A/N: Hey! Long time, no write ;) Just kidding. It feels nice and kinda weird to be updating the day after I just updated...but hey, when you're unemployed you kind of just piddle around the house all day anyway lol.

This chapter will probably make you cry, just a warning.

Enjoy! :)

G.

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It's a whimper from Trina at seven in the morning that first alarms him, "She's dying."

She's still standing in the doorway, the phone dangling by the cord from her hands. Tears were welling in her eyes. When he saw her, he's almost surprised at how sad she looked over this news of her dying mom, but still – Dianna was her mom, even if she killed her dad.

Tom turns his chair now to face her as well at the table in the dining room, where he was reading the paper while waiting for her to get ready for a morning run, "Your mom?" He asks, his expression saddening and more concerned. "Tri, where is she?"

"She's at Northwestern Memorial." She whispers, still seeming so shocked that her mother is...dying.

Just yesterday, she'd received a call from someone saying that they needed to discuss her mother's will, that her mother was reaching age 50. She had agreed to it, knowing she would receive a lot of the things her mother kept of her father's. She told Tom that she didn't want much, but some of the keepsakes from her father would be nice. Her mother's stuff she wanted nothing of, he was sure of that.

After a moment, Tom shakes his head, "Come on," He says, setting the newspapers down and standing up. "We should get going." He says.

She's still too shocked to even move, she just has the phone dangling in her hands. He supposes she never thought that after all those years of her mother keeping the murder of her father a secret, that her mother would die from something like this – cancer. She'd never even heard of cancer before in her life, but now, here, her mother had it. She nodded after a few seconds of silence, finally catching her breath and taking a shaky step out of the doorway that she hadn't been able to move from.

He helps her into the car, she hasn't said a word since she told Tom where her mother was. He's never even met her mom...and now this is the first time – on her possible death bed.

The whole way there, she still never said anything. Even though Tom kept saying it's alright, Tri and breathe, Tri. Nothing was helping the fact that she hasn't seen her mother since her twentieth birthday, and she hasn't talked to her since her birthday this year. That's the only reason, still, that they spoke was to wish one another a happy birthday.

Once they arrived, they were immediately sent to her mother's room. "Dianna Russo, she's right in room 113." The nurse instructs, and Trina and Tom go rushing to it. They were on the ground floor, where all of the rooms were in the hundreds thankfully. They find it, and she completely freezes outside of the door.

"Tom, I haven't seen her in two years." She whispers. "Over two years."

He sighs, taking her arms in between his gentle hands. "You have your reasons, Tri." He replies, rubbing her upper arm lovingly as he remembers the sadness in her voice that night that she told him what her mom had done to her dad. Just over some stupid, political campaign, a daughter lost a father. "Just go in and enjoy these last moments with her..."

She nods sadly, trying to take his advice as she goes inside the door. Just as she goes in, there's three more nurses rushing up to the room, pushing past her and almost making her fall from being so unbalanced right now, anyway.

Tom shouts angrily, "Hey!" And holds her closer, his blood boiling that they have no courtesy for the daughter of the woman who's on her death bed. "What the hell is-"

"Mrs. Russo has gone into cardiac arrest." A nurse states hastily as they're unlocking all of the bed's wheels.

No sooner than Trina could get a glance at her mother, she was out of the room. It was just Tom, Trina, and some equipment that was left beeping erratically. She looks up at Tom, completely speechless, shocked once again, and teary eyed. "I didn't say goodbye, Tom. I'm too late."

"Shh...shh..." He didn't comfort her and tell her it would be okay this time. He can't comfort her right now, there's no way he could find even half of the right words for this situation. He'd be lying to her if he told her that her mother would be okay. He knows the slim chances of her mom pulling out of this.

"I hated her so much, but I don't want her to die like this." She whispers, her voice muffled in his tee shirt.

Tom cradles her into his arms, holding her close to his warm chest. "Trina, it's not your fault that your mom is going through this. It's nature's way of taking her, babe..."

She sniffles, and let's out the first sob she's let out in who knows how long. He's never seen her so empty and so sad. He feels that she thinks she shouldn't be upset over her, this is the woman who killed Trina's father, after all. But no...she's trembling in between his arms and his chest as he's sitting them down in the chair.

