I want to say thank you to everyone who continues to read this. I know, at times it seems like there aren't a lot of interesting stories on this site, but maybe that's because personally I'm not into the same things everyone else is. Anyway, big thanks to the reviewers from the last chapter Love Fanficiton, ancilla89, decadenceofmysoul, Taylor Noelle Hood, YaleAceBella12, Christopher Joseph Connor, Daisyangel, seleneplaysgames, and the guests, snowflake18540, Shadow, and Coco. At first I wasn't going to include a scene with Anna and Danny in it, at least not to the extent where he tells her why he didn't call but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had to. Also like Anna says in here, I'm very bad at romance, well the traditional romantic stuff seems cheesy too me and I didn't want to bore you with it, though I will say I want it to come off as slightly romantic and something different from all the guys she's dated in the past. Something new she's not faced in the past.

Scenes from and mostly references to: 1x15, 1x19, 2x8, 3x10, and 3x22 as those are the episodes where the dates Linda mentions happens as well as 5x21 and 5x22 and a deleted scene, (the part where Danny talks about sitting in the waiting room), from 5x22.

When Anna landed at JFK airport, her stomach was still in knots. Out front of the airport, she looked around for any of the family but didn't see them. Then she saw something very strange. A precinct car from the 6-4 precinct. What was odd about that was JFK airport was in the 113th precinct. Two cops were headed right for her. She watched tightening the grip on her backpack. They stopped in front of her and she studied them. They looked like real cops and their car looked real but one could never tell for sure.

"Anna Reagan?" the shorter of the two asked.

"Who's asking?" Anna asked.

"I'm Officer Poe, this is Officer Creswell," he told her.

"Oh, and you're from the 5-1 precinct in the Bronx?" Anna asked, intentionally getting the numbers and the borough wrong. The 5-1 precinct was in upper Manhattan, not the Bronx and she could see the 64 on their collar brass.

"The 6-4 in Brooklyn, near St. Victor's hospital. Lieutenant Gormley sent us. Asked us to give you a ride back to town," Poe said.

"Can I see your IDs?" Anna asked. They both pulled their NYPD ID's out of their pockets and presented them to her. She looked them over carefully. "Thank you. One can never be too careful when your family is who they are."

"We understand," Creswell said.

"So, you're going to give me a lift to St. Victor's?" Anna asked.

"Not exactly. Once your grandfather found out that Lieutenant Gormley asked us to pick you up, he wanted us to take you to his house."

"You want to take me to my grandpa's house? No, thank you. I want to see my mom. Please." She gave them the kindest look she could.

"I don't know."

"I understand your hesitantly. The last thing you want to do is disobey an order from the top, but Officers, my mom was shot. I need to see her. Please."

"Ok," Poe said.

They drove her to the hospital and walked her to a recovery room upstairs. When she saw her mom was resting comfortably in the bed, she turned to the two officers. "Thank you for all of your kindness. I will make sure my grandpa knows you were doing your jobs and you won't get in trouble for it."

"We appreciate that."

After the cops left, Anna slowly moved to the bed. Part of her was afraid that her mom wasn't ok and she was actually unconscious in that bed. Her heart jumped into her throat. "Mama," she said softly as she took her mom's hand. She rubbed her thumb over her mom's knuckles. "Please, be alright, Mama," Anna said softly, trying not to whimper.

Linda's eyes flickered open. "Hey, baby," Linda said.

"Mama," Anna breathed. She nearly threw herself on her mom, stopping at the last second when she remembered her mom had been shot.

"I'm fine, honey," Linda said. She pushed herself up and wrapped her in a hug. "I'm glad you're here. Really glad. How'd your tests go?"

"Doesn't matter, are you ok?" Anna asked, slowly pulling away.

"I'm fine." Linda smiled. She shifted a little bit making room for Anna on the bed, then patted it. Anna laid on the edge, her head on her mom's shoulder. "Really, Anna, I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"Anna."

"Mom. Please."

"I was shot last night. I was tending to a patient and ..." Linda trailed off and sighed.

"Lieutenant Gormley told me that your patient was a witness in the murder of Chief Kent. That you got shot as collateral damage."

