Author's note: First off, thanks so much for sticking with the story this long and for all the great reviews. This is our last chapter of Snowfall. Hope everyone enjoyed it or at least found it moderately amusing. This last bit isn't a dream.

The EEG had not been favorable, they all knew it. Things were not going to improve for Abby.

Susan, Luka and Kerry stood in Abby's room, all absolutely silent. The police had just come by, no new leads, no new suspects, no new anything. They were stuck. Two hard blows in less then two hours.

"Why are we doing this?"

"Because we can't give up, not just yet." Susan said, not really even believing it anymore.

"She's essentially brain dead, Susan. If she wakes up, it's not like she'll be who she was."

"She would never be, but please,"
she pleaded. "Give her some more time,"

"Time to do what?"

"Something..." Susan said after a minute.

"Recover? She won't."

Susan felt the tears well up in her eyes once again, and suddenly she became very angry. "So you're just going to give up on her huh? Just like that!"

"It's been nearly three months Susan, with no sign of improvement. She isn't going to get better."

"It is not a long enough time," Somehow Susan was still hoping that maybe Abby could get better, three months was nothing, she tried to convince herself.

"The EEG showed nothing beyond rudimentary brain function."

"Please, just… not yet Kerry," she looked down at Abby, while the EEG results had been a blow, it seemed as though Abby was stable. For the most part.

"She's not even triggering the vent. After this long, she would be doing that if there were any hope."

"None of us are able to make the decision," Susan said hoping to find a way to buy Abby some more time. "Maggie is the only one who can..." Maggie who they had yet to get hold of. "We can't do this to her yet..." Susan said as she took Abby's hand in her own.

"I talked with someone from legal," Luka said quietly, almost apologetically, "exceptions can sometimes be made if one knows which strings to pull."

"You want to do this Luka? You want to make the decision to end her life? To end Abby's life?"

"I don't see how this is a more productive alternative."

Susan glared at him, lack of sleep, and more then an excess of stress was taking its toll. "I will not make this decision, we thought we had lost her that night and she fought it, she made it though surgery..."

"But she didn't. Can't you see that?"

Susan shook her head not wanting to listen to them, she knew they were right. But at the same time, felt guilty for giving up on Abby. "How about we sign a DNR then," compromise. Not technically removing her from life support.

"We could do that, but if she doesn't go on her own, I don't think we have much choice. She wouldn't want this."

"Abby will fight like hell…"

"She's not Abby anymore."

"You don't know that, and you don't know what she would have wanted."

Luka sighed, "You think she's still in there? That's a body. Down in the ER, if she were any other patient, the residents would be calling her veggie burger. And you know she wouldn't want this."

Susan resisted the urge to hit Luka. "How dare you, both of you, just willing to give up on her. She's not just a body Luka, she's your coworker, you're colleague, your friend, its Abby.

"No. She's not. Abby talked and argued and said sarcastic, mean things that she didn't mean, and treated patients, and lived."

"I'm not doing this to her, I will not pull life support…. Not yet,"

"When will you be?"

"When they catch the bastard that did this to her,"

"And if they don't?"

"Then she'll go on her own, but I won't do it for her,"

"You'd rather prolong all of this?"

"No, I'd rather give her a fucking chance!"

"She doesn't have one."

Susan looked at the two, then back at Abby and then at the monitors. "I'm not discussing this right now, if her health deteriorates..." she paused. "I'll do it, but not until,"

"It's already deteriorated, Susan."

"She's not septic, no fever, no infection…"

"Ventilated, on dialysis, half a dozen IV's. No, she's doing wonderfully."

"Shut up Luka!" Susan finally snapped. "just shut the hell up!"

"No, Susan. He's right."

"If she develops a sepsis, or anything else, then yes, but not until," she stood up, wanting to leave.

"Sooner or later, she will. Do you really want her to suffer more?"

"According to the EEG, she's not in pain," she headed towards the door. "It seems like you two have already made your decision, I'm just asking you to wait a little bit longer until you sign that paper,"

"Why?"

"Because I'm asking you to, that's why," she didn't want to lose her best friend, not yet.

"You can't let go."

