Written April 5th - May 6th '08 Part Four

A Time For Celebration!!

It was only a couple of hours before the party was to begin. Cane and Lily were enjoying some quiet time together as they were getting ready...

"Lily?" Cane called as he entered the bathroom. He came in just in time to see Lily step from the shower, the question he was about to ask her lay forgotten on his lips.

"Yes, what is it Cane?" Lily asked reaching for her towel. Cane reached it first and gently wrapped it around her body and staring into her eyes began to seductively dry her off.

"Cane," Lily groaned as he began to kiss her heatedly down the side of her neck. Lily turned in his arms the towel dropped to the floor, forgotten as their lips fused together...

A little while later...

Cane and Lily were cuddling on the bed. At some point during their lovemaking they had made there way there.

"So much for getting ready on time."

"So we'll be fashionably late," Cane replied.

"By the way was there something you wanted to ask me when we got distracted earlier?"

"Yeah, actually there was. Do you mind going to the party with Devon?"

"What? Why?"

Cane looked sheepish as he replied, "well I can't tell you why exactly because it's a surprise."

Lily looked intrigued. "A surprise, huh? Well I suppose I could forfeit a ride with you, if the surprise is worth it!"

"Believe me it will be worth it," Cane replied. Then he kissed her again.
Lily was the first to break away and said, "Cane we are never going to get to the party if we keep this up."

"Hmmmmm," Cane contemplated as he loomed over Lily. "Making love to you or going to a party with all of our friends and family."

"Cane!" Lily said as she slapped him playfully on the chest.

"Ok, ok. We'll go to the party. But I am making love to you the minute I get you back inside this condo."

Lily giggled and said, "baby you got a deal." With that Cane finally allowed Lily up, after one more kiss and they got ready to go. Devon would be there in an hour and Cane would be off to collect his surprises for Lily...

Indigo...

Devon and Lily pulled into the parking lot at Indigo an hour and half later. Luckily they had a reserved spot because there wasn't an empty spot in the place. Devon opened the car door for Lily and helped her out of his car. Lily was wearing a turquoise coloured satin dress. It was strapless and had an empire waist allowing the rest of the material to float gently over her to rest just above her knees. She wore a set of earrings that grazed her shoulders and the only other piece of jewellery was her sparkling engagement ring. Lily positively glowed.

Devon looked at his sister, noting how truly happy she looked. "You look beautiful tonight, sis. By the way I want you to know that I am getting really excited at the prospect of becoming an uncle. In fact I'll be known as the favorite uncle."

This made Lily laugh.

"Come on. Let's go in. I promised Cane to get you here by (Devon glanced down at his watch) right now actually."

Lily looked at Devon curiously. "O-kay. Anything you want to tell me?"

"Nope. I am sworn to secrecy. Come on let's go." And they headed inside. Neither one noticing the dark figure lurking near by...

Cane met Lily and Devon just inside the door. "You're late," he said looking at them both.

"Hey man, don't look at me I wasn't the one with twenty questions outside."

Lily elbowed Devon in the stomach causing him to grunt. "It was one question Devon, one."

Cane chuckled and took Lily by the hand. "You look positively breathtaking tonight." Cane said then he kissed her...

"Thank you." Lily whispered against his lips. "And you are beyond handsome, yourself."
Someone cleared their throat behind Cane.

Cane stepped back from Lily and turned towards the noise. A ruggedly handsome looking older man with salt and pepper hair grown slightly wild stood before them.

"Lily, I'd like you to met my uncle. Langley Ashby this is my fiance, Lily Winters."

"Bloody hell, Cane when you said you'd gotten yourself a fancy sheila, you weren't lyin'. If I'd have known they grew 'em like this over here, I might have made the trip sooner."

Cane cringed. Lily blushed. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ashby. Cane has told me a lot about you."

"Call me Lang and the pleasure is mine," he said as he clasped Lily's hand in his.

"I can't believe you came all this way. Thank you for coming."

"Well when the boy told me he was looking to get hitched. I figured it was time to come and see what his life was like here."

