One Call Changes Everything

Racing through the hallways, Kate stopped when she came upon a nurse. Trying to catch her breath, she stopped her and asked her where she could find Roman Brady's room.

"Are you family?"

"I'm his wife" Kate said, not even thinking about it.

"Our records don't state that Mr. Brady is married. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait in our waiting area over there. Mr. Brady's family is with him right now but I will be sure to send them your way when they come out.

Watching the nurse walk away quickly, Kate let out a shaky breath. Lowering herself into one of the chairs, she willed her hands to stop shaking.

She had been at work when she had gotten a phone call from Lucas, telling her he had to cancel their plans because something had come up. Not being one to just let him cancel on her without an explanation, she had pushed just long enough for him to tell her what was wrong.

Roman had been shot during an undercover operation and he was on his way to the safe house to tell Sami. Hanging up with shaky hands, she remembered getting up and searching for her keys. However, she had no idea how she had eventually gotten to the hospital without getting herself hurt as well.

Finally after what seemed like hours, Kate saw Shawn and Caroline coming from room 302. In the few seconds it took them to open and close the door, Kate could see Roman lying in a bed, his eyes closed and his face pale.

Getting up, she nervously started towards her former in laws.

"Kate", Caroline said surprised.

"Hi Caroline. I know you probably weren't expecting to see me here, but… I talked to Lucas and he told me what happened. I just… I just need to see for myself that he's okay"

Feeling the tears well up in her eyes again, Kate took a deep breath to calm herself down before looking back at Shawn and Caroline.

"He's in room 302" Caroline said with a smile. "He's asleep right now, but you can sit with him until he wakes up. I'm sure he'd really like that"

Not knowing what else to do to show her gratitude, Kate impulsively hugged both Caroline and Shawn before wiping the tears from her eyes and entering Roman's room.

Seeing him lying there, pale and attached to several wires, Kate couldn't believe that she had almost lost him.

Sitting down in the chair next to his bed, she took his strong warm hand in her own and placed a gentle kiss on it.

"I can't believe you scared me like that" she whispered softly. "Do you know that this is the exact reason why I never gave into my feelings for you. I didn't want to run the risk of you getting hurt and leaving me behind. And maybe looking back, I was right. Maybe if I would have just ignored you, then none of the bad stuff in our lives would have happened. You know, sometimes I really wish I could go back and just ignore you until you went away. Sometimes I really wish I could go back in time to change things"

Kate was so wrapped up in her own pain, that she didn't even notice that roman was awake at first. Only when she heard his sharp intake of breath, did she look up.

"Roman" she said, suddenly forgetting all about her own worried and focusing all her attention on him.

"Are you okay?" She asked, running a hand through his hair while leaning forward in her chair.

"Did you mean all that?"

"What? Did I mean what?" Kate asked confused.

"What you said about wanting to go back so you could ignore me until I went away. Did you really mean that?"

"Honestly, yes. Sometimes I really do wish I could go back. But only because it would have saved both of us from a lot of heartache. But then another part of me never wants to touch the past again, because the times we were happy together are too perfect for me to change or even think about changing"

Looking at the woman sitting by his bed, Roman couldn't help but smile. Maybe she was right, maybe they could have saved themselves a lot of heartache by staying away from each other, but Roman wouldn't have changed it for anything.

"I wouldn't change a minute of our time together" he half whispered.

"You wouldn't?"

"No, because in the end, what we had was so special and so strong that nobody will ever be able to take it away from us. I spent the happiest times of my life in your arms and nobody can ever change that"

Amazed by his words, Kate couldn't think of what to say. Smiling up at him, she leaned forward to place an ever gentle kiss on his lips.

Gentle moving his hand to hold it at the back of her head, Roman couldn't believe how amazing this moment was. The kiss wasn't passionate, yet it held an unbelievable amount of emotion for the both of them.

When they finally pulled back, Kate was blushing. "I love you" she said, the words coming out before she could stop them. Now that she had said them, she couldn't take them back and looking at the man staring up at her, she realized she didn't want to take them back.

"I love you too" Roman whispered, taking her hand and squeezing it. Sliding to the side of the bed, he made room for her to lie down next to him and as soon as she did, he pulled her in his arms as she snuggled close.

In that moment, Roman realized that all he needed, he had in his arms right then. In that moment, the world was perfect.

THE END