Episode 17: "The Power Of Love Part III"
Part One

Perkins Memorial Hospital

The screeching of the alarms woke Lana, who found herself laying in a dim lit hospital room. She sat up with fright and looked at the bed beside her. Jake lay motionless and pale. Her eyes darted toward his heart monitors and to her complete horror, there was a long, thin green line. She leapt from the bed and ran to the side of Jake's bed. "Jake! NO! No, please! Don't go, you can't go!" She pleaded to him.

The door to the hospital room burst open and two nurses hurried into the room. They pushed Lana aside and set to work on checking his IV drip and heart monitor. Lana could only stand back and watch tearfully as they worked to resuscitate him. A third nurse entered with an external defibrillator. He pushed Lana further back before proceeding to help with the machine. "Clear!" She heard one of the nurses cry out. She turned away from them.

Please, God, help him hold on. It's not his time right now, not yet. I haven't even had the chance to say good-bye. At least allow for me to let him know how much I love him. Lana prayed silently, closing her eyes but still allowing for tears to flow.

Flashes of Jake's radiant smile echoed in her mind. She could see him laughing, his sapphire blue eyes twinkling with their amazing warmth and charm. She couldn't bear living the rest of her life with only those memories to keep him alive. She wanted to pour all of her strength into his mangled body, even if it meant sacrificing her own health. She still felt weak from the blood drawn earlier, but she knew she still had more strength than Jake, whose life was teetering on the brink of death.

All of her life, she never knew what it was to live for another. At that very moment, it was as if she could feel her own heart is being cloaked by death's shroud. Every other aspect of her life resembled miniscule significance compared to the horrifying thought of losing Jake. While he had helped life make sense again, she knew losing him would shatter her entire world. She wanted to beat herself for growing so dependent on him for emotional stability. But that was the strength he inadvertently provided for her. She succumbed quickly to their convenience and felt that without him, life wouldn't have meant much more than trudging for the simple sake of survival. With Jake, life not only meant ambition and passion but also freedom, mirth, and generosity. She naturally lost the inhibition of selfishness and saw life in a precious light.

The drone of the steady alarm had silenced and the beats on the heart monitor relieved Lana's fears. She turned to see the third nurse pushing the defibrillator out of the door while the other two nurses replaced his IV bag and checked his vital signs. She approached the bedside cautiously. A nurse glanced up at her with an encouraging look and said, "He's stable now, but he could fall again. I'll be back to check on him in thirty minutes."

Lana swallowed and nodded. "Is he out of harm's way?" She asked fearfully.

The nurse looked down at Jake and smoothed the blanket. "I'm afraid not, sweetie. There really isn't any more we can do for him." With their work finished, the nurses headed for the door. But the one nurse turned around to tell Lana, "But you can sit by his side and pray for him. Maybe talk to him soothingly. Who knows, he might listen to you."

Part Two

Perkins Memorial Hospital

The door closed behind the nurses. Lana pulled a chair to the side of Jake's bed and sat down. She hated to see all the tubes running from his arms and his chest but otherwise he only looked fast asleep. She studied his face. His eyes were closed, his skin unusually pale, and his slightly pink lips chapped.

"That was a close call, huh, Jake?" She said to him, stroking the white blanket on his bed. "Yeah, I'm talking as if you can hear me all right." She ran her fingers through her hair and caught a glimpse of the heart monitor. "That's my blood coursing through your veins, did you know that? I'm not sure if I want to tell you that when you wake up though. Would you consider that too much information?" She laughed nervously. "Jake, can you hear me? You don't have to answer me, just listen. Gosh, it's easy to talk to you right now. You're not awake to contradict me." She ran her fingers up the blanket toward his hand. "But I'd give you a hundred more pints if it meant you could wake up and argue with me right now."

Lana sighed and sat back in her chair. She folded her arms in front of her. The heart monitor beeped softly, breaking any silence in the room. She stood up and leaned over him. She touched his forehead and traced the outline of his face with her index finger. "I was so afraid to lose you. Me, scared." She took his hands in hers and rubbed them with her thumbs. "The thought of losing you is insufferable. I don't want to think about life without you. I would do anything to see you open your wondrous eyes. What can I do to see you smile again? What can I do to bring you back for good?"

