A/N: Thanks for the R&Rs. It always makes me do this :) Thanks once again to my lovely beta who helped make this work like it does. All mistakes are still mine.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I would not be having a heart attack right now over the preview that aired for next week....... :(

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"Earth to Danny." Lindsay tossed a ball across the desk, bouncing on Danny's papers, effectively causing him to jolt upward.

"Whoa." He looked at Lindsay who gave him a questioning look across their work areas. "Sorry. I'm not here today."

"You wanna talk?"

"It's nothing really. Loren's got a cold. Poor kid was miserable and couldn't sleep last night."

"Aww. That's awful. Did you make her the famous Messer family chicken soup?"

He grinned a little. "I'm gonna do that when I go over there tonight."

"It'll fix her right up," Lindsay smiled. "Hey, you sure have been spending a lot of time over there the last couple weeks."

"I thought we established that I don't have a thing for my neighbor."

"I know, I know. But you just spend a lot of time with them. More than you do with Flack. And you talk about that little girl constantly."
"They mean a lot to me. Don't know what I would do without them…" He let his thought trail off as he put his head down and pretended to get back to his work.

Lindsay got up and pulled up a chair next to him. "Danny." She rested her hand on his arm, which made him jump a little, then he relaxed and looked at her. "Stella told me about Kerry." Danny nodded, afraid that if he spoke just yet, he might lose it. "I can't imagine what you're going through." Danny blinked hard and nodded again. Lindsay pulled Danny to her for a quick hug, then smiled a little as they pulled apart. "She also told me about what Kerry asked you."

Danny sniffled once and chuckled. "Stella's got a big mouth."

Lindsay laughed and rested her hand on Danny's arm. "She said you needed support because you were having a hard time making a decision."

"Big decision," Danny said flatly.

"Stella said from the way you were talking, you already had your mind made up?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.

Danny put his forehead down on his desk and closed his eyes tight. "I just don't want to make the wrong decision and end up kicking myself for the rest of my life. I don't want to screw this up."

"You'll do what's right. You know what you have to do."

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Danny went home that night and made the chicken soup his mother used to make for him when he was little. He put it into several small dishes and carried them down the hall and into his neighbor's apartment.

Kerry and Loren were asleep in an oversized chair together when he walked in, so he took the soup to the refrigerator before walking softly back into the living room

Carefully extricating the little girl from her mother, Danny hugged her to his chest and carried her to her bed. As he was tucking her in, he heard footsteps behind him. He looked to see Kerry watching the careful manner that Danny kept with the child, before turning the light off and pulling the door closed a little.

They walked back to the living room and Danny sat Kerry down next to him on the couch. He took a deep breath nodded to her. "My answer is yes."

Kerry immediately began to cry and threw her arms around Danny.

As he held her, tears fell from Danny's eyes too. "I promise I'm going to take care of her like she was my own little girl. I'll never let anything happen to her, Ker. I swear."

"Just love her, Danny. I want her to be loved."

"I already do." He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. "Kinda hard not to when she looks up at ya with those big brown eyes the way she does."

Kerry nodded and laughed as she tried to wipe away the tear trails on her cheeks. "She's my little heart breaker." She put on a serious face as she spoke again. "Promise me one more thing?"

"Of course. Anything."

"Don't let her date until she's thirty."

At that they both started laughing, tears still falling from their eyes.

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Danny sat on the couch with a can of soda in his hand a while later. Kerry had poured a glass of wine and stretched out, resting her feet in Danny's lap. They talked about Loren a lot. Some things Danny already knew, like the way she liked her sandwiches cut, and others that he didn't, like the way she always had to have matching barrettes or elastics in her hair.

"It's surreal, you know," Kerry said after sitting silently for a moment. "I know I'm dying, but I don't feel like I should be dying. I don't feel sick yet, Loren is just a baby, I'm still young…it's just the opposite of what I think of when I think of how people die."

"Have you talked to the therapist that the hospice company offered yet?"

"No. I couldn't think about doing anything until I had things settled with Loren. I'll call her tomorrow. I really do want to talk to her."

"Good."

"We'll also need to go to my lawyer's office this week to sign the adoption papers. She said the sooner we do it the better. Otherwise, you may be in a mess later."

"You already had the papers drawn up?"

"I had two copies started: one for you and one for my folks. I didn't really know who else I would have trusted. I figured that if you said no, my parents would have been able to handle her until she was old enough to take care of herself. But I really didn't want to do that to them if I didn't have to."

"They'll still be part of her life, no matter what."

"I know. I know you'll do great."

"What are you gonna tell Loren?"

Kerry sighed heavily. She had thought about it dozens of times since she found out but still had no clue where to start. "I have no clue. I think that's something I want to ask the therapist. I mean, she's my kid, and I know how she thinks. But I don't know how to tell my little girl that Mommy's gonna die before she's five years old. She doesn't know what death is."

Danny rested his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. "We'll get her through this."

They sat silently again for several moments. Suddenly, Kerry spoke, her tone a little different, almost hopeful. "I'm leaving everything to you and Lor. My parents and I already agreed that's what I should do." Danny opened his eyes and tilted his head slightly toward her as she spoke. "We both have two-bedroom apartments, so it doesn't matter where you guys decide to live, or even if you want to move. And I've got money saved." Danny opened his mouth to object but Kerry put a finger up to silence him. "My parents don't need it. I don't have a college fund started for Loren yet. I want you to put half the money into a savings account for her to get to when she's ready to start college. The rest is for you and Loren to live on while you get settled; you know, pre-school and kindergarten, daycares. Whatever extra things you'll have to get used to expense-wise, there should be enough there for a while."

"You should leave all of it to Loren."

"No, you'll need it, believe me. And I know you'll make sure she has whatever she needs."

"Everything under the sun."

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Don't make me beg...I'll do it, but I won't like it.