December 19th, 2003

Week 28

Alex had barely left Jimmy's bedside in the past two weeks. His health was improving, but he was still asleep. It broke her heart. She wanted him to be healthy. She didn't want to have to make any life or death decisions. Alex reached over and took Jimmy's hand. She placed it on her stomach. Her heart felt so heavy in her chest.

"Aidan misses hearing your voice, Jimmy. He's getting big. I've gained twenty-eight pounds so far. Dr. White says he looks like a very healthy baby. I read to him a lot more now. Not just your medical chart either." Alex whispered.

She stared at him. He looked so peaceful. She glanced at his machines. His heart rate was starting to rise. Alex smiled softly. He was listening to her. She just knew it. Alex squeezed his hand.

"I helped Joey pick out a dog yesterday since you promised him one a while ago." Alex said, "We got a black lab puppy. Joey named him Cole. You'll love him." She felt Jimmy's hand muscles tense up beneath her hand. Her heart stopped. "I might have Cole sleep on your side of the bed since your not there."

"L…" A gurgle came from Jimmy. Alex stood up.

"Baby?" She whispered. His eyelids started to flutter open.

"Lex…" He gurgled. Tears fell down Alex's cheek.

"I'm here." She whispered to him. Jimmy glanced over at Alex. "Hey, Baby." He tried to focus on her on her. Jimmy grunted.

"What…" He whispered.

"You were in a building during a fire and it collapsed on you, two weeks ago. You burned your leg and hand pretty badly." She said. Jimmy groaned.

"Two weeks…" He mumbled. Alex nodded.

"Yeah, two weeks. I had an OB appointment. I know you don't like going to those, but this was an extreme thing to do to get out of them." Jimmy smiled weakly. Alex leaned over and kissed him softly. "You scared me. I thought I'd be raising this boy by myself." Jimmy's eyes drifted to her stomach.

"You're big." He said. Alex laughed as she spilled over her cheeks once again.

"I know. Twelve weeks left and then we'll have him." Alex said. Jimmy shifted and groaned, "Want me to get the doctor?"

"God…yes…" Jimmy groaned. Alex rushed out of the room to find the doctor on call. He groaned again. There was so much pain. In his heart and everywhere else. He was asleep for two weeks? Jimmy couldn't remember the fire that Alex told him about. The last thing he remembered was the fire alarm going off in the station. That was it. Alex and Dr. Morales walked back in.

"Morning, Jimmy." She smiled walking over to him, "How are you feeling?" Jimmy grunted.

"A lot of pain." He moaned.

"All right. I'll increase your morphine drip if you want." She asked him. Jimmy nodded, "All right. I'm happy you're awake. We were afraid we were going to loose you for awhile there."

"Very happy." Alex whispered.

"You have a long road ahead of you though." She said, "There's a lot of physical therapy you'll need to go through. You won't be going back to work anytime soon. You'll still need to stay her for a couple of weeks. You're not going of the woods yet."

"But Christmas…" Jimmy said.

"We'll have Christmas here." Alex said, "Joey will stay with Kim. Don't worry about it." Jimmy sighed softly.

"Let's be glad you're awake." Dr. Morales said, "We'll focus on your recovery once you feel up to it all right?"

"Drugs good." Jimmy said. Alex chuckled softly. Her heart thumped in her chest. She was so thrilled to see Jimmy awake. He wasn't going to die. She knew the road to recovery was going to be a very long a hard one but she was willing to do anything to have Jimmy healthy.

January 2nd, 2004

Week 30

Jimmy grunted loudly as he moved his legs. He had expected pain, but he never realized it'd be this bad. Alex sat on the bench watching Jimmy and his physical therapist.

"You ready to go home?" Carol asked him. Jimmy nodded.

"God yes." He said wiping the sweat off of his forehead, "Do I get to take this handy dandy cane home?" Carol nodded.

"You'll need to." She said, "I think want you to relax but keep working on the excersises I gave you all right?" Jimmy nodded.

"Alex will make sure I do them." He said. Alex smiled softly from across the room, "Is it time now?" Carol chuckled softly.

"You're free, Mr. Doherty." She said. Jimmy cheered and hobbled over to Alex. Her eyes were filled with tears.

"I'm coming home." He whispered.

"It's about time." She hauled her body up and turned to Jimmy, "Yes. I will." Jimmy glanced at her very confused.

"You will what, sweetheart?" He asked as he got into a wheelchair so the nurse could push him to the car. Alex bit her lip.

"I'll marry you." She said. The nurse smiled softly. Jimmy's eyes widened as he looked at Alex. What did she just say?

"WH-What?" His entire body trembled.

"Seeing you hurt and everything…I came so close to loosing you, Jimmy." Alex whispered as she waddled along with him. "I never want to loose you. I want to marry you."

"Wow…" Jimmy mumbled as the nurse stopped them in front of the van. Joey hopped out.

"Hi Dad!" He threw his arms around Jimmy's neck. He smiled softly.

"Hey, buddy." Jimmy smiled and looked at Kim, "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem. Alex can't fit behind the wheel anyway." Kim snickered as she opened up the back door. Alex bit her lip as she extended her hand. Jimmy took it and slowly pulled himself up with a grunt. He touched Alex's stomach softly and looked at her.

"All right." He whispered in her ear. A giant smile broke across Alex's face. "January 5th, 2007." Alex giggled softly and nodded.

"January 5th, 2007?" Kim asked as she hopped back into the van.

"Yeah." Alex smiled as she sat down.

"What's happening then?" Kim asked.

"Alex and I are getting married." Jimmy said wrapping his arm around Joey' shoulders. Kim glanced into the back seat in disbelief.

"Are you serious?" Kim asked.

"I guess so." Alex laughed softly. "He asked me awhile ago if I wanted to get married with him and I said we weren't ready but after all of this…Kim…You know how hard I was praying not to loose another man in my life." Kim nodded.

"I understand, but do you guys think you're doing the right thing." Kim said as she drove off. Joey glanced at his mother.

"Yes." Jimmy said with a slight smirk, "Like we talked about before, Kim, I'm going to make it work this time."

"I believe you." Kim chuckled, "I just don't want Alex to get hurt."

"Lay off it, Kim." He said.

"Did you even ask Joey if he was okay with this?" Kim asked. Alex and Jimmy looked at Joey.

"Son, how do you feel about it?" Jimmy asked.

"I think it's cool." He said, "I'll be like... what? Fourteen when you guys get married. We'll just see if you guys last that long."

"Joseph." Jimmy frowned. Kim couldn't help but to chuckled. Jimmy sat back and looked at Alex.

"Well, look at your track record." She whispered.

"I know." Jimmy muttered picking at the brace on his hand. Alex ruffled Joey's hair.

"We'll be fine, Buddy." She said, "I won't mind being your stepmother." She glanced at Kim; "It's okay right?" Kim chuckled.

"It's fine. It'll be kind of cool to have a really big thanksgiving dinner and stuff." Kim glanced at Jimmy.

"It'll be fun. I won't go to Atlantic City this time." Jimmy winked. Kim began to run her mouth off again. Jimmy slipped his arm around Alex's shoulder. This was amazing. He was alive and here with his family…and Kim. He wouldn't trade any of this for the world. He had come so close to dying a couple of times before, but this…this was just too close for comfort especially with Aidan ten weeks away.

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