Disclaimer: Anything related to TNA or anyone else clearly doesn't belong to the writers of this story. This is written purely for entertainment purposes. If TNA is willing, though, the writers of this story would very much love to own any of the TNA-owned people mentioned within this story. We also don't own Sterling James Keenan but would very much like to. That is all.

A/N: Hello my freaky friends! This is probably gonna turn into a friggen epic at the rate we're going. 250 pages and still going strong, Phoenix! We rock! Woohoo! Okay, that was a slight ego trip there. Now back to reality. Seriously dudes, enjoy the story and... I'm gonna go kill the monkey. Hear that, Phoenix? YES! I'm going after your damn monkey. The real one! Anyway, enjoy! More angst to come. Lizzie


Later into that evening, Kady groaned in annoyance at her own body for waking up, and opened her eyes. There wasn't much more light than there was when she had her eyes closed, indicating that time had moved into night time. She waited a few seconds to adjust back to the realm of the conscious and then moved to sitting up, taking her time in doing so. At that point, of course, all the horrors of that days events flooded her head again, and she groaned a second time. Since she hadn't been woken up at any time while she was asleep, she would assume that no one has heard any news on Lily, which could only be a good thing. The clock on the wall read 8:45 PM, and just as she swung her legs over the side of her bed, something started ringing, causing her to jump in shock.

"What the hell?"

Kady stood up and looked around the room, and reached over and turned on a lamp. The room became partially lit up, though remained dim. It was then she noticed Chris asleep on the bed across from her, and remembered what he had said to her a few hours earlier, him thinking she wasn't consciously aware. Now she didn't know what to think of him... thirteen years of resentment, coupled with four years of outright not giving a damn about him anymore had been completely shattered by him still being here and not giving up on her or Lily. It seemed like he actually was trying to make things right as best he could, to take responsibility rather than absolve himself of it. But she broke away from her thoughts when the ringing persisted, and she realized it was a cell phone. Remembering that hers was lost, she figured it must be Chris' and so she lightly made her way over to where he was sleeping, to where his jacket and other items were resting on Danny's desk. There was his cell phone, vibrating and flashing, indicating an incoming call. Kady picked it up and looked at the caller ID. James Storm. She pressed the answer button.

"Hello?" she whispered into it upon placing it at her ear.

"Chris man, I—" a loud voice stopped when it wasn't Chris who answered the phone. "Who the hell's this?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Kady replied sarcastically, not in the mood to be antisocial with anyone – it was energy she didn't have, but it was coming naturally.

"Kady?"

"Good guess, asshole."

"Where's Chris?" James demanded.

"Sleepin'," she stated, casting a sideways glance at her father who still didn't wake. "Whatever you want, you'll have to deal with me."

James, suddenly remembering that this kid has just seen her mother get knocked down by a car, reeled in his attitude a bit and calmed down. "So... how you doing?"

"Pretty damn crap thanks, yourself?"

"Any news on...?"

"No."

"Oh..."

"What do you want?" Kady wanted to know, and end this conversation as quickly as possible.

"Um, look tell your dad—"

"He's not my dad," she interrupted, and wanted to make that point perfectly clear. On the other end, James chuckled and shook his head in amazement at the sullenness of this girl. Ever stubborn and defiant to the end. Just like Chris.

"Whatever you say, kid," he replied. "Just tell him I talked to Jarrett; we're losing the titles to the Naturals... of all people, why it's gotta be those idiots I don't know. But we get another shot when he gets back."

"Fine. Good for you. I gotta go..."

"And Kady?"

"What?" she sighed, now very impatient and was about to hang up on this dude.

"I'm sorry about your mom..."

"Thanks," Kady muttered quickly and ended the call, dropping the cell phone back onto the desk and turned back to Chris. Things were only going to get further complicated between them before this tragedy would end, and she didn't know why she was fighting it anymore. Chris was back in their lives no matter what, and she would have to accept it... but not willingly. There was still a lot he needed to answer for, but for now, Kady mentally agreed to call a truce with him, for the sake of Lily. She crossed the room to the door and opened it, and stepped into the main hallway, closing the door again. Chris remained sleeping, though turned on his side; his eyelids fluttering as he went into a deeper sleep...

