Couple weeks later

November 22nd 2022

Taylor was at work when her co worker Sue came to her room as she was setting up for her next patient.

"There's someone on the phone for you, it sounds urgent."

"Who?" Taylor dropped everything to follow her.

"An officer Eddie? I take it as it's someone who works with Joe." She said.

"It's his aunt." Her heart was pounding the whole walk to the front desk phone. She didn't know what this was about but she didn't have a good feeling.

"Hello?" She said with a dry mouth upon answering.

"Hey, it's Eddie. Don't freak out, he's fine but there was a shooting..."

"Oh my god." She was having deja vu, this phone call, these words. It happened just like this a few months ago. Except they were just friends then.

"Like I said he's fine, but his stubborn butt didn't want me to call you until after work." Eddie told her.

"Smack him for me please. I can talk to my boss and I'll try and be there as soon as I can." She said, she was still scared but a wave of relief came over her just hearing how calm Eddie was about the situation.

"Are you okay to drive? I can come get you?" Eddie offered.

"No no. I'm fine." She assured.

"Good. Like I said he's okay. But if I was you I'd be mad no one told me."

"Well yeah! Why are men so stubborn?"

"It's a Reagan thing." Eddie joked and they hung up.

"Joes in the hospital again. I have to go." She told Sue before heading off to her bosses office.

He of course let her leave immediately and they'd cover her column for the rest of the day. She wasn't nervous in her mind but her body said otherwise, she was shaking but she couldn't control it.

—

When she got there Eddie was waiting outside for her, she gave her a hug and followed her up to where he was.

"Did you tell him you called me?" Taylor wondered.

"I did. He was glad but wouldn't admit it of course."

"Huh I'm gonna kill him myself. Why does he think he's so superior? Is Jamie like that?"

"Ha, like I said, it's a Reagan thing sis." Eddie nudged playfully at her as they took the elevator up 2 stories.

"Well it better not rub off on me, spending all this time around all you." She said with a laugh.

"Why do you think I hyphenated my last name?" She joked.

"Ha, Good to know." Taylor said as they got off the elevator. The walked past a couple rooms before reaching the one Joe was in.

The family was outside the room waiting to see her, she gave them each a hug and thanked them for coming and waiting for her. She was overwhelmed with the feeling of support from each one. Joe was so lucky to have a big family who cared so much for him. She wanted to be apart of them too.

She excused herself from them all to go see him. He had his left bicep wrapped in bandages and his right hand was wrapped up.

"Hey beautiful." Joe said buttering her up.

"Smooth. What happened?" She wondered looking at his battle wounds.

"Well I got shot at, and then fell down some stairs, broke a few fingers, and yeah, here I am now. Looking at my smoking hot girlfriend in my favorite outfit." He said admiring the scrubs she hadn't changed out of. She leaned in to kiss him before speaking again.

"You should've called me sooner, instead I heard about how you told everyone not to." She said crossing her arms.

"Taylor it isn't a big deal, I knew you were at work, I didn't want you to worry and mess up your day. So I told them to wait, but they didn't anyway."

"You come before my job no matter what! I know that might not be the case for you but it is for me." She explained.

"Shit like this happens a lot and-"

"No really? It was only 4 months ago we were sitting here for the same reason." She reminded.

"Exactly. But my point is, if you wanna be with me it's something your gonna have to accept or this isn't-"

"I've accepted it. I accepted it the day we became exclusive, hell I accepted it the second I learned you were a cop." She cut him off and told him straight.

"I know." He said laying his head back looking up at the ceiling. She held his hand that wasn't broken.

"Babe listen, I can handle your job, and this risk but would you at least quit acting superior? You need to call me when this stuff happens or it's going to ruin the trust we have. It's going to make me worry even more. I'm gonna constantly wonder if you're laid up in a hospital bed somewhere and I don't know it cause your stubborn ass won't call me!" She argued.

"You're right. I'm sorry, I won't do it again."

"Good. But can you also just maybe try a little harder to not get shot too?" She said trying not to laugh, it made him smile though at the humor she brought to the situation.

"I'm always careful." He squeezed her hand.

"Good." She kissed his cheek and then pulled up a seat, she could finally relax.

——

The next morning Joe was able to leave the hospital, Taylor had told her work what was going on and they were nice enough to let her take all the time off she needed to care for Joe. He tried to tell her he didn't need help but she insisted. He could only use his one hand, I mean how was he supposed to do anything?

"You know I was thinking about it and you better not like break your leg when it comes time for our wedding day." Taylor said on the drive home.

"Well you just jinxed that baby." He laughed out loud.

"No! Knock on wood!" She panicked with laughter along with him.

"Too late for that." He shrugged.

"Whatever, that's a long way off anyway."

"How long?" He looked at her.

"I don't know, we're not even engaged so…"

"Okay well hypothetically, how long would you wanna wait?"

"I don't know, no more then a year. But I also think it depends on what time of year it is and where we're living."

"Where we're living? What's wrong with your place?"

"Nothing, I just don't think I wanna raise kids in an apartment building, I grew up in a townhouse but we still had a yard."

"That's true. But don't you think we should see what happens with kids before we up and move somewhere else?" He questioned.

"You don't think we're gonna have babies do you?" She asked with a disappointment in her voice, she needed Joe to be positive for her. She already knew the reality.

"That's not what I meant, I just mean, if it happens then we'll talk moving but for now I think we're good at where we're at."

"Well just so you know, I think it would be proactive to start trying as soon as we're married."

"Holy crap." Joe was a little stressed thinking about that.

"What? If it doesn't happen for months or at all we can't waste time!" She said and looked at Joes face he looked scared.

"I freaked you out didn't I…damn it." She was mad at herself.

"No I'm not freaked, I just didn't expect you to say all that."

"You know I want kids…what did you expect?" She wondered.

"I'm not sure. But I guess I'm glad to know if I proposed to you tomorrow you'd say yes." He laughed.

"Just don't do it on Christmas Day." She said.

"Okay…?"

"That was my parents engagement day." She said.

"Gotchya. Any other off limit dates?" He wondered.

"January 6th, Valentines, March 18th, May 13th and 17th, July 16th, September 11th, and November 5th." She rambled.

"I'm gonna have to write those down." He said laughing.

——

I smell a proposal happening very soon! I also think this was a big chapter for both of them. Taylor faced with the reality of her future and Joe faced with what she wants her future to look like. Leave your thoughts.