Chapter 16: Wake Up!
It's been three weeks and Christine still hasn't woken up. The morale on the island was at the lowest that Jeff as ever seen. Scott hasn't left Christine's side unless there was a call for International Rescue and then after each rescue he would return to sit by her hoping that she would wake. John was up in Thunderbird 5, but he would call everyday to hear if there was any improvement on her condition. Virgil has buried himself into his music refusing to talk to anyone, while Gordon is always out of the house not wanting to be surrounded by the solemn mood. Alan has been trying to occupy every waking moment in working on the Thunderbirds or exploring the island with Tin-Tin and Fermat. Lady Penelope has been visiting frequently trying and help Jeff cheer everyone up, but lately she's been visiting just to keep Jeff sane.
Jeff walked into the infirmary to check on Christine, like he does everyday and wasn't surprised to see that Scott was sleeping in one of the visitor's chairs that Gordon has recently painted blue and silver and labeled 'Scott's'. Jeff grabbed a blanket from one of the empty beds and covered up his son sighing as he watched as his eldest was becoming more detached from everyone and slowly sinking into depression with each passing day.
He walked over to Christine's bed and gave her hand a little squeeze "So are you going to wake up for us today?" There was the usual beeping of the heart monitor for her answer and then Jeff sat in another chair and told Christine how everyone is and what's going on in the world. He read somewhere that comatose patients could sometimes hear what's going on around them, so he decided to come in everyday and tell Christine everything that's going on so when she wakes up she's not out of the loop of current events.
Just when he was about to leave the alarms went off, but it wasn't the alarms for International Rescue. It was the alarms for when Christine's heart stops. Jeff ran to the intercom "Brains we have a code blue! Get down here now!" he turned to see that Scott was already awake and attempting to revive her. He ran over to take over the chest compressions while Scott breathed for Christine.
Just then Brains came running in with Virgil, Alan, Tin-Tin, and Fermat not far behind. Brains ran over to grab the crash cart while Virgil ushered everyone out if the infirmary to keep them calm.
"Charging to 200" said Brains as he put the paddles on Christine. "Clear!" he yelled and Christine's body convulsed from the shock. Nothing.
Jeff and Scott continued as Brains was charging it again.
"Charging to 250…Clear!" nothing. "Charging to 300…Clear!" nothing.
After several minutes of trying to revive Christine, Brains put a hand on Jeff's shoulder telling him to stop. Jeff then went to Scott, but Scott wasn't stopping and took over the chest compressions.
"Son, she's gone" said Jeff sadly.
"NO! She's not leaving without a fight!" he yelled and continued. "Come on Christine you can't leave us! I thought you were a fighter, so fight this!"
Jeff gently put his hand on Scott's shoulder, but Scott shrugged it of and continued. "Scott, please stop" he pleaded.
After a few more minutes Scott started to openly sob, but didn't stop. "Please Christine come back" he begged. "You can't leave me…you mean everything to me…I couldn't live my life without you beside me…I love you." Then suddenly his legs felt like jelly and he collapsed on the floor crying in defeat.
Jeff went to the floor and held his son trying to soothe him. He looked up to see everyone, including Gordon now, at the door with tears running down their faces and he beckoned them to enter. Soon they were all on the floor hugging each other openly grieving.
Christine finally awoke from the darkness. She saw that she was in a dark hallway. At one end of the hallway there was a door with light streaming from the edges the other end had a staircase that went up into white light. Christine walked over to the staircase to look up and see where they went. The only thing she saw was the white light. She proceeded to go up the stairs, but a figure came down the stairs blocking her. Christine backed up so she could see this person and had to shield her eyes from the intense light.
When the figure walked out of the light she saw that this person was a beautiful tall woman dressed in white. She had long blonde hair and smiled at Christine like she knew her.
Christine stood there in awe "Who are you?"
"I'm someone whose been watching over you for awhile, Christine" the woman answered.
"Where am I?" Christine asked not wanting to ask any further about this woman.
"You are at a place where you choose to live your old life or continue in another" she said.
"So you're saying I'm dead?" Christine asked shocked.
"Yes…you are" the woman said. "Your family is waiting for you" she pointed up the stairs.
"What about the door at the other end?" asked Christine.
"That doors leads you back to your old life"
Christine stood there trying to remember her life and beginning to panic because she couldn't "I can't remember my old life. How am I supposed to choose one or the other if I don't know what I'm missing?"
"Nobody remembers their old life here, but they remember when they go up the stairs" said the woman reassuringly.
Christine nodded and started reluctantly for the stairs. When she reached the first step she heard a man screaming her name from a distance and stopped.
"Scott?" Christine said quietly. Her memories started flooding back as she turned towards the scream. She noticed it was emanating from the door at the other end. She stepped back from the stairs "I can't leave now…I have to go back"
"You want to return to your old life where there is pain and suffering, hunger and disease, death and hate?" asked the woman getting annoyed at Christine hesitance.
"There are just not those things. There's family and friendship, beauty and freedom, love and…" she hesitated for a moment thinking what else there was.
The woman grinned seeing that Christine couldn't think of anything else and would change her mind to go up the stairs.
Christine then looked at the woman. She stood up tall smiling and said with more confidence that she ever had "…and there's the Thunderbirds." The woman just stood there shocked at Christine's answer. Christine continued "…the Thunderbirds make my life worth living. They actual help me make a difference in the world and I wouldn't go up those stairs for any reason whatsoever if that makes me quit being a Thunderbird."
The woman was nodding her head listening to Christine. Christine had one more thing to say "There's also a man back there that makes my life as a Thunderbird worth living and that's Scott Tracy…I may have never acted like it but I need him more than life itself and I couldn't wake up everyday and not see his face, hear his laugh, or talk with him until the sun rises, so I'm going back." Christine then started walking towards the door at the end of the hallway.
"Christine!" yelled the woman.
Christine turned around with determination to not be persuaded "Yes?"
"You made the right choice. Just remember they don't blame you for the accident…and one more thing" she said. "Can you say hello to Jeff and the boys for me please?"
Christine looked at the woman as she walked back up the stairs "I promise…Mrs. Tracy" then she turned around and started walking towards the door. While walking there she started to hear Scott's voice again.
'Christine come back' she heard him beg. She started to walk faster.
'You can't leave me…you mean everything to me…I couldn't live my life without you beside me…I love you' that made her heart soar and she ran as fast as she could to the door. When she reached the door she opened it…
Brains got up from the group and went to turn off the heart monitor then he heard a blip. He did a double take on the screen and saw that Christine's heart was starting to pump. He jumped in the air and gave a big yell of joy scaring everyone. "Mr. Tracy, help me get her hooked up again and get the oxygen back on" Jeff and company jumped up from the floor and helped Brains to stabilize Christine.
When she was stable everyone was sprawled all over the infirmary exhausted. Scott was holding Christine's hand sleeping with his head on the bed. Alan was cuddled up to Tin-Tin on one of the beds. Gordon and Virgil fell asleep on the floor sitting back to back while Brains was sitting in a chair with Fermat sleeping with his head on his shoulder.
Jeff woke up from his slumber and left the infirmary to tell Lady Penelope, Kyrano, Onaha, and John about the situation. They were all relieved that Christine was stable. Jeff asked John if he wanted to come back home for awhile and John agreed, also Lady Penelope agreed to visit the island and help Jeff to try and raise everyone's spirits one more time.
(TBC)