I’d never seen Oliver cry before.

To see him cry now . . . it was . . . odd.  Yeah, odd was the only way to describe it.  To see the tears dripping down his face as he gripped the hospital door . . . it broke my heart.  But then again it elated me to know that those tears weren’t out of remorse.  They were happy. 

Dannon, still sitting in his bed, smiled.  His full attention was on his best friend, his eyes alight.  I struggled not to shed my own tears of joy as Oliver continued to cry.  Shelley, Garner, Paula, and Meghan crowded around him, appalled expressions on their faces.  No one said anything.  We all waited.  What we were waiting for, I wasn’t exactly sure.

“Oh my God,” Oliver croaked out at last, his voice thick as he covered his mouth with his hand.  “Oh my God.”

Dannon laughed, his voice like a sweet melody filling the air.  I closed my eyes taking in the sound of his chuckles.  For how long had we all thought we’d never hear that sound again?  How long did we believe that we’d lost Dannon—and everything about him—forever?  A long time.

Suddenly Oliver wasn’t at the door anymore.  He rushed across the room, not at all caring that he was blubbering and bawling his eyes out.  At the moment pride didn’t cross his mind.  At least, it didn’t seem like it did.  And I loved that about him.  He wasn’t afraid to show his friend that he’d missed him.

As the two friends embraced, my eyes flicked to Kyla as she stood beside me.  Her eyes were watering at the sight of her boyfriend’s tears, at the sight of such sentimentality.  I had the sudden urge to wrap my arms around her, to hold her tight to me because I had no idea what could happen to either of us.  One of us could be lost at any moment, any time.

“Hey, Dannon,” said Oliver, trying for lightness as he pulled away.  He wiped his eyes, sniffling.  “Nice to see you, man.”

Dannon’s eyes were bright as he beamed at his friend.  “Nice to see you, too, Oliver.”

Dannon’s eyes lifted from Oliver, sweeping over toward the crew as they huddled in the doorway.  Shelley’s eyes were bright with fresh tears, gripping Garner’s hand tightly.  Dannon’s eyes collided with their intertwined hands and he laughed.  “Wow, I must have been gone for centuries,” he mused.  “Are you two finally together?”

I couldn’t help but laugh with the rest.  Shelley let out a whimper in her throat before she flung herself at Dannon, too, almost crushing Oliver to death as she pushed her way toward him.  “Dammit, Dannon!” she shrieked, as she hugged him.  “Don’t you ever do that to me, to us again do you hear me?  That was so unbelievably—”

Dannon grinned, hugging her back.  His eyes met mine as he hugged his friend and his smile grew.  My smile grew, too.  I don’t think that anybody here had ever been this happy before.  And if they were, I’d like to know what the hell happened.  Because this was bliss.

“It was hell,” Garner said, stepping to the side as Meghan and Paula stepped in, each taking their turns hugging Dannon.  It was hard because Shelley did not look inclined to let them in on the hug-fest.  It was funny, in a way.  She was blubbering in a way that could only be defined as comical.  And the fact that she was reprimanding him for going into a coma like he’d stolen a cookie from the cookie jar only made it funnier.  It reminded me of the time I switched camps for a summer and went back to my old one.  My counselor hugged me and told me never to do such an awful thing again. 

“Yes, it was hell!” Shelley whined, pulling away and moving away.  “So glad to have you back, Dannon—really.”

“Hell?” Dannon’s eyebrows creased with concern.  He’d known it was bad, from what I’d told him (which was almost nothing, by the way).  But he didn’t know just how bad it was.  It seemed he was about to find out.

“Yeah,” Garner said with a nod.  “Hell, man.”

Before Garner could launch into a story of my depression, Shelley whacked him on the shoulder.  “Why don’t you stop saying ‘hell’ and hug your friend because he’s alive!” she snapped, scowling at him.  “Inconsiderate.”

“You said ‘hell’ too,” Garner mumbled.  “Hypocrite.”

“Hug Dannon—now.”

Dannon laughed as Shelley pointed at Dannon, a scowl still on her face.  She was making Garner hug him so she wouldn’t look clingy, I realized.  She wanted to continue hugging him, but felt like it would be odd for her to hug him for longer than she had.  Dannon wouldn’t have minded, though.  He would have hugged them all for hours and still wouldn’t care.  It was just the type of person that he was.

