Colton

The nurse leaves us alone in Lexi's room, and we wait in relative silence for Lexi to wake up, with only Joel and Moriah talking quietly, while Mike is doing something on his phone and Luke retreats to the hall with his. It takes me a long moment to realize they're no doubt talking to their wives. Right. Duh.
I pull out my own phone and move to one corner of the room, pressing Annie's name and waiting. I don't know what time it is here, much less in Nashville, but she answers quickly.
"What's up?" she's trying to sound casual, but I can tell she's nervous.
I take a deep breath. "Um... it's a really long story, because it's been a really long night."
"That's okay, I'm ready to listen," she replies.
I take a deep breath, before the entire story comes spilling out. Annie and I are both crying by the end.
"Colt," she jokes out, "she needs you. You've just gotta be there for her."
"I know, Annie," I say gently. "Don't worry. I promised her I wasn't gonna let her go. But she needs Jesus so much more than she needs me."
"Yeah." She sighs. "Do what you can, okay?"
I nod slowly. "Of course. I love you, Ann."
"I love you too, Colt. Say hi to Moriah to me."
"I will."
And we hang up.
I return to my seat next to Alexis's bed, looking to Moriah.
"Annie says hi."
She smiles. "I'll say hi back." And she pulls out her phone.
We fall back to silence as Mike puts his phone away and Luke returns to the room, a slight smile on his face.
"Jude won't go to bed until he sees a picture of all of us," he says.
I can't help but smile too at the mention of the adorable little boy, and we all pose with Luke so that he can SnapChat Courtney and she can give the photo to their son.
But the light mood subsides quickly when we turn back to Alexis's still face, and it's not long before we're all silently praying. I know we can count on our wives who aren't here to be doing the same, even if only Annie has even met Lexi.
I have no idea how long passes before I hear her stirring, and look up slowly. She takes a shuddering breath, and her eyes flicker open.
They meet mine first thing, and utter shame immediately flashes through their beautiful depths, as they snap to her lap.
She opens her mouth, but no words come out. And I just don't know what to say. Instead, I reach over and hug her gently.
"I'm so glad you're alright," I whisper.
It takes me a long moment to realize she's crying too hard to answer, and I hold her a little tighter.
"I love you."
She shakes her head desperately. "I just don't understand that," she chokes out.
And I see the perfect opportunity. "Do you want to?" I ask quietly, pulling back so that I can look her in the eye.
I can tell she wants to look away, but she just can't.
"I..." She hesitates. "I can't."
"Yes you can, Lexi," Joel says urgently from the other side of her bed.
"Anyone can," his brother adds.
She shakes her head stubbornly. "There's no ******* way He could still want me."
"That's what it seems like to us all," Mike says gently. "But it's not true."
"Alexis, none of us deserve grace," Moriah puts in. "But Jesus loves us anyway."
"What would you know about that?" she snaps. "I've seen stuff about you. You saved your first ******** kiss for your wedding day. You're about the purest, most Christian person there is. Of course He would love you."
She smiles slightly. "Hey, you've seen the good. There's just not a lot of bad out there about you. But that very wedding day was a show of grace, from God and Joel..." She lays a hand on his arm. "We joke about it now, but do you know how rude I was to him when we first met? And all through the time we dated, I was constantly being immature and pushing him away, and he loved me anyway."
Lexi opens her mouth to scoff, but Moriah keeps going before she can.
"I know that probably doesn't seem like a lot when you look at your life, but trust me, there's more. And anyway, even if it's not much in the way of sin to you, a lot of guys would have dumped me, or never started dating me in the first place. It's a love story a lot like ours with Jesus."
I can't help but smile as I realize where she's going with this.
"We rejected him upon first sight," Moriah continues. "We never deserved a first chance, but He bridged the gap with the cross and gave it to us anyway. And countless times after that, we mess up, and He forgives us and loves us anyway."
"You might think your mess is worse than ours," Mike jumps in, "but that's not the way we see it. And it's certainly not the way Jesus sees it. Sin is sin, because it, no matter how big or small, how much, or how little, separates us from Him. But he made a way for all of it to go away on the cross. All we have to do is say yes."
There's an evident struggle written on Alexis's face, but we stay silent, giving her time to think. When she finally does speak, her voice is tiny.
"How do I do that?"
And I feel a smile of pure joy break out on my face. "Lexi, Baby, that is so easy. Just close your eyes, and repeat after me."
Within five minutes, she's been welcomed into the family of God. And, for the second time tonight, we're all hugging her. But this time, it's in complete joy, not pain.
She seems utterly shocked, but there's a small spark of light in those eyes.
When we've finally pulled back, she looks at me uncertainly. "What now?" she asks quietly.
I reach out and squeeze her hand. "Now, we take it one step at a time."
The End

A/N: Happy Resurrection Sunday!!! Don't forget to thank Jesus for the Cross and the Empty grave today, and every day!
So, what did you think? Good ending? Horrible ending? I'm hoping it was a little better than the last several tear-jerking, make-you-wanna-cuss chapters, at the very least. ;)
First off, I wanna thank FanFiction_2017 (I still don't know how to tag, but I do know how to spell this time! :) ), for being my first reader (at least, the first one I knew about), and Craver_Priceless for being my first voter, and Ambidextrous-Drummer, for giving me the idea to put OBB in, and for suggesting Tenth Avenue North to add as more main characters (I know I only did Mike, but I'm hoping it was good).
And to all of my other readers, thanks a million too. I know there's not a whole lot of you, but I couldn't be more grateful for those of you who are. I honestly didn't think anyone would ever read this book, and comparing that to six hundred views and over a hundred votes, it's fairly amazing. Those votes really did mean a lot, but not nearly as much as the simple knowledge that there were people out there connecting with and enjoying what I wrote. Also, to all of you, thanks for your comments. Seriously, they were my absolute favorites, and I got excited every single time I connected to the Internet and saw that there was one, no matter what it said.
Finally, I know the story seems far from finished, but one stage of Lexi's life is. And are you guys up for the next? I have ideas for a sequel, but I honestly want to know if that would be beating a dead horse or not (even though I hate that phrase... :,( ). I'm not gonna take offense if you think I should move onto other things. I also have ideas for a for KING & COUNTRY fanfic, and I could probably swing both, but only if you guys were interested.
So, what do you think? Sequel? Something else (fK&C, or maybe a different Colton Dixon one)? Both? Stop writing for the rest of my life because I suck at it and you never want to hear from me again? Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think.
Finally, Happy Easter one more time! I'm gonna go praise Jesus with dance, and I hope we all worship him today, in whatever way He calls us to. Just never forget that we can rise, we are priceless, and no man (or woman) is an island! :) 

So, for any of you who didn't already see, the first chapter of the sequel is up now, so, if you feel like it, you can go check that out on my profile... it's called Brand New Life. :)