SALVATORE'S POV

My constant headache returns as soon as the doctor shuts his mouth.

I knew the survival rate wasn't looking good as soon as I saw my bambina fall to the floor, but this was worse than anything I could have imagined.

The fact that I might never hear my daughter's voice or see her beautiful eyes open again filled me with agonising pain. I might never get to see or hear her laugh with her family again. Never see the smile that was always engraved on her face.

Who would comfort me with positivity when I needed it the most?

My head slips down onto the side of her bed as I hold her hand tight in mine.

My heart aches as I see her blanket become damp from my tears.

I wipe my nose as I try and pat it dry for her. She doesn't deserve a wet blanket. She deserves only the best.

"Papa didn't mean to bambina" I tell her as guilt flows through me.

Guilt about everything. It's all my fault. It should be me in this bed. Not my child's. Hasn't she suffered enough?

I wasn't good enough to protect her. I'm a failure.

I will not let her go. I refuse to. She'll have to wake up and unclasp her hand from mine if she wants me to let go.

If I hold her hand in the right place I can feel the constant flow of blood through her body from her pulse. Another reminder that my baby is still here with us.

She's not gone, she will not go. I will not allow it. I will follow her into the afterlife and fight anyone who tries to take her soul from us.

Do they not know we can't live without her?

The tense silence in the room does no help for how I'm currently feeling.

One glance from me and the doctor excuses himself to the back of the room

He doesn't expect me to decide Alina's whole future in a matter of minutes, does he?

I'm dreading the conversation that's about to be had. No one's happy, and with the lack of sleep everyone's had due to wanting to cherish every moment they can with Alina, this will be the hardest thing anyone's experienced.

But we need to decide what's best for Alina. Everyone who's here is her family and deserve to give their opinion on what they think is best.

As I open my mouth to face my family I wince as I lick my chapped lips. The taste of salty tears doesn't help to ease the pain.

"So, what do we do?" I whisper out in a hoarse voice as I look hopelessly towards my family.

My whole family looks away from me.

I don't blame them. I don't want to make this decision either.

I sigh

"Living in a coma for the rest of her life is no way to live. She'll be living trapped inside her own body waiting for the possibility to wake up, which most likely won't happen." I tell them.

I have to think rationally. I need the best for my daughter.

I can't trap my daughter in her body for the rest of her life. I know that she'd despise that. She hates staying still. It would be a shell of herself. She wouldn't be there.

Eveything that made Alina unique and herself would not be there anymore.

"We've got to at least try to bring her back. How do we know she won't survive when coming off the machines?" Adrian's small voice asks as he stares towards his sisters lifeless body.

"She'd want us to try! I know she would! Alina doesn't give up easily. If she's survived everything up to now she can survive this! I know it! She's the strongest person I know!" He pleads with us.

I turn away to hide my fresh flow of tears. He's right. She wouldn't give up on us so we can't do the same to her.

Matheo stared at the doctor as if he's to blame for all of this.

"Why didn't you save her!?" He snarled at the doctor.

I intercepted Matheo before he reached the doctor.

I know it's easy to blame someone else who has no part in the situation but that doesn't mean it's right.

"Don't blame the wrong person Matheo. If you need someone to blame, then blame me. Hit me if you must, release your anger on me if it makes you feel better. Don't bottle it up Matheo." I tell him.

"Why wasn't it enough? Why isn't anything we do enough to save her?" He sobbed as he held onto my shoulder

I couldn't answer his question.

"Why does she continue to fight these battles alone!? Does she not know that we're here for her! I would die for her. This isn't how it was supposed to go! She's our princess, she's supposed to be safe and protected." He sobs.

"I've just got her back, so why was she so quick to try and leave us again!?" He asked me.

"She felt the same as you. The need to protect her family. She made the sacrifice any one of us would have done"

"But, it wasn't meant to be her. It wasn't meant to be any of us. Everything was going so well. We were finally back together. I have plans for us" he clung to me tighter.

"She was doing so good. Her life was finally starting to come together, so why has this have to happen to her!" He screamed into my shirt.

"I don't know son, it seems nothing in this life is fair"

"She needs to wake up. I can't live without her! Tell her to wake up! She'll listen to you, I know it!" My son asked me.

Matheo has never begged for anything in his life not even when he was a child.

