If I Knew Then: Chapter 19

I'd Fall in Love - Part 2

If I knew then

What I know now

Whoa, if I knew then, what I know now

I'd fall in love

A moan escaped Ezra's throat as he fought his way awake, feeling like he was sinking in a drop-off, falling farther into its depths each passing moment. He struggled to open his heavy eyelids, but for some reason, it was harder than it usually was. His head felt like someone was trying to split it with a jackhammer and he couldn't feel the entire right side of his body. His lungs ached and he heard machines beeping and humming all around him. He was definitely not back at Aria's condo. He felt confined to the bed of which he lied, a brace wrapped tightly around his torso.

He had no idea where he was. Evidently, he was lying in a hospital room. He had no recollection as to why. The last thing he remembered was going out to get dinner down the street from the apartment and then everything was blank; a clean, blurry, and black slate. And every time he tried to divulge in what memories he may have, he was sent into a bewildering state of darkness. Then he woke up and he was there. How did he get from the condo to the hospital? Why was he hooked up to so many tubes and wires, with an IV pumping liquids into him? Where was Aria? Was she alright?

The only thing he could remember was smoke. Ezra had no idea from what though. It was a tiny puff of smoke from a device by a human's hand. It illuminated the darkness and haunted the back of his eyelids as he made attempts to open them.

He blinked his eyes open at last and looked to his left. Electricity was sent through every nerve in his body as he saw her. A wide smile graced his lips as he put forth an effort to speak, the word scraping against the walls of his throat. It contained four letters that sent him into a passion-induced frenzy. It made him feel like he was being set on fire as the flames of the word, or the name, ablaze in the wildfire of his heart. It felt like a century since the last time he said it. It ached the core of his body, which was still exhausted for a reason that he couldn't recall no matter how hard he tried. Her name was the kind of word that could cure cancer. Her name made every war cease. It gave him peace and a sense of security that he hadn't felt in his entire life.

Aria sat beside him in the chair next to what looked to be a hospital bed, her breathing steady as if she was asleep. She was wrapped up in his old Hollis hoodie, hanging loosely from her body. She clasped his bandaged hand in her own, as if she was comforted from his touch. He gave it a light squeeze and her head immediately shot up, staring wildly at his face. Her cheeks were streaked with dried tears and soon new ones were being brewed in the depths of her almond-grey eyes. She leaned in close, her sweet breath creating a sweet smelling musk to fall upon his face. She messed with his curls as she always did.

He was finally able to reinforce sound behind the word in his throat, making it so only she could hear him:

"Aria?"

"Ezra!" She exclaimed softly, wiping the few stray tears from her eyes and pressing his bandaged hand to her cheek, since he couldn't caress it himself without using the utmost extent of his strength, "Hey, baby." She giggled, shielding her face with her hair, which he instinctively tucked behind her ear weakly with his fingers. She kissed the tip of his nose, "I know you must be puzzled right now, but I can answer as many questions as I can." Her thumb rubbed the stubble underneath his mouth, locking her gaze with his, realizing that he kept on staring at her, "Do I have something in my teeth?" He shook his head to reassure her and she continued to cradle his face, kissing every bit of it but his lips, "I'm so happy to see that you're finally awake."

"Aria." That's the only word that he could manage to say and he swallowed, using more of his vocabulary that he had paid so much for in college for his Masters in English Literature. He blinked, obviously confused at her statement, "Wait what do you mean, 'finally awake? How long have I been asleep? And why in the damn hell am I in a hospital bed with all of these wires connected to my body?"

She swallowed hard and held his hands in both of her own, "Well, Ezra…you were shot in the shoulder Thursday night when you went to get the food at the Thai restaurant down from the condo." She paused and he watched her face as more tears began to stockpile her cheeks, "You hit your head when you hit the ground and have a concussion. There's a possibility that you may not remember what happened. You also have a broken rib or two."

"Well, that's certainly a turn of events." Ezra stated sarcastically, causing both of them to share a slightly inappropriate laugh. He continued to gape at his girlfriend, watching her talk and he tiredly reached up to brush a lock of her hair into his grasp, rubbing it rhythmically between the tabs of his fingers.

