Thank you very much for your kind words!

Danny kept his eyes closed as long as possible. Reporting bad news was the worst part of the job, worse than writing endless protocols and records, worse than fighting with the attorneys for every inch of the next move… those things were annoying, but you got used to annoying things. You didn't get used to pain, not to the kind of pain he had just seen in Jamie's eyes.

"Uncle Danny?" Nicki's arm was tightly wrapped around her mother's waist, her eyes both challenging and pleading. How came his niece had grown up so fast? "How's Beth and the baby?"
Erin took a deep breath, as if surprised by her daughter's question, though it had been hanging above the family for the last hour, dark and threatening.
They had all sensed something was really wrong, Danny realized with a sudden urge to laugh. When had the Reagans become so superstitious?
Then again, he could only guess how he was looking right now.
"I don't know" he admitted, sighing. "But it didn't look good." Understatement of the year. Jamie's eyes kept following Danny as he turned to his father. "Maybe you should go and talk to him, I…"

The door opened again and Jamie emerged, pale as death. Erin couldn't bite back a gasp of shock as she saw her baby brother, and when Nicki started crying it was all Danny could do to keep his own tears at bay. He knew hopelessness when he saw it. It just…didn't make sense at all.
"What happened?"
Jamie's shrug told him that he didn't understand it either. When he opened his mouth, the family gathered closer around him, as if the words were less dangerous if only uttered in a whisper.
"She's been septic for a while without noticing it, at least without telling me…" his hands moved shakily over his face. "I don't know why I just… and now…" he took a deep breath and looked at his father, silently begging him to forgive his weakness.
Frank firmly put his arm around his youngest son's shoulders, the other around his daughter's. Erin reached for Nicki whose free hand automatically searched for Danny's. He grabbed it and held tight, trying to smile at the teenager.

Jamie's eyes wandered over the circle, and he smile sadly. "That's all I wanted for her" he murmured, "I wanted to give her a family. I wanted to keep her safe, her and Thomas. And now…" He couldn't help but smile as his family's face, even Nicki's, lit up.
"Thomas?" Erin echoed. "That's a beautiful name."
"Thomas Joseph, actually" he still smiled. "She was so happy when she told me. And I was, too. We promised to take care of him. We promised to live, earlier, no matter what." The smile died away.
Danny closed the circle as he grabbed his brother's shoulder. "What's wrong, kid?"

"Either she gets medicated so aggressively it will likely kill our baby or… she dies." He swallowed. "And she wants to die for him." He started shivering, tears rolling out of his eyes. "I'm sorry, dad, I can't…"
"Erin!" Frank warned and she quickly tore Nicki out of the group hug and buried her against her body as the girl broke down sobbing.
Jamie wound out of his father's and brother's grip, too. "I'm sorry."

Danny found his brother around the next corner, leaning rigidly against the wall, his eyes red but dry.
"You didn't go far."
"How could I?" He shook his head. "There is nothing I would not do for those two, Danny. Nothing I wouldn't give to make sure they're safe, and I… just… can't." He looked up at his big brother, and the sudden rush of hope in his eyes stabbed Danny right in the heart. There was nothing he wouldn't do to help Jamie, but he was just as helpless.
"I'm so sorry, kid."
The flicker of hope died as soon as it had come, and Jamie's glance traveled back into nothingness. "What am I supposed to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean should I fight with her? I have to. I can't just let her… I can't let her die like that, I can't… agree to that. But if I fight and it's the last thing I ever say to her…" he broke off as fresh tears rolled down his face. "And I feel like no matter what I'm doing, dad will be disappointed."

"Alright, now let's forget about dad for a minute, will you?" Danny shook his head. "This is your life, Jamie. You've been arguing with me for almost four years because I wouldn't let you live your life, and now you feel bad because of dad? He's never been through any of this, Jamie. None of us ever has."
Which was probably not the best thing to say, he realized.
Jamie's head dropped down. "So I lived my life and now the woman I love is going to die to protect our child. She's twenty-four, Danny. What life did she have? What life did I offer her?" He waved his brother's protest off and closed his eyes. "I just… I know it's been just an hour and a half, but… it feels like this is half of my life. And I can't help thinking that if we hadn't met, Beth wouldn't be lying here right now."
"Maybe. Maybe she'd be dead already" Danny murmured, frowning. He wasn't sure where Jamie was going right now, but he didn't like it. "Anyway, there'd be no Thomas Joseph Reagan on the way." Despite the grief he felt, Danny, too, had to smile at the name. Joe. He would never come back, but he would never be forgotten.

"Who says he'll make it if Beth dies?" Jamie whispered hoarsely. "And what's going to happen to him? Danny, how can I ever take care of a child if I know Beth died for him? How can I… how can I live when she gives up everything and dies?"
"What else are you going to do?" Danny grabbed his brother's shoulders, forcing him to look at him. "Run away from your own child? They child you swore to protect? No matter what? Do you think that will help anybody?"
Jamie held the fierce glance only for a second. "I can't do this, Danny." His voice was barely audible and so desperate it broke Danny's heart. Still he forced the anger in him to be stronger. "So you will leave Beth and your son to die, both of them, alone. Is that what you're talking about?"
"I can't, Danny!"
"You will!" He roared, so loud that several nurses and visitors peered out at the corridor. "You will, Jamie, you will live as you promised, and no matter who survives you will be there for them, understood? This is your family!"
"My family's going to die" Jamie yelled back, much weaker than Danny, "and I can't do anything about it. I'm useless! I'm as useless as you always said I was. I can't help her! And I can't help him. I just… I wish it was over already. I wish I was dead."