Franky laid on her back, looking up at the ceiling in the dark, trying to catch her breath.

"Not that I'm complaining, Gidge, but that's the fourth time we've had sex in just over twenty-four hours. How did you survive for five weeks without me?" The brunette heard Bridget let out a small laugh beside her.

"I think I just had other things on my mind while you were away." She turned her head and placed a kiss on Franky's shoulder. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"It's more than okay." Franky smiled as she turned onto her side, and pulled the blonde close. She placed a kiss on Bridget's forehead then the end of her nose as she rubbed her back with one hand.

The blonde winced.

"You okay, babe?" the brunette asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I just had a pain in my side. It's gone now." She gave Franky a reassuring smile. "Probably just a pulled muscle."

"See, I told you four times was too much." She earned a giggle from the older woman. "Are you comfortable like this?" She figured they'd fall back to sleep soon, and she wanted to make sure that Bridget wouldn't wake up in pain in the morning.

"Yeah, this is nice," the blonde said, nuzzling in against Franky's neck.

The brunette was the first to wake in the morning, and her first thought was that Bridget was no longer in her arms. She opened her eyes to see her curled up on her side of the bed. Franky thought that maybe she'd gotten uncomfortable during the night and had to turn over. She decided to take advantage of being able to get out of bed without disturbing her, and make some breakfast for them.

"Good morning, bub." Franky was standing at the stove frying some bacon when she felt two small arms around her waist. She reached down and rubbed the back of the young girl's shoulder.

"Where's Auntie?" she asked, looking around the room.

"She's still asleep. I thought I'd make us some breakfast before I wake her." Franky heard the bedroom door open. "Sounds like she's up now, actually."

Bridget made her way into the kitchen and sat on one of the stools.

The brunette could tell from the way she was walking that she was in some pain.

"Hey, Em, can you take these over, and set them out for us?" Franky handed her the silverware they'd need for their meal. "Are you okay, babe?" she asked softly, after the young girl was out of earshot.

"Yeah, it's just my side." The blonde placed her hand on her lower right side to show where it was hurting. "It hurts a bit less if I'm not moving around."

"Do you want some paracetamol?" the brunette asked as she took the bacon out of the pan.

"I think I'm okay for now." She saw Franky starting to plate their food. She had yogurt with fresh fruit, toast, and bacon. "Uh, no yogurt for me. Actually, no bacon either, just toast."

"Okay." The brunette watched her for a moment, then took out a smaller plate and set two slices of toast on it.

"I'm sorry. I know you cooked this for us, but I just don't feel up to eating much," Bridget said as she took a small bite of her toast.

"It's okay." Franky picked up hers and Emily's plates, and placed a kiss on the blonde's cheek on her way to the table.

Bridget got up to join them.

"Can we play games today?" Emily asked as she ate her yogurt. "We only got to play checkers the last time."

"Sure, I planned to spend my whole first weekend home with you guys, so we can do whatever you'd like." Franky chewed on a piece of bacon as she watched the blonde out of the corner of her eye. She was still eating her toast, albeit very slowly.

"I think I'm going to lay down for a bit." Bridget stood, and put the pillow she'd been sitting on on the floor back on the couch.

They had just finished playing Candyland, and the pain in the blonde's side was getting worse. It hadn't seemed as bad when she was laying down at night, so she thought maybe going back to that position would help to ease it.

"Is Auntie okay?" Emily asked as she and the brunette put the pieces of the game back into the box.

"Yeah, she's just not feeling well today. Her tummy hurts a bit." Franky didn't know how else to explain it. She wasn't even sure that Emily had ever had a pulled muscle before. "What do you want to play next?" She didn't want to dwell on the topic and have the young girl get upset.

They played a couple more games before Emily asked about her aunt again.

"Is she asleep?" The young girl looked at the bedroom door, then back at Franky.

"Probably." The brunette knew that she wasn't going to be satisfied with that answer, and in all honesty she was wondering herself how Bridget was feeling. "I'll check on her, okay? You stay here."

Franky slowly opened the bedroom door, being as quiet as she could, and closed it softly behind her. The blonde had the curtains closed, and she didn't want to let in the light from the hallway.

"Franky?" Bridget asked quietly.

"Yeah, babe, it's me. I just wanted to see how you were doing." She crouched down beside the bed and placed her hand on the blonde's cheek. "Does your side still hurt?"

"A bit. It's better laying down though." She opened her eyes, and gave the brunette a small smile.

"You feel a bit warm. I think you might have a bit of a fever." Franky touched the blonde's forehead with the backs of her fingers.

"Maybe it's a stomach bug. I feel a bit nauseous too." Bridget closed her eyes again.

"Maybe. I'm going to get you some water, then I'll leave you to sleep some more." The brunette kissed her forehead, then stood up.

"Is she okay?" Emily greeted Franky at the end of the hallway.

"Yeah, she just needs some rest. Why don't you set up another game for us? I'm going to bring her some water, then I'll be out to play." The brunette put her hand on Emily's shoulder, and guided her back into the living room.

