Previously…
– The police continued to investigate the threats against Sabrina.
– Travis was arrested and arraigned for Loretta’s murder. Rosie was furious that he and Elly had been keeping secrets about that night.
– The morning after donating bone marrow to TJ, Samantha went into medical crisis. The hospital staff was unable to give Tempest any updates due to her not being Sam’s legal family.

Everything in the hospital waiting area feels too calm for the knot of worry that is consuming Tempest Banks. She sits slumped in one of the plastic chairs, scrolling endlessly on her phone without noticing any of the content on it. All she can think about is Samantha Fisher, waking up so briefly this morning before seizing up and vomiting on herself and her hospital bed. The sight was horrible enough, but to be forced out of the room by medical staff and denied any updates on her condition…

“Tempest!” a voice calls out, and she looks up to see Diane Bishop rushing toward her from the elevator bay. Isaac Banks is right behind her. Both of them look rumpled, which is highly uncharacteristic for Diane, showing that they got dressed in a rush after receiving Tempest’s frantic call.

“How is she?” Diane asks.

Tempest stands but can only shake her head. “I don’t know.”

Despite being in street clothes, Isaac clutches his hospital ID badge in one hand. “I’m gonna go find out.”

“Thanks,” Tempest says, and he pauses only to give her the quickest side-hug before disappearing through a set of double doors.

“What happened?” Diane asks, in that annoying voice that sounds like she is blaming Tempest. For years, Tempest found the tone accusatory; now she understands that it is just how Diane is.

“She was waking up, but she was all, like, out of it. Then she zoned out or something and started throwing up. I called for help and they started working on her–“

“How long ago was that?”

“A few minutes before I called you. Not even an hour ago.”

“And they still haven’t said anything?” Diane’s eyes scan the area like heat-seeking missiles. “What the hell is wrong with these people?”

“They won’t tell me anything because I’m not family,” Tempest says.

Diane pauses, setting her jaw. “That’s ridiculous. You live together. You were here all night with her.”

Tempest sighs. “I know.”

“Let me see if I can get any information out of these useless people,” Diane declares, and she makes a beeline for the nurses’ station. Tempest exhales shakily and presses her palms against her eyes, desperate to know anything at all.

—–

In the bed, Sabrina Gage lies asleep, though her eyelids flutter sporadically. The sounds of a distant lawnmower and birds chirping outside blend into a muffled hum. As she sleeps fitfully, a low, rhythmic thudding starts somewhere. It grows louder and heavier. In her sleep, Sabrina clenches her jaw, and her hand grips the bedsheet.

In a bright flash of light, she is suddenly standing upright and barefoot on a slick, white floor. She looks down. Her distorted reflection looks back at her from the depths of the tile.

“Hello?” she calls out.

No response. She turns. The corridor stretches endlessly before her, white walls narrowing into nothingness in the distance.

A beeping rises up — softly at first, then louder, more urgent. Her head moves this way and that, but there is nothing, nothing but more corridor, more white, more nothingness.

“Hello?” she cries.

She looks down again. Only now does she notice that she is wearing a hospital gown. Her hands pat it, testing if it is real. But she knows that it is: the same gown she wore while she was in a vegetative state for so long. The only clothing that she wore for all that time.

“What’s going on?” she asks, her voice ticking up with panic. But there is still no reply, just that low, rhythmic noise that she can’t place. It is nowhere and everywhere all at once.

“Help!” she shouts. She turns again, determined to run to wherever this corridor might lead, but then she sees it, scrawled in red on the wall:

YOU CAN’T HIDE FROM THE TRUTH

Her pulse quickens. Then the letters begin to drip. Red oozes down the pristine white wall.

“Stop!” Sabrina screams. She turns, but the words are there, too, each character dissolving into streaks of red even though the message remains clear as ever–

She jolts awake with a gasp. The morning sunlight is a shock, so different from the sterile white light of wherever she just was.

“It was a dream,” she tells herself while catching her breath.

