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You Can't Control Destiny (Completed)	By : pensfan100 Category: Casts RPF > Star Wars (all) > Star Wars (all) Views: 12132 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not know the people I am writing about in this fanfiction. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
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- 16
You Can’t Control Destiny – Chapter 15

Tove stood in the waiting area outside Hayden’s hospital room with his sisters, Hejsa and Kaylen, impatiently waiting for the doctor and his parents to emerge. He didn’t know what was worse: the hours he’d already spent at the hospital waiting for an answer or actually hearing the prognosis when it finally came.

Over and over in his mind Tove replayed the scene, trying to piece it all together. One of the first rules of hockey was to keep your head up at all times or you would get body checked hard. You wouldn’t be prepared for the hit. And what had distracted Hayden so much that he hadn’t heard Brad’s shout of warning? Hayden hadn’t even turned, hadn’t heard him. The only thing on the other side of the glass had been Ross’s girlfriend.

Tove wearily sat down in a chair and rubbed his eyes, hoping to rub the awful image away of Hayden’s head slamming against the glass at an awkward angle and him dropping hard to the ice. It was obvious he was unconscious before he even landed. The cheekbones would have been crushed if he hadn’t landed the way he had. Still, Hayden’s face had bruised an ugly purple and swollen quickly.

Tove couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever been this scared. His little brother. Memories of Hayden trailing after him as a toddler, his hair so blonde it was almost white, filled Tove’s mind. He hadn’t minded too much. Hero worship had done his ego good, had made him feel important. He had been the one to introduce Hayden to Star Wars. They had watched it over and over and he could still recall Hayden’s blue eyes wide with awe and excitement as Luke pulled out his lightsaber and battled Darth Vader. And now Hayden was the evil Sith Lord on the screen. But what if…Tove shook his head sharply to dispel the thought. Hayden would be just fine. He was probably conscious right now and badgering the doctor with all kinds of detailed questions.

Tove looked at his sisters nervously pacing and twisting their hands. Standing he put an arm around both of them and hugged them close, the three of them drawing on one another’s strength. Tove whispered soothing words that had no meaning and stared at the door to Hayden’s room willing it to open and someone, anyone, to come out and let them know the situation.

As if by Tove’s will the door swung open and his father, David, stepped out into the hall. The hospital lights shone glaringly on his pale, tired face, deep grooves of stress etched across his forehead. Tove’s heart nose-dived. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. His sisters saw their Dad and he felt their bodies start to shake.

“What is it, Dad?” Tove asked, softly, his voice wavering.

David heaved a deep sigh and faced his children gazing at each one, images of their births and lives flitting through his mind. His heart swelled with love for his children and ached, too. Blinking rapidly to quell any tears he took a breath.

“Hayden’s in a coma,” he announced. His daughters broke from Tove’s side and threw their arms around their father, weeping softly. Tightly he secured them to him and gently kissed their heads.

“You mean he hasn’t been conscious at all?” Tove breathed in disbelief. His father shook his head. “What did the doctor say?”

“Well,” David frowned trying to remember through his shock what all had been said, “he sustained a pretty good concussion. They’ve run all kinds of tests on him and he doesn’t seem all that bad really.” He shrugged, perplexed. “He just won’t wake up.” When Kaylen’s face crumpled into tears, David flew into comforting them. “There, there. Don’t worry. The doctor said Hayden is in impressively good health and he just has to find his way out.”

“Is there anything they can do?” Kaylen asked, wiping tears from her cheeks.

“No,” he admitted. “They just have to wait.” The sorrowful expressions on their faces urged him to encourage them. “But he said there is something we can do.”

Instantly the Christensen children’s faces lightened with hope and they gathered close to him chorusing their willingness to do all they could to help their brother. For the first time in hours David smiled. How proud he was to be father to such wonderful kids!

“He said we might be the key,” David explained. “The doctor can’t reach Hayden. If anyone can reach him, it’s us. We’ve got to talk and talk and talk to him. We can take turns, rotate, and also talk to him all together. We must not give up on him.”

