((The stupid notepad won't take the Russian characters, so the thingies in asterisks are in Russian, okay? Good.))

"*Oh, my little darlings,*" Helen Hathaway took her granddaughters into her arms. "Look how big they are!"

"We're four, Mia." Tess announced.

"Four?" Helen pretended to look shocked. "Oh, my. Are you sure you're not fourteen?"

"We're sure, Mia." Kate grinned.

"Come in, come in." Helen ushered the group into her home. Carol smiled. Everything in this place still looked exactly the same, from the pictures on the wall to the plastic-covered couch.

"You have pretty things, Mia." Tess commented, looking at a painted vase.

"No touching, Tessie." Carol ordered and Tess immediately put her hands behind her back. "Ma, you might want to put that somewhere where they won't knock it over."

"Of course." Helen nodded and took it into the kitchen, putting it on a high shelf.

"They broke a lamp last month, playing monkeys in the living room." Carol smiled, remembering the incident.

"Do you want something to drink?" Helen called.

"No, I'm okay." She replied.

"How about you, girls?" Helen looked over at them.

"Can we have juice?" asked Kate.

"I have orange juice." She shook the carton. "Would you both like some?"

"Yes, please." They chorused. Helen poured the drinks and brought them to the twins, who sat on either side of Carol.

"*Carol, what happened between you and Doug?*" Helen asked in Russian, as to not have the children listen in.

"*We argued.*" Carol replied in her thick Russian.

"*Over what?*"

"*Everything. The girls, money, the house, cars....*"

"*Everything.*" Helen looked down. "*What do you plan on doing?*"

"Huh?"

"What are you going to do?" Helen converted to English, a relief to Carol.

"I don't know, stay here, find a job, and carry on with life." She replied.

"You're just going to leave Doug like that?" Helen lowered her voice.

"Yes, Ma. I left him and we're staying apart this time."

"I can't help but think this is wrong...." She said warily.

"Girls, go play in the backyard, okay?" Carol gently pushed them towards the back door.

"OK, Mama." Kate said and took her twin's hand and led her out.

"Ma, every time I left Doug, I went back to him, only to leave him again." She said forcefully, her voice louder than it had been when the twins had been in the room. "I thought it would work this time and it didn't. There's nothing I can do."

"You can go back to him." Helen raised her eyebrows.

"Ma! I told you, I'm not going to crawl back to that selfish pig!" She stood and began pacing, clutching her head with both her hands as to calm herself.

"Carol," Helen grabbed her arm and pulled her down to sit next to her.

"That man, my son-in-law, is not a selfish pig. He gave you those two beauties and he gave you love, if only for a while." she insisted.

"Ma, I thought you would be on my side, at least, after all those times you talked about how awful he was and how I should leave him." Carol folded her arms.

"And now you choose to take my advice?" Helen through her hands in the air and muttered something in Russian as a crash and a shriek came from the backyard, followed by tears.

"Damnit," Carol ran out through the door into the backyard. "Girls?!" She cried.

"Mama!" She heard Tess shout fearfully. Her screams came from the side of the house. She hurried to the side to find Tess lying on the stone pathway with a gash running down her arm, the blood dripping onto the stones. Kate stood next to her and they were surrounded by the remains of an empty flowerpot.

"Tessie, what happened?" Carol crouched next to her.

"I'll go get the first aid kit." Helen said.

"We've got to take her to the hospital, Ma, she needs stitches." Carol gently picked up her oldest daughter from the rubble, careful not to hurt her arm even more.

"Stitches?" Tess's eyes grew wide.

"Don't worry, honey, it'll be okay." She kissed her forehead. "Go get in the car, Kate, Mama'll be there in a minute."

"I want to stay with Tess." Kate held Tess's hand, giving it a little squeeze.

"Yeah, let her stay." Tess added. "Please?"

"OK," Carol nodded and took them inside, pressing a cloth to Tess's cut and then getting into her mother's car.

"Go to County, Ma." She told her.

"I am, I am." Helen nodded. They drove as quickly as possible, arriving at County in nine minutes.

"OK, Katie, time to get out." Carol said to her.

"Yes, Mama." Kate opened the door and crawled out of the backseat.

"Mama, am I going to die?" Tess looked up at her mother, her eyes filling with tears.

"No, no. You're going to be just fine." She kissed her cheek and leaned into the window. "Ma, go park the car and wait in chairs, okay?"

"Alright." She nodded and pulled away. Carol walked towards the doors, pressing ever tightly to Tess's wound.

"Carol, what happened?" Peter asked, walking up to her.

"I don't know, but Tess needs stitches." Carol took the cloth from her arm and showed him.

"Ah, that's pretty bad." Peter said.

"It is?" Tess asked nervously.

"But we can fix it." He assured her, and Carol shot him a thankful look. "Come on, we'll go to sutures." He nodded towards the suture room.

"OK." Tess said.

"Now, do you want to tell me what happened?" Peter asked after he had gotten everything set up.

"We were playing and I stood on the pot and it broke." She explained quietly.

"That isn't good." He said. "She allergic?" He asked Carol, holding up the syringe.

"No," She replied.

"OK." He leaned in towards Tess. "This'll hurt a little, you ready?"

"Uh-huh." She bit her lip and clasped Kate's hand as Peter gave her the shot. Tess yelped a little bit.

