Chapter Five

Awakening

"Get up. You've got school in an hour."

"No."

"Gordon," Scott sighed, sounding frustrated, "I'll have to call Dad."

"I don't want to get up. It's cold. Can't I have five more minutes?" Gordon pushed down further under his quilt, curling up as small as possible.

"No. Remember what happened last time? You ended up being half an hour late for school, and we don't want that to happen again."

"It won't. I promise I'll get up in five."

"Wake up, Gordo." I said five minutes…

Suddenly I remember where I am. I've heard those words often enough in the last few weeks, but this time there's a gentle shoulder-shake to accompany it. I'm confused. Distant memories are flooding in my mind: an indistinct figure of Dad; lots of voices; a strange sensation in my throat. It's gone now, and for the first time in ages I'm getting a rush of cool, fresh air down the back of my mouth. I didn't know what I was missing.

"Come on, man. Open your eyes." This voice is higher. Alan.

I do; just a crack. But the sight of it sends them into loud whoops of joy. Damn; my head hurts. Dad's leaning over me again, and I can see Alan's blond head over his shoulder. Or it could be John… I can't tell – my eyes won't focus properly.

I try to speak, but my throat's dry and sore from misuse.

"He's awake! He's awake!" It's definitely Alan. He moves aside and two more faces are shoved in mine. I think its Scott and John. I open my eyes a bit wider – yep, that's John.

"Hey, little buddy!"

"Don't you ever do that to us again!"

"Whoa, guys… give him some space! He's probably confused as hell right now." Virgil. The whole family's here! John and Scott move back, and Virgil comes into sight. "You overslept – just a little bit!"

Dad laughs, a deep rumbling sound that we don't hear that often. It's infectious, and as the others join in, I can't help but smile, painful as it is.

"How're you feeling, son?" he asks, once he's calmed down. I try to shrug, but I can't. Why not? I thought the only reason I couldn't move was because I was in a coma…

"I can't… I can't move." I manage to croak out, and Dad's face is suddenly serious. My vision is pretty much restored now – almost. He plants a comforting hand on the side of my face.

"Of course you can't. You're in a full-body cast. You won't be able to for quite a while, but don't worry." His eyes flicker with defiance as he says this next bit, "You definitely will be able to." He's probably remembering Dr Grey.

"In the meantime, we can take advantage of you not – " Alan begins, but to my immense surprise, Scott cuts him off.

"There will be no taking advantages. If anyone does try anything, they will get their ass kicked – by me. And I will know about it, because Gordon's going to tell me, aren't you?"

For a moment I can't hide my shock, and he must notice because he laughs. I've suddenly realized he's had a haircut, but he's the only one. John's got the same old mop as he's ever had. Virgil's got a bit of stubble. I'm not sure whether he likes it, or if he just can't be bothered to shave.

"He hasn't asked the questions yet," Virgil says, his eyes glinting.

"What questions?" This time it's John, a flash of confusion passing over his face.

"You know the ones." Virgil puts on a pathetic voice, "Where am I? What happened?"

Alan snickers and adopts a similar tone of voice. "Who am I?"

I frown in confusion. They don't realize that I know exactly what's happened in the last few weeks, and that I've been awake through half of it. Suddenly I feel guilty. How am I supposed to tell them that I know what they've been saying to me, if they weren't intending for me to hear it?

"You crashed the hydrofoil, Gordon." Scott says, watching my face closely for any signs of realization or shock. None come. I try to hide the fact I already know, and try to move the conversation on. They think I don't understand. I'll tell them later.

Alan says they opened the window just a couple minutes before I woke up.

"So? What's the significance behind that?"

"Well, it let the smell of salt water get in, and that was probably enough to wake you from miles away," John interrupts, and I frown at him.

"What?"

"From the sea, dumbass," Alan says. The sea? Just the thought of open water is relishing to dwell in right now.

"No-one ever said I was near the sea. You could have told me earlier!"

