Ben waited inthe gate.He then saw people coming off the plane into the airport. 20 minutes he sees Mary come off of it. He walked over to her.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"Next flight leaves here in two and a half hours, so you have to wait to board," she replied and kept walking oblivious to who she was talking to.
"Mary."
She stopped in her tracks. She knew who it was. "What are you doinghere?"
"Finding out what is wrong with you."
She turned around and faced him. "Nothing is wrong, okay?"
"Something is wrong. Your little sister is in a coma and you aren't there."
She stood there silently.
"You obviously got your messages. Because when I first found out I had more of a reaction than you did."
"I don't want to go, okay?" she said and turned around and kept walking.
"Why?" Ben followed her.
"I don't okay."
"What if she doesn't make it? Are you going to be the one who didn't get to say goodbye?"
"She's Ruthie. She can pull through."
"You don't want to go back?"
"No."
"Then why?"
"Nothing."
"You're scared. You're scared of getting used to something then losing it aren't you?"
Mary turned around again.
"You lost basketballbefore you could even shoot one last hoop. You lost Wilsonas soon as you thought you would have him forever. You were afraid of losing again so you gave up your husband and Charlie."
"So maybe I am scared."
"Don't risk losing your family too."
"I'll think about it," Mary said and turned around.
Eric and Annie were still in the hospital room.
"How couldthis happen to Ruthie?" Eric said.
"I don't know," Annie sighed out. She stared at her daughter. Ruthie looked like she was sleeping.
"She's always so careful."
"It was a drunk driver. She couldn't avoid it."
"I know."
"We could have tried to stop her. Tried to talk to her or something."
"She was broken hearted. Don't you remember being 16?"
"I remember I was worse than Ruthie. I would sneak out of the house to see boys."
"So that's where the kids get it from?" Eric laughed.
"We haven't really laughed since last night."
"No. We haven't."
"She'll pull through. She always does."
"She hasn't lately."
"She will Eric. She's our daughter."
"I hope so," Eric sighed.
Back at the house Rose walks in with the boys and Savannah.
"Okay guys. I'm going to put Savannah down for a little nap and then I'll start on dinner?" Rose questioned. She hadn't babysat in awhile.
"Okay," Sam said.
"Yeah. Okay. What is for dinner?" David added.
"I was thinking spaghetti. Or if you want something diferent."
"Spaghetti!" the boys both yelled and ran upstairs.
Rose called Simon's cell phone.
"Hello?" Simon said.
"Hey. It's me," Rose said. "How's it going?"
"There isn't a change in her condition. How are things there?"
"The boys are playing upstairs, Savannah is about to take a nap and if anyone wants to come home for dinner it will be spaghetti."
"You have everything under control."
"That's because someone needs to have control."
"Well, I don't think many of us will come home."
"I wasn't planning on it."
"But Kevin says he'll be here a couple more hours and then come home to help so you can rest.""
"Okay bye," Rose said and hung up. She picked up Savannah and started rocking her in her arms. Sam and David came down.
"Rose?" David said.
"Is Ruthie going to be okay?" Sam said.
"Will she wake up?" David added.
"You want to know the truth?" Rose said. The boys nodded. Rose knelt down so she was close to their height. "I don't know. Your big brother is the doctor not me. I don't think she'll wake up today but I think she will wake up."
The boys stood silent.
"She was going to take us bike riding," Sam said finally speaking.
"Has Ruthie ever let you down before?" Rose said. The boys shook their head no. "Do you think she'll start now?" The boys smiled and hugged Rose. Rose smiled.
Back at the waiting room everyone was silent again.
"I wish there was just something we could do," Simon said sitting back in his chair.
"I don't really think there is anything we can do," Matt said, "Except wait."
"Or we can talk. So... Martin," Lucy began, "Why are you here?"
"Ruthie's my friend. Why wouldn't I be here?" Martin said.
"Do you like her?" Lucy said.
"Here we go again..." Kevin said.
"What?" Lucy said.
"Everytime we go to a hospital. You do something weird," Kevin said.
"Yeah you do," Matt said, "Like the time you broke up with Jordan when the twins were born."
"Or the time when dad had to have heart surgery and you said you wanted to get married," Simon said.
"Or the time when Aaron was born you said you wanted another kid," Kevin said, "Who knows what you would have done if you had Savannah in the hospital."
"I just get a little freaked out at hospitals. Makes me feel like I need to do what I want now instead of waiting forever," Lucy said, "But now. Back to you Martin."
"I told you. Ruthie's my friend," Martin said.
"You didn't answer my second question, do you like her?"
"It's pretty obvious that friends are going to like each other. Because if they don't then they don't really have a friendship."
"You really care about her don't you?" Lucy said in a more serious tone.
"Yeah. She's kinda like the sister I never had."
"Hmmm," Lucy sighed.
"When was the last time we talked to a doctor?" Kevin said changing the subject so Lucy wouldn't torture Martin.
"Half hour ago. I'll go try again," Matt said and got up.
"What time is it?" Simon asked.
"7:00. I'm gonig to head back home and give Rose a break," Kevin said.
"I think I'll hang out here. I'll be back late tonight," Lucy said.
The next day in New York at 5:30 Ben hears a pounding on his door.
"Who is crazy enough to be up at this hour!" he said and walked to the door. He opened it and saw who it was. "Apparently you."
"Pack," Mary said and walked in. She was in jeans and had a long sleeve shirt on.
"What?"
"Pack. I have two tickets for the next flight to Glenoak. We take off in2 1/2 hours."
"Why me?" Ben said confused.
"Because you're making me go so I'm dragging you along for the ride."
Ben stood there. "Hand me the phone," he said. Mary looked confused. "I'm calling my mom. To tell her that my ex girlfriend is kidnapping me and taking me across the country."
"Thanks," Mary said and tossed him the phone. "I mean it."
