I am posting chapters 12 and 13 at the same time, so if you haven't already, you can go back and read chapter 12 so you're not missing anything. :-)

"Eric?" Angela shook his arm and again called out to him. "Eric, wake up." When he finally woke and looked at her she could see he had been crying in his sleep and the only word to describe the look in his eyes was despair. "Are you okay?"

"You're real," he stated in a hushed whisper.

"What are you talking about?"

He brushed his fingertips across her face, down her neck, along her arms and sides...wherever he could reach. "You're here."

"Of course I'm here. Where else would I be?"

"Where's Georgia?"

She covered his hands with her own, halting his frantic search through the sheets. "She's in her crib, remember? You sang her to sleep and put her there so we wouldn't risk waking her by having her with us." He didn't seem to be listening and instead vacated their bed. He tripped over the sheets on his way to the crib. Angela remained seated, still trying to wake up fully and figure out what was going on. She watched as Eric briefly covered his face with his hands before leaning over the baby's bed. "Be careful, don't wake-" But it was too late. He had their daughter in his arms and was headed for the glider. Angela heard her whimpers from across the room.

"Shh, it's okay, Georgia," Eric soothed. "It's okay. Daddy's got you." She nestled into his chest and he kissed her head. "Yeah, daddy's got you."

"Are you all right?" Angela received no response and switched on the night light before taking a seat on the ottoman. Georgia seemed to be back to sleep already, which was a relief. "Hey, talk to me." He remained focused on the baby. "Eric-"

"I don't want to leave her all alone."

"She's not alone. We're here."

"But what happens if we're not? What if we can't be?" His voice cracked as he asked the question. "What will she do? Who will take care of her?"

"What did you dream about?" He shook his head and tried to avoid her gaze. She didn't know if he was embarrassed to be crying or if it was something else. Angela took his face in her hands and made him look at her. "Eric, please? I want to help you the same way you've always helped me." Seeing him so upset made her want to cry, but she took a deep breath and focused her energy on helping him. "Georgia was alone?"

"I-I was with her….at first."

"Where was I?"

"Gone. You were just….just gone. You didn't leave us or walk away from our family," he quickly added in an effort to reassure her, "but you were still gone; the big, forever, kind of gone."

"And then what happened?"

"I was gone."

"How?"

"I don't remember."

She wasn't sure she believed that, but it was a minute detail. "And then she was alone?"

"She was crying for us- screaming really, but we weren't there for her. Nobody was." He rested his head against the back of the chair. "I can still hear the screams. It seemed so real."

It hurt her heart to imagine her baby crying with no one to help. "I know this was brought on because you're worried about Mr. Feeny, but-"

"It's not just Feeny! It's your dad's cancer, my mom's car accident a few years ago, the stuff I see every night working on the news- all of it. Life is so fragile. What if you inherited your dad's cancer genes? Or what if I have mom's…well, there's no car accident gene but what if I get whatever put Nana Boo Boo in a wheelchair? Or my dad's got to watch his cholesterol now even though he eats right and takes care of himself. He's got to be on medication for it. The doctor said that can run in families. What if I got it from him and then Georgia gets it from me and-"

"Stop it," she exclaimed, momentarily forgetting their daughter was right there. "Just stop it."

"Angela-"

"No, I'm not going to sit here and listen to you plot the rest of our lives around the off chance that something bad could happen. I won't raise Georgia like that either. Living in fear is no way to live. I refuse to let you do that to her…to us."

Eric got up and carefully deposited the baby back into her crib. When he returned to the chair he sat down again and pulled Angela into his lap. "I'm sorry," he whispered, holding her close. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. "I don't know how to make you feel better. I can't say we're not going to die. In fact that's one of the few guarantees about life: it ends. You just have to hope you leave the world a little better than how it was when you got here."

"That's it?"

"That's all I've got right now."

"I guess it would help if we had a plan in place. We don't have wills. Hell, we haven't even picked out guardians for Georgia yet. We keep putting it off because it's too depressing."

"Well, I-"

"We don't have to do it right this second, but soon. I want to do it soon."

"That would be the grown up way to handle things." She was already dreading the conversation.

"I don't know what we do until then. Encase each other in bubble wrap? Barricade ourselves in the house? Actually, that one doesn't sound too bad. I like it best when it's just us, so-"

Angela put a finger to his lips. "I suppose we will just have to do our best to live responsibly and do everything in our power to be around for Georgia and each other for as long as we can. And we will never let a day go by without saying I love you. Even on our worst days we'll try to remember that and focus on what's important."

He brushed away the wayward strands of hair that had escaped her scarf and kissed her gently. "I love you."

"I love you, too. I'm sorry I couldn't make you feel better."

