Thank you for the reviews, story alerts and Favourite Story/Author alerts. I can't believe the story has reached over 200 reviews already! I'm extremely touched and grateful that you all seem to be enjoying the story and hope that it continues.

And on that note, here's the next chapter! I must admit I did shed a tear whilst writing this, but that might be because I was feeling extremely soppy and emotional on the day I wrote it as I've re-read it now and didn't cry. Thought I'd better warn you just in case.

Disclaimer: Do you have more files on your desk then desk space? Check! Do any of those files containing the ownership papers to Cold Case? Uncheck. Doh!

Scotty's eyes were glued to his daughter's as the midwife performed the Apgar test and he couldn't help but notice the flicker of concern in her eyes.

"I'm just going to give her a little oxygen to help with her breathing" the midwife informed him as she held a small oxygen mask over his daughter's tiny mouth and nose. She started squirming more voraciously, her tiny face screwing up and he could tell she was about to cry again. Scotty was desperate not to hear that torturous sound again and one of his hands quickly reached down to stroke his daughter's tiny coned shaped head.

"Está bien mí híja preciosa" he soothed his daughter in Spanish, overjoyed to find that she recognised his voice whether he spoke in English or Spanish as she immediately relaxed under the sound of his voice and touch of his hand. " Papá está aquí" he soothed, lifting his other hand and placing his little finger in his daughter's hand, gasping when she held it and feeling shocked at just how much strength he felt from her tiny digits. He stayed that way, tenderly stroking her head and soothing his daughter with his voice, she never releasing her grip on his finger or moving her eyes from his face, until the midwife informed him it was time to perform the Apgar test again.

Scotty watched intently as the midwife performed the test.

"She's doing much better" the midwife informed him with a smile after a few minutes "Would you like to hold her?"

Scotty nodded his head, too overcome with emotion to speak at the prospect of holding his tiny daughter in his arms. A nurse came over then and swaddled his tiny daughter in a pink blanket, placing a pink bonnet on her head in the process, before gently lifting her from the monitoring table and placing her in his arms.

Detective Fitzpatrick had been right. It really was the best feeling in the world.

He held his daughter lovingly in his arms, tears once again flowing down his face and his lips curved into a happy smile as his daughter immediately snuggled into his warmth. Her eyelids started to droop, then shut completely as she fell asleep in his arms.

Scotty regarded his daughter. She was so tiny! Her whole body was shorter than his forearm and her features were so refined and delicate. She definitely had Lilly's skin tone and the mixture of Lilly's pale skin and his dark hair was striking, making her dark long eyelashes stand out on her cherub like face. She was simply beautiful.

"How about we go meet Mummy?" he whispered to his sleeping daughter, gently brushing his lips across her forehead in a tender kiss. His daughter sighed and wriggled in his arms and he took that as a sign that she was ready to meet her mother.

Scotty turned round and immediately froze at the scene that greeted him, his free hand instinctively coming up to protect his innocent daughter from the horror scene before them despite the fact she was asleep. He did not want her to witness any of this.

Before him Lilly's pale limp body lay on the bed, an oxygen mask had been placed over her face, her eyes were closed, her lips were blue and a pool of thick dark blood was on the floor beneath her. He's seen enough in Narcotics to know that if that was Lilly's blood, then she was in serious trouble.

"Phone the OR and tell them we're on our way!" he heard Doctor Jenson bark to a nurse in the room as Lilly's bed was wheeled out of the delivery suite with her on it, leaving Scotty and their daughter standing in the room completely and utterly confused.

Scotty Valens sat in an private room in the Maternity Department of Philadelphia Hospital, his tiny daughter soundly asleep in his arms. The bed were her mother was supposed to be was empty and still freshly made whilst the bassinet that had been set up for his daughter remained unused. He just could not detach himself from the one person who was his only link to Lilly at the moment. A nurse had very kindly gone to bring his parents to the room as he just couldn't stand the thought of leaving his 20 minute old daughter alone.

His daughter whose mother could be dead right now for all he knew.

Unable to take the eerie quietness of the room any longer he started to speak to his daughter softly.

