Disclaimer: I dont own anyone, other than Brielle and Baby Boy Copeland.
Rated: M
Warning (s): Slash, Exotic Dancing, Stripping, Violence, Domestic Violence, Hinted Self-Harm, etc.

"He's right in there, ma'am." There was a brief pause, before the frail looking nurse continued, "go easy on him. He hasn't been cleared for visitors yet."

Ms. Copeland nodded tersely. There was something incredibly unsettling about the fact that her precious baby boy was so badly off that he needed to be 'cleared for visitors', as the nurse had so plainly put it. She didn't know too much about his condition - there was only so much that Adam was willing to tell her over the phone. What she had heard, however, was cause enough for concern. That poor, poor baby. Her heart went out for her son, who had so much on his plate right then. So many people that he loved had gotten hurt... there simply wasn't time for him to be worried for his own physical well-being.

"Hey, baby." Judy smiled down at him, placing one hand on his uninjured arm. Adam's eyes fluttered, opening only halfway, and he appeared delirious and confused. "How are you feeling?"

"Mhmm... tired." His voice was gruff and scratchy. Clearing his throat, he continued, "They've got me on some killer pain-meds. I can barely stay awake for more than a couple hours at a time." Closing his eyes once more, he softly finished, "But it's better that way. It gives me less time to think."

Her eyes flickered to the bandage on his shoulder and her smile faltered a bit. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Adam's eyes met hers, all life entirely drained from the once vibrant emerald depths. "I don't really know what more there is to say."

She broke away for only a moment, pulling a chair up to the bedside and taking a seat. "I just... I have to say, you really threw me for a loop, Addy-dear. When you showed up on my doorstep in Canada, I didn't even know that I had a grandchild. And you're still keeping secrets from me. Like this baby... when were you -,"

"After I successfully carried to term." Adam cut her off. "I didn't want to let anyone know... in case something like this happened."

"In case you miscarried." Judy supplied for him.

A frown, "The doctor said the gunshot wound started the miscarriage, and they had to preform an emergency C-section."

Judy reached out, taking hold of her boy's hand, "You don't have to continue if you don't want to, Adam. I know that this must be hard."

"He's alive, Ma. He's a living, breathing, beautiful little boy. Only twenty-three weeks along." Adam was mumbling now. "And I really wish that I could believe he's going to make it. I want to hold him in my arms, and kiss him, and love him... but I've learned that life doesn't exactly work that way."

No, as it turned out, nothing was working out 'according to plan'. Since Adam was listed as Randy's emergency contact, the nurse would come in and give him updates about Randy's condition... not that it ever differed. As always, his vitals were stable and the bleeding had stopped, there were no signs of infection in his stitches and all brain activity was normal. Quite simply put, he should wake up at any time. The only problem? He wasn't waking up. With his breathing assisted with an oxygen mask, he had slept for two days straight, and was showing no signs of rousing anytime soon.

Adam had no idea where Brielle was, and that terrified him. The very idea that Wade could get his hands on her whenever he wanted deeply troubled him, and he was only able to sleep because of sedatives administered to him on a regular basis. What he wouldn't give to see her smiling face at his bedside! It would certainly make him feel better to see his little girl and hold her close. And then there was little Alannah, Randy's daughter. Adam, shortly after receiving the news about the various injuries everyone had sustained, had called Beth and asked for her to watch her for a little while. Beth, of course, had immediately agreed.

"You don't know for sure that he won't make it." Judy offered plainly. "Try to look on the Brightside once-in-awhile, Addy-dear."

Adam offered a weak little smile. "I tried that once. It was awful." The tension in the room slowly started to dissipate. "You want to know the reason why I chose to always think the worst?" A brief pause, in which Judy nodded, "Because it makes the good news that follows that much more uplifting."

Judy nodded, allowing his words to sink in. But then, she said, "I know that he'll live, because he's your son, and I know that my boy is a fighter. Just like Brielle."

Tears flooded Adam's eyes and he sniffled, screwing the emerald orbs closed, "I-I'm sorry I didn't tell y-you about her b-before."

"Better late than never, if you ask me." Judy simply brushed it off. As far as she was concerned, all of that was ancient business. It had little to no bearing on the here and now. "But I must say, she is such a little darling. You've done a great job raising a generous, kind, caring little girl... whose honest to a fault."

There was a brief pause, before Adam forced out, "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"I mean that she told me about you starving yourself for her benefit." Adam stared out into space, ashamed. "Honestly, I wish that I had said something before all of this. But they do say that hindsight is twenty-twenty." A sigh, "You haven't been eating right even now, have you? Your body isn't used to it anymore."

"Brielle is more important. She's a growing girl... she needs to eat. I barely make enough money to feed her. I can't worry about myself - that would be selfish. I was the one who wanted to have a baby... she is my responsibility, no-one else's."

"She needs her Mommy to be alive and healthy... and your new baby does too." Judy pushed gently.

"No!" Adam snapped. His body jerked on the bed, and then he fell back, wincing. Hissing through his teeth, he continued, "They need me alive. I've functioned on as much as twenty and thirty percent for days on end before this! I -,"

"You started this pattern after the rape, didn't you?"

Adam's heart stopped. How did she know about that? He had only told her about Wade, and perhaps select things about Chris. But their renewed relationship was somewhat tumultuous at best. He wasn't sure how much he could tell her at one time - but he definitely knew that he wouldn't dump the rape on her right away. Randy certainly was in no condition to tell her, and unless she had seen the daily updates on the court case (which he doubted, as she tended to veer away from upsetting stories such as that), she wouldn't know.

But then, she started to recount the story with terrifying accuracy. She had information only an insider could know, and he wondered who she had talked to. That's when she reached into her purse and pulled out a card with the club's information on the front and Vince's cell and home numbers on the back. So, his mother had done some sleuthing and had found out about the rape in the showers all those years ago. But more so than that, Vince had faxed her a copy of Adam's personal file, saying that it was no longer needed because he was no longer an employee there. After the rape, Adam's weight had plummeted hard and fast.

"You started to gain the weight back when the doctor said it was the only way to save the baby." Judy offered, pushing a little harder. Adam was crying now, but he did not acknowledge it. "And then dropped it and more once the baby was born."

"I don't want to talk about this." Adam said firmly, covering his eyes with his good arm. "I want you to tell me a story."

Judy frowned - her boy had never been one to come right out and accept what was blatantly obvious to everyone else. "What kind of story do you want to hear?"

"A fairytale." Adam answered immediately. "Where everyone ends up happy and healthy... the bad guy is banished... and the wedding commences as planned."

Judy moved in a little closer, complying to her boy's request. It was like he had regressed into a temporary childish mindset, where he wanted to block out everything else and just believe the idealistic 'fairytale' world that they lived in. Judy didn't want to be the one to have to tell him that Randy probably wasn't going to make it out of this - once they took that mask off of him, he would be brain dead. She didn't want to agree with the fact that the baby had extremely low odds of surviving. And her boy could be sick, but he didn't want to admit it... and she couldn't force him to. So she did the only thing that she could.

"Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a beautiful, benevolent queen named Hannah..."