a/n: hope you all enjoy the story! Reviews are always appreciated

disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 1: Nothing Ever Stays Perfect

"Mommy, mommy, I'm hungry!"

Casey heard a small voice say, shaking her awake. She groaned and closed her eyes tighter. Her personal, free alarm clock was here: right on time. She was just surprised that her daughter's partner in crime wasn't with her.

"Mommy, I'm hungry too!" another voice said.

'Aw, there she is,' Casey thought. She opened her eyes slightly, looking at her four year old, identical twin daughters, Lily and Ella. Both girls had her blue eyes and their father's brown hair. Casey could tell the difference between them though; mostly through their personality.

"Lily, Ella, can you ask daddy, I'm a bit tired and it will take me a while to get out of bed," Casey said just as she saw her husband come out of the master bedroom washroom. She saw that his hair was damp and she assumed that he just finished his morning shower.

He smiled as the two girls ran towards him. He bent down, pulling them into his arms before they collided with his legs. He spun them around, causing them to giggle with joy, grabbing onto him for dear life, afraid that he would drop them; but there was no doubt that, that would never happen.

"Now what's all this about someone being hungry?" he asked the twins.

"We want food!" Ella shouted

"Please!" Lily said, not forgetting the manners that Casey taught them.

"Well, I suggest that we get food," he said as he put the twins down.

The girls giggled some more as they ran out of the room and down the stairs, toward the kitchen.

Once they left, he went over to his wife and Casey quickly shut her eyes, turning over, in hopes that he would go away, but she had no such luck.

"Case, time to get up, Anna and Sabrina are coming over today, remember? You three have to organize all the dance costumes," he said into her ear.

Casey groaned. She knew she had to get up but she hated this part of the year, it took hours to organize all of the costumes.

"Up!" he commanded, grabbing the sheets on the bed and yanking them from Casey's grasp.

Casey turned over, looking straight up at her husband. "You'll have to help me, I can't get up by myself anymore," she said to him.

"Um… maybe I'll leave you here, or just stand back and watch you waddle your way up," he said, taking a step back.

Casey gave him an annoyed look. "Do I need to remind you that I am carrying your child, your baby boy. You're the one who impregnated me nine months ago and just because you don't have the body fat to carry around with you everywhere doesn't mean you can leave me," Casey said, trying to sit up.

"Is that the way to talk to the father of your future son?" he said, turning around, getting ready to leave.

"Derek!" Casey screamed at him.

Derek quickly turned around, still smirking. He grabbed her hands and helped her up.

"Thank you," Casey said, letting go of his hands and Derek wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You're welcome," Derek replied, not breaking his gaze from hers. Casey tried to move but Derek kept her trapped between him and the bed.

"Derek, the girls are hungry," she said.

"I know, but I just like to look at your lovely face," Derek said, then pulled her in more to kiss her.

"Ew!" Lily and Ella cried. Derek and Casey broke apart and he ran to Lily and Ella. The two girls screamed and tried to run but he caught them before they made it to the stairs, carrying them down, one in each arm.

Casey shook her head and then started to get ready. Her two friends were coming over in an hour. Anna and Sabrina were the other two co-owners of the dance studio. She still couldn't believe that she actually owned a dance studio. It had been her dream, but she never thought it would become a reality not having enough money to start it on her own, but then she met Anna and Sabrina in university and they all seemed to click. It seemed like they always had been best friends.

What was great was that they danced too, and a year after they finished university, they opened up a dance studio, called 'Jump Dance Studio.' Now three years later, they were still making more money than the year before, growing and teaching children not only dancing, but how to show their emotions through dancing.

Once Casey finished everything she needed to do upstairs, she slowly travelled down the stairs. It was hard to move up and down the stairs for her now, so once she was downstairs, she didn't go back up until Derek arrived home from work. When she was at the bottom of the stairs, she peeked at her living room, where it was usually very clean but today it was filled with tons of costumes that needed to be sorted.

