Author's Note: So I've been up all night but this chapter came to me in a dream when I did sleep. Amazing how crazy my life can be for you guys. Also I find myself writing formally when writing these author's notes instead of using my southern slang. It's really weird.

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Woo Bin lay snuggled in bed with his wife on one side and daughter on the other. It was the first night in nearly a week since Eri had been home and he didn't realize how much he'd missed this. Curled around her, toes arching over hers, her warm body pressed into his side. He never realized how much he loved her until she wasn't there.

But he didn't fault her. He knew he had her own way of dealing with emotional trauma. Most parents would blame each other, but never the two of them. They were too in sync to give up on each other. Even when their child was in the hospital, there was no blame going around.

But he knew Eri blamed herself for Bin Ji's accident when it wasn't her fault. She had been there with him when it had happened. She should have known that he would have gone to play with the mirror because he liked playing with the baby reflected there. He always had. She shouldn't have left him with someone he barely knew. These were all the things Woo Bin knew she was thinking about.

He hadn't asked her anything when she had walked in early that morning. He and Ahn Na had already been in bed. She had come in, changed clothes and climbed in bed with him. She had taken her spot and settled in. The hardest part had been not moving his daughter so he could hold his wife.

His family would be complete once he had his son back. Bin Ji was a big part of the family. He was the firstborn and the only son. Nothing could replace him. He didn't know what he'd do if he had to make the ultimate decision if nothing improved.

Eri moved beside him, adjusting her head and wedging her knee between his. He felt her breath on his skin, and it didn't even cross his mind that she probably hadn't brushed her teeth. He buried his nose in her hair, inhaling the scents of paint and clay and cologne he recognized. Ji Hoo must have realized what was going on before anyone else.

She got up after a few minutes and left the room. Frowning, Woo Bin gently placed Ahn Na in the bed and followed after her. Normally he was a sight to see in his designer clothes and his hair gelled, but at home he was Woo Bin and he didn't have to wear a shirt if he didn't want. He didn't sleep in shirts so when he walked out into the living area, he was shirtless.

He sat at the table and watched as she set the kettle on the stove. Once again he let the silence sit between them, knowing she would talk to him as soon as she was ready. This had been their relationship for four years, almost five. Waiting was always the best course, even if it made him look weak.

In the past when a girl had refused to talk to him, he would have left her and found another girl, repeating the process when that one did the same. But with this woman, he had learned patience due to her emotionless state. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him; it was that she couldn't. She didn't know how, so it was a learning process for both of them.

To his surprise, she crossed the space between them and grabbed his hands. He stood at her urging and was almost knocked back at the force in which she hugged him. She rested her head under his chin even though it meant she had to bend her knees a little. Not really caring what it looked like to outsiders, he wrapped his arms around her and stood still. He twisted the ends of her hair around his finger.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked.

"Listening to your heart." It was simple and sincere, but it held an underlying emotion he wasn't sure how to interpret.

Just then the kettle whistled. Not wanting to break the contact he had finally gotten, he wrapped one arm around her and urged her towards the stove. He turned the kettle off with the flick of his wrist. He turned and leaned his butt against the counter, pulling her towards him, but instead of holding her close, he pushed her away so he could look at her.

"What's going on?" She looked up at him and he knew instantly that she was going to ask him something he might not have the answer for.

"I don't know if you know this, but since I've had these things, I've been having migraines. They're so bad that I can't even get up sometimes," she explained. "I went to the audiologist and he said there shouldn't be any problems, but he ran some scans and said there was nothing wrong internally."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was easier to deal with it alone instead of having everyone worry. Being in the studio with the lights dimmed worked because it never irritated me."

He brushed the stray hairs that had fallen from her braid away from her face then rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs. "What do you want to do?" She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth then looked at him in the most earnest fashion he had ever seen. "You want to have them removed. You know the risks of that."

"I know. I may lose the rest of what little hearing I had. I'm okay with that."

"Are you sure?"

"I have never regretted anything in my life, Bin. I have always taken the things that happened to me in stride. But the second I had these implanted, I began to regret it. Not because I could hear things I so desperately wanted to hear such as my kids' voices and heartbeats, but because I didn't feel like me. I felt like a shell of me all this time."

Woo Bin sighed then pulled her up so he could kiss her. His mouth against hers in such a sweet fashion he never wanted it to end. "I didn't know," he said as he pulled away and pressed his forehead against hers. "When are you going to have it done?"

"How did you know I already set the appointment?"

"Because I know you. You make decisions based on your instincts. You have always done that so all I can do is follow. But even in all that, you always manage to tell me what you're going to do. If I object, which I rarely do, you think twice about it before going through with it. People may say you run the family, but we make decisions together."

She hugged him with such ferocity he thought his ribs were going to break, but he hugged her back, reveling in her once again. He pulled back when he felt her mouth at the sweep between his neck and shoulder. A shudder ran through him at the warmth mixed with the chill of the aircon. She never initiated intimacy.

"You know," he said as he tilted his head back as she kissed right under his ear, "I'm not sure how I'm going to explain this if Ga Eul or Yi Jeong come downstairs."

"Well, our bed's kind of taken at the moment."

