Stepping out of the shower, Jack grabbed a towel and dried his face, before wrapping it around his hips. Looking around, he found the toothbrush Ilse had given him and brushed his teeth. He should probably shave, Jack mused, seeing his reflection in the mirror. Hearing a knock on the door, he spat out the toothpaste and cleaned his mouth. Two steps and he reached the door, quickly unlocking it he opened the door to see Ilse smiling at him.

"Cassie wants to talk to you," Ilse said, handing him her phone. "She couldn't reach you and I gave her my number when I was in Colorado Springs, so she called me."

"Just let me get dressed, okay?" He gave her the phone back and walked into the guest room she had prepared for him. Drying himself with the towel, he grabbed a pair of boxers and stonewashed jeans he'd left with Ilse the last time he was here. Slipping in them, he walked back to the room, picking up a black sweater on the way and pulled it over his head, before taking the phone from Ilse.

Turning towards the window and looking out into the night, he took the soda Anna handed him. "Cassie?"

"Jack!"

"Aren't you supposed to be at Carter's wedding?" Jack snorted, thinking about Carter marrying that stalking, distrustful cop.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't in the partying mood," Cassie sighed.

Frowning, Jack thought for a moment. "You didn't go? Cass, I thought we agreed that–"

"I went, sat there smiling and even cried a bit. Mark thought I was behaving like a normal human being. Until Sam told me what happened Sunday evening."

Jack was just about to take a sip of his soda and he coughed loudly. "What?" He yelped, before clearing his throat. "Um… what did she tell you, exactly?"

"Right before the wedding she told us you weren't coming…"

"Yeah, well, I told her I probably wasn't able to come by–"

"She said something about not seeing each other anymore?"

Hearing the sadness in her question, Jack sighed. "Cassie, it's for the best. I'll be in DC, she'll stay in Colorado Springs with her new husband and play house. I don't think I could stand by the sideline, watching her."

"What about the emergency? Did… is Lily all right?"

"No, she's not. We just left the hospital a few hours ago, because she needed to rest… it doesn't look good, Cassie."

"Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry," she sniffled.

"They had to perform an emergency c-section…" Jack told her about Nathan and Maddy and their precarious condition, as well as Lily's endangered health.

Giving Jack his privacy, Ilse and her mother had moved into the kitchen. Anna had put Milou down the moment they came home and it was almost time for her to wake up, needing to be fed. Ilse had decided they could take a glass of wine to relax after the emotional draining day they'd had and as soon as she took her last sip, she heard her little niece crying through the intercom.

"I'll take her, why don't you go get some sleep," she told her mother, who had been taking care of Milou the last few days. Ilse was still young and energetic and could adapt quickly to Milou's schedule, but she knew her mother had more difficulty adjusting. It had been twenty years since she had to get up for an infant and she was already having trouble sleeping, so Ilse didn't mind taking care of Milou. She loved the little girl as if she were her own. Grabbing the diaper bag in the living room, she walked over to the room she had converted to the baby room.

Picking up Milou, she soothed her in a soft tone, before laying her down next to the diaper bag. Quietly singing her a song, Ilse changed her diaper. Every now and then, she'd tickle the baby to see that big smile of hers. It was Lily's smile… the smile that hadn't been gracing her little sister's face for days if not weeks. The only time it would break through was if Jack was there or if she was cuddling Milou. And of course, this afternoon after she had visited her babies.

Fastening the new diaper, she pulled down the onesie and cuddled the baby. Ilse smiled as she heard Milou cooing and she rocked the little girl, while telling her a story.

Yawning, Jack stretched his tall frame and turned on his side to look at the alarm clock. Seeing it was past 0800 hours, he got up from his comfy bed and grabbed a shirt before walking over to the open kitchen.

"Goedemorgen," Anna greeted him.

"Morning," Jack answered, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "The hospital hasn't called?"

"No, and that's a good sign, Jack," she replied, turning the page of her newspaper.

"Is Ilse still asleep?"

"Showering."

