I don't watch YnR that often, but I LOVE Nick and I think he and Phyllis are so great together… I am new to the show, but I hope I can do some justice to this couple… please excuse lapses or misconceptions that might occur.

Chapter 1

Looking around at all the boxes pile up, Phyllis wanted to cry. In the three weeks that she had been a widow her life had fallen to pieces. First, she had lost her loving in-laws had "let her go", which put her in the unemployed bracket. Then, at the reading of Nick's will she found out that he hadn't changed anything and hadn't even added her or Summer as a beneficiary of his life insurance policy; Which meant that not only did she not have a source of income, Summer wouldn't inherit anything that she was rightfully entitled to and they were now homeless as the ranch had been left to Sharon and Noah.

She was trying her hardest to be brave, but knowing that her trial would start in less than a week, she was also facing jail time. Her heart ached, not for herself, but for her daughter who having just lost the father she would never know, was about to lose her mother as well.

Last night she had sat down with Michael and Lauren and asked them to be Summer's guardian should the worst happen. Michael had tried to laugh it off, but they all knew the treat was real. Things had gotten really ugly without Nick there to stand by her side.

Summer was blissfully unaware of the circumstances they were in and once again Phyllis thanked her lucky stars that her daughter was too young to understand what was happening and too young to remember what life had been like before when they had been so happy.

Rolling some pictures up in paper she tried not to cry, tried not to notice the picture of Nick holding Summer, but the tears came anyway.

A knock on the door caused her to jump and she dreaded answering it. These days when ever she opened the door it seemed like bad news followed.

Another impatient knock followed feeding the dread growing inside of her. Opening it she knew she should have followed her first instinct to grab Summer and run the opposite direction.

"What do you want Brad?"

"Phyllis, you might as well let us in, we aren't going away any time soon." Brad remarked.

It was then that she noticed Victoria, an unknown lady, and a police officer standing behind him. She wanted to slam the door but as if he knew what she was thinking, Brad pushed his way in and she had no choice but to let the group come inside.

"What? Am I not moving out fast enough? Are you seeing what you want to have redecorated Victoria?" Phyllis moved to stand between the silent young woman and the bassinet.

"We are here for Summer, Phyllis. The court has granted Victoria and I temporary custody pending the results of the trial."

"Over my cold, dead body will you take my daughter from this house." Phyllis growled as she reached to pick up her sleeping child.

"Ms. Summers…" The unknown lady began.

"It's Mrs. Newman… you have got some nerve coming in here and…" Phyllis started to unleash her frustration on Brad.

"Look, the court says Summer goes with us, either you let us take her nice and calm or that nice officer is going arrest you. Are you that eager to start your jail time early?" Victoria interrupted snidely. Turning she reached into her purse for tissue and daintily wiped a tear from her eyes, "Nick may have been fooled by you, but everyone else knows the truth…"

"Why are you doing this? You know your brother wouldn't have wanted this." Phyllis turned tearfully and pleaded with the brunette who had started to gather some toys from the bassinet and placed them in the diaper bag on the couch.

"My brother is dead and I am looking out for the welfare of his child. That is what he would've have wanted me to do." Victoria stood up and reached for Summer, but Phyllis pulled her away.

As if sensing the hostility in the room the baby opened her eyes and let out a wail of indignation.

"It's ok, mommy won't let these mean people get you." Phyllis cooed to the baby.

Brad knew he was going to have to do this the hard way. He didn't really want to do this, in fact he had been against it even before Sharon had argued on Phyllis' behalf, which was a surprising. But, Victoria and Nikki were so angry and so consumed by their grief that they would get their way at all costs. So with a resigned air he turned and gave a curt nod to the waiting policeman.

The lady moved before him and started to talk, "Mrs. Newman, my name is Lois Stean with Child Protective Services, we are removing the minor child, Summer Newman from your home. You have left us no choice but to take her by force and it will be noted in your file."

As the cop came up behind Phyllis the woman reached for Summer and pulled her firmly from her mother's grasp. Once the baby was away the officer grabbed Phyllis by the arms and pulled her back.