He stumbled out of the bathroom, falling against the door for some support; all energy he once possessed had all but disappeared after another wild party to celebrate the end of high school and the embracing of freedom and independence. It had been six weeks since graduation, and there was no end in sight for the parties of all the graduates who were getting in all the partying they could before college would start in the fall. Chris let out a ragged cough and paused for a few seconds to get his breath back, and looked around at the quiet house. In a few weeks he'd be out of home and into the dorms at college, and he couldn't wait.

He coughed again and pushed himself up and off the wall, and caught his balance. The killer headache he had, and also the fatigue that had set in after staying out all night, was really impeding his sense of judgment and direction but nevertheless, going back to bed wasn't an option. Ten minutes earlier, his girlfriend Lily had called him up screaming for him to get his hungover, lazy ass self out of bed. Now, there was pounding at the front door and his parents must have gone out or something because no one had answered it.

BANG, BANG, BANG

"Yeah, yeah..." he muttered, holding a hand to his head. "I'm coming, I'm coming... hold on..."

Chris staggered down the hall and didn't stop until he reached the living room, and walked over to the door. He unlocked it and pulled it open and squinted as the bright light slammed against him. Lily was standing there, looking a little more scared than pissed off like she did on the phone.

"Took you long enough," she scolded, pushing past him.

"Nice to see you too, gorgeous."

Lily had been at the party the night before, and though she did enjoy drinking at times, she had been sick and so hadn't participated, though she had sat back and laughed at the complete mess Chris and his friends got themselves into, it was hilarious. But there was no laughing now, and her boyfriend stared after her with confusion and let the door slam shut on his own. Lily walked into the living room and stopped when she was in the middle, and waited for Chris to join her. When he did, she took out something from one of the pockets of her jeans and looked up at him again – she had promised herself on the way over that she wouldn't cry, but being with him now changed those plans.

"Baby you look upset," he commented lightly, flopping down on the sofa and smiled charmingly at her, not getting that she wasn't playing any games. "Want me to make you feel better?"

Lily eyed him up and down; Chris looked more than disheveled. He looked like a damn train wreck. "Looking like that? I think not..."

"Look, about your purse last night, I swear I didn't know it was there when I—" he started to explain what he thought Lily was so upset about, but stopped when he saw her expression growing darker. "This... isn't about your purse?"

"Good guess, idiot," she retorted. "We need to talk."

"Talk? Did I do something? I honestly wouldn't remember if I did..."

"Chris, shut the fuck up!" she yelled, and he winced; her raised voice piercing his brain like a thousand knives.

"Ah,fuck!" he groaned, lying down on the sofa. "Lily, come on... play nice! My head feels like its gonna explode..."

Lily walked around the coffee table so she was standing in front of him, and picked up one of the pillows on the sofa next to him, whacking him with it.

"Hey!"

"Chris!" she snapped, not in the mood for his games. Earlier that day she had found out some news that was going to change both their lives, and it's not that she had worked up the courage to tell him, but it was more like she was going to tell him before she lost the nerve to. "This is serious! Stop being such an asshole!"

"Have I ever told you how damn hot you look when you're mad?" he teased, and grabbed her wrist, pulling Lily onto his lap before she could react. Amid her protests, he kissed her neck. Lily tried to wriggle from his grasp, losing her patience with him. All those extra hours of training Chris had been putting in at the gym were paying off for him; Lily's struggles were in vain.

"Chris, I swear to God, if you don't stop I'll—"

"Fine!" he released her arms and she stood up, but as she did, Chris reached forward and slapped her on the butt.

"CHRIS!" she protested, turning around and glaring at him with renewed menace.

"Sorry, sorry," he held up his hands defensively. "Couldn't resist. Okay, so what's up? What or who has pissed you off this morning? Anyone I'm gonna have to kill?"