Nodding, Jack grabbed some bread and joined Anna at the breakfast table. Ah, cheese, now that I like, he thought smirking. Putting cheese on his bread, he automatically reached over for the discarded pieces of paper next to Anna. He took a sip of his coffee, before focusing his attention at the newspaper. "Right," he muttered under his breath, realizing it was a Dutch paper.

"Don't worry about it, nothing special happened," Anna grinned at him, realizing his mistake. "You know, you're never too old to learn…"

Huffing at her suggestion, he pushed the paper out of the way and ate his breakfast.

"Morgen," Ilse cheerily greeted the two people in her apartment, before walking over to the counter to make herself a cup of tea. Hearing the two muttered replies, she turned and quirked an eyebrow. "Haven't had your caffeine shot yet?"

Shrugging, Jack gave her a small smile. "Jetlag, I think."

"Yeah, me too," Anna remarked, using anything as an excuse to not have to think about Lily.

"I understand, that hour driving the other day must have worn you out," Ilse teased her mother.

They all knew why they were upset and no one felt like talking about it.

"Did you have to get up a lot?"

Looking at her mother, Ilse shook her head. "No, Milou only woke me two times after I went to sleep. She's really settling into her new routine, which is good."

"Hmhm," Anna confirmed, taking a sip of coffee.

Placing his plate in the sink, Jack turned to the two women. "What time do you think we'll go to the hospital?"

"I don't know, I'm almost done, just have to finish my hair and makeup. I already bathed and fed Milou, so she's about ready to go as well."

"I already took a shower," Anna added. "I'm ready when you are."

"Give me ten minutes," Jack said, before going to his room to grab some of his clothes and headed to the bathroom.

Walking down the parking lot, Jack picked up his pace. It had taken him longer than he'd thought to find a free spot and the women had already gone inside as it had started to rain. He ran the last few meters to the door and quickly found his way to Lily's hospital room. After a rap on the door, he opened it and went inside.

"Hey," Lily smiled at his wet appearance. "Gotten wet, huh?"

"Yeah," Jack grimaced, dragging a hand through his hair. Turning his head to the other man in the room, he quirked his eyebrows. "And this is…?"

"Our family doctor," Lily said in a soft, apologizing tone.

Automatically shaking the other man's hand and introducing himself, Jack didn't realize the implications until he sat down and saw the looks on everyone's face. "Family doctor? Why?"

"Jack, I told you about this," Lily started carefully, trying to find the right words. "He's here to make the final arrangements."

"Arrangements?"

"You know," Ilse poked him. "Lil told you this a few weeks ago," she bit her lower lip.

Realization dawned on him and all Jack could do was nod. "When?"

Feeling guilty, Lily swallowed and avoided his gaze. "It depends on what the notary has to say. He'll drop by early in the afternoon and then we can set a date. This was just a routine checkup."

"Right," Jack snorted. "A routine checkup."

"Why don't you go over to Nathan and Maddy, the doctor told me the treatment seems to be working when I was there this morning." Lily told the others, wanting, needing, to talk to her doctor alone. This was something she had to do on her own, the last thing she would do. "Milou is asleep, she can stay here."

"Tot straks," Ilse nodded at the doctor and Lily, telling them she'd see them later, as she pushed Jack and her mother out of the room. She knew what this was about, what her sister needed to do and why she had to do it. That didn't mean it wasn't hard on them, though.

"So, we're just going to let them…?" Jack asked, still a bit confused and surprised.

"What else can we do? After all, it's her choice," Anna replied in a sad voice. It was heartbreaking, but she knew it was for the best.

They walked over to the NICU in silence and as they got there, they put on their special suits and walked over to the incubators.

"Cassie, I'm glad you came back," Sam greeted the younger woman, happy to see her after opening the front door.

"I just came to say goodbye," she replied in an apologizing tone.

It was only now that Sam noticed Cassie had traded her auburn colored dress for tight black jeans and a green top. "Goodbye?"

Nodding, Cassie walked past Sam and entered the house. "Yeah, I called Daniel and he told me you were on your way home to grab your stuff for the honeymoon."

