3.

As the sun rose on Greenlee's third day back in Pine Valley, Ryan watched as Angie prepared to take Greenlee off of the ventilator. "You really think she's ready?" he asked.

"She's making an effort to breath on her own and her last chest x-ray was very promising," Angie explained. "Everything tells us she's ready for this."

Pacing back and forth in front of the bed Ryan shook his head. "It's not even been 72 hours yet, you said that when she came in it was a miracle she was alive, perhaps we shouldn't be rushing her?"

"Greenlee is showing a strength I have never seen before, she's ready for this, and the longer we leave her on the vent the higher risk there is of long-term ventilation related complications," Angie explained.

"I know you're the expert but I don't think we should be doing this, I think we should give her more time, I don't think she's ready … Greenlee she's been through so much I think we should let her … peace … quiet … let's not rush her …"

Walking around the bed Angie grabbed a hold of Ryan's hand to stop his almost frantic pacing. "Ryan. What is this really about."

"She's not ready," Ryan cried, sinking to the floor.

Joining him on the floor Angie held a shaking Ryan in her arms. "She's tough. She's come this far and she's ready for this. The tests tell us she's ready for this."

"No, she's not ready, she can't cope and how can I tell her, I-"

"This isn't about Greenlee not being ready to come off of the ventilator is it?" Angie surmised, sensing the real fear in Ryan's voice.

Leaning against the wall Ryan held his head in his hands as Angie wrapped her arm around him. Sitting there with only the beeping of the machine's to fill the silence Angie gave Ryan all the time he needed to gather his thoughts.

"I thought I would have more time," Ryan whispered, his whole body shaking.

"More time for what?" Angie asked.

Ryan looked down at his hands as if by doing that he would be able to stop them shaking. "To bring her home … she can't … I don't … Greenlee can't wake up to find our baby gone, she can't, she's already lost so much-"

"I know this is going to be hard, and I know that what's waiting for Greenlee when she wakes up is the news no mother wants to hear but we need to do this Ryan, the longer we leave her on the ventilator the greater the risks," Angie once again reminded him.

"But she's safe there, she's safer not knowing. What if it's too much? What if she's not strong enough?" Ryan asked.

Taking hold of his hand Angie looked him straight in the eye. "Greenlee is one of the strongest people I have ever met and she has a whole group of people who love her and are fighting for her."

"How am I going to tell her?" Ryan asked, his voice barely audible.

Angie stood up and helped Ryan to his feet. "Gently, but make sure that you don't let her give up hope, because nobody else is giving up hope."

"Hope," Ryan echoed.

"Yes, because hope and the love you two share is what is going to get you through this, and it's what is going to make your daughter one of the luckiest children in the world," Angie smiled, trying to show Ryan that there was rainbow at the end of all the rain.

Following her towards the bed Ryan took Greenlee's hand in his. "It's been a long time since I've seen those beautiful brown eyes of yours. It's been a hard 9 months without my Green Butterfly, it's time for you to open your eyes and come back to us now. I need you Greenlee, our daughter needs you."

Waiting until Ryan was finished Angie gently pulled the breathing tube out of Greenlee's throat, watching as the numbers held there own before she covered her nose and mouth with an oxygen mask. "She's holding her own."

"You hear that Greenlee?" Ryan smiled bringing her hand up to his mouth and kissing it. "You're amazing, you're strength and you're fighting spirit … if our little girl even has a tenth of that she'll be back with us in no time."

AMC - AMC - AMC - AMC

Jackson was woken from his restless slumber by a loud banging on the window, rolling out of the bed he headed towards the door to his room.

"I'm coming," Jackson shouted, his voice gruff with exhaustion and frustration as he flung the door open.

Not even stopping to wait for a hello David barged his way into the room and shut the door behind him. "I need you to come with me now."

"And what makes you think I'm going to listen to you after you went back on our agreement?" Jackson asked.

"Do you want to bring your granddaughter home or not?" David asked.

