Chapter 18 Awakening?
Berlin – Chris/Isabella's House – One Month Later
A month had passed and Isabella was still "brain dead". Chris was beside himself with worry. He knew that the doctors didn't give her much of a chance to reawaken. Another disturbing fact was that the doctor had to remove a piece of her memory. If she did wake up, Chris had no idea if she would be the woman that he loved or if she would be a stranger.
During the last month, Chris had learned how to take care of Isabella's needs. He helped the nurses with her physical therapy, bathing, clothing, etc… He was trying to balance the time that she needed with time for Zak.
Zak was devastated that his mother wasn't awake yet. Both he and Chris had tried everything that they could think of to get her to awaken, but nothing worked.
It was getting harder and harder to keep the media and other people unaware of what had happened to Isabella. Chris's friends were getting suspicious. Usually, he and the guys would go to a couple of soccer games a month and hang out together. However, due to Isabella's condition, Chris didn't want to leave her side for too long. Isabella didn't have too many friends – this was a result of her stardom. Her personal assistants knew what had happened and were helping Chris with her care and taking care of Zak. The only time that Chris was away from her was when he was with Zak.
Chris had decided to contact the studio and let the studio head, Paul Lewis, make an announcement. The announcement would include both the brain tumor the pregnancy.
When Isabella had left Chris, he had faced the idea of life without her. At least he would have been able to speak to her and Zak would have her in his life. In her current state, Chris didn't know how to deal with it – he didn't want to live the rest of his life without the woman that he loved. Also, he was worried about raising four children by himself. He was worried that he would die and leave the children orphans. He prayed and prayed that she would come back to him and Zak. Even if she came back to them and didn't love him, he prayed that she would still love Zak.
This weekend Zak was going to stay with some friends. It was a lot of stress on him that his mother was "brain dead". Plus, he couldn't talk to any of his friends about it. He was looking forward to a break away from his mom and dad. It was heartbreaking to watch his dad talk to his mom and try to get her to awaken.
After Chris dropped Zak off to his friends, he came back home and sat by Isabella's side. He was talking to her about Zak when he noticed a blimp on the brain monitor screen. Soon there were other blimps. Chris went to get her nurse.
"Is she going to wake up?" Chris asks the nurse.
"Mr. Smith it's very doubtful that your wife is going to wake up. However, if the blimps stay on the screen that means that brain activity is being picked up by the machine. It could be that your wife's brain is taking an unusually long time to heal. We'll keep a close eye on her tonight", the nurse says as she leaves Chris alone with Isabella.
After the nurse leaves them along, Chris undresses for bed and crawls into bed beside Isabella. He rubs her back and talks to her. The triplets are growing fast and are being to show. He remembers how excited she was when she was carrying Zak and she had begun to show during her first pregnancy. Chris hopes that she wakes up soon.
Chris/Isabella's House – Next Morning
It was early the next morning and something was hitting Chris's chest. He looked down and saw that Isabella was pushing against his chest. He looked up and he saw that her beautiful green eyes were open and that she was looking right at him!
"Nurse! You need to get in here right away!" Chris yells.
"Izzy, are you alright? Are you in there?" Chris asks her as he puts his hands on either side of her face. His wife gives him that beautiful smile and tries to talk to him, but she can't.
The nurse comes in and begins to examine her.
"I'll call the doctor and request that he come here and do a full examination of her"
"Mrs. Smith, if you can hear me, please wink once", the nurse tells her.
Isabella winks once.
"You've had brain surgery, but you're going to be alright. Your vocal chords will be a little sore, I'll get you some water and we'll see if you can swallow. The doctor will come and do a thorough examination of you", the nurse says as she leaves to get the water.
She comes back with the water and Isabella is able to drink the water. She tries to speak, but her voice is very hoarse.
"Where am I?" Isabella asks them. She looks a little confused.
"Our home. Do you remember who I am?" Chris says.
"Husband" Isabella says.
"Do you know where we are at?" Chris asks her.
"New York" Isabella says.
Chris is shocked. When they were first married, they had lived in the country in New York State.
"What year is this?" Chris asks her. He can tell that Isabella is concentrating and trying to remember.
"1994", Isabella tells them.