Trigger The Years Past - 8. Chapter 8: Near Death Experience

Cheston sat in one of the chairs in the waiting room, his hands clasped as he looked down, tears flooding down his face as he cried. "He wanted to be together...fully and completely and..I kept telling him no, I kept denying him." He looked up. "Now we might never get that chance, now he might never know how much I cared...I was just trying to make sure that...I just wanted to take things slow...for him."

Erica sat beside Cheston and rested her chin on his shoulder and rubbed his back. "He knows, trust me, he knows. And he's strong, this isn't the first time that he's faced death and won. You just have to be strong...and positive." She smiled. "And when they let us go in, he's going to be in one of those chipper moods that he gets in and...he's going to be running those nurses crazy getting us all ice cream."

Cheston smiled at Erica. "You're a very positive woman."

"I just know my son...because he gets most of his ways from me." Erica leaned back and reached up to wipe at her eyes.

"He does, that's not a lie." Jeremy turned towards them and smiled the best he could. "They're both a mess, in a good way."

"I just feel so guilty...for being who I am, being related to who I was..." He shook his head. "When Miracle and I realized it, I should of known better than to take the risk." Cheston sighed. "He will go to prison for it, I'll help in any way that I can to make sure to that. Miracle told me the truth about Skylar..."

Jeremy frowned. "Hardly illegal." He looked at them. "Rachel chose to do everything that she did."

"Isn't it? For him to claim to be her father on everything? All her records?" Erica shrugged.

"So long as he didn't forge a birth certificate, I didn't do anything to stop anything." Jeremy shook his head. "And he likely didn't so long as he had Rachel there to take care of everything. I got all kinds of evidence on Eric, but nothing that ties..."

"Martin." Cheston looked up. "That's his name."

"Him, yeah." Jeremy nodded. "Unless someone can come up with an idea that ties him to Robin, which is the only time that Miracle claimed to have met Eric's father."

"Martha?" Erica looked up.

"No, she told all she knew, Eric fronted everything." Jeremy shook his head. "I know this seems to help pass the time...but all we're really going to get Martin for is what he did tonight."

"Were you able to prove that Eric had anything to do with what happened to Robin?" Erica asked. "Because if so, Martin helped him escape."

"I don't even remember." Jeremy shook his head. "I think Martha only talked about Jordan." He walked over and sat on the other side of Erica.

"I'm going to go outside, I need some air." Cheston stood up.

"Want a smoke? I break the rules all the time." Jeremy said.

Cheston shook his head. "No thanks, but please come and get me if there are any changes." He said before walking off.

"You know, I think about things like this, well not really like this, just that, when I'm here, with you...and with Miracle, I feel like I'm needed, like I belong, like this is where I fit." Erica looked at Jeremy.

"It's because you do." Jeremy reached down and lightly took her hand and then looked up at her. "Sometimes, I think Miracle's right, maybe we deserve to be a little selfish."

Erica stared at Jeremy and then looked down at their hands. "If he gets through this, and God, I hope he does, maybe I can have my family back."

"We get a second chance." Jeremy said with the hint of a smile.

"This is all my fault." Lacey said after grabbing a soda from the machine. "It's because I got Sterling injured and Miracle wouldn't get back together with him."

"Lacey, that's insane...and so not true." Andy walked behind her and took a deep breath and opened his arms up and moved them around her. "This is new." He said before letting his arms fall around her in a soft hold.

Lacey almost wanted to laugh at the awkwardness but she couldn't laugh. She just stared at the floor across the hall that met with the wall. "He's been my best friend for so long...he was so happy." She closed her eyes, regardless, tears began to spill anyway. "If he dies...I couldn't possibly imagine this world...."

"Stop. You won't have to imagine that kind of world." Andy spun Lacey around and shook his head. "Don't even pretend to."

"I'm just scared." She opened her eyes and took several deep breaths. "He's back there and we don't know what's going on or what they're doing or anything."

"The longer they are back there, the better." Andy pulled Lacey over to a chair in the small snack room and sat down with her. "The longer they are back there, it means he's alive."

Lacey nodded. "True, you're right. If he flat lined and they failed, they would of come out and said it, so he's okay."

"Well, not in those exact words, but pretty much." Andy nodded.

Lacey sighed. "I just feel like I'm in this twilight zone, like nothing is real, like...this is happening to someone else and...I'm just watching."

