Jamie’s limp little body bounces along and his head bumps against Taeyeon’s shoulder as she runs inside the hospital. Bella and Sophia keep up with their mother’s fast pace, and they all to a stop at the information counter in the lobby.

“Sunny Lee!” is all Taeyeon can manage to get out, breathless as she shifts Jamie from one arm to the other.

The woman at the desk doesn’t seem to pick up on the meaning of Sunny’s name being shouted at her and simply slides her glasses down to the tip of her nose, eyeing Taeyeon over the rims.

“Can I help you?”

“Sunny Lee! Floor. Room”

Bella and Sophia step toward the desk at the same time; their heights making them just tall enough to see the irritatingly calm woman smack her lips and punch keyboard keys painfully slowly. They look up at their mother and recognize the panic they see in her eyes…and in her hands, the way she’s clutching Jamie to her.

“Fifth floor, ma’am. Room five-o-three” the woman barely gets the last number out before Taeyeon is darting toward the elevators.

“Stay close, girls” Taeyeon calls over her free shoulder.

She’s surprised and thankful she’s gotten them all here in one piece, and without being pulled over and, ultimately, arrested for assaulting an officer of the law because he/she delayed her from arriving at her destination..

No one spoke a word in the car. And they left everything behind: the stuffed Shamus, the trinkets, all their clothing, Taeyeon’s useless phone that she’d thrown in the bin as they ran out of the room.

She told the kids an emergency had come up, and that Sunny needed them. The girls knew not to question her. Jamie whined about not seeing the rhinoceroses before the motion of the car put him to sleep. Bella and Sophia stayed wide awake and held hands the entire drive.

It didn’t help that the evening rush hour traffic was made worse by, not one, but two accidents. And road work. And detours. And by the time Taeyeon screeched into something resembling a parking space, it had taken nearly three hours to get to the hospital, which sits smack in the middle of some of the worst, most notoriously hideous traffic areas in Los Angeles.

As they ride up, Sophia dares speak.

“Mom…” barely above a whisper, “what’s going on?”

Taeyeon looks down at her anxious daughters. “I don’t know” her voice cracking as she fights back tears. “All I know is that she’s here. Something’s happened”

Taeyeon shimmies out the elevator door sideways when it opens, bumping Jamie’s legs in the process.

And then Jessica is there, and Bella and Sophia breathe a collective sigh of relief because they know they won’t need to be the ones to hold their mother together.

Yul’s there, too, and she opens her arms to the girls who gladly accept the much needed hug. Then, she takes a still slumbering Jamie from Taeyeon and leads the girls toward the waiting room.

“What the happened!” Taeyeon shouts in whisper as Jessica leads her in the opposite direction.

“She’s ok”

“What?”

“She’s ok…now” Jessica adds, and sits Taeyeon down in a seat near a drinking fountain.

“Talk”

“She fell”

“Off…?

“A ladder”

“What! What the was she doing on a ladder!”

“I don’t know I haven’t seen her yet; she was unconscious when they brought her in…”

Taeyeon eyes grow even wider with panic.

“But she’s awake” Jessica tells her quickly. “About half-an-hour ago. The doctor is in with her now, and Sooyoung is in there, too” Jessica lays a comforting hand on Taeyeon’s leg. “She’s the one who found her”

“When?”

“This morning”

Taeyeon buries her face in her hands. “I called. I called this morning and she didn’t answer” she mumbles into her palms. “I thought perhaps she was still sleeping, or sick, or busy with work…”

Jessica pats her leg. “Hey, there’s no way you could’ve known, Taeyeon”

“But I should have” she scolds herself, “I should have felt it, right? I should have known she was just…lying there…”

“Stop, Taeyeon” Jessica pulls her hands away from her face. “She’s ok, and right now that’s all that matters”

Taeyeon shakes her head and closes her eyes, angry with herself, with the world, with Sunny for making her ever feel this much. She tips her head back against the wall, but quickly snaps it back up, her eyes shooting open.

“The babies…”

Jessica nods. “Last I heard she’s still pregnant but…”

“…But what, Jessica?”

“It was a pretty bad fall, Taeyeon”

Taeyeon shakes her head and stands up. “I should never have left; this is all my fault”

“No” Jessica grabs Taeyeon’s arm, “none of this is your fault. She wanted you to go”

Jessica bites her tongue, but can’t hold in, “She’s not Tiffany, Taeyeon”

Taeyeon glares down at her friend, pries her arm free, and walks away, leaving Jessica calling after her.

...

...

...

“You are a lucky lady, Sunny” the doctor says as he presses on her ribcage. “One more inch to the right and you’d be in this bed alone right now”

Sunny blinks slowly, wincing when his fingers find a sore spot, but his comment isn’t lost on her.

“Just bruised. Again, lucky” he says, and turns up the fetal heart monitor.

The sound of two little heartbeats fills the room, and Sunny closes her eyes, allowing the sound to envelop her.

“No more ladders for you, missy” Sooyoung says from the only chair in the room.

Sunny lolls her head and looks over at her, smiling weakly. “Not the best idea I’ve ever had” she jokes with a thirsty voice.