She then turned to her kitchen, which Lily and Ella were barrelling out of. They quickly put on their shoes and then grabbed their bags: they were very independent four-year-olds. Derek came out behind them, handing Casey some orange juice since she couldn't have coffee.

"Thanks," she said, sipping her drink. "You better hurry up or they'll be late."

Derek always seemed to be rushing them out the door. Usually she would be driving the girls to school but Derek stepped in a lot when she got into her third trimester of the pregnancy.

"No they're not, not if I can help it. Oh, I made you breakfast, it's on the table," he said kissing her cheek. "Bye, love you," he said before he ushered the twins out of the door.

"Love you too! Have a good day," Casey called after them, waving as she watched Derek drive away. She closed the front door and walked to the kitchen where Derek left her breakfast for her. When she was about to sit, the phone rang. She quickly grabbed it, picking it up as she was sitting down.

"Hello?" she said into the phone.

"Hey, so how's the mother to be?" a voice asked her.

Casey smiled. "Hey Darrin, just on time," she said. Darrin always called her in the morning to ask her how she was doing during the pregnancy. She met Darrin when she was in university. He was Sam and Derek's friend first and when she met him, they seemed to hit it off. He was very skinny and wimpy looking but he had a kind heart: she considered him as her brother.

"So how are you?" he asked.

"Fine, yourself?"

"Yeah, I'm fine too. So what are you up to today?"

"Just organizing the costumes with Anna and Sabrina," Casey replied.

"Oh, so you will be home all day."

"Seems like it."

"Well I'll let you go then. I'm sure you have stuff to do before Anna and Sabrina get there. I'll talk to you later," Darrin said.

"Bye," Casey said.

She then hung up the phone and began to eat her breakfast. Not long after, her doorbell rang and she opened it finding Anna and Sabrina.

"Hey," Sabrina said, walking in as Anna followed, caring snacks in both her arms.

"We're not eating those while we are going through the costumes," Casey declared.

"I know, just figured that we would get hungry so I brought snacks. I'm going to put them in the kitchen, far away from the costumes," Anna replied.

Once she put them down, she joined Casey and Sabrina in the living room, where they were staring at the costumes.

"So, let's get started," Anna said, rubbing her hands together. Only Anna was excited at the thought of spending hours sorting. She found sorting very relaxing, unlike Casey and Sabrina, who both sighed when she said it.

--

After dropping the twins off at school, Derek drove to his work. He and Sam opened up their own sports store when they finished university. They both really enjoyed talking to customers, helping them find whatever they needed. They loved being their own boss and making their own hours, which was great for Derek and Sam, both having families.

Derek unlocked the door, turned on the lights, and flipped the sign to indicate that they were open. Not long after he entered the store, he heard the phone ring.

"'All You Need In Sports,' Derek speaking, how may I help you?" Derek said into the phone.

"Hey Derek, just called to see how it was going." Derek heard the voice say.

"Darrin, hey man, how are you?"

"Good, yourself?" he asked.

"I'm great, so did you call Casey yet?" Derek asked, knowing that Darrin was always worried that something might happen to Casey during the pregnancy. He assumed it was because Darrin had seen his mother go through five miscarriages and dying the sixth time.

"Yeah, just talked to her. She seems fine."

"That's good."

"Hey, so I take it you're at your store," Darrin said.

"Yup, just opened up."

"I take it no customers yet or else you wouldn't be talking to me."

"Yup, you know me so well," Derek replied.

"Yeah, so I gotta go, I have my own job to get to," Darrin replied.

"K, bye," Derek said, hanging up the phone just as Sam walked in.

"Hey, I brought coffee and doughnuts," Sam greeted.

"Um, are these invisible doughnuts?" Derek asked, taking a coffee from Sam.

"No why?"

"Where are they?" he asked. Sam looked at his hands, realizing that he wasn't carrying any doughnuts.

"Shit, I left them in the car," Sam said, running out of the store.

