Here's the second part. Merry Christmas!

"Briana, you're going to make a mess. Keep the sprinkles on the cookies." Olivia said firmly. They were making cookies for Santa, and Briana had managed to get ingredients everywhere except where they should be.

"Sorry." She moved on to another cookie and tried her hardest not to make a mess. Her hand begun to shake a little, and it didn't go unnoticed by Olivia.

"It's okay." Olivia said slightly stressed. Briana's hand was starting to shake more often, and she was having a hard time balancing on her own. Briana's doctor told them to watch out for these signs because it meant they were going to have to have her on a stronger and stricter treatment.

"Where's daddy?"

"That's a good question, sweetheart. He's probably busy at work, which is why he isn't answering our calls. I'm sure he'll be home later on tonight." It was Christmas Eve and Brian was nowhere to be found. It was like this last year, except she was the one MIA. She wouldn't be complaining if she didn't have to bake cookies, wrap presents, and get both of the kids to bed. At least last year, Brian had gotten Christmas Eve off, and he only had to worry about Briana. Now that they had a two year old and a six month old, the household was a lot more chaotic.

"But Santa." The almost two year old said worriedly. She was convinced she was going to stay up this year and catch Santa in the act.

"Sweetheart, you won't have to worry about that. Daddy wouldn't miss this for the world, okay?" Olivia and Brian had the great idea of letting Briana think she caught Santa in the act of delivering gifts.

"Sure?" She asked with concern. This night was big to her, and she didn't want Brian to miss it.

Olivia leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I promise. You think you can finish up the cookies while I feed your sister?"

"Yup!" She said with a big grin on her face. Briana loved when Olivia would give her a little space and allow her to do things on her own.

Olivia walked over to the baby swing and picked up her six month old daughter, Blake. Blake was Brian's twin, from his hairline to his stubby toes. "Is someone hungry?" She asked as she sat down on the couch and pulled out her breast. Olivia could only breastfeed from time to time. For some reason, she wasn't able to produce as much milk as she did when she was breastfeeding Briana.

Every day, Olivia was blessed to have a healthy birth. After Briana, she was afraid the same thing could happen to Blake.

"I see a head. Push just a little bit harder, Mrs. Cassidy." The doctor instructed. She was only in labor for two hours before she was fully dilated and was able to push.

Olivia took a deep breath, grabbed Brian's hand again, and pushed until her face had a hint of blue to the color.

"It's a girl! A big one too." The nurse chuckled.

Olivia smiled at the memory. Briana was six and a half pounds, while Blake was eight pounds and six ounces. She also realized that during her second pregnancy, she was a lot healthier mentally and physically.

"Momma, done." Briana said with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Okay, how about you clean yourself up, then get ready to go to bed so Santa can come."

Briana nodded and ran upstairs to get ready for bed.

Olivia chuckled slightly and shook her head. She was convinced Christmas Eve was the easiest night for parents to get their kids in bed, if it meant Santa was going to be coming.

"Yes, I know things are unpredictable at the office. I'm a cop too, Bri."

"So you can't get upset at me. I'll be there by morning, but I can't guarantee that'll I'll be home by tonight."

Olivia sighed. She wasn't necessarily upset at Brian, she was just upset at the situation. It was Blake's first Christmas, and she had an uneasy feeling that Brian was going to miss it. "I just don't want you to miss anything else. You miss making cookies and reading The Night Before Christmas."

"I will be home before it's time for the girls to open their gifts. Liv, you sound stressed. What's going on?" He paused for a moment. "You're not pregnant again, are you?"

"What? No. God, no." She ran her fingers through her hair as she sat in the middle of nursery. "We were making cookies earlier, and I couldn't help but to notice Briana having trouble doing the simplest things, plus her hand was shaking. I know she's going to be a little behind, but she's regressing more than anything." Olivia said as she tried to fight back tears.

It seemed like the older Briana got, the less she was progressing. Olivia was afraid that one day Blake would catch up with Briana's motor skills and it would affect Briana's confidence.

Brian sighed. He had noticed the regression also, but he didn't want to say anything. "Liv, we're doing everything we can for her. Do you think it has anything to do with Blake? She isn't get all of our attention like she was before. I know Blake is a baby, but both of us don't have to have our attention on her at all times. We've been kind of slacking on doing her exercises at home. Maybe we have to blame ourselves for this regression."

Brian was right. Even though taking care of Blake was easier than it was taking of Briana when she was that age, they were still giving her more than the needed attention. It was almost like they were trying to do all the things with Blake that they couldn't do with Briana. "You're right, Bri. We have to fix this. We can switch it up every night. I just don't want her problem to become unfixable."

"I understand, and I agree. I have to go now, but kiss the girls for me, and I love you." He said before he hung up.

Olivia leaned back in the rock chair and sighed. "Merry freaking Christmas to me." She whispered.

"MA!" Briana yelled throughout the silent house, that woke Olivia up out of her sleep.

Olivia jumped out of her empty bed and ran the hall to Briana's room and swung the door open. "What's wrong, baby?" She said frantically as she turned on the light and ran to her bed.

"Can't." Was all she said pointing to her legs with tears streaming down her face.