He slightly leaned forward, totally disregarding the numbed chipped bone in the base of his ribs as he brushed his lips against hers. Something about it reminded him of when he first kissed her when they were in that bar in Cleveland. When the sensitive salmon pink skin against hers, the old sparks flew; fireworks blazing wildfires in the blaze of their linked hearts and the joyous celebration of seeing a newborn baby. It was like coming alive after being dead for thousands of years.

With locked mouths, the woman who loved too much fell into the grasp of the man who was afraid to love at all. The embrace wasn't the enchantment.

They were the magic.

When they separated, she gave his nose another peck, rubbing her own against it, leaning her forehead against his, "You've been in and out of consciousness since the ambulance picked you up, after…after I found you. You'd lost so much blood, babe. You were going into Hypovolemic shock and your heart stopped for a moment. They had to use the paddles and-" She started to choke on her sobs and he said nothing as she continued through her slurred words, "I thought I'd lost you by the time the paramedics got there. It was just so cold and you were shivering. There was so much blood, Ezra! You don't know how lucky you are to be alive right now!"

"Aria, sh. Baby, I'm here for you. I'm alive, okay? I'm here and I am alive." He kissed the top of her head and then wiped the tears away from her cheeks, "Please, stop crying before you make me shed my own tears." He moved over to make room for her on the bed, where she was hesitant to climb onto. He eyed her with a grin and gestured, "Come here and lay here in my arms. I want you beside me and I need to prove to you that I'm really okay." She continued to look skeptical and he sighed, pushing himself into a sitting position, which was difficult since his whole right side of his body was numb. He collapsed back against his pillows after a few seconds of the strenuous labor, only to give off a grunt and attempt the movement again.

"What are you doing?" She cried, trying to stop him, "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"I want you here, Aria. Not over in that chair where I can barely touch you. Come here and be with me." He sighed in exasperation, falling against his former place again, "Draw closer to me. I'm too far away from you.

She shook her head in reluctance, burying her head into the nape of his neck, kissing the skin softly, "Your doctor would not be thrilled to see me on the bed beside you; neither would your family. Plus, I don't want to hurt you."

It was his turn to be skeptical in this game of back and forth, "My family? You mean my mother, brother and his family right?" He quavered his head in disbelief, "Why would they come all the way to Boston to see me? I have you and that's all the family I need at the moment."

Aria gazed at him, with a dumfounded expression on her face, "You're honestly asking that, Ezra? Do you even realize on how close you came to losing your life? Did you really expect me not to call your mother and give her the news that her son was shot?" She shook her head again in what seemed to be frustration, more tears brewing up, "I think that's a pretty good reason to check in."

"Maybe, so. I just don't get what all the fuss is about. It's just a little puncture wound." Being the sensible one between him and his girlfriend, he just shrugged as he settled back against his pillow, getting the first stroke of massive pain in his right shoulder and he gripped the bandages that lied there, wincing with gritted teeth. He could not describe the ache that he felt at that moment. However, what he could put into words was equate to being hit a heavyweight truck.

Aria was no help either; she tensed and took on the description of a worried hen over her last surviving chick or Marlon over Nemo in Finding Nemo. She inched closer to him, watching his every movement and every change in his facial expression, waiting to page Florence or his doctor in case something drastic happened. Once in a somewhat bearable position, he inhaled and exhaled deeply as he used his left hand to wipe the brewing beads of sweat from his forehead, glaring at her with narrowed eyes,. "Are you going to come over here or not?"

"Ezra, I really don't think-"

"Aria." He said her name firmly. He peered into her hazel depths, feeling the intensity of the deep enriched pupils burning every nerve in his body. He needed her closer to him. He needed her where she was safe in his damaged and bruised arms, proving that no matter what they went through together, the horizon was on the nearby coast, awaiting their royal arrival. He just needed her in general, "Please."

She denied his advances for a couple more moments; however, she couldn't resist his smoldering gaze gleaming at for very much longer and let out a heavy heave as she slowly ascended into a place beside him, careful not to bump any of the tubes or wires connected to his body. He tried to wrap his left arm around her and was finally was able to twirl it over her shoulders, entwining his fingers with hers. He looked over at her and kissed her hair, murmuring, "I love you even in my most broken state."

"You're not broken. More like a little bent."

"I feel broken…" He muttered through gritted teeth, the agony in his shoulder becoming his main source of thought. He fought the urge to cry; it felt like someone had shot him. Oh right, that was because someone had, "What did I hurt again? I wasn't listening because I was too distracted with seeing your beautiful face again." She ducked behind a layer of her hair, which he brushed back with his workable hand, "Don't be shy, love. The color in your cheeks is one of my favorite things about you."

