Gavin rubbed his jaw. Maybe he'd keep the beard for a while. The nurse awoke him with a start and Gavin greeted his wife with an exhausted smile.

"I've given you more than a few scares in the past few years, I think. But what's the fun in keeping score?"

He studied her for a moment; she seemed back to normal, mentally... maybe even moreso than he was.

"We've got a few things to talk about. Here's number one. Aurora is fine, being looked after by Tara and Kassandra. She's worried about you, but she knows you're okay and we'll be home soon. Here's number two."

He tossed a newspaper into her lap with a story about a large fire in Brooklyn that destroyed an underground fighting ring. Not wanting to hit her with too much at once, he paused.

She picked up the paper and smiled at the headline.

"I'd been meaning to go back and finish it for years."

Her smile slowly became sad, her voice and gaze seeming reflective.  "There was always something that came up though, another reason not to go, always another day when I figured Will and I could make the trip and keep the promises of our past ... until there wasn't."

She folded the paper. 

"When I heard that Donahue was in charge of Durden's club while he was away, it was like the damn stars had aligned to make it possible to shut that place down once and for all.  Or... maybe it felt like Will had done it.  Like, somehow, he's with us still - watching over us."    

She chortled dryly,  "I guess that sounds pretty stupid considering how my appendix just about did what half a dozen bullets failed at?"  

Gavin flashed a tired smile. A win was a win, and it looked like Bella had racked up a couple, even before they moved on to the next topic. 

"I dunno, Will gave me stomach pains too... but look, there's more."

He looked at her steadily. 

"You know I'm not a bullshitter; I'll just come out and say all this. Your appendix issue is done now that they removed it. While they were in there, they noticed a lot of other shit... said your other 'surgeries' had been fucked up... I'm summarizing fancy medical talk here."

He squeezed her hand, blue eyes boring into brown.

"Look... they came to me to ask me what to do. They said something about anesthesia and it would be a risk to your life to wake you up... or something... so they asked me to make the decision. They said that they could fix your... parts... fuck. Your baby-making parts. They fixed them. Not all the way, but it's possible now. I know that's a big decision for you, but I figured if they needed to know one way or the other, that it was better to fix it. If you want to keep things the way they are, that's your choice. I'll wear rubbers or something. But if you did want something more, they made it sound like they needed to fix it when they were in there, and I didn't want you to miss that chance."

Gavin looked at her steadily, waiting for her response. He remembered, back when they first met, how her scars and what she considered herself 'lacking' had bothered her so deeply. To have that suddenly not be the case would be more jarring than he suspected he realized, despite his empathy.

Bella stared at Gavin his words seemed to just hang in the air.  She heard him, but for a moment it didn't make sense.  It was a contradiction of what she'd been told after the war against Vegas, Seattle, and LA.  The doctor had told her it was hopeless.  That part of her life was dead and gone ... so how could it be true?  

A thousand thoughts went through her head all at once, thoughts about herself, her family, her future.  All of it undone with a few words from Gavin and some part of her wanted to celebrate, another part of her wanted to scream, and yet another wanted to do nothing more than cry for the time lost. 

Was there time still? 

What would it mean to Aurora for them to have a child of their own flesh and blood? 

Why now?  Dear God, why now?!?  After all this time why was it happening now when danger loomed over them almost omnipresent and omnipotent in the extreme?  Did she dare hope for such a thing?  Frankie and Lucy had both died carrying sons for their husbands - husbands who went to graves before them and it was a fate that she thought would never have to face and now...

She swallowed the lump in her throat.  She closed her eyes pushing away those worries as Gavin's words settled into her brain deeper and she knew he was worried about how she would react.  No... not worried, afraid?  Gavin feared so few things, but most of them (like this one) seemed to revolve around his own fuckups.  Like her own scars, the ones left by a powerful father, those that no one could see were certainly the worst.

She found herself shaking her head 'no' to his offers of trying to prevent a child.  She squeezed Gavin's hand and a smile began to grow on her face.  Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and her bottom lip quivered.

When she opened his eyes to find his still there holding her own she finally spoke, "How long before I've recovered?  Any idea?"

Gavin smiled, reassuringly.

"Just remember... nothing that needs to be decided today. Uh, unless you recover quicker than I think. They mentioned another night of observation, but it seems like they're just being cautious. I could break you out tonight if you need to."

"Kiss me."  She whispered. 

For a long while, they kissed until at last Bella pushed Gavin away.  She choked a bit, smirking all the while.  "I'm not leaving here with you, or sleeping with you, smelling like that.  Christ Gavin... please go get a hotel room and shower."

Not deterred, he kissed her again and Bella laughed.