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After Today

"Katie," Lacey said, swallowing hard and wiping away a few tears; she cleared her throat, having noticed her voice shake.

"Lacey?" Katie asked in confusion and concern; she had planned to come out next week for the wedding. "What's going on, is everything ok?"

"Everything's..." Lacey trailed off. It was a reflex to say fine, but things weren't fine. She looked down the hall to the hospital waiting room, where Erin was trying to get a hold of Shay's parents. Benny had just showed up, taking Zoe off of Lacey's mom; Sara then went over to take the phone from Erin so she could sit and gather her own thoughts.

"It's a mess," Lacey admitted tearfully.

Earlier Today

"My turn," Shay was holding her hands out anxiously, taking her god daughter off of Lacey. They were all gathered at the fire house that afternoon, with Chief Boden having his wedding ceremony there. "You're so pretty Zoe," Shay was telling her. "You're going to kill at mommy and daddy's wedding next week," she grinned at Lacey.

"She'll be the prettiest girl there," Lacey agreed.

"It'll be a tie," Kelly told her, sneaking up behind her and putting his arms around her waist.

"Aww," Shay said in an overly sweet tone and Lacey made a face.

"Guys, guys," Erin said, coming over after getting a plate of food for her and Shay. "Look." They looked over to where Casey was asking Dawson to marry him. They hadn't expected it to be here or now, but it was so simple, sweet, and perfect. However, she didn't even get a chance to say yes as the alarm starting going off, signaling for the ambulance, squad, and truck.

"Oh no," Erin said sympathetically as the alarms and bells seemed to have upset Zoe, taking her from Shay before giving her girlfriend a quick kiss goodbye.

"Careful," Lacey emphasized to Kelly as he turned to run off after the others to do his job.

"I love you too," Kelly grinned at her giving her a kiss and she playfully rolled her eyes as she watched him and the rest of their family go, leaving her with Zoe, Erin and a few others. With the fire fighters gone and the party winding down, every started to clean up around the garage.

"Hey, Erin," Lacey got her attention as she was now holding Zoe. "I have a bottle in the refrigerator for her, could you grab it for me please?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Erin nodded nicely, heading into the firehouse kitchen. Hearing some static, she went over to the radio they kept on the counter and turned up the volume; her stomach dropped when she heard Boden's panicked voice.

"Hey," Lacey said, coming into the kitchen with Zoe. "Is everything ok?" She could hear the radio now too.

"Something's wrong," Erin told her, grabbing her keys. She planned to take her car to the scene of the fire, calling for help on the way and finding out what was going on as well. "I'll call you!" she called back to Lacey.

"It's a mess," Lacey was admitting to Katie on the phone.

Shortly after Erin left, she called Lacey and explained what happened; there had been an explosion in the building everyone was inside. She told her to meet her at the hospital, that Shay, Dawson, Kelly, and Mills all needed to be checked out there. Kelly was just a precaution as he had hit his head, Lacey got to see him for a second before he got taken back for his scan. The others came in with more serious injuries though.

"Kelly wanted me to call you," Lacey continued. "Just to let you know he's ok, before you found out some weird way."

"Is anyone else at the hospital?" Katie asked worriedly.

"Shay, Dawson, and Mills," Lacey replied. "Mills has a broken leg, I haven't heard anything on the other two, just surgery."

"Oh God," Katie gasped. "Just keep me posted, all right? I'm going to try to change to an earlier flight. Love you."

"Love you too Katie," Lacey said, hanging up and heading back to the waiting room. "Hey, mom?" she asked, feeling exhausted and it had only been a few hours. "Could you take Zoe home please? I'll bring Kelly by once he's discharged."

"Of course honey," Sara assured her, taking Zoe back from Benny before heading out of the hospital. She had gotten a hold of Shay's parents, not that they could get there since they lived so far out of town.

"Hi," Lacey sighed, taking a seat next to Erin who was rubbing her forehead.

"Hi," Erin sighed back, just as exhausted. The others were scattered through the waiting room, jumping every time a doctor came through thinking they had news.

"Where did Casey go?" Lacey asked.

"Ah, I think to try Antonio again," Erin answered. "And then to harass someone for answers on Dawson, which I should..." She was starting to get up, but then Shay's doctor came out and both Erin and Lacey immediately jumped from their seats.

"For Leslie Shay?" the doctor asked them and they both nodded. "I want to let you know first off, that she is absolutely fine. We rushed her back to make sure there wasn't any head or other internal bleeds, but she'll be ok once she wakes up. We have her sedated for now."

"Can I see her?" Erin asked hopefully.

"Absolutely," the doctor promised. "Down the hall, room 531 ok?"

"I'll meet you down there," Lacey said, Erin taking off already to go see Shay. "Do you know anything about Gabriela Dawson?"

"She's not one of my patients," he told her sadly. "I know they were taking her into surgery, I can try to see what else I can find out for you."

"Thanks," Lacey said, though she couldn't help but be distracted as Kelly was walking on his own back to the waiting room.

"Hey!" Kelly said, laughing a little as Lacey nearly took the air out of him as she ran and threw her arms around him, thankful that he was ok.

"Are you ok?" Lacey asked worriedly as she pulled back and looked him over once like she could determine something the doctors couldn't.