"I did. They removed one of the bullets but the other one is lodged near my spine. Removing it could cause more harm than good. I'm going to be just fine. Now, ask your other question."

"What other question?" Anna asked. Linda motioned to her cell phone on the rolling table next to the bed. Anna sighed. "Why didn't you call? You're my mama. I love you. I would do anything you asked and for 12 hours, my heart was breaking and I couldn't figure out why. No one would talk to me. My mama is hurt and I can't get anyone on the phone."

Linda snuggled down next to her daughter. "That is the last time I expect your father to do anything."

"Fact remains you could have done it."

"How did you find out?"

"Lieutenant Gormley. After the family refused to answer my calls, texts, or messages for 12 hours, I called him. Why, Mama?" Anna asked.

"May 2009, February 2011, April 2011, November 2011, January 2013, and May 2013."

"What are all those?" Anna asked.

"Six times in as four years that I've had to watch as my little girl shatters when she finds out someone she cares about is really hurt ... or worse. It may not physically happen. I don't see you break down very often, but I see it in your eyes. Vinny, Sean, Pops, Sofie, Frank, and Joe. True, only one of those times did you break down in front of me but I saw it in your eyes every time. You were breaking. Do you really think that I can tell you on the phone that I've been shot and hear you break over 1000 miles away? Even if I didn't tell you what had happened you would work out something was wrong. I love my little girl and I couldn't take hurting you like that over the phone. As you can see now, I am fine and I will be going home soon."

"Ok."

"Anna, I want you to promise me something, right here and now."

"What's that?"

"You don't take this out on your dad."

"But Mama, he could have called. You told him to."

"And you can ask him why he didn't but I don't want you getting angry with him. Not if he has a legit excu—reason for not telling you."

Anna sighed heavily.

"Please, baby girl. Don't hold this against your dad. He's your dad and he does love you. It's just hard on him."

"To be decent?"

"For his daughter to be 18 years old and 1000 miles away."

"That doesn't make this better."

"I know," Linda answered. She stroked her daughter's hair.

"Dad working this case?" Anna asked.

"It was his case before I was shot."

Anna rested against her mom telling her about Ed and her classes, right up until Danny stopped in the doorway. Stopping in the middle of the statement, her face dropped. Linda looked from her daughter to the man in the doorway.

"Anna," Linda warned.

"What? He doesn't have time to talk to me anyway. What difference does it make if I ask him anything?" Anna asked.

"Come here," Danny said, roughly.

"Danny," Linda said, her eyes shooting to her husband. He, however, didn't look at her, instead he was staring at his daughter. Anna got off the bed and Linda grabbed her arm.

"I'll be fine, promise." Linda let her go and Anna followed her father into the hallway and a bit down the hall from the room. She could see Baez standing and talking to the cop outside the room though the detective was watching her out of the corner of her eye.

"Alright, let me have it. I may have a case to solve but I don't want you brewing in it," Danny said.

Anna crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the wall, stamping down on her temper and her automatic response to his simple question. "Mom said you were supposed to call after it happened. I just want to know why. Why didn't you call? She's my mom and you know me. You knew that I'd feel it when bad things happen to those who I care about. For 12 hours, I didn't hear a single thing. How could you not—"

"Because of what you just said. You're my daughter and I do know you. I knew that the minute I picked up the phone and let you know that your mom had been shot, your response would be the same mine would: To jump in your car and drive the 18 hours it would take to get here. Of course I wanted to tell you. Like you said, it's your mother. Every minute I sat there in that waiting room with our family around me, with your brothers asking me if she's going to be alright, I wanted to call, but I couldn't."

"Why not?" she growled.

Danny frowned as he watched his daughter. So, he posed a question. "You wanted me to call you, knowing you're a thousand miles away, and tell you that your mother had just been shot doing her job when I didn't know if she was going to be ok?" he asked. He paused to give her a second to think it over and sure enough the wheels began to spin. "I could not get you on the phone and break your heart when I couldn't reach out and catch you. It doesn't matter how—that I don't like you being 1000 miles away, you are still my daughter, my little girl, and I couldn't tell you that over the phone. I couldn't do it, especially not after I had seen you break down after Joe and Sean. Anna, we're talking about your mom." He shook his head. "I know it didn't look like it, but when my mom died, I couldn't take it. I had to be strong for you guys but it killed me inside. I couldn't tell you that your mom was hurt and I didn't know if she was going to be okay."

