::This is a small, private room. Hunos lies in the hospital bed as you walk in. He's hooked up to a minagere of machines, tubes and wires coming from many places and trailing into the complexed instruments lined up beside his bed. He looks old, he looks still. Only a little light enters the room through a small window. Not one card can be seen around the room. Not one flower. No sign of anyone ever having come to see him. It's really still in the room, peaceful except for the rythmic beeping from one of the machines.

The nurse leads Andrea and Julie into the small room and nods politley to them.::

"I'll have a doctor with you in a moment. Please, make yourself comfortable."

::After a moment in the room, he leaves to get a doctor.::

::Andrea quickly moves a chair over to the bed, as close to Hunos' head as she can get. She reaches out and touches his forehead, still unused to seeing him as a human. Taking his hand in hers, she bows her head and begins to pray to God for him.::

::Julie stands a respectable distance from Hunos. She waits for the doctor, hoping to God he won't give Andrea horrible news.::

::Hunos lies with the respitory equipment in his mouth, wires attatched to his hands, arms, chest and head. He'd be totally still if it weren't for his chest being pushed up and down, breathing being forced upon him by the machines he's connected to. He'd look really peaceful if it weren't for the tangle of electricals.

There's hardly any warmth to him though, Andrea. No thick fur around his body, no fuzzy cozyness. He feels cool to the touch.::

::Andrea can feel it in her hands cupping his. He is cold. She stands for a moment to pull the blankets around him further, a few stray tears dripping onto his face from her own. She wipes them away and sits back down, taking his hand again and resuming her attempts to get the Lord to help.::

::Julie walks closer and puts her hands on Andrea's shoulder giving them a small squeeze. She wishes the doctor would hurry up, hospitals make her uneasy. She feels horrible for thinking that though.::

"It's so strange seein' him. I mean... he could turn into a monkey, or a bear, or a camel or whatever, an', an' that wasn't strange, that was just him. And now he's... a man. An' he's old. An'..."

::Andy sniffs, squeezing his hand.::

"I love him like he's me dad, Julie. And Chloe isn't even here. What if she's... I mean, I don't know anything anymore, I just have to..."

::The doctor walks through the door silently and she walks to the foot of the bed, looking at Andrea.::

"Andrea Kohr?"

::Andrea stands up immediately and moves away from the chair to face the doctor.::

"Yeah."

"Miss Kohr."

::The doctor takes a breath in, then continues in her muted, soft tone.::

"Andrea, you are listed as Mr Aquilla's next of kin and his only point of contact."

"Yeah."

"We attempted to contact you a while back regarding a change in his condition."

::She moves a little bit closer, her face soft and understanding.::

"I'm afraid that his brain activity is reading low. Nobody has ever pulled from a coma after such a long time and with such low readings."

::Julie cringes.::

"Well... he still might, right? I mean... just because nobody else has. He's... he'll be okay, won't he?"

::The nurse's face seems apologetic.::

"I'm afraid... I'm afraid that Mr Aquilla is now classified as brain dead. He shows no sign of functioning independantly of his respirator."

::Andrea looks horrified. To her, that's worse than death.::

"No! He can't be! It's not fair!"

::She turns to the man on the bed and leans over him.::

"Oh, God, Hunos, please wake up!"

::Her voice is completely shaken up with emotion.::

::Hunos' only movement is the constant movement of his chest. Nothing more.::

::Julie looks apologetically at the doctor before moving to grab Andrea's hands.::

"Andy! Babe!"

::She gently pries her off with the softest expression she'll ever have.::

"There's nothing we can do now, sweetheart."

::She really has no idea what to say. She holds onto Andrea's hand before Andy breaks Hunos respirator and kills him.::

::Hating this aspect of her job hugeley, the doctor speaks sympathetically.::

"As his next of kin, we have to ask you to sign the permission form to let him go. We cannot keep him in this way, Miss Kohr. It's not right for him. He deserves a more dignified departure."

::Andrea sobs harder now, hearing the words she'd been dreading to ever since getting the phone call. She can't believe how this is turning out. After all they went through to get Hunos his human form again, he doesn't even get to experience it. It's not fair. It's not fair and there has to be something she can do. There has to be.::

::Julie lets go of Andrea's hand but holds onto her still.::

"Andy..."

::She looks at the doctor.::

"Could you give us a few minutes please?"

"I'm so sorry."