"It'll only be two weeks, Cassie," Sam smiled, closing the door.

"No, it won't."

Frowning, Sam walked up to her. "What are you talking about?"

"I won't be here when you get back," Cassie bashfully admitted.

"Why, are you going to spend the rest of your summer vacation on campus?" she asked her in a disapproving tone.

"Um… no," Cassie started.

"Cassandra Fraiser–"

"Don't 'Cassandra Fraiser' me, Sam," Cassie yelled angrily, surprising both of them.

Placing a soothing hand on her shoulder, Sam responded. "Cassie… You can't just go, I'm still your legal guardian, and Janet would–"

"Don't you dare, Sam!" Cassie exclaimed, taking a step back, trying to rein in her anger. "If Mom were still alive, she would've never let you marry that stalking, good for nothing cop!"

"Cassie!"

"It's true and we both know it," Cassie petulantly replied to Sam's scolding. "She never liked Pete and she knew about your fee–"

"Cassie," Sam said through gritted teeth, trying to keep her calm. Pete was still upstairs; he didn't have to overhear this. "I love Pete and I don't understand where all this is coming from?"

Huffing, Cassie turned away from her and walked over to the window. "You must've known we all think he's not right for you."

"Now you're telling me this?"

"I'm sorry, Sam, It wasn't my intention to upset you before you leave for your honeymoon. You just never asked any of us how we felt about it, probably because you already knew what we would say," she stated, giving Sam a curious look. "Besides, you already made up your mind."

Padding over to Cassie, Sam let out an exasperated sigh. "Perhaps," she softly replied. "However, this doesn't mean you can just leave."

"I'm going over to Jack, he's picking me up from the airport," Cassie retorted, waving her hand over to her car. "He needs me more than you do."

Sam gave her an appraising look and realized she was telling the truth. Nodding, she gave Cassie a hug. "Be careful."

"Always," Cassie smiled. "I don't know when I'll be back, though."

"Okay," Sam relented, watching as Cassie gave her a last smile and walked out the door. Hearing the door slam, Sam swallowed. She couldn't help but wonder what fate had in store for her; first the General and now Cassie…

"What did Cassie want?" Ilse asked as they were on their way back to Lily's room from lunch.

"She wanted to know how I was doing and what the emergency was. Apparently, Carter told everyone I couldn't be there because of an emergency. Cassie was quite upset, actually and booked a flight. She'll probably be here tomorrow."

"I can imagine, she's always thought that you and Carter would end up together…"

Jack just scowled at her, daring her to say anything else, which she didn't.

"Isn't it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all?" Anna asked as she walked up to Jack, stopping him in front of Lily's door. She motioned Ilse to go inside.

"Well, that's just the thing," Jack sarcastically replied. "I love her and I've lost her."

"Perhaps you should have acted sooner," she offered.

Clenching his jaw, Jack held back the curse that was forming in his mouth. "Yeah, I guess we'll never know, now will we?"

"You don't know until you try."

"She married another man yesterday."

"Marriages can be annulled."

"That simple, huh?" Jack asked her, cocking his head to the side.

"I didn't say that. You're going through a lot of changes in your life right now, your priorities have shifted. The same apparently goes for her, that doesn't necessarily mean it's too late," Anna told him, sympathizing with the son of the love of her life.

"I went out on a limb for her," Jack huffed. "I put myself out there, not once, not twice, but over three times. She rejected me and chose the cop, what else is there?"

"Did you tell her you love her?"

Swallowing, Jack shifted on his feet. "Not in those words… I can't, it's still against regulations," he let out an exasperated sigh.

"Maybe that's your problem."

"Daniel told me everyone knows I love her, hell, she knows!"

Giving him a sympathizing smile, Anna squeezed his shoulder. "Thinking and knowing are two different things, Jack. You have nothing to lose; your friendship is lost anyway."

"I know," he sighed, rubbing his neck in frustration. "I asked her if there was anything I could do to stop the wedding and she said no. Carter said the guy makes her happy, that's all I want for her."

