When the door opened, the uniformed officer removed his hat and nodded to Renee. "Good afternoon Miss Walcott," he said

"Officer..." She said slowly.

"Miss Walcott," the young beat cop started, twisting his hat in his hands, "there's been an accident. Dr. Macy is asking for you ma'am.

"Why me? Why not one of the ADA's?"

"No ma'am, I don't think you understand," he said shuffling his feet, "Dr. Macy was in the accident. He's at Boston General. I'll take you there."

She nearly dropped the baby in her shock, just catching her in time. "Whoa," she sighed. "That's fine. I'm capable of driving myself."

"All right ma'am," he agreed, "if you'll follow me, I can get you there rather quickly" he said, offering his lights and sirens.

"Just give me a moment," she said softly as she turned around, pulling on hers and Amanda's jackets and grabbing Mandy's' diaper bag and her keys.

The young officer waited in front of Renee's building until she pulled up behind him. He flicked on the lights and sirens and pulled away from the curb. He made a quick left and headed up the street. He realized too late that he was leading her directly past the accident. He mentally kicked himself as the car's wreckage and the lamppost it was wrapped around loomed closer and closer. He glanced in his review mirror at her car, hoping that by some miracle she wouldn't notice the police officers, firemen and bright yellow police lines on the street's corner.

She swallowed hard and did her damndest not to swerve off the road as she drove past the accident.

The officer dropped his foot a little more as he rolled past the accident, hoping he could speed her past the depressing sight.

She sighed softly as the sirens caused Amanda to start wailing.

Garret struggled to regain his senses when he heard a soft knock on the door. "Come in," he said groggily, his entire body throbbing. A blonde head poked through the crack in the door.

"Dad?" a familiar voice called.

"Yeah baby," Garret said. Abby entered the room then and it was obvious she'd be crying. Maggie followed a few steps behind her.

His daughter sat herself down on the edge of his bed and snatched his hand in hers. "What happened?" she asked.

Garret sighed. He really couldn't remember much; all he knew is what the cops had told him, "I crashed my car into a lamppost," he explained.

Maggie shook her head as if she were disappointed in him. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Garret laughed casually and looked down at his body. "Well, I'm in the hospital Mag," he said, "apparently I've broken my leg and cracked a bunch of ribs and I've got nice concussion too." Abby still looked worried. "I'll be fine baby," he assured her, "I'm sure I look worse than I actually am," he said reaching up and wincing as he felt the bruises on his face.

Renee left her now quiet daughter with the beat cop, knocking lightly on the door before opening it.

As the door moved open, every Macy's eyes turned toward it. When Renee entered the room Garret gave her a sad smile and started with the introductions. "Renee, this Abby and Maggie," he explained pointing to them each in turn as if she couldn't decipher for herself who was who. "Maggie, Abby, this is Renee... my wife."

Renee gave the two women a nervous smile. "Hi."

"Hi," Maggie and Abby said in unison before turning to Garret, their eyes wide.

"Wife?" Abby asked obviously annoyed that she was left out of this part of her father's life.

"Yeah," Garret said simply. He sighed quietly. This is not how he had hoped his worlds would collide. "Can we talk about this later?" He asked, his eyes asking Maggie to take their daughter to the waiting room. Maggie nodded in understanding and with a quick glance at Abby, pushed her out the door. Maggie lightly placed her hand on Renee's arm as she passed her.

"Good luck," she whispered with a smile and pulled the door shut behind her.

"You moron." Renee said softly as she walked towards the chair beside the bed. "In what reality should a person be driving when their BAC is one and a half times the legal limit?"

"I'll be fine by the way, thanks for asking" Garret said, immediately recognizing the hostility in his own voice.

"Sorry." She said softly, taking his hand and lightly kissing his knuckles.

He pulled his hand away from her and looked nervously around the room. "Where's Amanda?" he asked.

She sat back and crossed her arms. "One of the officers is watching her."

Garret nodded slowly and after a moment of trying, organized his thoughts enough to speak. "I was coming to see you," he said.

"Half sloshed? Great idea."

"Well, I would have called but I broke my phone," he explained with a smile.

She just raised an eyebrow.

"I just wanted to talk to you," he said quietly, "I wanted to see you."

She nodded slightly, biting her lip. "I'm so sorry."

Garret turned his attention out the window and sighed. "Tell me about your son," he said after a time, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

"I can't."

His face folded into a sad and angry frown. "Fine," he said, still staring out the window, but taking in none of the view.

