WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MAJOR FEELS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

"Marcus, if you don't sit down now, you're going to wear a groove into the floor," Bob said, as Big Daddy paced the floor in the waiting room, waiting for any new news on Johnny. Because it was going on fourteen hours since Johnny was rushed in.

"Is he always like this?" Buster asked, looking over at Barry.

"Oh yeah," Barry responded, taking a sip from the coffee in his hand, and resisting the urge to gag. "And if you think this is bad. You should have seen him when Johnny had to get his appendix removed."

"Johnny?" a lion called out, making everyone jump to their feet, as Big Daddy stopped his pacing. Ash waking up from her slumber to join them. "Just his family please."

"We are his family," Buster said.

"Is he okay?" Ash asked.

"Can we see him?" Meena asked.

"Yes, right this way," the doctor said, leading everyone back to Johnny's hospital room, where he was hooked up to a bunch of wires and tubes keeping him alive, with a breathing mask over his mouth and nose.

"Is he going to be okay?" Ash asked.

"I can't tell for sure. He had a lot of internal damage from both the knife and the bullet. Especially after he tried to see you," the doctor said, nodding at Big Daddy. "And we had to revive him twice on the operating table. So we're going to have to keep a very close eye on him the rest of the night. But if he wakes up, just give me a call, and make sure he doesn't get up right away."

"Okay," Buster said, as Big Daddy sat down in one of the chairs next to Johnny's bed, pushing a piece of fur off of Johnny's face, as his heart monitor beeped steadily. Everyone else taking a seat elsewhere, and falling asleep because they had spent half of the night worrying about Johnny. And like clockwork, the cops showed up to take Big Daddy and his gang back to jail; but he didn't move.

"Ross, you can take us back when we know he's going to be okay," he said calmly to the officer standing beside him. "But for right now, we just want to be here for my son when he wakes up."

"You do know you're risking your freedom by doing this again," the rhinoceros prison guard said. "Don't you want to be there for your boy later on down the road? Actually with him, and not in a prison cell."

"Of course I do," he said. "All three of us do. And I am not resisting arrest. But I can't just leave him here with the possibility that he might die. I'll never forgive myself if he does."

Staring at Ross in silence for a few moments, Big Daddy relaxed when he breathed a defeated sigh, and pinched the bridge of his nose...or horn, or whatever.

"You know, you're going to make me lose my job for this," Ross said, a garbled voice coming through his walkie-talkie asking him if he had found them yet. "No sir, they're not here. But I'll keep watch outside."

Nodding in thanks to the prison guard, Big Daddy turned back to Johnny and took a hold of his hand; seeing a faint scar above his son's eyebrow from one of the times Johnny had fallen off his skateboard

Feeling his lips start to quiver, Big Daddy held in his tears, and kissed his son's forehead; still keeping a hold on his hand so that he knew he was still there with him.

"Please be okay Johnny," he whispered to him. "I don't want to lose you too."

~4 hours later~

When Bob woke up again, the sun was starting to come up, and Johnny was still asleep; snoring loudly enough to probably wake the entire floor, had the breathing mask not muffled the sound of it. The snoring being another trait he inherited from his dad, who was snoring just as loudly.

"Starting to turn into your dad more and more each day," he said out loud to himself, as he reached out and scratched Johnny's head; Johnny pressing his head against his uncle's palm because he liked having his head scratched.

Hearing the door open, he saw a different doctor enter, a wolf this time instead of a lion. And he looked a bit shocked to see so many animals in the room, including three escaped convicts.

"Security!" he called, bringing the cops back into the room to take away the three older gorillas. The wolf's call waking up everyone else.

"What's going on?" Barry asked, seeing the security guards coming into the room.

"What the hell?" Big Daddy said, as Ross grabbed his handcuffs, and mouthed 'I'm sorry' to him.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Mike asked, as the cops put the handcuffs on Johnny's dad, and pulled him out of his chair. "He's the kid's dad."

"He's an escaped convict," the doctor said.

"I'm not hurting anything," Big Daddy barked at him, as Ross shoved his head down.

"Marcus, it's best that you just keep your mouth shut, and just come back," he hissed at him. "Otherwise you may just ruin your chances to see him again."

Letting Ross take him, Barry, and Bob outside so they could wait for the police van to take them back to prison while everyone else argued with the doctor to let them stay, Marcus pulled his out of Ross's, and broke out of his cuffs so he could sit down on a bench nearby, and bury his face in his hands.

"Marcus," Barry said. "It'll be okay."

~Flashback: 17 years ago~

"Marcus Myers," a doctor called, making Marcus stand up from where he was sitting in the hospital waiting room; waiting to hear on his wife, Maya, who had collapsed at the house and stopped breathing almost twenty hours ago.

