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Chapter V: Knocking on Heaven´s Door…

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Thanks for all the reviews my lovelies! :) They keep me going when I´m fighting hard with the writing and I´m really afraid this chapter is crap :( But here it is, please let me know what you think.

Liv, great to know you had an awesome time in NY hun! :) Loves ya!

To Charrliie: Hope ur ok sis, missed ya! Loves!

Karola and Gem! Surprise! lol. Missed ya loads lately girls! Loves ya! And is true: MM 2 without M will suck! I really hope is NOT true!

And Shanice: Everything! :O

This have been hard to write, cause is something I´ve been through. Well, I hope you like it. Enjoy!

*

The midday sun burned Kalokairy that day, and it made a beautiful sight. Sophie didn`t remember the last time it had been so hot.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she saw the housekeeper and smiled, running to her.

"Ayelena! How are you?"

Sophie placed the bags on the floor and hugged her smiling.

"I´m fine, thanks. You look beautiful, Soph"

"Thank you"

"How´s your mother?"

"She´ll be alright" Sophie sighed, holding her sobs and mostly trying to convince herself "She´ll be alright"

Looking upwards, the dark skinned woman whispered something in greek Sophie didn´t understand. Her grandmother was a very strict catholic and that´s how, despite there were some things she disagree with, Donna had raised her kid. She wasn´t as hard as her mother and she did everything she could to give Sophie the support she never had herself. That´s why she had turned wild and ran away with the dynamos, that´s why she didn´t expect anything of her mother when she got the told her she was pregnant. She had already quitted on that and she acknowledged she wouldn´t have it any other way. She had raised her own kid alone and inch by inch dragged her way in life, she was proud of everything she had got and of her only kid and she thought what they both had was wonderful.

"And where´s Azaria? I have to take her and dad told me he left her with you this morning"

Sophie knew how fast her mother had fallen in love with the kid – even if probably that was related with how much she loved Sam and the fact they would raise the little girl together – and was eager to meet her.

"She is…" Just then, a black haired doll crossed the courtyard running and distractedly crashed against Sophie "there" Ayelena finished giggling.

"Sophie!" she smiled, looking up at her "Finally"

Sophie smiled back and lifted her up in her arms, her gaze and hand sliding down the lovely curls of her hair.

"Hey baby, how are you?"

"I´m fine. You look like aunt Donna"

Smiling at the comment, Sophie saddened again. Some girls do not want to resemble their mother, but Sophie thought hers was very deserving of all her admiration.

"Thanks, I like to hear so"

"Where is she?" the kid asked, tilting her head innocently.

"She´s a bit ill, dollie"

"Very ill?"

"She´ll be very very well and very very soon here again" she answered with a smoothening voice at the worry in the girls voice.

"Really?" Azaria smiled "That´s a nice word. You are my very friend. And you very smell like flowers"

Smiling at the girl´s tenderness, Sophie picked her up in her arms in a tight hug.

"Come on princess, you need to get a shower first"

"But I already had a shower"

"Darling, you´re bare feet and full of sand, you need to take it again" the blond replied, kissing her button nose.

"Okay" the girl sighed "But then are we going to see uncle Sam and aunt Donna?"

"We sure are" Sophie finally added, climbing the stairs back to her old room and holding her breath before walking in again. She had been away a whole year, and there were so many memories inside there she had to blink several times to stop her tears from falling as she looked around.

Walking into the bathroom, she placed the girl down and turned on the shower, helped her in and got a towel ready. After getting all wet herself, she dried Azaria and changed herself into a nice short blue summer dress. Something she had got for her 20th birthday, the last she had spent with her mother. Clipping her hair up, another deep breath was taken to calm her.

Once she was wrapped in a pink dress and sandals, while Sophie was drying her hair, Azaria turned to ask.

"What happened to aunt Donna, Sophie?"

Trying not to look worried, she held her tears and frustration back to force a smile.

"She just… fell asleep sweetheart, she´ll be awake soon enough"

"That´s scary. Is uncle Sam asleep too?"

"No" Sophie smiled wider, her heart lifting at the thought of all the happiness a sudden moment have brought into her mother´s life "He`s very much awake and looking forward to see you"

"Oh, very" Azaria giggled, and Sophie smiled at her lovely face.

Tying her dark hair in a pony-tail, she scooped the little girl up in her arms, ready to go.