Franky grabbed some water from the fridge, and stopped in the bathroom on her way back to get some paracetamol. Bridget had refused it earlier, but she thought she might be willing to take it now that she was feeling a bit worse.

"Here, babe." The brunette crouched down beside the bed again. "I brought some paracetamol too."

The blonde shook her head. "I'll be okay. I'm just a bit thirsty."

Franky took the cap off the bottle, and handed it to her. "I think you should take it. It'll help with the pain, and the fever so you can get more rest. Please?" She held out the pills in her hand.

"Okay." Bridget really didn't think she needed them, but if it made the brunette feel better, she'd take them. She took both pills, and put them in her mouth before taking a large drink. She had to admit that the cool water felt good.

"This is probably a stupid question, but do you want me to get you anything for supper when it's time?" Franky saw her shake her head. "Okay." She gave her another kiss on the forehead, then left her to sleep.

Bridget had slept for most of the day, except for a couple hours in the late afternoon when she came out into the living room and laid on the couch, watching Franky and Emily play a game.

The brunette had just put Emily to bed, and decided to call it an early night herself. She wasn't tired, but she wanted to lay with Bridget. She slipped under the covers, trying not to disturb the other woman.

"Baby?" Bridget reached behind her, searching.

"Yeah, I"m here." Franky took her hand, and moved in behind her to lay against her back. "Is this okay?" She didn't want to do anything that made the blonde more uncomfortable.

"Yeah, it's nice," Bridget said as she wrapped the brunette's arm around her.

Franky kissed the back of her neck. "Do you need anything?"

"No, just lay with me," she said, lacing their fingers together.

"You should call Vera and let her know you won't be in tomorrow," the brunette said, placing another small kiss on the blonde's shoulder. "That way you won't have to wake up early to do it."

"I'll wait and see how I feel in the morning. Besides, I have to get Em ready for school anyway." Bridget's voice gave away the fact that she was almost asleep again.

"I can look after Em, babe." Franky actually felt a little lost at the moment, so having something to do was a good thing. She had taken the full semester as leave from the Centre, so she didn't have to go back for another few weeks. She had planned to take the time to look at her options for starting a restaurant, and to do some research, but she had also planned to take over looking after Emily again.

"Okay." Bridget reached up and felt for her phone on the bedside table. She quickly typed out a message to Vera, then put it back on the table, not waiting for a reply.

Franky woke to find herself alone in the bed. She looked at the clock. It was just after midnight. The door to the bedroom was partially open. She threw off the covers, and went out to see what was going on.

Emily's door was still shut, so she knew nothing was going on with her. She continued on to the bathroom. She found Bridget sitting against the wall next to the toilet, her head leaning back and her eyes closed. As she got closer, she could see that the blonde had been sick. She picked up a facecloth and ran it under some cold water.

"Did I wake you?" Bridget asked as the brunette sat down beside her, and wiped her face.

"No, I just woke up." She placed the cloth on the edge of the sink. "It's getting worse, yeah?"

"Yeah, it really hurts. It made me sick. I've been in here for about a half hour." She sighed.

"Have you had your appendix out?" Franky felt like this was more than a stomach bug now. She saw the blonde shake her head. "Okay, I'll be right back."

The brunette went and grabbed her phone. She quickly googled the symptoms as she sat back down beside Bridget.

"It says here that if you push on the lower right side of your abdomen and it hurts when you let go then it's probably appendicitis. Can I try?" Franky sat her phone down on the floor.

The blonde nodded.

Franky reached out and pushed in on Bridget's side. When she let go, the older woman winced and swatted at her hand.

"I'm sorry, it just hurt so much." The blonde felt bad.

"It's okay." To be honest, the brunette had expected that reaction. "I guess we have an answer now though. I'm taking you to the hospital."

"What about Em? I can wait until she's gone to school in the morning and then go." Bridget didn't want her niece to worry.

"No, you can't. This can be serious, Gidge." Franky knew this wasn't something to mess around with for too long. "I'm going to call Liz, if she can't come over and stay with her, we'll take her with us. Either way I'm going to wake her and tell her where we're going."

"Franky, no, she'll just worry." She thought if Emily could stay asleep that would be best.

"She needs to know where we've gone. Trust me." The brunette remembered what the young girl had told her that night on set about her fear of monsters taking her and Bridget in the night. She respected the fact that Emily had said she didn't want to tell her aunt about it yet, but she couldn't let wake up and worry, knowing she had that fear.

"Okay." The blonde nodded.

Franky took her phone out into the hallway and called Liz.

"Come on, come on." The brunette paced back and forth waiting for her to answer.

"Hello?" Liz's voice was thick with sleep.

"Liz, it's me, I'm sorry to wake you but I need a huge favor." Franky took a deep breath to slow herself down.

"Is everything alright, love?" She sounded more awake now.