"What about you, Jack? Don't you deserve to be happy?"

Jack just shrugged, ready to end this conversation and go inside.

Placing a hand on his arm, she stopped him. "You do, you know." Squeezing his wrist one last time, she let go and opened the door herself.

"Carter is on her honeymoon by now, with the cop that makes her happy," Jack softly whispered.

Turning back to him, she closed the door again. "Jack… I used to think I was happy. I'm not saying that what your father and I did was the right thing to do, but if I were to go back in time, I'd do it all over again. Only this time, I would probably handle it a bit better, Ilse and Bert were innocent in the affair, but they were the ones that got hurt badly. I thought I was happy with Bert, but looking back, I know I was just content. Because if that is supposed to be happiness, being with your father made me," Anna paused for a minute, thinking of the right word. "Ecstatic."

"She says she's happy, that's all I want for her," Jack repeated in a resigned tone.

Nodding her understanding, Anna opened the door.

"This is my brother, Jack," Lily said, introducing Jack and the notary.

Sitting down, Jack gave the other man an inquiring look. "How does it look?"

"The paperwork is all worked out, everything looks great. I just need to see some identification and a signature," the man replied, pointing at the papers.

Jack nodded, pulling out his wallet and giving the man the documents he needed. In turn, the notary gave him the papers and Jack signed his name several times, before returning them. "What about you?" He asked the other women.

"I only need two signatures from their mother, with her being a witness," the man answered, gesturing towards Lily and Ilse, while looking at Anna.

Anna got up and showed him her identification before signing the papers herself.

The notary packed his stuff, and said his goodbyes, leaving the five of them alone in the room.

"Can you hand me Milou?" Lily asked Jack, gesturing towards the stroller.

Jack immediately got up and picked up the little girl. It was strange, she was almost eight months old and already had two siblings, he mused, handing her over to Lily. "The doctor told us Nathan and Maddy are doing better than was to be expected, their blood values were looking good and their brains seem to be functioning properly as well."

"I know, they said they would keep them here for at least three more weeks, which was to be expected," Lily nodded, while stroking the soft, blond hairs of her sleeping daughter.

"I noticed they both have dark hair," Jack casually mentioned.

"Yeah, they must have gotten that from Paul," Lily uttered.

"Not per se," Anna commented, shifting in her chair to get comfortable. "Ilse was born with black hair and she turned blond in a few months."

"Really?" Jack asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I saw pictures," Ilse smirked. "It was actually a good look for me."

"Well, I guess you'll find out sooner or later," Lily sighed, holding back a sob while hugging her daughter closer to her.

Ilse sat down next to her and scooted closer on the bed, throwing an arm around her sister in an effort to comfort her. She could feel her own tears forming and quickly blinked them away.

"Do you want me to call the family doctor?" Anna asked, now that the notary had come by and everything was settled.

Shaking her head, Lily told her no. "I'll do it later, after you're gone."

Squeezing her sister tighter, Ilse looked up. "Cassie is coming over; I think she'd really like to meet you."

"When will she be here?" Lily asked, looking over to Jack. He'd told her about the girl, the adopted daughter of one of his deceased friends when he'd gotten joint guardianship over her with Carter.

Shrugging, Jack got up and stretched his legs, walking over to the window. "I'm not sure; she'll probably land here tomorrow morning. I told her I'd pick her up from the airport."

"I can't wait," Lily replied, yawning. Without words, she gave her daughter a kiss, handed Milou over to Ilse, and rubbed her eyes. "I'm exhausted, you should probably go… it's dinner time already."

Turning back to her, Jack's eyebrows shot up. "Are you sure? We could stay here and you could still sleep…"

"No, I'm fine. I'll see you guys in the morning…."

Nodding, they all hugged her goodbye before leaving.

"Have you called Cassie to ask about her flight?" Ilse asked as she was chopping vegetables for dinner.

"I got a text as soon as I turned my phone back on and she'll be landing here at 0800 hours," Jack yelled from the living room, where he was playing with Milou.

"Do you want me to drive you to the airport or you think you can find it on your own?"

