A/N: Sorry for the extended delay!!!! I went to work on my stories yesterday morning, and my adapter for my keyboard was dead. I had to go buy a new one. Anyway, let's get started. Enjoy and Review.

Chapter 37

Markko looked at Langston. "Langston, what did you just say?"

"You heard me."

"Babe, what happened to us having a long engagement?"

"Markko, I got hit by a car, and almost died twice. And, our baby is..." Langston started to cry again. She was starting to wonder when she would be able to think about their baby without crying.

"Langston, I love you. You know that. I know that we tend to act older than we are, but, at the end of the day, you are barely sixteen, and I am not even seventeen."

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. Antonio Vega popped his head in. "Sorry to interrupt, but I got a message that you needed to see me."

Langston and Markko tabled their discussion, and figured they needed to handle this. Langston asked him in, "Come in, Detective. We needed to talk to you about my case."

"Did you remember something?"

"Yes, I did. It came to me in a dream. I remembered it was a blond haired girl. I think it was Markko's ex-girlfriend."

"What makes you think that?"

"She threatened me several times that night. I thought they were just harmful threats. Markko originally thought that it was this guy Jerome at our school."

Antonio eyed Markko warily, "Really? He told me that he had no clue who did it."

"I had suspicions, but I was not sure. When Langston told me today what she remembered, I went to talk to Jocelyn. She admitted to me that she was the one driving and that she and Jerome had planned the whole thing. She also told me that given the chance, they would do it again and this time Langston would not survive."

"Let me get this straight. You decided that you would handle this before calling us."

"I needed to know the truth. If you can't handle that, arrest me. But, you can not tell me that in my situation, you would not have done the exact same thing."

Antonio knew Markko was right. "Okay, I need names of both Jerome and Jocelyn. Okay, her name is Jocelyn Hubert and his name is Jerome Johnson. Do you need addresses and phone numbers?"

"No, we can find those out. If we can not, we will be in touch. Markko, do not do anything stupid. Let us handle this case. I know that is not easy to sit back and do nothing. But, let us handle this. Langston, we will make this right for you."

"You can not bring back my baby, can you?"

"No, but I will be in touch with you both." He left the room. Markko sat down next to her. Doctor McBain came in.

"Hi, Langston. How are you feeling?"

"I feel kind of tired, but I feel okay."

"Well, we got your test results back and you are doing great. If all goes according to plan, we are looking at releasing you maybe tomorrow."

Markko was shocked, but relieved. "Dr. McBain, I thought that she would be here longer."

"So did we, but she is doing great. Her blood pressure is staying stabilized; her wounds are starting to heal. We will allow Langston to recuperate at home under some conditions."

Langston spoke up, "Anything."

"You have to rest. You can not be up doing things. For four days at least, you will be on bed rest. Your body has been through hell. You were hit by a car, stopped breathing a few times, had surgery, and you suffered a miscarriage. After that, you can go to the couch and watch TV." His pager beeped. "I am needed in surgery. I will come back tomorrow, and if your test results are good tomorrow, we will release you tomorrow evening." He walked out. Langston smiled.

"Markko, isn't that great? I can not wait to get out of this hospital."

"You heard what he said, you have to rest."

--

Blair went by to pick up some things that she had forgotten from La Boulaie, when she saw Dorian in the living room. "Hi, Dorian. How are you?"

"Blair, what a surprise. Are you moving back in, or are you still with Todd?"

"Dorian, things are going good for us. How is Langston? I need to go by there to see her."

"I went to see her earlier. She is making huge improvements every day. The doctors are hopeful that she should be able to come home within a day or two."

"What are you going to do about Markko?"

"What about Markko?"

"Dorian, do you really think that you are going to be able to separate the two of them now? He has not left her bedside in nearly two weeks."

"I know. They always have respected my rules, when it comes to what I expect."

"Yeah, like the no sex in the kitchen rule?"

"Blair, I can handle Markko and Langston. I have to admit, I do not think that it is going to be easy to get him to leave at night."

--

Markko once again fell asleep at Langston's bedside. The next morning, he was awakened by Dr. McBain coming in. "Good morning, Langston." She opened her eyes.

"Hi. When can I go home?"