"Yeah, well no. I need to take Gidge to the hospital. I think it's her appendix. Can you come stay with Em while we go?"

"Of course, yes. I'll be there in a few minutes." She was already out of bed and searching for a change of clothes.

"Thanks." The brunette hung up, and went into Emily's room. "Em." She rubbed her back gently. "Come on, bub, wake up for me." She saw the young girl's eyes start to open.

"Franky," she mumbled.

"Hey, bub. I need to tell you something, but I need you to stay calm, okay?" She was unsure how to say it in the best way so as to not make Emily upset. "Auntie still isn't feeling well. I'm going to take her to the hospital to see a doctor, and Liz is going to come here and stay with you. I'm telling you because I didn't want you to wake up and not know where we were."

"I want to come with you." She picked her head up off the pillow. "So I know she's okay."

"No, bub, you have to stay here. I'm going with Auntie, and I promise I'll look after her. You trust me, right?" Franky looked her in the eye.

"Yeah." Emily nodded.

"Okay, try to go back to sleep. Liz will be here before we leave." Franky gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I love you."

Franky quickly walked to their bedroom and grabbed a small duffle bag of hers from the closet. She threw in a handful of Bridget's underwear and socks, and a bra, then an extra set of pyjamas. She changed out of her sleepwear into a pair of trackies and a t-shirt.

When she got back to the bathroom, Bridget had gotten off the floor, and was sitting on the side of the bathtub.

"Liz is on her way. We can go as soon as she gets here," she said as she sat down beside the blonde. "Do you want me to help you get changed or are you okay to go like this?"

The blonde whimpered as she shook her head. "I'm fine like this."

"It won't be long, babe." Franky put her arm around her, and kissed the side of her head. She could tell by the warmth of the older woman's skin against her lips, that her temperature was definitely up a bit more than earlier.

They sat for a few more minutes until the brunette heard the front door open.

"Okay, babe, let's go." She helped Bridget stand, and walked slowly with her down the hallway.

"Oh, love." Liz had spotted them. "You should have said how bad it was, I would have drove faster."

"It's fine. Less than fifteen minutes; you did good." Franky picked up one of her hoodies that was laying over the back of the couch, and placed it around the blonde's shoulders. As a last minute thought, she picked up both of their wallets and threw them into the bag she'd packed. "Em is still in bed. She seems relatively okay, so hopefully it'll stay that way. If you can get her to go to school in the morning, great. If not, she can go to the Centre with you. Just do whatever's easiest for you. I'll give you a call as soon as we know anything. And thank you."

"Yeah, no worries, get going." Liz hurried them out the door. She knew Franky was grateful, she didn't need to take the time right now to say it.

"Be careful, baby." Bridget was in the passenger's seat, and even through her pain, she could tell that the brunette was speeding.

"It's fine, Gidge. There's no traffic," Franky said as she sped up to beat a yellow light.

"Was Em okay when you talked to her?" The blonde realized that she hadn't asked about her niece.

"She was concerned, but she stayed in bed like I asked. She wanted to come with us to look after you, but I told her I'd do that for her." The brunette glanced over and thought she saw a brief flicker of a smile on the other woman's face.

"What would I have done if you weren't there? If it were just her and I?" It hadn't escaped Bridget that this was happening less than forty eight hours after Franky was back home.

"You would have called Vera, and brought Em with you to the hospital." The brunette knew it wouldn't have been ideal, but the older woman definitely wasn't helpless without her.

"Yeah, I suppose." She shifted in her seat, trying to ease a particularly sharp pain in her side.

"We're almost there, babe," Franky told her as she turned onto the road with the hospital. She could see the brightly lit sign already.

When they pulled into the carpark, the brunette could see that there were only a few cars there. She hoped that most of them belonged to the staff, and that they wouldn't have a long wait to see a doctor.

She put her arm around the blonde, and helped her walk into the emergency department, and up to the registration desk.

"Name, please." The receptionist behind the desk seemed unfazed by the fact that the woman sitting in front of her was almost doubled over in pain.

"Bridget Westfall." She saw Franky place her ID and insurance cards on the counter.

It only took a couple of minutes before the blonde was done with registration. She'd been given a bracelet with her name and information on it, and was told to sit in the waiting room.

The brunette put her arm around her while they sat, and Bridget leaned into her. She was so glad that she wasn't here alone. She felt horrible, but Franky made her feel safe, and like things would be alright. Even though there were two other people there waiting before them, it was less than ten minutes before the nurse came out to bring them in so Bridget could get settled in a bed and see the doctor.

"That was fast. I thought we'd have to wait a bit longer," Franky said to the nurse as she walked with the blonde.

"Yeah, uh, I think you're the priority case right now," the nurse said as she glanced back towards the waiting room at the other two patients who were playing games on their phones.

The nurse led them to a small cubicle with a chair and stretcher.

"My name is Alison, by the way. I'll get you to change into the robe, then I'll be back in a few minutes to check your vitals." She pulled the curtain closed behind her.

