A/N: Hooray for being back in The Netherlands! Hooray... I'm not happy with it, I liked it in France! It was warm there, here, it's like Autumn, even like Winter, but then without snow... Hate it...
Anyway, enjoy this chapter! I know I lost a lot people because it got this boring, but I promise, for the ones who are still reading: It will be worth it! Or at least, that's what I think...
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN SAW! :)
"Good morning Amanda. We called your husband today. He said he would come in thirty minutes." The doctor said, and wrote something on the clapboard at the front of her bed. She looked up, and smiled.
She was awake now for almost a week. The doctors said it was best if they didn't told Mark for a while. She would get a lot of rest without Mark, Corbett and Paige. But she told them she wanted them here. She didn't knew how long she was in a coma. They told her it were three months, and she laughed them in the face. She couldn't be sleeping for three months. When they replied very serious that it was in fact three months, she got worried. She immediately thought about Mark and Corbett. They wouldn't miss her. She slapped herself in the face. Of course they would. They loved her, just like she loved them. She was just used to the fact that nobody loved her.
She didn't knew what had happened. Doctors asked her that quite a lot in the past few days, but she always told them she didn't know a thing. She had asked where they had found her. She was laying in the front yard of the Town Hall.
"Good." Amandas voice cracked. She needed to talk a lot, the doctors had told her. And when she was better, she needed to do exercises to learn to walk again, because she hadn't walked in three months. She heard voices outside of the room. Probably some visitors for the people in the room next to her. Even in that week she was awake, she was already getting pissed off. She didn't get any visitors. Not that she expected to.
Corbett ran through the halls of the hospital. Mark followed her, almost not capable of remaining his speed, since he carried Paige.
"Corbett, wait for me!" Mark exclaimed, and almost fell a few times.
"Here it is, right, dad?" Corbett yelled, and jumped on her feet. Mark almost wasn't used to the hyper Corbett any more. The past three months, Corbett always was down. She sometimes was a bit hyper when Mark picked her up from ballet lessons, or from school, but that was it. He liked it when she was hyper, though.
"Yes, there it is, but wait for me!" Corbett almost opened the door, when Mark grabbed her arm.
"Corbett, I said, wait for me!" Mark laughed. Corbett didn't listened to him. All she wanted was to see Amanda, and this time, awake.
"I'm sorry!" She said, still jumping. Mark smiled.
"We'll open the door on three, alright?" She nodded.
"One... Two... THREE!" Corbett opened the door and they ran inside the room. The doctor quickly turned around because of all the noise they made. Mark and Corbett immediately walked past him, to Amandas bed.
"Hi Amanda!" They screamed in unison. Corbett with a big smile on her face, Mark also, but he almost cried out of happiness. Amanda was startled. They were so busy they didn't even noticed the doctor leaving.
"Hi!" Her voice cracked. Corbett jumped on the bed, and Mark sat on the side of it. Mark leaned over and kissed her. Not just a simple kiss. A passionate one. He hadn't kissed her for almost three months.
"Dad, I want to talk to Amanda as well!" Corbett screamed.
"Dad?" Amanda asked, confused by the sudden change in nicknames.
"Yes, the first night when you laid here, we visited you, and we waited till midnight, and then Corbett's birthday came and I gave her the exact same necklace you have. And then she started calling me dad." Mark said, and smiled. Amanda smiled as well.
"I saw the necklace, thanks Mark."
"You're welcome!" Mark smiled. Corbett hugged Amanda.
"I have a ballet recital today, can you come?" Corbett asked. Amandas face dropped.
"Oh, Corbett, I wished I could, but I don't think I can't." She sad, with a sad smile. A nurse entered right then. Corbett jumped of off the bed.
"Can Amanda come to my ballet recital?" She exclaimed, and jumped. The nurse smiled.
"Maybe I can arrange something. But someone has to come with her." She looked at Amanda and Mark, and they nodded. She walked out of the room, and Corbett ran down to Amandas bed.
"And Corbett, have you missed me?" Amanda asked, already knowing the answer. Corbett pinched Amanda in her arm.
"Of course I missed you!"
"Ouch!" Amanda exclaimed. Corbett hugged her again.
"Hello?" The nurse came back into the room. Corbett turned around, hopefully.
"Yes?" Amanda said.
"You can go to the recital, but you have to sit in a wheelchair, I have to come with you. I don't know if that's a problem?" She looked at Mark.
"I have to check that!" He said, and picked up his phone. He walked out of the room. Corbett turned around to Amanda. She touched Amandas necklace.
"What's wrong, Corbett?"
"No! It's just... I missed you very much when you were sleeping..." Amanda smiled.
"What did I missed then?" Amanda asked, curious. She had never thought about it that she would miss three months of Paige's and Corbett's lives. Amanda suddenly felt a big pain growing in her head.