Aria brushed off the comment with a shrug, her cheeks turning scarlet, "I think Florence told me three bruised ribs, one of which is chipped from where you landed on it when you fell." She glanced at his bandages and he felt her tense up as if she remembered two nights before when she found him bleeding out to his death, "The worst were the two gunshots; one almost hit an artery. The doctors said that you were lucky that you did get hypothermia in addition to the shock. It was freezing that night."

He was shaking his head before she finished, "I'm just glad that you weren't there with me. You may have been hurt too." His head fell against the pillow in a gesture of frustration, "I wish I could remember what happened. That would make it so much easier on all of us in this situation." He swallowed deeply within his throat, "Everything is just so dark. All I can remember is smoke, which I suppose was from the gun after I was…" He groaned, holding her closer. He didn't have the ability to say the word shot, "This seriously sucks. I was almost killed and I can't even remember who tried to get rid of me. What in the hell did I ever do to deserve this?" He sighed after a moment of released stress, "The recovery is going to be hell and you're going to have to care for me as if I'm a baby."

"Hey, now, Mr. Glum. No need to be so pessimistic. After all, it's only a puncture wound." She giggled, cuddling closer to him, her head finding a place on his exposed chest, "It's nothing that some love and pain killers can't fix in addition to months of physical therapy and brain exercises."

"That sounds like a lot of hard work and I'm scared. What if I'm not strong enough to take on the task of recovering of being shot?"

"I'll be beside you the entire time, Ezra. You have no need to be fearful of the future because you know what? I am going to be in it and I'll push you along." She kissed his chin in a gesture of comfort, "Every step of the way, you will look over and see me there. When you're at your lowest point, I will be lifting you back up. When you feel like it's too hard to carry on, I'll be telling those negative voices in your head to shut up. When you need a shoulder to cry on, I will be here with a towel and a bowl of hummus and pretzels." They laughed loudly together and she kissed the corner of his lips in a tease, "And most important of all, when you're looking for a place to rest your head after a long day of pushing yourself to recover from this travesty, I will be home to you."

With tears pricking in his eyes, he held her tighter, ignoring the throbbing on the right side of his body, "Where we love is home-home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts." They remained like that, just tangled in a bed sheet and each other. It comforted Ezra to have Aria so close to him. She didn't know how much he believed in the quote that he'd just said. He used to think that home is love, that where one grew and learned about their partner. At once certain point in time, he almost seemed to have given up on the idea of finding his home. He'd given up on the idea of love when he kept pushing every woman he had relations with before things got too serious.

Aria was the only exception to that rule. Did he try and push her away? Yes, he did. It was engraved into his nature. It was the way that he saw the world: if someone got too close to him, he would build up a wall and shut them out. He didn't even realize when he did it. She was determined from the start to eliminate his fears once and for all. She molded him in her hands like Silly Putty and molded him from a terrified boy into a determined man. When he wanted to give up on them and was down in the dumps about one thing or another, she chased those feelings away. When he didn't want to try anymore, she wound him back up and had him kicking and screaming against the demons that were constantly battling in the chambers of his heart. She took a broken and scared boy and turned him into a man who also happened to be an addict. An addict of love.

He was addicted to her love.

After a few moments of silence, Ezra finally spoke once more, clearing his throat, "Thanks for calling Ken and my mother. I guess getting shot does ask for my entire family make a trip to see me in the hospital."

She murmured, tilting her face up to his, locking gazes, twirling one of his curls around her finger, "I just can't imagine you being so close to death and not letting your mother know. You two may not be close, but you're still her son." She paused as if she wanted to say something else but she must have changed her mind and said something else, "You'll always be her son. No matter what the distance between you two, she will never stop being your mother. She will always be your mother."

"Good point, my love. Very good point." Ezra grinned, pressing a hard kiss against her temple, "I was a mommy's boy when I was younger. My dad did his best to bond with Kenneth and me before the divorce, but he was always at work. He was a diesel mechanic and my mom was a nurse, you see. Ken took care of me from the time I was born, which is one of the reasons he is always looking out for me nowadays; when we were kids that was his job."

