4 :

New York. 08/02/2012. 07:48.

Karine Lyndon was sitting on the dining table, absentmindedly twirling her spoon in her coffee mug. She was stunning. Around 5"8", shoulder length blonde hair tied up in a bun, thin eyebrows and clear blue eyes. Soon 38 years old but nobody in their right mind would guess her age to be over thirty five years old. She was wearing a black jacket and knee length black skirt. Despite her stern dress up an aura of melancholia was permeating the room. Karine was looking at a framed picture. Two gorgeous women, one blonde and the other with jet black hair, were hugging a ten year old blond boy.

The blond haired woman in the picture was naturally Karine and the young boy was Nathaniel. Karine was remembering when the picture was taken with a sad smile, they were on the couch of their old apartment. Nathaniel daringly took a bet with her. If he could learn to talk and write in french, her maternal language, in two weeks he could have violin lessons. Amused she had accepted, pleased to see him interested by his heritage. One week later, he talked to her in french when she came back from work. The most astonishing thing was that his accent was nearly perfect, better than even hers.

When she asked him bewildered how he learned and who taught him, he just gave a silly smile and did not respond. Now, she did not know why she was so surprised at the time. He had always been smart, smarter than any boy his age. They were even discussing at the time to move him up a grade or hire a private tutor. But they did not have the means and the ressources to do it at the time as their money was tight.

Looking at the picture and his cute smile a pang of sadness gripped her heart. She would give everything, do everything, to see him smile again. Her eyes were watering and when they started to flow, arms appeared around her and someone hugged her from behind.

"Hi love." Said a captivating voice before kissing her cheek.

"Mary" Responded Karine in an affectionate voice, turning around.

Mary was a stunning 37 years old woman. 5"9", striking black long hair, grey eyes and luscious lips. She was wearing a blue business dress which put her form in full display while remaining stark. Seeing her wife tearing up she knew immediately what she was thinking. Turning her head she took a look at the picture on the dining table.

"I think about him too you know, every single day…" Mary said while hugging her wife.

"Do you think he… he will ever wake up?"

"Of course, he will." Said her wife, caressing her hair.

"I had a strange dream last night, I saw him... " Karine began to say before being interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

Disentangling herself from Mary, she retrieved her phone from the table and totally froze when she saw the caller ID. Her mind was in turmoil and she was starting to feel that something bad had happened. After all, they never called before and she knew comatose people were more inclined to have complications due to their inactivity. In fact, it was one of their most terrifying thoughts, that someday he simply dies while being away from him and learning about it on the phone.

"Hello?"

"Mrs Lindon?"

"Yes, speaking"

"This is Doctor Cobert from Presbyterian Hospital. We met a few times, I'm the doctor in charge of your son."

"Yes doctor, I remember you. What is going on? Is our son alright?" She said rapidly in an anxious voice. Turning she saw that the expression on Mary's face was fraught with worry.

"Yes, he is fine don't worry. Better than fine in fact, around 01:00 AM last night, he came back to us."

"WHAT?" She almost screamed on the phone.

"Nathaniel has woken up. I was there, he even managed to talk which is unprecedented after a long term coma patient. I would never have believed it if that hadn't happened right in front of me."

That was it for Karine and she burst into tears full of joy. Feeling a soft hand on her shoulder she locked eyes with her wife.

"Our baby is back, he came back." She said as she watched the expression on Mary's face turning into joy, tears flowing down her cheeks, ruining her makeup in the process. But it did not matter at that moment, nothing mattered except the fact that their baby was back.

"Why are you informing us only now if that happened several hours ago?" Karine asked angrily, her emotions in a complete mess.

"We needed to perform some tests. It's not uncommon for patients from coma to open their eyes or move a little. But there is a strong cerebral activity in Nathaniel's brain and he has truly come back. This is nothing short of a miracle."

"Sorry doctor, I am still in shock. We are coming to the hospital right away." Said Karine, apologizing.

"That's not advisable Mrs Lyndon, It's ordinary for patients who come out of coma to be irascible, prone to anger and behaving erratically. It's best for you to stay away from him, for his own sake."

"Our son is not like that. And that was not a question doctor, we are coming. We will see you in fifteen minutes." Answered Karine in a voice that broke no argument before hanging up.

The two womens hugged each other while still crying before taking the keys of their apartment and leaving.