As Manny drove to the hospital, Emma stared out the window. Everything became a blur as her eyes filled with tears. So many thoughts went through her head. The main one being losing Sean. She couldn't bear it. "I can't believe this happened."

"I know. It's a good thing Jay found him."

Emma nodded, "Who knows how long he would have been there before someone found him." She started crying again.

"Em…"

Emma shook her head and wiped off her face, "I'm sorry."

Manny reached her hand over and placed it on Emma's shoulders, "Don't be sorry. This is scary."

Emma exhaled and said, "I just want him to be okay."

"He will be."

"We just became a family and I cannot lose him, Manny."

"You won't lose him, I promise."

Emma continued to cry and Manny drove as fast and as safe as she could to get the hospital.


Jay waited by the entrance to the ER for Emma.

"Jay!" Manny called out to him. Emma and Manny jogged over to him.

Emma looked at him, "Where is he?"

"The doctors are with him out right now."

They walked into the hospital and Emma asked, "What the hell happened?"

"I went back to the shop because I forgot something in my locker and I noticed that the front door was slightly open which I thought was weird so I walked over to his office and that's when I found him. The safe was open and empty and he was on the ground, bleeding from his head, bruised and unconscious." Emma covered her mouth. "He woke up while I was calling you."

Manny said, "But that's good, right?"

Jay nodded, "Yeah, I think so."

Emma hugged Jay, "Thank God you found him."

Jay nodded and pulled away. "I've never been so scared in my life."

Manny looked at him, "You have blood on you."

Jay nodded, "There was a lot of blood." Emma nearly wretched. Jay looked at her and said, "I'm sorry."

Emma shook her head, "It's fine."

"Here's his phone." He handed Emma Sean's phone which also had blood on it.

Emma looked at it and said, "I have to clean it." She looked around for a restroom and found one, "Be right back."

Manny looked at Jay, "How are you?"

Jay's voice broke, "I was fucking terrified. I thought he was dead. He wouldn't wake up at first." Manny caressed his face and Jay closed his eyes. She hugged him and he held onto her tight. "I was so relieved when he came to."

"I can imagine."

Emma walked back over and asked, "Jay, are you okay?"

They pulled away from their hug and Jay nodded and said, "Just shaken up."

Emma nodded.

He said, "Okay, let's find out what's happening."


Christine keyed into Emma's house and called out to Drew. "Drew?"

He jogged down the stairs, "Hey grandma. Have you heard anything yet?"

"Not yet, sweetie." She walked into the kitchen, "Come on, have something to eat."

Drew shook his head, "I'm too nervous to eat."

Oliver was standing behind him and placed his hand on Drew's shoulder, "It'll be okay."

Drew turned around and barked at his friend, "Oh yeah, How do you know?"

Oliver shrugged.

Christine said, "Your father is a tough guy, Drew."

Drew nodded.

"Please try to eat something."

Drew nodded again and sat down.

"You too, Oliver."

Oliver joined Drew at the table and Christine served them the pasta Emma made.


Emma, Manny, and Jay were told to go to the third-floor waiting room while the doctors took care of Sean. Emma was too nervous to sit so she paced in the waiting room. She looked at Jay and asked, "What is taking so long?"

Jay said, "Em, he had a head injury. They're probably making sure he didn't fracture his skull."

After more than an hour of pacing and waiting, a doctor finally came out and asked, "Who's here for Sean Cameron?"

Emma walked over to him, "We are." She motioned toward Manny and Jay then said, "I'm his partner. How is he?"

"He had a pretty big gash on the back of his head, we closed it up with some stitches. He also has some bruising on his face and his left eye is almost swollen shut. We think he hit his face as he was falling to the ground." Emma covered her mouth in shock, "The good news is that he doesn't have any broken bones. We were a little worried that maybe he had fractured his orbital bone." The doctor pointed to his own face to show them where that is. "He also doesn't have any skull fractures." Emma sighed in relief, "He's a very lucky man. This could have been a lot worse." Emma nodded, "We will keep him overnight for observation because it's possible he could have a concussion, but that he's not showing the signs yet. Sometimes they can develop later on. And you can't be too careful with head injuries."