He shook his head, "Things were great between my parents until 1999, but I don't even know what happened. They were always laughing and cuddling before that and then one day, they just gave up and he was gone before they decided how to work it out, like he was forced to. He didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to us kids. Mom never even explained to us why and she didn't need to. She took us out of town and we moved to Manhattan and were enrolled into private school, pretending to live a perfect life as a broken family. A part of me has always resented her for that, for taking my dad away from me and making me leave my home behind. I got it over soon enough, though. But when I turned eighteen, I followed Ken's footsteps and got the hell away from her. Our relationship has gotten better with time, but I didn't want to see her any more than I had to."

He ran his hand through his hair, "I don't even know where my dad went, so don't get me started on that. Apart from the occasional birthday and Christmas card, he stayed out of my life." He chuckled darkly as he continued, "I know Kenneth will slit my throat if he heard me saying this, but I missed him. He was teaching me how to shave and bet on the dog track when he disappeared from my life. When he had the time, William Fitz had the ability to make himself the World's Greatest Dad." He laughed as he recalled a tale from his childhood, "Once when I was eight, we went to the rope swing by the pond on our ten acres of land for some father-son bonding time. Ken was out running around raising hell with his buddies and Mom was at work. It was one of rare times that Dad was given the day off."

"He tore me away from my books for once and he dragged me out to the pond. He said, "Ezra, you need to learn the way of the land. Don't be a damn Yankee like your mother and brother and flinch every time you get a speck of dirt on you" and before I knew it, he pushed me into the tarn. Now, he forgot that I didn't swim well and when I didn't come back up, he dove in after me. The water wasn't that deep, but come on! I was eight years old and I wasn't the largest child around; I've always been lanky and somewhat of a weakling. Anyway, after he was able to get the water out of my lungs and upright again, he shoved my shoulder, saying "Ezra William…you swim like a goddamned, one legged Yankee with a glass eye. It's time you learn how to grow some testicles and swim like a rebel". That was pretty much like saying, "I love you, son. I'm glad you're alright". He was never good with expressing how he felt, so to avoid saying such words to his very damp eight-year old son, he just shoved me back into the pond again." He laughed, tears pricking in the corners of his eyes, "He took the rest of the week off and taught me how to swim 'like a rebel' and to this day I can tell you that I swim better than any of the Yankees and Brits in the summer Olympics."

Aria cackled like a hyena and snuggled closer to her boyfriend, "He sounds like he was a really good dad, even in the rare moments of spending time with him." She paused, "Would you want you see him again? What would you do if he just happened to show up at the hospital?"

Ezra snorted in exasperation, "Come on, Aria. Let's be real here. The man hasn't seen me in fifteen years. Do you really think that he would show up to see me? How would he even know that I was here? He made it pretty clear when he took off when I was twelve that he wanted to stay gone. I'm twenty-seven now. I'm grown up and even though I miss him having him in my life, the time when I needed him has past." He rubbed his eyes as if he was exhausted with the subject already, "Hypothetically, however, I think I would cry tears of joy and anger. I want to see him again, but it's not essential to my wellbeing if I never have that chance. If I ever had a kid, I wouldn't be able to put him or her down, let alone leave for years upon a time. Any man can be a father, but it takes a lot for a man to be a daddy."

He felt her tense up at the subject of him being a father and suddenly, he remembered the topic of their conversation from two nights before. She was going to tell him about what her friend Haley had congratulated him for. He was drawing a blank at what any kind of thing it could be. Was there a possibility that she could be holding onto a secret that was literally inside of her? They'd had multiple conversations in the past if they were to have a child together.

Besides, if his girlfriend, hypothetically, was pregnant, she wouldn't have kept it from him, right? She knew that she would have nothing to worry about. He would respect any choice she made and support it. A baby now meant that she would have to go back to Rosewood and be put into a worse situation than she was before she left her hometown for the job in Boston. Or he would have to find one in Boston. Raising a child with over three hundred miles between them would never work and would only turn them against each other, ultimately leaving the infant with squabbling parents and a broken home.

He knew that it was hardly possible at the moment, though. They used protection all the times they'd had sex and nothing had broken. They always took precautions to avoid any unwanted surprises. Ezra silently scoffed at his thoughts as he listened to Aria's breathing against his own. The likelihood of the flying embers of his mind happening was slim to none. However, in the pit of his stomach, he knew that something was about to happen; something that was going to change their lives forever and he couldn't put his finger on it as to what it was.

