He ran his hand through his long blond hair, still agonizing over his earlier decision.

The Canadian gazed over at the sleeping woman.  For once, she appeared to be in a peaceful slumber, and not tormented by visions of horror in her sleep.

Adam was glad, thankful for that.  But he didn't know how he was going to be able to walk away from her - it would break Amy's heart.

Damn it... Part of him wanted to get up and leave right now, but another part of him wanted to stay at the redhead's side forever...

The door suddenly opened slowly, creaking just slightly on unoiled hinges, and Adam looked up to see one of the nurses enter the room.  She glanced over at her patient as she approached him, seeing that the woman in the bed was fast asleep.

"Mr. Copeland," she whispered.  "You look exhausted.  You should get some sleep..."

"I don't want to leave her," the blond man whispered back.

"You don't have to go far," the nurse responded.  "We have a room set up for you to use for the rest of the night."  The woman gestured for him to follow her.

Reluctantly, Adam rose from the chair, and, sighing, followed her out into the hallway.  The nurse turned into the very next hospital room, flicked on the light and gestured for him to enter.  "You're welcome to stay here tonight.  I know she needs you and wouldn't want you to be too far away."

The tall blond man glanced around the room, squinting somewhat, as his eyes had to adjust to suddenly being in a lighted room after spending at least the last hour and a half in darkness.

"Okay," he finally said as he turned back to meet the nurse's eyes.  "Thank you.  I really appreciate it."

The woman smiled at him graciously, then left.

Adam stood there in the middle of the room, listening to the nurse's heels clicking on the tile floor.  When he could no longer hear her retreat, he walked over to the door, shut it and then crossed over to the bed, where he sat down on its edge.  He raked one hand through his hair and reached for the telephone with the other.

He dialed, waiting for an answer, hoping that his best friend was still awake.

"Hello?"

"Jay, hi - it's me," he said.  "I'm spending the night here."

"They're letting you stay in Amy's room all night?" the other man asked.

"No - I'm in the next room," he explained.  "She's so out of it from all the valium they've been pumping her full of..."

"Poor kid," Jay said softly, and Adam could hear the sorrow in the other man's voice.

That's nothing, the tall blond man thought.  She'll be hurting a lot worse when... Aloud, he said, "Yeah..."  After a beat, "So...any new developments on your end?"

"No, not really...Stephanie and Shane are preparing for their trip.  Nora and I left them awhile ago," he replied.  "I guess they'll be leaving within the next couple of hours."

"I'm sorry I can't be there to see them off," the other man said.  "Give them my best, Jay."

After another few minutes, the two friends ended the conversation.  As Adam hung up, he let out a yawn, nearly unable to believe just how tired he felt.  He wasn't merely exhausted - he felt pretty damned world-weary.

The Canadian removed his shoes, leaving them by the side of the bed, then raised his T-shirt over his head.  Afterward, he made his way over to the light switch by the door before returning to the bed.

Adam lay down and stretched himself out, another yawn escaping him.  He turned over onto his back, raised a hand to his face.  Damn it, he was tired.

When he'd barely fallen into the bed, the blond found himself suddenly with his eyes wide open and staring up at the ceiling.  Lights from just outside swirled around up there, and he could detect the swirling reds of an ambulance.

Although his mind was in unbelievable turmoil, Adam began to drift.  He desperately hoped he would sleep dreamless tonight, as he had enough to worry about while awake.

Lord knew, the next several days ahead were going to be pure hell...