It's funny. Your worst nightmare always seems so far away. Then, all of a sudden, there it is, like a monstrous tidal wave. You try to escape, but you can't. You struggle and you struggle and you struggle, your desperate cries unheard. Then, something strange happens, you stop struggling. Your cries take flight. You forget you're drowning.

-Dark Harbor

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"Dude, what the hell happened, where the hell is my dad? Is he all right? What's going on? Is he dead, can someone survive with that much blood loss?" Seth rambled about a mile a minute and Ryan had trouble keeping up with him.

"Seth, Sandy was shot. I don't know how it happened. He's stable and in surgery at Newport General," Ryan held up his hands warding off his other questions. "That's all I know. We have to wait for Kirsten to tell us the rest. These next few days are going to be rough for her Seth, for all of us, but especially for her. She saw it all." Ryan knew more about the subject than Seth could ever imagine, growing up in Chino he knew what she would be going through at the moment. Someone he knew had probably gone through it. Despite the fact that they were at a loss too, they had to step up to the plate for her.

Seth was quiet and his voice quavered before he asked, "Do you think my dad's going to die?"

Ryan looked at him, the same question running through his head. "I don't know . . . he lost a lot of blood..." he trailed off. What would they do if he died? He didn't want to think about it but he could almost see it in his head, the funeral, and the tearful goodbyes, the crying, Kirsten sobbing, both Seth and Ryan pallbearers carrying his casket, laying him into the cold ground. Saying goodbye to the one man, who gave him hope, took him in and treated him like his own. God, that thought was more than he could handle.

The shower was a relief and the water rushed off her onto the porcelain floor in spurts of red and light pink. She scrubbed harder, her hands and arms red and yet it still came off. She rinsed her hair and she lifted up her arms and looked down and her flat stomach was covered in blood too, so much blood. She leaned against the wall and tears streamed down her cheeks as wrapped her arms around her stomach.

The water started to run cold before she decided to get out of the shower. Sleep, her body wanted to sleep but the thought of falling asleep in her bed without her husband was enough to make her sick. She checked her watch and it read after eleven. She put on comfortable clothes before heading downstairs. Both her boys looked up at her, actually relieved that she was coming down.

"Gee mom, we thought you drown," Seth tried the playful banter.

"The hospital called. He made it through the surgery but they have him in an isolation room for the next few hours to keep an eye on him. They said we could see him when visiting hours start again because by then he should have his own room."

Ryan watched her take in this information and process it. "Kirsten you should rest. You look exhausted."

'That's something Sandy would say,' she thought to herself and it brought tears to her eyes. Seth looked at his mother wrap her arms around herself and he walked over to her with tears in his eyes. He pulled her into a hug and she pulled him tightly to her. When he pulled back he led her to the couch. She sat between her two boys. They both looked at her expectantly, they wanted to know what happened. She retold the story to the best of her ability between the sobs and when she had finished both Seth and Ryan had tears in their eyes.

"Mom so now what? What do we do now?"

"We wait," was the only answer she had.

Both Ryan and Seth had managed to console her into sleeping, even if it was just for a few hours. She finally agreed to lie down on the couch for a little. Ryan had covered her up with a blanket and both boys went into the kitchen to talk for a little.

"We need to call the school, tell Dragon-lady why we won't be in today," Ryan mused.

Seth did the job explaining what happened and explained the situation and surprisingly Dr. Kim was very sympathetic. She told them to take as much time as they needed.

With that finished both boys went to the living room; Ryan sitting in the chair and Seth leaned against the couch he reached up for his mothers hand, finding it and clasping it tightly. He heard her sigh softly. He leaned his head back against the couch closing his eyes for just a few moments.

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Sandy Cohen was in limbo. Literally. He wasn't awake and he wasn't dead, yet, as far as he knew. He was weak though and it was still a struggle to breath, however not so much as before. He could feel his heart take a normal beating pattern instead of skipping all over the place. He wasn't as cold, or in pain as much but he really wanted the comfort of his wife and family.

He could sense what was going on, and even hear some of the conversations around him, the beeps from machines, but he just couldn't wake up. Not yet. He hoped Kirsten was all right.

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Ryan woke first and decided to wake up Seth, he told him he was going to go back to the pool house, grab a shower, and come back make sure she was all right. They would be going to the hospital today, and he had an idea as to what was going to happen. She was going to either freak out on them or she would take it quietly and drink herself to death at home. Well neither one was going to be accepted for this. All of them needed to be strong for Sandy. They needed to be a family, as much as one could be with a member missing.

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