5 weeks had passed by since Melinda went into the coma. Jim and Aiden visited her everyday, telling her about their days and the newest gossip. The whole room was filled with flowers from friends, customers and of course Jim and Aiden.
Today was Jim and Melinda's wedding anniversary which made it harder for Jim to go to the hospital. In the morning he was sitting at home, looking at some wedding pictures, trying not to cry. Aiden was upstairs in his room.
Suddenly the phone rang. Jim didn't want to pick it up. Aiden ran down the stairs and answered it. Then he walked over to his father.
"Daddy, he wants to talk to you…"
"Aiden, I don't want to talk to anyone."
"But you have to."
"Why? Who is it by the way?" he asked.
"It's Dr. Martin…"
"WHAT?" Jim interrupted Aiden.
"He wants to talk to you" he handed Jim the phone.
"Hello…?"
"Hello Mr. Clancy. I'm sorry to bother you but you have to come over as soon as possible."
"Why? What's wrong with Melinda?"
"I can't tell you over the phone. Could you please come?"
"Sure… I will be there in 10 minutes" Jim said, hung up the phone and turned to Aiden.
"Is mommy okay?" he asked.
"I don't know. I have to go to the hospital now."
"I want to come with you."
"I don't think that this is a good idea…"
"Daddy, please" he cried.
"Okay… We have to go now!"
They drove to the hospital. When they arrived they immediately saw Dr. Martin in front of Melinda's room, waiting for them.
"Hey doc" Jim shook the doctor's hand.
"Hello. Thank you for coming."
"So? What's wrong with her?"
"Her signs have changed…"
"In a good or bad way?" Aiden asked.
"In a good way. It seems like she's waking up soon."
"When?" Jim and Aiden asked in unison.
"She should be awake within the next two hours. We need you to comfort her when she does and to call us because we have to remove the oxygen."
"Yeah, sure. No problem" Jim said smiling.
Then the doctor left. Jim embraced Aiden.
"So mommy is fine now?" she asked.
"I don't know. But at least she's getting better. It's like she knows what day it is!"
"What day is it?"
"Today, 9 years ago, we got married" Jim told his son. Then they went into the room. There the waited for 30 minutes, watching Melinda.
Suddenly her hand moved and her eyes slowly opened.
"Mel, honey…" Jim was stroking her head.
"I'm gonna go and get a doctor" Aiden said running out of the room.
"Mel, can you hear me? Push my hand if you can hear me…" Jim said.
Melinda slightly moved her hand towards Jim's and pushed it. He smiled at her. She tried to smile back but the tube in her throat didn't let her do it. Then Aiden came back in. He ran towards the bed.
"Mommy… You're awake!" he smiled.
Then the doctors came in. they told Jim and Aiden to let them some space.
"Melinda, you have to cough while we remove the oxygen tube, okay… 1… 2… 3…" Dr. Martin removed the tube while Melinda coughed. "Your throat will be dry for some hours now and talking won't be easy but you'll feel better!"
Melinda nodded her head. Then the doctors left. Jim and Aiden went towards the bed again. They both gave Melinda a kiss.
"How are you?" Jim asked.
"Okay" Melinda whispered.
"You can't imagine how happy you're making me."
"Why?"
"Because today's our anniversary and you woke up… Two reasons to celebrate it."
She smiled. Jim leaned down and they shared a passionate kiss.
"Phew" Aiden said while Jim and Melinda laughed.
"Is it because I'm lying in bed or did you grow, baby? She asked Aiden.
"I grew a bit" he answered.
"In fact we had to go shopping because he grew out of all of his clothes" Jim added.
Melinda smiled and yawned.
"Are you tired, honey?" Jim wanted to know.
"A bit" she answered.
"Then sleep…"
"But I want to talk to you!"
"If you're tired you have to sleep. You won't get better if you don't!"
"Okay. I'm gonna sleep but please stay with me?!" she looked from Jim to Aiden and back to Jim.
"Of course we will" Jim and Aiden said in unison.
Melinda closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep. Aiden climbed into bed with her and snuggled up. As a reflex Melinda put an arm around him. Jim held her other hand. They stayed like this for some minutes until Dr. Martin came back in.
"I thought that she might be asleep by now" he said.
"Yeah, we talked for some minutes and then she got tired."
"That's normal. When she wakes up again we need you two to leave because we need to see if she remembers anything about being kidnapped. I guess she'll need a therapy."
"Because she might have a trauma…" Jim said to himself.
"Yes. We need to take care of that as soon as possible."
"Sure. I'll take Aiden to the cafeteria then."
"Thank you" Dr. Martin said and left. Jim went back into the room. He noticed that Aiden had fallen asleep, too. He sat down next to them and stroked Melinda's head.