Jackson glared at the other man, truly taking in his appearance for the first time, he looked like he hadn't slept in days, he was unshaven and in the same clothes that he had left Jesse's office in.

"You know it's the only thing in this world I want right now," Jackson told him.

"Then I really need you to come with me," David reiterated.

Jackson made to pick up his mobile phone. "We should call Jesse, if you have some news he can help us, he has contacts."

"No, no police," David insisted.

Jackson ended the call. "This better not be you playing with me."

"I'll explain everything on the way but if we don't want to miss our chance we have to leave now," David ordered.

Grabbing his wallet and jacket Jackson was grateful for the fact he had fallen asleep fully clothed as he followed David down into the parking lot of the yacht club.

"We're taking my car," David said as they walked straight towards it.

Knowing better than to argue Jackson climbed into the passenger's seat, hoping that he wasn't making a deal with devil for no reason, that at the end of it all he would be able to bring his granddaughter home.

"Now how about you tell me what's going on?" Jackson asked as the car made it's way out of Pine Valley.

"After I spoke to you and our local friendly Chief of Police I made a few calls, a friend of mine who performs underground operations had some very interesting news to tell me about a job he had been consulted on, a local organisation needed a very specific type of doctor, someone that specialises in spinal surgery and secrecy in exchange for large amounts of money," David began.

Jackson nodded. "Sounds like what we're looking for."

"It gets better. 8 months ago the same organisation flew in a spinal surgeon from Sweden, one of the finest but also a man with very questionable ethics, they paid him $500,000 to come and a further $750,000 on completion of his services, at the same time the same organisation also hired an obstetrician that specialises in high-risk pregnancies, they kept him on retainer until a week ago when they released him, but only after paying him a very generous sum of money for his services," David concluded.

"Who is this group?" Jackson asked.

David turned the car onto the freeway. "They call themselves the Orpheus Project, my contact told me that they are looking for a cardiac surgeon, one that will do whatever asked with no questions asked."

"Which is where you come into it?" Jackson guessed.

"That's where I've been for the last 48 hours, I was only able to get away a few hours ago, I came straight back to Pine Valley," David explained.

Jackson could feel his hope rising with each new piece of information. "Did you see her? Is my granddaughter there?"

"No and I don't know," David answered.

"I don't understand," Jackson frowned.

David pulled up at a drive through coffee shop, giving his order he waited for Jackson to give them his, as they collected their order David pulled the car back onto the road. "I didn't see your granddaughter, but I did hear whispers about something called The Nursery. From what I can gather it's a place where they keep The Chosen Ones until they are old enough to enter The Programme."

"The Chosen Ones? The Programme? What kind of organisation is this?" Jackson asked, his hope quickly becoming replaced by fear.

David shook his head. "I don't know, what I do know however is The Chosen Ones do not enter the programme until they reach 6-months-old."

"So if she's there she'll be in The Nursery?" Jackson surmised.

David nodded. "That's the conclusion I came to as well, now this operation they want me to perform is on a 2-month-old male who is currently residing in the nursery."

"That's our in, once you're in there you can find her, you can bring her home?" Jackson said, trying not let the hope overcome him as they still had a long way to go.

"Yes, but I don't think it's going to be as easy as that, this is a big organisation with a lot of money, I don't know how they're finding the babies but I don't think they're going to let them go without a fight," David sighed as he pulled the car to a stop outside of a small derelict gas station.

Jackson opened his wallet where her kept a well-worn picture of Greenlee in happier times. "How many babies are we talking about."

"I only saw CCTV images of The Nursery but it held 4 bassinets, 2 babies swaddled in pink and 2 swaddled in blue," David remembered.

"So 4 babies that we know of, and one of them is sick," Jackson sighed, as he ran his finger gently over the image of his daughter.

David wound down the car window allowing some fresh air into the car. "Which we have to look at as good news, at least we know they are looking after the babies health."

"Is that supposed to bring me peace of mind?" Jackson asked, closing his wallet.

"I think when you have so little to hold onto you need to find hope in the unlikeliest of places," David suggested.