"Well... I'm the best of the class at school, and with ballet!" Corbett exclaimed, proud. Amanda painfully smiled, but felt her head grow heavier and heavier.
"Mandy? Are you okay?" Corbett asked, and tapped on her cheeks. Amanda noticed Mark and a nurse running into the room, then everything went black again...
"Mandy? Are you okay?" Mark heard Corbett asking. He stopped talking to the woman on the phone. He had wanted to buy two more tickets, and for one woman with a wheelchair, but he couldn't really focus on the conversation. Mark immediately ran to the next room and saw a nurse.
"Excuse me, I think something is wrong with my fiancée! Can you please look at her?" Mark said. The nurse hastily nodded and ran after him into Amandas room. Just then, Amandas eyes closed and her head fell back.
"Mom! Mandy, don't go now!" Corbett exclaimed. Mark got her off the bed, and stepped a few steps back. Corbett hesitated. The nurse pushed on a button, and within less than one minute the whole room was full of doctors. Mark and Corbett were asked to leave the room, for their own good. They didn't want to see Amanda now, one of the doctors told them. Mark nodded, and ran over to Paige and picked her up. With a crying Corbett, and a crying Paige, he left the room, not knowing what was going on with his fiancée.
Corbett sobbed. She and Mark were waiting for almost thirty minutes now. She looked at the clock on the wall. Another three hours till she had to be in the Opera Hall for her performance. She didn't want to go. She wanted to be here, she wanted to know what had happened to Amanda, and what is wrong with her.
"Corbett, do you still want to go to your recital?" Mark asked after another ten minutes. She thought about it. What could she do here? She couldn't help Amanda. She nodded. Mark hugged her.
"Mark? What is wrong with Amanda?" She asked. He shook his head.
"I don't know sweaty, I don't know..." They sat like that for a long time, when Corbett finally pulled back.
"Are we going now then?" She said, and stood up. Mark sadly smiled, and nodded. He stood up as well, and got Paige.
"First, we have to bring Paige to the Perkins. Then, we have to race over to the Opera Hall and get you all pretty and stuff, and then we'll call to the hospital to see if they have any news on Amanda, okay?" Mark said, as they walked through the hospital. She nodded. At least now she had something to do, something to clean her mind from all the pain she had gone through and again will have to go through. She wanted this to all be over.
Mark sat on a bench, and looked at Corbett. She sat in a big chair, and a young girl from around nineteen was doing Corbett's make up. Corbett was the main dancer of one part, and Mark would have been proud of her. If Amanda was here, at least. He felt happy and sad at the same time.
Happy, because he was proud of Corbett, proud she at least was making something of her live. He and Amanda never did. They just watched others live their lives, like John said perfectly for Adams test. Mark never understood how people could fully live their live. When he looked at Corbett, he understood. She was a happy child, at least before the past three months. She almost laughed, almost never was angry or upset, and almost never cried. Mark wanted Corbett to have a normal childhood, one he and Amanda never had. A childhood with loving parents, a lot of attention, but most of all a lot of love. He thought about the past almost two years. He hoped he had given her a lot of love.
But he also felt sad. Sad, he had to do this alone, without Amanda. He first needed Amanda a lot. He always called her when he had to wash Paige, or something else. He learned all of it just in time before Amanda got sick. Sad, he didn't knew what was going on with Amanda. He wanted to know what was wrong. This was not just the flu.
"So, you look pretty enough, I think!" The young girl exclaimed, with a big smile on her face. If only she knew what Corbett was feeling right now. She turned the chair around, and revealed a shining Corbett. On the outside. Mark knew that on the inside, she was crying. A sad smiled appeared on her face.
"Are you ready, Corbett?" Mark asked. She nodded.
"Can you call Amanda now?" Corbett asked, and walked over to Mark. He nodded. He pulled her on his lap, and got his phone. With shaking hands he dialed the number of the hospital. Corbett leaned against him.
"Hello, with Mark Hoffman. Can you please tell me if you have any information about Amanda Young?" Mark asked.
"One moment, sir, I'll check it." The woman on the other side of the phone said. He sighed. He was nervous. After two long, silence minutes, the woman came back on the phone again.
"I'm afraid we have some bad news, sir. Miss Young has an aggressive form of cancer, one that's not easy to heal. Maybe she won't make it." Marks eyes widened.
"Ok... Okay..." Marks voice cracked. Corbett looked up at him, worried.
"Thank you..." Mark said, and he hung up the phone. Corbett turned around on his lap, so that she was facing him.
"What's wrong, dad?" She asked. Mark couldn't say anything. Then, he began to cry.
"Dad? Dad, what's wrong with Amanda?" Corbett exclaimed.
