AN: Guess who is procrastinating her university works? I am! Guess who is going to hate herself in about 2 weeks? I am! Guess who won't have a decent night sleep because of it? I am! Oh, but I am enjoying the moment right now! So here you go, lovely readers...enjoy this while I go an procrastinate some more by writing a chapter or two up front :)

Lena POV

September 17th

It was the middle of the night, when I am woken up. The room was dark. I heard a heavy, uneven breathing next to me. When I look over my shoulder I see how Stef was tossing and turning in the bed next to me. Once again Stef was having a nightmare. She has been home 8 days and every single night she has been home from hospital, she has had a nightmare.

She was muttering in her sleep "Stop! Please no! Don't do it!" She sounded desperate, even in her sleep.

"Stef, love...wake up. Wake up Stef" I move closer to her and try to wake her up from the nightmare. Very gently I place my hand on her forehead. She was covered in cold sweat.

"Don't!...Nooooooo!" Stef screamed out and jolted up in the bed. I barley managed to lean back so our head's don't collide. Stef was now sitting up, panting, I think I heard her heart beating fast in her chest. Quickly I move to sit behind her, my legs by her side. I lean back to the headboard.

"Come here, love" I whisper to her and she leans back into me immediately. I wrap my hands around her gently. Her left hand was still in sling so I had to be very careful not to hurt her shoulder.

"Shhh...It's over…It's over honey. You are okay. You are home, you are safe...it's over" I keep whispering to her to sooth her down

"I killed him" Stef sobbed out as I was very softly rocking her

"In self-defense. It was self-defense love..." She always looks pass that part, so I remind her every night

"He was 19...he was a kid" Stef cried out as she put her right hand over my palm, which was placed on her upper chest

"He shot you. He attacked you! You had to do it. It was self-defense" I keep telling her over and over again as she cries in my arms. Just like the previous nights, I have to hold her and sooth her for over an hour till she finally calms down and falls back to sleep, rested back into me.

In the morning, after she took a shower, Stef was sitting on the edge of the bed. I was cleaning her gunshot wounds.

"You have your appointment at 3PM today" I remind her about the therapist session. Her first appointment was 6 days ago. Stef is against it, she is sure she doesn't need any help, but even the kids know she is not right. We all see her struggling.

"I know" She says sounding extremely tired. Her eyes were somewhere on the ground in front of her, she was holding her left hand pressed to her body.

"Did you take your medication?" I ask her as I cover up the wound on her upper arm

"I don't want it" She says back coldly

"You need it! I don't want you in pain"

"Maybe I deserve to be in pain" Stef argues back when I place a bandage over the exit wound

"Stef..." I say and move around her so I could see her eyes "Don't say that"

"Why not?" She looked up to me "That's how I feel" She stood up suddenly and started to pace in the bedroom "I didn't kill the other boy. Why did I have to shoot the boy in the chest? Why...why couldn't I shot him in his leg, or arm...or shoulder? Why did I shot him in the chest?"

Stef stops pacing and looks to me. The way she looked to me - she was desperately waiting for an answer. Stef was literally begging me with her eyes to answer her.

As much as I wanted to answer her – I couldn't. I wasn't there. I had no idea how it went down. I have no idea what the situation was. I had no idea what she was thinking or how she felt, or what went through her mind at that moment. This wasn't something I could answer. Only she could.

Amy POV

This is the second day at home. It was so good to finally sleep in my own bed, in my own, old, comfy PJ. I slept like a baby last night. I was so happy yesterday, but now...now it is a whole different story.

Cooper helped me out of the shower. Linda and Callie had bough a special shower chair for me, so I wouldn't have to stand up in the slippery shower. The chances of me slipping, while I was balancing on one leg, were huge. So in a way I was thankful. I could take a shower, without fearing of falling down and hurting myself.

But the the other part of me, the more prouder part of me...felt almost humiliated. I felt like they were making me into this weak person, who can't even do stuff on her own. They were babying me, treating me like a sick person, that needs a fucking chair to just take a shower. It was embarrassing.

"Slowly...slowly" Cooper helped me out of the shower to the chair they placed outside, by the sink. I sat down and started to slowly dress myself.

"Umm..."Cooper looked around "I think I forgot the bandages and the medical stuff I bought in the kitchen, on the counter. I will go get them real quickly. Be back in minute" he kisses the top of my head and hurries out

I pull on my underwear and short shorts. When I have dressed my lower half, I push myself up from the chair and limp the two steps to the mirror. I press my hands at the side of the sink to give a small boost myself in standing up.

When I look up to the mirror, my eyes travel down to my naked chest, to the wound and incision. The bullet wound didn't even look so bad, compared to the long incision between my chest that was made by the doctors. The suture were still very visible. The wounds were still healing. To me, they looked ugly. But I hated one more than the other.

I lift my left hand up. My fingers linger over the incision, I wanted to touch it, but I knew I couldn't. I couldn't risk the infection.

