Bianca sat in the waiting room watching as Marissa paced back and forth across the room. The surgery had gone on longer than they were told and Marissa was getting more and more worried with each passing second. Bianca had gotten her to sit down for a moment but Marissa had been so anxious for news that her legs shook uncontrollably and she couldn't keep her eyes off the doorway.
All around Bianca were the people who loved AJ. Adam and Brooke sat in the corner holding each other's hands. Bianca could hear Brooke's comforting words to the older man. Krystal sat a few chairs away her eyes darting from the sight of her daughter pacing back and forth and to the doorway hoping the doctors would come with good news soon.
Colby sat with her mother praying for her nephew. She had struggled these last few weeks with what her brother had done. She went from hating him to feeling sorry him and right back to hate every time she had seen him in their home. If AJ didn't make it out of the surgery she didn't know how she could ever forgive him for all the pain that he caused.
Tad and Dixie sat at the edge of the waiting room drinking coffee and talking quietly to one another.
Kendall and Erica sat on either side of Bianca trying to convince her that everything was going to be alright. Bianca smiled at them she loved having them with her but she knew as well as they did that the words they spoke were just empty words. No one could say for sure that the little boy was going to make it out of the surgery or even go on to live a full life. They had all learned the hard way that just when everything is perfect and life can't seem to go wrong the earth moves or an angry man pulls a gun on people. Life in Pine Valley meant that with every moment of happiness came a price, That price was always higher than they wanted to pay and this time that price of happiness couldn't be a seven year old boy.
The waiting room frozen as they could hear the faint sound of footsteps coming towards them. Every time a nurse walked by or a doctor ran through the hallway towards one of the patient rooms their world stopped as they watched for a familiar face.
The footsteps echoed through the halls as they came closer and closer to the waiting room. The seconds clicked slowly on the clock behind them as they waited. As the sound approached the silent room the steps became slower and stopped just outside of the room. Marissa stood near the door waiting for those footsteps to enter her world. She could hear the person just on the other side of the wall take a deep breath in before turning the corner and entering the room.
The first thing they could see was the green scrubs that so many doctors wore around this place. A stethoscope hung carelessly around the doctor's neck. They all knew who he was. He was a miracle worker that they had all accused of playing God at one time or another. Now they counted on him to play God one more time.
Marissa looked into her father's eyes. This was one thing she shared with him. It was like she was looking into her own dark brown soulful eyes. Instantly she saw the pain and anguish in those eyes. She looked at his face and watched as he tried to form the words she so desperately didn't want to hear.
"I'm...I'm so sorry…" he shook his head hating to be the one telling her.
"No…no…no you're lying David. You're lying!" she screamed at him. "It's not too late. Leave and come back when you can tell me the truth. Don't you dare lie to me again" she pleaded with him not wanting his words to be true.
"I wish I could turn around and make this all go away." He fought hard to keep his own grief at bay. Right now it was about his daughter not him. "Marissa I'm so sorry. They did everything…"
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!NO!" She ran up to him and began to pound her fists on his chest screaming at him at the top of her lungs.
Everyone in the room sat in shock. They couldn't believe that a little boy who just a few weeks ago was running down the soccer field in his new blue uniform could be gone. AJ was always such a bright happy little boy it didn't seem possible that he could be gone from this world.
Krystal stood to pull her daughter off of David but could only managed to hit the ground knees first as the grief over took her body.
Bianca looked at Marissa though her tear filled eyes. She stood slowly and walked over to the woman screaming at her father. She wrapped her arms around Marissa stopping her from hitting David. She pulled her back away from him.
"Marissa…." She could find no other words to say to the woman.
"No Bianca he's wrong. David's wrong. He's got AJ stashed somewhere in this hospital. He wants to take AJ from us. We can't let him do that." Marissa looked at David with hate filled eyes.
David stood there trying to stay strong for her. Her words cut through him like a knife he would never hurt his daughter and grandson…never. He knew she needed someone to blame and he was the one standing in front of her trying to tell her that her son was gone.
