Author's Note: OK, this is THE chapter. The one that I wrote (and have revised a few times) after I finished the second story, the chapter that this entire story is built around. It's a really hard one, but super important. Thanks as always for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 26: One Night Can Change Everything

Julie lay in bed thinking over the night's events. It had been good to see Jimmy again, there was no denying that. She was even kind of wishing he was here with her now. It had been so long since she'd slept in his arms, not to mention since they'd made love. But then there was Peter. It was so new and exciting. But they really had nothing in common. Once the new and exciting was over, would there be anything left? She sighed and rolled onto her side, and then her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" She said picking it up. "Stephie? Slow down honey. No, I can't," She stopped, "Sweetheart, I can't understand you, calm down. Is Mommy or Daddy there? Any grown up? OK, put Mrs. Callins on the phone."

"Julie?" Mrs. Callins said, "Honey, I'm sorry to wake you."

"It's alright," She said, "What's wrong? Steph,"

"Sweetheart, Elyse and Cal," She sighed, "Oh God, there's been an accident. I think you should get up here as soon as possible. They're in the hospital"

"Um, OK," she said, "I'm in New York, I can be there in a few hours," Julie frantically went into her contacts and called Tammy's cell phone. She didn't pick up.

"Come on," she sighed, and then went to Steve's. It rang a few times and he picked it up.

"Cat," She heard him groan, "What's wrong? This really isn't a good time." She heard Tammy giggle and slur something in the back ground.

"There's been some kind of accident," she said, "Cal and Elyse are in the hospital, we have to go to Bangor, now!"

"Whoa," he sat up. "What?"

"Your mother just called," she said, "Well, Stephanie did, but she was hysterical."

"OK," He said, "Honey, calm down, take a deep breath. It's a five hour drive; taking five minutes to catch our breath won't change anything." She swallowed. "We're at The Palace too, so we'll meet you in the lobby."

"Alright," Julie said. "Steve, I," she whispered.

"I know honey," he said. "See you in a little bit." He hung up.

"What's wrong?" Tammy asked, immediately sobering a little. He looked at her and kissed her softly.

Julie, Tammy and Steve burst through the doors of the hospital and Julie ran over to the desk.

"Hi, um, my name is Julie Gaffney, my father and my step mother were brought here," She started.

"Ms. Gaffney," A doctor walked over. She nodded. "If you could come with me please." She nodded and swallowed following him. "Your father is in critical condition, he has massive internal bleeding, as well as brain hemorrhaging. He's in surgery now."

"What about Elyse?" She asked. He sighed. "Is she alright? And where are my brother and sister?"

"Mrs. Gaffney went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance," He said, "We did everything we could." Julie pressed her hand against her mouth.

"No!" She shook her head, bursting into tears, "She's not! She can't."

"I'm very sorry," He said gently.

"Has anyone talked to Stephanie and Michael yet?" She asked.

"Mrs. Gaffney's parents wanted us to wait until you got here," he explained. "They said that they'd want to be with you." She nodded. "I'll show you where they're waiting." She nodded again. "I'll give you a minute." She leaned against the wall and Tammy and Steve walked over.

"What is it?" Tammy asked. Julie hugged her. "Honey?"

"She's gone," Julie whispered, "Elyse, and Dad's in surgery, and Steph and Mike are here and they want me to tell them that they're never going to see their mom again!"

"Cat," Steve said. Julie looked at him. "Come on, I'll come with you. Tam, why don't you start making phone calls?"

"Sure," Tammy whispered and hugged Julie again. "I love you so much sweetie." Julie nodded and walked down the hallway Steve holding her up. Tammy walked out into the parking lot and pulled out her phone. She dialed and pressed send. There were two absolutely necessary calls.

Jimmy ran in over to where Tammy was sitting. She stood up and hugged him.

"Where is she?" He asked.

"She's in Cal's room," Tammy said. "He won't wake up Jim, they said they don't know if he will, and," she choked, "You should have seen them Jimmy, Steph and Mike, I've never seen Mikey cry, and I saw him dislocate his knee in a hockey game."

