One Week Later

“Mom, please, I’m fine!” Becca pushed her mother’s hand away from trying to fluff her pillow again. She’d been moved out of the ICU four days after waking up from her coma and was now on a regular floor in the hospital. Her ribs were still sore from the fracture and her arm would be in a cast for a good six weeks. Other than that, she felt better everyday and Dr. Haverwood had told Josh he could bring her home at the end of the week. Becca’s parents had stayed on and her mother had been at her side everyday, all day. Becca hadn’t minded at first, but once she began to gain strength, it became annoying to her, especially whenever Josh was around because all she wanted to do was talk to him. Her mother had been fluffing her pillow, getting her food, and was constantly around her bedside so much that Becca had had enough.

“Margie, I think she’s fine,” Becca’s father said from the other side of the room. “Leave her alone. Let’s go and pick up Dylan from school.” He stood from his chair and walked over to Mrs. Sebastian, who looked at Becca and then at her father.

“You’ll be okay?” she squeezed her daughter’s hand.

“Mom, yes, please, go. Josh and I need to talk anyway,” Becca sighed, leaning back against her pillow and looking over at Josh. He was sitting next to her and glanced at her mother, giving her a nervous smile. Mrs. Sebastian was a control freak and even though Becca was almost 33, still continued to try and treat her daughter as though she were 15 instead.

Becca’s father took a hold of her mother and led her out of the room. Once they were at the end of the hall, Becca smiled at Josh and sighed, squeezing his hand.

“Think you can fit in this bed with me?” she asked him, trying to move over, but she winced from the jab she felt in her ribs.

“Hey, hold on, baby. Don’t try to push yourself,” Josh bent down to kiss her lips softly. “I’ll just sit right here next to you, okay? We’ll worry about bed space when we get back to the house.”

They hadn’t really had much of a chance to talk to each other about anything since she’d woken up. Most of the time in ICU had been spent sleeping off and on and whenever she was awake, her mother tended to take up all of her time. All Becca knew was that she wanted to go home with Josh and start all over again with him and Dylan. She beamed whenever he was around, but with her mother constantly nagging her, she didn’t really get a chance to talk to him about anything, much less their future as a couple.

“So,” Josh brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “The day of your accident, Seth stopped by the hospital.” Becca cringed, but Josh shook his head. “No, it’s fine, honey. He just wanted to check on you. I mean, he wasn’t exactly thrilled to see me, but he did want to know if you were okay.”

“Did he ever come back?” Becca wanted to know.

Josh thought about that. Seth had come back a few times, but the last time, he’d met Josh at the window of Becca’s room, looking in on her. Seth hadn’t been allowed in the room, but the doctors gave him permission to go to the window and at least look in on her. Josh had been watching as a nurse changed her bedclothes and adjusted the IV in Becca’s wrist. He looked over and Seth was standing next to him, watching her just as intently.

“It’s always been you,” Seth had told Josh. “I knew it even when we got engaged. Whenever Dylan talked about you, there was just something in Becca’s eyes that told me she was still in love with you.”

Josh hadn’t said anything, only continued to watch Becca.

“So, I’m leaving. I don’t know what the outcome will be with her, but I can’t hang around here and watch the woman I love wake up to someone else,” Seth finished. “Just let her know I was here, okay?”

“I will,” Josh said, without breaking his gaze. “You have my word.”

He snapped back to attention and looked at Becca. “Yeah,” he cleared his throat. “Yeah, he came by right before you came out of the coma. He told me to tell you that he was here. He told me that he knew it had always been me, even when you got engaged.”

Becca looked away from Josh and down at her cast. “I guess I’m not a good actress after all,” she said softly and chuckled, then surveyed him before speaking again. “I’ve always known I loved you. I just didn’t want to admit that to myself. I was tired of playing the game we had going and so I just gave up.”

“We were stupid, Becca. We didn’t know,” Josh caressed her chin with his thumb. “But all of that’s over now. And in two days, you get to come home with me.”

Becca grinned at that and caught his thumb with her lips. “Why did it take us 10 years, baby?” she questioned aloud, as Josh clasped his hand with hers and leaned toward her, so their faces were only inches from one another. He kissed her softly before he answered her question.

“I think with us, it just worked best that way,” he replied, touching his forehead with hers. “If I could take it all back, I would’ve never, ever mentioned Nick Carter in the first place.”

Becca had to laugh out loud at that comment. “For real, Joshua!”

“Hey, I knew what I had and I didn’t want him to take it from me,” Josh said, his face still close to hers. They were silent for a moment. “You scared me last week. I have never been so terrified about losing anyone like I was with you.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Becca assured him. “I promise.”

“And you’re not worried about all of our fighting?” Josh asked her, knowing it was a concern in the past.

“It’s part of our charm, baby,” she teased him.

Dylan did not enjoy going up to the hospital to see her mother. She thought it smelled funny and the only good thing about it was the gift shop. She hated going in with her grandmother, who fussed about her as though she were still a baby. All Dylan wanted was her mother to get out of the hospital and be back at her house with her father. And she wanted her grandmother to go back to Tennessee so it would just be the three of them. She hadn’t ever felt like that with her father’s parents. In fact, she often asked to go and visit them in Maryland every so often. But her mother’s parents had yet to learn how to treat an almost nine-year-old.

“And did you have a fun day at school?” her grandmother was asking as they walked into the hospital.

“Yeah,” Dylan muttered, clutching her backpack. She had another picture she and Briahna had colored yesterday when Dylan had had a playdate.

