By His Side
        Chapters 3 & 4
 

Michelle looked up to see Pilar standing alongside her chair. She immediately stood and pulled Pilar into her embrace. The bond they shared because of their mutual love for Danny, bringing them together in that time of crisis. They had never really gotten the chance to be close. Pilar had been attending school in Spain since before Michelle met Danny and they had only met the few times Pilar came home to visit. Now however, they clung to one another, both of them crying without shame, holding onto the connection to Danny they felt in the arms of the other.

Pilar was the first to speak. "How are you holding up?" "I'm alright, I'm just worried. I am so scared I am going to lose him" Michelle replied as her tears continued to fall. She pulled away from the hug and wiped her face. "I am going to go get a quick bite to eat from the cafeteria. You probably want some time alone with him" "Thanks Michelle. Danny is going to pull through this, he is." All Michelle could do in answer was nod as she made her way to the door.

As Michelle walked into the hallway, Rick came over and put his arm around her. "I know this has been hard on you. Why don't you go home and get some sleep. Pilar is here now, so Danny won't be alone" Rick said trying to convince Michelle to take a break. She had been at the hospital all night and the lack of sleep was clearly visible on her face. Her eyes had dark circles beginning to form around them and her nose was red and swollen from crying but she was determined to stay so she shook her head no. "Michelle, you aren't going to be any help to Danny if you don't take care of yourself." "Rick, I'm fine. I'm not leaving him. I am going to be here when he wakes up, I don't care how long it takes." "Why are you being so stubborn?" Michelle looked up at Rick's face and she could tell he was worried about her. She felt bad but, she needed to make him understand that this was something she had to do. "Rick, if it was Abby in that room, would you be able to leave... to walk away for even a minute?" Rick just shook his head no, he knew she was right. "Just take care of yourself." Michelle smiled and kissed him on the cheek before she turned to go get something to eat. When she got to the cafeteria she grabbed a small sandwich and after quickly paying for it she was on her way back.

When Michelle re-entered Danny's room, she found Pilar sitting next to him, whispering words of comfort in Spanish. Michelle couldn't help but be touched by the love and concern on Pilar's face, if she had any tears left they probably would have fallen then. "Pilar, you look exhausted. Why don't you go back to the house and get some sleep. I promise I'll call you as soon as we know anything." "Are you sure? I don't want you to be here alone." "Pilar, I won't be alone, Rick is on duty for a while longer and besides, I am going to try and get some sleep" Michelle told her. "Alright, I am really tired from the flight. Make sure you call me the minute anything changes." "I will," Michelle replied before reaching out and hugging Pilar. Once they pulled apart, Pilar turned around kissed Danny on the cheek and walked out the door to go get some rest. She knew that sleep was too much to hope for but, she knew she would need her strength to get through the the next few days.

Across town a phone rang. "Hello." "I can't believe you screwed this up. I gave you one little job and you couldn't get it right." "What are you talking about?" "Danny Santos is still alive. He survived the accident. He's still unconscious, but if he pulls through they will be harder to separate than ever. You really blew it this time." "What are you going to do now?" "Don't worry about it. I will handle this problem on my own from now on." They hung up and the caller couldn't help but reflect on the situation. "Good help is so hard to find."

Michelle stood by the bed and watched Danny breathe. She reached up to brush away a curl which had made its way onto his forehead and then placed a light kiss on his lips. She then turned around to fix herself a place to sleep. She hoped she could get a couple hours. Despite what she told Rick, she really was tired. She jumped at the sound of a voice behind her, "Was that the best you could do?"

"Oh my God. Danny, you're awake" Michelle said. "It would appear that way" Danny sarcastically replied. Michelle couldn't help but grin, apparently the accident hadn't changed his sense of humor any. "I have been so worried about you. Do you need anything? Oh God, Danny are you in any pain?" "Michelle, sweetie, slow down. I'm fine. The pain medication is really doing its job. I can't feel much of anything."