"Finished." He said. "We're gonna stitch up your arm, but you're not gonna feel it because of the shot."

"OK." She nodded.

"You might want to look away, Tessie." Carol advised, pushing her hair back from her head. She nodded and looked away.

"I'll be quick." He promised, going as fast and carefully as he could without hurting her. "There, all done."

"Really?" Tess looked down at her arm. "Mama, it's so...ugly."

"I know, baby." She said, kissing her. "But you were brave. We should go out with Mia for ice cream, how does that sound?"

"Good." She smiled.

"Keep them in for two weeks, you know the drill, Carol." Peter smiled at her.

"Thanks, Peter." She said.

"Anytime." He replied, snapping off his gloves.

"Wait here, girls, I'll be right back." She said to them.

"OK, Mama." Kate said. Carol kissed them again and walked out into the hallway.

"Peter!" she cried. He stopped and turned around.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Peter, I was wondering," She started. "Do you know if the ER needs any nurses?"

~*~

"Lovely home, Carter." Susan commented the next night as she and Carol dined with the Carter family.

"Thanks," he smiled. "Emily designed it."

"You did?" Carol asked incredulously. The redhead blushed.

"I'm an interior designer, and I had a few spare hours, so I sat down and started sketching." Emily replied. "It grew from there."

"Wow," Susan whistled. "You did a great job."

"Come sit down, dinner's about to start." Carter led them to a trussed-up table, taking the head seat. Carol sat on his left and Susan next to her, with Emily on his left and little Dan in his baby seat. The dishes placed in front of them smelled delicious and candlelight reflected upon their faces. Carter said a small grace before they all began to eat.

"Did you cook this, Emily?" asked Susan.

"Oh, no," Emily shook her head quickly.

"Emily can't cook worth anything." Carter said, laughing. Emily shot him a murderous look. "She got it from some store."

"Oh," Susan laughed under her breath. They ate their meal, reminiscing over times past and talking over their doings. Susan talked of how incredibly boring the convention was and how glad she was to be leaving in two days. Carter asked about the twins and Carol gaily told him they were with their beloved "Mia." Emily told of how Dan had nearly choked to death crawling about in the fire hearth the day before. Carol smiled and remembered how she and Doug had thrown gala dinner/garden parties in Aberdeen. She remembered everyone eating, gathering around to watch the sunset, and then dancing while she knew her babies were safely tucked away at the babysitter's.

Her favourite party had been their second one. She had bought a new dress, shimmering ivory that accentuated her curves just so that Doug's breath caught in his throat when he saw her. She had adorned the pearl string he had given her for her birthday and let her hair hang loose, the way Doug liked it. He had danced with her under the stars, holding her close and whispering in her ear.

"I love you," he had said softly, kissing the spot just below her ear, making her shiver.

"I love you, too." She had answered, playing with the ends of his hair.

"I'll never, ever leave you like before." He had promised.

What had she done?

"Carol?" Susan called, snapping her back to the present.

"Hmmm?" She looked up.

"Carol, are you okay?" Carter touched her arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied. "I...I have to go." Carol said quickly. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," he said.

"It was lovely, thank you for a great time." She hugged them all goodbye, taking her mother's car home. She unlocked the door and went to the living room where her girls were sleeping on the couch. She pulled the blankets tighter around them, her tears falling from her face onto theirs. What had she done? Taking them away from the father they loved, the man she loved, to a city that held nothing for them. How could she do that?

"Mama, what's wrong?" Kate asked, waking up. Or maybe she wasn't waking up. Maybe she had been awake the entire time.

"Nothing, honey, go back to sleep." She kissed her goodnight.

"Mama?"

"Yes?"

"Where's my Daddy?" Carol's breath caught in her throat. What to say?

"I don't know, baby." She rocked her back and forth. "I wish I do." She hummed her a song until she fell asleep and then walked to the kitchen, pressing the button for the blinking answering machine.

"Carol, it's Peter Benton." She smiled a little. "I checked around and put in a good word for you and there is an open position for an ER nurse. They want to check out you and your records before anything, so give me a call tomorrow at the hospital. Bye."

The next message came on.

"Mrs. Hathaway, this is Frieda Morris from Lifestyle Insurance...." Carol tuned out the rest of the message and waited until the next one came on.

"Carol? Carol, it's me." Her heart stopped for a few seconds, resuming an unnatural beat. "It's me, Doug. Carol, damnit, pick up the phone! Please," She heard tears in his voice and brought her hands to her own tearing eyes. "Carol, I am so sorry for everything I've done. I...I love you, Carol. I can't live without you. Don't leave me. I promised I wouldn't, remember?" So he remembered as well. "I love you. Don't leave me." The message ended there and Carol slumped to the floor, sobbing, before walking to the guest bedroom and crying herself to sleep.

~*~

She was home. She was in his arms again, listening to his heartbeat through his familiar blue work scrubs. He leaned down and pushed the hair out of her eyes, kissing her forehead, then her eyelids and her lips.

A ringing came from somewhere, startling her from her dream. She heard her mother pick up the phone, talk for a few minutes, and then hang up, walking into the guest room.

"Carol?" Helen leaned over her daughter.

"Yeah?" She sat up.

"There's been an accident."