come back...be here {George Smith}

part 6 - alternative

A week had passed since the baby girl was taken out of the ICU and there had been no change in George. He'd been on life support for almost a month and the doctors weren't looking too hopeful. For the past week, she'd been so busy with her baby that she'd had no time to go see George in what might be his last week which stressed her and upset her. To make everything worse, she had exams coming up. She'd dropped a subject which hadn't lightened the load as much as she'd hoped it would.

She sat in her room all alone and pondered; what would it have been like if she'd never met George? She wouldn't be going through all this emotional pain and torture. But that's what love was, she supposed, going through hell and back with someone, no matter the cost, even if it meant personal sacrifice.

She'd just put the baby to sleep and opened a text book when she heard a knock at the door.

"Yes?" she said, tiredly.

Natasha entered the room. "We're going to see George, before they, you know," she said, trailing off at the end. "Are you going to come?"

She nodded, abandoning her text book.

"Take her too. George might like to see her since he hasn't seen her before," said Natasha, indicating the baby. She nodded again and gently picked her up. Of course George couldn't really see as such but they'd pretend, in a way, that he could, just so it felt like he was a part of the everyday family.

The four of them drove to the hospital, as they'd done everyday for more than seven months.

"You know you should really name her," said Tony.

"I want George to name her," she said, glancing at the sleeping baby.

Tony and Natasha exchanged a sad glance but didn't say anything. She knew she was giving herself false hope but it was the only thing that was keeping her going.

They pulled up at the hospital and parked the car. The walk to the hospital and then to George's room seemed much longer than usual. Every step that she took echoed through her mind. Her baby grew heavier and heavier in her arms; almost like a reminder of the burden of what today carried.

They entered George's room, to find him there, unchanged, unmoving. Some of his minor wounds had healed so his body didn't look as gruesome but some of his bones still hadn't fully healed and he had bruises everywhere.

The baby had woken up but didn't make any noise. It was as if she knew the seriousness of the situation they were in. She sat down next to George and held the baby with one arm and held George's hand.

"Hey George, this might sound strange to you but um, about a month ago I had our baby which is why I haven't seen you in a bit. But today is the last day they're going to keep you on life support so please George, for your parents, for me, for our child, please, show some sign. Any sign, please," she pleaded.

Still, he made no sign. The baby girl squirmed in her arms, trying to face her dad. She let go of George's hand and sat the baby in her lap, positioning her so she was facing her dad. The baby girl reached out with her fat little arm and grabbed onto George's hand, her little fingers wrapping not quite fully around his thumb. She tearfully smiled at the sight; father and daughter.

"Look!" exclaimed Natasha, pointing to a screen monitor. "Look, his heart rate is picking up!"

She looked up and gasped with happy surprise, his heart rate was indeed picking up. She hoped with all her might that it was a good sign.

"His heart rate is picking up, you said?" asked a nurse, coming in.

The three of them nodded. The nurse looked at the screen.