Hey! How are you all? Good? Bad? Can I please just tell you how much I kept struggling to refer to Casey as 'the baby' or 'nephew' like I had to keep deleting Casey from the sentence because they didn't know his name yet.

Kyle inhaled sharply as soon as he saw Ricky's fragile body lying in the hospital bed. She looked terrible, he looked down at the baby in his arms and was suddenly thankful for the child's young age, so that he didn't have to see have to see his mother this way.

"Nate," He said quietly, looking towards the doctor. Ricky was not in a good way, all Kyle's hope flew out the door.

Nate nodded reluctantly, "Her chances are very slim. And if she were to wake up, the brain damage would be extensive."

Tears swelled in Kyle's eyes as he thought about the young boy in his arms, growing up without his mum alive, and his father being in jail. "This isn't right."

"It's not. It's absolutely not." Nate agreed.

Kyle didn't say anything and just watched the baby squirm lightly in his arms. Nate watched him for a moment, "I'll go ask a nurse to bring you a bottle. He might be hungry."

Kyle nodded and sat down in the seat beside Ricky's bed. He pulled out his phone and dialled the prisons number. Listening to the dial tone, he rocked the baby slowly in an attempt to prevent him from crying.

"Long Bay Correctional, how may I help you?" A female's voice asked.

"I need to talk to Darryl Braxton. It's an urgent emergency."

"An emergency? May I know whose calling?" She asked, cautiously.

"Kyle Braxton, his brother. His partner and child were in an accident." He told her, trying to remain calm.

"I'm sorry Mr Braxton but notice is required before connecting calls." She told him.

"We didn't know that there was going to be a car accident. She's not in a good way. Please, just let him talk to me?" He asked, frustration evident in his voice.

The lady on the other end paused for a moment. "I'll see what I can do. Please hold."

Kyle sighed as classical hold music began to play. "What are we going to do buddy?" Kyle wasn't sure of the answer himself. He was worried. Worried about; what would happen to his nephew, what was going to happen to Ricky and how Brax would take the news.

"Hello?" Brax's voice sounded from the phone.

"Brax?" Kyle spoke into phone, "Brax there's been an accident."

"An accident? What? When?" Brax demanded.

"A car accident, Ricky was driving back from seeing you and.." He trailed off.

"Is she okay? Is Casey alright? They're not hurt are they?" Brax asked but Kyle had stopped listening to his questions.

"Casey?" He asked softly.

"Casey. We chose Casey, you didn't know?" Brax asked.

Kyle looked down at his nephew, Casey. He wasn't sure what to feel. He smiled lightly as baby banged his fists into his own face. "Feels good to finally have a name, yeah?" He whispered.

"Kyle?" Brax's voice drew Kyle's attention away. "Are they okay? What's going on?"

"Casey," Kyle started. It felt weird to say his brother's name again, even if was under different circumstances. "He's good. He's fine. But Brax, Ricky. She's not good."

"What do you mean?" Brax asked, Kyle could hear the intense worry in his voice.

"She's in an induced coma. Broken ribs, legs and apparently if she wakes up, there'll be extensive brain damage." Kyle told him.

Brax was quiet. Kyle heard the guard on the other side of the line yelling that his time was almost up.

"Brax what to do I do?" Kyle asked panicked. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. Brax always knew what to do, it was just what Brax did.

"She'll wake up though," Brax sounded sure, "Until then, you're going to be there for Casey."

"Brax," Kyle said sadly, "I don't think…." He trailed off.

"Her chances are slim." He eventually said.

"No." Brax denied.

"Two minutes!" Kyle heard the guard yell.

Kyle panicked, "Brax! I'm sorry. Um…"

He felt the phone being snatched from his ear.

"Brax, we'll look after your son. Okay. He's in great hands." Kyle looked at Phoebe, who was talking into the receiver. "And we'll be sure to keep you updated on Ricky, alright. Anything changes and you'll know. Don't worry."

Kyle watched as she nodded into the phone before hanging up. He didn't say anything, just watched as she switched the phone off.

"The prison said time was up." She said softly. He nodded.

"What are you, doing here?" He asked confused.

"Denny called me," She sat down in the chair beside him.

"Denny?" Kyle asked confused.

"She's talking to Hannah." Phoebe pointed towards the door.

Kyle wasn't sure what to say to her, and she seemed to register how he was feeling. She reached out and grabbed his hand.

He gave a small sad smile as she squeezed his hand comfortingly. They sat in silence as Kyle switched his gaze between Ricky and Casey. His heart broke as Casey began to cry, obviously tired and hungry.

