Congratulations to Rey, for winning his second World Heavyweight Championship! I am SO proud of you, Rey-Rey!
Sorry I'm writing a very sad story in the middle of a great run for Rey in real life, but what can you do? I didn't coordinate his title run, that's for sure.
(If I could schedule his title runs, he would have way more belts by now! LOL)
I thought it was great that Rey won the Fatal Fourway and the World Championship on
Father's Day, especially since Rey has kids. That must have been a great present for him.
Anyway…I have some weird request for you, my reviewers.
Thing 1: I read this one fanfic a while back that was called "So Cold" or something like that and it involved Rey Mysterio X Dave Batista trapped in a car that broke down on a snowy night. I forget the author's name. If you know the name of the fic, why it's off this site, or the name of the author, please let me know in a review of "Living Again".
Strange thing to ask, I know, because the author probably just switched to a different site. But if the author was one of you guys, please be kind enough to remind me! And I'm sorry if I forgot that it was one of you who wrote it! I LOVE THAT FIC SO MUCH! WHERE DID IT GO?
Thing 2: Diathawwedevil, I don't know if you're reading this fic, but remember waaay back when you reviewed Ch. 20 of "Afraid of the Dark" and you gave me this link?
http:/diamond43221./art/The-silver-soul-147362933
It doesn't work! I forgot to tell you! So sorry! I would love to see your pretty picture or whatever it is, and I'm so sorry I took so long to notice the link broke! The truth is, I didn't remember to try the link the first time I read your review, and then I forget about the link entirely, and then, when I was rereading some reviews this summer, I saw the link again. GAH! The embarrassment!
Thank you, and enjoy the angst. Please review!
They were sitting in another cold, cold room together and Rey was staring at the body of yet another one of his children.
"So small…" Rey murmured. He was clearly in awe as he sat there in his wheelchair, gazing at the form of his third child.
The baby was only six months old, and had been all but pried out of its mother's stomach in order to save her. It had cried a little, but not strong, loud cries like Dominik and Aalyah had given when they were born. Its mother had been unconscious and its father was in no condition to hold it. It was not yet fully developed, and its lungs were weak. It was sent to the N.I.C.U. It didn't survive the night, and it was never truly able to catch its first breath.
Rey looked at it lying on a tray-like metal slab, almost in disbelief that it was his child, but in a way, instinctively, he knew it was.
He narrowed his eyes a little, almost squinting at it. He shifted forward in his wheelchair, and reached his hand out towards it. He saw its half-closed fingers, so incredibly tiny, and he eased the pad of his index finger against its palm.
He sat there for a moment and was surprised that it didn't squeeze his finger. It looked like it was alive; only sleeping; only sleeping. Its skin was bluish, but not quite as blue as Dominik's had been.
"It…it was a boy…" Rey said softly.
Dave looked at Rey, perking up. He hadn't expected Rey to be able to speak just yet.
"Oh," Dave responded. "So-so it went boy, girl, boy for you?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Rey brought his thumb over his baby's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze in between his fingers.
"It went…boy, girl, girl, boy," Rey said softly.
Dave looked at Rey.
"Dominik…Aalyah…and then Angie miscarried. And then…here's another little guy…"
Rey smiled very sadly and bent and kissed his baby.
Dave had forgotten about Angie's miscarriage. He watched Rey anxiously, hoping his friend wouldn't take the baby's death too hard. It had never breathed before him, after all. How much could it possibly mean to him?
Dave bit his lip. He knew that Rey was too religious and had too big of a heart not to care about the little thing. To Rey, a child that died shortly after birth, that he'd never even named, let alone been able to care for, was his child just as much as Dominik and Aalyah, who were breathing, talking, human beings who he had seen millions of times in his life.
"Hola, mijo. Yo soy tu papi," Rey murmured, leaning close to the baby and kissing its forehead.
I'm your daddy.
Dave blinked; surprised that Rey was showing affection to a child he had never met. Not only that, but Rey was introducing himself to the child.
"Lo siento no pude conocerte. Pero yo te amo, y tu madre te quiere, también."
I'm sorry I couldn't meet you. But I do love you, and your mother loves you, too.
"Me gustaría haber visto ... y que tu madre podría haberte visto. Eres tan hermoso..."
I wish I could have seen you...and that your mama could have seen you. You are so beautiful...
Rey gave his newborn son one last kiss and one last squeeze at his hands before he blessed him and said a little prayer.
