"Joey wants you to come tuck him in before he goes to sleep" paramedic Kim Zambrano told her firefighter ex-husband Jimmy Doherty.
"Oh yeah, ok." Jimmy said absentmindedly as he fingered something in his pocket.
"Are you ok Jimmy?" Kim asked, concern in her voice, "You seem pretty distracted." She finished and Jimmy snapped back to reality.
"I'm fine Kim, just thinking about something I have to ask someone and I'm not sure how they're going to react." He replied.
"Maybe I can help." Kim offered. "Go say goodnight to Joey and then we can talk."
"I'm on my way." Jimmy strode off to his son's room. Kim could hear his deep voice say "Hey Champ!" contrasting Joey's high-pitched, delighted "Hi Daddy!" She knew he felt safe and happy now that his dad and mom were both around to tuck him in.
'This had better work out or Joey will be crushed again' she thought to herself, remembering how things had started and then finished with her and Jimmy before. 'But Jimmy's changed. He's matured…I hope.' She thought of the past few months and how Jimmy had done everything humanly possible to win back her trust. He'd never had to win back her love; that he'd always possessed. She heard Jimmy quietly close the door and watched him head back into the living room towards her. The pair sat down on the couch and Kim looked encouragingly at Jimmy who took a deep breath.
"Kim…" he started. "I know you are worried about whether we will end up the same way as we did before and I want to promise you that we won't."
"Jimmy, you have been proving to me that you are a better person now, and I don't have any reason to doubt it. But of course I am worried for Joey's sake, and that's the only reason why I'm still uneasy about you being here when he goes to bed and when he wakes up. It would crush him if you moved in then out again." Kim explained.
"I know Kim, and I totally understand. But after this whole mess with Brooke and Linda I realized that I was self-destructing because I belong with you. Even if I didn't realize it, subconsciously I kept trying for another shot with you. I have always loved you Kim, despite what an idiot I was and I am so sorry for how I hurt you." With his heart on the line, Jimmy got down on one knee and reached in his pocket as Kim's jaw dropped and tears came to her eyes.
"I love you Kim and I want us to be a family again. Will you marry me?" he looked hopefully up at her.
"I want to say yes so badly Jimmy, but are you sure about this? We haven't been back together for that long." She replied.
"I have never been surer of anything before. We have known each other forever Kim, being back together for a short time doesn't matter with us. We've been through hell and back together. Please, you have to see that this is right." Jimmy pleaded and Kim began to cry. Jimmy looked dejected and turned to leave at the sight of her tears.
"Jimmy, come back." she said, slightly confused.
"It's ok Kim, I understand. I should have seen this coming." He sadly reassured her.
"Jimmy, I'm not crying because I have to say no. I am crying because I have been dreaming about this since you and Brooke got engaged! The answer is yes Jimmy!" Kim reached her arms around a very relieved Jimmy and held him tightly. When they finally separated, Kim giggled.
"Can I see what's in the box?" she asked shyly. Jimmy opened the tiny container and pulled out a ring. Kim gasped at the sight of what must have cost Jimmy a good portion of his meager salary. He slipped it on her finger and leaned over until their lips touched. They continued to kiss passionately as Kim slipped Jimmy's shirt off over his shoulders. She ran her hands down his chest and admired his chiseled muscles as he worked on the buttons on her shirt.
'Boy did I miss this' she thought and smiled. Jimmy ran his hand along her arm, aching for her. He took her hand in his and led her to the bedroom.
************************************
"Alex, wait!" Policeman Ty Davis called to his girlfriend, paramedic Alex Taylor.
"I told you, we have nothing to talk about." She snapped.
"Obviously we do, I don't even know what I did!" he exclaimed, confused.
"Well, that just proves what a colossal jerk you are!" she said, tears forming in her eyes. She felt a twinge of guilt for speaking that way to him since he was generally the nicest guy she'd ever met, but that just made her hurt all the more.
"Alex, please talk to me!" he pleaded. "Why are you so angry with me?" Alex stopped dead and turned around, choking back tears.
"Fine, you want to know what has me so upset, here it is. In case you missed the news, I was hit by a car and I was in the hospital for the past week."
"I know that, but I wasn't even there when it happened." Ty interrupted.
"If you'd let me finish… While I was in the hospital, almost everyone at the 5-5 came to see me. Kim was so worried I thought she would cry every time she saw me. But every time someone walked through the door I was disappointed, because every time I was expecting it to be you and you never showed!" Alex turned back around and started to walk briskly down the street, wiping her eyes. Ty, stunned jogged to catch up.
"Alex, I'm sorry! I really am! I wanted to come see you, but I knew your mom would be there and I didn't think you'd want me there. I didn't want you to have to explain things to your mom when you were supposed to be focusing on getting better. I called the hospital and they said you were ok, so I stayed away. You have to believe that I wanted to come, but I didn't for your sake."
"Just because you didn't want your mother to find out about us doesn't mean I don't want mine to." She snapped and continued walking, immediately sorry for insulting him that way.
"What?!" Ty exclaimed, and then chose to ignore her stab at him. "Alex, stop can we please just talk about this?" She stopped again and slowly turned until she faced him.
"You know, I actually believe you." She sighed, tears blurring her vision again. "But for all your good intentions, you have left me with a lot to think about."
"Alex, don't do this, I love you!" he confessed. She picked up his hand and held it in hers.
"I love you too Ty, but I need to sort things out in my head. Please just give me some time." She looked into his eyes, silently pleading with him to understand the mental dilemma he'd left her with.
"You know I'd give you anything. If what you want is time, then so be it." He promised as Alex let his fingers slide away and ran down the street.
************************************
As Ty watched Alex's back slowly disappear, the would-be stalker was looking at her smiling face. After some furious typing, Kim's and Alex's pictures had popped up on the computer screen and he was clearly enjoying gathering information about them. After all, information is control.
"So the 5-5 has two lady paramedics, aren't they lucky?" he said to himself. "Wow, and this one is a firefighter too. I'll bet she's a real pistol!" he laughed. He logged off and hit the power button on the computer when he was finished.
"Tomorrow, the real fun begins" he told the dark, empty room.