Some people live their dream,
Some people close their eyes,
Some people's destiny,
Passes by.

Thre are no guarantees,
There are no alibis,
That's how our love must be,
Don't ask why.

It takes some time,
God knows how long,
I know that I can forget you,
As soon as my heart stops breaking,
Anticipating...
As soon as forever is through,
I'll be over you.

Remembering times gone by,
Promises we once made,
What are the reasons why,
Nothing stays the same.

There were the nights holding you close,
Someday I'll try to forget them,
As soon as my heart stops breaking,
Anticipating...
As soon as forever is through,
I'll be over you.

I'll Be Over You by Toto

He sits in the home they bought together nine years ago, the house that they were supposed to grow old together in. Back when life was fun to live. But all too soon life hands you situations that you really don't want to face. He loosens the tie around his neck drops his head into his hands and quietly weeps...

Flashback...

The realtor had shown them the home in Lower Pacific Heights and other than the house where the show Full House was used as the home the family lived in on the TV show at 1709 Broderick street, there was not much they liked about the house that sat down the block from the TV show house. His wife had an obsession with living close to this house, why, he could never understand.

But the Full House house had been turned into a tourist attraction since the show ended. There were comings and goings all hours of the day and night so they decided to look elsewhere due to the constant noise and fans trying to see the house.

So he and Emily decided to look in another part of San Francisco. It didn't take the realtor long to show them a home in Pacific Heights.

2546 Jackson Street in Pacific Heights a suburb of San Francisco was everything they could ever dream of owning. It had one bedroom on the ground floor and two bedrooms on the second floor. There is a very narrow driveway for them to park the only car they owned and it was big enough for their new coming addition to the family. Plus, there was a park across the street that would give their new baby a place to play once she got older.

Together they had big plans for their daughter when she came into the world they wanted to give her everything they never had. What they wanted to do was spoil her. Things were looking up for them on the career front. Emily had landed a new job in the financial district which wasn't far from their new home. Rick who had trained with the best chefs in Spain, France, and Italy was snatched up by a new restaurant in the heart of waterfront. The restaurant he works at now is called Gary Danko's. He had been putting himself out there to local restaurants in the area and was getting nowhere until one day Gary who was the owner of Gary Danko's was having lunch with another restaurant owner who Rick had interviewed with. While they were talking Paul, the owner of Seven Hills restaurant had told him about a chef who he interviewed as a second line chef for his place. Gary was intrigued, to say the least. It just so happens that his head chef had decided that the grass was greener at another restaurant and just quit with only one week's notice. Gary was in desperate need of a new head chef. So, since Paul had interviewed this chef as a second line chef Gary asked if he could interview him himself for the vacancy he needed to fill. Paul who had no claim on Rick to work for him gave him Rick's number. This is how they became best friends.

Rick had interviewed with Gary and he liked the kitchen set up he did not need to change that much to make it better to his liking. They had decided that a percentage of the profits would be his pay while he was there. Rick created just about everything there was to create. If he could buy food at the market he made something of it. His specialty was glazed oysters and risotto. He gravitated more towards seafood because there was so much more a person could do with fresh fish than meat.

Nine years have passed since they purchase their house and Rick has been working for Gary. Emily had a baby girl who they named Alexis shortly after they moved in. She was a very precocious little girl. She did listen to her parents but when they weren't looking she tried to figure out everything on her own. She took her first steps before she was 9 months old, cut her first tooth at 7 months, and said her first word at a year old. She was their world, everything revolved around her.

Then the unthinkable happened. Rick was working late one night and had just about finished with the dinner rush when he got a call from his wife saying that she was going to be late getting home that night and that she would pick up Alexis from aftercare later than usual. He insisted that instead of her going to pick up Alexis he would take time off from the bistro and go get her himself. She had told him that he still had to finish up his last seating for the night and that it wouldn't be that much of a problem for her to pick up Alexis. So, he agreed. Hanging up the phone, it would be the last time he ever talked to his wife.

Emily finished up the last of her paperwork shut down her computer and locked up her office and headed out to aftercare to pick up Alexis it was almost 6 pm by the time she arrived. Since they lived close to the care center it was a quick walk back home. The staff had waited patiently for her to get there since Alexis was the last one to be picked up. Emily walked across the street to the care center and explained that she was sorry for getting there so late. The staff waved her off saying that it was okay and they understood that people have hectic lives at times.

