The light faded away once he opened his eyes. Once again his ears were filled with sounds of familiar machines and voices that surrounded him within his hospital room. His vision cleared and he was able to see what was going on. The doctor looked back into his eyes and listened to his heart and chest with the stethoscope. A small grin formed on the corner of the doctor's mouth as he stood back some still looking into Bam's eyes.

"Well now, welcome back. We thought we had lost you for good."

Bam let his eyes roam around the room, hoping to spot something that would somehow provide him with even the smallest amount of comfort. He felt oddly calm and frightened at the same time. His whole body was filled with a strange and somewhat eerie sensation as in his mind he tried to recap what he last remembered that had occurred. At first he had no idea how to even comprehend the fact that he had actually just returned from the land of the dead. He still felt as though he was in a dream-like state but in his heart he knew that his afterlife experience was not simply imagined. He knew that he must have been blessed to have been given the opportunity to not only experience what very few people have been able to experience and then come back to tell about it, but to actually have the chance to physically speak to this great spirit whom he could only assume to have been God.

Bam never had been big on religion, nor had he even really stopped to think about whether he believed in the existence of God or not. But now after his experience he was absolutely certain that there is in fact a God, heaven and hell. He wasn't, however, going to let this newly acquired information change his every day life or cause him to become religious in any certain way. He was just going to keep his faith that God truly exists to himself, and tuck it away in his heart.

Looking across the room, Bam's eyes then fell upon the sight he had been waiting to see. He still felt too weak to even attempt to speak; otherwise he would have called out for her. But instead he just looked in her direction, hoping that she would notice him and come over to the bed. Missy still remained in her seat how she was before, looking down into her lap all distraught. She glanced up toward Bam with tears in her eyes and saw that he was looking back at her. At first she assumed that she was imagining things and seeing what her heart wanted her to see; Bam actually looking at her one hundred percent responsive and alert. She looked away with a little sigh, full of doubt. But then Bam opened his mouth to speak and let out the quietest, and almost squeaky, strained voice.

"Missy…"

Missy looked back over at Bam, unable to believe her ears or eyes. He still looked at her, like before, but this time he appeared to have the slightest little grin upon his lips. She stood up, stunned and unsure, and then slowly approached the bed.

"B-Bam?"

Her knees buckled and nearly gave out beneath her. She trembled as she pulled over a chair right next to the bed and sat down. For a moment she sat there silently staring at him and shaking in disbelief. She then reached out with her shaking hands and placed them on Bam, just to make sure that this moment was real and not just her imagination. Tears began to slowly roll down her face as she held herm hands on his body and looked into his eyes. Bam slowly reached over with one hand and placed it over top of one of hers. Missy then used her other hand to wipe away her falling tears.

"Oh my God, Bam…" She trembled even in her voice "Bam I… I almost want to hit you for scaring me so much!"

He looked at her and his eyes began to smile a little "I'm sorry…" He said very softly

Missy leaned down and gently placed her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him. She allowed a couple tears to land on Bam's hospital gown.

"We… we all thought you were… Don't you ever do anything like that again! That was the scariest stunt you have ever pulled."

Bam, unable to speak anymore, closed his eyes and let out a small sigh. He wanted to tell her that for a little bit he was dead. He wanted to describe everything that he had experienced after he died but he knew there would be plenty of time for him to do that later. The two of them stayed this way for a while, with Missy quietly talking to Bam and Bam doing the best that he could to reply once in a while. After a little bit, Bam found his eyelids to feel heavy. Then Missy pulled away to allow him to drift off to sleep. She lightly placed a kiss on his temple before standing up and leaving his room.

Over the next few days Bam's condition had improved. He was still very weak and would become tired easily but he had reached the point where he could hold a full conversation with someone for at least a few minutes. With each passing day Bam got better and better. He was even able to sit up all the way without any problem or without having to lie down after a while. During a conversation one day Bam for the first time in a long time actually had a smile on his face. He admitted that he couldn't even remember the last time he had a real smile. No one could believe that just days ago Bam was too weak to even speak to anyone. No one could believe that just days ago Bam had just came back from the dead. Bam was even laughing and joking around with everyone and saying things like how much he was looking forward to going home.

Out of every time he had been in the hospital during his whole life, Bam had never been in better spirits than he was in towards the end of this hospital stay. Everyone else was happy just to see the old Bam come back. The doctors put Bam through some tests to determine the status of his cancer. Bam couldn't have smiled any bigger when he was told that there weren't any traces of the cancer in his body. He was so happy after receiving that news that he almost didn't hear the doctor tell him that it may be a few years before he could actually be considered cancer free. Even once he did realize that the doctor had told him that, he still had a big smile on his face.

Shortly after receiving this news Bam told everyone that when he got home he was going to have a party to celebrate just how good he felt. He then was told that he would be able to go home within the next day. Missy, smiling, leaned over and gave him a kiss.

"Bam I can't believe this. When you recover from something, you really recover. I guess this goes to show you that you won't let anything slow you down."

He let out a small laugh "Yeah I guess so." He grinned "I really can't wait to get home now. Been here way too long; I almost forget what the house even looks like."

She giggled "Oh babe." She kissed him again "I have to tell you, the cats have really missed you. They don't know what to do with themselves."

"Wow. I bet they're like 'That crazy guy isn't here running around doing fucked up shit to the house. What do we do?'" He laughed "Yeah I miss the kitties too. I miss the house. And the yard. And everything."

"Well pretty soon you'll be able to go home to all that."

"That's awesome I really can't wait."

The next day, later on in the day, Bam was released from the hospital. When Bam and Missy got home Bam walked inside and stopped near the doorway and took in everything around him. He took in a deep breath and then let the air out slowly in a happy sigh. He never felt so good to be home than he felt right then. Bam knew that after what he had been through with his cancer he would be able to withstand anything else his life would throw at him.