come back...be here {George Smith}

part 5 - alternative

Slowly, her life fell into a routine; wake up, breakfast, school, visit George, go home, dinner, homework, bed, repeat. That was for weekdays. On weekends, she'd wake up, breakfast, visit George, go home, bed. All while this was happening, her baby was growing bigger and bigger and the bump was getting harder to hide. She wanted to drop out of school but George's parents refused to let her. They said that education was very important and that not everyone is lucky to have an education. So she obliged and went to school.

She was scared that the kids at school were going to tease her and bully her but everyone, well, almost everyone, were really supportive.

She was now seven months in. Her parents hadn't attempted to make contact with her and when she tried to call them, it went straight to voice mail so she came to the conclusion that they had blocked her number and really, truly didn't want anything to do with her.

One day, she, as usual, was spending the weekend with George. She'd brought over her homework (which was eventually pushed aside) and started telling George about her week.

"We all miss you and it's not the same without you. They didn't want me to hear this but they're going to ask your parents to choose if you don't wake up soon. Please wake up, I don't ever want to lose you. Please, George, you've been fighting so hard, please, wake up," she begged. George's parents (who had just arrived and were standing in the doorway) had tears in their eyes. They beckoned her over and pulled her into a hug.

"We need to talk to you about something," said Natasha.

For some reason, a feeling of dread settled over her. "Yes?"

Tony took a deep breath as tears rolled down his face. "They're going to cut off his life support next month if he doesn't show any signs of improvement."

The words were like a punch in the face and a kick in the gut. She pulled out of their grip and shook her head.

"No, no, no, no, no," she repeated, shaking her head, tears falling out of her eyes. "No, you can't do this. You can't do this to him. You can't do this to me! You can't do this to yourselves, You can't do this to our child!"

"Please, don't make it harder than it already is. The doctors say it's unlikely that a miracle will happen and he'll wake up. His injuries are too severe. He's been on life support for seven months. It's inhumane to keep him hooked up for this long. Trust me, we don't want to do this but it's what has to be done. For George's sake," said Tony, not even seeming to realise the tears falling down his face.

She shook her head, refusing to believe it. She knew she was being selfish; she could see how much pain George was in but she wanted to keep him alive. Because she couldn't live without him otherwise. She loved him too much.

Suddenly, it did actually feel like her gut had been kicked. She gasped out loud and grasped her belly.

"What's the matter?" asked Natasha, rushing over to her.

She breathed heavily, in and out and said one word. "Baby."

Long story short: the baby was born premature. The little baby girl spent three weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. George now had one week to wake up or show some sign - any sign - of improvement or they'd cut off his life support. She herself couldn't take it anymore. She wanted her life to end. She'd had enough of everything. She was in an incredibly dark place and nothing could make her see the light. She wanted the darkness to swallow her up whole. She wanted nothing more than to leave this world behind and end her pain and suffering.

A/N - thanks so much for 100 reads!