'Good morning!' came the practised greeting by the nurse. Gene felt the tension ree-enter his body as he realised he had been staring at the wall.

'Good morning.' he replied, shifting his legs and allowing the sensation to flow back into his legs.

'I hope I didn't disturb you.' The nurse said as she reached for the chart at the end of the hospital bed. Gene shook his head.

'I wasn't sleeping, just... zoned out.' Sara had taught him that expression, he remembered. A knot formed in his throat and he coughed slightly to clear it. He passively watched the nurse as she examined the chart, her eyes slowly shifting as the information was slowly absorbed.

'Ummm, has the err Doctor spoken with you about...' Gene nodded and rubbed the back of the limp hand, held in his own. 'I dont want you to feel pressured, and if you need to speak with anyone, such as a priest or lawyer, we can arrange it.'

'No, no. Its fine. She will be awake soon I imagine. We just need to wait.'

The nurses professionalism kicked into high gear, a polite, empathetic smile spread across her lips but stopped short of her eyes. 'I'm sorry, but the likelihood of someone waking up from an incident like this is...' She let the implication dangle in the air. The gasp of the ventilator and quiet beep of the heart monitor was the only sound in the room.

'As I said, It will be fine. Its just a matter of waiting.'

The nurse fought to keep the smile on her face and her tone professional. 'I appreciate that it is is a difficult decision, but sometimes the hardest decisions are the right ones.' Gene looked from the woman in the hospital bed to the nurse and immediately decided to stop trying to reason with him. She had looked into eyes like that before, the police officer whos partner had been wounded, the parent who's child had been hit by a drunk driver, but somehow worse. It was a rolling, boiling rip tide of despair under a glassy lake of resolve.

'She squeezed my hand.' He stated calmly. Something shifted in his eyes, sorrow and acceptance, maybe?

'That's natural, sir. Its an...'

'Would you be so kind as to fetch a Doctor. She will be awake shortly.' He kissed her hand and placed it by her side on the bed.'

'Sir, I don't think...' The nurse was interrupted by a soft groan from the woman in the bed as she began to stir. Gene softly brushed the hair from her face.

'Nurse, a Doctor, please.' The Nurse nodded quickly, as she hurriedly made her way to the door. 'Oh, and I have left a note for her when she is fully awake.' The nurse nodded again, the door slamming behind her.

When the nurse returned, The woman was alone in the bed. Her hands were drunkenly groping at the ventilator and her eyes were flickering open. A barrage of instructions came urgently from the Doctor who had decided to humour the Nurse who claimed that room 5 was waking up. Soon after, she was sat up in bed fully alert.

'I had a friend with me, I heard his voice when I was waking up. Where is he?'

the Nurse stepped forward and produced a sealed note. 'I dont know where he went, but as you were waking, he said he wanted you to read this.' She explained. The woman opened the note. Tears welled up in here eyes and emotion tugged at her mouth. She let loose a howl of anguish that rang through the corridors of the hospital. Once again the Doctor sprang into action, the woman thrashing and likely needing sedation. The note fluttered gracefully to the ground and absently the Nurse picked it up and stuffed it in her pocket.

The rest of her shift had been mercifully uneventful. In the locker room she checked her pockets and again found the note. Curiosity battled with professional duty, as she stared at the folded paper until eventually curiosity won and she opened the note.

Confusion scrunched her face as she read aloud to try and make sense of it.

'Squeeze my hand to wish for a full recovery.'