She got up and lightly brushed her lips against his forehead, before walking to the door. "I'll see you later."

Garret's stomach jumped into his throat at her touch. "Don't go Renee," he said quietly.

"Garret...I can't do this right now."

"I just want to apologize," he said, his voice threatening to reveal his pain.

"For what?"

Garret picked nervously at the edge of his blanket. "I'm sorry that you can't tell me about your son. I'm sorry for everything I've done that makes you feel like you can't trust me."

"Garret..." She breathed softly, walking over and sitting lightly on the bed. "It's not that I can't trust you. You know I do. But there's one thing that I don't talk about with anyone, and that's Jack."

"I'm not just anyone Renee," Garret said sadly, finding himself unable to meet her gaze.

"God, sweetie...I know that. I just can't. It hurts too much."

He nodded in understanding, "I know," he said quietly.

In reality, he had no idea how much it hurt to loose a child, but it seemed like the appropriate thing to say. He turned back towards the window, the muscles in his neck throbbing in protest as he moved. It was starting to get dark and Garret watched the headlights run up and down the road in front of the hospital. After a time, he turned his attention back to Renee and gathered the courage to tell her what he needed to.

"I love you," he started, "and I want to be with you Renee, but I can't pretend that this didn't happen and you shouldn't have to either."

"The me not telling you, or the you running into a lamp post?"

Garret laughed with only a half effort. "You shouldn't have to keep you son a secret Renee," he explained. "I understand that it's hard to talk about, I understand that you'd rather not think about it all, but I can't live with secrets and lies hanging over me."

"Well, you know all mine now."

"Do I?" Garret asked seriously, wanting to make sure he wouldn't have his heart trampled on again.

"Yeah," she gave him a sad smile.

"Good," he said nodding. He reached out for her hand and ran his thumb over its back. "I do love you, you know," he said quietly.

"I know, I love you too." She leaned over to kiss him, just as she heard light footsteps make their way into the room

Garret looked towards the door as Abby stepped through with Amanda in her arms. "The police officer was just sitting outside the door with her," she explained, "I asked him who she was and it turns out I have a step-sister no one told me about."

Garret smiled as Abby walked towards them. He wished the girls had met under different circumstances but as he watched the easy way Abby handled the baby before handing her to Renee, he just smiled and was glad that they even had the chance to meet.

Renee smiled softly, kissing the top of Amanda's head. "I'll leave you two alone."

"It's alright," Abby said quickly, "you don't have to go," she gave Renee a look that begged her to stay. "I mean, you're my step mom now right? How are we going to get to know each other if we're never in the same room together?" she asked.

She patted her hand on the edge of her father's bed inviting her to sit back down. When she did, Abby put her hands on her hips and looked from Renee to Garret and back again. "Now," she said with authority, "can someone tell me how you two happened to get married and didn't bother to tell me?" She smiled and tapped her foot, pretending to be angry.

Garret smiled, cutting his laughter short when it shook his sore ribs. "Well," he started, "it's kind of a long story."

"Not that long." Renee smirked at him. "He asked, I said yes six weeks later, half an hour after that we were married."

Abby raised an eyebrow at her father. "Don't ever accuse me of being reckless in relationships, okay?" she asked with a smirk as the doctor interrupted them.

"I'm sorry," he announced, "but visiting hours are just about finished and we need to take Dr. Macy for a few more ex-rays on that leg of his."

"I'll see you later Garret." Renee said softly as she stood

Garret nodded and reached out for Amanda. He pressed a kiss to her cheek when Renee placed her in his arms. Abby stepped beside him next and squeezed his hand, "I'll come by tomorrow, okay?" she said with a smile.

"Okay, baby," he agreed. When she'd left, he offered Amanda back to mother.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Renee whispered as she leaned down and kissed him softly.

"I love you," he said once more, staring at her hard to make sure she knew he meant it.

"I love you too." She smiled softly.

When Garret was alone in his room he smiled to himself. Today had probably been one of the hardest days of his entire life, but now that it was over he decided he wouldn't have wanted it any other way. He was still in the dark about a particular aspect of Renee's life, but he knew that she would come to him when she was ready to talk about it, so there was no use pulling it out of her. His daughters were now on a first name basis and his grin grew as he imagined how they would get along in the future. A nurse came in and gave him some medication to manage the pain of his injuries. Garret didn't bother to tell her that he was too happy to feel any of it.


Author's Note: Thanks to all that read and reviewed, we really had fun writting this. Look forward to the sequel.