"You're here. That's what matters."

"And I plan to be for a very long time. I'm not going anywhere." Angela settled into his embrace and held his arms more tightly around her. "Life is a crapshoot and we can only control like two percent of it. Despite those odds I'm betting on my life with you because I can't imagine it without you."

"Damn," he whispered before he placed a kiss just below her ear. "You just had to go and say the perfect thing didn't you? There's no way I could ever top that." For several long moments Eric stared at her, admiring how beautiful she looked, even illuminated by the amber glow of the night light. This wasn't how he had envisioned it. There was supposed to be a fancy dinner, nice clothes, music, and a million other tiny details that- he suddenly realized- meant absolutely nothing. She had just vowed to stay by his side for the rest of her life without all that other stuff. What was he waiting for?

On instinct he reached for his pocket but remembered that he didn't have the ring on him. It was still hidden in a closet in the basement. He was at least going to have the ring. Eric figured he was bungling this in every other way, but by god he was going to have the ring when he asked. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you-" He was on his feet and out of the room before Angela could finish her question. She was tempted to follow but movement from the crib caught her attention and she went to investigate. She was relieved to find Georgia still sleeping. Still, since it was clear she wouldn't be going back to bed anytime soon, Angela decided to move to the balcony. This way she and Eric could continue whatever he wanted to discuss without waking the baby. She grabbed a blanket on her way outside and left the door ajar.

"What are you, some kind of mind reader?"

She jumped, not having heard him. "What?"

"I was just going to bring you out here."

"Really? Why?"

"This balcony is your favorite place in the world. You've called it your sanctuary many times. I at least wanted to get one thing right."

"Come here." Angela patted the space next to her on the chaise. When he lay beside her she draped the blanket across them both before curling into him, resting her head over his heart. "For the record, this is my favorite place in the world- my sanctuary. I know I'm always safe here with you. So, yeah, the balcony's nice, but it's a distant second."

"Could you stop saying the right things for a minute," he pleaded with a chuckle. "I'm not going to be able to compete."

"What do you mean?"

"I shouldn't be surprised it's happening this way. I wanted it to be big and romantic; dinner, maybe music or dancing. I'd wear a suit- maybe my tux, and you'd be all dressed up, looking so amazing I'd forget my own name. Not that you don't look gorgeous now." He ran a finger down her neck and dipped below the collar of her shirt. "You know how hot it is when you wear my stuff."

"I like wearing your clothes. They smell like you and make me feel like you're right here with me. Today was a nightmare. I needed that security."

He kissed her before continuing. "I must've thought up a million different possibilities, but nothing seemed good enough. Nothing was special enough for you."

"I don't understand."

"Do you remember when you first moved back to town and we saw each other again?"

Angela smiled at the memory. She had barely checked into her hotel when Eric showed up and declared himself her welcoming committee. "I remember. We went from being barely friends to so much more in the blink of an eye. That seems like another lifetime ago. We've been through so much since then."

"When I knocked on your door I never imagined that we'd end up here. Hell, even when we first slept together this wasn't on my radar."

"Mine either. We were two lonely people craving a real connection with someone. We had both been hurt so badly we needed the right person to help us heal. What was it you said to me once? 'Whether it was fate, chance, or just plain luck we found each other when we needed someone the most.'"

"I said that? Wow, that's pretty smart."

"You have your moments," she said playfully, running her hand through his hair.

"Any regrets?"

"About us? Absolutely not."

"Me either. Even though things moved fast, it never felt like we rushed into anything. It felt right, like this is how we were meant to do this. We were supposed to take this crazy, backwards roller coaster ride. Changing anything would mean changing us. And I like…no, I love us. I love you. I love the way you make me feel and the person I am when I'm with you. From the moment we decided we wanted to be together you've been with me and there for me every step of the way, a true partner." He clung tightly to her hand. "I just hope I've done the same for you."

It was beginning to dawn on her what was going on and her heart beat a little quicker. "You have. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, you and Georgia."

"I didn't forget about Georgia," he clarified. He kicked himself for not writing out what he wanted to say. Now he was rambling and making it up as he went. He should've written something down and rehearsed. "I wanted this to only be about us so you wouldn't have any doubts about why I'm…I love Georgia and I love watching you with her. To be honest sometimes I get a little jealous of how bonded she is to you because I want that with her, too, but I love seeing it. You are an amazing mom and she is the luckiest baby in the world to have you. On our crazy roller coaster ride she is the ultimate loop-the-loop and I can't imagine our lives without her. Even if I do wish she'd learn to love sleep a little bit more."

"Sleep would be nice."

