"HE'S AWAKE!" Lindsay exclaimed. Danny's parent's faces said it all. A single tear ran down his father cheek and his mother turned and buried her face in her husbands shoulder.

Stella came in the room and saw the confusion and went to where Lindsay was standing. "Hey, what's going on?" Stella looked worried.

"He's awake Stella, he squeezed my hand. He's awake." Lindsay's face was plastered with a large smile. Stella smiled and held Lindsay's hand as they watched the doctors' work on Danny.

"Mr. Messer, welcome back. Listen I need you to relax for me, can you do that?" Danny looked at the doctor and nodded in response. "Okay, we are going to take the tube from your throat. I'm going to count to three; on three, I need you take a deep breath and when I say blow, blow as hard as you can. Do you understand?" Danny nodded again, he didn't know whose hand he was squeezing but any physical contact was good contact right now.

"Okay, ready? One… two… three…. Deep breathe, there ya go, good job. And Blow…" Danny did as he was told, and when he felt the tube being ripped from this throat he began to cough and wheeze. Danny coughed until all of his energy was gone from the rapid movements of his already hurting chest. "I need you to try and not talk, okay? It's going to be tender for a while. So just concentrate on breathing right now." Dr. Stevens voice was low and calming to Danny. He instantly liked this man.

"Lindsay?" Danny's voice was raspy and sounded painful.

"Hey Danny, I'm right here." Lindsay moved in beside the doctor to the side of his bed. "Don't talk, I'm here." There were no words to describe how Danny felt, seeing Lindsay come to him and sit on the bed beside him. She took his hand and held it, she stroked his hair and Danny closed his eyes and took deep breaths.

"You're a hero. You saved my life Danny." Stella said coming to the side of his bed. Danny opened his eyes and looked up at Stella, "Don't mention it." He replied in a very low voice.

Danny's parents came to his side and his mother kissed his cheek and his father took his hand. "You gave us a scare kid, we're happy to see you conscious." Danny squeezed his fathers hand, "I love you guys… all of you." Danny had only been awake about ten minutes and he was already feeling tired and weak. Dr. Stevens' noticed Danny's eyes fluttering and decided it was time in interject.

"Okay guys, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but you are going to have to leave. This is a little too much for him to take right now. You can come back in a couple hours but he needs his rest." No one protested, they understood. Everyone got up to leave, Lindsay tried to leave but Danny squeezed her hand and pulled her back down.

"Sorry Doc doesn't look like I'm leaving." Lindsay said, as she smiled and sat down with Danny.

"Love you sweetie, we'll be back." Danny's mother said as she kissed his forehead and left with his father. Stella gave them a nod and smile and left the room.

When everyone was gone. Lindsay leaned down and kissed Danny on the lips. "Don't ever do that again." Danny looked up at her with a confused look.

"You mean get shot and almost die?" Danny said slowly with a grin on his face.

"No, I mean leave me." Lindsay paused and moved her body so that she was lying next to Danny in his bed. "I love you… and I have something to ask you."

Danny looked at her, and put his arm around her. "What's that?"

"This isn't exactly how I pictured it, but…" Lindsay let out a deep breathe and continued, "Will you marry me?"

Danny, who was surprised, paused and didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry…" Lindsay said and tried to get up. Danny puller her back down and kissed her.

"No, I'm sorry." He looked her in the eyes and smiled. "Because you see, I was going to ask you the same thing on our six month. So what I'm trying to say is… I would absolutely love to marry you." Danny knew he looked weak and he sounded sick and raspy. Lindsay didn't care, she was finally talking to the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She turned to him and kissed him.

"I love you, Mr. Messer."

"I love you too, Mrs. Messer… so I guess we are going to have one little happy family." He said putting a hand on Lindsay's stomach.

"You could hear me?" Lindsay was a little shocked.

"Kind of. It was like I was in a dream and it was echoing, but I could feel you squeezing my hand." Danny's eyes were fluttering; Lindsay could tell he was tired; Lindsay was tired. It had been a long and emotional last couple of days. "It will be okay Lindsay, I promise."

Lindsay put her head on Danny's shoulder and they both drifted off to sleep, each of them thinking about how happy they were to be with each other. It didn't matter how damaged they both were, or how hard the next couple of months would be. As long as they were together they were happy.

To be continued…

Still more to come… not over yet.