Lana's eyes filled with tears. She bit her lip and fought a sniffle. She sat back down on the chair but rested her arms on Jake's bed. She held one of his hands. "Can you feel it? Can you feel what I'm saying?" She rose from the seat again and placed his hand on her heart. "Can you feel this? Will this help lead you back to me? I've been saving it for you. Maybe now you can feel how much I need you. There is so much ahead of us, lots that we haven't been able to do. I need you to see me through career changes, more break-ups, losses of loved ones, and birthday celebrations. Geez, only Oliver has seen me through more than you have, so that's just a glimpse of all that you mean to me. And I want to be there with you through your trying times, to suffer from your pain and to rejoice in your happiness. After all, you're my Bruce Wayne and I can't be Alfred without you." The tears flowed freely now and she wiped them away. "If only I could give you my own strength to pull you through this. If only you could feel the strength of my love for you." She paused to choke back more tears. She rested her ear against his chest, listening intently to the rhythm of his heartbeat. Closing her eyes, she whispered to him, "It's taken me all this time to tell you this and I don't even know if you can hear me. So I'm just going to keep saying it, to make sure you do. I love you, Jake...I love you...I love you...I love you...I love-"

Lana was interrupted by the sound of the door opening behind her. She sat up quickly and jerked around to see Kendra standing in the doorway. Flushed with embarrassment, Lana jumped from the chair and ran past Kendra, who looked after her with astonishment.

Part Three

Jake lay on the shore of the bay, his head resting on the sand and pounding with a panic. The mysterious beeping noise had slowed with a decrease in volume but still lurked deep in his ears. But his ears allowed for a whispering voice to make its way into his head.

"I love you, Jake... I love you... I love you... I love you..." Jake could hear the calming whisper, persistent in its repetition of those three words. He opened his eyes and saw the waves crashing on the shore. He tilted his head and caught sight of the sheer black sarong. He quickly turned his head up to see Kendra kneeling beside him. She appeared to be whispering the words he had longed to hear for some long. "I love you...I love you...I love you..." Though her lips moved slower than the words being said, Jake's heart believed in Kendra's soft proclamations and surged with rejuvenation. He sat up beside her and and took her hand in his. Her lips continued to move but now there were no words being said. He reached up to caress her cheek and she bent her head toward his hand. The feel of her skin warmed his heart and he found himself breathing deeper.

"I knew it. I knew that you've felt this way for me all along." The resemblance to reality took Jake by surprise and he couldn't believe his sudden turn of luck. "But why haven't you said this before? Why are you telling me this now? Is it because this is a dream?" Kendra's lips still moved wordless. Jake couldn't understand why he heard no words. "Say something. Please tell me anything."

Kendra blinked her icy blue eyes at him and stopped moving her lips. She stared deep into his eyes intently and pulled his face close to hers. Jake felt goose bumps rise on his skin and the pace of his heart quickened. He heard more whispers in his ears but he couldn't understand the words. He saw that Kendra's lips still remained motionless. The whispers raised in their distinction and Jake finally understood their last phrase. "What can I do to bring you back for good?"

"I'm here, I'm here! I'm back, I'll stay with you forever!" Jake promised to Kendra, whose stare began to lose depth and shimmered with a blank expression. "You've said the words and they were all I needed to bring me back for good. I'm back for good. I'm back." His vision began to blur, the sounds of the whispers and waves began to fade, and his body began to feel limp and numb. He struggled against the paralysis but only sank deeper into a more sedated state until he encountered only obscurity. For a moment, Jake heard faint sounds around him. He heard what sounded like a door slamming and the now familiar rhythmic beeps.

Breathing became a little easier. Jake drew in a deep breath and moaned softly. There was a gentle touch upon his arm. He still felt weak but slowly, he willed himself to open his eyes. His vision was still distorted and he had to blink his eyes several times to regain focus. He found himself staring up at a white plaster paneled ceiling. There was only one light in the room but even its dim beam hurt his eyes. He tilted his head to the side, blinking slowly. To his surprise, Kendra sat next to his bed, stroking his arm.

"Jake? Oh my gosh, you're awake!" She jumped up from her chair and leaned down to him. "How are you feeling? Can you move?"

At first, Jake couldn't speak. He felt nothing but extreme exhaustion and difficulty in breathing. He moved his lips as if to speak but only a few raspy sounds escaped.

Kendra smiled and stroked his forehead. "That's good enough," She leaned down, kissed his forehead, and then looked at him with her beautiful icy blue eyes glinting with tears. "Welcome back."

* * * * *

>> Read the lyrics to the inspiring theme of The Power Of Love mini-series, "To Make You Feel My Love"
>> Go To Episode 18
>> Back To Episode List