It was 3am the next morning, and there had been no change in Connie's condition. They knew that Connie wasn't going to make it much longer, and so Grace's Aunt had come down to take Grace away for a while, to give Connie and Jacob some time alone. However, before Grace left, Connie had been told that she could hold her baby for a few minutes, and so she'd sat up in her hospital bed, with her gorgeous baby in her arms, while Grace and Jacob stood either side. They all smiled as the Nurse took a photograph on Jacob's phone, and it looked like the perfect family photo. Their only full family photo. Grace left a little while later, and the nurse had to take the baby away from Connie to get her back in her incubator. Connie and Jacob were left alone - neither of them knew what to say, and Connie was advised to speak as little as possible, so it was on Jacob. Their baby had been taken back to ICU to be monitored, as they had been forced to operate although the baby wasn't ready to come out. It was a baby girl, and everyone was thrilled to finally find out the gender - especially Connie, who had cried when she found out. She was only a few weeks premature, but the doctors wanted to check that everything was okay, and so that's why the baby had to be taken back. Not knowing what he could possibly say, Jacob just sat holding Connie's hand, looking at her as she moved to lay back down in her bed.
"Connie, I know this is it. I know this is probably all we have left, and it's killing me too. You've been asking me to do one thing ever since we first got together - 'come with me'. It's our phrase. And now, Connie, I don't know if I'm ready to break that promise. If I could come with you, I would, and trust me - I have thought about it. But it's not just us. I've got our baby to look after, and I've got Grace to take care of. I would give anything to spend the rest of my life with you, but I know that it simply isn't possible without letting down those two little angels."
"I love you," Connie muttered, and a tear escaped Jacob's eye.
"I love you too, Mrs Masters," she smiled, and it warmed his heart to see her smile once more. "Our baby girl is so beautiful, isn't she?" Connie nodded, smiling again as much as she could manage. "Have you got any name suggestions?" Connie shook her head, and removed her mask so she could speak.
"Whatever you choose will be perfect," she answered. "I trust you." Jacob smiled, and held Connie's hand tightly. He couldn't bear to watch her like this. He finally understood what she had meant in that letter that she wrote to him so long ago - when she said that she wanted to spare him the pain of having to see her in this state. Now he understood what pain she had been talking about. "Hey," she whispered, reaching forward. "Don't be sad. We've been married, we've lived our lives, and we haven't let this hold us back."
"Why does it have to be you?" Jacob asked, crying properly now. Connie had only ever seen him cry once before, and it broke her heart to see it again. "Why does it have to take the only woman I could ever love away from me?" He hated breaking down in front of her - he hadn't cried properly since his sister died as even when Connie left, he had to stay as strong as he could for Grace's sake.
"You'll love again," Connie whispered. "And when you do, don't think of me. I'll be happy for you, moving on with your life, regardless of who the woman is. If she makes you happy, my darling, then that's good enough for me. Just because I can't live my life, it doesn't mean that you can't either." Jacob nodded, and a nurse walked into the room. She stayed in the back, but made herself scarce, and so Jacob turned his full attention back to his wife.
"You've been fighting for years, Con. Just a little longer, please. I hate that I have to say goodbye to you. I've got so much to say, and so little time to say it."
"I don't want to die," Connie sobbed, causing tears to roll down Jacob's cheeks again. "I'm scared."
"Hush," he whispered, tucking some hair behind her ear and kissing her cheek softly. "Hush, baby. I can't bear it either."
"Do something for me," Connie whispered, turning fractionally in her bed to face him a little.
"Anything," Jacob responded, wiping away his tears.
"Our song," she said. "I want to hear our song." Jacob smiled fondly. On their wedding day, their first dance was to Aerosmith's 'I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing', and ever since then, they had decided that it described their feelings for one another to a tee.