"What, you mean like, the first thing we say to you after you wake up? Oh, look, Gordon's awake! By the way, we're right by the sea! Now we'll just go find some doctors to remove you're breathing tube that's preventing you from breathing…" We all laugh. At least Alan's normal.

"Well, yeah…" I trail off as a petite woman enters the room and beams at us all.

"You're awake at last!" My eyes widen as I recognize the voice and realize who it is. Lucy's nearly exactly as I imagined, but blonde instead of brunette. Short, round, a jolly face to match her jolly voice, and she's got an air of joyfulness about her that's as infectious as Dad's laugh.

"Lucy?"

"That's me! Nice to see you awake, at last!"

"I thought you were a brunette."

Scott bursts out laughing. "I think I just detected a hint of disappointment there!" I scowl at him. He knows it's not true. I'm just surprised, that's all! It's weird to imagine someone one way for a month, only to realize that they're the opposite.

Thankfully, Lucy sees the funny side as well. "Aw, Gordon – I'm sorry! Anyway, I'll leave you six to yourselves and go check on my other patients. Give a shout if you need me!" She picks up her bag and bounds out of the room. She reminds me of Alan.

Speaking of which… "Al, what color are the trunks?"

Alan stops short and stares at me, giving me a spectacular view of the inside of his mouth. "Wha – how did you know?"

Damn, I'd given it away. Curse me and my big mouth! I was planning on asking him later. "Uh… figure of speech," I faltered, but Alan's frown just deepens.

"No, really – were you actually awake?"

"What's this?" Virgil steps in, looking between me and Alan. Scott, John and Dad fall silent too.

"Were you?"

"Kind of…"

Alan gazes at me for a few more seconds, and then sits back in his chair. "Whoa – that must have been hell."

I try to shrug, but stop when there's a sharp pain in my shoulders and I remember I can't. I attempt to create the same impression with my eyes, but I'm not sure it has the same effect.

"What color are they? It's been bugging me for ages."

Alan grins. "Sorry, I thought I told you. They're green. You want to see them?"

I shake my head. Suddenly I'm really tired again, and my eyelids begin to droop. Scott shakes my shoulder, and I quickly try to hide the grimace. It's too late – Scott saw. "Crap, sorry. Are you okay? I didn't mean – "

"I'm fine." I open my eyes again, and he's staring at me in concern. Then his face relaxes into a smile.

"You're not tired already, are you? You've been asleep for nearly a month!"

"Waking up from a coma takes a lot of energy, you know. He's done well to last even this long!" Virgil grins and ruffles my hair.

"Well, Gordon's always had an endless supply – "

"Jefferson Tracy!" Scott's interrupted by a voice from the door. We all turn to the source of the voice, to see a short woman with her hands on her hips, a scowl on her usually friendly face.

"M – mother," Dad stutters. I try to disguise my grin. It's not often Dad's lost for words!

"Why have I not been notified that my grandson is awake? You know full well I should have been alerted straight away – "

"I'm sorry, mother, it completely escaped my mind!" Alan can't help but giggle. Scott glowers at him for Dad.

"Well, it's not good enough. How long's he been awake?"

"A couple hours…"

"A couple hours!? Surely a couple minutes is enough time to pick up your phone and dial my number? I'm ashamed, Jeff – I really am!" She hasn't even looked at me yet, I don't think. But now she turns to me, her harsh expression quickly swapped for a joyful one of delight.

"Gordon, dear!" I admire the way Grandma can change in the space of a few milliseconds. "It's so good to see you looking so healthy." She comes over to the bed, dropping her bag in Dad's lap on the way, and plants a kiss on my forehead. Normally it would have made me squirm, but things are different now.

It's a week since I woke up, and things are getting back to 'normal' around here. When someone helps me lift my head I can see the sea out the window. Occasionally I'll see a boat sailing past on the horizon, and that gives me more determination to prove Dr Grey wrong.

