Mark's POV.

I was the first to wake up, as the early morning sunrays shone through the cobweb-clad windows of Roger's dingy Santa Fe apartment. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. I reached for my watch, which read 6.00 am. Shit, it was early. Oh well, it's not like I could sleep anyway, considering my son was in the hospital and my lover refused to speak to me. I wiped my glasses and put them on my face, and then quietly padded into the bathroom to brush and wash myself up, careful not to wake Roger or Collins, who was sprawled across the floor with a line of drool falling out of his open mouth. When I finished, I started the coffee machine in the kitchen and sat on the dining table chair, so I could think about what I wanted to say to Roger. I cleared my throat and began:

"Hey Roger, how you doin? Poor Joshy must be real worried about us huh?" Whoa, there's the understatement of the year. "Look, I'm….uh, I'm really sorry about kicking you out of the loft. I was just angry. You know how I get when I'm angry, don't you?" Umm, he's the one that gets angry, which you can usually tell once he's thrown a couple of shoes across the room or something, but I'm sure even he wouldn't kick me out. "Anyway, what I really wanted to say was, I want you to come back home. Like, right away. As soon as Josh gets better. I, uh…..I hope you can forgive me…."

"Ohh, I'm sure he will, dude," moaned Collins, who suddenly woke up and jolted me out of my thoughts. He rubbed his eyes and mumbled a sleepy "Mornin' " to me. I smiled back, blushing slightly, and replied with a "Good Morning" when I was startled again by the coffee pot telling me it was ready. I poured a cup for myself and for Collins, who got up and gratefully accepted the cup from me. We sat drinking our cups in silence for a few minutes. Then, Collins spoke up.

"Mark-O, I think it's great that ya'll got this little speech thing happenin' but lemme tell you boy, the real words have gotta come from the heart," He placed a hand upon his heart as if to emphasise his point. "No use trying it out now. When the two of you have a moment alone, just open your mouth and let the words flow out naturally, man." I felt my chest suddenly tighten at the thought of being with him alone. Collins took another sip, slurping loudly, and said, "The bottom line is; you bitches love each other. So, work from that."

"Thanks, Collins," I mumbled, finishing the last sips of my hot caffeine-loaded drink and getting up to get dressed. Good ol' Collins to the rescue again, I thought. What the fuck would we ever do without him? Just then, Roger walked into the room already dressed, grunted a "Morning" at Collins, which he amusedly returned, and poured himself a cup of coffee. But not before fleetingly meeting my gaze first. I could have sworn I saw a hint of nervousness in his eye again. Ok, so he was having jitters too. At least that makes it a bit easier for me. Once we were all dressed and ready, we got into the car so Collins' could drive us to the Hospital. I sat in the back seat while Roger sat in the front with him. I felt so excited to be able to tell him, yet at the same time so scared.

An hour later, we were all sitting in Room 205; meaning Maureen, Joanne, Leana, and even Mimi who was able to drop by for a quick visit. She brought a bouquet of small white roses for Josh with a "Get Well Soon" card attached to the front. I smiled and hugged her.

"Thank you Mimi. They look so nice," I told her.

Mimi smiled back. "Why not? Something pretty for Josh so he knows I'm thinking about him."

I smiled again at her. Then my smile faded as I crossed my arms across my chest and stared at the floor. I could feel Mimi's concerned eyes on me.

"How you doin, sweetie? Have you spoken to Roger yet?"

"How can I?" I said, my voice nothing more than a whisper. "I'm so afraid to face him after all the things I said to him. I even kicked him out of our home. Our home. Josh has been so furious at me ever since that happened. I'm the fucking reason he's even here in the first place." I looked at my poor son, who still had a bandage around his head and his leg in a sling. My voice trembled as a few tears slid down my face.

Mimi flung her arms around me and held me close. "Oh hey, it's okay honey. Don't go blaming yourself. It's not important whose fault it is. What's really important is that we, his family, are all together to help him get through this." I nodded into her shoulder while I hugged her back. She was right.

"I know," I warbled as she rubbed my back. "Thank you so much, Mimi. You're a doll."