"He's a tough kid," Jimmy whispered. "Where's Steve?"

"He took them home," She said, "I said I'd go when you or Jaime got here." He nodded.

"I love you," he whispered and hugged her again. "Give Stephie a kiss for me OK?"

"OK," She nodded, "I love you too." She walked out and he walked over to the desk.

"Hi," He said, "Um, where's Calvin Gaffney?"

"It's way past visiting hours," The nurse shook her head, "Only family I'm sorry."

"I uh," he said, "I'm his son in law. I'm also a third year med student at Columbia, my wife really wanted me to come up and look everything over. I know the doctors know what to do, but," He smiled. He'd already learned that a charming smile and the right manners got you really far in a hospital.

"I understand," She said, "Come with me." She walked him upstairs and into a room. "Ms. Gaffney? Your husband's here."

"My what?" She looked at the nurse, "I'm not," Jimmy appeared behind her. "Oh Jimmy!" She whispered and hugged him.

"I'll leave you two," The nurse whispered and walked away.

"Are you alright?" Jimmy whispered. Julie nodded and hugged him tighter. "Let me look at his chart OK?"

"You said you were my husband?" She asked.

"They weren't going to let me up here otherwise," he sighed and pulled the chart out. "What surgery did they do?"

"Um, I don't know," She said, "He was bleeding in his brain, so they got that under control," He nodded, "And then something with his abdomen."

"Well, his heart beat's stable," He said, "That's good." He was trying to be positive, but he didn't know how to tell her that this really didn't look good. "What about Elyse?" He asked. "Did they say what happened?"

"They explained it, but I barely heard." She sighed. He nodded and hugged her. "I can't believe she's gone, Jimmy, how did you do this? How do you walk around every day knowing you're never going to see your Mom again?" She cried into his chest for a few minutes.

"You wake up in the morning," He whispered softly, "And you breathe in and out." She looked up at him. "And it hurts and the hurt doesn't go away, but eventually it dulls, and you find other things to fill up the hole in your heart."

"What did you find?" She asked.

"You," He whispered and kissed her.

"Jimmy," She sighed, "Not here," She said.

"Come on," He teased, "If anything is going to force Cal out of a coma it would be the sight of me and you together." She laughed. "Don't cry Julie, please, I can't stand your tears."

"Julie," Jaime ran in.

"Mommy," Julie walked over and hugged her. "Did you talk to Josh?"

"He's coming tomorrow," Jaime said. "Hi Jimmy."

"Hi Jaime," He said. "I'll um, go to the house and check on Steve and Tammy and the kids. I'll be back in the morning OK?"

"OK," Julie whispered. "Jimmy thank you for coming."

"Of course," He said. "Bye Jaime." He walked away.

"What's that?" Jaime asked once he was gone.

"Tammy called him," She shrugged. "He drove up."

"Are you two back together?" Jaime asked. "What about Peter?"

"Jaime," She shook her head, "I don't know, I can't think about my love life right now." Jaime nodded. "I know there's like a million things to do, and Elyse's parents."

"Who's with the kids?" Jaime said calmly.

"Steve and Tammy," Julie whispered, "And I guess Jimmy now." Jaime nodded. "I thought that, someone should call St. Michael's, and,"

"Julia," Jaime said softly. "I will take care of everything, alright?" Julie nodded. "You just stay here with Cal, he needs you to be here. I'll sit with him, you should go get something to drink."

"I'm fine," Julie sat down and held his hand. "I'm not leaving."

"Julie," Jaime said. Julie shot her a determined glare. "Fine," She threw up her hands. "You're far too stubborn for your own good."

Jimmy walked into the house and saw Steve sitting on the couch with Stephanie sleeping curled up into him.

"Hey man," Steve said. Jimmy smiled and sat down in one of the arm chairs. "Where's the Cat?"

"She's still at the hospital," Jimmy said, "Jaime's there."

"They've been fighting," Steve said. Jimmy looked at him. "Her and Julie, and as result her and Cal." Jimmy nodded.

