And here's part 2.


"Ruth?"

She nodded.

He blinked wide-eyed before trying to rub his eyes.

The image stayed the same though, his sister looking at him with a soft smile.

The last thing he remembered was walking home from his shift at the hospital.

"Ruth? What's going on? Where am I?"

She unclasped her hands from in front of her and hugged him before stepping back.

"Hollywood, you need to relax. You're in the hospital currently. Panicking about it will do nothing but possibly cause you more harm."

"What?"

"Jesse, you're safe here, but you can't stay, not yet anyway. There's still people who need you. Your work is not done yet. It's going to be a struggle though."

"Why? Why tell me this? Why is it going to be a struggle?"

"Jesse, haven't you guessed it yet? You nearly died, and you probably would have had you been any further away from the hospital. You were hit by a drunk driver which has left you with more injuries than you had from your wreck. As for the why's you asked; it's because you need to hear it from me."

"Hear what from you?"

"That my time was done. There was nothing that you could have done differently. My death was not your fault. I can breathe now, there's no pain here. Emily is going to need you though. I did tell you that you'd like her."

"You did mention that."

"You need to talk to Henry. You don't know how much you hurt him by running like that. You can't keep running and trying to avoid things, it doesn't turn out well."

"Okay, point made, I'll talk with Henry."

"Good. Emily is going to have a surprise for you when you wake up. And Jesse? I'm so proud of you baby brother. You're doing so well. Momma and daddy send their love, be sure to tell Henry and his family that we all send our love to them. Tell Emily hi for me and send her our love too. You can tell her I'm glad you have someone to talk sense into you. Jesse, trust me when I say going back there for now will be worth all the pain. I promise you. It is time for you to go back now. You need to wake up so you'll finish healing. I love you Jesse. We will see each other again one day, but for now, go be with your wife."

oOo

She had been reading a small book about pregnancy and motherhood while sitting beside Jesse, when he clasped her hand.

She had sucked in her breath glancing first at his hand before looking over to see his eyes open for the first time in weeks.

She was almost in tears from him finally waking up. Then he had to tell her Ruth said hi, and the tears started rolling down her cheeks unbidden.

He had made it back to her.

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze before telling him hi.

She knew that the nurses and doctors would want to know he was awake so she got up putting down the book, and carefully gave him a kiss, not wanting to hurt him.

When she straightened up she told him what she was doing.

"I'm going to get a nurse, just to let them know you're awake, then I'll be back." She couldn't quite believe he was awake.

She couldn't help the small smile on her face when she thought of the news she was going to be telling him, and had to keep looking back just to make sure it wasn't some kind of dream.

It didn't take her long to find his nurse.

"Mrs. Hudson, what can I do for you?" The nurse asked.

"Jesse is awake, and knowing him, he's going to want to know every detail about his injuries when they're gone over. So it would be best to tell whoever is going to do so, to tell it to him like a doctor."

"I'll find his doctor and let him know that. We'll be along shortly to check his vitals and see how he is, now that he's awake. Don't let him do to much talking, but I have a feeling you'd like to share some news with him."

The nurse shooed her back to Jesse's room, and had gone to sit down as she spoke.

"The nurse went to get your doctor, I think it was also to give us a moment longer alone now that you're awake."

She picked up his one hand and laced her fingers through his before continuing on.

"So, I have some news for you, it's all good, though you might think one piece isn't. I got in touch with your brother after I learned you were fighting for your life. I told him what you had been up to since you showed up in town, after I had explained you were in the hospital. Then the piece I'm the glad that your awake to hear is that I'm pregnant. I was afraid I wasn't going to get to tell you that."

"Really?"

His voice was a soft tender whisper, rough and dry from not being used.

She nodded earnestly. "Yeah, we're going to be parents Jesse, together."

She squeezed his hand at the together part.

"When the doctor comes, I'm going to make a couple phone calls to tell people you're awake, okay?"

"Okay."

