Roland stood behind the nurse. "It's alright Mac, I'll look after Tobin while you get looked over." I turned back to Tia. "She's not going anywhere. You can step away from her to get looked at. She would tell you to and you know it."

I sighed and straightened. I followed the nurse back to the room I was in before. She checked me over fixing every wound she came across. When she was done she moved back. "You're done you can go back to your partner."

I looked out the window. Tobin stroked Tia's face carefully avoiding the tube that helped her breathe and the stitches in her hairline. "Will she live?"

The nurse's face changed to that friendly one of before. "Only time will tell. She fort hard to get this far, with you two at her bedside. I don't see how she could give up."

I slid off the bed and walked to the window. "Knowing what I know about her... I could almost wish she would slip away in peace. If she did... it would destroy me."

"What about the boy?"

I shook my head. "He's seen death. He accepts it easily."

"What kind of life must she have lived to have someone that so obviously loves her wish her away from it? For that matter what kind of life would the boy have had to have to live?"

I turned to her and smiled sadly. "The same life... they both accept death like every day could be their last. Probably because every day they lived in that place could have been. That boy watched his mum die and he decided Tia is now his mum."

Every word brought new layers of sadness to her face. "No one should live like that but it's not the worst I've heard."

"Me either. I look at her and realise I do love her. I don't know what I would do if I lost her. For that matter, I don't know what I would do if I lost Tobin. One of them deserves to be happy."

I turned back to the window. The nurse sighed. "We will see how she does."

I nodded and walked from the room. I sat in the chair next to her bed and held her hand. I followed not letting go of her as they took her to a ward a few hours later.

They tried to send me and Tobin away from her, but we wouldn't leave so they moved her to a side room.

The attack had lasted most of the night and now the first rays of the sun had come and gone, we waited. We waited for her to wake up. The day turned to night and night into the day. Roland appeared with clothes for me and Tobin. We took turns watching her as we washed and dressed.

That's how it was for a week or was it two? I couldn't tell how long I'd sat there, feeling like my world was somehow darker. The nurses came and went unseen by me. Roland came in and went on his own usually without comment. The chief would pop in with flowers and leave without speaking. Even Janna came leaving food for me that would have gone untouched if it hadn't been for Tobin.

He fed me and made me walk him to the grounds of the hospital. Even that couldn't keep us from her for long.

He is the light in my life at this time. I can't see I would have looked after myself if it hadn't been for him. He keeps me going, and now he wants me to do something...

"Please, Dad?"

"Alright Tobin. The garden or..."

Tobin jumped up and down on my lap. "The garden... then the shop. Mum needs a teddy."

I smiled at him and he slid off my lap. I let go of Tia's hand and kissed her forehead. "We will be back soon Tia."

Tobin took my hand and led me away from the room where my heart lay. He navigated the endless corridors easily now. Finally, he led me outside to a green garden in the middle of the building.

The door led out to a space that was surrounded by large windows. The square of grass in the centre was framed by benches. It was beautiful to be inside the hospital and be able to look up and see the sky. The breeze felt nice and the sun warm. I sat on the bench as Tobin ran around the small bit of grass.

He jumped, ran and did cartwheels all over. Then he just lay there looking up at the sky. "Tobin..."

He sat up. "No Dad! She will wake up!"

I sighed. Every time I tried to talk to him about this... "I know she will but it could be months before she does."

"Then we wait." He shrugged.

So self-assured. They have taken the breathing tube out and she is breathing on her own but....

He stood up and came over to me. He took my hand and kissed my cheek. I stared at him. "What's that for?"

"You're a good dad. Not like my other dad at all."

I hugged him. "Do you want to talk about it?" I knew his answer before I asked.

"No. You're my dad now, not him." Every time.

I stood and Tobin took my hand leading me to the shop. He picked a bear and some snacks. I paid the man at the till and started walking back to the room Tia was in. Tobin grabbed my hand and smiled up at me. "Do you think mum will like her teddy?"

"I think she will love it because you chose it."

He waved it at me. "What is its name?"

"I don't know, maybe mum will tell you when she wakes up."

Rounding the corner left me stunned. She was gone. Tobin looked up at me and all I could do was stare at the space her bed had been in. "Test's Mac. They took her for tests." I turned and saw the chief standing in the corner looking out the window.

"Chief? What are you doing here?"

"I've come to tell you that there's been a decision about Tobin." Tobin clung to me.

"I'm not leaving dad or mum!"

The chief turned and looked at us both. "He's not your dad and she is not our mum. A man has come forward saying he is Tobin's dad...." Tobin screamed and turned to me burying his face in my leg.

I moved him out from me and picked him up. "Shhh Tobin. Remember I'm protecting you."

"So am I Tobin. This man was a cultist. You can tell us what he did to you and your mum. The rest will be easier to combat."

I heard a sound and turned seeing Tia's bed being rolled back towards us. Sighing with relief, I moved out of the way. She rolled past us looking peaceful as she lay there. "What where the test for?"

A nurse looked at me and smiled. "The doctor will explain." She left with the porter.

I went to Tia's side with Tobin, laying him down next to her. I took her hand and kissed her forehead.

"Mac.. we need to talk."

I stroked her head with my free hand. "Not now chief"

"Mac we have to talk. Everything that happened that night..."

I flung my hand out behind me cutting his words off. Was that it? Did her eyes flutter? I squeezed her hand. Her fingers twitched on my hand. I turned "Chief get a nurse... she's moving"

Tobin looked at me and smiled. The chief left the room and I turned back to Tia. "Come on Tia. Wake up for me."

I squeezed her hand staring into her face. Nothing. I kissed her forehead and kept whispering into her ear.

The nurse came back in and walked around the other side of the bed. "What's happening?"

Just then Tia's eyes fluttered again and her fingers twitched on my hand. "That's it, Tia. I'm here with you."

The nurse reached over and thumbed her eyelid back. Tia flinched. "She is definitely responding to stimuli. I'll get the doctor." The nurse rushed off.

The chief came closer. "I'll come back." He patted me on the shoulder. "I will hold them off as long as I can Mac."