His children grouped together and put their arms around him and each other forming a circle. Their love and faith and determination flowed through every one of his pores. Challenges had never stopped them before. This one would fall to the wayside, too. They would never give up.

“Let’s go, Dad,” Tove pulled away, wiping his eyes. His sisters echoed his plea and they all went back to Hayden’s room.

The light spilled soft shadows in the room highlighting the bed. At the sight of Hayden’s bruised face and all the tubes sticking in him Kaylen gasped and bit her lip. Alie turned in the chair where she held Hayden’s hand and threw them a watery smile. She beckoned them over and stood to allow them closer to touch him and talk to him.

Natalie left the set relieved to have a break. The director was pushing them hao fio finish and her costar thought he was heaven’s gift to women. Egos can be so big, she thought sourly. Why can’t he be more like…Quickly she clamped down on the thought and hurried into her dressing room.

“Whew, what a day this is turning out to be!” Natalie exclaimed, grabbing a bottle of water from the small refrigerator. “You’d think we were machines they way Hal is running us!” Cold water slid down her throat and she groaned gratefully at its refreshing flow. “Did you ever think we’d be in Montreal so long?”

Silence shouted in the room. It screamed. It howled. Brown eyes lit on Chelsea’s back taking in the ramrod posture, the stillness of her body.

“Chels?” Natalie murmured quietly, knowing something terrible was wrong. The heaviness in the air pushed down on her as she stole around the chair. Chelsea slowly moved her eyes from the TV screen to Natalie. Fear walked icy fingers up her back as she noticed Chelsea’s eyes bright with tears, her hands twisting a tissue to shreds between her fingers.

Natalie felt her throat closing, tightening with alarm. Chelsea sniffled and pointed to the TV. “What is it?” Natalie whispered, not wanting to know but compelled to ask.

“Watch,” Chelsea barely made a sound Ter Terrified by Chelsea’s unusual reaction she fixed her eyes on the screen. Gabriella Gladstone, Entertainment’s news anchor appeared onscreen for the top of the hour news.

“Good afternoon,” Gabriella greeted viewers quietly, seriously. As she began to speak a picture of Hayden’s face moved into the upper left corner of the screen. “Actor Hayden Christensen, star of Attack of the Clones, was seriously injured late yesterday afternoon during a friendly hockey game in the Toronto Maple Leaf’s arena. According to our sources he was hit hard into the glass and lost consciousness.”

Fear dug its sharp talons into Natalie’s heart, her eyes widening, her mouth drawing in a hard breath. “He has never regained consciousness and is in Toronto General Hospital in a coma. While the family has asked the hospital to not release his condition, an anonymous source has told us he is fighting for his life. He sustained a serious concussion but nothing else seems to be life threatening. We want his family to know our thoughts and prayers are with them. Get well soon, Hayden. Hayden got his big break when George Lucas…”

Gabriella droned on, but the buzzing in Natalie’s ears drowned out the sound. Quickly, Chelsea reached up and caught Natalie as she swayed in shock and helped her to the couch. The two clasped hands tightly, Chelsea sniffling and watching her friend’s face lose all its color. “H…He’ll be all right,” Chelsea comforted with an unsteady assurance. “He’s strong and healthy. He’ll wake up, Natalie. I…I just know he will.”

But Natalie was gone, her mind turning inward seeking strength yet denying what she had just heard. Eyes glazed, not seeing, she stared into a chasm of nothingness silently chanting Hayden’s name, calling to him down in that deep void.

36 hours. Tove glanced at the clock. Thirty-six hours of no response. Hayden slipped farther away from them instead of closer. Now they had even more tubes shoved in him and he breathed with the help of a respirator. Doctors came, scratched their heads, and left. And the family had talked itself hoarse. They played music, they sang, the talked about happy times, his first commercial, anything and everything. Tove pulled his hair and glared angrily at his brother. If the rest of the family wasn’t there he’d grab Hayden and shake him and yell at him to cut it out and wake up.

A noise of frustration gurgled in Tove’s throat. Carefully he cupped his mom’s shoulders and lifted her from the chair. “Let me talk to him, Mom,” he said gently, quietly. Tears running down her cheeks, she nodded and hugged him. The doctor came in to check on things but silently went about his work so as not to disturb them.

