Status: Completed

Best Thing In Town

Back To Life

This was horrible. It was the morning of Christmas Eve and Audrey was still lost from the world. Adrienne had bought a small Christmas tree and decorated it, bringing it to the hospital room along with a box of holiday decorations to be put up in the room in order to brighten it up. Billie Joe had followed behind her, lugging the box and throwing Mike a smile when they all began to decorate. Tre showed up not long after with Gloria and Mike's girls in tow.

Stepping away from the decorating, the bassist took his six month old daughter in his arms just as a wave of awkwardness fell over him. Here they were being a little cheery for the first time in two weeks while Audrey had no choice in her condition. She couldn't join in with them. She couldn't smile or laugh. Or see her children. Mike's eyes drifted down at the floor as he pressed his lips to Lorelei's forehead, holding her close as he sat down.

Gloria walked over to her granddaughter and touched Audrey's hand, straightening out the blanket covering her, and pushing her hair behind her ears the way she had down to Audrey since she was a toddler. When Gloria sucked in an audible sob after mumbling, 'Merry Christmas,' she took a step back and Billie Joe looked over. He gave her an encouraging smile and made it way over to the aging woman, placing his hand on her back.

"Hey Glore, how about we go see about getting hot cocoa and cookies from the cafeteria?"

Gloria nodded and allowed Billie Joe, her grandson-in-law's best friend, to lead her out of the room after snatching up a tissue to use. Adrienne looked over her shoulder to watch Gloria and her husband leave and dropped the lights she had been taping along the hospital window. She noticed Katarina sitting at Mike's feet, holding her Barbie doll. Mike just sat in his chair with Lorelei resting against his chest, falling asleep, as he silently watched Audrey's chest rise and fall with help from the machines hooked up to her.

"Lorelei looks sleepy. All the excitement of her first Christmas, maybe?" Adrienne put forth, hoping to get a decent response from Mike.

He nodded, snapping out of what looked like a daydream. "What? Oh, yeah." He turned his head and smiled at Lorelei as her blue eyes began to droop. "Something like that, I guess."

"Audrey seems to be holding up. I think she'll pull through," Adrienne treaded carefully.

She bit her bottom lip and linked her fingers together in front of her. She watched Mike's face to see how he responded. He simply lifted his head while his eyes seemed to lose any glimmer they might've had earlier during the decorating. He was so distraught. And who could blame him? He was dealing with the likelihood of losing his wife, while trying to be there for his children. It was no small feat.

"The doctors, they, um...they pulled me aside last night." He smirked, but it was a front to keep from breaking down with the kids in the room. "They told me that since her condition will most likely worsen, that...that there's a strong possibility that someone in a persistent vegetative state...the, um...the most common cause of death is pneumonia."

Mike shook his head. His wife was more than likely going to die from pneumonia. It was almost 2007 and some illness that was popular a century ago was gonna claim Audrey's life. It just wasn't right. It may not be blood, but anyone related to them is supposed to fight. Not just lie there and succumb.

"You can't think about, Mike. Not now," Adrienne said, crouching down and placing her hand on his knee.

"If not now, when? When I'm burying her?" Mike tilted his sideways and down again slightly. His eyes spoke of nothing but heartache. And the more he struggled to keep from breaking down in front of Katarina who was more aware, the closer he was to giving in to the heavy sobs he thought he'd gotten past.

Adrienne got up off her knees and stood up, leaning forward to wrap a hand behind Mike's head and press it down on her shoulder. Standing up with her, Mike wrapped an arm around her waist without disturbing Lorelei. He buried his face in her shoulder and shook a little.

"It's okay..." Adrienne commented softly. "Audrey's a trooper. She won't go down without a fight. She has too much in this life to walk away from."

That only made it worse, as Mike released a small hiccup-like sob into the shoulder of his best friend's wife.

* * *

Later that night, Mike was at war with himself on whether or not he should go home that night and or stay at the hospital to keep vigil again at his wife's side on the holiday. After a talk with Billie Joe, they decided it would be best to go home and be with his kids. They could always return the following day.

In the course of two weeks, Mike couldn't recall everything that happened. There was just so much going on, so much to think about and deal with. He was actually a little relieved to be home. For the time being he would focus on his girls and the holiday. He set out milk and cookies with Katarina and then tucked her into bed as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Daddy?" she asked as he stood in her doorway and turned off the light.

"Yeah?"