"I'm fine," Kelly assured her. "The doctor said everything was ok and I could go home tonight." He glanced quickly around the room. "Where's my other girl?"

"Which one?" Lacey instinctively asked and Kelly laughed a little.

"Zoe, for starters," Kelly asked.

"I sent her home with my mom," Lacey answered. "It was too crazy in here for her." Kelly nodded, though he couldn't wait to see her. "Erin went down the hall, waiting on Shay to wake up. The doctor said she was going to be ok, just beat up."

"That's good to hear," Kelly breathed a sigh of relief. "I, um, ran into Casey in the hall."

"How's Gabby?" Lacey asked in concern.

"Not good," Kelly shook his head. "They took her in to surgery to fix this bleeding she had, which they did, but I guess she wasn't stable enough for the surgery and it went badly. They have her in the ICU now."

"Oh my God," Lacey gasped and Kelly nodded.

"Casey's upstairs in that waiting room, trying to get a hold of Antonio or someone else from her family," Kelly continued and Lacey nodded.

"If I go upstairs, can you go down the hall and see how Shay's doing?" Lacey asked and Kelly nodded, kissing her once before she headed for the elevator. Checking which room was Shay's, Kelly started that way down the hall, happy to see her talking with Erin when he walked in.

"Hey," he smiled and she offered a weak one back as he kissed her head. "Glad you're up! Doc says you're ok?"

"She can come home tomorrow," Erin smiled, taking her hand.

"How's Dawson?" Shay asked as she was the only one they were still unsure about. Kelly glanced briefly at Erin who discreetly shook her head.

"The doctors are with her now," Kelly explained, knowing that if Shay knew about her in the ICU it would upset her too much and she needed to worry about herself first. "They don't know a whole lot yet," he said honestly. "Lacey went upstairs to see Casey and see how things are going." He squeezed her other hand briefly. "Just worry about you getting better right now, ok?" Shay nodded.

"Hey, Kel?" Shay asked and he nodded. "I'm glad you came back, but um, can I talk to Erin for a second?"

"Yeah, sure," Kelly nodded, leaving to give them some privacy.

"Are you ok?" Erin asked, wondering if something was wrong and she didn't want to bring it up in front of Kelly.

"Yeah," Shay nodded reassuringly, squeezing her hand. "I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Ok, shoot," Erin told her.

"I've been thinking about it for a few weeks," Shay explained hesitantly, not sure how Erin would react. "Since Zoe was born. And, um...well, after today I don't think it's something I want to hold off on anymore."

"What's that?" Erin asked, though she had a pretty good idea since Zoe was brought up.

"I wanna have a baby," Shay said finally. "I know we haven't been together that long or living together that long even...but I've wanted that for awhile." She had truthfully wanted a family since Clarice had been pregnant. "I just wanted to see how you felt about starting a family."

"Shay," Erin started off.

"And it would be awhile," Shay cut in quickly, afraid she had freaked Erin out. "Until we find the right donor and it actually works and everything."

"Shay."

"And I'd have to take even more time to think about what to do about work," Shay continued.

"Shay," Erin stopped her with a smile. "I would love that," she assured her, kissing her now. "And, you're right, after today we shouldn't wait for the things that we want."

With no news on Dawson and only family allowed to stay after visiting hours, the rest of house fifty one left the hospital to go home. Kelly and Lacey stopped by her parents house to pick up Zoe before taking her home, exhausted after their long day. Zoe was clearly worn out from the day's events as well as she slept the entire way home, through Kelly carrying her to the nursery and tucking her in.

"Hey, Lace?" Kelly said as he came out to the living room where she was sitting on the couch, checking her phone once again for any word from Casey but there was nothing new.

"Hm?" Lacey asked as he came to sit next to her. She turned sideways, letting her legs rest over his lap.

"I know it's not the time and it's probably selfish," Kelly started off. "But I've been thinking about it and, uh..." He shook his head. "What do we do about next week?"

"Cancel," Lacey said simply as she had been thinking about what to do about the wedding too.

"You mean postpone," Kelly corrected her and Lacey shook her head.

"Casey proposed to Dawson today," Lacey reminded him. "I wouldn't feel right having a wedding after this, so soon when she might not get better."

"I get that," Kelly agreed. "But we don't have to stop what we're doing for us because of everyone else."

"I know," Lacey agreed. "And, after today, after almost losing you...I don't want to wait to get married anymore."

"So...the wedding's still on?" Kelly asked in confusion and she smiled.

"The reception's postponed," Lacey explained. "We'll have everyone at Molly's or something in a few weeks. But, I want to get married to you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Kelly asked, slightly amused and she nodded.

"Our parents can meet us there tomorrow, your dad can pick up Katie from the airport," Lacey said and she thought about it. "We're going to have to wait until Shay is discharged."

"You know she'll kill you if she misses it," Kelly teased her and Lacey smiled.

"We'll have a big party in a few weeks," Lacey continued. "For when the boys can come up with Heather and then Dawson is better so her and Casey can be there." She paused. "I just don't want to wait for it to be official anymore."

"Ok," Kelly agreed with her, taking her hand. "Whatever you want," he promised as he kissed her.

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