"Greg?" She turned towards the door as she heard it open and close again. "Are you?" The words seemed evaporate as she watched him step into the room. It was a strange sort of feeling, a mix of incredible loss and unspeakable joy. "Billy," she breathed shakily, "It's you." Libby batted her feet against her sides, as she babbled happily.

"Yeah." He walked over to her and reached for Libby who happily craned towards him. It felt as natural as anything ever had to hold her in his arms and he pressed his lips to her forehead as he cradled her against his chest. "Hi there," he whispered as he swayed gently back at forth. "I'm gonna love getting to know you." He heard the shake of breath again and looked up at Phyllis. "I promise I'll be here. I'll be the best father for her."

She nodded as she struggled to keep the tears from overtaking her. "I know you will. I never doubted that you would. That was never what any of this was about. I just … I had kept it from you for too long and I was afraid that you would hate me and I was …"

"Hate you?" He reached out to brush the tears away from her cheek, his mind flashing back to the first time he'd done it, all those years ago. He could still feel the warmth of the fire and hear the storm raging outside. They'd both declared it to have been a mistake when their lips met for the first time, but neither of them had been able to forget it. And now, all these years later, no matter what had happened between them, no matter what they said, no matter how they hurt each other, he still wanted to wipe away every tear, heal every hurt. "I could never ever hate you," he said softly. "I wish I could promise you that I would never hurt you again, but the truth is I probably will. We'll hurt each other because we're stupid and reckless and self destructive but, at the end of the day, I can promise that I'll never let us go again. I've seen my life without you and I'll never go there again."

Her hand trembled as she reached up to lightly stroke Libby's back. "Billy," she sighed, "I want to believe you. I really want to believe you, but …"

"I know. I know it's hard to believe anything I say because I've given you a million reasons to doubt me. I've lied and I've cheated and I've destroyed any trust you had in me while I was destroying myself, so I'm not going to ask you to believe in me. I'm going to ask you to give me a chance to prove it. Give me a chance to show you that you and Libby are more important to me than anything else in the world. Give me a chance to show you that I love you more now than I loved you the first time I said the words to you." He looked at her, his eyes searching her expression for any sign that might be considering his earnest plea. "Do you remember that?"

"Of course I do," she whispered, her eyes closing. "I remember everything about us."

"I know you probably wish you didn't sometimes."

"No." The word came from her lips quickly. "I never wanted to forget anything, not one second about my life with you. Yes, you hurt me. I hurt you. We hurt each other, but we were only able to do that – hurt each other that badly because of how much we loved each other and I would never want to forget someone that I had that kind of connection with. For every painful memory I have, I have ten more amazing moments. For every hateful word we said, there are so many times that you told me how much you loved me, how much you loved the real me, the me that so many people in my life had tried to change."

"Those weren't just words you know." He used his hand to gently lead her over to sofa as he sat down next to her and smiled as Libby contentedly let her head rest against his shoulder. "I love everything about you. You never have to be anything other than the amazing woman that you are when you're with me. That's why we worked. There weren't requirements. I could be me and you could be you and we loved each other. It was simple. It was real. And it still is. I can look at you now and know that there is nothing in this entire world that I love more than I love you …" Libby's tiny coo made him laugh gently. "Well," he smiled as he glanced down at her. "We'll call it a tie, okay?"

"Greg knew," she said after a moment of silence. "He knew from the moment he saw you. He said I'd never looked at him the way I looked at you. At first I tried to convince myself that it was just because of Libby and because I wanted so much for you to be a part of her life, but then that night, I started thinking about us and about …"

"I can't believe you kept all those things," he said quietly. He saw the surprised look on her face. "Greg told me about the box. He brought it with him when he came to see me. He wanted me to understand how he knew what had to be done."

"I kept telling myself I should throw it away," she admitted. "I even walked to the bin with it a few times, but it felt like I was throwing away a part of myself and then I started thinking about Libby and about the fact that she would want to know about us some day, about her parents, about the fact that we love each other, that she wasn't the product of some fling."

"Love?" In everything she'd said, it was the one thing he'd honed in on. She could have spoken of her feelings in the past. She could have professed their relationship to be a fond memory, but instead she'd used the word love – as if was something she felt – even now. And with that one simple utterance, his hope was spurred. "You said love."

It was something about the light in his eyes as he said the words, the look of total sincerity as he looked at her and cradled their baby daughter. "Yeah," she said, "I did. God help me Billy Abbott, I do love you."

He felt the immediate rush of tears to his eyes but forced himself to hold back. His hand reached for her face and he smiled gratefully when she didn't pull away. "I love you too and I love this little girl and the only thing I want in this world is to prove to you how much. I know I don't deserve it, but …" He watched as he heard fell a bit and, for a moment, his heart fell with it.

