APOV

I opened my eyes, hearing murmured voices in the room. Christian was snoring quietly in my ear, but I would not wake him, no matter how much pain I was in.

Lucy was speaking to someone near the door but with the position I was lay in, I couldn't turn to see who without waking Christian.

"Lucy" I said, quietly.

"Mum, I'm here" she spoke, immediately at my side.

"Sweetheart are you ok" I asked, putting my hand to her cheek.

"I'm fine Mum, I'm glad to see you awake. I don't like it when you sleep."

"I know, I'm sorry for sleeping so long."

"You needed it."

"Are you in pain Ana" I heard, seeing one of my own patients, Chiara.

"Hey, am I late for your appointment Chiara."

"No" she smiled. "It's our turn to look after you. Are you hurting."

"A little, but I don't want something that will make me sleep. I think I have slept too much."

"I will get you something for the pain. It's good to see you awake."

"Thank you."

Chiara left the room, leaving us alone.

"Dad hasn't slept since you came in" Lucy told me.

"Have you" I asked her.

"A little. Last night I did."

"Nightmares."

She nodded, wiping a tear away.

"Come here" I said, pulling her into my arms.

It was a struggle to hold her, but soon Christian's arms were wrapped around us too.

"I love you both" she cried, gripping us tight.

"We love you" Christian told her. "You have been so brave, looking after your Mum Lucy. You took over her care, made sure everything was perfect."

I smiled at my husband's words, kissing Lucy's cheek.

"We have to look after you, you have always looked after us" she told me.

"I will be glad of your help. I can't even go to the bathroom at the moment. I hope they remove this bag soon as I need to move."

"Princess, you can't just get up and go for a stroll."

"I know. I refuse to spend the rest of eternity in this bed though. I can feel my legs, I can feel everything, it just hurts."

I let the tears go then, tears that I have tried not to shed in front of my children. They came now, and I was powerless to stop them.

"Let it out Princess please" Christian told me, as he pulled me closer, when Lucy stepped back.

I needed her close too and she quickly had my hand in hers.

"Sweetheart" I heard, turning to see my Dad stood at the door with my sons, all trying to keep their emotions in.

"Sorry" I apologised, brushing my tears away.

"No don't apologise Mum. You have nothing to be sorry for" Theo told me.

"Ana take these please" Chiara spoke, placing the tablets into my hand.

"They won't make Mum sleepy" Lucy asked.

"No, they will just take the pain away."

I swallowed them along with the water she gave me, before resting back onto my pillows.

"What day is it" I asked.

"It's Saturday Mum" Luca told me.

"Saturday." I brought my hand to my head, trying to fathom that I had slept for so long. "Nearly a week" I told them, feeling Christian squeeze my hand.

"A very long week" Mac added, joining us with Sofia and my grandparents.

"You were supposed to be gone. Tuesday, you were leaving."

"We can't" my Granddad said. "We can't leave, not yet."

"I'm glad you're here. I don't want you to go" I told them, closing my eyes to the pain.

"Let the tablets work Ana" Grandma told me.

"I am, I feel like Swiss cheese though."

"You are an incredibly strong woman Ana" my Dad told me.

"I have to be. I have so much to live for and so much to look forward to."

My room soon filled up with the rest of my family. My sisters bringing a goodie bag of products to make me feel more human again.

"I learn something new everyday" My Granddad said, picking up the can of dry shampoo.

"We can fit you in next Antonio" Mia teased him.

"What little hair I have left, would probably fall out with that stuff" he laughed, making me smile.

This is what I need. The teasing, the laughing, even the bickering. All of it is daily life in my family.

...

"Who's staying here" I heard Luca speak. Mumbled replies coming from others in the room.

I must have fallen asleep. At what point I didn't know, but it was dark now.

"I'm staying" I said, as all heads turned my way.

"I'm afraid you are" Christian said, coming to stand beside me, before leaning down to kiss my lips.

"I don't mind staying in bed and being waited on for a little while. I miss the dogs though, I wish they could come here."

"I know Ana. I worry they would get too excited seeing you, only to be heartbroken when we have to take them away. They miss you, they have camped out near the front door, refusing to move. When they do go out, they run to the front of the house and towards the gate, to wait for your return."

"They don't understand Christian. I'm there all the time and now I'm gone. They must be missing all of us."

"The boys took turns to go home when you were….sleeping. They spent as much time as they could with them but the boys all wanted to be back here."

"I understand, I just miss them."

"Mum, I have something of yours" Lucy said, putting my locket into my outstretched hand. "The doctors didn't want anything around your neck until you woke."

