Thanks a lot to my beta reader – catchmeinwonderland. :)

I am glad that she corrects my chapters with the aim of improving grammar and spelling now.

CPDCPDCPD

Jay POV

"Lilly is alive. She had a whole bunch of guardian angels," Nat said and we all breathed in relief.

"But?" I asked, close to speechless.

"Lilly suffered a head injury as well as a blunt abdominal injury with internal bleeding. Luckily, we could stop the bleeding. Lilly is being transferred to the PICU now," Choi said, "We don't know if there will be lasting damage."

"Thanks," I said. "Can we see her?" Natalie nodded.

"Just not all at once," she instructed.

"Abby?" I asked, turning to where she sat in silence, eyes unfocused.

"I can't do this anymore, Jay." She muttered, unmoving. "No matter what the court says, you should get custody. You're the better parent," She admitted.

"Okay," I agreed. "But I think Lilly wants to see us both." I encouraged and she nodded slightly, finally moving.

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We stood in front of the room and looked through the windowpane. Lilly just lay there, connected to the ECG and respirator. The air was introduced through the nasal cannula. The device beeped in recurring intervals, reminding me my daughter was still alive. I quickly detached myself from my thoughts, opened the door, and sat down on the stool next to Lilly's bed. I grabbed my daughter's hand and held it close.

"I'm here Lilly," I whispered, looking at the motionless body. She was so pale. Her body was covered with bruises. It hurt me to see my little girl so full of pain. It was just unbelievable. Abby didn't come in the room with me. She blamed herself for what happened. It was understandable, but Lilly needed us both. For some reason, Abby didn't think that was necessary. One thing is for certain, Lilly can always count on me. I will always stay by her side. She can always come to me no matter what. I will always be there for my little girl.

After a while of holding Lilly's hand, I felt a returning pressure. I had the hand of my seven year old daughter in mine all the time. I paid attention to the movements of the smaller hand, whose grip became stronger. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around.

"Daddy?" she whispered weakly, "Where am I?" I could tell she was greatly weakened by the surgery, and it broke my heart.

"I'm here, sweetie," I answered her. "You are in the hospital" I explained, stroking her hair with my other hand. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," she whispered. "Everything hurts. Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying," I chuckled, trying to hide the tears. "I'm just happy that you're awake. You know, I was very worried about you."

"Worried even more than when I ran away?" she asked, completely exhausted.

"Yeah. I think so," I smiled softly. "I'm glad to be able to take you in my arms again," I said and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Where is Mommy?"

"Outside," I pointed to where Abby's figure could be seen through the door.

"Why?" she asked.

"She wanted to give you time because you should rest," I lied.

"Is he here, too?" Lilly asked, remembering the night's events and becoming anxious.

"No," I squeezed her hand. "He was arrested. He will never hurt you again."

"Never ever?"

"Never ever ever," I promised, smiling slightly.

"Hello Lilly," Natalie smiled and walked in. "How do you feel? Any pain?" She questioned. Lilly nodded with a pout on her face.

"Everything hurts," She whispered.

"I'll give you a painkiller right away," Natalie said, "Do you remember what happened?"

Lilly thought for a while before answering. "I fell because he punched me."

"That's right," Natalie said. "Can I do some tests with you to make sure you are okay?" Lilly nodded weakly and I moved out of the way to give the two ladies some space.

CPDCPDCPD

After my visit with Lilly, I stopped at the district. I wanted to teach this bastard a lesson. I was not going to let him get away with nearly killing my daughter.

"Well, Detective Halstead," Alexander grinned greasily. "How is Lilly? Is the little one dead?"

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face." I warned him.

"But Detective," Alexander said. "That's not very nice."

"You've messed with the wrong man. Do you really think you can just beat up my daughter like that? How about if we do the same with you?" I opened the cage door. He was just sitting on the bench and the handcuffs were attached to the wall.

"Jay - don't do that," Al warned from behind me. I didn't even realize he was there. "He doesn't deserve the attention. Drive back to Med. Your daughter needs you."

For a while I stood there thinking. Eventually, I decided to listen to Al and spared this bastard. He was right. Lilly needed me more.

CPDCPDCPD

Day after day passed, and Lilly got better. Even so, she had to stay in the hospital for a while on the Pediatric floor. It was mostly precautionary due to the extent of her injuries. Lilly was very lucky, as she would have no long-term damage.

Within that time, I got an answer from the court, too. After they found out what happened, they granted me sole custody of Lilly. I wasn't serious about taking Lilly's custody, I just wanted this man to leave my daughter alone. After getting custody, I wanted to discuss with Abby how we can both can take care of her, but she refused. While she was in the hospital, Abby only visited Lilly two times. On the second visit, she said goodbye to Lilly, because she wanted to fly back. Lilly was devastated with the news. She put up a fight and refused to let Abby leave, but she was still in recovery and couldn't do much from her bed.

"NO DON'T GO!" Lilly screamed loudly.

"Stop Lilly," Abby demanded. "The decision has been made. You will stay with Jay," Abby instructed her.

"But I want you both!" Lilly continued to cry. "You can't just go! Not now! Please stay with me Mommy," Lilly begged.

"I'm flying back tonight, but I will visit you," Abby explained to her daughter.