"Nanna was the one to tell me I was pregnant, nearly spit out the food I was eating at the time. She hadn't given me any warnings or hints, just telling me I had to eat because it wasn't good for me or the baby. I didn't believe her, but she was right. I missed you."

"I'm right here."

"Yes, you are."

There was a knock on the door before the nurse came in with the doctor.

"We're going to check you're vitals first, then we will discuss your injuries."

She gave Jesse's hand one last squeeze and one last kiss, before getting ready to leave the room.

"I'll be right back, you be good for them."

She had four phone calls she wanted to make quickly, hopefully they wouldn't take too long. She stopped the doctor before she left the room.

"Excuse me, but Dr. March, when you're telling him about his injuries, it would be best to go as in-depth as possible."

"Thank you for the advice, Mrs. Hudson."

She had a feeling he wasn't going to have listened to her advice, but that wasn't anything she could control.

oOo

The doctor sat down beside him so that he could see him. He hurt, but he'd rather know what kind of recovery he would be facing than not.

"Mr. Hudson, I'm Dr. March. I have been in control of your care since your surgeries when you came in from your accident. You are an incredibly lucky man, considering your medical history and the severity of the injuries that you have recently suffered. You have been unconscious for quite a few weeks now-"

"How- how long?" He tried clearing his throat.

"A bit longer than your last accident."

"I want to know how many weeks."

"It certainly hasn't seemed to affected your mind. I think I should explain some of your injuries first. You suffered a lot of damage to-"

"A LOT is a general term, be more specific..."

"Well you nearly broke your back."

"Nearly...are we talking strain or hairline fracture? Which vertebrae? Or are you being general again?"

"Mr. Hudson, if you will let me finish speaking before you interrupt with your questions, I can finish giving you an overview of your injuries."

"I don't need an overview. I want to know exactly what I'm up against."

"You hit your head pretty hard-"

"Listen, until this most recent set of trauma, I was completing my residency here, cut the generalities and explain it to me as you would to any other doctor. If you're not willing to tell me the specifics, send in someone who will. I can already tell I have broken ribs, I want to know which ones. I want to know how long I was out for."

"I will be back with the head of the department."

"Good."

The doctor left as he closed his eyes.

Leaving him wonder how long Emily was going to take with her phone calls. If she'd be back to listen to the details or not.

He didn't want to be in this position again. Go through this pain again.

What kind of father would he be when he was having to heal from this mess of injuries? What kind of husband?

At least he knew the department head. He'd tell him what he was all up against.

He opened his eyes when he heard someone enter the room.

"Ah, Jesse, it's good to see you awake. Gave everyone who knows you a good scare."

"How bad is it really?"

The head, Dr. Philips, sat where March had recently left.

"Shall we start with your ribs?"

"I can feel those."

"On the left side, ribs two, three, four and five broke. Two punctured your aorta, and four punctuated your left lung."

"Flail chest."

"Yes. We had to remove your spleen as we found it in a state of grade five rupture." Philips moved his glasses to help him read his chart.

"Your T 11 and T 12 vertebrae both have hairline fractures, but luckily nothing more than that. As far as we can tell, your spinal cord itself is undamaged.

Your left leg had a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula. We did have to preform surgery on it and we will have to do surgery on it again to remove the pins."

He lowered the chart to look him in the eye.

"Your right side faired slightly better. Rib six has a hairline fracture, and you have some deep bruising around both your hips and another hairline fracture near the top of your right femur. Your right humorous, just above the elbow had a fairly clean break, while your left ulna and radius have hairline fractures."

Philips looked back at his chart before looking at him again.

"Perhaps most impressive is the hairline fracture your skull received, as it did not break completely through, though it easily could have."

He paused a quick moment.

"It paints quite the picture of what you've been through."

He shook his head lightly.

"The drunk driver who hit you, hit you on your left side, sent you flying, only to hit the sidewalk with your right side more or less."

He put the chart down on the side table.

"I can't tell you exactly how much blood you lost, but if it weren't for transfusions, you would probably not be here now."

Philips let out a sigh.

