"Okay this isn't funny anymore Em, you have to wake up and I'm not taking no for an answer," Alison said getting angry. Two months had passed since Emily went into the coma, and Alison began to lose faith if she would ever wake up. As much as those thoughts hurt to have inside her head, she had to be realistic. Emily's brain activity had decreased. It felt as if her love was leaving her, slowly and gradually. Her positivity turned from words of encouragement and faith to those of anger. Angry at making Emily cook, angry at her slicing her hand, angry at the doctor who suggested the surgeries, angry at the anesthesiologist for being a drunken bastard, angry at herself for losing hope, and angry at herself for not living up to her promise to Mr. Fields. The thought of him fighting in the middle of the desert while she sat here and did not live up to her end of the bargain made her crumble.
"Emily Catherine Fields! I will not tolerate this any longer. You have people to take care of. You need to wake up this instant. What about Danny, Amelia, Hanna, Spencer, Aria, your mom, your dad? What about me?" she says and sits back down in the chair. It was currently 2 pm on a Wednesday, and out of nowhere Emily's monitor started beeping. Alison barely had time to react before nurses and doctors stormed in.
"What's going on?" Alison asked.
"She's in cardiac arrest. I need you to exit the room ma'am," the doctor responded.
"No! I'm not going anywhere," she argued and the doctor nodded to a nurse who then saw it as her mission to remove Alison from the room, but not before she saw them rip open Emily's gown. She was stark naked with wires attached, he placed tongs in between her chest and on her left ribs. Her body began to rise from the table similar to when she was on the operating table. Alison was transfixed on the scene even if she was moved outside; she was able to see through the glass. She prayed to God for the first time in a long time that he spare her lover's life. She sat down unable to watch it for much longer and her leg began to tremble. She'd picked up this habit since Emily entered the hospital. The doctor exited the room and gave a sigh, which made Alison relax, and she looked into his eyes hopeful.
"Is she okay?" Alison asked visibly shaken.
"No, I'm afraid the damage done by the cardiac arrest was to great," he said with a heavy heart and Alison began to shake her head.
"No, what do you mean? That can't be right," she said vehemently.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, but Emily is…she's brain dead," he said.
"No! You have to do something. She was fine, she was squeezing my hand. She's not gone. She's still breathing," Alison choked through the tears.
"The machines are breathing for her. There's no more blood flowing to her brain, and the hand squeezes are involuntary reflexes, it's common amongst comatose patients. Again I am so sorry for your loss," he says and puts a hand on her shoulder, which is immediately slapped away.
"Sorry for my loss? Look at her! She's still breathing. I will get a second opinion because this is bullshit!" she yelled before getting up to move into the hospital room.
"Please baby, wake up. I can't live without you," she cries into Emily's hospital gown. She then thinks to call Pam even though she's at work.
"Mrs. Fields," she cries into the phone and that gives the older woman a sense of dread.
"Is everything alright Alison? Is Emily okay?" she's asks nervously.
"No! She went into cardiac arrest and now the doctor is saying she's brain dead," Alison stutters in the phone and it's hard to hear on Pam's part.
"Say that again," she asks.
"The doctor said Emily is brain dead," she cries.
"Oh no! How? What happened? My baby! I'll be right there," she cries. Alison hung up the phone and resumed crying after sending a S.O.S text to the girls. Everyone arrived in fifteen minutes to watch the tears had yet to stop with Alison.
"What's wrong Ali?" Spencer asked.
"She's gone," she cried and they all gasped.
"No, that can't be true!" Aria said. Alison sniffed and wiped the tears and sounded like she had a cold when she spoke.
"She went into cardiac arrest. The doctor said she doesn't have blood flowing to her brain and she's brain dead," Alison cried and they all wrapped her in a hug while laying a hand on Emily's body. Pam walked in on the sight and saw her daughter. She didn't want to let her go, it was her only baby. She carried her inside her for 9 months, and it didn't feel like her baby was ready to leave the world. She's so young and has so much to live for.
"No my baby," Pam rushed to her daughter and they all cried at the sight. She pulled Emily's head towards her chest and kept whispering and kissing. "You can't leave us". After a couple of minutes a doctor who was unrecognizable walked in.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Feiszer, I'm here to talk about organ donation," he said and Alison scoffed and Pam cried even more.
