A/N: This chapter is pretty short but i wanted to get it out as soon as possible, next chapter will flash forward a little so stay tuned to see if Becky can come home with them or not and as always read comment and review. Honestly the reviews are really sweet and really helpful, the more I get the faster I want to write these so thanks. Anyway enjoy.

Chapter 6:

*Back at the house*

"Is it noon yet?" Sasha asked for what seemed to Charlotte like the twentieth time today.

"No Sash, it's only 10 we still have two hours, go watch TV or something and stop asking" charlotte groaned from the dining room where she was working on her homework. The girl was only in third grade but she had the IQ of someone much higher. Hunter and Stephanie were both called into the office more than once about the girl making her classmates feel stupid with her smart remarks and her constant overachieving attitude. She was even offered to skip a grade but refused every time simply without reason, despite Stephanie's insistence.

"Well how am I supposed to know that, I don't know how to read the clock, and I don't know when noon is" Sasha shouted as she came and stood in the arch that connected the living and dining room

"You're supposed to learn it in the second grade, just look at the clock in the kitchen, once you see twelve, zero, zero then it's time to go" Charlotte said never even looking up at her sister who she now felt was staring over her shoulder at her work, "What?"

"Why are you doing work on a Sunday?"

Charlotte groaned in annoyance, being the oldest meant she not only had more responsibility but also more work. Her teachers continually piled on work after work as retribution for her smart mouth and even though it was easy Charlotte didn't appreciate how much it was.

"Because I didn't have time to do it yesterday with mom leaving and we have school tomorrow so you should do your homework too"

"I already did all of mine"

"Yeah right" Charlotte continued to work as she finished her science pages and moved on to math when Sasha spoke again with a confused look on her face.

"How come you know all this stuff?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know all this stuff and I heard mom and dad talking about how you could skip ahead to the big kid's class if you wanted to"

"Yeah so...I'm smart...I just know stuff"

Sasha paused for a second thinking before she asked, "What kind of stuff?"

"A whole bunch of stuff" She responded while rolling her eyes at her sister's pestering before she turned the page of her math problems and continued on

"Like…." Sasha whined as she leaned over into Charlotte's face so she was blocking her field of vision

"Like telling time, which you can't do, now get out of my face" Charlotte complained before pushing Sasha's face away from her.

Sasha groaned at this before she plopped down in the chair beside Charlotte but hopped back up when she heard her dad's phone ring. The young girl raced into the kitchen where she saw the phone laying on the Island from breakfast. Once she saw that it was her mom calling for a facetime she answered right away happy to see her mom's face.

"Hey Bab-"

"Mommy!" Sasha nearly yelled into the phone cutting off her mother

"Is that mom?" charlotte asked getting up quickly from the dining room and rushing to her sister to peer at the phone

"Hello girls, where's your fa-?" Came the blurry figure that the girls knew was their mother

"Are you at the hospital?" the young girl asked bouncing on her toes, shaking the phone trying to see around her mother, only causing her older sister to become annoyed.

"Yes but we-"

"Did you see Rebecca?"

"Yes she-"

"Is she coming home with you?"

"Yes but she-"

"Is-"

"Stop cutting her off Sasha, she can't answer your questions if you don't let her talk" Charlotte said elbowing her sister in the side causing the girl to groan and shove her sister back, leading to a pushing match between the two.

"Girls, both of you stop right now"

"But she.." Sasha stopped short of her words as she saw the dead serious look on her mother's face, "Sorry mommy"

"Charlotte?" Stephanie egged on once she saw that her oldest daughter was not looking at the phone and was not going to apologize without some help

"Yeah...sorry" Charlotte said with a lack of enthusiasm that caused her mother to roll her eyes

"Now where is your father?"

"Right here, I didn't even hear the phone ring" Hunter said as he bounded into the room behind the girls, taking the phone into his hands and lifting it so all three of them were in the picture, "Girls why don't you two go ahead and get ready for our big day and we can leave a little earlier than planned"

Sasha nodded eagerly before saying bye to her mother and rushing out of the kitchen and to her room with Charlotte doing the same and following behind slowly. Hunter gave a tight lipped smile at the two as they left and thought on how perfect he wanted to make their time with him. He never got to spend more than a couple of hours with the girls because he was always busy with work or something else and now that he has the day off he wanted to enjoy it with the girls.

"What big day?" Bayley asked practically snatching the phone from her mother so only she was in the frame of the phone, "I wanna have a big day too, are you guys going to the park?"

"Yes but don't worry babygirl once you and Becky get back we'll all go to the park together and have a family day. How does that sound?"

"Promise?"

