I know you think your fire is burning out, but I still see it shining through...you got it in you.

A Week Later

It was determined that Kate was ready to try some physiotherapy the day before. Today was her second day, and she was currently in the middle of two bars, barely able to hold herself up. The two workers beside her were encouraging her, but she felt so defeated. She willed herself to take a step, but her legs just wouldn't cooperate. She ended up collapsing.

"It's okay," Stacy, the one worker, said to her. "You did really well."

Kate was grateful that no one else was watching her fail.

"I stood for ten seconds," she said. "How is that doing well?"

"Because yesterday you couldn't stand at all," Lila, the other worker, pointed out. "Remember? It takes time."

They helped Kate up and get settled back into her wheel chair. She hated the damn thing. She hated all of this. The anger inside of her was building more and more every day.

She hated Frank Duggan for doing this to her and hated even more that she couldn't inflict pain back on him. Kate was not in a good place.

"Here we are," Lila said, wheeling her into her room.

"Hey," Lee said upon seeing them. He was sitting in the chair beside her bed. "How did it go?"

"Shitty," Kate answered.

"Oh, she's not giving herself enough credit," Lila tsked. "Any progress is progress."

Kate resisted telling the woman to shut up. She bit her tongue as Lila helped her to her feet and turned her so she could sit on the bed. Lila then moved her legs for her onto the bed, adjusting the blankets and everything. Kate felt like she could either scream or cry...or both.

Lee could tell she was struggling. It was all over her face.

"How can I help?" he asked.

"You can't," she answered curtly. He shifted in his chair, thinking of how he could carefully tread here so as not to get his face ripped off.

"Reggie sent some of your stuff," he ended up telling her. It seemed like a safe topic. "Hope said it came today."

"Okay."

"I'll bring it next time, if you want."

"Fine."

Lee nodded slowly. He and Hope had moved into his apartment the night before since it had windows and a new door again, and the furniture was removed. He was planning on starting the drywall that night.

Kate stared numbly at the wall as Lee's phone rang. She felt the shrill of the ringtone go right through her bones. He answered quickly as if sensing this.

"Yea?"

Kate got lost in her own thoughts as she tuned out his phone call. Why was he hanging on? Why was he there? How could he possibly still love her? All of these thoughts charged through her mind like a bull in a china shop, smashing any good thoughts in its path.

"Thanks," Lee said, hanging up. She noticed he had a smile on his lips. Curiosity got the best of her.

"What?" she asked.

"DNA results are back," he answered. "Apparently they got lost for a day."

"And?"

"Hope is most definitely my daughter," Lee replied. He sensed a celebratory dinner at Tool's when they found out the news.

"We knew that already," Kate pointed out.

"Yes, but the Pot will be satisfied and leave us alone now," Lee responded. "Since I passed all her questions and inspections on top of everything. Potty almost seemed mad that her boss is excited for Hope to reunite with her birth parents."

"You're terrible," Kate said, a small smirk twitching the corner of her lips. She hadn't liked Miss Potts either, who had visited her and was all sniffy and huffy about her being Hope's biological mother. Kate had done a DNA test too upon Miss Potts's request, but she hadn't gotten her results back yet.

"I wish I could take you out of here," Lee said, bringing her attention back to him. "I'd go crazy staying here all the time."

"I don't really have a choice. You can't give me the same kind of care they can in here, and they don't want me leaving at this stage."

"I know. I'm just trying to make you feel better somehow," Lee told her.

"Don't worry about it," she muttered. He got up at this and went over next to her.

"But I do worry about it," he assured her. "Because I care."

"I don't want you to care," she said a little more sharply than she had planned. The hurt on his face made her feel bad, but she knew if she hurt him enough, he would leave. She didn't want him trapped with a burden like her. He needed to be with someone who could walk, who was able to do the things a normal person could do.

"Kate," he said after a moment. "Are we really going to do this?"

"Do what?"

"You doing and saying everything and anything to make me leave?"

Kate swallowed. So he was on to her plan. She really should give him more credit.

"You deserve..." she started.

"Stop," he cut her off, putting a hand on her arm tightly. "Stop right there."

"Lee..."

"No, Kate," he interrupted her again. "I'm going to ask you this once and only once. Would you abandon me if I was the one in your position right now?"

