So I'm officially all graduation partied out. My sister and like three of my cousins all graduated this year, so we had all four of those parties. One every weekend for the past month. I'm sick of them. I'm sick of going. I'm sick of eating the graduation party food. I'm sick of having to talk to my family. I'm just sick of it. So I've decided to boycott any more that my mother tries to get me to go to. Damn the man. So anyway, sorry I'm a little bitter, I just got home from one. Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy and review please! Thanks!

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine; the only thing I own are the cookies that I stuffed in my purse on my way out of the party

"In California
Forever summer and hot
Into the ocean
You're smiling a lot
On sandy beaches
And the blankets are hot
You're in my arms
And I kiss your heart
Jesus, don't touch my baby
She's all that I got "- Ryan Adams

Sandy held Kirsten's hand during the c-section, leaning down and whispering reassuring words in her ears. His eyes didn't leave her face for a second, and he thought that he would never forget the terrified look on her face. He had never before wished for time to go faster, but he wanted to speed things up, get to the point where everyone was healthy and safe. To a point where his daughter was okay, his wife was okay. And they would be okay. He had almost convinced himself of that.

"Just hold on, honey," Sandy said softly into Kirsten's ear. "It's all going to be okay. Everything is okay. You're going to be fine. Emily is going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine. I love you." He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you too," she said softly. Her face was pale, and she forced a weak smile. Sandy just stood there, rubbing a hand and waiting. It felt like a lifetime before they heard the sound of the baby screaming, and the doctor beaming at the couple.

"Congratulations," the doctor said smiling at Sandy as he held up the screaming baby. "You have a baby girl."

"She's beautiful," Sandy told Kirsten. "She's absolutely beautiful."

"Is she okay?" Kirsten asked.

"She's perfect," the doctor assured her. "A little on the small side, but other than that, perfectly healthy."

"Oh thank God," Kirsten breathed as the doctor placed Emily in Sandy's arms and Sandy took her over to show Kirsten. Kirsten ran a finger gently down the baby's face. "She's so tiny. She's so beautiful."

"Then she must take after her mother," Sandy replied. The nurse came over and Sandy reluctantly handed his daughter over to be cleaned up. He watched as the nurse carried Emily out of the room, and he couldn't believe that he was a father again. He had a little girl. When he looked back down at Kirsten, her eyes were closed and her face was tinted blue.

"Something's wrong," he cried out. "Kirsten? Kirsten? Something's wrong with my wife."

"Sir, you're going to have to move out of the way," the one nurse said pulling him away from Kirsten. The doctor and the nurses huddled around her, and Sandy was pushed back. A nurse took his arm to gently lead him out of the room.

"She's not breathing," was the last thing he heard before they pushed him out of the room.

"No, I have to be in there. I have to be with her! What's wrong with my wife?"

"I'm sorry sir, I don't know, why don't you go and check on your daughter?"

"No! No! I want to be with Kirsten," but the nurse ignored him as she disappeared back into the room. Sandy slipped to the floor and covered his head with his hands. He didn't know what he would do without her. He couldn't raise that little baby. He couldn't do it on his own. And what about the boys? God, they were just starting to forgive him. He couldn't deal with three kids alone. He just couldn't do it without her.

They were supposed to do this together. They were supposed to grow old together. She was supposed to see both her boys get married. She was supposed to be there to watch Emily grow up.

And how unfair to Emily. She wouldn't get to know her mother at all. She wouldn't know how wonderful she was. How amazing. She would hear all these stories and never actually get to meet her.

There was too much to do still. Kirsten still needed to hold Emily. She needed to be there to take the boys to college. She needed to watch Emily's first step and hear her first words. It was too unfair.

Sandy didn't know how long he sat there on the cold tile, his head in his hands. He finally stood up, and walked towards the waiting room. His sons jumped to their feet as he came in.

"How's Mom?" Seth asked.

"Is she okay? How's the baby?" Ryan asked at the same time.

"What happened?" Summer asked quietly noticing Sandy's red and swollen eyes. Seth's heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. No.

"The baby..." Caleb started.

"No, the baby is fine. Ten fingers, ten toes, she's perfect…"

"Kirsten," Julie breathed.

"She's…God, I don't…she's…they pushed me out…I…" He sunk down into the chair behind him.

"Where is she?" Caleb demanded. "Where is my daughter?"

"They were…she stopped breathing…I don't know what happened, they wouldn't tell me," Sandy was finding it hard to string together sentences. He was having trouble forming coherent thoughts.

"I'm going to find out," Caleb said stomping away. Sandy was barely aware of anything, but he was aware of Seth and Ryan's silence. He was aware that they both had taken seats next to him, and he did feel Seth's hand on his arm, and knew that Ryan's head was between his knees as if he was going to be sick. He felt himself put his own hand on Ryan's back to comfort the boy. He felt as if he was outside of his body watching all of this. Watching and waiting for Caleb to return with some news.

"Mr. Cohen?" The nurse's voice was startling and he looked up at her. "We've moved your daughter to the nursery. Did you and your wife have a name picked out for her?"

"Emily," he said softly. "Emily Catherine Cohen."

"Kirsten's strong," Ryan spoke up. "She's going to be fine." Sandy managed to nod and then took to sitting in the chair, staring at nothing. He ignored attempts to get him to go to the nursery to visit Emily. He sat stoically in his chair waiting for any news on his wife. It was only when Caleb returned that Sandy seemed to snap out of his trance, and climb wearily to his feet.

"Did they tell you anything?"