Derek shook his head and sipped more coffee. At this moment, Derek was happy. He had a great family and loved his job. He was enjoying life. What was even better was that he was going to soon get a son, another child to love and adore and he couldn't wait.

Yes, Derek was happy, which was why he didn't see the forthcoming event. The one that would change his life as well as everyone's around him. Well, his happiness isn't to blame for this event. Derek had no way of seeing into the future. If he did, he would have stayed home, gone with Sam to get the doughnuts, or locked the store door. He didn't do any of those things because he didn't know.

No one could have known except for the next person that walked into the store.

When Derek heard the jingle of the bell, he came out from the back, where his office was and went to the counter. This was where he was faced with a masked man and a gun.

Derek didn't waste any time: he put his hands up in the air, showing the masked man that he didn't have anything to use as a weapon.

"Hey man, take whatever you want," he said. He didn't stutter like most people would, he was too much in shock to even think about stuttering. He never thought that he would see a gun ever in his life, living and Canada where they are illegal. Of course, he knew that people had smuggled guns across the border but he never thought he would see one.

Derek thought about situations like this and what people said. He had heard that his life was suppose to flash before his eyes if he was in a near death experience. All Derek was thinking about though was Casey, his two daughters and his unborn son. How he needed to be alive for them.

He watched the masked man but he didn't move the gun, he didn't do anything or say anything. He just stood there, which Derek thought was weird. He had seen many burglaries on T.V. and usually this was the time the robber told him to open the cash register.

It was only then that Derek looked at the gunman's eyes and at that moment, he knew that this man didn't intend to rob him. The last thought that went through his mind before everything went dark was Casey dancing. How graceful and beautiful she looked when she danced and he wished that he would be able to see that one last time.

--

Sam was carrying the doughnuts, walking back to the store when he heard the gunshots. At first, he didn't think anything of it, never hearing a gun shot before. He thought it was just a car backfiring. But then he saw the masked man run out of the store and Sam knew something had gone terribly wrong.

He dropped the doughnuts and ran towards the store. Once he was inside, he didn't even slow his speed as he ran to the desk, shouting Derek's name but he didn't hear Derek call back. A second later, he knew why.

Derek was on the ground, unconscious, blood all around him. He didn't even know where the blood was coming from because there was so much.

Sam reached for the phone and fumbled to call 911. Once he reached a dispatcher, he almost shouted what had happened and then explained where he was. The dispatcher tried to get him to stay on the line but Sam had let go of the phone and took off his sweater, pressing it to Derek's head because blood was gushing out of it.

--

"Alright, so Monday's classes are done, names on everything, no costume seems to be torn, too small or too large. Praise everything that is holy, we should celebrate!" Anna said already standing up and walking to the kitchen.

"Anna don't take a break now! We haven't been at this for too long," Casey called.

"Yeah well I need to stretch my legs!" Anna called back.

"You should stretch your legs too," Sabrina said, helping Casey up. They began walking to the kitchen when the phone rang. Once they were in the kitchen, Anna passed the phone to Casey.

"Hello," Casey said into the phone as she reached for her water, taking a sip.

"Casey! Casey, you need to get to the hospital, there's been an accident!" Sam screamed into the phone.

"Whoa Sam, slow down," Casey said, unable to understand him since he was talking so fast.

Sabrina looked at Casey when she heard her say Sam's name. Sam and she were married and they had a three-year-old daughter and a four-month-old son. When she heard Casey say Sam, she knew something was wrong. Sam would have called Casey's house to talk to her and Casey would have passed her the phone right away.

Sabrina watched Casey's face fall, the smile that she had seconds before was now gone and a very painful expression replaced it. Casey dropped the glass that she was holding and the phone simultaneously and Sabrina jumped out to catch Casey before she fell to the ground. Glass shattered causing Anna to look up, realizing that something was terribly wrong.