Michelle walked over and began fixing the covers on his bed, playing with her hands, anything to avoid looking him in the eye. "Michelle, what's wrong?" "Nothing is wrong." "Look at me" Danny requested. As Michelle slowly raised her eyes to look in his, he could see how red and puffy they were. He could tell that she had been doing a lot of crying and her eyes were shining with even more tears waiting to be shed.

"Michelle, come here" She walked over and slowly sat on the bed next to him. He carefully put one arm around her and pulled her to him. That was the last straw. All the tears she had been holding back burst forth and she sobbed into his shoulder. He did his best to comfort her, he wanted to wrap his arms tight around her and never let go but, in his condition this was the best he could do. He felt helpless, all he could do was murmur words of comfort into her ear.

"I was so scared I was going to lose you," Michelle sobbed. "Baby, I told you that I will always be here for you. It's going to take a lot more than a car accident to make me break that promise" Danny told her as he pushed the stray strands of hair out of her eyes and kissed her on the forehead. "You know I would never leave you, don't you? Nothing is going to stop me from standing in front of that alter and seeing your beautiful face as you walk down the aisle to become my wife. You aren't going to get out of it just because of a little car accident."

"Oh Danny, I love you so much. There is nothing I want more than to be your wife."

Just then Rick walked into the room. "Danny! You're awake." "Yeah, I think Michelle and I established that" Danny said with a small smile. "Well, Michelle was supposed to come get me as soon as you opened your eyes" Rick said while giving Michelle a stern look. He laughed at the look of mock innocence on her face. He turned his attention back to Danny. "How are you feeling?" "Well my chest is pretty sore and my right arm hurts pretty bad. Other than that and a pounding headache I feel alright." "Well, now that you're awake we need to runs some tests so I'll go tell the nurse to get it set up and I will be back in a minute" Rick said and then turned to walk out the door.

Michelle turned to Danny after a moment and began to say something when Rick walked back in the door."so much for our quiet time alone." "Baby, why don't you go take a break. I need to talk to Rick for a minute" "Yeah and I need to check his vitals before his tests" Rick added. Michelle looked into their faces and knew she was outnumbered. "OK, I need to call Pilar anyway. I promised to let her know as soon as anything happened." Danny was clearly surprised by that statement. "Pilar knows?" Danny questioned. "Yeah, she was here this morning. You were out for quite a while. I called her to let her know about the accident and she took the first flight here." "You shouldn't have worried her" Danny scolded. "Danny, she's your sister. She had a right to know."

"Alright, that is enough you two" Rick broke in. "I need to examine Danny. Michelle, you have a phone call to make." Michelle nodded and walked over to Danny. "I will see you as soon as you get back from your tests. I love you" she said as she kissed him on the cheek. "I love you" he replied. Michelle turned and walked to the door, she paused and smiled at him before opening the door and walking out.

As sure as Danny was sure that Michelle wasn't right outside the door, he began to talk. "Rick, I can't feel my legs. I didn't want to say anything in front of Michelle but, I gotta admit that it is scaring the hell out of me."

Rick looked at Danny and was amazed at how strong he was being. He knew that with Danny's injuries there was a good possibility of this happening. He hoped that it wouldn't happen and in fact hadn't mentioned it to Michelle either. After a moment of silence he asked "When did you notice it? Do you have any feeling, a tingle or anything?" "No, I didn't even notice it at first. I was too relieved to be looking at Michelle and then I was worried about her. Then she came over and sat next to me. She put her hand on my leg and I didn't feel it. I thought maybe it was just a fluke or something so I tried to move them and nothing happened. I had no feeling. What's going on?"

"Alright Danny, calm down." The tests we are going to take should let us know what is going on. Until then just try and stay strong."

"I just... this can't be happening to us. Not now, not when Michelle and I are so close to having everything we've ever wanted." Danny said as his tears began to fall.

"I don't know what to tell you Danny. Just don't give up, we don't know anything yet. This might just be temporary. Why don't we just go take these tests and then we will know what we have to worry about."

Danny wiped his face with the back of his hand. "All right. Let's go."