"Promise now can I speak with your mother…..alone?" there was no response but hunter knew that she agreed as he finally saw his beautiful wife in the screen, "hello beautiful"

"Ugh, really? I know I look like crap, i'm stressed out. With all this news about our daughter and her in x-rays and all the papers for her adoption. Then with you and the girls back home, It's all a little much. I wish you were here, I wish all of you were here so I wouldn't be alone with all this. Sitting around waiting for something to happen, it's awful, it gives me such a gut wrenching feeling in the pit of my stomach and i'm starting to get those nervous sweat under my breast that I used to get when we were in high school." Stephanie ranted as she ran her hands down her face with a groan but stopped to look at the phone in confusion as she heard her husband chuckle, "Is my mental breakdown funny to you?"

"No ma'am...but you're going into full momma bear mode and that is the first time you called her our daughter" Hunter said with a huge smile on her face but it grew small as he noticed that his wife didn't smile back and just looked him dead in the eye, "Okay...sorry, tell me what's going on, what did the doctor say?"

Stephanie retold the whole story from when they arrived, obviously leaving out the part of her emotional breakdown in the parking lot where her six year old child had to console her. She told him how rebecca has to wear an eyepatch because of the damage to her eye and how she has to have and oxygen mask on for a certain amount of time. She also mentioned how Rebecca was currently in X-rays and how those results would determine how long she would have to stay in the hospital and during this, not once did Hunter interrupt even though he noticed his wife start to hyperventilate as tears welled up in her eyes while retelling the story. Once she finished the two sat in silence neither allowing themselves to speak as the tension of the situation just sifted through the air and it wasn't until her heard a pair of footsteps running down the stairs, well one pair running and the other practically stomping behind them- did they break their silence.

"I don't how I can do this...there's so much that could go wrong, there's so much that could happen with her." Stephanie said

"Okay...say she does need surgery-"

"Don't say that"

"I'm just saying if" Hunter said quickly, "If she does need surgery then you're going to be right there with her."

"But who knows how long that will be...Hunter our flight back is made for Friday...that's less than a week-"

"only one day less"

"Hunter I'm not joking around" Stephanie said sternly, "Ribs take up to six months to heal properly...who knows how long if she undergoes surgery. We can't stay here for six months. Not with the girl's school and my job"

"Then you won't, the doctors there are doing their job and they are keeping her well protected. You'll come back and we can call her every night and make sure she's okay."

"I don't want to leave her...I want to be there for her, no I have to be. I have to be here and I have to be able to hold my daughter's hand and bring her home safe and sound….but I can't….I-I can't." Stephanie said as she gasped out the last part of her sentence with tears openly streaming down her face

"Steph.." he got no response so he tried again, "Stephanie listen to me"

"I'll talk to you later" came a short reply but Hunter's shout stopped her

" NO...do not hang up on me" Hunter paused before continuing, "Babe look...I know that you're scared, and you're worried about our daughter but she's a fighter and she'll be fine. I know how you get when you get too worked up, you did the same with Charlotte and with Sasha, but you have to realize that this time is different. I'm here for you fully you can't put this all on you..so don't- don't shut me out...I'm your partner and your husband and I love you more than life itself. I will always be here, standing by your side, supporting you and loving you even when you don't want it. Just please...the kids need you, I need you to be strong and let me in." Hunter ended quietly, practically pleading with his wife as he remembered how Stephanie shut him out for nearly two months when she was dealing with the custody battle over Charlotte.

Stephanie had adopted the habit of taking control of every situation she was thrown into and putting everything on her back. She liked to deal with things on her own and you could say she wasn't a team player. Hunter had noticed it when they met in high school over a science project where she took full control but he thought she had gotten it under control until they dealt with a long and terribly drawn out custody battle for Charlotte.

"I know that" She snapped, her voice getting quiet as well, "i know...I always have to be strong, I know what these kids have gone through, I see with my own eyes what Rebecca has been through. You don't have to tell me to be strong, I'm always the one who's strong..you get to swoop in and be the hero while I have to go and…."

"Babe I'm not trying to say that you're not being strong I'm just trying to…"

"I have to go Hunter...i'll call you later" Stephanie said quickly as she wiped her eyes clean

"Yeah but I-I…..I love-" Hunter stopped as he realized that Stephanie had ended the call before he could finish.

"Dad we're ready now" came Charlotte's voice from the living room causing Hunter to jump up from his spot in the kitchen to them

As soon as he saw them he smiled, Sasha was very a black T-shirt that said Boss on it in bedazzled jewels and a pair of jeans and black light up sneakers. While Charlotte wore a white and red striped shirt and jeans with red sneakers.

"okay go grab your jackets and I'll put my shoes on so we can go" Hunter said and took off to get his shoes from his office as he heard one pair of feet run upstairs while another was coming closer towards him.

"Hey dad?"

"Yes Charlotte?" Hunter responded not looking up at the girl as he continued to put his shoes on.

"Is everything okay?"

There was a pause, a small one, but it was enough for Charlotte to know whatever her father was going to tell her next was a lie.

"of course princess, everything is fine." Hunter said just as he finished with his shoes and coat and Sasha came running back in, "You all set Sasha?"

