Chapter 22
In the blink of an eye it was over. Johnny had lost what he could never replace, the love of his life. He was frozen, there next to the door. His eyes staring, yet not seeing. He couldn't hear Roy's voice pleading with him to look at him. He had nothing left to say or do, his brain wasn't registering anything, instead there was a numbness that had over come his entire being.
"Johnny....there is nothing else we could have done. It just wasn't helping....this strain of pneumonia wasn't responding fast enough to the antibiotics....." Kel's voice broke from guilt and anguish; she was a close personal friend to him as well.
Dixie crying herself shut off the monitor and ventilator. She took it off of the tubing in A.J.'s mouth. She didn't want any of her family to see her this way. It never ceased to amaze her how when someone dies, they really did just look like they were sleeping.
"NO, stop it, get away from her...DON'T touch her!" Pushing himself from the wall he raced to her bed and made his demands clear again. "I SAID, leave her alone!"
Dixie was completely caught off guard by Johnny's verbal outburst. She knew he wanted to hit something, do anything to make the pain go away. "Johnny, I just wanted to make it easier for......" Brackett moved himself between Dixie and Johnny, who was still on the opposite side of the bed.
He gently raised her body up, sliding on the edge of the bed next to her. She was so still and limp. Even after four days in the hospital, he could still smell her lilac perfume, He inhaled deeply, his mind trying to comprehend that it would be the last time he would smell it.
He held onto her as if the world would stop turning if he let go of her. He refused to believe that she was gone; he could still feel her here with him. He caressed her face and her locks of reddish brown hair.
"Baby, don't leave me...please....I need you here, so does your family and everyone else. You can't go...please...I love you, come back to me."
He then pulled her a little closer towards himself. His face against her chest, rocking her back and forth, in short, frantic movements. His mind snapped back into gear and he stopped rocking her. There is was again....dear GOD in heaven....he felt her chest rise, ever so slightly!!! His hand flew to the side of her neck....he felt a pulse! It was slow and weak but it was definitely there!
"She's not dead....she's alive!" He exclaimed, his heart rejoicing.
Everyone else other than Roy had left the room, to give Johnny some privacy. Also so they could find Joe and the rest of her family. Roy had been watching her partner and was alarmed, full of worry. He was in shock unable to accept what had just happened.
"Johnny, you have to let her go...she's gone..." How could he help him through this?
Johnny snatched Roy's hand and dragged him towards her. He just about yanked his shoulder out of it's socket and pressed it against her neck. Roy's eyes widen in disbelief, he now understood, he felt it too. Jumping back he leaned over and turned the monitor back on. Her heart rate was rising, she was breathing on her own.
He then bolted for the door. Joe, her parents and Hank were listening to Brackett as he informed them of their daughter's death. He nearly bowled him over, and then grabbed his shoulders. "Doc., you have to come quick....she's alive....she's breathing!!"
Kel ran for the door, still not quite believing what Roy had just announced. If it were Johnny making the claim that would be one thing, but Roy? The rest of the crowd was on his heels.
He flung open the door. His eyes automatically turning towards the monitor. Not only was she alive, her vitals were stabilizing, and her heart rhythm was showing...sinus rhythm. If he had not believed in the power of miracles before...he did now!
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Dr. Brackett ordered everyone else out of the hospital room, so that he and Dixie could run some more tests on her. Her vitals were not quite normal but dramatically improved. They pull the tubing out of her throat, since her had begun to breath on her own power. The only explanation was that one last surge of adrenaline had coursed through her heart, starting it.
As they emerged from the room, all of her loved ones gathered around. "There is no medical explanation for her improving, none at all. It just doesn't happen that way. Her heart, lungs everything is in the normal range." Kel was at a loss for any logical reason for the joyful turn around.
"Why doesn't she wake up?" Johnny felt like he could run a mile in 10 seconds flat.
"Her body has been through so much. The trauma of the injuries, the surgery, then the infection. I am not saying that anything is guaranteed but I think it's a matter of time. She still has a lot of healing to do." He had never been so happy to be wrong in his life.
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Sitting next to her, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. The sheer joy of watching her chest rise as she breathed and the sounds of the heart monitor was sustaining him. Then in the early morning hours he had fallen asleep with his head resting on the edge of her bed.
He was dreaming, reliving the first time he had allowed himself to tell her how he felt. He was certain that she knew, long before he could verbalize it. She had been hurt in the rescue of a little girl pinned under a car. Sitting in her hospital room, they had held hands and in unison told each other what was in their hearts. The words, "I love you", once again spilled from his lips, as they had that night.
"I love you too."
Not knowing if he was still dreaming or not, he lifted his head when he felt a hand tenderly cupping his face. His eyes widened as he took in the blue green eyes that were starring at him.
"Johnny...." Her voice was raspy from the tube being down her throat.
"What is it, Tehlila?"
"You really look like hell." Her voice was deadpan with a slight grin on her face.
He began to laugh, a deep intense belly laugh, all of the fear, guilt, anguish, and grief of the last several days washing away.