Karen sat silently next to Shawn and Gus in the waiting room. They watched people walk by, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone in particular.

"Shawn!" They turned to see Juliet walking quickly from the elevators.

"Is he okay?" Shawn asked, jumping out of his chair and holding out his arms to hug Juliet.

The chief smiled to herself. Despite their constant bickering, she knew Shawn and Carlton cared about each other, even if neither of them would be caught dead saying so.

"Yes," Juliet said, accepting the hug, "or no? Maybe. I have no idea."

Shawn pulled back to look at her, and Karen could still see his unsettled thoughts rippling across his forehead in deep lines.

"Lily's preschool just called," Juliet explained. "She was supposed to be picked up like 30 minutes ago."

"I'll go get her," Karen said, jumping quickly at the opportunity to get out of this sterile building. She hated hospitals. The wooden chairs where she sat anxiously anytime one of her officers got injured in the line of duty. The crappy vending machine snacks she had consumed entirely too many of while her sister, and then her detective, had been stuck in the hospital fighting cancer. Of course, it had also been where she had given birth to Iris, but the memory of Carlton's militant attempt to get her to push had not created the magical birthing story she had been dreaming of for nine months.

"Iris was going to babysit Lily tonight anyways. We'll just do it at my house. Lily can sleep over tonight."

"Are you sure?" Juliet asked, still leaning close to Shawn. "Are you going to tell her?"

"I'll talk to her," Karen said. "Don't worry about her. You just focus on being here for them. Let me know if anything changes."

She gave Juliet a quick hug and Shawn a pat on the shoulder before walking out of the hospital and rushing to her car.

It wasn't until halfway to the preschool when it dawned on her what "talking to her" would entail. That she was going to have to explain a stroke to a four-year-old. And that the reason she had to do that was because that four-year-old's father had just had a stroke. That her dad- her hero and her protector- was lying in a hospital bed and that none of the adults in her life who she trusted and relied on to make sure everything was okay had no idea if everything would be okay. Not this time.

"Auntie Chief!" Lily cried when Karen walked through the doors of the preschool. When Lily was younger, Shawn had told her that Karen's real name was "Chief," and she had called her Auntie Chief ever since. Karen smiled and scooped the little girl up in a hug.

"Hi baby," she said, holding her tight, wishing she could take the whole world of hurt that this little girl was about to feel away.

"Auntie Chief, Daddy was supposed to pick me up." Lily grabbed her hand and pulled her out the front door. "Where's Daddy?"

"Lily, sweetie," Karen said slowly, not sure where to start. There was a bench on the playground and Karen led Lily to it and sat her down on her lap. "Your daddy had an accident." She tried to sound calm, but she could feel her heart actively shattering as the little girl's face softened and her eyes got big.

"Did one of the bad guys with guns at Daddy's work hurt him?"

Karen could feel the weight of Lily's eyes staring her down. She knew that Marlowe and Carlton had explained Carlton's job to her, but it still made her sad that this little girl had to carry around the fear of someone taking away her daddy at any moment with her every day. It was the same conversation she and Richard had to have with Iris well before she was old enough to truly understand. But the guilt that suffocated her and Carlton each day was the fear that the job they loved put on their children. The fear that someone could take away their parents at any moment.

"No, sweetie, nothing like that." She patted down a few fly-away strands of Lily's dark brown hair. "He had an accident inside his brain. It's called a stroke. But he's okay right now. Your mommy is with him and the doctors and nurses at the hospital are going to help him get better."

Karen watched Lily's face process the words, thinking hard for a moment before her eyes got wide. "Did I hurt him?" she asked, her eyes filling with fear. "I jumped on Daddy this morning to wake him up. Did I hurt him? Did I make his brain have an accident?"

"No!" Karen said quickly. Her heart dropped. How could this sweet girl think that she did this to her dad? "Sometimes accidents just happen. But it's not your fault. Don't ever think that."

"Can I visit him?" Lily asked.

