Winter, Year 5, Month 1

His rhythmic breathing was helping lull her into a state almost like sleep but not quiet. She was too aware of his breathing to let go and fall into unconsciousness. There had been one or two times when he had taken his time inhaling or exhaling and so she had stared at his chest, willing it to keep moving, begging him to take another breath and then another after that.

The hospital room was dark and cool. The night-time nurse had finally given up trying to convince Reeve to go home and so had brought her a pillow and blanket. Reeve was curled up on the chair seated right by Walter's bed and she wasn't moving.

It was raining outside with half-hearted attempts at snow every few minutes. It was a slushy Boston winter mess and it kept Reeve company while she kept her vigil.

Her suitcase was in the corner, near the sofa. Somewhere in the depths of its chaotic mess, her phone was off and surely piling up messages, waiting for her to turn it back on and return to her responsibilities. She hadn't had much time when she ran off the plane that afternoon to think about turning it back on and made a point to leave it off when she finally remembered it existed. The only beep she wanted to hear was the constant beeping of Walter's heart monitor, telling her every second or so, he was alive, he was going to be okay.

It was not how she had expected her day to end. She had woken up on the opposite coast that morning and had a million things running through her brain as soon as she had opened her eyes. Walter hadn't even been one of them. But Noah had been at the top of the list.

She looked at her phone every three minutes, trying to prepare for rehearsals in between glances. She calculated the time difference over and over again as Kelly drove them to the rehearsal space. It was almost his lunch break. Surely he would call. They would work through this. They had to. Yeah, it was a fight but couples fight. They have miscommunications and misunderstandings. That's what happens. He would call. She would say 'I'm sorry, please forgive me.' He would, too. And in two days, they would walk the red carpet together, arm-in-arm, for the first time, on what was sure to be the biggest night of her career.

Sitting in the hospital room very early the next morning, Reeve couldn't even remember what the argument had been about. And she couldn't have cared less about the award show.

Reeve stopped rehearsal in its tracks when Noah finally did call. She opened with 'I'm sorry' but didn't make it through when the shallow breathing came in loud from the other line.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Instantly Reeve's heart started pounding. A million scenarios ran through her mind and none of them were good.

"It's my dad."

That narrowed all the scenarios down to the worst of the worst.

"What happened? Is he okay?"

Amid his attempts to not completely break down, having to take several moments to collect himself, along with the various sounds of what was surely a hospital emergency room around him, Reeve caught the phrases "some kind of attack" "unconscious" "Ruby called an ambulance" "called me at work" "I don't know if he's okay" "surgery" and even more that made Reeve's decision easy for her.

Reeve turned to her back-up band where they all stood looking to her for direction and then turned to where Kelly and Anton had stopped their conversation to hear what was going on.

"Anton, take over. Kelly, I need a flight home. Now."

She assured Noah that everything was going to be fine, that she was on her way, to hold on, everything was going to be okay while hurrying from the rehearsal space to the car.

She finally hung up when Kelly hit the freeway, heading instinctively towards the house first and then the airport. Reeve talked to Anton and worked out logistics, ending with the decision to send the band home for the day. If she did make it back for the show, her and Anton could perform the song together, just the two of them. They had done enough times during tour, they wouldn't need to rehearse.

Reeve didn't even leave the car when it came to a stop outside her house, she was busy calling her mom to go check in on Noah at the hospital. Kelly reappeared with a suitcase packed and threw it into the back seat before speeding them out of the neighborhood and back onto the freeway, this time headed for the airport.

Kelly had a car waiting for her when she landed and Reeve didn't even have to tell them where to go. Her eyes barely saw the familiar landscape speeding past them as they drove. All she could see was Noah alone in the waiting room, his dad somewhere in the depths of the hospital, unconscious. Her heart constricted at the thought of Walter in any pain whatsoever.

Every memory of him came flooding to her mind; his smile, his thick Boston accent, their friendly chats and the concern he always held in his eye when greeting her, an unspoken 'you okay, kid?' that he never went without. She didn't let her think of the worst-case scenario. She had to get to the hospital first.

If it wasn't for her driver, Reeve would have completely forgotten her suitcase. She walked up to the front desk and grabbed hold of the attention of the first person she encountered and dared them not to give her the information she needed. Her determination was met with success and she was led to the ICU waiting room. There was no one there and so had to wait.

