When Melina met them in the waiting room, he asked her to wait for a few minutes while he said good bye.
Walking into their room, he found his grandmother awake leaning over his grandfather.
"Psst... I'm going to take the kids home. I've arranged it with the Hospital so you can stay."
"Oh honey. I have to come home. There is no way I can leave you with all the kids."
" Yes you can. I already phoned the College and told them what happened. I also told them I'd be cancelling this year. So you don't need to worry. I can stay with the kids. You need to be here."
"Oh MJ... this is so not fair too you."
"None of what happened is fair to any of us. But it happened... and now we all have to sacrifice and help each other heal. I love you, the kids and
I will come visit tomorrow."
Bending down to his grandfathers ear, he whispered... "I love you, and you fight your way back. Don't you ever stop fighting to come home. Ever." Kissing his cheek, he left.
"Alright guys, let's go."
"MJ... can I run and give mom a kiss?" "Of course, hurry up Michelle."
When she got to her fathers room, she froze in her tracks.
"Daddy... oh daddy." Looking at his face all bruised and cut, she ran up to his good side, and cried on his chest.
"Daddy... please wake up daddy."
Stella tried to pull Michelle off her father, but she wouldn't move. Yelling for MJ, they all came running down the hall.
"Help me MJ... I can't get her to let go."
"Michelle... Michelle... look at me Michelle, let go. Come on Michelle."
Whether it was Michelle cries, or her tight embrace, she felt Mac move.
Stopping her cries, she looked up at her dad, and seen a tear run down
his cheek.
"Daddy... daddy... you can hear me. You can hear me daddy."
Still not waking up, no longer moving, none of them were sure what they had seen.
"I'll get his doctor MJ."
Leaving the room, Melina ran to the nurse's station and paged Mac's doctor. When he arrived he seen the patients daughter crying and screaming his name. Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere through the screams, he asked Melina...
"What happened Melina?"
"It seems Mr.Taylor responded to his daughters pleas. He not only tried to move his arm, but he's crying too."
Pulling Melina aside, he said... "Melina, you've worked with me long enough to know that coma patients often move."
"I know dad... but this was different." "Melina... don't call me that at work."
"Sorry doctor. But he moved. Besides that I'm off duty now." "Oh... I didn't realize, sorry."
Walking up to the bed, he leaned over Mac and shinned his light into his eyes. Seeing no response, he wasn't sure what the family had seen.
"Okay Mrs.Taylor. We're going to take him down and do a CT Scan. Then we'll take it from there. But to be honest with you, from what I can see nothing has changed."
While Mac was having his scan, MJ, the kids, and Melina decided to wait.
"I didn't know Dr.Carver was your father?"
"Yeah... I try not to let that dad part slip to often."
"Why not?"
"I find Professors, tend to compare me to my father. Or expect more from me, then what they would from other students."
"That kind of sucks. I'm sorry Melina."
"You get use to it MJ."
Looking at the kids Melina noticed Tyler staring at her.
"Hi there. I'm Melina. What's your name?"
Tyler ran over to his brother and snuggled under his neck.
"Aww... he shy MJ?"
"No... tramatized. He hasn't spoken since we were rescued."
"Poor little guy. Well... if anyone can help him, you can MJ."
"Excuse me Mrs.Taylor, may I speak with you for a moment?"
"Anything you have to say about my husband, can be said in front of my family."
"Okay... our scan showed that your husbands brain has increased swelling. So what we've done is placed an Intracranial pressure monitor in his skull. This allows us to measure the swelling, and drain any excess fluid. Now... I'm not saying he didn't hear your daughter, chances are he did. As his brain waves are still functioning at two to three cycles per second."
"What exactly does that mean?"
"Well... basically he's in what we call a deep dreamless sleep. You see, brainwaves are measured on a scale. Beta being the highest of fifteen to forty cycles a second, when we are fully active.
After that we have Alpha, which means the waves are at nine to fourteen cycles per second, usually after we complete a task, and sit down .
Followed by Theta, these waves are between five to eight cycles per second, putting us in a daydream state. Then we have your husbands.
He's at the Beta stage. Which is one state before brain dead. I know that sounds cold, and I'm sorry. There is just no way to put it nicely."
"Umm... so he can still wake, right? This isn't all bad news, is it?"
"He could, yes. Like I said anything is possible if we can keep the swelling under control. Hopefully draining the fluid will help. But you must all remember, that I'm not sure what disabilities he will have, till he comes out of this."
"That's fine. We don't care about the disabilities. All we want is our husband, father, and grandfather back home with us."
Nodding that he understood, he kissed his daughter on the head and left.
"Mrs.Taylor?"
"Stella, please."
"Stella... I know it's hard not to worry, and I know it's very painful to see your husband suffer so much. But trust me when I say he is in the best possible hands with my father. I swear to you, you couldn't ask for a better Neurosurgeon. He's put his whole life into becoming what he is today. You see... he watched my grandmother die of severe head injuries.
He was there when she had a grand mal seizure, fell, and hit the cement sidewalk on their way home from the store. It was then he swore to devote his life to this profession."
"Thank you... MJ, you go ahead home, if anything changes I'll call you. Michelle... you going to be okay sweetheart?"
"I think so mom. I wish I could stay."
"I know love. But it's better for you to be at home. I love you, and you help MJ with your cousins." Kissing her daughter good bye, they left with Melina.