“Hayden, come on,” Tove pleaded a thread of anger weaving around his voice. “Enough’s enough already! There’s no reason for you to be like this! Wake the hell up!”

“Tove,” David quietly admonished.

“I know, Dad, I know,” Tove sighed and looked over at his dad. Sighing, he continued, holding his emotions on a tighter rein. “Hayden, you don’t have time for this. George Lucas called to see how you are. You have things to do! Voice-overs. Reshoots. In fact, don’t you and Natalie have to go to Skywalker Ranch in a few months? She can’t have a new Anakin! YOU have to do it! She’s going to…”

A surprised mutter from the doctor swiveled Tove’s head around to where the doctor was standing over a machine monitoring Hayden’s condition. “What is it?” Tove asked, worried. The doctor moved to the bed, lifted Hayden’s eyelids, and flashed his penlight over them. Scratching his chin he stood for a long moment in thought.

“Strange,” he remarked, before turning to Tove. “Talk to him again.” Tove started talking, his heart picking up its pace. The doctor went back to the machine and after a minute shook his head. “No, no. Talk to him about whatever it was you were talking about.”

Tove looked at Hayden, a strange light flickering in the depths of his eyes. “Hayden,” Tove’s voice rose firm and full of purpose, “Natalie needs you. She can’t finish this on her own. She’s going to be out of her mind with worry when she finds out about you. You’re scaring her. She…”

“Bingo,” the doctor breathed, his eyes on the screen.

“What?” Alie asked, afraid to hope, yet unable to help herself, seeing the grin on the doctor’s face. David slipped an arm around his wife’s shoulders and his daughters gripped each other’s hands.

The doctor pinched Hayden’s arm hard. Hayden screwed up his face in pain and his family gasped. Glancing at Hayden’s vital signs again the doctor nodded to himself. Tove looked at Hayden and shook his head. “So that’s it,” he murmured to his brother. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

“Say what?” Alie pressed urgently.

Tove looked up and met the doctor’s eyes. “It’s Natalie, isn’t it?”

“Well,” the doctor scratched his head, “I don’t know how much he’s heard over the last day and a half, but he heard that. His vitals tried to stabilize when you were talking to him about her. They’re wavering again so keep it up.”

Tove jumped up and ran to the closet hauling out Hayden’s bag. He rummaged around while everyone watched unte hee held Hayden’s cell phone triumphantly in his hand.

“I’ll be right back,” he rushed to the door.

“Where are you going?” Hejsa asked, bewildered.

Tove moved back to the bed and leaned over his brother. “You blew it, baby brother,” he murmured to Hayden. “I know your secret now and you’re coming back out to us.” He grinned at his parents and sisters and kissed them all soundly on the cheek. “Keep talking to him about Natalie,” he instructed, hurrying to the door. “I have a call to make.”

Natalie’s cell phone went off yet again. Someone seemed to call every minute. George. Sam. Ewan. Ian. Robin. Actually, she’d called Ewan exchanging what little information she had and leaning on Ewan’s comfort to hold her up. Chelsea made a move to answer it, but Natalie snatched it up and looked at the number. Hayden’s cell phone! The trembling in her limbs increased.

“Hello?” she answered, trying to steady her voice but failing.

“Natalie?”

“Yes?”

“This is Tove. Hayden’s brother.”

“How is he? Is he all right? Is he awake?” The questions frantically rolled off her tongue.

Tove heard the panic in her voice. “He’s still out. I need you to come to Toronto,” Tove instructed, not bothering to dither. “Now.”

“I’ll be on the next flight out of Montreal,” Natalie jumped up, pacing the floor. “I’ll have to clear it with the director. I’ll catch a taxi from the airport to the hospital and be there as soon as I can.”

“I’ll meet you at the airport.”

“No, no. I’ll just take…”

“I’ll meet you at the airport,” Tove repeated, firmly. “Call me back right away with your flight information. I’m standing outside the hospital and I forgot to put on my jacket. It’s cold out here!”

“I’ll call you right back,” Natalie promised and ended the call. Whipping around, Natalie opened her mouth to tell Chelsea. Chelsea stood two steps away with the phone book open to the airline’s number. “You’re the best, Chelsea.”