"It's a coping skill, the body, or the mind rather, it can do that." Andy nodded.

"I want to do something for him when he gets better." Lacey said as she looked down. "I just don't know what. He made this new best friend while he was in the states, Melanie. If I could bring her here for him, I'd give anything."

"She died." Andy frowned. "He would be so excited though."

"Yeah, I get this feeling like they could of been as close as he was to me." Lacey smiled and looked at Andy. "And there's no jealousy, Miracle could have a bunch of girlfriends and we could form a clique." She quietly laughed. "Wouldn't that be funny."

Andy grinned. "Kind of."

"You know, there was this one time at the boys home, when he was ten and he fell off one of the horses and hurt his knee and he started crying and one of the other boys, he was older, started giving him trouble, teasing him, and....Miracle stared up at him with this look, hurt, but at the same time, so lost, like he didn't understand. I walked over and slugged the guy across the face...and the other guys started chanting that he got it by a girl, he ran back off to the barn and I looked at Miracle and...he asked me, why didn't he care? Why didn't he help me? Why didn't he love me? And I...didn't really understand the impact of those questions at the time...I just told him that some guys can be jerks." Lacey shook her head.

"Did he go to school while he was there?" Andy asked.

"No." She shook her head. "They did their own school. He didn't start school with me until he got adopted."

Andy nodded and took a chip out and shoved it into his mouth.

Gavin walked outside, seeing Cheston. "Is it okay if I hang out? Kind of the only outcast of the group, unless you count Mysti and...I don't think I could relate to her either."

Cheston turned around and looked at Gavin. "No, it's okay." He looked around. "I just want to do something, destroy something, anything. I wish I hadn't of let my father go, I should of just threw him off that balcony."

"No you shouldn't." Gavin walked closer. "If you did, you would be in jail right now...and when Miracle gets better, and he will get better, he is going to need you. Imagine if he were alone, all alone when he attempted suicide? He had Jaemin there, right there when he opened his eyes."

"He told you that?" Cheston asked.

"No, he told me some things, but others...I kind of read out of his diary, which, after initially being upset for a second, he said it was okay."

"I actually grabbed it, I thought it would make the best reading. Read about his life, don't think about his death." Cheston said. "I've already read some things from it."

Gavin smiled. "Jaemin put his chest to Miracle's chest, so their hearts could beat together."

Cheston nodded and spun around, tossing an acorn. "I hardly think that can be done this time."

"Woah, not telling you to copy it. Miracle would be pissed. Just saying that...you should take inspiration from it." Gavin walked over and sat down

Cheston took the book out and sat down and then opened it and started flipping through it.

"These aren't words written from the time, but from memories of the time, they might be a little hazy, I hope they're not. I remember Jaemin, through the haze of the night, after the hell, I could hear all those steps, running away. The next time I saw him, he came to my window, I remember in my drunk state, I said I wanted Brad dead, I think between us, deep down, we knew he did it, after that night we didn't mention it again for the longest time, that's why this book can never be found, I tell unspeakable truths, all truth, even my own dirty secrets." Cheston paused and then flipped the page.

"The next time I saw him, he walked down the hall, he looked at me, the darkness, the danger, it was attractive, and I couldn't explain why. He was protective, from the very first time I saw him, till that time in the Principals office, as he walked out the door and looked at me with those eyes, hypnotic eyes, that to me, could pull a soul in. Unfortunately, that was the day it all came out, everything that was done to me that night, everything I wanted to keep secret. Thank God my OD failed, I used to think it was destiny, maybe it still was. I woke up and I noticed those eyes and my vision cleared and it was him. He put his chest to mine, our hearts beat together and he told me, our hearts beat as one."

Cheston took a deep breath. "He's a writer for sure."

"That's romantic...in a..kind of twisted way." Gavin said.

Cheston tried not to laugh. "Well, when you read thank God my OD failed...I guess." He then went on to read more.

"My dad was furious when he found Jaemin in my room the next morning, but he proved to him how much he loved me. My dad wondered how it worked, how I could be with Sterling and how Jaemin could just wait for me, how a guy could just handle being dangled as a back up. Looking back on it now, sounds really shallow and cruel, but Jaemin told my dad that I liked having him there for me, that he would wait for me. In the end, he was allowed to come home with me. He was there through the toughest time, when I met my birth mother, when I came out to everyone about David. The Empire State Building was our spot, it was above the world. I remember the first time he took me up there, I told him that he broke my heart, yet inside he made me so happy at the same time."