"It could have been much worse. Had your head hit any differently than it had, it could have left you either brain dead, or killed you instantly. We'll give you something for the pain again."

"Thank you."

"Recovery will be long, but it will be possible. As I'm sure you know. Your previous injuries will slow down the process, but your waking up is a good first step. Physiotherapy will be a big part of your recovery."

The doctor groaned a little as he got up. Picked up his chart and hung it back up where it belonged.

"You've been doing remarkably well so far, but it's a lot to take in. I'll give you sometime to process, and we can answer any questions you might have later."

After Dr. Philips left and he was alone, he let the tears fall.

He had so much work to do. So much healing and pain he was going to have to go through again.

Recovery was going to take such a long time.

He was older now, was previously injured, and neither of those added up to fast healing. It was completely overwhelming.

oOo

"Really Jesse, you need to stop scaring us with near death experiences." Said Henry.

"Yeah, try living them... 'm sorry"

"For what?"

"Scaring you, disappearing, not giving even a letter or phone call to let you know I was alright, take your pick."

"What's got you being so candid? Usually anything like this is like pulling teeth."

"Ruth. She wanted to make sure I said hi for her, told me I had to get back in touch with you. Em obviously beat me to it."

"And now you're going to be a father." A silly grin grew across his brother's face.

"Yeah, I'm just glad I get to see it. We had been told that we couldn't have kids."

"Well then, congratulations are well in order."

"Henry?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm glad you're here."

"Me too, Hollywood. Ruth say anything else when you were talking to her?"

"That it was going to be a long hard road, but worth it. And an I told you so about me liking Emily."

"Looks like she's right on both."

oOo

They had finally managed to grab Smokey for an evening out at the Cotter Pin.

He had been rushing around for more than a few weeks now.

Disappearing sometimes for a couple of weeks at a time. Sometimes it was just him, sometimes with Joan and his kids. Sometimes he'd go, and Joan and the kids would follow a week or two later.

The few times they had managed to talk to him, he hadn't mentioned Jesse at all, and hadn't voiced his thought about the possibility of Jesse being dead.

Any time they did mention his brother he'd scoff or shake his head slightly, and changed the subject.

The three of them were determined to find out was going on. The last time they saw him like this, had to be when Jesse was in the hospital.

"Smokey, what's going on with you lately?"

"You're always rushing off somewhere, out of town for weeks, sometimes taking your family sometimes not."

"You're not saying that Jesse might be dead anymore."

"Not yet he's not, but he sure tried his hardest again." Smokey muttered.

"See! That! What does that mean?"

"That means, Jesse's gone and got himself in the hospital again, and we've been going out west to visit him."

"You've seen him!"

"You know where he is!"

"You hadn't told us."

"I'VE been a bit preoccupied. You try getting a phone call at work by a frantic and distraught woman, claiming to be your missing brother's wife. Only to finally understand what she's phoning to say that said missing brother has been hit by a drunk driver and is once again fighting for his life. Not to mention finding out who his wife is, and finding out once there that she's pregnant almost at the same time she has. So forgive me for being too tired to fill you all in on that drama."

They were silent for a moment after his outburst.

River broke the quiet. "So who'd he end up marrying then?"

Smokey huffed in amusement before answering.

"Emily Piston."

They voiced their varying degrees of shock as Smokey just watched them in amusement at that bit of news.

"Her father is the reason we've been gone so much, he's been paying the air fare."

Lou asked the more serious question. "So he's in the hospital again, you said. How bad is he?"

"Worse this time. Re-broke his ribs, punctured a lung this time, one of those ribs nicked an important artery, another bad head injury, nearly broke his back, badly broken leg. He had lost a lot of blood. It was a much closer call this time. He's awake though, grousing about being back in the hospital and complaining about why he went to school to be a doctor."

"A doctor!?"

"Are we sure you're talking about the same Jesse Hudson we know?"

Smokey rolled his eyes.

"Yes, it's a surprise, but no one is surly in the same way my brother is."

oOo

It had been a stressful enough time for Emily already. With him in the hospital like he was; let alone for how hard her pregnancy was being on her.

