A week later, Mike's house

Bree propped up Mike's pillows on his bed as he slipped under the covers.

"Thanks," he told her, trying not to groan from the tight pull of his stitches.

"You're welcome."

As she prepared to leave the room, he took her hand. "Will you stay?"

"I have to go get the boys but I'll come back. We'll come back."

"I don't have any food for you."

"I will bring dinner. I know what you like." She gave him a smile but he didn't return it. He hadn't smiled much since their engagement. She put her palm gently against his cheek. "I love you, Mike."

"I love you too."

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"About what?"

"Me? The boys. Marrying me. I know we are a lot to handle…"

"Bree, I love all of you. I want to marry you and be your husband and I want to be the dad that they need."

"But…"

"I'm not sure I can go back to working at the station."

"Oh."

"And as much as I want to marry you, if I can't work, I can't support you."

"Mike, it's not all or nothing. There are counselors that can help you with this and we will figure out the money part."

"I don't want to talk to a stranger about how I'm feeling."

"So that's it? You aren't going back so that automatically means we can't be a family?"

"I'm sorry."

"Me too." She looked at his stubborn expression, one that she had never seen up until the accident but had seen a lot since. It wasn't like him to give up. To walk away.

"We can still be together," he told her, taking her hand again.

"I…no, I don't think we can." She stood up and walked to the doorway. "What I don't understand is why you even asked me. It doesn't make any sense to propose and then a week later take it back."

"I thought I could do it, Bree. But I can't go back there."

She nodded and took her ring off, placing it on his dresser.

"Take care, Mike."

At the BB, Beth had just checked in a couple celebrating their 40th anniversary. She'd outdone herself on the room with candles and a large bouquet of the wife's favorite flowers. Now she was putting the finishing touches on a cake, trying her hardest to replicate the style of the one in the photo from the husband.

"Anybody home?" Jesse called into the house as he came in through the back door. "Man, something smells good in here!"

"Shhh!" she huffed. "Linc is finally sleeping."

"Finally? Rough day?"

With a sigh, she poured herself another cup of coffee and offered one to her brother. "He's having nightmares. Of course he can't tell us what they're about because he's only two and doesn't have all his words yet."

"Yikes."

"Yeah."

"So what have you been doing?"

"Well for now he's sleeping in our room. Usually in our bed. It seems to help him but it's kind of putting a kink in Jack and my…"

"Pause!" Jesse yelled, covering his ears. "No bedroom talk that involves my sister and my best friend. Just no!"

Elizabeth laughed. "Shhh! And for the record I was going to say "sleep", but since you brought it up, it is affecting that too."

"Sorry, sis. If I can do anything, let me know. For you or the little guy."

"Thanks, Jess." Her phone buzzed with a text on the counter. "It's Bree. Something happened with Mike."

"Is he ok? Was it a complication?"

"Complication of the brain…"

"Oh wow, that's really bad! Should we go to the hospital?"

"Oh! No, not like that. He did something stupid, thats all. I need to call Jack."

Jesse went home to help Clara with Bree's boys shortly after while Beth waited for her best friend to show up. Even though they'd only just talked via text, she could tell Bree was devastated.

Jack showed up at Mike's after talking to Beth and hurried through the front door. "Mike? Bro, where are you?"

"Here."

He followed Mike's voice to the living room where he was laying on the couch.

"You look like crap."

"Thanks. What are you doing here?"

"Bree called Beth, Beth called me."

"So you're here to tell me what I did was wrong?"

"I'm here to listen."

Mike sighed. "Bree deserves the world, Jack. Not a cop who's probably gonna have PTSD and can't go back to work."

"So you think you're looking out for her and the boys?"

"That's exactly what I'm doing. See, you get it."

"Well, yeah I see what you're doing but I think you're wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Mike, you know as well as I do that there are desk jobs at the station. If that's not what you want, you're much more than a police officer. You could do lots of things for them."

"Like what?"

"Like being a father to those boys who already think you've hung the moon. Go to their concerts and games. Teach them to be good, loving, strong men. Take them to baseball games."

"And Bree?"

"You said it yourself, she deserves the world. To her, the world is your love. You're telling me you can't do that for her anymore?"

"Of course I love her," Mike whispered. "And those boys."

"I know you do, and yeah, you're hurting right now, but man up. She needs you. You need them."

Jack arrived home from Mike's just in time for dinner. He slipped off his police jacket and hung it up on the coat rack.

"Dada!" Linc called out.

"Yes, baby. Dada will be home soon," Beth told him.

Jack smiled and put his finger over his lips to shush his son, wanting to surprise his wife. It worked too. He wrapped his arms around her thin waist, kissing her neck softly.

