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"Mom, the results of the MRI were good. The doctor expects her to make a full recovery." Gerard practically fell into the chair. He was in the waiting room with Alicia, Mikey, Frank and Jamia. They were talking and he had to plug his other ear to hear Donna.
"Thank God" Donna said in relief. "I'll tell the girls. Kelly is downstairs lying down and Kara is outside talking to your dad. We're going to eat dinner then come back to the hospital. Tell Monica we love her and we'll see her soon."
He closed the phone. "Mom and Dad are gonna bring the girls back." He told his friends.
"Mikey was telling us they have Jenn in custody. This fucking nightmare is almost over." Frank said, "As soon as Ray wakes up it will be over."
Gerard stood, "I'm gonna go up to his room." He looked over at Frank, "You wanna come?"
"Yea, man" Frank turned to Jamia, "I'll be right back, honey." He kissed her then took off to follow Gerard through the hospital halls.
"I just saw the doctor come out of Monica's room" Alicia said "Think we can go say hi to her?"
Mikey nodded, "Sure you and Jamia go ahead. I'll wait here." His eyes were still haunted, his thoughts now totally on Ray. "Did you want to go with Gee and Frank to see Ray?"
He shook his head no, "I can't stand to see him just lying there." He whispered.
Alicia kissed him and motioned for Jamia to follow her. They walked slowly to Monica's room. "Mikey looks bad." Jamia told her friend. "After we see Monica you should take him home for awhile."
"I know, I'm gonna try but I know in his head he don't think he can leave this hospital until Ray comes out of the coma." They had reached the door and slowly pushed it open. Monica opened her eyes and smiled when she saw her friends.
"Monica, I'm so sorry." Jamia moved to the foot of the bed, "but at least they got that bitch so she can't hurt anyone else."
Monica was shocked, "They got Jenn?"
Jamia looked at Alicia, Both were shocked by Monica's slow speech but tried not to let their reactions show. Jamia said, "Oh shit I thought she knew."
Alicia shook her head, "We hadn't told her yet." She smiled at Monica, "But hey, it's good news. The police caught her and she's in jail where she belongs."
Monica couldn't believe it was over. Why had it taken two lives to be almost lost before it happened? "How is Ray?" she asked.
"He's the same." Alicia told her gently. "Gee and Frank are up in the Intensive Care Unit right now so we snuck in to see you."
"And the girls?" She was still trying desperately to figure out were everyone was and what was happening. Her thoughts were confused, "Are they here?"
"No Gee had Donna and Don take them home for awhile. They were both so upset and the waiting was brutal. They'll be here soon." She sat down in the chair by the bed and Jamia pulled the other chair over to the other side of the bed. "Monica, Gee was so good with them. Kelly was crying and he hugged her and told her that they had to be strong cause it was what you would want." She smiled. "Kelly said, "I love you" to him."
Monica smiled, "He promised to take care of them if something happened to me." She looked into Alicia's face, "I'm kinda having trouble getting my words out."
Alicia leaned over and took her hand, "It's OK, you're doing fine. You're head really hit the road hard. Do you remember what happened?"
Monica closed her eyes, "Ray saved my life" She tried to say more but all she could seem to do was cry.
In the hall outside Ray's room Gerard and Frank were talking to Ray's brother and mom. Ray's mom was telling them that the doctor was going to give them an update soon and that she wanted them along with Bob and Mikey to join them. She felt is was important for all of them to understand Ray's condition.
"The doctor did tell us the best thing we can do is to talk to him. He said that many coma patients, when they come out of a coma say they remember people talking to them." Ray's mom told Gerard. "I'm going in now for just a minute and I will tell him you boys are going to sit with him for a bit." She smiled bravely and pushed open Ray's door.
"I'll let you know when the doctor is ready to talk to us." His brother said to them. He slowly turned and walked down the hall to join the rest of the family.
"Shit, this is fucking hard." Frank said. "Gee, he's just gotta come out of this soon. What the fuck would we do without him?
Gerard put his hand on Frank's shoulder, "Don't think that way. We gotta believe Ray will come out of it soon. There's no other way to think."
"You boy's can go in now. I'm going to the waiting room. Just let me know when you are done visiting with him".
Gerard went in first with Frank on his heels. Ray lay motionless in the bed; he had several bandages on his face and arms. The sound of the monitors attached to him echoed in the room. "Fuck" was all Frank could say.
Taking a deep breath, Gerard spoke to Ray, "OK, Torosaurus, it's time for you to wake up cause if you don't you are gonna have to listen to all of us come here day after day and talk to you." He pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat down. Frank stood by the window looking out, he couldn't look at Ray.
"So you're making us cancel some of the tour. You know how you are about schedules and your fucking ours up." Gerard told him
Frank knew Gerard was trying to get any kind of response out of Ray. His words were meant to tease Ray or anger Ray, anything to make Ray wake up.