"Is time to hit the road, missy"

Grabbing the things she had packed, Sophie sighed and took a cab to the Hospital, paying a sheer attention at the trees and flowers she could find on the way, thing she had never done before and very useful to keep her mind out from everything else.

"Do you like flowers, Sophie?"

"Yes, I do baby, why?"

"Because you´ve been staring at them aaaaaaall the way long, just like aunt Donna does"

"You love your aunt Donna, right?"

"Like this very much" Azaria replied smiling and opening her arms as wide as her small body allowed her to.

Sophie giggled and a tear escaped her eye when she remembered she used to say the same thing to her mother, and it was very likely she had taught it herself to the little girl. But before she could think of an answer, the car stopped.

"Come on, we arrived Azaria"

Looking at her in a frightened silence, Azaria crept into Sophie`s arms and let the blonde lead her inside. She was too small to understand but old enough to feel sad and scared, and she just clung tight into Sophie´s arms. The huge imposing building was dreadful to everyone who ever had to step in there.

Never before in her life had Sophie to face so many things crossing her mind. And there where all things she didn´t want to face. She would do it because she wanted to, and thinking if it was right or wrong would only have her twirling around it forever. And then, it would be too late. Because when you get to regret something, it is always too late…

Shaking the unwelcomed thoughts out of her head, she entered the room to place the little girl on the floor and the bags over a chair, keeping a tight hold on her own handbag. Looking around she didn´t find Sam in there, just Tanya and Rosie sat in a corner, who smiled silently at her to keep their low-voice chat. Sophie watched frozen how Azaria approached Athos and raised on her feet as much as she could to look at him. Stepping closer, she lifted the girl in her arms again so she could have a complete view.

"Is that aunt Donna´s baby?"

"Yes, honey, that`s the baby, Athos"

"Can I hold him?" she asked excitedly.

"No baby, you can`t…"

"Why not? I promise I´ll be careful" she said with a soft voice, sadness blooming on her fading smile.

"Is not you, is because he´s too small… no one can hold him yet"

"He´s very ickle" the girl agreed "Not even aunt Donna can hold him?"

"No, she can`t neither"

"And where is she?"

"She´ll be here very soon, princess" Sam´s voice said from behind them, and Sophie turned to face him. He took Azaria in his arms, placing a kiss on her head while she screamed and hugged him back tightly.

"I missed you uncle Sam, and aunt Donna too, I wanna see her"

"You will" he whispered rubbing her back, the tears he had just washed away welling up in his eyes again.

"Sophie says she´s just asleep"

"Yes, she is… But she needs to be alone for a while"

"Oh. She doesn´t want to see me?"

"No, is not that baby. She will wake soon and then I´m sure she´ll hold you tight"

And the lonely tear he´d been holding made the hundredth slide down his cheek.

"Yeah" the kid sighed, hiding her face in his shirt, and then raising her head to look at him as he wiped his face and forced a smile "Have you seen the baby. Sophie says his name is Athos and she said no one can hold him"

"No, we can`t" he sighed, then holding her tight.

Resting against his protective chest, Azaria closed her eyes and fell asleep slowly in a quiet peaceful dream, drifting away from the dreadful reality. And then, he heartedly smiled for the first time in hours, looking down at the girl so innocent and sweet. Minutes later, he placed her on the sofa and pulled a cover over her body. When he looked up again, Sophie snaked her arms around him and started crying on his shirt.

Knowing even the simplest word would make his voice falter, he just wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back gently. Not wanting to break the silence, she sobbed for endless hours, until tiredness slowly brought her shuddering body to a stop. For a brief moment, he forgot Donna wasn`t there, he forgot that wasn`t her slim body or her beautiful golden curls, he forgot she wasn´t twenty years old anymore, and he forgot… everything else.

"I love you" Sam whispered softly.

"I love you too" she replied, wrapping her arms tighter around him and pulling him out of his reverie. Slowly breaking apart, she fixed her gaze on him "Do you promise not to leave her? Do you promise to make her happy? I need to know that, dad"

Smiling softly, he placed a kiss on her forehead and wiped her tears gently.

"For the rest of her life"

"No matter what?"

"It´s what I promised the day we married. No matter what" he nodded and seeming pleased with the answer, she walked to give Tanya and Rosie a tight hug.

"I love you both" she whispered, walking away to place a kiss on Azaria´s head after.

"And you behave, sweetie"

With a last glance at her purse, she smiled and walked out of the room.

