Rick started to think back to the moment that he surprised Lesley after he took her out for dinner at Dino's and later turned to be when he had tried to make it with Lesley to General only to pull over as it was clear to Lesley and Rick both that Riley was gonna come that night.

~~

" I think it's time that I get you home Les, we got alot goin' on tomorrow and I better get you off your feet for the rest of the night." Rick insisted

" Rick, you are the one that has a heavy day. I have taken time off from the hospital to start getting prepared for this baby. Why are you so anxious to take me home... What did you do?" Lesley answered

" Nothing Les, I promise I just thought maybe we could just go home and relax while we have a chance and thought maybe you'd like to just relax at home with me alone without the girls." Rick grinned while answering Lesley's question.

" Richard Webber you did something now what is it?!" Lesley raised her brow and just stared at him

" I can't tell you it's a surprise. Come on." Rick grinned again and followed her out to the car.

~~

Rick started to slightly smile as he continued to think back of the night Riley was born but also kept in mind how he easily could've missed his birth given that prior to that night he had just returned after Lesley was told he didn't make it just a few months earlier.

~~

" Rick…. I don't think we can make it… I feel like I have to…. I have to push.." Lesley tried not to show how she was scared course Rick caught on

" I know it's hard for you to fight the urge... I want you to take my hand and you squeeze if you need to.. we're gonna be at the hospital any minute..." Rick tried to reassure Lesley the best that he could

" R-Rick please... You're gonna have to pull to the side... This baby is not gonna wait…. He c-com-coming right now…." Lesley gripped on the door as a last resort to stay calm.

~~

Jessie stopped by to see how Rick was doing before she was gonna try to head in for a split shift for that day. " Rick, I thought I should maybe stop by, how are you?" Jessie asked.

" Yeah I'm okay I was just thinking of a few good times that Lesley and I had." Rick answered and showed a smile for the first time in what seemed like forever to Jessie

" She got so aggravated with me because I wouldn't tell her... It wasn't until she went inside and saw what you helped me put together that she tried to hide that she cried alittle bit..." Rick said with a small smile

" No matter how angry with you she got or how hurt she felt at first when you came back Rick, she loved you even during the times she really was scared before you knew what was going on. It's all of that that was going through her mind. She never intended to keep any of that from you she wanted to tell you but it scared her to think it was gonna hurt you later on if she wasn't gonna pull through it." Jessie replied

" I think of the time when I first saw that she had the port. When I saw that, I think that was when I started to piece together that she was sick because no one just has a port line unless it's a feeding tube you know... But I waited and waited for her to feel like she could tell me I didn't

want to push her... Maybe if I had she'd still be here to see the kids grow up... that and I wouldn't be lost trying to figure out how to get by without her."

" Rick, you need to listen to me... You did everything you ever thought you could... You were there when she needed you most. You have to forgive and allow yourself to heal if Lesley was here to see you like this Rick she would kick your tail into next week." Jessie responded

" I wouldn't know the first thing of healing from this Jessie... Lesley is gone and she's never gonna come home again or be running over time with the hospital... I lost my little bug and I don't know that I can ever find a way to really deal with that." Rick stood up to take a few moments.

After a few hours Jessie managed to get the kids to eat and start their homework but thought about some of the time just before Riley was born just after Rick had returned home and surprised her there at the house.

~~

Rick sat down to look Lesley in the eye " Lesley I promised you then and I will promise you now again as long as I live and if it were the last thing I do, I'm gonna be there when you need me the most.. I will try as hard as I can to make sure you and the kids are safe."

" I... I ju-just... I just don't know what to say..." Lesley sniffled " Rick I love you I love you more than anything else."

" And I love you Lesley more than I have loved anybody else... You're not just my wife, you're my life… You're my best friend. I'll promise you now what I promised you a thousand times before I'm gonna spend the rest of my life to make sure I take care of you and the kids."

Lesley kissed Rick more than once while hugging him because his surprise made her feel loved more than she thought she was. " Rick, I love you so much… I could never stop no matter what you try." Lesley kissed Rick again.

" Feeling okay?... it isn't the first time you seem to feel off.." Rick asked carefully while he had her sit down. " I'm alright Rick I think the baby is just telling me that he likes how you managed to con his soon to be favorite Aunt Jessie into doing just to surprise me for tonight… I will admit though that I will be thrilled when he is here and he won't be able to set out to kick me afterwards I just hope and pray that our son doesn't get any ideas for coming early though because while I'm ready for the kicking to stop and that, I'm not ready just yet for his arrival."