“I know,” she waved the compliment away. “When Hayden called a couple months ago…”

“What!” Natalie stilled, her heart skidding in its beats. “He called?!”

“You didn’t know?” Chelsea frowned. “Your former personal assistant took the call and told him she’d tell you!”

“I’ll kill her!” Natalie ground her teeth together, her head dizzy with the knowledge. Two months after Australia he’d called! Just like she’d originally wanted. He’d called! A desire to scream at someone welled up, but she growled instead and punched the number to the airline. “I’ll kill her!” She yelled, stamping her foot.

“I should’ve known she’d forget,” Chelsea closed her eyes. “No wonder you got rid of her! If only I’d thought to say something!”

“It’s not your fault…Yes…Hello….”

It was the longest flight of Natalie’s life. How the plane could fly at such a slow speed and stay in the air she didn’t know. Due to the seriousness of Hayden’s condition, the director had given her permission to leave with the promise she would have to work next Saturday so they could finish the movie as quickly as possible. If a promise to retrieve the moon or swim through shark-infested waters would’ve been asked of her she’d have given it.

On wobbly legs she finally walked off the plane and up the ramp. Immediately she recognized Hayden’s brother. While they had never met, his resemblance to Hayden was unmistakeable. And the fact that his hair was tousled from worry, his eyes red and ringed by dark circles from lack of sleep, and his clothes wrinkled didn’t detract from the handsome likeness. When his eyes picked her out of the crowd he rushed forward, hugged her, took her small case, clutched her arm and pulled her down the concourse. He was even taller than Hayden so she had to practically run to keep up with him.

They made it to the car in silence, both shelving any conversation that would slow their progress from the airport. Once they were in the car and on their way, Natalie’s questions rattled forward with the speed of a machine gun.

Tove could practically feel her nerves fraying and waited until she stopped to take a breath. “He’s still unconscious,” Tove explained, seeing her stiffen from the corner of his eye. “His vitals weakened and they had to put him on a respirator to keep him breathing.” A shaken moan left her lips and she put a hand over her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut against the threatening tears. “We talked and talked to him and were getting nowhere. He just kept slipping farther and farther away from us,” Tove’s voice shook with emotion. At a stoplight he turned and looked at her, his face stamped with repressed feeling. “I refuse to let my little brother die.”

Natalie bit her lip and nodded, too upset to speak. Tove saw the sparkle of tears in her eyes and gave her a tight smile. “I started talking to him again earlier,” he went on as the light changed and he drove through traffic. “The doctor came in to check on him and noticed his vitals improved…as long as I talked about you.”

Natalie’s lower lip trembled, her hands covering her face as her heart dipped and spun a dance in her chest. The shock of the word ‘die’ still had her reeling, her joints locked in the stress of thoughts of him gone forever until Tove’s words finally impinged on her mind.

“Me?” Her hands fell away from her face, her mouth an O of astonishment.

“Yes, you,” Tove answered firmly. “Hey, buddy!” He punched the car horn. “Move the damn car! Oh, sorry, Natalie,” he apologized for swearing. A tiny smile quirked her lips. It must be bred into them, she told herself as she recognized Hayden’s manners in his brother. “I don’t know what went on between you two last summer, but something happened. Hayden came home a different person. He rarely smiled or spoke, and when I tried to talk to him about it he told me to mind my own business…and not in a nice way. And he’s the nicest guy I know!”

Natalie swallowed and nodded. “Yes, he is,” she whispered in agreement.

“Anyway, we thought he was getting better these last couple of weeks, but before the game the other day he started acting strange again. Then right before the accident something distracted him. His head jerked up and away from the play. It looked like he was looking through the glass to the left of him. The only thing there was Ross’s girlfriend.” Tove halted and stared hard at her for a moment. “Now that I see you in person,” he said, his eyes lighting with understanding, “I can see she resembles you in height and coloring. I think he thought it was you standing there!” One hand left the wheel and slapped his forehead. “Of course! That’s it! He thought he saw you on the other side of the glass! That’s why he lost his concentration!”