"Here, I'll help you." Franky sat the duffel bag on the chair.

"Any excuse to take my clothes off." Bridget gave a small laugh at her own joke, then winced.

"It's getting worse, isn't it?" the brunette asked as she helped the other woman out of her hoodie and t-shirt.

"Yeah." The blonde gave a small nod of her head as she stepped out of her pyjama pants.

Franky tied the robe in the back for her, and helped her onto the stretcher. She pulled the blanket over the older woman, then bent over to give her a kiss on the forehead. The brunette looked up when she saw the curtain move out of the corner of her eye.

"All settled in?" Alison asked when she returned. She saw Bridget nod. "Good. I'm just going to take your temperature and blood pressure, and then the doctor will be in to see you shortly." She did her checks quickly, noting that the blonde had what they classified as a moderate fever. "I'll see if the doc will authorize some pain medication, and something for the nausea before he sees you so you don't have to wait too long for that."

"Thanks," the blonde said quietly, as the nurse turned to leave.

Now that Bridget's check up was done, Franky moved the chair so she could be closer to the blonde. As she sat down, she took the older woman's hand in her own, and brought it to her lips so she could place a kiss on the back of her fingers.

"Don't look so sad, baby. It's going to be okay." Bridget gave her a small smile.

"I'm not sad, I'm concerned." The brunette sighed. "I hate that you're in pain and there's nothing I can do."

The blonde shook her head. "You brought me here, you checked on me all day and looked after Em. You came to bed early to lay with me." She caught the look of surprise flash across Franky's face. "Yeah, I know you weren't 'extra tired' tonight," she said, making air quotes with her free hand. "Fuck." She winced, turning on her side.

The brunette felt Bridget's grip on her hand tighten. "Come on, where's the doctor." She reached over and adjusted the blanket so that the blonde was fully covered again. Franky held the other woman's hand and tried to comfort her as best she could.

After a few moments, the nurse returned carrying two syringes.

"I have some pain medication, and something for nausea, okay?" Alison waited for an answer, but only got a small nod from the blonde. "Okay, it's two injections."

The nurse pushed up the material of Bridget's sleeve and gave her each medication.

"They should start working in a few minutes, and you might feel a bit sleepy." She heard a quiet 'thanks' come from the blonde. "The doctor just has one patient before you then he'll be in."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Franky felt the grip on her hand loosen a bit.

"Are the meds starting to work, babe?" she asked quietly as she brushed a strand of hair out of the older woman's face.

"I think so, yeah, but it still hurts a lot." Bridget opened her eyes and looked at the brunette.

"The nurse said the doctor should be in to see you soon." Franky thought that the older woman looked exhausted, despite having slept for most of the day. "Anything I can get for you?"

"No, this is good." The blonde squeezed the younger woman's hand, indicating that she just wanted her to stay by her side.

Franky sat for the next half hour alternating between watching Bridget drift in and out of sleep, checking the clock, and hoping that each person who walked by their closed curtain was the doctor coming to see them. Finally, she saw a set off feet approach, then stop for a second before the curtain opened. The doctor was an older man, she guessed probably in his sixties.

"Ah, so here we have, Bridget?" He glanced up from the chart, and the blonde nodded. "And?" He looked at the younger woman.

"Franky." The brunette was caught off guard. She wasn't expecting the doctor to care about anyone except his patient.

"She's my fiancée," the blonde said as she slowly turned to lay on her back so she could see the doctor.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Dr. Allen." He gave them a smile, then glanced back at the chart. "It says here you have pain in your lower right abdomen, a fever, and you were vomiting earlier."

"Before I came in, yeah. The pain woke me up, then I was sick." She glanced over at Franky, who nodded in agreement.

"When did the pain first start?" He sat the chart down on the bedside table, and turned his full attention to her.

"Saturday night." She glanced over at the brunette. "We were laying in bed, and I felt a sharp pain in my side, just one, then after a few seconds it was gone and I felt fine. Sunday when I woke up it was more of a dull ache that got worse when I moved around. I thought I just had a pulled muscle. Then tonight it got a lot worse."

"Okay, do you mind if I do an abdominal exam? I'll be looking for areas of tenderness, or inflammation." He reached for a pair of gloves.

"That's fine." Bridget took a deep breath. She knew that if he was going to push on her stomach like Franky had earlier, it was going to hurt.

He moved the blanket, and began the examination, pushing down every so often and asking her if it hurt. When he got to her lower right side, he pushed down, waited a second, then released the pressure.

Bridget winced, and gripped the brunette's hand tightly.

"It only hurt when I let go?" Dr. Allen asked.

"Yeah." The blonde nodded her head.

The doctor picked up her chart again. "Do you still have your appendix?" He glanced up to see her nod again. "Well, you probably won't for much longer. I'm going to order some blood tests and an ultrasound to confirm it. We'll need to do a urine test to rule out a UTI, as well as a pregnancy test." He wrote on her chart as he spoke.

