James: "Has there been any change?"
Nurse: "I'm afraid not."

James paused for a moment before turning around and walking toward Emily's room. Abigail and Deanna stood leaning against the wall of the hallway, watching silently as he disappeared into the darkened room. A moment later he raced back out and ran after the nurse.

Abigail and Deanna stood up straight and looked nervously at each other.

James: "Emily! Emily Laine! Where is she?"

Nurse: "She's gone up to surgery."
James: "Surgery for what?"
Nurse: "Surgery for… she's with the transplant team."
James: "How? Why? I thought they couldn't take her organs until Dr. Waltham signed off on brain death."

Nurse: "That's correct. The doctor did sign off, just a few minutes ago."
James: "That's impossible!"
Nurse: "Um… I'm sorry, Sir. I'd be happy to find the representative from LifeCenter for you."
James: "No, forget it."

James turned around angrily and hit the wall with his open fist as hard as he could. The sound echoed dully off the bare walls of the hallway, hardly breaking the silence. He stood there, leaning against the wall, trying to collect his thoughts, wondering why hadn't they come up with a Plan B.

Deanna: "Oh, God…"

Deanna couldn't stop the tears once they'd started, the mixture of dread, fear, relief and hopelessness made her dizzy. Abigail held her as she cried.

Deanna: "What's going to happen?"
Abigail: "Shhh, child. Everything will be all right for you."

James finally turned around and walked back to Abigail and Deanna.

James: "Call your grandson. Find out where they do transplant surgery."
Deanna: "You can't just walk into an operating room and take her out of there."
James: "No, but I can knock out the entire transplant team."
Markus: "You'd have to go through me, first."

The three of them turned as Markus approached.

James: "Markus, what the hell did you do?"
Markus: "There's a girl who will die without Emily's heart. Emily is already dead. Don't even pretend that you didn't know how this would turn out."

In one swift movement, James grabbed Markus by the collar and shoved him into the wall. Markus stared evenly at James, whose right eye had begun to twitch in anger.

Markus: "James, you need to let go of me right now. I may very well be the last friend you have left, though I'm still undecided on that point. How did you do it? Did you hold her under? Did she struggle? You murdered Mary."

Markus looked beyond James, meeting his grandmother's eye.

Markus: "And you murdered Tristan."

He looked back at James.

Markus: "For the second time, anyway."
Abigail: "Nobody is dead. Until there is nothing left but ash and bone-"
Markus: "Save your speeches for Amanda Yamamoto's parents, who are waiting, and will continue to wait, in peace for their daughter's transplant surgery. I'll be with them. You're all more than welcome to join us, but I'm sure you'd much rather open a pan-dimensional portal and have the whole world sucked into hell. Have a nice night."

Markus shoved James away and disappeared around the corner without a backwards glance.

James glared at the wall where Markus had stood, then turned and focused his glare on Abigail.

James: "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"
Abigail: "Wait."
James: "Brilliant."

James stormed into Mary's room and pulled a chair close to her bed after slamming the door behind him, shutting out both Abigail and Deanna. If Emily was lost to them, then the only thing linking Mary to the world of the living was Tristan.

James: "Mary, you're the only one who can get Tristan back here safely. The doctor said people in comas can sometimes still hear things. So I'm going to talk to you, and you had damn well better listen for once in your life…"