Sooyoung shakes her head and laughs.

“That wrist is going to need a hard cast” he says, pointing at her soft cast, “and you’re going to need to stay in bed for at least a month, Sunny”

“A month!” Sunny’s small voice tries to sound much bigger.

“This rib needs to heal, your head needs to heal, and I want you off your feet… just in case”

“Just in case of what?” Sunny asks.

The doctor pulls Sunny’s gown back down, covers her with the blanket, and walks across the room to wash his hands. Once he’s thrown the paper towel in the garbage, he turns down the monitor so it’s barely audible.

“Your babies appear to be unharmed, Sunny. But they most likely experienced some degree of trauma as a result of your fall. The fact that you hit your head and knocked yourself out may have saved them. If you had tried to move around or get up after the fall, you might have lost them”

Sunny lifts both hands to put them on her belly. She hisses as the pain of her broken wrist shoots up her arm.

“We’ll get a cast on right away” he tells her as he makes to leave.

“Doctor?”

“Yes?”

“If I don’t stay in bed, will I lose them?”

“Sunny, it’s a precaution; it’s what I advise you do, but I won’t be there to make sure you’re doing it” he smiles, and Sunny sees a warning in it.

“Thank you”

“Yeah, thanks doc” Sooyoung says as she stands and walks to Sunny’s bedside.

“I’ll see you in the morning, ladies”

Sunny flinches through a deep breath.

“You sound like you need some water”

“Please” she looks at the fetal monitor sadly as Sooyoung pours water into a pink cup. “I need my son, Soo” she says, seemingly to the monitor.

Sooyoung hands the cup to her good hand. The left one. “Yul and Jessica called Taeyeon and I think they’re on their way back”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I called Jessica from your phone after I couldn’t get in touch with Taeyeon”

“You couldn’t get in touch with her?”

“Nope. Her phone went right to voicemail all afternoon”

Sunny furrows her brow.

“But Jessica finally got her…I guess her phone got wet or something? I’m pretty sure I heard the word Shamu when she was explaining it to me, earlier”

“Oh god” Sunny laughs, but stops when it hurts too much.

“Would you like an update on their whereabouts?”

“Please”

Sooyoung nods and walks to the door.

“Sooyoung?”

“Yeah?”

 “Thank you. I don’t deserve your kindness”

“Sure you do. Now lay that head back down and try not to worry”

...

...

...

“Hi, Mama” a sleepy Jamie greets as Yul sits him on the bed.

“Hello, my love. Were you sleeping?”

“Yeah” he yawns. “I had a dream that I saw the rhinoceroses, but I didn’t really”

“I’m sorry you missed them, sweetheart”

“What happened to you, Ma?”

“I had an accident”

“You hurt your hand” he says, noticing the soft cast.

“Yes. And my head, and my side here” Sunny points across her body with her good hand.

“I’m sorry you got hurt, Mama”

All Sunny wants to do is hug him, because she knows it would make her feel infinitely better.

“The girls want to come in too, Sunny. Is that ok?” Yul asks.

“Of course, yes. And Taeyeon…?”

Yul shrugs, obviously disgusted, and opens the door, waving the girls in. Sunny smiles at Jamie despite Yul’s reaction.

The girls walk in slowly and split up, standing on either side of the bed.

“I’ll give you some alone time” Yul says, excusing herself and leaving the room.

“You’re going to be ok, right Sunny?”

Sunny nods reassuringly at Sophia. “I’ll be good as new in no time” she smiles, “don’t you worry”

...

...

...

“Sooyoung left. You need to go and find Taeyeon” Yul orders Jessica.

“I don’t think she wants to be found right now, babe”

“That’s bull Sica, and you know it. Her kids, and the woman she supposedly loves so much, are hurting, and scared, and they need her” Yul paces in front of Jessica, infuriated.

“Babe…she’s going through a lot. This…situation, it brought out old ghosts that she thought she’d buried…”

“She’s a coward”

“No” Jessica says firmly, but backs off a bit when Yul scowls at her. “Listen, I told you about some of the stuff she went through, but not all of it. Taeyeon is damaged goods, babe. Like, really damaged. I was there when she was at her lowest point, and, honestly, I never thought I’d see her healthy again”

Yul dismisses Jessica with the wave of a hand. “I need coffee” she tells her wife, and walks away.

...

...

...

Taeyeon lifts her head off the steering wheel at the sound of the soft knock on her window. She turns the key, just enough to lower the window, and sits back against her seat.

“Give me the keys” Jessica says, sticking her hand inside the car.

“What? No. I’m not going to leave, Jessica”

“Are you sure about that?”

Taeyeon looks up at her friend with misty eyes and stained cheeks. “Yes. Christ. I promise, alright?”

Jessica retracts her hand. “The kids are in with her, now”

“How…how is she?”

“I’m more worried about you, Taeyeon”

Taeyeon shakes her head. “I’m fine” she shrugs.

Jessica reaches in again and squeezes Taeyeon’s shoulder. “She’s going to be just fine, Taeyeon, I spoke with the doctor. He said nothing a long stretch of R&R won’t fix”

Taeyeon lifts her head but keeps her eyes focused ahead. “Did he really say that?”

