"Hey guys."
"Well look who decided to join the land of the living. You must have been really tired. You've been asleep for almost two hours."
"Thanks for the blanket. I was tired but.."
"But? There's a but?"
"I was with Nancy."
"She pulled you in? How is she?"
"I don't know if she pulled me in, or if I was meant to be there. She's getting there, it's going to take some time. She just wanted me to stay with her until she was ready to wake up. We just talked about little stuff, she should be waking up soon, the drugs were beginning to wear off."
"What did you guys talk about?"
"Just stuff."
Piper took a seat in the chair next to her sisters. She could tell by the looks on their faces that they wanted answers, and they wanted them now. She let out a small chuckle, for the looks on both of their faces were a real Kodak moment.
"Guys stop with the looks. I can't tell you anything. Nancy wants to tell you, in her own time. Just be patient, time will tell."
They still wanted to know what was talked about, but respected the fact that Piper couldn't tell them. They sat in silence for a while longer, looking out at the morning sky. They were each sometimes amazed that even after a night in hell, the sun still comes up the next day. Life still goes on, even when they don't think it will.
"Guy's are you in here?"
The girls immediately turned their attention toward the doorway, expecting someone to be coming in with more information. They saw nobody.
"Guys can you hear me? Where are you?"
Recognizing the panicked voice, and sound of fear in her voice, they returned to Nancy's bedside to see tears falling down her cheek.
"Hey don't cry. We're right here, we never left you."
"When I opened my eyes I couldn't see you. I didn't know what to think."
"Well it took a second to realize it was your voice. Sorry honey, we didn't mean to scare you. How do you feel?"
"Like I've been hit by a truck, and then given massive pain killers to deal with the after effects. Otherwise alright."
"So we hear Piper was keeping you company."
Nancy moved her eyes and focused on Piper. She couldn't tell if Piper had said too much, and didn't know her well enough to know if she could really keep a secret. Nancy knew their bond as sisters was strong, and that sometimes they couldn't help but give into each others demands.
"Don't worry, she wouldn't tell us anything, no matter how much be tortured her. Telling Piper a secret, is like locking someone up at Fort Knocks. She's really good at keeping secrets."
"A skill I picked up growing up with these two. If one wasn't doing something they weren't suppose to, then the other one was. It was a real treat when they would both tell me things, the headaches I would get."
"Oh we weren't that bad."
"So you say."
Nancy let out the best laugh that she could, then realized with the tube still in her throat it wasn't the best thing to do. It caused some pain on her vocal cords, and a burning sensations to run down her throat.
"Take it easy guys, don't make her laugh too much."
"Lucy, she's awake."
"I can see that Phoebe, thank you. Now, Nancy I know you just woke up, but I really want to see how you are doing. Are you up to it?"
Nancy tried to answer Lucy in her mind, and was grateful when she realized she couldn't. She didn't have the connection with the doctor that she had with her cousins, thank goodness. What a mess that would have caused, she resorted to blinking her eyes.
"Good. Ladies if you could give me a little room to work."
Reluctantly the girls stepped back from the bed and watched as Lucy placed her stethoscope in her ears to listen to Nancy's heart, and then her lungs.
"Nancy, I would like you to try to take a deep breath for me."
Nancy tried at first with no success. She knew she could, but for some reason her body wouldn't let her.
"It's alright Nancy, sometimes a person's body won't do it when it's hooked up to a machine. What I want to do is disconnect the respirator for just a minute. I want to see if you are able to breath on your own. Now don't panic if it doesn't happening right away, I won't let anything happen to you."
"Prue, I don't want to. I'm too scared."
"Hey Lucy, is it alright if I stand next to her so she will stay calm?"
"I'm sure Nancy would appreciate that."
Prue walked over to the bed, took hold of Nancy's hand as they locked eyes with each other.
"Just look at me, and stay calm. None of us will let anything happened, just trust Lucy alright?"
Nancy blinked her eyes so Lucy could see she agreed, and that she was ready. Lucy unhooked the tube, and then quickly placed the stethoscope back into her ears and over Nancy's lungs. They each watched as the seconds ticked by, after fifteen seconds had passed Lucy reached for the tube to reconnect it to Nancy. Grabbing the tube that was sticking out of Nancy's mouth, she was about to hook the machine up when they all head a sound that was like music to their ears.
"HUHU"
Finally finding the strength inside herself, Nancy took her first breath. After one came another, and another, each one getting easier and less painful then the last.
