OK folks! Nice to hear response to yesterday's chapter. It was written as almost a bridging one but seems to have had a pretty good impact! This is really the end of Kasey's main arc for the story, everything beyond will pretty much be fluff for her and a supporting role from her eyes. The main response I always get (and continue to get) is that Kasey/Callie/Stef moments (in some combination) are the ones people enjoy the most and therefore I will warn you now, I Do will focus primarily on those three characters. Obviously the other characters will be involved (I'll be looking at the adoption decision so that'll be whole family) and gonna put in lots of Sharon too. As it's the final episode I'm going to play. It'll be a light, tie up one. If anyone has any other requests, now is the time to say - otherwise this is what it will be.

Would just like to thank you all again for sticking with me this far (especially through this tough episode) and I hope that today's chapter is what people were hoping for. Thanks to TheTBone and thesameguest for all of their help and encouragement. Enjoy!

[Stef's trip away continued]

"So, you've had some weekend." Stef commented folding her arms and wandering into Kasey's room.

The small girl's eyes got big as she turned and hid under the covers.

Stef shook her head gently and moved over to the bed, pulling them off to reveal her daughter curled up in a ball.

"Come on, now. You wanted me home, I'm home. Let's talk." She patted her gently on the butt as she turned over.

"Am I in trouble?" She asked nervously pouting her lip out and avoiding eye contact.

"Well..." Stef squinted. "Lena doesn't think you should be."

"She doesn't?"

"No. She thinks you do need to tell me what's bothering you though."

Stef climbed under the covers and propped her head onto a cushion so that Kasey's was lying just underneath. Putting her arm around her head, Kasey took her Mom's fingers and began to play with them, twining them in her own and folding them around. She shrugged her fears away, her lip still sticking out.

"She said you were pretty sad about me being gone."

"I told you I was." She whispered quietly.

"Maybe, but you didn't tell me why..." Her leading question was met with more silence as Stef began to think of ways to pry it open.

"Kasey, you can't just do bad things because you're upset but then not tell us why you're upset. It doesn't work like that."

There were another few moments of silence before Stef's patience began to prick but she decided to channel it into her more playful nature.

"You don't want to make me tickle you."

"Mommy..." Kasey groaned. "This is serious." She said sternly as Stef failed to suppress a smile.

"Oh is it, now? Well then even more so." She prodded her side as Kasey flinched.

Seeing the response she did it again. Then more rapidly.

Kasey began to kick and writhe as a response, trying to hide the smile growing on her face.

"Stop it!" She screeched as Stef's prodding became more relentless and was now a gentle tickle on both sides. Kasey kicked faster and tried to move out as Stef pulled her back, unbending.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop! I just didn't want you to go away like Daddy did!" She finally yelped as Stef relented, getting the response, even if it was one that pulled at her heart. She sighed deeply and brushed Kasey's hair with her freed up hand giving the other back to Kasey's grasp.

"Honey, I was only away for two days. Why would it be like Daddy?" She coaxed, seeing the foundations were there.

"Lena came and Daddy went. You and Lena were talking about getting used to the new arrangement...and you not being here and -."

Stef cocked her head slightly down looking at Kasey, her voice trailing off but still panting gently from the tickling ordeal. She had turned away again, her lip curling as the last dregs of the laughter fought with the sadness and the stubbornness she was trying to portray. The vision made the words hurt Stef even more.

"And you thought me leaving you with Lena was her pushing me out?" She assessed in realisation.

Kasey didn't respond, she simple continued to play with Stef's hand.

"Sweetheart, I thought you were happy living here with Lena?"

"I am." She shrugged again. "I just didn't want it to be her instead of you."

Stef's heart creaked again, she was slighly relieved that this seemed more about her being her only mom than Lena being her mom at all but it didn't stop the troubled look in Kasey's face worrying her.

"Kasey, it's never going to be me or Lena. We come together now. She was just looking after you while I had to be somewhere else for a couple of days."

Kasey exhaled deeply. "I know that...but that's how it started with Daddy."

Stef closed her eyes thinking over the last few months. It had been a while since Mike had faced the worst of his demons but clearly the impression was still there. The gradual reduction in visits, only now recovering. She had thought the kids were through it, that the divorce was long gone but clearly moving in with Lena had added extra dimensions of confusion.

"You know that Lena didn't replace your Daddy though?"

"That's what Lena said." she replied quietly.

"And, do you not believe her?"

Kasey shrugged again, her eyes focussing in and out intently.

