Adam Laid on the hospital bed, his eyes half open, watching the people filing past the window in his room.  Sometimes they would come in and ask him questions, and other times he would just past on by.
     His was a boring wait.  He did a lot of waiting in the Legion and it nearly drove him mad.  This waiting was even worse, waiting for some machine to tell him he was okay, or if he wasn't.
     Some man who had gone through a lot of schooling was going to come in and tell him that he had read all the tests and now knew when he was going to die.

Oh, he knew he was going to die, everyone did it.  Some people denied it, and others embraced it.  Adam had become indifferent to it, just doing what needed to be done to prolong the inevitable.  For himself, for Jimmy, and his mother.  People he loved, people he wanted to cling to, who, if he could save, meant he could save himself.

The worst thing about waiting is the helpless feeling that went along with it.  He couldn't move from the the bed for fear of ripping his stitches.  He couldn't sit up or try and do things on his own.  Jimmy had to help him with everything, and for the first time in a long time, he felt worthless and truly scared.  

If he could just get out of bed, get up and move on his own - get away from the hospital, everything would be okay.  It was a mantra he kept repeating to himself, because, deep down he believed that he could heal on his own, he could do a better job taking care of himself then this hospital.  

If he could get out of bed there would be no cancer, there would be no more tumours, and he would be able to go up to Vermont with Jimmy.  No more pain, no more fear, and no more threat of Death.  He would leave the hospital and escape from everything.

The door opened and Heidi and mel came shuffling in, their eyes down cast, their posture filled with nervous fear.  He knew that look well, how many times had he felt the same way when walking into his own mother's hospital room?

He smiled, trying to reasure them, and when he sat up to greet them, Jimmy moved forward to fix the pillows behind his back.  Mel moved forward first and offered him the bouquet of flowers she probably perchased down at the hospital gift shop.  The looked beat up, carnations were wilting and the baby's breath was beginning to turn yellow and brown from lack of water.  To Adam they were the most beautiful thing in the world, and he thanked her, bringing them to his mouth so he could inhale their fragrance.

Setting the flowers aside, he received a kiss and a hug from each of the girls, as he told them how happy he was to see them.  Asking them about their days, he sat back and watched the girls glance at each other before Heidi began to speak.  She was able to make it through her tale, talking about school, her friends, and even her crush before Mel started.

Mel didn't even get past what she was doing in school before she broke down, crying she gripped him and the hospital blankets, crying and snotting into the sterile blanket.  Her father gently rubbed her back, as Adam stroked her hair and frowned deeply.

     "I don't want you to die!"  She gasped and sobbed out, looking up at him with red rimmed eyes.

     "Baby, I am not going to die, I am just a little banged up.  A few scratches isn't going to keep me down, you know that, sweetheart."  He murmured, her fingers combing through her tangled hair.  Deep down, he had no idea if he even believed those words.  It didn't matter, his life, his death, and that was really no concern for a little girl.

When Mel calmed down, their conversation stayed light and upbeat, trying to keep from any of them to break down and start crying once again.  They talked for about an hour when a doctor came in and looked the family over.  "Time for some blood work, and another X-ray, Adam."  He smiled, but it never reached his eyes, it never did.

Adam gave each of the girls a  kiss good-bye, whispering how much he loved them against their cheeks before they pulled away and walked out of the room.  Jimmy gave him a lingering kiss and told him that he would be back just as soon as the girls were taken care of.

Nodding, he sat back and smiled at them as they left the room.  Alone, he sat back to wait.