"Happy New Year, Daddy!" Lily said, breaking free of Marlowe's hand and running into Carlton's hospital room. He was sitting on the big blue chair, waiting for them to join him for New Years.

Marlowe lifted Lily onto her dad's lap before kissing her husband. "How are you doing, baby?" she asked softly into his ear.

"I'm better now that you're here."

Marlowe sat on the hospital bed next to them and watched Lily place Carlton's paralyzed hand carefully over her shoulder.

"They're talking about moving me to a skilled nursing facility for long term care," Carlton said, reaching his strong hand out from Marlowe to take in her own. She held it tightly with both hands gently rubbing the back of his hand with her thumbs. "They said that I've just about completed therapy here and that would be the next step."

"What about coming home?" Marlowe asked, carefully, afraid to make him feel bad for not being with them but wanting him home so badly she couldn't keep it to herself anymore. "We miss you so much, Carlton."

"I just…" his voice stopped and he looked away for a moment before looking back at Marlowe, making her feel bad for bringing it up in the first place.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, pulling his hand closer to her heart. "You'll come home when you're ready. No rush. I just want you to focus on getting better. We're okay."

"I'm sorry," he responded, softly.

"It's okay, baby. You're doing everything you can to come home to us. I know you are. I am so proud of you. Every day I am so impressed with how far you've come."

They chatted softly as Lily's breath became softer on Carlton's chest. They filled the dim room with quiet stories of when they were younger and memories of their first year together. It was hard to believe that it had been almost six years since their wedding- eight since they met. Marlowe couldn't believe it had already been that long. But on the other hand, sitting there with Carlton, Lily asleep on his lap, whispering stories and laughing, it was hard to believe there was ever a time when he wasn't in her life. She couldn't even remember what that was like, nor did she even want to try.

"This year is going to be a good year," Marlowe promised Carlton, standing up to kiss him when the glowing ball fell down the screen of the tablet they were watching Time Square live on. It was only nine o'clock, but Lily was already asleep, and Marlowe figured she would need to get her daughter to her own bed soon if she wanted any hope of making it through the next day in one piece.

"Yes it is," Carlton promised, kissing her back. "Yes it is."


"Happy New Year!" Selene said, bursting through the door, her hands immediately going for Juliet's belly.

Juliet rolled her eyes towards Shawn who had his arm around Gus and was closing the door with his other hand. Juliet didn't mind physical contact. She had always been a very physical person. But one thing that she noticed when she was pregnant was that people seemed to just touch her stomach, without thinking much of it. Like it wasn't even a part of her body. Especially Selene.

"Happy New Year to you too!" Juliet responded, holding an arm out for a hug to distract Selene for a minute. Not that she necessarily minded. People wanting to feel the baby kick meant that there was still a baby in there to feel. While the constant pang of worry still sat in her chest, with each passing week she was able to hide it more and more with hopes of the baby floating around inside her. She was just two weeks away from the third trimester- the home stretch. Getting to hold her baby.

"Come in! Come in!" Shawn said, leading the couple into the kitchen where takeout boxes of jerk chicken and some oily fries that the boys liked sat next to bottles of champagne. Juliet's container of plain veggies and chicken sat on the side because while the small bouts of nausea were mostly under control, most of Shawn and Gus' favorite foods made her feel a little sick on a good day.

The couples loaded up their plates and moved to the dining room, talking and laughing loudly over the television playing footage of the ball dropping in Time Square. Shawn and Gus regaled them with stories from their childhood, telling them about the time they had dug a hole through Henry's sprinkler system looking for oil or tried to practice driving in Henry's truck more than once.

Juliet smiled, pleased that they could all be together to start the new year and excited for what was to come. She was ready to leave the old year behind her. This year would be good. They would have their baby. Lassiter would recover and come home. Everything was going to be perfect.

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" they all shouted later that night, watching the rerun of the ball dropping. "Happy New Year!" Juliet leaned over as Shawn grabbed her face, kissing her with everything he had before bending over and kissing her stomach. "Happy New Year, baby."

Juliet smiled and rubbed his head, to which he quickly looked in the mirror to fix his hair. It's going to be a good year.


"Happy New Year!"

Shawn reached over and grabbed Juliet's face tightly, planting a kiss firmly on her lips before bending over to kiss her belly. "Happy New Year, baby." He said. I can't wait to meet you.

He felt Juliet's fingers mess up his hair and he quickly stood up to realign his perfectly gelled hair. From behind him in the mirror, he could see his wife shake her head at him through a smile, waiting for him to return to her.

