two weeks

Life and death

Tommy paced the halls in Niki's house. He had stayed the night, Phil had called but there was still no news. Tommy tried calling, and calling, put Phil wouldn't pick up. He continued to pace the room, worried sick. Niki was reaching her breaking point. She couldn't take much more stress.

"Tommy, sit down." Niki ordered quietly. Tommy nodded, "Sorry." He sat down and immediately began rocking his legs and fidgeting. Niki sighed. Tommy heard his phone ring and practically threw the phone into the air as he tried to answer it.

"Hello? Is he okay? Is he-?" Tommy heard Phil sigh - never a good sign.

"He still isn't stable. They've already restarted his heart twice already." Phil's voice broke.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"..."

"P-Phil?"

Tommy teared up. Silence spoke volumes for Tommy. He hung up and threw the phone onto the floor. "FUCK!" He screamed as he began to cry. Niki just sat there, looking completely deflated. It wasn't looking good. Niki tried to comfort Tommy. "Come on, we'll go to the hospital. Phil probably needs someone with him, and we're going insane sitting here." Tommy nodded quietly and they walked out to the car.

"Niki Nihachu and Tom Simons, visiting Wilbur Soot." Niki told the receptionist. "Okay, go on through." She looked at them pitifully, never a good sign. They walked down the corridor towards Wilbur's room and they saw Phil speaking to doctor Puffy. They both froze. Phil placed his head in his hands and sunk to the floor, Tommy felt himself panic. That was not a good sign. Tommy and Niki ran over. "W-what did she say? Phil?" Niki stammered. "P-Phil?" Phil crumbled and burst into tears.

"Say your goodbyes." Tommy collapsed in a barrage of tears. Niki covered her face with her hands and began to sob. "That- that can't be true!" Niki screamed. "Tell me it's not true!" She cried. Tommy was inconsolable, unable to speak through choking, heartbreaking sobs. They got some sympathetic looks from others in the corridor. Phil grabbed Tommy and Niki's hands. "Come on, this won't get any easier." They walked through into Wilbur's hospital room, seeing all of the wires he was hooked up to. Tommy rushed over to the nearest bin and threw up. Niki ran over to help him. "It's okay Tommy. It's going to be okay eventually." Tommy sobbed shakily and stood beside Wilbur's hospital bed, where Phil was talking to him.

"I'm sorry I wasn't good enough. I know I left, and I shouldn't have. Family was more important than my selfish desires to find lost love. You deserved so much better. And I hope you get it. Guide him up there safe, Kristin." Phil kissed his son on the forehead.

Niki walked over, crying uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry. You're my best friend, and you always will be. I'll miss the times we spent together. You always talk about how I saved you, you saved me. You were a walking miracle. Rest easy." She stumbled backwards, still sobbing. Phil hugged her tight.

Tommy stood beside the bed, trying to put on a brave face. "Wilbur, I- I... I love you. I'll miss you so much. I'll miss all the times we fucked around and had fun. I'll miss the times I got grumpy after you yelled at me, even though I deserved it. I'll never know anyone else like you. You're my person, Wilbur. I don't know how I'll keep going without you. You were an angel" Tommy walked over to Phil and let all of his tears out.

Wilbur saw a light, it felt so freeing. He tried to walk towards it, but it wasn't getting any closer. He felt himself being wrapped up in a warm embrace. So foreign, yet so familiar. He heard a soft voice speak to him,

"It's not your time to go yet, soldier. You've got so much more life to live. There's an angel out there taking care of you." Wilbur felt another warm hug and a loving kiss on his cheek, before he was plunged back into the land of the living.

Tommy, Phil and Niki all sat on the floor, every second feeling like hours. Each second Wilbur took a tolled breath could have been his last. They sat there, listening to the clock tick. Tick, tock, tick, tock. It's like it was taunting them. They all heard a noise coming from Wilbur's bed, they looked over hopelessly. Expecting it to be the final beep that ended it all.

But it wasn't.

Wilbur's eyes flickered open, once they adjusted, he saw Niki, Tommy and Phil staring at him, looking shocked. "W-Wilbur?" Tommy breathed shakily. "In the flesh." Wilbur said weakly, with an even weaker smile. Tommy stimmed, unsure of how to feel. Niki ran over and wrapped him in a hug. "You're a miracle, Wilbur Soot." She said quietly. Phil wrapped Wilbur up in a hug, "You're determined to defy all odds aren't you?" Wilbur smiled lightly, "Thank Kristin. And whoever she said my angel was." Phil briefly glanced over to Tommy, long enough for Wilbur to notice, and smile. Of course it would be Tommy. "I'll call the doctors" Phil said quietly. Phil poked his head out of the door. "He's alive! Someone come!" Before Phil even finished speaking, Puffy was running down the hallway. "He's alive? And stable?" Puffy looked in the door and Wilbur gave her a shaky wave. "No fucking way!" She shouted. "That should not be possible, at all! You should thank the gods that it happened."

"Or goddesses." Phil muttered. Wilbur clicked his tongue, "I mean hey, Niki did say I was a miracle." Niki hugged him tighter and he winced in pain. "Hey, hey, I may have just miraculously come back to life but my injuries are not cured. Niki stood back, "Shit. Sorry. Sorry." Wilbur smiled, it's okay.

Once Wilbur found out just how close to death he had come, or, well he technically DID die. The brush with death herself, gave him a new lease on life. He would start that business with Niki. He would win that case for Tommy. He would prove to the world he was capable. He would prove to Sally that he was a worthy father to Fundy. He would protect Tommy, like Tommy protected him, even if he didn't know it. He would... get better epilepsy medication.