Title: Year Three
Author: SneetchesToo
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Ethan/Leanne
Summary: Leanne had never wanted to let people in after her accident. No, she had wanted to shut everyone out. And yet, all because of one man walking into her life on the worst night of his, she had finally found her home.
Author's Note: This is part 3 of 3. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
—
They had ended the month of August by pulling a six day shift at Angels.
She had been exhausted and so had he.
And Ariel had been every bit the cranky teenager.
But then September rolled around and she was getting suspended from school for fighting.
And Ethan was taking on a new position with a new partner.
And she was struggling to keep her head above water once again.
—
Things had been starting to look up when Ethan's brother had been brought up and his mind had started to wander once more.
She was afraid that she was going to lose him.
That he was going to go down that rabbit hole and never come back to her.
"I don't wanna lose you." She had told him that night.
"You're not going too." He had replied.
And then he had kissed her softly before he climbed onto his bike and headed toward the hospital.
He was pulling yet another shift.
Yet another evening spent away from her and Ariel.
She was struggling not to take it personally at this point.
—
October started out with Jesse's brother passing away unexpectedly.
And she had felt a heartache that she hadn't experienced in quite some time.
She had sat with Jesse during the funeral, holding his hand and doing her best to keep her tears at bay.
She had caught sight of Ethan and Ariel entering the church right before the service began and she had been shocked.
She figured that they were both too busy to offer their support.
But then Ethan had been pulling her into his arms as Ariel had hugged Jesse as tight as she possibly could and she had felt that sense of family and belonging take over once again.
—
A few days later a case that rattled Ethan's nerves had them both on edge.
A family that had survived a brutal car accident had been brought in.
And the controlling step-father was yelling and screaming and bossing his wife and step-kids around.
It had sent Ethan into a panic and he had shown up at her place in a foul mood.
And by the end of the evening they had screamed every profanity known to man at each other.
Ariel had stood helplessly between them, begging for them to stop fighting.
To stop yelling.
To just stop.
But they had been hellbent on destroying each other in that very moment.
And she wasn't entirely sure why.
—
"Are you and Ethan broken up?" The teen had asked her that question probably a couple dozen times in the past six days and she had yet to answer her.
She didn't know if they were broken up.
She didn't know what they were.
But whatever it was, hurt.
She just wanted him to come back to them.
She missed him.
"I don't know honey." She finally answered her on day nine.
"He misses you." She doubted that was true but she had appreciated the teen's attempt at making her feel better.
"I doubt that." And then she had walked away and returned to work and that had been that.
—
They hadn't spoken to each other much after that fight.
They were civil enough at work that no one asked questions.
Which is what they were trying to avoid.
And she did her best not to keep Ariel from him.
Though sometimes she really, really wanted too.
But that changed after he attended a funeral for his brother's friend.
He had taken Rox with him, along with his dad, and while it had struck a nerve that the younger woman was by his side once more, she had felt her heart ache for him.
She remembered how broken he had been after his brother had passed away.
How tired and sad and empty he had seemed.
She had gone to him that night.
Whether it was because she missed him or not she would never say.
"I'm sorry about Robbie's friend." She had told him through the screen door.
"Thanks." His eyes were red and raw and hollow.
She wondered how long he had been crying.
She wondered if he had cried with Rox or if he had waited until he was home and alone.
"Do you want some company?" She didn't know where that question had come from, but she had asked it before she could stop herself.
"Yeah." And then he was opening the door for her and letting her inside and she felt a piece of heart fall back into place.
—
Everything changed the next night though.
Ariel had fallen in love and now that love was gone.
And she and Ethan were left to pick up the pieces of the traumatized girl's heart once more.
They had driven her to Leanne's in silence.
And after the teen had showered and changed she had crawled into bed between them like she was a lost child.
"I'm so, so sorry." She had whispered against the girl's hair.
Ethan had held them both tighter than she thought possible that night.
"I love you." He had said into the darkness of the room. "Both of you. I love both of you so much."
She didn't know if had been the funeral he had just attended or the loss of the teen's first love that had made his heart so soft that night.
But either way, she was thankful to finally have him back in their arms again.
—
The next few weeks had felt like a nightmare.
Like they were living in slow motion.
Like everything around her was from someone else's life.
Ariel had run away in the middle of the night.
And Ethan had gone to San Diego to oversee Rox's surgery.
And she had been left all alone in a house that had been so full of love and laughter a few days before.
She didn't know what she had done to deserve this.
She didn't know why she was being made to suffer through this all alone.
"I'll be home in a few hours." Ethan had told her softly as she explained to him that Ariel was really gone.
"Why would she do this?" She had been asking herself that question since she had discovered that the teen was missing earlier that morning. "Why would she leave us?"
"I don't know babe." And then he had quickly said his goodbyes before hanging up the phone.
She stood in her empty kitchen as the silence swallowed her once more.
—
Ariel had been returned to them two weeks later.
And she was broken and tired and almost beyond repair.
But then Ethan had opened his arms to her in the middle of the Angels Memorial lobby and she had stepped into his embrace without a second thought.
"Don't you ever do that again." He had pressed a lingering kiss to her hair with his words.
"I won't." She clung to him until they made her go.
