I was waiting to post this chapter until the bugs that are currently existing in this website were fixed, but it still seems to be having issues. Anyway, thanks to decadenceofmysoul, patrickpopp, Maritza92 (who somehow reviewed the last chapter twice), Paige Parmenter, and the guests: Pinapplepurple, Craniumduranium, Cupplepuook, and Kokoschboko for all your reviews. I'm glad you all like this story.

Although a normal spring day started like any other, it went downhill fast when she got home after picking up her dry cleaning. She was still whistling the song on the radio as she walked up her front walk and stopped short at the sight of the person sitting on the front stoop. "Mom! I didn't know you were coming down. I'd have been here sooner had I known," Anna said shocked.

"I didn't wait long," Linda answered, standing. "We need to talk about something your uncle told me. Something your father didn't deny and I don't think you will either."

"OK, well let's go inside." Anna handed her mom her keys, allowing her to open the door and enter the house. Anna followed, shutting the door behind her. "So, what did Uncle Jamie say to make you drive all the way down here?"

"Wrong uncle."

Anna hung her dry cleaning on the back of the dining chair and looked at her mom. "I don't think I've talked to Uncle Jack in a while."

"Jimmy," Linda said plainly as she sat down on the couch.

"Oh," Anna said slowly. Danny hadn't mentioned Jimmy saying anything that could have gotten her in trouble with her mom so either he didn't know or he was doing this to—. Her mind stopped in her tracks. Her dad wasn't doing anything to her. Maybe it just slipped his mind. Her mom was still staring at her expectantly. "Dad did tell me he stopped by. What did he tell you between teaching your boys to gamble and giving them beer?" Anna stood next to her dining table watching her mom.

"Don't get me sidetracked. He said you're a cop."

Anna flinched internally. Of course her slip had come out. Of course it had been Jimmy who had told her mom. The way Linda had just dropped it on her told her just how angry her mom was. That and the heartbroken look on her face which grew the longer she went without answering. "Mama."

"You better not be about to lie to me," Linda demanded, motioning to the dry cleaning. Anna glanced despite already knowing the only thing it contained was her uniform.

"Then what do you want me to say, Mama?" she asked roughly.

"I don't know. Hasn't this family given enough? Four former military, six cops in the last four generations. What happened to business school; to you wanting to run a diner or the next fortune 500 company?"

"I got bored."

"Bored? Bored? You gave up a perfectly safe job and career path because you got bored? You don't just upend everything because you're bored."

"That's not—" Anna sighed frustrated. She stared at her mother and blinked a few times. She went back into the bedroom and shut the door, sinking onto her bed. She pulled her phone out and stared at it. She took a deep breath and tried not to get angry. She got that her mom was just worried about losing her kid but it wasn't fair for her to tell her how to run her life. Anna really didn't want to cry about this but it was making her so angry she really couldn't help it. She could hear her mom arguing with someone outside the door but couldn't bring herself to care enough to listen. Then her phone rang. "Dad?" she asked.

"Anna. She's not mad; she's concerned," Danny told her. So that's who Linda must have been arguing with. How else would he know she had just argued with her mom. For the record, she didn't think her mom was mad at her just not happy with the decision she had made.

"Concerned? She thinks I'm screwing up my entire life like you did two and a half years ago."

"Anna, honey, she's your mom. She loves you and she just wants to know why."

"Why I can't just behave and do what she tells me to?"

"More like why you felt drawn to this job. Did I tell you about the conversation I had with my mom when I told her I was going to enlist?"

"No, but given how much she's like my mom, I'm sure Gramma wasn't happy."

"She was not. She hated every last second of it but when she understood why I thought I had to enlist, she wasn't so angry about it."

"Yeah, 'cause that will work here."

"Anna, I know your mom. Have since high school. I know she loves you. Explain why you had to do this and you'll be surprised by her coming around on this."

"What if she doesn't?" she asked after a few moments.

"Then I'll talk to her again."

"I love my momma but I love doing this job too. Why can't she understand that?"

"She does but I don't think she understands why. Did you know her mom didn't want her to be in the medical field?"

"Why not? Saving lives ..."

"Her mom didn't see it that way. You should ask her about it."

"Sure." Anna stared across the room. "How come you didn't tell me Jimmy told her about being a cop?"

"I didn't want you worrying about something that may not be anything."

"You couldn't have called when she started down here?"

"To be honest, I didn't think she'd make it all the way. I am sorry for not telling you about what Jimmy said or that your mom was headed down there. Much the same way you were sorry for not telling me that Jimmy was coming here."

"Right, thank you, I should go talk to her."

"Yeah. Don't make it sound like a death sentence. She loves you just as much as I do. She just needs to hear you explain your choice. I promise she'll come around."