Chris didn't wait for her to respond to his questions and got up off the sofa, with the intent on listening to her while getting some food. Growing boys need their food after all, and since he was supposed to be training that day at the same time as working off a hangover, so there was not much time for doing nothing. Lily rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated groan and followed him. It was hard to keep his attention sometimes, the bastard.

"Do you know how annoying you are sometimes?" she asked, half-heartedly, entering the kitchen after him.

"Not until you tell me. Other than that, I'm really not sure," Chris replied, scanning the contents of the fridge. After seeing no particular food item of interest, he settled with milk for now and removed the carton, slamming the door shut. He then turned back to face Lily, and jumped slightly at the iciness held in her eyes. "Whoa. Okay, wasn't expecting that. So what have I done now to warrant that look from you? I told you, the thing with your stuff last night—"

"It's not about my things, forget about that!" Lily insisted, slamming her hand down on the kitchen counter with such force that again, he jumped back.

"Okay, lady, you're starting to scare me a bit... it's not that time of the month again is it?" only Chris could get away with such a comment like that to her, usually, but this was probably not the most appropriate time for it as he would soon find out. Lily's mouth dropped open and she looked around for something sharp to seriously throw at him. Finding nothing, she settled for another deathly glare.

"Oh my gosh you are such a jerk sometimes..." she hissed.

"Lily, just tell me what the hell is your problem, okay? Whatever it is, I won't know until you tell me! It can't be that bad."

"Trust me, it is," she said, the anger being replaced with fear and Chris immediately saw that she was serious. He put the milk carton down on the counter and walked over to her. The joke was over, he knew, seeing Lily's hands trembling as they held a small, folded piece of paper. He reached for it, but she held it just out of his reach...

"Promise you won't flip out, Chris," she asked. "I wouldn't be able to deal with that. We need to figure out what to do."

"We can't until I know what you're bitching about," he told her, starting to feel the impatience. Lily never usually was nervous with him, nor was she this elusive... usually she was always direct about things she wanted or needed to say.

"Just promise me!"

"I promise nothing, because if you have to ask 'Promise you won't flip out', that means I probably will... so just give me the damn paper."

Lily hesitated and bit her lip, nervously, and let him take the paper from her hands. Chris unfolded it to see a bunch of numbers from what looked to be some sort of medical test. But he was too hungover to comprehend any of it at that time, and looked up, shaking his head, telling her that he didn't understand.

"Chris..." her voice wavered, though Lily was anticipating his reaction. "I found out that I'm, um... pregnant."

Chris bolted straight up into a sitting position from where he lay on Danny's bed, breathing deeply to catch some breath he had lost for some reason. Dreaming of the day Lily had told him that they were going to be parents was kind of freaky, since that was the first time in while since he had thought about that day. Not that he should be surprised, since all these past few days have done was to bring up old memories, and guilt, forcing him to think about what he did wrong and how things should have been.

"Shit. Why me?" he mused and rubbed his head. Checking over at the other bed, he saw that Kady was gone and figured she was probably with Danny, so he stood up and went to the door.

He walked into the kitchen a minute later, where Kady was sitting alone at the table, flipping through what looked to be one of Danny's freaky magazine's. Chris walked in behind her, so she didn't notice him and continued with her own business, using any means necessary to block out any thoughts of Lily. Chris stared at the back of her head, thinking... this point of his life was probably the most difficult, more than anything. Lily had been right that day she told him. After she revealed the pregnancy, the first thing she said was that their lives wouldn't be the same.

"Hey," he softly spoke up, getting Kady's attention without scaring her.

"Hi," she replied, just as soft.

Chris joined her at the table, sliding into the seat across from her – for a moment he thought about sitting next to her but wisely decided to give her the space she always craved.

"How long you been up?"

"Not long. 'Bout fifteen minutes."

"Where's Danny?"

"Dunno. Probably playing his computer games or something," Kady guessed and turned the page of the magazine, not looking at him. It was hard enough to deal with the idea that her mother could die without being reminded of who she'd have to go with if it happened. "When he gets in his gaming zone, there's no reaching him."

