The art of survival is a story that never ends.

-Christian Bale

 

It was once said, that when all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival, and Summer was indeed in survivor mode.  It had been a week now since the house fire, Hunter remained at her bedside, refusing to leave.  Doctors had hope for better outcomes, but at least there was nothing more discouraging.  Summer remained in the coma; her lifeless soul still lays helpless amongst the world. What could they do? What could any of them do?  Summer’s will, was the only thing that could lead her back to the family.  She was strong, a warrior amongst her peers; a true fighter; so why would this battle be any different? Doctor Anderson had been in and out of the room all morning long; each time with no better news than the day or two before.  It seemed as if he would be losing all hope for a recovery, leaving Hunter with ultimatums.  Could he decide on his own?  How would he bring the news to their kids.  Hunter sat in denial, He knew his wife, he knew how much of a fighting spirit that spunky little firecracker he married was still left inside.  Summer never took the easy way out of anything, no matter the challenge that “sassy” little blonde bombshell fought her way through everything.  This was not the battle she would lose to.

The kids were still piled up at Cassie’s ranch; Colton and Lily would be going to see Summer and Hunter in moments.  Cassie was still upstairs, William had made his way down, moments after the incident, a true gentleman.  He walks from the bottom step over to Colton where he notices him sending a text message.  He looks over to Lily with a smile and nod of his head.  Little Sammy walks up to William with his tiny hands made into a fist.  “Are you Aunt Cassie’s boyfriend?”  He looks up to William with a stern glare.  William smiles at Sammy, as he rubs the top of his head.  “I am Cassie’s friend. You must be…”  Sammy pokes out his lip and squints his little eyes, “I’m her boyfriend! You can leave her alone.  I don’t like Damon, and I won’t like you either!”  Lily comes walking up to both William and Sammy, she begins to apologize to William as she takes Sammy by the hand.  Cassie is walking down the stairs; she makes her way over to Sammy and lifts him up for a hug while smiling over to William.  “There’s my favorite guy.”  She hugs Sammy tightly as he cuts his vision over to William.  “Auntie Cass, I told your friend that I am not going to like him, just like I don’t like Damon. He needs to leave you alone.”  Cassie’s eyes widened as she cut her glare over to William who sends back a smile with a raised eyebrow.  “Yep, I guess I am no better than this Damon guy.”

Hunter was beside himself; Doctor Anderson had been walking in and out of the room all morning.   He was tired, he was stressed but most importantly, he was aggravated to high hell.  He is sitting in a chair next to Summer's bed; a nurse comes in and checks her chart and leaves again. Hunter looks up to say something, but he has no chance as the nurse rushes back out again. He lets out a long sigh and just sits there till the doctor comes in again and looks at her chart. Hunter stands up and grabs the doctor's arm as he tries to leave. "What the hell is going on doc? All day you and the nurse have been coming in here checking her chart and rushing out again. You better let me know what is going on here, or else."

Doctor Anderson relieves Hunter's hold as he places his hand upon his shoulder.  "Mr. Hurst, I am doing everything possible to make sure your wife is getting the best care possible.  I've had one of our best neurologists come in and look at your wife's chart.  The tests he has conducted did not give us, well any of us, hope for improvement.  I was hoping to prolong these questions, but it seems we have run out of time." Hunter’s eyes grow wide as he looks at the doctor. "What the fuck do you mean RUN OUT OF TIME? She is going to wake up and you are going to make it so, or so help me, I burn this fucking place to the ground."

Doctor Anderson begins to slowly back away as his nurse begins to step into the room, The doctor nods to insure everything is ok, as she steps back out of the room and he takes Hunter to the end of Summer's bed, holding her chart in his hand.  "Mr. Hurst, I understand your concern, and I, myself would do the same if it were my wife laying here, however, choices need to be made now.  Neither of them an easy one to make."  He walks Hunter over to the chair and asks him to sit.  "Mr. Hurst, it all comes down to this; we can keep Summer induced in this coma for however long you want us to, but with no improvements on the swelling to her brain, it only leads to a longer, much harder to wake up from experience, later on.  She could wake in a vegetation state.  Which means her body will still be with us, however her mind may not.  Then we have a more complex decision to make.  We could stop the infusion all together.  This has 2 outcomes. one, she could wake up fine, with no major issues, and two, if she is not ready, nor strong enough, she could, it could be life threatening.  Do you know what I am trying to say, Mr. Hurst?  Your wife could possibly die.  I am sorry!  I will leave you for a few moments and give you some time."