"I sorta did. After we talked. But then...he kept going away when you said he wouldn't last time too."

Stef moved her mouth closer to Kasey, close enough that she could feel the warmth of her breath.

"Your Daddy is still very much a part of your life. He just...wasn't very well for a little while."

Kasey turned to Stef and saw the desperation in her eyes. The desperation for her to believe her. In turn Stef saw the flicker of dread in Kasey's face. A flicker of sadness that she quickly blinked away as she turned. There was some things she never wanted her Mom to see, some memories she never wanted to give away.

"I know. He wasn't very well." She parroted as convincingly as she could.

"But he's getting better and you've already seen more of him, right? He came back, and I was away for a much shorter time."

"But how long will he be back for?" She grabbed Stef's hand again. Her eyes focussing on it, watery and big.

Stef breathed gently and ran her other hand along Kasey's forehead.

"He's much better now. He won't be going away again like that."

"But now you are!" She added with another sigh.

"Oh, baby." Stef replied with a whisper. "I'm not going anywhere. As I keep telling you - I just had to go away for one weekend. I always say you never listen to me." She prodded her with a light chastisement hoping it would lighten the mood. Seeing only vague success she decided to go back to seriousness. "Look, there will be times when I have to go places but never for long and not very often. It doesn't mean I'm ever going to leave you. Even when I'm not in the house I'm never far away."

A small tear escaped from Kasey's eye. "I don't want it to be like that again." She replied, her eyes yearning for consistency even more than her words were. Such a simple sentence, but one that she would spend the next ten years trying to belittle.

"I hear you, baby." Stef kissed her head softly and wrapped her arms tightly around the frame of the tiny 6-year-old. "And I promise you, I am never going anywhere - and neither is Daddy. You don't have to worry about him or me. We'll always take care of it. It's never your job to worry."

Kasey looked down at the floor with a sigh, feeling her Mom's body wrapped tightly around her. She knew she wanted to believe what Stef was saying, even more so, she wanted Stef to believe that she did - there was just that little bit of her that had learned that there were promises not even her Mom could keep.

Kasey edged into Room 6025 and saw her Mom sleeping there peacefully. Machines beeped and hummed and she had to look down at the floor to try and avoid seeing them.

She took a deep breath trying to hold in the emotions piling up that the sight gave her. It wasn't the first time she'd seen her like this or in the worst condition, but it was the first time she had been there alone and forced to face the truth of her emotions without the excuse of needing to keep up a front.

She finally closed her eyes to make the steps forward, taking the seat next to her Mom. She winced as it screeched, not wanting it to stir her. Once she was sure she remained unmoved she quietly began to talk.

"I guess you're pretty mad at me." She remarked, not expecting or wanting a response. She knew that against everything that had happened, her small level of acting up was dwarfed, but it was easier to think about than the bigger events that had transpired.

The silence that followed made it easier for her to continue. She had so much to say but wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the reply. She wasn't sure she could cope with that. She just needed them off her chest, to say it out loud. If she heard her Mom's soothing voice she may have to face the bigger events - face the reality that she had come so close to never having the chance to hear her voice again. She realised very soon though that those thoughts would creep in whichever way she went. She couldn't avoid them.

"It's so weird, and so stupid." She admitted, already beginning to surrender to them. "That that's what freaked me out. The stupid little things. The idea you'd never yell at me again...but that that could have been - " her voice cracked as she closed her eyes. "That it could have been the last thing I heard you do." She breathed in heavily through her mouth, the tears swelling up as she went back to those dark thoughts.

"I couldn't not have you here, Mom. I don't know what I would have done." She squeaked out. "And I've spent so much time trying to run from you. Trying to be alone and trying to face things alone and - "

She finally broke, collapsing her head down onto her hand and wiping the tears with her palm. "God." She croaked out. "And I still hate that you were right." She laughed in desperation at the irony of her feelings. She sniffed, looking back at Stef's heavily breathing body.

"All of this time you kept trying to chase down my stupid feelings...and I just kept trying to push you away. And then...this."

She blinked a tear or two, studying every line on Stef's face. She still looked so strong and so wise, even bed bound and broken. She now longed for the response, for some consoling, even though she knew these were things she could never say if she was listening.

"I didn't want to push you away Mom." Her voice was whispered and croaky, weighed down by the secrets she was finally going to divulge. All the secrets that while Stef may have known or guessed, she had never heard her say.

