Chapter 36

"I have some bad news..."

"My mom is okay right?" Chelsea asked, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Your mom suffered a cardiac arrest. We did everything we could and she is back with us, on a life support machine. We are not quite sure what has caused this set back but we are trying to work it out. We have put her on this to help her breath, this has caused more damage again the extent we don't know until we have ran some more tests. I have to tell you that this not looking good." The Captain informed.

"I need to go for some air." Jay said leaving the room, closely followed by a Naval officer. A couple of minutes later Chelsea followed him out of the room, leaving Steve talking to the doctor about everything they would do for Catherine.

"So what you are saying is her chances of survival have dropped?" Steve asked trying to understand what he had been told.

"Yes, she is not breathing on her own at the moment, we have had to intervene in order to keep her breathing steady, she is relying heavily on the life support machine, but we will try and take her off it within 48 hours but then Catherine has to fight to come back." Captain Lewis told them.

Meanwhile...

Outside Jay had stopped sitting on a bench, whilst the Ensign had stood back giving the boy time. Chelsea had followed them out.

"She is going to be alright, remember what Mom said to us?" Chelsea said as she took a seat on the bench next to Jay.

"What?" Jay asked not really following where Chelsea was going.

"I found a card last night that said 'I love you, and I will do everything I can to always come back to both of you.' And that is what I am holding on to. She promised us she would do everything she could and right now she is still fighting and she will make it back to us." Chelsea explained.

"You had a change of heart?" Jay asked, when he and his sister had spoken this had been the other way round.

"I remember what everyone said to me and that I need to think positive because if not then I am making myself stressed for no reason because she is still alive, and because no matter I still have you, your still my brother, my best friend and alive." Chelsea said smiling. If anyone asked who was her best friend she would probably say George or Shannon, but at the end of the day, he was her brother and he was truly her best friend, the person that she could talk to about anything, and the person who understood her life like no one else.

"Did you just say I was your best friend?" Jay asked with a smile appearing on his face.

"You missed the point of what I just said. But yeah you are. But if anyone asks I am going to deny it." Chelsea said.

"Of course you will." Jay said. He probably would never admit it to anyone but Chelsea was his best friend too.

"Now do you want more time out here or do you want to go back inside?" Chelsea asked.

"I like just sitting her for now." He told her. "You can go back inside if you want." He really wanted to just sit outside by himself and think. He just needed to process what the doctor and Chelsea just said and try to stay positive it was all he had.

"Okay, I am fine sitting here." Chelsea said, and after that they fell into a comfortable silence.

After a while they went back to the family room. All falling into a comfortable silence. Danny came and brought lunch for everyone but no one really ate anything. It was getting later in the day when Steve spoke to the doctor, and after him telling him that there was nothing they could do or that they couldn't see her again until the morning, so Steve decided to take them all home and drop Mary at the airport. At home they could be more relaxed, they could sleep and hopefully it would make them calmer than they had been whilst they were at the hospital. The doctor had also assured him they would be allowed to see her tomorrow, they would be allowed to sit with her and talk to her.

Captain Lewis knew that the chances were dropping for Catherine's survival the longer she didn't wake up. He was doing everything he could within his power to make sure she would come back to her kids. He had seen many people being brought in here, but for some reason this one was affecting him the most. He thought it had something to do with the fact that he was seeing Catherine's family here everyday. Normally, he would only see the family once or twice but this time he was seeing the effect that it was having on the family.

They all decided to take Mary to the airport to say goodbye before she left.

"It was good to meet both of you properly." Mary said hugging both Jay and Chelsea.

"You too, we will see you soon." Chelsea replied.

"See you soon." Jay said, as he and Chelsea took a step back away to give Evie and Steve a chance to say goodbye.

"You look after your dad and I promise I will come over and visit again." Mary said giving her niece a prolonged hug.

"I promise see you soon." Evie said stepping away, and joining Chelsea and Jay.

"Steve she is going to be okay. Look after the kids, if anything changes call me and I will see you soon." Mary said hugging her brother goodbye.

"If you need anything as well call me, and you still have Sam's number if you need help. See you soon." Steve said returning the hug.

Once they had watch Mary walk to the flight, they all walked back to Steve's truck. "How about we go and get some dinner?" Steve asked. He wasn't sure if they wanted to go out for dinner. But they all needed to have something to take their mind off Catherine for the night. They needed to a chance to relax and he knew how important Catherine was important to all of them and that she needed them but they couldn't help get her better if they were running themselves in the ground.