"She... Amanda... She has cancer..." Corbett gasped. She began crying as well. Corbett hugged Mark. They sat like that for almost half an hour, before someone entered the room to get Corbett. Corbett looked up. Her make-up was a mess. Corbett hugged Mark again.
"Corbett, I need to do your make-up again." The young woman from before said to him. Corbett shook her head. Mark had stopped crying when the woman entered the room. No one needed to see him crying.
"Corbett, this girl's right. Amanda would be proud of you." Mark whispered in Corbett's hair. She looked up at him, then nodded. Mark smiled a sad smile. He knew he was right. Corbett climbed of off Marks lap, and followed the woman again, out of the room into another one. He stood up, stroking his hair, thinking about what to do know. He didn't knew. His mind was a mess. This could not be happening. Amanda would live, the doctors told him this morning. And now, she has a fatal disease with a short, tiny-teeny chance of surviving. This was not real. When he slapped himself on the head, he would wake up, and this would a be a bad nightmare. He closed his eyes, and slapped himself. He opened his eyes again. Nothing. He was still here. Dammit! But he knew what to do now. He needed to make the most of his time with Amanda, and make Corbett remind Amanda as a beautiful, lovely mother.
Corbett slapped herself. She wasn't supposed to cry, her make-up would be a mess again, and Amanda wouldn't become better by her tears. Amanda. Her mother. Why did she needed to have the most beautiful, and lovely mother in the world, but just the one who has to become sick and maybe die? Her real mother already died, why did she needed to have this a second time?
"Corbett, your part is almost here. Are you ready?" Someone asked, while grabbing Corbett's arm. She pulled back.
"Sorry." The woman said.
"Yes, I'm ready." Corbett whispered. Ready for what? Losing her mom again? Or ready for this silly recital. She was exited in the past three months for this recital. This was the thing she did the most. But now, it felt like a cage she couldn't get out of.
"Okay, good luck!" The woman said, and walked away. Corbett stood up, and walked out of the room.
"Good luck, Corbett!"
"Break a leg!" People said to her. She didn't heard it anymore. She needed to do this, for Amanda. She walked into the coulisse. There was a mirror hanging against the wall. She looked in it. She saw a beautiful girl. But her thoughts weren't beautiful. She wanted to be dead. Because then, she could be with Amanda again if Amanda died too.
"Corbett, you're part!" A woman whispered, and pushed her onto the stage. Corbett forced a smile. She stood in the first position of her dance. Here we go. The music started. She danced a few moves. Then, she saw something. There was a woman standing at the other side of the stage. She waved at Corbett. It was Amanda. Corbett stood still. She waved back.
"Amanda? Amanda, are you dead?" Corbett asked. Amanda shook her head.
"I'm in your imagination. I love you. Now, show me what you got!" Amanda said, softly. She slowly disappeared. Corbett looked at the crowd, who were all whispering to each other. She shook her head, and ran off the stage.
"Can I have a microphone?" Corbett exclaimed.
"Corbett, what are you doing?" A woman asked, and tried to push her back on the stage.
"I need to have a microphone!" Corbett said, and finally, someone came and gave her a microphone. Corbett walked back onto the stage. She stood in the middle of it, and took a deep breath.
"You might wonder what I'm doing right now. My mother's in the hospital. She has cancer, and she might die soon." Corbett swallowed. No tears now, Corbett! she yelled to herself in her mind.
"I wanted her to be here, so I could show what I've learned in the last three months. She was sleeping for three months. She and Mark were going to marry, and I would become Amandas maid of honor then." Everybody in the crowd looked at each other, with confused looks. Corbett looked at them, then found Mark. She waved at him. He was crying.
"I know Amanda can't see me right now, but I know she would be proud of me, and so, I'm going to show what I've got!" Corbett smiled at her last words. It's what Amanda always uses to motivate her into doing something. She walked back into the coulisse again, and threw away the microphone. Nobody did something; they were still shocked what Corbett did. Corbett walked back on the stage again, and stood in the first position for her dance again. She closed her eyes. She imagined Amanda, she sometimes danced with Amanda. Amanda laughed. Corbett did too. She danced, the whole time with her eyes shut, because she was afraid she would lose the picture of a laughing Amanda. She made her last pirouette, and bowed. She opened her eyes, and looked up. There was silence. Suddenly, someone in the crowd stood up and began clapping. Corbett looked at who it was; it was Mark. He smiled. More and more people stood up and clapped, until everybody was standing and clapping, screaming. Corbett smiled. Then, she collapsed.
A/N: I can almost hear you worrying: 'O NO! Corbett is getting sick as well!' To answer your question: She's not. She's just upset, really, really upset. It will be sad, the next chapter. Just a fair warning. Before you approach me like: 'You haven't told me it would get THIS sad!" Well, I did now! :)
Reviews please!