"I didn't want to push you away, but it's so hard. It's so hard to face it. The memories, the helplessness. Going back to the divorce." She gulped, losing her voice again. "I couldn't go back there."

She propped her head on her hands, her elbows punching into her thighs and her fingers wrapped around her hair. She could see a tear dropping down off her nose and onto the floor, trying to escape just like her lost feelings. The feelings she'd never admitted so plainly.

"I hate feeling powerless, you know? Like there's nothing I can do. I've spent my whole life trying to make up for that time. That stupid time when the whole world was moving around me. Everything changing. Feeling at any moment everything could be thrown up again and I would never be able to do anything about it. And since then I've been trying to fix everything I could, whether I should or not just to feel like I'd never lose my grip again."

She sniffed up, gasping in another sob in her faster pacing words.

"I mean, I know that things were changing for a reason, and I know you were happier, and there's nothing I want more than that. I don't...I don't regret it. It's just - it was so hard. It was so much and then Dad, he just was spiralling and we knew and we just couldn't say because -" she broke again taking a couple of shallow breaths. "It was one more thing we'd lose. Then you were hurting too, and you both were so sad and so angry and so protective. And although it's all fine now...Dad." She let out another breath.

"We just left him. And I know you'd be mad at me for saying it's our fault and I know that it isn't but it doesn't stop that feeling, Mom. It's just one thing I could never stop. I can't stop Dad from hurting and I can't stop what that means for you." she closed her eyes. "And the worst thing is I can't stop myself from feeling it. Even the hardest I try to push it away. I can't even stop that." Her voice dropped to an almost silent whisper.

She rubbed her eyes, causing prickles of white light. After a few more moments to gather herself she looked up again, the streams from her tears making pathways in the red of her cheeks.

"And that's why I couldn't tell you." She said plainly. "Because telling you would just bring it all back, and even worse because then you'd know it was worse back then and it would be all at once and even if you were OK now that would make you feel so bad and -" Her mind swirled as the muffled reasons flowed. She pinched at her forehead to try and slow it down, her voice going from sadness to frustration. "It's also stupid because that wouldn't change it from having happened or change me from having to face it or Dad going back but - God." She croaked, giving in. She tossed her head back covering it with her hands before wiping her face with a defeated laugh.

"I guess this has just completely fucked me up."

If anyone could hear this she knew it would make no sense - it barely made sense to her. There was another pause as she pulled her hand away from her head and stared into the bleeping numbers.

"Just 'cause Lena's not here doesn't mean you don't have to watch your language, young...lady." Stef croaked as Kasey's jaw dropped down and froze. Stef's eyes still hadn't opened, and for a moment she wasn't sure if it was a hallucination. She whipped her hand up and wiped her nose and mouth, gawping as Stef stirred ever so slightly.

"You're awake?" She asked, unsure of anything else to say. "How long have you been awake?"

"Since I heard the chair." She replied, Kasey squinting to hear. "I'm a pretty light sleeper. Have to be when your damn kids always try and sneak around." Her words were slurred and slow but they still had her trademark sass. Kasey inaudibly laughed out a tear. She ran her finger along her eyelash to dry it with another sniff.

"Why didn't you tell me you were listening?" She asked, almost sounding hurt, but more just tired with emotion.

Stef swallowed a couple of times before having the voice to answer.

"I've been trying to get you to talk to me for days. Why would I stop you?"

Kasey laughed again even though her lip twitched down into a frown. She saw Stef's hand stretch open and eagerly grabbed it as it tightened around her own.

"I'm so sorry, Mom." She whimpered, the sadness taking over again, the realisation hitting again that all this could have been lost.

Stef wished she had the energy to focus more on her face but right now it was channelling into holding her grip. She eventually managed to turn her head to the side and open her eyes, seeing Kasey's blotched face for the first time. Maintaining her front of being asleep had been hard. The only thing stopping the tears from rolling down her own face was the complete lack of energy to produce them. Kasey's words had ripped her apart, but more importantly than that she was hearing them. She was being able to fulfil that role to share her burden, the one Kasey had been preventing her from sharing for all of these years. She couldn't make up for the past but she could be there to share it now.

"Honey." She croaked, her voice still a whisper. "You don't have to be sorry." She blinked a couple of times as she swallowed again and saw Kasey's eyes dart between her own.

"You just have to let me in."

Kasey's lower lip bent into its frown again, the familiarity of that statement hitting her hard. She couldn't control the muscles from showing the sadness that it brought to her.

"But that's what it's like with me for Dad." She felt Stef's hand grip a little tighter. "Even if he's making the steps...what if he falls again?"

