Chapter 6

Fox ran the entire way to the hospital chapel and when he finally found Ethan, he was out of breath.

"Ethan!" Fox breathed.

Ethan turned, his heart pounding. Fox just eyed him and Ethan knew that it was true. Ethan didn't say a word and simply nodded, tears falling from his eyes. He had no more energy to care anymore. His soul was in too much agony not to shed its tears.

Fox could tell that Ethan needed to be alone, and left the room quietly. When Fox left, Ethan turned back to the statue and cried softly, only grief to surround him.

Cries were heard all throughout Theresa's room, Pilar's most profound.

"No, Dios mio! No! Por favor, no! Please don't take my little girl!" she cried.

It was positively the worst feeling any in the room had ever felt. They had lost Theresa once and then had to lose her all over again.

Ethan's elbows supported his weight as he dropped in tears, and his clamped hands seemed to squeeze together even tighter when the final wave of realization hit him.

It took a while for him to even think. All he knew, all he could feel was pain. Utter pain and misery. It swept over him like nothing he'd ever known before. Everything around him seemed not to matter anymore and it was if he were on a never ending fall, a ceaseless tumble downwards.

When Ethan knew that his tears would subside long enough to make sound, he spoke into the silence around him. "Theresa, I know you can hear me. You're now the angel that you always were here on earth." Suddenly, someone appeared in the chapel and listened while Ethan spoke. They made no effort for him to acknowledge the presence, but stood listening as his heart was revealed. "God, I miss you already, Theresa. And I'll love you always. I just- I'm just having a hard time knowing what to do. Please, tell me what I should do? What should I tell your son? What am I gonna say to him? Please, help me. Theresa, I can't do this alone. I can't live without you. I need you. I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to do without you? Before I met you, there was something missing, and I haven't had that feeling until now. Now I know what it is… Emptiness. Please, God. I know it's not possible, but bring her back! Please! I need her in my life. I don't know what to do without her." Tears had found themselves born again in the rivers that seemed to be forever etched on his cheeks. Ethan swallowed hard and rested his head on his clamped hands.

After minutes of crying, Ethan forced himself up. He needed to be strong. Theresa would have wanted him to be strong. He finally decided that he needed to get back to the others- especially Little Ethan. He got up from the pew and walked out of it slowly. As he turned, he thought he saw….But it couldn't be. Ethan did a double take and focused hard on something that wasn't there. What had he just seen? Whatever it was, it was gone now.

Ethan headed back to Theresa's room. When he got there, he saw his eyes reflected in those of everyone around him- sad, lost, heartbroken, empty, lonely, confused.

When Sheridan saw him, she immediately hugged him, wiping some of the mascara that had run from her eyes onto his shirt.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Dr. Madigan said apologetically.

Pilar looked up at him and with no emotion on her face answered with a simple, "Thank you."

After Ethan and Sheridan parted, he went over to Theresa's bedside, sat on the stool that was there, and took her hand. He brought it to his mouth, kissed it, and used it to muffle the sounds that he couldn't control anymore. Sheridan placed her hand on his shoulder as a reminder that she was there for him and he couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't look at her face and know that she would never again look at him. He would never see her eyes smile at him when he made her laugh… never again.

All throughout the room, one could hear the sound of people crying and they started to leave the room, not being able to take it anymore either. Chad headed for the door first, followed by Whitney and Fox. Antonio and Miguel were close behind.

Suddenly, piercing the quiet of the room, there was a beep- no one paid attention to it. Then another beep….. Then another beep… Then another one.. Then another!

Ethan finally looked up at the machines surrounding Theresa's bed. The heart monitor was different somehow. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see but it certainly wasn't what he saw in front of him.

The flat line was no longer flat. There were tiny spikes appearing. Far apart at first, but then they came closer together. Ethan read the numbers carefully, blinking hard to make sure that he wasn't imagining things.

43.….. 44.…… 45.….. 46.….. 47.….. 48.….. 49.…… 50.…..

Theresa's heart… was beating! Her heart was beating by itself!

But why?

"Her heart's beating," Ethan whispered. "Her heart's beating," he repeated. "Her heart is beating!"

The others that were leaving the room returned and saw that Ethan wasn't delusional.

The numbers were now 57... 58... 59... 60... 61.. .62... 63. Then they stopped. But the spikes didn't. Her heart was beating!

"Oh, my God! She's alive. She's alive!" Pilar cried.

Dr. Madigan ran in quickly. "What! I don't-" His eyes checked the machines suddenly. They weren't hooked up. How could it be? "This doesn't make sense. I don't see how this is possible."

Ethan and the rest looked confused as well- at least up until Theresa's hand moved inside of Ethan's.

Ethan looked down and sure enough, her hand was moving. But that wasn't the only thing that was. Her eyes opened!

"Theresa….?" he whispered. Slowly she turned her head towards him. "Theresa!" Before she could say anything, Ethan had wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, my God, Theresa! You're alive!" The feel of her in her arms again, the sense of knowing that she could hold him back sent his soul soaring in ways he'd never thought possible.

"Oh, mija!" Pilar was crying yet again.

After everyone came in and hugged her, shed a couple more tears, Theresa finally had the opportunity to breathe.