"Hey Bean. I know you're asleep right now and that you haven't met your Mummy yet, but ya gotta know that Daddy loves you very much. There's not enough words in the world to describe how much I love you, and whatever happens, I am always going to be here to love you, to protect you, to care for you. You're not going to have to worry about anything Bean because Daddy is going to take care of you, your Mummy too" Scotty paused then, too choked by emotion to speak as the thought of Lilly not making it became too much for him to bear. "But don't tell Mummy that because she'll say she doesn't need to be looked after, but I know she does and deep down she knows that too. It's our little secret Bean, ok?" Scotty paused again and chuckled at the thought that he and his daughter already had a secret together "You want to know another secret Bean?" his only reply being the sound of his daughters snuffled breathing "Daddy needs to look after you and Mummy. You're my little miracle Bean. Your only job is to be happy. That's all Mummy and I want is for you to be is happy. Okay? Just...be happy, because we will always love you no matter what"

Scotty pressed a gentle kiss to his daughter's cheek and wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes as he continued to stare at the beautiful creature Lilly and he had created. Who would have thought that a drunken night of sex could result in something so perfect?

Now was not the time to get emotional, he scolded himself. No, he had to be strong for Lilly and Bean because they needed him.

"Scotty? Is everything ok?" his father voice interrupted his internal tirade as he entered the room, his mother following closely behind.

"I...I...I don't know" he answered truthfully. It had been 25 minutes since he'd last seen Lilly. 25 minutes since an obviously stressed Doctor Jenson had wheeled Lilly into the OR and a nurse had hurried explained what was happening "Lilly's bleeding heavily and they've taken her down to surgery" he informed his parents quietly.

"Oh Scotty! Is she ok?" his mother asked with concern

"I...I...don't know. They said the doctor would be in with news soon" Scotty advised his parents "But I have someone I'd like you to meet" he spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb his daughter.

It was then that his mother's eyes opened wide as she realised the baby was swaddled in pink "Is it...is it..."

"Yes, it's a girl. You have a granddaughter, Ma" he said as he stood and walked proudly over to his parents, a loving smile on his face.

Rosa gasped as she peered down at the newest member of the Valens family - the first female for 5 generations. "She's beautiful!" she exclaimed, holding out her arms indicating she wanted to hold the baby as her eyes welled with tears of happiness.

Scotty reluctantly relinquished his daughter to his mother, feeling immediately protective of her even though she was merely a foot away in her grandmother's arms, and glanced across at his father. He was surprised to see that he had a tear in his eye and a tender, proud smile on his face. When Emilio had been born he had been proud and happy of course, but he had never seen that tear and that unnerved him.

"You're ok, Dad...ya know...having a granddaughter?" Scotty asked hesitantly, a small part of him wondering if his father would feel let down by having the males only Valens line broken.

Ramiro looked up surprised. "Are you crazy? She's mi princesa" he replied softly, his hand gently stroking the top of her head as he stared intently at his first granddaughter, finally placing a soft kiss to her still coned shaped head.

"Gosh Scotty, she's so tiny. How much does she weigh? What were her measurements?" Rosa asked with awe and concern, her eyes still not leaving the tiny infant's face.

"She's 5lb 4.5oz, her head circumference is 12 inches and she's 19.5 inches long" Scotty stated, knowing that although she was an ok weight for a premmie, her length made her look extremely skinny.

"Don't you worry, mi amorcita, we'll soon get you fattened up" Rosa whispered to her granddaughter pressing a gentle kiss to the tip of her nose. The baby screwed up her face and brought her tiny fist up to brush whatever was disturbing her away from her face causing Rosa and Ramiro to chuckle.

"She looks just like you!" they said in unison, before gasping as their granddaughter opened her eyes and gave her grandparents the first glimpse of her bright blue eyes - as well as her own version of Lilly's Ice Queen stare Scotty noted.

"But her eyes are all Lilly's" Rosa commented lovingly "Aren't they?" she cooed to the baby "just like your Mummy's".

Scotty couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his throat as his daughter looked between her grandparents, took a deep breath, sigh, and he swore shrug her shoulders, before snuggling back into the warmth of her blankets, closing her eyes and going back to sleep, the near 20 hours of labour she had endured obviously taking its toll.