"I see..." Chris smiled, but felt like he was walking on eggshells with her. "How are you feeling? Any better?"

"Nope. Less tired, though."

"Is there ever a time when you're not a smart ass?"

"Yes. When I'm sleeping."

"Uh huh..." it was not like they would be able to get a good conversation going, and although Chris had got some information of Kady's life from Danny, he wanted to get to know her on his own. "Can I ask you something?"

Kady stopped what she was doing and tapped her index finger on the page, contemplating what he could possibly want to ask her. He'd probably ask her anyway, so she shrugged, telling him to proceed but still didn't look at him. Chris shifted in his seat to be more comfortable and chose his words carefully.

"When exactly did you give up?"

That got her attention.

"What?"

"Danny told me... he told me that you started into all this goth stuff after your tenth birthday. He also told me what you used to do when..." Chris stopped when Kady reacted by slamming her hand on the table, infuriated.

"Fuck!" she growled. "I'm gonna kill him..."

"It's not his fault, Kady. He was worried about you..."

"Why was he worried about me?"

"Never mind," Chris wanted to keep Danny's concerns quiet from her, otherwise Kady would just be more pissed and none of them needed that. "But is it true? What you used to do...?"

Kady muttered some curse words under her breath, which Chris couldn't hear, and she nodded, and found the confidence to look at him again. "Yeah, it's true. But when you never came, I figured 'what's the point, anymore? He hates me and doesn't love me. So why should I love him?' and I just stopped. The goth thing is something I 'fell' into, it's not like I wanted it to happen. I didn't give up on anything. I simply stopped caring, Chris. Just like you had. Anyway... it doesn't matter now."

"It matters to me," her father said. "Come on, Kady. Can we not do this now? I want to know... I need to know. I want to know you, baby... I'm sick and tired of wasting my energy on trying to make you see that. I know you see it, but you don't want to accept it and that's your right. Lily was right, I can't force you to accept me back into your life... so just give me something... please?" Kady remained silent and he slipped into the chair beside her, putting his hand on her arm. Surprisingly, she didn't pull away.

"Please, Kady... give me something. After Lily gets well – and she will get well – if you still want me out of your life, I'll be gone. Forever. But please just give me something, so I can know you... something to take with me, if I have to. That's all I've ever wanted is to know you..."

Her resistance was crumbling to his pleas; what harm could there be done in giving him what he wanted to know? Kady sat back and pondered further. It was getting harder and harder to make the right decisions as things got more convoluted; twisted in a world that was already twisted enough in her mind. Chris' eyes held it all. Sadness. Regret. Pain. Love. Desperation. They both knew this was the first and most likely last chance they would get to know anything about each other. Kady took a deep breath.

"Want something to eat?" she asked.

That was about as tolerant and accepting as Kady would get right now, and so Chris nodded and relaxed a little more. Kady pushed her chair back from the table and got to her feet, and went over to the fridge.

"I swear, how much leftover Chinese can two people have?" she commented, seeing a substantial lack of real food and it confirmed her belief that Jenna and Danny rarely lived off anything but fast food. Not necessarily by choice, but Jenna was always working and only once every week did she get to go out shopping for food, and Danny wasn't that much help in that department.

"My fridge is full of it," Chris told her. "Not home much, so I guess it's no surprise... place needs a good cleaning anyway."

"I thought, Mr. Wrestling Big shot, you would have dozens of lady wrestling friends and fans who'd be throwing themselves at your feet..." Kady sardonically teased, still searching through the old Chinese boxes, making sure that there really was no edible food for consumption.

"Plenty of ladies. Nothing serious though." Chris shrugged.

"Dude, I don't wanna know," Kady shuddered. No matter what, he was still her father and she didn't want any disturbing mental images.

"Fair enough."

"Seriously, though..." Kady said, willing to prod him for information, now. "Haven't you been married? Or had kids? I mean, other than me..."

Chris laughed and shook his head. "No. To be honest, I think I missed my chance a long time ago..."