"Nobody deserves it," she answered. "God knows I don't deserve to have this little girl after everything I've done, but here she is and here we are and maybe that's because this is the way it's supposed to be. It's messy and it's ugly and it's complicated, but it feels right … more right than anything else ever has."

"I'm trying really hard to get my hopes up because I'm not sure I could stand it if I was wrong but, that really sounds like a yes to me … is it? Are you saying that you'll let me back in your life? You and me and Libby, we can give this family thing a shot?"

She smiled as she felt him lean in closer to her. "Yes," she breathed, stopping him just before his lips met hers. "On one condition."

He breathed in deeply. "Name it. I'll do anything. Absolutely anything."

8 months later

"Billy!" She called down from the top of the stairs. "I think that's the doorbell. It's probably the food. Can you get it?"

"Sure." He smiled as he glanced down at the table. A year ago, this night would have been completely different. There would have been a fancy restaurant, flowers, and candles. They would have both been dressed to the nines and every move would have been carefully orchestrated. Tonight was nothing like that but the important parts were still there. "Thanks," he smiled as he reached for the bags. "Looks perfect." He surveyed the offerings in his hand and completed checklist as he placed the last remaining items onto the table. "Double chocolate brownies from Crimson lights." He whispered to the words to Libby as he knelt down to the floor to reach her level. "Mommy's favorite." He watched as the little girl stood to her feet and took the steps necessary to reach him. "That's my girl," he grinned. "You're getting good practice in for the big event." His arms wrapped around her and scooped her up. "You know I'm giving you the biggest job tonight, right?" He handed her the big red box on the table. "You gotta give the box to Mommy."

"Guess that means we've got company for dinner?" Phyllis's voice rang out from the staircase and he turned to see her descend. She wore a gray tank and yoga pants. Her hair was pulled up and she'd washed off her makeup. He wasn't sure if he'd ever seen her look so beautiful before.

"Yeah," he smiled. "She woke up a few minutes ago." He pointed to the wine bottle. "You want a glass?" He held it out towards her, curious if she'd recognize the label. The sparkle in her eyes gave him the answer.

"I didn't know we had any more of that," she smiled. "I thought we'd emptied that cellar years ago."

"We did," he admitted. "It took some work, but I found a couple cases at a vineyard in in California."

"California?" Her eyes widened as she took a drink and let her body snuggle against his on the sofa. "You went through a lot of trouble."

"Well it's a special night," he whispered and kissed her cheek.

"It is?"

"Every night with you and Libby is special." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Libby pick up the box and begin to toddle towards them. "No. No," he said with a quick nod of his head. "Not yet baby."

Libby was undeterred and continued to her approach. "Daddy," she said with a smile. "Daddy?"

He couldn't correct her again as he bright eyes and accomplished smile flashed back at him. "Thank you, sweet girl," he said.

"What's that?" She felt the quiver in her voice as she looked down at the box. It was large but she had a feeling.

"Why don't you open it and find out?"

His heart pounded inside his chest as he watched her shaky hands remove the top. Inside the large box was a small black velvet one and her eyes immediately glossed over with tears.

"Billy," she breathed as she looked up at him. "If there are diamond earrings in this, I'm going to be so pissed off at you."

He laughed as he reached inside and pulled out the box. "Don't worry." He opened the box to reveal the round vintage inspired diamond ring. "You like it?"

"I …" She felt the tears already spilling down her face despite her best efforts to stop them.

Libby's soft grunts distracted her as she struggled to climb onto the couch and wriggled into her mother's lap. "It's okay baby," she whispered as she hugged her tight. "It's beautiful," she managed finally. "I love it. I love you."

"Will you wear it?" He looked at her as she sat there with their daughter in her arms. It was everything he'd ever wanted and also everything he'd been afraid he'd never have.

"I don't think that's the right question," she laughed as he reached out to brush away the tears and felt Libby's little hand meet his.

He laughed softly. "You're right. That's not the right question." He looked down at Libby. "I promise to do everything I can not to make Mommy cry anymore … only happy tears. I want to us to be a family … all of us. Will you marry me?"

"Marriage hasn't exactly worked out too well for either of us, has it?" She saw the flash of concern in his eyes and quickly reached for his hand. "But maybe that was because it had never been right before. This time it is. This time we make it work because it's worth it, because we want it, because it's what this was all supposed to lead to."

"I think we can. I promise you I'll do everything in my power to make you happy … to make you both happy." He held the ring out towards her hand and watched as she let him slip it on her finger. "Is that …" His own voice went raspy as she nodded wordlessly and leaned in to kiss him.

"Yes," she managed as she finally pulled away. "In case you didn't get that, the answer is yes."

The End