Cheston flipped the page.

"I wish I could keep writing about sweet times, eventually we had to leave, a sacrifice we both had to make for everyone. That first night, we felt really alive but then as time wore on, he became more serious, more paranoid, so worried about us getting caught, and I became stir crazy, just wanting that normal life back, wanting the fun and excitement we used to have, I was lonely. We knew two people that we had to worry about and I decided, maybe if I took care of them myself, maybe we could let our guard down. Hopefully this admission doesn't get in the wrong hands and sends me to prison, I'd die there."

Cheston looked perplexed and quickly flipped the page again.

"Jordan and Kyler, my ex psychologist and an ex student from my school, roped into working for Eric, surely hired to track us down. What I had going for me though, Jordan wanted me for himself and where ever Jordan went, Kyler was sure to follow. So without Jaemin knowing, without him there, I lured Jordan to the hotel, I bashed him with the hammer when he came in and then I jumped Kyler and beat his face in. Eventually Jaemin found out and we staged a struggle and a self defense story, the investigator didn't totally buy it, I guess to much overkill on Kyler, but with the right words, getting the right sympathy, he knew how to work my statement. We had made friends there and because of this, we yet again had to uproot our lives, and to my mom's house in Nevada was our final destination."

Cheston's eyes widened, as did Gavin's. "He killed two people." Gavin mumbled.

"You're not to say a word, do you hear me?" Cheston looked at Gavin. "I'm half tempted to rip the page out and burn it."

"I wouldn't do anything to hurt Miracle." Gavin quickly shook his head.

Cheston quickly flipped the page and was relieved to do so in order to hide the confession from view.

"Nevada was when our denial really started to go away, truths really started to come out. We spent the fall out of school, the holidays practically locked up in the house. It was on Christmas when he gave me that locket, when he made me those promises, now I wish he never had. He asked me how our moments stopped, like the moments we had in The Empire State Building, I told him Eric took that away, he says those kind of moments should be able to happen anywhere, I think the most important things I said were time changes people, and people change people. He asked me what happened to us, I told him that we lost ourselves and in losing ourselves, we lost each other. It's kind of true, since everything I was, who I was, it was all tied into him, and I didn't know him anymore, so I didn't know me. Kind of like a carousel that isn't very fun, but rather scary as it shrinks in on it's self like a whirl pool, if you can even picture that, I don't think I can, but it's an expression of feelings."

Tears started running down Cheston's face, feeling as if he were reading a tragic love story. He turned the page and continued, reading to Gavin.

"Life went on and pissing Jaemin off became a cheap thrill and it seemed those were all I looked for, some kind of thrill, some shred of fun or happiness, because I was just a kid and this kind of life was not meant for me, not yet. We broke up and he took the car away, of course I took the house away and we would fight over the car, he would be a jerk. We wore each other down. And then he did it, dropped the keys at my feet and he walked away. After graduation, I went back to New York and we found each other again, things were relatively okay, but that passion we knew so long ago, it was gone. That kind of love, you don't make it because you want it, it's the kind of love that just happens to you. And you can't recreate that, no matter how badly you want to. Even still, despite that, I clung to him, and I would have done so forever, had he not taken that gun to himself and pulled the trigger."

Cheston released a breath and closed his eyes. "Wow..."

Gavin stared at the book, his own eyes watering up and he looked at Cheston. "That's love....and you know, I don't see much, but I see that you both could have that very same thing."

Cheston's eyes opened and he shook his head. "I don't even know if I could compete with that."

"He told you he hadn't kissed anyone in four years...and he kissed you. Why?"

"Because I reminded him of Jaemin...slightly." Cheston said.

"And now he's with you." Gavin grinned. "After four years of being with no one. What does that say?" He shook his head. "Look for something else."

Cheston grinned and started flipping pages. "This is bad." He laughed.

"Just find something good." Gavin grinned and leaned over Cheston's shoulder.