Olivia pulled the covers off and gasped. Briana's legs were ghost white and swollen. "Sweetie, I'm going to poke your thigh, and you tell me if you feel it, okay?" She tried to say in a calm voice, but she knew what was going on. The doctors had warned them that this may happen. She poked Briana's thigh and looked up at her to see if she felt it, and Briana just shook her head no.

"Lovey, we have to go to the hospital. You stay right here until I come get you."

"Scared, mama."

Olivia bit her lip to fight her tears. "Me, too." She confessed quietly before she hurried out the room and back to her room to grab her cellphone. She rushed to call Brian and hoped he wasn't too busy at the moment.

"Can't sleep?" He answered immediately. Calling him in the middle of the night was something Olivia would do when he was away at work, and she would just listen to him do paperwork. It was all the comfort she needed.

"Bri, it's happening. Briana..."

The way she said it, the few words she was all Brian need to hear. She could hear him rustling papers. "Tucker, my baby." He said before he ran out of the room. "I'm on my way, Liv."

Brian ran into the empty emergency room, and his heart stopped a little when he saw the look on Olivia's face. "I got here as fast as I could. Is she okay? What's going on?" He threw the questions at her back to back as he approached her.

Olivia was rubbing Blake's back to calm herself down, but it only seemed to agitate Blake. "There was no blood flow to her legs, and she couldn't feel them." She let out a sob. "I did this too my baby. I should have been paying her more attention. God, Brian we weren't ready for another child, and now Briana has to suffer."

"Hey, shh. Stop that." He said as he sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "You cannot blame yourself for any of this. We're doing our best raising both of them, and that's what matters. She's going to be okay." He kissed her forehead and put his hand over the hand that was rubbing Blake's back.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cassidy?" Doctor Mills, Briana's primary physician, walked out from the back.

Both Olivia and Brian jumped up from the seats. "Is she okay, Doc? Just give it to us straight." They both were having a strange case of deja vu. It was like them waiting on results in the early part of Briana's life all over again.

"Follow me." He simply said with no emotions in his voice.

They followed him down the hall and into a small office. "Take a seat." He said as he sat down at the desk and opened the folder that was in his hand.

The couple nervously took a seat and was waiting for Dr. Mills to say something. What was only seconds felt like hours to them before he finally spoke up. "She's paralyzed."

Olivia's body went numb for a few seconds before she started shaking with sobs.

Brian grabbed Blake from her and gave the doctor a nod to continue. He moved a little closer to Olivia to offer her comfort and support. This is the last thing anyone ever wants to hear, especially parents hearing it about their child.

"Temporarily. The small part of her spine that was damaged disconnected. However, you guys saved cord blood and using stem cells, we have about an eighty-five percent chance of permanently fixing her spine."

"Why not one hundred percent, Doc?" Brian asked. He really didn't want to put Briana through another surgery if it wasn't going to help her all the way.

"For her case specifically, stem cells will work one hundred percent to fix her spine, but we don't know one hundred percent if it could fix the spine permanently."

"So, how will we know if it worked permanently?" Brian was asking all the questions, which was usual when it came to doctor visits like this. Olivia would completely shut down because she always blamed herself for the situation Briana was in.

"Check-ups. If her body accepts the cells, and we see growth in the spine. If it doesn't work permanently, it would require another surgery."

Brian leaned back in his chair and looked over at Olivia for her input.

She felt his eyes on her and knew exactly what he wanted her to do. "I think we should do it." She said quietly. "I rather her have to deal with one or two surgeries than be paralyzed all her life."

Brian reached over with his free hand and grabbed her hand. "I guess we're going with stem cells, Doc."

XXXXXXX

Eight, long, tortuous hours later, Brian and Olivia were finally allowed to see Briana. Before they walked into the room, the doctor wanted to talk to them again.

"I want to give you guys a heads up that recovery is going to be hard. You guys are basically going to have two babies to take care of. She's awake and can feel slight pressure which means her body is accepting the cells. I want to see her every two weeks for the next four months to check her progress. Merry Christmas." He said before he walked off to check on his other patients.

Olivia and Brian tried to swallow the chunk of information that had just received. It was great that the surgery was working so far, but hearing how the hard the recovery was going to be was not the best news to hear.

"We can handle this, Liv. We can have my mom stay with us while she recovers so all the responsibility isn't on Taylor during the day. This is just another bump in the road that will we get over."

"That sounds good." She said in a reassuring tone, more to convince herself that everything would be okay.

Brian simply nodded and opened the door for Olivia and he followed her in the room. "Merry Christmas, Jr."

"Merry Christmas, sweetie. How are you feeling?" Olivia asked as she gently sat on the bed.

"Yucky."

Both Brian and Olivia laughed a little. "Yeah, but the doctor said you may be all fixed now, so hopefully no more surgeries."

"Yay!" She said with a little more enthusiasm in her voice.

"Do you want anything? Food? Water?"

She shook her head. "Blake."

Olivia smiled. Briana would always want Blake to lay with her after her physical therapy appointments. According to Briana, it would "'Lax her."

Olivia laid Blake next to her careful and let out a sigh of relief. Things were going to be okay. Maybe not now, but they would be.

Of course spending Christmas was not out of the ordinary for her and Brian, but for Blake's sake, they wish they were all at home, happy and healthy. A hospital room would just have to do.

I actually kind of like this storyline, but God knows I don't need to start another story until I finish one. Hope you enjoyed.