Dr Grey hasn't given up with the negative attitude. Then again, Scott hasn't given up the positive one. I'm so grateful for that. Everything Grey says, Scott contradicts behind his back. He'll never give up on me, and knowing that is enough to keep me going any day.

Lucy reminds me of Alan, in a way. She's bouncy, blonde and doesn't stop talking. She showed me her engagement ring earlier, and the excitement was clear in her sparkling eyes. I don't think I could've asked for a better nurse.

I've heard a lot about the technical side of things that people discussed only outside of my room or while I was still unconscious. Thankfully no-one else was injured in the crash – I capsized the hydrofoil at least a hundred meters from the shoreline, and the debris was carried away further out to sea by the wind.

I've been given a run-through of my injuries, but there's so many I keep forgetting. I'm also on a lot of painkillers and in a full body-cast, so I can't really feel what's working and what's not. Apparently I did something to my spine, on top of all the broken bones, so even after they're healed it'll be a while before I'm moving again.

Dr Grey has other opinions, however, which I prefer not to think about.

When my arms and legs have nearly healed, I'll be out of the body-cast and able to start physiotherapy. Dad's paid for one of the best to come in.

During the crash I took a knock to the head which explains the original reason for my being unconscious. Then I slipped into a coma on the way to hospital – in a helicopter, I learned from my brothers – and remained in one for just over a month.

When I got to the hospital, I was suffering from a lot of internal bleeding and was in surgery for a long time. No-one tells me exactly how long, because – understandably – they can't remember because they weren't counting the hours, but from their expressions I can tell it was a pretty harrowing ordeal for them.

I'm thinking it'll be a long time before I'm out of here.

On the other hand, I can't believe how lucky I am. The wreckage has been investigated and re-investigated by experts, who decided that my life had been saved by the large piece of debris that knocked me out, because it protected me from the smaller, sharper debris that flew about like knives.

The wind was all over the place that day. And, as Grandma insists, only God could have made sure it was blowing the opposite direction from the shoreline at that minute.

For now, though, the whole family's here again. Virgil's by the window, finishing off a picture, John's talking with Dad and Alan's watching Virgil draw. Scott's next to me, talking to me.

Grandma arrived a few minutes ago. She's a funny old woman, our Grandma. She's spent the last month crying to herself, pleading with me to wake up, and now she's acting as if she knew it would happen along.

"I told you he'd wake up, didn't I, Jeff?"

She's sitting next to Dad on my other side, one hand in Dad's and the other on my forehead. I learnt so much about them all while I was in my coma.

I haven't felt this much at home in what seems like such a long time. It's not often we're all together. Throughout my coma they came in their small groups and on their own, but never all at the same time. Maybe that's why I woke up when they did. Maybe it was the smell of the sea when Alan opened the window.

Or maybe my body had just healed enough and was ready for me to wake.

I don't know – I don't think I'll ever know. It's not a bad thing.

Virgil's being his own serious self, painting and playing the piano a lot – so I've heard – at home. Every time he looks at me there's this unspoken happiness in his eyes that he always got when I used to win my swim meets and Alan got his A's and A stars in his reports.

John quietly sits there. He's got an air about him – he just trusts that everything will turn out okay. Alan's keeping us all upbeat with his endless talking and bottomless energy. It makes me wonder where he gets it all from. I hope he's looking out for himself!

It's moments like these that I treasure my entire life. I'll get Virgil to draw it later. This reminds me of those fish…and wasn't there a mermaid, too?

I'm sure that was important, but the image is fading quickly from my mind, and when I try and remember all I can see is a shadow of a face, flowing blonde hair and a hand, waving me away from the hole and pointing upwards. Guiding me upwards.

I can hardly remember them at all now. It doesn't really matter. There's a whole ocean out there for me to explore anyway, as soon as I'm able to. There's a whole world out there.

I just can't wait.

Huge thanks to all my reviewers along the way, and quiller for being beta :)

I hope you all enjoyed it – please review!

Spinky :D