Susan stopped suddenly, "She's my best friend; forgive me if I'm not ready to lose her. Twenty-four hours, that's all I'm asking, then I will sign,"

"Fine. Twenty four hours." Nobody had specified who had to sign those papers, it could be him technically, it could be Kerry Weaver, but it was Susan who was Abby's best friend.

Luka shook his head and walked over to Abby; he looked up at the monitors and placed his hand on Abby's forehead. "Susan, she has a fever," He seriously doubted that Abby could survive the next twenty four hours now. "She's warm, but the fever, it's not high, not yet." Luka said softly. While it wasn't high yet, it didn't mean that it wasn't dangerous. Low grade, or high grade, a fever of any degree was enough to easily kill Abby.

"What's your point?"

"Susan... You keep telling Abby don't do this, every time she crashes, don't you think maybe she's trying to tell us something."

"You said yourself she can't tell us anything" Susan looked at him. "I already agreed to twenty four hours; don't cut her time any shorter,"

"You also said if she developed an infection..."

"Fine. You know what, do it, if you are willing to give up on her, then sign the damn paper,"

"I will," Luka said resolutely, looking Susan in the eyes.

Susan stopped; she really had not expected Luka to say that, she was stunned. "Twenty four hours, Luka, please."

"What good would it do?"

"If she becomes septic, before twenty four hours are up… then I'll agree"

"She's bacteremic already." Susan shook her head and looked at Kerry, begging her to make the decision now.

Kerry answered the unspoken question, "What do you want me to say, Susan? She isn't going to improve. Even if she gets past the infection, she's never going to recover from all of this."

"Can you do this Kerry? Can you authorize this?"

"It would have to be a joint decision."

"Between who,"

"The treating physicians."

"So we'd have no decision in the matter, if we hand it over to them?"

"We're all listed as having treated her, and we've been making most of the decisions from the start, Susan. Not all, but the ones we've been qualified to make."

"Okay," Susan nodded slowly.

"The nephro, the neuro, all the specialists have been willing to let her go for about two weeks now." Actually, Kerry corrected herself mentally, the neuro had been telling them Abby was a lost cause almost from the get go, but the others had all concurred between ten and fourteen days.

"Let's just get everyone together and go over this, please Kerry."

"I can call them to come here, but they won't say anything you haven't heard before."

"Then do it!"

"Fine," Kerry said and stepped out to find a corner of the floor where the use of cellular phones wasn't prohibited.

Luka watched as Susan stalked back towards Abby and gently moved her hair away from her face. "Susan... Let her go," he whispered and joined her at Abby's side.

"I don't want to."

"What do you think Abby wants then? Do you think she wants to be hooked up to a machine that is breathing for her? Do you think she wants to just linger, let sepsis be the one that kills her?

"The sepsis can be prevented. Or reversed if the prevention fails."

"She's gone Susan; you just have to let her be,"

"Why, when she never let anything be?"

"Susan… please... don't prolong this any more."

"It's not hurting you."

"Its hurting Abby,"

"You don't know that."

"It's selfish what we are doing to her,"

"Fine, so I'll be selfish just this once"

Luka didn't know what to say anymore, just stood there as a nurse came in and did the hourly vital checks. "She's running a little bit of a fever," she told him.

"Yes. She is. Administer antibiotics. Cephalosporin," Susan said before either Luka or Kerry could contradict her. Susan had to get ahead of the infection, had to stop it from doing anymore harm to her friend's body. Powerful antibiotics could defiantly do the job, if Luka and Kerry agreed to let them be administered. The nurse looked quickly at the other two doctors, then scurried off.

"Don't look at me like that Luka," Susan snarled seeing the glare Luka was shooting her.

"What would you prefer I do?"

"You don't think she needs it?"

"I don't think it's the best course of action."

"So besides letting her die, then what do you think the best course of action is doctor?" Susan said as the nurse reentered the room.

"Letting her die probably is the best course of action" Susan shook her head, ignoring Luka's comment and reached over to take the IV bag from the nurse. "What good is this doing her?"

"We've already been through this Luka,"

"Obviously not thoroughly enough."

"Apparently, you've already given up on Abby Luka, I haven't, not yet."

"It's not about giving up. It's about letting go."

