The Dawn Will Come

Alexis Castle sat alone in the hospital waiting room, cradling her baby sister with only two uniformed Police officers for company while she waited for updates on her father and Kate. They had both come in nearly blue from cold, and though the doctors had been able to get their core body temperatures back to within acceptable levels, neither of them had awakened.

Their doctor would not allow her to bring an infant into the ICU and there was no one around she felt comfortable leaving Johanna with under the circumstances, so a quick view of their adjoining beds from the doorway was all she had been able to get of them.

They had gone out dressed to the nines as the guests of honor for a New Year's Eve party thrown by Mayor Weldon. "Uncle Rob" was still trying trying to get back in their good graces after the whole "banning him from the precinct" thing the previous year. He'd bowed to political pressure from the District Attorney who had clearly had an ax of her own to grind. It had been almost pathetic to watch really.

When they hadn't come back the next morning a search for them had begun. Kate never missed a night feeding no matter how neck-deep in a case she got. In spite of her insecurities early on, Kate had turned out to be twice the mother her own had been, nothing kept her from her child.

Their town car had been found earlier this evening, half submerged in one of the ponds in a secluded section of Central Park. Their driver was dead with a gunshot wound in the forehead and they'd been handcuffed together to the back seat of the car soaking wet and left to die. It was only by a twist of fate that the car hadn't rolled all the way in. After hitting the water, a rock barely the size of her hand had stopped the submerged front wheel.

The doctors had done everything that could be done. When Doctor Anderson had come out, he'd said that they'd done all they could over the last few hours to get their core body temperatures back up. The rest would be up to them. Of course, with her smaller, leaner frame they were more concerned about Kate than dad, but he'd given up a lot of body heat in the vain attempt to keep her warm. They would keep them under careful observation, then wait and see what the morning brought.

Johanna began to fuss as she roused from sleep, then began to cry.

Alexis was close to tears herself as she coiled up with her infant sister on the comfortable couch of the ICU waiting room, close to tears herself as she rocked the baby in her arms, trying everything she could to soothe her. She hummed a tune that seemed vaguely familiar... from a video game her dad had become obsessed with during the time he'd been banned from the precinct last year. It was stupid... from a game she had only played once or twice with her dad to keep him company so he wouldn't drive himself to distraction waiting for the phone to ring and praying it wouldn't while he couldn't be out there with Kate to make sure she came home to their family every night.

Any thought of nursery rhymes had abandoned Alexis, but the words to this song spoke to her tonight of all nights as she began to sing softly while rocking her baby sister in her arms.

"Shadows fall, and hope has fled
Steel your heart, the dawn will come
The night is long, and the path is dark
Look to the sky, for one day soon
The dawn will come"

Kate's phone had still been in her hand, her whole body seemingly curled around it when they'd been found. In a city the size of New York, how had there been no signal? The one, half minute call they had gotten out had been barely been long enough for Tory to narrow down a search grid. Upon forensic examination, the last thing viewed on it had been a video of her holding Johanna, making her laugh for the camera while dad had cooed at her from off screen. Dad had sent it to her on her first day back from maternity leave to bolster her spirits.

Alexis tried not to imagine what her dad and Kate must have been through, trapped in the car, slowly freezing to death. Neither of them knowing if they would live to see her or Johanna again. Waiting for help that almost hadn't come in time, while Alexis had been in their nice warm house, angry that they hadn't called to say they'd gotten a hotel or something.

"The shepherd's lost, and his home is far
Keep to the stars, the dawn will come
The night is long, and the path is dark
Look to the sky, for one day soon
The dawn will come"

She thought about all of the times the two of them had been in danger in the past. Then her thoughts strayed to Ryan and Esposito who were out there in the black of night searching for the hired assassin who had tried to kill them. She hoped he chose not to be taken alive, that he died in a hail of gunfire.

"Bare your blade, and raise it high
Stand your ground, the dawn will come
The night is long, and the path is dark
Look to the sky, for one day soon
The dawn will come"

She knew the doctor would be in to see her soon. He'd said their prognosis was fair, that they only needed to give them time to wake up. The night was long and dark now, but soon the dawn would come.

It had to.

**Author's note** I had originally written this on Christmas eve, but I thought it was far too dark right before Christmas, not to mention the whole "Belly of the Beast" scenario I'd originally had in mind was a bit too contrived. But a Bracken vengeance attempt? That seemed like a better story in the light of day.

Yes, I admit it, I am playing Dragon Age: Inquisition and wanted to use that song in a fic. Blame my nephew Zack, (whom I've been playing video games with since he was 4) he got me hooked on it. You guys have to deal with the fallout.

I'll try to make the next one a bit lighter, promise.

Mark