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She was back in the sterile operating room in a blue gown lying on a cold uncomfortable table. Above her was a bright light that was almost blinding to look at. There were machines all around her beeping and pumping. She began trembling in fear and Dr. Goodwin could see she was uneasy. He placed his warm steady hand on hers and asked if she was ready. While Vivian said she was, there was a moment of apprehension before she responded, “I think so?” Dr. Goodwin smiled and placed a mask on her face instructing her to count backwards from one hundred. Vivian started counting 99, 98… then she suddenly stopped her countdown. She grabbed the mask moving it to the side of her face and exclaimed, “Wait!” Dr. Goodwin quickly turned to face her again.

“Vivian, what’s the matter?” he asked.

“I need to say something to you before we do this,” she said.

“Okay.  Anything for you sweetheart,” he said with a big endearing smile in place.

“If I don’t come out of this. . .” she started with what seemed to be a last goodbye.  Dr. Goodwin knew she needed his positive thinking lecture.

“Vivian”, he scolded
her;
“You are going to come out of this, just have a little faith in me.” He tried to comfort his patient and good friend’s daughter.

Henry and Dr. Goodwin were the same age. They had both
lived in the small town of Newc
astle, Wyoming together for their entire lives. The good thing about small towns is that everyone is like family.  Dr. Goodwin
had cared for Vivian from the moment she entered this world and he didn’t want to be the one who was responsible for her leaving it.
Worse than that was having this precious young girl afraid of the very thing
that
the
Doctor
feared himself.  Losing her would kill Henry and Dr. Goodwin knew that all too well.

“I do have faith in you Dr. Goodwin,” Vivian stated profoundly. “Just not in him,” she said almost disappointed.

“In whom?” he looked to her for clarification.

“In God!” she proclaimed. “And we are all at his mercy.”

“Vivian…
don’t
say that!  I know you haven’t lost your faith in God. You need to keep that faith sweetheart, right here” and he placed her hand on her chest right over her heart. “Here is where he lives in you and your faith in him will always sustain you in your time of need. Hold on to it Vivian…believe in him.” He preached to her so sure of what he was saying. Vivian just looked at him silently, listening with tears in her eyes. She wanted so desperately to believe what he did, to believe once again that she could trust in God as she once did, but she wasn’t convinced. Too
much had happened this past year, too much disappointment, too much sadness and definitely too much loss. Vivian believed she was being punished and she was angry with him, with God.

“Please just let me get this out, I need to say this to you,” Vivian said to the doctor.

“If I don’t …make it…I just want to say…thank you,” she said to him humbly. “Thank you for trying when no one else would.” Dr. Goodwin nodded his head in acknowledgement of the gratitude Vivian needed to express to him before going under the anesthesia.  It was her “just in case speech” and she felt compelled to deliver it to him.

“Vivian…
Viv
?” Violet could hear the doctor calling to her almost from a distance.

“What’s going on doc?” Henry began to panic.

Violet quickly realized she had been unresponsive in the present while having this flashback of the past.  She quickly snapped herself back to the here and now and responded to the panic in the room.

“I’m here, I’m sorry! I guess I am still a little groggy from
all of the
anesthesia this guy pumped into me.”  Violet pointed toward the good doctor and smiled. Everyone just stared at Violet, surprised by the humor. Vivian, the vessel Violet was in, was a very nice, but very serious girl. Humor was not something she was able to rely on in an awkward moment. For Violet, humor was who she was. Henry noticed this right away and his eyebrow lifted curiously after his daughter delivered her response in joke form.

“Well,” Dr. Goodwin moved on “being a little dazed is to be expected. You have been out for a while,” he confirmed.

“I have?” Violet wondered how long she had actually been here and suppressed by the mysterious drug.

“Three weeks now,” Dr. Goodwin answered.

“Three weeks!” Violet immediately wondered if the time lost was with her or just Vivian. Surely Gabriel would have been able to wake her if she were really out for three weeks. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had been actually lying in this bed for three whole weeks and wasting time or if she just arrived in time for the awakening.

“I need to ask you some questions Vivian, would that be okay?” he asked for permission.

“Sure,” she said eager to get on with it.

“Do you know what day today is?” Dr. Goodwin questioned Violet.

“
Ummm
,” she thought to herself, if I knew the answer to that I wouldn’t be so worried.

“No,” she replied quickly.

“Do you know what year it is?” question number two was fired.

“
Ummm
,” Violet responded with ease, “2012!”

“Very good Vivian” and he started making notes in his little book.

All Violet could think about was how strange it was being called Vivian.  It didn’t feel right at all. In fact, it was the only part of being here so far that was really uncomfortable. A name is everything she thought, it is who we are, and it is our identity. There wasn’t much she could do about it, but she hated it none the less.

“Now, how many fingers do I have up?” Dr. Goodwin held up his hand, fingers spread out like a high five.

“Great, more questions,” she thought to herself.  “Bring it on…”

“Four,” Violet responded, somewhat bored.

The room grew silent and Henry’s forehead crinkled again with worry. Violet saw Henry’s expression immediately and wondered what the problem was. The doctor switched hands, holding it up in the same high five position like before and asked the question again.

“How many fingers now?” he repeated the same question to her.

Again Violet responded four.  Dr. Goodwin appeared bewildered and continued writing in his note pad. Next he held up a peace sign and repeated the question of how many now?

“Seriously?” she looked annoyed at the repetition.

“Two,” Violet stated again with complete certainty wondering where all of this silliness was going.

The doctor seemed confused by her answer to the new scenario and reverted back to the original first question and position of hand.

“Now how many?” he asked Violet. “Again with the high five?” she thought to herself.

Violet decided it was time to put an end to these shenanigans since she had really important things to do here and these questions were just plain ridiculous!