"Oh..." she moaned. "Dada's home now."

"I am." The kisses continued. "I love you."

"I love you too." She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Did you see Mike?"

"Yeah."

"How'd it go? You talk some sense into him?"

"I tried. Time will tell I guess." He walked over and picked up Linc, who was trying hard to get his attention. "I get it, though. What he's doing."

"He proposed a week ago. One week! How could he do this to her?"

"He's scared. Getting shot does a lot to a person. When I got shot, I…"

"Whoa! When you got what?"

He winced. Apparently that little tidbit of his life hadn't been known to her.

"How did I not know this?"

"I don't know. It was a few years ago. I guess I assumed Jess would have said something."

"No, he didn't. What happened?"

"It was a domestic violence case. We showed up for the husband and he opened fire. You haven't noticed the scar under my arm?"

"I mean, I noticed something but it didn't look that bad."

"That's because it wasn't. Not like Mike's, but it still shakes you up quite a bit, you know? I thought about quitting and going into construction or something. All I'm saying is, it makes sense that Mike would need time to figure stuff out."

"So you think what he did was right?"

"Oh no! That was stupid. He loves her. Pushing away the people you love when you need them most is a natural human reaction, but its stupid."

"Well, at least we agree about that." She stared at Jack and their son. "Any other times you almost died that I should know about?"

He walked over to her, wrapping his free arm around her and kissed her lips, expressing his tender love for her.

"No. I'm sorry. I thought you knew."

"No," she spoke with tears in her eyes. "I love you, Jack."

"I love you."

"Eats!!" Linc said, clapping his hands. "Eats!"

"I guess he's hungry." Beth wiped her tears. "Put him back in his seat, please? I'll put dinner on the table."

Beth moved about the kitchen with a little less of her light, loving spirit. She was worried now. Not just about Bree and Mike, but about him and his safety. He vowed to fix that later. However he could.

Bree picked up her kids from Jess and Clara's and took them home for dinner. The whole time she cooked dinner and read her sons bedtime stories she put on a brave face like nothing was wrong. When the boys asked about Mike she said they'd see him soon.

After they were asleep, she cleaned the kitchen, her mind focused on the day and her life in general.

"Enough." She shook her head. "Enough."

"Okay so what's the plan?" Beth sat in the passenger seat of Bree's car a bit later. "You do have a plan right? I mean you came to the BB and dragged me away from what could have been a really nice bit of alone time with Jack and now we're sitting here staring at Mike's house…"

"I have a plan," Bree interrupted. "But if it doesn't work, I need my best friend with me."

"I'm here. I got your back."

"Great. Okay… I'll be back."

Once out of the car, Bree said a prayer that this plan would work. It felt like everything she had ever dreamed of for her and her boys was riding on this. Before she could chicken out, she opened the front door and walked in.

"Michael Hickam!" she scolded.

"Bree? Living room. You okay?"

Marching into the room, she turned off Mike's TV and stood in front of him. "I am furious with you!"

"Yeah, I kind of figured. Bree, look I'm so sorry."

"Where's my ring?"

Mike's eyes blinked rapidly. "Um, here." He pulled a chain from around his neck and undid it, handing her the ring. She snatched it from his hand and placed it back on her ring finger.

"You just deciding to give up on us is wrong and hurtful!"

"I know, I was wrong. It was stupid and I was scared but…"

"I'm not finished. My last husband was horrible. Even so, I fought for us and I fought for our family longer and harder than I should have when really I should have been fighting for just myself and my kids. Not him. Not some jerk that couldn't have cared less for us!"

She took a deep breath, tears free-flowing.

"I learned my lesson. From now on, I will never stop fighting for what is best for me and my boys." She held up her hand, showing the ring. "That's us. The four of us; and any other children God happens to give us once we've made it through this. Look, you don't have to be a cop. You do whatever makes you happy and I will be behind you every step of the way, but treat me like that again and we will have a serious problem on our hands."

"Understood." With a lot of effort, Mike stood in front of her. "Is it my turn now?"

"Okay."

"I'm sorry, and I mean really really sorry." Reaching out he took her hands in his. "I was scared. I didn't want to end up hurting you and the boys if I couldn't get ahold of all this."

"So instead you decided to just hurt us now?"

"Yeah. I thought it was best. It's not, I know. I need you. I need our boys."

"Our boys…" she whispered.

"I love them so much. I want them to have a dad they can be proud of. I just hope I can be that person for them."

"I have faith in you, Mike. So much faith."

Tenderly, he kissed her lips. "Forgive me."

"I do."

"Will you marry me?"

"I will."