"They've stabilized her and taken her to the ICU," Caleb reported. "The placental abruption caused her to hemorrhage and lose a lot of blood. She had some respiratory problems, but they did a blood transfusion, and they put her on a ventilator for right now. They said that we can go see her one at a time."

"Did they think…is she going to be okay?" Sandy was trying hard to understand exactly what Caleb was telling him.

"They're not sure yet," Caleb answered honestly. "The doctor told me that she should pull through, but they're seeing how she does the next twenty-four hours."

"She has to be okay," Seth whispered. Summer wrapped an arm around his shoulder. They had gone to see the baby, marveling over how tiny and perfect she was. It wouldn't be fair, Summer thought, for Kirsten to never get to hold her daughter. She couldn't die. That just wasn't right. After all she had been through that year? After Sandy cheated on her? After she forgave him, and then the almost miscarriage. If there was a God up there, Summer was begging Him to finally leave Kirsten alone. She had been through enough. It was time for her to be okay. It was time for the Cohens to be pieced back together completely and seamlessly.

"I want to go see her," Sandy said. "Take me to her." Caleb just nodded, and tiredly led his son-in-law to see his wife. Sandy insisted on being allowed on going in first, and for once, Caleb didn't argue, he just moved out of the way and allowed Sandy to pass him.

"Oh God, baby," Sandy said picking up her hand. He brought it to his mouth and gave it a kiss. "You have to be okay? Do you hear me? You have to be okay. Emily…she's so beautiful Kirsten, you have to be there to watch her grow up. You have to wait up with me on sleepless nights when she's been out past her curfew. You have to be there." He leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead.

There was nothing to do now but wait.

The doctors took Kirsten off the ventilator that evening, and Sandy took that as a good sign. He ignored the doctor's warnings that she wasn't out of the woods yet, and instead focused on the positive. For now, Kirsten was okay, Emily was okay, and that was enough for him.

Around mid-afternoon, he had sent Ryan and Seth home to get some sleep, and promised to call if anything happened. When he went to check on Emily, he left Caleb sitting by Kirsten's side so that if she woke up, she wouldn't be alone. He spent a few hours holding his new daughter, watching as she clenched and unclenched her tiny fists and being angry at whoever would listen for not allowing his wife to be seeing this. For not being able to spend the first day of his daughter's life as a family, instead having to spend it worrying about his wife and whether or not she was going to be okay.

After leaving the nursery, Sandy had walked back down to Kirsten in ICU. Christmas was just around the corner and everywhere he looked he saw an attempt at making the hospital look festive.

God, Christmakkah. What would Christmakkah be like without Kirsten? He didn't want to think about having to get through the holiday season without her. It would be Emily's first Christmakkah, Seth had been excitedly talking about what they would do if the baby was born before Christmas, as Kirsten's original due date had been right around then. Seth had big plans, Sandy had big plans, and none of them included a funeral.

When Ryan and Seth arrived back that night, they too were excited to see that Kirsten was breathing on her own.

"That's a good sign right, Dad?" Seth said excitedly taking his mother's hand and grinning at his father.

"That's a good sign," Sandy said nodding, not wanting to repeat the doctor's warning. "Have you guys been up to see your sister yet since you got back here?"

"No not yet," Ryan shook his head. "We were going to go up there when we got kicked out of here." The ICU had very strict rules concerning visitors, and while Caleb had used as much authority as he could and allowed more than one person at a time in with Kirsten, there was only so much he could do, and so the boys were limited to about ten minutes at a time in Kirsten's room.

"When are they going to move her to a private room?" Seth asked.

"Soon," Sandy said nodding. "Maybe tomorrow."

"When is she going to wake up?" Ryan asked quietly as he took Kirsten's other hand.

"I hope soon," Sandy replied.

"She's so pale," Seth said softly studying his mother's face.

"She lost a lot of blood," Sandy reminded gently. The three sat there in silence, until a nurse came and told the boys that they would have to leave. They looked back longingly at their mother before leaving to go upstairs to see the baby.

"She's going to be okay, right?" Seth asked as they walked away from Kirsten's room.

"Of course she is," Ryan answered stopping at the question. Seth had asked it as if he was afraid of the answer. As if he already knew what the answer would be and it wasn't what he wanted to hear. Ryan didn't want to have to even think about any other possibility except the one where Kirsten woke up and was fine.

"I don't…I don't know what we'll do without her," Seth admitted looking at his brother.

"We're not going to find out," Ryan said. "She's fine." He walked away from Seth, and hit the up button on the elevator. "She's going to be fine." He was silent the rest of the way to the nursery and Seth regretted ever asking the question.

"Of course she will be," it was Seth's turn to assure. "Let's go see Emily." Ryan just nodded and followed behind Seth to the nursery where Caleb and Julie already were admiring the baby.

"She's beautiful," Caleb said softly as they approached. "She looks just like Kirsten did when she was born." He looked away from Emily and to his grandson's face for a moment. "Any update on your mother?"

"They took her off the ventilator," Seth replied. Caleb nodded, and turned to face Julie.

"Why don't we go down and wait in the waiting room?" She suggested. Caleb simply nodded again, and followed Julie away from the nursery window.

"We won't be all right," Ryan said. "If we lose her. We'll all be lost. All of us." Seth turned to look at him, but Ryan was staring straight ahead at the baby.

"We won't lose her," Seth said, as much for himself as for Ryan. "We won't. We can't."

Okay, sorry that's where I'm going to leave it. I'm a terrible person, I know, I know, I'm messing with Kirsten bunches. But please review and let me know what you think. Thanks!