Before he could ask Aria to what it might have been as they lied there, however, there was a knock on the hospital room door and Florence opened it with a push of her shoulder. She smiled widely as she saw them in the bed together, murmuring, "Hey, you two. Glad to see you awake, Ezra. It's the first time I've seen those big blue eyes open." She strode over to them and pat his knee in a gesture of friendship and gentleness, "I'm Florence. I'll be your nurse during your time here at Massachusetts General."

"I'm glad to be awake, Florence."

"I can see that Aria is very content to see those beautiful eyes open as well." She shook her head and rolled her eyes at them; not in an annoyed manner, but rather in a way that she was admiring their place in each other's arms, "I swear that if you never get me married, I am giving up on the idea of love. Just invite me to the wedding, okay?"

Ezra laughed and yawned, stretching out his good arm before bringing it back around Aria, hugging her tightly, "We'll make sure to put you in one of the front rows of the pews." He peered at the nurse with drowsy eyes, "Could I get some more painkillers? The whole right side of my body is screaming right now."

"We expected that when you came to." She nodded, "I'll get you some before they move you to the general wing in a couple minutes, alright? Your family and friends have been wanting to see you, but I lied and said that you were still asleep. Unfortunately, your mother is threatening lawsuit if I don't let her see you. It's like, I'm sorry, but he's spending time with the woman he loves and besides, just because you have money coming out of your ears, you don't own the world and it doesn't revolve around you."

He beamed with a grin spreading across his face in a rather annoyed and frustrated way, "That's definitely Dianne Fitz." He sighed, rubbing his eyes, "Tell her that I need my rest, but she'll be the first person that I talk to when I wake up."

"I'll give her the message." Florence replied curtly, clearly still annoyed with the older woman who was breathing down her neck, "Aria, you're going to need to get out of the bed before the doctor comes in here. She understands couples such as yourselves coming through here, but she's not one to approve of the bed sharing. She thinks it tampers with the patient's health and recovery process. So…" The nurse trailed off and shrugged, "Well, bid your farewells for the time being. We're moving Ezra over to the general wing in about ten minutes."

"Sounds great." Aria said sarcastically as her neighbor left, disappointment radiating from her being, "I'm going to need to tell and update everyone on what's going on anyway."

"No, don't leave me." Ezra protested, grabbing her hand as she tried to get up from the bed and yanked her back into him against his chest. He winced in regret afterward as the force caused vibrations in the sore parts of his body.

"Ezra-"

"Let the doctor complain, okay? Let her raise hell for you being in the bed with me. I need you near me and I need you so close that I can feel your heart against mine and your breathing in rhythm in step with my own. Please, love?" He pleaded with her, his blue eyes wide and full of desperation.

"Alright, babe. I'll settle down with you and cuddle you up and cuddle you in." She rolled her eyes and settled down next to her boyfriend again.

"Just give a little time to me to burn this out, we can play hide and seek to turn this around. All I want is the taste that your lips allow. Oh my, my give me love." He murmured softly, tilting Aria's face towards his so then he could plant a peck on her lips before wrapping her up in his left arm, "Oh give me love."

"Any time of day, any time of night." The twenty-three year old smiled softly before asking rather hesitantly, "Are you sure you're okay? I don't want to tamper with your recovery by here in bed with you."

"He cleared his throat and closed his eyelids, his lips pulling up at the corners, "If anything, baby, you're the only one that can convince me to recover." They sighed into each other, lying together on that bed. It was around nine o' clock and they were both exhausted. So, they remained there, totally ignoring the doctor's protesting as she walked into the room. Nothing could tear them apart again. Not a rotten ex-boyfriend who couldn't stay out of their lives. Not a distance of over three hundred miles. Not friends who tried to be more. Not disapproving families. Not absent fathers. No one could make them leave each other and no one could make them say goodbye, especially not at that moment when they were lying in peace for the first time since their summer of love together.

The hospital bed became their temporary tranquil sanctuary and although they shared a wish it had been elsewhere, they weren't going to complain.