"Shh..." He whispers again, letting her curl up in his lap and just cry.

It would be a while for them to find out anything. He hopes that the waiting won't kill Trina before anything else kills her mom.

Hours later, after three attempts of shocking her heart back into a working state, a doctor came in to declare her death. Trina was a sobbing mess, and Tom couldn't do anything but hold her in his arms yet again. She didn't want to talk, she didn't have anything to say. She even became slightly angry at him when he tried telling her that it's okay, that it was her time.

He supposes that wasn't the thing to say at this time, but he didn't know what else to do. He's never dealt with anyone that's just lost a close family member. Even though Dianna and Trina weren't all that close, she was still Trina's mother and he knew that Trina, deep down, still had love in her heart for her. No daughter can completely hate her mother, no matter what all she has done. She'll always have love.

A few more hours later, he's made the executive decision that he should take her home, let her get some rest. Or if not rest, maybe just let her cry in their bed instead of in a cold hospital room where her mom once was living. It was close to sunset when they got home, and he laid her down on the bed, brought her a water, and tucked her in softly. "I told the hospital that we'd be calling as soon as we could. They said they understood that you needed your time."

She doesn't hardly acknowledge him, but she does finally nod to let him know she heard him. "Okay." She whimpers.

He asks her if she wants him to stay in there with him, but her answer was a quick and blatant no. He almost took offense to it, but remembered how hard it hurt him when his dad died. Sure, he was much closer to his dad, but he understands that it's still really hard for her. So he presses a soft kiss to her cheekbone, tells her he loves her, and then walks out of the bedroom and down to the kitchen.

After grabbing a beer from the refrigerator, he walks to the living area and sits down in the chair mindlessly, opening the bottle and taking a long, refreshing sip from it. He could still hear her sobs, and it was absolutely killing him to not be up there with her, holding her and comforting her. She wanted her space...he'd give it to her no matter how badly it hurt him to do so.

He turns on the radio in a desperate attempt to drown her sobs from the bedroom. He's never heard her this emotional before, and he wonders why she feels so sad, again, about her mom's death. It's making his head hurt while wondering if she really loved her mother more than she let on, or maybe if she was lying to her about Dianna killing Mayor Russo. He wasn't sure. But he was pretty sure, also, that she wouldn't ever lie to him, especially about something like that.

He'd read the newspaper, he'd listened to the radio for about two hours, he'd went outside to breathe in the cool, crisp mid-August air, he'd done everything he could think of to take his mind off of the upset woman upstairs. Finally, after about four hours in total, he went upstairs to check on her for the second time tonight.

Knocking quietly on the door, he peeks in, "Tri?" He whispers. She's sitting up now, finally, and she nods. "Hey..." He says softly, coming in and closing the door behind him. When she pats the bed beside her, he climbs in and holds her close.

"She's gone." She whispers. "Both parents...they're both gone, now, Tom."

He nods sadly. "I know, babe..." He whispers back, cradling her tighter, rocking her gently side to side.

"But it's a good thing. We can live our life..." She whimpers, closing her eyes and letting a quiet sob shake her body. "We don't have to keep the huge secret of her killing my father. If it slips, now, it slips..." She says. "She was an evil woman. She shouldn't have died so soon, but she was an evil woman, Tom."

"I know..." He whispers again, kissing the top of her head. "The hospital asked you to call them." He says softly, being touchy with his words. He didn't want to sound inconsiderate, but the hospital really needed to know where to send the body.

She nods and says, "I'll call them." before gesturing to Tom to hand her the bed phone. He reaches for it and hands it to her, and dials the number for her since it was on his side of the bed currently.

He listens in as she tells them that she wants the body sent to the funeral home on Tenth Avenue, that she'll be calling them tomorrow to make arrangements. He realized, then, that this is only the beginning of a long road with her.

Only two short days (but at the same time, two very long days) later, he was helping her out of his car. She was all dressed in black, looking just as beautiful even with the tear-stained face and less makeup than normal. He kisses her forehead as she steps both feet onto the ground and straightens up. "I love you." He whispers, squeezing both of her hands in his. "I'm right here for you."