The implications of those words hung in the air for both to think about, and Kady stopped searching for food, for just a second to absorb the meaning of them. Each time he spoke, he made it more difficult for her to fully, outright hate him... she still trusted him about as far as she could throw him, but she couldn't hate him either.

"After I... left... you and Lily, I don't know... of course, I went out with woman but none of them led anywhere. None of them were the same."

Kady smiled when she saw a plate of leftover turkey and removed it from the fridge and closed the door. She placed it on the counter and grabbed some bread from the bread dispenser, figuring that there wasn't much other clean food left to eat anyway.

"Turkey okay for you?"

"Sure."

"Good cause that's all there is if you don't wanna get food poisoning."

She started making them sandwiches, and thought carefully about asking the next question that surely any child of separated parents would ask at some point or another.

"I was wondering something..."

"What's that?"

Kady stopped what she was doing for a brief moment and leaned against the counter and looked at him.

"Do you still love her?"

"Who?"

"Mom."

Chris wanted to slink out of the room and thought maybe he should start a fight with her just for the hell of it so he could get out of answering that. The one question every parent dreaded – well, every single parent. He wondered how many times Kady asked Lily that same question about him, if ever. Kady smirked; he was visibly struggling to come up with an appropriate answer.

"Chris?"

"Kady, that's the most evil question you could ever ask me..."

"I know. What's even more evil is that I want an answer. Not for emotional purposes, but informative purposes."

He gave her an evil glare and secretly prayed for some way to get out of answering such an awkward question – he couldn't blame her for asking it, but still! Come on, it was evil!

"Kady... that's not fair."

"I don't care either way. I just like watching you squirm. So do you?"

"It's not that simple. Lily and I still have a lot of unfinished business."

"Dude, that's not answering the question."

Chris stood up and approached her. "That ship sailed a long time ago..."

"You're still avoiding the question!"

They stared each other down, seeing who would crack first – again, it was probably the friendliest that it would get, but at least there was lessened tension between them, and took away, for a little bit, the pain of thinking about Lily lying in the middle of that road.

"Lily and I have our stuff to work out. We both moved on a long time ago. And before you say 'that's not answering the question', you're right. But that's the best answer I can give you. Okay?"

Kady gave him a shrug of indifference and resumed working on the sandwiches, and placed the slices of poultry on the bread with delicacy, analyzing Chris' responses. The truth was, she was very interested in knowing if he was still interested in Lily – depending on whether he did or not, it could complicate the situations further. She hoped he wasn't... the last thing she wanted was for her parents to get back together for the fact that it would just be too damn weird.

"Well, whatever," she returned to her state of complete non-caring. "I just don't want things to get weirder than they have to be."

"I don't think you gotta worry about that, okay?" Chris reassured her and jumped up onto the kitchen counter and watched her fix their food. After she finished, she put the two sandwiches on separate plates and held one out to Chris, who readily accepted it, only just feeling the hunger of not eating that day, which was only exacerbated by the stress.

"Speaking of weird," Kady changed the subject and also jumped up on the counter, across from him. "I just woke up, and your cell phone went off."

"Oh yeah?" he replied, biting into the food.

"Yeah, it was your drunken cowboy calling for you."

Chris almost choked on his food at that description, which was actually very accurate of James. He swallowed the turkey and recovered. "What'd he want? Did you take a message or did you give him your usual charming reply?"

"Bite me. And yes, I took a message. He was babbling about something like talking to someone about losing the titles to The Naturals, and that it was all set and you get your return match."

"Good," Chris said, relieved at that news. "I hate losing out to those morons..."

"What is it between you and them? What's the deal?"

"The deal is that Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas are complete idiots, that's what," there was no argument there, but Kady nodded.

"Good enough. Can't argue there. Don't know about Chase Stevens, but Andy Douglas is an ass..."

Chris laughed. "That's my girl."

"Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry!"

They were interrupted by the phone ringing, and they glanced at each other, not knowing if they should answer it. When the phone went into its fifth ring, it was obvious that Danny either couldn't be bothered or couldn't hear the phone.