Because they wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

Nonstop rest and pain killers plagued Ezra for the rest of the weekend and into the second week of November. By that Wednesday, he was going insane with everything going on. His memory was just as horrendous as it had been when he woke up on Saturday and he was unable to give the police any information apart from the bullets that had been in his body. His right shoulder was healing normally, or so the doctors told him. He couldn't feel it and when he did, he was sent Florence to put him on a high dose of pain killers. It turned out that he actually had two broken ribs once the X-Rays went through, so he was set in a brace to where he could not rotate his torso by any means.

The worst part of it was how stressful his mother made everything. As soon as he was taken to the general wing, she was flocking over him like he was a hurt chipmunk and she had to build a splint for it. She was at his side at almost all times and often shoved Aria out of the way. She hardly even acknowledged his girlfriend's existence, so she would just sit in the chair beside him and keep her mouth shut. He was going to be stuck in the hospital until the following Tuesday and he felt like he was going to hit Dianne with a bedpan by that time.

He was able to catch a break during lunchtime when his mom decided to run down to the cafeteria and put Kenneth, Natalie, and Emma in charge of watching him as if he needed a babysitter. Aria sat in the waiting room with Katrin and Haley who were keeping her entertained and somewhat sane as her probable future mother-in-law treated her like she didn't even exist. Emma was sitting beside her uncle, his good arm wrapped around her to keep the three year old bouncing child from falling off of the bed. Natalie sat in the chair beside him and Kenneth was lounged out on the room's couch, his reading glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose as he read a book.

Emma poked her uncle, who was dozing off from the side effects of the painkillers, her curly brown hair coming up in wisps against her forehead. Her sky indigo orbs were wide with innocence and annoyance, "Uncle Ezra, wake up! You're not supposed to be sleeping. Granny said that you slept enough!" She paused for a moment with pursed lips and soon continued with an inquisitive face, "Besides, you're not supposed to sleep without Aria. She's your bed buddy."

"My bed buddy, huh?" He locked eyes with his brother who was across the room, a grin clear in his voice, "So, Kenny? Aria is my bed buddy?"

"I think what Ems met was that we know that Aria sleeps in that hospital bed with you even though she's not supposed to. However, she's also quite great with words, just like her uncle is." Kenneth looked over at his three year old daughter with narrowed eyes and a smirk grazing his lips, "Nat, what have you been letting our daughter watch while I'm at work?" Natalie just giggled, her cheeks turning red and the eldest Fitz brother rolled his eyes and continued reading his book; a copy of A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, "Emma, you need to stop listening to adult conversations. Stick to reading Dr. Seuss."

The talkative child, unaware of the sexual innuendo she'd made, shook her head and continued to pester Ezra, who was chuckling with his eyes closed, "Uncle Ezra! Wake up!" She punched his shoulder and her bottom lip came over her top one in a pout, "Princess Aria will be sad if you sleep the entire day away! You have a boo-boo and how is Princess Aria supposed to kiss it and make it better if you don't stop sleeping?"

Melting away at the innocence in the young person's eyes, the uncle pushed himself into a sitting position with a wince. Half of his body was numb and the other was sore from supporting the one that was sleepier than he was. He turned to his niece, ruffling her hair and pulling her close to him to kiss her forehead, "Sorry, sweetheart. My boo-boo just hurts me a lot and I need a few more kisses to make it better. Maybe Princess Aria can come in and give it a peck or two with her magic wand."

Emma shook her head again; this time because of his cluelessness, "Princesses don't have wands. Their fairy godmothers do." She rolled her eyes and huffed at him, "Here I can give it a kiss to make it better too!" She climbed over him, careful not to put any extra weight on his torso, giving the bandages on his right shoulder a press to her mouth before pulling away ad settling back into her place, beaming from ear to ear, "See! I can make boo-boos better, too!"

"I'm feeling fantastic already. It really works." Ezra grinned at his niece, ruffling her long brown locks and giving her forehead a kiss.

She did a little fist pump and exclaimed, "Of course it does! Don't you believe in miracles?" She didn't wait for answer nor did she want one as she slid off the bed, bouncing everywhere and unable to hold still; typical for a three year old little girl who had been waiting to see her father's injured sibling, "Can I go get the princess so she can help her prince get better? My kiss for Prince Charming's boo-boo is very temporary and he needs his future queen to make him feel better."

Natalie couldn't help, but smile at the tender caring that Emma had for Ezra, "I'm sure he would love to see her. I still need to formally meet her and approve her for my little brother-in-law."

