It has been four years since Erica and Mike got married. They still had the perfect relationship; the same couldn’t be said for Jess and Jaime though. Jess decided that she couldn’t handle their relationship anymore, the marriage, the children, the touring any of it so she left. She and Jaime have just finalised their divorce and Jaime is heartbroken. He loves Jess to the moon and back and to have her just up and leave like that really ripped him apart. Jaime has the children too, since that was a reason for her leaving. She gets to see them though.

Vic and Tony are doing well when it comes to relationships; Tony is engaged with a baby on the way to a girl named Isla. She is such a sweetheart, she owns a couple of small café’s in the San Diego area and they’re fairly successful. Vic and Emily are now married and have been for 2 years; no baby on the way though yet.

Both bands have been going from strength to strength. Erica has released two more albums in the past four years and has toured constantly. The recording studio has been in non-stop use of local bands, and bands that have travelled to use it. Erica doesn’t produce as much as she would like but she did make a friend who is also a producer and he works out of Erica’s studio so it works out quite well. Think Ink is still doing great; it recently got refurbished and a new artist by the name of Jane. Yes, Jane as in the Disneyland couple’s granddaughter. She did her training with Erica and it turns out she was really good, Erica couldn’t wait for her to get properly licenced. It was the November now and both bands had time off until the beginning of the New Year.

Erica was working between the tattoo and the recording studio. She had as perfect a life as you could get. But nothing could prepare her for what she was about to encounter.

“Erica you need to get the hospital like right now” Casey shouted down the phone in a panic. Erica had just got in from working late with Jane at the shop.

“Casey what the fuck has happened? What’s going on?” His panic had been transferred to her.

“Just get her now” He demanded and Erica didn’t wait any longer. She ran out to her car and sped as fast as she could to the hospital.

When she got there Casey was stood outside, in tears.

“What the fuck is going on, you’re scaring me?” She practically begged for answers

“E, it’s Mike” She felt her heart drop

“What happened to him? Is he okay? Where is he?” The questions were rolling off her tongue; she had every right to be panicking.

“He, uhm, he was in a car accident and it was pretty bad. He hasn’t woken up yet” Casey said as softly as he could.

“What do you mean? What sort of car accident, he shouldn’t have been driving. He rang me earlier and said that he had been drinking and would probably crash at yours. WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LET HIM DRIVE?” Erica didn’t know how to react. She knew she was angry, angry that Casey let him pick his keys up, angry that he let him leave his house in that state.

“I’m sorry Erica, I didn’t realise he had drunk that much. But the car swerved or something and he hit a tree and another car crashed into him and it was really brutal.” Casey continued

“How do you know all this? Can I see him? I need to see him” her tears were flowing at a steady rate and she couldn’t control them.

“It was down the road and I heard a loud noise and I went to check what was going on and saw it. The doctors were trying to sort him out when I tried to go in but they might let you, I don’t know” Casey threw his cigarette butt on the floor and walked in, Erica followed close behind.

“Mike is still unconscious, he had a serious accident and we’re doing the best we can to get him back to health” The doctor told Erica and Casey as he exited the room. Vic, Jaime and Tony had arrived and Mike’s parents were on their way.

“Shit” Vic gasped as he walked into the room that Mike was being kept. His breathing was so weak, they could all tell this. The doctors didn’t have a lot of faith in Mike recovering but didn’t want to let his family know until they had tried everything they could.

“How is he?” Jaime said as he kissed the top of Erica’s head. She wasn’t going to leave
Mike’s side anytime soon. She was holding onto his hand, hoping and praying that he would wake up at any minute.

“I don’t think he’s doing as well they say” Casey said, Erica wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone but anger and sadness filled her when Casey said exactly what she was thinking.

“And whose fault is that?” She spat at him, she loved Casey but right now he was being lashed with her anger, he understood why and he accepted it.

“Erica, I said I’m sorry. I didn’t know this was going to happen” He truly was sorry

“Wait, what are we missing?” Tony managed through a slight sniffle. He had never seen Mike like this before; he was scared; they all were

“Mike had been at mine and he was drinking and he went to drive himself home. I didn’t think he was that drunk but the police at the scene said that he swerved the car or something and it went from there. I should never have let him leave” Casey was sobbing again and Vic consoled him.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. He shouldn’t have left. You know he wouldn’t have listened even if you did try to protest.” Erica knew this too but she couldn’t help blaming Casey right now.

“I’m sorry” Casey whispered and sat on the chair to the back of the room.

“Mike, please wake up” Erica whispered as she stroked his face with her free hand. He didn’t move. She hated how unresponsive he was, she sobbed even more.

Mike’s parents would be here soon, they were currently stuck in traffic. Erica tried to reach him one more time, this time with a kiss to the cheek. She couldn’t kiss his lips since he had a tube coming out of them, to help him breathe.

“Michael, please” She begged. Vic was watching her and his heart was breaking. Erica needed Mike, he needed Mike, they all did. The scene in front of him was gut wrenching, he just wanted to slap Mike and tell him to stop playing around but he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t do that because Mike wasn’t playing around and Erica really was hurting that much.
Tony Jaime and Casey had left the room a while ago for some reason, maybe it was to get a drink or talk to a doctor. As Erica pulled away from Mike’s cheek after kissing him for a third time she let out another sob and suddenly there was an erratic beeping and a doctor entered the room with a nurse to see what the commotion was about. The erratic beeping stopped and a long, singular, high-pitched beep took it’s place. Erica screamed while Vic tried to control her, holding her arms and rubbing her hair.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave the room while we try and resuscitate him please” a nurse said and Vic had to practically drag Erica from the room.

