Thanks for the reviews, apologies for leaving the last chapter on such a cliffhanger, I felt guilty so thought I had better update quick before anyone hunted me down! Please keep the lovely reviews coming in, or negative ones, all feedback is very much appreciated. I've tried to keep this medically accurate but I am not a doctor so I might have got some things wrong, apologies if I have. Short update again, well, shortish!

Chapter Seventeen

Josh stroked Shannon's hair as he watched her sleep for the first time in days. She'd finally closed her eyes and succumbed to the rest that she needed so badly. The dark rings around her eyes were testament to her tiredness and her grief, he wanted to take her pain away but he couldn't, the only thing that would help either of them was Caitlin recovering and living a normal life. If they lost her, life would never be the same for either of them, nor would it be the same for his father who had been here ever since Josh had called him after Caitlin had been moved to Intensive Care.

Shannon had also called her mother but the bitch hadn't showed up. Her grandchild was fighting for her life, possibly taking her last breaths and she couldn't be bothered to come and see her, she wasn't a Christian at all, she was just a vile excuse for a human being.

Caitlin was now under heavy sedation while high doses of antibiotics were pumped through her body to fight off the infection which had taken hold of her. She'd had two blood transfusions to try and flush the infection out of her system but so far her condition remained the same. She hadn't opened her eyes in just over two days and the more time that passed, the bleaker things looked.

They were all praying for a miracle and trying as hard as they could to remain strong but it was hard, to watch someone so young and so full of life slip away before their very eyes was the most painful experience all of them had ever been through.

Phil had seen plenty of death in his time out on the Bering Sea, he'd seen men drown, he'd seen men disappear over the side of a boat never to be seen again but nothing, nothing was as heart wrenching and gut churning as this. Just a few days ago he'd been joking with her, telling her all about crab farts and how she was going to come out on the boat with him when she was better, her eyes had lit up, she'd been so happy and now, now he might never get the chance to talk to his beautiful granddaughter ever again.

He watched his eldest son as he sat stroking Shannon's hair, a few weeks ago he would have been bothered by the scene but not now. He realised that they needed each other, Josh needed Shannon as much as Shannon needed Josh. His son would not cope losing Caitlin and losing Shannon as well. She wasn't a bad woman, he'd been so angry with her for so long because of what she'd done to Josh but he'd forgotten how young she was, how scared she must have been when she found out that she was pregnant. The past ten years hadn't been easy for her, he'd been a fool to think they had been, when he watched them together he could see that they both still loved each other, he had no right to stand in their way if they chose to make a go of things again.

Right now though, they were all united together for Caitlin, for the little girl who was the most important person in all their lives. She was strong, so very strong, the doctor had already said that it was a miracle that she had made it through the past couple of days and that gave them hope. If she could somehow feel their love, if she could gather strength from them then she would make it through, they all had to believe that.

Josh watched as a nurse came out of Caitlin's room, there was always someone with her at all times now, checking her temperature and changing her IV constantly, the nurse looked between he and Phil and signalled that one of them could go in to see her for a little while.

Phil remained in his seat and nodded at Josh, he was her father, he should be the one at her side since her mother was having a well needed rest. Josh slowly got up from his chair, he didn't want to wake Shannon, she needed to sleep and try to get some of her energy back for now.

He crept into Caitlin's room and took a seat alongside her bed, taking her warm hand in his he struggled to keep it together. She had so many tubes surrounding her, so many wires, she shouldn't be here, she should be out having fun with her friends, not fighting for her life, she was an innocent child, why did she have to suffer like this when so many fucking evil people in the world were out having the time of their fucking lives?

'Hey honey, daddy's here sweetie, mommy and grandpa are outside too, we're all here for you baby, we all want you to open your eyes and come through this. We need you to come through this baby because none of us want to lose you, we can't lose you…' Josh stopped talking as he tried to fight back tears which seemed determined to fall. What could he say? What could he do to make her wake up and look at him?

'You know, you asked a few weeks ago if your mom still loved me didn't you? I can't answer for her but I have an answer for you, I love your mom so much Caitlin. I've always loved her, even when she left I never gave up hope of finding her again, of marrying her and building a home, it's what I always wanted and I think you want it too. So, I need you to wake up and I need you to team up with me so we can persuade your mom to give me another chance, you know she won't say no to you, no one could say no to you, I sure as hell can't!' Josh laughed as he reached up to her forehead with his spare hand to stroke it. 'I used to think about what our kids would look like, a weird thing to think about I know but I did. You're so much more beautiful than I ever thought a daughter of mine could be, you look so much like your mom, I want you to wake up so you can start bringing guys home to meet me, so I can kick their asses and tell them to treat you right or I'll beat their ass into the ground. I want to watch you grow up Caitlin, I want to see you play soccer, I want to walk you down the aisle one day, you can fight this baby I know you can. I know it's hard and I know you're in pain but you can't give up you have so much to live for, you have so much to do. Please Caitlin, please get through this, I love you so much, we all love you so much, life just wouldn't be anything without you, please sweetie, please…'

Josh buried his head against her little hand, his dam had broken. He'd tried to be strong but he couldn't stop himself from crying, seeing her look so sick and fragile was just too much for him to bear. He would do anything to swap places with her, anything at all. He cried for what seemed like hours but it was only a few minutes, he was about to pull his head up from her hand when he felt something brush against his cheek. He sat completely still as he felt the movement again, Caitlin's fingers were moving against his cheek.