"Does Santa know mommy's not here?"

"Of course he knows," he assured. "He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows when you've been bad or good--"

"So be good for goodness sake," Kat finished.

Mike smiled. "Exactly."

"Will Santa leave mommy's presents here or at the hospital?"

That was a tricky question to answer. So, he didn't. "I guess we'll have to wait and see," he replied, his smile becoming sad as he peered through the darkness. "Go to sleep now, okay?"

"Okay. 'Night daddy."

"Night, honey."

Mike turned and slowly closed Kat's bedroom door. Walking to the room diagonally across the hall, he stepped inside as quietly as he could and walked up to the crib Lorelei was asleep in. She was lying on her stomach with her butt up in the air a little, which made Mike smirk. Leaning forward, he pulled the blanket up to cover her better as he gently kissed her cheek.

His precious baby girl.

Stepping back out of the room, Mike made his way downstairs to find Gloria must've already retreated to the guest house for the night. All the lights were off except for the Christmas tree lights and a huge, round candle beside the kitchen sink that they kept lit every night for Audrey. Mike walked out to the garage and began picking up boxes and black garbage bags; quietly dragging them into the house. Tiptoeing, he made his way into the living room and began to pull all the wrapped presents out of the boxes and bags to set them under and around the Christmas tree.

The only gift that hadn't been wrapped was a purple and pink bicycle with training wheels that Mike and Audrey had picked out a month before. Audrey had insisted on it. She said it had reminded her of the bike she had gotten on her 5th birthday. She had even broken out the old photo albums of her from when she was little to prove the fact.

When he was done with the presents, he staggered back to the garage and threw the bags in the boxes and then threw the boxes on the floor beside his car. Not the BMW. That was gone now. Too wrecked from the accident and it only held a memory that depressed him. He made the trek upstairs and entered his bedroom with a sigh as he shut the door and stared at his large, empty bed.

The room was a mess, the bed unmade, the hamper overflowing. And the faucet in the bathroom was dripping. Fucking thing. He'd just fixed it last month. He pulled off his socks, stripped out of his pants and peeled of his shirt, leaving him in his boxers and white beater. Climbing into bed, he brought the cover up to his chest and grabbed the extra pillow beside him and hugged it, wishing that he could have a Christmas miracle.

* * *

Nurse DiLiberto walked into Audrey's room around 6 in the morning as soon as she started her shift. The sun wasn't up yet, so she didn't bother opening the blinds in the room to allow any light in. She did turn on the small radio that was left at Audrey's bedside. A song by some group called Modest Mouse began to play. Nurse DiLiberto was sure the title was something to do with the ocean, but she wasn't positive. She was too busy checking Audrey's vitals.

When everything seemed fine, she left the room, closing the door quietly behind her. With the sound of her footsteps diminishing in the hallway outside, the Modest Mouse song came to an end, and the familiar strums of a song began, followed by the familiar voice singing.

"Summer has come and passed / The innocent can never last / Wake me up when September ends..."

Like any coma patient, the eyes moving under the lids is not uncommon, because it means they're lost in their sleep state, as if stuck in a dream. Right?

"Like my father's come to pass / Seven years has gone so fast / Wake me up when September ends..."

Audrey's eyes continued to move under her lids, followed by her finger twitching, most likely due to a spasm of some sort. Right?

"Here comes the rain again / Falling from the stars / Drenched in my pain again / Becoming who we are / As my memory rests / But never forgets what I lost / Wake me up when September ends..."

As soon as the drums kicked in, Audrey's hand twitched, followed by the fluttering of her eyelids.

"Summer has come and passed / The innocent can never last / Wake me up when September ends / Ring out the bells again / Like we did when spring began / Wake me up when September ends / Here comes the rain again / Falling from the stars / Drenched in my pain again / Becoming who we are / As my memory rests / But never forgets what I lost / Wake me up when September ends..."

As the vocals dropped out and music played on, Audrey's eyes opened. The music became gentle again and she blinked. Her hand moved slightly and she stared ahead.

"Summer has come and passed / The innocent can never last / Wake me up when September ends..."

With an almost inaudible groan, Audrey turned her head to where the music was coming from.

"Like my father's come to pass / Twenty years has gone so fast / Wake me up when September ends..."

And she smiled.

Opening her mouth she went to make a sound, but her voice squeaked. It was dry and she felt so tired.

"Mmm...iii..." she mumbled. She smiled again. "Mike..."