"Okay." Jay said.

The girls just nodded in agreement. Steve knew the place he was going to take them. It was the same restaurant that he had took Catherine too when they first went out in Hawaii. It meant something to him.

When they arrived they all got out of the truck and went to the restaurant. Once they had ordered Steve decided to tell them just how strong Catherine was.

"Me and your Mom went here on our first date in Hawaii." Steve said. Well when he said they went here they had a starter, and then had to leave. "She is going to get better because I remember what we talked about when we were here. She told me how she got shot on her first time on a proper ship. She went out on a mission and got injured. She broke her leg in three places and she still managed to hobble back the ship. She wouldn't give up to get back to where she belonged and she won't give up on getting back to us." Steve said almost adamantly.

"She never told us that." Chelsea said.

"She said that she couldn't just stop fighting to get home. Then just before she went back on ship she promised me she would make it home and I am holding her to that." Steve replied.

They ate dinner swapping stories about Steve and Catherine's time in the Navy. Steve told them stories of people he had seen injured in action and against all odds made it back. He told them about his last mission, not mentioning any names. He told them how hard it was to make it back and he did. He took all detail out it but it was like motivational speeches, he wasn't sure if he was telling them to make the kids feel better or to make himself believe that she would get better.

The next morning...

When they arrived at the hospital they were escorted straight to Catherine's room. When they walked in they could see she was lying down with her head facing the wall. But she turned over and they could see she was awake.

They all stood there for a couple of seconds, not really moving. It wasn't until Catherine spoke.

"Hi," was all she could manage but it was something.

Jay and Chelsea were the first there to her bed . Steve looked over at the three of them, decided to leave them for a little while. He knew she was okay, she was awake, she was talking and they needed some time just the three of them.

"You're okay?" Jay asked.

"I am fine, just a few bruise, a broken arm but I am going to fine." Catherine said. She knew there was a lot more pain both physically and mentally but she had to stay strong for her kids. They needed to know she was alright and if that meant she lied to them about the true depth of her injuries she would.

"I am so sorry, I should never have argued with you, I should have just let you go. I am sorry for being a spoilt bitch and shouting at you." Chelsea started to ramble as tears fell down her face.

"Shh, it's alright. I promise this time for good that I am not going away again. This time I intend to keep my promise." Catherine said as she took hold of Chelsea's hand.

Jay and Chelsea both asked what had happened to Catherine but she never replied. Told them that she was fine and that whatever had happened she was okay now. It was then that Steve and Evie came back to the room. They had gone for a walk just giving them time to talk to each other.

"Where did you two go?" Catherine asked when they walked back into the room.

"We just went to get some air." Steve replied. "How are you feeling?"

"I am fine." Catherine said. But the look in Catherine eyes told him that was far from the truth. He knew her and he knew that she was going to pretend to be okay for everyone.

"Are you guys hungry?" Steve asked aiming the question at all three of the kids?"

Jay looked at Steve and then at his mom and knew that he wanted them to go for a little while so he could talk to his mom alone.

"Yeah, you two want to go and get a sandwich?" Jay said, standing up.

"How are you really coping?" Steve asked when the kids had left the room.

"I've been better, I just need the pain meds to kick in again and I will be fine." Cath replied. "Captain Lewis is referring me to a psychologist to talk about what happened."

"Do you remember what happened?" Steve was expecting to see Cath broken. He was happy to see she was coping well but he knew it wouldn't last for long. She was trying to get through it for her kids, she was forcing herself to be strong for the kids.

"Not much. I remember Wo Fat, I remember waking up and I remember some of his beatings." Catherine explained. She knew herself that she would remember in time, she was remembering a little more every time she looked at an injury that had been inflicted on her. Every time Captain Lewis or a nurse had asked her what happened little bits came back. She wanted to remember now, so she could move on, so she could move forward now and not have her recovery drawn out."I remember he kept asking about Shellburn I kept telling him I knews nothing every time...every time I said I didn't know he would hit me, or kick me." She said with tears streaming down her face. This was the most emotion she had shown about what happened, since she had woke up, but she had only been awake for a couple of hours.

Steve carefully moved to sit next to her, wrapping his arms around her. He wanted to take away both the emotional and physical pain away but knew that he couldn't, knew that all he could do was be there for her, to help her move on.

"Shh...it's okay, your here and your safe and nothing is going to happen to you."

They sat there for a while, Catherine content with Steve just holding her.

Sorry this is really short, I just haven't updated in a while. Please review. Hope you are still enjoying the story.