Jackson closed his eyes. "Like putting my trust in you."

"I know you don't like me, and you certainly don't trust me but trust in this; Leo was my brother and I loved him more than almost anything in this world and he loved Greenlee more than anything in the world, so because of that, because of that bond Greenlee and I will forever share I will do everything in my power to keep her safe, and that applies to her daughter too," David assured him.

"How are we going to play this?" Jackson questioned.

David opened the car door and stepped outside before coming to a rest leaning against the bonnet. "I have a meeting to get the clearance necessary to enter the nursery, once I have the clearance they want me to monitor Baby B as they call him, until I believe him to be strong enough to undergo open heart surgery."

"And when you have clearance then you can take her, you can bring our baby home," Jackson told him.

"That's the hope," David agreed. "But we can't rush into this, the security in that place is extreme, we need to be smart about this because if we rush in then we could scare them off and we might never be able to get Greenlee's baby back."

Jackson nodded. "Then what do we do."

"We have to play it smart, and as much as I know you're going to hate this you need to take my leave," David said.

"I'll do whatever I have to do to get her that baby back," Jackson promised.

David nodded. "It's going to mean sleeping in the car so that we can't be detected, living here in this derelict garage and having no contact with anyone, at least not after the call I will allow you to make so that they don't do something stupid like putting out a missing person's bulletin for you."

"Erica, if I call Erica she'll understand that I'm doing what I have to do," Jackson stammered, barely able to contain his exhaustion.

Handing Jackson his phone David made to walk away. "I'll give you 5 minutes, and I'm sure I don't have to stress to you the importance of total secrecy. If you let anyone know what we're doing and the information you have then we risk losing the baby for every. I'm trusting you on this because I know that you can put you personal feelings for me aside and do what is best for Greenlee. Don't let her down Jackson."

AMC - AMC - AMC - AMC

Starbursts of light exploded in the night sky as Ryan watched the celebrations take place on a boat just off the shore line, standing on the decking he waited for Zach and Kendall to unload the boys before he headed towards them. His eyes immediately falling upon his son.

Bending down he scooped the young boy into his arms. "I've missed you so much," Ryan breathed, inhaling his son's familiar scent.

"Missed you too Daddy," Spike yawned tiredly as he cuddled into his father.

"It's good to see you," Kendall smiled, as she approached her long-time friend.

Letting go of Spike, he stood up and wrapped his arms around her. "You don't know how happy I am to see you."

"I can't believe she's really alive," Kendall cried, finally allowing herself to believe it for the first time since Zach had first received Ryan's call.

"Everything is such a mess," Ryan cried as they followed Zach and the boys towards the car. "Greenlee she's sick, really, really sick and the baby-"

When Ian had born early and Greenlee had nearly kidnapped her first born, instead ending up in a car accident that for a long time they believed to be the cause of Spike's deafness Kendall thought she had been through the worst possible time any parent could go through. But right now, as she faced the father of her oldest son she couldn't even begin to comprehend what he and Greenlee were going through as days went by without them knowing where there newborn daughter was.

"Last time we spoke they were weaning Greenlee's sedation, has she shown any signs of waking up yet?" Kendall asked.

Ryan shook his head. "No. But they're still keeping her on a small amount of pain control, they keep saying it's only a matter of time until she wakes up but -"

"You can't help but feel that she's better off asleep, where she doesn't know about the baby," Kendall correctly guessed.

Joining them Zach sent a comforting look Ryan's way. "I understand that, if it was Kendall I would want her to live in the happy land of denial for as long as possible."

"We should go," Ryan suggested, quickly changing the subject. "I don't want Greenlee to wake up alone."

"I'm going to drop the boys off with Carina, I'll meet you at the hospital," Zach said as he rounded Spike and Ian up.

Catching up with his son Ryan gave him another cuddle before letting him go with Zach. "We'll have plenty of time to catch up later Buddy."

"How are you holding up?" Kendall asked once they were alone in the car.