"I will be right back"

Totally engrossed, Sam walked to stand beside Athos and looked down at him, until the pain became to sheer and his heart to exhausted, so he sat on the sofa too and lovingly pulled Azaria to doze on his lap.

Not saying a word, the dynamos looked at each other. Being so overwhelmed, he didn´t notice, but they very well knew something wasn´t right. And the feeling always unlatched the same button inside: when something was wrong, they would have to fix it. So when he finally took the bag Sophie had left with his clothes – not eyeing yet the one containing Donna´s – and walked into the bathroom to try and do something to fix his look, Tanya walked out leaving Rosie stood there looking over the sleeping kids.

"Oh, my God… Why do I have this strange awful feeling, beautiful angels?"

And her voice echoed slightly, but there was no answer.

*

When walking out of the room, Sophie immediately took the bottle she brought from her mother`s drawer into her hand and stepped out of the building. Nervous and restless, she wished she smoked, so she would have something to instinctively do next without having to think about it. She hated to think at that very moment. And she decided it wasn`t such a bad idea after all. So she placed her right foot on the street to walk into the drugstore across and get the cigarettes.

Something she should have never done.

Night haven`t fall yet, but it was starting to get dark, and when she saw the lights nearly over her, Sophie`s eyes opened wide and she gasped, at the same time startled and frozen.

That was the last thing she knew before the silver car hit her and she ended up lying face up on the street. A deep cut bleeding across her face, she screamed as a breath-depriving tide of pain lashed her body when she tried to move. She was still tightly holding the bottle in her hands and she couldn`t feel her legs.

The car driver ran his hand through his hair in despair, knowing it wasn`t his fault but feeling guilty for the young woman`s state. Sophie trashed her head from side to side while Tanya walked out of the Hospital and screamed her name, instantly kneeling next to her.

"Sophie, w-what happened?"

Trying not to sound despaired herself, and seeing the tears falling from the brunette`s eyes she forced a smile.

"I think I´ve been hammered, aunt Tanya. I´ll be alright"

As her head fall back down, the bottle rolled from her hand and the dynamo took it, looking at Sophie again after reading the inscription and checking on it. It was full of sleeping tablets. She swallowed hard, not daring to put a question about what she already suspected before.

"What did you have planned, young lady?"

She jumped slightly when Sophie grabbed her arm to barely mumble:

"Please, tell mom I love her"

And she closed her eyes.

Tanya started applying pressure on her chest to have her breathing again when the paramedics came and took her inside the building. She buried her head in her hands, sat on the sidewalk and cried, as 40 years of a hard life, three failed marriages and the depriving of a kid of her own couldn`t break her before.

*

Tanya was still sat o the street, unable and unwilling to shake the dirt from her Prada skirt and Loubotins to be her the one breaking the news to Rosie, and specially Sam. She had seen him so hurt and upset and she knew he loved Donna so much that she didn`t know how much more could the poor man bear. Why was destiny suddenly winded up against them?

But she knew she couldn`t sit there forever, explaining to every stranger and to the driver that she wasn`t the girl`s mother. Finally, the driver left and made his statement at a near police station, as Tanya raised, cleaning herself with the back of her hand and determined to walk back in. All that, while a nurse broke into the room Sam had just walked back in, all changed and shaved.

The most handsome smile bloomed in his face when the nurse said they had gotten a donor for Donna, they were going to start the surgery but they needed him to sign the form and authorization. Unable to believe it, after the blow of shock, he took the pen and signed instinctively, not saying anything since the sudden happiness was getting him drunk, until Rosie approached to speak. It was just a miracle.

"How long will the surgery take?"

"Around five hours, Mrs…"

"Ms. Rosalee Mulligan. Will she survive?"

Checking the information, the nurse blinked and replied.

"It seems very likely she will, she`s fighting hard, but all depends on how she takes the new heart!"

Sam`s smile widened as he nearly felt Donna standing beside him again, smiling and lovingly wrapping her arms around him, also longing to hold their baby and whispering on his ear.

"And who`s the donor, can we know?"

Flipping through the pages, she lifted her eyes to look at them again.

"Let me see… Mmm… Here it is… Sheridan. Sophia Sheridan"

Maybe some miracles are not that miraculous after all…

*

AN: Whoa! There it is. I gotcha, right? You were not expecting that! What will happen next? Press the lil button and I´ll let you know as soon as I can! Loves you all! Mel.