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"Poor Gerard," Jamia sympathized aloud.

She was half way to Gerard and Charlotte's house when she looked out of the window at Hudson Park.

The only light in the entire park came from the street light on the other side of the street. There were a group of people standing on the sidewalk, gathered around something. Jamia sped by a girl sitting on the sidewalk. Her face was buried in her hands and she was about three yards away from the small crowd. She had shoulder length blonde hair, was wearing warm black pants, and a letterman jacket on. Jamia stopped the car immediately and put the car in reverse.

She rolled down the window, "Emma?" the girl looked up. There was no mistaking it, the girl was definitely Emma.

"Jamia, Charlie's in a fight!" Jamia got out of the car, walked right past Emma, shoved the kids in the crowd away, and found Charlie in the center, rolling around the ground with some other guy. Jamia bent over and pulled both of them up.

"Hey, hey, hey, hands off each other right now!!" Jamia slapped their hands so that they both shoved them into their pockets.

"What happened?" nobody in the crowd said a word. "Someone better tell me right now what the hell happened or I swear to god I'll call all of your parents and get you in so much trouble you'll wish I was never born!!" Kids' eyes widened and a couple of people ran away.

"Jamia! Jamia!" someone was pushing there way through the crowd. "Jamia, it's all my fault. I-" Jamia still couldn't see who was talking to her, but she knew it was Emma.

"Emma, no it's not it's that bastard's fault!" Charlie nodded at the guy he was fighting.

"Watch your mouth!" Jamia ordered. "Now, what happened?"

"Aaron asked Emma our, but I told him she was going out with me but he kept on ask her. He was telling her to ditch me, how pretty she looked, but she wouldn't budge so he grabbed her hand and tried to take her to his house or whatever and...."

"And you defended her," Jamia's eyes softened and she put both of her hands to her heart. "You!" she pointed at Aaron. "Never come near her again or we'll call the cops! Let's go Emma, your dad's sick, really badly."

"What happened?" Jamia started moving towards the car.

"Yeah, what's wrong with Gerard, is he okay?" Charlie chimed in.

"I don't know, he fell asleep outside and now he's not waking up and he's freakin' cold. Hurry up, your mom's worried as hell!" Jamia opened the Ford Explorer's door and climbed in. Charlie and Emma got in the back seat.

"Jamia?" Emma asked. Jamia looked at her in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah, Em?" Emma moved around a little in her seat.

"Is Dad......" Emma looked at the floor of the car. Charlie put his arm around her. "Had I been there, would Dad have been okay?" Emma covered her face with her hands.

"Honey, you can't think like that. What happened happened. Things happen for a reason, you had absolutely no idea this was going to happen."

"Things happen for a reason, huh?" Emma's hands parted from her face. "Every time someone says that, something bad happens and it's all my fault!"

Emma's hands fled back to her face and Charlie's arm around her turned into a soothing hug. He rubbed her back and stroked her hair lovingly. Jamia just looked at them from the rear view mirror. He always knew just the right thing to do for Emma, Jamia had never seen a guy pay some much attention to a girl. She was deeply in love with Frank and she wouldn't spend her life with anyone else, but sometimes she felt out of touch, but they always reconnected. She turned back to the road, stepping hard on the gas, trying to make up for the lost time on her little pit stop.

Two minutes later, Jamia pulled into the driveway. She jumped out of the car, leaving Charlie and Emma in the car, something she knew she would probably regret later. Jamia heard Charlie saying "it's okay, Em", soothingly, while he still held her. She ran to the door, it was wide open. Just like Alicia and Charlotte to forget about closing doors, in the middle of winter, while they were keeping the house warm.

"Char, Licia?" Jamia leaped over the first two steps and ran up the rest.

"In the bedroom!" Jamia made a left at the top of the stairs and pushed the door open. There was an immediate change in temperature when the door flew ajar. Charlotte was in the bed, sitting on Gerard's left side, holding him close. Mikey was on Gerard's left, he was holding onto Alicia who was barely on the edge of the bed. Gerard was in the very center of the bed, under a huge piled of fluffy, assorted blankets. He was still asleep, he didn't look dead, but he didn't look entirely healthy either.

"Mia, did we do good?" Jamia crossed the room slowly, not sure if Gerard was asleep or still knocked out unconscious.

"Yeah, he looks good, I don't see any blue on him so that's good. You guys did really well, man it's hot in here! " Jamia started fanning herself when the door opened. Emma's head snuck around the door.

"Can I come in?" she asked timidly, her red eyes concentrating on the wood floor.

"Yes please come in," Charlotte begged. Emma walked in, her fingers were locked with Charlie's who trailed behind her, and she still hadn't looked up from the ground yet.

"Come here, sweetie," Charlotte opened her arms for her daughter to come to her and Emma accepted the embrace.

"I'm sorry, mom, I shouldn't have left Dad! Two of the most important men in my life got hurt because of me tonight!" Emma tightly squeezed Charlotte's arms. Charlotte looked up at Charlie when she said the last part. He was blushing and scratching his hair again.

Charlotte could see she wasn't making him any more comfortable, so she went back to Emma, "You didn't do anything wrong honey, it's really all my fault. I was acting ridiculous, I should've just came back here, then Gerard would be safe and you wouldn't be crying!" Charlotte rubbed her face and let a couple tears fall, she wiped her eyes and hugged Emma again.

"Emma," Charlie interrupted. "Please, don't cry you know how much I hate seeing you like this," Charlie knelt down by the bed and put her hair behind her ears.

"I'm sorry, Charlie, it's just so scary, look at him!" Emma pointed both her hands at Gerard's still body. "I hate seeing him like that as much as you hate seeing me like this," Emma took Charlie's hand and rubbed her thumb around it.

"I know how it is it's just..." Charlie looked up at the other people in the room, he almost forgot about Mikey and Alicia on the other side of the bed. "You're just too pretty to look so miserable like this."

Everyone let out an "aww", the couple blushed, everyone was startled by the sudden voice, "Oh, god give it a rest, all of you!!" Gerard opened one eye and smiled at Charlotte.

"Oh, my god, Gerard!" Charlotte threw her arms around him and covered his face with kisses. "Thank god you're okay! How long have you been awake?"

"Couple minutes, just too tired to do anything," Gerard rolled on his side and looked at Charlie and Emma. Charlie had wrapped an arm around her and was now looking into Gerard's eyes. "Hello, Charles, hope you've been taking good care of my little angel while I was unconscious. You okay, Emmy, everything's okay, now," Emma unraveled Charlie's arm around her and buried her head in Gerard's chest.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," Gerard looked down at Emma.

"That's the first time you've called me Daddy in years, you know that?" Emma looked.

"Yeah, huh? I kind of miss it," Emma giggled.

"Me too, but I guess I'm gonna hear it a lot more with the new baby coming," he smiled.

Bob burst through the door, out of nowhere, "GERARD'S HAVING A BABY!"