One Hundred Sleepless Nights. (HIATUS)

Match Into Water.

-vic-
I stood in the bathroom brushing my teeth while Elise changed and fed the baby.
"I think he's starting too look like you." Elise said.
I shook my head, "I think he looks like Mike." I said.
She sighed, "Yeah, I see that." She said.

"Vic, I have a confession to make, and in the events of what's happened over the past three days, it might not be the best thing to say, but you need to hear it. You deserve it." She said.
I looked at her in the mirror, standing behind me, holding Michael.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Emma-" She inhaled sharply, "Wasn't your daughter. I'd had a secret affair with Mike, and didn't want to tell you, because I know that you'd leave me." She said.
I sighed, "I can't believe you did that to me. I can't believe you did that to him." I said.
"He knew." She said.
I looked at her, "Mike knew? Well then why did he sit back and let me think that she was mine?" I asked.
"Vic, why do you think he felt so guilty about Emma getting sick? Why do you think he was sick with guilt when she died? It wasn't because he didn't want you to hate him, it's because that was his baby, his flesh and blood, and he felt terrible that she died." She said.
I sighed, "So what else have you lied about? What about him? We just established that he looked like Mike, is he my nephew instead of my son?" I asked.
She shook her head, "No, he's 100% your son, I swear."
I sighed, "I can't believe you did this. Well, no, I can, because you lied to Mike. That man fathered two children in his lifetime, and not one of them called him daddy. Not one of them got to really know their father, all because you lied to Mike, and Diana fucked him over." He said.
"You can't blame me. Mike knew, and he encouraged me to lie, because he knew how much that baby meant to you. He wanted you to be happy, he did it for you, but when she died unexpectedly, he was not able to hide the absolute agony he felt, losing his daughter." She said.
I sighed, "Elise, I don't even know what to say to you." I said.
"Well, it's not too late to let the divorce go through, and start seeing me as little as possible." She said, smoothing Michael's hair down
I chuckled, "The one child that is named after Mike, isn't his. Oh the irony." I said.
Michael laughed, and Elise smiled, "My precious angel." She whispered.
I kissed Michael's hair, "Our precious angel." I said.
Elise gave him to me, "Take him, and go home. I know you don't want to see me, and that you want to spend as much time with Michael as you can." She said.
I looked down at Michael, "No, we're not going anywhere. Michael belongs with his mother, and I belong with my beautiful Elise." I said, kissing her.
She smiled though tears, "Thank you." She whispered.
I smiled back, "You and Michael are the world to me. And I know that you've made mistakes, but I forgive you for that, and I love you." I said.
"I love you too." She said.
"Now put some fucking clothes on, and let's go stop this atrocious divorce." I said kissing her hard.
She smiled and went to change clothes.
I looked down at Michael, "We're a family kid, and daddy's not going to let anything, or anyone change that." I said.

Elise walked into the courthouse behind me, Michael in her arms.
Her lawyer was in today, and we were going to talk to him about stopping the divorce.
She knocked on the door, "Sam, it's Elise."
"Elise, come in!" Sam called.
She looked at me, "Don't say a word, let me do all the talking." She mouthed.
I nodded.
"Good afternoon Elise, and Hello little Michael, and..." Sam stopped when he saw me.
"Sam," Elise said sitting down, "We want to call off the divorce. Vic and I really want to be together, and Michael needs us together." She said.
Sam sighed, and rubbed his forehead, "This makes my job really hard, you know that, right?" he asked.
"Sam, I'll pay you whatever you want. I just can't do this to Michael." She said.
Sam looked up at me, "You've got a damn good girl here Victor. Quit pissing her off." He said smiling.
I smiled, "I don't plan on letting anything get between us again." I said.
"We'll talk about the money later, but I'll call it off, and we'll keep it all hush-hush." Sam said.
Elise grinned, "Thank you Sam, so much!" She said.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm your best friend, now go take care of that baby. Have a good day." He said.

We walked out, hand in hand, "Well, that went a lot better than I thought it would." She said.
"I'm just glad it went." I said.
Michael fussed, "He's hungry, let's go home so I can feed him." She said.
She fed Michael and put him down for a nap.
"You have no idea how hard it is to be a single parent." She said.
"Well, you're not a single parent anymore. You've got me." I said.
She smiled, "Thank god. Taking care of that baby by myself wasn't going to be easy." She said.
"You'd have been alright." I said.
"Last time I tried to take care of one of my kids by myself, she died." She said quietly.
"Hey, come on, that wasn't your fault." I said.
"Well, that doesn't make me feel any better." She said.
"I know, but babe, she's with her dad now, she's safe." I said.
"I just hope he's taking better care of her than I did." She whispered.
"I know that Mike thought the world of Emma, and of you, and I know he's taking great care of her." I said.

She fell asleep on my shoulder.
I covered her up with a blanket, and kissed her hair.
"Vic." She whispered.
"Hm?" I asked.
"I need to go get formula. Michael's out." She said.
I hadn't even felt her get up off the couch.
"Do you want me to go?" I asked.
"No, Just give me your keys, you're parked behind me." She said.
I handed her my keys out of my pocket.
"Listen for Michael. I'll be back in a minute." She said.
"Okay." I said laying over on the couch.
"Don't go back to sleep, Vic." She said.
"I'm not." I said.
"I'll be right back." She said.
I heard the door close, and I nodded off.