"I'm n-" Bridget looked at Franky, then back at the doctor. "I'm not pregnant."

"A pregnancy test is protocol for a woman of your age before going into surgery, which I believe you will be soon." He gave her an understanding smile. "Any other questions?"

"I'm a bit thirsty. Can I have some water?" The blonde was realizing that she hadn't eaten or drank anything except a bit of water all day.

"I'm afraid not, again, because you'll likely be going to surgery. I'll get the nurse to put in an IV, and start some fluids. Even if I'm wrong about the appendix, you need some anyway." Dr Allen gave them a final nod before leaving their cubicle.

Bridget turned back on her side to face the brunette.

"You alright?" Franky brushed her thumb across the blonde's cheek a couple of times. "At least we pretty much know what's going on now."

"I've never had surgery before," she said quietly.

"It's not that bad." The brunette gave her a small smile. "I'll be here when you get out."

"You've had it before?" Bridget realized this was something she didn't know about her fiancée, but then again, medical history wasn't something they'd discussed.

"Mhm. Well, not exactly surgery, I guess. They did have to knock me out once though to set a badly broken arm." Franky lifted her free arm.

"What happened?" The blonde immediately regretted her question. She knew it wasn't going to be some happy or funny childhood story of falling off a bike, or climbing a tree.

"I was probably five at the time. My mom was more pissed than usual one night. She thought I'd stolen some money out of her purse. I had, but I had used it to buy my lunch at school that day. Anyway, she came and pulled me out of my bed that night when she realized it was gone. And I mean like she pulled as hard as she could. I was a small kid so basically she lifted me up, and dropped me onto the floor. I landed on my arm and it broke." The brunette watched the sadness form on Bridget's face. "It was a long time ago." Franky leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

"I know. The thought of someone hurting you…" The blonde was quiet. "The thought that someone could do that to a kid, to someone's Em's age."

"I know. It makes me feel sick." She held Bridget's gaze. "Maybe that was a bad story for tonight. You should be trying to relax, and let those meds work."

It wasn't long before Alison returned and asked Bridget to go to the washroom to get her urine sample. Franky had asked if she needed help walking there and back, but the blonde insisted she'd be fine since the meds had eased her pain a bit.

"You look familiar," the nurse said as she prepared her supplies to put in the IV when Bridget returned. "Have we met before or something?"

"Uh, I don't think so." Franky had had her share of one night stands over the years, but she remembered most of them, and the girl was not ringing any bells for her.

"Wait, I know, you're on that new cooking show. The first episode just aired this week." She gave the brunette a big smile. "That Hank guy is a huge asshole. You were pretty badass by the way, standing up to him at the end."

"Yeah, thanks." Franky shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"Please tell me he gets what's coming to him." Alison looked at the brunette expectantly, like she'd spill all the behind the scenes secrets.

"Uh, you'll have to watch and see." She didn't want to talk about the show, especially not tonight.

"Oh, sure. Sorry." The nurse shook her head.

"It's fine. I'm just, I'm not really allowed to talk about it yet." The brunette sighed.

"I get it." Alison didn't push any further, and returned to her work.

It was only a minute later when Bridget came back from the bathroom. She handed over her sample, and climbed back onto the stretcher. Franky covered her with the blanket again.

The nurse worked quietly, putting in the IV and taking the blood samples. The brunette worried that maybe she had been too harsh with her earlier, but quickly pushed that thought from her mind. She would never feel bad for putting her family first.

Bridget was just starting to drift off again when the doctor came back.

"I've got your test results. It's definitely appendicitis. Your blood tests show there's some infection there too, which isn't surprising given the fever. We've called in the surgeon, so you'll be taken upstairs to the OR shortly." He looked at the brunette. "You can stay with her up there until she actually goes into the operating room. There's a family waiting room where you can rest until she's out of surgery. Any questions?"

"Will I have to stay here?" The blonde had too much to do this week to be stuck in a hospital bed.

"The usual stay for this is two to three days, then it'll be a couple weeks of taking it easy at home before you can go back to all your normal activities."

"What about the wedding?" Bridget turned to the brunette after the doctor had left.

"Don't worry about that right now." Franky leaned in, and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

It seemed like things moved quickly from that point on, and the brunette soon found herself in the waiting room, sitting on the couch and waiting to hear that Bridget was out of surgery. She'd sent Liz a text message, telling her what they'd found out, and got a reply right away. Liz never mentioned if Emily was awake or not, so Franky was hoping that she was just awake because she couldn't sleep, and not because the young girl was upset and keeping her up. She reached down and checked for the hundredth time that Bridget's engagement ring was still in her pocket. They'd offered to put it in the bag with her belongings, but the blonde insisted that Franky hang onto it for her instead.

"Ms. Doyle?" A nurse in OR scrubs stood in the doorway.

"Franky, please." The brunette hated being called by her last name.

"Franky." The nurse gave her a small smile. "Bridget is out of surgery, and starting to wake up if you'd like to come sit with her."