Picking up Milou, she immediately clung to his shirt and he smiled. Jack walked over to the kitchen with her on his arm. "Well, if you want to give me a ride, I'd appreciate it," he grinned.

Turning to him, Ilse put down the knife and smiled. "Yeah, we'll leave at seven, to make sure we're on time." Grabbing a towel, she dried off her hands and walked over to Milou, to play a little game with her niece.

Jack shifted Milou on his arm, so she could look at her auntie and he watched as they played a little game. Milou was cooing from joy and reaching out for Ilse's fingers with her chubby little hands. "Don't you mean 'peek-a-boo'?" Jack asked her teasingly.

"Is that what you call it?" Scrunching up her nose, Ilse looked at him. "We call it 'kiekeboe,' you can play the English variation, I'll do the Dutch, deal?"

"Sure," he smiled, handing Milou over to Ilse. Glancing at the counter, he asked what was for dinner, not recognizing anything.

"Nothing special, just spaghetti with a salad," Ilse mumbled, snacking on a piece of cucumber and shifting Milou to her other arm, carefully supporting her back and head, so she could walk over to the stove and stir the sauce.

"Excellent," Jack grinned, grabbing a piece of tomato and watching her cook with the baby in her arms. She looked rather natural doing it, and he knew she didn't have that much experience. "Looks like you've adjusted pretty fast."

"What do you mean?" She asked, putting down the spoon and turning to him, while gently rocking Milou.

Using his hand, he made vague gesture between Ilse, Milou and the counter. "You, cooking with a baby on your arm."

"Oh, well, I've been babysitting a lot the last few weeks," she gave him a shy smile. "Milou is always so easy, so it didn't take long to adjust."

"Ah," he said, winking at her. "How much longer until dinner's ready?"

"Three more minutes for the pasta, I just have to chop the lettuce… so you can set the table if you want?"

"I'll take her," he said, grabbing his niece so Ilse could finish dinner, before placing her in a playpen and setting the table.

"Jack!" Cassie yelled, running up to him and launching herself in his arms.

"Oompf," Jack uttered at the impact. Wrapping his arms around her, he hugged her tightly. "Good thing I just handed the baby over," he muttered, glancing at Ilse and Milou who were standing to his side.

"Sorry," smiling sheepishly, Cassie turned to where Ilse was standing with Milou. "Hello," she said shyly.

"No hug?" Ilse asked, smiling and stretching out one arm, while keeping Milou in place with the other.

Cassie hugged her gently, careful for the little baby in her arms. "Who is this?" She asked, grinning. She might be a med student, but she hardly ever came in contact with babies and thought those little humans were cute.

"Milou," Ilse smiled, turning the girl towards Cassie.

"She's cute," Cassie smiled at Jack and Ilse. "She's Lily's daughter?"

Jack nodded an affirmative, before taking Cassandra's bag and swinging it over his shoulder. "Let's get to the car and then to the hospital, you can awe about or play with her later."

"Okay," she smiled, falling in step with him, Ilse on her other side.

"Lily?" Ilse asked, as she tapped on the door.

"Binnen!"

Hearing her approval, she pushed the door open with one shoulder and entered the room. Immediately walking over to her sister, she handed Milou over and then she greeted their family doctor.

"I brought someone with me, who wants to meet you," Jack grinned, walking into the room.

"Cassie?" Lily asked, giving him a wide smile.

The door opened further and Cassie shyly walked into the room, turning towards the bed. Jack had told her that Lily was very ill and didn't look too good – she was going to med school and had known what he meant as he told her about her condition – so she didn't really know what to expect. "Hi," she greeted, walking over and taking the other woman's hand.

"Hello Cassandra," Lily shook her hand and smiled at her. "I'm Lily."

"A pleasure," Cassie replied, smiling as well. It didn't take her long to see the resemblance between Lily and Ilse, even if Lily had an ill complexion, watery eyes and wore her hair back. As she looked at her eyes, she recognized Jack's eyes immediately and her smile grew wider. Those eyes were so familiar to her!