Emma nodded, "I understand. Thank you." She asked, "When can we see him?"

"You can see him right now. But if you can, go in one at a time."

Manny looked at her and said, "We'll wait out here."

Emma nodded and followed the doctor to Sean's room.

"He's right in there."

"Thank you, doctor."

Emma walked in, and Sean had his eyes closed. She started crying again when she saw the extent of the damage. They wrapped his head in a bandage and the whole left side of his face was bruised and swollen. She wiped her face off and he opened his eyes.

"Hey, gorgeous."

"Hi." She walked around to the right side of his bed and grabbed his right hand, "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts a lot."

She held his right hand, "Do you know what happened?"

Sean nodded, "Guy had a gun, forced me back into the shop, made me open the safe and then everything went black." Emma gasped. "He must have pistol-whipped me."

"Oh my God. He could have killed you. I was so scared when Jay called me."

He smiled and said, "Good thing he found me, huh? Who knows what would have happened."

"How can you joke about this?"

"Sorry, I guess it's my way of coping because I don't want to think about what could have happened if he hadn't."

Emma nodded, "I understand." She sat on the bed and he lifted her hand and kissed it. She said, "I love you."

"I love you too." Sean looked toward the door, "Where's Drew?"

"Home with my mom. Manny drove me here."

Sean asked, "Does he know what happened?"

"Manny explained it to him." Sean grimaced, and she asked, "Am I hurting you?"

Sean smiled, "No, you're not. I'm just sore. I think I hit my face against the file cabinet after he knocked me out."

"You did. Your left eye is nearly shut swollen and the left side of your face is all bruised." She reached out and caressed the right side of his face.

"So I look like shit, huh?"

Emma laughed, "Stop."

He smiled at her and there was a knock at the door. It was two police officers and Jay. One officer was a tall older man, with salt and pepper hair probably around 50, while the other was a woman with dark hair who didn't look much older than Sean and Emma.

The man said, "Hi, Mr. Cameron. I'm Detective Arbour."

The woman said, "And I'm Detective Smyth. We have some questions for you if you're up to it."

Sean nodded and said, "Sure."

Emma looked at them, "Please don't overwhelm him."

"Em, I'll be okay. I promise."

Emma nodded her head, "Fine." She stood up, leaned over and gently kissed his cheek, "I'll be right outside, okay?"

Sean smiled, "Okay."

Emma walked out of the room and over to Manny.

Manny asked, "How is he?"

"He's cracking jokes." She shook her head, "He looks beat up, but he seems okay. Thank God." Manny hugged her. "Thank you for being here."

"Of course, cuckoo bananas. I love you both and want everything to be okay."

Back in Sean's room, Detective Arbour asked, "Did you get a look at him?"

Sean shook his head, "I mean, he wasn't very tall. He was my height and I'm about 5'8" on a good day. And he had most of his face covered." Sean tried to think of something else that could help the detectives then he remembered something else about the suspect. "Oh! His eyes. I got a good look at them. They were the only part of his face that wasn't covered."

Detective Arbour said, "That could be helpful. We'll take anything at this point."

"Well, other than being the one part of his face I could see, they were kind of unusual."

Detective Smyth asked, "How so?"

"His right eye was green and his left eye was half green and the other half looked more brown. It split across the middle of his eye. Nearly half and half. I'd never seen anything like it."

Detective Arbour wrote that down, "That could be helpful." He looked at his partner and said, "That has a name, doesn't it?"

Detective Smyth nodded, "Heterochromia. My 8-year-old daughter has complete heterochromia. That means each eye is a different color. She has a brown eye and a blue eye."

Sean said, "Oh, like Max Scherzer."

Detective Arbour nodded, "Right! What a pitcher he is, huh?"

Sean smiled and nodded.

Detective Smyth said, "So it sounds like this guy has partial heterochromia." She looked at Sean and asked, "Did you recognize the voice at all?"