Hunter just sits there. Thinking about what the doctor had just told him. He moves the chair closer to Summer. He looks at her and shakes his head. "This is a hell of a mess, ain't it punk. When you do something, you do it big. What am I supposed to do?" Hunter takes her hand and kisses it. He reaches up and brushes her hair back out of her eyes. "You know I can't do this without you. You are my strength. I know you are the toughest of all of us. If it were me laying there, you would know the right thing to do. I guess I am not that tough. I can't let you go. I can't live without you. I can't do this without you. I am going to bet on you babe. Plus, you need to meet Cassie's new guy. He is so much better than that other one. Look at this cool shirt he gave me. You will like him. He adores her so much. You can just tell. Now you need to wake up and meet him and give him hell, like only you can babe." Hunter stands up and kisses her forehead and holds her cheek in his hand. "I love you, Punk." Moments pass, as Hunter still holds her hands in his.  He looks out to the hallway, noticing the doctors standing around looking inside the room.  He looks back down to Summer's face as he notices a tear fall from her left eye and run down her cheek.  He leans down to kiss her, and as he calls her name softly, she moves her fingers inside the palm of his hand.

Hunter stands there stunned. He waves the doctor in; they all enter the room and Hunter looks at him. "Take her off the medication. She will wake up and she will be her ornery self again."

Doctor Anderson nods his head and stands looking at the two of them.  Would you like us to wait until you have called your children in?  Hunter looks at him. "Do it now. We cannot wait for them."

The doctor waves his hand to the onlooking staff at the desk just outside of the room.  He motions for them to step inside as he instructs the nurse to unplug the medication from her IV.  Everyone quietly stands waiting.  "Would you like to be alone with her?  Doctor Anderson looks at Hunter.  Hunter holds her hand quietly praying to himself. The doctor opens the door and then quietly leaves, closing the door behind him as Hunter continues.

Back at the ranch, Cassie looks on, trying to find the best explanation to give William about Damon, when Colton's phone rings.  It was Hara.  The two, video chat for a couple minutes as Colton transfer's the call to Sammy's tablet for a better visual.  William has taken a seat just off to the side of the camera's view, Colton, Hara and Kami are having a conversation about the events at the hospital.  Everyone is talking and beginning to joke around when suddenly, the electricity is completely shut off.

Colton moves to find Lily and Sammy; he finds them and moves them to corner of the kitchen. He makes his way to the garage; he finds the fuse panel and opens it. In the entryway of the house, William searches for Cassie. Colton flips the breaker and the lights come back on, just as Cassie screams as she sees someone running down the stairs right for her. William comes around corner and sees the man running at her; He reaches behind his waist and pulls a pistol and lets a round go off sending the intruder right to the ground. He gets in front of Cassie with his pistol still locked on the downed intruder. Colton comes around the corner to see William standing there, pistol out, with his sister standing behind him. "What the hell? Who the fuck is that?"

William does his best to calm Cassie as Colton walks up.  "The punk, just came running after her. She screamed, I reacted."  Cassie grips William's arm tightly as she looks down to the body on the floor.  "Colton, is that..."  She steps back behind William's body unsure of the man's condition as Colton steps in for a better look.  "Xander.."  Cassie's eyes widen, she looks to Colton, "First Mom, now me...Colton, It's Damon's Father isn't it?"

Colton goes over and looks at Xander's body. "I don't know what is going on, but it looks like Wild Bill lives up to his name." Colton turns his head to William. "One shot center mast. Well, all I know is that he worked for Dom and Damon sometimes." William turns to Cassie and looks her right in the eyes. "I am sorry Crashie. I just reacted." He holds her trying to keep her from shaking. Lily starts to walk into the room, Colton jumps up and cuts her off. "Babe, could you please keep Sammy out of here. I don't want him to see this." Lily looks at Cassie and William, then at the stairs. "No problem, babe, but if you want to get ahead of this you better call the cops yourself." Colton kisses her forehead and nods, looking at the other two. "Don't touch anything, I got a call to make."

Cassie stands silently, she now begins to stare blankly at the pool of blood seeping from underneath Xander's body.  William tries his best to break Cassie's stare but is unable to get her attention.  He looks to Colton, who is talking on the phone, he looks over to Lily who is quietly playing with Sammy, keeping him distracted.  He turns to face Cassie, leaning in touching plhis nose to hers, hoping for some sort of acknowledgment.  Cassie's eyes do not blink, but a twisted smile forms along her lips.  William steps back looking confused.  He turns to Colton who now steps back up to them.  "What is wrong with her?"