"Love you, too." Anna hung up and stared at her phone. Her dad was right. Jimmy had told her mom nearly a month ago and it had taken that long for her mom to bring it up so him not telling her had no hidden motive. Maybe he was telling the truth about her mom understanding. She stood, tucking her phone in her back pocket. She took one deep, steadying breath then walked out the door. Linda looked up from the phone in her hand. "I gotta go, Wen."

"OK, love you," her aunt answered.

Anna sat down in a kitchen chair and looked at her mom as the woman sat on the couch across the room. As bad as she wanted to fill the silence, she really wanted to hear what her mom had to say. "Six months after your cousin got hurt seven years ago, she told her mom she wanted to start modeling again. Wendy asked for my advice. I told her that it was natural to want to protect your child after they get hurt but eventually, if they're passionate about what they were doing before they got hurt, they're going to find a way back to it. Even if that was what caused them the pain. Your dad reminded me of that when Sean wanted to play hockey after he got hurt four years ago. Wendy was just reminding me of that now. How long have you been a cop?"

"Since June."

"And Mike, he's your partner?"

"He is."

"I—" Linda stopped and stared at her hands. "For the last 21 years, I have watched the man I love walk out our front door into god knows what kind danger every day. I want more than that for all three of my kids. When you and Jack decided to go to college, I was relieved. Another couple of years and you'd find something you love and I wouldn't have to worry about you as well. Now, I see the extra two years did the same thing it did for your father. Just delaying the inevitable." Linda looked at her daughter.

Anna wondered what to say to all that. Then she remembered the last thing her dad told her. "Why'd you become a nurse?" Anna asked.

"What? What's that got to do with ... What did your dad tell you?"

"It's just a question."

"To save lives. I don't like when people are hurt and I wanted to do something about it. My mom couldn't understand that. Told me that being an ER nurse meant I would see the worst humanity had to offer and I would get burned by all those I couldn't save. If I had to go into the medical field, why couldn't I be a dermatologist or something? Anything that was—"

"Safe; where you don't get your heart broken, there are no emergencies, and you don't have to see people on the edge of insanity," she finished for her mom.

"But that's not where I felt I needed to be."

"Did you know that nurses in private practice, especially in New York, can make two to three times what an ER nurse does?"

"I know but it goes back to where I can do the most good for people I can help."

"Why can't I do the same thing?"

"I'm not saying that," Linda told her.

"I know you think it's not the same thing but out there on the streets, sometimes I meet guys on the worst days of their lives but me being there can make their day better. Sometimes, when I'm out there and come up on a situation, my cool head can diffuse a situation so it doesn't turn dangerous. Someone once told me that doing what scares you the most, can make you happier than anything you've ever done," Anna said. Linda had told her that when she had admitted to being scared of starting high school and college. "90% of the time, 98% of the time, all I do is spend 8 to 12 hours riding around in a car. Not getting shot at or running into burning buildings or even walking into drug dens."

"I know that but you're my daughter. If I lost you—"

"You almost lost me six months ago because I was related to a cop, my job had nothing to do with that. Even just living is dangerous," Anna interrupted.

"I know that too."

Anna crossed the room and sat down next to her mom. "Mom, I don't want to give up being a cop but I don't like making you afraid."

"It's not entirely your fault. You made a choice that's good for you and I can now understand why you made that choice but it still scares me. There is nothing you can do to make me not scared. I know you're like your dad and want to fix things, but this is something I have to work through on my own."

"I can understand that. Do you think ..." Anna trailed off, looking across the room at the family photo next to her TV.

"Think what?"

"It's nothing really."

"Sounds like it's something. I may struggle with things you tell me but I will always want to hear it."

Anna sighed. She didn't really want to tell her mom she was thinking know that it could further damage her mom's relationship with her brother but it was bugging her and who knew her mom knew herself better than her uncle did. "Something Uncle Jimmy said. He um … he told me that I wasn't compassionate like you are."

"God, Jimmy," her mom said angrily. Regret filled Anna's stomach like hot soup on a cold day. Linda went on before Anna could linger on that for too long. "You know that man causes trouble wherever he goes. I do think you're compassionate. You expect the worst in everyone but hope for the best. You give people every opportunity to prove you wrong, and above all, you always want to save the worst puppies in the pound. You have compassion, though at times it's tempered slightly by your realistic view of the world."

"But it's not like you," Anna pressed.

Linda reached over and wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling Anna to her. "No. You do have that drive to save people but not in the same way. I love that about you. Don't put another thought toward what Jimmy said. He doesn't know you the way I do. I think you're perfect the way you are." Linda pressed a kiss to the top of Anna's head.

"Thank you, Mom."

"Anna, I want you to be honest with me. I promise I won't get mad. Who else knows about you being a cop?"

"Uncle Jamie, Dad, the boys, Nicky, Jim, and I think Grampa."

"You told Nicky before you told me?"

