Sorry this took so long to get up. I was having troubles writing it, and then I went away, because it had been so long since I took a decent roadtrip and one of my friends had never seen Niagra Falls. If that's not a good reason to go to Canada, I don't know what is. So anyway, I'm back and hungover, and I hope that you enjoy. I'm just so excited to sleep in my own bed tonight, you have no idea. Friday night I actually think I slept in the bathtub of the hotel room. I say think because I don't actually recall ever getting into the tub, but that's where I woke up in the morning. I had a pillow and a blanket, and apparently my friends thought that it would make good blackmail, so we have plently of pictures documenting the event. Anyway, I'm rambling. Review please!

Disclaimer: Um, the characters are not mine.

Sandy was dozing next to Kirsten's bed. She had been moved to a private room, and the doctors assured him that she was going to be okay, it was just a matter of time before she woke up.

"Her body is exhausted," the doctor explained. "She's going to be physically weak when she wakes up. She's going to have to take it easy for awhile." Sandy had nodded. She would take it easy. Even if he had to tie her to the bed, she would take it easy.

He had come very close to losing her. Twice now, he had come close to losing her. He would not take any chances anymore. She was everything. He could not lose her. It had taken first Rebecca, and now this, to realize that he wouldn't make it without her. He needed her like he needed air.

"Sandy?"

He heard her stir before he heard her very hoarsely whisper his name. His eyes shot open and he saw her eyes flutter open slowly. She blinked, and looked confused as to her surroundings.

"Kirsten?" He said softly. "Kirsten?"

"Sandy?" She repeated. Sandy took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "What…" Realization dawned on her face and her eyes opened wide. "The baby? Is the baby okay?"

"The baby's okay," he assured her. "She's perfect. Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"I'm…exhausted," Kirsten admitted. She yawned as to prove her point.

"You scared us baby," Sandy said running a hand through her hair. "We all thought…never mind, you're okay now." He gave her a smile and leaned down to give her a kiss on the lips.

"God," Kirsten said putting a hand to her throat. "My throat is killing me."

"You stopped breathing. You were on a ventilator for awhile," Sandy explained. "I'll go get the doctor." He leaned down to give her one more kiss. "God…I love you so much."

"I love you too," she replied giving him a small smile.

"I should go call the boys. They're going to be upset that they weren't here. I just sent them home not too long ago to get some sleep." He gave Kirsten's hand a squeeze. "Get some rest baby. I'll be back." Sandy hurried out of the room to tell the doctors that she woke up, and to get her something to ease her pain. Once that was done, and the doctors were in with Kirsten, Sandy hurried outside to use his cell phone.

Seth answered on the second ring.

"Hello?" He sounded tired, as if Sandy had just woken him up. Which probably, due to their crazy sleeping patterns the past couple of days, he had. "Dad? Is something wrong? Is Mom okay? The baby?"

"Nothing bad, son," Sandy assured Seth immediately. "Wake Ryan up, and come on back down."

"Why what's up?" Seth was already jumping out of bed and searching for a pair of clean jeans.

"Your mother woke up," Sandy said grinning.

"She did! That's great! We'll be right down. Tell her to stay awake until we get there." Seth hung up and ran to find Ryan to tell him the good news. He burst into the pool house where Ryan had fallen asleep on top of his covers fully clothed. It was only six in the evening, but the boys had spent a good part of the night before in the waiting room waiting for their mother to wake up. And of course, had spent the entire day before in the hospital. They were exhausted as well.

It figured, Seth thought, that as soon as they went home she chose that moment to wake up.

"Ryan?" Ryan bolted upright and rubbed his eyes.

"Huh?"

"Mom's awake. Dad just called. Come on, let's go see her," Seth was grinning and bouncing excitedly from foot to foot. He didn't have to ask twice. Ryan hopped out of bed and they headed towards the car.

"What did Sandy say? How long has she been awake? Is she okay?" Ryan was full of questions, and all Seth could do was shrug.

"I don't know buddy. We'll find out when we get there I'm assuming."

"I'm driving," Ryan said grabbing the keys before Seth could argue.

When Sandy went back into Kirsten's room, her eyes were closed again, but they opened at the sound of the door being closed.

