Grace gave the still
whimpering baby to her sister. "I
want you to be a good girl, Chelsea... mommy and
daddy will be home soon." She kissed the girl's forehead.
Cassidy cuddled Chelsea
close. "Wave to Mommy, little
one. She'll be fine, Grace,
I promise."
"Thanks," Grace
said. She hesitated a moment and turned
for the door.
Gavin put an arm around her.
"We'll be back soon, and she'll be flinging out her little arms and
crawling all over us."
Cassidy quieted the baby and set her down with her son.
"She will."
Grace agreed. "But let's go before she starts crying
again."
Baby Garrett, all of two
months old, didn’t notice… at the moment, he was having a nap.
Gavin nodded and brought her to the car.
"Grace, get
down!" Gavin yelled, fairly diving
to push her to the floor as IMF agents opened fire.
Grace started firing back,
particularly aiming for the young boy who seemed to be in the center of the IMF
agents. She hesitated when he turned,
letting out a small gasp. He was the
spitting image of David Kincaide.
Dylan heard the name Grace
and looked, suddenly spotting the woman the Spencer
was talking about. It *was* her... the
one who had left him for dead, been willing to have him killed just so she
could live the high life, just as Bryce had told him. He fired at her, but in his blind rage he
missed, instead hitting Gavin.
"Gavin. Get
back." Grace told him, seeing the blood
seeping through his shirt. Grace
continued firing at the boy.
"We're leaving," Gavin said firmly, struggling to
his feet. "Come on."
Grace got to her feet and
followed. "You're not wearing a
vest?" She asked him, once they got back safely.
Gavin looked slightly guilty. "No."
"What if that kid didn't hit your shoulder? You could
have been killed!"
"He didn't just hit my shoulder," Gavin said, then
suddenly collapsed to the floor.
Another agent appeared and picked him up. "Mrs.
Spencer, ma'am, we've got to move," he
said to Grace.
Grace blinked. She didn't move until another agent came
along and pushed her to follow. She kept
her eyes on Gavin as the remaining group of agents retreated back farther. She couldn't tell if he was still breathing.
Dylan smiled in
satisfaction. So much for Gavin
Spencer.
~*~*~*~
Cassidy immediately pulled her sister into a hug. "It'll be okay."
Grace squeezed her eyes
shut. She still didn't know what she had
seen. "He wasn't wearing a
vest."
"That wasn't terribly smart of him... but it'll be
okay," Cassidy repeated. She was
careful not to promise that Gavin would live.
She nodded blankly.
"Is...is Nathan here? I need to talk
to him."
Cassidy nodded and gently shoved her sister toward their
father-in-law
"Nathan...can I talk to
you?" Grace asked, coming up behind him and
Holly.
Nathan nodded and led Grace
away. "What's going on?"
Cassidy picked up her son and sat down next to her
husband. The girls were sitting
wide-eyed all lined up on a bench while Garrett
stared at nothing. "Garrett? You okay?"
"I guess it just never occurred to me to
ask...but...who is Callahan's protégé?" Grace
asked.
Garrett shrugged. "I...I really don't know."
Nathan paused. "Dylan
Kincaide," he finally said, as gently
as he could manage.
Grace nodded. "He looks exactly like my
stepfather."
Cassidy kissed his cheek.
"It'll be okay."
Garrett shrugged her
off. "I don't think it will."
Ella gently tugged Garrett's
leg. "Daddy
I'm scared..." Ivy
also wandered over, holding Kayla.
"I was afraid you'd take it badly, finding out Callahan
never killed him. I'm sorry we didn't
investigate further, Grace," Nathan
told her.
"I know. Me
too...why don't you go play with your cousin? She must be terrified."
"But..." Ella
paused, looking a little bit disappointed.
Grace nodded. "I just wanted to know that I hadn't
been hallucinating..."
Garrett gently pushed his
daughter towards baby Chelsea, who was playing
on the floor with some toys.
"No. It's
him," Nathan confirmed.
"Daddy I wanted to sit
with you!" Ella
said indignantly before marching off to sit with her cousin.
Grace nodded. "He has to be okay." She said after
a minute.
"You need to be prepared that he might not be," Nathan
said as gently as he could manage.
"How am I supposed to? How am I supposed to tell Chelsea
her daddy's not coming back? How am I supposed to take care of her and maybe a
new baby? How am I supposed to deal with the fact that my brother killed my
husband when he was aiming for me and missed?!?!" Grace
found her voice had risen a bit and started to tremble.
"Shh. Sit
down. I know you're frightened, but
you'll only do harm to that baby if you don't calm down."