Sean shook his head, "Not really, but I was too busy thinking about the gun he was threatening me with. But I don't notice he was sniffing a lot and seemed to be high on something. He was pretty erratic."

Detective Smyth said, "Could be a junkie who figured your place would be a good one to rob."

Detective Arbour asked, "Do you have anyone angry at you? A disgruntled former employee, maybe?"

Sean shook his head, "No. I haven't had to fire anyone since I opened. All my guys are good guys."

Detective Arbour said, "We ask because it seems like someone who knew the ins and outs of your office."

Sean asked, "Could it have been someone I had in to fix something?" He closed his eyes and concentrated, "I'm trying to think of the people who have had to come into the shop to work on the computer in my office." He opened his eyes and shook his head, "I cannot recall anyone else with eyes like that. I'm sorry."

Detective Smyth said, "You gave us some good things to work with, Mr. Cameron. Next, we will need to go to the shop and gather fingerprints. Do you have a security system?"

"Yep. But the alarm wouldn't have gone off because he didn't break-in, I unlocked the door for him. I also couldn't get to either trigger. We have one behind the counter where we greet our customers and one under my desk."

Detective Arbour looked at Sean and asked, "Can he open the shop for us so we can look around?"

Sean nodded, "Yep." He looked at Jay and said, "I'll call Pete and have him meet you at the shop. He knows all about the security system. Where's my phone?"

Jay said, "Em has it. I'll go get it."

Emma turned around when Jay walked out, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, we need Sean's phone. We have to call Pete and have him meet us at the shop. The detectives want to scour the place for clues."

Emma nodded and handed Sean's phone to Jay.

"Thanks." He walked back into Sean's hospital room and said, "My fingerprints might be there though. I'm the one who found him."

Detective Arbour said, "That's fine."

Jay looked at Sean and said, "You know I didn't even check to see if all the cars were there. I was so focused on you, I completely forgot."

"It's fine, Jay."

Detective Arbour asked, "One more question for you, Mr. Cameron. How much money was in the safe?"

"Only about $1500. It's usually higher than that later in the week."

He wrote it down, "Thanks."

Detective Smyth said, "Let's head over and you'll call," She paused and looked at her pad, "Pete?"

Sean nodded, "I'll do it right now." He pressed Pete's name on his phone.

"Okay." Jay looked at Sean, "I'll see you later."

"Thanks again, man."

The detectives and Jay walked out of the room and Jay said to Emma, "We're going back to the shop."

Emma nodded, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He walked over to Manny and kissed her goodbye then headed out with the officers.

Emma walked into Sean's room while he was talking to Pete, "Yeah, I just have a gash on the back of my head, a few bruises on my face." He smiled at Emma, "So you can meet them, right? Great, thanks, man. Okay, bye."

Emma was standing next to him when he ended his call with Pete. He moved over and pat the space he made on the bed, "Come and lie with me."

Emma climbed into the bed, snuggled against him and started crying again.

"Em."

"Sorry."

"I'm okay, I promise." He kissed her hair, and they laid there in silence for a few minutes, "How about we call Drew so he knows that I'm okay?"

Emma nodded, sat up and grabbed her phone. "That's a good idea. He's probably very worried about you." She dialed Christine's number and pressed speaker.

Christine picked up right away, "Em? How's Sean?"

"He's banged up, but he's okay. He wanted to talk to Drew."

"Okay, hold on." Christine handed the phone to Drew. "It's your mom and dad."

Drew grabbed the phone out of Christine's hand, "Dad! How are you? Are you okay?"

Sean smiled at Emma, "I'm okay, I promise. Just some bumps and bruises."

"I was really worried about you."

"I know you were, buddy."

"I'm just glad you're okay." He asked, "When are you coming home?"

"Well, they want to keep me overnight just to make sure everything is okay. So I'll hopefully be home tomorrow at some point."

"Oh good."

Emma smiled at Sean. Sean grimaced again and Emma said, "Sweetie, your dad needs to rest, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you for calling me."

