Steve stood impatiently outside Jaden's room. Amanda and Madison were both in there taking care of her while Jesse finished checking her out. He knew she was in good hands, but he hated being away from her. He couldn't get it out of his mind that she was hurt because they were in love. She could have died and it would have been his fault, just like all the other times.
"Steve." Mark's voice brought him back to the hospital. "Are you all right?"
"No."
"We'll get the people who hurt her. Cheryl's already gotten a few good leads." Steve looked interested so, reluctantly, Mark spilled the rest of it. "Did you see any of them there last night?"
Steve shook his head. "We were so short-handed. Jaden was waitressing half the night to help out." That was after putting in a full day plus overtime at the hospital. "I should have known we were being followed. I should have stayed longer this morning."
"Steve, you're not helping her by beating yourself up."
"What am I supposed to do, Dad?" His voice broke. "Pretend that if I hadn't been with her, she wouldn't have gotten hurt? If I had been a good cop, I wouldn't have gone to IAB and this would never have been an issue?"
Mark's heart broke for his son. "Steve, you're a good cop. No, you're a great cop. Everyone think so. Those other men weren't cops; they just wore the uniform. You had to turn them in because if you hadn't, somewhere down the line, someone else would have gotten hurt too. You've always wanted to fix things, take care of people, that's one of the things I'm proudest of about you."
"Really?"
Mark nodded. "Really. I am proud of you, Steve. You're not only a good cop, you're a good person and that's even more important."
Jesse came out of the room. "Her vitals are all good. She's strong; from here on out will be a piece of cake. I don't think there will be any permanent damage at all."
"Go on. Go see her." Mark urged. Steve nodded and walked to the hospital room.
"Is he going to be all right?" Jesse asked, still worried.
Mark nodded. "Yeah, I think so."
"Now that Jaden's better, I want to help with the case."
"I don't know. I don't think Steve would like that." Mark said, wanting to respect his son's wishes this time.
"So?" Amanda asked as she and Madison joined them. "We all want to help. We've helped on his cases before, even when he didn't want us to."
Mark frowned, unable to argue. He knew that they all wanted to help, but wasn't sure what they could do. "All right. I need to call Cheryl though."
"Mark, why don't you three go get some rest? I'll call her." Madison volunteered softly.
He looked at her. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "I'm sure. I got sleep last night." She knew that he didn't get much, if any, and doubted that Amanda or Jesse got much either. They were all a family and she was grateful to finally be included in part of it.
Steve walked into the hospital room and looked at her, smiling at him. "I love you." He sat back down in 'his' chair. "I just love you so much."
She nodded. "I love you too."
"Still want to marry me?"
"Always." He smiled, bent down, and kissed her forehead.