"Yeah, I would." Franky gathered her things, and followed the nurse. "Everything went well?"

"Yes, very well. We just finished taking her post-op vitals and everything is good there too." She stopped just before they entered the recovery room. "Now, she's pretty groggy, right now. Don't be surprised if she doesn't recognize you right away, or isn't making sense. The anesthetic has that effect on some people. It'll wear off in a couple of hours."

"Hey, babe." The brunette walked to the side of the stretcher, and took Bridget's hand.

The blonde opened her eyes at the sound of the younger woman's voice.

Franky could tell that she was having trouble focusing on her just yet, and watched as Bridget blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision.

"Franky?" The blonde's voice was hoarse.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm here." The brunette was relieved that Bridget knew who she was after what the nurse had told her.

"What happened?" She looked at the IV running into her arm, and the oxygen monitor on her finger.

"You had an operation to remove your appendix." The nurse was standing next to her bed now, recording another set of vitals.

"Oh, yeah, I remember now. I thought I pulled a muscle." She looked at Franky with a grin on her face. "We'd just had sex, and my side hurt, and I thought it was a muscle."

"Gidge." The brunette wanted her to stop talking for a bit until she was more aware of where she was, but Bridget paid her no attention.

"We had a lot of sex that day actually, and the night before." She was looking up at the ceiling now.

"Gidge." Franky placed her hand on the blonde's cheek in an attempt to get her to focus on what she was going to say. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the nurse trying to keep a straight face. "Why don't you just stay quiet and rest for now."

"It's true though, we did." Bridget was acting as though the brunette had called her a liar.

"I know, babe." The younger woman glanced around the room, thankful there were only a couple of nurses there with them. "The doctor said you need to take it easy, so why don't you close your eyes and try to sleep. I'll stay here, promise."

The blonde mumbled an 'okay', and Franky took a seat in the plastic chair the nurse had brought over for her.

"Don't worry, we hear lots of stuff in here. Secret's safe with us."

The brunette gave a small laugh. She couldn't wait to tell Bridget what she'd said.

Franky opened her eyes to see the first rays of sunlight coming in through the curtains. She looked at her watch, it was just after six. She looked to her right to check that the blonde was still sleeping.

They were in the room where Bridget would be for the duration of her stay. After about an hour in the recovery room, she'd been awake enough to be moved, and this is where they'd spent the rest of the night; the blonde resting peacefully in her bed, and Franky finally getting some rest in a recliner the nurse had brought in for her. The brunette hadn't realized how tired she'd been until they'd gotten settled in, and her adrenaline had worn off. She'd texted Liz again to let her know that the surgery had gone well, then fallen asleep almost immediately.

She knew that Liz and Emily would be awake by now getting ready for their day, so she quietly slipped out of the room into the hallway to make a quick call.

"Is everything okay?" Liz forwent her usual cheery greeting.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is fine. She's still asleep." Franky was touched at the other woman's concern. "How are things there?"

"Um, well, she seemed to sleep okay, but she's silently crying into her cereal this morning. I haven't asked her yet if she's going to school." Liz sighed. She'd tried everything to get Emily to cheer up, but nothing had worked.

"Okay, let me talk to her. Maybe that'll help." The brunette wasn't sure if it would help things or make them worse, but she was willing to take a chance.

"Franky?" Emily's voice was small, and not filled with the usual excitement that came from talking with Franky.

"Hey, bub. I just called to see how you're doing. You're being good for Liz?" The brunette ignored the tremor she'd picked up in the young girl's voice.

"Yeah. Is Auntie okay?" She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Yeah, she's fine. She's sleeping now." Franky could tell that Emily was trying to calm herself, and thought maybe that was something that Brad had taught her.

"Is she coming home now?" Emily was never content until her family was all under the same roof.

"She has to stay here for a couple of nights, then she'll be home." The brunette heard a whimper on the other end of the line. "Hey, hey, I know you're being brave, and I need you to keep doing that. I promised you I'd look after her, and I am. I stayed with her all night. I need you to do one more favor for me, okay? I need you to get ready and go to school today."

"I want to see Auntie Bridge." There was no hiding the fact that the young girl was crying now.

"I know you do, but right now she's asleep, and she needs to rest so she can get better. So while she's sleeping, I want you to go to school. I'll come pick you up in the afternoon, and if Auntie is awake by then, then I'll bring you to visit with her." She knew she'd told Liz not to argue with Emily about going to school, but she was really hoping she could convince her to go. It would be a good distraction for her for the day.

"Okay, I'll try." The young girl sighed.

"Good girl. Let me talk to Liz again while you finish your breakfast. I love you." She was proud that Emily seemed to be handling this a bit better than she would have even a few months ago.

"I love you, too," Emily said, then handed the phone back to Liz.

"Liz, thanks again for looking after her, and for coming over so quickly last night." Franky knew that the other woman would probably be going through her day like a zombie after spending the night at their place. "She's agreed to go to school, and as long as everything is going well here, I said I'd pick her up this afternoon and bring her here for a visit."