A piece of Natalie’s heart rose into her throat, choking any words she might have said. “You’re my ace in the hole, Natalie,” Tove continued. “You’re the one who can pull him back.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Natalie’s voice shook hard with promise. “I’ll climb in there after him if I have to.” For the first time in hours a spark of hope ignited her inner strength.

“You care about him, don’t you,” Tove grinned knowingly.

“Of course I do!” Natalie exclaimed, looking at Tove as if he’d grown two heads.

“I mean really care about him.”

Silence filled the car as Natalie chose her words. “I think he might just be my very best friend,” she stated quietly. “And that’s all you’re going to get out of me. It’s between Hayden and me, nobody else.”

“Fair enough,” Tove shrugged it off as they pulled into the hospital parking lot. Best friends, he snorted to himself smugly. Yea. Right. “Listen, his face is pretty bruised, so be prepared. It looks worse than it is.”

The hospital room door opened slowly and Tove poked his head through. His family turned and he grinned at them reassuringly. Alie watched expectantly as if the answer to their prayers was just on theer ser side of the door. He pushed the door open and gently drew Natalie inside expecting her to be overwhelmed with the presence of the whole family.

Alie rushed to her and hugged her tightly to her, tears falling again. “Thank you so much for coming!” she choked.

Natalie hugged her back trying to find her voice. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” she tried to smile. Tove introduced her to everyone but everyone saw her eyes already on the figure lying still on the bed.

“Go talk to him,” David nodded. “It’s ok.”

Tove’s eyes checked over his brother. “He’s off the respirator?”

Alie smiled and squeezed her son’s hand. “We followed your instructions,” she whispered to him as Natalie started forward, drawn to the bed like a starving woman to food. Tove squeezed his mom’s hand back. “He’s much more stable, Tove, now that we found a subject he’s interested in.” Tove chuckled and met her smile.

All eyes watched expectantly as Natalie sat down in the chair next to the bed. A huge bruise covered almost one half of Hayden’s face from his black eye to the corner of his fat bottom lip. Natalie bit her tongue to halt any distressing sounds. Tove was right. He looked awful, but she never thought anyone looked so good in all her life! Carefully she slid her hand under his wrapping her small fingers around his long ones.

“Hayden.” No sound came from her throat and she cleared it and tried again. “Hayden, it’s Natalie.”

Someone had notified the doctor she had arrived and he swept briskly into the room and over to watch the monitor. Hesitating, Natalie looked up but the doctor motioned her to continue.

“Hayden, can you hear me?” Her soft voice drifted among the beeps of the machine. “I got here as fast as I could. So many people are out there praying for you. Everyone’s so worried and I know you hate to cause anyone distress. If you’d just open your eyes…”

She continued talking, not saying what she really wanted to say. It was too personal, too private. The doctor kept watch giving the family a ‘thumbs up’ as he monitored Hayden’s vital signs. Sounds of relief, hope, and joy sighed from the family as they hugged one another, the feeling that all would be right swelling within them.

Gently, Natalie squeezed Hayden’s hand and leaned forward whispering something in his ear. She paused a moment before sitting back. Hayden’s brows drew together and slowly his head turned toward the sound of her voice. Everyone in the room gasped and Natalie’s eyes swiftly found the doctor at the bottom of the bed. “He squeezed my hand!” She announced excitedly, her eyes shining. “I felt his fingers tighten around mine for a moment!”

Fresh tears moistened Hayden’s family’s eyes as they drew closer watching his body move restlessly under the covers for a moment. They all started talking to him at once and the doctor had to hold his hand up to quiet them. Lifting Hayden’s eyelids he flicked his penlight over his eyes then stood back and smiled across at Natalie.

“Well, little lady,” he said, crossing his arms, “they say good things come in small packages. His eyes are responding now to light stimulus.” Excited murmurs echoed in the room. “Just what did you say to him?” Natalie just smiled at him. “Right,” he coughed and changed the subject. “You’re staying right here. As for you,” he turned to the family bracing for the onslaught, “you’re going home to rest.”

