Hello, readers. I apologize for taking forever and a day, but I've been very, very busy. I managed to get this quick chapter up, and I hope that you find it to be at least halfway decent. Thanks for sticking around and not giving up on me. :)

(Chapter Twenty-Three)

Though Anna and Mark kept their focus on Dee Dee, they didn't move or make a sound as she slowly turned to face them.

"Is this what you wanted for me, mom?" Her eyes glistened with tears. "You wanted him to come here and make me feel worse? Congratulations. You succeeded." With her heart pounding at an increasing rate, she quietly moved up the stairs.

"I was only trying to help her." Anna sat on the sofa and looked to Mark for support. "You believe that, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." Mark sat beside her. "But Anna, you have to realize that you can't make these decisions for her, especially when you know she doesn't want anything to do with Rick. She has to get through this in time."

"But she's not getting through it." Anna replied with frustration. "I have a friend who's a therapist, and I'm sure she can help."

Though he didn't need to be, he was once again reminded of how Anna couldn't deal with not trying to be in control of her daughter's life. If he would keep his promise to Dee Dee in trying to help her, he had to be firm with Anna. "Listen. She's made some progress, and we all know that she's still suffering and will continue to do so for quite some time, and neither of us can know how she truly feels. Yes, she may tell us that she's depressed or angry or hurt, but that doesn't give us any true meaning as to how it feels to be her; how it feels to have seen your husband and baby being wheeled on gurneys from the scene of such a horrific accident. I was there when she saw Alex's body bag. I was there when she saw AJ unconscious and being put into the ambulance." The flashbacks of that night came to Mark every day; always reminding him that no matter how painful it was to be a witness, he still couldn't fathom what it's like to live it as Dee Dee. "I was there when the doctor told her that her baby would never wake up. In seeing all of that and more, I still have no idea of how she feels and I can't and won't pretend that I do or that I have all the answers to put an end to her pain."

Anna was silent for a moment as she tried to fabricate the moments of that night as her own. She couldn't stand the idea of seeing her own husband and child the way that Dee Dee had seen Alex and AJ. It was too painful, so she chose to ignore the imagined scenes as she'd done since learning of what had happened; still unable to accept that what she may feel is helping her daughter, may actually be hurting her. "I'm not trying to pretend that I know how she feels. Maybe if she talked to me, I'd know more about how she feels. She and Rick were so close, that I think he can get through to her better than anyone. She just won't cooperate. She's being stubborn as always, and I can't stand it."

Mark silently noted that Anna didn't have any room to talk about someone being stubborn. She'd given evidence of that far too often. "Anna, whether she's truly done with him or not, we have to let her get through it in the way she wants to. Maybe she does still love him, but just can't deal with it, now. If she needs our help in the process, then we can give it. Otherwise, it's not up to us to force her to reconcile with him. If he can really save her, I'd like for him to do it, even if I lose her, but I can't force her into allowing him to do so. We have to be patient." He gave Anna's hand a gentle squeeze before getting up to look for Dee Dee upstairs.

He was right to expect to find her in AJ's room. He stood quietly against the door jamb, watching as she lay silently on her side; her small frame curled snuggly on her baby's bed as held his blanket to her chest. Fearing that she may regress from what little progress she'd made, he wanted to try and find a way to ease the most recent addition of torture. He tapped lightly on the door. "Dee Dee? Do you want some company or would you rather I leave you alone?"

She didn't answer verbally, but extended her hand for him to come close enough to take it into his own. He gently allowed her arm to drape over the side of the bed as he caressed the back of her hand with his thumb.

Pulling the blanket a bit higher, she closed her eyes as her tears trailed from her eyes.

Resting his head against the side of the bed, he closed his eyes as he willed his tears not to escape.

After a half hour, Anna went up to look for Mark and Dee Dee. The gentle scene before her made her realize that Dee Dee did trust him and that he truly cared for her. Maybe they were really in love, but she still couldn't shake how quickly it all came to be, especially knowing her daughter's emotional state.

Mark felt her presence at the door and opened his eyes.

"I'm taking a taxi back to the hotel." She told him. "I'll see you two later."

"Would you like for me to drive you?" Mark asked as he started to stand. Dee Dee's hand gripped his as if she were saying - "Don't leave me." Her eyes were still closed, but he knew.

"No, it's okay." Anna answered. "Stay with her. She needs you."

Lying on his back in the center of the bed, Rick fought to keep his emotions under control. He'd never felt so disappointed in Dee Dee and it tore at his heart to feel such a way about her. He didn't know whether to stay and continue to try to get through to her, or to return to LA and take on the tasks of his part-time instructor's job at the training academy. - -"I could go home and try to talk to her when she comes back. I could stay here and try. I could talk to Mark; maybe he can help me. Why does she trust him so much? How much does he truly care about her? Are they sleeping together? How can they be in love so quickly? Is she having a mental breakdown? What's wrong with her? What the hell is wrong with her?!"

An hour later, he hadn't moved from his position and was slightly startled by the ringing of his phone. "Hello?" He quickly sat up and answered, hoping to hear Dee Dee's voice, even if it held an angry tone.

"Rick, it's Anna. I just got back from the house."

"How is she?"

"Not good. I came back alone, leaving her with Mark. She was curled up on AJ's bed while Mark sat on the floor beside the bed. She had her eyes closed, but she was crying, he was holding her hand, and when I said I was leaving, she didn't even open her eyes to acknowledge me. I know she was glad I was leaving. I think she hates me."

It took a lot of restraint for Rick not to reply with – "Join the club". I wouldn't go as far saying that. She's just angry."

"I don't know." Anna curled the phone cord around her fingers. "I've said and done some pretty hurtful things to her in the past, and with this; my idea of you and I ganging up on her, was probably too much."

"Rick heard the lack of strength in Anna's voice. "Are you giving up?"

"I think maybe I should. I love my daughter, but we've never been extremely close and I don't think we ever will be. When she was pregnant with AJ, we got closer, but we weren't as close as we could have been. She and I are just so different."

"I understand that, but you shouldn't give up on her."

"I'm not really giving up on her; just the situation, if that makes sense. She has Mark. She doesn't need me."

Though Rick felt the same about not being needed, he wasn't ready to be as defeated as Anna was. He couldn't let Alex's statement about his not having Dee Dee, whether he was dead or alive, come true. Alex was dead, but he was very much alive and willing to fight for her. He was willing to help her fight for herself. "I'll figure something out. I'll get her to come back to us."

(Continued...)