Anna glared at her dad. Her hands reached out and wrapped around the lapels of his suit jacket as she stared up at him. Out of the corner of her eye, Anna saw Baez flinch and look at her, but instead of shoving him or anything violent, Anna pulled him to her and pressed her head to his chest. Though he tensed up a moment, surprised that she was pulling him in instead of pushing him away, he put his arms around her and rubbed her back, silently giving her support.

"I know you blame me. You and your brothers both, but there is no way on this earth, none Maryanna, that you can blame me more than I blame myself. Like Sean said, I have the dangerous job and this is a hospital. She's not supposed to get hurt working here. I keep going over it in my head, why did she do it? Why did she step in the middle and I think it's because—I know you don't see a lot of your mom in you personality wise, but I do. Your mom is the most amazing woman I have ever met. She cares so much and she sees the best in people, the same way her little girl does. Don't get me wrong, she has a temper and can go toe to toe with me on my worst days but she sees so much good in the world, like you do, that she tries to help everyone she can, especially if she knows them and cares about them. The man that shot her, worked here and is the son of one of your mom's friends. I think she tried to talk him down and protect her patient at the same time, much the way I know you would."

"How'd he even get a gun in here?"

"It's a hospital. They don't do searches at the door. I should have been here. We had a warning that the patient could have been in danger but I couldn't get here fast enough. I am—I'm sorry, Anna. I let this happen to your mom when I should have been protecting her."

"You're here now. You have the guy that shot her."

"But not the man who ordered the hit, both on her patient and Chief Kent," Danny said.

"Then get out there and get him," Anna answered, pulling back. There were still unshed tears in his daughter's eyes but he could tell she was angry. "You get him and make him pay." Danny nodded. "And if this ever happens again, if someone in the family ever gets hurt like this again. I better be your first phone call. I don't care if it will kill me, you call me. Because almost nothing could hurt worse than radio silence for 12 hours."

"Ok." Anna turned on her heel and headed back for her mom's room. Then she stopped. Once her dad had left the hallway, she turned and found a bathroom. Inside, she sat herself down on the toilet but didn't use it. Instead, she made a phone call. The voice on the other end was comforting.

"Hello," he said gently.

"Officer Mike, it's Anna."

"Did you find out what happened?"

"My mama got shot. They say she's going to be okay and she'll be home soon but—"

"She's still your mama and it still hurts."

"Talked to my dad too. He was supposed to call after she was out of surgery but it's like you said early this morning, he knew I'd know that something happened and if he told me what it was I'd be in a car and on my way there in the next 15 minutes. He didn't want me to worry when he couldn't tell me that she'd be home or if she truly was ok."

"And everyone else?"

"Don't know, haven't seen them yet. Or spoken to them."

"Just remember they love you and they want to protect you."

"I know. I should get back to my mom."

"Ok. Call if you need anything," Mike said.

"Will do," Anna answered. She hung up and used the bathroom before going back to her mom.

"Where'd you go?"

"Bathroom. No, I did not take it out on Dad because yes, he had a legit reason. I hate him for not calling—" Linda looked at her shocked— "But I love him, for trying to protect me. Dad is ..." Anna trailed off and curled up on the bed next to her mother.

"He's your dad and he's worried."

"He said when his mother died, it killed him inside."

"It did. There were nights, after you three were in bed, he'd sit on the couch and just stare out the front window. Wouldn't say anything for hours. He'd just sit and stare."

"He knew if he told me, I would break and I would hop in my car and drive up here to make sure everything is ok."

"Of course you would. I love that about you."

"Maybe he was right to not tell me and to make sure no one else answered but he could have or you could have after you were stable."