"Hey, come on Case." He let go of Phoebe's hand so he could support the baby with two hands. "Shh. I'll get you some food in a minute, come on." He pulled the baby to his chest.

"Here, looks like you could use this." Hannah said, as she walked in. She held out a bottle.

Kyle took the bottle gratefully, "Thankyou." He offered it the crying baby, who greedily latched onto the bottle.

Denny who had followed Hannah into the room, stood quietly. She placed the drink and sandwich she'd bought for him on the window's ledge.

"I'm almost finished my shift, would you like me to stay?" Hannah offered.

Kyle shook his head, "I need to get this one home."

Hannah nodded, "Should I organise a car-seat hire?"

Kyle didn't respond. Phoebe glanced at him concerned before looking at Hannah. "Yeah. That would be good."

Hannah nodded and excused herself. Denny stepped forward, "Let me do that? You need to eat something."

Kyle shook his head, "I'm fine."

"Kyle." Phoebe said softly.

Kyle glanced between the two women before slowly passing the baby to Denny. He reluctantly accepted the food, and picked at the packaging.

"I'll stay with Ricky tonight." Denny said, looking up from the baby.

Kyle nodded.

The room as filled with silence until Kyle mumbled, "Casey."

Denny looked up surprised, while Phoebe who had heard him mention it before just raised an eyebrow.

"They named the baby Casey." Denny looked down at the baby, named after her late boyfriend and smiled.

"I think Casey would like that." She said, in reference to the small child's uncle.

Phoebe nodded but didn't remove her eyes from Kyle. His expression was almost unreadable, but she knew him. He was stressed out of his mind, and he was trying to keep it all together. He needed someone to be there for him, and she was going to be that someone. The Billie-Kyle situation wasn't something she could focus on, Kyle needed her.

Nate entered the room. "I'm sorry guys, but visiting hours are over." Denny nodded and motioned to the other two that she would take the baby outside.

"Kyle, we need to get into contact with Ricky's next of kin?" Nate asked carefully.

Kyle stood up, "Her parents?"

Nate nodded, "I can do it. I just need their contact details."

Kyle nodded again, "I'll look for them when I get home. I'll send them to you."

Nate nodded, "Thanks mate. Look after yourself." The doctor followed them out of the room.

"Let me drive you?" Phoebe offered.

"It's fine." Kyle shook his head, he spotted Denny and Hannah by the elevator. Casey had been placed in the car seat.

"A baby can't sit in the front seat of a ute, Kyle." She said softly.

Kyle looked at her confused before realising her point. "Oh, yeah."

"I'm going to go and talk to Nate, see if I can stick around. I'll let you know if anything change's?"

Kyle nodded, and accepted the carrier. "I'll walk out with you both." Hannah said, following Phoebe and Kyle into the elevator.

Kyle was quiet the whole drive home, Phoebe kept glancing away from the road to look at him, concerned.

"Can you keep your eyes on the road? I don't want to crash as well!" Kyle demanded.

Phoebe opened her mouth in slight shock, "I'm sorry."

Kyle grimaced, he'd heard how cold the words had sounded. "Sorry."

Phoebe shook her head, but for the rest of the drive she kept her eyes on the road. That didn't stop her mind from being solely focused on him though.

When they got inside the house, Casey had fallen asleep. Kyle unlocked the flat and placed him in the crib. He then turned around examined the flat, he wasn't sure where he would find a number for her mother.

"What are you doing?" Phoebe asked from the doorway.

"Nate needs Ricky's parents contact details." He said shortly.

"Why don't you ask Heath?" She suggested.

Kyle stopped, he looked at her and exhaled heavily. His eyes glazed over and Phoebe moved slowly towards him.

She reached up and wrapped arms around his neck, in an attempt comfort him. Kyle stood rigid for a second before, embracing her as well.

After a minute or two they let go of each other and Phoebe softly said, "I'll call Heath."

Kyle nodded and sat on the sofa, Phoebe glanced at him once more before walking over into the main house.

When she returned back to the flat, Kyle was staring absently into space. "Kyle."

"I sent the number to Nate." She said once he came out of his trance. Kyle nodded.

"What'd Heath say?" He asked.

"Not much. He didn't take the news very well." Kyle's eyes widened. Phoebe winced at her wording, "Obviously. Oh my god, I'm an idiot. Ah I spoke to Bianca though and she said they'd call you tomorrow."

Kyle nodded.