" Well I think it's time that you are to head upstairs to relax and hopefully get some rest before we see Dana 9:00 tomorrow morning." Rick pointed out

" I think you're right…. It is time that we reel in for the night and we try to relax before we see Dana. Hmm…… Rick, thank you for tonight."

" You're welcome sweetheart." Rick smiled and then turned slightly to Jessie who was about to leave for the night

Rick carried Lesley up to get some sleep while she had a chance later in the night but not before she thanked him and Jessie again for the surprise that they put together for her.

~~

" Aunt Jessie, is everything okay?" Riley asked

" Yeah everything is fine... I was just thinking is all." Jessie replied hoping it assured Riley for the time being.

" Aunt Jessie, I know that you're thinking about Mommy... I miss her too... I actually almost wanted to run off but I knew right away mom wouldn't have been very happy if I did that." Riley admitted and hugged Jessie before going up to bed

Over the next couple of days Rick continued to see Gail regularly and eventually was able to get his one wrist bandage removed from the wrist he sprained but still had to deal with his other wrist that he had broken just the week before..

" Gail, thank you for being there when I need a friend to count on..." Rick got out while taking a seat in her office.

" I wouldn't be doing my job if I weren't there when you need me. How are things going for you today?" Gail asked gently

" I guess I've had better days... I haven't lost my cool anywhere like I had before."

" We all have seen those times. It's understandable that you have had a period where you don't know where to turn, you don't know how to get through a time... What you've been through over the last 2 years, what you've had to see Lesley go through and not able to do anything for her, it was a very traumatic experience to have to deal with." Gail responded carefully

Rick started to open up more about the last few months and what Lesley had to go through

" The last couple of weeks for her... She was hardly able to sit up by herself, she was hardly able to do anything... I finally had enough with how much she was in pain... She hated it that I started her on a morphine IV line... Some of the time I would wonder and question if she was ever able to hear me when I would say something to her or if I was plain talking to her because I

made sure she wasn't in pain and alot of the time by then she was barely able to stay conscious."

" You know she did Rick anytime she had a session with me, she always went directly into talking about you and what it meant to her that she had you. She talked a few times about how it meant to her that she was able to feel but also to hear just how much she meant to you" Gail replied and set a hand on Rick's shoulder.

" She almost went peacefully before we sat in her favorite chair that I had gotten her. Any time she had trouble sleeping or she had a nightmare of something like she used to when Frank Smith was a problem… That was her favorite thing to do, I'd pick her up, we'd sit in that chair. It helped her alot when she was scared."

" Rick, even as that moment was coming in even when she knew she wasn't gonna make it, all that counted or bothered to make sense was to be with you. Her body was ready but it was while you held her that allowed her to feel in the sense that she was okay to let go." Gail reached for the tissue box from her desk for Rick.

" I just wish I had taken her place…. She had so much to live for. So many things she wanted to do but never had the chance to since she had gotten so sick"

Rick finished with his day to day session with Gail and decided to go back over to where he and Lesley had buried Laura after the accident.

" I know it's been a while but I thought to come by to see you while I was up this way... I miss you Laura... I miss you both. I just hope that you and your mother both are together and you're looking out for each other until I can be there."

Rick jumped slightly when he heard Monica walking up which didn't make him happy because how she acted and gave him grief over leaving his main practice with the hospital

" What are you doing here Monica..?!" Rick barked slightly.

" I would if I may, I'd like to pay my respects to both Laura and Lesley." Monica replied

" Why... What interest is it for you? You weren't really ever nice to Lesley unless you had to be." Rick barked

" Lesley and I have had our differences I will admit that but no matter if she was a dear friend or not Rick she was a brilliant doctor and rather if you can believe it or not I always had respect for Lesley as a doctor."

Rick now chuckled because he knows when Monica is lying and he knows what she's trying to do.

" Monica, who do you think you're trying to kid... Me or yourself?! Why can't you just leave me to grieve and deal with this alone!." Rick shouted

" You know what Rick fine. You wanna throw your life away and become a coward. You go right ahead because I am gonna just give up.." Monica snarled back and walked away

Rick eventually went home to try to rest while he had the time to try though something kept bothering him it was like Lesley was there giving him hell and going to tell him to allow their friends to help him heal Rick shook that thought off because truth be told he didn't want help he didn't want to turn to friends other than Jessie and Gail and even then he wasn't really letting the help sink in because the only thing he wish he could have back was Lesley.