Then Rey looked to Dave with a peacefully sad gaze on his face and asked to be led back to his room.
"I need to make preparations with a church to get a priest over here and give them their Last Rites," Rey said in the hallway.
Dave blinked, not really knowing what that ceremony was, exactly. He wasn't Catholic like Rey, and the sheer multitude of important ceremonies that Rey seemed to always be mentioning in relation to his children perplexed Dave. He knew most of them, and actually, now that he thought about it, he did remember that the Last Rites were supposed to be given to a dying Catholic person by a Catholic priest. But he frowned as he chewed it over and wheeled Rey down the hallway back to his room. Could you still give the person their Last Rites if they had already died?
He didn't know for sure, but what he did know for sure was that he couldn't ask Rey such an insensitive question.
So Dave took Rey back to his room and sat at his bedside again.
"Dave?"
"Yeah, buddy?" Dave responded, perking up as he always did to the sound of Rey's sonorous voice.
"Did you see him?"
"You mean…the baby?"
"Yeah."
Dave shook his head. "No, I think only parents are allowed to see the kids in the N.I.C.U. They don't want people to contaminate anything in there."
Rey nodded.
"Why…?"
"Um, well…I just thought…I was just hoping to God that he didn't suffer, you know?" Rey raised his face to Dave, wearing a tearful smile.
Dave swallowed and nodded, shifting around uncomfortably. "Yeah, me too."
Rey lowered his eyes to his lap and fiddled with his hospital gown, seeing that Dave didn't know what to say to him. He couldn't blame the guy, it must have been very difficult to see your friend in the hospital, and try to come up with ways to comfort him while his family was falling apart all around him.
While Rey sat and quietly worried over his sons' fates, Dave watched over him.
Dave looked at Rey and wondered how it was that Rey could be so much more concerned over the pain of his children than over his own pain. After all, Rey was still alive and suffering. His children had already passed. And yet, Rey kept asking Dave questions about whether Dominik suffered, or whether the baby suffered.
What about you, Rey? You've gotta be suffering, too.
Please let me help you. I don't know how, though…God, I wish I knew how.
Rey was handling Dominik's death better than Dave thought he would. He was eating all right, still accepting treatment, not laying on his stitches or snapping at any of the nurses or Dr. Sanjaya.
He was very quiet, but Dave couldn't blame him. He was on pins and needles the rest of that first day awake, wondering if Angie and Aalyah would be all right and vaguely frightened by the discovery that he and his entire family had been in an accident, and that his oldest and youngest children were dead.
They spent a quiet day together and Rey ate his hospital meals and sat quietly, flipping through a Bible Dave brought for him. That was the one thing Rey had asked for, was a Bible.
He spent most of the remaining day reading it, or drifting off to sleep. He was still groggy from all of the drugs he'd had in himself during the surgery.
Rey had already called a priest who had agreed to come to the hospital soon and perform the Last Rites for Dominik and the baby. They had yet to schedule a date. Rey wanted to wait until Angie woke up to do that.
As for right now, Rey had fallen asleep reading again and Dave was pretending to focus on a fitness magazine in his hands. A piece of him wanted to simply read, and try not to worry about Rey. But the majority of him was too interested in Rey, too devoted to him not to watch him.
He blinked a little and bet himself that he could spend maybe two more seconds trying to read a page on a subject he liked instead of gazing at the sleeping little body of the handsome Latino man before him.
He lost that bet and he raised his eyes, watching Rey silently.
His soft, pink lips were parted, and he breathed slowly, steadily, his chest rising and lifting his flimsy hospital gown material, his small, lovely hands barely clutching at the book on his lap.
Come on, Dave, why do you keep doing this to yourself? You know Rey's married. You know he loves her. Stop looking at him like this.
But he couldn't.
Rey groaned a little all of a sudden and shifted. Dave saw he would knock the book off of himself and that it would most likely clatter to the floor and wake Rey up. He didn't want that. He wanted Rey to get some shut-eye, and to be calm for a while. He didn't want more awake hours of awkward conversation with Rey looking so sad, and so afraid. And he wanted to watch Rey sleep, at least for a little longer.
So when Rey shifted he stood up quickly and rushed over to catch the book. He caught it just in time, and glanced at Rey's face. Rey was still asleep.
Dave slipped the bookmark into the Bible and set it carefully at Rey's bedside table. He was about to head back to his chair when he paused.
