The young girl wiped her eyes, "Could I, please?" Her voice was shaky and weak.


"Dr. Kreger, would you call into the ICU and tell them that Diana would like to visit her brother?"


Rob set about to his task of clearing the way for the entourage to enter the ICU, without being subjected to any undue strain from viewing the other patients or procedures that might be going on. When everything was set, he called into the Family Room on the dedicated phone line, informing the social worker of the time available for visitation.


The group made their way into the unit. Stopping at the nurse’s desk right inside the door, Dr. Trivoli reviewed Bradley Morgan’s chart. His condition remained the same. There were no voluntary movements or responses to deep painful stimulus. The extent of his injuries was quite clear in her mind. She would be talking to the neurosurgeon after Diana was done visiting, and ask that a brain death protocol be ordered. Putting the chart down, she motioned for them to follow her to his bedside.


The young girl walked over to the tall surgeon who held out a gown for her to put on. Donning her own gown quickly, she accompanied her across the room to the cubicle where her brother’s body lay, supported by a multitude of machines. The roaming eyes of the teen took in every detail of the room, her eyes darting from one noise to another as the machines did their job.


Garrett watched as the teen finally settled in on her brother’s face, a tear rolling down her own cheek. "You can talk to him if you’d like, Diana."


Her voice was barely above a whisper, "Could I touch his hand?" She looked up to the surgeon, her eyes pleading for approval.


"I think he would like that." Her head motioned to the body laying in repose. She watched as Diana made her way to the bedside. She hesitated as she reached out for his hand, looking over her shoulder for encouragement. Garrett nodded in approval. The young girl stroked his small hand with her own and soon was leaning over to talk ever so softly into his ear.


The surgeon studied the scene intently looking for any sign of recognition on Brad’s part. His eyes never fluttered, the muscles in his face never twitched, the hand remained still as if it had never been touched. Her keen sense of hearing listened for any change in the rhythm of the beeping noise emitted from the heart monitor, but there was none. In essence, the body before her was nothing more than an empty shell devoid of all the nuances that denote life.


After several minutes, she bent over and kissed her brother’s forehead. Slowly she backed away from the bed until she was standing next to the tall woman. Her eyes never wavered from watching him; "He looks so peaceful."


A minute or two passed by before the silence was broken. "Does he feel anything?" Diana looked up at Garrett, "He’s not in pain, I mean?"


"No, we’re giving him some medication to make sure of that," she responded.


"So, what’s next?" Her young voice had vagueness about it. "Does he just go on like this forever?"


The surgeon thought about what to say. "There is a group of tests that we will do on your brother that will tell us whether or not there is any activity going on in his brain. If they result in showing no brain activity then we can declare him brain dead and remove the ventilator. After a few minutes, his heart will stop beating and his other organs will cease to function." She tried to lessen the impact as much as she could.


"When?" She stuttered, "When will that happen?"


"We should know by tomorrow around noon," Garrett projected. "If you would like, you could be here with him, if that is what we need to do."


The girl nodded her head in agreement. Sighing, she hung her head and muttered. "Will you be here too? Yeah, I bet you like seeing people die."


Her eyes flashed at the surgeon with all the hatred that she could muster. "I bet you just love to see people’s whole lives get thrown right in the toilet before your eyes. It makes you feel all high and mighty, doesn’t it? You all think that you’re gods."


The surgeon grasped tightly onto the bed rail with both her hands. She really wanted to lash out at this for her taunting ways but knew that it would only provoke more of the same. "I will but only because I have to be. He’s my patient, Diana, not some experiment."


Diana turned to face her. "Well, at least you realize that he’s my brother and I’m not going to just throw him away." She saw her friend off in the distance behind the doctor. "I better get back with my friend now. I have some things that I need to sort out." She turned to look at her brother for a moment, then turning back to the surgeon she glared. The two stood that way for a moment before Diana slowly walked in the direction of Kristen and her mother, continuing to pass them on her way out of the door.


Garrett watched her leave with the Gryphons following right behind her. Cursing to herself for not being able to save the girl from the pain and anguish she was going through, she ran her fingers through her long raven hair in desperation. ‘Danni, why couldn’t you have been here?’


*****************


The sound of the front door opening caught Danni’s attention. She placed her plate in the dishwasher and made her way into the living room.


"Garrett, is that you?" She came around the corner of the hall to see the haggard appearance of her roommate. "Want happened to you?" She came over to her and took the duffel bag from her hand. "Didn’t you get any sleep at all?" Concern was written all over her face.


"Yeah, a few hours," she leaned against the couch to take off her shoes. "But not very comfortable, to say the least. I fell asleep in the doctor’s lounge in the O.R." Her hand rubbed at her back to ease the soreness. "I think I’m just going to take a hot bath and go to bed."


The petite woman could not believe how tired her Amazon looked. "You want something to eat?"


"Thanks, but no, I ate at the hospital. I just need to relax and get a lot of sleep."


"Well, let me start your bath for you." Danni went into the bathroom and turned on the water for the tub. Emerging from the doorway, she came back into the living room. "How about I fix you a nice cup of tea. Hmmm?"


Garrett nodded and muttered the word, "Thanks," as Danni passed by on her way to the kitchen, her energy waning.


Calling in from the kitchen, Danni asked, "Did they find any family for that young trauma patient yet?"


Garrett waited for her return, too tired to yell back. "Yeah, turns out the only family so far is his sister." She looked up at her roommate. "She’s only seventeen."


"Oh, by the gods!" She sat down on the couch. "She must be devastated."


"She’s doing better than some that I have seen. Tomorrow’s going to be the hard one."


Danni looked puzzled.


"I ordered the brain death protocol. We’ll know for sure by noon tomorrow." The surgeon rolled her tongue across her teeth; "I told her that I would be there with her tomorrow when it’s time."


The blonde sighed. "I wish I could have been there with you today. I know how much you like doing the sensitive chats."


"Yeah, well..."


"Garrett, I’m off for the next two days. Let me be there with you tomorrow?"


"Thanks, but you don’t have to, Danni." The surgeon rose to her feet. "I better get that bath before I fall asleep right here." She thought about the offer as she walked to the bathroom. Pausing at the door, she said. "Maybe that might not be a bad idea. I’ll see you about noon tomorrow in the Neuro-ICU."


After the time spent soothing her tired muscles with the heat of the water, the tall woman stole herself quietly into her bedroom. There on the corner of her nightstand was a cup of hot tea. ‘I’ll have to remember to thank her for this. It’s nice to have someone who cares,’ she mused. Letting her robe fall off of her body into a heap on the floor, she slid under the covers that had been neatly turned down for her. Taking a few sips of tea from the cup, she placed it back on the table and readied herself for sleep.


*****************


She had always prided herself on keeping her word and now as she mulled over the events of the last two days, the surgeon was not looking forward to what was about to take place within the next hour or so. It was her day off technically, but she had promised to be here with Brad’s sister Diana when the time came. Sure, she could have put it off for another day, but somehow that just didn’t seem right, to make the poor girl agonize over the potential outcome of the tests. Besides, she didn’t want to add to the young girl’s burden by causing any hassles over the payment of the hospitalization by the insurance company.


Garrett sipped at her cup of black coffee as she was looking over the reports of the tests that she had ordered on Bradley Morgan. The EEG test, which measured the activity of the brain, was plain and to the point; no activity found. The other test reports were all in alignment with the neurosurgeon’s prognosis at the sight of the initial CT Scan. Now it was going to be her job to help Diana grasp the concept that her brother didn’t really inhabit the body that was being kept alive in the ICU. There really was no life force present, only the mechanical initiative that preserved the body in its vegetative state.