Chapter 46

By the time Matt and Amy got back to Jeff's room, a full court had assembled. Gil and Vince were arguing with several doctors over whether he should be woken up.

"You said yourself that there have been signs of improvement." Vince told them.

"Yes, that's true. He is improving I just think it's better to let his body heal at its own pace. He's going to wake up to a big shock, not just his physical condition but the personal situation as well. It's a lot for him to process."

"I know that." Gil started. "And I understand the risks. I also know that this would be what my son wants. There's a terrified girl somewhere out there being held against her will. She's his life and if we don't do something soon she'll be gone for good. That's what he wouldn't be able to deal with." He waited for the doctors to say something but no one spoke.

"Look, I'm his health care proxy and I'll take full responsibility for anything that goes wrong. I'll sign any waiver I have to. Just please, do something." Gil pleaded. Finally the doctors relented and after filling out a lot of forms they came back to the room.

"Now I want you to understand, we'll be stopping the anesthesia so he won't be getting anymore. However there are still a lot of drugs in his system so it will take him awhile to regain consciousness. Once he does, he'll probably be disorientated. So don't overwhelm him. Try to keep him as calm as possible." The doctor warned and then nodded to the nurse who removed Jeff's IV bag. "So now we just wait. I want his vitals checked every 15 minutes page me for anything." He said to the nurse and then walked out of the room. The room grew quiet as all eyes just stared at Jeff expectantly.

"Well there's no sense in everyone waiting." Gil told them. "The doctors said it could take awhile."

"Do you want me to leave?" Amy asked Matt.

"No." He told her taking her hand. "I want you to stay." She smiled back at him.

"Stephanie, why don't we give them a little space?" Vince said to his daughter. She nodded and they headed for the door. "We'll stop at the cafeteria and bring up some coffee for everyone." Gil nodded at him as they left the room.

"Do you really think this will work?" Stephanie asked him after they had left the room.

"It's our only hope, it has to."

"She's been gone for awhile." Vince looked down at his daughter and realized what a toll this has taken on her.

"Look, why don't you head back to the hotel. Call Paul and the kids, you need to get away for a little bit." He told her.

"I'm fine. It's just earlier we ran into Meg, Jeff's old girlfriend. She said something that upset me."

"What did she say?"

"She said that we wouldn't see her again, that there was a chance she was already…" Stephanie let her voice trail and Vince hugged her.

"Don't listen to her. Jess is alive, I know it. She's been through a lot and I know she can make it through this." He let go of his daughter and smiled at her. "Well if you're not going back to the hotel, why don't you get the coffee? I'm going to call your mother let her know what's going on. You may want to try you brother as well."

Stephanie nodded and headed to the elevator. While waiting she looked back to Jeff's room and made a silent prayer that this was going to work. It just didn't seem fair to her. She had finally gotten her friend back and now there was a chance she would lose her forever. When she got to the main floor she pulled out her cell and dialed her brother. It went straight to voice mail.

"Hey Shane, its Stephanie. I just wanted to call and let you know that the doctors agreed to take Jeff out of sedation. I'll call and let you know what we find out when he wakes hope. I hope your okay. Talk to you soon." She hung up and proceeded to the cafeteria. Meg was there sitting at a table. Stephanie attempted to avoid her but she stood up.

"Listen, I'm sorry about earlier. Amy got me upset. I shouldn't have said those things it was wrong." Meg told her. Stephanie nodded then headed to the counter.

"Did you hear anything about Jeff?" Meg asked following her. "I know I don't deserve it but please? Is he okay?" Stephanie sighed then turned to face her.

"If I tell you, do you promise to leave? If anyone sees you here it's only going to make things worse."

"I promise." She swore.

"They're slowly waking him up now."

"Is he talking?"

"He's not even awake yet and it's still too soon to know what he remembers. But if I know Jeff, he'll remember something, for Jessica."

"Thank you." Meg told her then turned to walk away. "I hope everything turns out okay." Stephanie watched her walk away not sure what to make of her. She didn't think that Meg was sincere or someone to be trusted but at least she got her to go away before Meg had a chance to make anything more problems.

After picking up the coffee, she went back up to Jeff's room. She could tell by the look on everyone's face that he still hadn't woken up. She passed out the drinks and then took a seat in the corner to wait like everyone else.

To Matt, time seemed to move too slowly. He stood up and started pacing the room. The nurse came back in to check on Jeff. This was her twelfth trip into the room, looking for something to do he had started to keep track. They had been waiting at least three hours to get some reaction out of his brother but so far nothing had happened. Come on Jeff, Matt silently said to him, she needs you. He sat back down and took Jeff's hand again.

Amy came up behind him putting her hands on his shoulder. Without even a thought, she started to give him a gentle massage to relieve his tension. He looked up at her and smiled, grateful that she was there. Until this all happened he hadn't realized how much he still missed her. Regardless of what happened, she would always be his friend. Matt was almost too lost in his massage and thoughts to realize that he was feeling someone squeeze his hand. At first he thought was hallucinating but when he squeezed Jeff's hand he squeezed it back again. Matt shook Amy off and leaned towards his brother.

"He squeezed my hand." Matt told them and everyone moved to Jeff's bedside. "Jeff? It's Matt. Can you hear me?" They all looked down at him expectantly, but saw no change.

"Jeff, come on. Open your eyes!" Matt pleaded. He stared down at Jeff and just when he was about to give up, he saw Jeff's eyelids flicker.

"Amy get the nurse," Gil told her and took Jeff's other hand. "Come on, come back to us." He whispered in his son's ear. Looking at him, he let out a sigh of relief. Jeff's was awake.