"I didn't think you'd show up," Maddox says, sitting up in the bed. His blonde curls I've gotten so used to the past two years are gone and replaced with a lot of bandages instead. He looks exhausted and it tears my heart into smaller pieces than they are already in seeing him like this.

I stay in the doorway, trying to convince myself that its okay to step into the room, but now all I can see is him with Paige. It took me a long time to tell myself that there wasn't anything between them anymore. I'm not an insecure person, but Paige worried me.

I was naive. He told me countless times that everything between them was in the past. I became her friend, I invited her to mani-pedis. I did my best to be the bigger person because I got the guy. Maddox promised he'd never hurt me again like he did after Paige first got back.

"Baby please." Maddox pleads and I go sit in the chair next to his bed, but I keep my arms crossed over my chest.

"Don't call me that," I say and his face softens into an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry."

You should be is what I want to say. "How are you?" This is what I ask instead.

Maddox stares at me, raking his eyes over every inch of my face. "I'd be better if you were here."

This time I don't hold back, "You should have thought about that before you fucked Paige."

He looks down at his hands and I feel guilty for kicking a man when he's already down. Why should I feel guilty? I didn't sleep with anyone the same night we broke up. "Bab-Cassidy, I was in a really low place and I-I don't know. There's no excuse. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

I close my eyes and run my hands over my face. "And you don't think I wasn't hurting too? I didn't run to Noah within the hour of me saying no. Did you even think to consider why I said no?"

"Why did you say no? I love you more than life itself and I thought that this was something you wanted. I mean marriage is the next step after moving in and then there's kids and pets and growing old together. When did that change?"

I kept going back from being giddy to being nervous. I mean what if something is wrong with it? Nothing in my life has gone right except Maddox and even that was an emotional rollercoaster. It would be my luck that this baby will be born with three eyes and two arms-wait. Two arms is normal, two arms is good. I want a baby with two arms.

There's a chart on the wall that keeps explaining what the size of the baby can be compared to each week.

I kick my legs with excitement as I wait for the doctor to get back. They took my blood earlier and now we're just waiting for confirmation.

A knock on the door grabs my attention and my doctor steps back in and I can't read her face. I used to be really good at that, but I must have fallen off my game since I stopped being a criminal.

"Is everything okay?" I ask, forcing out a nervous chuckle. I figured she'd come back smiling.

"Ms. Edison, I'm sorry but you are not pregnant. The home pregnancy test that you took administered a false positive." She says, taking a seat in the chair next to me.

My smile falters, "But it said I was pregnant. I'm not pregnant?"

"No, you're not."

I sit there and stare at the wall with the chart. I don't have a baby. That's okay. We weren't even trying, but I know that we'll be good parents. We'll be great parents.

"I'm afraid that's not all we learned from your blood test. There's a hormone called FSH and in women your age, we typically expect to find a much lower level. Your high levels of FSH indicate that you're entering the stages of perimenopause. There are other tests we can do-"

"I'm about to turn twenty-seven and you're telling me I'm about to start menopause? I can still have kids right?" I ask in disbelief. I don't quite understand what all she is saying. I need her to use English.

The doctor sets her clipboard down and looks in me in the eye. "I'm sorry, but the odds of you having a biological child are extremely slim. There are other ways to have children including egg donation and adoption. We'll run more tests to confirm our diagnosis, but if there's someone you need to call to come be with you then please do. This information can be hard to hear."

I can't look at him as I tell him this. Maddox hasn't done anything to deserve the truth. "I can't have kids Maddox. I can't give you what you want. That's why I said no."

Don't cry. You are strong and independent. You don't need a man Cassidy.

But I want him. I want Maddox despite the fact he ripped my heart out and tore it into a million pieces. I want things to be normal again.

"What?"

"You want kids, I can't give you that. I said no to give you a chance at the life you want."

I sneak a peek at him to see him smiling. Why is he smiling? "So you wanted to say yes?"

"Of course I wanted to say yes. God you're denser than I thought if you believed I didn't want to say yes." I retort, holding strong by keeping myself in my chair instead of caving to sit on the bed next to him.

Maddox's smile is so brilliantly beautiful that it hurts to see. He's in this bed with a traumatic brain injury and he's smiling. "I don't need kids Cassidy. I need you. I thought I'd made that clear."

"Crystal," I say bitterly. Just because he's okay with it doesn't mean I'm okay with it. I need time to process everything

"What's wrong?" He asks and I can't believe the nerve he has. Are all guys this idiotic?

"You did not just ask me that."

"I don't understand? If you wanted to say yes then we can just go back to the way things were. You can move back in and I only have to be here a few more days-"

I stare at him with a hard look. He must have hit his head harder than I thought if he thinks I'm going to come back to him this easily. "No. No Maddox, I'm not coming back. You promised you wouldn't hurt me again. You knew exactly what you were doing when you ran to Paige. You might not know why you went there, but I do. And I forgive you for wanting to hurt me." I swallow the lump in my throat so I can finish. Then I can leave and go cuddle with Boo at home.

"Cassidy wait-"

I shake my head, "You don't get to ask me to wait. Anyone else Maddox. Anyone else and I could try to push past it, but Paige? I can't get past that. I love you so much it hurts. It hurts me to love you, but I need to learn to love myself again."

