A flurry of reactions traveled through the crowd.

Joe and Fran were taken aback.

Hank was incredulous.

Jonathan was impressed.

Mona was proud.

And Angela was overwhelmed.

Sam's face was red and tears were pouring down her face. She glared down at Linda who had fallen to the ground.

"If you….If you had kept your damn nose out of our family business my Dad wouldn't be here now! But noooo you had to be a nosy bitch and interfere in something that had nothing to do with you!" Sam shouted at her.

Sam wiped her eyes. "And then your scum ass of a boyfriend was planning on…" She choked back a sob. "He and his disgusting friends were planning on raping Angela. All because you wanted revenge on her for having you arrested."

Linda shook her head. "No, that's not…."

"What the hell is going on here?! May I remind all of you that this is a hospital!" A nurse came over glaring at them.

"We're very sorry for the noise." Angela told her.

The nurse whose name tag said Nurse Edison looked at everyone and then at Linda who was still lying on the floor.

"Ma'am what happened? Who hit you?"

"I did!" Sam said proudly.

"SAMANTHA! Don't say anything else!" Angela warned her.

"Why not? It was a great left hook!" Mona grinned.

"Mother, you are not helping!"

Mona grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

"You hit her? I have no choice than to call the hospital guards." Nurse Edison informed Sam.

"No!"

They all looked at Linda who stood up.

"No? What do you mean no? She just admitted in front of witnesses that she hit you."

"I know. But, I'm not pressing charges."

"You're not?"

Linda shook her head.

"Okay. It's your decision. But at least let me fix up your lip."

Linda nodded and followed her to the nurse's station. Nurse Edison put some ointment on it and gave her a cloth packed with ice.

"Here keep this on for ten to fifteen minutes now and then every two hours for the next twenty four hours. If the swelling doesn't go down in a few days or if you experience severe pain you'll need to come back.

"Okay. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Nurse Edison went back to her work and Linda went back to where everyone else was.

"What the hell do you want now?!" Sam snapped at her.

Angela put her hands on her shoulders.

"Sam, please."

Sam looked over her shoulder at Angela and sighed.

"Actually Angela. I came because I wanted to talk to you."

Mona shook her head. "Oh no sister! You are not talking to my daughter under an circumstances!"

"Yeah! Just forget it!" Jonathan stepped up and put his arms around Mona. They glared at Linda, a united Grandmother and grandson against a common enemy.

Linda sighed. "I guess I deserve that."

"You must certainly do young lady! I know Joe, Hank, and I are late to the party so to speak, but what you and your boyfriend did to these people is disgusting!"

"Angela, all I'm asking is five minutes of your time."

Angela looked at everyone and then back at Linda.

"Okay. I'll give you five minutes."

"What? Angela! You can't be serious!" Mona looked at her in shock.

"Mother, it's okay." She turned back to Linda.

"We can go sit over there." She pointed at some chairs and started walking over to them. The others followed behind her.

Angela sat down and Linda sat beside her. Mona, Sam, and Jonathan formed a protective shield around Angela while Joe, Fran, and Hank hovered nearby.

"I think we can do this ourselves." Angela told them.

Sam shook her head. "Oh no! We are not leaving you alone!"

Angela took her hand. "It's okay. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure Mom?"

Angela nodded.

"Okay. But just remember Missy we'll be just around the corner! And if you thought Sam had a good left hook, well let me tell you I used to beat up boys who picked on my brother Cornelius…"

"Okay, Grandma." Jonathan led her away and the others followed.

Linda waited until they were out of earshot and turned to Angela.

"Thank you for giving me this time."

"I just hope I don't regret it."

Linda sighed.

"Angela, I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for what Keith and his friends were planning on doing to you. "

"You are? But, I thought you wanted revenge. You said at Africa that I was going to pay for this."

"I know. But I was thinking about slashing your tires or stealing your jag. Keith told me about how you and Tony thought he was a mugger and that he had your purse and his wallet. And I thought this is perfect! You must have a dozen credit cards and we could put you in some serious debt. But, I swear I never thought that he would go this far. I was disgusted when I realized what he had planned."

Angela sighed. "Okay, I know that you were only looking out for Kathleen and in a weird way I can respect it."

