Star-Crossed Lovers

Can You Die From a Broken Heart?

It turned out that Soap had had a stroke. An ambulance came and took him to the hospital.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Price asked Simon, as he sat in the waiting room with him, Nik, Kate, Destiny, Carter, and Devon. Ghost just stared at the floor. "Simon, talk to us," Nikolai quietly said. "There's a high possibility that... Johnny might not make it..." Destiny, Nik, Kate, and Price gasped.

"Dada might die, Papa?" Destiny asked her father, as tears quickly welled up in her eyes. "Maybe..." Ghost responded. "But we need to remain on the positive side. There's a chance he might live," Kate stated. "A very small chance," Simon sighed.

After waiting a long time (to Simon, it felt like eternity), a doctor came to them. "Mr. Riley?" He said. "That's me." The Brit stood up straight. "We... We did everything we could, but your husband has sadly passed."

A deafening silence filled the room.

"Don't fuckin' lie to me," Ghost clenched his fists at his sides. "I wish I was, sir." "Let me see him," the Brit said. The doctor nodded and turned away. "Watch the kids," Simon said to Kate, Price, and Nik. "We will, Simon."

When Ghost walked into the hospital room, he looked down at his husband's motionless body. "Johnny...?" He held the Scot's hand and gently squeezed, hoping for him to squeeze back. "Don't do this, Suds. We have a family. A life. I'm nothin' without you... Please wake up..." Tears started to fall down Simon's face.

A few minutes later, he walked back to the waiting room with his head hung low. "Papa, is Dada okay?" Dezzi asked. He didn't respond. "Simon, what's wrong?" Kate asked. "Did he...?" No answer was needed. "I'm so sorry, Simon." Jonathan said.

John was cremated. Destiny, Carter, Devon, Farah, Alex, Alejandro, Rudy, Price, Nikolai, and Laswell attended the spreading of the ashes. "Sleep easy, soldier," Jonathan said. "See you downrange, hermano," Alejandro said as he held Rudy, who wept with his face buried in his husband's shoulder. "Rest in peace, Johnny," Simon muttered, as he held Devon in his arm. Dezzi and Carter stood at his sides.

The Brit wasn't the same afterwards. He seemed more distant. He constantly asked Kate and her wife, Price and Nik, Alejandro and Rodolfo, or Alex and Farah to watch the kids while he laid in bed. He couldn't get up. He couldn't eat. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't do anything.

There was a knock at the bedroom door one day. "Papa, Ru wanted me to see if you're okay," Dezzi said as she walked into the room. She nudged her dad's shoulder, but there was no response. "Papa, are you sleeping?" She asked, as she walked to the other side of the bed to see Simon's face. His eyes were closed. He was loosely holding Soap's dogtags.

"Papa, this isn't funny. Wake up." Destiny opened her dad's eyes with her hands. "Dad, wake up." She even poked his eyeballs, to no avail. "Dad...?" She backed away, then ran downstairs.

"Nina, what's the matter?" Alejandro asked her. She pointed upstairs and started bawling. "Come on, little one. Let's see what's wrong." When he got to the bedroom, he knew.

"I guess it's true, what they say. You really can die from a broken heart." Jonathan said, as he stood at a podium. Simon was laying in a casket.

"John was his everything. The reason he got up in the morning. To live without his sunshine, he'd eventually go back to being the Ghost. His heart couldn't bare to live without John. May he find peace with his partner up above."

Destiny and her brothers were left to live with Alejandro and Rudy. I guess the finally had kids....

- The end -