I must fall asleep again because when I wake up the sun is up and there is a nurse in the room checking all the tubes and machines attached to Donna. She must notice that I'm awake because she turns towards me.

"Good morning. My name is Lila. I will be Ms. Paulsen's nurse today. Can I get you anything? A pillow or blanket? Maybe something to drink?

"Not right now. Thank you though. How is she?"

"Her vitals are stable. Her incision sites look good, no swelling or inflammation. We are just waiting on her to wake up at this point."

"Should she already be awake? Is there something wrong?"

"Not necessarily. Patients can take a while to wake up after this type of trauma and the surgery that she went through. It can take a while for the anesthesia to wear off as well. She's perfectly within the normal parameters. If she's not awake in the next four to six hours then we might need to do further testing, but for now she is looking good."

"Okay. Thanks."

"How long have you and Ms. Paulsen been together?"

Not for the first time I feel like I've been punched in the gut. It's not like I haven't been asked this question before, but this time it literally brings tears to my eyes.

"We're not, together I mean. She's my best friend and co-worker. We've known each other for almost fifteen years."

"Oh I just thought. They said you'd been with her since she was brought into the ICU. We all thought."

"It's okay. Really it is."

"I'm probably out of line, and you can feel free to tell me to shut up or mind my own business, but, the way you look at her, that's how my Dad looks at my Mom. You're in love with her, aren't you."

"I am."

"Does she know?"

"No, she doesn't." I laugh at the irony. I can sit here and tell this young nurse, that I've just met five minutes ago that I am in love with Donna and yet it's taken my thirteen years for me to say it to Donna herself, and she's not even awake to hear it. "We've always had a timing issue. We've never been ready at the same time."

"I can tell that she is very special to you."

"She's everything. She's my everything."

"Well if you don't mind me saying so, Ms. Paulsen is a very lucky woman. I would give anything to have someone look at me the way you look at her."

"I'm sure one day your prince charming will come along. When he does, you might have to have patience with him though. Guys aren't as smart as girls. Sometimes we have to have the truth pointed out to us with big neon signs." We both laugh.

Lila adjusts Donna's pillow and checks the machines one more time before telling me to let her know if I need anything and leaving the room.

I'd called Donna's mother, Roberta, last night to let her know what was going on with Donna and she is taking the train into New York this morning. Louis is supposed to pick her up and bring her to the hospital. Louis had been beside himself when I had called to tell him about Donna but in another surprising move, he once again reacted the way a managing partner would. He said for me not to worry about anything at the office and offered to help in anyway that he could.

Gretchen showed up shortly after Lila left the room with a large coffee, including a shot of vanilla, and a bagel. She said she knew Donna would never forgive her if she didn't make sure that I ate. She had prayed over Donna while holding both of our hands, told me to call her if I needed anything, and then headed to the office.

I had eaten my bagel, drank my coffee, and sent text updates to Louis, Ms. Paulsen, Mike, and Rachel all while holding Donna's hand. It was as I was hitting send on a response to Rachel that I felt something tug at my other hand. When I looked down at our connected hands I realized that Donna's fingers were tugging at mine. My eyes immediately flew to her face where I could see that her eyelashes were just starting to flutter. I leapt from my seat to stand close to her and bent over so our faces were just a breath away from each other.

"Donna? Can you hear me?" She squeezed my hand again and started to try to speak. Although her mouth was moving, there wasn't really any sound coming out. I pressed the call button and Lila was there before I could even process another thought.