A flurry of protests welled up loudly in the room, but the doctor cut them off firmly. “Now listen here, Christensen family. All of you are dead on your feet. You haven’t eaten, slept, or left his bedside since he got here. You need to go home and get some sleep.” Another round of protests rose only to receive a stern look from the doctor. “You are no good to him like this. If he’s listening to this little girl then let’s leave her to talk to him. Otherwise, she’s going to be whispering in his ear the whole time.” All eyes shifted to Natalie who squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. “If you want him to wake up go home.”

Tove and David nodded in agreement, but the three female members of the family hesitated and bristled a little at the sudden thought that a stranwas was accomplishing what they could not. David observed the three and glanced at Tove. Tove took both sisters by the arm and his dad put an arm around his wife.

“We’ll go home and get some rest,” David agreed. At his wife’s noise of protest he added, “But we’ll be back first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll call immediately if there are any changes in his condition,” the doctor promised.

Natalie rose from the chair and stepped aside freeing the area so they could kiss Hayden and tell him goodbye and that they’d be back in the morning. Alie turned to Natalie and hugged her. “Thank you again,” she said, pulling away and meeting Natalie’s eyes with a smile. “Take good care of him.”

“I will,” Natalie assured her. Hayden’s sisters hugged her as well, then David, and finally Tove.

“Go get him,” Tove whispered to her. She grinned back.

“Just ask Hayden,” she laughed. “He’ll tell you how stubborn I can be. He’ll wake up just to get me to shut up!”

Tove chuckled. “Somehow I believe you. I’ll see you in the morning.”

The room emptied and Natalie sat down again and held Hayden’s hand. The fingers lay lax in her palm, but they were warm and oddly comforting to her. She watched his chest rise and fall in a slow, even rhythm, almost afraid to take her eyes away in case he stopped breathing. But he kept right on breathing and eventually she felt secure enough to drop her head back and blink at the ceiling.

“God,” she spoke quietly, reverently, “You know I’m not very religious and I don’t pay You much attention, but I know You’re there. I may not deserve anything from You but please, help me wake him up. Tell me what to say to him.” Natalie surveyed Hayden’s face, a range of emotions racing through her. “Please,” she begged. “Help me.”

Unable to resist, she leaned forward and ran her fingers through his thick hair. He sighed. Her hand caressed the side of his face that wasn’t bruised. His head turned towards her touch. She rested her head on the pillow, her lips beside his ear and began quietly talking to him. “I meant what I said earlier,” Natalie whispered in his ear again. “I missed you.” All the things she could recall they had ever done together, she recounted. She asked him questions. His eyes remained closed, but she knew he heard her by the way his fingers moved against hers. When she wasn’t talking to him, she touched him, stroked him, let him know shs sts still there.

The day rotated to night and the hospital stilled. Nurses came into the room from time to time to perform their various duties. They brought her water, but she refused food. All her attention was welded to Hayden. Eventually she didn’t notice when they came or went. She sat beside him talking in hushed tones. When she didn’t speak out loud she called to him in her mind willing his eyes to open.

In the middle of the night Natalie continued her vigil, surprised that she was wide-awake at 3 a.m. Minutes ticked by and she never tired of touching him or talking to him, but by now words didn’t seem important. Once in a while she spoke to him, but Natalie was more inclined to let Hayden feel her there. So, she kept one hand on him at all times. With no one else around she held his hand against her cheek and kissed his palm, played with his fingers, traced his lips, his ears, his eyebrows. Every now and then Hayden shifted in bed and sighed. Each time she held her breath expecting his eyes to open.

“Hayden, I didn’t know you called me two months ago,” she suddenly blurted, her lips against his ear again. “If I’d known I’d have called you right back. I never got the message, so I assumed you were never going to talk to me again.” A sadness crept over her. “You have to wake up. We have so much to talk about.” She sat up.

Blue eyes gazed back at her steady and sure. His name whispered from her lips in sweet surprise as she gripped his hand. Confused, his eyes wandered around the room, taking stock of his surroundings. Returning to Natalie he gave her a lopsided smile, the swollen side of his bottom lip not lifting.

“Hi,” Hayden’s voice croaked. “Are you real?”

