It was evening again and Sara and Nick had to leave the hospital to start their shift.

Fortunately Greg's retching and gagging was just a sign that he did not need the breathing tube anymore. The apparatus had been removed expertly with two nurses holding Greg down and a doctor removing the tube out of his throat. Now a nasal cannula ensured that Greg was provided with enough oxygen.

The doctors had needed to sedate Greg due to him panicking during the taking out of the breathing tube, so he had been asleep for the last hours and until Nick and Sara had to go.

In the following days Greg's mental health improved a lot. He was a lot more coherent and he seemed to be aware of his surroundings. Tough he was still as helpless as a baby and only able to stay awake for 10 to 15 minutes because of the strong medication they were pumping into him, the doctors were speaking positively about his recovery which was a really good sign.

After all there had only been a very small chance that Greg would survive at all and now he was out of immediate life danger. Of course, Greg was badly hurt and there would definitely be permanent problems but for now everyone was just so grateful about him being alive that they paid no attention to this fact.

Greg was now hospitalized for 15 days and the swelling of his brain was nearly gone. The doctors would start more tests in the next week and test his abilities in speech, coordination and memory. They would also reduce the medication and Sara overheard them talking about moving Greggo to a normal room, he would share with another patient. Anne Hojem Sanders, Greg's mother, had been relieved to no end.

Greg was slowly waking up. He was confused and his world was spinning. It was still unclear to him what happened. When he desperately tried to remember, his head started to ache terribly so he refused to bother his pained brain any longer. He weakly closed his eyes again and took a deep breath.

His room was dimly lit and the loud peeping of several monitors started getting on his nerves. Greg moaned out loudly. He felt so helpless. There was something around his neck which prevented him from turning his head and all the wires and tubes that went inside him were like a cobweb. When he tried to focus on his hands he noticed 3 tubes going inside his upper right one. His left arm was bandaged up. There was also something wrapped around his aching head. Of that he was sure.

Greg let out another moan. He really needed something to drink. His throat seemed as if he had enjoyed a bottle of acid. It really was on fire.

Fortunately two people were entering the room now. When they saw that he was awake they smiled and said something to each other. Greg tried to follow the conversation but somehow he could not concentrate on the content. Then one person left the room again and closed the door quietly. Greg noticed that the wall, were the door was, had a huge window to the corridor. He noticed bleary figures that were passing by and winced at the loud noises of the nurses who did the breakfast service today.

Suddenly a light was shown in his eyes. "Whhattggggrggmm gr gr" Greg stopped in shock. Why wasn't he able to speak anymore?! Were these scary sounds coming out of his mouth?! His breathing grew erratic and he stared at the doctor: " ggh nnsh mnhapp…me…-"Tears started to pool down Greg's cheeks. What the fuck was wrong with him!?

"Mr. Sanders, I need you to calm down. Please blink twice if you understand me, okay?"

Greg was still panting and tried to process what the woman just said. Blink? How should he blink? What was blinking? And how often again!?

"Mmmh mm!" -"No Mr. Sanders, I want you to concentrate. Please blink with your eyes twice if you can understand what I tell you!" The words of the doctor were calm and gentle but to Greg they were confusing and without sense. The door opened again and the nurse returned. She had brought a kit with her and was followed by two other doctors and a second nurse.

"Hey Judy!" The people entered the room. It was time for the ward round and they were happy to finally have Greg awake for that procedure now. They would do another examination and tests with the young man.

Meanwhile, Greg was totally overstrained with the whole situation. Never ever in his life had he felt like that? He really needed his parents right now. Greg sniffed and then tried to focus his blurred vision on the group that had assembled around his bed.

"Mr. Sanders, there is no need to be scared. We just want to help you to get better." The blonde doctor who had try to get him to blink spoke to him in a soothing way and somehow Greg felt more at ease. "I'm Dr. Swanson and We just need to check out some stuff, okay?"

The way she did talk to him was probably more the way you would talk to a child but to Greg it was perfect. He finally was able to comprehend some of the words, even if he had problems to relate them to the meanings.

"I think he is a lot more coherent than the last time." Dr. Swanson said to one of her colleagues.

"Well, the most damage was done to his coodinationsystem in the brain," an elderly man with a beard said. " He should start with speech therapies right away and you should schedule him up for physiotherapies today as well, Nora. Another point is the testing of his mental status."

" Yeah, he is gonna be tested at 11 a.m. "

The doctors talked about the detailed functions of Greg's brain and talked to him a little more.

Dr. Swanson pulled away the covers and they went through each injury, medication and tube again. Greg himself was totally out of it. When one of the nurses lifted his feet and started to prick his toes to check his nerves, Greg just stared at her like a vegetable and moaned softly. He didn't like that. Couldn't they just left him and let him sleep? He wanted his blanket back! "….Okay, so then we just need to change that and lower this dose of morphine. Also we need to change his position in bed and maybe one of you could try to get him to eat a little on his own again. Allright!"

Finally the nurses were left with their patient to renew the bandages and change his IVs and.

Greg grew horribly embarrassed when one of them pushed his hospital gown up and checked the urinary catheter in his penis. "Okay that's still a little red from the infection. Ana could you hand me the cream please."

Then she started to gently put some antibiotic cream on the red skin. Greg just closed his eyes. He wished the earth would swallow him up. When they eventually started to change his head bandage Greg growled out in pain. He started to shake like leave and sweat was collecting on his forehead.

"Shhh, Ana will go and get you some yoghurt and once you have something solid in your belly again, you'll feel better." The motherly tone again calmed him down. Had she talked about yoghurt?

The nurses carefully brought Greg into a sitting position and while one of them fluffed Greg's pillow, the one named Ana went to get his breakfast.

When the door opened again Greg didn't even look up. "Greg!" his mother Anne practically ran into the room, She was closely followed by his dad Carl.

It was all too much for Greg now. When his mother bent down to carefully hug him, ecstatic about him being nearly coherent, he completely broke down. Loud sobs escaped Greg and desperate tears were pooling endlessly when he clung onto his mother for dear life. Carl sat on the other side and gently stroke his son's upper back.

"Shhh, we'll pull trough this together! It'll be okay, We're there for you!"