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"What are you doing there, Carmen?" Isaac asked.
She smiled up at him.
"I'm writing my article for the mag."
Sandy had asked Carmen if she would like to write a regular feature in her music magazine. It was called "Carmen's Corner" and it was about her opinions on music in general.
"Need some help?"
"No thanks."
"Okay, well, I'm gonna go talk to your mother."
Carmen nodded as Isaac headed into the room where Babsie laid. He sat down on a nearby chair, held her hand and kissed her forehead.
"Good morning Babs," he greeted. "Have a good night? Myst didn't, I'm afraid. Poor girl had a nightmare and ended up sleeping in our bed."
He paused in his talk and started at her curiously. For a second there he thought he heard her moan.
"Babs?"
There was quiet. Just as Isaac was thinking that it must have been his imagination after all, a much more audible moan escaped her lips. Her head moved slightly and her eyes fluttered.
"Babs? Babsie?"
"Ike?" said a hoarse whisper.
"Babsie! You're awake!"
Babsie looked up at him, her eyes still blinking as they adjusted to the light. She lifted her hands slightly, before dropping them back on the bed.
"W-water?"
"Oh! Umm, yeah sure, just a second," Isaac replied and hit the intercom. "Carmen? Can you pull yourself away from your writing long enough to get a glass of water? Your mum woke up."
"What? She did?" Carmen yelped. "Yeah, sure! I'll be right there!"
It was only a minute or so before Carmen entered the room with a glass of water in one hand and a hopeful expression in the other.
"Mum!" she greeted happily, almost spilling the water in her eagerness to hug Babsie.
"Whoa!" Isaac said, taking the glass and smiling at her. "Careful."
While waiting for Carmen, Isaac had located the controls on the bed and had the head of it slowly rise so that Babsie was in a sitting position. The process had made Babsie a little dizzy. Now Isaac gently pressed the glass to her lips and she drank a sip.
"Maybe you'd better not drink too much at once," Isaac commented. "You have been in a coma for three years."
"What?" Babsie gasped out.
"Mum?" came a voice from the doorway.
Isaac, Babsie and Carmen looked over to see that a handful of the older kids had appeared.
"You're awake!" Matt exclaimed. "You really are awake!"
The next few minutes were a bit of a blur. The kids were all anxious to greet and embrace Babsie, and on top of trying to control the situation, some actually thought of calling the doctor, who arrived soon thereafter.
It was soon determined that Babsie was none the worst for her long sleep, although she had lost some weight. The doctor advised that she gradually get back into the habit of eating properly again - only tiny meals to start, and he spoke in depth to Lori about it - and only to start walking and such again when her strength returned. He warned that Babsie was liable to have dizzy spells and such when she did start moving again. When she did start walking again, he advised she should have someone nearby who (and here he gave the kids who were currently in the room a wary look) was capable of supporting her weight.
"Natalie! Nat! Hey long time no see," Babsie smiled, noticing the nanny not long after the doctor left.
"Hi," Natalie replied. "Umm, Isaac found my name in your address book and hired me as a nanny a few months after you... err... went into a coma. I've brought down Zeke and Audrey."
"Oh, wow," and it seemed that now Babsie was truly realising that three years had passed. "Wow, they've... they've grown so much."
However, much to Babsie's distress (although she understood), Audrey burst into tears the moment Natalie sat her on the bed and looked into the face of a complete stranger. Audrey's tears infected Zeke, who was clutching onto Isaac's hand. Natalie bit her lip, and Babsie tried not to cry herself.
"You... you can't blame them..." Babsie said to Isaac with surprising self-control. "They don't know me."
Isaac's arms encircled her as Natalie left with the two three-year-olds.
"They will," he assured her. "But right now, all that matters is that you're alive, and awake at last."