He turned around dramatically, shaking his head at Gus and Selene as they did… whatever it was that they considered kissing. He was about to return to Juliet's arms when they heard a knock at the door.

"Were you expecting anyone else?" Juliet asked, eyeing him curiously.

"No," Shawn said, jogging down the stairs to the front landing and opening the door. "Dad?" he asked when he revealed his father, pacing in front of the front door, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

"Are you selling trips to Hawaii? Because I don't think knocking door to door at midnight is the best business model."

"Would you shut up for like two seconds?" Henry asked, grabbing Shawn by the arm and pulling him out of the house.

"Really Dad?" Shawn said, reluctantly letting his dad maneuver him onto the front steps. They were sitting on the step, Shawn crossing his arms, watching his dad attempt to begin fifteen different sentences before stopping again.

"Dad, what is it?" Shawn was starting to get worried. His dad was rarely at a loss for words, especially not when it came to Shawn. "Are you dying?"

"No, I'm not dying, Shawn. Stop being a smart ass."

"Okay. I'm done here," Shawn said, attempting to stand up but his dad grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"Sit down," Henry said, sighing before finally speaking again. "I came to… Well, the thing is… Shawn, I… I wanted to tell you…"

"What Dad?" Shawn asked, getting more annoyed by the second.

"I wanted to clear the air. Start the new year off right."

Shawn stopped and cocked his head at his father. "You do?"

"From what I said at Thanksgiving. You're going to make a great father. Even if it takes you a little while to get here"

"Yeah, because I've had such great role models."

"You know what, kid? You try being the only involved parent for a little idiot who spent every day trying to get himself and someone else's kid killed. It's not a walk in the park."

"Oh yeah," Shawn scoffed, crossing his arms. "You were a father of the year compared to Mom. Definitely."

"Shawn," Henry said, throwing his hands up in exasperation, "Your mother was not ready for you. Neither of us were. And she did an amazing job with you and she loves you more than anything, but it wasn't easy for her. She did the best she could until she couldn't anymore, and I did too."

"That's such a load of crap!" Shawn jumped up, slamming his fist onto the side rails of the walkway.

"Shawn, will you please sit down and let me talk to you?" Shawn could feel his father's lame attempt at being patient with him, but he wasn't interested, not anymore. Not tonight.

"Is this your lame-ass attempt at an apology? Because it sucks."

"You know what, Shawn?" Henry said, finally jumping up to his feet. "I don't know why I even bothered coming over here. You were a stubborn kid then and you're a stubborn man child now. I can't wait for you to have your own little terrors so this will all come around and bite you in the ass!"

"Wow, Dad." Shawn exhaled, turning to walk back inside. Before he could let defeat and anger take over. Before he said something he regretted. Before he ruined the perfectly good night he had been having with his beautiful pregnant wife and his best friend. "Thank you for nothing, see you never."

"Shawn," he heard his dad call behind him, but he didn't wait to hear it. He wasn't interested anymore.

"What happened?" Juliet asked, rushing down the stairs to meet him at the door.

"My dad just came to wish me a happy new year, the only way he knew how." He sighed and leaned against the door, the reflection of his dad's headlights pulling away visible through the window.

"I'm sorry," Juliet said, squeezing his hands before pulling him in as close as she could with her growing bump. "We love you so much."

Shawn reached out to bring his wife's face closer to his own. "Happy New Year, sweetheart," he said softly between kisses.

"Happy New Year."


Lassiter sat in the empty hospital room, watching fireworks exploding in the distance. He could barely see the tips of them, but the eruption of light made him feel hopeful. He felt like his slate was being wiped clean. It was a new year, and it was going to be a good one. It had to be. This last year had quite literally pulled the rug out from under him.

He thought about the long-term nursing facility that the staff had been talking to him and Marlowe about. A place where he could get the help that he needed while he was still too weak to go home. They had told him privately that he could go home- that plenty of patients go to the outpatient clinic daily instead of living there. But he wasn't ready to face what his home brought up in him. Not yet.

"It's going to be a good year," he said out loud, letting his voice echo through the empty room.

"You don't know that."

Carlton looked up and saw the dark figure sitting on the windowsill, his head cocked to the side.

"Why?" he asked, more out of desperation than genuine curiosity. "Why are you here? You left. You were gone. Why won't you leave me alone?"

"Happy New Year, Carlton," the voice said, a taunting song in his voice. Carlton blinked and the figure was gone just as quickly as it came.

"Happy New Year," he responded, begrudgingly. Hope drained out of his voice as quickly as it had come.

The shadow wasn't gone.

And the year was just beginning.