"You can leave! My fiancé isn't dead!" Alison yelled.
"Sorry…I-I was under the impression that the patient was brain dead," he said.
"Brain dead doesn't mean she's dead. Dammit why don't you guys have any faith?" she yelled with new tears springing to her eyes. "You couldn't even wait for the news to settle before you came strolling in here trying to steal all the things that make Emily, Emily".
"Sorry, I will give you some time, but every minute counts," he says.
"I know it does, but don't hold your breath, I'm not letting her go," she says with finality and giving him a glare that made him run far from the room. Emily's regular doctor walked in with a grim look on his face.
"I know this is the last thing you want to hear, but we should discuss all her options, including taking her off the ventilator," he said looking sympathetic.
"Not just an hour ago, you said that's what is helping her breathe. Unless you tell me that she's breathing on her own, then you can shove it up your ass with your suggestions. Emily is staying on that machine until she wakes up," Alison said and he took his leave understanding how hard it is to accept. Pam would've normally said something about her tone since she was talking to adults, but since Emily has been in the hospital, Alison has been taking care of her and helping her continue day to day.
"Someone should call Danny," Hanna suggested and they all nodded. Pam sighed and took out her phone and handed it to Spencer. They stepped outside to talk to him.
"What do you think we should do?" Pam asks.
"We should keep her on the machines until she wakes up," Alison says.
"But…" Pam tries to speak, but Alison interrupts.
"Do you feel it? I don't feel like Emily is ready to leave us. I don't feel the ache in my heart that should come when she leaves this world. I don't feel a longing in my soul. I know she's still here with us; we just have to be patient. You know how slow Emily can be," Alison reassured her and Pam nodded before walking over to her and Alison wrapped her in her arms and let her cry. The girls walked in on that scene.
"What did Danny say?" Alison asked over Mrs. Field's head.
"He's away in the Philippines, he should be back by Friday," Spencer replied and Alison nods.
"Did you tell him to bring her?" Alison asked.
"Yeah," Spencer replied.
"Bring who?" Pam asks still into the conversation. She picks up her head and looks into Alison's eyes.
"I know I shouldn't be the one to tell you this," Alison said.
"But you're exactly the person to tell me this, I know what Wayne made you promise," she said.
"We are talking about Amelia," Alison says with a sigh.
"Who's Amelia? What does she have to do with Emily and Danny?" she asks oblivious.
"She's their daughter," Alison replied and hears Pam gasp.
"But that can't be, she was never pregnant, I'd know" she says reassuring herself.
"Remember when she "went" to Haiti?" Alison asks and she nods. "Well she didn't exactly go to Haiti. Danny sent her off to the Samoan Islands to have their child".
"Well where has she been all this time? You know Emily can't keep secrets for too long," she asks.
"She's being raised by Danny's family," Alison said.
"Why wouldn't she tell me?" Pam asked.
"There's a whole other explanation for that, and I will tell you with time, but here," Alison said going into her pocket and grabbing the locket. She opens it to show Pam a picture of her granddaughter.
"Oh my," she says bringing a hand to her mouth. "She's so beautiful, she looks like Emily when she was a baby".
"Yeah, she gets all the looks from her mama," Alison says with a smile. The girls leave them to their private conversation and tell Emily they will see her later. They exit the room and return home with heavy hearts that their friend is gone. They lost their faith, and nothing will ever be the same.
Pam told Alison that she's decided to take a few days off of work to stay with Emily and Alison agreed. Somehow she felt that something big was going to happen. Soon Friday came and the girls came into the room around 11 am to see Emily looking the same. They came baring coffees, which was greatly appreciated. Hanna pulled out her perfume because the room had an odor, probably due to Alison and Pam refusing to leave Emily's bedside in case anything happened, and that meant no eating or showering.
"Hanna!" Spencer coughs and their banter causes Alison and Pam to smile and turn a shade of red that they're the cause of it.
"What?" she replied not having the courage to point out why she did it?
"Any change?" Aria asked hopefully.