Whitney rushed over to her best friend. "You're alive, you're really alive! Oh, my God!"

"How?" Pilar asked.

Theresa said nothing at first and looked to the man holding her hand. "Because of Ethan."

Everyone in the room turned their eyes to Ethan.

"I heard you… in the chapel," she said softly. "I was there."

"You… I thought-"

"I'm not sure how it happened, but when I heard what you were saying, I was begging to come back. It's like, our longing to be together gave me another chance. You brought me back, Ethan. I have to believe for a reason…"

Ethan was stunned. It was Theresa in the chapel. She had heard everything he said. She heard him profess how much he'd loved her and how much he needed her back. "But I don't-"

"Well, what did you say in chapel, Ethan?" Whitney asked him.

Ethan turned to Whitney and then right back to Theresa. "I-"

"You said that you loved me," Theresa answered for him. "You said that if you could do it all over again, you would. Just as long as you'd be with me."

Ethan smiled at her gently. "I would…" Theresa stared at him, the moment seeming too surreal to be happening.

The entire time, Dr. Madigan was working on the machines and taking notes. "Well, I checked your vitals. You seem to be doing fine, Theresa. I'm happy to say that I think you'll make a full recovery. It's amazing."

"No…," Pilar whispered. "It's a miracle."

Suddenly, something clicked in Ethan's mind as he remembered another conversation that he and Theresa had just day before…

Theresa turned to Ethan slowly and spoke. "Okay, before you found out that Gwen was pregnant, when you were trying to decide which one us to propose to, who was it going to be? Gwen or me?" Theresa stared at Ethan for a long time trying to read his eyes but he didn't answer her question. "Ethan… who were you going to ask to marry you?" Ethan looked at her, almost begging her not to make him answer this question but she persisted. "You're always telling me how essential honesty is between two people. So tell the truth. If you hadn't found out Gwen was pregnant, who would you be married to right now? Gwen or me?"

"It's irrelevant," he suddenly said. "You're bringing up the past. When it's the present and the future that matter. You're just going to have to face that reality."

"The hell with reality, Ethan. Just tell me the truth, answer my question. If Gwen wasn't pregnant would you have asked me to be your wife?" Ethan didn't speak again, "You can't just run away from my question. It's too important. It will effect the rest of our lives."

"No, no, it won't. This is what I'm trying to get through to you, okay. You're hanging onto the past when it doesn't exist anymore. Things have changed."

"Well if it changed one way, Ethan, it can change back. Look, I'm not asking you to make any major decisions right now. I know that's unrealistic. But-- but, someday, well you owe it to yourself as much as me to be completely truthful about your real feelings. Ethan, you know the last few years, all anyone does is lecture me about the importance of honesty. They keep, um, rubbing it in that if I had just been completely straight with you, not kept any secrets, things would be different now. It's your turn. Show me how you can tell the truth, even when it's not easy. You know that night you were carrying the engagement ring in your pocket? And you were pacing outside the Crane mansion, outside my room, outside Gwen's room. Who were you going to get down on bended knee in front of? Who did you picture spending the rest of your life with?"

Ethan turned to her slowly and took her hand in his. "You… I was gonna ask you to marry me. But-- but, it didn't work out. And it just wasn't meant. You want me to be completely honest, Theresa? Sometimes, the truth is really painful. I was going to ask you to marry me. But it didn't work out that way. Gwen's having my baby. She's my wife now. I'm married to her. So I meant what I said before. We don't have a future. So, um, whatever we shared in the past, whatever hopes and dreams we had together, we just need to let go of them. Because they're not going to come to pass. It's over, we can never be together."

It finally dawned on Ethan how wrong he had been. He slipped his hand into his pocket and found what he was looking for. He had both , Gwen's engagement and Gwen's wedding ring in his hand. It was meant. It was Fate.

He didn't want to give Theresa what was left of Gwen, but he knew this was something that needed to be done before anymore time was lost.

Ethan turned to Theresa, realizing that this couldn't feel more right. "Theresa….," he whispered.

"Yes?"

"Today was probably the worst day of my life. I thought I'd lost you. I did for a short while and I can't even explain how that made me feel. It made me realize something. It made me realize that I can't live without you. I couldn't even if I tried. I never want to know that feeling of never seeing you again. It scared me in ways that I never thought possible, Theresa." She stared at him and somehow wasn't as prepared for what he did next as she thought she was. Ethan took his hand from his pocket and held up the ring. "I wanted this to be perfect, but this situation is far from it. I have a question for you, Theresa. I love you and I want to marry you. So, here in front of your friends and family, will you marry me, Theresa? Will you be my wife? Theresa… marry me? Marry me and spend the rest of your life with me."

Theresa couldn't believe it. Her dream had finally come true. "Yes, yes, of course I'll marry you!" The words came out before she could think about them.

"Really? You will marry me?"

"Yes!" Theresa could barely contain her excitement.

Ethan smiled at her and looked down to his finger. He slowly slid the sparkling ring on her finger and kissed her softly. And he felt it. That spark, that passion was definitely there. She was back, and she was his. Ethan would never again have to know the feeling of having to live… Without Her.

The End