Though only barely awake, I could easily make out the familiar voice of my brother, Brian as he whispered comforting words into the darkness that surrounded me. He was no doubt still seated in the ugly burgandy chair by my recovery room bed where I'm positive he'd been sitting vigil since I'd come out of surgery, likely hours before.

I felt his warm hand slip softly into mine and heard his voice once more as he encouraged me to relax. I tried my best to open my eyes, but could only manage to squint a little before my eyelids protested and I had to shut them once more.

"Hey sweetheart," I heard him whisper as I tried again, succeeding only slightly better this time. He brushed the hair away from my face and ran a cool washrag across my forehead, "How ya doin'?"

I couldn't muster the strength to actually speak but I'm sure the simple exhausted nod I gave as I weakly squeezed his hand in return spoke volumes. I felt awful. Between that and my labored breathing, which seemed to be worsening by the minute as the stabbing ache increased inside me, I was sure he could sense my pain... and understand. Because that was the kind of understanding the two of us had always had.

The exhaustion was nearly unbareable, but the pain was even worse. I closed my eyes again, this time hot tears slipped from my eyes right about the same moment I heard the nurse enter the room.

"You buzzed?" She asked and I heard Brian explain that I was in a lot of pain and ask if she could give me something to help.

He understood. Always.

The nurse came over then and asked me if I was in pain. I don't think she had to ask though, and I never needed to answer. I think the tears that streamed down my cheeks told her all she needed to know and she quickly put something into my IV and in several seconds the pain was mostly gone. I felt Brian beside me again, gathering my hair away from my face and wiping the tears away.

I could feel my body relax then and I started to drift off again. I felt Brian gently kiss my forehead before whispering, "You just rest now okay... and everything will be okay."

I nodded weakly.

"I have to go down to the lobby to meet Leighanne, and mom and dad are getting something to eat. You get some rest and I promise when you wake up we'll all be right here."

And with a last gentle brush of his hand against my cheek he turned to leave, stopping in the doorway just long enough to allow the nurse to leave before him, and to whisper into the quiet of the room, "I love you Gracie."

If I'd been able to return the words I would have... but I was already mostly asleep by then.