"The doctor said that she can still hear us, so you tell her yourself. You tell her that we need her" I tell him.

I can't stand talking to her without her beautiful eyes staring back at me.

I turn to look towards my daughter again to see that Adrian had layed on one side of her whilst my wife was on the other side of her stroking her hair out of the way of her face.

Romeo had insisted that he hold her plush dragon as he's the only one that could take good care of it.

He's using that as an excuse to hold something of Alina's and to be able to have something to wipe the continuous stream of tears from his eyes.

I see him smile sadly before rising and taking small steps in order to reach his sister.

He silently reaches over to tuck it under Alina's arm just like he did last time she was admitted into hospital.

Rocco had not taken his eyes off of his sisters face as if he was trying to capture every inch of her and keep it engraved in his mind perfectly.

"Who will I share my green smoothies with if you don't wake up Alina? You can't let them bully me for it. Us smoothie drinkers need to stick together! Wake up and protect me with your heart beating full of life. You need to wake up and live your life! Just come back to us, please" he tells her as he kisses her forehead.

"You can't leave me with the rest of these idiots. I need you here with me Alina."

He sadly goes to sit back down as his head drops.

"I can't even think of any jokes to make her feel better. I can't make any jokes when all I can see is the life flowing out of her little body" Marco says as his red rimmed eyes meet mine.

"Just let my sister come back to us" Luca screams out frantically looking towards us all.

Marco allows Luca's head to lay on his shoulder as he releases his feelings through tears.

Raphael comes over to hold her pinky finger in his.

"I promised that I'd stay by your side forever Alina. I can't break my promise to you Alina, I won't. Fight, don't give up, you're strong enough to survive this. I'll have some Swedish fish and olives waiting with me when you're ready" he tells her.

Raphael continuous to look on in sadness holding her pinky finger in a promise.

He kisses his pinky finger locking his promise with her.

He would stay by her side for eternity just like the rest of us.

There's not a dry eye in this room currently, well apart from Alina's.

Athena face is one that I can only describe as broken.

Her lips continue to quiver as sobs come out of her mouth as she continues to comfort Alina.

I hear footsteps behind me and realise instantly what needs to be done.

"We want to take her off the machines but give us some more time please" I tell the doctor.

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Athena grips onto my arm as tightly as she could. Her confident demeanour that's she wears daily has disappeared entirely.

I saw a side of my wife I only see once in a blue moon.

Her wide eyes were glued onto the doctor and his teams movements as they started unplugging machines and wires.

Her grip tightened on mine as they continued.

It killed me to watch them remove everything from her without so much as a flinch to indicate she felt it.

Everyone was standing around the bed watching on. They had to let go of my baby girl so the doctors could work.

"Once we shut off the oxygen on the ventilator if any reaction happens it should happen within a couple of minutes" the doctor tells us so we can prepare for what's about to happen.

He makes his way over to the oxygen and indicated on what he was about to do.

An intake of breath was taken in unison across the room as we all prepared ourselves for this massive moment.

Please come back to us Alina.

A loud click was heard as the oxygen was officially turned off.

It was up to Alina now.

If this doesn't work I don't think I'll be able to forgive myself. I'm praying I've made the right decision.

Time passed so slow that I thought it had stopped just like my heart was feeling.

The only indication time was passing was the ticking from the clock counting down the seconds.

Counting down the seconds to the best day of our lives or the worst.

Not even 10 seconds had passed yet it felt like eternity as my eyes were glued onto my daughter.

My eyes were intently looking for any movement.

Any indication she was breathing by herself.

"I know what's happening guys" Luca says out of nowhere moving our attention to him for just a split second.

"She's just playing pretend. Like before remember!" He tells us as if he's trying to persuade himself of that fact as well.

It was different last time.

She wasn't on the brink of death last time.

But now's not the time to try and tell Luca that.

"Wake up Alina, wake up and help me get revenge of the idiots who did this to you!" Matheo tells her.

There was no reply

How long had it been?

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A/N - so sorry guys about the late update I've had a lot to do for university applications! But it's finally over, so now I just wait

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned as the next one will be out soon and is very exciting.

(I won't make you wait 3 months for this one! 😬😂)

Let me know if you liked this chapter and what you thought of it.

Sorry, not sorry about the cliffhanger 🫨