"I feel lucky that I get to wake up with you and come home to you and sit here in the middle of the night and talk to you. I'm just so thankful for you. After Hollie part of me worried that that was it, my chance for a family, a home, someone to share my life with- I thought all that was over because I put my faith in the wrong person. And then you moved back to town and now…"

"And now here we are," she finished, smiling up at him.

"Yeah, here we are."

"Yeah."

Eric took a deep breath before continuing. "You're not stupid, so I'm sure you probably put two and three together by now and figured out why I'm rambling like some lovesick fool. And if you're not ready, that's okay. I'll wait. One step at a time, just like we said, I don't want to do anything to make you-"

Angela cut him off with a kiss. She hated the sudden apprehension in his voice and wanted to offer reassurance. When she broke away she made sure to look directly into his eyes. "You're not the only one who feels lucky. I was so alone for so long I feared I would always be that way. I worried I had committed some cosmic sin and was sentenced to a life of solitude. You changed that. You love me for me, flaws and all. You gave me someone to love-a family, things I never felt worthy of. I'm so grateful to you and for you and I'm ready for whatever lay ahead of us."

Despite her loving words Eric's hand was shaking slightly as he reached for the ring box in his pocket. Did he get down on one knee or stay cocooned in a blanket the woman he loved? While the image of the guy on one knee appealed to the traditionalist in him, nothing about their relationship has been traditional thus far. Why start now? "It's like you said," he started slowly as he brought the box into view, "life is a crapshoot and the odds aren't always that great, but I'm betting on us, too, because I can't imagine living any other way. Angela, will you marry me?"

Though she had been expecting the question it was still surreal to hear the words out loud. She used to fear those words. Now she wanted to dive right in, headfirst, and embrace them. It was how she and Eric did everything. "Yes," she whispered as she stared at him through teary eyes. "Yes, I will." She cradled his cheek in her hand and crushed her mouth against his. "I love you," she said when they finally broke apart several breathless moments later.

He wiped the tears from her eyes. "I love you, too." He moved to kiss her again when he remembered the object in his hand. "So did you want what's in this box or can I just…." He trailed off, a playful smile on his face.

She laughed. Of course she would forget about the ring. Her breath hitched when he opened the box and revealed its contents. The swirl of rubies and diamonds was unlike anything she had ever seen before. "Oh, Eric…."

"If you think trying to come up with the perfect proposal was tricky, you should've seen me trying to find the perfect ring."

"Really?"

"I spent months trying to find just the right one, but again, nothing was good enough."

"Months, huh?"

"Months."

"I hate that you drove yourself crazy for so long. I would've been happy with whatever you picked out."

He leaned down and kissed her gently. "You're worth the crazy." Eric took the ring out of the box and held it up. "May I?" Angela nodded and held her hand out to him. "Do you want to know the story behind this," he asked as he slid it on her finger. His sigh of relief was audible when he saw it was a perfect fit.

"There's a story?" Angela found herself unable to take her eyes off of her hand.

"Feeny's great-grandfather made it for his great-grandmother. It's been in his family for over one hundred years."

"Then how did you get it? Isn't this the kind of piece that should stay in his family?"

"He said he was giving it to family." Eric briefly told her what Mr. Feeny said about the ring when he picked up the desk a few weeks ago. "He knew I was looking for the perfect ring and wanted me to give this to you. It was all his idea."

"I will have to thank him when I get to see him again." She kissed him again before resting her head on his chest. "I can't get over how beautiful this is. I've never seen anything quite like it."

"It is the second most beautiful thing out here."

"What's the first- you?"

"Okay, the ring is the third most beautiful thing out here."

"That's very cheesy, sweet, but cheesy."

"Hey, we just got engaged. The situation is made for sweet and cheesy."

"Engaged?"

"I believe that is the technical term for this. Why?"

Angela shook her head and once again stared at her ring. "Nothing, it's just if you would've told me a few years ago that I'd be here and I'd have all this, albeit in backwards order….let's just say sometimes I still worry I'm going to wake up and discover it's all been a dream and you'll disappear or turn into a frog. Hey!" She rubbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

"Now you know this is real."

"You're supposed to pinch yourself." She sat up. "Didn't you ever learn the rules?"

"You were pinched and I didn't disappear. That's the important part."

She ran her hands along his jaw. "True, you are still here.

Eric kissed her fingertips. "And I always plan to be." He lay beside her and held her close. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"What do you say we go inside, fire up the Jacuzzi, and-" Anything else he was going to say was lost to Georgia's cries. "Dammit," he muttered, pressing his forehead against hers'.

"I know. Rain check?"

He nodded and kissed Angela one last time before reluctantly letting her go so they could tend to their daughter. "I think I just figured out why most people propose first and have the baby later."