Kate knew that if she said yes, it would hurt him enough to make him leave. She knew it. She could also throw in that she didn't really love him after all either, and that would make him go. The Negativity Monster in her head was having a full out hay day with her thoughts now.

But she also knew the truth, and the truth was exactly what he knew he was going to hear.

"No," she whispered.

"Then why would you ever think that I'd abandon you or not want to stick around simply because you're injured?" he asked softly. Kate swallowed down the thick lump that was forming.

"It's not fair to you..."

"Get off that train, Kate," Lee said firmly. "Enough of that. What is fair to me or what I deserve is up to me to decide, okay? Not you."

"But I hurt you," she managed to say. "16 years ago I hurt you because I thought you had hurt me. How can you still love me?"

"Because we all make mistakes, Kate," Lee said. "And I should have known your friend was going to jump me and avoided the whole thing. I was wrong to trust she had a moral compass. That was my mistake."

Kate didn't say anything else as Lee ignored the doctor and nurses' warning about crawling into the hospital bed with her. He made sure she was all right before putting his arms around her and holding her close. Kate closed her eyes as he pressed his face into the crook of her neck near the back of her shoulder.

"I'm not going anywhere, and you better just accept that," he said after a moment. She reached with her good hand to interlock their fingers.

"Okay," she caved. After ten minutes, they were disrupted.

"Oh, uh uh. You did not just...tell me I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing," a voice said, disgruntled. They both turned their heads to see Nurse Ginny standing there with crossed arms. Her red hair looked even more on fire than usual.

"Crap," Lee said.

"Crap is right. What the hell do you think you're doing? Get out of there! Now!" Ginny ordered. Lee hastily obeyed.

"I'll be back later," he promised as Ginny set about helping Kate get ready for a shower.

"You don't have to..."

"Hope will throttle me if I don't bring her in today," Lee said. "And I want to."

"Okay. I'll see you later then," Kate agreed. Lee knew better than to try to hug or kiss her goodbye when Ginny was bustling about, so he bumped his fist over his heart twice, and Kate smiled and put her hand over hers.

"You are one lucky woman to have someone so devoted as to break all the rules," Ginny said once Lee was gone.

"I know," Kate nodded. She really was, and it was time to start accepting it.

...

"Thanks," Lee said to Barney as they walked the pieces of drywall into his apartment together. Barney had picked them up in his truck that morning.

"No problem. How's Kate?"

"Struggling."

"I bet."

They set the piece of drywall down and went to get another.

"I got the DNA results back today," Lee went on after a moment.

"You're Dad, right?"

"Yes."

"She'll be thrilled. She's talked about nothing else these past days."

"Where is she again?" Lee asked, curious.

"Oh, Gunner and Toll took her to the shooting range."

Lee dropped his end of the drywall at this and making Barney almost lose his footing before correcting himself. Luckily nothing broke.

"What?!" Lee exclaimed.

"She asked to go," Barney shrugged.

"But...why?"

"Why do you think, Christmas?" Barney challenged. Lee bent to pick up his end again and fumed inside as they walked into the apartment again.

"It's not right. A 15 year old girl should be dating boys or reading books, not shooting guns," Lee said, feeling angry at himself once more.

"You'd rather her dating a boy right now?"

"Well, no...but it's better than thinking you have to know how to shoot someone," Lee countered.

"You scared she's gonna be too much like her old man?" Barney asked, a teasing note in his tone.

"I'd rather her take after her mother," Lee commented. They set down the piece and went for another.

"How is that going to work anyway? You being you and Kate being FBI?"

"Haven't discussed it."

"We work for CIA mostly. It's not like we have our own agendas on who we take out."

"I don't know if I'll keep doing this anyway," Lee admitted, making Barney stop in his tracks.

"Hold on," he said. "What?"

"Well...I have a family now. I can't just go running off and getting shot at, beat up, imprisoned, tortured, or stabbed anymore," Lee reasoned. He was waiting for Barney to pick up his end on the final piece of the drywall in the box of his truck. "You gonna help me or not?"

"I just can't see you being anything but a mercenary," Barney said, grabbing his end reluctantly.

"I have other skills," Lee argued.

"Like what?"

"I don't have to justify this to you," Lee insisted. "It's my decision."

Barney said nothing else as they finished. When Lee offered him a beer, he declined.

"Oh, what, you're mad at me now?" he scoffed.

