Chapter Forty-four

Grant pulled Chloe closer and buried his nose in her hair. She settled against him and placed a hand over his heart.

"Thank you for watching Ella today." He whispered.

"No need to thank me. It was fun. She's such an angel." Chloe replied with a smile.

Grant kissed her temple and spoke again. "Thanks for coming to the hospital with me too. I know that it's not your favorite place."

She should have known he'd pick up on that. "It's not." She said as she snuggled closer. "I'm sorry I didn't stay with you."

"Stop." Grant shushed her. "It's alright. I know that it's hard for you to be there."

"It is." Chloe said as leaned her head on her hand and looked into his eyes. She smiled as Grant's fingers ran through her hair. Whenever he did that it made her spine tingle. "But if there's anyone I'd go there for it's you."

"Well. Thank you." Grant grinned as he leaned in to kiss her. As his hand moved through her hair again he remembered his conversation with Becky.

"My sister's in love." He said with a sigh as he pulled away.

"I wouldn't call it love exactly Grant. I think it's just a crush." Chloe laughed softly.

"No. It's more than that." Grant disagreed. "She's definitely falling for him."

"She's too young to be in love." Chloe insisted.

Grant gave her a look. "She's old enough. She's as old as we were when I first told you I loved you."

Chloe shook her head at him. "You didn't tell me you loved me until we were seventeen."

"Exactly." Grant said.

Chloe flashed him a huge grin. "See? That's my point. Ella's not seventeen."

Grant sat bolt upright in bed. "Wait a second. Who said we're talking about Ella?"

Chloe started to laugh. "I did."

"I meant Becky. Becky's falling for Kyle. Who the hell does Ella have a crush on?!" Grant's voice began to rise.

God he was just like his father when it came to stuff like this. She laughed harder. "Relax Grant. It was just something she said today. She has a teensy weensy crush on Tyler I think. It's nothing serious."

Grant let out the breath he'd been holding. His eyes were lit with annoyance. "It better not be."

Chloe knew she'd better do something fast. "Trust me. It's not. Not at all like the crush I have on you. Now that…" She said as she inched closer to him. "That's very serious."

His mind was still spinning a bit but Chloe knew just how to distract him. "Is it really?" He asked as her lips touched his.

"Yes. Very." She replied as she kissed him breathless.

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"Mommy?" Ella whispered as she tugged on the sleeve of her mother's nightshirt.

Alison opened her eyes quickly. She had been trying to sleep for the past three hours – without any luck. Her anger had faded a bit. Now she was beginning to simply miss having Rafe in the bed beside her.

"Yes baby?" She said with a smile.

"I thought you said Daddy was going to be OK…" Ella said softly, her bottom lip quivering.

Alison sat up and turned the bedside light on. She patted the mattress beside her, urging Ella to climb up. "He is honey. I promise. He's just fine."

"Then why is he still in the hospital? I thought he was coming home." Ella asked her as she crawled into the bed.

Alison sighed as she bit back the response on the tip of her tongue. Somehow she didn't think it was appropriate to tell Ella her father wasn't coming home until he stopped being a pigheaded jerk.

"He'll be home tomorrow sweetheart. He's just staying there for one night." She said as she pulled her daughter close.

"When they took Daddy to the hospital it was scary. I don't like people being in the hospital." Ella said with a yawn.

"Me either." Alison agreed as she settled back down and brought Ella with her. She placed a kiss on her hair.

Ella lifted Alison's hand in hers and played with the ring she wore. It was her favorite. It had pretty green and purple stones and sparkled, even though there wasn't much light in the room. She knew that one of the purple ones was for her, because it was the stone for February, when she was born. There was another purple one for Katie's birthday too and there was one for Becky and one for Grant. When she grew up and had babies she wanted one just like it. She snuggled her head against her mother's shoulder and whispered. "Is Daddy going to go into the hospital again?"

"No honey." Alison replied sighing a bit. "I sure hope not."

"Good. Because when Chloe's mom went there she didn't come out. Ever. She went to see Grandpa Ed." Ella said quietly. "When he went to the hospital I thought maybe Daddy missed Grandpa Ed and was going to see him too."

Alison was taken aback. Oh God. She thought to herself. She sat up again with Ella in her arms and turned to face her.

"Ella baby. Don't worry. Daddy's just fine. Here…" She leaned over and grabbed the phone, dialing the hospital and asking for Rafe's room. "We'll call him and he can tell you himself OK?"

She listened to the phone ring only once before Rafe answered.

"Hello?" He whispered, sounding desolate.

"Hi." Alison said softly as she ran a hand through Ella's curls.

"Hi." Rafe replied, a bit surprised to hear her voice. She had been so angry earlier. "I wanted to call you all night but I thought you weren't talking to me."

"I wasn't." She admitted.

"I'm so glad you called." Rafe sighed as he grabbed his watch, noticing the time. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Ella's awake." Alison said as she kissed the top of her daughter's head. "She wants to make sure you're OK. She's worried about you."

Rafe's heart ached as he thought about his little girl. He shouldn't have been so stubborn. If he hadn't he'd be home.

"She's afraid you're going to go and visit your father." Alison added.

"Oh God." Rafe said, tears springing to his eyes.

"I know. That's exactly what I thought. Hold on…" She handed the phone to Ella. "Go on sweetie."

"Daddy?" Ella's voice sounded so small.

Rafe fought to keep his own voice steady as he answered her. "Hey Ella Bella. How's my girl?"

Ella picked up Alison's hand and played with her ring again. "I'm good. I just wanted to make sure you were good too."

"I'm good." Rafe said with a smile. "You don't need to worry about me. I'm just fine sweetie."

"That's good." Ella said, her voice brightening a bit. "Daddy? Can't you come home now? You sound like you feel much better."

"I do feel much better – but I need to stay here for just a little bit more." Rafe replied.

Alison nudged Ella and asked her to give her the phone. "Daddy? Mommy wants to talk to you now so I'm gonna say goodbye. I'll see you tomorrow."

"OK." Rafe said softly. "I love you Ella. Sweet dreams little girl."

"Sweet dreams Daddy. I love you too." Ella replied with a giggle as she handed the phone over to Alison.

"I love you too – even though you drive me crazy." Alison said as she cradled the phone on her shoulder and pulled Ella close again.

"I know. I'm sorry." Rafe said as he stood and moved to the window, looking out at the lights of Port Charles below. "I promise you I'll stop being so overprotective."

"Please don't make promises you can't keep, Rafe." Alison warned him. "I don't want you to stop worrying. I just want you to stop and think a little before you succeed in killing yourself. You're pushing things too far and I know that deep down you know it. We've been lucky you know. Katie could have rebelled and run off with Colin way back when."

"She did run off with Colin." Rafe pointed out.

"She did not. She ran after him – that's different." Alison countered. "You don't want to force Becky to do something rash. But you know what? That's not even the point."

Rafe placed his finger on the glass and traced a circle as he spoke. "I know. I know what the point is. I get it. Believe me. I finally do."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it." Alison said as she nudged Ella out of bed and stood and walked to the closet. "Now. Get dressed."

"Hmm?" Rafe replied, not understanding.

"Get dressed." She repeated both to Rafe and her daughter. Ella's face lit up as she scurried off to her room to do just that. "One of your children is coming to bring you home."

"Who? Becky??" Rafe asked.

"No. The one without a license." Alison rolled her eyes and tried to sound annoyed. "So I guess I have to drive her."

Rafe laughed, his heart feeling light for the first time all day. He smiled as he said. "God, Alison. I love you."

"I know you do. And I love you too." She laughed back at him. "So go and get ready. We'll be there soon."