A/N: So sorry for the delay, it's been a very busy week. I'm glad you liked the last chapter. I feel like this story is beginning to come to a close, but not yet. I still have a few chapters to go. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Chapter 25

The sights and sounds of the city surrounded the young family as they made their way around the fall festival being held in the park. Alex watched Olivia as she pushed the stroller; her recovery was going well, she had a slight limp but her therapists were convinced that eventually it may go away. She still had bad days on occasion and would need her cane on those days but for the most part she could go without it.

Olivia was loving being able to be out with her family. Alex was getting ready to return to work and they were making a point to spend as much time together as possible. Olivia wanted to go back to work but Alex had begged her to wait just a little longer so she relented and agreed to wait. She looked to the blonde and nodded toward a booth that was taking family pictures "Hey, how about we get our picture taken?"

"Sounds great." Alex smiled but she recognized Olivia's way of saying she needed to sit down for a moment without coming right out and saying it. The brunette may have finally accepted that it was okay to not always be the strong one and that asking for help was not a sign of weakness, but it didn't mean it was any easier for her.

They sat down on the hay bales side by side with Macey sitting on their laps. Alex smiled wider when she felt Olivia slip her arm around her waist and pull her as close as possible.

"I think this is one of my favorite pictures of us." Olivia said as they sat on a bench eating lunch. She took a bite of a strawberry from the fruit salad she was eating before feeding the remaining piece to her daughter. Both she and Alex laughed when Macey grinned and made noises indicating how much she loved the sweet treat.

"I think so too." She leaned over and laid her head on her wife's shoulder.

They wandered around the park a little longer, taking Macey to the zoo before finally heading back to their apartment. Once inside Olivia took Macey from her stroller and took her to her room and laid her in her crib. She chuckled, the little blonde was so exhausted she never woke when Olivia cleaned her up and changed her clothes. She closed her eyes and sighed when she felt Alex slip her arms around her waist from behind. "Hey."

"Hey yourself." Alex placed a kiss to her neck. "Why don't you come in and sit down on the couch for a while. I know you're tired."

They sat on the couch for a while in silence simply enjoying one another's company. Alex picked the remote up and turned the tv on, it was tuned to a channel playing a military movie. Alex was about to change the channel so not to wake Olivia who was almost asleep, she was too late though. The scene on the screen displayed a helicopter being shot out of the sky.

Olivia was almost asleep when she heard the same noises she had heard the day of the crash, instantly she was back in that helicopter praying for her life.

Alex felt Olivia's body tense then begin to tremble. She sat up so she could look her in the eye and what she saw scared her. Olivia's eyes were wide open but her stare was distant. Alex knew she wasn't there on their couch, she was thousands of miles away. She had never seen such a look of fear on anyone's face. She reached out and gently placed her hand on Olivia's arm "Olivia, Olivia look at me. Olivia baby I need you to breathe."

Olivia could feel the helicopter as it plummeted toward the ground. All she could think about was never seeing her wife and daughter again. She thought for a moment she could hear Alex's voice. Again she heard Alex say her name, she took a deep breath and was shocked when she could see Alex's face right in front of her.

Alex could tell Olivia was coming out of her flashback "That's it baby just breathe. I'm right here with you." she lightly ran her fingers up and down Olivia's arms which seemed to help calm her even more "Come on Olivia look at me. You're at home in our apartment."

Olivia blinked and gasped for air when she saw Alex kneeling in front of her in their living room "Alex?" she sobbed out as she pulled the blonde into her arms. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She cried as Alex held her close.

Alex pulled back and looked her in the eye "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for." She lightly pressed their lips together and sighed when she felt Olivia relax further. When she pulled back she was relieved to see Olivia's breathing had evened out. "Are you okay?"

Olivia nodded as she began to get up from the couch. Alex gave her a questioning look "Alex please, I need to get up and move around." She slowly walked around the apartment and even went out walked up and down the hallway for a bit. Once inside she made her way to Macey's room and sat in the floor next to the crib, she reached through and took her daughter's hand in hers. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the crib and listened to Macey breathing. She had thought she was doing well, she thought she was getting better, now she was wondering if she would ever be back to her old self.

It had been a month since Olivia's flashback and she seemed to once again be improving. Her therapist was continuing to help her work through her issues and in her support group she was learning how to deal with flashbacks and the triggers that can cause one. The past few weeks however had been rough for a different reason. Alex had finally returned to work, which meant that for one day a week and for a couple hours one evening a week Olivia was home alone with Macey. Alex had been reluctant at first to leave them alone, not that she didn't trust Olivia she was just concerned about flashbacks or Macey tiring Olivia out to soon. Just after Alex returned to work Olivia came down with a cold, followed by Alex and now that she was beginning to recover Macey had gotten sick.

Alex lay in the floor next her wife who was continuing with her exercises. She watched as Olivia got into position to do her pushups. She rolled onto her side and shook her head as she smirked "I love watching you get all hot and sweaty."

Olivia laughed as she began her pushups "You might like it but I hate pushups. There's no incentive."

Alex smiled and rolled onto her back before sliding closer. She pulled Olivia closer so that they were now face to face lying in opposite directions. She rose up and pressed their lips together before laying back down "Okay here's your incentive, for every one you do you get a kiss."

Olivia smiled and lowered herself down for a sweet kiss "God this is so much better than listening to a drill sergeant."