"Well we are both very happy that you have come. Shall we go in and introduce you to everyone."

Cane and Langley exchanged glances. "Naw, don't worry about me I'm pretty good at introducin' myself." And he turned and headed into the party, leaving Cane and Lily momentarily alone.

Cane turned to Lily and said, "sorry about that. My uncle is a little on the eccentric side."

"No need to apologize. I thought he was great and what a wonderful surprise to have the man who raised you, here to celebrate with us."

Cane looked at Lily with such love, that for a moment she forgot to breath.

"That wasn't your only surprise," Cane said as he reached into the pocket of his dark suit jacket and retrieved a slim rectangular box and handed it to Lily.

Lily looked down at the box and then back at Cane. "What is it?"

"Open it and see." Cane said with a soft smile.

Lily opened the box to find a beautiful charm bracelet. Tears shone in her eyes as she removed it from the box. "Oh, Cane it's lovely."

"I took the liberty of starting you off with a few charms," he said as he took the bracelet from her grasp and put it on her right arm. Cane held her arm in his and explained. "This one here is a heart with an arrow through it to symbolize Valentine's Day because that day holds great meaning to us both. This one, the miniature wedding rings symbolizes my commitment to you. And this last one, the baby rattle - well this is the first gift for our child."

"Or possibly children," Lily reminded him.

"Well right now we only no of the one for sure. If there is another, then I will get you a second rattle but for now we'll just stick with one."

"Well it's beautiful and I can't wait to add more charms to it." Lily said and kissed him in thanks.

"Me, too." Cane looked up and caught Neil signaling to him. Cane placed Lily's hand in the crook of his elbow and said, "shall we join our family and friends?"

"Yes, lets celebrate the start of the rest of our lives." And they both headed on in...

A Time For...!!

The party was wonderful. All of their friends and family had come out to join them for this joyous occasion. There were toasts and there were speeches. Some made everyone laugh until they cried and some just made them cry with their sweetness. Neil surprised them by booking Robin Thicke to perform and at Lily and Cane's request he sang 'Lost Without You' for them to dance to. It was a magical night and a wonderful time was had by all...

As the party wound down Lily found herself sitting at the piano and as she grazed the keys with her finger tips she found herself thinking back to a different party...

"Quite a party, isn't it?" Lily asked.

"Lets not do this again, huh?"

"Deal," Lily said as they shook on it...

"You know, I meant it."

Lily was brought back to the present by Cane's low voice in her ear. "What?"

Cane looked at her with a knowing smile as he snuggled up next to her on the piano seat. "The deal, I have no intention of ever breaking it." Then he kissed her, tenderly.

Lily was still thrown by how in sync they were sometimes. "Good because I'm not going to break it either."

"Hey you two," Neil said as he and Karen approached. "Did you have a good time tonight?"

"Yes, Dad thank you so much, especially for getting Robin Thicke to perform. That was amazing."

"No need to thank me, sweetheart. I just provided the place, Colleen did all the work and well Karen got you Robin Thicke."

"Really Karen. How did you do that?"

"Oh, it was nothing really. I'm friends with his wife, it's a long story." Karen said modestly.

"We really appreciated it," replied Cane.

Just then Devon came over to join them. "So if I can just pry your uncle away from flirting with Jill. I might be able to get him back to his hotel sometime tonight."

Everyone looked over at the bar where they saw Lange talking intimately with Jill and Jill looking receptive in return. Cane chuckled and shook his head.

"That is my uncle for you, always the charmer. Go ahead and drag him away from my mum. Tell him he can see her tomorrow when we all get together for brunch. And by the way thanks for dropping him off at his hotel, I really appreciate it."

"No problem." And with that Devon went over to do just that.

"So 9:30am good for you guys?" Lily asked.

"Sounds great. I'll make sure that Gina has a table for us. We will see you then." Neil kissed his daughter, congratulating her again. He gave Cane a firm handshake. And Neil did not miss the sweet hug that Lily and Karen shared. Cane and Lily left Indigo's hand in hand...