Go on. You know you want to. It won't hurt. It won't hurt anybody at all.
He turned around again and watched Rey for a moment, on his side, now, and so pretty, so quiet, so perfect.
He made a soft sound and Dave thought maybe he was cold.
Anxiously, he crept close, he paused and watched Rey's face, and he took up the blanket he'd brought Rey and set onto the foot of the bed. He unfurled it as silently as he could manage and looked at Rey shuffle around in his sleep. He wasn't comfortable having that one leg all wrapped up and stitched, but that couldn't be helped.
Dave let him settle himself out and then he tucked his blanket around Rey's shoulders.
His face was so close to Rey's face, to his soft, soft, skin. To his full, sweet mouth.
His fingers were only faintly touching Rey's warm body. He was close enough to-
Dave started a little. That last thought had surprised him.
He pulled away, as though he'd been shocked by an electric outlet.
What are you thinking? His kids are dead, what are you thinking?
He stood back. He hadn't touched Rey, and he wouldn't. He stood there sheepishly, watching over Rey, feeling embarrassed at himself for wanting what he did, and slightly ashamed, because of the state of Rey's life.
But he saw that Rey wasn't shifting around anymore with his blanket around him. And he smiled a little to himself, and exiled himself back to his chair, where he knew he wouldn't have the guts to get up to touch Rey again. He sat and watched Rey sleep from there for about an hour. It was one of the best hours he'd ever spent in his whole life.
The next day started off eerily, and it was all downhill from there.
Rey woke up like he had before, with little shuffles and grunts, still unaccustomed to his injuries, and to being bedridden.
On the previous days, Rey would look up at Dave as he came in first thing in the morning in an attempt to be the first thing Rey saw when he opened his eyes.
Dave could never wait to have those soft, doe eyes on him again. They were like small, warm lamps, and Rey's smile heated his heart even further. He would smile back.
"Buenos dias, Rey-Rey."
Rey would grin at his bad Spanish accent. "Morning, Dave."
This morning though, was not like that. Dave didn't get to Rey first, as hard as he tried to. The doctors did.
And so when Dave rushed out of bed in the morning, dressed, grabbed a quick breakfast at his hotel and hurriedly drove to Rey's hospital, he was already in second place in the race.
When he reached Rey's room he waited outside it and knocked on the door, noticing that there were voices inside.
"Come in," Dr. Sanjaya said.
Dave came in.
Rey was awake, and he looked incredibly worried; on the verge of tears again.
"But- but Doctor Sanjaya, you told me yesterday that you thought Angie would wake up soon," Rey rambled, his voice soggy and tearful.
Dave frowned and looked at Rey's doctor. "What's going on? What did I miss?"
Dr. Sanjaya turned to him, "I was just informing Mr. Gutierrez that I was mistaken about the initial recovery time I gave for his wife."
Dave's eyes widened, alarmed. "Wait, what are you saying?"
"Doctor, what's happening? Is Angie okay? I need to see her, please!"
"Mr. Gutierrez, your wife is still stabilizing."
"You said she was stable yesterday," Rey said worriedly.
"Mr. Gutierrez-"
"Rey, just calm down."
"Calm down? Dave, my son's already dead, and they took our baby, because they said Angie would be stable if they did that!" Rey shouted.
Dave shut up.
Rey turned his wet, penetrating gaze back on the doctor.
"Is she-" he shut his eyes and opened them again. "Is she or is she not all right?"
Dr. Sanjaya looked at him. "I'm afraid I can't say when she will recover, Mr. Gutierrez. Your wife has taken a sudden turn for the worse. Her body's hormones are out of proportion. It is reacting as though she is still pregnant."
"But-but what does that mean for Angie?"
"Your wife's body is trying to protect the life of her baby, and so her own health is deteriorating."
"But…but the baby's not inside her, anymore."
"I know, Mr. Gutierrez. I'm sorry. That's the risk we had to take with performing the induced birth. Her body could have accepted it as a natural birth and stabilized, but it seems to have gone the other way. Her body does not recognize that the baby is missing, because she did not carry it to its full term."
Rey swallowed and squeezed his nightgown tightly. "But you said she'd be all right, yesterday. Why did you…why did you tell me that?"
Dr. Sanjaya looked at Rey apologetically with tears in her eyes. She bit her lip to keep from crying and maintain a level of professionalism. Her mistake had been sad for her, but for Rey, it cost him his baby, and maybe his wife, too. His whole life would be in ruins, now, because of her mistake.