She nods sadly, looking down and letting a few tears fall. "I know you are...thank you." She whispers.

They step into the funeral hall where the service would begin in about thirty minutes. She had to finish preparing a few things with the people here, and she had the chance to say goodbye in private to her mother. She asked Tom to come in after about five minutes alone with Dianna's body, so he did and stood right beside her, rubbing her back gently as she just stared at her mother. "I still just...I hated her. I hate her still. But she was my mother..." She whispers.

He nods, pulling her gently into his side. "I know she was, babe..." He whispers. "She'll always be your mom. You guys didn't get along, reasons understood, but she's always gonna be your mom."

"Does it make me a bitch for not feeling a huge regret of not saying goodbye to her while she was alive?" She asks in a quiet tone, not wanting anyone else to hear her except Tom, since there was already an early arrival in the seats.

He shakes his head softly after a moment of really taking it into consideration. He didn't want to answer it too hasty, he didn't want to lie and say no. But he also didn't want to say yes without explanation, if that's what it came down to. But instead, he says, "Not really. It makes you have a mind to go along with your heart that she scarred a long time ago."

His answer must've satisfied her somewhat, because she just nodded and looked at her mother one last time before going to go sit down.

The funeral service was beautiful, long, and overdone. Everything her mother did was overdone, though according to Trina, and apparently as soon as Dianna had learned about her cancer, she'd given plans to her assistant on what to do at the funeral. Trina even whispered to him that she was considering getting up and walking to the front to stop all of the long, drawn out speeches by her assistants and business partners that helped her out. Even the CEO of the company she was in business with had to shed a few tears, and they both knew that it was all per request of Dianna.

But she let the service go on, and afterward they all drove behind the hearse all the way to the cemetery where they put her down, six feet into the ground and buried her.

Tom felt Trina relax in his arms once the last shovel of dirt was over the casket. "You okay?" He whispers.

She nods softly, "She's gone...and like I said...that part of my life is gone, Tom..." She says back, sniffling and swallowing back some tears. "I'll miss her. I will. No matter how much I disliked her, I'll always love her. But she's gone."

He nods, understanding her point, and kisses her head once more. "Let's finish up and go home, okay? You should get some rest."

She slept on and off for at least sixteen hours a day that next two weeks they were home. The only time she hadn't slept was when they had to do important things, such as go to a lawyer to discuss the inheritance Trina was going to be receiving (she had no idea that she'd get it, either). They'd both taken off work for a little, Tom to help Trina, and Trina to recoup. He was worried that she may have fallen into a deeper depression than she was going to admit since she was sleeping so much. That was, until he went into the bathroom and saw a shredded up piece of paper in the trash can.

He almost never looks in it, but it just caught his eye before he was going to use the toilet. He takes it out of the trash, along with a few other pieces, and realizes that it's a doctor's paper from Dr. Fragert – her gynecologist. His brows furrow in confusion, wondering why she would be seeing her when she's so depressed anyway right now, but when he picks up the next shred it had a name for a referral to an obstetrician.

The wheels in his head were turning again, realizing she was pregnant.

He looked in through the open bathroom door, seeing her peacefully asleep. It made his heart sink to his stomach, but he wouldn't say anything. He wouldn't tell her that he saw the paper. He'd let her tell him on her own.

So many things were rushing inside his mind, though, like how the birth control hadn't worked, and how this must be affecting her since her mother just died so recently. He just puts the papers back in the trash where they'd come from, and takes a shaky breath as he walks out of the bathroom to go back to bed.

"Everything alright?" Trina asks sleepily, batting two tired eyes in his direction.

He wanted to say I could ask you the same thing, but refrained and nodded. "Yeah." He whispers, snuggling her close. He presses a kiss to her forehead, "Go back to sleep..."

She nods, closing her eyes again and soon falling asleep.

He wondered if she'd even tell him.

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Uh oh. Trina's pregnant. Officially. She even went to Dr. Fragert. You think she'll tell Tom? Leave your thoughts in the reviews please!