Maddox lifts the blankets and tries to get out of the bed to come to me, but I step forward and gently push him back into his pillows. He stares at me with the same afraid look I image a wild animal would have. I take a shaky breath and press my lips gently against his so I can remember the last time I kissed Maddox. I keep it short because I don't know if I could still walk away from him if I linger here any longer.

I caress his cheek gently, noting the new cuts on his face that will probably scar. "I'm glad you're going to be okay."

I feel much lighter after I leave his room. Lighter than I have in days and it's a glorious feeling.

*********

"Sephine, I'm fine." I try to insist as she badgers me with another soup she tried to make. Emphasis on tried. I love the woman but she can't cook to save her life.

"Eat it," She commands and I think about trying to reason with her again. Except there's no reasoning with her.

"I have stitches and fractured ribs, not a cold."

Sephine gives me an annoyed look as she balances Marley on her hip. "I don't care. The doctor told you to rest and don't think I didn't see you sneak into your office when you thought I was napping with Marley."

See I don't really have an explanation for that. "I'm the owner, I don't get days off. I just answered a few emails and gave Grayson some information he asked for."

"What am I going to do with you?" She asks and I smirk at her.

"Love me until I'm old and wrinkly and then put me in a nursing home to spend all of my money."

Sephine gasps and pokes Marley on the nose, "Did you just hear what your daddy said to me? He thinks he's going to make it to be old and wrinkly before I spend all his money. Isn't that funny?"

Marley laughs and I shake my head, ignoring the small headache forming. "Exactly why I need to go back to work! So you have money to spend."

"Benson you were in an accident. Take a few days to recover. If I can take a few days to watch over you to try and keep you from working weeks before we leave to go on tour, then you can suck it up and not work. Stop being such an asshole with morals," Sephine says stubbornly and she does have a point. Not that I'd tell her this and stroke her ego.

But if I do tell her then I'll get major brownie points. "You're right. I should take a few days to recover."

She smiles, "Thank you for agreeing that I'm right." Bingo. Happy wife happy life.

I lean back in my chair and think about how lucky I am. Things could have been so much worse in the accident and I know that. If Maddox and I had swapped which side of the car we sat on then I'd be laying in that hospital bed instead of him.

He's going to be okay, but I know that both of us being out of the office is hitting the company hard, especially after announcing our clinical trial last week. I learned that much checking my email today. Grayson is doing me a huge favor doing damage control. I'm sure it will cost me a few weeks at my villa in Italy. Honestly we should just give him and Tessa the keys since we only make it out there a few times a year if even that.

I won't be surprised if they ever relocate out there.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, but Ollie and Ryan are bringing Leo over later for a playdate with Marley."

I look at her confused, "Marley's only a year old and Leo is what? Six or seven months old? What exactly will they be doing to classify it as a playdate?"

Sephine adjusts Marley on her hip laughing because now it's her turn to admit I'm right. "It's for socialization. They need it! I need it too. I swear they are our only normal set of friends."

"What about Gray and Tessa? I think they're pretty normal."

"I don't know if I'd call them normal. Tessa still gets stared at and asked for pictures anytime we try to go shopping and she's been out of the modeling industry for years. They're our fun couple friends but I would not call them normal. Ollie and Ryan are our normal couple friends that also happen to have a kid."

That's a good point. Now that I think about it, none of us are normal. Ollie and Ryan are by far our most normal friends.

We used to spend quite a bit of time with Cassidy and Maddox. I doubt that's going to happen anymore. "Have you talked to Cass?"

She turns to put Marley in her high-chair. "I've called a few times but she hasn't called back. If I were her I wouldn't want to talk to anyone either but Dean's been keeping me updated. I couldn't believe that Paige showed up at the hospital."

"Wait I thought you liked Paige?" I ask confused because her tone doesn't sound like it at all. Women make absolutely no sense. Actually my wife makes zero sense.

Sephine gives me an appalled look, "I like Paige but I like Cassidy more. I can't be mad at Maddox right now when he has a hole in his head. You have a hole in your head too which is why you aren't working."

I put my hands up in defense, "I haven't even tried to work today!"

She moves closer to me and kisses me quickly, "Because you know better than to cross me."

"Damn right I do."

"Speaking of crossing people, it seemed like Dean was able to get back into Lacey's good graces." She says smiling because she knows something I don't know. I swear everyone tells her their problems and I'm always the last to know.

"Are you talking about the girl that was with Dean? The one that works with Grayson now?"

Seph flicks me on the cheek quickly, "Yes! God you are oblivious."

"I have a head injury? I wasn't exactly paying attention to who Dean had with him." I question and her eyes flit up to look at the stitches on my forehead.

"Oh so you can't pay attention to who Dean brought with him because you have a head injury, but you can sneak away to work with a head injury. Lacey is the girl that Dean is hopelessly in love with even though he won't admit it because he was kinda with Paige. However after everything with Maddox, that's not a thing anymore. So I would guess that he made up to her for being an ass and I think they're together now."

Oh god this is exhausting. How did she even say all that without passing out? "My god Montgomery, how the hell have you not told me any of that?"

"NA, you get really good at keeping secrets. Besides, it wasn't a secret for long. Maybe like a week."

I eye her skeptically, "How much coffee have you had today?"

She grins widely at me, "A lot. Don't worry about it. I'm getting old and have to keep up with the little one now."

"Did you know that I love you?"

Sephine winks at me as she grabs a can of baby food from the pantry, "Of course you do. I'm everything you've ever dreamed of."

I shake my head chuckling softly, "Indeed you are." However this chunky bowl of soup was not.