Once they were back on the ward, they went to Ryan's room, where they were met by a very angry looking officer.

Knowing something might happen, Nurse O´Connell quickly told the orderly to put Ryan back into his room and connect him to the stationary respirator and the drip again.

When the man was finished, the three others where still standing silently and restrained outside the room, waiting. Once he had gone, the officer started…

"Look, Missus O´reily! I told you not to leave the prisoner alone with the window opened!"

"Excuse me officer, but what are you talking about?!" Margaret fired back to defend her newfound friend.

"Ted, when he was coming back here after his break, saw Missus O´reily run down the hallway, and when he entered the room he saw that she hadn't closed the window, even though I specifically instructed her that the prisoner under now circumstances was to be left alone in the room with the window open!"

"Oh!" She laughed slightly, but the officer didn't look at all amused, so she once again resumed a serious expression.

"Well, you see officer, Missus O´reily was just running to tell me about something very important. Something that couldn't wait until she had the time to find one of you officers and ask you for the key so that she could close the window."

"Be that as it may, Ted--I mean officer Laurent, saw it as his duty to report this to our superiors, which means I am now in trouble for going against regulations, and the prisoner is prohibited to have the window open now, even if anyone is in the roo…"

That's when Shannon burst.

"OH WOULD YOU JUST STOP CALLING HIM "THE PRISONER"!?! He's a real person for fuck´s sake! With real feelings, and the ability to feel hot and cold and the wind on his face and the difference in breathing some fucking stuffy hospital air, no offence Margaret…"

"Non taken dear."

"…And the fresh air outside! And right now, I, as his e…wife, know that that's what he needs to get better! Why is that so hard to understand?! I'm fucking sorry that I forgot to call one of you tight-assed bastards in here to close the window, and I'm sorry I got you in trouble, but someone has to look out for Ryan, and right now the only three people who seem to be doing that are me, nurse O´Connell here, and Doc Breen!"

She stomped of towards the ladies´s room, crying.

"Oh god!"

"Don't worry, Officer, she's just blowing off steam. I'm sure she didn't mean all of that."

Oh yes I think she did! And I agree with her wholeheartedly!… Although I think there are a few more people in here that care for Mister O´reily... She added to herself

"Well, even so, that doesn't change the fact that that little escapade she made into the hallway, leaving the p…Her husband alone in his room, might cost me my job!"

"Oh dear!"

Margaret suddenly felt a bit more sympathetic towards the young man.

OK so he may belong to a corps of tight-assed idiots, but he seems reasonable and nice enough…

"I´ll see if I can't get the doctor to call your boss and clear this thing up…Leave the name and phone number of your boss in the reception and I´ll get to it right after I find Missus O´reily and manage to console her.

"Oh. Thanks…"

Margaret started walking away.

"Oh and nurse!…" The young man seemed slightly redder in the face than when she had last looked at him.

"Yes?"

"Tell Missus O´reily that I didn't mean to be mean…I'm…I'm just a bit scared that I'll loose my job…The wife is having our firstborn in two weeks and we have payments to make on our new house and all, so I can't afford to loose this job right now…"

"I´ll tell her that, and I'm sure she'll understand. And if I don't see you again, good luck with the baby!"

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." She smiled to him and walked away.

As usual, the nurse found Shannon in the ladies´s room.

"Are you O.K dear?"

"Oh yes, I'm fine. Pissed as hell, but fine!"

The nurse laughed.

"Oh well, I'm glad to hear that…Want to go back to Ryan's room then?"

"I'm not sure I can actually face that cocksucking officer again, you know…Not without punching him in the face!"

"Don't be too harsh on him, dear…He was just frightened…Apparently the young man and his wife have their first child coming in a few weeks, and he was afraid of loosing his job, and with that their sole source of income as I understood it."

"Well that still doesn't give him the right to--!"

"--He asked me to apologise to you, and he did seem genuinely sorry."

"Oh."

Shannon felt like an idiot!

"D´you think I should go back and apologise to him for saying all that stuff?"

"If you feel like it…"

"Yeah, I think I´d better…"

"Want me to come with you?"

"Nah…I´ll see you later."

"Sure, dear. I´ll stop by and get you when Doctor Breen is ready for you, shall I? He said it would be about half an hour to maybe an hour, depending on how long he has to entertain the medical students, but after that he's all yours."

