The next morning Gabby woke up to the quiet music of her alarm clock. Cursing, she stumbled out of bed to check her blood sugar and take her morning medication.

"Good morning Gabby darling!" her mother cooed as she came downstairs. "Your father will be calling shortly. Why don't you eat your breakfast so you'll be ready to talk when he calls?"

"Ooh, Dad's taking time out of his busy life for his only daughter? Shocking! He'd better be on time. I'm tutoring Alexis at ten, Ben at eleven and Christi at noon. And I can't be late. It makes me look unprofessional."

"Gabrielle Smith, you watch your tone. Your father will call at eight. I'm sure his personal secretary won't forget."

Gabby's father, Brady Smith, was the president of a major bank in New York City. He was a nice guy, but a successful business man who didn't have time for much else besides work. His work habits easily explained why Elizabeth had walked out the door with Gabby when she was six. It also explained why he was on wife number four, who was most likely just as unhappy as Elizabeth had been while married to Brady.

Gabby frowned at her mother but said nothing more as she went to the kitchen for breakfast. Like every diabetic, Gabby had to watch how she ate. She always had to weigh and measure her food, which was quite annoying. But Gabby had no choice, so everyday, day after day, week after week, she measure and weighed before eating.

Hmm, today's breakfast, what shall it be? After a few moments of deliberation she decided on a mini bagel with cream cheese (one ounce of cream cheese) and a medium apple. After preparing her breakfast, she sat down to eat. As she sat, she couldn't help but think, "How mundane is my life? I'm up at six a.m. every morning, I eat one of three things for breakfast everyday, go to school and then on Saturdays, I go and tutor kids for three hours."

Once she finished her breakfast, Gabby took her dishes and checked the clock. It was 6:55. Only, like twenty more minutes and I won't have to speak to dad again until, like, my birthday.

A few moments later the phone rang and Gabby answered it quickly, more excited to hear from her dad than she thought she would be.

"Hello?"

"This is Peter Wolf calling for Brady Smith. May I speak to Gabrielle Smith please?"

"Just put my dad on the phone." Gabby snapped, frustrated by the manner in which her father insisted on calling.

"Yes Miss Smith, one moment please."

"MOM!" Gabby yelled as the hold music began playing. "PICK UP THE PHONE!" In response to Gabby's summons, her mother promptly answered the phone. After a few moments, the music stopped and Brady came on the line.
Gabrielle! Elizabeth! To what honor do I owe this surprise phone call?"

"Your daughter's health Brady, which you would know more about if you returned my phone calls more often."

"Liz, I'm a busy man—"

"And you don't have time for us I know." Elizabeth sniped at Brady.

"Now that is not true and you know it!" Brady said, anger rising in his voice.

"ENOUGH!" Gabby said. "This is bad enough as it is without you two fighting like cats and dogs. Can't you be nice to each other for like two minutes? Do it for me." On the other end of the phone line, Gabby heard her father sigh.

"Alright. What did you call to say?" Brady asked and she could just picture him, sitting at his desk, leaning back in his chair, checking his watch every few seconds.

"Gabby's doctor wants her to go on the transplant list."

"That's great honey." Her father replied, sounding distracted.

"Goddamn it Brady, if you aren't going to listen, just go ahead and hang up the phone." Elizabeth snapped angrily.

"Dad, I'm going to make this really simple for you. I'm going to get a double lung transplant because I need one. Can you understand that?"

"There's no need to be rude, young lady. And for your information, Dr. Phillips already called me and I agree. I also had Peter do some research on it for me. I've also decided that I'd like you to come to the city before you have your transplant since once you get it you'll have to be within a half hour to fifteen minutes of the hospital at all times, depending on where you are on the list." Gabby was shocked; not only did her dad do research on something about her, he was also inviting her to visit him.

"Alright dad. For a three day weekend. Next weekend would probably be best, if that is alright with you." Gabby replied after a few moments of silent thinking.

"Sounds great. And why don't you bring that boy with you. The one you're seeing, so I can finally meet him. Shawn. No, Saul. Yes, Saul, that's his name."

"Sam. Sam is his name dad. And I'll ask him and call you later with his answer."

"OK sweetie. I look forward to your call. If I'm not home, leave a message with Susan, ok?"

"Sure Dad. Bye." Gabby said as she hung up the phone.

LATER THAT DAY

Gabby stared at her phone, debating whether she should actually invite Sam to NYC. "Oh, what the heck." Gabby thought as she began dialing Sam's number. As the phone rang, she began having second thoughts but had no time to reconsider as Sam answered.

"Hey you. How's it going?" Sam said cheerfully.

"I'm good. Hey, want to go on an all expense paid trip to NYC with me?"

"Um…what's the occasion?"

"My dad wants to meet you but is of course to busy to come down here."

"Um sure. When?"

"We leave Friday and we'll be back either Sunday night or Monday morning., which ever works better for you."

"Sunday night would be better. I have an 8 am class on Mondays."

"Great. I'll call my dad and sort out the details."

"You going to call Dr. Phillips too?"

"Yes."

"OK. I'll talk to you later then ok?"

"Sure. Bye."

Gabby hung up the phone and began dialing the Doctor's office. After leaving a brief message with the receptionist about her decision and impending trip, she hung up the phone and went off to do her homework.