"Thank you, sweetheart. I thought I had lost it."

I had tried not to think about it, when I woke to find my locket missing. It was too painful to think of the only piece of my mum that I had, was gone.

"I was keeping it safe until I could give it back."

"Thank you."

I brushed my finger over the gold, feeling the new scratches that were there. It didn't make the locket mean any less, in fact it meant more to me. Just like in the car crash years ago, it was a survivor just like me.

Most of my family were here now, apart from Grace and Carrick who I'm told are on dog duty. I nodded to Luca to close the door, not wanting anyone outside of this room to hear.

"When are you leaving" I asked, more to my husband than anyone else.

"Soon, it needs to be done tonight. As far as the people of this city know, there is a shooter on the loose. Sam is getting it from all sides to catch this guy, especially from the press. We have to get rid of him and let them deal with the aftermath."

"Go then. End this but come back please."

"I will be back, although you might be sleeping when I do. The hospital knows that we're all doing shifts here, so us coming and going at all hours is nothing new. Dad put a statement out this morning about you waking up. There are a lot of happy people in this city now."

"I can't believe.." I broke off, thinking about what has been going on outside this room.

"I can. Despite the family business, you have continued your jobs and position in this community. Above all, I think that is why the police struggled to pin anything on the family. They couldn't find anything to tarnish your name."

I smiled, thinking of my Dads words. If I had to live my life over again, I wouldn't change anything about it. Even my early suffering, I would go through again if it brought these people into my life.

…

"You be safe please, I need you back here" I told Christian who was getting ready to leave. He was the last, everyone else leaving in stages.

"I will be back as soon as it's done."

"I love you Christian, so much."

"I love you Ana. Don't go anywhere while I'm gone."

I laughed, wishing I could leave this bed, never mind the room.

"My jog around the grounds is out then."

"For now, soon though. You and sleeping beauty be safe. Your Dad will be back soon from the canteen. John's also here with a team surrounding this place."

"Ok, don't be long."

"I won't" he told me, kissing my lips before he left the room.

….

CPOV

"Are you finally escaping" an aged nurse asked me as I walked past the nurse's station.

"My wife says I smell, so I'm finally going home to shower."

I looked back to Ana's room, wanting to go back to her, but I had business to deal with.

"She will be fine; Dr Grey has a remarkable strength that you don't see in many" she told me, smiling.

"That she does. I won't be long."

I left the nurse to her work, leaving the hospital. The press had diminished from the hospital grounds, moving to the Police precinct now that my Dads statement had been released and Ana's doctor had also given a statement on my wife's health. There was relief from everyone who knew my wife but more so from us.

It was harder the further from the hospital I drove, but this would be finished tonight. I needed to go back to Ana and let her know that the man who tried to kill her and our daughter was gone.

I drove out of the city, ignoring the docks where I would normally be going now and continued to drive. This man was actually being held at a safe house that the police no longer use. We needed a place that no one would come across, especially holding him for so long. Sam had suggested this place.

"Not my idea of a perfect vacation spot" Matteo said as I joined them outside what now resembles a ruin, not a house.

"What happened" I asked Lorenzo, who came out of the door.

"Carok family, about ten years ago."

"I remember them. Didn't the son turn evidence against his Dad" Elliot asked.

"Yes, they were holding him here. They didn't know he had a cop on the books though, and there was a major firefight. The only one who survived was the crooked cop, who's still in prison."

"Is it safe" I asked, as we approached the door.

"Yes. The damage is mainly to the front, giving the impression that it's dangerous."

It didn't just give the impression, it felt like it too as we walked through the door and towards the back of the house.

"He's a little hungry as we don't provide room service here" Lorenzo laughed, showing us into a room where a man was tied to a chair, a bag covering his head.

"He has enough reserves, fat arse" Theo said, standing by my side, with his brothers.

I knew they felt like me, wanting to dive in and kick the shit out of this man before we all ended him, but we couldn't. His end would come, but with a bullet and not a fist.

"Remove the hood" I said to Jason who was closest.

Jason pulled the hood off the man, shocking my sons I think. They expected someone my age or younger, when he was more like my Dads.

"You're kidding me" Luca said, angrily stepping forward.

The man opened his eyes, hearing my sons voice, a smile coming to his lips.

"If it isn't the infamous Grey's. How's your wife and daughter, had their funerals yet."

I held my hand up to my sons, who were just about to dive on this man. Walking around to the back of him, I placed my gun around the spot where one bullet had hit Ana.