"Do you want us to watch her while you go and tell the team?" Ramiro asked, his mother still so wrapped up in her new granddaughter.

A wave of panic washed over him. The team! How could he tell the team what had happened? Would they blame him? After all, he was the one that had gotten Lilly pregnant and if it wasn't for him she wouldn't have just given birth and her life wouldn't be hanging in the balance right now. He swallowed as he thought about the friendly warnings that Boss, Will and Nick had given him about hurting Lilly and Bean when they had first heard he was the father of Lilly's child. Any other time he would gladly have taken a beating, but he couldn't, not now, not while Bean needed him.

And what about Bean? He knew his parents would take great care of her for the few minutes he would be with the team, but truth be told, he just couldn't bring himself to leave her. Right now, he probably needed her more than she needed him.

"I...I don't know if I can" he informed his parents brokenly.

Ramiro shared a look with his wife before coming over and squeezing his son's shoulder reassuringly. "I'll tell them, don't worry"

Scotty smiled gratefully at his father "Thanks Dad"

"Might be nice if I have a picture of the baby to show them though? You know, cushion the blow" he said whilst retrieving the digital camera from his pocket and waving it for Scotty to see.

Scotty jolted with surprise. It had been almost 30 minutes since Bean had been born and he still did not have one picture of her! He'd been annoyed when he'd first realised he'd forgotten to put a camera in the hospital bag, but then he had been so focused on Lilly and helping her with her labour and time had just rushed by since Bean had been born and he was now just realising there were no photos of his daughter yet.

"I don't know Dad" he replied awkwardly "I mean Lilly hasn't even held her yet and I don't feel right about the team seeing a picture of her before Lilly has met her own daughter"

Ramiro smiled reassuring. "That's ok mi hijo, it was just a thought and I'm sure they'll understand. How about we take some pictures of her now to show Lilly when she comes out of surgery though?"

Scotty nodded. "Yeah Dad, that sounds great"

"Ok, well I'll go tell everyone and then I'll come back and take some pictures, ok?"

Scotty nodded and saw his father disappear out the door from the corner of his eye, his attention already returning to his daughter and the intense urge to hold her again came over him.

"Ma..." he spoke hesitantly to his mother, not sure how she would react to having to give up her granddaughter so soon. But he needed to hold Bean now, he needed to feel connected to Lilly in whatever way he could.

Rosa looked up and saw the desperation in her son's eyes and the longing expression on his face, desperation and longing she immediately recognised having given birth to two of her own sons.

"Te amo, tu es mi amorcita" she whispered to her tiny granddaughter, before she gently pressed a kiss to the child's forehead and returned her to Scotty's arms.

"You did good Scotty" she informed her son proudly, but her tone soon turned serious "But whatever happens with Lilly, you can't mess up now like you did when Elisa passed. You can't drink when you have a baby and you can't go out doing goodness know what when you have a child. You have responsibilities now and your father and I will help out however we can, but ultimately she's yours Scotty".

Scotty sighed. Trust his mother to lecture him at one of the worst times of his life.

"I know Ma" he informed her seriously, briefly glancing up to meet his mother's eyes so she could see how serious he was.

Rosa saw the love and adoration pouring from her son's eyes and knew that whatever happened with Lilly, both her son and granddaughter would be ok.

The Spanish is translated from an online English/Spanish dictionary so if it's wrong or offensive, I apologise. Similarly, the terms of endearment are from forums on the internet so I hope they are fairly accurate and not offensive. From what I can remember of my GCSE Spanish they seems about right, but well, that was over a decade ago now and Spanish was never my strong suit! I also hope Bean's head circumference is about right, because although I know the weight/length is about right, I can't find anything about head circumference on the internet and fortunately my friends have all had full term babies so their measurements are no good.

BTW I wanted this chapter to be sweet with Scotty bonding with Bean and Bean meeting her grandparents, but it was difficult given the situation with Lilly. I hope I accomplished at least some sweetness after all the drama that's been going on!

Until next week...