"I am so sorry, Mr. Gutierrez. It was…it was an error in judgment on my part. Your wife did appear to be getting better yesterday. Until today, she didn't show any signs that her system didn't recognize the baby was gone."
Rey didn't know what to say. He recognized the guilt in her voice, and that made his blood run cold. He rejected the thought immediately, not wanting to believe for a moment that the mother of his children could be on death's door.
He dropped his eyes and didn't speak, just sat there, chewing his lip, and trying not to burst into tears.
Dave stood there, shell-shocked, and perfectly aware— more so than Rey, who always had hope, even in hopeless situations— that Dr. Sanjaya had essentially delivered the wrong diagnosis prematurely in regards to Angie. And not only that, but now here she was, all but delivering a death sentence for the poor woman.
Dave's brow furrowed and he clenched his fists. He noticed the lack of lines on Dr. Sanjaya's face, her young, curvy frame. He noted to himself that she must have graduated college not too long ago. And he swallowed bitterly, noting that an inexperienced doctor, of all things, might be the sole cause of a storm of heartbreak in Rey's near future.
Worst of all for Dave, though, was noticing this, and then recognizing shortly afterwards that there was little he could do to stop any oncoming tragedy.
There was a hurricane of distraught silence building in the room.
"I will keep you informed about her condition," Dr. Sanjaya said quietly, heading for the door.
"Wait."
It was Rey's voice.
Dr. Sanjaya turned her head and looked at him.
"You won't let me see Angie, will you?"
Dr. Sanjaya shook her head. "We can't let you see her. She's in a clean room in the I.C.U. Everything in there is disinfected. We don't want her to come into contact with any contaminants until she stabilizes."
Rey swallowed. He figured that was the case.
"Then I want to see my daughter."
"Mr. Gutierrez-"
"You said she was stable yesterday. Is she still stable, or not?"
Rey's voice had an unusual level of authority in it. Dave almost had to do a double-take to make sure that that was still his friend speaking that way.
"Aalyah is stable today," Dr. Sanjaya confirmed.
"Is she awake? Can I see her?"
"She's sleeping for the moment."
"Can I go see her?" Rey pressed.
Dr. Sanjaya caved. "Aalyah is not recovering very well, Mr. Gutierrez. She may not-"
"I don't care about that right now," Rey said icily. His fists were clenched. "I want to see my daughter."
So that was how it came to be that Dave wheeled Rey over to see Aalyah in the I.C.U.
"Rey, I don't think your parents are going to make it over here from Mexico," Dave said.
Rey breathed. "Yeah, I know. It'll take forever for them to cross the border, with all the crap they put down there now."
Dave gulped. U.S.-Mexico border security was obviously a sensitive matter with Rey, especially since both his parents were from Mexico and he had lived there for some time in his childhood. Also, he had been given U.S. citizenship only because his parents had chosen to cross the border to have him be born in California for that purpose.
Rey was for all intents and purposes, entirely American, and entirely Mexican at the same time.
Rey sighed. "They'll make it to my house in California at some point. I don't know when they'll get over here to Florida, though."
"Yeah," Dave acknowledged awkwardly.
Rey dropped the subject about his parents and moved on to Angie's. He thought it somewhat funny that Dave was reluctant to step on his feelings regarding Mexican border issues, when that was the last thing on his mind. His feelings were entirely focused on the health of his family.
"Angie's parents are flying over from California. They'll be here in a couple of days."
"Okay."
"So don't be surprised. There's no Mexican invasion going on," Rey teased, poking fun at Dave's tension.
Dave chuckled a little and looked down at Rey. "You are so crazy."
Rey smiled a small smile. And then he reached his daughter's door.
"Are you Mr. Oscar Gutierrez?" an orderly asked.
"Yes. I'm here to visit my daughter Aalyah."
The orderly, a tall, young black man, looked at the list of visitors. "Oh, yes. Dr. Sanjaya called and said you were coming."
Rey smiled, relieved.
The orderly took a look at Dave, sized him up, and wondered vaguely if he was Rey's bodyguard. "Only family members are allowed in, sir. I'll have to ask you to wait outside."
"Sure thing," Dave said calmly. He looked down at Rey. Rey looked up at him.
"Will you be okay out here?" Rey asked him.
Dave chuckled. "I was gonna ask you if you'd be okay. But yeah, I brought a book, I'll be fine."