"Don't assume, Christmas," Barney replied. He headed out for his truck. "Say hi to Kate for me."

Lee felt annoyed as his friend got into his truck and drove away. How dare he be mad that Lee wanted to retire? Didn't they all just have this conversation not that long ago? Didn't Barney himself force them into retirement only to hire a younger team, lose them to a villain, and have his old team come back, rescue the kids, and drag his sorry ass out of the mess he had made?

No, he wasn't going to feel bad. Not at all.

...

Hope bounded into the apartment to find Lee drilling drywall into the studs.

"Well?" she demanded, standing next to him.

"That's a deep subject," he replied, drilling another screw in.

"Don't mess with me," Hope warned. "Are you?"

"Of course I am," he answered. "But we already knew that, didn't we?"

"Did you tell Miss Potts you're my Dad?" she asked.

"First thing I did."

"I wanna go see Mum."

"Just hang on," Lee ordered as he finished the last screw. He had to admit he was surprised that Hope was very easily calling them Mum and Dad. Then again, she had told him about April and how she had never felt like a mother to her.

"Can I help? When we get back?"

"Sure," he nodded. He dusted off his hands and went to change. He realized more and more that he was going to have to put his bike away and get something proper, like a car. He was getting sick of cabs. Hope chatted away about some story Toll had told her earlier as they rode to the hospital. They knew it would be a quick visit since visiting hours were almost over, but Hope was okay with that. It was better than nothing.

"I out shot Gunner today," Hope said happily as they walked into the hospital together.

"Guy's gonna relapse if something doesn't go his way," Lee commented.

"What?"

"Nothing," Lee shook his head. He forgot that Hope knew nothing about that side of Gunner. The man was supposed to be clean now anyway except for that flask he always seemed to have on him. Mind you, he hadn't seen Gunner sipping from it as much lately. He wondered why.

Lost in thought, he bumped into Hope, who had stopped in the doorway of Kate's room.

"Why the roadblock?" he asked. Then he saw what Hope was looking at.

Kate was on the edge of the bed, alone, getting ready to stand.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lee said, pushing past Hope now. "Kate, what are you doing?"

"I can do this," she said fiercely. "It's all in my head. If I just tell myself hard enough that I can do it, then I can do it."

"Kate, you're nowhere near ready for standing on your own just yet," Lee said, putting himself in front of her to prevent her from sliding off the edge of the bed.

"It's just standing," she insisted. "It's not hard."

"I know you want to, but you'll only hurt yourself more if you do."

Hope didn't know what to do or say. She stayed near the edge of the room, hovering.

"Please, Lee," Kate begged. "Let me try."

"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head hard. "No."

She clutched his shirt tightly with her left hand and weakly with her right hand.

"I'd do it for you," she said. "Don't you want me to get better?"

"Keep it above the belt, Kate," Lee instructed. "No low blows."

"Just let her try," Hope cut in.

"Not you too," Lee said, shooting her a look.

"What's the harm in it? You're right there. Just let her do it."

Kate desperately wanted to try. She was sick of feeling useless and sick of being an invalid. She kept looking at Lee, whose resolve was slowly breaking. She could tell.

"You're gonna get me murdered by Nurse Ginny," he said after a moment.

"You can take her," Kate countered with a small smile. He just shook his head.

"Fine, but I'm not letting you go."

Kate slid her arms around his neck as he put his hands on her waist. She moved off the bed slowly. She barely felt the floor on her feet, which was unnerving. She felt herself going down, and Lee went down with her while holding her to prevent her from completely crashing onto the floor and hitting her head.

"Mum!" Hope cried, rushing to see if she could help. Lee was holding Kate in his arms while she sobbed.

"Give us a minute, huh?" he said to Hope. "Let me know if Nurse Ratched is coming."

"Who?"

"Red headed, angry looking nurse."

"Okay."

Hope moved to stand guard in the hallway while Lee did his best to comfort Kate.

"I should be able to do it. Why can't I do it?" she asked through her tears.

"Because you're paralyzed, luv," Lee answered. "You haven't built up your muscles yet. You have a long way to go."

"Standing is one of the first things you do as an infant," Kate whispered. "It's so simple."

"Come on," he said, gathering her up in his arms and lifting her easily. She was surprisingly lighter than he expected. "I shouldn't have agreed to that. It only made you feel worse about yourself."

He got her settled, and held her hands in his once he was finished.