“
Ummm
….didn’t I just answer that question…twice in fact?” she tried not to show how annoyed she was getting.

“Yes, you did and twice you were incorrect,” he fired back.

“How so?”
Violet challenged them to prove her wrong.

“This is four,” the doctor held up four fingers. “And this is five” he then held up the high five hand again that he had tested her with twice.

“I see” she said. “Well, you asked me how many fingers you had up and I said four. I didn’t know you wanted me to include thumbs or my answer would have been five,” Violet said.

At first there was complete silence and then laughter filled the room. Dr. Goodwin had a half cracked smile on his semi-relieved face. He then addressed Henry and asked him, “Has your daughter always been this sarcastic?”

“No,” Henry responded, not quite sure what to make of this change in his daughter. “But I can get used to it,” he added happily and they all continued with a light hearted laughter.

“It’s good to have you back Vivian Thorne!” said Dr. Goodwin.

“Now Henry if it’s ok with you, we need to run some tests on the patient of the hour so if you wouldn’t mind waiting outside, we shouldn’t be too long.”

“No problem doc,” Henry responded as he headed to the door.

He put his hand on the handle of the door and then slowly turned around to look back at his daughter. Henry felt as if he was looking at her for the very first time and Violet felt it too. Violet could almost read Henry’s thoughts simply by looking into his eyes. She understood what humans ignored, that the eyes are the keys to one’s soul. Henry just smiled at her and continued to open the door to exit the room.

In the second before the door closed, Violet could see someone waiting anxiously right outside her door. She only saw him for a split second but something powerful was ignited inside of her. She felt a force so strong it rippled through her entire body and then unleashed itself through her voice as it called out the name Jeremy.  Surprised by the uncontrollable exclamation from her mouth, she sat silent for a moment and waited to see what the boy would do. Jeremy put his hand on the door before it shut, closing him off from Vivian. Jeremy’s body was now wedged like a doorstop to her room. Then he spoke in a soft, loving way back to her. “Vivian?” It was like he couldn’t believe she was calling for him, but so glad she did.  Dr. Goodwin stopped for a moment and watched as Jeremy hesitated in the doorway waiting for permission to enter.

“
It’s
okay son,” Doc turned to him, “Come on in Jeremy. We’ve waited three weeks for this lucky young lady to wake up. We can certainly wait a few more minutes and let you two kids visit. I’ll be right outside.  Take your time.” Doc excused himself.

Violet had no idea what had just happened. Truth is she was scared more than she was willing to admit. She figured it must be what she remembered Gabriel saying to her about complications and merging. She played back his words in her head, “Sometimes the soul of the vessel fights to
maintain control, but it is never able to hold on very long before it surrenders to the dominance that would be you.” You can do this Violet, just stay focused,” she repeated over and over in her mind. Whatever force was present in Violet’s new vessel was gone now. She was definitely back in control.

“Now what do I do?” she thought as she looked at Jeremy sitting right
beside
her waiting for her to speak to him. All she knew from Vivian’s dossier was that Jeremy was her longtime friend, turned love of her life. She didn’t spend much time reading about his life because her focus was Carter Stone, so she was again left a bit in the dark. “What to say?” she fretted with herself. “Just do small talk Violet…say something…anything!”

“So…how are you?” Violet started the random conversation.

“Better now that you’re awake,” you could hear the sincerity in his voice. “They said it was touch and go there for a while. Henry was sick with worry and well…so was I.” Jeremy confessed. “He loves you
ya
know…Henry I mean?”

Violet thought that was a strange proclamation for Jeremy to make. Of course he loves her, he is her father. Why would Vivian think her own Father didn’t love her?
Hmmmm
….a puzzle.”
Violet got it into her head that it wouldn’t hurt to sniff around and see what she could find out about the Thorne’s and what was troubling them.  After all, she was going to be spending a lot of time with Henry and it wouldn’t hurt if she could mend their family before Vivian left this world. That was Violet, always empathizing.  And that was the Violet the Council was afraid would get in the way of their very important mission.

“Vivian, I can’t tell you how difficult it has been hoping and praying that you would wake up and everything would be as it was before…”  Jeremy began to break down but quickly composed himself and finished his sentence, “before you got sick.” He looked into Violets eyes and when she looked back into his, she should see the love, the pure true love he had for the girl that was no longer there. The girl he knew as Vivian.

Jeremy reached for her hand and continued speaking. “And now all of those prayers have been answered. Here you are…here we are and I am never going to let you out of my sight again,” he vowed as he embraced her.

Suddenly, Violet was overwhelmed with strong feelings of sympathy that seemed to consume the entire vessel that she was now occupying. Violet realized just how difficult it was going to be for Jeremy knowing what she knew about the fate that was awaiting his beloved Vivian when this mission was over. She wondered how she was going to look into Jeremy’s sweet eyes and pretend that everything was going to be alright. She couldn’t…she wouldn’t!

Jeremy was a tall young man, slender but muscular, with really handsome features. His hair was a deep chestnut brown that reflected all the radiance of his smile. His eyes were light like
cinnamon sugar and were just as sweet. Violet could tell within minutes that Jeremy’s heart was an open book that was quite easy to read when it came to Vivian and the way he felt about her. It was easy to see why Vivian loved him and why she could feel her soul reaching out for him now.

Jeremy reached over to the nightstand beside her bed and picked up and interesting looking device. “I felt so helpless when you didn’t wake up after the surgery,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t talk to you and I wanted to so bad. I wanted to reach you somehow to let you know I was here waiting for you to wake up. I bought this IPod for you and put all of your favorite songs on it. Every day after school I came here and put these earphones on you and played the entire playlist for hours. I know it sounds silly but I believed, knowing your passion for music that you could…that you would follow it back home to me, to all of us,” Jeremy professed.