Chapter 56

Annie sat in the sterile hospital room, staring unseeingly at the monitors as they beeped in a steady rhythm. The room had grown darker as the sun slowly set, but she didn't notice.

Her attention was the dark-haired man, who lay motionless in the dim light from the long fluorescent strip over the head of the bed. Wires and tubes peeked out from under the blanket and hospital gown, hinting at the seriousness of his condition.

In the hours since the shootings at the beach house, Annie had wavered back and forth on where she belonged. Michael had saved her life and they'd developed a bond that no one could rival, but Craig was her brother, her own flesh and blood, despite the mistakes he'd made.

Knowing Michael had shot her brother was something she could handle, because if he hadn't, she probably wouldn't be here. However, one thing she wouldn't accept was not being here when the one man she cared about most woke up.

When Amber and Mrs. Kersting tried to convince her to go get some rest, Annie refused. She fought Liz and Charles like her life depended on it when they tried to get her to leave the room after he was brought up from recovery.

I have to be here when he wakes up, Annie had told them. I have to let him know, it's okay, she refused to budge from the chair until she did. I may never get another chance, she thought remember the doctor's words when he said they almost lost him in surgery.

His hand twitched on the bed bringing her out of her stupor. Annie's eyes darted to his face as she leaned forward lifting the hand she'd been holding to her cheek.

"I'm here," she whispered softly. "Come back to me," she pleaded pressing her lips to the back of his hand. "I can't lose you. You're all I've got," she told him as she watched his eyelids flutter as consciousness slowly returned.

Tears sprung to her eyes, threatening to spill over when at last his dark green eyes opened and locked with hers. Annie couldn't think of a more wonderful sight than seeing the smile slowly form on his face when he saw her.

"Annie," he whispered hoarsely, his throat still raw from the tubes they'd used during surgery to remove the bullet.

"Shh, don't try to talk," Annie soothed, offering him some ice chips that the nurse had left for him on his nightstand. "Everything's gonna be fine," she reassured him, reaching up to gently brush her fingers through his hair at his temples, marveling at the red highlights she'd never noticed before.

"I'm sorry," he croaked, a sadness shadowing his eyes as he looked up at her.

Annie knew he felt guilty, the man she grown to know would, but she would never know the true depth of his sorrow. However, the pain in his face, the torture he was putting himself through, was overwhelming.

"No, you did what you thought you had to do. Some people may not understand but I do," Annie told him, recalling the images of the blood and the bodies back at the beach house. "You were only doing your job, Michael. If you hadn't, all of us would probably be dead by now," she insisted.

"There should have been another way," Michael murmured, turning his head away.

"But there wasn't," Annie persisted, cupping his face in her hands, gently turning him back to look at her. "And if you want to start playing 'what ifs' with yourself, how about I add a few?" she questioned, seeing the turmoil in his eyes. "What if I'd spent more time with my brother and knew what he was up to and who he was hanging out with? Maybe I could have stopped this before it all started…." she began.

"But…"

"What if I had never told Myles about Kelly and Webster? We wouldn't be in this situation to begin with, so does that make it my fault?" Annie raised her eyebrows questioningly at him.

"What if I would have let you take me to the hospital? We wouldn't have been home and not even know about Craig," she continued before he could respond. "There are a thousand 'what ifs' you can come up with if you think hard enough…believe me I think I've thought of all of them while I've been sitting here, but it doesn't change the fact that my brother…" she choked. "It doesn't change the fact that my brother was a common criminal and tried to kill us," Annie turned away, trying to hide the tears that finally spilled over and were running unheeded down her cheeks.

"Annie," Michael whispered, reaching out to her, ignoring the pain in his shoulder. Despite the tubes and wires, he pulled her close to his chest, letting her cry out the pain and anguish that had built up inside her. His hands ran comfortingly up and down her back as he murmured soothingly to her.