A few hours later Melinda woke up again. She looked down and saw Aiden lying next to her. Then she turned around and saw Jim sleeping on the chair next to her. She slightly moved and woke Jim up.
"Morning sleepyhead" Jim said sleepy.
"As if you weren't" Melinda responded.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Don't know. I had a strange dream."
"What about?"
"I was in a cabin with someone and I didn't want to be there…"
"Do you know who brought you there?"
"I think it was Gabriel… But I'm not sure…"
"I think you should talk to a doctor" Jim said to her.
"Why?"
"Because of the stuff that has happened to you…"
"What happened?"
"Your dream happened."
"What do you mean?"
"It's hard to explain. I'm gonna go and get a doctor" Jim told her, got up and went out of the room. Melinda tightened her embrace to Aiden a bit and he woke up.
"Mommy?"
"What is it, baby?"
"Nothing… I thought that I dreamt about you waking up of the coma."
"No, you didn't. I'm here and I always will be!"
"Okay, mommy. I love you!"
"I love you, too." Aiden snuggled up to her and fell asleep again.
Then Jim and Dr. Martin came in.
"Hello Melinda" the doctor said.
"Hello" she looked to him and then to Jim.
"We need to examine you one more time and we have to talk to you."
"Why?"
"Because we need to know why you were in that coma and if you remember anything."
"What do you mean?"
"Everything that had happen to you."
"What happened?"
"That's what we want to know from you" Dr. Martin responded.
"Oh… Okay."
"Mr. Clancy could you please take your son while we'll do the examination on her?"
"Sure I will. But we'll stay here. I want to be there for her" Jim said and Dr. Martin left.
"No, Jim, it's okay. Take him home. I don't think it's good for him to be here for too long. I'll call you when I'm back, okay?"
"Nothing is okay. I won't leave you alone!"
"Jim…"
"No, Mel, you just woke up. I want to be with you. We waited for so long until you woke up…"
"I'm sorry…"
"Don't be."
"No. I really am sorry for making you worried."
"You know that I'm worrying all the time!"
"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't change the fact that a hospital is not a good surrounding for Aiden. I think he should been brought home."
"Well, in that case I'm gonna call my mom and she'll pick him up and take a look at him. I still won't go…"
"Fine. Let Faith take him. I can't make any instructions for you."
"Okay. So you'll go to the examination while I'll call my mom."
"Okay."
Then a nurse came in and brought Melinda to the examination room.

Jim took his cell phone and called Faith.
"Hello?" she answered the phone.
"Hey mom, it's me" he said.
"Hey honey, is everything alright? How's Aiden?" she didn't ask about Melinda because she didn't want to upset him.
"Yeah, everything's alright. Aiden is fine. Actually he's the reason why I'm calling."
"What are you trying to tell me?!"
"Well, Melinda woke up a few hours ago and…"
"What??? She woke up? That's great news. Wait a minute, today's your wedding anniversary, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. Anyway she needs to get examined again and she doesn't want him to stay here at the hospital…"
"And you want to stay with her and I shall come and pick up Aiden and look after him, right?" Faith interrupted Jim.
"Yes, please."
"Sure. I'll be over in 20 minutes. Where will you be then?"
"We're in Melinda's room because he's asleep and she already is on that examination."
"Okay, I'll hurry."
"Thank you, mom!"
"No problem. See you then. Bye" she hung up even before Jim could say goodbye to her.

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