Dave held up a cheap paperback demonstratively and pointed at a waiting bench. "Take all the time you want, I'm not in a hurry. I'll be out here when you're ready to go back to your room."
Rey smiled gratefully, obviously impressed by Dave's gallantry.
What Rey didn't know was how much Dave lived to see those grateful smiles.
"Thanks, man," Rey said, holding out his hand. Dave bent and they bro-hugged each other, Dave patting Rey gently on the back, and letting his heart swell for a moment to be so near Rey.
And then that moment was over, and Rey was waving goodbye and being wheeled off into the compartment where he would be sterilized and given a mask and gloves.
Dave heard the orderly ask Rey if he could stand, and Rey said, "On one leg, I think."
Dave smiled when he heard the orderly chuckle at Rey's light-heartedness. He had a very strong spirit, and he could weather a lot with a great deal of patience.
So Rey stood like a flamingo and was sterilized before he limped into his daughter's room and sat down beside her in a sterilized chair. He breathed heavily, not used to moving so much. His leg hurt. But it was worth it.
There was his daughter: asleep, breathing, and best of all- alive.
Rey gazed at her. She had a huge section of her chest covered in gauze. It looked very ominous to him.
Her arm was stuck with an IV and she had a pink, plastic pulse monitor on her fingertip.
He had never seen his daughter, his little nine-year-old princessa, so old in appearance. The skin on her small, pink lips was dry and she bore dark circles under her eyelids.
Rey wanted to see her more than anything in the world at this moment. He couldn't see his wife, and his other kids were gone from him forever.
He steeled himself and thought of what to say to his daughter. She trusted him so unconditionally…he knew she would ask him why this was happening to her. Why she was in pain.
Why, why why? You're her father; you have to answer her questions. You have to make her feel safe, and like there's still hope. I think she could get better. Aalyah's very strong, like her mother, I think she can get better…
So Rey reached out his hand and took Aalyah's.
Slowly, her eyelids fluttered and lifted. She turned her head and raised her pretty, doe-brown eyes to her father's doe-brown eyes.
Rey was smiling beneath the surgical mask he'd been given.
"Hola, princessa," Rey whispered.
"Hola, Daddy," Aalyah breathed. There was a tube in her throat that helped her get air. She was breathless, otherwise.
Rey's eyes glistened and he sat there, wanting to tear the mask off his face to hug and kiss her, but her couldn't.
He just sat and rubbed her hand with his thumb.
"Did they tell you that we were in an accident…?" Rey asked softly.
"Yeah," Aalyah breathed.
Rey bent and kissed her hand through the fabric of his mask, which made the little girl smile brilliantly. "You're so silly, Daddy," she said.
Rey chuckled and squeezed her hand. "Yeah. Yeah, mija, I know."
They sat peacefully for a second. "Do you know about your brother, baby girl?"
"Yeah," Aalyah said quietly, sad, now. "They told me he…" she breathed and her whole chest rose with it. So she couldn't finish a sentence without that tube assisting her. She was in bad shape. Worse than Rey had thought she would be.
"He hit his head. And he died."
Rey nodded. "Yeah. That's what they told me, too."
Aalyah took a breath.
"Daddy…?"
"Yes, baby girl?"
"I'm sad that Dominik died, Daddy…" she sniffed.
Rey leaned forward and stroked her hair out of her eyes and petted her face. "Shh, no, no no. That's okay. It's okay to be sad for him. He's you brother. I know you love him. I love him, too."
Aalyah sniffed, eyes full of saltwater.
Rey caressed her cheek and she stilled after a while. "I'm going to miss him, too, it's okay. I'm sad, too," Rey murmured.
Aalyah looked up at him, remembering something she wanted to ask. "Daddy…is Mommy okay?"
Rey took Aalyah's hand in both of his and met her eyes. "Mommy is…is in a different room, near here. They won't let me see her, because I could make her sick. But she's not awake yet, mija. She's just not awake, yet."
Rey didn't know how else to explain it. There was a chance that Angie could still get better, and no matter how slim he knew that chance was, he didn't want to scare his daughter and tell her that her mother was dying before he knew for sure.
"And….what about the…the baby?" Aalyah asked, breathing in between practically each word, she was so anxious.
Rey rubbed her fingers sadly. "They had to take the baby out of Mommy's tummy."
"So…so it was born, already? Is it…okay…?" Aalyah gasped, excited, not understanding that the baby being born early was not a good thing at all.