"HEY FREAK!" Kady called out. "PHONE!"

"Yeah, shut up! I'm getting it!" Danny called back. A couple of seconds later, the ringing stopped and muffled talking could be heard in the next room – he had answered it. Kady turned back to Chris who had already almost finished his sandwich, while she was barely halfway through hers.

"Hungry?" she guessed.

"Hell yeah. I'm a wrestler; starve me of food and you'd be sorry..."

"Good to know." Kady hated the feeling of being comfortable with him; but their personalities were greatly reflective of each other other. All her life she wanted to know her dad, and now she had her chance. "You know something... I, um... I heard what you told me, when you came into Danny's room earlier today. I was kinda dozing off, but I was still awake..."

"I thought it'd be easier to do while you were sleeping," Chris confessed.

"But it wasn't?"

"Far from it."

Then, Danny ran into the room, looking no less than panicked, effectively putting to rest this conversation.

"Guys, that was the hospital!"

Chris jumped off the counter at the same time as his daughter; alarmed because Danny was not looking that happy. But his panic masked the real reason.

"Lily's woken up!"

Twenty minutes later, Chris and the two fourteen-year-olds were in the hospital and on the elevator, on the way to the floor Lily had apparently been taken to, or at least that's where they were told to go find her. As the elevator started to move, Chris turned to Kady who was trembling violently, and immediately reached out to her. Danny watched, completely stunned, as Kady allowed herself, with no resistance at all, to fall back into Chris' arms. Sleep really must've done her good... he thought.

In the past, Kady used to berate her father and say that when she did finally get to meet him, she'd give him hell and make sure that he'd wish he'd never left her and run off. Kady had certainly given Chris a piece of her mind. But now, though it looked like she wasn't completely comfortable with him, things had cooled down between them considerably. She absentmindedly put her arm around Chris' waist for support, and he was taken aback by her apparent ease with this. It still felt strange to him, and to her too, he was sure. But Kady remained strong, and stared straight ahead, and focused on what she would say to Lily. What could she say to her?

Chris felt her shaking against him, and looked down. "What's up?"

"What can I say to her?" Kady asked, her voice wavering and cracking with building up emotion. "She's here because of me..."

"Hey, come on!" Danny punched her arm to get her to snap out of this. "Seriously, she'll just consider this one of those bad days with you. And think about it, it's not like she can throw you out of her room... she'll have to listen to you! Granted, it got a little out of control but she won't hate you."

"But—"

"As twisted as the way Danny put it is," Chris interrupted her. "He's right... in some ways. Dude, you really got issues," he added that last part directed at Danny, and then grabbed Kady's shoulders and turned her around so she would be facing him. "Listen to your twisted friend, God knows you won't listen to me. Kady, your mom loves you. Even after getting slammed by a car, she'll still love you..."

"And think about how psyched she'd be to see you two getting along!" Danny pointed out, in another pathetic attempt to get some confidence back into his best friend. "Shouldn't that count for—OWW! Hey!" he rubbed the back of his head, which Chris had hit in order to get him to shut up.

"Enough talking, Danny," he ordered and kept a hold of Kady. "Kady, look if you don't wanna go in there... I'm sure Lily will understand."

"No, I have to," Kady affirmed, still uncertain. "She's my mom. And she almost died because of me."

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened on the fourth floor, the Intensive Care Unit was to the left, while the Pediatric Oncology wards were to the right. Following the directional signs, Chris led them into the main hall and toward the lit up area of the fourth floor reception which was directly ahead of them. Chris approached the desk and dropped his keys intentionally on top to get the attention of the solitary attending nurse. She looked up.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, hi... we're here to see Lily Myers. Got a call earlier saying she had woken up..."

"Sure, um... are you her husband?"

Kady stifled a laugh and Chris shot her a look that told her to stay quiet for a few seconds. "No," he responded, turning back to the nurse. "I'm her ex boyfriend. This is our daughter, and her friend. Is she allowed visitors?"

