The hospital became like a second home to me. It had been two weeks since the night James was admitted. On the third day, the police had caught two of the gang members. In the days that followed, the discovered the leader and two others had been killed in a driveby. The last member of the gang had gotten arrested in Vegas two days after that for stealing a car.

We kept Paige out of school the first week and she went with me everywhere. I wouldn't leave her alone with those gang members on the loose. After the first week, once they'd all been put in jail or been killed, I no longer had to be under police protection every time I went anywhere. Everyday, I woke up and got ready for work an hour early, then I went to the hospital. I brought with me breakfast and a change of clothes for Leo. After that, I returned home to take Paige to school. I went to work, on my lunch break I went to the hospital to have lunch with Leo, I returned to work, got off, picked Paige up, and brought her to the hospital with me. Luckily, work had been understanding and let me off on the afternoons. I was working nights to keep up with bills. I got home at 1 am, slept until 5 and did it all over again.

"Hey, sweetie," I greeted Leo that afternoon with a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey," he murmured.

"Any change?" I asked, sitting down with Paige.

"He lost another point," he said lowly.

All the patients who wouldn't wake up had charts with points. Points grading how responsive he was and his brain activity.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "He'll pull through this. You know James. He's a fighter."

"Yeah," he said, standing up.

"I have to go soon. I'm going to take Paige home today. I don't really like her being around all this. Laura said she'd keep an eye out on her and check up on her," I said.

"Laura?" he asked.

"Our new neighbor? I told you about her. She and her husband moved in a few days ago," I said.

"Right, right," he said. "I'll call you if anything happens."

"Okay," I said. I felt so helpless. I kissed him on the cheek again and then turned away. "C'mon Paige."

We left and walked to the elevator to go to the bottom floor.

"How was school?" I asked as we waited in the elevator.

"Good," she said quietly. "Our teacher talked to us about being thankful for things."

I'd forgotten all about Thanksgiving coming up.

"Really?" I said.

"Well, she started out by telling us about how when she was a teenager, her mom was an alcoholic," she said. I nodded, listening intently, wondering what she was thinking. "And when she was fourteen she ran away because of it..."

I zipped up my jacket as we walked outside.

"How did that make you feel?" I asked.

"At first, I felt bad. Because I know how she must have felt. But then I felt thankful, because I didn't have to run away," she said. Then she looked up at me. "Because you saved me."

"Sometimes I think it's the other way around, kiddo," I whispered to her. She giggled.

"How's that? I think I cause more trouble," she said.

"Not at all. I'm thankful you're around. You motivate me to...I dunno, not completely fail in life, I guess."

We both laughed.

"We wrote a page about what we're thankful for," she said, pulling a paper from her bag. "I want you to read it. Not now. Just whenever you have a chance."

"Alrighty," I smiled.

****************

At work later that evening, business was slowing down. It always did around 11. I searched in my bag for the paper and pulled it out.

"What's that?" Dan asked.

"Something my little sister wrote," I said. "I've been waiting all day to read it. I know, I'm lame," I added, thinking how weird it must seem to him.

"It's not lame," he said. "It's cute."

I laughed as he walked away. I fell back in the beanie bag in the corner and began to read.

What I'm Thankful For

By Paige Halliwell

I'm thankful for my older sister, Piper. She is 18 years old. I'm thankful for her because when she found out that my mom was an alcoholic and was hitting me, she took me to live with her and even moved from her apartment so I could have my own room. Without Piper, I think I would be very miserable because I would still be living with my mom. Piper does a lot for everybody. She takes me to school everyday and always asks me how my day was when she picks me up. Piper works from 8 am until 3pm and then works again from 5pm to 1am. She does that to support us.

I want to be just like her when I get older because she is a very kind and giving person. She is also very funny and smart. Sometimes I don't always tell her how much I appreciate her or how much I love her, but I do. I love her more than anybody else in the whole world. She is the greatest person I've ever known. I'm not only thankful that she saved me, but I'm also thankful that she is my sister because she is a very amazing person.

Many tears began streaming down my face. It was like getting paid for everything I'd been doing for the past two weeks. It was all completely worth it.

"Piper, you okay?" Dan asked, noticing my tears.

I looked at the paper again, then back to him. I wiped away my tears and smiled.

"Yeah...I'm great," I whispered with a nod and a big smile. "I'm absolutely fantastic."