“Yes ma’am,” her grandmother emphasized this ‘yes ma’am’ and ‘no ma’am’ and Dylan was quite confused by it. She’d once heard her mother tell her grandmother that it wasn’t the South and it wasn’t 1950. Dylan hadn’t understood what that meant, but she knew enough to know that her mother didn’t care whether or not she ‘yes ma’amed’ or ‘no ma’amed’ her grandmother.

Dylan said nothing, only followed the familiar path to the elevators and waited as patiently as she could for them to open. Her grandmother was holding her hand and Dylan wanted to let go of it and be free to walk onto the elevator like the big girl that she was. She knew, though, that once they were off, she could see her parents and seeing them together had been the one thing that made the hospital a better place.

“Hi, Mom!” Dylan greeted her mother, who was still lying in the big, white bed and dressed in a blue and white speckled hospital gown. She released herself from the grip her grandmother had had on her hand and ran towards her father, who lifted her onto his lap so that Dylan was able to kiss Becca.

“Hey, you,” Becca tried to hug her daughter, but it was pointless. Her ribs were still too sore.

“It’s okay, Mom. I’ll give you a really big hug in a few weeks!” Dylan promised. She showed Becca the picture that she and Briahna had made. “Look. I made this for you yesterday.”

Becca took the picture from Dylan and smiled warmly at her. “It’s beautiful, sweetie,” she told her daughter, and placed it on the tray next to her bed.

“When you get out, we get to all go back to Daddy’s house, right?” Dylan asked, after a few minutes of small conversation with Becca’s parents.

“Right,” Becca nodded. “And this time, we’re not moving out.”

“Do you think you should rush into that?” Mrs. Sebastian suddenly spoke up and Josh and Becca threw a look at her that signified her to shut up. She didn’t seem to get the indication. “You two have been through an awful lot of mess the last few years. Don’t you think, Becca, perhaps you and Dylan should get an apartment and then move in with Josh? You know, once you are sure this is going to work.”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything,” Becca answered, looking from her mother to Josh and back again. “And this isn’t really a conversation I want to have in front of Dylan.”

Mrs. Sebastian pursed her lips together. “Josh, what do your parents think of this?”

“My parents think that we’re adults and we can decide for ourselves,” Josh was firm, but also tried to be respectful. Becca’s mother had never really been a fan of him and he’d given up trying to prove himself after they’d first dated in the beginning.

“I don’t want to see my granddaughter hurt in this,” Mrs. Sebastian replied, almost haughtily. “And you tend to do a good job of that when you two get together.”

“Mom, that’s enough!” Becca’s voice held a warning tone to it. “It’s not your decision.”

“Yeah,” Dylan spoke up from Josh’s lap. “And I’m not hurt by it!”

Mrs. Sebastian grimaced and sighed, looking away and ignoring the scene in front of her that Becca knew any other mother might be grateful to see. A daughter that almost died, realizing that she was in love with the father of her child. They were alive. They were healthy. And all Mrs. Sebastian was really worried about was the fact that she’d have to go back to Nashville and tell her friends that her daughter was “living in sin” with the ex-boyfriend.

“I’m going to get coffee,” she huffed, and turned on her heel, leaving Becca’s father standing there alone. She looked behind her and groaned. “Fred, come on!” Dutifully, Mr. Sebastian nodded his head, but then looked at Becca and Josh.

“You two are beautiful together. And I couldn’t be more proud,” he said softly, before following his wife down to the cafeteria.

Becca looked at Josh and Dylan and smiled contentedly at them. “So, Dyl, what else have you done this week?”

“Mom, does Grandma not want you and Daddy to get together?” Dylan ignored her mother’s question, asking one of her own. “I mean Uncle Joey and Aunt Kelly are together. And I have a lot of friends who live with both of their parents. Why doesn’t Grandma want us to all live together, too?”

Becca reached over to touch Dylan’s small hand. “Baby, Grandma is Grandma. That’s all I can say. All that matters is that on Friday, I’m getting out of here and me and you and Daddy are all going to be together in one house,”

“And if Grandma doesn’t like it, then she can-“ Josh was muttering but Becca shot him a look and he cleared his throat. “Grandma will learn to like it.”

Dylan stayed with her parents for a few minutes longer, but Becca knew she was growing bored. It was hard on her daughter she knew to be cooped up in a hospital room and Becca couldn’t wait until she was able to be at home with her again. Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian came back into the hospital room, said a few short goodbyes, and collected Dylan to take her back to the Fatone’s, where she was staying until Becca was released. They promised they’d be back before dinner.

“Hey, you know what I’m looking forward to?” Josh leaned close to her, once the Sebastian’s and Dylan had gone.

“What?” Becca linked her fingers through his and gazed at him.

“Waking up next to you next week,” he kissed her gently. “And when you finally get up and around, I’m taking you back to Cabo.”

“Cabo? Really?” Becca brightened at the thought.

“Yes. We owe it to Cabo and Cabo owes it to us,” he chuckled. “Especially all the sex we had there.”

“Don’t forget we conceived Dylan there,” Becca reminded him, a smile spreading across her face.

Josh kissed her again. “If it was legal, I’d take you out of here tonight,”

Becca giggled. “Well, it’s not. So let’s just wait til Friday. I hope you’re ready to take care of me. I’m a whiny patient,”

Josh took her chin in his thumb and forefinger. “I’ll take my chances,” he whispered. “I just want you back home with me where you belong.”