Colton does not answer. He looks at Cassie and thumps her on the forehead. "Now is not the time for that. We need you here for when the cops show up. She will not help this situation at all." Colton looks at William. "She will tell you when she is ready."

William looks on, he takes Cassie by the hand and walks her to the other room where Lily and Sammy are.  Colton gives Lily a relieved look as he motions to what was happening. Lily continues to talk to Cassie, not to make things obvious to William.  They must keep Vanity at bay, William nor the cops were ready for her interception.  Lily looks over to Sammy, "Sammy, don't you have a story to tell Auntie Cassie?"  He looks up and walks over to Cassie, he nudges William out of the way taking Cassie's hand and walking her to the chair.  He gets up in her lap and gives her a hug.  William now walks to Colton and Lily.  He stands over by Colton, and they start to talk as a sudden knock on the door was heard. Colton walks over to the front door; He opens it and finds Officer Hernandez and Stone standing there. Colton looks at Stone sternly.  "Officer Hernandez come in." He looks back at Stone. "You can stay out here." Colton shows him into the house and tells him everything that happened.

“Yep, ol’ Xander Rexall, just one of Dominic Mikaelson’s flunkies.”  Officer Hernandez looks at William.  “Sir, is this your handy work?”  He points down to the kill shot.  “Yes, Sir.” William hands over his pistol to Hernandez.  “He came running towards Miss Cass..Miss Hurst here Sir, she screamed, and I reacted in her defense, he was an uninvited guest sir.”  Officer Hernandez wrote in his book, taking notes and statements from everyone.  Officer Stone steps in to see the body of Mr. Rexall and immediately reaches for his gun advising everyone to put their hands above their head.  Hernandez orders Stone to step down, as everything was under control.  Stone turns his glare over to Colton, who shoots him an evil eye, and then to Cassie who still seems to be in somewhat of a daze.  Stone walks up to her smirking as he whispered. “How’s your mom, little Hurst?”  Both Colton and William step up to Stone, as he backs away slowly, keeping his eyes on the two.  Stone walks out of the room and immediately makes a call.

Lily steps up as Colton and William walk over to Officer Hernandez.  “What happens now?  I have a 5-year-old here, that does not need to witness this.  It was bad enough he had to listen to his aunt scream in fear and a gunshot.  This needs to be cleaned up, my sister-in-law, needs a place to stay that is safe.”  She turns to Colton. “And this does not need to get out to Mr. Hurst, her father.  I am sure you are aware of what he is dealing with.”   Colton looked at Lily and nodded his head. “Yes, not a word of this to the old man.”  Officer Hernandez walks over to Cassie, who remains silently in shock.  “Is she going to be, ok?  Do you need me to take her to the hospital?”  William steps up as he looks for Colton’s approval. “We will take care of her sir; she will be just fine.”  Colton smiled and in return agreed.    Hernandez begins to make a call to the coroner and ambulance to clean up. Stone walks in, handcuffs in his hands and snatches William by the arm.  “Mr. Barnes, you are under arrest.”  Lily, Colton and finally Cassie snap their heads around looking on in disbelief.  “On what fucking charges?” Colton steps up to Stone.  “First degree murder.”  Cassie’s eyes light up, she runs to William’s aid as Stone cuts her off at the path. 

“Say good-bye to Loverboy, missy, he is going away for a very long time.”  Cassie shouts and screams for William as Colton begins to hold her back, and Lily goes after Sammy, who comes running at the sound of Cassie’s screams.  “It will be ok, Crashie.”  William winks to Cassie as Stone escorts him out of the door.  Colton looks at Hernandez still holding tightly onto Cassie.  “Can he do this?  How does he have authority over…”  Hernandez just lowered his head.  “He is Mikaelson’s bitch, isn’t he?” Colton looks on with an evil glare.”  “I am sorry.” Hernandez says, “I will need you guys to leave the area, it’s now marked a homicide and we must seal the place off.  Do you have a place to go Miss Hurst?”  He looked at Cassie, who continued to look out for William.  “Of course, she does.”  Lily steps up to Colton, taking Cassie by the arm and escorting her to the other room.  “He is going to need a cutthroat lawyer who is not on the Mikaelson payroll, to even squeak bail money.  We have 3 judges in this city, and 2 belong to Mr. Mikaelson.  Your friend’s chances are slim to none here I am afraid.”  Hernandez looks to Colton who shakes his head.  “No worries, He just so happens to have one!  Let me make this call, officer.”