"No," Alison replied somberly. After an awkward silence Danny knocked on the door and opened with a carrier.
"Hello," he said with a small smile. He turned the carrier to show a blonde hair, blue-eyed baby and they all frowned in confusion.
"Who's that?" Hanna asked.
"This is Amelia," he responds. It looks like her, but the photo had been black and white and a much younger version, so they weren't able to see her feature clearly.
"She's beautiful," Pam speaks first and goes to take her out of the carrier.
"Why does she have blonde hair and blue eyes, no mean to sound racist or disrespectful," Hanna asks lacking tact.
"My mom, she's white, she comes from a long line of blonde hair and blue eyes. I guess her genes were stronger than we all thought," he laughed at his last comment.
"How old is she?" Aria asks smiling at Pam's actions.
"8 months going on 10," he says and we all laugh.
"Hey baby, how are you," Pam coos her in the corner and we all turn to her seeing the first smile she's worn in months and it feels like a little pressure has been relieved. She turns the baby facing towards Emily, while the small hands grip her fingers.
"Mama!" Amelia shouts and we all gasp.
"She talks?" Alison asked.
"No! That's her first word," he says going over to the baby. "Say it again!" he encourages her.
"Mama!" she says again smiling and pointing to Emily.
"How does she know her?" Alison asks.
"Well we have pictures of her and remind her of who her mom is, even though she hasn't been there physically," he says and smiles. Pam gets the thought to put her on the bed and she begins to crawl towards Emily. They all watched in glee as she made funny noises and started to hit Emily as if to wake her up. "Mama" she says a little more of a somber tone coming to her voice. "Mama?" she says beginning to cry as she touches the ventilator. They want to stop her, but she starts to lie down on her stomach and cuddle up on Emily and cry. Their hearts break at the scene and Aria gets the idea to take a picture of it. It's the first picture Emily's taken with her daughter and she's not awake to see it. As they were wiping the tears they heard another "Mama" and say the baby looking at the hand rising to wrap around her and they all gasped at the scene. That's the first movement from Emily since she entered the coma.
"Do you see that?" Hanna asks.
"Yeah," Spencer says speechless and Alison rushes over to Amelia and Emily.
"Emily? Can you hear me?" Alison asks but no response, she only sees Emily's arm wrapped around Amelia.
"Emily if you can hear me squeeze Amelia," Alison says and they hold their breath waiting. A minute passed by and they all were about to sigh in disappointment until they saw out the corner of their eye, Emily squeeze Amelia and she squealed at the feeling and they all laughed. Tears poured out of their eyes with joy at the moment that they all got to experience.
"Baby, come back. Just follow my voice. We're waiting on you," Alison kept saying. "Keep swimming," Alison repeated and they all heard a beeping noise that no one recognized before. "Come on, come back to me, come back to Amelia," she kept saying while laying kisses on her forehead and rubbing Amelia's hair. "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere. Just open you eyes, for all us. She's right there in your arms. You can do it Emmy," Alison said and they all watched the scene unfold. Emily's lips started to separate and her Adam's apple started to retract. Movement could be seen underneath her eyes. One parted open and she closed it at the light.
"Close the window!" Alison yelled realizing the problem. Emily felt it was safe now to try and open her eyes. It was painful, her eyes felt heavy, but the sound of Alison's voice was strong. She was swimming, and she had someone who felt so familiar in her arm. A need to protect that person won against all her defenses and she decided to fight, this person needed her more than anything. She opened her right eye and the left soon followed and the world was blurry. She could only make out shadows.
"Alison," she tried to say but something was blocking her windpipe.
"Shhh, don't talk, just relax, I'm right here, just listen to my voice," she said and could hear Alison press a button.
"Where am I?" again she tried to talk.
"The hospital," once Alison said that, alarm bells went off in her head and a pounding headache came. The sound of a machine made them all look towards it and saw her heart rate rising.
"Calm down baby, Amelia's in your arms, don't frighten her," Alison said softly.
"I can't see," Emily cried.
"I can't understand you, just don't talk the doctor will be in soon," she put her hand on Emily's arm and that seemed to do the trick since she visibly relaxed.