It's been two months and we agreed to see if he'll make it to our original date, 6 1/2 months from now. His birthday is tomorrow and the doctors say if he can somehow breathe with just a tube forcing air into his nose, he can go home for the day at the very least. He's going to go home with a monitor he has to be hooked up to when he's resting and a few oxygen tanks, not something she and I want to see him depend on. The meds he had been given intravenously had helped reduce the fluid in his lungs and manage his lukemia, but we have faith in his ability to get better. We release a statement about his health to the fans via FB, Twitter and all media except television stations over the phone or online as often as we can.

She's asleep with his small frame curled against hers, her arm around him and it looks like she's protecting him. We've all been taking photos of him at random intervals throughout the day, counting each day as a blessing.

Home, somewhere and something I had forgotten existed until the hospital staff had said he'd been cleared to leave. We still have to keep the monitor and oxygen on him, but that was agreed on so we wouldn't have to worry about him slipping away silently. Sam had insisted on it, the only way I knew she'd be able to even rest a little better than she has in the past few months. He didn't get to spend his birthday at home, but he gets to spend Kevin, Chris and Dawn's birthdays at home and they've all planned on just being with him during the day and the nights out with the rest of their friends and their families. Lance is there when we pull up, waiting on the front steps with a worried aura around him. I climb out and smile at him, nodding toward the back of the SUV. He jogs over, greets Demitryus and helps me bring in the tanks and monitoring equipment. Nick carries the frail child to his temporary (we hope) bedroom off the living room, Sam grabbing his clothes bag and following Nick inside. She's talking with Aaron, keeping her from the back patio for some reason and it's all in whispers.

"You're not doing that, promise me," he demands from her.

"If he doesn't talk shit, I promise."

"I already briefed him about not bringing Vikki up."

"He better not. Unlike him, she stuck around and raised me as best as she could on her own."

"I know and I told him that, he's here to give you the information you need. He would also like to start building a father/daughter relationship with you."

"Depending on what he says and how he acts, it may be a possibility."

I touch her hip with one hand, her eyes meeting mine over her shoulder and I step closer because I know this is one of the numerous times she needs me most. "What's up, mami?"

"Darryl is on the bvack patio and I don't know how to react to the situation."

"Follow your own advice-go into it with a calm demeanor and a clear mind."

She takes a deep breath and calms herself, her body relaxing one set of muscles at a time. "You good?" Aaron questions her.

"I'm good."

"See you in a bit, yell if you need me," I softly tell her, kissing her cheek and hugging her for a short moment.

She nods her head. "Yeah."

I reluctantly let her go and she sits across from where I suspect he is, slouching comfortably in the wooden chair. "Papa," our older daughter's voice greets my homesick ears and I turn to hug the 4 of them.

"Sorry I haven't been home much in the past few months."

"Papa, Chubba has been sick and I know you'd do the same for all of us."

I smile at her gently. "Thank you for understanding, guys."

"Is 'Mitry 'kay?" Zandry asks.

"The doctors say he's well enough to be home, but he's still too sick to play. He can read, draw and watch TV. He has to go back to the doctor in 2 weeks."

"But what about da weddin'?" Nickoly inquires.

"Still going on like planned as far we know, depends on his appointment in a couple weeks."

"It's just before Uncle Chris' birthday, right?" Mikal asks.

"It's the day after."

"I guess we can handle that," Aaliyah sadly admits, leaving the room to see her little brother for the first time in months and the other 3 follow suit.

I enter into a semi-peaceful conversation between Sam and her real father, a woman they both strongly resemble beside him and a man they faintly look like. "You must be Josh, Sam's fiancee," the man she's shown me pictures of before comments once I sit beside her.

"You must be Darryl."

"Yes, and these are my real parents, Thelma and Bernard," he informs me, holding his arms to his sides to indicate the salt and black pepper haired couple and I notice that the woman looks entirely Blackfoot and the man looking French-Canadian with a touch of Parisian French in him.

I reach across the table to shake their hands, nodding politely at her father. "When was the last time you spoke to her?"