"That's very good Nancy, your doing great. Does it hurt when you take a breath? Blink once for yes, and twice for no."
After receiving a double blink, Lucy again listened to the sounds in Nancy's lungs. They all waited patiently for Lucy to continue her exam, and tell them what she was finding.
"Sounds pretty good. Now Nancy, I want to check you motor function. I want you to press against my hand with your left foot."
Nancy focused all her energy on moving that foot, but she couldn't feel anything happening. It was a surprise when Lucy responded.
"That's good, now the right foot."
She did the same, and got the same response. She looked into her cousins eyes and could tell that something didn't match up.
"Guys, she is saying good. Are they moving? I don't feel anything!"
They looked at each other, none of them really wanted to answer that question. Nancy knew this, but had to find out the truth. She locked eyes with Piper, they had shared a great deal while in the drug induced dream.
"Piper, please tell me the truth. I'm not glass I won't break. I promise."
Piper knew she couldn't answer her out loud, she shook her head no, in a manor that only the three girls could notice. Nancy could feel someone else take hold of her hands and turned her attention back to Lucy.
"Now Nancy I want you to squeeze my hands as hard as you can."
Out of sheer frustration, Nancy squeezed a lot harder then she had planned on. She didn't let go until she was told to.
"That's great, the fluid we did remove seems to have returned the use of your hands, and arms. I could feel a slight nerve pressure on my hand when you tried to push with your feet, but it will take sometime for you to regain full use of them. Now I'm going to go and get a tray so that we can extubate that tube for you."
Even with a high I.Q. Nancy didn't know what that meant. Phoebe could tell that without even looking at Nancy. She leaned forward to make sure she understood.
"Honey, it's ok. That just means that they're going to remove the tube from you throat."
"I'm sorry Nancy. I didn't mean to scare you, sometimes doctors use words and they forget that not everyone knows what they mean."
"Don't worry Lucy."
Prue could see Nancy's expression relax a little. Five minutes later Lucy returned to the room, followed closely by Megan who had a try with some instruments on it.
"Now Nancy, this isn't going to be pleasant for you. I need for you to trust me, and work with me. OK?"
Nancy wasn't really excited to hear that it wouldn't be pleasant. That was usually grown up speak for it's going to hurt. She took a hold of Prue's hand and squeezed really hard. Prue knew what she meant without a word being spoken.
"Ok now when I tell you, take as deep a breath as you can. I want you to hold it for as long as possible, then when I tell you, blow out really hard."
Nancy watched as Lucy took a few supplies off the tray and got into the right position to remove the tube. With her hand firmly holding the tube, Lucy looked into Nancy's eyes for a signal she was ready.
"Now on the count of three go ahead and take that breath. 1,2,3 deep breath in."
They each noticed that Nancy was making no attempt to take that breath. Lucy needed some help and she knew Prue was probably the one to do it.
"Nancy look at me. You have to do this. I know your scared, but you don't want that tube there forever. Do You? Now come on, I'll do it with you alright. On my count we'll take that deep breath and hold it till Lucy says so. 1,2,3."
Nancy squeezed Prue's hand even harder then before, but this time did as she was told. She took every ounce of strength she had, but she took that breath and was determined to hold it for as long as necessary.
"Good, your doing great. Just hold it for one more second. Ok now blow out really, really hard. NOW!"
Blowing out as hard as she could, Nancy could feel the tube being ripped from her throat. She could feel her throat burn and the tube was pulled out, and could feel bile rise from her stomach after it was out. Within seconds of the tube coming out, Megan and Lucy had Nancy turned on her side as she began to throw up into a basin that was placed next to the bed. The girls looked on in horror, Nancy seemed to be in so much pain, and they couldn't help.
"Don't worry this is common. Megan and I were fully prepared for this. How do you think we knew to turn her so fast? Don't worry this will pass soon, she's just getting some of the drugs out of her system."
The girls each let out a sigh of relief as they watched Megan hold Nancy's head as still as possible, and trying to keep her hair out of the way. Megan was talking to her calmly, trying to keep her from thrashing around any more then was necessary. They could see that Nancy was becoming exhausted, and after several long minutes Nancy started to cough but was no longer throwing up. Megan helped her lay on her back, she was quite pale, and sweating. Lucy once again placed her stethoscope back in her ears to have one more listen to Nancy's heart and lungs.
"Let's get an O2 mask on her, at seventy percent. Nancy just try and relax, just take a few deep breaths."
