The cottage was silent as Riley, Jen, Shannon, Marcie, Julie and Hudson sat in the main room. They could hear the clock ticking away the minutes.
"Can somebody just say something," Hudson said. "Anything. Can we just speak." There was silence still. "Look... Nick's in the hospital, he's got decent doctors. Right?" He sighed when nobody responded. "Right, Hudson. Thanks, guys." There was a long silence again. "We can't do anything," Hudson continued. "Just like we couldn't do anything when Mark was in there."
"Hudson's right," Riley said.
"At least somebody agrees with me."
"OK, that didn't give you an open invitation to gloat about it."
"Oh so that's the way it's gonna be, rockstar?" Hudson said.
"Guys!" Marcie got between them. "Stop it! Just stop. God, it's like our first day here all over again."
The room fell into silence again. "Sorry man," Riley said.
"Yeah... me too," Hudson replied.
"OK, so now what?" Shannon said. "We've all kissed and made up and that leaves us... right where we were in the first place. Nick is still... only alive because machines are breathing for him and keeping his heart beating."
"Do we have to talk about this?" Jen said, chiming in.
"What else are we supposed to talk about?" Julie asked. "Are we just supposed to act like this didn't happen? Because it did. Nick is not good. If his father comes down here and decides to pull him off those machines..."
"He's gonna die," They all turned their heads towards the door, where Mark was now standing. "If Nick's father pulls the plug, Nick's gonna die."
A pin could be heard drop in the silence. "So what do we do?" Jen asked.
"Nothing," Mark replied. "My father... he's doing what he can for Nick. He doesn't know what he can do but... he's trying."
"So for now, what?" Shannon said. "Do we hang back and watch?"
"Yes," Mark said simply. "That's what we do. We have no other choice." He shook his head. "There are no other options. None."
Marcie looked at Mark, noticing his eyes. She could see something. Something that she thought she was reading way too far into. It couldn't possibly be what she thought it was. It was impossible. Marcie thought that her mind was just working overtime after hearing the news that Michael had given her.
She noticed the room grow quiet again and watched Mark step away from the doorway and head upstairs. Nobody moved, but Marcie paused a minute before following after him.
Mark lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as Marcie entered the room. "Mark?" she said softly, closing the door. "Do you wanna talk?" Mark shook his head. Marcie figured she'd go for it. "You know I'll understand. I think I know... how you feel about him."
Mark sat up in bed, looked at her. "Marc..." he said "Not just how much I care about him. He cares about me too."
"Nick?" Marcie said a bit surprised.
"I know you won't tell anyone, Marcie," Mark said. "I know I can trust you." Marcie nodded. "We've been seeing eachother... for a while now. Before my accident."
"I would have never imagined," Marcie admitted. "Nick was always so forward about how he felt..."
"I think he was trying to convince himself that it wasn't true... how he felt." Mark paused. "I can't lose him Marcie. He can't die,"
Marcie's heart fell. "I know exactly how you feel." she said "How it feels to love somebody so much... and see them lying there so helpless. But Nick... Nick's not gonna die. He's too stubborn to die. You know that just as much as anyone."
"Did you think that same thing?" Mark asked. "About Al."
Marcie swallowed hard. "This isn't like Al, Mark. Not at all. Al was sick... drugs..."
Mark shook his head. "Nick..." he sighed. "He was a user to Marcie. That day that he collapsed on the field... it was because he was using."
"Steroids?" Marcie said. Mark nodded. "Is he still on them?"
"No," Mark said "No, he's clean. He's been clean. But so was Al, right? There's no telling what those things did to him. He could die. He's gonna die when they turn those machines off. He's in there Marcie. I know he is. I can just tell."
"Then we get them to keep the machines on. Michael has to be able to do something to help," Marcie couldn't even imagine speaking to Michael at the moment, but for Mark she would. "He's gonna be alright. You have to believe he is, Mark." Marcie wrapped her arms around him. "He's gonna be OK."