"And you're sure he's gonna be okay?" Marina stood just outside the door. The doctor's face was solemn despite the words that sounded optimistic.

"Ms. Cooper," the doctor responded slowly, "I need you to understand, physical harm is only part of the equation here. Mr. Lewis may have avoided any critical injuries tonight, but his pattern of behavior will certainly lead to others. His blood alcohol level when he came in tonight was -"

"I know -" She stopped him. "Believe me, I know there are issues. I've tried talking to him. I've tried begging him. I've even tried threatening to keep our son from him, but it's like he's …"

The doctor nodded. "You can't force someone to get help until they're ready," he said quietly, "but you can try your best to protect yourself and those around you. The best way to help Mr. Lewis now is to stop enabling him to continue this destructive behavior."

"So you're saying it would be best to just leave him alone, let him deal with his problems and all of this with no one to help him?"

"I'm saying he needs to help himself now." The doctor held out a card towards her. "This is the name and number of a counselor. She's very good and if Mr. Lewis is interested in getting some real help and in talking with her, just give her a call. And if you'd like to make an appointment yourself, she might be able to help you make peace with this whole situation as well." He waited a moment after she took the card from him, watching as she drew in a slow, shaky breath.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, "but I have other patients that I have to get to. I'm going to prepare his discharge papers. There's no reason he needs to stay here. You should go in and talk with him. This might have been enough to wake him up. You never know." He smiled weakly, his eyes betraying his true thoughts. "Good luck."

She nodded and watched as he headed towards another family, their faces also drawn with worry. Her hand trembled as she reached for the handle of the door. She wanted to believe there was something she could say that might get through to the man that lay in the bed inside, but she'd been let down so many times. Mallet's offer was her best hope. Her fingers made quick work of the message, Call as soon as you can. I'll make sure he has his phone.

Dinah turned towards the familiar sound of the creaking door and smiled. "This is probably some kind of record," she grinned. "You normally only make it about ten minutes before you come up with some kind of excuse to join me out here. It's been almost 45 minutes today."

He tried to force a smile. She was trying to lighten the mood. Ever since they'd exchanged words the night before she'd been working extra hard to keep things upbeat. What she'd said, even though she hadn't meant it as an insult, had bothered her, just as it had bothered him, but for very different reasons. "I didn't mean to …" He looked down at her and sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you need your space." He turned back towards the door, the conversation he'd had with Marina still fresh in his mind.

"Mallet, wait." She paused until his eyes met hers once more. "I was just kidding. You're not bothering me. It's nice … the fact that you're so concerned, I appreciate it. You don't have to do it. It's not your job. I'm not your responsibility. You've given up so much to take care of me and I wouldn't ever want you to think that I don't -"

"Stop."

His quick, almost curt response baffled her.

"Okay," she said quietly. "I just …"

He took a few slow steps towards the lounge and pulled a chair over from the patio table so that he could sit down next to her. "You keep thanking me for giving up everything for you, like I'm selflessly sacrificing over here and that's just not true. It's never been true. That's not who I am and you of all people should know that. I've done terrible things in my past. I'm no saint."

"We've both done terrible things, Mallet," she said softly, "but the past is the past. You've changed. So have I. You are not that man anymore and you don't need to keep carrying that guilt. So much of that was about Griggs and -"

"I'm not just talking about Griggs, or at least not just Griggs. I'm still doing things for my own reasons, Dinah. I'm not the man you think I am. I'm not suffering or sacrificing or living this existence of martyrdom with you. Every morning I wake up and I can't believe how lucky I am to have this chance. I know that things didn't work out for us and a lot of that was because of things I did in my past and mistakes I made. What happened to you, it was because of me."

"Mallet, that wasn't -"

"It was. Griggs came to town because of me. He went after you because of me. If I'd just been honest about everything as soon as he showed up, you would have never ended up on that dock. You would have never put yourself in that position and we would …"

"You don't know that." She swallowed past the wave of emotion. "No one knows how things would have turned out. We can't predict the future. You loved Marina and I loved Shayne and if … Things happened the way that they happened and maybe that was how things had to happen so that we could …" She shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe we're supposed to end up here."

He smiled. The lightness in her eyes at that moment was almost enough to make him believe she could be happy here, truly happy, forever. "Maybe it was. Maybe this is my second chance to keep you safe, to protect you, for us to live the life we were supposed to have." His eyes drifted to the ever so slight bulge of her abdomen. "And we'll give this baby a really good life."

She nodded. "I know we will. You'll be a great Dad, Mallet. You were a great Dad and I've always wanted that for you, so …"

The sheen of tears in her eyes was impossible to miss. He stood, moving from his chair and joining her on the chaise. "I know," he whispered, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer. "You know you can talk to me about this, right? I don't want you to be worried about my feelings. If you need to talk about it, if you need to talk about him, then …"

"I don't," she sighed. "It's better to just …" She brought her hand to her face, wiping away the tears that had already escaped her eyes. "I know he's with his son. I know he's good. I know he's okay and that's enough. He has his son. He has his family. He has Marina and I have you and this baby and we can all be happy. We can."

He let his lips brush her forehead as he felt her back shake with a sob she tried to contain. "How about I go inside and start some lunch. I can make a quick pasta salad, heat up the rest of that grilled chicken. It's a beautiful day. I'll get it ready and bring it out here and we can eat on the patio. How does that sound?"

"Sounds perfect," she said softly. She reached out and touched his hand as he moved to stand. "I know you said you're not selfless, and maybe you're not perfect, but I am so lucky to be here with you and I'm really glad that we all have a chance to be happy."

It was all he could do to keep the smile on his face until he closed the door behind him. He pulled the phone from his pocket and stared down at the message. He'd made Marina a promise. If there was anything he could say to help Shayne, to give him a reason to fight, a reason to keep living, he had to try. Dinah believed Shayne was happy in Springfield and if there was a way to make that the truth, it was worth whatever it took.