In answer, Natalie cupped his cheek tenderly and leaned over pressing her lips carefully to his forehead. Tears blurred her vision and she blinked to clear them away, a prayer of gratitude to her Maker in her heart. “I’m very real,” she assured, her voice breaking with emotion as she pulled back and gazed into his eyes with a pounding heart.

“I never thought you might not have got my message,” Hayden slowly rasped, his throat sandpaper rough. “I just figured you didn’t want to talk to me…I am so thirsty!”

“Hush,” Natalie urged, reaching for the call button beside his bed. “Don’t talk. You’ve been in a coma for over 48 hours.” Quickly, a nurse bustled in and Natalie gestured needlessly to Hayden. “He’s awake. Can he have something to drink?”

“And eat,” Hayden added hoarsely. “I’m starving.”

A huge smile beamed from the nurse as she moved to his side checking his temperature, pulse, and blood pressure. “Well, Hayden,” she said in a brisk, no-nonsense voice, “it’s good to see you are awake and hungry. That’s always a good sign. No, you can’t have anything just yet. I have to call your doctor and he’ll be in to look at you. Then we can go from there. All right?”

His throat so dry he could only nod as she swept cheerfully out of the room. Natalie read the questions flitting across his face and stilled him when he tried to talk. Briefly, she explained about the accident, observing him as he tried to piece everything together.

“I remember the game, but not the hit,” he forced out, even though Natalie attempted to shush him. “Do I look that bad? I feel like a freight train ran over me.”

Natalie’s lips curved into an indulgent smile. “If you’re asking me, I’m afraid I’m not a very fair judge. Now that your eyes are open I think you look absolutely wonderful, bruises and all. Your family has been here every second until the doctor ordered them home to rest. They were exhausted. I got here about twelve hours ago and he’ll have to order me out, too, before I’ll take a step from this room!”

It bothered Hayden that his family had been put through so much worrying. Everything still felt like a dream. Natalie’s hands kept touching him, moving over his skin in such tender caresses he wasn’t sure what was making him dizzy, his head or her touch. When he shot out of that dark, engulfing tunnel to the sound of her voice and hearing she had never known about the call two months earlier he was sure it was just another crazy dream. She had said they needed to talk. Shame bit him. How could two people hurt each other so easily, so deeply? His sin was the greater of the two, he knew, and he had much to atone for. Maybe I’m more like Anakin than I ever thought, he wondered, darkly.

Before he could try to explain or ask forgiveness for being such a jerk, the door swung open admitting a smiling man in a white coat that Hayden guessed was the doctor. After a few small pleasantries, the doctor kindly asked Natalie to step outside while he examined his patient. Hayden sensed Natalie’s reluctance and doubt. Reassuringly, he squeezed her hand calling her attention back to him. “I’m awake,” he reminded in a near whisper. “I’ll be awake when you come back in.”

“Sure, he will,” the doctor agreed, smiling widely. “It won’t take long and then you can have him back for a bit and I’ll call his family.”

Natalie nodded and hesitated at the door, her eyes meeting Hayden’s. “I’ll be right outside,” she promised, wary of losing sight of him for one moment, but obeying the doctor.

As the doctor examined Hayden he chatted about Hayden’s coma as if it were a minor occurrence. Hayden learned how his family talked themselves out and how Tove talking about Natalie gave the doctor a clue as to how to wake his patient.

“That little lady of yours practically ran from Montreal to get here,” the doctor chuckled as a nurse came in for instructions. “She’s as stubborn as your family. I don’t think she saw any of us when she came in here. Only you.”

Natalie paced outside Hayden’s door as a couple more nurses went in. When the doctor finally emerged he was grinning. “He’s going to get a shower and then he can have a little food. I can’t thank you enough for coming.” He shook her hand. “You were just the medicine he needed.” Natalie nodded absently, her eyes peeled to the door. “Only a few more minutes,” he reassured, “then you can go back in.”

“Is he really all right?” Natalie worried, her eyes suddenly intense on the doctor.

The doctor put an arm around her. “He’s really all right. I promise. Now, I’m going to call his family after he’s back in bed so you can have a few minutes with him. Once I call them they’ll be here faster than Superman on a good day!”

