The characters in this story are from my favorite books, the Twilight Series, by the talented Stephenie Myers, and her copy write of the characters is implied.

Chapter 28: Waiting

My uncles and my grandfather helped carry Jake on the gurney upstairs, into Grandpa's study. Immediately, Dad came up the stairs carrying a hospital bed, when I looked at him questioningly, he said, "It was from when your mother was pregnant with you."

"I want to get x-rays of his head and a CT scan before we take him off the gurney anyway," my Grandfather added.

I had always known that there had been an amazing amount of medical equipment in our Forks house, but I had never realized before this moment that it had all been acquired to care for my mother while she was pregnant with me. I was grateful that my grandfather had kept it, because I was hopeful that he was now going to use it to save my Jacob.

Grandpa had me wait in the hallway, as I heard the buzzing of the X-ray equipment, followed by the hum of the CT scan.

"You can go back in Nessie," Grandpa Carlisle said in a very concerned voice.

As I saw Jacob lying there, motionless and soundless except for his shallow breathing, I felt as though my heart was being ripped from my chest. I can't live without him. I knew that I would not survive if he did not return to me. He had to return to me, and I vowed in that moment, that I would take care of him every minute of every day until he came fully back to me.

I hesitantly walked closer to his bed, and ran my hand across his forehead. He felt hot, even hot for Jacob.

Grandpa Carlisle answered my silent question, "I gave him a large dosage of Tylenol to lower his fever. It should take about half an hour to fully kick in."

I hesitantly asked, "What did the X-Rays and CT Scans show?"

"He has a broken ankle where Nahuel bit him, but that has almost healed completely at this point," Grandpa answered then reluctantly added, "But he has swelling in both the Frontal and Temporal Lobes of the brain. He is technically in a deep coma right now. He is unable to make any voluntary movements. Actually, he has been perfectly still and silent since we left the boat." Grandpa took a deep breath and continued, "I am not going to lie to your Nessie, and I am very concerned. I just hope that Jacob's ability to heal quickly helps him to overcome this."

I resisted the urge to cry, and instead looked at my grandfather and asked, "What can I do to help him now?"

"Just stay with him, pray for him. There have been studies where coma patients have woken up and remember much of what was said to them while they were unconscious. Just keep talking to him Nessie, remind him what he has to live for," my Grandfather said as he kissed my cheek and hugged me.

I walked over to Jacob, who was now on the hospital bed, and lowered the guard rail. Careful not to jostle his IVs or the splint on his ankle, I climbed into the bed next to him, and began to whisper into his ear.

"My Jacob, my love, you are home, you are safe, we are safe. I need you to come back to me now. The danger is all over. Nahuel, Aro, Demetri, and Felix are nothing more than ash now. Please Jacob; I need you to wake up, to say something. Even if you could just blink your eyes if you hear me, please Jake, give me some sign. Please Jacob, you promised. You promised to never leave me, and you have never broken a promise to me. Please open your eyes for me," I plead, but I received no response.

I laid next to him for hours, pleading into his ear that he open his eyes and come back to me. At some point, Billy, Sam, Seth, Quil, and Embry came to see Jacob, but I never left his side. I answered their questions of me when necessary, but mostly I just held Jacob, caressed Jacob, and gently kissed him. Our guests left after several hours, but I just continued to lie next to my Jacob. I stayed with him all night.

Around 7am, my Mom came into the room, and said that she would stay with him while I got cleaned up and ate something. I initially refused, but when she threatened to force me into the shower and to eat, I gave in, and at my quickest half vampire speed, completed my chores, and then immediately returned to Jacob.

I sponge bathed him, and I put him into clean clothes, and then I continued to talk into his ear all day. I told him about how handsome he had looked in his tuxedo the other day. I told him about how I pictured our wedding. Then I placed my hand against his cheek and I began to show him images of how I saw our life working out together. First, I showed him our wedding day, and the joy I imagined I would feel as I met him at the alter. I showed him my dream of just the two of us living together in a remote cabin, making love all day, completely inebriated in each others love. I showed him an image of the children that I imagined us having, two little boys who looked just like their father. The entire rest of the day and through the night, I showed him happy images of how I wanted my life to be with him.

