As they all sat and waited, the time seemed to tick by. The waiting room was so silent. Aside from an occasional sniffle from someone stifling back tears, you could hear a pin drop.

Sitting there like that reminded Luca Donato of the worst day of his life. In that same hospital nearly seventeen years ago, Kit, Andre, and Carly sat and waited to say goodbye to his dad, Leonardo. It was there in that hospital they watched him take his last breath.

Ultimately it led to the best day, as that was also the night Loni was conceived. He and Kit hadn't been careful in their grief as they sought comfort in each other, but they both knew she was a gift. Leondra was a gift from his dad, and so they named her after him.

As Luca sat there, he realized that wasn't the worst day; it wasn't even close. There wasn't even a word to describe the feeling of seeing his daughter passed out and unable to breathe. Terrified and helpless were probably the closest, but even those didn't feel strong enough.

He wanted to scream, punch a wall, get wasted, something, anything, to not feel like this.

But....he couldn't do any of those things.

All he could do was sit there, holding his wife's hand, stroking his other daughters hair, while they waited endlessly for news.

Eventually, two girls sitting next to Loni's long-time friend, Andrea, got up to leave. Andrea stayed but promised she'd call them with any news.

The elevator doors opened, the doctor from earlier stepped out, and everyone started talking at once.

"Is she okay?"

"Where's Loni?"

"Can we see her?"

"She's stable; not awake yet," the doctor said. "Let's get some of you moved up to cardiology. Visiting hours are over, but I told the nurses to be lenient tonight. I do have to ask for everyone but family to leave though, I'm sorry."

The group started to stand, everyone stiff from having sat for so long.

Andrea's mom, Cathy, glanced towards Kit, "Kit, call me if you need anything. We will be back tomorrow morning."

"Thanks, Cathy," Kit said softly as she and Andrea left.

"Can you call me if anything changes?" Manny asked, "I can be right back here."

"Yeah, of course, " Luca agreed.

"I'll clean up the restaurant, so you don't need to worry about it."

"You don't have to do that," Kit protested.

"I need to do something," Manny replied.

"You're a good kid, Manny. Thanks," Luca offered.

Manny nodded and followed Andrea and her mom out. To think, earlier today, Luca's biggest problem was accepting Loni's desire to date Manny. He'd give anything for that to be his only worry right now. Hell he'd even drive them to Vegas if it meant Loni would be okay.

The rest of the family walked unto the elevator to head up to cardiology. Luca followed them all on; everyone was quiet, even Lissa. The mood was heavy as the elevator rose to the top floor.

It was a large and quiet wing that, Dr. Gupta, according to his name tag, brought them to. There was a waiting area in the center with a few couches and chairs near a large desk where a few nurses sat. Behind them were two large doors that said cardiology staff only.

There were several closed-door rooms; Luca immediately noticed that one said Leondra Ann Donato on it.

Dr. Gupta motioned for Kit and Luca to follow him to the room next to hers. It was a small room with the name Georgina Morgan MD, Head of Cardiology, on it.

Dr. Morgan looked up from the files and stuff on her desk as they stepped in, she was wearing an official looking white coat with her name tag on it. Her black hair was cut short and left naturally curly, while a pair of glasses rested on her nose. Dr. Gupta walked in and stood behind her, holding some files in his arms. His face was a bit more weathered then hers and his hair was streaked with gray.

"Come sit down, Mr. and Mrs. Donato," she said. "I'm Dr. Morgan, and this is Dr. Gupta."

"Kit and Luca," Kit offered quietly. "How is Loni?"

"is she okay? What's going on?" Luca added as he reluctantly sat down with Kit.

"First of all, we did stabilize her. She's currently resting, but she'll likely wake up for a bit tonight, and you can talk to her."

"What happened? Why did she stop breathing?" Kit asked.

"There's not an easy way to say this. Your daughter is in heart failure."

Kit gasped, and Luca's own heart felt like it dropped into his stomach right there and then.

"Heart failure?" He managed to croak out.

"I know how scary that sounds, and it is. However, we have treated much older patients with heart failure successfully. What I suspect, and I'm waiting for the results of a few more tests first, but I looked into the family history; and I believe Loni has the same heart condition your mother had."

"No," Kit whimpered, and Luca took her hand.

"They tested her for it, both girls, when they were babies," Luca protested as if that could somehow make this not be true.

"It's called the brugada syndrome, and it can often lay dormant, undetected for years. There isn't a way they would have caught it when she was a baby. It only shows up in tests if symptoms are present. Its rare, the condition, and so is inheriting it, so they probably didn't think you needed continuous tests."