"Christmas 2003."

"Did you know about Aaliyah or Demitryus?"

"I knew about her daughter, but not the younger one."

"We have 5 children, two being mine biologically and three by adoption," I inform him.

"Aaron was telling me she had twins with you three years ago and I would like to bond with them as well."

"You also have to realize that if you lay one finger on her or make her feel threatened in any way, your head will be on a platter for me."

"I understand that and I wouldn't want to do that."

I hear familiar footfalls behind me approach and stop at the glass door connecting to the kitchen abruptly. "Thought I'd never see you again."

It's Beth. "Elizabeth, long time since I've seen you. How have you been?"

"Better. I can't believe you had the audacity to be in the same city as her and never say a word, especially when you had been in the same room as her before. How did it feel to know that you've seen your daughter with her oldest son and pregnant with your first granddaughter?" she retorts, pulling a chair to sit beside Sam and Aaron.

"It hurt like hell because I didn't know if her mom had poisoned her against me."

"You didn't seem too afftected by it then."

"I was blowing snow and you expected me to show some sort of emotion?" he genuinely remarks, Nick standing next to me with his arms crossed.

"I know how that works, but I also know you can fake it while on it," Nick snaps at Darryl.

He shakes his head. "I've been clean for 5 years and have been helping other recovering addicts since I had been certified to be a drug counselor."

"You fucking bastard!" Dawn shouts, glaring at Sam's father. "How dare you use that as an excuse? You knew it was her and you didn't even say hi to her? There I was thinking she was crazy all these years about you being her dad and she was right about you! You're such a dick!"

"Baby, come here," Aaron calmly says to her, reaching his hand for her to take hold of and leads her away from us.

Nick takes his spot and leans back against the chair, a stern look encompassing his features. "What's your damn excuse now?"

"I hate that I've been hiding from her in plain sight for most of the time that's gone by and I didn't have any right to do that to her, but I know if she had told her mom I had been anywhere near her-"

"Mom would've convinced me to have his warrant justified," Sam finishes for him. "We all know how vindictive she is about that, unrelenting when it comes down to it. I love Ma, but it's the truth."

"I don't think she should be making the choices for her anymore, she is an adult," Thelma finally comments.

Sam hangs her head, staring at her fingers as she plucks her nail on her thumb like a guitar string. "I think this is enough, she's shutting down," Nick enforces as I focus on her.

"Baby, you okay?" I ask, squeezing her thigh above her knee.

"I'm fine," she numbly replies, almost on autopilot.

She hasn't moved in over an hour, sitting in exactly the same spot and where she had been when Nick had ended the meeting.

"Will she be okay?" Aaron asks, obviously worried. He sits across from us as Dawn gets the kids to bed and showered, having helped Nick make dinner for everyone here and Chris called a few minutes ago to say he and Lace would be here in few.

"I don't know. She hasn't formally sat down and spoken to him in person before, so I'm not sure how she's going to react to this."

"She went into a panic attack when I told her about him visiting Fitchburg a couple years ago, even more so when I said from 1998 until she left," Beth confides, plopping down in the chair Darryl had occupied nearly 3 hours ago.

She feels like shit, but she's taking it harder than Aaron and Nick are. Beth has been just as good to Sam as Dawn has been since Demityus had been born. They've been through hell and back, fighting tooth and nail the entire way. They've all been fighters and lovers, but haven't ever been quitters. Beth and Sam didn't always get along, but now they're just as close as Sam is with Dawn and they've become like the 3 amigos or the 3 Musketeers-inseperable.

"Yo! Scrawny!" Chris yells through the house.

I wave my hand in a way that Chris would spot it, but I hear Lance scold him as he makes my hand obvious to our inattentive friend and brother. They quickly stride out to the patio, Chris getting an evil glare from Nick and silence from the rest of us. Lance cops a squat beside Sam and begins asking her something, a minute movement from her giving him the answers he's requesting. "Next time you yell in the house like that, I promise to kick your ass and it's in effect until Demitryus is running around like he used to," Nick tells him, Aaron nodding his agreement.