The next morning, my mother again made me get cleaned up and eat while she sat with Jacob. I cleaned him again, and as soon as I was done again, I went back to showing him images of the life that I wanted us to have together. Today I showed him images of all the places that I wanted to visit with him. I showed him kissing me at the top of the Empire State Building in New York. I showed us hiking up to the top of Mt Everest and making love in the snow. I showed us at the top of the Eifel tower, kissing as we looked down over Paris. I showed him images of us taking our children to Disneyworld and riding on Space Mountain. With my images, I took him on trips all around the world that day and night.

The next morning, my Dad came into the room instead of my mom.

"Nessie, I had your Mom drop her shield last night around the two of you," he said and then continued, "Jacob is having thoughts back from the images that you are putting in his head, but I think that he is confused by them."

"Confused, how," I asked.

"Nessie, your images are so vivid, and the pictures that you are showing him are so ideal, that it appears to him, that he has died and gone to heaven," Dad replied somberly.

I felt my heart skip a beat, and I stopped breathing momentarily.

Dad continued, "But from what I know of Jacob, I think that there is a way that we can trick his brain into regaining consciousness. I think that you need to give him a vivid nightmare. Show him such a vivid nightmare that he will want to phase into a wolf, such as a nightmare in which you are killed, or in serious danger. Jacob would realize he was not in Heaven if he saw those images, and with his thoughts of love for you, I think that it would wake him up."

"Should I replay what happened on the boat," I asked.

"It is a good place to start, but I don't want to re-traumatize you Nessie. I know that what you went through on that boat was repulsive and I am sure that it has emotionally scarred you. You have not been dealing with your own feelings about being kidnapped and almost being raped. You have been so wrapped up in caring for Jacob, but this is going to hit you at some point. I have seen victims of these crimes in the past, and it is very difficult for them to get through. If you start replaying the images for Jacob, I will be here, and so will your Aunt Rosalie, so if you need to talk, you can," he stated with concern flooding his voice.

"Why Aunt Rosalie," I asked.

"Because when she was human, she went through a similar trauma," Dad replied.

"Aunt Rose," I called in my normal speaking voice, knowing that she could hear me. She appeared in the doorway immediately.

"Dad will fill you in if you don't already know, but I am going to give Jacob a nightmare to try to wake him up," I paused and then continued, "I am going to show Jacob what happened to me on the boat, and he wanted you here in case it caused me to feel traumatized. He said that you would understand."

"Of course, Nessie," she replied, "I am here."

I lay back down next to Jacob, and placed my palm against his cheek. I started to replay the story of my abduction to him from the beginning. I showed him the Helicopter flying over head, Aunt Alice being kicked into the tree, and Nahuel and Demetri grabbing me from the shoulders and restraining me in the seat between them.

"It's working," my Dad said, and I glanced down, while keeping my cheek on his face and saw that Jacob's body was starting to twitch, as though he was going to phase.

I continued to replay my abduction through my visions to Jacob. I showed him me trying to kick away from Demetri and Nahuel as they dragged me into the stateroom of the Yacht. I showed him Demetri kicking me into the wall and then Demetri and Felix dragging me to the bed and restraining me as Nahuel ripped my clothes off. I showed Jacob how I closed my eyes when Nahuel stripped in front of me, and I showed him how scared and violated me felt as he climbed on top of me. I showed him how scared I was as Nahuel spread me open, to try to insert himself into me, and how filled with regret I was because the only one that I ever wanted to have me like that was Jacob.

Just then, I felt Jacob's arms shaking uncontrollably around me. My father grabbed me and pulled me off the bed, just as Jacob phased.