"Yes, it is, I'm glad you could make it. Jack has told me a lot about you, ever since he met you and you were adopted and I was dying to meet you – pardon the pun," giving her a patented O'Neill smirk, Lily squeezed her hand.

Chuckling, Cassie decided that she liked her. It was strange, Jack's little sister wasn't even five years older than she, yet she looked older, more experienced. Not that Cassie hadn't had a rough childhood; she'd seen her entire planet die, was brought to Earth and adopted into a culture she didn't know and wasn't allowed to talk about it with anyone without proper clearance. Then her second mother, Janet Fraiser, had been killed off-world and she was all alone again. Still, there was something in Lily's eyes, like maturity and wisdom beyond her years. Cassie knew that Lily was gravely ill, but she could still make the same lame jokes as Jack she noticed.

"Well, I don't know that much about you yet," she shamefully admitted, while sitting down next to her on the bed. "But Jack and Ilse filled me in a bit about you and I really wanted to meet you."

"Jack should've come clean sooner, that way we could've gotten to know each other better," Lily replied in a wistful tone.

"Yeah," Cassie agreed, scowling at Jack. "I had no idea… and now that I do, I feel so sorry for you."

"Don't be sorry, I've had a good life," she smiled a sincere smile and looked at her entire family. "I have done and seen things… For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a singer and musician and while attending high school I did just that. After graduating, I recorded my own songs; I toured through Europe and even went to the States a few times to perform. I may be barely legal, Jack," she stuck her tongue out at him, "but I made my dream come true. I have a brother and sister who mean so much to me and have always been there for me. My mother, who raised me on her own after my father died before his time. I met Paul, and I'll be the first to admit we weren't meant for one another, but he did give me my beautiful children…"

She shifted slightly on the bed, trying to get more comfortable. Milou was getting heavy in her arms and she was afraid her arms would give out. "Ilse?" She asked, in a panicky voice.

Ilse sat down at her other side and silently took Milou out of her arms, so that Lily could still stroke her hair. "It's okay, I've got her," she soothed her little sister. "Have you seen the twins today?"

Nodding, Lily slowly sat up a bit. "Yeah, Mom took me before you guys got here. Their chances for survival are growing by the hour, the neonatologist said," she smiled proudly. "They're so perfect, even if somewhat tiny. Nathan has brown eyes, did you notice?"

"Yeah, I saw, Maddy still has blue eyes," Jack confirmed in a slightly emotional voice. "They're just as beautiful as their mother."

Reaching down, Lily kissed the soft hairs of Milou and traced her features with a finger, taking in every detail of her face. Her daughter opened her big, brown eyes and looked curiously at her. Lily gave her a bittersweet smile, before kissing her little nose. She nodded at Anna, who held her in a tight hug, whispering in her ear. She could feel her mother's tears trailing down her own neck and she squeezed her a bit harder, before leaning back.

Jack watched as the two of them were holding one another, while whispering in Dutch. Seeing them so emotionally torn, he swallowed hard. He could hear and understand a lot of what they were saying to each other, heard the held back sobs in their voices, and it almost broke his heart. Focusing his eyes on his little sister, he noticed she was beckoning him over as Anna stepped back with Milou in her arms.

"Jack?"

He took Anna's seat on the bed and took Lily's frail hands in his larger ones. He remembered the first time he had seen her use those slender fingers on the black and white keys of his father's piano, while Jack had been teaching her the basics. She had only been five or six at the time, but her intuition had taken over and he had realized how talented she was. Now, sixteen years later, those fingers were longer yet still slender and could play any score with a piano, guitar, or sax. If they weren't used to make music, they would fiddle with a mike and she would use that angelic voice to make a different kind of music that went straight to one's soul. Either that, or those fingers were playing with her daughter's hair, onesies or would change a diaper. He felt a lump forming in his throat as he realized these fingers would never have the chance to play with her newborns…

Clearing his throat, he tried to keep his emotions under wraps and he looked up from her hands. He saw eyes similar to his staring back, wondering, caring and silently crying. It was too much and he looked away for a second, forcing the sadness back into the corner of his soul. "Yeah?" He asked in a strangled voice, silently berating his own weakness.