"You gotta be patient," he said to her. "Don't overdo it and don't rush it. You'll risk damaging things more."

"I'm sorry," she sniffed.

"It's fine."

Hope came in coughing loudly, which Lee took to mean Ginny was on her way. Sure enough, the woman came in moments later.

"You're back," she said to Lee, a slight look of distaste on her face. She took in Kate's wet face. "What have you done now?"

"Nothing," he answered indignantly.

"You've got 20 minutes and visiting hours are over," she said a little haughtily.

"Don't waste them for us by standing here then," Lee said dryly.

Ginny shot him a look before exiting.

"Wow," Hope said. "Tough nut."

"How was your day?" Kate asked her, trying to get her mind off of her own problems.

"It was awesome. I got to fire a shot gun."

"Excuse me?" Kate asked, shocked. She glared at Lee, who held up his hands.

"I had nothing to do with it," he said.

"Toll and Gunner took me. It was so much fun!"

"Guns are very serious, Hope," Kate said. "Not fun."

"I know, but it was still fun," Hope smiled. Kate sighed.

"Just promise me you'll go be a teacher or a doctor or something," she said.

"I'll promise to try," Hope replied, echoing Lee's own statement he'd told her before.

Kate gave Lee another look, knowing full well where Hope got that from. He shrugged with a "what are you gonna do?" expression on his face.

"Dad's gonna show me how to do drywall," Hope went on.

"Cool," Kate nodded.

Lee disconnected from their continued conversation as he thought about Hope. He still felt strange being called Dad. It was even more strange hearing her say Mum to Kate, but he knew he had to get used to it.

"I got my DNA results back too," Kate said then, bringing his attention back to the room. "This afternoon. I'm your biological mother."

"I already knew it, but I still think this is the happiest day of my life," Hope said. "That means no more Miss Potts coming and nagging at me, right?"

"Right," Kate nodded.

"Thank God," Lee sighed.

Hope went to hug Kate tightly then, and Kate felt emotion swelling up in her chest. It was surreal at times to have her daughter back in her life. Hope stopped after a moment and went to stand guard to keep an eye out for Nurse Ginny, leaving Lee and Kate alone. He took her face in his hands gently.

"You got this, Kate," he said. "I know you, and you'll get through. Just be patient."

"I'd like to bust up your legs and tell you to just be patient," she said, but there was a ghost of a smile on her lips. He gave a small chuckle because he knew she was right.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

"Okay."

He kissed her goodbye before going to find Hope and go home.

Later

"Hold it like this," Lee instructed. "Not like that."

He adjusted Hope's hand on the drill.

"And don't hold the screw like that. You'll burn your fingers," he said.

"How does it stay then?" she asked, confused.

"It just does. See?" He pushed the tip into the drywall with the drill, and it stayed there. "Now drill it in."

Hope did so, and the screw went nicely into the drywall.

"Awesome," she grinned. She followed the lines Lee had drawn while he marked up another sheet of drywall. The radio was blaring some song about rain. He hadn't heard anything from Barney, which confirmed his notion that Barney was annoyed with him for wanting to retire.

"Can I pick out the paint?" Hope asked after a bit.

"As long as it's beige," he answered.

"Ugh, Basic Beige? Come on," she wheedled. "Have some color in your life. Go lime green."

"Dear God, no," he said, grimacing.

"Yellow?"

"My hallway is not going to look like Big Bird," he replied, giving her a stern look.

"Purple?"

"I'm not a fan of something that reminds me of a singing, dancing dinosaur," Lee commented.

"You really have it in for TV characters," Hope sighed. "Okay. No Elmo, no Cookie Monster, no Oscar the Grouch."

Red, blue, and puke green. Well, that depended on which version of Oscar he guessed. His color of green did change. Or she could be referring to the grey trash can. He wasn't sure. He resisted commenting in return.

"Pink?"

"No!" he exclaimed, disgruntled.

"Peach then," she said.

"Beige," he said firmly. "Any shade of beige you want."

"You suck," she laughed.

"I've been told," he nodded. He finished what he was doing and went to put it in place while Hope began drilling into it as he held it.

"Is Mum going to be okay?" Hope asked after a while.

"Only time will tell," he answered, not knowing what else to say. He sure hoped time would tell and soon.

Thank you, Pavs, for reviewing! I hope you like this chapter too :)