"Why are you never there for me?" Lilly asked softly, the realization of Abby's abandonment finally hitting her. My heart broke.

Perplexed, I watched this mother and daughter talk unfold. I stood quietly next to Lilly's hospital bed. This conversation was really none of my business. It was Abby's decision to leave her daughter. I offered for us to take care of Lilly together, but she declined. It wasn't unordinary, many parents live separately and share custody, but Abby was determined to fly back to Afghanistan. I had the feeling that she could no longer look at her daughter properly, knowing that she was responsible for so much of Lilly's pain.

"Do you really think I am never there for you?" Abby asked, shocked.

Lilly was silent and nodded her head. She shouldn't be feeling bad about any of this, Abby should.

"This decision was not easy for me," Abby argued. "You should accept it."

"Please Mommy," Lilly begged. "Think about it again," she whimpered.

"Stop crying," Abby stood up from the bed. "You are no longer a toddler."

"I hate when you leave," Lilly pouted, the anger rising. "I HATE YOU!" she screamed.

"Then hate me," Abby resigned. "But I love you, princess."

"I don't love you," Lilly whispered.

"Lilly. Think about what you said," I told her. It was hard, because I knew how badly Abby hurt her. However, Abby was still her mother.

"But…" Lilly tried to protest, but I interrupted her, "With such a statement you can hurt someone very much," I explained to her. She sighed and looked over at Abby.

"I'm sorry," She apologized. "I don't hate you mommy, but I'm going to really miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too" Abby said and pulled her daughter into a goodbye hug.

CPDCPDCPD

"Daddy?" Lilly whispered quietly. Several hours had passed since Abby left. Lilly finally calmed down. "Are you going to leave me too?"

"What makes you think that I'm going to leave you?"

"Because of all of this," she gestured to the hospital room.

"Lilly, that's no reason for me to leave you," I told her. "You have to give your mom time. She feels bad about what happened. She blames herself for not being there for you," I explained to her, even though I didn't really expect her to understand. We were silent for a while after that.

"I am glad that I have you Daddy," she smiled. I squeezed her hand. "But can you bring me something else to eat? This food is disgusting," she gestured to whatever the hospital was feeding her.

"You haven't even tried it," I told her.

Lilly grimaced as she held the spoonful of mushy mass in the air and turned the spoon over only to realize that this non-edible substance was sticking to the spoon.

"Daddy, are you hungry?" She asked, looking at me with large dog eyes and offered me some of the mushy rice pudding.

"Oh no," I quickly declined. "You still have to get big and strong."

"This only makes me sick," Lilly complained. I sighed.

"Okay, okay," I agreed. "Do you think we can get a pizza delivered here?" I grinned and dialed the number of a pizzeria, only to be met with success. 45 minutes later, the pizza was delivered to the hospital room. Lilly moved in bed a little to the side so I could lie down comfortably beside her. With relish, we ate our pizza and watched a movie.

CPDCPDCPD

I worked with the rest of the Intelligence team to help make Lilly's days more playful while in the hospital. We played card games, watched movies or just chatted. Sergeant Platt and Mouch even taught Lilly how to play poker, gambling with gummy bears instead of money, of course. Although I was pretty sure that Lilly did not understand the game, she bluffed damnably well, cleaning off half of the gummy bears.

"Whoa Lilly, where do you keep getting these cards?" I asked almost suspiciously. I was on the verge of being ripped off by Lilly, Mouch and Platt.

"Mouch shares them at the beginning," Lilly said in a cute tone with puppy eyes, pulling the gummy bear cluster closer to her. She was eating her bets during the game and still had more than my seven. In the end, however, Platt won, with her gummy bears soon devoured by Lilly as well.

Later in the day, Will came by to check on his niece, which was a welcome surprise.

"How are you Lil?" he asked, reading her chart.

"Much better," she smiled.

"Good to hear," he smiled back. "If you're lucky, you can go home by the end of the week."

"Yes!" Lilly cheered, making my smile grow larger.

"What did you do all day long?" Will asked her.

"Daddy lost when playing poker with Trudy and Mouch," Lilly announced, proudly.

"You play poker?" Will asked and Lilly nodded.

"I hope you have thought that one through, Jay," Will chuckled.

"Sure," I smirked. "Once Lil is 21 years old, we go to the casino and she wins everything up," I grinned.

"Is that really your idea of parenting?" Will asked. "You should teach her something useful."

"Says the one who teaches Lilly swearwords," I pointed out.

"What? Lilly?" Will asked horrified

"You picked me up from school. I quote: Are you handicapped? I would stop right now, you motherfucker." Lilly said. My eyes widened.

"Wow, Will. Don't insult car drivers when Lilly drives with you," I instructed him.

"How did you remember the exact wording? That's impressive," Will said and Lilly nodded.

"What? No, it's just the opposite," I insisted. "You cannot teach Lilly dirty words," I told Will.

"As if you never complain while driving," Will defended.

"Yes, but not with that language and not when Lilly is there," I said.

"Yeah because Dad prefers this," Lilly explained and showed the middle finger. I groaned.

"Yeah. Of course, it's much better," Will laughed.

I sat there perplexed. It definitely was not much better. Children see what the adults do and learn pretty quickly from it. I shouldn't have been surprised my daughter wasn't any different.