Woo Bin laughed then pushed her back even though he didn't want to. "I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with."

He said the wrong thing. She closed herself off from him and turned around. Cursing silently, he caught her shoulder to stop her. Normally she would shrug him off when she was irritated with him, but this time she stopped. He sighed then held a hand up before walking to their room. He came back out and disappeared into the room on his left. When he came back again, he scooped her up and carried her to their room. Dropping her to the bed, he covered her body with his.

"Don't expect to have the night off."

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"Should we cancel the wedding?" Ga Eul asked.

They were all sitting in the waiting room of the hospital waiting on any news. Woo Bin had told them of Eri's decision to have the cochlear implant removed. It had come as a shock to them, but they had respected her decision. Right now they were all worried at how she was going to react during surgery since she didn't have good reactions to anesthesia.

Woo Bin looked over at her. "Don't even think about it. She made this decision long before this. I hate that it's taken until now to realize it."

"But with both her and Bin Ji…"

Yi Jeong put his hand on her. "Dr. Kim said Bin Ji is on the mend. The swelling on his brain has gone down and he's able to breathe on his own. It's only a matter of time before he wakes up. Right now we should focus on Eri. Bin Ji will still be there when everything settles here."

The wedding was scheduled two weeks away. Not having the maid of honor there would be a break of tradition. If things went badly, she would be in the hospital longer than the three days the doctor had already set aside. Hopefully Bin Ji would be up and able to move around.

Min Ho appeared in the doorway with Hyun Sub and Woo Jun. Yi Jeong's hand tightened on Ga Eul's as he stared at his father. He would question why he was there but he was close friends with Hyun Sub. They hadn't told Woo Bin what had happened at the studio and they didn't plan on it because his temper would explode. He may be friends with Yi Jeong and Woo Jun may be friends with Hyun Sub, but Woo Bin couldn't stand the man. Knowing that he hit on his wife would piss him off.

"Is it over?" Min Ho asked.

Woo Bin shook his head. "Not yet. I heard a nurse say they had to order more anesthesias because it was wearing off too quickly. I don't know how much longer it'll be. Did my mom take your place?"

"Sort of. He's awake. Bin Ji woke up and he's asking for you."

Woo Bin shoved off the wall almost as fast as the speed of light and headed up a floor. He didn't bother with the elevator as he took the stairs two at a time. He slid to a stop right outside of Bin Ji's room, making Bo Na smile as she came out.

"He's drowsy, but that's to be expected. We won't know if he'll have any brain damage until we do some tests. He's not out of the woods yet, but don't lose hope. It's a good sign that he woke up." She patted his shoulder as he walked back to her desk.

Nervous, he walked into the room. His mother was brushing the curls away from his face as he walked over to the bed. She smiled at him as he sat down.

"Papa," Bin Ji whined. It broke Woo Bin's heart to see his son lying in the hospital bed helpless. "Mama?"

"Mama can't be here right now, baby, but I promise that you'll see her soon. When you do, you have to be careful so you don't hurt her. Do you remember the sign I taught you?" He had a hard time lifting his hands but he managed a few. "That's right. You'll have to use those from now on."

"Ahn Na?"

"She's with Jan Di and Man Ni. I'll bring her by later. You rest, big man. I'll be back later."

Ji Hoo was waiting for him as he stepped out of the room. He had scrubbed in on Eri's surgery simply because he wanted to. He didn't usually make rash decisions like that but he wanted to be sure everything went all right. Luckily he was friends with the audiologist in charge of the case.

"She just came out," he said without any hesitation."So far nothing has gone wrong but we have to wait to see just like with any surgery. Dr. Kang thinks she'll recover as fast as he did before but she has to take it easy. We both know how she is on that."

"What about the remainder of her hearing, the one she didn't lose before?" he asked.

"I won't know anything until she comes in for a checkup at the two month line. She can't lift anything, not even the kids. She can work on clay and whatever other art project and work in the shop, but someone has to be with her at all times to lift things."

"I'll see if Min Ho can be bumped up to full time. He's the one she's worked with the most. I'll talk to Ga Eul about a good nursery school for Ahn Na. It's probably best to get her acclimated to the environment."

"That's probably a good idea. You'll need to teach her sign language as well."

Ji Hoo had to go back to work. Woo Bin looked back into the room to see Bin Ji sleeping. There was no point waking him back up so he went back upstairs. The first person he saw was Yi Jeong as he was out in the hallway talking to his dad. They seemed to be in some sort of argument. He didn't want to interrupt but this was important.

"Hey, is there any way you can move Min Ho up to a full time position when Eri returns to work? He's the one she's worked with the most and until he can get her follow up they don't want her lifting things," he said.

"Yeah, I'll ask him. What are you going to do about the kids?" Yi Jeong asked, his focus completely on the other side of his family.

"I'm going to enroll them in nursery school. The only reason we haven't is because Eri didn't want to. Bin Ji will be starting school next year so we might as well get both of them in. It will be easier on Eri as well since she can't lift anything."

"How's Bin Ji?"

"He's worried about his mom and sister."

Yi Jeong smiled. "You have a good kid."

He nodded. "Excuse me. I have to go see about my wife." He clapped his friend on the shoulder and went to wait in the recovery room.