Chapter 36

**Alex**
The operation was successful and my baby boy was born but his mother was still in a coma. He had beautiful eyes but his other features were from me. My eyes beheld the feeble child with tears of joy, we had made it at last... No more Skyler..... No more murders... I only wish Skyler was awake to witness the beautiful sight of her new born baby.
Everybody heaved a huge sigh of relief after the child was taken into the incubator, Petra would be in coma for a while so incubating the child was the only option though my mother wanted to take care of the baby by herself. We were roused from our celebratory mood by the arrival of Preston, who I hadn't seen in a while now. The most surprising thing was the crutches he was carrying.
"Where is she? Where's my sister?" Preston asked, looking at everyone's face searching for an answer.
"Skyler shot her but the doctor said she'll be fine though she would be stuck in a coma for now" Eva told Preston.
"I was too late.... I could've saved her if only I hadn't cared about myself more than her!!" Preston lamented.
"What do you mean?" I asked inquisitively.
"Skyler hijacked me at a parking lot this morning, she put a shard of glass to my neck threatening to slice my throat if I don't give her information about Petra's whereabouts, at first I refused but she stabbed my leg and said my throat is next if I don't....." Preston's voice broke because he had started crying, the experience must have been too much for him. He showed us his leg and we saw that it was wrapped with a bandage.
"She stole my car, my money and my phone making me unable to call Petra to warn her about Skyler's coming. My colleagues rushed me to a clinic and I used one of their phones to inform the police and told them to escort Petra out of here.... I guess they took too much time mobilizing men for the job" Preston finally ended his story in tears, we were all in dumbfounded shock after hearing such a queer tale.
"You did the best you could do son and it paid off as well because Petra didn't die but Skyler did so it wasn't all for waste" My mother consoled Preston but to no avail the poor guy still felt it was his fault.
"What if Skyler's shot had killed her? The blood would be on my hands because I gave out the information" Preston started crying again.
"This is not a time to be sad man, Petra is alive and your nephew just entered this world so you wouldn't want them to see you with tears in your eyes right?" Preston cocked his head in attention as I mentioned the baby.
"My sister has given birth?" He asked without most surprise in his voice.
"Yes!! She gave birth through cesarean section though so they are sewing her up as we speak but the baby is safe in an incubator and that's where he'll stay until his mother comes out of her coma".
"Can I see him?" Preston had stopped crying and his once teary face was replaced with a look of new found joy and hope. Me and Eva escorted him into the incubation ward where the incubators were kept and we pointed him out of the crowd, Preston smiled widely when he noticed the resemblance between the two of us.
"Wow he's the replica of you Alex" Preston said in awe.
"I said the same thing too when I saw him," Eva added.
"You guys are making me blush, I just can't wait for his mother to see our handsome lad..... Whenever she wakes up" Our heads dipped as our minds drifted to Petra in the ICU.
"I just hope she'll be okay," Eva said, breaking the ominous silence.
"Petra is strong I'm sure she will stir sooner or later, now let's go back to the others in the waiting room" Preston spoke highly of Petra a lot and it made me admire her even more.
I searched the hospital for Detective Thomas hoping to set things right with him, I had acted out of misconduct earlier because of my anger. I found him chatting with the nurse that treated his wound. At first he acted as if I wasn't there but when he saw that I wasn't going anywhere any time soon he finally decided to hear me out.
"Look I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier but you should try to understand me here, see it from my point of view. If your wife got shot, how would you react?What would you do when you see the person who had sworn to protect her?" My actions were justifiable so of course I was going to plead the fifth.
"I was beginning to think that you didn't have the guts to see my face again hahaha, I'm not holding anything against you Alex hell I'm not even going to press charges..... I totally understand your viewpoint so why would I be mad at you?" Thomas was sincere with his words and he offered a hug as a sign of reconciliation. I was so happy that he didn't go all offensive on me.
"So everything is finally over huh?" Thomas asked as he drank water from the hospital dispenser.
"Yeah things ended quite sweetly..... But not entirely".
"Having any regrets?" Thomas must have noticed my downed expression.
"Yeah...... Somehow I feel she didn't deserve to die you know....... If only she had let go of her revenge plot and decided to move on with her life maybe things would have ended differently".
"You may be right Alex but she had already made up her mind about what she wanted to do" Thomas said gravely.
"What do you mean detective?".
"After pulling the trigger she didn't even try to run, she just stood there laughing with so much evil satisfaction. I had no regrets pulling the trigger because she had already given in to that hatred.... It ate her up completely from the inside out, she knew she was going to die but she didn't care as long as Petra died along with her" Thomas finished his startling speech, I was scared at Skyler's reaction before she was shot...... Laughter before death...... She knew what she was in for.
"You still fulfilled your promise detective and I respect that, if my wife had died I would have had the consolation that her soul was avenged by a just man" The detective smiled at my words trying to be modest as always.
"I was just preventing you from going to jail" Thomas joked and we both laughed heartily.
"It's about time I head back to the station and I have to give a report on this case".