"Is that how you've convinced yourself?" She said as the nurse stayed in the room, writing notes in Abby's ever growing chart, ease dropping on the conversation.

"Do you believe in something else after this?"

"Excuse me?" Susan looked over at her.

"If you do, then why trap her? Or if she did."

"Great!" Susan threw her hands up in the air. "another advocate for pulling the plug,"

"I know you're a doctor, and I'm a nurse, and to most that means you know everything and I know a fraction of a percent of that, but hear me out if you won't listen to your friend here."

"First off, I have a lot of respect for nurses, don't think I won't listen to you because you don't have an MD, and go ahead, I'm willing to listen,"

"Whatever you believe in, or think she believed in, there's something that comes after, I'll bet. To nearly everyone, there is."

"That doesn't convince me of anything,"

"What if she wants to move on?"

"What if she doesn't and we take her off of life support?"

"If there's anything of her left, then she'll find a way to keep breathing if it isn't what she wants."

"She can't breathe on her own! She's not even triggering the vent!"

"Then I'd guess there's nothing left and she would want to move on to whatever eternity is."

Susan shook her head once again, but was slowly realizing just how right everyone was. "What was her temp?"

"One hundred and two degrees farenheight."

"Susan… it's too late, we can't help her." Luka gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You're sure this is the right thing to do?"

"Yeah, it is," as much as he hated to lose Abby, he hated to see her like this even more. "The specialists will be here any minute, ask their opinions if you don't believe me, or the nurse,"

"It's not a matter of belief."

"Then what is it? Susan, her kidneys have already failed, her liver and heart are going now, and sepsis has set in, she cannot pull out of this,"

"I don't know. Hope maybe."

"There isn't any left," Luka said as Kerry returned with a few other doctors following her in. At the front was Dr. Stenton.

"Not for you, maybe."

"Alright, do we want to discuss this here, or somewhere else?" Luka asked the crowd.

"There's a conference room down the hall."

"Okay," Susan said and bent down next to Abby. "we'll be right back Hun," and then she and Luka followed everyone else out the door and down the hall.

"I know what everyone has already decided," Susan began, "but does anyone even have any hope left at all? Anything?" if not one single person said a word, then she would agree to pull life support tonight.

"No."

Without a second thought about what she was saying, "who signs it then?"

"Any two."

"I will," Luka stepped up first, he had the vague feeling that Susan would not be the second signature on those documents. He knew it sounded like a murderer to Susan, but he could no longer stand to watch Abby suffer.

Dr. Stenton came forward after a moment, "I'll sign."

"Are we doing this now?" Susan asked quietly after a few minutes of silence. Still not ready to do this to Abby.

"Yes."

She felt her heart break in two, this was really the end. "The ER, they don't know, they haven't even said goodbye.."

"Fine, it can wait an hour or two. Let them up."

"Thank you," she whispered and began wondering how she was going to tell her staff the news.

"Dotaimashte."

Susan ignored the last comment and walked out of the conference room, tears already falling again. Slowly she began making her way to the elevator. When she got to the ER, she was pounced on.

"How is she?" Chuny was the first to ask.

"Bad."

Chuny nodded, they knew that, they had known that from the beginning. "What did the EEG say?"

"She's... It's... She isn't likely to improve."

"Okay…" Chuny had a feeling that there was more to this story. Nearly the entire staff had gathered at the desk now, all wanting to hear about Abby.

"Everyone, you guys should know... There's been a decision to remove Abby from life support."

Nobody said anything for a second, just stood there in shock, they all knew it was coming, just not this soon. "When… I mean, when are you doing it?" Pratt spoke up.

"Probably in an hour or so. If you want to say goodbye, now's probably the time."

"You.. This hadn't even been discussed as of yesterday!" Sam began. "Did something change?"

"According to the neuro, she's essentially brain dead."

"I can't believe you're letting her go," Morris said, not thinking that his tone came across as accusatory.

"I'm not the one making the decision. But there isn't much point in continuing like this, or so I'm told."

Neela looked at Susan. "but you don't want to, you don't want them to pull her off of life support,"

"She isn't even triggering the vent."

