Stephanie fell asleep soon after he got there. She was breathing softly, her hair still matted to her forehead. They had taken Bryant to the nursery and he was just holding her hand right now, letting her rest. Even in sleep she held onto his hand pretty tightly and he was just content to sit there next to her. He looked at the bruises on her face and closed his eyes, praying to God to give him strength to get through this, to forget.

"Mr. Jericho, it's time for your son's feeding, did you want to feed him his bottle?" a nurse said to him, one arm holding his son and the other holding the bottle of formula.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Chris said with a smile.

The nurse came over and carefully handed Bryant over to him. Chris took him into his arms, supporting his head. He really was a heavy little boy, it was almost good for Stephanie to have him early since he was so big. As soon as he had situated his son in his arms, the nurse handed him his bottle.

"Do you know how to feed him?"

"Yeah, he's my second child actually," Chris explained, "This isn't new territory for me."

"Oh, well, I'll come back in about a half an hour," the nurse said kindly.

"Thanks."

The room went silent again as Chris looked down at his son. He really did have his eyes. The aspirations he had for him at the moment were probably too much for him to ever fulfill, but he couldn't help thinking them. He brought the bottle up to his lips and he started drinking hungrily.

"Hey man, nice to meet you," Chris said, "I already told you I'm your dad, but did you know you have a sister as well?"

"She's great, you'll love her, she's been waiting for you to come along for a while."

His son looked up at him as he drank and Chris smiled. Having him here didn't erase the events that occurred prior to his birth, but they somehow made it easier for him to bear. If he didn't have to think about what had transpired, and instead focused his attention on the fact his son had been born, it was less difficult to cope with.

"You are one lucky kid, you know that, with the mom you got. She's amazing, and she's all ours, so we're both so lucky. We almost didn't get her back, but God seems to like us Bry, that's the only explanation I can think of for it."

"Daddy..."

Chris looked up to the door to see Regan, holding onto Linda's hand. Chris smiled up at Linda and then at Regan. She looked a little nervous to be there and she was clinging onto Linda's hand and pressed against her side. Chris waved her over and she looked up at Linda, who urged her to go over.

"Come here Princess," Chris said quietly, "You wanna meet your baby brother."

"Yeah," Regan said timidly, but still didn't make any motion to move. She looked over at Stephanie, who did look a little worse for the wear, and her eyes grew wide. "Mama hurt!"

Chris smiled, "She's ok baby, she's just sleeping because she's tired."

"Oh."

"Come over here," he prodded.

Regan took a few small steps towards him and with Linda's urging she walked all the way over and stood next to Chris. She put her hands on the arms of the chair and tried to stand on her tiptoes to see through the blanket that was covering her brother's face. Chris brought him down a little so Regan could see him.

"Say hi to Bryant."

"Hi," Regan said, giving a wave, "I'm Regan."

The baby looked at her and snuffled a little, reaching his arms out, "He's saying hi to you."

"He's little Daddy, littler than Sam."

"I know, he's a lot more fragile too."

"Then be careful with him."

Chris laughed, "I will, I wouldn't want Mommy kicking my butt."

Regan laughed, "Gramma, look at the baby."

Linda came over as well to look at him, "So this is my grandson."

"He is, you want to hold him?"

"Is that ok?" Linda asked, "I mean, you probably haven't gotten to hold him that long."

"It's fine," Chris answered, handing Bryant to Linda carefully.

Chris watched as Linda looked on proudly to her new grandson, the first grandson of the McMahon family. Regan went to Chris and tried to climb in his lap before he picked her up and sat her down on his lap. She snuggled into his chest and he kissed her head. He could've lost her too, he realized as she sat there. Stephanie had told him that Trish had threatened to shoot Regan as well, Trish would go so far as to kill an innocent child to prove a point. Chris held his daughter a little tighter. She had been the only light in his life for so long

"Chris, why does Stephanie have a bruise on her face?" Linda asked as she had been studying her daughter's face.

"It's a long story Linda," Chris said, "Trish struck again."

Linda gave him a look of incredulity, "She WHAT?"

"Apparently she came to the house after I had left and she held Stephanie at gunpoint."

Linda sat down heavily in the nearest chair and simply stared at Chris. She almost didn't want to believe the words that had come out of Chris's mouth. They were too far-fetched, too out there, but worst of all, they were too frightening to comprehend. Thinking of your child, your flesh and blood being on the chopping block like that. Linda's face turned ashen and she turned a sickly pale.

"At gunpoint?" Linda asked, her voice shaking.

"I didn't want to have to tell you, today shouldn't be about that, it should be about the new baby, but...Linda, I could've lost her again, we could've lost her again."

That thought only now ran through her mind. They had already lost Stephanie once, and they could've lost her again. Linda could remember the last time, how could she ever forget really? The pain of losing her child was a hurt that would never be erased, regardless of the fact that Stephanie came back. That hurt rested deep within your heart. She could only imagine the hurt that Chris would've felt.

It was well-documented that Chris had not taken Stephanie's death well at first; that he had barely coped with her loss. That first night, that first couple of hours after Vince had told Chris that Stephanie had died, they still were fresh in Linda's mind and she was sure they were fresh in Chris's mind. Linda and Vince had gone to him that night, found him sitting on the couch, clutching his little girl and sitting there with the most forlorn look on his face. Dried tears clung to his skin, showing where they had fallen and leaving a lasting impression on his face. Those tears took years to dry, if they ever really left.

To Chris, the thought of losing Stephanie was unbearable. If he had lost her, he wouldn't have been able to go on, not even for his kids. Stephanie, quite simply put, was the love of his life, and that meant everything. He had married her, had children with her, and loved her to the very hilt of his being, and when he thought she had died, she took his heart to the bottom of the ocean with her, at least a big chunk of it.

