Whatever life throws at you, even if it hurts, be strong and fight through it.  Remember, strong walls shake, but never collapse.  Life always offers you another chance.  It’s called Tomorrow.

 

It had been twelve hours without an IV.  Twelve hours of waiting, twelve hours of quietness; twelve hours of praying.  Hunter had fallen asleep slumped over Summer’s body.  He continues to hold her hand, as his head rested on her waist.  Dr. Anderson quietly steps into the room, doing his best not to disturb them.  He has in hand a tiny flashlight, that he uses to check the dilation of Summer’s pupils.  Sadly, there had been no change.  He lowers his head and with a sigh, he awakens Hunter.   "Any news yet?" Hunter reaches up brushing the hair from her face. "She seems to be getting better."

The doctor looked at Hunter, he seemed so optimistic, could he keep the momentum going, or would telling him the news make things worse?  It was enough, it was more than enough for anyone to bare but to bare it alone, took strength and courage.  Not many people have those qualities.  Hunter wanted, no, he needed Summer to wake up.  Summer had fought along his side for years, brought him through some of his darkest times.  Where would he be without her?  It was only right, that someone, that he, be the one fighting along her side now.

Hunter stood up as he pulled out his phone. He dials a number and puts it on the speaker. The call goes to voicemail. He looks at the doctor. "You know what is funny doc? There were no cell phones when I met Summer. I mean there were, but not like today. When I was on the road and she was off doing her thing, I would stand in a phone booth with a stack of quarters, and we would talk till I ran out of money. She would tell me all the stories and stuff that was happening, and I would tell her about the matches. These new phones just killed all that. Quick little calls, no connection with the other person." He looks over at Summer. " She is really one of a kind."

 

Doc stood there and smiled.  "You two must have been together for a long time."  He makes his way over to the end of the bed.  "I've been with my wife for almost four years now.  We were High School Sweethearts, you could say.  Took several breakups, two different marriages for both of us to realize our mistakes.  I always loved her; the time just did not feel right back then.  Now, four years and a set of twins later, we have never been happier." Hunter nodded his head as he smiled, looking down to Summer.

"Over twenty- five years now. We have had our ups and downs, but overall, it has been great. Now I am going to call the kids. I am going to have them bring our grandson, Sammy over. If anyone can get her to wake up, it is that little man." The doctor nods and steps out of the room. Hunter hits redial and the phone starts to call Colton. Colton answers. "What is wrong? is Mom okay?" Hunter lets out a sigh. "Everything is okay right now. I was just wondering if you guys were coming by anytime soon. When you come, bring little man with you. I think it would do her a world of good.”

Colton is quiet for a minute. "Sure Pops. It might take us a little time. We are just sorting some things out right now. The four of us will be there in about an hour, okay?" Hunter looks at the clock on the wall. "Sure, sounds great. See you then boy." He gets off the phone and walks over to her bedside. The doctor enters the room once again. "Hey punk, kids are on the way and little man is coming with them." The doctor steps closer to the head of her bed, he notices a slight twitch to the corner of her lip.  He looks up to Hunter.  "Talk to her again. Ask her a question and tell her to move her hand or fingers if she can understand you." Hunter leans down. "Hey punk if you can hear me move your fingers. You ready to see the kids and Sammy?"

Both Hunter and the doctor keep a steady eye on Summer's movements, there is a long-delayed action, but another slight twitch only this time with a couple of her fingers.  Hunter smiles, "See, doc, I think she can hear me."  The doctor once again takes out the tiny flashlight, he opens Summer's eyelids and begins to flash the light from side to side once again.  "Mr. Hurst, I know this is frustrating, and I know you want to believe." Hunter turns his head to the doctor and gives him an evil glare. "We all want to believe that this is a sign, but I feel as if it’s more of just a delayed muscle spasm."  He walks to the other side of the bed.  "I want you to stand on your wife's strong side.  Hold her hand and tell her something you know would make her angry."

Hunter looks at the doctor and shakes his head. He walks around to the other side of bed and grabs her hand. "Doc, if she kills me, I am coming after you. Summer someone called last night, she said she was coming to town and wanted to get together with you. Megan says she will be here tomorrow morning."

The doctor looks on, he can see Hunter's reaction while talking to her.  There is a slight change to Hunter's eyes, and he begins to bite down on his lip.  He begins to inhale deeply as the doctor can see Hunter's fingers being dug into by Summer's fingernails.  The Doctor smiles as Hunter's eyes cross over to him.  "I want you to release her hand now, Hunter.  Put yours inside hers this time.  I can see she is responding to the anger, with her fingertips, let's see how she does with making a fist."  Hunter shakes his head again, this was not the pain he wanted to endure nor inflict upon Summer, but he would do anything at this point to snap her out of the hell she's been in.

Hunter lets go of her hand a changes grip so that his hand is resting in the palm of hers. He breathes heavily. "Megan said she wanted to come see us since it was supposed to be our anniversary, and she wanted to know how it felt for you to live your life with her left-over scraps."