Casey began to take in huge short breaths. Tears started falling down her cheeks as she began shaking her head. "I can't do this by myself! I can't do this! Oh the pain! The pain hurts too much!" Casey screamed, clutching her stomach.

"Casey, Casey look at me. You're having a panic attack, you're putting a lot of strain on the baby, you have to calm down or you could go into early labour," Anna instructed.

Anna's sister was a nurse, and she got free private lessons on how to control your emotions when pregnant because she hoped that Anna could use these tips in the near future.

While Anna was talking to Casey, Sabrina picked up the phone. "Sam what happened?" she asked.

"Derek's been shot!" Sam said, "Casey needs to get to the hospital, they're operating on him!"

"Sam I have to go," Sabrina said, knowing what kind of state she would be in if she heard Sam had been shot. "I have to call for an ambulance, Casey is going to go into early labour," she explained.

Casey was having contractions as she kept shouting that she couldn't do this alone. Sabrina quickly dialled, looking at Casey's face. Sabrina's worried expression was the last thing Casey saw, but her thoughts were elsewhere focusing on memories of Derek's face before her whole world went dark.

--

Casey opened her eyes the next day, seeing the sunlight coming through the window. She looked down and saw someone holding her hand. At first, she thought it was Derek but then she realized that it was Sam. Holding her other hand was Sabrina. She saw her mother and George on the couch with Anna. Everyone was sleeping, but once Casey moved, Sam opened his eyes.

"Hey," Casey said, trying to sit up, letting go of Sam and Sabrina's hands.

"Hey yourself," Sam said, calmly. He felt guilty that he called Casey, panicking her. He felt he should have known better.

"Where's Lily and Ella?"

"With Lizzie," Sam replied.

"And the baby?"

"He's very strong and healthy and I'm sure once the nurse comes in that she will bring him to you," Sam said.

"And what about Derek, is he, um…"

"He's alive, but…" Sam trailed off, knowing that the doctor advised him to tell Casey slowly about what happened to Derek.

"But what? Sam, please tell me, I need to know."

Sam looked down, he grabbed Casey's hand and covered it with his own. "He's in a coma. It seems that the bullet hit him in the side of the head. It didn't kill him but he's in a coma that he will most likely not wake up from," he said.

Casey nodded, having a few tears roll down her cheeks. "Can I see him?" she asked as a nurse came into the room. The nurse knew what was going on with both Casey and her husband.

"Of course you can," she said grabbing the wheelchair that was placed in the room for Casey to use. "You'll just have to be careful to not rip your stitches," she warned as she and Sam helped Casey into the wheel chair.

Sam pushed her to Derek's room, which was two floors above her own. The nurse came with them, warning her to stay calm. Casey did the breathing exercises that she learned in the birthing class that she took with Derek. She used them when she went into labour with the twins. She remembered to breathe in and out, but she highly doubted her birthing teacher ever meant for the breathing techniques to be used for this.

When Sam finally reached the room, Casey used her hands to push the wheels, feeling that Sam wasn't going fast enough. She didn't stop pushing until she reached the bed. She looked at Derek, and he just seemed to be sleeping with a tube down his throat. He looked so peaceful and it was then that Casey realized that even though the chance was low, there was still a chance that Derek could wake up.

"I'm not going to pull the plug, no matter what. I will not kill him," Casey told Sam, grabbing Derek's hand.

Sam nodded, knowing that if he were in this situation, he wouldn't want to pull the plug at first. He had heard about cases like this before though. His mother worked in the hospital at the coma unit. She told him that it was always sad to go from room to room because she would see hopefuls, the ones that have only had their loved ones in a coma for a few months. Then she would see them after a year, still trying to find that hope, but finally, after years, it gets too much for them and they pull the plug.

It was only a matter of time in these situations, his mother would say. This was the same situation that Casey was in now. The doctor said that Derek had a very low chance of waking up. Sam knew he wasn't waking up, and knew Casey was a realistic person and would agree to pull the plug at some point. It was only the question of when.

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