A/N: SO sorry it took so long to update! Have so much going on and RL is extremely busy for me, plus I am working on a ton of Lizzington stuff, so thank you for being so awesome and sticking with me. I sincerely appreciate it. Seriously.

Disclaimed, as always.

Chapter 16

Liz was poor company and she well knew it. She was stressed out and quickly reaching her breaking point. Red had to wake up. She was falling apart without him. She questioned the staff relentlessly about how they knew who and when to contact them and why they didn't contact them sooner.

Red was declared well enough to remove the ventilator tube and backed off of his powerful pain killers. They had hoped he would wake soon after, but were cautioned that to hope was dangerous.

Dembe was ready to murder someone. He stalked and paced the floors like a panther on the prowl for its next meal. She tried to stay away from him as much as possible because she had no desire for him to take a chunk out of her. He actually rose his voice to one of the other guards and told him to 'Stay the fuck away from him or he'd strangle him with his own entrails.' And that was when Liz realized that they were both going insane. Usually Dembe was polite if quiet. Not so anymore. He was so used to Red's chatter that without it, he'd began to provide his own.

They usually found themselves in each other's company anyways as neither one of them could stay away from Red for long. It was as if strings tethered them to him. Both needed the reassurance his presence provided.

She'd told Dembe to get the hell out of the house and go kill something or get laid to get rid of all that tension he had. He'd been gone only a few minutes when Liz started to doze off next to Red while holding his hand.

She had no idea that she'd even fallen asleep when she opened her eyes only to find herself staring straight into Red's eyes.

"Dembe!" but then she remembered that he wasn't there. She stood and sat on the bed gently beside Red. It took him a moment, but his eyes followed her. There was no expression on his face.

Something was wrong. He wasn't looking into her eyes, just in the general direction of her body. The nurse ran in and Liz yelled at her to get the doctor.

The doctor walked up to the bed "What's wrong? He was awake, but…not." The tears poured from her eyes. She was no medical doctor, but he was out for so long she couldn't help but think he had brain damage. What if he was never the same?

She couldn't take her eyes off Red, who had closed his eyes once again, robbing her of her tenuous hold on her sanity.

"Elizabeth, he's been unconscious for such an extended period of time. There will be an adjustment period. Sometimes, patients open their eyes without having ever actually waking up. This is normal, you need to calm down. No matter what, he's receiving the best care."

He then walked around the bed, checking Red's vitals, his eyes. "Well, there's an increased pupil reaction. That's a good thing. Maybe the big guy's decided he's done napping soon."

His attempt at humor fell short. Liz just grabbed her phone off the bedside table and called Dembe "You need to get back here. Now." After she hung up, she sat down and grabbed Red's hand, looked at the doctor and said "We'll tell you immediately if there's another event." And turned away, dismissing him.

She didn't have time to worry about not offending anyone. Her focus was entirely on Red.

Seven minutes later, Dembe rushed into the room "What's the matter, is he-?"

Horrified that she accidentally gave off the impression that Red had passed she stood and wrapped her arms around Dembe "God, no. I'm so sorry. His eyes were open. I thought he was awake, but he didn't respond and he never actually looked right at me. Dembe, what if something is wrong and he never comes back to us?"

In that moment, Liz poured every fear, every drop of grief and sorrow out in a torrent of sobs and tears. Dembe just hugged her, knowing that is was past time that she let everything out. She clung to Dembe, if Red was gone, she didn't know how they would go on.

"I'm not dead quite yet."

Liz whipped around, tripping over herself to get to bed.

"Red!" She nearly fell on top of him. She gently laid her head on his chest making sure he was real, that this was real and not just a dream like so many others she's had since arriving here. The pain in her chest was like a vice grip on her heart. She couldn't manage any other words.

"I get shot, only to wake up and see you…trying to pick up my girl." Dembe and she laughed as they were meant to, but both of them were sloppy messes. Well, Dembe was only slightly more dignified in his tears than she was.

Feeling the rumble of Red's words in his chest was the best thing she'd ever felt.

"Red, I love you, but I swear on everything that is holy, if you take off without Dembe or I ever again, I'll kill you myself."

"And I will help her bury your body." Dembe finally spoke. Tear tracks shone on his cheeks, but his smile was wide and joyous.

Red huffs a small laugh. "mmkay" His eyes close, and he's clearly exhausted from just their small exchange.

She doesn't want to wear him out more than necessary but whispers "Please wake up again, Red."

He nods his head to signal her to come closer. When she's so close, she can see every single color variation in his eyes, he whispers back "Love you too.", and closes his eyes once again.

TBC…

A/N: Let me know what you think.