"They got the bitch that did this, it was Monica's fucking crazy sister-in-law. Some kids playing outside saw what happened and gave the cops a description of the car. She tried to run from them and there was a car chase. To bad the bitch didn't die when they forced her off the road." The anger he had been holding inside bubbled out. "I hope she fucking rots in jail."
"Gerard" Frank said, "That's not helping."
Gerard lowered his head, as Frank came over to the foot of the bed. "Toro you gotta come out of this, man. Mikey is so fucked up about this. You know how he gets." He stopped talking when Mikey pushed open the door.
"I gotta see him," he said softly as he walked in.
Gerard looked into his brother's eyes and saw the pain and confusion deep within them. "Mikey, the doctor said the best thing to do for Ray is just to talk to him likes he's awake."
Mikey couldn't take his eyes away from Ray. "Can I talk to him alone for just a minute."
Frank and Gerard exchanged a glance, "Sure, bro" Gerard said standing up and giving the chair to Mikey. He and Frank moved out into the hall.
Mikey blinked back his tears and spoke, "Hey Ray, I gotta tell you a secret. Alicia and I got married. We went to Vegas and had an Elvis impersonator marry us. It was fucking rad man. I'm sorry we didn't ask you to go too." His head fell down, as did his tears. He spoke without looking up, "I'm sorry, so sorry I didn't go with you after the interview for lunch. If I had gone with you instead of Frank this wouldn't have happened. Monica wouldn't have asked you to drive her cause we would have already been gone. Fuck it Ray, I'm sorry."
Gerard came back into the room when he heard his brothers sobbing. "Mikey, stop. Ray's gonna be OK." He put his arm around his shoulder and tried to give Mikey strength.
Mikey shook his head. "When, Gee?"
Frank came in, "Hey Mikey lets go back to the girls. They're waiting for us. We'll come back and see Ray later." Gerard pulled Mikey out of the chair and watched as Frank helped him walk out.
Gerard sat down and looked at his friend, "Ray, thank you" he said with emotion, "You saved Monica and you saved me. You know she's my life. Fuck, Ray you're my brother. Please man, you just gotta come out of t his fucking coma." He took several deep breaths and struggled not to loose control.
Frank peered back into the room, "Gee, the doctor is going to talk to the family now. I'm gonna go get Bob. We are supposed to go to the conference room at the end of the hall.
Gerard nodded and went to stand outside Ray's room until they arrived. In the conference room most of Ray's immediate family were already seated. Gerard and Frank stood towards the back of the room while Bob and Mikey sat down by the large table.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Ryan." A tall gray-haired man said as he entered the room. "I've been called in on Ray's case because my specialty is brain trauma. I'm going to give you an update on Ray's condition and try to explain a little bit about what we know about comas. You should understand that the person in the coma might exhibit movement, make sounds, and experience agitation. It is important to keep in mind that the coma patient may exhibit reflex activities, which mimic conscious activities. Ray may need to be restrained to keep from removing the monitors or dislodging his IVs. So far that has not been the case but if it happens I don't want you to be alarmed. The progress of coma is measured by the patient's increasing awareness of external stimuli. There are many levels of coma, which the patient will pass through as functionality increases."
Ray's brother spoke, "So he just won't wake up?"
Dr. Ryan smiled sadly, "A coma patient rarely wakes up like it is shown on TV. It is a slow process. Often the patient will be awake for only a short him then fall back asleep. Each time he wakes it will last a little bit longer than the last."
"You said we should talk to him, right?"
The doctor nodded, "It is very important to remember to speak positively to and around Ray. Some patients claim to remember very distinctly events while they were in a coma. And although we cannot be positive about the level of awareness in any particular case, studies show that a positive attitude may be beneficial to the recovery of the patient."
"How long will he be like this?" Mikey asked
"It is rare for a patient to be in a coma for more than five weeks. Some people come out of a coma in a day. It's impossible to say but Ray's tests have been positive. The EEG showed no signs of seizures and the MRI showed no sign of brain injury. With the support of all of you I feel he has a very good chance of recovery."

AUTHOR NOTE - PLEASE KNOW I AM GOING TO POST THIS CHAPTER AND HOPE IT GOES IN THE RIGHT ORDER. FROM NOW ON THE DATE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH THE CHAPTER TITLE. ALSO I STARTED ANOTHER "STORY" UNDER THE TITLE "LOVE KNOWS NO AGE ALEXSANDEE'S NOTE" THAT WILL LIST THE NEW CHAPTER TITLE. WHEN I GET TIME I AM GOING TO GO BACK TO CHAPTER 125 AND START NUMBERING THEM MYSELF. THANKS SO MUCH! YESTERDAY'S CHAPTER WAS TITLED "COUNTING YOUR FACE AMONG THE LIVING" IF YOU HAVE TIME PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW SO I KNOW PEOPLE ARE FINDING THE CHAPTERS. SANDEE X0X0