With the stress on top of a stressful pregnancy, it was probably for the best that she was here all the time.

He knew that while the nurses and doctors were looking after him, they were also keeping an eye on Emily.

While she was busy worrying over him and his healing, he was worrying over how she was doing.

He was unable to do as much as he would have liked for her. The only thing he could really do other than talking with her and holding her hand, was concentrating on healing.

He tried to be on his best behaviour and walk that line of pushing enough, but not too much.

It was a frustrating place to be.

He was glad that they agreed with Edward. Moving him to a double room so that Emily could have a bed. Making it possible for her to be a little bit more comfortable.

He thought that they might have agreed because it meant better checking on her; though she wasn't currently a classified as a patient.

They would do some of her basic check ups in their shared room. Meaning that he could be there for them.

Since Emily wasn't a patient, she wasn't captive to the hospital like he was. So many times Nanna, Edward or even his brother would steal her away and make her take a break from the hospital.

Henry, he believed would take Emily for short walks. While he knew her parents and Nanna would take her for meals.

When he was awake, someone was usually with him. With them, because it was rare for him to be awake without Emily in the room.

She had; at least a couple of times, expressed her desire for their beds to be pushed up to right next to each other.

She relented a bit with the understanding that the doctors and nurses would need access if there was an emergency.

That didn't stop her from wanting to at least be close enough that they could hold hands, honestly he didn't blame her and wanted it himself.

The staff agreed to it on the count that her bed at the back angled a bit away from his. It worked for them, they could reach each other this way.

The further into her pregnancy she got the more obviously uncomfortable she became, the more mobile he became.

He had watched her grow, never getting very big.

She was constantly being encouraged to eat more and enjoy those sweet treats. Everyone trying to fatten her up.

The closer Em got to her due date, the more she was treated like a patient.

Henry always came for a couple weeks at a time with about three in between, was back again as Em neared the end of her pregnancy.

At this point she was sleeping at the hospital and had been for quite awhile already.

Once her contractions had started she was placed under watch, leaving her being checked on more than him.

She was allowed to stay in their room, right until her water broke, when they raced her off to the maternity ward to have their baby, leaving him to wonder what was happening.

Henry had come to visit shortly after Emily had been raced off with.

He had mentioned his surprise at not seeing Emily in the room with him. While he told his brother how she had been whisked away to have their baby.

Henry told him he wouldn't leave until they got news.

The news came and it wasn't good.

Emily had run into some complications while having their baby. The nurse who delivered the news, didn't give any details before rushing back out of the room.

He had put her through a scare and now she was putting him through a scare.

Finally he was told that Emily was stable and that he was now the father of a little girl.

He was asleep when they brought Emily back to their room, so he woke up to seeing her asleep on the bed next to him.

Hopefully today he would get to meet his little one, his daughter.

He did once Emily was awake. He made sure he'd get to hold their daughter for at least a short time. His two girls were beautiful and under strict supervision for the week because of the complications that had happened.

A few weeks later and all three of them were being released to go home. With big stipulations on his end. He still had some fairly strong restrictions that he had to follow. His daughter was the heaviest thing he was allowed to carry and lift. He had to do his exercises he was doing in the hospital at home regularly, and he was still going to need lots of rest. The other thing he was going to have to do, was have a phone call every couple of weeks to see how he was progressing. They would all be home though.

oOo

They entered Flo's and were caught off guard by the crowd of friends who were there to greet them.

"Flo! You shouldn't have have."

"Nonsense honey. It's always a cause for celebration when locals come home. Especially when there was a chance that one of them wouldn't."

"Thank you."

"And who's this sweet little thing you two?" Flo said, cooing over the little baby in Emily's arms.

"Oh! I- er- this is Abigail Anne... our daughter."

"Your daughter?!"

"When did this happen?"

Jesse turned and looked at her, flabbergasted.