She pulled away from and giggled shyly at this. "Well, thanks. I try," she replied. I laughed back as I hastily wiped away my tears. She then skipped over to Roger, who was sitting quietly in the corner of the room and tried to talk to him. Just then, Collins suddenly entered the room, bellowing "Breakfast is here, bitches!" as he laid coffees, teas and bread rolls on the table. Everyone helped themselves, but I couldn't even think about food right now.

"Hey c'mon man, please eat somethin'" begged Collins, who appeared by my side with a tea and a buttered roll in hand. "You need to keep up your strength for Josh. He needs you."

"Yeah, thanks Collins," I mumbled, taking said items from him as I was in no mood to argue or be huffy. I sipped my tea as I watched Collins' coax Roger with a coffee and a bread roll, which he grudgingly accepted and began eating. I sighed. This was gonna be harder than I thought.

Roger's POV.

I stood out on the hospital ground, puffing on my cigarette and glanced at my watch. 5.00 pm. Fuck, we just spent the whole fucking day at the hospital. Why couldn't Josh wake up? I started to worry so much that I just had to get out of there for a while. I needed a cigarette to calm my nerves down. I still couldn't talk to Mark and he still couldn't talk to me. I finished my cigarette, threw away the burnt stub, and headed back up to the hospital room where Collins, Maureen, Mimi, Joanne, Mark and Leana were all playing Cheat with the deck of cards that Maureen brought. Wow, Mark was playing cards? Must have taken a hell of a lot of convincing from the Drama Queen to get him to play. Maureen slammed down three cards and said, "Three Queens!"

For those few minutes, everyone seemed to believe her until Leana suddenly went, "Cheater!"

Maureen frowned. "Oh come on, Lea. You know you're wrong."

Leana simply grinned, then picked up the three aforementioned cards and sure enough, there laid a 5 of clubs, and Ace of clubs and an Ace of hearts. Everyone at the table giggled as Maureen reluctantly grabbed the whole pile and struggled to balance them all in her hands. She pouted at her daughter.

"No fair, Lea. How did you know?"

Leana giggled at her. "I know you too well, Mom."

Everyone giggled again. This time, Maureen joined them as they continued the game. I giggled quietly under my breath and sat down next to Josh. I could feel Mark's eyes on me as I gazed at my son.

"C'mon buddy, please wake up. This is really killing us," I pleaded as I gently stroked the back of his hand and listened to the heart monitor beeping steadily. Suddenly, the beeping got longer and longer until - I couldn't believe my fucking eyes – it turned into one continuous, monotone sound. I just panicked and yelled "Holy Fuck!" loud enough for the entire street to hear when Dr. Hitch came running in, followed by a few nurses.

"I'm sorry everybody, but I'm afraid I have to ask you all to please leave this room!" he said, ushering us all out in one big pile. We all huddled outside the window of the room, Mark getting hugged by Maureen and me getting hugged by Mimi, as we watched Dr. Hitch and the nurses frantically trying to revive poor Josh. We watched in horror as Dr. Hitch got the necessary equipment and placed it on Josh's chest, yelling "Clear!"

Josh's body bucked violently off the bed but the monotonous beeping continued. I could hear Mark sob loudly as the doctor went "Clear!" once again, but the beep was still there. I squeezed Mimi's arm tightly, while trying to fight back a few tears that threatened to spill down my face. Fuck, if we lose him now…….I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do. Just the mere thought of it was killing me. I buried my face into Mimi's shoulder, trying to muffle my sobs, as I heard Dr. Hitch's voice yell "Clear!" one more time. Now I'm the last person in the world who would ever be religious, but in that moment I prayed. I prayed to every god out there that my son would not slip away from us.

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Let's see how you sleep tonight with a chapter like this! –Evil witch cackle-

Ahem, uh sorry guys. Didn't mean to torture you like this. But if I get a couple a reviews for this one today, I'll give you the next chapter in a matter of hours, deal? Here I'll even give you some mini chocolate mud cakes with double cream on top. Now will you please use that little button on the bottom? Great. Thanks! hands out he mudcakes