“Not in those exact words but, yeah”

Taeyeon exhales such a breath that Jessica thinks she may have been holding it since San Diego.

“And her babies…?”

“Seem to be fine, too” Jessica leans down onto the window frame. “I know what you think this is, but she’s fine, and you’re not the same person you were…”

“If anything were to have happened to her…”

“But it didn’t, Taeyeon. So stop thinking about worst case scenarios and get your up there”

...

...

...

All three children run to Taeyeon when she and Jessica exit the elevator. She crouches down and hugs each one of them, burying her face in her youngest daughter’s neck, apologizing profusely.

She receives even tighter hugs.

“The nurse kicked us out” Bella tells her, “she says visiting hours are over and that we’re too young to be in there anyway”

Taeyeon looks up and is met with Yul’s disapproving face and defiant arms. She stands and holds her children close, Jamie sandwiched between the girls.

“Tell us what you need, Taeyeon; we’re here for you” Jessica says, standing next to Yul and touching the small of her wife’s back. Yul’s arms loosen and eventually fall to her side.

“I’ll be fine. We’ll…be fine”

“You’re not alone, Taeyeon; you don’t have to do everything on your own” Jessica reiterates.

Taeyeon glances down at her daughters who are already looking back up at her, and she nods, smiling gratefully. “Can you stay with them while I go in and see her? Maybe get them some snacks from the vending machine?”

“We can take them home, Taeyeon” Yul offers, “it’s late; they should be in bed”

“No” Taeyeon declines, “Sunny wouldn’t want that, and I don’t want it either. I appreciate it, but they need to be with me. I’ll visit with her, and then take them home”

“Ok, then, I’ll take them down to the cafeteria?”

“Thanks, Yul”

Yul passes Taeyeon and hugs her. “You know I love you, Taeyeon”

“Yeah, I know. I love you, too” Taeyeon watches them get into the elevator. “You not going to join them?” she turns and asks Jessica.

“I will. But I want to make sure you don’t need anything else”

 “You mean you want to watch me walk inside her room before you go”

“…Maybe”

Taeyeon pushes Jessica’s shoulder and walks toward Sunny’s door. “Oh” she turns around and rubs her forehead, “we kind of ran out of the hotel room and left everything behind... do you think…”

“Done” Jessica cuts her off. Taeyeon nods her thanks. “And Taeyeon…?”

“Yeah…?”

“Whales are not porpoises”

Taeyeon rolls her eyes and glares at her friend, before taking a deep breath and pushing open the door to room five-o-three.

It’s dark, save for the lights of the monitors. And quiet, save for the thumping of what Taeyeon assumes to be fetal heartbeats. She can just make out Sunny’s small but bumpy, frame in the bed.

“There you are”

The halogen light above the bed blinks on, and Taeyeon sees the face, three hours ago she thought she might never see again.

“Sorry, I…I was just, um…”

“It doesn’t matter” Sunny says, extending her uninjured hand, “you’re here now”

Taeyeon tries not to let the guilt consume her in front of Sunny, but she’s sure she fails because Sunny’s shaking her head against her pillow.

“Don’t” is all Sunny needs to say for Taeyeon to lose it. “Come here”

Taeyeon rounds the bed and takes Sunny’s hand. “I…”

“No” she hushes Taeyeon. “Just sit with me, yeah?”

Taeyeon nods and brushes away the tears that won’t stop falling from her eyes. She lets go of Sunny’s hand to pull a chair up next to the bed and sits down, taking Sunny’s hand between hers again.

Sunny smiles, and it only makes the guilt in Taeyeon’s throat rise up further.

“It’s a beautiful sound, isn’t it?” Sunny says quietly.

Taeyeon sniffs, looking over at the fetal monitor, nodding. Sunny tries to shift her body, but stops when the pain in her side tells her to.

“Are you in pain?” Taeyeon asks in whisper.

“A bit, but I’m ok”

“Shall I get the nurse?”

“No, no, just stay here. Being with you makes me feel better” Sunny’s eyes blink slowly, barely able to stay open.

Taeyeon hangs her head, wiping her nose on her sleeve, and Sunny pulls her hand out from between Taeyeon’s and lays it on soft brunette hair, gently. “I miss touching you” she says.

Taeyeon folds her hands together and wrings them tightly, allowing Sunny to touch her. But when Sunny’s hand stops mid- and falls to Taeyeon’s shoulder, Taeyeon lifts her head and is met with the most peaceful face she’s ever seen, and it reminds her of their time at the cabin, when she watched Sunny sleep for nearly an hour, studying every inch of soft, pale skin, wondering how she was so lucky and why Sunny was interested in her at all.

She watches her a while longer, listening to her breathe, to the sound of Sunny’s babies living, thriving. And then she puts Sunny’s hand under the covers, leans over, pressing her lips to Sunny’s forehead, turns off the light and quietly leaves.

....

....

....

Hi Guys!!

i know this was late, but Happy Halloween!! :)

enjoy!

and I always thanks to you guys, really. Thanks for all the love comments.

i'm sorry that i couldn't reply all the comments, but i really appreciate it.