"Sorry," he said apologetically.

"No, it's okay," Kirsten said. "I take it I've been asleep for awhile. I can stay awake a little bit longer."

"But you should get your rest."

"I'm okay Sandy. Really." Sandy didn't look entirely convinced, but he just nodded and pulled the chair up next to her bed.

"The boys are on their way. Seth requested that you stay awake until he arrives." Kirsten gave a small laugh at that. They sat quietly talking for a little while until the door burst open and Seth and Ryan came in breathless.

"We ran from the parking lot," Seth explained. He was having a lot more trouble catching his breath than Ryan, who had already crossed over to Kirsten's bed and was leaning down to give her a hug. "We wanted to make sure you'd still be awake when we got here."

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing okay," Kirsten replied. "Kind of sore."

"Mom," Seth said finally and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Don't ever do that to us again." Kirsten ran a hand through his unruly hair.

"I won't. I promise."

"No more kids," Seth said. "Emily is it. We can't go through this again."

"Okay," Kirsten said as Seth pulled away. "No more kids. I think three is just right, don't you Sandy?" She took Ryan's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Three is the magic number," Sandy agreed. Kirsten yawned again and her eyes started to droop. "You should get some rest baby." Kirsten nodded and closed her eyes, smiling once more at her boys before succumbing to sleep.

A few hours when Kirsten woke up, there was a gentle knock on the door and a nurse walked in cradling Emily in her arms.

"Oh God," Kirsten breathed as Sandy helped her sit upright. The nurse handed Emily to Sandy who gently placed her in her mother's arms. Tears began to snake down Kirsten's face as she ran a finger down Emily's soft cheek. "She's so beautiful." Emily opened her eyes and reached up a hand which grasped at Kirsten's finger.

"She is," Sandy agreed. "I think she looks like you already."

"You think?" Kirsten asked studying Emily.

"I do. She has your cute little button nose, see?" Sandy said. Kirsten nodded, and with her free hand, wiped away the tears.

"Mrs. Cohen? Would you like to try to nurse her?" Kirsten looked up at the nurse, forgetting momentarily that she was in the room.

"Yes," Kirsten said nodding as the nurse came over to help her. Kirsten had been afraid that she wouldn't be able to breastfeed, but the doctor had told her that she should still be able to. Emily had been bottle-fed for the first few days of her life, and Kirsten was still terrified that she would prefer that to breastfeeding, but her fears were put to rest almost immediately.

"She's a hungry little girl," Sandy joked. "Look at her go to town." Kirsten giggled slightly as she ran a hand over the baby's head. They were silent for a little while, each just watching the baby. When Kirsten looked up she was surprised to see tears streaming down Sandy's face.

"What's the matter honey?" She asked softly.

"I just…God, I didn't think I would get to see this. I thought I had lost you. I thought we had all lost you." He sat down in the chair and took her free hand and held it. "I'm so sorry. For everything I've done. You know that right? And we're going to be okay? You and me, and the boys, and Emily? We're all going to be okay?" He was practically pleading with her to give him some sort of assurance that they would be fine. He knew, as well as she did, that she had still had some doubts as to whether or not she had made the right decision in forgiving him. He had his own doubts as to whether or not they were going to be okay, and he had nightmares every once in awhile of her kicking him out of the house, and taking his kids away.

But Kirsten looked down at their daughter, and then looked back at her husband, and she nodded, and pulled her hand away so that she could wipe away the tears.

"We're going to be okay," she said, quietly but forcefully. "We're going to be just fine."

"Why wasn't I called right away?" Caleb demanded when Sandy finally called him and his mother, who had arrived in California only a few minutes earlier, this being the earliest time she could get a flight out of Florida. Hailey was also due to arrive at any moment, her flight being long as it was, and Ryan and Seth had been sent to pick both up at the airport.

"I'm sorry Cal, we just didn't have time," Sandy knew that it was a sad and sorry excuse, but he had wanted some time with his wife and sons alone before the entire circus came sweeping in, and he had sent Caleb and Julie home to sleep only a little while before Kirsten woke up. When Caleb had called and asked if Kirsten awake, Sandy had told him that she wasn't. It wasn't a complete lie, at the time Kirsten had been asleep.