"My wife and daughter are alive and well. You though old man, will never see the light of day again."

I stepped back, before shooting him in the shoulder, his screams echoing around the room.

"Does that hurt" I asked, pushing the barrel of my gun against his now bleeding wound. By the sound of it he was in agony, but I didn't give a shit.

"Stop please" he cried, but I pushed harder until he passed out with the pain.

"Do you have water here" I asked Lorenzo.

"Yes, I will get a bucket" he told me, leaving the room.

Theo took the bucket of water from Lorenzo and dumped it over the man's head who spluttered, opening his eyes.

"We're still here. You don't get to sleep until I say so."

"I hit them" he seethed. Pain taking over his anger as he tried to use words to hurt me.

"You did, my wife anyway. You don't have any idea how strong my wife is though" I said, walking over to my boys. "When did Sebastian hire you."

"A week after she hired him to do the job. He was fucking too slow, it should've been done before now" he said in obvious pain.

"Why didn't you do it before now then" I asked him.

"They were too fucking guarded. I thought that was why he hadn't acted and then I saw him, standing around laughing with him" he nodded to Jason. "I didn't know if he was trying to wheedle his way into the family or was friends and that is why he didn't act. I told Sebastian I wouldn't encroach on another guys work but I would finish the job if he didn't. I finished it" he said with a sneer.

"Hain didn't act because he has been my friend since we were little."

"Fucking pussy. He wasn't killing your wife, I bet he was fucking her instead."

"I want to hit him Dad" Theo told me.

"I know, me too but we can't. Believe me boys, I would rather this ended our way, but we can't hide what happened. It was too public and by beating the shit out of him, questions will be asked that Sam cannot answer."

I was speaking calmly to my sons but inside I was getting close to losing it for the way he had spoken about my wife.

"It was supposed to be public. I wanted everyone to see you crying over your wife's body."

"I'm not ashamed to say I have cried over my wife, I have cried with her as well. When you love someone as much as I do, you feel their pain. No one will feel your pain though, you're a nobody, no one to miss you."

"Fuck off, you don't know anything about my life."

"Your name is Kyle Marsden, age 65. Your wife left you ten years ago because she was sick of being second best. Oh, and because she caught you in bed with a hooker. Any of that ring a bell. Your face is all over the news. It was your ex-wife actually, who identified you from the e-fit that was put out. Not that we needed you identified, as you were already here, pissing and shitting yourself while tied to a chair."

"Couldn't keep it in his pants, job went to his head" Theo taunted him.

"Fuck off you bastard. I could've easily taken that piece of skirt out that you're fucking, but she's a nobody."

"Theo" I said, wanting to calm him down but I didn't need to. Marsden's comments were going over our heads. They meant nothing, just like him.

"There are no nobody's in my family, each is as important as the other. You followed most of my family, you should've known that."

"No others mattered. The only way to bring the Grey's down, was to hit the top. Your wife, your daughter were the top and it felt so good when I hit the target, like slicing a hot knife through butter."

Fuck not hitting him. My fist connected with his face, sending his body and the chair to the floor.

"What was that about not hitting him Dad" Matteo laughed, when I turned to him, shrugging my shoulders.

"Do as I say, not as I do."

"If anyone asks, I will tell them that happened when he hit the floor, getting shot will do that to someone."

I nodded, trying not to think of Ana like that. I was happy when Luca called my name and gave me something else to think about.

"Can I have the first shot" he asked.

"If you want, why."

"I want to hit him in the spot where he shot Mum. Where he could've hit Lucy too."

"Ok, we need him up, preferably tied up with his back to us" I told the room as Theo and Matteo dragged the man up and over to the wall, where a large hook was.

"Do I even want to know why you have a large hook on the wall, in a safe house" I asked Lorenzo.

"Carok, liked to hunt game before he came here. Thought he could hunt bears or other shit in the area and wanted to display it. He was here so long, the dipshits on the force let him do it when the only thing he caught was a cold."

"I'm surprised he wasn't found sooner, if he was shooting all over the area" Theo told him.

"Not the brightest in the bunch, I can tell you."

Marsden, already having his hands tied, was quickly put onto the hook. His feet barely touched the ground and he struggled to stay in one place.

He was shouting at us to stop, the pain in his shoulder intensifying as his arms were stretched. I didn't give a shit, he would be dead in a minute anyway.

"Luca go."

We had all moved back to give the impression of him being shot at a distance before Luca took the shot. I don't know if it went through the man, but it was near the spot when Ana's had.