"Well, hold on. We have to do an extensive series of tests to make sure that your body is ready to go home. We have called Dorian, and she will come down at four so that we can go over everything that you will need if your tests turn out okay. I will be back after breakfast, and we will get everything started. "

"Thank you, Dr. McBain."

Markko sat with Langston, as she ate breakfast. "So, are you excited about going home?"

"Yeah, I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight…with you."

"Langston, what makes you think that is going to happen?"

"Well no one has had a problem with you staying here with me while I was in here?"

"Langston, there is a huge difference. We will figure it out. I am going to get to school. I will call you later."

"Will you come back right after school?"

"Of course. I will be back no later than 3:20. I love you."

--

Markko tried to get to school before the bell rang, but realized that was not going to happen. He knew that he should have left before 8:00, since he had to go home and change clothes. By the time he got to school, it was 8:40. He ran into first period. "Sorry, I am late."

"Just take your seat, Markko. We are having a pop quiz."

He was glad that he had made time to do the reading after Langston fell asleep. Looking around the room, he noticed that Jerome was not there. He wondered if they had already arrested him. The bell rang.

"Markko?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"I was just wondering how Miss Wilde is."

"She is doing well. They are looking at releasing her today. She may be able to be back at school, soon."

"Give her my best."

"I will." Markko walked out of the classroom, and went to his locker. Starr walked up to him.

"How's Langston?"

"She's good. They are probably going to send her home today."

"That's great."

"Yeah, the only problem is that she thinks that since my parents and your aunt had no problem with m staying at the hospital that there should not be a problem with me staying at the house."

"Yeah, that is not going to happen."

"That's what I tried telling her. But, you know how Langston can be. Markko saw Mike walk to his locker. He really needed to find out what was up. "Hey, Mike."

"Hey man, how is the chick?"

"She is getting better all the time Hey, have you talked to Jerome or Jocelyn?"

"All I know is that the cops came into last class, and they arrested Jocelyn for attempted murder on your girlfriend."

"Did they arrest Jerome, too?"

"I don't know. Was he in first period?"

"No, I just hope that they got him. The last thing that I need to worry about is him being after Langston."

--

Langston was waiting impatiently for her test results. She really hoped that Markko would be here soon. She was so bored. It was almost if he heard her, when he walked in. "Hey, beautiful."

Langston looked at him funny. "I know you are not talking about me. I have not been beautiful in a while."

"You will always be beautiful in my book. How were your tests?"

"Exhausting. I am so tired."

"What did you have to do?"

"They made me get up and walk on the crutches a million times, I had a bunch of blood tests, x-rays, and they made me go to the bathroom a bunch too. How was your day?"

"We had a pop quiz in English. I saw Mike after first period, and he said that they arrested Jocelyn right in class this morning."

"What about Jerome?"

"Apparently, his mom called him in sick, so I do not know if they have him yet or not." He sat down in bed with her. "I hope they got him. This whole thing had been so awful for all of us."

"I know. I just want to go home, and sleep in my bed."

"Langston, you do know that we have to go back to curfews and rules, now."

"I just want you to stay with me, tonight. Do you think that Dorian will go for that?"

"Langston, I do not know. Trust me, if she will let me, I would love to sleep in the same bed as you, tonight." Their lips met in a kiss. She managed to put her arms around him, and deepen their already passionate kiss. Their kiss was broken by a clearing of the throat. They knew that sound anywhere.

Langston answered, "Hi, Dorian." She looked to see that Dorian and Michael McBain were at the door.

"Langston, we got your test results back, and we are going to go head and release you. You have to stay 100 on bed rest for four days. No school for another week. After that, you can go back to school, but you have to use the crutches for no shorter than six weeks. Also, no strenuous activity of any kind for four weeks and that does include sex." Markko blushed. He could not believe that Dr. McBain was discussing sex with him, Langston, and Dr. Lord."

"I promise no school, walking, or sex."

"Okay, I will send the nurse in to pull your IV out."

Dorian hugged Langston. "I brought you some clothes to wear. Do you need help putting them on?"

"Well, Markko can help me."

Dorian was against that, but she had been told that large amounts of stress could really hurt Langston. "Okay, I will be right outside."

Langston sat up. "Ok, can you help me with this?"

"Sure."