"Yeah, and I'm not going to apologize for that. If a friend of mine is being betrayed or disrespected I will defend them. But, what Keith was going to do…. Well I was never more disgusted in my life. I yelled that he was a son of a bitch and that he could rot in jail for all I cared and then walked away."

"And I'm guessing he wasn't to happy?"

"Oh, no he was livid. But, I just couldn't stay there any longer."

"I see."

"Yeah, and I'm not saying this because I expect you to drop the charges. I just wanted it to be clear that I in no way agree with what he wanted to do."

Angela looked into her eyes and saw the sincerity reflected in them.

"Okay, I believe you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Linda stood up.

"I hope Tony will be okay."

"Me too."

"Good bye Angela."

"Good bye."

Linda turned and walked away.

Angela sat there for a few moments, her head spinning. Had Linda really just apologized? She stood up and walked back to where everyone else was.

"Angela! Are you okay?" Mona grabbed her hands and led her to a chair.

"I am. She just wanted to apologize for what Keith did."

"And you believed her?!" Sam scoffed.

Angela nodded. "Yes, I actually did."

Mona and Sam looked at each other both conveying the same, is she kidding?! message but kept their mouths shut.

The next couple of hours passed slowly. Fran finally convinced everyone to at least have something to drink and something light to eat.

"I'm sorry but when I get nervous I have an uncontrollable need to feed people!"

"And as you can see she gets nervous a lot!" Joe laughed, patting his stomach.

That broke the tension a little and everyone managed a small smile to slip through their faces.

Now they just needed Tony to be alright.

############################

"Excellent job Dr. Ballard."

"Thank you Dr. Ferguson. Same to you."

Isabelle glanced at him. He looked worn out. It was no surprise though. They had just spent seven hours in surgery. But she knew it was more than that.

"Andy?"

"Yeah?"

"I heard about you and Angela."

"Oh, you mean that she dumped me for Tony?"

"Yes, I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am."

"You are? But, I thought you always wanted them together."

"I do. But, that doesn't mean I wanted to see you get hurt."

Andy nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Well, I guess we better go and inform that Tony is out of surgery."

"Yes."

They walked out of the operating room and walked down a few corridors until they got to the waiting room.

"Isabelle! Andy!" Is he okay?" Angela stood up and walked over to them. The others followed close behind.

"He is. It was touch and go for a while." Andy said.

"We almost lost him but Andy brought him back."

Sam let out a strangled cry and collapsed in Hank's arms.

Angela put her hand to her mouth, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Andy… Thank you. I don't know how I…we will ever repay you."

Andy shook his head. "I was just doing my job."

"You saved his life." Mona said.

"Yeah, so the next few days will be extremely critical. Tony will probably be asleep for the next few hours. Once we move him into a private room you can visit him but only two at a time."

"Okay, thank you Andy." Angela said.

"You're welcome."

He looked at Angela one last time and then walked away.

"I'll let you all know when we have Tony settled. " Isabelle told them. She gave Angela, Sam, Mona, and Jonathan hugs and walked away.

"Now, I guess we just wait. Some more." Jonathan said.

After another hour Isabelle came back to tell them that Tony was in a private room. Mona told Angela and Sam to go in first. Angela and Sam locked their hands together and followed Isabelle.

"Okay, before we go in I just want to prepare you. He lost a lot of blood and is very pale. "

"We understand." Angela told her.

Isabelle opened the door and let them go in front of her.

Sam saw him lying there helpless. She had never seen her Father so helpless before. It caused a cold chill throughout her body.

"DADDY!" She cried and rushed over to him.

Angela walked over and stood on the other side. She picked his hand up.

"Tony? If you can hear us. Please open your eyes. We're all so worried about you. We love you so much. We need you. You're our rock."

"Yeah, Dad. I need you there when I graduate from college. And I need you to walk me down the aisle. And someday I'll have kids and they'll need their Grandpa Tony. " Sam took a few shuddering breaths.

Tony slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Sam and then Angela.

"Dad?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Hey Sam." Tony smiled.

He turned to Angela.

"Angela? Are you okay? They didn't hurt you did they? Because if they did I'll personally beat the shit out of each and every one of them!" Tony started getting agitated.

"Tony! Please calm down. I'm fine. They didn't hurt me."

"They better not have. No one hurts my Ingrid." Tony said and then drifted back to sleep.

"INGRID?!"