The doctor is looking closely at Hunter's reaction.  He doesn't notice much of a change. Hunter's hand remained under Summer's.  The doctor looks up to Hunter, then leans down to Summer.  "Summer, I am Doctor Anderson, your husband Hunter, stepped outside for a moment with a woman...."  Hunter looks at him and shakes his head forcefully.  "He called her Megan, I think.  She is a hot little number.  She seemed to be all over him."  Hunter looks up, pissed off as hell; he is about to slide his hand from the inside of Summer's when her hand grips his fingers with enough force that he wails out in pain.  Cassie, Colton, Lily and Sammy stand there witnessing the entire event.  Cassie steps inside first.  She looks to her father with a concerned look. "Anniversary?"  Hunter turns as all four of the kids are standing in the doorway.  He tries to release his hand from Summer's, but her nails began to dig into his flesh.  "Does this have anything to do with that photo you told me to never let mom know about? Daddy, just who is Sensei Forester to you and mom?"  Hunter's eyes shut; this was not how things were supposed to happen.  He knew this was a mistake that he immediately regretted.  Sammy slides by to see Summer laying in the bed.  He is confused about what is happening and stands at the head of her bed.  "Is Sassy sleeping?"  Lily walks up behind Sammy and wraps her arms around him.  "Yes, son, Sassy's is sleeping."  Colton and Cassie now both stare over to Hunter with a startled look upon their face.  "Wake up Sassy, I heard a gunshot today, it was loud, and Aunt Cassie's friend William, got to ride in a police car.  That was cool until it made her sad."  Colton, Cassie and Lily's eyes immediately caught Hunter's attention.

He looks over with a confused, yet stern look upon his face, Summer's grip loosens as she slowly moves her head to the direction of Sammy's voice.  Dr. Anderson looks amazed.  "Keep talking little one."  Lily picks Sammy up and sets him on Summer's bedside, he leans down, kissing her cheek and whispers.  "I love you, Sassy."  Summer's eyes flutter slowly trying to open.  Her head is now fully turned to her left side as everyone looks on.  Sammy now leans back with his head upon her chest.  "I can hear her heart beating, boom, boom, boom."  Summer's eyes slowly open, and those baby blues sparkled like never before.  She tries to speak, but barely whispers.  "You're my heartbeat."  and with that, her eyes closed once more.  Everyone stood in silence. "What's going on, Doc?"  Colton looked on.  "She's exhausted, it's to be expected.  What would normally take days, took your mother twelve hours to come out of, thanks to your dad and this little fella right here."  He pats Sammy on the head.  "Good job, Little Man.  I am going to come back in a while to do more tests.  I think the worst part is over now."  He begins to exit the room.

Hunter stands, rubbing his hand. "Damn I think she broke my damn hand." Colton looks at him and chuckles. "Serves you right Pops."  Sammy snuggles into Summer and Hunter looks over to the kids. "So, what the hell happened? Why was William in a cop car? Why were there gunshots?" He looks over at Cassie as Cassie sits there looking at Summer with tears in her eyes.

"We were just talking, and..." She looks over to Lily and then to Sammy.  Lily picks Sammy up from Summer's bed.  "Hey Buddy, let's go get Sassy something to eat, I bet she is hungry."  Sammy smiles and hops down grabbing Lily's hand. "Can I get something too?" He looked up to Lily. "Of course you can, son, let's go."  The two make their way out of the room and Colton steps up behind Cassie.  "One of Dom's flunkies, Xander. broke into the ranch, he cut the main breaker off as well.  I don't know what's going on Pops, but he was the one at the house the night of the fire.  Kami got the video footage of it."  Hunter stood there, he motioned for the kids to step outside, he did not want to risk a relapse in Summer's condition.  "Ok, but that does not explain the gunshot and William going to jail, I presume?"  Cassie stepped further away from the door frame and reached for Hunter's hand.  "Daddy, he was protecting me.  William shot him when he came after me."  Cassie starts to cry, and Hunter glares over to Colton, and wraps his arms around her tightly.  "Are you hurt, baby girl?"  Hunter pulls her out a bit looking into her eyes.  "No, but I can't let him go to jail, he doesn't deserve this, if it wasn't for me..he wouldn't."  Colton steps up to Cassie and puts his hand on her shoulder.  "Sis, stop it, this is no one's fault but Damon's fathers.  We will get William out of jail and believe me; Dom's ass will suffer!"

Hunter looks at his kids. "That family is going to learn that when you fuck with one of us, you get the whole pack. Little one you be strong, and we will get William out. He did nothing wrong. Now let’s go back in and wait on your mother while she rests. Today was not all bad. She is back with me, with us and everything will be better." He hugs Cassie and pats Colton on the back and takes them back into Summer's room.

The three make their way inside, Colton and Cassie stand to her left, just in front of the machines that are still monitoring her blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels.  Hunter walks around to the opposite side, rubbing his fingers.  He looks down as he tries to bend them.  Cassie still sniffles, and Colton tries to cheer her up.  "Dad, Wild Bill does have one hell of a shot though, he took that bastard out before I even turned the lights back on."  Cassie kind of smiles behind the tears, Hunter then reaches for Summer's hand.  "See there, Punk, Our Baby girl has a good one."  He lifted her hand up to his lips and kissed the top of her fingers gently.  Summer opens her eyes halfway and over to Cassie's direction.  She whispers softly.  "Billy Barnes."