The next thing I heard was my phone ringing on table.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Victor Fuentes?" This wasn't someone I knew.
"Yes, who am I talking to?" I asked.
"This is Dr. Bruce Keller at Sharp Memorial Hospital, we have a woman here by the name of Elise Fuentes, we looked her up in the system, and it says that she is your wife." He said.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked, sitting up.
"She was hit head on by a drunk driver when turning onto Halbrooks Street. She's not doing good, at all, It's standard issue for us to call you because your her husband." He said.
"What happened to her? What is wrong with her?" I asked.
"She's got a serious head injury, we had to use the jaws of life to get her out of the car. She wasn't breathing when the rescue crew got her out of the car. She's not breathing on her own now, she's on a ventilator. Her chances aren't good. I think you should come down here and be with her, because there's a good chance she won't survive the night." He said.
I didn't know how to feel.
"I'll be right down." I said hanging up.
I started sobbing.
I pulled myself together and called Courtney.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Court." I sniffled.
"What's wrong Vic?" She asked.
"Elise has been in an accident. She was hit head on by a drunk driver, and she's in really bad shape. I'm going down to the hospital now to be with her, but the doctor said she's not going to survive the night." I said.
"You'd better be kidding." She said.
"No, I'm not. The way the doctor was talking, she really isn't going to make it. I'm numb. I'm getting Michael now, and we're going to the hospital." I said.

WhenI got to the hospital, Elise was in ICU.
Seeing her like that, I couldn't even walk all the way in the room.
I turned and walked back into the hall, where I stood and cried.
Courtney appeared.
"Where is she?" She asked.
"In there. I can't be in there Courtney. I can't see her like that." I said.
She took two steps in and came back sobbing.
"She can't go like this? She can't go at all." She said.
"I know, but there's nothing we can do." I said.
"It can't just be like this. She can't just die. Not like this." She said.
"Courtney, what can we do?" I asked.
"I don't know, but she can't die!" She said.
We finally convinced eachother to walk into the room together.

We both stood at the foot of the bed, staring at Elise for a long time, before I finally sighed,
"This isn't fair." I said.
"I know." Courtney whispered.
"I didn't even have to see my brother like this. He didn't have to suffer like this. It's not fair to her." I said.
I walked around and slipped my hand into hers, "Elise, babe please wake up. You can't leave Michael like this. You've avoided death too many times to go out like this." I said.
I laid my head on Elise's arm and cried, "Wake up. Please wake up."
Michael was asleep until about three hours later when he was hungry.
"Damn it, he doesn't have any formula. That's what she was going to get when this happened." I said.
"I'm sure the hospital has some, just ask." Courtney said.
"I don't want to leave her side." I said.
Courtney went and got formula and fed Michael, while I sat, sobbing at Elise's bedside.
"God, you selfish bastard, you can't have her. She's mine, and you're not taking her from me. You've already taken my brother and my niece, you're not taking my wife." I said, sobbing against Elise's arm.
"Elise." I whispered.
"I know you can hear me. Please don't leave, Michael needs you, and so do I." I said.
She didn't move.

That night, when I fell asleep laying against Elise's arm, I had a dream about Mike.
~Dream Re-Cap~
"Mike, what am I going to do?" I asked.
"Vic, you know you can't save her. If it's her time to go, she'll go." He said.
"She misses you. A lot. She really wishes you were still around." I said.
"I wish I were too. But I'm not. So you've got to take care of her and your son now." He said.
"I'm obviously not doing a very good job, Elise is on her deathbed." I said.
"We don't know that for sure yet." Mike said.
"Mike, don't be ridiculous. She's not breathing on her own, she's got a lot of damage to her vital organs, and for god's sake, she's covered in bruises and cuts." I said.
"Give her a damn chance. She could still pull through this. Vic, that girl's got the stubborness and willpower of a hundred motherfucking donkeys." He said.
"Then why am I the one who feels like an ass?" I asked.
"Same reason I did. I felt like I could've protected her better, and I didn't. The only difference here, is that the cause of her pain isn't you." He said.
"I offered to go to the grocery store. I should've insisted. That should've been me in that car." I said.
"I think we're all glad it wasnt. We hate this for her and you, but none of us would rather it be you, or anyone else. It'd have been if it hadn't happened at all, but it did, so now that the cards are on the table, you've seen your hand, you've got to decide whether you're going to fold or play." He said.
"I can't lose her." I said.
"You know, I felt terrible when I hurt her and Eric." Mike said.
"Mike, Eric-"
"I know. But that doesn't change how I feel about hurting them." He said.
"It's hard to find out that a child you cared so much about wasn't yours at all." I said.
"You're Emma's dad no matter whose DNA she had. I was her father, but you were her dad. I basically told Elise to lie because I didn't really want the responsibility of taking care of another child after what happened to Eric. I knew you'd take care of her, and in the end, I still ended up hurting her." He said.
"Jonny wouldn't have taken care of Eric even if Elise wanted him too." I said.
Mike laughed, "I know. But I would've. Elise has been through so much because of me. I just wish there was some way I could make it up to her. I wish there was something I could do to help her." He said.
"Couldn't you talk to like, the big man upstairs and ask him to spare her?" Vic asked.
"Vic, this is real life, this isn't some hollywood bullshit movie. I can't talk to god dude. Trust me if I could, I would've changed a lot." he said.
"God should sue hollywood for making that shit up then." I said.
"That's a good thought, but he doesn't need to sue anyone, he's god." Mike said.
I laughed, "I really miss laughing with you bro. The good times." I said.
"Yeah. Well you're about to wake up. So I'll see you when I see you bro." He said.

Right about that time, I sat up and looked around the dark room.
Elise hadn't moved.
I sighed and slumped in my chair, "I'm really starting to wonder if there is a god." I whispered.