Garner rolled his eyes, opening up his arms and hugging Dannon.  You could see from Garner’s expression that he was happy that Dannon was alive—just as happy as the rest of us, really.  But he didn’t like hugging people.  I wondered how often he hugged Shelley.  “Thank you for not dying on me, Dannon,” Garner said lightly before pulling away.  “It’s greatly appreciated.”

Dannon’s smile remained.  “Anything for you.  Now can you please explain what kind of ‘hell’ you’re talking about?”

Garner glanced from Shelley, to Oliver, to Meghan, to Paula, to Kyla, and then finally rested on me before turning back to Dannon.  He didn’t glance at Garrett, for he didn’t need his permission to tell the story.  Garrett, who’d been all but silent since our other friends arrived, leaned against the wall with a small smile on his face.  I wondered how hard he was trying not to talk.

“Shell,” Garner not-so-whispered to his girlfriend, “are you going to smack me if I tell him what happened?”

“I suppose not,” Shelley said with a deep sigh.  She fell onto the bed, next to Oliver.  “He has a right to know anyway.”

Everyone glanced—however discreetly they felt like being—at me.  I tensed, not liking the eyes on me.  It seemed that this story was going to revolve around me.  I didn’t like that much.  There was nothing good to say about me while Dannon was in a coma.  All it was going to do was make Dannon feel bad.  I was probably going to get a speech from him later.

Oliver stood up from the bed and moved over toward Kyla and me.  Their fingers intertwined together, and they held each other’s hands tightly.  When I glanced up, Shelley was back in her spot with Garner and Dannon was gesturing for me to sit with him.  I smiled before obeying, not even glancing around at my friends before flopping onto the bed beside him and resting my head on his shoulder.  It felt so natural—sitting with Dannon like this.  I felt like there hadn’t been a two month gap where all I knew how to do was cry and be in despair. 

It felt like he’d never left.

Garner took a deep breath, preparing himself to explain.  “It sucked without you, man,” he started, bringing a hand through his hair.  He didn’t want to explain just how much it sucked, but I supposed he knew that we didn’t want to either.  And he was the only one who would really be willing to.  “Brianne got depressed, and you could tell that Oliver was trying really hard to be strong for everyone.  Sorry Oliver, for not doing a better job of making sure that you were all right.”  He paused to shoot an apologetic stare in Oliver’s direction.  When Oliver nodded, Garner sighed and started again.  “We were all pretty shaken up, but Brianne was the worst.  She wouldn’t smile—wouldn’t do anything.  We spent the past two months trying to crack even the smallest smile out of her.”

I closed my eyes, feeling my chest tighten.  I felt ashamed of my behavior.  I should have tried harder.  It wasn’t fair of me to be depressed and sulking while everyone else was in pain, too.  Dannon seemed to sense what I was feeling, because his hand gripping mine tightened, squeezing mine soothingly.  I squeezed back, letting him know that I was fine.

“Near the end, we finally got smiles from her.  They were small at first, but she gradually got to smiling actual smiles.  I don’t know what happened for her to change, but they went away as quickly as they came.  Soon she was back to her depressed state, and there was no freeing her from it.  And then you woke up and she’s good as new.”

Dannon leaned over, pressing his lips against my temple before turning back to his friends.  He knew that whatever discussions we were to have about my depression would have to be in private, not with everyone else here.  “How about the rest of you?” he asked, his eyes scanning to each crew member and around to Garrett.  “Were you guys all right?”

“No,” they all said in unison.

“But we managed,” Shelley said softly, giving her friend a small smile.  Dannon smiled back.  It’d been what he wanted to hear, I knew.  That they’d managed fine.  That they’d made it through without too much difficulty. 

Dannon was about to answer, but the door which had closed behind Meghan and Paula as they entered opened.  We all turned, our eyes latching onto the doctor as he stepped inside.  His eyes widened as he realized just how many people were in the room.  “Uh,” he mumbled before clearing his throat.  “I’m sorry, but Dannon really needs his rest.  It would be best if he was alone for a while.”

Shelley looked like she wanted to reprimand the doctor for making them leave, but she didn’t.  I could just see it now.  Her looking the doctor in the eye and telling him off as though he were her child.  Telling him that he had no right to make us leave when we’d thought he was going to die for a really, really long time.  It would be amusing to say the least.  I almost wished she would do it.

“Come on, guys,” she murmured instead, shooting an apologetic expression in Dannon’s direction.  “We’ll see you later?”

Dannon nodded.  “Definitely.”

