Danny, Alice and Ethan stood watching the doctors frantically working on Lexi. The doctor head shot up and he gestured wildly and the nurse quickly left the room for a second. Came back with a bottle of something. The doctor nodded and then filled a needle then said something to Lexi. His mouth looked like he was saying something about a bad reaction! She was being manually ventilated by a nurse and the doctor was stood looking. He was shaking his head. Lost her, was mouthed. He put his head up to the nurse who was ventilating her and ran his hand through his hair. They saw him exhale.

Lexi's back lifted suddenly and she gasped. The doctor looked at her open mouthed. He was gesturing wildly again to the nurses. The doctor started smiling slightly.

Alice hand was covering her mouth. Her eyes had filled more with every second that had passed. "I shouldn't have left her Danny! She was alone in here." Danny wrapped Alice in his arms. The pulled Ethan to his side with his free arm. Alice cried heaving sobs into his chest.

Danny's heart felt like it was going to beat straight out of his chest. It had stopped when the doctor had mouthed lost her. Then she started breathing again. On her own! God she was so much like her mother it's unreal!

Ethan stood watching Lexi stoically. His back ramrod straight. Any straighter and any tighter he would literally break from the pressure. "Relax son." he said softly. "She will be fine I know she will!"

The doctors were in there 20 minutes getting her stabilised. Dr Phillips came out to speak to her family.

"Lexi's immune system is decimated as you know. What we can figure is she caught a little bug which her immune system would have dealt with fairly easily had she been fit and well but in her weakened state it attacked physically devastated her. The fever came on very fast and she did stop breathing. To be honest we had lost her, but your daughter is obviously a fighter and came back on her own. It has got me absolutely stumped as to how but she did. Her promptness in calling a nurse also helped save her life. She is in there sleeping again. You are all fine to go in but I must stress to you the importance of….."

"Cleanliness, hygiene. Don't worry doctor we all know!" Danny said.

They all walked into Lexi's room. They sat around her. She looked terrible. Much worse than before. Smaller, frailer. Her breathing was coming in small shallow pants. Her whole body seemed devoid of colour. They all sat lost in their own private thoughts. The guilt on Alice's features was plain to see. Danny looked worried. Ethan sat there staring at her. Wishing she'd open her eyes. Shoot them her cocky Lexi grin and call them all stupid for worrying. But she didn't. her eyes remained closed. Her breathing stayed shallow. He thought his heart was going to break from the sheer devastation he was feeling.

A few hours later Lexi was still asleep and Danny was trying to convince Alice to go and get something to eat.

"I'm not leaving!"

"Go on you and Ethan go to the café. Grab a bite to eat please." Danny pleaded.

"Can't you go and get me a sandwich and bring it back here?" she asked.

"Alice the last couple of times I did that you didn't like what I brought you!" he replied.

"Why don't you two go down then and I'll stay here!" Ethan piped up.

Alice and Danny looked at each other considering.

"Trust me if she so much as twitches I'll call the nurse!" Ethan said.

"We'll be 10 minutes tops!" Alice said.

Ethan nodded. He was alone with Lexi. He looked at the girl he loved. Lying in her hospital bed. She wasn't getting better. Her breathing came in short shallow pants. Her chest barely moving with every quick breath she inhaled. He touched her cheek gently. It was warm and clammy.

"Lexi we told each other this wasn't going to beat you remember? Do you remember everything we were gonna do? All those firsts we were gonna experience together. I made a little list. My little daredevil list anyway. Parachute jumping. Rock climbing. White water rafting. Bungee jumping. Just to name a few. I thought that bungee jumping one or jumping from the plane could be like a sponsorship thing to raise money for a child leukaemia charity or something."

She slept on with no change.

Let me be the one you call

If you jump I'll break your fall

Lift you up and fly away with you into the night

If you need to fall apart

I can mend a broken heart

If you need to crash then crash and burn

You're not alone

He sang this song to her like he had 2 weeks ago in his bedroom. He breathed heavily waiting for a response. Anything a twitch of her hand. A flicker to say she heard him.

"Aw C'mon Lex." he said softly. Voice breaking.

He felt a dam burst inside him. All the tears and sadness he had kept bottled inside the last 2 weeks came bubbling to the surface. He couldn't withhold it anymore. He crumpled put his head in his hands and cried hot silent tears. He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Danny. He pulled him from his chair and wrapped his arms around him.

"I guessed this was close." Danny told him softy.

"She promised me she'd get better!" he hiccupped. "But it's beating her! Danny I tried not to but I love her. I dunno what I'll do if anything happens to her. She can't die. I won't let this take her away! He said stubbornly into Danny's chest.

"C'mon Eth this is Lexi. Our Lexi. She'll bounce back. Nothing keeps her down. And I know you love her. I've known for a while. That discussion will be left for another time though."

Lexi exhaled a deep breath. Her eyes still closed. Danny and Ethan were stood at opposite sides of her bed immediately. Her arms moved to her stomach and clutched it tightly. She groaned. The moment passed and Lexi's arms loosened. She opened her eyes slowly, then looked between Ethan and Danny and squinted.

"Christ I'm looking at the devils minions!" she said weakly. "God is such a liar!" then she smiled. It was a shadow of her old smile but it was the first one they'd seen in a week. It looked a little tired but it was definitely there. "C'mon that was a joke." she said tiredly. "You know ha ha?"

Danny and Ethan looked at each other and then back at Lexi's tired face. They both started laughing.

"That is more like it!" she said softly and looked around.

"Where's mum?" she started to panic tried to get up. "Is it Daniel?" she asked breathing heavily. She was nearly hyperventilating.

"Lexi lie down baby." Danny said. He looked at Ethan. "Go get Alice." Ethan left the room. "It's ok baby, your mum is fine and so is Daniel."

Lexi exhaled. "I thought God broke his promise." she whispered.

Danny frowned.

"I died dad." she said simply.

Danny paled. "Don't talk like that Lex!"

"it was awful. Not the dying. I didn't really notice that. What happened after. And God is such a self righteous condescending jerk!" she said with conviction.

She sounded like her old self just then.

Her mum burst into the room. "Lexi?" she asked.

Lexi half smiled at her mum.

Alice walked over and wrapped her in her arms. Even though it used a lot of her energy she sat up and hugged her mum back. Alice pulled back and looked at her daughters tired face.

"You scared the hell outta me!" Alice said softly touching her face.

"Mum what I said…."

"It doesn't matter Lex."

She shook her head. "No what I meant to say was thank you mum. I know how hard this is for you. To see me like this. But I'm staying strong for you. I love you and will always be grateful for your loving presence in my life." she panted a little after her little declaration.

"Aw Lexi." Alice pulled her to her and hugged her tighter. "All that wasn't necessary."

"Yes it was mum! I don't tell you or dad or Ethan for that matter how much I love all of you. How important you all are to me. And I swear this thing is not gonna beat me. Lexi Trevanion backs down for no one!

Everyone smiled at Lexi. She was back. But the question was for how long?

A/N that last line sounds omnious. so she didn't die this time muhahahahaha me eval!