"Then we help him together." Stef finally replied. "But not alone. Maybe I shouldn't have made you think we'd take it off your hands completely."

Kasey stared at her hard, the words sinking in. It had always been such an unreachable goal and therefore something she had never considered. Telling Stef was relinquishing power and not telling Stef was resigning to having power she couldn't use. The notion of tackling things together and maintaining a co-operative control had never felt like an option, but she realised now it was what she had longed to hear. This wouldn't be like when she was five or six because simply, she wasn't five or six. Once she had the nerve, she began to nod, the last of the tears flinging off her face.

"That's my girl." Stef smiled, closing her eyes again to be able to fully embrace it. Kasey sat, holding her hand tightly for a few more moments before deciding to lay it all out even though it seemed so trivial against the backdrop of a hospital bed.

"I'm sorry I snuck out again Friday. I just had to talk to Dad. I yelled at him and poured out a bunch of his bottles." She admitted. "That's where I was."

Stef took the sullen words in with a few more breaths.

"Did it make you feel better?" She asked, her voice still raspy and quiet.

"Not really." Kasey laughed hopelessly. "Then I went to this bar." She wiped a tear away with her thumb and saw Stef's forehead crease. She felt a childish reflex to backtrack. "I didn't drink, I just...you know I'm banned from Scurro's and it was next door..."

Stef took a few moments to answer. "Doesn't look like that ban'll be ending anytime soon then." She quietly croaked, her face not showing the playfullness in the chastisement that was intended behind the comment. Kasey picked up on it however and broke into an open mouthed smile, still fighting the gravity to pull the upturned corners of her mouth back down. The threat was another much needed dose of normality that made her feel slightly more like her Mom was coming back to her.

"And I guess it's not helped that I kind of snuck out to talk to him again now..." Kasey added, unable to not sniff out another laugh at the irony. "But this time it is better. I think he's getting help."

She saw a smile work across Stef's face before another pause.

"I was pretty worried about you." She added genuinely, knocking Kasey's smile away completely. Her eyebrows creased at the hypocrisy.

"While you were off getting shot?" Kasey finally replied, unable to stop herself from using a teasing tone.

"Hey now." Stef admonished as much as she could. "I guess we'll both be grounded for a while." Her voice trailed off. Kasey could see the toll the talking was taking and realised that as much as she wanted this to go on forever, she needed to let her Mom sleep.

She got up and kissed Stef's head, gripping her hand as tightly as she could.

"I love you so much, Mom." She whispered, inches above her head as Stef opened her eyes again."That was another feeling of helplessness. I just can't imagine..." They were bloodshot and struggling but they still had the kindness that never left them, even at her most angry.

"I love you too, baby." She whispered back as Kasey brushed back her Mom's hair. "And we can't control everything. We just do the best we can." Kasey nodded seeing what her Mom was really saying. She knew that Stef would understand that better than anyone. Here she was, lying in the hospital after trying to rescue her son from forces she had no control over at all.

"I guess you're right." She sighed.

"Besides, if I'd have died...I couldn't kick your ass for sneaking out...again and apparently again. Can you call Lena, now, please?" her voice struggled even though she was determined to get her point across. "And you know - actually be grounded tomorrow."

Kasey twitched into a smile with a subtle eye roll. "I will. She knows anyway, I asked Jesus to let her know." She gave her hand one more squeeze with a few departing words telling Stef to get some sleep.

"Kasey." She whispered as she left. "Sleep easy, my love, it's gonna be OK."

Kasey nodded, unable to find words that wouldn't ramp up the tears again. As she left she breathed out the air she had been holding, much more than she anticipated. She felt like she hadn't breathed since she left the station the previous afternoon, part of her even wondered if it was from since she found the bottle. Either way, she felt the stress leave her, even at this most challenging time. She had found the thing she had been missing throughout, the thing she had been most resisting. She had found the peace of mind she had craved even though it had been there all along. She knew it would take some work, but it would be OK.

Next Chapter Preview: Young Jesus gets creative to get Mariana out of a tight spot and back in the present, Stef thanks Callie for holding the family together after the kids prepare a surprise for Stef.

"I thought we were meeting you at the hospital..." Kasey commented first, quickly destroying the evidence of the food fight that never was from her face.

"I wanted to grab a few..." she began while assessing the nervous faces. "What are you up to?"

The kids looked between each other before Brandon's shoulder dropped down with a sigh.

"It was meant to be a surprise."