A click startles her again, but this time, it is only the door that adjoins the bedroom to the en suite bathroom. Jason Fisher emerges, a towel tied around his waist. His brown hair is still wet from the shower.

“Oh good, you’re up,” he says, before taking a closer look at her. “Are you okay?”

Sabrina stares at him, wide-eyed, before managing to glance at the bedside clock. “It’s late.”

“I thought you could use the extra sleep.”

“I…”

“Are you okay?” he asks, lowering himself onto the edge of the bed.

“I’m fine. I just… I have a headache again. I didn’t sleep great.”

“Your headaches have been bad lately,” Jason says. He rubs her back softly. “Do you think maybe you should see someone?”

She looks over at him, wincing against the light coming in through the window. “I’ve seen enough doctors to last a lifetime.”

But she can feel his stare leveled upon her.

“But maybe. Yeah. You’re right,” she says.

“I’m worried about you. The stress of these– these things that have been happening…”

“I’m worried, too.”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Jason tells her. “But this isn’t good for you.”

“I know,” she says, as the thudding noise begins inside her head once again.

—–

Minutes pass, Tempest monitoring the scene at the nurses’ station while Diane waits, then talks to one nurse before being passed off to another. She keeps checking her phone for updates from Isaac, who has yet to emerge from the depths of the hospital.

Diane returns from the nurse’s station with a nurse in blue scrubs.

“This is Nurse Gretchen,” Diane announces. “She says Samantha is stable.”

“Stable?” The word catches in Tempest’s throat. “Like she’s okay?”

The nurse nods. “She’s resting. We had to sedate her again to get her body calmed down. The doctor believes she was having an adverse reaction to the anesthesia.”

“Thank god.” Tempest’s eyes meet Diane’s, and the mutual relief between them is so powerful it nearly overflows. Then she asks the nurse: “Couldn’t someone have just told me that 30 minutes ago?”

Nurse Gretchen’s mouth flattens into a tight line.

“They’re partners. They live together,” Diane adds.

“It’s not the same thing,” Gretchen says, her voice tinged with regret. “I’m sorry. But now that Samantha’s mother is here, I’m able to explain to her, and of course she can share–“

“Fine,” Tempest says, the word coming out sharper than she intends. “Can I see her?”

The nurse hesitates. “The doctor is only allowing family at the moment.”

“I’ll go in and see her,” Diane says, clutching her purse strap like she is holding on for dear life. “I’ll come back out and tell you everything. Anything you want me to tell her?”

“Just that I love her,” Tempest replies. Then Diane follows the nurse through the double doors.

Tempest’s phone buzzes. She glances down at the text from Isaac:

She’s okay. I’m coming back out in a second.

Tempest stares at the message. She can still see Samantha, pale and unreachable, and wonders how she looks right now.

“Please be okay,” she whispers, watching the double doors until they stop swinging.

—–

Jason pours coffee into a mug as Sabrina walks into the kitchen, her feet dragging as she attempts to shake off the haze of sleep — and that nightmare. Her face is pale and her eyes are distracted.

“Hey, you,” Jason says, a little too cheerfully, as he quickly sets the mug in front of her. “Thought you could use this.”

“Thank you.” She smiles as gratefully as she can manage.

“Do you want something to eat?”

She takes a careful sip of the hot coffee. “No. Not yet. But thanks.”

“Sabrina, I’m really worried about you,” he says. “I know you’ve been working a lot–“

“Wedding season is wrapping up, anyway,” she replies. “My work will die down soon.”

“Good.” He stops himself. “Not good, but you know what I mean. You need rest. Between work and the…”

“The person threatening me?” she asks, a little testily.

“Yes. You can’t do what you love if you can’t rest or focus. And I know you’re under a lot of stress–“

He stops mid-sentence as Sophie walks into the kitchen, her black hair hanging long and straight around her shoulders. She wears a black hoodie paired with black jeans.

“Do we have breakfast?” the teenager asks.

“I can make you something,” Jason says.

