manny sat with Craig and continued holding his hand, and she then fell asleep in the chair by his bed.
Craig awoke in the very early morning, and looked over at Manny and smiled. Then he looked around the room and realized where he was. He tried to sit up, and let out a small cry of pain when he felt the pain that reminded him that yesterday he had been shot.
Manny's eyes fluttered open, and then opened wide.
"Craig!" she said. "You're awake. Oh thank goodness. I was so scared."
Manny leaned over and carefully, not to hurt him, laid a kiss on his waiting lips. They continued to kiss until a nurse came in to give Craig some medicine.
"Ahem," she said, and Manny and Craig reluctantly broke apart. "Excuse me young lady, but you shouldn't be in here. You will have to leave until visiting hours."
Manny shared one more kiss with Craig, and then stood up and left, after they exchanged I love you's.
Once she walked into the waiting room, she found Emma and J.T. sitting and leafing through a magazine. Emma looked up at the sound of Manny's footsteps and quickly stood.
"Hey," she said. "I waited for you last night, but you didn't come. So I figured I would come this morning and find you. How's Craig?"
"Good, he is awake," Manny said, with a huge grin on her face.
"Come on," Emma said. "Lets go to our hotel, let you get a shower and some food, and then we will come back."
Manny nodded and thanked her. She was so happy. Craig was alive, and they were together. A frown tugged at her mouth when she remembered that she had to leave tonight to go back to work. But she would see Craig again very soon. She would make sure of that.
She was never going to lose him again.