"Oh that's okay, can we get a few drinks sometime?" I asked expecting a negative answer but that wasn't the case this time around.
"Sure, that would be nice after the trauma of what happened..... It's nice to be friends with you Alex, I've never had a real friend before only comrades" Thomas was getting all emotional and that was a surprise to see the straight faced detective break down like this.
"Consider me your first real friend then, words cannot explain how grateful I am to you for the help you gave me when I was tracking down Skyler..... I couldn't have done it without you" If not for the detective I would have gone to jail way before Skyler would be brought to justice, he was the one who gave me the money I used to board a cab, he took the risk and hacked into Skyler's bank account and pinpointed her location even way before I got any leads on her. Thomas was the hand karma used to pull the trigger and ended Skyler's tyranny that left blood in it's trail.
"I was just helping out a friend so it wasn't that much of a big deal" Thomas said modestly, he's always being modest. He gave a salute then headed back to his office in the police station, I went back to the others in the waiting room praying for Petra.
Two days after Petra was shot and things eased up a bit for everybody... except me. I went to see her every day after work and her condition was neither deteriorating or getting better, she was just there unconscious, unable to speak or hear me. I still talk to her nonetheless.
"Hey baby, what's up?" I said as I entered her room, I switched the flowers in her base with the fresh ones I bought and made myself comfortable in a chair close to her bed.
"I got roses this time I know how much you love the color red so I brought red roses to give that passionate vibrance you like" I said knowing I will get no reply other than the 'beep beep' of the machines, the whirling of the fan in motion. I knew she wasn't going to suddenly wake up and sniff the flowers and say "They are so lovely darling" in her sweet charming manner but I still kept talking anyway.
"Handling the press has been hard without your help, they have been asking questions that I know only you can answer....... Well I can't waste any more tears crying right?" As much as I tried to control myself I could not stop the tears that were rolling down my cheeks. One of the press reporters asked one question that made me worry.
"What if Petra doesn't wake up? What would be the future for you and the baby?" The reporter had asked the question innocently but it tore my soul to pieces. I was so devastated I couldn't say anything afterwards so I skipped the rest of the questioning much to the surprise of the rest of the reporters. I managed to clear my doubts aside with our baby as a hope that she is going to wake up before the child is taken out of the incubator.
"Preston's leg is getting better though he'll be using his crutches for a while but he will walk without them sooner than we think" I was interrupted by the arrival of Eva who brought a teddy with the words 'Welcome home' written on it.
"Hello Alex, it's a pleasant surprise to see you here because you just went ghost on us after-".
"I was busy with work. I'm sorry, How are you doing Eva?".
"I'm doing good, what about you?" She was obviously surprised at my giddy nature.
"I've been busy busy all the time answering the the press unending questions and catching up on the work I've missed for the past few days" I replied in a robotic manner because right now all I wanted was some time alone with Petra but apparently I'm not going to get that now that Eva is here but I still talked to her though, we discussed about a wide variety of things and in the end I ended up feeling better because of her company, I wasn't suffering alone I had people who understood my pain and the kind of loss I feel.
Seconds turned into minutes, Minutes turned into hours, Hours turned into days and days into weeks but Petra still hadn't woken up yet. At first I was still full of brimming hope that she will wake up soon but now my faith wan thin as the time progressed, The doctor said all is in God's hands now because there was nothing else they could do to make her wake up, the baby was kept in the incubator until his mother makes a sign of consciousness. It was the third week of her coma and I came for my usual after work visit.
"I'm here again babyyyy" I said trying to cheer myself up by talking in the usual way she likes but I wasn't feeling any vibe at all from the antics. I didn't say much after that. I just sat in my usual position on the chair opposite her, staring at nothing, just listening to the machine's beep and reminiscing of the times I had spent with Petra. I wasn't aware that the doctor had now entered the room.
"Mr Montero you're here again" The doctor greeted me as soon as I noticed his presence, I gave him a weak smile which was short lived.
"I'm not going to lose faith doc, not by a long shot".
"Your faith will not be in vain I pray, your son is being fed now, I came here to ask if you'd like to see him?" The baby is being fed formula until he can get his breast milk from his mother, as I witnessed that wonderful sight I made a strange request.
"Can I take him to see his mother in the other room?" I asked the maternal nurse.
"Yeah sure, but don't take long" She said handing me my son, I looked at his eyes and I saw Petra in them, I saw hope in my eyes and I was filled with a strange warm feeling. I took him inside Petra's room and started talking to him playfully.
"That's your mommy little fella, say hi to mommy" His head tilted to her direction as if he understood what I was saying, he looked at Petra long and hard then he started crying.
"Hey don't cry, it's okay mommy is only sleeping she will play with you soon..... You're my little man and men don't cry" I said playfully trying to shush him but his crying got louder and I'm sure the nurse would be on her way here to snatch him back. Petra had stirred!!, at first I wasn't sure if she had moved her hand subconsciously but now she stirred again, awakened by the sound of her son's cry.
With a smile on her face and tears of joy, the whole Alex Montero's family was finally in peace and reunited in love and harmony.
THE END