She got so jumpy waiting, wringing her hands over and over again to dispel some of her anxiety, almost tempted to start playing with the kids' toys that lay on the floor just to have something to do when Noah's older brother suddenly appeared.

"Olivia! Hi! Noah said you might be coming."

Matthew was Noah but with about twenty more pounds to him, a healthy dad weight. Shorter but with a darker skin color that truly reflected their mother's Portuguese heritage.

"I came as soon as Noah called. Do you need me to take Donovan?"

Matthew seemed to remember at that moment that he was holding his two-year-old son and passed Reeve the child and his diaper bag. A nurse appeared to lead Matthew into the depths of the hospital where Walter was recovering from surgery with barely a nod of thank-you in Reeve's direction.

Now she had a legitimate reason to play with the little kid toys and was grateful for the distraction, something to do, some way she could help. Donovan was quiet and fascinated with a pair of wooden blocks so all Reeve had to do was sit on the floor and wait.

Her mind wandered to her cousin, trying to remember where he was stationed these days, positive he had joined the military just like the rest of his brother's had. She made a mental note to ask Dani the next time she saw her when two young girls paused outside the waiting room entrance.

They had merely been passing by but one of them did a double-take and grabbed her companion's arm so they both stood frozen only a few feet away. Reeve hadn't met their eye directly and so pretended as if she hadn't seen them. She didn't have the energy to interact with them and focused more intently on Donovan and his determination to throw the wooden blocks as far as way as he could just so she would lean over and retrieve them for him, just so he could do it again.

An hour after the girls had gotten the message and left her alone, Matthew and Noah appeared. Donovan had eaten a packet of apple sauce and then promptly fell asleep on the chair next to Reeve. She only noticed how late it had gotten when she saw that the only light shining through the frosted glass window came from the parking lot street lights.

Reeve stood as Matthew crossed the room and gently picked up Donovan, transferring his sleeping son's head from the chair to his shoulder.

He whispered, "Thanks, Olivia. I'll see you tomorrow."

Reeve replied with an equally quiet "Bye, Matthew. Good night, Donny" as they left the hospital. It was just her and Noah left.

He barely made eye contact as he fell into the chair right next to where she had just spent the entire afternoon. His head was only propped up by his arms as they dug into his knees, his face hidden in his heads. Neither of them said a word and the only thing Reeve could think to do was place her hand on his back.

Her simple gesture broke him down. The day, the stress, the sight of his father hooked up to machines, all hit him at once and he started crying.

The hospital put tissue boxes in the waiting room for a reason and Reeve leaned over to grab the nearest one and place it on Noah's lap. His sobs were silent and contained but he didn't sit up straight for over twenty minutes. Reeve didn't dare leave his side.

When he finally did sit up, his eyes were red and puffy and his hair was a tousled mess.

"Thanks for coming," were the first words he had uttered to her since calling her that morning and it came around the sound of him blowing his nose.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

Noah let out a deep breath and leaned his head against the wall behind him, his hand searching for hers and squeezing it when he found it.

He told her the whole story.

Ruby, Walter's caretaker, had found Walter on the floor that morning when she arrived for the day. He was unconscious and barely breathing. She called Noah from the ambulance and he had left work immediately to meet them at the hospital. Something, Noah was too tired to remember what, had gotten inflamed and Walter had passed out from the pain.

They rushed him into surgery as soon as they realized what was going on but had to alert Noah and Ruby of the risks involved considering Walter's age and his lack of physical strength. That was when Noah had called Reeve. The thought of his dad not making it off the table had scared him.

Walter was out of surgery and sleeping, already making a rather speedy recovery. The doctors were hopeful.

Reeve didn't ask questions. She let Noah talk, let him finally process exactly what had happened, how terrified he had been, and how exhausted he now was.

Reeve was trying to convince him to go home, get some sleep when the nurse appeared to alert them that they would be moving Walter out of the ICU for the night to open up space.

It was only once Reeve made sure Noah understood that she wasn't going anywhere, that she planned on staying the night with Walter, whether or not Noah was there, that he finally went home.

She watched him leave before approaching the nurses' desk. In the time it took them to move Walter from one room to the next, Reeve's request to have him moved to their nicest room had been fulfilled and she had finished the paperwork involved with transferring all medical bills for the visit to her.

Walter half-opened his eyes when she first entered the room, trying to quietly slide the glass door shut behind her without waking him. She gave him a wave, received half a smile in return, and watched him fall back asleep as she set her suitcase by the sofa and took her spot in the chair near his bed.