"I sent Kevin away. Our relationship, if you could even call it that, it was the weirdest thing. He claimed at first that I reminded him so much of Melanie, that he thought that through me, he could comfort her. I didn't think about it at the time, but that was kind of sick. The truth really came out, I think, whether he wanted me for me, or just because I was close to Melanie, but it had nothing to do with her directly. Our affair hurt Jaemin, it's odd though, how I do things to Jaemin, and he just takes it, and he won't stop loving me, I know it hurts him though. So I did, I wanted to make it special. It was hard to let Kevin go, but he sailed away, like I had envisioned it, I don't think he stopped looking at me until he couldn't see me anymore." Cheston's eyebrows lifted. "Okay, Jaemin was a big push over." He started flipping pages again.

"I couldn't believe she did it, but this is diary worthy. Jasmine, she threw that fire extinguisher through the door and right into the class room. Yay for big snowy glass panels in the middle of the doors! Did she stop there? To my amazement, as I was told, no she didn't. She stepped right through that glass panel, picked up that fire extinguisher and said 'Who wants to get messy?' and I quote that word for word. Then she sprays the teacher with it. Not to mention that Melanie breaks the window, throwing the phone out of it, and then we all end up running down into the ditch and end up hiding, and this ends up being a story that we talk about long after, definitely diary worthy. Lucky for her, the teacher doesn't press charges and she only gets probation, how many people get that kind of luck?" Cheston started laughing. "Did he have insane friends?" He looked down.

"PS, Melanie also had fun getting Robin drunk and passed out, at the time, I didn't know what happened to Melanie after she left to get her cigarettes, but Jasmine sure had fun laying Robin dramatically across the steps to her porch. Wonder how her parents enjoyed that?" Cheston shook his head. "Wow....Miracle and high school, oh my god."

"Flip to some more recent pages." Gavin said.

Cheston's eyebrows lifted and he did a bunch of flipping, chunks at a time and stopped on a page.

"I'm in this blue house, in the middle of no where. It's kind of like camping when I open the curtains and light up the fire place and the sky is filled with stars. I'm a lonely camper though, what sucks is that I'm still not old enough to buy alcohol. Can't even be the lonely drunk camper. It's a small town, can't tell who'd respond to me and who wouldn't. What a fool I'd make of myself if I went around hitting on guys and every one of them turned out straight. Like the time in New York, when I tried to hit on the Principal to get out of gym class, he turned out straight, what a fool I felt like. So how does one get a person to break the law for them around here?"

"I assume that was Colorado." Gavin said.

"Sounds like it." Cheston flipped a few pages back.

"I hate Miss Whitney." Cheston's eyes widened. "Okay...an entry that starts like that." He grinned.

"Keep reading it." Gavin laughed.

"I hate Miss Whitney." Cheston tried not to laugh. "She thinks she knows everything, I'm doing everything she says, I'm being nice to her, she promised me a window, and I am still stuck with this awful florescent light. I told her a million times I wasn't going to break the glass and cut myself. Doesn't she even know the law of physics? Okay, maybe I shouldn't dig into that, but if I broke the window, wouldn't all the glass fly outward? And she asked me if I had any friends, I told her I was friends with Jamie, and she told me I was relapsing. The fuck? I'm relapsing because one friend happens to be a guy? You know, next time I see her, I'm going to tell her not to tell me I'm relapsing unless she or someone else walks in and sees him fucking me. It's her fault anyway that I met him, I told her I hated group therapy to begin with. I would love to get hold of that file."

"He was not happy in the psyche ward." Cheston said, flipping another page.

"I told Miss Whitney that Satan spoke to me today, she asked me what he said, and I told her that he said, if I get the chance, to punch her in the face. It's safe to say, she didn't stay long. L O L." Cheston finally closed the book. "There's probably a years worth to discover in here."

Gavin laughed. "That takes the cake."

Mysti walked outside with Jeremy. "Hey, mind if I have one of those?"

"You legal?" Jeremy asked and then grinned and held his pack out. "If you're not, who cares, I remember being underage. Not assuming, but, I like to reflect a lot."

Mysti smiled and took out a cigarette and then got her lighter from her purse that was black with pink skulls on it. "I'm legal, I actually am going to school to become a tattoo artist." She flicked her lighter to life and the flame lit multiple colors as she lit the cigarette.

"So you're one of the girls? Messed up Sterling?" Jeremy asked. "I don't mean to offend, I heard it was an accident."