"Only family, I'm afraid," the nurse replied. "But... I guess I can make an exception for you, given how late it is... one person at a time though."

"Yeah, I got it."

The nurse typed something into the computer and waited for the response. Ten seconds later, she got what she was looking for. "Ms. Myers... ah yes. She's in room 104. Down the hall there, it's the seventh door on the left."

"Thank you."

Kady's legs were turning to lead with each step, and to make things worse it was as if magnets were attached to the bottoms of her shoes; each step was becoming an extra weight. She let Chris hold onto her, to give her extra support so she could make it. For the first time in years, Kady couldn't take care of herself and was even somewhat relieved to have Chris there. She would've preferred that he not be in their lives at all, but since he was now, at least he was doing as he said he would and stepping up to his responsibilities.

"Want me to go in first?" Chris asked her quietly as they got closer to Lily's room. Kady thought it over.

"Yeah, I guess." She shrugged, not really wanting to see how badly injured her mother was. If Chris went in first, at least he'd be able to warn her.

"Alright. You two sit tight, okay?" Chris told them, leaving them just outside the door.

"I don't think I can do this." Kady whispered to Danny. Danny shook his head.

"I don't blame you. It's not like it's something that happens every day. Problem is, it might become something that happens every day. She could be here a while, Kady, and I know it'd go a lot quicker for both of you if you just sucked it up and went in there." Danny reasoned seriously.

"Quit being so right, freak." Kady smiled a little.

"You and Chris are getting along now... it's... weird. But in a good way." Danny changed the subject quickly.

"Your fault. Why'd you have to tell him about the birthday wishes and shit?" Kady wondered, remembering her earlier conversation with Chris.

"Um... I dunno. It just seemed like the thing to say, at the time." Danny shrugged. Kady punched him lightly in the arm before zoning out.

Meanwhile, Chris had approached Lily's bed slowly. He wasn't sure if she was awake, let alone if she'd remember anything about what had happened. As he looked her over, he noted that her eyes were open but somewhat glassy, like she was miles away in her own world. It was a look he'd seen in Kady's eyes a few times.

"Lil?" He whispered quietly, not wanting to startle her. She came out of whatever daydream she was having and focused on him.

"Hey." She greeted, still sounding a little groggy.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" He wondered, knowing it was a stupid question.

"Like I got hit by a car. Where's Kady?" Lily replied.

"She's waiting outside." Chris told her. Lily averted her eyes to the door, wanting nothing more than to see her little girl there.

"She saw it all, didn't she?" She queried. Chris nodded.

"Yeah. I didn't know it was you until she told me... the crowd was pretty thick." Chris explained.

"Is she okay?"

"About as okay as can be expected. She blames herself, thinks she should've stopped or whatever. I think her and I have had a slight breakthrough, though." Chris smiled, hoping to cheer her up.

"Great. Just think, all it took was me almost dying. Why didn't we think of that sooner?" Lily teased.

"Lil, don't. You're okay... you're gonna be okay. I think Kady's truce with me will probably only last as long as you're in here. Once she has you back, she probably won't want to know me again." Chris figured.

"I want to see her." Lily requested, once again looking towards the door as best she could. Chris nodded and headed back to the door calmly. Once he was outside, he looked down at his daughter.

"She's asking for you. She looks pretty banged up but, she's alert." He told her.

Kady sucked in a deep breath and let it out before nodding resolutely and heading through the door. Stepping over the threshold and into the room, it was a lot warmer than outside… the humming and beeping of the machines surrounding the bed were of, strangely, comfort. Kady inched her way forward and finally got up the courage to look at her mother, and what she saw made her almost throw up. So many tubes were connected to her, bandages covering everywhere… Lily was taped up pretty damn good. Kady had never seen her so vulnerable.


A/N: Poor Kady. How is she gonna deal with this? Can there finally be peace amongst the three of them? Tune in tomorrow for the next fantastic episode of… oops. I know, I know. Phoenix and I are being horrible to Chris, Kady, and Lily, right? The torture and all that stuff… but y'all are entertained, admit it. Please deposit a review!