" Dad, why don't you try to get actual sleep? You really could use it?" Riley asked

Rick took on Riley's suggestion and went to try to get a few hours of sleep but slightly had trouble afraid that he was gonna dream and it was gonna be of Lesley again but he decided to try anyway so he could get some stuff finished for the following week before he went back on consultation basis at the hospital..

" I wish you were here Lesley… I would be able to sleep better if I had you by my side." Rick said quietly and set Lesley back on her side table on his right side closest to him.

~~~

Over the next few weeks, Rick started to work on a consultation basis while Riley was in school and the girls were focusing on their junior year but was paged to emergency when Genesis was brought in after she was in a fight and was stabbed in the side by the other student that egged the situation further.

" Jessie what happened!!!" Rick said quickly as he got to emergency

" It's Genesis and from what they told me, she was goated into a fight where she was stabbed in the side. She lost at least a liter of blood at the school and she has a collapsed lung." Jessie explained of what she was told.

" I can't lose her Jessie.. Not my daughter too.." Rick immediately started to think of the worst

" Rick, don't you do that. Don't start thinking that you will lose Genesis." Jessie said as Dr. Martinson started to move Genesis right to the O.R"

" Dad Gene is gonna be okay… I have to believe that. We have to believe that she won't leave us."

Rick paced and paced thinking the worst while trying not to let fear get the best of him as it was Genesis's life that was on the line to Rick it was like he felt like he was being tested not just spiritually but morally because first Laura was taken then Lesley had passed next and now it was his daughter who's life was hanging by the mythical thread.

" Rick…." Martinson called out

" How is Genesis? I want to see her and to know what we're facing here." Rick got right to the point

" Your daughter is okay… it's too early to know when we can wean her from the ventilator but she was lucky that there wasn't as much damage as we initially thought." Martinson explained

Rick felt the relief flood through as he heard the words that Genesis was gonna be okay and headed towards to go sit by Genesis's side for alittle while

" I'm right here Genesis and I will not be going anywhere… but I do want to say this and I pray you can hear me, I don't want you to ever scare me like this again ever again I already lost your older sister and then your mother, I don't want to lose my little girl too."

Genesis started to regain consciousness but was confused about where she was… for Rick, he was relieved that everything was okay for alittle while

" Genesis you're okay… I know you have questions and you're confused… I'm gonna be right here. I'm gonna have Jessie page Dr Martinson okay?" Rick reached to call Jessie on the desk " Jessie would you page Dr Martinson for me and have Respiratory Care on standby just in case." Rick asked while staying at Genesis's side.

Martinson examined and looked over Genesis's recovery and later determined that she could be taken off the ventilator but kept her on oxygen anyway as a precaution as her saturation was lower then it should've been.

" She's gonna be fine Rick. I don't think there's any reason to suspect she won't continue to make a full recovery."

Genesis started to move her hand as she started to wake up again. " Dad…. What's going on, where are we?"

" Everything is okay ladybug… you're in the hospital but you're gonna be okay and I will be right here until you go home." Rick smiled while sitting at his daughter's side as Jesslyn decided to stop by on her way to work.

" Looks like little Gene is back to her usual self… you scared us Gene… you scared me I thought I was gonna lose you.. don't ever scare me like that again."

" I'm sorry Jess… I don't want you to be worried about me like that… Could you give Dad and I some time?" Genesis asked as easy as she could

" Take your time… you and I can talk later. I have to actually get to work, I just wanted to see that you were okay sis." Jesslyn gave Genesis a kiss and a hug before going to leave.

Rick waited until Jesslyn left so he and Genesis could talk for alittle bit before he was gonna tell Genesis that she needed to rest. " Dad I'm sorry I know i've been cruel and mean and I know that you don't need that of me… l should've seen just how much you've been going through since mom died."

" Genesis don't be sorry for anything right now… things haven't been easy for any of us since we lost your mother but what's important is your mother's okay she's at peace and she's looking out for us to make sure we're all safe."

" l shouldn't have been blaming you… when l know that you were always doing the best you can for mom to get better. l'm just sorry that it's taken for me to be attacked at school for me to see reason." Genesis admitted " Get some rest ladybug alright l'm gonna be right outside to check with Jessie and then i'll come back to check on you before l have to head home to take care of your brother." Rick gave Genesis a kiss and waited for her to drift out before he left.

" I will stay with her Rick you just go check on Riley at the house and maybe get some sleep too" Jessie suggested