As they drove home, they chatted warmly about the nights events. Cane kept Lily's small hand firmly in his grasp and every once and a while would stroke her fingers with his thumb or would bring her hand to his lips for a soft kiss. He had just finished doing just that when he noticed a car in the other lane suddenly crossed the center line and was headed right for them.

"What the he-," Cane shouted as he slammed on the brakes and tried to swerve out of the way but it was to late. Lily's scream was the last thing he heard before everything went black...

The scene looked like a war zone. There was broken glass everywhere. Pieces of crumpled metal littered the street. The two vehicles were in the middle of the street, joined together by their crushed front ends. Smoke filtered into the night sky. Cane could be seen lying back in his seat, blood seeping from a large gash on his forehead. His deflated airbag in front of him...

Lily lay slumped over to the side. Blood trickling from her lips. Her hands over her stomach in an unconscious protective gesture...

The other driver could be seen slumped over the steering wheel through the car's shattered windshield...

Sirens could now be heard in the distance...

A Moment Changes Everything!!

Officer Clarke was the first to arrive on the scene. He took in all the damage and devastation. He approached the vehicles and managed to get his hand inside to check for pulses. All three involved were alive. He didn't know how but they were.

He radioed headquarters and said, "Yeah, this is officer Clarke. We are going to need the fire department and three ambulances. There has been a serious accident here on Hwy 16. Yeah, we're going to need the jaws of life to get these folks out of their mangled vehicles. I'll set up road blocks and see what else I can do until help arrives..."

Five minutes later the fire trucks arrived followed by the ambulances. Everyone immediately set to work...

The firemen cut through the metal of the two vehicles, the sickening crunch of the jaws of life splitting the doors open echoed in the night...

Cane, Lily and the other driver were all fitted with neck braces and strapped to back boards before being loaded onto gurneys and taken separately in ambulances to the hospital. All had suffered severe injuries...

Tow trucks and investigators started to clear the wreckage off the road...

After closing up Indigo, Neil and Karen were on their way back home. Chatting about Lily and Cane and when they thought they were going to set a wedding date. They were chuckling about Cane's uncle when they came upon the accident scene that was in the process of being cleared up. Neil slowed his car right down so that he could move cautiously by the accident and the people who were cleaning it up.

Karen was looking out the passenger window and caught sight of what was left of Cane's SUV. She was just wondering how anyone could have survived that when realization dawned. She grabbed Neil's arm and said, "Neil? Isn't that - isn't that C-Cane's SUV?"

Neil looked at the wreckage but before he could answer, his phone rang...it was the hospital...

Neil and Karen arrived at the hospital first, followed closely behind by Jill, Katherine and Langely. Whom the ladies had picked up on the way there. All were visibly upset and wondering what was going on. The emergency room was a controlled chaos as doctors and nurses worked on the three individuals in the exam rooms...

Neil and Jill approached the nurses station to see if they could find out anything on the condition of their children...

"Excuse me? Can you tell me if my daughter, Lily Winters is ok?" Neil demanded.

"And her fiance Cane Ashby, he is my son. Can you tell me what is going on with him, please?" Jill visibly upset, asked.

The frazzled nurse on duty looked at them both with sympathy and replied, "I am sorry the doctors are working on them as we speak. The only thing I know is that they were involved in a two vehicle accident and that they were in serious condition when they were brought in. Please I know it is hard but if you just wait I am sure there will be a doctor out shortly to give you their prognosis."

The nurse was about to step away when Neil put his hand out to stop her and said, "Please, my daughter is pregnant. Can you tell them that?"

The nurse nodded and walked away. Neil and Jill embraced one another then went back to tell the other three what they found out...

Meanwhile...

Cane regained consciousness in the exam room. There were nurses and doctors all around him. There were monitors attached to him as well as an i.v. His neck brace had been removed as they had found no injuries to his neck and back. But he did have a large gash on his forehead and he had two broken ribs and some internal bruising. He was very lucky. As the moments leading up to the accident came back to him and he looked around trying to see Lily amongst the faces in front of him he knew he had to find her...