::And she really does look it. The doctor backs away slightly, placing the form on a clipboard at the foot of Hunos' bed, along with a pen.::

"I'll give you two some time alone. I'll be back along in a moment, but if you would like to speak to me, please just call."

::She then leaves, giving them some space.::

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck."

::Andrea pulls away from Julie properly now and goes to the window. She looks up at the sky.::

::Julie sighs.::

"Andrea..."

::She decides against moving closer to Andrea, she goes and sits next to Hunos instead. She watches his face as he just lays there, already dead if not for the machine keeping him alive.::

"We can't let him stay like this."

"I'm not... I can't, it's not right. Not only is it not up to me whether someone lives or dies, but, but he's Chloe's dad, not mine! It's not... it's..."

::She sniffles.::

"No. I can do magic. It's not selfish."

"What kind of magic?"

::Julie frowns at the idea. Some things should just be natural.::

"Maybe you could write a spell to communicate with his soul and see what he wants... but I don't think we should be meddling with this death stuff."

"It's not natural, Julie! That stupid whore did this to him... flinging him around like a... it's, it's not fair. His life shouldn't be taken from him. I can't-"

::She knows she's not meant to touch magic in situations like this.::

"Maybe I could... try to talk to him. His soul."

::She sniffs and looks out the window, hating Chloe for doing this. She must've got her letter. It sent.::

"Yeah."

::Julie thinks it's best. It'll bring Andrea comfort at least.::

"I'm sure he won't want his soul imprisoned in a-"

(Dead body.)

::She still thinks using magic isn't right, but she's not about to argue.::

::Andrea looks at Julie. She hadn't really wanted to hear that. She swallows and goes to sit down beside Hunos again, taking his hand.::

(Be strong.)

::She says a short spell to bring her and Hunos' souls together to talk. Or whatever.::

"Please take me to Hunos
Wherever he may be
So we can talk."

::These days Andy doesn't much care about her wording. She's quite sure it's all in how you feel and how much you mean it anyway.::

[Andrea, you feel your soul slipping away from you in a peaceful manner. Off you go, to The Realm Of The Dead.

Small problem though, tiny, insignificant. You're kind of dead...]

::Well then, Andrea's collapsed dead so Julie runs over.::

"Andrea! Andrea!! ANDREA!!"

::She checks her breathing and all... but there isn't one!::

"Oh my God! Fucking magic!"

::Julie pulls Andrea's body to her own. She doesn't know what to do. She wants to call a nurse, but what will she say if Andrea comes back to life. She sits there, in shock, she rocks back and forth.::

"Please come back... please come back..."

::Soon enough Julie snaps out of it. She can keep Andrea's body alive, if Andrea comes back she thinks she'll need it, so she starts CPR. Yay CPR!::

"You're not fucking dying on me!"

::She breathes for Andy and makes her heart beat over and over and she'll be at it for hours. Mhm. Oh, Andrea's gonna get smacked for dying.::

"When you come back, I swear I'm going to beat you up!"

[Andrea's soul slips back into her body just as before, Julie having helped to keep Andrea's body going for her to return. The air of the room will sweep back into her lungs as she peacefully merges back together. She remembers all she saw Up There.::

A noise will greet Andrea's and Julie's ears. The sharp pitch of the life support machine signifies that Hunos has passed away.]

::Andrea opens her eyes.::

::Julie looks down at Andrea. Really bothered by the tone on the machine, she has no clue what to do, she just sits back on her feet even though she has 9056 different feelings running through her.::

::Coming back to life slowly, Andrea pushes herself up and looks down at Hunos' still form. She knows what the tone means but she feels okay about it. Devastated, but okay. Accepting. She reaches down and touches his cheek again, wondering if he's watching her now.::

::The same doctor as before walks into the room and silently checks Hunos' pulse. She then siwtches the loud machines off and it all dies down into complete silence. As stated on the piece of paper Andrea was asked to sign, Hunos had no wish to be recussitated once he departed, and they are respectful to his request.

The doctor says only::

"I'm sorry for your loss."

::... before she leaves the room to allow them time.::

::Julie sits down and stares at her hands. She's out of it. Andrea died, but she's alive, how?::

::Andrea wipes her eyes and sniffs, starting to get herself together now.::

"He said he loved me like I was his daughter and that he'll watch over me."

::She smiles, just lightly.::

"He's okay."

"Good."

::Julie doesn't even look up.::

::A very familiar tabby fades out of sight at the window, possibly having jumped from the ledge.::