"She seems a bit more settled now," Liz said as she watched the young girl eat the rest of her cereal. "And it's nothing, Franky. We're family."

They said goodbye, and she returned to her chair beside the blonde's bed.

"Baby?" Bridget whispered so softly that the brunette wasn't sure if she was actually talking, or just talking in her sleep. "Franky?"

"Yeah, I'm here, babe." Franky took her hand once more. "Do you need something?"

"Can I have some water?" The blonde tried to clear her throat.

"Sure. The nurse said you could have whatever you wanted to eat and drink. There's an ice and water machine just down the hallway. I'll be right back." She stood and placed a kiss on Bridget's forehead.

The blonde smiled.

"I got you some ice water, and a glass with just ice, so you can suck on the cubes." The brunette placed the glasses on the bedside table. "I'm going to sit you up a bit." She reached down and pushed the button to raise the head of Bridget's bed. When the blonde was semi-upright, Franky handed her the glass of water.

"I'm a bit hungry too," Bridget said as she took a sip.

"Do you want me to see if I can get some food?" The brunette wasn't sure if the cafeteria would be open at this time of the day.

"I can make some toast for her. Best to start with something light." The nurse had just arrived to take her morning vitals.

"Thanks." Bridget gave her a small smile before turning to Franky. "Did you check on Em?"

"I did." The brunette nodded. "She was upset, but she promised me she'd go to school. I said if you were feeling up to it, I'd bring her for a visit this afternoon."

"Yeah, I'd love to see her." The blonde sighed. "Do you have plans for today?"

"Nope." Franky shook her head. "My plans are to stay here with you. I might stop by the house and have a shower after I pick up Em. Liz said she could come back tonight if we need her."

"You should go home tonight and be with Em. She does better when at least one of us is there." Bridget felt there was no need for the brunette to spend another night sleeping in an uncomfortable chair. The blonde was sore, but already feeling much better, and she knew her nighttime pain meds would make her sleep soundly.

"That's true," Franky reluctantly agreed. She was torn between wanting to be with each of them. "Promise you'll call though if you need anything."

"I promise." She signalled for the brunette to lean in. When she was close enough, Bridget reached up and pulled her in for a slow kiss.

"At least you waited for the nurse to leave," Franky said with a small laugh as their lips parted. She saw the blonde give her a questioning look. "You were very eager to tell the nurses in the recovery room how much sex we had this weekend, and how that's why you thought you just had a pulled muscle."

"Ugh." Bridget covered her eyes with her hand.

"Hey," the brunette said softly, reaching up and moving the other woman's hand. "I love you." She gave her another soft kiss.

"I love you, too." She brushed the end of her nose against Franky's.

"I have your toast here," the nurse said, quietly. It was clear they hadn't heard her return, and she didn't want to startle them.

"Thanks." Bridget took the plate, and set it on her bedside table.

As the blonde spread the butter on her toast, Franky noticed that she was looking at her left ring finger.

"I have your engagement ring, babe." She thought maybe Bridget had forgotten that she'd asked her to hang onto it.

"I know…" The blonde was quiet.

"I thought about what we could do about the wedding." Franky guessed now that was what was on the older woman's mind. "If you're feeling up to it, we could have just the ceremony on the weekend. We'll do it in the backyard like we talked about and invite a couple people. We could have dinner at the house. I could get my friend's place to cater it so we don't have to do any prep or clean up. Then we could just have a fire that evening with anyone who wants to stay and hang out. We'll do the honeymoon later when you're fully recovered. I can look after all the plans. If you want to put the whole thing off, I'm totally fine with that too."

"That's a lot of work for you," Bridget said as she took a bite of toast.

"Not really. A few phone calls." The brunette shrugged. She could do most of the work while Bridget napped later.

The older woman nodded. "I want to get married."

The blonde had slept on and off for most of the day, and Franky took the opportunity to make her phone calls. She'd managed to book a marriage celebrant for that Saturday afternoon, and her friend had agreed to cater the dinner. She'd talked to Liz, and Vera, and asked Vera to invite Will. Now, she was on her way to pick up Emily at the school.

"Hey, bub." Franky wrapped her arms around the young girl. She'd run to her as soon as she'd seen the brunette waiting outside the school. "Auntie is doing really well." She figured she'd let Emily know right away that Bridget was fine.

"Can I visit?" the young girl asked as she walked back to the house with Franky.

"For sure. I'm going to take a shower, and while I'm doing that, I want you to pick out a small game to take with us. On the way there, we're going to stop and pick up something to eat, that way we can all have supper together." She thought giving Emily somewhat of a normal evening with them might help her sleep better tonight.

"Okay!"

When they arrived back at the house, Emily went to the living room to choose which game she wanted to take with her.

"I want you to pick out a pair of pyjamas to take with you, too," Franky said, as she went into the bathroom. She and Bridget had learned to get Emily changed for bed as soon as possible after supper so that they didn't have to argue with her about it when she was tired.