He was screaming, getting louder all the time. I looked to Theo and Matteo before we all took our shots together, the screams immediately silencing.

"It's done" Luca said, quietly.

"It is, he's gone. He can't hurt the girls any more...Ok" I said, turning to Lorenzo.

"Yes, I will deal with it from here. Listen out for the news."

"Send me a message. The news hasn't been on in the hospital. I have tried to keep that away from the girls, especially Lucy."

"Ok, I'll send you a message when it's done."

…

I arrived back at the hospital close to midnight, seeing the same nurse I had seen before.

"Did you fall asleep" she asked, taking in my rumpled clothes. Clothes that I had made this way, to give just that impression.

"I did, are they ok."

"Of course, you should've slept."

"I need to be here" I told her.

"I did Dr Grey's checks thirty minutes ago and everything is fine. Dr Kavanagh is with her at the moment."

"He is" I asked.

"Yes, he has been here about an hour."

I nodded, making my way to Ana's room. As I opened the door, I could see Lucy fast asleep while Ana was being hugged by Eamon. Both of them had been crying. Eamon did come and see Ana yesterday but with everyone here, he has obviously wanted time alone with her.

"You both ok" I asked them.

Ana looked at me from top to toe, checking that I was alright.

"We're fine" Ana said, her voice hoarse.

"I will let you rest and see you tomorrow" he told Ana who hugged him again, kissing his cheek.

"I will still be here, or somewhere around here."

"I will find you" he said, shaking my hand before leaving the room.

"He saved you" I told Ana, taking a seat on the bed.

"He did. I remember hearing his voice. It must have been when I arrived here. Talking to me and keeping me with him. My eyes were closed, and I was too tired to communicate, but I knew he was there."

"You were in surgery for a long time, every second he fought to keep you with him. What did you mean about being somewhere else."

"They're moving me from the ICU to high dependency. I don't need all the machines any more, although I still need everything else. I'm in pain, but I know it could've been a hell of a lot worse."

"I know Ana. We take it a day at a time."

…

Ana was moved to high dependency the next afternoon. We didn't need to camp out in the visitor's room like we had done before, most went home to sleep, although they were never really away for long.

I went home to change and spend some time with the dog's, but it was not enough for them. I worried about them with Ana not being there. It was like they were going through a bereavement as they had all lost their best friend.

Today would be different though. Ana had been in the hospital for over three weeks now. She had been moved to a private ward, having her own room. Lucy was back home now in the evenings but spent the day in the hospital with her Mum. School were actually ok, knowing what had gone on. They had seen the police reports of a shooter on the loose, even keeping it closed like the others in Seattle until he had been caught. That press release had brought calm to this city, knowing that the threat was over, and everything returned to normal. It wouldn't be for us though, until Ana was home.

"Come on" I called to Lucy, who came running from the kitchen with the dogs following behind. This was like everyday but instead of the wining at the door, today they were all coming with us.

"How do you think Mum's going to be" She asked me, as we put the dogs into the car.

"Expect tears from the dogs, as well as your Mum."

"She will like the surprise though, won't she?"

"She will love it. Your Mum wants here normality back and spending everyday with these, will at least be the start of that."

We drove to the hospital, to the sound of happy barks, that they were finally leaving the house.

Once we arrived, I held the four boy's leashes as Lucy took Hope and Rosie. Instead of heading for the main entrance, I went to the patient's garden that was at the rear.

We could see them as soon as we entered the garden, but they were on the opposite side. Frankie had brought Ana out for a bit of fresh air, wrapping her up tight from the cold.

It was Rosie's yap that gave our position away, as Ana quickly turned to us.

"Oh my god" she cried, reaching her hand out to them as we approached.

The boys had seen Ana now and I struggled to keep them with me.

"We brought six, now very happy dogs to see you" Lucy told her mother, excitedly.

"I see" Ana said, brushing her tears away.

We watched as the dog's approach Ana. They knew something was wrong, different about her. Despite their excitement, they were cautious.

Ana took her time with each of them, making their tails happily wag again.

Ana had gotten up out of bed, she had walked a few steps, although aided as her strength had gone. She tires easy. If there was ever an incentive for Ana to be walking on her own again though, it was with these dogs.

Thank you for reading.

I apologise for not putting a tissue warning on the last two chapters. I was so emotionally exhausted after finishing them, I just posted them.

There will be no more need for tissue's in this story unless you cry at weddings or births.

Ana will be going home next chapter and Matteo has a surprise for her, or maybe it's the other way around.

Until next time, take care.

Caroline.