Mike’s parents had turned up and now everyone was sat in the hall outside his room. It was silent, bar a few sobs coming from Erica, Casey and Vivian. It felt like they had been sat out there for an eternity when the doctor finally emerged from the room. Immediately they knew it was bad news. He just screamed bad news. Erica jumped up and was inches away from the doctor.

“I’m so sorry, we did everything we could to help him but his injuries were too bad for us to repair. You can say your goodbyes” He gave a sorry smile and walked away.

Erica fell to the floor, Vic stood frozen in place. Mike’s parents sobbed, they and Tony were the first ones to enter Mike’s room. Erica was still on the floor, crying into herself and Vic was still frozen. Jaime came over a lifted Erica up into a hug; he knew she would want to go into see Mike on her own so sat her on one of the chairs. Casey comforted Vic as best he could. Vic managed to move himself into the room and said his goodbyes.

When the five of them left the room, they were all in tears; there were so many tears. Vivian and Victor gave Erica a hug and a kiss on the cheek before leaving; they couldn’t bear to be there any longer. Since Tony drove himself, Vic and Jaime there he waited. Vic was the final one to leave the room. He looked like a zombie, like in the moment that the doctor gave the bad news his life was sucked from his body. Erica felt that way too.

Mike was everything to her; he found her when she was young and still trying to recover from the death of her brother and gave her new meaning to life. He made her happy, truly happy. He was the most important person to her on the planet and now he too was gone. She sobbed again and finally pulled herself together, entering his room with Jaime.

She climbed up onto his bed and snuggled next to him. She hated that he didn’t wrap his arms around her, or kiss her on the top of the head, or say that she smelt nice. He would always do those things. The tears started again. Jaime didn’t quite know what to do but spoke first, saying how he’s going to miss his brother, his band mate, one of his best friends. Jaime was fairly strong, he hadn’t yet cried but his tears were threatening to fall right now.

Erica was tracing the tattoo on Mike’s chest as she began to speak softly, she had never seen her Husband so vulnerable, so weak and that scared her, especially since now he was gone she would be the weak and vulnerable one. Mike was her safety net and her security guard. Now she had nothing like that.

“I’m going to miss the way you fall out of bed in the morning and the way you always make me blueberry pancakes because you know that they’re my favourite. I’m going to miss having movie marathons in a fort with you and I’m going to miss listening to you play drums. Oh gosh, playing drums, the band” She gave Jaime a concerned look which he returned.

“Don’t worry about that, not now” He comforted and she nodded, settling back into Mike’s chest. Jaime, like Vic, found this heart breaking. He couldn’t watch the rest of Erica’s farewell so left.

“It’s so horrible. I can’t watch her go through that” Jaime admitted as he sat between Vic and Tony “It’s not fair” He whispered and got up to pace the hall.

“I’m going to miss the way you wash my hair when we share a shower. I don’t know why but my hair always ends up nicer when you wash it. I’ll miss the way you help me compose a song or how we make funny faces for 2 hours on Skype when either of us is away. I love you Michael. I also made a promise to love you until the end of time and I’m going to do that. I will NEVER forget you. I love you so fucking much okay” She kissed him, this time she was able to get to his lips. She held her lips there for a while, hoping that he would reach up and kiss her back.

A doctor entered the room and informed Erica that she needed to finish up “Just 5 more minutes, please” She begged the doctor; she needed as much time as she could get with Mike. The doctor let out a sad sigh and nodded to her, he could only imagine what she was going through.

Erica didn’t say anything else, she just lay next to her lifeless husband; tears falling from her eyes and landing on his skin. He was still warm and that’s why Erica still had hope that he would come around. If he was cold then she might not have been so expectant.

“I want you to look after Caleb okay? I know you’re going to love him and I bet he’s waiting for you already. I want you to teach him drums, properly. Better than I ever could. I want you tell him stories about me. About how his big sister grew up to be a rock star; keep an eye on him. I promise I will do my best to stay strong; I am going to miss you like fucking crazy Michael Fuentes. I love you so fucking much. I’m sorry okay, but I have to go. They won’t let me stay with you. Goodbye sweetie, sleep tight” She kissed him one final time and walked out of the room, slowly.

As soon as she got out of his room she collapsed into Jaime, who was still pacing the hall.
“Come on Pumpkin, let’s get you home” They all left the hospital and Erica didn’t say a word to anyone. Jaime took her keys and drove back to Erica and Mike’s apartment since she was in no fit state to sit behind the wheel.

The car drive back was silent besides the sounds of one of Mike’s favourite CDs blaring through the speakers. Erica was gazing out the window and the tears were still coming; she was surprised that she even had tears left.

When they got in Jaime walked Erica to her room, since she looked like she would fall to the floor again at any minute. She went straight to the closet, got changed into some of Mike’s clothes and got into his side of the bed. She wanted be surrounded by as much of him as she could. Jaime tucked her in and kissed on the temple; the kids were with his mom so he was going to stay the night to make sure his best friend was okay. He knew she would need him and he knew he would need her.

“Try and get some sleep, you need it” He walked out of the room, shutting off the light as he did so and closing the door.

He sighed heavily and walked into the spare room.

“Fuck” he muttered to himself before crying himself to sleep.

Notes

Please don't hate me. I couldn't break them up or have one of them cheat because if was so uncharacteristic so I did this.
I cried while writing this, just so you know. I wasn't expecting it to be so emotional.

Let me know what you guys think.