Sean said, "I wanted you to know I was okay."

Drew said, "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"Okay, bye." Drew handed the phone to Christine.

"Em?"

"Yeah, mom."

Sean said, "Hi Christine."

"Oh Sean, I'm so happy to hear your voice."

Sean smiled, "I'm happy to hear yours as well."

Christine asked, "Em, do you want me to stay over tonight?"

"Could you?"

"Of course, I can. I'll let your dad know."

"Great, thanks, mom. We really appreciate your help."

"Anything for you and Sean." Christine continued, "I'll let you two go but please call me if you need anything, okay?"

"We will. Thanks again."

"Bye."

Emma ended the call and looked at Sean.

"Yes?"

"I just love you so much."

"I love you too."

She cried again and shook her head, "I'm sorry I keep crying."

"Don't be." He caressed her face, "I know you're scared."

She turned her face, kissed his hand then said, "I don't care what you say, you are moving in with us as soon as possible."

Sean smiled, "I don't have a problem with that."

"Good."


Emma stayed with Sean in his hospital room that night. She sat next to him, holding his hand, and kept her eyes on him all night.

Sean woke up in the middle of the night and forgot where he was and forgot about what happened. He was about to get out of the bed when Emma stopped him.

"Sean, no, stay in bed."

He looked confused and asked, "Em? Where am I? What happened?"

"Babe, you're in the hospital, remember?"

"Hospital?" He closed his eyes then said, "Oh, right. The shop."

"Did you need to go to the bathroom?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll get the nurse. She was in here earlier."

"Thanks."

Emma hit the nurse call button.

"I can't believe I have to have a nurse help me pee."

Emma scoffed and said, "I don't think she's going to do that. You just have a lot of stuff hooked up to you and you have a head injury. They don't want you to fall."

The nurse walked in and said, "Hello there, Mr. Cameron. Let me help you."

"Thanks." He slowly got up off the bed and the nurse helped him walk to the bathroom while wheeling his IV with him. He felt a breeze up his back and said to Emma. "My ass is hanging out isn't it…"

Emma giggled, "Yes."

"Great." He reached around and held the back of his gown together.

Emma sat back down in her chair and waited. When Sean walked out a few minutes later, the nurse joked, "He had a bit of performance anxiety." Emma covered her mouth to stop from laughing. "But then he was okay." Sean looked embarrassed and the nurse said, "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I wouldn't be able to pee in front of a total stranger either." She helped Sean back to his bed and made sure he was comfortable. "Since you're awake, I'll change the bandage on your wound, okay?"

"Sure, thanks."

"Be right back."

Sean looked at Emma, "Well, that was humiliating."

"I'd rather have that happen than what happened when I had Drew."

Sean asked, "What happened?"

"I had a catheter put in after I gave birth to Drew. They didn't want me to get up and sit down with my fresh c-section scar. It hurt a lot when they pulled it out."

Sean made a face then shivered, "I can't imagine what that feels like." Then he said, "I hope the next time we're in a hospital is because you're giving birth to our second child but I also hope that you won't need another catheter."

Emma smiled and said, "Me too. On both counts."

The nurse came back with her supplies and changed Sean's bandage. "That's quite a gash you have there, Mr. Cameron."

"Yeah, great."

"You're lucky. You have a nice, thick head of hair so you'll never see it."

Emma smiled at him.

When the nurse finished, she said, "There you go. All set."

"Thank you."

She looked at Emma, then at Sean and said, "I'm on duty until 8 a.m. so let me know if you need anything else, okay?"

Emma smiled and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The nurse walked out and Sean looked at Emma, "Come here and lie with me again. I don't like when you're not next to me."

"Are you sure? I don't want to take up too much space."

"Yes, I'm sure."

Emma smiled and climbed into the bed with him.

"I still can't believe this happened to me."

"Me neither."

He looked at his phone and said, "I didn't hear from Jay or Pete. I hope that means all the cars are still there."

"They probably wanted you to rest."

He nodded, "I'm glad you're here with me."

"There's no place on earth I'd rather be."