It had been hours since Taylor had been moved upstairs. Her legs were wrapped in special bandages. If all went well, her first skin graft surgery would be in the morning. It was well after midnight. The rest of the Squad had left hours ago. Walsh walked quietly into Taylor's room. His hands were wrapped in snow white bandages. There was a radio playing softly in Taylor's room. The song was Somewhere Out There by Our Lady Peace.
"Hey." She said quietly
"I thought you were sleeping." He replied
"I was just laying here." She replied. "How are you?"
"Oh, my hands are fine now." He replied
"Liar." She smiled
"Alex. I want to ask you something serious." He said
"Uh-oh. That's a serious tone there." She grinned
"Alex, were you planning to kill yourself?" He asked
"That's a bold question." She replied
"Well, given the way you were acting, I have to ask." Walsh replied
"Do you think I wanted to?" She asked in return
"It's not about what I think. Was the fire accidental?" He asked
"Yes." She replied.
"Okay, that's all I needed to know." He said
"The answer to both questions is yes." She added
He looked at her.
"You don't know how hard it is for me to be in that wheelchair everyday. If I go out, I can see the look of pity in people's eyes- in all of my friend's eyes. I don't want pity. I want my life back. Then find out that some guy was trying to get revenge and ended up almost costing me my life. That hurt. It hurts! I lost my independence. Mom was afraid to even leave the house this morning. I just want to be whole again." A tear fell down her face
"I'm sorry that all of that happened. But talk to someone, a therapist, anyone. We all care about you and want to see you get better again. It can't be that bad that you'd want to end everything over though. Alex, I care about you. When you wouldn't answer your phone it scared me. Then when you finally answered, I heard the pill bottle. I got scared and all I could think about was making sure that you didn't do something stupid. Then when I saw the smoke, I was even more scared. I was scared that we'd lost you. You mean the world to me Alex- you mean so much to all of us. We want to help you." In turn a tear streamed down Walsh's face. "I thought that I had lost you- for the second time. I don't think I could handle that Alex."
"I dropped the bottle on the floor. The pills went everywhere. I was trying to pick them back up when I knocked the candle over." She stopped and looked down at the covers over her legs. "They have given me so much pain medicine so that this doesn't hurt."
"Trust me, you definitely need it." Walsh half smiled
"But I can feel my legs. For the first time in months I can feel them there." She said as she strained to move her toes. "Look, they're moving."
Walsh was surprised at the ease that she could move them.
"That's great. So we need to get you all healed up so that you can start joining me when I finally enter the New York Marathon." He smiled
Taylor let out a laugh. "I know that I have plenty of time then."
"It could happen." He grinned
"Are we waiting for pigs to fly or hell to freeze over first?" She laughed
"Now that's what I like to see, that beautiful smile across your face with those beautiful blue eyes." He smiled
"Thank you." She said.
"You should get some rest. You've got a long road ahead of you again." He said as he kissed her forehead.
"It's not so long when you have someone going down it with you." She replied as she reached out for his bandaged hand.
"You know I'll be there every step of the way." He added with a smile
Taylor nodded. "You have been so far, so I now that you won't stop now."
"I'm not letting you give up." He smiled
"I know that you won't." Taylor replied. "You're the one person that I can definitely count on."
"There's a whole house full of us." Walsh smiled
"But, you're the one who left work because you thought that something happened." She paused. "Turns out that you were right and you saved my life. That makes you my hero Billy Walsh."
"I'm not a hero." He replied modestly
"You are, even if you don't admit it." She replied.
"You really should get some rest. You're first surgery is tomorrow." Walsh said softly
"How about your hands? You never answered me honestly." Taylor pointed out
Walsh looked at the bandages.
"There's some second degree burns. Earned me a few shifts off until they heal." He admitted
"What about your head?" Taylor asked looking at the cut
Walsh hadn't even thought about it since he saw the flames.
"Better than my Jeep." He laughed
"You better get that fixed because I'm looking forward to riding in it again." She grinned
"I'll get it fixed. I promise." He smiled
"Good." She replied. "Now promise me one more thing."
"What's that?" He asked
"That you won't leave me tonight." She added
"You want me to sit here all night?" He asked
"Please." She pleaded with him.
"Alright." He said pulling the chair closer to the bed.
"Thank you." She added
"Are you scared of having another surgery?" He asked
"Yeah, sort of." She admitted
"It won't be that bad. It'll help you." He replied
"Yeah as long as I don't get an infection or something." She responded
"You can't think like that." He said
"I know. I'm just scared. I mean we see so many people who have been burned and end up…" Walsh cut her sentence off
"You need to get that thought out of your mind right now." He said sternly. "Nothing will happen. You're going to recover from this and you're going to walk again- be a firefighter again."
"I know, I'm just scared." Taylor said softly
"It's okay to be scared Alex. It was a big adjustment to be paralyzed, and now unparalyzed. But you'll get through it just fine. You're a fighter Alex. You're a real hero."