Letting go of one of his hands, Lily brought hers up to his cheek, forcing him to look at her. She let her finger trail the lines on his face, as she had done so many times years ago, when she was still a little girl happy to see her older brother after weeks of absence. "I meant what I said," she softly stated, her finger tracing the scar in his eyebrow, which he'd gotten a few years ago. "I owe you more than I could ever repay and that's just talking about the way you were always there for me, never too tired or annoyed to answer my questions about anything. You have always been more than willing to tell me about my father's side of my family and about our father in particular. You helped me learn his language, to find my way into the world and most of all you were the one that introduced me to my music. Always encouraging me not to settle for anything but the best, and living my life to the fullest. I'm not even going to talk about the classified work you've done for as long as I have lived, protecting every innocent life all over the globe," she quickly swiped the tears out of her eyes.

Inhaling deeply, she held her breath for a moment, gaining control over her emotions, before letting out a shaky sigh. "I know I have no right to ask you for anything after everything you have done for me, but I'm going to be selfish and ask anyway."

Everyone let out a nervous chuckle at her words, and Jack and Lily even managed to give each other a lopsided grin.

Feeling her tears forming once again, Lily bit her lip and continued. "I asked you this weeks ago, while I was preparing for the worst and I know we already went over this too many times, but I have to ask: will you take–" She sniffled and cleared her throat. "Will you take good care of them for me?"

"Always," Jack tried giving her a reassuring smile, but he knew he failed the moment he felt his own eyes tearing up. "I promised you and I always keep my word. Don't worry about it; I'll take good care of them."

"I- I want you to raise them as your own, Jack," she gasped, repressing tears. "Milou is still young, she won't remember me…"

As she broke down, Jack wrapped her in his arms, letting her cry for the first time since she had heard her prognosis. Her body was shaking against his as she cried her eyes out, bawling, and he rubbed soothing circles on her back while whispering in her ear. "I'll never let her forget you, Lil, never."

"Promise me you'll raise them as if they were yours," she said, leaning back and looking at him.

"I promise," Jack sighed.

"We both promise," Ilse added, hugging her sister. Lily had asked Jack to adopt the children and she had agreed to be their legal guardian, in case anything were to happen to Jack.

"Ilse will help me out and she'll tell them all about you when they're older," Jack comforted her.

"You won't lose contact?" Lily asked them sobbing, looking at them alternatively.

Shaking their heads, they both mouthed a 'no.'

"I'll never let them out of my sight, who else would teach them proper Dutch," Ilse joked, making everyone smile. Taking a deep breath, Ilse's self-control faltered. "I feel so selfish to want to keep you here," she hesitantly started.

"We talked about this, Ilse. It's either this, or wait until my heart finally gives in if a stroke doesn't happen first. I don't want that. There is nothing they can do for me, except poison me with chemo, which will only give me a month longer, tops and it will weaken me even more. I- I can't, I'm out of energy," she cried. "I don't want to leave you or my babies, but I'm drained, exhausted and so tired…"

Crying as well, Ilse hugged her, feeling guilty for even mentioning it again. She knew Lily would never do this if there was another way and she also knew in how much pain her little sister was, but would never admit. Over the years, they had talked about life and death all the time, never imagining they would have to part this soon and had both agreed they wouldn't want to spend their last days or weeks in a hospital bed, terminal, comatose, dement, or paralyzed. Now was the time for her to keep her end of the bargain and let go…

Wiping her tears and clearing her throat, Lily continued. "I left some things for you all; my notary will give them to you. My last will is also with him and I've taken the liberty to arrange a meeting for you after my funeral," she mentioned in a casual tone as if she were talking about dinner plans. She nodded towards the family doctor and he walked up to her, syringe in hand.

Everyone sat back, tensed, holding back their tears because they didn't want to break down in front of her. Lily gave them a brave smile and blew hand kisses at them when the doctor administered the lethal injection. "I love you."