"It was, Rayne would never intentionally hurt anyone. And I didn't hurt him, I do tattoo's and I'm good at what I do, so long as I have calm clients. Rayne's taking classes for piercings so that we can open shop together with money that our parents promised us for it. She doesn't do eyebrows, that hasn't come up in her class yet, but Lacey asked for it, I'm sure she didn't know that Rayne was inexperienced, and Rayne, well, shes the daring type and really thought she could do it." Mysti said.

"I heard you used to be in law, no one said how, just that you did. What advice would you give Rayne? Shes honestly sorry, but really afraid right now. What happened is that he jerked. I guess, I was doing the tattoo, and for some people that hurts, and then a first piercing, she gave him ice to numb it, I don't know if ice is enough, or what, but then she stuck it in, and he jerked, and it went through, and it all just happened, I jerked back, I was afraid of messing up the tattoo, thankfully I didn't, but I guess he has bigger worries than a scribble ink on his skin."

Jeremy lit his own cigarette. "I would tell her what most smart people would tell her, to go to the cops and just tell the truth. It would be considered illegal practice, if it's her first offense though, and admitting to what she did, it would look good on her part, and if she generally has a good history as a person, that certainly helps. Did Sterling want to press charges?" Jeremy paused. "Or could he? Is Rayne even her real name?"

Mysti nodded. "Yes, Rayne is her real name." Mysti grinned. "Our mom likes to come up with unusual names. Hey, you're Miracle's dad, right? I guess you like to come up with unusual ones too."

Jeremy grinned. "Oh, I wasn't the one behind that. It was all his mom, Erica."

"Well, hopefully he lives up to his name." Mysti said, her smile fading. "He seems like a nice guy, I really would like to get the chance to know him."

Jeremy nodded. "Thanks." He then looked at her purse. "So that lighter, where did you get it?"

"Oh, there's this little shop off of interstate fifteen, it's called The Lost Gadgets, kind of themed off of the Roswell UFO." Mysti laughed. "As if the government wouldn't collect every single piece, but you can look it up."

"Miracle would love a place like that." Jeremy said.

"Oh, yeah? They got all kinds of stuff, if you love gadgets and colors...and you just get mesmerized by that." Mysti laughed. "Does he have a smart phone? You can get smart phone covers that light up and flash to the beat of your ringtone and stuff. Either just get ones that flash or find ones with designs that light up, I mean the variety is seemingly just endless."

Jeremy took a drag off of his cigarette and grinned. "Youth today, you got so much."

"You're the nostalgic type." Mysti took a drag off her cigarette and flicked the ashes as she walked around a little ways. "I can tell, you and her both. The type that doesn't want to let go. You had that kind of youth that was so great you just couldn't imagine letting go of it." She turned around. "There's nothing wrong with that, good thing is, you're both still young, so you must of had Miracle young."

Jeremy nodded and turned around. "We did. We were pretty young, had a kid and were married, she was like twenty one and I was twenty three. Her family was kind of loaded, she inherited for graduating, bought a house, a great house, private beach, like it was literally the back yard. We lived carelessly, and that's great until the reality kind of hits you in the face."

"You go broke?" Mysti questioned.

"Close enough to scare you, it never really hit her though, until I left, joined the military, it was just supposed to be a three month thing and, well crap happened, and we lost each other, think of it as lost at sea." Jeremy looked in at the waiting room and took another drag. "Then all these years later, we both drift ashore, side by side."

"Mysterious." Mysti nodded and sat down on the bench. "Well, sounds like you all came together in one good piece after dealing with a lot." She looked down. "I don't think it's supposed to end here, not yet." She shook her head.

Miracle laid there on the operating table with the the tube over his mouth while the doctors and nurses worked carefully on him until they heard the machine begin beeping as he flat lined.

"We have a flat line!" One of the nurses screamed and two of them started CPR while another started injecting various drugs. Miracle suddenly felt himself wake up but he hadn't actually woken up, he could hear them talking but he couldn't really make out what they were saying, it was as if he really didn't want to, as if everything around were to chaotic.

The CPR seemed to continue and it seemed as if the longer it went, the further Miracle floated above his body, almost as if he were being pushed and projected out, it was kind of ironic that the very things they were doing to try to save his life, it was seeming to end it, that machine continued to beep and it was that very beep, the sound of a flat line that caused him to open his eyes. It was then that the doctor charged up the defibrillator.