"Lily, I have to see Lily," he said as he tried to sit up. He was in a state of shock and didn't feel the pain. He started ripping the monitors off and tried to rip the i.v. from his arm. This made the alarms go off and the medical staff in the room try and restrain him.

"No," Cane shouted. "I have to see Lily. I have to find her."

"Sir, you are going to have to calm down. You have been in an accident and you are injured." The doctor gave the nurse directions to set up an injection to sedate him.

Cane looked about him wildly. "No, you don't understand. I have to find Lily. I need to know if she is ok."

Everyone could hear the commotion in the waiting area. Cane's uncle Lange pushed his way into the room. "Boy," he shouted. "You better be listening to these folks that are trying to look after you."

Cane deflated for a moment and tears started to seep from the corners of his eyes. "But you don't understand. I need to find Lily. I need to see if she is ok. She is the other half of my heart. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her."

The doctors gave him the injection and as the drug started to take over the last thing Cane heard before slipping back into unconsciousness is his uncle saying, "Cane, son it will be ok..."

Langley stepped back into the waiting area. A frantic Jill and Katherine met him half way.

"Well? How is he?" Jill and Kay asked.

"He's a feisty one that son of yours. Wanted to see Lily. Never seen a man that head over heels in love before. I think he is going to be hurting for a while but will eventually be ok."

"Oh, thank God."

Just then the doctor that had been tending to Lily came out and approached Neil. "Are you Lily Winters father?"

"Yes. How is she?" The rest of the group had gathered around to hear the doctors response.

"Well, Ms. Winters received a blunt force trauma to the head. She has still not regained consciousness. Along with several cuts and bruising, she has a dislocated shoulder and sprained wrist. She was very lucky that she had her seatbelt on, her injuries could have been much worse."

They were all relieved at that news.

"And her baby? Is her baby ok?"

"Well with the trauma she suffered - " The doctor was cut off by another doctor who approached.

"Excuse me? Mr. Winters?"

Neil reluctantly turned away from the doctor who was about to give him news of his grandchild and said, "yes?"

"Sir it's about the driver of the other vehicle. He -"

"Look I don't care if that other driver is rotting in hell. It's where he belongs for what he did to my daughter."

The other doctor looked stricken at what he had to say next. "But sir. The other driver is your son Devon Winters..."

Keep the Faith!!

Neil was stunned. Before him stood two men who had information on the fates of two of his family members and he didn't know who should speak first. The doctors made that decision for him...

"Yes sir, Devon Winters was the other driver. He's in serious but stable condition. He suffered a broken pelvis and he has several lacerations from when his windshield shattered. Um, he has already been moved to his own room. You can see him if you like."

Neil was stunned if it wasn't for the strong arms of Langley helping him to sit in a chair he probably would have collapsed from the shock. Devon? He thought, how could this have happened?

"Was there alcohol involved?"

"We have done the blood work but we haven't received the test results back yet," replied the doctor.

Neil looked at Karen. "Did you see Devon drinking tonight?"

Karen thought for a moment before replying, "no. To my knowledge he only had soda."

Langley cleared his throat and spoke up. "When the lad dropped me off at the hotel his car seemed to be acting up a bit and he mentioned he was going to take it to the mechanics in the next day or two."

Neil rubbed a hand over his face. "I just don't understand. How could this happen?"

"Hopefully the investigators will be able to give us the answers we seek." Katherine said.

The other doctor who had been waiting for the family to absorb this news, now informed them of the fate of Lily's babies...

"In regards to the unborn fetuses. They-"

"Wait, fetuses as in more than one?" Jill asked in astonishment.

"Yes, actually. I received Ms. Winters medical file and she was scheduled for another ultrasound to determine whether or not it was a multiple pregnancy. So we did one to check on the status of her pregnancy and discovered that there is indeed two. And so far they are still viable but with the amount of trauma and bruising she received to her abdominal area well - I would be very cautiously optimistic because she could still miscarry at anytime. But we will try and do our best to make sure that both mother and babies will pull through this."

The group standing before him were stunned. Twins!!

