Chapter 3 - Alive

“Emily?” whispered Lucky, as though he was seeing a ghost. 

Emily Bowen-Quartermaine stumbled through the doorway. Her clothes were soiled, 
even torn in some places. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair almost 
dreadlocked. Then she fell, with a groan, like a rag doll, in a heap on the 
floor. 

For the first time that night, Luke's was in silence. 

And then, seconds later, in pandemonium. 

Alan and Monica rushed up to Emily, hugging her, the tears streaming down their 
faces mixing with hers. Rick Webber arrived a moment later, putting his arm 
around both Monica and Emily, while Amy Vining ran over to Alan to comfort him. 

“Somebody call 911!”

“Is she all right?” 

“Who IS she?” 

And soon enough, the siren of the upcoming ambulance could be heard over all the 
hubbub, as Emily was loaded in, her parents riding with her, and many leaving 
the club to adjourn to the hospital. 

Obviously, the party was over. 

Luke came up to his son, tears brimming in his eyes. Wordlessly, he gave him a 
hug. They parted after several seconds, and stood at arms length. 

“You know that no one blames you, Cowboy,” Luke says, gently, using his son's 
old nickname. 

“I blame myself,” Lucky softly answers, and walks off, out into the night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At GH, Alan and Monica each sit with their respective spouses, worried, anxious 
for any information that might come from the doctors and nurses that keep a 
steady flow through the doorway from the waiting room to the ER. 

Just as Alan was about to get up to find a doctor to talk to them about Emily's 
case, Chief-of-Staff, Dr. Jake Marshak, walked steely through the door. He stood 
up straight and cleared his throat. 

“I have some news.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A lone girl sits on the docks, clearly shaken. Slowly, silently, a boy walks up 
behind her. He shoots out his hand and covers her mouth. She turns around, all 
the blood having drained from her face. 

“COLE SCANLON!”

“Sorry Mel, you just looked kinda sad. Is it Emily?” 

“Yeah,” she sighs and turns back to watch the thrashing waves of the ocean. 
“Everyone thought she was dead. I thought she was dead…” she fades off. 

He clears his throat. “We all did. After the accident, well… you know… no one 
could have survived that.” He makes his way around and sits on the bench next to 
her. As he does, she turns to face him. 

“But don't you understand? I should have. I should have known. She was my 
friend.”

“I didn't realize you guys were so close.” 

“We… she was my babysitter when Mum and Dad went out, but it was more than that. 
She was like a sister to me. She told me about when she was young, that she, 
Brenda, Lois and Robin were all like sisters, and that I could be one of their 
sisters too. She made me feel so happy all the time.” 

She looked at her best friend in his eyes. His were locked on hers. She wiped 
her face where tears had started to stream down, and when she was finished, she 
just looked down, ashamed of her outburst. He gently raised her face so that it 
was looking back at his and spoke in a soft voice. 

“Don't beat yourself up about this. It's not your fault… you had nothing to do 
with Emily's disappearance. No one knows exactly what happened. I guess we'll 
just have to wait and see.” 

With those simple words said, he put his arm around her, she lay her weary head 
on his shoulder, and the two sat staring at the sea in silence, content with 
each other's soothing company. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alan, Monica. I'm afraid to say that Emily is in a coma. She was brought in 
suffering from a dangerous levels of blood loss, concussion and pneumonia. Just 
getting to Luke's was all her frail body could handle before it all became too 
much.” 

“Will she be alright?” Monica panicked. 

“Can we see her?” Alan queried. 

“She should be fine. As you know, she could come out of the coma at any time, 
but it may take a while. You both can see her now, but I'm leaving it at you two 
for now. Don't be long.” 

“Thanks, Jake. We appreciate it.” 

“That's all right. We all care about Emily here. It's good to have her back.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In ICU, Emily lay in bed. Machines were hooked up to almost every visible part 
of her body. The room was silent but for the constant humming and the repetitive 
blip of the heart-rate monitor. 

Nothing moved. 

Nothing happened. 

Nothing. 

Just a sad, sick girl that was thought dead to her family and friends for 2 very 
long years. 

Alan and Monica slowly entered, tears welling up in their eyes, so happy are 
they to have their youngest child home.