As it usually does kissing leads to other things and before long Alex and Olivia found themselves in bed; hands roaming, sweat slick bodies sliding against one another, and calling out each other's names as they reached their climax. Just as Alex was coming down she felt Olivia begin kissing her way down her stomach "Oh God Liv!"

Olivia chuckled knowing what she was doing to the blonde but groaned when she heard the familiar cry from across the hall. She dropped her head against Alex's thigh "I'll get her."

After getting dressed Alex made her way out of their room and found Olivia walking Macey around the living room and singing lightly to her. The sight of Olivia taking care of their child never failed to bring tears to her eyes. "How's she doing?"

"Her temperatures going up. I just checked it and it's 101. Should we maybe take her to the ER?"

"It might not be a bad idea." Alex said as she began getting their things together.

At a little after four that morning they finally drug themselves back into their apartment. Knowing that Alex had class later that day Olivia insisted she get some sleep while she would watch over the sick toddler. Thanks to Macey not being able to sleep unless Olivia was holding her the brunette didn't get much sleep that night.

"I really think I should stay here." Alex said as she watched Olivia laying on the couch with Macey asleep on her chest.

"It's okay Alex, I can handle it. I don't want you to think you have to stay here for me."

Alex stood at Olivia's feet as she silently debated whether or not to leave. She had been back to work for a month and had only been there for two classes. The previous week she missed because she was sick and the week before that was because she Olivia was sick and her mother was out of town and couldn't watch Macey. Alex finally sighed "Okay I'll go but I'm calling Mom and asking her to come by." Olivia was about to say something but was cut off "Olivia it's not that I don't trust you, I trust you more than anyone. It's just I know you're tired and I don't want you getting worn out or overwhelmed. Okay?"

Olivia nodded "Okay."

By late that afternoon Olivia couldn't remember the last time she'd been as tired as she was. Macey was only sleeping a little at a time and when she was awake she was either crying or clinging to her Momma. Olivia had finally managed to get Macey to go to sleep so she decided to try and sleep herself. She groaned as she heard Macey crying again, she held her phone close to see she had managed thirty minutes of sleep. Olivia got up and walked to the little girl's room "Okay baby I'm coming."

"Momma. Momma." Macey cried as Olivia picked her up.

Olivia walked into the kitchen to give Macey her medicine. She picked the bottle up from the counter and gave her a dose before walking back into Macey's room and taking a seat in the rocker. She was surprised when in no time Macey had dozed off to sleep. She lay her in her crib and decided to lay down on the couch, hoping to get a little sleep before her daughter woke her again.

Alex slipped into the apartment and was surprised she didn't hear any crying. She had worried when she called her mother and found out she was visiting a friend on Long Island and wouldn't be able to check in on Olivia and Macey. She smiled when she saw Olivia asleep on the couch and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She went into Macey's room and was glad to see she was finally sleeping as well. After changing clothes she went back to wake her wife "Hey baby."

Olivia slowly opened her eyes and pulled Alex down to her for a kiss "When did you come in?"

"A few minutes ago. How's she been today?" Alex asked as she lay down next to the brunette.

"Clingy. Very, very clingy. I couldn't put her down at all if she was awake and she couldn't sleep for more than half an hour at a time. I gave her a dose of medicine and she finally settled down." she struggled to sit up "Speaking of, what time is it?"

"A little after six. Why?"

Olivia sat up quickly "It's been two hours since I gave her the medicine. I can't believe she isn't awake." She got up, leaving her glasses on the table since she knew the layout of the apartment enough to walk around without them. As she walked into Macey's room she instantly felt like something was wrong. She leaned over and picked her daughter up, her little body limp. "Alex!"

They met in the hallway "What's wrong?" Alex asked with a worried expression.

"She won't wake up." both mothers were now crying.

Alex took her in her arms "Macey? Come on sweetie wake up."

Olivia reached out a trembling hand and pressed her fingers to her daughter's neck, she choked out a sob "She's got a pulse." She leaned in and could barely feel her breath hitting against her cheek. She ran through the apartment and grabbed her glasses and shoes "I'm calling 911."

Alex walked into the kitchen "Olivia?" she turned when she saw the brunette about to dial "Which medicine did you give her?"

Olivia's eyes opened wide "What?"

Alex pointed to the counter where her cough medicine was sitting next to Macey's antibiotic. "Which one did you give her?"

Olivia froze, her heart thudding in her chest and her legs feeling as if they were about to give out "I…I… oh God. I didn't have my glasses on. I thought it was just her medicine sitting there."

Alex grabbed the phone from Olivia's hand and called 911 "My daughter won't wake up. She's fourteen months old."

Olivia couldn't move from her spot. She could hear Alex talking to her and trying to wake Macey. The same thought kept running through her mind, why didn't she put her glasses on? None of this would've happened if she'd just put them on. This was her worst fear, that her eyesight would cause her to harm or not be able to help her family. She finally pulled herself from her thoughts when she heard the paramedics enter the apartment.

"What did she take?" one asked as he began checking her over. Alex handed the bottle over. The young man looked to his partner "Cough syrup with codeine, adult dose."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Olivia whispered over and over again as she rocked back and forth in the chair.

Alex wrapped her arms around her "It was an accident Liv. Now come on we have to go with her."

The younger paramedic looked to the couple "We have to go now."

Alex and Olivia were about to follow the paramedics out when they stopped suddenly. The female paramedic grabbed a tube from her bag "She stopped breathing."