"We're coming down there now," Caleb said.

"Okay." This was exactly why Sandy hadn't called right away. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, hanging up the phone and heading back to her room. She was sleeping again; he guessed that she would be doing a lot of that. He took a seat in the chair next to her bed and waited for the cavalry to come in.

Caleb and Julie were first, they burst into Kirsten's room, waking her up and then began firing questions at her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Have you gotten to see the baby?"

"What did the doctor say? When can you go home?"

"Are you tired?"

"Do you need anything?"

"What about some water? Or jello? Hospitals always seem to have an abundance of jello." Sandy just watching with an amused expression as Kirsten began to sort through the many questions to come up with suitable answeres.

"I'm feeling okay, just tired, and yes, I've gotten to see the baby. The doctor said that I should be able to go home soon, and I don't need anything, especially jello but thank you for asking." Julie fussed around Kirsten, talking to her about the baby and how adorable she was.

"She looks like you already, which is a good thing," Julie then shot a guilty look at Sandy. "Oh! I didn't mean…"

"No, it is a good thing," Sandy agreed.

"Oh Kiki! We're going to have so much fun with Emily!" Julie continued to gush. "Oh, you know, with your looks, and your family, you know that she's going to be lead debutante…"

"Hey, she's only a few days old," Sandy said holding up his hand. "Can we not talk about cotillion for at least a few years?" Kirsten just grinned at all of this, thinking herself about how much fun it would be to have a girl.

"Kiks!" The door opened again and Hailey came flying in, wrapping her arms around her sister. "Oh my God, are you okay? I tried to get an earlier flight, but I couldn't!"

"I'm okay," Kirsten said. "Have you seen the baby yet?"

"No, I came down here first. Ryan's parking the car with the Nana."

"The Nana is on her way?" Caleb asked. "Juju, that's our cue to go get something to eat." Julie nodded, and gave Kirsten a hug. "Hailey, we'll catch up with you later. Kiki, feel better, we'll go see the baby, get something to eat and be back later."

"We'll call you when the Nana is gone," Kirsten offered. Caleb nodded, looking visibly relieved.

"Good." He left the room, Julie trailing behind, and a few seconds later, Sophie and the boys came in.

"Ma!" Sandy stood up from his perch next to Kirsten to give his mother a hug. "How was your flight?"

"Long. Kirsten," Sophie looked at her daughter-in-law lying in the hospital bed, and suddenly was hit with an idea of what her son had been through the past couple of days. Kirsten was pale, and her hand when she lifted it up to take Ryan's, who had moved next to her, was shaking with the effort. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, just tired," Kirsten admitted. Sophie moved to her bed and wrapped her arms around the younger woman in a hug that surprised everyone in the room.

"I prayed for you," she told Kirsten. Off the looks that everyone was giving her, she replied, "What? She's the mother of my grandchildren. Sandy, you know I love you, but you don't the first thing about raising a little girl, and you couldn't have done without Kirsten." God, was that the truth, Sandy thought to himself.

"No, I couldn't have," he admitted.

"As surprising as it is, I was worried about you, and I'm glad that you are okay," Sophie said. She took Kirsten's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Now where is this beautiful granddaughter of mine that I keep hearing about?"

"I'll take you to the nursery Nana," Seth offered. Sophie nodded.

"You should get some sleep," Sophie told Kirsten in a voice that offered no room for arguments, before following Seth out of the room.

"You should get some sleep," Sandy said once they had left.

"We can leave?" Ryan offered.

"I'm not going anywhere," Hailey said. "Speak for yourself. I'll wait here with her while she sleeps, Sandy why don't you go catch up with your mother and Seth?" Sandy looked torn between going to see his daughter, and staying with his wife, but finally consented, gave Kirsten a kiss and hurried to catch up. Ryan and Hailey each took a seat on either side of Kirsten, who had succumbed to her exhaustion and fell back asleep.

Okay, so review please! Thank you! I promise the next chapter won't take as long to get up. I hope to have it up soon. But only if you review! Get to it.