I watched as everyone said their goodbyes and filed out of the room.  Kyla and Oliver lagged behind, stopping at the bed to give Dannon one last hug.  Kyla gave me a hug, smiled, said goodbye to me and Dannon and followed Oliver out of the room, their hands never parting.  Garrett and I stayed where we were, not at all inclined to leave.

The three of us looked at the doctor, daring him with our eyes to tell us to leave.  Well, I was daring him.  Dannon was probably just asking for us to stay, and Garrett was probably just curious.  “You two can stay as long as you let Dannon rest,” the doctor said, keeping his voice stern.  You could tell that he wasn’t really feeling it, though.  “Rest, Dannon.  Got it?”

Dannon nodded, a smile on his lips.  “I will.”

The doctor sighed, apparently satisfied with Dannon’s answer.  After saying what he first came here to say, the doctor left, his clipboard tucked under his arm as the door closed behind him.  We stared after him silently.  I think we all expected him to come back and make Garrett and I leave.

“You,” Garrett said, opening his mouth now for the first time in over fifteen minutes.  That was a record, just so you know, “have no idea how happy we are that you’re okay.”

Dannon smiled in Garrett’s direction.  I think that he did know.  He did know how happy we were that he was alive.  And how did he know that?  Because he was just as happy he was alive.  He was just as surprised, just as relieved.  He really understood.  “I’m glad I’m alive, too.”

Garrett grinned, falling onto the bed next to us.  The grin remained there as he said, “Will you play the Wii with me?”

I cocked an eyebrow at him.  Out of all the things that he could say to Dannon right now, he went with that? 

Dannon laughed.  “Once I’m not connected to a hunk of metal, sure why not?”

I glanced at the heart monitor.  It was still beeping, still showing Dannon’s heart rate.  Still proving that Dannon was alive.  Part of me continued to wonder if this was a dream.  Was I still asleep on the floor in my living room with the crew by my side?  Was Dannon still in a coma and I was just kidding myself by believing this was real?

No.  It wasn’t a dream.  It wasn’t.

“Yes!” Garrett fist-pumped.  “Someone will finally bowl with me!”

I snickered.  “Mom will bowl with you.”

Garrett scowled.  “I still haven’t forgiven you for that.”

“You set yourself up for it, dude.”

Garrett stood up then, his hands going to his hips.  “Always great to see you, Dannon,” he said, a bright smile on his face.  “I’m going to give you two some alone time because you look like you need it.”  He wriggled his eyebrows, twisting around to leave. “Brianne, I’ll pick you up in an hour or two all right?”

I nodded.  “’Kay.  Garrett?”

He turned back around, a curious expression on his face.  “Yes, my baby sister?”

I smiled.  “Thanks.”

He grinned and nodded.  “No problem.”

And then he was gone, disappearing where all my friends and the doctor had gone earlier.

I sighed, closing my eyes again as I continued to rest on Dannon’s shoulder.  I felt a deep contentment inside, like there was absolutely nothing that could destroy it now that Dannon was here.  Like even if my mom waltzed in here and screamed at me for something incredibly stupid, I wouldn’t feel at all upset.  Like nothing could touch me now.  I felt—I felt good.

“You know what I just realized?” I said suddenly, sitting up and staring at Dannon.  He stared back at me, like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid his eyes on.  I still couldn’t understand why he looked at me that way.  But it didn’t stop me from loving every second of it.

“What?” Dannon asked.

“The crew,” I drew out.  “They don’t know your cancer is gone.  They just knew you woke up.”

Dannon blinked.  He opened his mouth, closed it.  It was like it was impossible to register.  It was hard enough believing that it was gone, let alone that we’d forgotten to tell our friends.  When I called them, the doctor hadn’t told us the results of the scan.  When we called, we just knew that Dannon was awake and seemingly okay.

Dannon laughed suddenly, heartily.  He didn’t seem to be able to stop.  I laughed along with him, collapsing onto his lap as I giggled.  I couldn’t believe it!  Out of all of the information we could forget to tell it was that?

We stopped laughing and I sat up.  We looked at each other for a short moment before Dannon pulled me toward him, our lips touching.  I smiled as we kissed, my hands finding their way to his cheeks.  He held my cheeks, too, and he stroked them with his thumbs.  I couldn’t help but smile.  Everything was so perfect.  Perfect.  I couldn’t imagine a moment more perfect than this one.

“Well,” Dannon breathed as we pulled apart, his hands still on my cheeks.  I let my hands fall onto the blanket, “I guess you’ll just have to tell them now won’t you?”

I grinned.  “I suppose so.”