He woke up once more in the night, even spoke.

"What are you doing here, kid?"

Reeve leaned closer to catch his mumbled words

"I wanted to see you. Make sure you were okay."

"Oh. That's nice."

The next sound he made was a loud snore. Reeve smiled and sunk back into her chair.

By the next afternoon, it was as if he hadn't gone through surgery at all. Walter was himself again almost as soon as he woke up. Maybe a little groggy from the sleep medication but Reeve could see a light in his eyes as soon as she returned from grabbing a cup of coffee from the cafeteria. She was grateful for the privacy the room offered as she could feel stares following her as she made her way to the cafeteria and back.

Walter was making the nurses laugh by lunchtime and was begging for a chance to get out of bed and stretch his legs, suggesting a brisk walk up and down the corridors, if only one lap around the nurses' station.

He got them to relent but just a fraction of the way. He still had stitches in his side and needed to rest. They got him a pair of slippers and let him walk out onto the balcony to get some fresh, brisk February air.

Walter couldn't get over the fact that he had his own balcony. He kept eyeing Reeve and making suggestive comments that this was her doing but Reeve merely shrugged and offered up the possibility that the nurses just really liked him.

"Yeah. Sure. That's it."

Noah was laughing and Reeve let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his smile. They wrapped a robe around Walter before opening the sliding glass doors that led out to the balcony, to keep him warm mostly but also to cover up the open slit in the back of his hospital gown.

He took slow, labored steps but took a deep breath every few seconds as if he hadn't ever been outside before. Or maybe he was simply enjoying the luxury of being on his own two feet. Reeve and Noah walked alongside him, slowly making their way to the edge to view the industrial park next door. The city was in the opposite direction and so their view was far from ideal.

The three of them were greeted with the sight of a hoard of vans parked below them, crowding up the parking lot. Reeve thought about shouting down at the crowd of people below to move their cars and free up the entrance to the emergency room when she saw that each of them had a camera strap around their neck. She was a moment too late backing away from the edge of the balcony and out of sight.

"Oh! Hello there! Come to see me have you? I'm flattered!"

Walter responded with smiles and waves to the rush of clicking that raced up at them. Reeve couldn't help laughing. Noah's first response was to get Walter back inside and fast. It was only after Walter started doing some sort of minimal dance move that Reeve joined Noah in helping Walter turn away from the reporters below.

They still caught the shot of the three of them together that they had been hoping for.

It was only once Reeve was preparing to leave that Walter seemed to remember that she had a separate life, a job, responsibilities. She was amazed it even crossed his mind.

Reeve had bent down to dig out her phone from her suitcase and finally turn it on when Walter spoke.

"Hold on a second. Olivia, what the hell are you doing here?"

The exclamation stole Reeve's attention away from the continuous dinging that was now sounding from her phone.

"You've got your performance. Aren't you supposed to be on the other side of the country?"

Reeve and Noah exchanged glances.

"Technically, yes. But I had somewhere more important to be."

"Where? Here?"

Walter started chastising Reeve for dropping her responsibilities just to fly all the way there and make sure he was okay.

"You know, back in my day, when we gave our word on something, we followed through, no matter what."

"Somethings are more important-" Reeve tried explaining but Walter wouldn't hear it.

He was still lecturing her when she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the forehead to say goodbye. She waved farewell one last time before Noah slid the glass door shut behind them.

He walked her to the elevator. They still hadn't talked about their argument. Reeve still couldn't remember exactly what it was and why it had felt like such a big deal in the first place.

"Listen, about tomorrow-"

"I'm coming."

Noah cut her off before she could finish her thought.

"No. You're not. Stay here. Take care of your dad. I understand. You don't have to come."

"I want to."

Reeve could see that there was no convincing him and her late-night was starting to catch up with her. She would have no trouble falling asleep on her flight.

"You flew all the way out here to be with me when I needed you. I'm going. Matthew's already taken time off of work and Hailey's is taking Donovan to her mom's. Dad's covered. I'm going. I will be there to walk you down that red carpet if it's the last thing I do."

Reeve took a deep breath and smiled.

"Thank you."

Noah nodded.

"Besides," he said, nodding back to Walter's room just down the hall, "I would never hear the end of it if I missed it."

A/N:

"A Secret Service" reference anyone??? Anyone??? Really, no one caught that???