"200!" He rubbed the pads together and then applied them to Miracle. When the flat line remained, he rubbed them together again. "250!" He screamed and then applied them again. The second shock caused Miracle's vision to white out and flash as the voices faded.

Miracle suddenly found himself standing on a white glowing platform, one that he could barely see for the thin rolling clouds that drifted about. He looked around and saw nothing but whiteness, an endless whiteness for what seemed like miles, maybe it went on forever. "This is heaven?" He asked, feeling strange, more clueless than anything, wanting to understand where he was, why it looked the way it looked.

"No, it's a place to meet." Jaemin walked behind him. "You don't think heaven would be endless white do you? That would be torture."

Miracle spun around and saw Jaemin. "H...how do I know that's you? How do I know you're not a dream?"

"Do...I ever wear a white robe in your dream?" Jaemin walked closer and looked at Miracle. "I know that you wanted this moment, to get answers. I had hoped that I provided them, and I didn't. I had hoped that I was providing what I thought was right for you, I still think you will find your way, I think you're beginning to, I just never wished the amount of pain..."

Miracle shook his head. "Well, what did you think it would do to me, Jaemin? Did you think just because I handled our friends death's okay, that I could handle yours? I was only okay because of you. And then you said, to have a new beginning, I had to lose everything I had. That is so far from the truth."

"You don't know what went through my mind before...I did it. I thought of everything that changed, all the things you said, everything that happened between us when we went on the run. Don't you remember? We broke...and one of the last things you said...we couldn't recreate. You can want love, but you can't make it happen, not the way it happened, not the way it started for us."

"So that's why you did it? Because we had it rough for a little while?" Miracle asked.

"I didn't see the magic ever coming back...I didn't want you to cling to a hope that I felt was hopeless." Jaemin shook his head. "Maybe that was selfish, but how awkward is it to talk to someone before deciding whether you're going to kill yourself or not? Maybe that's selfish all around, I just wanted to set you free."

"You have no idea...I had no words..." Miracle started to cry. "I was paralyzed..."

"I felt every bit of it, I felt it all, I never left you, I watched you, I felt you, and I deserved to feel all of that pain, that agony...so much." Jaemin's face tensed up.

"Well, now I get the reward, right? You take me to heaven?" Miracle asked.

Jaemin shook his head. "It's not your time. I don't know if this happened for a reason or not, I just know that this gave us an opportunity, this opportunity."

"I loved you...all of our danger was over...how could you ruin it..." Miracle cried. "How could you...not even give it a chance?"

"I just wanted you to move on, free and clear. I never meant for it to hurt you. I knew it would at first, but I had hoped so much that in time, you would look back and be in a good place and understand. I didn't know you'd still be struggling with it so many years later." Jaemin shook his head. "But you don't struggle much, and you are moving on, it's all coming together for you."

"You just have no idea...how much I want to cry and scream and kick you and punch you and...just everything!" Miracle covered his face.

Jaemin looked down as Miracle's hands flew towards his face. "I love you." He whispered, when Miracle's hands went to his face, he would find himself unconscious again as the doctors got his pulse back and revived him, in reality he had only been gone for a minute or so once they started the shock treatments.

Everyone was in the waiting room and stood up when the doctor walked out from the back.

"Well, it's about damn time." Jeremy said. "What's going on?"

The doctor smiled. "I want you all to relax. We were able to repair the damage, he did flat line once, but we were able to bring his pulse back. He's in ICU and I would say he is on the road to a good recovery, in fact he is starting to gain consciousness rather quickly, he'll be tired, but aware if he wakes up."

"Thank God." Erica sighed, relieved.

"Can we see him?" Cheston asked.

"One at a time." The doctor said. "And don't stir him to much for to long, he's tired and he'll need his rest."

Cheston looked at Erica and Jeremy. "Can I? Please?"

Jeremy looked at Erica and then nodded.

"Thank you." Cheston said as he followed the doctor into the back.

"Now that this is taken care of, I'm going to head down to the police station, handle side two of the business." Jeremy said.

"I'll come with you, I saw it." Gavin said.

"I should probably come to, I was there." Erica frowned and the three headed out of the hospital, leaving Lacey, Andy and Mysti behind.

"Tough as nails, that's him." Lacey smiled, relieved at the outcome as she sat back down.