He helped Langston get undressed, and saw her chest area for the first time. He knew that her chest was severely wounded, but had not expected it to be completely bandaged up. He helped her lift her shirt over it, but she grimaced with pain. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it just hurts. My ribs are really fragile." Langston got up to her feet with her crutches, and began to walk.

"You ready to go home?"

"Yeah. I can not wait to get home."

Markko opened the door, and led Langston out. By hospital policy, she had to be wheeled out of the hospital. She led Langston to the car. "I want to ride with Markko."

"Langston, that car will be way more comfortable then mine. I will be right behind you all, I promise." He kissed Langston.

Langston got in the car. She had to admit that it did hurt to even sit in the position. "Dorian, thanks for everything. I know that your life has been so chaotic since you took me in."

"Sweetheart, you are a blessing to all of us." They pulled up to La Boulaie. Langston had never been so glad to see her house. Sure enough, Markko pulled up right behind them. He went to the door, and helped her get out of the car. They walked up to the door, and opened the door. Langston could not believe what she saw when she walked over to the living room. Markko opened the living room doors for her, and there was a banner up on the wall that said, 'Welcome Home, Langston.' She looked around in awe and saw Mrs. Manning, Jack, Starr and Cole. She even noticed Mr. Manning, who was holding Baby Tommy. She made her way to the couch.

"You all did all this for me."

Starr walked up and hugged her gently, "Lang, we are just so happy that you are home."

Langston actually had a god time at her party. She felt like she was in a family for the first time ever, and she loved the feeling. She had so much that she longed for. She found herself looking at Markko, and smiling. She was so happy for him. After a while, everyone started to leave. Markko looked at her, "Langston, we should probably get you upstairs." She said good night to everyone. Markko picked her up gently, and carried her upstairs.

Blair looked at Dorian, "Dorian, are you just going to let him go up there with you?"

Dorian had enough. "Blair, you do not like when people criticize you don't criticize me. Langston has to avoid stress. If I have to keep my mouth shut for a few days and let Markko stay here, I will. He takes good care of her. Back off."

--

Cole drove Starr home. "Starr, that was nice to help put together that party for Langston."

"I am so glad that she is home, Cole. I just hope they can put this behind them."

"I can not believe your aunt is being so reasonable. Do you think that she will really let Markko stay the night tonight?"

"I think that Aunt Dorian understands that Langston needs that for her recovery. Once Langston is back to normal, I am sure that there will be a problem about it."

"So, did they get Markko's ex and that Jerome guy?"

"Cole, my dad told me that several of his sources got the story that they can not find Jerome. That makes me worry about Langston, a lot."

--

Markko helped Langston get changed, and got her into bed. "Markko, you are staying, right?"

"Yeah, I'm staying. Before school, I packed a bag of some of my stuff. You do know that there is no way that she will let me move in permanently."

"I know. I just need you here with me right now." Markko smiled at her. "Would you mind going and getting me some water?"

"Sure. I need to get my stuff out of the car, anyway." Markko made his way downstairs, and saw Dorian reading a book. "Dr. Lord, she is in bed. She just wants some water."

"Markko, you do realize that this is just temporary. I trust you with her."

"Dr. Lord, you can trust me. I know that it is just for a little while."

"What do your parents think of it?"

"They understand what you do that it is important for Langston's recovery. I am going to get my stuff."

"Markko, I would prefer you sleep down the hall from her, but I know that she will be sneaking down the hall to be with you. So, it is better for you two to be sleeping in the same room."

Markko and Dorian came to an understanding. He went back upstairs, and took Langston her water. He went into her bathroom, and popped his contact lenses out, and climbed into bed. He put his arms around her. "Langston, I love you so much."

"I love you, too. Did we really survive this?"

"I hope so." Markko had to admit that he was worried. He had heard nothing of Jerome being arrested. He really hoped that this was not going to be a problem. If it was, he was ready. No one was going to hurt her again. He fell asleep, and got his first good night's sleep in a while.

To Be Continued...

Hope you all liked it. It was more me trying to set things up, and a development chapter.

Will Jerome be a danger to Langston? Will Markko be able to protect her? Is Dorian really okay with Markko living at La Boulaie, even for a little while? Stay Tuned.