"I didn't even know it had a name," Luca mumbled. "So it's why she stopped breathing?"

"Yes. Burgada most commonly causes dizziness, seizures, gasping, and difficulty catching your breath. The more dangerous symptoms are fainting and rapid and irregular heart rate, sometimes even extremely rapid, which can be very concerning. Left untreated, it can lead to cardiac arrest, even sudden death."

"Oh god," Kit gasped as  a chill descended Luca's spine.

"But it is treatable?" Luca questioned. "Times have changed since my mom...right? There are things you can do?"

"It is treatable. However, the most common treatment is a implantable cardioverter defibrillator. This is a device we'd implant into Loni's chest that would regulate her heart."

"So do it."

"I wish we could. The problem is that Loni's heart is severely inflamed and damaged. I believe her condition started to present itself at least a month ago. She probably didn't notice it or just  thought she felt anxious. I also believe she may have had a mild heart attack recently."

"What!?" Luca and Kit both cried at the same time.

"Likely in her sleep, and she didn't even realize it," Dr. Morgan said gently. "This is why I highly reccomend your other daughter be tested soon and continue to get tested yearly. Early detection would have prevented this."

"Of course, we will..." Kit stammered. "Loni never- I guess she did talk about getting head rushes from painting a few times. She gets so zoned in, I didn't think it was anything more then her eyes needing a break. A heart attack? How did I miss this?"

"She's been working with me at Leo's, was it all to much? Why didn't I see it?" Luca added, they'd been spending so much time together lately. How did he miss this?

"Don't be hard on yourselves," Dr. Gupta assured them. "These symptoms are not obvious."

"He's right. There is a reason why heart disease is called a silent killer. Often things have already progressed by the time we even see any symptoms," Dr. Morgan added.

"What do we do now?" Luca asked.

"I was able to drain the fluid from her lungs. I have her on a strong inflammatory and a beta blocker. I hope it'll get her out of heart failure, so we can then determine the next steps to treat her heart condition."

"You hope? So you don't know?" Luca cried out.

"Unfortunately, right now, it is a wait-and-see. Beta-blockers are usually successful in treating health failure, but sometimes it can get worse before it gets better. So don't be alarmed if she's frail, exhausted, and showing other symptoms over the next few days."

"Will she stop breathing again?" Kit asked in a trembling voice.

"We have her on machines that'll keep her breathing, and we're monitoring her twenty-four seven. We have a call out to one of the best cardiologists in the country. We lucked out in that his son works here and called him tonight. Jonathan Blake, he's out of the country now but said he'll be here by the end of the week."

Having one of the best cardiologists on her case should have made Luca feel better, but instead,  it only reinforced how bad this was.

"I know how dire this all is," Dr. Morgan leaned in, her brown eyes full of warmth, despite the awful news she'd had to share with them. "Just know that no one here is giving up hope. Positivity will go a long way here, okay?"

Luca gulped, and Kit sniffled back a few years.

"Can we go sit with her now?" Luca asked as he stood and pulled Kit up with him.

"I want to check on her again, and then yes. She'll hopefully wake up soon. I'll come out and get you when you can see her."

They left the office and headed back to the waiting room, where everyone looked up for answers.

"She's stable, for now," Luca said. "She should be awake soon."

"What"- Stone started to speak.

"Heart failure," Kit cut him off as her lip trembled.

"What!?" Carly gasped.

"Oh no," Andre breathed out as he stood and took a step towards them.

"What does that mean, mom?" Lissa asked. "Is Loni gonna be okay?"

"Lissa." Kit looked at her and then the clock, "Oh God, did you even eat dinner?"

"I didn't think about it, mom. It's okay," Lissa replied.

"There's a little cafeteria right around the corner," a nurse offered as she walked by. "There are vending machines with various stuff. Even a decent sandwich machine."

"Honey, why don't you get a bunch of snacks for everyone while talk to your grandpa, uncle and aunt?" Kit suggested as she handed Lissa some bills from her purse.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Lissa took it and dashed off around the corner.

"I forgot to feed her. I'm a terrible mother," Kit cried out as she fell to her knees.

"No. No, you're not l, didn't remember to either, and she didn't even think about it. We're all distracted." Luca knelt beside Kit and pulled her into his arms.

"Kit listen to him, you're a wonderful mother," Carly added.

"Then how did I not see it? How did I not sense it? They said she's probably been showing symptoms for a month! They said she may have had a heart attack!" Kit cried out as tears ran down her face.

"She said she probably thought it was nothing," Luca reminded her. "Like at breakfast when she said her belly felt funny. We assumed it was nerves."

"It was her heart... my god. My poor baby's heart," Kit sobbed as Luca held her close.