"Do you want to stay and see him or...?" Andy looked at her.

She shook her head. "No, he doesn't need many visitors, just knowing he'll be fine is enough for me. Could you drive us home?"

Andy nodded as Lacey and Mysti stood up and they headed out not long after.

Cheston slowly walked into the room and around the bed, a low lit florescent light shining down on Miracle and he stood beside the bed. "You scared me." He sat down and took Miracle's hand into his own. "You can't imagine how much I've missed you." He looked up at Miracle. "I guess what I want to say before it's ever to late...is that I love you."

Miracle lightly squeezed his hand and opened his eyes. "Hey..."

"You're awake." Cheston smiled.

"I'm not ready to be asleep yet." Miracle looked up. "I flat lined..."

"How do you know that?" Cheston asked.

"I came out of my body and I heard the machine...and the man shocked me the first time and then I flashed into this white place...and Jaemin was there, it wasn't a dream." He looked at Cheston. "We talked, and I was so hurt and so angry, it was as if all that pain rushed over me all over again...and then I was gone and now I'm here."

"I believe you." Cheston said, his other hand moving over the top of the hand he held. "Are you okay now? I mean...with everything?"

"Just a little nervous, I guess that comes with the shock or something." Miracle shivered. "Or maybe I'm just cold." He looked up. "Cheston, I love you too, and...I don't want to wait any longer than we have to, I don't want to take anymore time for granted. I am sure, I mean you always risk getting hurt for love, there is no full proof way to fall in love, just don't ever think not being with me is better for me, okay?" Miracle managed a smile.

Cheston smiled. "I wouldn't ever think that." His hand moved up and his fingers gently ran over Miracle's cheek. "How are we going to do your parents pictures now?" He laughed, joking.

"Not in a hospital room, I'll be damned." Miracle started to laugh but then winced in pain. "Guess I can't do that."

"Doctor says you have to take it real easy."

"Does he say when I can go home? I hate hospitals." Miracle frowned. "This is like over dose version, part two, just worse...which by the way, let me go over the rules, avoid my enemies, I guess right now that would be that movie crew, oh and lets not forget Martin, don't go up the stairwell, stick to elevators, and don't even eat at the hospital cafeteria. I don't even know what Sterling was thinking."

"Martin will be going to jail. I told several men I know at the party to guard all the exits." Cheston said.

"He can land a plane on the roof top." Miracle said.

"My punch...kinda knocked him out." Cheston grinned. "I did boxing in college on the side, it was a little hobby, never hurts to have some self defense."

"You should of seen Jaemin fight." Miracle barely and carefully shook his head. "Not comparing, but I don't know what he did. Karate? Maybe gymnastics? He did that fighting, like on Buffy."

"You like Buffy?" Cheston asked.

"Oh yes, she kicks ass." Miracle took a deep breath. "Can't laugh." He squeezed Cheston's hand. "My friend Issac and I compared fighters one time, and I brought up Buffy and he threw the power rangers at her, I told him that she'd kick their ass and he'd agree or get kicked off the bed."

Cheston smiled. "Little things like that, I love about you. Speaking of...Gavin and I kind of went through your diary, it helped to read about your life and not worry about your death."

Miracle looked at Cheston and nodded. "Well, that's okay, I'm an open book to you."

Cheston looked down. "Even about Jordan and Kyler?" He paused. "I understand the reasons why...you wrote it. I don't plan to tell anyone, in fact I wanted to burn the page, but it's yours. I just would be really careful with it, if you want to keep it. I'm going to put it back in your safe."

Miracle nodded. "It's kind of refreshing to have someone know. Jaemin confessed to things he did, and...I kind of had to keep my mouth shut."

"And you'll continue to do so." Cheston said in a firm tone. "Gavin knows to keep it secret too." He looked up at Miracle. "If ever...there is conflict between you two, you let me know, he has just as much knowledge of it as I do, what is in the diary, where it's kept. I'm not my brother, but when it comes to you, I will clean up messes."

"Jaemin was right....it's all coming together." Miracle smiled.

"He said that?" Cheston asked.

"Yeah, he seemed satisfied with where I'm at, just as much as I am." Miracle nodded.

