Chapter 8

"Abby, I know you can hear me, I want you to open your eyes," Indeed Abby could hear the voice, but the last thing she wanted to do was wake up. "Fine, we'll do it my way," the voice was angry this time and suddenly Abby felt herself being pulled up into a standing position. At first, Abby had the thought that somehow Lose had abducted her again, but when she was finally opened her eyes, the thought quickly disappeared.

"Well good morning," Abby looked to her side and discovered a stranger holding onto her. Immediately she pulled away. "Sorry Abby, I didn't mean to scare you," he said. She nodded, somehow not scared anymore, a feeling of relief had washed over her. Abby looked around trying to figure out just where she was, then it clicked, she was in the lounge, yet she couldn't remember how she got there. A look of confusion played across her face, but the person who was with her quickly picked up on it. "Its okay, you're in the lounge, do you remember what happened?" he asked.

"Remember what? I'm sorry sir, but you can't be in here." the man smiled at her; clearly she had no idea what was going on.

"Would you like to go for a walk Abby?" he gestured towards the door.

"No, I don't, and how do you know who I am?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Your name is embroidered on you lab coat Dr. Lockhart," the man pointed to her white coat. Suddenly the door opened. And Kerry walked in heading straight for the lockers.

"Hey Kerry," Abby said and began walking towards her, needing to ask her what to do about this strange person who was following her around. But Abby stopped when Kerry went to her own locker, then preceded to sink to the floor. Immediately, Abby rushed to Kerry's side afraid that something had happened, was someone hurt? "Dr. Weaver, what's wrong?" once again, Abby didn't receive a response. She had only seen Kerry cry a couple of times, but never like this, was something seriously wrong. Then, the stranger was once again at Abby's side, this time his hand on her shoulder.

"Abby, you need to come with me, Dr. Weaver cannot hear you," his voice was gentle. "Come on," he bent down and grabbed her arm, once again pulling her to her feet. Abby was about to protest, but suddenly the room changed, no longer was it the lounge but they were outside of the entrance to the SICU.

"How did you do that?" Abby whispered, already knowing what might be the answer.

"Come on, we need to go inside," he opened the door and lead her to a bed. He gestured for her to look at the figure, Abby just stared, not knowing what else to do, she saw herself lying there connected to various monitors, all of which she could identify, all of which she knew what purpose they served. Connected to her body was multiple IV leads, including a few central lines, NG tube, arterial lines, a catheter, and the EKG and EEG monitors. But what scared her most was the presence of two very distinct devices. One of course was the ventilator, pushing air into her lungs, doing the job her body couldn't do for itself anymore. Then the ICP monitor, with its attachment drilled into her skull through a tiny tube.

"You were hit by a car right outside about fifteen hours ago, do you remember anything?" Abby nodded, all the memories slowly coming back to her, yet still to shocked to say anything. "What?"

"I remember being in the ER, everyone kept telling me to keep my eyes open, and then I remember Kerry telling me that I was going somewhere, CT, I think. Carter and Luka were there, suddenly, I don't know, I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, that's all I can remember." the man nodded.

"You had a seizure and your heart stopped beating for a while, your friends got you back and you were rushed to surgery. It lasted close to fourteen hours, but you made it through."

"So I'm going to live right?" Abby hadn't taken her eyes off her body since they got there.

"This is where its gets tricky, you are in a deep coma Dr. Lockhart, and were very seriously injured. But it is up to you if you want to live or not. If you do decide to wake up, there is a possibility that you will have suffered severe brain damage, you may be paralyzed, you know the risks, and after all, you're a doctor yourself."

"And if I decide not to wake up,"

"Then you die."