"But we didn't lose her Chris," Linda finally said, clearing the silence, "We didn't and we have to remain focused on that."

"Daddy, can I hold him?" Regan asked sweetly.

"I think that would be ok, if Gramma is willing to give him up?"

"Of course, he's your little brother."

"Go sit on the couch," Chris said, putting Regan down and patting her on the butt so she would go over to the couch. Regan climbed up on the couch as Chris retrieved his son from his mother-in-law. He went over to Regan and she sat there, ready to hold her little brother. "Ok, you have to be very careful, hold out your arms."

Regan obeyed immediately. Chris set Bryant down in her arms very gently, still keeping a grip on him. He let go and made sure that Regan was supporting the baby's head. When he was sure that he was, he moved his hands away completely and let Regan hold onto her baby brother by herself. Regan looked up at Chris rather proudly.

"Daddy, I'm doing it!" Regan said happily.

"Yeah you are," he said proudly.

Linda stood up and went over to Chris and put her hand on his shoulder, "Chris, what exactly happened earlier?"

Chris turned to her, but kept one eye focused on Regan to make sure she kept a good grip on her brother. "I wasn't there, but Stephanie and the police told me the gist of it. Stephanie answered the door thinking that it was Shane or you, and it was Trish. Trish barged her way into our home and when Stephanie said to get out, she pulled a gun on her."

It was here that Chris took a moment to pause. That pause assaulted him with various images of Trish actually holding up a gun to his wife and his daughter and his at the time unborn child. He had never thought Trish dangerous, certainly never before she started going after Stephanie. He never thought her capable of this.

"Then Trish put a gun to Stephanie's stomach and threatened to shoot Bryant, before Regan came in and Trish threatened to shoot her too. Apparently Regan got away and Trish hit Stephanie's head against the wall and slapped her and was going to shoot her when the police came."

"But how did the police know to come?" Linda asked.

Chris glanced towards his little girl who seemed unaffected by it all as she made silly faces at Bryant, "Regan called them."

Linda was amazed, "She had the frame of mind to actually call the police? She's barely four years old."

"I know, but she's amazing."

"That she is," came another voice, a groggy voice in the general direction of the bed. Chris looked over to Stephanie and she smiled weakly at him before turning to bring her gaze back to her children. They posed such an adorable picture.

"You're up," Chris said.

"You guys aren't being very quiet," Stephanie said jokingly. "Hi baby girl."

Regan looked up, "Mama, I'm holding him!"

"Wow, you're such a big girl, you're going to have to help me take care of him."

"Ok!"

"Would it be alright if I held him?" Stephanie asked Regan.

Regan scrunched up her nose a little and then nodded. Chris went over to Regan and took Bryant from her little arms. He walked over to Stephanie and gave Bryant back to her. He picked up Regan and sat with her again in the chair. Stephanie gazed down at her son.

"He really is adorable."

"Yeah."

Linda spoke up, "You guys, I'm going to head out, I have a conference call that I can't miss, but I'll be by tomorrow."

"Ok Mom, thanks for watching Regan for us," Stephanie said softly. Linda went to everyone and gave them a kiss goodbye, before she left leaving the little family to themselves. Chris stared at Stephanie for a little while, while she got Bryant to sleep. Regan was rapidly falling asleep as well and when the nurse came to bring Bryant back to the nursery, he picked up the sleeping Regan and walked over to Stephanie.

"Stephy, I'm going to go home, do you need anything?"

"No, I think I'll be fine. I'll see you in the morning?"

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away," he smiled, "I'm happy that you're all right. That you're ok."

She rubbed the palm of his hand, "I'm fine. Everything is going to be ok from now on, Trish is out of our lives. They'll put her away for a long time. Don't worry ok? Just go home and get some rest, you deserve it."

"Do you want me to stay until you fall asleep, I have no problem doing that."

"Go," she whispered, "I'm a big girl, I can fall asleep on my own."

Chris kneeled by the side of the bed so he was about eye level with Stephanie, "I love you so much. I don't think you could ever know how much I love you. And thank you, for having my baby and everything."

"Don't thank me, I love you too, and I'm here for keeps Chris, for keeps."

Later that evening, Chris laid in his bed, alone, the only thing that could be heard was the ticking of the large grandfather clock in the hallway. He couldn't sleep, not just yet. The events from the day were passing in sequential order in his head, and he couldn't get them to stop at the moment. He kept going over moments, moments where his life could've been very different from how they were right now. He could've lost his wife, or his kids, or any combination of the two.

But none of those things had happened. And yet it was still hard for him to let go of the events that had transpired. Maybe the years of mourning Stephanie had done this to him, had made him second guess everything, had made him so staunchly believe in the "what-ifs." They probably had because for two years, he had thought up every "what-if" in the book regarding how he could've stopped Stephanie's death. In the end, none of the "what-if's" needed to be realized as Stephanie had come back to him.

Stephanie had been right earlier. Maybe it was time for him to let go of some of the things that he had held onto for so long. Not just with Trish, but with Stephanie too. It was only then that he realized he had kept a part of his heart on reserve, had kept it tucked away in case he was ever hurt again. That part of his heart was what held him back from truly moving forward and at least forgetting some things. He had had his world come crashing down and now it was time to let that alone, move forward from it. He had to, if he wanted to see the future for what he had, instead of those lingering "what-if's."

He fell asleep with that in mind.

A/N: There's probably going to be one chapter left to this, and I just wanted to let you know ahead of time. :)