Hopelessly Devoted To You

BONUS AU CHAPTER

LINDA DOESN'T DIE. SHE DOESN'T. I DON'T CARE IF ITS NOT CANON. SHE'S ALIVE.

Three weeks. Three weeks he's in the hospital, watching, waiting, praying. Three weeks turn into four weeks, and four weeks into five. His hope waivers, his health continues to drop, and no one even dares mention his mental stability. He's hanging on by a thread, a thread that's hanging by a thread. He's sore and weak and sick and tired. He wants things to go back to normal, he wants to be in his own bed, holding her close, making her writhe beneath him like she had been doing before this horrific accident.

Danny swallows the ever present painful lump in his throat. He's internally having a mental meltdown- he's yelling and screaming and crying at nothing in particular. His stomach's always queasy, he doesn't really drink, and he's lost a lot of pounds. His eyes are always sunken in with dark circles beneath. No one dares tell him he's scaring them, scaring the kids. No one dares tell him his wife wouldn't want him to act this way. Everyone just leaves him alone, silently praying for him and his wife.

Danny can't believe something like this happens to people. How can the love of his life be almost dead?

*************

Pain. That's all that registers. No fear or confusion or even relief, just pain. Her entire body aches, and it feels like forty five thousand pounds of metal and glass fell on her. She tries to open her eyes, but that hurts too. Every time she takes a breath it hurts, and she's cursing in her mind. She doesn't know what happened, she doesn't know where she is. She listens carefully to the sounds around her: soft hums, quiet buzzes, distant beeps.... and the familiar sound of snoring?

Linda finally opens her eyes, and is met with bright lights and white walls. She tries moving her head, but that's even worse than the constant buzz of pain.

"Hold on, Linda."

Who's that?

"You've got a lot of injuries- take it easy."

"Ho- what kind?" Her voice is very hoarse and it sounds completely foreign.

"That doesn't matter now."

Do I know you? Linda watches the nurse adjust the IV drip, write something on the chart, and smile broadly.

"We're so happy you're finally awake!"

"Finally? I went to bed yesterday."

She ignores the statement, "you sure are lucky to have a husband like him."

Linda painfully turns her head to where the nurse was pointing. Her vision is very blurry, but she can make out a figure twisted up in the chair. She's still frowning as the nurse leaves, saying something about getting the doctor.

Linda deduces the snoring came from her husband, but who is her husband? She thinks long and hard, remembering important events in her life.

Her wedding day.

Her graduation.

The daughter she lost.

The birth of her son, and her second son three years later.

There is a constant in those memories, someone who is always there for her. She smiles, realizing who.

"Danny."