Until the cops took her away in handcuffs like she was some kind of criminal.
Leanne knew right then and there that they had to fight harder for her than they had ever fought in their entire lives.
—
The day that she finally stood before a judge in an attempt to get custody of Ariel was the best day of her life.
But it was also the scariest.
She had spent the morning throwing up.
Her body had been a bundle of nerves.
"You're not pregnant again are you?" Ethan had asked her the question quietly when she had crawled back into bed with him after yet another trip to the bathroom to empty her stomach contents into the toilet.
"No." She hadn't thought it was possible the first time around.
But now, now she doubted it would ever happen again.
"Okay." He had whispered before drifting back off to sleep.
She had laid awake for the next hour running that thought over in her head.
She knew she wasn't pregnant.
She had just been to the doctor a few days prior and there was no sign of anything unusual in any of her tests.
Surely a baby would have triggered a response of some kind in her report.
She was both thankful and regretful for that.
—
They had announced that Ariel was hers at exactly 2:35pm on a Thursday afternoon in the middle of May and she felt just as excited and happy and nervous as she had felt when the births of her other two children had been announced.
She was finally hers for good.
No more home visits.
No more stupid tests and questionnaires.
No more jumping through hoops.
No. Ariel was finally hers and she was slowly starting to fill the void in her heart that had been left all those years ago when she had lost her husband and children.
She was finally starting to get her family back.
—
Two weeks after Ariel was declared hers Ethan surprised them both with a trip to Hawaii for two weeks.
She had stared at him dumbfounded while Ariel had bounced up and down in excitement.
He had said that he thought it was only fitting that they celebrate such a big occasion.
And what better way to celebrate than a tropical vacation?
When she had told Jesse he had seemed less than phased.
But there was a glint in his eyes that told her that he must have known about Ethan's plan all along.
She had tried to get him to give her details, but he had refused.
"Have a good trip Daddy." He had whispered to her softly before she left her shift that night.
She knew he was up to something, but before she could question him on it he had already disappeared.
—
They had spent one blissful and beautiful week on the island before Ethan did something that had shocked her.
He had snuck her away for a walk on the beach, just the two of them, leaving Ariel to her own devices back in their suite.
And they had walked hand in hand along the ocean as they talked about their plans for the rest of the summer.
She had decided to take some time off work to spend with Ariel.
And he had already been assigned a six week stint at Fort Hood toward the end of the teen's break from school.
He had begged for them to come visit him and they had agreed.
Much to Campbell's dismay.
"I've been thinking about things a little further ahead than this summer." He had told her softly as he started to slow down.
"Oh yeah?" She had offered him a raised eyebrow but he just smiled at her in return. "Like, for Christmas?"
"A little further out than Christmas." He had whispered as he turned to face her.
"New Years?" She had felt so confused by the conversation.
They had never discussed their future together.
It had always just kind of been implied that they were together and that they were in it for the long haul.
She hadn't had a problem with that until now.
"Further than that." He shoved his right hand into the pocket of his jeans and she felt the world come to a crashing halt as he slowly lowered himself to one knee.
"Get up." She whispered. "Get up right now."
He had shaken his head at her softly, offering her the best smile he could manage as he took her left hand in his.
"Leanne…" He dragged her name out slightly as she closed her eyes.
She had never imagined that this day would come.
Not in a million years.
She had already been down this road once.
She couldn't believe that she would get to go down it once again.
"Ethan…" She opened her eyes only to see him reveal a black velvet box.
When he opened it her heart soared at the sight of the simple rose gold ring.
"I love you." She was too blown away to respond. "You make me happier than I ever thought possible. You and Ariel, you're my entire world. I love you and I wanna marry you and spend the rest of my life with you."
She had shaken her head at his words.
There was noway that he was asking her to marry him.
Not now. Not ever.
"Marry me?" He whispered his question.
"Yes." She had wanted to hesitate at his question.
She had always told herself that she would.
"For real?" He sounded so relieved and it made her beyond happy.
"For real." She said softly.
He had slid the ring on her finger without a second thought.
And then he was kissing her as he pulled her in close, his hands tangling in her hair as he held her tightly.
The setting sun behind them creating the perfect backdrop for such a perfect event.
—
When they had told Ariel about their engagement that night she had cried.
Leanne was worried they would upset the teen.
That somehow, someway, they had misread her desire for them to be together as a family.
But instead she had wrapped her arms around them both and held onto them like her life depended on it.
"I love you mom." Leanne had felt her heart explode at the girl's words. "And I love you dad."
She had never been happier in that very moment.
And she had would never have guessed that she would be standing there like that, with her arms around the two most important people in her life.
She was finally a mother again.
And he was finally a father.
And together, they would always be a family.
—
That night she laid in bed staring at the ceiling as she let the events of the last three years sink in.
She had been so lost after losing her family.
So hopeless and alone.
And she had never imagined that this day would come.
That she would be laying in bed next to the love of her life, her brand new fiancé, as their daughter slept a few feet away.
She never dreamed of having a life like this.
Not in a million years.
Because Leanne had never wanted to let people in after her accident.
No, she had wanted to shut everyone out.
And yet, all because of one man walking into her life on the worst night of his, she had finally found her home.
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