It took some convincing and lying about her pain, but Lexi had finally convinced her nurse to let her go see her sister. Being lifted into a wheelchair did nothing to help her pain or pride, but she wasn't about to complain, not when her sister was in a coma, well that and the fact that complaining would be futile when she was still too unsteady for them to even consider letting her walk down the hallway.

She'd purposely waited until her parents had left to go get dinner, lord knows they wouldn't eat the hospital food even if it meant staying near their child whose medical state was rocky at best. She wanted some alone time with her sister.

She'd misjudged the nurse. She was an older, sweet woman named Beth with soft eyes and a form that would have any child begging to snuggle up against it. Beth parked Lexi's wheelchair next to her sister's bed, tucked a blanket over her lap, and placed the remote with the button to alert the nurses securely in her palm in case something should happen.

Lexi just sat there for several minutes taken aback by her sister's state. Lynn's normally short shiny caramel hair was plastered to her face, caked with dried blood that had yet to be removed. Her forehead was covered in gashes, half of which had required stitches. There was a mask over her face helping her breath and a series of IVs stabbing into her arms.

The injuries appeared surface level, but Lexi knew that two broken ribs and a damaged spine lay beneath the surface.

"Lynny it'd be really nice if you could wake up, so it doesn't look like I'm in here talking to myself. People might think I'm crazy, but then again you of all people know I don't particularly care what people think of me," she laughed nervously and didn't doubt that Lynn would laugh with her if she could.

"Mom thinks the doctors are lying or wrong about you being in a coma. You'd think the fact that her daughters were in a potentially fatal accident would pull her off of her high horse, but you know mom, stubborn as a mule," she sighed another breathy laugh and tucked Lynn's hair behind her ear before clutching her sister's hand and gently interlocking their fingers. Her thumb tapped against the still back of her sister's hand, which was no longer smooth. Lexi found it painfully ironic how even though her sister moisturized carefully, almost religiously, even her smooth skin wasn't spared by the accident.

She only wished she could remember more than just fragments of what happened that night. Knowing had to be better than wondering. Didn't it?

She wasn't good in situations like this, never was. Lynn was always the steady one, which made it easier for Lexi not to be, but now she didn't have a choice.

"I swear Lynny if you don't wake up I'll never forgive you. I refuse to sit through your funeral and make small talk with a bunch of people who can't say anything but how sorry they are. You know that would kill me, and then I'd explode with some rant about how they never really knew you and had no right to pretend like they did. Mom and Dad would probably die of mortification. Don't you dare put us through that. You need to wake up Lynny. I can't do this without you, any of it," the tears came before she could scare them away.

She sat there, shoulders shaking with sobs, as each individual tear fell faster and faster onto the blanket covering Lynn. There was no way to know how long she sat there, crying, surrounded by white walls and the smell of antiseptic.

Eventually there came a knock on the door, and she reluctantly, but quickly, released her sister's hand so she could wipe the evidence from her face.

She turned to see Erick standing in the doorway looking completely deflated. His sandy blonde hair was a mess and his face sank in horror as he took in the sight of his girlfriend lying broken before him.

"Oh God Lynn. How is she? How are you? God how did this happen?" he just stood there, unsure what to do. He was convinced that if he touched her she'd shatter into a hundred pieces like an antique china doll.

"She's in a coma, and the doctors said they can't be certain when she'll wake up, but they're hopeful it'll be in the next few days. Her head is banged up pretty badly as I'm sure you can see, but the major issues are with her spine. There's severe bruising and a possible fracture near the base of her spine, but they of course can't tell if anything's been impaired until she wakes up, so we're just sitting here waiting," Lexi explained as he slowly walked over and sank into the chair next to her. He looked exhausted, as if he hadn't slept for days. Lexi had to keep reminding herself that it had been less than twenty four hours since the crash.

How could everything go to hell in such a short time span?

"What the hell happened last night?" Erick just sat there, limp.

"I wish I could tell you, but I only remember bits and pieces, and nothing after the volleyball game is very solid. The doctor said my memory issues are a combination of how intoxicated I was and the concussion," she sighed and tried not to get angry at herself because it would only bring the headache back. She was fighting her own brain, and right now she was losing.

"So they want you to wait and be patient? Have they met you?" Erick let out a weak chuckle.

"Lynn's always been the patient one. I've realized the past few hours that Lynn possesses the majority of the exemplary traits in our relationship," Lexi rubbed her thumb back and forth across the back of her sister's hand as if she could literally massage the life back into her.

"She's always been my better half, that is for certain, but the way I see it, the two of you are pretty evenly matched. You get Lynn's feet off the ground, and she keeps you from flying too close to the sun," Erick's pale grey eyes revealed to Lexi how sincere he was. She knew how highly he regarded Lynn, so his words meant a lot to her.

"I can't imagine what it would've been like growing up without her. I mean we've experienced everything together. I still remember waiting up for her after her first date with you even though I had to be up at the crack of dawn the next morning. She was so excited, and we talked for hours about it. I never would've guessed that you two would still be together three years later, but honestly I think Lynny knew," she pictured the two of them sitting cross legged on Lynn's bed like it was yesterday.

Despite the size of their house, they'd always insisted on sharing a room. Lynn on the main floor, and Lexi up in the loft. Sleeping not only in different rooms, but possibly different states next year for college would be so strange. College and her future, their future, were the last thing she should be thinking about. All it would bring was pain and the dangerous onslaught of "what ifs".

"I thought I was a goner after that first date. I took her to dinner and a movie, cliché I know, and I was so nervous the whole time. I kept stumbling over my words, and when I kissed her outside the movie theater it was probably the most awkward kiss imaginable, even for a pair of fifteen year olds," Erick ran his hand over his face and laughed.

"Clearly she didn't mind. You've made her so happy Erick. What more could I want for my sister? Lynny you need to wake up now. Erick's here to make you smile, so you need to wake up now," she turned slightly in her wheelchair, so Erick wouldn't see the tears pooling in her eyes. She didn't cry in front of anyone but Lynn: ever.

Erick finally reached forward and touched Lynn's hand. That interlocking of three hands, two full of life, and one completely still, sat there on the bed, unmoving. At some point Lexi's fatigue took over her and she slumped over against Erick. He just sat there, one twin sleeping against his shoulder, and the other lying still, so terrifyingly still, in the bed in front of him.

He checked the clock and realized it had only been sixteen hours since the accident. The day before he was picking up his suit for Homecoming, and now he was sitting in a hospital room, silently crying, as he waited. The waiting was what would kill him, he was sure of it.

 Hate to break it to you Erick, but waiting won't be the hardest part of this story.  Rough roads ahead my friend, and of course ladies you know just when you think it can't get any worse some guy pops his head into the picture and takes it as a challenge.  Buckle your seat belts folks, but first make sure you vote and comment!