The next morning when Phoebe woke she glanced around. Kyle was sitting at the table feeding Casey a bottle. She'd stayed at the house in case Kyle needed her.

"Denny called." He told her. Phoebe nodded. "She said Ricky's mother showed up about an hour ago."

"Six?" Phoebe asked glancing at the clock.

Kyle nodded, "I have to go and speak to her. Apparently she's losing it at everyone."

"Well why don't I stay here, with Casey." Phoebe offered. It'd been a few weeks since their breakup and Phoebe knew that now was not the time to avoid him. He needed help, and he wouldn't ask anyone for it. She took the baby from, not giving him the chance to refuse.

"Phoebe, you're here?" Josh sounded confused as he walked into the living room.

"Yeah, she is. Uh Josh, you need to get to school. Thanks Phoebe, I shouldn't be too long." Kyle said and quickly exited.

Josh frowned, "It's 7 in the morning, is he serious?" He asked Phoebe as he left.

"He's just stressed." Phoebe commented, grabbing a wash cloth before beginning to burp the small child.

"About what?" Josh asked curiously. Phoebe looked at him, it really wasn't her place to say anything.

"Phoebe?"

"You're going to hear about it at school anyway." Phoebe reasoned, mostly to herself. "There was an accident, a car crash. Ricky's in the hospital."

"When? Why didn't anyone tell me? Is she okay?" Josh asked, concerned for the new mum.

"She's not doing great, I really don't know much. But you do need to go to school today. Alright, Kyle won't be happy if you don't." She told him firmly.

Josh nodded, accepting her instruction and went about preparing for his day.


When Kyle arrived at the hospital, he could hear Ricky's mother before he saw her. When he did, he noticed the uncanny resemblance. But the physical resemblance was exactly where the similarities stopped.

She was yelling at Nate, her voice loud and hoarse. "I don't care, you need to reduce the sedation level. Right now, it's my choice, I'm the next of kin and I don't want my daughter dosed up on the drugs that you've put in her system, it's doing far too much harm than good."

"Mrs Sharpe?" Kyle interrupted.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"Kyle Braxton." He introduced himself. The lady looked him up and down before turning back to Nate.

Denny motioned him over to her, "She wants them to bring her out of the coma."

Kyle frowned, "Okay. I thought they were lowering the levels today anyway?"

Denny shook her head, "She wants them to stop. Completely. Kyle, she has the final say and she wants to pull the plug, if Ricky doesn't wake up when the remove the sedatives, that's it."

Kyle's eyes widened. "No. She can't do that, can she?"

She looked back at Nate who was trying to explain, the consequences of her choice.

"She's Ricky's next of kin, Ricky never declared anyone her power of attorney so…yeah she can."

Kyle shook his head, "No." He walked over to the blonde woman and the doctor. "Mrs Sharpe, she's a mother. You can't just take that risk."

"What risk? We leave her in this coma for a few more days, weeks, months? Her chances of waking up won't be improved, she has the same chance at surviving if we pull the plug today as she would if we left it until Christmas." The woman told him harshly.

Her words were cold, Kyle was sickened by the way she was so carelessly talking about her daughter. "No. That's not true. Nate?"

Nate was quiet.

"What?" Denny demanded.

Nate looked between the three, "She's deteriorated over night. Mrs Sharpe, has yes. Very valid points, and she understands the risks but ultimately, it's her decision." While Nate's professional side did understand the mother, Ricky was a major part of his life and he really didn't want her mother to be the one to make this decision.

"Dr Cooper, I've made the decision. I want to know who I need to talk to make it happen." The mother said firmly.

"How can you do this? She's your daughter! She's a mother, a newborn baby's mother." Kyle spoke loudly.

Ricky's mother looked at him with cold eyes. "So young, he doesn't even know her. Ricky was never the mothering type anyway, I'm a much better fit. MY grandson will be in safe hands, I'm doing what's best."

Kyle's eyes widened, how could she say those things? He didn't understand how someone could be so cold. "That will never happen."

"Honey, the power's in my hands." The elder woman said and with that she sauntered away to find another doctor.

"Nate, she can't do this. Can she?" Denny asked.

"Be granted custody? I'd need to look into it. But I'm sorry, legally she's the one who is entitled to make all of Ricky's medical decisions." Nate told them both regretfully.


So this was a terrible second chapter. Like horrible, and I'm sorry. I thought I'd uploaded this already and I apparently I hadn't. Anyway I'll be uploading the next chapter for Life Goes On tomorrow and then the next one for this a day or two after.