But Sophie pauses before taking another step. Her eyes flicker between her father and his girlfriend suspiciously.

“What’s going on?” she asks. “Was there another one of those– those things?”

“No,” Jason hastens to tell her. “No more threats. No weird stuff. Sabrina just didn’t sleep well, that’s all.”

Sophie frowns. “You’re sure that’s all?”

“That’s all,” Sabrina says with a forced smile. “I have a bad headache. Your dad is trying to get me to eat something.”

“We should all eat something,” Jason says. “Let me make some toast and eggs.”

“I’ll take toast,” Sophie says.

“I’ll try some toast, too,” Sabrina says. She takes another drink of her coffee.

“I really do think you should see a doctor,” Jason says as he moves to the refrigerator and pulls out a loaf of sliced bread.

“Doctor? What’s wrong?” Sophie asks.

“I’m just not sleeping well. Because of these headaches,” Sabrina explains.

Sophie levels a stare at Sabrina. “The headaches and the person stalking you, I bet.”

“It would be a lot for anyone to handle,” Jason interjects.

“I’d be having headaches if some psycho was after me,” Sophie says.

Jason groans. “Sophie.”

“No, she’s right,” Sabrina says. “This is all a lot.”

Jason closes the refrigerator and sets the bread on the counter. “We’re going to find you a doctor today.”

With a nod, Sabrina stares back down into her coffee, wondering if even a doctor can help her right now.

—–

The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor fills the otherwise still air.

“Hey,” Diane says as she moves to her daughter’s bedside. “You scared the hell out of us.”

Samantha’s voice is a brittle rasp. “What… what happened?”

“Adverse reaction to the anesthesia. You’re going to be okay.”

Sam smiles limply. “Good. Where’s Tempest?”

“They’re only letting family in to see you at the moment,” Diane says with an eyeroll. “She wanted me to tell you that she loves you.”

“Can you do something for me, Mom?”

Diane nods.

“Tell her that I love her, too.”

“You can tell her yourself. I’m going to get her in here as soon as humanly possible. All this stupid bureaucracy…” Diane stops herself and takes her daughter’s hand. “What matters is that you’re going to be okay.”

Samantha lifts her head and strains to ask, “What about TJ? How is he?”

“They said the transplant went perfectly. It’ll take some time to see if it’s as successful in treating him as the doctors hope — but everything went well.”

“Good.” Sam rests her head back against the pillow. “Do you think they’ll let me eat anything? I’m starving.”

Diane exhales for what feels like the first time in hours. “Now that’s something I can take care of. Let me see what I can do.”

—–

Tempest sits in the same chair where she’s been stationed all morning. Her phone rests in her hand, but doesn’t even bother to scroll for distractions. There’s no use. The double doors open again, and Isaac steps out, his shoulders finally relaxed.

“She’s okay,” he says. “Diane’s in with her now.”

Tempest lets out a long breath. “Yeah. The nurse said.”

Isaac drops into the chair beside her. “I know it’s rough, being stuck out here.”

“Sam’s the one who’s been through hell. I can handle waiting.”

“You know, you don’t have to do that,” Isaac says.

She jerks her head toward her brother. “What are you talking about?”

“Putting up that façade. I know you’re strong, Sam knows you’re strong — you’re allowed to let it crack. This shit all sucks. Especially you not being able to go in and be with her.”

They sit in silence for a few beats, the low hum of the hospital swirling around them. A ringing phone at the nurses’ station punctures the air.

“It is what it is,” Tempest says.

“And Sam’s gonna be okay,” Isaac tells his sister. “We’ll get you in there soon. I’m not going anywhere, either.”

“Thanks, Isaac.” Slowly she lowers her head onto his shoulder, allowing herself to take solace in her brother’s presence.

END OF EPISODE 1274

Are you as relieved as Tempest that Sam is all right?
Can a doctor help Sabrina with her headaches?
What is really going on with the threats against Sabrina?
Discuss it all in the comments below!

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