"I know and I'm sorry." Linda felt really bad. True, the last thing she wanted to do was shatter her daughter or make her drive what should have been an 18-hour trip in 15 hours, but she also knew that her daughter could have handled it, especially if she ordered her to stay put until her flight.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you too. Now, tell me more about this boy Ed."

"He's not a boy. He's a senior and just over 21."

"But you like him?"

"I don't know, Mama. He's—Why am I telling you this?" Anna asked.

"Because I'm your mom and you love me?" Linda suggested.

"Yeah, I do love you but you're my mom. Isn't this kinda weird? Talking about your daughter's love life?"

"I was just older than you when I was marrying the love of my life. I wish I had spent more time talking to my mom about it. Mary was amazing though. I may have been marrying her son but she treated me the same way she treated Erin. I loved hearing her advice, even though we were talking about her son. It's why I named you after her."

"I like him. Maybe not like I've liked other boys in the past but I like him. You know all that stuff you read about in those romance novels? The flowers and opening the door for her and all that junk?"

"The stuff you say you hate about romance novels? The stuff you don't want in your relationships?"

"Exactly. He does that, but it seems kinda nice. Maybe I've judged it too harshly but then again, my dad brains kick in and I think he's doing it for something truly terrible."

"The perks of being a cop's daughter."

"Not that you'd know that."

"Maybe not but I do know that you get suspicious of everyone when you see the horrors of the world. I've sat at that same table and heard the same stories you have and sometimes worse. It can make you paranoid. Yes, you should consider, maybe, he might hurt you, but at the same time this could really be all he is. He's a good guy and he's being good to you because the world wants to make it up to you."

"I really hope you're right, Mama."

Linda smiled at her daughter and hugged her close. As it began to get darker, another man appeared in the doorway. Anna was drowsily watching the TV and her mom was asleep, but the knock got Anna's full attention as well as the uniform the man was wearing.

"Hey," he said.

"Uncle Jamie," Anna answered.

"Your dad asked me to drop by. Maybe give you a ride home."

"Think I'm good here."

"And your mom? What's she going to say?"

"Doesn't matter. Dad tell you not to call or answer your phone?" she asked, changing the subject.

"No. He told your brothers not to and asked Nicky not to. The decision was mine, Anna. You read people better than anyone I know. What's it Pops likes to say about cops? Great liars make bad cops? You know how well I lie; having you on the phone would have been really difficult not to tell you about your mom and even if I managed that, you would have known something was wrong."

"Your reason is the same as his, you care too much. Of course you do. Thanks, Uncle Jamie."

"Jamie's here?" Linda asked, opening her eyes slightly. "Have him take you home. You can get cleaned up and come back in the morning, plus say hi to your brothers. No arguing." Anna pouted but did as her mother asked.

"Did you just get off?" Anna asked as she and Jamie walked to his car.

"No, just about to go in." They stopped next to his car and Anna looked at him. Then she hugged him. Though slightly surprised by the hug, Jamie smiled and hugged her back, wisely choosing not to mention it.

Just in case you're wondering and don't have the DVD's, the deleted scene in 5x22 is most of the family minus Frank are sitting in the waiting room waiting for the doctor to come out of surgery and tell the news about Linda. The boys ask Danny if their mom is going to be okay and when he confirms she is, Sean asks how he knows. In typical Danny fashion he just says "I know, trust me" because it's all he's got. Sean asks what if she's not and he tries to convince him not to think that way. Essentially he's trying to comfort them and eventually sends them over to the vending machines to get snacks. That's when Henry steps over and explains that the nurse he had just been talking to told him it was like she stepped in to protect the patient, Hector Flores. Danny blames himself and Henry tries to comfort him, reminding him the cop on the door was inexperienced and had walked away from his post to use the bathroom and though Danny tries to say that he never should have convinced Flores to ID Hunt, Henry reminds him that they're cops, they don't break the law they enforce it. After that the doctor steps in and explains that they removed one bullet but the other was lodged near her spine and could do more harm than good if they tried to remove it.

For pacing reasons I can see why they removed the scene, it doesn't tell us anything new that we don't already know from earlier scenes/upcoming scenes, but it's still a sweet moment between Danny and his boys at the beginning and makes me a little sad as to why they didn't add it.