"I don't understand," Sam said, sinking down to the floor against the wall as he watched the doctor leave the room. "I was right there. I touched her, I could feel her…why the hell am I still here?"

"I wish I could answer that," Elizabeth said sadly, crouching down next to him. "I've only ever done this with Sarah, and it wasn't like this then."

"What happened with Sarah?" Sam asked curiously.

Elizabeth shrugged. "It was fast," she said. "One second, she was standing here talking to me, and the next second, she was opening her eyes and talking to you."

"And the first words outta her mouth were that I looked like crap," Sam recalled.

"Well, you and your sister never were big on tact," Elizabeth laughed. "Your father's influence, I'm afraid."

"I still can't believe she never told me about seeing you," Sam said. "Of course, I probably would have thought she was insane, but that's never stopped her from opening her mouth before."

Elizabeth sighed and shifted so she was sitting next to her son. "She doesn't remember," she said gently. "Chances are, you won't either."

"But…I have to remember, Mom," Sam insisted. "This is all I've got of you."

"I wish I could promise that you'll remember," Elizabeth said. "But I don't know what's going to happen when you wake up. All I know is that no matter what happens, even if you can't see or hear me, I will always be here."

"It's not enough," Sam said. "Part of you is not enough for me, Mom."

"I know," Elizabeth agreed. "But think about your sister and Andy. Is it enough for them? Are they going to be okay without seeing you, without hearing you? Don't forget about what you not going back would be like for them."

"Did he wake up yet?"

Andy relaxed her grip on Sam's hand and turned her head slightly at the sound of the voice behind her. Shaking her head, she kept her gaze focused on Sam's face and waited a minute before answering.

"The doctor says he's the same as he was this morning," she said. "Not that that means anything to you, seeing as you weren't here."

Sarah sighed as she stared past Andy to her brother's body, still lying in the same position she'd left him in hours ago.

"I, uh…I had some stuff I had to take care of," Sarah said quietly. "It was important."

"More important than being here for your brother?" Andy asked.

"A different kind of important," Sarah said, still not moving any closer to Sam's bed. "I just…I had to go home for a little while, I didn't have a choice."

Andy shook her head and slowly turned around to face Sam's sister. As she took in the other woman's appearance, she felt a small part of her annoyance fade as she had to admit, grudgingly, that Sarah looked even worse than she felt.

"Sarah," Andy said hesitantly, not wanting to frighten her away again. "Sarah, are you high?"

Sarah's red eyes widened at the question and she took a step back in surprise. "What? Why…why would you think that?"

Andy sighed and leaned back in her chair. "You disappeared for hours with no real explanation, but you look like you haven't slept in days. Your eyes are red, you're acting defensive…I'm a cop, Sarah, I'm trained to spot the signs."

"Yeah, well," Sarah paused and shifted her purse strap on her shoulder before taking a step forward to hold her original position. "You're wrong. I…I've been clean for almost seven years."

Andy frowned skeptically and looked Sarah up and down.

"I have," Sarah insisted, sensing Andy's disbelief. "I wouldn't…look, I don't have to justify myself to you. I…it's been seven years, I go to meetings, I…I wouldn't do that to him. Not again."

"Wouldn't do that to who?" Andy asked.

Sarah hesitated and looked over Andy's shoulder toward the hospital bed. "Sam," she said quietly. "I wouldn't do that to Sam."

"I thought you two didn't speak?"

"We don't," Sarah said, carefully taking a few steps into the room. "But, uh…well, if anything happened, they'd call him. And I think…I think he'd come."

"Of course he would," Andy agreed. "Why wouldn't he?"

Sarah shrugged. "There's history there," she said. "You wouldn't…you don't understand."

"So help me," Andy suggested. "You want me to understand, tell me what's going on."

"I…it's hard," Sarah said, looking around the room nervously. "This hospital, there's a lot of memories here. Not good ones."

Andy nodded slowly and pulled a chair up next to hers. "Sit down," she instructed. "Talk to me."

Sarah hesitated again as she eyed the chair skeptically before reluctantly sitting down. "Seven years ago, that was me," she said, pointing to where Sam was lying in the hospital bed. "I, uh, I overdosed. On purpose."

Andy gasped and Sarah quickly looked away.

Across the room, still unseen, Sam gripped his mother's hand and waited anxiously. "She's never talked about it," he said quietly. "Every time I bring it up, she shuts me down."

"I knew I'd put too much in the syringe. I didn't mean to, but my hand slipped when I was measuring it out, and once it was in there…I knew it was too much, but I didn't care," Sarah admitted. "I thought it would be better. That maybe it would stop hurting. I didn't think…he's the one who found me."

"Sam?" Andy asked in surprise.

Sarah nodded. "The doctors said if he'd been five minutes later, I wouldn't be here," Sarah said. "I still don't…I never asked why he came by. We don't ever talk about it. I'll never forget the look on his face when I woke up, though. I thought he'd be angry or disappointed or something, but he just looked sad…almost broken, even. And I knew, I'd done that to him. And I swore I'd never do that to him again. I haven't been the best sister…hell, I've hardly even been a sister…but I swore I wasn't going to ever put him through that again. So that's why, that's why you have to believe me. No matter what, I wouldn't do that again."

"Alright," Andy said. "I believe you."

"I don't know how to do this," Sarah said quietly, still looking like she was about to jump out of her skin.

"Do what?" Andy asked in confusion.

"This," Sarah said, motioning around the room. "I don't know how to be the one who's strong, Andy. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. It's always…our relationship is the other way around. Sam's the one who worries, who sits in hospital waiting rooms for me. He's beat people up for me, bailed me out of jail, dragged me off to rehab. He's my baby brother, but he takes care of me. I don't…I don't know if I can do this."

"She's panicking," Sam said in concern, jumping to his feet to stand near his sister. "She's going to run again."

"Sarah, look at me," Andy said, leaning forward and grabbing her hands. "Look at me."

It took a minute, but Sarah finally raised her head to meet Andy's eyes. As soon as she did, Andy found herself remembering Sam's words from the first time she heard him mention his sister. She was afraid of everything…

"Sarah, you don't have to be scared of this," Andy said. "You don't have to do anything. Just be here. Talk to him if you want, or just sit here. He knows you're here."

"You don't know that. He might not even be in there anymore."

"Maybe not," Andy agreed sadly. "But as long as he's hanging on, I'm going to be here, because the alternative…believing anything else is just not okay."