The Normal Again
Tick. Tick. Tick. Georgia stared at the clock. 11:59 pm. She looked back down at her dad. She sat on the edge of his hospital bed squeezing his hand. "You better wake up soon if you want to be with me when I turn 15." She smiled but with no movements from Sandy her smile dropped again. "Come one dad," she was whispering "please? I know you want to be here on my first birthday with you…" Georgia looked up at the clock; 11:59:43. She sighed.
She unclasped the necklace Sandy had given to her, looked at it then delicately put it in his hand. "Sorry daddy; kinda lost the last bit I had of this." She wrapped her father's strong fingers around the 'hope' necklace he had bought her then put his hand on his chest.
She shook her head then got up to leave. She got to the door and turned around for a last glance. For a moment Georgia thought she was imagining things; hallucinating; dreaming but she really wasn't.
Sandy's hand was clenching the necklace. "Dad? Dad? Oh my god, Dad!" Georgia said grinning and moving back over to his bed. He started to moan. "You're awake! Oh my god!"
"Owww!" Sandy groaned. "Don't yell. It's too early to yell."
"Are you kidding! Two weeks isn't too early."
"What?" Sandy said finally opening his eyes.
Georgia jumped on the bed. She hugged him. "Do you know what day it is?"
"Go on, tell me." Sandy said grinning and twitching his body.
"The 2nd of September." Georgia said proudly.
"You're 15! Happy Birthday!" Sandy grinning and gave her a cute-sy high 5 but then he realised something. "Wait." Sandy shook his head. "That means we were at the supermarket almost a fortnight ago."
"14 days dad. That's how long you were out for." Sandy's eyes grew wide. "Oh mum's gonna be so happy!"
Sandy's face relaxed. "She's ok?"
Georgia smiled. "She's ok. She should be here soon. She probably realised I jumped out my window." Sandy gave her a disapproving look. "But, Dad, you should know that she's-"
In her wheelchair, Kirsten came into the room with Seth and Ryan behind. When Kirsten saw Sandy awake she screamed. "Sandy!" Ryan quickly lifted her out of her chair and sat her on Sandy's bed in front of Georgia. She immediately fell forward onto his chest wrapping her arms around him tightly holding him close. "Kirsten." Sandy said with a slight chuckle as he hugged her back tightly. He had barely had the time to notice she was in a wheelchair.
Kirsten had been waiting for this moment for what seemed like a lifetime. No touch had ever felt so wonderful; Being held close, hearing Sandy speaking. She listened absorbedly to his beating heart as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.
"I thought we were going to lose you." Kirsten said as she started to cry.
Sandy then kissed Kirsten's forehead and she thanked God he was alive, he was ok and he wasn't taken away from her. These days without Sandy, Kirsten had found it challenging to find the will to keep holding on. Without Sandy she couldn't live. There's only his life in her life; his love is her life.
"I love you so much baby." Kirsten said, still sobbing.
"I love you too beautiful." Sandy said. Georgia hugged her mum from behind and turned her head to Seth and Ryan and smiled. Ryan sat down beside Georgia, putting his hand on her back while Seth sat on the other side of the bed. Sandy took his son's hand first then Kirsten linked her fingers in there too. They all smiled.
Just as seasons were made for change, lifetimes were made for these years. Now the days, the weeks and the years roll by but nothing would change the love inside the Cohen family.
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After a day spent in Sandy's hospital room with birthday cake, cheesy songs, Sandy's lame jokes, and high doses of medication the night drew over them…
"Kinda looks like art, doesn't it? I call it 'takes more than that to kill me, punk.' 'Punk' is what makes it art." Sandy said joking around as he looked at his electrocardiogram printout.
"Okay, I think we could all do with some rest." Kirsten said after she had finished gleaming at her husband. "Boys you can take the car…I'm going to get some coffee and stay."
"Seth give me a hug." Sandy said as Seth began to head for the door.
"What?" He asked turning around.
"Give me a hug." Sandy said holding out his arms from the hospital bed. "A man gets trapped in a fire he gets a little emotional now get over here and give your father some love."
Kirsten wheeled her chair around to Sandy's side after Seth moved out the way. "Honey I don't know how you can sleep with that thing beeping all the time." She implied about the monitor.
"Well if it stops beeping I'll be sleeping a lot longer than you think." Sandy said grinning and Kirsten, Seth and Ryan laughed.
"Stay well." Ryan said. Kirsten gave Sandy a kiss and then she and the boys left leaving Sandy and Georgia in the room, who was lingering behind.
"What's up princess?" Sandy asked Georgia as she awkwardly walked over to his window remaining completely silent. "Are you alright?"
"I just can't get over it dad. I mean I thought I was ok with it but it's just all coming back to me now you know?" She turned around. "I really thought you were gonna die."
Sandy smiled. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. However I will be doing my shopping online from now on." He smirked.
Georgia paused moving around his bed. "Are you in pain?"
"Let's just say it's less painful since the last time your mother tried to make spaghetti." Sandy sneered.
"Stop that dad; I don't think it's funny!" Georgia said frustratedly, standing at the bottom of his bed. "I can't believe you're seeing this as one big joke!"
Sandy got serious sensing her tension. "I know you're upset princess; you went through a very distressing experience but if you calm down we can talk about this rationally."
Georgia shook her head. "You're always in control, aren't you; always do the right thing, always know what to say." Georgia said sarcastically. His management which she felt she needed and missed out on. "But what gets me is the police aren't even gonna find the maniacs who planned it all and even if they did, so what! They'd be out on the streets again within a few years."
"O c'mon Georgia, that's not going to happen." Sandy frowned.
"Yeah right dad!" Georgia spat back gesturing. "The legal system is a huge joke, people aren't even afraid of it anymore!" She walked around to the side of his bed.
Sandy's tone remained calm. "I'm upset too but as a lawyer I have to trust it will all fall through."
"I'm not a kid anymore, dad! Stop telling me fairytales!" Georgia said sincerely. Her frustration built up and she knocked over the tray of hospital by Sandy's bed angrily and walked away from Sandy.
Sandy looked around comically and smiling for a considerable amount of time. "… Hey I was gonna eat that."
Georgia turned around to him and gave him a harsh glare. Sandy used to always make her laugh but now his jokes just made her angry. "Everything's a damn joke to you dad!"
"So what, you don't think I'm angry? Stuck here in this hospital, my wife an inch away from being completely paralysed? You don't think I wanna get up outta here and knock some heads?-"
Georgia interrupted yelling. "-Yeah well I don't want it to happen again! Not to us!"
Sandy raised his hands trying to calm her down. "Georgia, princess, I understand that you're scared but the world can be a scary place. You have just got to learn how to deal with it, alright?"
"I've tried! I've tried to find my way but it's been so hard!" She shouted.
"Georgia, princess, no one forced any kind of responsibility on you."
"Well who else was gonna do it! First Anne leaves then Seth and Ryan…Who else was gonna keep everything together after you left us all alone?" She started to break down then. "You died and left us all alone!..."
Sandy climbed out of his bed and walked over to his daughter as she cried. He embraced her in a tight hug and kissed her forehead. "It's ok…It's ok. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere…I'm not leaving…"
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fast update! Didn't need 2 do as much as it thought… thanks for all the reviews. Keep ur comments coming!
Kiki xoxo