Franky was carrying the bag with their food in one hand, and holding Emily's hand in the other. The brunette felt her let go of their hand when they got to the door of Bridget's room. Franky continued inside, and quietly placed the bags onto the windowsill. The blonde had dozed off again, and she didn't want to startle her. When she turned around, she saw the young girl still standing in the doorway.

"Come in, bub," the brunette said softly, motioning for her to come into the room. She saw Emily shake her head.

By this time Bridget had opened her eyes, and turned to see her niece just standing there.

"Come in, love, it's okay." The blonde reached out her hand to the young girl, and Emily reluctantly began to walk towards the bed.

Franky could see the tears in the young girl's eyes, so she crouched down beside her, and put her hand on her back.

"I'm okay." Bridget gave her a reassuring smile.

"You look like my mom did," Emily said quietly.

Franky and the blonde exchanged looks, they hadn't thought that this might remind her of the times when her mother was sick. In all honesty, Bridget didn't know how much Tim and Sarah had allowed Emily to know about her condition or how much time she'd spent in the hospital with them.

"Come sit with me." The blonde patted the space beside her in the bed.

Franky helped the young girl into the bed, careful to put her on Bridget's left side. Emily immediately put her arm across her aunt, and rested her head against her shoulder.

"I know what happened with your mom." The blonde spoke softly, and held her niece close against her side with one arm. "But that's not what's happening now. There was a little organ inside of me called an appendix, and sometimes it gets sore, and the doctor has to take it out. Once that's done, everything is okay. Afterwards though, everyone has to stay for two nights, no matter what, so that's why I'm still here, okay?"

"Everything is okay?" Emily looked up at the blonde.

"Yes, love. Everything is fine. That's why I asked Franky to bring you to see me. I wanted to tell you myself that I'm okay." Bridget was glad to see the smile on the young girl's face.

"I brought you, something." Emily reached for her bag that Franky had placed at the end of the bed.

"You did?" the blonde asked, giving the younger woman a questioning look.

Franky simply shrugged as she handed the bag to the young girl. As far as she knew, there was only the game and a set of pyjamas in it.

"This." Emily pulled out the penguin that the brunette had won for Bridget at Luna Park not long after they'd started dating. It had been the first family outing the three of them had gone on together.

"Oh, thank you, love! He can sit right here." The blonde placed him on the bed to her other side. She gave her niece a kiss on the cheek.

They ate the supper that Franky had brought with them, and played the game that Emily had chosen. For the rest of the afternoon, and early evening, the young girl cuddled with her aunt. The brunette had worried that when it came time for them to leave for the night, Emily would ask to stay, but thankfully, that didn't happen. Franky had promised to bring her back to visit the next day after school, and they'd left without a fuss.

"Go take a shower, bub, then I'll read you a bedtime story." Franky made a mental note to make her shower before they went to visit tomorrow instead of waiting until they came home. She was lucky that tonight, Emily didn't seem too tired.

The brunette changed into her pyjamas while she waited for the young girl to finish in the bathroom. She had a thought cross her mind that this was the first night she'd be looking after Emily on her own, and the first night she'd be sleeping in their bed without the blonde. She felt sadness, and realized that this must have been what Bridget felt all those nights she was in Wentworth, and then away filming the show. She'd been alone on those nights too, but she'd also been in unfamiliar surroundings. The prison cell, and film set weren't places she'd ever shared with the blonde, and therefore somehow made her feel less sad and alone than she did now in her own bedroom.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Emily's voice pulled Franky out of her thoughts.

"Yeah. Go get the book you want me to read to you." The brunette didn't have the energy left to argue, and if she was being totally honest with herself, she wanted the company just as much as the young girl did.

"Franky?" the young girl asked in a sleepy voice.

"Yeah, bub?" Franky had been laying on her back with Emily cuddled into her side. She'd read her a story, but had found herself wide awake afterwards. Rather than get up and disturb the sleepy child, she'd decided to play a game on her phone until she felt tired.

"If something happened to Auntie Bridge, would I stay here with you?" Emily opened her eyes, and looked up at the brunette.

"Are you worried about that?" Franky asked softly.

"Yeah." The young girl nodded her head. "I can't sleep."

The brunette knew that at this point, legally, she still had no rights over Emily, but she also knew that she wanted to change that in the future, and if anything did happen to Bridget before that, she'd fight tooth and nail to keep the young girl. The brunette knew this topic would most likely come up when she and Bridget got married, and this was a perfect opportunity to gauge Emily's feelings on the subject.

"Is that what you'd want? To stay here with me?" Franky realized she still hadn't given her an answer. She saw Emily nod. "Then yes, I would take care of you."

The young girl didn't reply, but simply gave the brunette a big smile and cuddled in closer. It wasn't long before Franky could tell she'd drifted to sleep. She sat her phone on the bedside table, and closed her eyes. It had been a very long day.