"Where's Mike?" Jimmy asked.

"He's upstairs with Tammy," Steve said, "This one cried herself to sleep, I'm afraid to move her."

"Sure," Jimmy whispered. "What about Elyse's parents?"

"They went home," Steve said. "Steph and Mike weren't really talking to anyone and they needed to get some sleep." Jimmy nodded. "Thanks for coming up man."

"Of course." Jimmy shrugged. "I'm gonna miss her."

"Yeah we all are," Steve sighed, "Poor Cal. I'm thinking about moving back up here just to help out. He's going to need it."

"Yeah," Jimmy sighed. He couldn't bring himself to tell Steve that Julie or their grandparents were probably the one who would need help "Here, I'll carry her upstairs."

"Thanks," Steve said. Jimmy took the sleeping six year old. He carried her up and lay her down in bed, she blinked and woke up.

"Jimmy?" Steph said quietly.

"Hi honey," He whispered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Where's my daddy?" She asked. "Steve said when I woke up I could see him."

"Um," He knelt down, "Your daddy's still in the hospital, but we're going to go see him in the morning."

"I'm glad you're here," She said. "I missed you."

"I missed you too bug," He hugged her. "Go back to sleep OK?"

"OK," She yawned and rolled onto her side. He smiled and walked into the next room where Tammy and Mikey were sitting watching TV.

"Hey," Tammy said.

"Jimmy!" Mikey jumped up and hugged him.

"Hey little man," Jimmy said, "Are you doing OK?"

"My mom died," He whispered. Jimmy nodded. "And Dad might not wake up."

"Listen," Jimmy said, "No matter what we're all going to take care of you and Steph OK?"

"OK," Mikey nodded. "Tammy?"

"Yeah kid?" Tammy said perking up.

"I'm think I'm ready to go to sleep," He said.

"Alright," Tammy stood up, "We'll go to the hospital first thing OK?" She and Jimmy walked out and closed the door. She hugged him. "How's Cal?"

"I don't know, it's kind of up in the air right now," Jimmy said. "Julie's a mess."

"Can you stay with them? I mean, we feel weird staying in Cal and Elyse's room so Steve and I are going to go to his parents." She asked.

"Yeah," Jimmy nodded. "I got it covered." Tammy stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

"Try to get some sleep little brother," She whispered and walked downstairs. He wandered into Julie's room and smiled lightly looking at the pictures on her dresser. He smiled looking at one of the two of them in sweatshirts cuddled up on the beach. He pulled it out of the frame and looked at the back.

Julie and Jimmy, Newport, Thanksgiving 1999

Casey must have taken it, or maybe Carolee. But they looked so young and carefree.

Julie sat quietly in the chair next the bed, still holding Cal's hand. This wasn't right. Something was just off. Suddenly all of the monitors starting going off. Her hear lurched.

"Move," the doctor said speeding in, Julie backed away.

"What is it?" She squeaked. "What's wrong?" They said something but she barely heard. She could only hear the beeping. "Daddy!" She whispered.

"You should go," one of the nurses said leading her out.

"Is he alright?" She said. "What's happening?"

"Everything's going to be alright," the woman said. "Go get some water or something." She nodded. When she walked back the doctor was standing outside.

"What happened?" She said.

"Julie," he sighed, "I'm really very sorry, we tried, but he went into cardiac arrest, and there was already so much brain damage,"

"No!" She said and shook her head. "No, my father is not dead!"

"Technically, no he isn't," he said, "not yet, he's brain dead though, he won't wake up." She swallowed. "We just wanted to know how you felt about organ donation."

"But he's not," she said, "he can't be. You don't understand." She was crying. "He's my dad, he can't be,"

"I'll let you have a minute," he whispered and she walked in. She quietly crawled into the bed with him.

"Daddy," she said, her eyes overflowing with tears. "You can't go. You can't. It's me and you right? We're a team and you promised, you said you wouldn't leave, not ever!" She pressed her face into his chest. "You promised."

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