🌹🌹🌹

Gus was finally getting changed and ready to head out when his cell rang and of course, it was her.

He sighed as he picked up the call, "I know you're mad, but"-

"Where are you?" She demanded.

"I'm leaving here soon. Something came up."-

"Something always comes up!" She cut him off, "you're at the bar, right?"

"That's where I was headed," he admitted. "Come meet me, and let's talk."

"You want to talk in public? Why? Are you breaking up with me?"

"No, Jenny," he sighed. Sometimes she made him want to bang his head against the nearest wall. "It's been a long day, starting, with our fight this morning."

Ending with having to call his dad and ask for help with a case. Not just any case, a teenage girl, this wouldn't be easy, on either of them.

"The fight was your fault! You promised you'd be at that party."

"I tried!" As he yelled, a few changing doctors looked over at him.

Embarrassed, he ducked out of the locker room.

"I told you I had a special case, Jenny," he said in a lower voice as he ducked down the corridor. "I can't control that he had a flare-up the day of the party, but I have to put my patients first."

"I'm trying to understand that. I am! But when do I get to be first? Ever?"

"I'm trying. I'm a new doctor; I have to prove myself."

"Life balance matters, Gus," she pointed out. "As a doctor, you should know that."

This is why so many of his colleagues remained single. He stepped into the cafeteria and stopped short as his eyes took in a little red-headed girl, a coppery shade just like hers. Her back was to him, and she hadn't seen him yet. It was silly, just a hair color, yet it was enough to bring all those childhood memories to the fringes of his head.

"Gus? Are you still there?"

"You stupid piece of the crap machine!" The girl suddenly did some crazy spin kick to the machine, effectively pulling Gus from his stupor and making him laugh at the same time.

"Gus! What's going on?"

"I got to go; I'll be home soon, okay?"

"I thought you wanted to meet at the bar?"

"I'll call you." He hung up, knowing he had just made it worse.

"What did the vending machine  ever do to you?" he asked as he approached the girl.

She whirled around, and he saw her face was much older than he pegged her for. He'd assumed eight to ten based on her small stature, but she looked to be about twelve or thirteen.

"It's not working!" She shouted irritably. "This is what Loni usually does! She takes care of everyone but she's super sick and she can't, so I have to, and I suck at it!"

"Loni... that's the girl they brought in tonight," Gus softened his voice and stuck a few bills in the machine. "She your sister?"

"Yeah. I'm Lissa."

"Dr. Blake," he selected the number for the stuck sandwich, forcing the stuck one and a new one to fall.

"I need like four more of those," Lissa said, and Gus went ahead and bought them for her.

"Thanks," she said as he handed them to her.

"You're here for your sister. You're staying out of everyone's way; that's all anyone can ask of you."

"If it were me in there, Loni would be caring for everyone. I know she would."

"Maybe, but you don't have to be her, okay? No one is expecting you to."

"I never saw my parents so upset," Lissa said quietly. "I know this is bad."

Her tears spilled over, and Gus took her arm, leading her to a chair. She set the sandwiches down in the empty one next to her.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I get the feeling you don't like that."

"No. I don't," she agreed.

"You're right. What's going on with your sister is very serious. But - everyone here is rooting for her. Everyone."

"Will they be able to help her?"

"We are going to everything we can. My dad is even coming and is one of the best doctors ever. She's in great hands here."

"I sure hope so," Lissa sighed as she wiped her eyes dry. "I have been trying so hard not to cry. I don't want my mom and dad to worry about me too."

"It's okay to be scared and upset," he offered. "If you need to get away from everyone for a moment. Right behind those pop machines, there is a little hallway. It leads to an old lab no one uses anymore. It's a good spot to cry."

"Thanks," she took a breath as she calmed herself. "You're nice, Dr. Blake."

"I've been exactly where you are."

She looked up at him for clarification.

"Trying to care for my parents on the worst night of their lives." A shudder went through his body; why did tonight remind him so much of that night?

"Lissa?" A woman called, and Lissa looked past Gus towards the voice as her footsteps grew closer.

"Sorry, mom. The machine got stuck, and this doctor helped me."

Gus turned around to greet the woman and nearly dropped to the ground. "You... you look just like her," he stuttered out.

Same coppery red hair, same honey-brown eyes, and even how she tilted her head in confusion, it was all so similar...

How was this possible?

"Like who? Do I know you?" The woman asked as Lissa gathered her sandwiches and joined her.

"Kit, she's awake!" A male voice yelled out.

"Oh, thank god! We got to go!"

The woman, Kit, took Lissa's hand, and they rushed off, leaving Gus standing there stunned and confused.