Christian's POV

'Mum! How could you lose her? She's surrounded by nurses!' I angrily shouted.

'Christian… Stop shouting! It's not helping anyone. A girl in the ward committed suicide. The whole staff was tending to the body, and the nurse's shift had just finished. Nobody noticed.'

'FUCK!'

'Christian, you need to sort your crap out… Don't blame it on us. Your kid had been unhappy for so long… you are the one that haven't noticed anything.' She hissed in a teeth wrenching voice.

'I know mother… I know… I've… I've read her journal…' I replied as I crumbled to the chair. 'I haven't been a father to her… Never have been.' I replied while she joined me.

'Christian, you have been… when she was younger… she always mentions you in that light…' She reasoned. '…and besides… one of you can stay with her… you both keep saying how you want to care… and yet you both leave her side and both at the same time. She can't be alone right now… she needs you… especially you Christian! You've pushed her away for so long.'

'Elliot and Kate needed us…'

'…That's no excuse Christian… Your own daughter needs you more… you are no longer a kid Christian… you cannot just control whatever you want… yes I understand you want this… this illness to go away… hell… I want Sera to get better… I miss my old granddaughter so very much… but we both know that this is something we cannot control…'

'I know mum… It's just…' I was about to start, when Ana joined us.

'Grace…' She started. '…she had a seizure? John just explained to me…'

'Yes… her blood glucose level dropped enormously low… it affected her heart… The seizure indicates an almost brain damage…'

'Brain damage!' I exclaimed. '…She's 17!'

'…and she's starving herself Christian… We have to put her on intravenous hyperalimentation… she needs large amounts of nutrients… we're trying to reverse all the damage that she had done to her body…'

'Why is she doing this?' Ana asked in defeat. '…she knows she's dying…'

'Ana… she can't see the damage she is doing to her body.'

'So what you're saying now, is that we have to wait and watch her die…' I replied feeling my heart rip from the insides.

'No Christian… that's not what I'm saying… all you need to both do, is make her feel loved… don't leave her alone at any moment… she needs to know that you want her…'

'Of course we want her mum… and she knows it as well…'

'Then keep showing her…' She finished.

Sera's POV

My body felt numb. My eyes were heavy, but I soon opened them. I tried remembering what happened that got me there again. I realised that my escape plan was full of imperfections which is why it got me back to the hospital.

I stood to a seating position, but little I knew that Flynn was waiting for me to get back into consciousness.

'Hey…' He started.

'What time is it?' I asked gently.

'About 2am.' He replied while I cracked my neck. 'Where were you going tonight?' He asked intrigued.

'Nowhere…'

'Well, that's where you ended up because you're too weak to go anywhere else…' He simply replied as he shifted his position. 'Want to talk?' He continued.

'No…'

'Are you hungry?' He asked again, while I gave him one of my father's stern look. 'I'm sorry; when I'm tired I ask silly questions…'

'Aren't you supposed to be home at this hour?' I asked slowly as I lied back down.

'Yes… but I've taken some night shifts here and there… and besides… you're not a regular patient… you're family…' He smiled.

'What about Walter and Derek? They need their father more than I need you…'

'Sera… why do you think that you don't need someone who wants to be there for you?'

'I don't know…'

'Let me make it simpler… You were perplexed because I stayed here waiting for you to wake up… Why don't you think you're worth this?'

'…because I'm nothing to you…' I replied as I curled in a ball. 'I've never quite welcomed you…'

'You may have never shown your affection… but for sure you love Walter and Derek.' He smiled as he moved forward and reached for my hand.

'Why are you so kind to me? Why do you care so much?'

'…Sera, you may not realise this… but you are a precious kid… and you are family to me… your grandparents had taken me under their wings and till I got married and had my own kids, they were constantly there for me. Then Christian had you… and I felt honoured to be the first one to hold you after your parents did… We go far back than you think Sera…'

'I didn't know this…' I replied, while he looked at the deck of cards on the cabinet.

'You play back gammon? Chess?' He started while I nodded in disagreement. 'Do you like puzzles?' He asked again. 'I like puzzles… couldn't get enough of them when I was a kid. I used to collect them… my brother… he'd hide the pieces. I just had about the puzzle complete; I couldn't find the missing pieces… I think it amused him to watch me staring about… Trying to find two pieces of a white cloud…'

'I'm tired John…' I whined seeing that the story probably had some moral to it.

'…and then, when I get tired of looking for the missing pieces I cry, and he would bring me the missing pieces, and he would laugh and he always said 'you're too young for puzzles… if you cry over missing pieces.' He finished. 'Do you know what I learnt from him? The moral of the story?'

'What?' I now asked intrigued.

'Nothing… absolutely nothing… I still fight the wall when I don't find the missing pieces till this very same day…'

'I suppose there is a message in all of this…'

'No… none… I just wanted to see if you were listening… Sera, you say you're not sick, and you want to go home… and you do run away… but you don't have the strength to cross the street… that is a puzzle…'

'Let me go… I don't want to stay here…' I said in defeat.

'You are not Nancy!'

'She was getting out of here…She was cured…' I continued as I stared at the ceiling

'No… she wasn't cured…The rule said she could leave if she was into no immediate physical danger… but she wasn't cured.'

'She had plans… she told me.'

'I know… but she deceived all of us. Her plans… her sense of humour… All a con... She couldn't share her fears and rituals like you have… she quit…'

'You don't feel anything…' I said in tears.

'I feel… I feel loss… lost… I couldn't get to her in time… I couldn't save her…'

'It hurts…'

'I know Sera… but you hang in there… You're going to get well… I promise…' He smiled. 'Now get some sleep… you'll feel better… and I'll be around if you want to talk to me.' He finished as he squeezed my hand and left the room.

Christian's POV

'Mum… I…' I was at a loss of words… I didn't know what to say anymore. I didn't know what to do, think, feel… I was lost…

'Christian, you need to make her feel in a family… you have to make her feel loved.' She explained while John joined us.

'She's up Grace.'

'How is she?'

'She's weak… she needs to get her strength back to respond to therapy…' He urged.

'Can we see her?' Ana asked.

'Yeah… sure… and I suggest that one of you should stay here for the night.' He continued as he handed the file to my mother.

'I'll stay… I need to fix my relationship with her…' I replied as I rubbed my face. 'Ana, you go home… Sawyer will drive you… Get me some clothes with you tomorrow baby.' I finished while I had Sawyer already on the phone.

'Ana, you both need to be there for her now more than ever.'

'I know… I know John…'

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