Neil looked up at the doctor. "Can I see my daughter?"

"Not tonight. As I have said she is still unconscious. We will monitor her and the fetuses very closely tonight and hopefully you will be able to see her tomorrow. Now if you will excuse me I better go and check on Ms. Winters. I will let you know of any changes in her condition." And with that he left.

"I better go and see Devon now. Can you take me to his room?"

"Certainly," said the other doctor.

"We will be waiting here for any news Neil. I am just glad everyone survived that horrible accident." Karen said as she squeezed Neil's arm.

Neil looked at Karen for a moment before he said, "so far, Karen. They have survived so far." Neil turned and followed the doctor down the hall...

Neil looked at his son through the window of the door. Taking in his swollen and cut face before he entered the room and quietly closed the door...

He approached the bed and sat down in the chair beside it. He clasped Devon's hand in his.

Devon turned towards his father and immediately broke down...

"Dad, I - I'm so sorry. I overheard a couple of nurses talking... I know it was Cane's SUV that I hit. Did I - I mean is Lily -" Devon could no get the words past his throat.

Neil squeezed his hand. "Shhhhh... Devon, they are alive. They are in serious condition and it's still iffy about the babies but we are going to pray that they are ok. But I have to ask you something... Were you drinking tonight before you got behind the wheel?"

Devon looked startled. "What dad? No, no. I would never do something like that."

"Well can you tell me what happened? Do you remember?"

Devon thought for a moment. "I remember dropping off Langley at his hotel and I remember how my brakes felt a little soft and my steering wheel was kind of sticking. I thought it was strange because I had just had my car in for service just last month so I thought I would take it back in. When I was driving back to the campus house I went around that curve on Hwy 16 and I tried to use my brakes to slow down a bit and - and that was when I realized they weren't working. I tried to move my steering wheel but it had locked. I saw the other vehicle and there was nothing I - I could do. I tried Dad I swear I did. That's the last thing I remember." Devon said as tears continued to slide down his face.

"Son, it's ok. We'll try and figure out what happened." Neil sat there for a long time trying to comfort Devon, trying to come to terms with everything that had happened...

Later...

Cane woke up in a room alone. He groaned in pain as he brought himself up to a sitting position. He started to remove the monitors attached to him when he remembered what happened last time and leaned over and flicked the machine off before he continued to do so. He staggered to his feet and made it to the door. He looked out to make sure no one was in the hall. Seeing that it was clear he crept out and and started making his way down the hall in search of Lily's room. He didn't have to look far as she was placed just down the hall from him. He looked through the window in her door and his breath caught, his eyes filled with tears at the sight before him...

He entered Lily's room quietly. Lily was attached to several monitors and there was oxygen tubes at her nose. Her face was covered in bruises and there was a large bump near her right temple. Cane approached her bed and could not help the sob of anguish that escaped his lips.
He eased himself down into the chair at her side. He reached out his fingers to gently stroke her hand. "Lily?" He whispered.

Lily did not stir.

Cane brought her hand up to meet his lips. "Oh, sweetheart I am so sorry. I tried to avoid that car but it was coming to fast - I." Cane took a deep breath. "Please don't die Lily, please. I love you so much."

Cane looked up towards the heavens and began to pray...

"God I know that we haven't talked in a really long time but please, I beg of you don't let this woman die. I can't live without her. Please...please...please"

Cane put his forehead against her hand that he still held and a sound began to register within his mind...

'Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump...'

Cane looked towards Lily's face then at her stomach. He tenderly pulled back the blankets exposing her black and blue stomach and the two disk like heart monitors strapped there, keeping track of the two distinctive beats of the unborn children that still slept there.

His hand shook as he reached out to place it softly on her belly. Tears streamed unchecked down his face...

"Lily, do you hear that? You kept our children safe. Please, please wake up so that you can hear this miraculous sound yourself."

Cane looked at her face and watched her eyes move back and forth under her closed lids...

Choices...!!

Cane continued to watch Lily. He did not move. He did not even realize how much time had past when a nurse came in to check on Lily...