Rey rubbed her fingers. "He was born too soon, mija. He was supposed to stay inside your mother for three more months."
Aalyah's eyes widened when she realized simultaneously that she had had a baby brother, and he was already gone. It was a he. Her father had called it a 'he'. And she realized too, that it died.
"It was a boy…?" Aalyah asked quietly.
Rey nodded morosely. "Yes, mija. You had a little brother."
Aalyah smiled tearfully. "But he died too? Like…like Dominik?"
Rey nodded. "Yes. He and Dominik, they both…both passed away, mija."
Aalyah laid there and tried to take that in. "They're both in heaven, now, though…right, Daddy?"
Rey paused for a moment. Then he nodded fiercely. "Yes. Yes, they are. You're right, Aalyah. They're in heaven, now."
Aalyah smiled. "That's good."
"Yeah. Yeah it is. So we shouldn't be too sad for them, because they're happy now, and they're together. And they're with God. God will take care of them for us until we see them again, okay, Aalyah?"
Aalyah smiled and a couple of tears of relief rolled down her face. "Okay."
Rey kissed her hand again and she smiled wider.
"Daddy…?"
"Yes, baby girl?"
"Are you going to be okay?"
That hit Rey like a truck backing over on top of him.
Will I ever be okay again after this?
But he managed to start his voice up again and speak. "Yes. It's just that I can't walk like normal for now. I have stitches on one of my legs."
"Oh."
"Some metal went through my leg. Not all the way through, though. Just like the one that went through your chest."
Aalyah understood. "But mine went…all the way through."
Rey nodded. He felt a chill, at that. They had told him he had almost bled out, but that the metal had only pierced one side of his leg. If he'd almost been a goner, with only his leg hurt on one side, what chance did Aalyah have, with her chest pierced all the way through?
Rey sat with his daughter a while longer and then he saw she was getting tired again. "You can go back to sleep, mija. I just wanted to see you. Just to see how you were doing."
"Okay, Daddy."
Rey limped up and kissed her cheek through his mask.
She smiled. "Daddy, can you…come see me mañana?"
Rey beamed and nodded as he stood on his one good leg. "Yes. I will."
"Maybe you could…see Mommy tomorrow, too."
Rey nodded. "That would be nice, Aalyah."
He watched her. And he hoped so much, and so hard that she would make it.
"Te amo."
That was all he said as he stood there. That was all he could manage to say.
"Te amo, Daddy."
And he went out of the room.
Dave asked Rey how it went and Rey smiled, saying it was great to see his daughter again. Dave was happy for him, and glad to see a smile on Rey's face.
They both thought everything would work out all right.
One more day went by, during which, Dave was able to be the first to see Rey wake up, and Rey was able to see his daughter. But Rey was unable to see his wife.
A day after that, Rey was finally permitted to see Angie. It went pretty much like how his visits to Aalyah had gone- Dave would wheel him down to the decontamination area, Rey would be disinfected and limp inside while Dave waited outside. And like his visits with Aalyah, Angie was asleep when Rey came in.
However, when Rey sat down beside his wife, Angie wouldn't wake up.
She was still in a coma, they'd told him. And her vitals were stable that day, but not every day.
Rey sat there sadly; silently for a long time, simply holding her hand and trying to coax her to wake up. It was when he kissed her and she didn't make a move that tears came to his eyes and he realized that she wouldn't wake up.
He decided not to tell his daughter that her mother would never wake up again.
But while he was there, he couldn't help but speak to Angie. He told her he loved her, that he missed her, and about his condition. He told her Aalyah was all right for now, but that the doctors always warned him that she was in a fragile state. He told her he wasn't sure if Aalyah would live. He asked her what to tell their daughter about that.
He didn't get a response.
He told her about her baby, and how wonderful he would have been if he had lived. He told her about Dominik. He told her about herself, even. He told her how the doctors had gotten his hopes up at first, only to crush them later.
"And now, I…I'm really scared, Angie. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to tell Aalyah about this, and I don't know why it's happening…and I don't know what I'll do if you don't make it."
Rey cried for a while with her, holding her hand, pleading her to wake up. When she didn't, he brought himself away after another kiss. He went back to his room for a while and then went to see Aalyah.
She asked him how her mother was.
Rey said she looked like Sleeping Beauty, sound asleep.
He didn't tell her none of his kisses would wake her.