Megan followed the doctor's instructions and pulled out a mask placing it over Nancy's nose and mouth, before setting it to the pressure the Lucy had ordered.
"Just breath normal. This is just to help you, you are doing all the work yourself."
Megan instructed Nancy as she helped her get as comfortable as possible. Megan cranked the bed up, so Nancy was sitting up in the bed, as the coughing stopped, Nancy tried to speak, without success.
"Your throat is going to be a little sore for a while. Don't try to talk right now. Now that your comfortable, I want to show you guys something."
Lucy once again walked over to the light box, but this time placed several pictures into the slot before clicking it on.
"I believe that what happened yesterday, saved Nancy's life."
"What? Nancy almost died!"
"Just listen to me Prue. While we were waiting for her to come around, Nancy's records arrived from the L.A, hospital. They also sent x-rays that were taken at the time. I don't really know how it was missed, but this is the x-ray that was taken more then six months ago, looks pretty normal."
Lucy pointed to the spinal cord in the first picture. The girls were no experts, but they had seen the most recent x-ray, and even they could tell the difference.
"This one was taken just a few months ago, when she met you guys. You can see the swelling had already begun. The hit she took yesterday caused a chain reaction, the swelling expanded and began to move at a rapid pace. Now, this is just my opinion, but based on my findings I believe that the hit she took saved her life. At the rate the swelling was going, she would not have been able to notice the difference. It would have happened so slowly that it would have gone almost unnoticed, until she fell asleep one night, and her oxygen supply would have been cut off. She would have died in her sleep."
The girls continued to look at the three x-rays on the board, slowly they began to comprehend what had really happened.
"The real key to saving her was Prue."
"Me? What did I do special?"
"You decided to let her have surgery. At the rate that the fluid was building up, and the swelling was moving, it would have blocked off all the blood supply to her brain within twenty-four, to forty-eight hours."
Lucy removed the x-rays from the board and returned them to their envelopes. As they continued to think about what they had just been told, their brains were running through so much information. Nancy had something to say, and she couldn't wait. She could tell the others were thinking about a lot of stuff, and she had to make them stop. Pulling the mask from her face, she locked eyes with Prue.
"Thank you…Mom."
She then placed the mask back on her face as Prue started to cry a little, this time they were not tears of fear, but tears of joy. With everything that had happened, Nancy was in some more pain, and as if on cue, Megan entered the room, needle in hand, and injected some medicine into her I.V. Immediately Nancy became tired, and soon fell fast asleep.
"She'll be out for a while, she needs to rest as much as possible. Her body has been through hell. I want you girls to go home for a while. With the respirator off, as long as she continues to improve, we will move her out of the ICU later on today. We will call if anything happens.
With that Lucy and Megan left the room closing the door behind them.
"I can't believe she called me Mom."
"She asked me if I thought you would mind. You don't right?"
"To tell you the truth, I was quite surprised. I just didn't see it coming, but mind, no way. I lover her so much."
"We all do Prue. We all do."
They each kissed Nancy on the forehead, got up and exited the room, making their way out of the hospital. Prue reached into her purse pulling out her cell phone and keys. Turning on her cell she immediately noticed she has three messages, all from the same number. Going to her voice mail she listened to the messages then freaked out.
"Oh my God. I completely forget about the auction today. I have to go into Bucklands for while. I need to talk to my boss anyway. I'll grab a cab, you guys take the car, I'll meet you at the manor later."
"Sounds good. I should call John anyway, I need to get the keys to the club. All the money from last night is still in my office. I want to stop and at least get it deposited at the bank."
Piper and Phoebe each jumped into Prue's car. They waited till Prue had grabbed a cab, and was on her way, then they left the parking lot. Piper decided that they would run home, change their cloths, then deal with P3.
"Pheebs, grab my cell phone, I want to call John now. I want to make sure he'll be home when I go to get the keys."
Phoebe reached into Pipers purse, pulled out her cell phone, and scrolled through her phone numbers till she found Johns. Once she knew the phone was ringing she handed off to Piper who waited till someone picked up.
"Yes, hello, may I speak to John please. This is his boss Piper. Oh he's not, well I need to pick the keys for the club, do you know where he left them? Really? Thanks."
Piper hung up the phone and made no comment. Phoebe could tell something was bothering her sister. Piper was quiet at times, but this was an extreme quiet.
"What's up?"
"That was John's roommate. He said that John went down to the club a few hours ago. Why would he do that? I hope giving him the keys was not a mistake. Sorry Pheebs plans changed, we're going to the club right NOW!"