She winked at the younger woman.

Shannon chuckled a bit.

"That sound great thanks. Although I think I´ll have enough trouble when Ryan decides to wake up, without me being romantically involved with his doctor."

Margaret joined in her chuckle.

"Oh I think you might be right about that, dear! So what do you say you try to make it back to Ryan, and I´ll see you in half an hour or so?"

"Yeah, sounds good I guess…"

Shannon made it out of the restroom, trying her very best to think of a good way to apologise.

45 minutes later, when she had had a nice conversation with the officer, listened to his worries and explained to him what she felt Ryan needed, of course turning on her womanly charm in the process, they had agreed that Greg, the officer, would still allow Shannon and Ryan to have the window open on his watch, and Shannon had assured him that she would never, ever walk away like that again, leaving the window open without an officer in the room, unless it was a real emergency.

Thus, both parties were reasonably satisfied.

When Margaret arrived, the two former enemies were chatting away quite merrily about favourite restaurants in town.

"So, I take it the two of you have made up then?"

"Yeah, we have. Officer Wilkinson here is actually quite a decent fella."

"And Missus O´reily is quite a strong minded but friendly woman."

"Oh well, I'm glad that you have each come to that conclusion. So, what do you say we go in and see how Ryan is doing while we wait for doctor Breen to come, Shannon?"

"Sounds great to me, nur…Margaret!"

The older woman opened the door for Shannon and they both walked into the room.

"So, where do we take it from here?" Shannon asked as she looked sombrely at Ryan.

"Well there is quite a few things you can do to hopefully help him progress further faster. In fact, the thing you did earlier, simply bathing him, seems to work in some cases."

"It does?"

"Yes. In fact, most kinds of touch, be it a sponge bath or a massage can help stimulate the senses and so, make it easier for him to come around."

Oh I know what kind of senses those two things would stimulate, I even know what part of the body would react first, I think!

The nurse obviously read her mind, because she said: "Well dear, any reaction is good, don't you think?…" She winked.

Shannon laughed, "Well yes, that might be."

Margaret laughed with her.

"Seriously though, touch helps a lot it seems. As does reading and talking to people. We also try to move his arms and legs as much as possible."

"Oh, so you do that sort of thing when I'm not here then?"

"Yes."

That reminded Shannon of something she had wanted to ask.

"So has Ryan's mom been to visit him yet?"

"Yes, she been here at least three times a week over the two weeks he's been here. But she usually comes during the day. Strangely enough she hasn't been around yet this week…"

"Oh, I see. Is she nice?"

"Oh yes very! Haven't you met her?!"

"No. I mean…No…I always thought she was dead. That's what he said to me…"

"Oh, I see…That's strange…"

"I know…"

"Perhaps that is something the two of you need to talk about, huh?"

"Yes, I think so too."

There was a bit of a silence. Margaret looked at her wristwatch and then said: "Oh! I should probably go and check where doctor Breen has gone to. He said he was on his way in a few minutes, and that was well over half an hour ago. He's probably got lost, he's never really managed to learn how to find his way around here."

Shannon chuckled.

"Men! You can't even trust them not to loose their way in their own work place!"

"Oh how true, dear!" Margaret chuckled with her.

"Well, go rescue the poor man, and I´ll stay here with Ryan."

"Sounds good, dear! I´ll be right back."

She made it out of the room.

"So…I guess we should really try to put up a plan for you or something, ´cause god knows I don't want to be stuck here for the rest of my life…!"

She sat down to ponder that last thought.

Having been sitting there for a while, eyes closed, she realised that someone was moaning.

She looked up.

Ryan was lying in his bed, moaning and agitated, trying to turn over on his side, but being unable to, due to the cuffs.

Shannon got up and stood by the bed.

"Shhhh…Shhh…Calm down, will you…It's OK…It's going to be fine…"

She wasn't sure at all that he could hear her at first, because he didn't seem to want to stop. But when she put her hand on his arm and leaned over him a bit, he stopped moving at least. But he was still moaning, something that almost sounded like words…

She tried to hear what he was moaning about, but couldn't. She put her hand on his forehead and gently stroked his cheek, and that made him calm down and be quiet. It had sounded as if he was in pain though, which made her think about calling a nurse. Luckily, right then, there was a knock on the door.