"To be fair, I told Uncle Jamie first."

"Of course you did."

"I'm sorry, Mom."

"Sorry you're a cop or sorry I found out?"

Anna looked up at her mom. Those eyes were watching her carefully. Usually, those blue eyes were filled with love and now was no different. Anna knew her mom loved her, there was no question there, and that's how she knew that her mom wasn't disappointed but rather scared. Scared that she'd lose her only daughter in the same way she might lose her husband. She had worn the same look when Sean had been in the hospital.

"I'm sorry you had to find out from Uncle Jimmy and I'm sorry that it scares you. I don't mean to. Maybe that's partially why I didn't tell you."

"I never want you to be afraid of telling me something. I'm your mom; I will always worry about you. Though it does scare me that I could lose you because of your job, that's something I can work through. I always want to be here for you."

"I appreciate that, Mom."

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"I think the better question would be: do you have any questions for me?" Anna asked. She wasn't sure there was really anything she hadn't told her mom that she needed to know.

Linda stared down at her daughter. Anna waited. "Do you know how much I love you?" Linda finally asked.

"No. I know that you do but from what Grandma O'Shea told me, you are not capable of understanding a mother's love until you become one."

Linda tucked Anna's head back down to her shoulder and ran her hand through her daughter's hair. "Well, that's a bit harsh, though it does make sense. The minute I found out about you; I knew I would love you but it wasn't until the nurse put you in my arms that I knew how much. Even when you push me to the point where I think that my patience has run out, I take one look at this beautiful face and fall in love with you all over again."

"Oh?"

"Yep. Your dad loves you too."

"I know. He didn't know about me being a cop until I got hurt. Mike told him. He didn't say how Dad reacted but he probably wasn't happy about it either."

"Maybe not in the moment but I think he's happy that you're happy now and I know he's really proud of you."

"He's proud because I followed in his footsteps?"

"A little but he's prouder that despite all the challenges you've faced, you keep landing on your feet."

"And now for something completely different," Anna said. "How'd you know you were in love with Dad?"

"Most people will tell you you'll just know. For me and your dad it was in the quiet things. Sometimes he would take my hand and this feeling would just grow inside of me. It started here," she tapped her heart, "then it would grow until it would fill me up inside until I felt warm and fuzzy all over. It still does. Sometimes it's just about slowing down to remember it. Even when we're arguing, just seeing those brown eyes looking at me can occasionally bring me back to the first moment I fell in love with him."

"Tell me about then?"

"Believe it or not it wasn't until after he became a cop."

"You fell in love knowing he was a cop?"

"I did."

"Wait, didn't he become a cop in June of '94? And you were engaged in February the following year? That's like seven months."

"It is but we were dating for longer than that. It was in December of '94. Just before Christmas. He was working patrol and certain things led to him bringing this little girl into the hospital where I was working. The way he handled her and the whole situation; that was it for me. The care and compassion I saw in him when he was taking care of this little girl; I knew then this was the only man for me."

"He is a really great dad."

"Yes, he is. What makes you ask?"

"I just ... I don't know. Maybe I just wanted a distraction."

"Or maybe you're having feelings for Jim and you're not sure what they mean?"

"I do have feelings for Jim and if I'm honest, I could really fall for him but how can I do that if I'm over 1000 miles away?"

"Eventually it comes to a choice. Is he pressuring you to make that choice?"

"You know how in some shows there's the nice boy next door or best friend who is just nice because he knows it's the right thing and he never wants anything else?"

"The kid who gets picked on but never fights back and it always seems like he should grow a backbone or something?"

"Yeah. That's Jim. Always there with the support and never gets angry."

"So, no pressure?"

"None."

"Well, it sounds like there is no reason to rush into anything. Also, from what you said, neither of you want to hold back on life if there is something else out there. That tells me he cares about you and he wants what's best for you even if it's not him."

"Yeah. I heard that. Can I—May I ask you a question you don't have to answer?"

"My second favorite type of question."

"I know you love Dad and the notion of waiting until marriage was outdated when you were growing up, I was just wondering when you—never mind, I don't know that I need to know that."

"You're right, your dad and I didn't wait. Though it wasn't something we planned, it was something we talked about several times before it naturally happened."

"Did your mom, or his, ever find out?"

"No, I didn't have the heart to tell them. Joe, on the other hand, did find out." Linda shook her head and Anna didn't press it.

"And I'm guessing it's just one of things you know you're ready for?"

"Unfortunately," Linda agreed, "but with a good man who really loves you, it's not so

hard to know that."

"I hope I find that."

"Me too, Anna, me too."

Linda stayed for a few more days before heading home to her boys and husband. Anna was sad to see her go but she understood why she had to go. They made plans for later that summer before she left though.

Please, let me know what you guys think and anything you may want to see in any upcoming chapter.