"Ella, I need you to be
a big girl right now and take care of your cousin." Garrett
told his daughter.
"What am I supposed to do without him?" Grace
asked, letting the tears fall.
"But Ivy's
bigger!" Ella
retorted, then turned away from her father.
"You are a big girl now too. And I want you to go take care of Chelsea
right now. Do that for me."
"Fine, I don't like you either, Daddy!"
Cassidy blinked.
"Ella, you apologize to your
father."
"No!"
At Ella's outburst, Chelsea
started wailing. Grace
picked her daughter up and began walking around the room, trying to calm her.
Nathan guided Grace
to sit down again. "You need to try
to be calm."
"I don't really know how to be calm right now." Grace
replied.
"Then try."
Ella was pouting, still
sitting on the floor. Ivy
was clinging to Kayla, and Cassidy got to her
feet to pace the room with her littlest child.
Garrett stood abruptly. "Ella, Daddy's
not in a very good mood. So unless you
want to be punished later, I suggest you stop it right now."
Grace shook her head and
shhed Chelsea
at the same time.
Ella looked from her mother
to her father and then at her sisters. “I
want a new family!” She yelled.
"Now, now, Ella." Holly
bent next to her granddaughter. "Daddy's
very worried about Uncle Gavin....you
don't mean that...."
"Yes I do!"
Ella wailed.
"No you don't...will you come on a walk with me?"
Ella glared at her parents
once more, but agreed. "Yes."
"That's a girl." Holly
said, taking Ella's hand.
The doctor emerged from the room Gavin was in.
"Well?" Nathan
asked.
"He's alive. For
now. He's currently in a coma."
"I don't *like* them, Grandma," Ella
insisted.
"A coma?" Grace
echoed.
"Yes," the doctor said. "And lucky to be alive at all."
"Can I see him?"
"Yes you do." Holly
replied. "You may be mad, but you
still love them."
"No I don't, and daddy doesn't like me
either." Ella
began to cry.
The doctor nodded.
"If you go in one at a time.
He's being monitored, naturally, and we don't want too much
interruption."
Holly stopped walking and
picked up her granddaughter. "Yes
he does. He's just distracted...he loves
you." She soothed the child.
Grace stood up and turned to Nathan. "Can you take her, please?"
Nathan took Chelsea
from Grace.
"Go on."
"He doesn't," Ella
wailed. "And Mommy loves Daddy
better than us."
"Thank you." Grace
walked into the hospital room, hesitating before sitting in the chair next to
the bed. Not saying a word, she rested
her hand on Gavin's.
"No she doesn't.
But Daddy's worried about his brother
and Mommy's worried about Auntie Grace...they're just distracted."
Nathan sat down with his
youngest granddaughter, hoping to calm her.
Ivy still sat frightened with
her youngest sister as Cassidy paced.
Grace slowly took in the
scene before her. Gavin was lying
unconscious on the bed, where he may never wake up, with machines monitoring
every little thing from his eye movements to his pulse.
"They don't love me, they like Ivy
'cause she's good but Daddy doesn't want
me." Ella
sniffled.
"Of course your daddy wants you." Holly
sighed. "Right now...they need you
to be a big girl for them. They need
you."
"He doesn't," Ella
insisted. "And Mommy doesn't like
me either, she only likes the baby."
"Mommy loves you, don't be silly." Holly
replied.
"She doesn't, she only likes the baby 'cause he's a
boy." Ella's
lip trembled once more. "I don't
want a little brother anymore."
"Hush." Holly gave
her granddaughter a squeeze. "Just
give the baby a little time. You'll get
used to him. And it may seem like
Mommy's paying more attention to him, but that's because he's a new baby and
needs her to take care of him. He can't
do anything for himself like you can."
"I want a new family." Ella sobbed.
"No you don't."
"Yes I do! Can't
you and Grandpa be my mommy and daddy?"
"I'm sorry, dear, we can't. But if you ever want to have a slumber party
with grandpa and me, you can."
Ella sniffled and hugged her
grandmother.
"Come on dear." Holly
said. "Do you want a drink?"
Ella nodded. "Can I have
a juice?"
"Sure." Holly put
some money into a vending machine and got the juice for her. "Here you go."
"Thank you Grandma."
"You're welcome."
Ella gave her grandmother a
hug again. "Grandma, do you like
the baby better than me?"
"No. I like all
of you the same."
"But he's a boy..."
"I know."
"I love you, Grandma."
"I love you too, sweetie."
Ella sipped at her juice.
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