"She's got an hour left," it wasn't a question, a statement. Abby had an hour left to live.

"Basically."

"She never stood a fucking chance," Pratt said quickly and then walked off.

"I'm sorry," Susan turned and left then standing there.

She made her way back up to Abby's room, feeling even worse as she got closer. Inside she found only Luka and Kerry. "They know," she said softly.

"Alright, that's for the best. "

Susan looked at the two, "why am I the only one who is crying here?" she wiped away a tear.

"Because everyone else has done theirs."

"It seems like I'm the only one who can't stop," she said and touched Abby's forehead. "She's burning up," Luka was right, it was time to let go.

"Are any of them coming up here?"

"They said they would, they know we're doing it soon," Kerry nodded. Most of them would come up and say goodbye to their colleague, or what was left of her. And they did, one by one they made their way up, each saying goodbye in their own ways. Ray was the last to leave, the last to say goodbye, besides the Luka, Kerry and Susan.

"So this is it?" Susan asked, wanting to stall just a little longer

"Have you said your goodbye?" Luka asked.

"Not yet."

"Do you want us to stay while you do, or would you rather be by yourself?" Luka asked, he still had to sign the last document before they could officially end it.

"I don't care...It doesn't matter really."

"I need to go sign one more paper, Dr. Stenton is coming back at 5:30," Luka said softly and looked at the clock. It was 5:15. A moment later, Kerry dismissed herself over some trivial detail that didn't really matter. Susan needed to be alone.

She just stood there, listening to the sounds of the machines that indicated that Abby was still alive, for now. Those sounds would die with Abby. "Abby… I'm so sorry," she began. "I know if you could hear me, you'd be laughing. They say you can't hear. I can't believe them. Not right now. Abby, I'm sorry we couldn't help you, I'm sorry if we've let you suffer, and I'm sorry, that I agreed to let them do this. But they have a point. There's only so much you can fight, and sometimes you have to admit defeat. I will ride those cops until they find who did this to, I wont let them quit. I call Carter, make him hire someone if I have to. But whoever did this to you, has an equal horror coming to them. "And I know that doesn't come close to fixing all of this, I don't think anything will, but it's the least I can do." She paused for a minute, having so much to say, but not knowing how to say it., or even how much more time she had. "But if you decide you want to stay with us," Susan somehow managed to smile, remembering Abby's sense of humor, "please do, please Abby. "I don't know what else there is to say. I mean, there are a few million things, but... Yeah... There's this song... Bridge Over Troubled Waters... I'm sure you heard it at some point. G'bye Abby. I'll miss you. We all will, but me especially."

"Dr. Lewis?" it was the nurse from earlier. "Dr. Stenton is on his way," she informed her.

"Okay," Susan called back. She just sat there, it seemed like only a few minutes, when she heard someone enter the room, then two more people. She knew exactly who it was. Stenton, Luka, and Kerry.

She turned to face them, "Well?"

"I'm really sorry Dr. Lewis," Stenton spoke up as he walked over.

"You going to be the one to do it?"

"Would you rather?"

"No."

"Dr. Weaver, Dr. Kovac?" he asked them.

Luka swallowed, then said reluctantly, "Best if it is someone she knew. I'll do it." Susan squeezed her eyes shut and silently thanked Luka for doing it. She took Abby's hand in her own again and watched. He stepped over to the ventilator, pressed the button, and disconnected the hose. And they waited. Almost immediately, the monitors began to alarm, and Susan barely resisted the urge to hook her back up to the vent, she was watching her best friend die. She was praying that somehow Abby would take at least attempt to breathe, attempt to keep surviving. The monitors were screaming louder now, but nobody made a move to turn them off, they all just watched, three doctors, four if they counted Abby, and one nurse, all silent. Abby didn't draw a breath. After a minute, not even an attempt. After two. Then three passed. Susan shook her head, Abby was really gone, not coming back, couldn't fight, she didn't wipe away her tears this time. Maybe Abby really did want to go, then again maybe she didn't and they had made the choice for her, either way they would never know. When the last alarm went off, full cardiac arrest, Stenton reached over and turned off the monitor.

"Time of death 17:34" Luka announced softly. Abby was gone, her fight was finally over.