Later that night.

Shawn looked up as Mandy walked into the lobby. Smiling slightly she sat down in the seat next to him.

"You must be worn out." He said, reaching up to brush her hair back from her face.

She nodded. "It's been a long couple days." She stared off in the distance. "When I think of what did happen and how much worse it could have been." Her voice trailed off.

Capturing her hand he gently rubbed the back of it with his thumb. "We got lucky."

"The Anderson's weren't lucky. Nadia has to have surgery in the morning to relieve swelling on the brain and Candace might be getting on infection in her leg."

"Hey." He said hugging her close. "Their parents are here now and things will start to get better for them."

She gave him a watery smile. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because I like seeing you smile and I like hearing you laugh and I don't want you to be sad anymore." He gave her a puppy dog look.

She laughed as she pushed him away. "Why didn't you go to the hotel with everyone else?"

"Are you going?" he asked raising his eyebrows.

She shook her head. "I feel like if I leave something bad might happen."

"Then I'm not leaving either." He declared, causing her to lean over and give him a gently kiss.

Mark sat at his daughter's bedside deep in thought, memories of his daughter's childhood going through his head. He smiled sadly as he remembered the first time she had ridden a horse. She had kicked at the wrong time causing the animal to become startled and throw her to the ground. While the horrified parents has rushed to her side she had put her hands on her hips and told the horse off before climbing back on.

"She's a tough little girl." He spoke into the darkness. The pressure he had felt earlier crushing his chest was gone only to be replaced by an every heavier weight on his shoulders. What came next was the big question on his mind.

His baby girl was in the most trouble she had ever been in She had lied to a number of important people in her life and in doing so put herself in grave danger. She was going to have to be punished and punished hard, something he had never had to do before. Yeah, he had yelled, grounded her from phone, friends, fun. He has even swatted her butt a few times before. He knew Paul and Dave had spanked her lightly in the past. But that was all light compared to what Mark felt he had to administer now.

He sighed. Should he even punish her? Maybe the accident was punishment enough.

"Mark, man don't get mad but you've been sitting her for 12 hours not to mention all the stress and worry of the previous twenty four hours. You need to get some rest and food."

John said having entered the room quietly.

Mark looked behind him surprised to find he was not alone. "I don't want to leave her." He said quietly.

"She's not going to disappear on you." John said dryly, relieved that Mark was at least communicating with the world again, and not taking out his anger on him.

"I want to be here when she wakes up." He said stroking his daughter's hand.

"I can understand that, but if she were to wake up right now, man your emotions are so torn up that you're going to go off the deep end on her before she's ready." The younger man pointed out.

"How'd you get to be so smart for a punk kid?" Mark glanced over his shoulder, interested in the response.

"Hell I've been in her place too many times to count." John answered flashing a grin.

Mark shook his head. "I should have known." He said before turning serious. " Let me ask you this. How hard to you think I should get onto her for this?"

"I would say go with your instincts. She knows what she did is totally wrong and she will almost need you to be harsh with her. But when she first wakes up she is going to need to know that you still love her. Threaten her all you want but make sure you love on her and hug her while you do it."

Mark looked at him strangely. "Are you sure you aren't the one that got hit on the head?" He asked in disbelief.

"Ha, ha."

"Hell maybe I did because right now I happen to think you would make a great father." He shook his head at the thought, missing the shadows that crossed John's face. "If you don't mind staying with her I will go get some rest."

John nodded as he settled into his own dark thoughts.