"Marissa," he placed his hands gently on her shoulders "Griff and the other doctor did everything they could. They tried so hard to save him. He was so strong he fought hard. His heart stopped three times in there and he kept coming back…but…" he wanted so bad not to finish the sentence. He wanted to walk out of the room and come back in and tell her that her son was in recovery and she would see that cooked smiled of his again. That he would smile up at her with those big blue eyes. But he couldn't tell her that he had to break her heart all over again. "But the last time he was too weak. His heart couldn't take the stress anymore. They tried to start his heart over and over again. They tried everything they could."
She heard the words that came from his lips but she refused to believe him. It wasn't possible that just a few hours ago he was downstairs telling her about his nightmare. She was holding him close to her heart while he slept. She had felt his heart beat. She had watched as his chest rose and fell with each breath he took. You don't go from being so alive in one moment to gone the next. She looked around the room at all the people around her. She could see the tears in their eyes. She heard their soft cries. She wanted to laugh at them for crying over something that was obviously a lie.
David Hayward was notorious for lying about people being dead. Maria Grey, Dixie, Greenlee, Stuart, all were thought to be dead but all of them were found to be very much alive thanks to him. He had to be lying about AJ to, he just had to be.
Marissa's could feel Bianca's arms wrapped around her. She could hear the sound of a whisper in her ear but she couldn't process what she was saying. Over and over in her head she heard David tell her he was sorry.
"SHUT UP!" She screamed at the voices in her head, "He's not gone. Where is my son David! Bring me my son!"
David stood in the doorway unable to move. He wanted to do what she asked to bring her son to her. He wanted to make all her pain go away but all he could do is stand there and stare at her.
Marissa continued to scream at him refusing to believe her son was gone.
Angie Hubbard had just been told the news of AJ's death and had run to the waiting room. As she ran down the hallway she could hear the woman's screams for her son. They cut through her and brought back the memory of losing her own little girls. She could see David standing there broken over the loss of his Grandson and the pain his daughter had to bare.
Marissa saw Angie walk into the room. She saw the sorrow in the woman's eyes. Angie was the last person who would lie to her about something like this. She knew how it felt to love a child and have them leave this world. She had lost her baby girl Ellie during child birth and then had the daughter she fed and clothed and loved taken from her. She would make David tell the truth she would get her son back.
"Angie make David get my son. He's got him hidden." She begged the doctor. "Please Angie my son needs me."
Angie chocked back a sob at the young woman's desperation. There was nothing in this world that she would love more at this moment then to give Marissa what she wanted. To save her from the pain she was going through. She slowly approached the girl and placed her hand lovingly on her soft cheek. "I'm so so sorry Marissa. AJ's gone."
Marissa collapsed to the ground with Bianca still holding tightly to her. Angie sunk down to the ground with her holding the girls hand as she sobbed. The truth had hit Marissa like a ton of bricks. The little boy that she didn't give birth to but still called her son was gone. Her sobs turned to screams.
As Marissa accepted the truth that her son was gone the people of Pine Valley sat in tears. They cried for the little boy who would never run through the park again or kick a soccer ball. They cried for the wounded mother screaming on the floor. They also prayed to the God that had taken that innocent little boy from them. They begged him for an answer of why a loving God would take someone so pure and innocent from this world.
David stood watching as his daughter mourned her son. She sat on the cold floor rocking back and forth. Her face covered with her hands as she screamed into them. She screamed out for her son begging for God to bring him back to take her instead.
He couldn't take it any longer he couldn't watch her go through that pain. He turned and ran down the hallway towards the elevator. He paid no attention to the nurses' standing the hallway hugging one another trying to hold back the tears. He ran past patients who were looking out of their rooms trying to find out where those screams were coming from. He could feel a blood curdling scream cut through the hospital. He could feel the pain and anguish deep inside his soul as that scream cut through him. He pounded on the "UP" button on the elevator needing to get far away from this place. He paced back and forth waiting for the doors to open. He heard her scream again and again. He had to place his hand on the wall to stop himself from falling to the ground as the screams cut through his heart.
Mercifully the doors finally opened and without paying any attention to the people exiting the elevator he tried to rush in. He ran right into a blond man stepping off the elevator.
Leo stepped off the elevator and right into his brother. "David?" he asked as the sounds of a woman's screams engulfed him.
"He's gone Leo. I let my Grandson down." With those simple words David allowed the grief to over take him and he collapsed to the ground sobbing.