She pleaded to her mother and father, "And her fellow princesses? They're so funny and they played house with me when we were waiting for Uncle Ezra to wake up. Princess Haley even gave me a piggyback ride and shared some of her food! And Princess Katrin with the pretty voice read me a book!"

"I know, honey. The princesses are extremely nice and they have been nothing short of supportive of Aria, Grandma, and everyone else involved." Natalie reassured the toddler, taking her daughter's hand and as she tried to drag the woman out, she called out, "I guess having all of us in the room together won't be too much to handle will it?"

Kenneth shrugged, pushing himself into a sitting position, folding his glasses into his front shirt pocket and closing the book with a mark that told him where he was, "It's up to Prince Ezra, now isn't it? After all, this hospital is his castle." He peered over at his little brother, "Are you feel well enough for all of the company? If not, I'm sure Emma would be willing to wait for your boo-boo to heal before you have all of these visitors tramping in and out."

Emma retreated back over to him, stilling trembling and bouncing up and down like a constipated Chihuahua puppy, "Please, Uncle Ezra!

Ezra gave his permission with a bob of his head and Emma jumped up and down in excitement, "Yay! Come on, Mommy!"

It wasn't long before Emma and Natalie were out of the room and he was left alone with his older brother, who was making his way over to the end of the bed. He raised an eyebrow in his direction when he saw him watching his every movement and he rolled his eyes, shaking his head, "You're starting to make me feel extremely small, Kenny, just like how Mom has been doing for the past four days since I woke up on Saturday. I feel like a spec of bacteria underneath a microscope."

"Well, it's not every day that my only brother gets shot." Kenneth gripped the bed posts, his tendons in his neck tightening, "I feel like that all of this is my fault."

"Ken, you had no way of knowing that I would be attacked on my way to get dinner."

"But I gave you the tickets, Ez! I gave you plane tickets to see Aria during the anniversary month since you two met. I gave your relationship a shot and look where you are! You're in a place far away from home in a hospital bed with wires and IVs connected to your body! Look at yourself!"

"Stop it!" He cut him off, his blood boiling, "Just stop! You're starting to sound like my girlfriend now. All she does is blame herself for everything that goes wrong with our relationship and I just want everyone to quit it and listen to my opinion about this! After all, I'm the one who's hurt with holes in my body, lying in a hospital not knowing what in the hell happened because I can't remember a damn thing!"

He tucked his hands behind his head, starting to pace back and forth, "Do you really think that Aria is worth all this trouble? You never had been shot before she came along!"

"I thought we were past this!" He shot upward, instantly regretting it with the shrill of crackling pain that shot through his core, "You're not blaming yourself for anything. You're blaming my girlfriend who I just got back with on Thursday morning! She had nothing to do with this." He clenched his jaw with antagonism, "Or are you blaming me for falling in love with her again? How many times do I have to tell you how I feel about her before you finally get the idea through that thick skull of yours?"

"I'm not blaming her, Ezra. I'm not blaming your or your feelings for her either. You can't help you fall in love with. Mom probably felt the same about Dad as you do about Aria."

"There is no comparison between the two relationships. It's like apples and oranges! Aria didn't make me miserable like Dad made Mom for all of those years and vice versa. I fell in love with Aria because she makes me feel like I don't have to be afraid to fall in love with someone like her. She has history that I can't even imagine, but that was back before she met me. She's changed. I met in her in the most unexpected way. She's my best friend and the only person keeping me going through this. She's my rock! Why won't anyone believe me when I say that?"

Kenneth didn't meet his gaze for a moment, "Ezra, I'm not saying that I don't believe you. I do; trust me, I feel the same way about Natalie." He shook his head with a shrug, "I'm just questioning whether this is good for you two. Someone is going to get hurt; even more than you already have been."

"Get out." Without a warning, Ezra stood for the first time since Thursday evening. An immense amount of pain send shock ways through him, causing him to shiver from his spine.

"Ezra, what in the hell do you think you're doing?" Kenneth exclaimed, trying to get him to sit back down, "I'm sorry that I upset you, but you need to relax and get back in that bed.

"I said, get out!" He snarled at his older brother, his lip curled at the sight of him. He was very wobbly and his legs shot awake from their deep sleep, the blood moving through the veins in them. He unhooked himself the wires, only using the IV as support as he trudged to the door, opening it just as a light brown haired man came through it, knocking him over. Pain thundered through his nerves, causing him to curl up into a fetal position.