Making sure that they had everything Emily and Alexis walked out of the center and started talking about her day at school. She told her mom that the teacher gave them a new book to read, but Alexis loved to read and told her mom that she read that book months ago.

San Francisco is known for its steep hills and winding streets. When Emily and Alexis stopped at the curb to cross the street, it was clear of cars traveling in either direction. As Emily looked down at Alexis while she was describing what her friend was going to do when she went away for the weekend, Emily became distracted and never saw the newly licensed driver having trouble negotiating the hill she was driving down. The car picked up more speed than the new driver could handle and by the time Emily realized that they were in danger, the car was just about on top of them. So close that Emily could see the terrified look on the drivers face. She needed to act quickly and Emily, who knew that her daughter meant more than her own life, picked her up under her armpits and threw her across to the opposite sidewalk from where she was in the middle of the street.

Alexis would never know the sacrifice that her mother made for her. She landed on the hood of a parked car and rolled off it and onto the sidewalk bruising her hip and shoulder and hitting her head on the sidewalk. By the time she got up from where she landed, she could hear the driver of the car screaming and crying at the scene laid out before her.

The driver never left the scene after she hit the woman walking across the street with the little girl. The SFPD and an ambulance responded, but by the time the ambulance left, it left without sounding its siren or the flashing of its lights. A bad sign.

Rick was just finishing up serving the last patron and was cleaning up the remnants of his mess in the kitchen when he saw Gary walking through the double doors that led to the kitchen. He smiled up at him and wondered why he was back here in the first place since he never enters the kitchen while he is working it never happened. But then when he notices the SFPD uniformed officer and a plainclothes cop right behind him waiting at the door.

"Gary? What's happening here?" Rick asked as his eyes darted between his boss and the cops.

"Rick there has been an event."

"What kind of event Gary? You better tell me before I tear you apart!" Rick started to move towards Gary with his face turning blood red but stopped when he noticed Alexis in the arms of the aftercare worker behind the plainclothes cop. The uniformed cop pulled his notepad from his shirt pocket and started to speak.

"Mr. Rodgers at 6:20 pm this evening a driver lost control of her vehicle due to a mechanical failure while traveling down the 2700 block of Pacific Avenue. Your wife Emily made the ultimate sacrifice by giving her life to save your daughter's life. From a running motion, she picked up and threw your daughter onto the hood of a parked car. She then took the brunt of the hit from the out of control car. That impact sent her forward into the rear window of another parked car. Mr. Rodgers your wife felt no pain. I am so sorry."

Rick's eyes started to water up and his throat constricted beyond his control. Soon after hearing the news, the aftercare worker, Rose, he thinks her name was, gave him Alexis. That's when he hugged her within an inch of her life and the tears just fell and fell. They both cried for what seemed to be hours. When Gary came closer to them he placed a comforting hand on Rick's shoulder and said,

"Rick, take all the time you need. I can get Manny to cover your spot while you sort things out."

Rick just walked blindly out of the kitchen, through the dining room and out to his car. He never remembered belting in Alexis or in reality, driving home that evening.

Present day...

He sits there in the living room still in his black suit wondering what he will do next. The funeral this morning was heartbreaking for the both of them because they never wanted to say goodbye. Alexis even as young as she was, was the one to place two red roses on her coffin because Rick could not be the one to say the word goodbye to his wife and the love of his life. San Francisco was a place where he wanted to start his life then, but now sadly he lost the one person who he wanted to do that with. Maybe a change is what he needed now…

A/N: Since addressing guest reviews worked so well for Beached I will do the same with the guests who I can not talk to directly about this story as well.

Guest #1: My wife (who is a big source of information for this story) works on the mother-baby unit in our local hospital. She, like your friend, has seen a change in the way we view what a nurse really does. She is a charge nurse in charge of the floor and the nurses and it has become a business rather than taking care of patients.

Guest #2: Thank you! :)

Guest #3: You are so right. And on top of all that paperwork, my wife is on a committee that is giving the hospital she works at their thoughts and input for the new hospital that they are planning to build by 2023. Talk about hair pulling.