“Thank you so much, doctor,” Natalie stressed, her eyes on the door again. The doctor, seeing where her attention had already drifted, chuckled and walked over to the nurses’ station.

It seemed an eternity but finally the nurses opened the door and let her in. Hayden sat up in bed, clad in his own pajamas, free from tubes, and trying not to gulp a whole cup of water to quench his thirst. Natalie couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Drawn to him like a magnet she sat down on the side of the bed. Puzzled, Hayden set the plastic cup down on the bedside stand, his lips moist from the cold water. Brown eyes filled with the fear and strain of the past hours held his for long moments, then she moved closer, sliding her arms around him carefully and slowly into an embrace. Automatically his arms slid around her waist, their eyes closing, each breathing in the other’s familiar scent.

“I was so scared,” Natalie’s voice shook, barely audible. “I saw it on TV and I didn’t know what to do. They said you might not make it…”

“Shh,” Hayden comforted, relishing the feel of her in his arms again. “I’m perfectly fine. You can’t always believe what you hear or see on TV.”

“I saw you on TV with Anna,” she blurted and wanted to kick herself for the indiscretion.

“I saw you with your ex-boyfriend,” he countered. “We must have seen the same show.”

“He’s still an ex and he just happened to be in town,” she explained into his neck. “He wasn’t with me.”

“I just ran into Anna at a party last weekend,” Hayden said into her hair. “That’s all.”

Relief coursed secretly through both of them. Hayden pulled away slightly forcing Natalie to look at him. “You have every right to hate me,” he murmured full of self-loathing. “What I did…I had no right to…I lost my head…I am so sorry…When I think…I hate myself…”

A finger gently touched his lips, serious dark brown eyes holding his gaze. “Stop it,” Natalie whispered, her voice wavering. “I was making demands and not giving you a say in them.”

“But…that’s no excuse for me to…to…”

“No, it’s not. You’re right,” Natalie agreed, touched by the hurt in his eyes. She had never wanted him hurting she realized with a pang. The memory of the tears in his eyes twisted her gut. “Did I really mean it when I told you to stop? Did I?” Confused, he shook his head. “No, I didn’t. But if I had, you and I both know you would’ve done as I asked.”

“No,” he denied, bitterly. “I don’t know that.”

“I do.” Her fingers combed through his damp hair. When his head tilted down, her fingers lifted his chin, bringing his eyes back to hers. “I do,” she repeated, trying to reach into his very soul. “I went to your apartment first thing the next morning and you were already gone. You left me.”

Natalie laid her forehead against his and closed her eyes. Hayden swallowed hard and closed his eyes, too. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, fighting for control. “I’m so sorry, Natalie.”

The door squeaked open admitting a nurse carrying a tray of broth, jello, and juice. Startled, they jumped apart, both dismayed by the intrusion. Natalie slid off the bed so Hayden could eat, smiling a little at Hayden’s grimace of the doctor’s idea of food. The nurse gave them a knowing lift of her brows and both shifted uncomfortably at her interruption. As soon as she left Hayden pushed the tray table aside and reached for Natalie’s hand.

“How long can you stay?” he asked, his mind already moving ahead.

“I have to go back tomorrow and work through next weekend,” Natalie sighed, unhappily. “Can I come back and see you?”

Hayden smiled. “As soon as yesterday.” He linked her fingers through his. “Would you like to back up a bit? Do things we’ve missed? I’d like to take you ice skating, and to a hockey game, and…”

“Whoa,” Natalie shook her head. “I don’t want you on the ice just yet.”

“I am fine,” he repeated once again, rolling his eyes at her dubious look. “Besides, that’s two weeks away and I’ll be even better by then.”

“Well…we’ll see.”

“I have an apartment, but you can stay at my parents’ house and everything will be on the up and up.”

Natalie fell into his blue eyes willingly, her toes curling in her shoes at his smile. Everything on the up and up. The thought made her want to giggle. Right, she said to herself, when all I really want to do to you is push you back on that bed and…

The door banged open to a pile of bodies all named Christensen.
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You Can't Control Destiny (Completed)