"yes Daddy" Sasha said excitedly as she struggled with the zipper of her jacket only to swat Charlotte's hand away when she reached over to help, " I got it"

After a few minutes of Charlotte and her father watching the young girl struggle with the zipper Hunter reached down and zipped the jacket for her, only to cause her to pout, "Alright let's head out"

At The Hospital

After the X-rays the doctors said that Rebecca had floating segments of her ribs, known as a flail chest, in her body that were easily seen on x-ray and she need to undergo surgery to remove the pieces seeing as some of them run the risk of puncturing vital organs. They are currently prepping the girl for surgery and she will be put under immediately. Sable said it was best for her and Bayley to wait in Rebecca's hospital room as they waited for them to finish and bring her back. So there to the two of them sat for what felt like days when it was only a couple of hours before Stephanie decided that a change of scenery would help her steadily declining mood. So the two of them headed out for a bit to look around and get their stuff settled in to the hotel that Hunter had booked that was only five minutes down the road from the hospital.

"Mommy. Mommy look, look how big this bed is…" Bayley's voiced called out causing Stephanie to snap out of her stupor and come see her daughter

"Bayley stop jumping on the bed babygirl, the people under us can probably hear you and I don't want you to get hurt." Stephanie reprimanded before mumbling under her breath, "I don't need another daughter in the hospital"

Bayley stopped bouncing, landing straight on her butt in front of where her mother had stopped walking, "Are you still worried about Becky?"

Stephanie sighed and looked down at her little girl with a frown. Bayley had already seen her break down once before and that was more than enough times than Stephanie liked. She didn't need to take off her superwoman mask again, even if the little girl already knew the answer, she wanted to be strong and protect her. Protect everyone, even if she was slightly faltering.

"Not anymore Bay...the doctors are with her and everyone there is taking good care of her" Stephanie said strongly, forcing a smile

"Okay" the younger girl said seemingly satisfied, "Can we get something to eat?"

"Baby girl you just ate a little while ago" Stephanie laughed as she went back to the bathroom where she was brush her hair before Bayley had called her

"That was a snack" the young girl pouted as she marched after her mother, "I want a milkshake"

"That's not food and I said-"

"You said it's too early..well it's later now so can I have a milkshake?"Stephanie looked down at her youngest whose smile was now from ear to ear before sighing, "We'll see Bay, we don't even know where around here sells milkshakes"

"The restaurant we went to for lunch does I say it on the menu" She yelled proudly hopping up and down as she tugged on her mother's jeans, "We can go there"

"Bayley that was way back before we got to the hospital, it's probably about 30 minutes away"

"Ok" the young girl said with a straight face on and gave a shrug having no conception of how time worked

"That means it's pretty far" Stephanie put down the brush and reached down to pick up her daughter and place her on the sink counter so they were looking almost eye to eye, "it will take a long time to get there"

"Oh….well we have um...time to kill" Bayley said once again proud of herself as she remembered the saying her mother had used in the airport

"But you can't kill time remember" Stephanie said laughing at the pout she received, "Fine ok...put that pout away and we will head over there to get a milkshake before going back to the hospital"

With that Stephanie placed a kiss on top of Bayley's head and helped her down from the counter to go put her shoes on before she did the same. She quickly scanned over the one king size bed to see where she left her keys before she moved over to the suitcases that lay on the floor, once not seeing them there either she moved on once again. After a few minutes she finally found her keys wallet and phone all laying on the floor on the opposite side over the bed and as she flipped over the phone she saw three messages from Hunter and one from Sable. She quickly opened Sable's message and saw that she had been told that Rebecca would be in surgery for another two hours. She nodded at this information before moving to Hunter's text, pausing a slight second before she clicked on his name to see the first message being, "I'm sorry I upset you" followed by, "I love you" and the last being a picture of Sasha and Charlotte playing together on the swings.

"Mommy are you ready?"

"Yes baby girl just give me a second" Stephanie covered her smile with her hand as a silent tear rolled down her face at his text and especially at the picture. She hadn't meant to cut Hunter off on their phone call, well she did but not because she didn't love him or that she was upset with him. Stephanie loved hunter more than any other man in the world, including her father, and she never wanted to hurt him, she just...felt a responsibility towards her family to take care of them and she didn't need Hunter's help and she especially didn't need the extra pressure he unintentionally put on her.

"I love you too" she texted back quickly before shoving her phone into her pocket and grabbing her stuff.

As she turned to Bayley she say that the young girl had her hair down, pushed back by a pink and blue headband and she was standing eagerly at the hotel door fidgeting with the straps of her backpack. Stephanie laughed at her daughter's impatience which was similar to her own. Only Charlotte and Hunter has my patience in the house at all and Sasha's temper and short fuse was worse than Stephanie's.

"Are you ready now mommy" Bayley whined, "I really want my milkshake"

"Yeah baby girl I'm ready we can go now" With that Bayley jumped up and down in her spot before opening the door and heading out with her mother right behind her.

Stephanie paused as she felt her phone vibrate, she pulled it out of her pocket and say a simple text from Hunter.

" I believe in you..always 3"