"NO! NOOO! You can't take my baby… no! I won't let you do this… Brad, how can you do this? Please… no…" Phyllis' screams turned to great sobs of defeat as she crumbled to the ground the officer's feet.

As Brad followed Victoria and the social worker out with a screaming baby in tow he quickly pulled out his cell phone.

"It's Brad… look, just get out to the ranch… Phyllis needs you…" He snapped as he closed the phone. Trying to block out the sobbing coming from inside the house he waited impatiently until the policeman finally stepped outside twenty minutes later and closed the door behind him.

"Is she ok?" Brad asked. It was hard not to be concerned.

"I gave her some water and sat with her… she seemed to be calming down a little." The officer replied and then headed to his patrol car.

Fighting the urge to go back inside and check on her, he walked over to the car.

"Look Victoria, I know you hate her, but maybe I should stay with her until…" Brad began.

"No! I mean… she'll get over it. Women like her always do." She snarked and then rolled the window up in his face.

Lord knew he was desperate to save his marriage and he felt responsible for the loss of his own child, but something's just weren't worth it.

Michael hurried into the house. Phyllis had called almost fifteen minutes after Brad had made his cryptic phone call. She had been hysterical and he could only make out the words baby and child protective services… It had taken him an hour and a half to get here, but surely she couldn't have gotten into too much trouble in that time… But, then again this was Phyllis…

Damn the Newman's, he thought. It wasn't enough to humiliate Phyllis by firing her and making sure she had no place to go, but to have CPS take Summer. Heads would have been rolling had Nick been alive.

However it had started, it was obvious that Nick loved Phyllis and for his family to treat his widow with less consideration they would a bum on the street, it was sickening.

Taking a deep breath he knocked on the door. The house seemed strangely silent and if he hadn't spoken with Phyllis and seen her car in the drive he would've thought no one was home.

Impatiently, he pounded on the door twice more before slowly going in.

"Phyllis?" He called out, but no one answered.

Slowly, he looked around the living room. Boxes and knick-knacks were scattered in every direction. It was a normal scene for someone in the process of moving, but something just wasn't right.

Walking further into the room he paled at the sight in front of him.

Phyllis lay sprawled on the floor a bottle of booze lay turned over next to her, a bottle of pills scattered across the floor not more than a foot away.

"Oh my god! Phyllis!" Michael leaped over the boxes and pulled the unconscious woman into his lap. Desperately, he felt for a pulse… nothing…

"Come on…" Grabbing his phone he quickly called 911 as he started to position his friend for CPR. Quickly explaining the situation he began to perform CPR praying for a miracle.

"Damn it… why did you do this…" he muttered between breaths. Feeling for her pulse again he almost started to cry in relief. Her pulse was weak, but it was there.

It seemed like hours, but in reality the ambulance got there pretty fast. The EMT's barge through the door and quickly evaluated the situation. It no time they had Phyllis strapped to a gurney and while one was pumping air into her lifeless body another one was radioing the hospital.

Michael just crouched there on his knees crying like a baby. The Phyllis he knew wouldn't have given up without a fight… but maybe with Nick's sudden death the loss of her child was just too much to handle.

Wiping his eyes he braced himself on the coffee table to pull himself up. It was then that a folded piece of paper caught his attention.

His eyes scanned the scrawled hand writing and anger began to take the place of the sorrow and worry that had been there. Something just wasn't right here, Phyllis wouldn't kill herself. For one, he knew that even though there was a slight possibility that she would go to jail, she had remained convinced that everything would be ok. Secondly, she would have fought to the death to get Summer back. Then there was Daniel, she loved her son and she would never leave him like this.

Besides that he thought to himself looking around the room, when she had called she had been hysterical and he just couldn't see her imbibing all that alcohol, pill and then writing the perfect suicide note without scratch outs or incomplete thoughts.

Folding the note and putting it in his pocket he stood up and headed for the hospital. Nothing made sense and before he figured it out, before he could bring Summer home to her mother, he had to make sure her mother would be there.