The nurse had to clear her throat to get Cane's attention. "Mr. Ashby, what are you doing in here?"

"I had to see Lily. I had to make sure she was ok." Cane finally dragged his gaze away from Lily to look pleadingly at the nurse. "Please don't make me leave her." Cane begged hoarsely and fresh tears glittered in his eyes.

"But sir, you are running the risk of injuring yourself further. You need to be in bed, you need your rest."

"I'm fine, honestly." But he could not hide the grimace of pain that marred his face as he shifted in the chair.

The nurse looked at him knowingly.

"Please. Bring another bed in here. I'll lie down, I swear. I just have to be here, be near her. See her breathing, hear our babies heartbeats. Please."

The nurse sighed. "Alright, I will have an orderly bring in a bed. But you better make use of it as soon as he does or I will have to insist that you are moved back to your room. And believe me you don't want to see me insist."

"Thank you. I will, I promise. Just thank you for letting me stay..."

Meanwhile in Devon's room...

Neil had not left his side and was there when a police officer knocked and entered the room...

"Excuse me, Devon Winters? I'd like to ask you a few questions if I may."

"Is that necessary right now, officer?"

"Dad, it's ok. Ask me whatever you want officer. I have nothing to hide."

"Well, we got your blood work and we have ruled out alcohol as being a factor in this crash. Tell me Devon, do you have any enemies?"

"What? Not that I know of. Why?"

"Well, during our examination of your vehicle we discovered that your brake line had been cut and your steering tampered with."

"I - " Neil and Devon exchanged looks. This was confirming what they had already started to suspect...

"To my knowledge officer the answer to that would be no. Who could have done this?"

"That's what we would like to know and we are going to do our very best to find out," replied the officer. "Thank you for your time. I won't keep you any longer as you need your rest but if you remember anything else please let us know. We'll be in touch."

"Thank you," Neil said as the officer let himself out.

"Who could have done this Dad...and why?"

"I don't know son, I don't know but I am going to do my very best to find out..."

Meanwhile...
Cane continued to watch Lily and listen to the steady beats of his unborn children's hearts. A bed had been brought in but he still hadn't climbed into it yet. He couldn't seem to drag himself away from Lily's side. He watched as Lily's eyes continued to move beneath her lids. "Lily? Please open your eyes for me, baby." Cane wondered if she was dreaming...

Lily was enjoying the sunshine on her face as she walked through the park. She didn't know how she got here, she just knew it was better than where she was. As screeching tires and squealing brakes echoed somewhere in the back of her mind. Lily shivered but couldn't quite recall why she felt uneasy. Instead she kept walking. Towards something she knew, something familiar...

Lily came to a clearing and watched as a girl was playing quietly by herself. She was a beautiful little girl no more than five or six years old, she looked very familiar...

"You shouldn't be here you know," the little girl said as she continued to play with her dolls.

"What? Why? I like it here."

The little girl finally looked directly at Lily. "You're not supposed to be here. He needs you."

Lily looked directly at the girl. "Do I know you? Are - are you my daughter?"

The girl went back to playing with her dolls.

"Who needs me? Who are you?" Lily asked with mounting frustration.

The girl once again looked at Lily with knowledge far beyond her years. "I'm you silly."

"Me?"

"Yes and I am here to tell you that decisions must be made. Choices must be made that are going to devastate many. Devastate you. But most of all devastate Cane because he has to make them..."

"What choices? Please tell me." Lily said as she began to cry and the images before her began to fade. Her child like self was fading away without telling her. Lily was once again surrounded by blackness...

Meanwhile...

Suddenly an alarm went off. Doctors and nurses came running into the room. One took a struggling and resistant Cane and moved him out into the hall...

"What's going on? Is it Lily? The babies?" Cane asked, panic lacing his voice.

"Sir please, we must insist that you go back to your room now. Someone will come and talk to you when we know more."

What Cane heard coming from the room before the door closed chilled him to the core.

"Baby A is in severe distress. It's heart rate is falling rapidly. If we don't do something quickly we are going to lose them both..."