"Is she okay?" he asked.

"Sit back down, please," the lioness said, ushering for him to sit back down in his chair before sitting down next to him so they were at eye level with each other.

"Mr. Myers, what does your wife do for a living?"

"She's a photographer. She's been doing it since high school." he answered. "What does this have to do with why she collapsed. Can I see her?"

"Does she develop her photos by herself, or does she send them to someone?" the doctor asked.

"She develops them herself," he said. "Why are you asking me this? I want to see my wife."

"Mr. Myers, you have to calm down," she said, grabbing his arm to keep him from getting up.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Mr. Myers, you have to understand that the chemicals your wife has been using to develop her photos took a very heavy toll on her lungs. When she came in, her oxygen levels were low enough to kill her."

"She's going to be okay. Right?" Bob asked, holding a sleeping Johnny on his lap.

"I wish I could say that," the doctor said. "But because her oxygen levels were so low, her brain started to shut down, along with the rest of her body. We have her on oxygen now, but there's no telling how much longer she's going to last."

"Can we see her?" Marcus asked.

"Yes, go right ahead," she said.

"Bob, can you call Wilbur, and tell him to come in?" he asked, taking Johnny so Maya could see him.

"Sure thing," he said.

Following the doctor into Maya's hospital room, he saw a male lion, probably an intern at the hospital, put something into Maya's IV line to help with any pain she may be in, and sat down next to her bed; his wife wearing a blue hospital gown, and hooked up to all sorts of wires and tubes. And even though she had a breathing mask on, he could hear her struggling to breathe.

"We'll leave you two alone," the doctor said before she whistled sharply at the intern, and ushered him out of the room.

"Where's Johnny?" she asked, her voice muffled by the oxygen mask.

"Right here," he said, giving him to her. "He fell asleep waiting on you."

"My sweet boy," she said, taking her mask off to kiss Johnny on the head before replacing it again. "Has he been asleep...this entire time?"

"Bob's taken him home a few times," he said. "He's out in the waiting room trying to get a hold of your dad."

Hearing her start to cough, he took Johnny from her, and held her hand, as she used her free one to take her oxygen mask off again, and break down into a fit of coughs that left her even more winded than a moment ago before she sat up, and grabbed a basin that was next to her bed, and spat out a very icky looking yellow phlegm.

"I assume she already...told you I was dying..." she said, her voice a lot more weak this time, as she laid back down.

"Yeah," he said. "But I know you. You'll kick this thing in the butt, and you'll be back to normal in no time."

"Marcus," she said, coughing again. "My lungs...don't work. They haven't...since I was a kid. The...doctor said it was a miracle I didn't...end up like this sooner."

"But you've made it this far," he said. "You've made it far enough to marry me, have Johnny, make me one of the happiest men in the world. You're strong Maya."

"I know," she said, sitting up, and coughing out whatever was filling her lungs again. "But I'm not...afraid either Marcus...I've *cough cough* been like this before...and I'm not afraid anymore."

"But I am," he said, as she spat out more phlegm. "He needs you Maya, your father needs you...I need you. I don't want you to go."

"Marcus, I have to," she wheezed, putting her breathing mask back on, as Marcus starting crying. "If I hang on...my body's just going to...strain itself to...keep itself going. Johnny...will live in c-constant fear...that I'm going to end up like this again. Our...finances will be sky high...it's not worth it."

"But I don't want to lose you," he said, his voice cracking, as the tears ran down his face. "I can't lose you. You're the best thing that ever happened to me. You-"

"Keep you...grounded?" she asked, seeing him nod, and suppress a sob; because whenever he got upset, Johnny would know, and would immediately try to make him feel better. "Come here."

Leaning in a little closer to his wife, he watched her take her breathing mask off again so she could kiss him on the forehead before wiping away his tears.

"I know...you're scared Marcus..." she wheezed. "And I know...it'll hurt. But...I need you...and the others...to be strong for Johnny. I...I need you to keep him out of the gang business...Can you p-promise me that?"

"I promise," he whispered, feeling his lips start to tremble, as she gave him one last kiss before she settled back down.

"I...will always love you," she breathed. "Both of you."

~End Flashback: Present Moment~

"Marcus," Ross said, putting a hand on Big Daddy's shoulder. "Come on. We have to go."

Standing up from the bench, Marcus let him put another pair of cuffs on him, and went into the prison van without a fight. His lips quivering once again, as he slammed his head against the window, and just broke down. Because he had promised his wife years ago that he wouldn't try and put Johnny in the gang, and he broke that promise. And now he was going to lose Johnny too.

"Marcus," Bob said, trying to calm his brother down despite the fact that he was starting to cry too.

"Don't," he said, sniffling loudly. "Just don't."