Grace's eyes flickered open. She heard silent, hushed voices in her room, but it was dark. She tried to listen closely to their conversation, try to determine whom the voices belonged to.
"I'm sorry, Derek, but it's permanent." A male said. There was a sorrow in his voice, and she knew it was serious. And it was about her.
"What do you mean? I don't understand…" That was her Aunt Izzie. She was crying, Grace could tell… Izzie had this thing where, when she cried her breath caught somewhere after intake and before exhale, and it made her sound sort of like she was choking each time.
"When she coded, there was pressure in her brain cavity. We didn't have time to run scans because we'd lose her and the pressure in her brain was a great contributor to her condition. We did exploratory and found a broken vessel in her occipital lobe…"
"Daddy?" Grace's voice sounded far away to her. It was quiet, and she was hoarse.
She heard footsteps, lots of footsteps. "Grace, sweetie! It's so good to hear your voice again…"
"What's wrong?"
"Sweetie, we'll talk about it later…"
"No. We'll talk about it now, Daddy. Could you open the shades first though? I can't see you…" Grace heard Izzie choke, and she knew that was it. "Am I… Daddy, why can't I see?"
Izzie was now openly crying, as was someone else. She didn't recognize this one. "Who's here with you Aunt Izzie?"
"It's me, Gracie." It was Uncle George, crying. She wasn't used to that, and it scared the hell out of her.
"Please don't cry…" she whispered, stretching her arm out slowly in their direction. She felt George's hand first, slightly larger and rougher, with large knuckles and a wide base. Then came Izzie's—her soft, small hand with the long, gentle fingers that wrapped around Grace's hand and linked fingers with George's. They were holding hands over her hand. "So, when were you going to tell me?"
Derek cleared her throat, "Soon… as soon as we figured out what we were going to do…"
"No, not you Daddy…" She said, cutting him off. She tilted her head in the direction of her aunt and uncle. "When were you two going to tell me you've both spilled your guts and realized you're crazy in love with each other?"
Derek laughed, and she could see (in her mind, of course) Izzie's mouth curve into a shy smile, and George's cheeks flush slightly. "How did you…"
"You guys are holding hands over mine. I'm blind but I'm not stupid…" It was meant as a joke, it was. But it sounded a little harsh when she heard it out loud. "I didn't mean to be blunt or anything. I'm just… trying to deal with this. So that doctor… he said it's permanent?"
"You heard that?"
Grace nodded, and blinked. She was trying to get used to having her eyes open, knowing they were open, but seeing nothing but black. She wondered what it would be like, to be blind. She wondered if the blind saw the slight change in the shade of their eyelids if they looked at the sun with their eyes closed. Now she would find out, she thought…
"We thought you were sleeping. I'm calling in an old friend from New York. He's a specialist, and he's agreed to come here as a favor for me. Right now we just need to keep hoping…"
Grace smiled. "What if I forget…" she felt the tear slide down her cheek and knew they were watching her. "What if I forget what the world looks like? Or what you look like… or what I look like? What's going to happen if this is permanent?"
"We'll deal with that once we know it is…"
"I want to deal with it now! All my life I've delayed my response to certain events because I was afraid. And now… all of that seems so trivial. I'm blind… and we need to face it now because I might not be strong enough later. So what are we going to do?"
"We're going to talk to counselors, because this is a huge change. We're going to rearrange set up of the house, all the furniture. We'll move your room to the first floor…"
"I like my room. I know the set up of it by heart. I don't want to have to relearn that… can we try it for a while the way it is?"
Derek sighed, "I would sweetie, but with your condition,"
"Call it what it is Dad! I'm blind!"
"Not that… he's talking about your legs. They're still broken, so for the first few months you're going to need to be on the first floor because you can't go up the stairs." George whispered gently, stroking her hand with his thumb.
"Oh. I'm sorry…"
She felt her father shift next to her, and then felt him kiss her cheek. "I understand, Gracie. This is hard on you, and I expect this. I mean, you've been so easy to handle earlier in your teen years, I knew the rebellion would strike sooner or later. You're frustrated and angry and you're going to be hurt for a long time from this… but you need to remember that we're here for you. All of us…"
"We've got good news, Gracie!" Izzie said, the familiar cheer returning to her voice slightly.
"Oh? It wasn't good enough that you guys are together, because I've been waiting for that since my third birthday…"
"Very funny, young lady. But no, there is in fact better news. Much better news."
"Like what? Did Daddy finally tell Aunt Mer that he's in love with her too, because that would be much overdue…"
"Does near-death experience make you psychic or something?" George whispered to Izzie.
"OH MY GOD!" Grace shrieked, squeezing her dad's hand. "You did it? You really did it? Oh, god, tell me everything!"
"I will in due time. But that wasn't the good news…"
"There's more? I don't think my fragile heart can take it all…" She winced a little, and then said solemnly, "Sorry… I just realized that's not the best phrase to use right now…"
"It's okay. The news is that not only are Burke and Cristina getting married but… She's pregnant!"
"No way! Seriously?" Grace smiled. "Wow, so all it took for everything to come together was me nearly dying… I'll keep that in mind…"
Izzie slapped her shoulder and laughed, but Derek and George saw the tears streaking her cheeks again.
"And they're going to come down here with some dinner, and we're all going to eat a nice restaurant style dinner to celebrate your birthday and their engagement and baby, and of course George and Izzie's news."
"We're here!" Cristina's voice was loud, but it barely squeaked out. That, Grace knew, meant she'd been crying and was upset.
"I'm glad, Aunt Cristina. Hi, Uncle Burke. And how's my mini-cousin doing? When will we know if it's a boy or a girl?"
"Actually," Burke started, "We're going to wait to find out until he or she is born."
"What are you going to do about names?"
"I was thinking that we could just have a few picked out for each gender, and we'd choose the one that most fit his or hers personality and looks." Cristina sounded happy, and Grace smiled. She knew about the last pregnancy… about how this baby was most certainly a miracle.
"That sounds like a good plan. That's what I did with Grace. Sort of…"
"Only because you were forced to!"
"Aunt Mer?"