"Baby, I can't use my phone in here," he said, then saw the disappointed look on her face, and he realised that he wasn't going to deny her the privilege of listening to their song one final time. He looked down at his hands and he smiled, before coughing once and thinking of the start of the song. Opening his mouth, he began to sing, as he refused to disappoint her. "I could stay awake," he began, and a smile settled across her lips. "Just to hear you breathing. Watch you smile while you are sleeping, while you're far away.. And dreaming." She tightened her grip on his hand, and he continued to sing to her softly, watching her as her delicate features moved in time to his voice. His voice was a mere whisper, and he was speaking the lyrics more than actually singing them, but he was still making her happy and that was all that mattered at this moment. As he continued to sing, he didn't notice Grace and her Aunt walk in to the ward, and stand behind watching. Jacob tucked Connie's hair behind her ears, and traced his fingers over the smooth skin on her face, as he sang to her softly, never ceasing to look at her beautiful face. "Every moment spent with you, is a moment I treasure. I don't wanna close my eyes, I don't wanna fall asleep, 'cause I'd miss you babe, and I don't wanna miss a thing." He carried on singing through the song, despite him not being able to sing very well, and he noticed that her eyes had closed. She hadn't left him yet - her machine told him that much - but he knew it wouldn't be long. He knew she was slipping away from him slowly, and as he feared - all he could do was watch.
Halfway through the next verse, her grip on his hand loosened and she fell away from him, and the machine informed him that she'd gone. He couldn't bear to accept it, and so he continued singing to her, tears in his eyes, to the end of the song. It was a comfort for him too - it was their song, and so it only felt right that he finished it. Grace's Aunt was hugging Grace, though Jacob still hadn't realised they were there, and he only allowed himself to cry once the song was completely over.
"Oh Connie, I love you," he cried, burying his head into her bed, and allowing all his tears to cascade down his cheeks. It was then that Grace walked up, and rested her hand on Jacob's shoulder. She was crying too, and they both sat there and watched a lifeless Connie as she lay there peacefully.
"She died happily, dad," Grace said, causing Jacob's head to shoot up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-" she began, but Jacob just hugged her.
"Come here, sweetheart. You can call me dad anytime you like." They both cuddled together and Grace's Aunt watched on from afar, her heart breaking for the two people in front of her. The doors opened a little later, causing everyone to turn around, and they realised that it was just the nurse leaving them.
"Did you ask mum what you wanted to call my sister?" Grace asked, unable to think of anything else to say.
"She said anything I chose would be perfect," he smiled.
"Did you have any ideas?"
"Connie," he replied. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to call her Connie, because your mother will always mean so much to me, and I think it would be a nice way for her memory to live on."
"I think mum would like that," Grace replied, and Jacob turned back to face Connie.
"There you go, sweet-cheeks. Connie Junior. If only you could've held her longer. She's beautiful - you did so well, baby. I'm so proud of you." Jacob had to sit down to stop him from breaking into tears again, and as he did, he spoke to his wife lovingly. "I'll do whatever it takes to protect the two of them, I promise you. You can rely on me, baby." He leant forward to kiss her forehead, and was doing this when Henrik Hanssen walked in.
"Step back, please. She's not leaving us just yet. I want some-"
"Forget it Henrik," Jacob replied, standing up in his own time. It killed him to know that Connie could potentially be brought back, but he couldn't break her wish. "She's got a DNR. She doesn't want to come back. She asked me specifically not to do anything - just leave her be." Henrik stood in the centre of the room, then glanced at Connie and stormed out. He wasn't sure, but Jacob thought that Henrik might actually feel a little sad for Connie's loss, though Jacob didn't know that men like Henrik actually had emotions. Once Henrik had left, Grace said her goodbyes to Connie, crying but supported by Jacob, and held her mother's hand gently.
"I'm sorry for all the years I wasted acting like a spoilt brat, and I'm sorry I hurt you so much. I just hope you knew how much I loved you, because I did mum. I loved you more than anything else, and I'm so grateful for everything you did for me. You sacrificed so much and I never told you. I just hope you knew." Grace kissed her mums cheek, then ran off and hugged her Aunt while Jacob said a few more words. Like he said, there had been too much that he had wanted to say, and far too little time to say it.
"You look so peaceful, and so, so beautiful. I wish you could've spent more time with us but I know it wasn't your fault. You've given me a beautiful, healthy baby - Connie Junior. I only hope she's half as perfect as her mother always will be. You don't have to fight anymore baby, you can rest. Sleep tight, sweet cheeks. I was so desperate for you to make it out of here today; if only you could've come with me, one final time, eh?" And with that, he kissed her forehead, letting one final tear escape his eye before straightening up and looking down at her lying in such a peaceful position. "I love you, beautiful," he whispered, before turning around, taking Grace's hand, and walking out of the door.