"he moved," she garbles against my chest.

"what was that, sunshine? what moved?"

she takes a deep breath, her whole body rocking with the movement. "zac... he finally moved." a sob escapes her mouth, and the sound of it is so intense that i have to close my eyes at the depth of her emotions. "he finally moved when you talked. he wouldn't move. not until he heard you." she starts shaking again, her crying getting even stronger.

i scan the room with wild eyes, looking for something-anything-that can help me take her pain away. when i come up blank, i turn my attention back to her. rocking her slowly in my arms and pressing my forehead against hers.

emmy continues to check her wrists, holding a few towels that maddox handed her against the deep wounds.

when the room fills with cops and paramedics, i finally let some of the tension leave my body. until i know that chelcie and zac are okay, i don't think i'll be able to release it all. knowing that this could have ended differently is the only thing that is keeping me going right now.

they're safe.

and i'll never let her out of my sight now.

five hours later, we're sitting in her hospital room. she won't let me leave her side-not that i have any plans to-so i lie with a good half of my body hanging off the edge of her narrow hospital bed. our hands are laced together over her stomach, and the sounds of our son's heartbeats are echoing around the room. a constant reminder for us that he is okay. safe within his mother's womb.

she ended up needing numerous stitches along her arms and wrists from the damage the glass had done. they closed the cut on her eyebrow with glue since it wasn't as deep. they want to keep her overnight for observation, which i readily agreed to. just being here is making things a little easier for us. hearing the sounds of our son, alive and thriving, reaffirms that chelcie kept him safe from danger.

when i listened to her soft whispers telling the detectives what had happened, i had a hard time keeping it together. i want to find sarah jane and physically hurt her. watch her suffer like she made chelcie. but when chelcie grabs my hand, i quickly push the thoughts back. she wouldn't want me to be thinking that way. sarah jane needs help. judging by her hysterical screaming when they finally were able to get her out of her comatose state, i would guess she's going to go straight to a mental hospital.

"i'm so proud of you, sunshine."

she lifts her head, kissing my forehead before i can move back to look into her eyes.

"i was scared, baby, but i would have fought even longer. i will never let anything or anyone come between us."

i lean in and press my lips softly to hers. she hums lightly in the back of her throat like she always does when i kiss her like this.

i pull back and look at her in question. "how are you dealing with all of this? do you want to talk about it?"

"not really. i saw her, ash. she wasn't right in the head, so if you're going to start blaming yourself, thinking because she was some chick in your past that you're responsible, then you can stop now." i look at her, slightly embarrassed that she has such a good read on me. "i'm not sure that there will ever be enough help to make whatever is broken in her mind. she was talking nonsense. it's over and i would really prefer to put it behind us. one thing i know for sure is i do not want to go back to that apartment. i can't, asher. even though i know there isn't danger anymore, i don't think i will ever feel safe there again."

"i understand. we'll get you out of here and stay at coop's old house until we decide what we want to do. we don't need to make a decision now or even a month from now. all that matters is that you and zac are going to be fine. i love you," i softy remind her, shifting slightly so i can bring her closer. it's hard to get her as close as i want to with the wires and probes and crap all over her stomach.

"i love you too," she murmurs, placing her head against my chest.

we fall into a restless sleep after that. i wake up a few times when the nurses come in to check on her, but not once do i remove her body from my arms.

chapter 36 - chelcie

two weeks later

"asher!" i call from where i'm rocking. he surprised me with the mother of all nurseries and i never want to leave it.

when we decided to move into coop's old house, it wasn't something we decided lightly. i was worried that it would be too hard for asher to be in his old house. we had made amazing progress in cleaning it out, moving things that were trash and donating the others that didn't mean anything to ash. all that was left were the items ash wanted to keep.

we decided that the first order of business was repainting the entire house. we spent hours painstakingly picking out each color for each room. then we spent an even more obnoxious amount of time picking out the new furniture for the house. we got rid of everything that had been in my old apartment. since the majority of it was old stuff dee had left behind, i didn't have many emotional attachments.

we did keep all of zac's nursery items-except this chair. it's a new addition.

designed to resemble the look of a baseball, it's white in color with red stitching that stands out beautifully. the creamy leather and softness of the plush cushions are enough to make me never want to leave this spot.

it. is. heaven.

"yeah?" he shakes his head when he comes into the room and sees that i haven't left the seat-again-for the second day in a row. "sunshine, should i get you one of these in every room?"

whatever he sees in my face has him throwing his head back and his rich laughter booming in the room.

"it's not going to happen, so get that thought out of your head."

"what time is everyone coming over tonight?"

we decided late last week that we wanted to have everyone over for dinner. it means a lot to us that we share this with our family. i've been so proud of asher. after the successful takedown of dominic, eight other major players in the nasty underworld of drugs, guns, and sex trafficking were apprehended that day. i know there are still times when asher questions himself if he made the right call, but then i will see him look over at me, his eyes tracing a path from my face all the way to my very large belly. his eyes get all sexy and soft and he just nods his head-coming to the conclusion without any help from me that he is, without a doubt, on the right path. his decision to give up his determination of being the one to take dom out made it so that some major players in crime are now locked tight behind bars.