"Well, you'll be even more satisfied. With my father in prison, as his only legal heir left, between me and my mother, his estate is split. She will get all of his properties and the money will be split fifty percent. She wants to sell Eric's island home and she wants you, personally, to have those profits after everything he did to you. Eric's car, his boat, his helicopter, his private jet, all of it, she wants to sell all of it, and give you the profits." He smiled. "Plus, you'll get to enjoy mine."

Miracle's eyes widened. "I could...own a business with that."

"You could, though the paper works messy if you don't know finance, you leave that to me though, it's an option." Cheston smiled. "Or you could simply hire a financial adviser, but I'm just saying that it's more convenient for me to do it, we love each other and trust each other."

Miracle frowned. "There were women at your party and they...were trying to grill me, asking me all kinds of questions about me and Eric. I ended up having to briefly glaze over how David abused me just to answer one of their questions."

Cheston frowned. "Stuck ups. Just because you don't come from money, you end up being the talk of the party. Could use that as ammo. Talking so much about little ole you."

Miracle grinned. "Yeah, they are going to keep doing it though, they'll do it worse when I get Eric's...everything."

"Not if I set them straight, next party, you won't leave my side." Cheston smiled.

Cheston lead Erica and Jeremy out to the garden. "Miracle really should be here for this. He said he wanted it out in the garden, I just hope we can give him what he wants."

Erica smiled, her blonde hair pulled up in a claw clip and left to dangle down in waves, a white halter top styled dress was worn that form fitted her body, hot red lipstick and eyeliner worn along with a mixture of eyeshadow, a light purple that faded into a sea blue that had a hint of green in it.

Jeremy followed after Erica into the garden, a white dress shirt was worn along with black dress pants and a shiny pair of black dress shoes, a little formal but not overdoing it, he knew Miracle would hate it if he overdid it.

"Spot?" Erica asked.

"Maybe you should choose." Cheston smiled. "He's most like you, maybe you'll capture his vision."

Jeremy grinned. "Give it a go."

"Okay." Erica smiled and then sighed thoughtfully as she looked around "This bench, here." She walked over. "You got the rose bush to the side and then the cliff to this side and the desert in the background, kinda gardeny and then open all at the same time." Erica sat down. "I'm on the rose bush side."

Jeremy sat beside Erica. "Okay, how are we posing?" He asked, laughing a little.

Erica threw her legs across his lap and then wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her face close to his. "Face the camera." She looked at the camera with a little hint of a smile, one that was bright and open yet sort of hidden and coy at the same time.

Jeremy wrapped an arm around Erica's waist and leaned his head slightly to the side, closer to hers and a half smile appeared.

Cheston grinned and the photographer took the shot.

"It'll be large...enough to hide the safe, and to act as a big piece, nothing short of impressive, but it will come out as landscape." The photographer explained

"Landscape, new, very Miracle." Cheston grinned. "So long as it's large and impressive."

The photographer nodded.

"And have it here and in place before he gets home." Cheston nodded as the photographer gathered his equipment to leave, the door man showing him out.

Erica laughed and let go of Jeremy and stood up. "Oh, it's going to be amazing! He'll love it, I bet you both twenty dollars."

"It's on." Jeremy stood up.

"I'll play for that." Cheston smiled. "You two are very wonderful people, so young at heart, when Miracle gets out, I would love a picture of all three of you."

"Not to hide anymore safes?" Erica grinned.

"No, just to warm the house with a family of young hearts, Miracle is so care free, when he feels safe, and it's beautiful and I see where it comes from."

"Well..." Erica grabbed her purse off the ground and pulled out a small photo album. "These are copies of a bunch of originals, Miracle will probably want to put it in his safe or you can put it there, but while he's not here, you can enjoy them." She handed the photo album over.

Cheston took the photo album and smiled at Erica. "Thank you. I'll take good care of it for him."

"I just want him to know, at one time, he did have a good childhood, we're just sorry for screwing it up." Erica said

Cheston shook his head. "He doesn't think..."

"We know he forgives us...but we did, no matter what angle you look at it." Erica patted his shoulder. "Thanks for everything." She grabbed Jeremy's hand and headed through the garden and off into the house to leave.

Cheston sat down on the bench and opened the photo album and began looking through it, seeing Miracle as a baby, and the further he went, Miracle got older, he would see birthdays and Christmas and then random shots of Miracle and other people on the beach. A smile appeared as he saw a bigger version of the picture that was in the locket.