It's been a while (Johnny Cruz/Joonas Parkkonen) - Santa Cruz -

Old habits, not so old

Sammy and the three boys rushed after the doctor who led the way to Archie's room.
Sammy barely realized anything that happened right now.
Her sight was blurred by the running tears.
Her hand locked with Johnny's who guided her forward.
Without him she would just fall to the ground right now.
Finally, after what felt like hours, they reached Archie's room.
The doc tried to talk to them but nobody really cared about him, they just stormed into the room.
Sammy was the first to sit down on Archie's bed.
"Archie? Archie can you hear me? Open your eyes."
A single tear rolled down her cheek.
Archie would've laughed at this sight now.
She could literally hear his words.
"Chill your balls, I won't leave you this soon. You still have to deal with me."
He was tied to many machines of which Sammy had no idea what they meant or were there for.
"Archie?", she whispered again but he wouldn't show any reaction.
She could feel a hand squeezing her shoulder and when she turned around it was Johnny who smiled weakly.
"Could I have your attention for a minute?", the doctor asked, stepping back into Sammy's perfection, "He is in a coma. He is stable for now. He was very lucky."
"Coma? Will he wake up?", Middy was probably the only one who managed to bring out some words.
"I'm sure he will. I cannot tell you when. It's up to him. It can happen tomorrow or in a week or maybe also in 6 months. But try to talk to him. It's very likely that he can hear you."
Sammy couldn't listen to the doc anymore.
She turned around and sat down next to Archie.
"I know this is hard right now but you should try to go back into daily life. Go home and do whatever you would do. Watching him day in, day out can be very breaking. Try to distract you. You can come and visit him whenever you want though.", was the last the doc said before he left them alone with Archie.
"He's probably right..", Johnny stated, mostly to Sammy because he knew she would not leave until he wakes up.
"Fine. You can go home and have fun without Archie. I stay.", snapped Sammy back.
"Ugh Sammy look, we have no idea if he wakes up soon. At least one of us will stay here. And we can change so everyone can go home at some point."
Tazzy and Middy agreed.
Sammy sighed and looked at Archie.
"Fine. We'll go home, have a shower and grab some food on the way back."
Johnny knew that this was all he could get from her now.
Maybe he could convince her to have at least a little nap at his place.
"Good. You two stay here. We'll bring you some food."
Sammy followed Johnny out reluctantly.
"Do you want to stay at my place for now? I could stop at your house so you can get some clothes."
Sammy didn't answer, she just stared out of the window, lost in thoughts.
Johnny decided to stop anyways, he wouldn't leave her all alone in a house full of Archie's stuff.
He waited in the car while she got her stuff, to give her some privacy.
"You can go have a shower."
Sammy nodded and trotted into his bathroom.
The shower was great.
First she let the ice cold water run over her body until she couldn't withstand the cold anymore.
It wasn't a long shower like her usual ones but this shower was more like a measure to bring her back to reality.
Not caring about her wet hair she left the bathroom and looked for Johnny.
"Yeah.... They don't know when he will wake up.... sure you can just go there, Middy and Tazzy should be there at the moment... yep bye.", he spoke into the phone.
"Who was that?", Sammy asked as he put the phone away.
"Nobody.."
Normally she would've questioned his weird answer now but at the moment she couldn't care less and just put on her jacket again and left the house.
"Don't you want to dry your hair?", Johnny called after her but she couldn't hear it anymore.
When he stepped out of his house he watched her worriedly.
"Sams you should really sleep. You look so done."
"Yeah because I am. And if I sleep I will do it in the hospital so I'm with Archie."
Johnny sighed and opened the car.
"But we'll grab something to eat first. I'm starving."
What else would it be if not Pizza?
"Hello, I'd like three pepperoni pizzas, one hawaii and uhm.. one margarita please.", Johnny said to the pizza guy at Pizzahut.
"Old habits, Johnny. Archie is in a coma he's not gonna eat pizza.", Sammy stated.
"Huh?"
He seemed to be confused by her comment.
"You just ordered 5 pizzas but since Archie doesn't count we are only 4."
"Ohh. Well no the pizza is not for Archie."
"Whatever..."
Sammy soon knew who the Pizza was for.
When they entered Archie's room there was an unfamiliar girl standing with the back to her and Johnny.
This must be the person Johnny phoned with earlier.
She turned around and so did Middy and Tazzy.
"Any news?", Johnny asked and put the Pizza cartons on the table.
The three shook their heads.
"Uh Sammy, this is Kira, the girl I told you about.", Johnny introduced her.
So this was Archie's 'girlfriend' or whatever.
Sammy had to admit that she was actually very beautiful and she looked nice and sympathetic.
She had long, brown hair and green eyes.
"Hi, nice to meet you."
Sammy held out her hand and she took it immediately.
"You too. I've heard a lot about you."
She smiled a bit, just weakly but Sammy could tell that she had been crying before.
"Okay guys, so I brought pizza y'all enjoy."
Johnny passed the pizza to everyone.
"I'll eat later.", Sammy shook her head and turned away from Johnny who just wanted to give her the pizza.
"Sammy you'll eat the pizza now. Last time you ate was 2 days ago, Archie will kill me if I let you starve. Come on."
"I'm not hungry, Johnny!"
Everyone stared at Sammy speechless.
She just yelled at Johnny for no reason.
"I'm sorry."
With tears in her eyes she stormed out of the room and glided onto the ground, burying her head in her hands.
She could feel somebody sitting down next to her and wrapping their arms around her shoulder.
Sammy could tell by the smell that it was Johnny.
"Sams..", he started but was interrupted by her.
"I'm sorry, Johnny. I didn't mean to yell at you. This is just all too much for me. I feel like I can't breath anymore."
Tears streamed down her face as she looked up at Johnny.
"I know, it's okay. I understand that. You know I'm here for you."
He lifted his hand to her cheek and wiped away a few tears.
"I'm so glad that I have you.", Sammy whispered and tried her best to give him a smile.
Even though she failed and just cried more he smiled down at her.
"Me too."
He leaned forward and Sammy closed her eyes, already guessing what happens next and -
"Guys??"
They 'jumped' apart and looked at the person who had just interrupted them.
It was Middy.
"I don't want to stop you by whatever you are doing but Archie just moved.."
Sammy was on her feet in milliseconds and ran past Middy into the room.
Archie was still in the same position as before.
"He just moved his fingers. He definitely did!", said Kira happily.
She smiled at Sammy and back down at Archie.
For the first time in two days Sammy actually smiled.