"You forgot to tell everyone about your pregnancy. How did you manage that?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

She pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I was more worried about you most of the time, sometimes I forgot to think about being pregnant. I didn't have to tell Nanna, your brother knew before you were conscious, so daddy was the other big one to tell, and I hadn't wanted to tell too many people before you were wake."

"She was born a few weeks ago."

oOo

"Look, Em. I'm fine. A hug isn't going to kill me."

"How would I know. You've always been the suffer in silence type."

"Well I'm suffering now, I'm finally able to hug my wife and she won't because she's afraid of hurting me. I think those doctors would have done a pretty bad job of fixing me up if only a hug could kill me. Wouldn't that be something? Survives two accidents only to die by being hugged. What would that say about me?"

"Don't joke like that, it's not funny."

"I will joke like that because you're being ridiculous."

"I am not."

"You are. I'm pretty sure if I can hold our daughter, we can hug."

She turned away from him, crossing her arms and remaining quiet.

"Are you actually giving me the cold shoulder over this?"

"Yes." She answered clipped, dropping her arms.

"Fine, if you're not going to hug me, there's nothing stopping me from hugging you." He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, capturing her arms. He could feel her stiffen in his arms.

"Jesse! Don't!"

"Em. Trust me if I were in pain we'd both know."

oOo

They had tagged along with Smokey, Joan and their kids. Following him to the town Jesse was living in now.

Henry had told them in no uncertain terms there would be no rough housing with Jesse, he was still healing, and at most could handle a hand shake from them. That meant no slapping him on the back or clapping him on the shoulder, none of them needed to deal with an overprotective wife.

Verbal banter though, was fair game.

He also reminded them that his brother and his wife were new parents.

So they should remember that they were in their 30's and not revert back to their 20's. If his kids could respect the boundaries, so could they.

They'd be meeting him at the local diner.

He was already there when they entered, sitting at a booth. They stood to the side of the booth.

"Well, what do you know, it's the missing wonder himself."

"Heard you tried to out do yourself again."

"You trying to move up in the world or something? Marrying a Piston, studying to become a doctor."

"Do you know how long it's been since we've last seen you?"

"I do actually, 11 almost 12 years."

"Where is your wife by the way, we want to meet her."

"She's collecting our daughter from her nap, usually we try to time mine with hers, but Henry warned me you bunch were coming with him."

"Your nap?"

"You never seemed someone for naps in the middle of the day."

"You spend nearly a year in the hospital and only be released home because you promised to take it easy. You'd need the rest if you had been out of commission that long too."

A woman holding a baby, who could only be Jesse's wife, came and slid in beside him, plopping the baby into his arms giving him a kiss on the cheek before looking around at them.

"Have I missed anything?"

"Em, this is Junior Moon, River Scott, and Louise Nash; my wife Emily and our daughter Abigail."

"It's wonderful to finally get to meet all of you. Jesse's told me many stories including a reason as to why a helmet came flying at me one time."

"That was you!?"

"Mmhm. While I did nearly break an ankle, it was my first time sort of getting a close look at a very handsome driver."

"Em..."

"I have every right to embarrass you, it's my revenge for you scaring me like that."

"I thought your revenge for that was giving us a scare when you had complications while giving birth to Abby?"

"We are not diving into who gave who a bigger scare again."

"She gave us a bit of a scare when she was giving birth."

"Not nearly as big as yours."

"Two lives were at stake with you and our daughter's."

"Yours was longer and all together a closer brush with death."

"I was worrying over you for the entire time I knew you were pregnant. I saw how hard it was on you Em. There was just nothing I could do. Though every nurse and doctor was keeping an eye on you too."

They all looked at each other. They wouldn't have believed it without seeing it, but the pair seemed to make a good couple.

oOo

"Did you know Doc is a famous race car driver!" Lightning asked wide eyed.

"Oh, sugar, that's old news, honey. We've all known that since the sixties when that poor man was hit by a drunk driver."

"Those were some hard years after that happened, injuries on top of old injuries for him."

"Plus becoming new parents only a few months after that, busy times for them."

"Hardly saw Emily during that time, she was always at the hospital with Jesse until he could come home."