Cooper opened the doors slightly and slipped in with a small plastic bag with all of the medical stuff in. He placed the small bag next to the sink and went to stand behind me to look over my shoulder to my reflection.

"What are you looking at?" He asked gently, looking to my eyes in the reflection

"It's ugly" I say quietly as I examine the incision with my eyes. It was the first time I saw the wounds so closely, this was the first time I could examine them.

"What is?"

"This" I linger my fingers over the long incision "It's ugly...I hate it" I was starting to feel insecure and self-conscious about myself, about my body. Part of me just wanted to hide away from Cooper. I wanted to shield the scars so even I don't have to see them.

Cooper reached from behind me "This" he points to the bullet wound "almost killed you" He detains a small pause and looks to my eyes, to see if I heard him

"But this" he points to the incision as he continues "saved your life. Because of this, Callie still has her mom, your parents still have their daughter, Stef still has her partner and I have my girlfriend" He kissed my cheek softly. Gosh...I knew Cooper was right, so why was I having trouble seeing it myself.

"I don't care about the scars or how they look now, or how they will look later on. With the medicine we have now, if you want to...if it still makes you feel insecure, we can go remove it later on. All I care...is that we didn't lose you Amy."

Cooper wrapped his arms around my lower abdomen gently, he held me close to him "I still think you are beautiful...I still love you. That hasn't change and it never will"

I look up from the refection on my incision up to Cooper's face "Thank you..." I say barely above whisper as one single tear rolls down my cheek

Cooper kissed my cheek "I will remind you that every day if I have to"

Callie POV

I look down to the watch as I keep running. I have been on a run for 2 hour and 18 minutes. Right about now I started to feel really exhausted. My legs started to feel weak, breathing came harder, my heart was racing, pulse was up, I was covered in sweat. I could no longer keep the pace up. Even though I wanted to keep it up, I couldn't, not any more. I was simply too tired.

Suddenly, someone runs up to my left side and start to run along with me.

"What are you doing?' I ask him watching the guy next to me

He flinches away, like I scared him or something. Without stopping he pointed to his ear. That's when I remember that I had earphones in and I was listening to music. I must have shouted that at him. I pull the left earphone out of my ear.

"What are you doing?" I repeated the question, this time I don't yell it at him

"Training. You?" He asks kindly back and smiles at me

"Why are you training next to me? There is plenty of space in the park" I said looking around the park

"You looked like you need a partner" He says as he keeps on running next to me. Without knowing, I was keeping up to his pace, thus fastening my.

"I don't" I say proudly and look back to the path in front of me

"Where is your training partner?" He asks back

Once he sees the shock in my eyes, he continues with an explanation "I have been running in this park the whole summer. Almost every time I have seen you here, you were with an older woman, brown hair...average built. At the start of last week, you stopped coming. I hadn't seen you for 4 days, if I am correct. And then you appeared again, only this time without your training partner. What happened to your training partner?"

"You spied on me?" I ask back, my guard was suddenly up

"No, I didn't spy on you!" He says sounding offended "Did you miss the part where I said I was coming here to train every day. I just notice people. Some people simply do stuff in a routine. Like you for example. For the last days you always come here around 6PM instead of 7 like you used to. I have a routine as well" He then points over the park

"And that older couple right there" He points to the benches "They used to come here with their dog around 6:30 and stay for an hour and a half. They still do..."

"I don't see a dog" I said looking to the couple

"It died. I actually talked to them few days back. It was of old age. They had a chocolate brown Labrador" Now that he says that, I do remember that dog. It used to slowly walk around with them. One time he came up to me and the couple say I could pet him.

"You often talk to strangers?" I ask curious as I raise eyebrow at him

"Sometimes...if they look like they need company" He smiles kindly at me

"You think I need company?" I ask a little offended

"I think you are missing your training partner" He was really good at observing people. I remained silent as we kept on running side by side.

"I'm sorry if I offended you" he said as I detained the silence "I didn't mean to"

"You didn't. I just don't want to talk about it" He dropped the subject after my reply

"What are you training for then?" He asks curiously "With this regular training, you have to be participating in something"

"Marathon...this Saturday"

"Ah...last few training days. Don't overdo yourself. You should take a rest the day before..."

"That's what I was planning to do" I said as I was getting close to the exit to the street which I need to take to get back home

"Thanks for the company" I say as I turn to the street and start to run home

"Have a good day" He calls back. I look over my shoulder to see if he doesn't follow me. He doesn't. The guy continues to run down path in the park.

When I get back home, mom was trying to walk down the stairs with Harold in front of her telling her to go back to bed.

"Dad, seriously...I'm fine!"

"You are suppose to be on bed rest! This is neither bed, nor rest!" He said holding his hand out ready to catch her or hold her up

Mom jumped down the last step and only then lowered her left leg to ground, it barely touched the ground.

"Where are your crutches?" He asked worried and looks around

"My room! But I don't need them!" Mom argued back "I'm fine!" I stood by the doors, quietly observing the two of them. Mom turned to head to the kitchen, she held her right hand to the wall as she started to limp that way.