His head jerked up from her hand and he sat completely still as he watched his daughter's eyes beginning to flicker open.

'NURSE!' He shouted across the room to the nurse who was busy writing something down on Caitlin's chart and she immediately came over to the bed then rushed out of the room.

When her eyes were fully open Josh watched in amazement as a smile formed on her face.

'Hi baby, you're gonna be fine sweetie, you're gonna be okay,' Josh gripped her hand tightly and watched as his little girl reached up with her free hand and pulled the oxygen mask off her face for just a second.

'We're a team right?'

She smiled before putting the mask back on and Josh couldn't help but laugh.

'Yep, we are a team sweetie so you'd better keep fighting to get yourself out of this hospital so we can go to work on your momma okay?' Caitlin smiled and nodded as Josh placed kisses against her hand, he knew that if anything was to get his daughter to fight it would be the thought of her parents getting together again.

It was clear to him that she wanted nothing more than the two of them together again and Josh wanted the same thing. After a few minutes, Josh was ushered out of the room as Clare, her primary doctor came in to examine her.

When he got outside, Phil and Shannon were both standing outside the room waiting for news, he could see that Shannon was shaking and she looked like she was about to pass out, she obviously thought that something bad had happened.

'She's awake baby, our little girl's awake,' Josh smiled at her and for the first time in a long time a smile appeared on Shannon's face.

'Oh Josh!' Shannon fell forward into Josh's arms as relief and complete joy spread through her, when she'd seen the nurse run out of the room she was sure that Caitlin had given up the fight, she'd been expecting Josh to come out and tell her that their little girl had passed away but now, for the first time in days, there was hope.

The three of them waited outside Caitlin's room to speak to Clare, Shannon was delighted that she was awake but she knew that Caitlin still had a very long way to go in her battle against the cancer in her body. Clare examined Caitlin for what seemed like hours before she came out of the room to speak to them.

'You've got yourselves a very tough little girl,' she smiled happily as she walked out of the room. 'The antibiotics and the transfusions seem to have done the trick, her temperature is still a little high but it's come down considerably over the past few hours. There's still a long way to go but she seems to be over the worst now, there's still a chance that she may develop another infection so we need to be extremely careful and keep an eye on her but for now, things are looking up, really looking up,' Clare smiled.

The three of them thanked her before she left them alone, Shannon was taken by surprise by Phil when, after the doc had left, he pulled her into a hug. Ever since he'd been here he had been snapping at her or glaring at her, it made her extremely happy that he seemed to be softening towards her, it also made Josh happy to see his father making an effort with the woman who, he hoped, would one day be his wife.

'She'll be out on the boat with us before you know it,' Phil smiled as he pulled Josh into a hug, he knew that there was a long way to go and many more sleepless nights ahead but this was a big step in the right direction.

'Yeah, maybe you can come with us too Shannon, it'll be nice for you to see the boat again…' Josh stopped as his father looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

'What do you mean 'again'? When have you been on the boat?' Phil looked at her and Shannon felt a blush creep over her skin, probably giving the game away to Phil.

'Josh might have taken me there once to have a look around, it was all innocent though,' Shannon replied as Josh nodded.

'Yeah totally innocent,' he agreed as Phil looked between them.

'Yeah, I'm sure it was. I just hope that your little tour didn't include MY stateroom Joshua,' he tried not to smirk, he knew damn well that the two of them had been up to no good on the boat but he wanted to watch them squirm.

'Oh fuck no, we would never do anything like that would we Shannon?'

'No, definitely not, um, I need the toilet, be back in a sec!' Shannon left before she could get grilled any further, she was hardly going to admit that Josh had taken her virginity in his stateroom, he was being nice to her again, she didn't want to ruin things.

Josh watched as Shannon walked away and smirked at his father.

'You totally know about me taking your keys don't you?' He asked and his dad nodded.

'I might be old but I'm not fucking stupid, the dumb fucking smirk on your face when you came home that night gave the game away, dumbass,' Phil chuckled before patting his son on the back. 'I have a feeling that everything is gonna be okay Joshua, everything is gonna be fine.'