"No, not right now. Hopefully soon though, okay?" Karen watched the little girl nod and suck in her bottom lip to keep from crying. She tucked Lily tightly into her arms, willing away the hurt she had a sinking feeling would never fully go away. "You are so brave. And we'll just keep praying for your daddy so you can see him really soon, okay?"

"Okay, Auntie Chief." Lily nodded again and leaned closer into Karen's arms. She rested her chin on top of the little girl's and held her close for a while. "You are so brave," she kept whispering over and over.

"And, while we wait to go see your daddy, you can stay with me and Iris, okay?" Chief said, stroking Lily's back. She raised her voice in a lame attempt to make it sound like an exciting adventure rather than the sad excuse wrapped up in a consolation prize that it actually was. "Do you want to go home and watch Frozen?"

"Okay," Lily smiled and jumped down to run off to Karen's car.

Lily was quiet on the drive home. Karen looked back a few times and saw her staring out the window. She seemed okay, but she also didn't really know what was happening. Karen wasn't sure if that was better or worse. She wasn't sure she wanted Lily to understand the gravity of the situation. She didn't want Lily to know just how bad this could get

When they pulled into the driveway, Iris was already sitting on the front steps waiting.

"Mom!" She said, jumping up and grabbing her bag. "Where have you been? You were supposed to take me to Lassiter's house 20 minutes ago."

She was about to say more but she was cut off by Lily jumping out of the back seat of the car and running to her.

"Hi, Iris!" She said, jumping up into Iris's arms. Iris looked up at her mom, confused. "I'm sleeping over at your house tonight because my daddy had a shock, and he is in the hospital."

Iris looked up and stared at her mom. What? She mouthed.

Karen brushed away the question with her hand, waving the explanation away for another time.

"Can we watch Frozen, Iris?"

"Of course we can, Cutie!" Making a big show of how heavy Lily was, Iris lugged the little girl into the house and plopped her down on the couch. Karen could hear the familiar sounds of the opening number to Frozen fill her living room, and she sat down at the kitchen table, finally taking a moment to breathe in the day. She couldn't believe the day was practically over. It had been such a whirlwind of waiting and pacing she hadn't realized time had actually passed.

Any news? She sent a quick text to O'Hara.

The response came in almost immediately.

They just said they're watching the pressure in his brain and keeping him sedated overnight to keep the swelling down. They told Marlowe she could stay tonight. We're going home and we'll be back in the morning.

Anything I can do for you? Thanks for the update.

You're good. Thanks for taking Lily.

She was still in utter shock that this was happening. Lassiter was her head detective, but over the years he had become so much more than that. Especially once he married Marlowe and they had Lily, their families had practically become one. They had dinners together on their days off and Iris finally got the sister she had always begged her mom for. Which was a relief for Karen who was grossly uninterested in having another child.

But the thought of Carlton spending the night in the hospital seemed unreal to her. She couldn't wrap her head around it. Conceptually, she understood he was there. The doctors had talked to them about his condition. Juliet and Marlowe had seen him. But her brain was still working overtime trying to process the fact that Carlton didn't just go home tonight.

And by the way the doctors had been talking to them, it seemed he wouldn't be going home for quite a few nights… if ever.

You can't think like that. She yelled at herself, willing the fear of the worst out of her head.

In her mind, Carlton was still fine. She would go to sleep and go into the office in the morning and he would be sitting at his desk or yelling at some unsuspecting bystander for saying something stupid. She could see him walking down the hall with O'Hara, ready to stop the next big criminal that came to town.

But she knew that everything had changed. Even if she hadn't seen him yet. Even if she didn't know how well he would recover, she knew that nothing would be the same ever again. But just that thought alone was too much for her to handle.

This wasn't fair. None of it.

Carlton finally had the life he really wanted. The life he never got as a child after his dad died and the life he wanted with Victoria but was never in the cards for them. But now he had it. He hadn't even had it for that long and now he might lose it? Karen felt sad for him, and for Marlowe and Lily. She needed her head detective to be alright. For all of them.