"If you are hungry, I could have made something for you!" Harold said as he walked next to her

"I'm not hungry dad!" Mom said starting to sound annoyed

"Then where the hell are you going!"

"To get fresh air, dad! Are you going to stop me?" She challenged back and limped few small steps forward

"You are suppose to be on bed rest...Doctors order!" He argued back walking next to Amy as she limped away

"Doctors order my ass!" Mom snapped back at him

"You should have seen her when you were are at school" Linda surprised me when she spoke walking up to me from the living room

"Why are you not trying to stop her?" I ask Linda and nod to the two of them in the kitchen

"If she wants fresh air, she should get fresh air. Your mom just got home from spending 10 days in hospital...she needs it. Spending day after day in a small room on bed rest is incredibly hard."

I squint my eyes at her "Speaking from experience?" I ask as I take the played and headphones off of me

"I had to spend last 2 weeks on bed rest when I was with your mom. It was horrible" She shook her head "How was your run?"

"Good...it was okay" I look up and see how mom was now just standing in the middle of the backyard, her head leaned back. She was just enjoying the small moment, the fresh air, the breeze of wind, the last ray of sunshine. There was no bickering between mom and her dad any more. He was just standing next to her.

Linda touched my arm softly. I turn to her and smile "I'm going to take a shower"

"And then homework!" Linda reminds me as I head up the stairs

"I have no homework" I reply walking up

"That's what everyone always says. I want you to hit the books, you can't fall back, you already missed almost a week of school!"

"4 days!" I correct her

"That's what I said. Almost a week of school!" Linda calls back as I was almost up the stairs

"Okay, grandma!" I call back and head in my room

When I was in the middle of doing my homework, I heard a knock. When I look up I see Linda standing in the doorway "May I come in?"

"Sure" I say and look back to the Math book in front of me

"So...you have homework after all" She smiles walking up to me

"I wouldn't call it homework" I smirk back "What's up?"

"You know that Harold and I are leaving after your marathon" Linda walks to sit on the end of the couch. She puts her hands on her knees.

"Yeah" I nod back

"Are you going to be okay?" She asks worried

"Why wouldn't I be?" I ask looking to her confused by her question

"I'm just concerned. Your mom is still not 100% back on her feet…I just worry if you can handle it all"

"I can take care of mom and myself. You don't have to worry. Cooper will still be here, he will take care of her when I can't. And Lena and Stef said they will come by every once in a while, Stef more often probably. I will be okay, grandma"

Linda watches me and says thoughtfully "A lot has changed"

"What do you mean?" I stop tapping the pen at my notebook and look up to her

"Over a year ago, it was just you and Amy. And now..." she smiled at me "now you have your brother back. And your mom is dating Cooper...he is such a nice man. Stef and Lena are in the picture as well. And their 5 kids, who seem as close to you as if you were all siblings. Plus, your friend Mackenzie...your family has grown a lot"

"Hmm..that thought hadn't crossed my mind" I say thinking about it "But honestly, I will be okay grandma"

"So...you don't need grandpa and me anymore?" Linda looks to me with raised eyebrow

"Sorry, nop" I smile back at her

"That's what I thought" She says smiling back "I think we have been driving your mom a little bit crazy"

"Little bit?" I tease her back as she stands up. She places her hand on my shoulder "Oh, just you wait...your mom will drive you crazy in few short years as well" She kisses the top of my head and leaves the room.

Lena POV

Stef was settling in the bed, when I got out of the bathroom. I sat down on the chair next to our bed and started to put lotion on.

"You never told me how was your appointment" I say to Stef and glance up to her as I massage the lotion in my skin

"Fine"

"That's it...fine?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Lena!" She says more louder and harsher

"You could tell me how it actually went. Or how you feel! Or what are you thinking about!" I name a few options and pull my PJ pants on

"You wanna know how it went?" Stef sat up in the bed to look at me "I will tell you have it went! I have PTSD! I'm officially a crazy person! That's how if fucking went! Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted to know?" She said harshly and lowers back to the bed. She turned on her right side, turning her back to me.

I turn off the light and walk around the bed to her side. Stef had her right hand under her head.

"Scoot" I say softly as I lift up the blanket to crawl under it next to her. Stef does what I ask and scoots closer to the middle, giving me more spot on her side of the bed.

"Come here, love" I say as I place my hand on her hip and lower my head on her pillow. Stef moves closer to me, till our foreheads touch. With my right hand I softly caress her cheek.

"You are not crazy love..." I whisper to her "I'm not happy that you were diagnosed with PTSD, but I am glad that you were diagnosed. Now you can start to heal and get better. We will get through this together. We will take it one day at a time. We will do it together"

"I'm sorry" Stef says quietly in the dark

"Don't be...you have nothing to be sorry about" I tell her as I lean slightly away from her to see her eyes "I love you, Stef"

"I love you too" Stef says quietly with tears in her eyes. I press my forehead back to hers and hold her tightly, till she falls asleep.