"Here we are, dear."

"He's started moving about…And he was mumbling about something, or making some sort of sound, but I couldn't hear what he was talking about…"

"Oh goodness! That is good news! Isn't it doctor?"

"It might be. Step back for a moment Missus O´reily, and let me look at you husbands eyes…" Doctor Breen said.

She did and the doctor stepped up to the bed and shone a light in Ryan's eyes.

"Well, he's still not quite conscious, but hopefully it won't be long now."

Shannon smiled and the nurse smiled with her.

"Oh that's wonderful, isn't it dear?"

"Yeah, it sure is!"

And right now, that was truly what she felt. Sure she was nervous and still very unsure of what she felt for him, if anything at all but anger, but it was still nice to know that he was going to be O.K, or at least wake up soon.

"Nurse O´Connell told me that the two of you have been talking about ways to stimulate Mister O´reily in order to make him wake up…"

Exchanging secret glances, the two women near enough cracked up completely, but Shannon managed to pull herself together and said: "Yes, doctor we were. I was sort of wondering what I can do to make things move forward a bit with Ryan's condition."

"Well, I take it Nurse O´Connell have told you about the bathing and massage…"

Once again, the women nearly broke out in laughter, making doctor Breen really wonder what was going on, and what about what he was saying was so funny.

"Yes, Doctor, she has."

"Now those are procedures that we are all quite familiar with here on the ward, since we have been working with them for a long time, but I, as recently as yesterday, read an article in "The New York Medical Magazine", that commented the use of the patients senses of taste and smell as a factor to be considered in the coma-awakening process."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, for instance the use of a familiar smell such as after-shave or similar things might bring a patient back more easily."

"Oh I see, well, I put some after-shave on him when I shaved him…Perhaps I should keep doing that then?"

"That would be an excellent idea, I think!"

"But what about this thing with taste?"

"Well it's been proven apparently, that making patients taste something they are familiar with and like, such as their favourite dish, can help bring them back faster."

"Oh I see…"

"So maybe that is something to consider…"

"It most certainly is, Doctor!"

"Good! I'm glad to have met someone so engaged in her husband's welfare, and interested in keeping updated! That is not usually the case with the convicts we have got from Oz in the past, most of them seem to be very lonely…"

I bet You are, You poor buggers! Shannon though

"Your husband is a lucky man to have you!"

Oh you don't know how lucky he is to have her doctor! Margaret thought

"Well maybe we should get to discussing the results of the examinations then?"

"That sounds good doctor."

"According to the head CT, the bleeding in the part of your husbands brain that makes him remain in a comatose state have almost dried up, which means that he should awake sometime between tonight or tomorrow, and next week."

Shannon's face lit up, to her own embarrassment.

"Oh that's wonderful, dear!"

The nurse held her arms out to hug her, and Shannon returned the hug, feeling slightly confused and overwhelmed.

"Therefore, we would like to recommend that you spend as much time here as possible, if you would like to be there when your husband wakes up, since it can happen anytime now. Now, in the ward, we try to offer as good a service as we possibly can, and as a part of that, we offer the wives and husbands of the patients a bed in the same room as their spouse, when time comes for their spouse to wake up. Is that something you would be interested in, Missus O´reily?"

Was she?! Didn't she above all feel like running the hell out of there and not return, so that she wouldn't have to face him?!

She decided to stick this one out though. And sticking it out meant being there for him, if only long enough for him to wake up and her being able to tell him her mind.

"Yes, that would be wonderful doctor. Thank you."

"You're welcome ma'am. I´ll arrange for someone to bring in a bed. I think Nurse O´Connell can show you where to find bed linens…"

"I think I´d prefer to have my own, but thanks for the offer. I still have to go home to collect my toothbrush and some other things, so I might as well bring some bed-linen and my own pillow."

"Oh, well that sounds like a good idea too."

"Would you like to get going now dear, or do you want to wait a while?" The nurse asked her.

"I think I´d actually like to get going…"

"I´ll follow you out then, and then I´ll see to it that there is a bed waiting here for you when you get back."

"Thank you!"

"You're perfectly welcome dear!"

The nurse walked her out to the door leading to the elevator-hall.