"I'm just taking it one step at a time," Ryan replied.

Kendall nodded. "Mom told me about Jackson's cryptic phone call, have you heard anymore on that?"

"No," Ryan sighed. "And if I let myself think too much about what he could possible be out there doing it just scares me even more, right now I need to concentrate everything I have on Greenlee and making sure she's ok, so that when they bring our daughter home we're ready for her."

"Because that's all that matters right now," Ryan concluded. "That when our little girl comes home that we're ready for her, and that Greenlee is healed because I need her to be alright, I need my family to be alright."

As they climbed out of the car Kendall rested her hand on Ryan's shoulder. "And we're all here to make sure that happens."

Entering the hospital Ryan immediately headed towards Greenlee's room with Kendall close behind him. It was impossible for him not to hear the sob the left his friend as she spotted Greenlee for the first time.

"She's getting better, she's breathing on her own and she's maintaining her own blood pressure, the test results show that she's fighting the infection … I know it looks bad and the bruises … but she's getting better," Ryan reassured her.

"I know it's just breakable was never really a word I associated with Greenlee she's always been such a presence in my life, even when she was in hospital after the bomb shelter I knew she would be alright. But then she went off the cliff and we-"

Grabbing hold of her hand Ryan smiled, his first real smile since the whole nightmare had begun. "But she's not, she's here and she's alive and we have to hold onto that."

"Shouldn't I be giving you the pep talk?" Kendall half-laughed, half-cried.

"The time will come for that," Ryan assured her, as they were both started by a small groan from the bed.

Within the blink of an eye Ryan was at Greenlee's side, holding her hand as her eyes gently fluttered open. "Hey," he smiled as she focused on him.

"Ryan," Greenlee breathed, her voice soft yet hoarse and barely audible under the oxygen mask.

"I'm here," Ryan cried, the tears streaming freely down his face. "I'm here Greenlee and I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

Closing her eyes Greenlee took a series of deep breaths, trying to ignore the aching in her chest before finally opening her eyes again. "I dreamed you were here."

"I love you so much," Ryan sobbed.

"We were on the beach … you … me … and the … moon … shining …"

Ryan could see that she struggling by the way her whole body seemed to shake as she spoke. "Sh, there's plenty of time for talking later."

"You … me … Emma and Spike were building a sandcastle … I was sunbathing and you were playing in the water," Greenlee wheezed, her lungs struggling with the sudden rise in her exertion levels.

Gently Ryan pushed her hair back from her face. "And that will happen, just as soon as you get better we'll all take a trip to the beach."

Smiling Greenlee closed her eyes, allowing herself to get lost in the dream for a minute as she pictures the beach scene once more. "You're paddling … and she's laughing … she's so beautiful … I can see her … Ryan I can hear her laughing."

"Hear who laughing Greenlee?" Ryan asked, as he bent down so that his lips were almost touching her ear.

"Issy," Greenlee wheezed, her eyes half-opening as they felt like they were weighted down by lead.

Ryan felt his heart beat increase. "Greenlee whose Issy?"

"Isadora … Issy … Our little Princess," Greenlee smiled as she finally gave in to the darkness that was threatening to consume her.

"Greenlee you have to come back to me, I need to know where she is, please Greenlee she needs you, Issy needs you," Ryan pleaded as he watched her succumb to the darkness once again.

Turning around Ryan faced Kendall. "She named her, she gave our baby a name and she knew it was a girl, that means she must know … she has to know where she is. Right?"

"I don't know," Kendall whispered, she hated being the one to disappoint him but she knew they needed to be realistic.

"I know I'm clutching at straws, I know this could all just be a dream but … she gave her a name," Ryan cried. "She wouldn't name her if she didn't believe our baby was alive, she named her Kendall, that means she must know that she's alive."

Pulling out her phone Kendall accessed the world, wide, web. "Isadora … it means gift of the moon."

"Oh God," Ryan cried as he walked towards the window where an almost moon was lighting up the night sky. "She's alive, I know she is Isadora … our gift of the moon."