The smell of disinfectant assaulted Olivia's nose. She needed to rub the smell out but her right hand was being held down. She needed to assess her surroundings and commanded herself to wake up. She started to stir and let out out a small groan. There was a little bit pressure given on her hand as a husky voice called out.
Olivia fluttered her eyes and tried to focus her vision on the blob before her. There was a mixture of shouts and ringing in her ears, it was causing her head to pound. She raised her now free hand to her forehead and was startled to find it wrapped up. "What happened?" she croaked, her throat was parched and she was finally focusing her sight.
Eli was looking at her with a worry stricken look, he quickly helped her sit up as Blair passed her a cup of water. "Where am I?" she asked after a big gulp of water. "At the hospital" Blair whispered "You nearly drowned..." Eli started to explain. When suddenly Avery busted through the door with Autumn following close behind him.
"Olivia!" he shouted and she jerked her head towards him. "Dad!" she said with a smile as her father gave her a small hug and kiss. Avery stood up and grabbed Olivia by her shoulders, he was happy but pissed and started yelling at her "You are so stupid! I could have lost you, do you not realized that you are someone I can't lose! I... please don't leave me..." and gently placed his forehead against her wrapped one. "I already lost your mother... you're all that's left of our love..." Tears started to plop onto her cheeks from above and rolled down her face.
After everyone calmed down they filled Olivia in on what started the situation in the first palce. It seemed that the cause of the accident was River. Laila and Loreley were confronted by River, she demanded to know about Olivia's interactions with Eli. When they denied knowing anything, River became furious and started defaming Olivia. Laila got mad and tried to slap River in the face but River caught her arm mid air.
River must have pushed Laila to hard because she she started to stumble backwards and tripped over her own footing, Loreley thought it was dangerous and protected Laila from falling overboard while the rest was history.
"What happened to Loreley? Is she ok now?" Olivia asked with a shaky voice. Avery spoke up first as he rubbed the back of his head "She's stable now. It was really bad, she inhaled so much water... Livy if you didn't do what you did... Loreley would have..." he dropped his hand and everyone in the room became silent.
"What do you mean she's stable?" Olivia asked as her eyes began to sting, she knew tears were trying to fight their way out but she was determined to keep them at bay. "Hun, she still unconscious." Autumn began to say "The doctors say she may or may not wake up."
Olivia's face paled at her words, she started to shake her head and tears began to roll down her face. "I didn't act fast enough... I could have done more... I could have done more!" Olivia started to panic. Eli's heart broke at the sight, he embraced her and calmly whispered into her ear. "You did enough. More than any of us. You... you... almost gave your life to save another. Please don't beat yourself up for something we all could have done..."
Olivia's breathing started to calm down and she peeked up at her friends and father. They were each silently crying and held onto each other. Blair tried to put on smiling face for her sake "You did enough. You can see for yourself. Loreley is just down the hall maybe if you talked to her she might want to wake up and thank you."
...
Agni and Laila were sitting beside Lorely's bed going through the details of what had happened when the heard a knock on the door. Laila stood up and walked over to door "Come in" she muttered. Olivia was taken a back when she seen for herself Loreley state and Laila's composure, completely shattered, now she had seen the true Laila, scared, child like and lonely.
Loreley was hooked up to a heart monitoring machine and a breathing tube was inserted into her nose. While Agni was slumped onto the side of the bed, her body trembling violently as she held onto Loreley's hand.
Avery walked up to Agni and gently touched her shoulder "Honey?" he asked ever so softly to Agni. Agni shot her head up from the bed, clearly showing her tear streaked and grief stricken face. "What am I going to do Avery? What if my angel doesn't wake up?" she cried.
Avery could only look at Agni with a gentle expression, as he had no words to give. "Ms. Masama?" Olivia asked as Eli held her hand for support. Olivia cautiously moved forward "I am so sorry this happened. I just wish I could have stopped this from happening and ...." she said with a shaky voice.
"Y-O-U! This is your fault!" Agni shouted as her eyes bulged out from her eye sockets. Her hair was starting to fall from her up do with every heavy step she took towards the two. She raised her hand up in the air, Eli took a step forward and stood in front of Olivia, taking the full impact of her slap.
"If it wasn't for your little fiancee this would have never happened! She would not have tried to kill my child!" she grabbed Eli by the collar and dragged him to her face. "How are you going to take responsibility for this matter! How are you going to bring back my child to me!" Avery came rushing to Eli's aid and tried to defuse the situation.
He gentled placed a single hand over Agni's fists while he cooed her "Agni I know you're upset but let the boy go. It's my fault that the girls were there. It's my fault they had to experience this... if I didn't pressure Olivia into taking them this would have never happened.... if anyone should be responsible it should be me."
Olivia watched the situation closely, she tried so hard to not let her anger cloud her judgement as she saw blood dripping from Eli's lip. She stared at Agni trying to think of something to say, anything to say to get her to let go of Eli when suddenly a very cracked voice said "M-m-mom..."
Avery jerked his head to Loreley's bed and saw a stunned Laila holding her dear sister's hand against her face while tears of joy were streaming downwards. While Loreley's eyes fluttered at the sight of the light, she tried calling out again "Mom..".
"Loreley..." Avery whispered happily as he lifted his hand off of Agni's fists and made his way towards her bed. Avery no longer insight Agni let her anger rise with the second 'mom' Loreley uttered while she refused to turn herself around to face the three people behind her.
Olivia could see the murderous intent that blazed in her eyes by the second 'mom'. It clicked in, this women didn't want her child to wake up but why...
Agni flipped her switch so fast it would have caused anyone to think the murder in her eyes were but an illusion. Tears started to pour from her eyes as she let Eli go, she turned around, threw her arms in the arm and dragged her child into an embrace "My angel... 'sob' you're ok 'sniff' mommy is here don't worry now... I will keep you safe." she cried.
Loreley could only take the embrace, she made no effort to hug her mother back but instead with a grief stricken face she said "I saw dad... he told me to go back..."
After a good 10 minutes of Agni wailing, a nurse came into give Loreley a check up, she turned to everyone in the room and said "I'm sorry but anyone who is not family I need you to please leave the room. I will be starting to examine Ms. Masama soon."
Avery gave Agni a small kiss on her forehead, Laila a quick hug and Loreley a pat on the back of her hand while he told her "I'll be back.". He escorted Olivia and Eli out and back to Olivia's room.
....
It was now 3:00 a.m and no one was around to over hear them. Agni was furious but knew better then to hit her own children in the hospital. She gave a cold stare towards Loreley as she spat out her words "Stupid child! All you had to do was stand aside and allow your sister to fall into the water."
Laila and Loreley stayed quiet as the squeezed each others hands, shaking under the disdained gaze of their mother. "One task!" she continued "Laila being afraid of water would have made a bigger impact against Olivia but no you had to play the hero and spare your sister didn't you... No matter, I will get what I want even though you manage to survive a near drowning." Every word she uttered dripped with venom.
She walked over to the girls and grabbed Loreley's chin "No matter what, my sweet angle of death, I will always have a use for you.. while your sister on the other hand..." Agni took a side glance at Laila and huffed her indifference before she let go off Loreley. "Well we will just need to work harder don't we."