Suddenly his world wasn't so black. It was as if a memory flickered like a candle in his mind. He could see the gun staring at him from a distance, words pouring from someone's mouth-definitely a man's-, not reaching his ears. That was when the shots met his shoulder, oozing up blood like a crimson river. He fell back and hit his head. He remembered it; at least some of it. The face of the masked demon was hidden in a masquerade from darkness, but he still remembered.

That was when the flashback stopped. He then lied gasping on his hospital room floor, staring up his brother and a stranger that he didn't recognize, even though he seemed awfully familiar, "I remembered. I remembered…" He murmured, trying to shut out a blaring headache from his newest revelation, "I remember it."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!." The man's icy blue eyes shot open with surprise when he saw what happened. Then he seemed to recognize the patient and he rolled his gaze in annoyance; though he was shaking with what seemed to be terror, "What in the hell, Ezra?" He groaned and helped the twenty-seven year old off the ground gently, supporting the injured side of his body while Kenneth got the other, trudging him back along back to the bed, which he plopped onto happily, exhausted from the adventure, "Are you trying to kill yourself or are you just plain stupid, son?"

"Number two, I suppose." Ezra replied, getting back into a comfortable position, hooking the wires back into his arms, just the way that he had found them before he'd taken them out.

"I agree. You need to rest and you're off doing all that dramatic shit." Kenneth jumped in, glaring at his little brother as he made his way back to his position on the couch, picking up his book and beginning to read again. He didn't seem to pay attention to the strange man in the room or feel the urge to introduce himself.

"As do I. I come in to see this injured son of a bitch and he's running into doors with two holes in his damn body." The man's voice rang with a Southern accent of familiarity. The stranger wore a Red Sox baseball cap over his slightly receding hairline, his thick rimmed black glasses glinting in the fluorescent light of the hospital room. His plain grey t-shirt clung to his figure, highlighting his farmer-like frame. He was about his and Kenneth's heights, dirty blue jeans stained with sweat, indicating a hardworking American-born man.

He sat in the chair beside the bed, punching Ezra's good shoulder as he settled into the cushion, causing him to wince. Kenneth shot up with shock, his gaze angry. He held a hand up for him to stop, shaking his head, "You dumbass Yankee boys are always hurting yourselves and whining about it later on when you face the consequences. Get on with your life and let it go." He shook his head in annoyance, "I thought I'd taught you better than that when you were in my care."

Ezra looked up and peered at the man with embers of fuming indigo spewing at his ambiance, eyes narrowed into thin slits. Once more, he was having an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, "I'm sorry, sir. My memory is a bit shaky at the moment, but have we met before?"

The man nodded and took off his hat, rubbing his beard calmly, "Well, I suppose we have. I was the first one to hold you after your mama popped you right on out from the sack. I held you in my arms and said to you that I was going to raise you and your brother over there to be strong and respectable men. And look where you are now. A professor and a doctor, both college graduates and in successful relationships." He looked over at Kenneth with a smile, "You even have a daughter; a three year old little girl named Emma. I just saw her running around. She favors you and Natalie both."

Kenneth's mouth hung agape, "Who are you?"

Totally disregarding the thirty year old's question, he glanced back to Ezra, who was breathing heavily as he began to connect the dots, "Aria is a fine young lady. She's the one, ain't she, boy? She's been at your side since you were shot outside her condo. She's a looker, too. I met her on Saturday and oh boy she is beautiful. You better not ever let a pretty sweet girl like that go." He ran his fingers through his hair, "You're both lucky, boys. Sorry, I missed your wedding, Kenny. I got the invite when I was still in Wisconsin. I'll make sure that I make it to Ezra's though."

That's when it clicked for Ezra. He could practically smell lake water from all those years ago; a pond with plenty of fish to catch and a rope swinging from a handmade diving deck on a limb of a tree nearby. The water filled his lungs and a russet haired man with a calloused grip pulled him out onto the grass, icy blue eyes staring back down at him, glinted with terror. He was then twelve, waking up one morning and having his mother telling him that she and her husband of nearly twenty years were getting divorced. Cardboard boxes filling his room up to the ceiling as he packed away all the memories of his first twelve years of life, his mom whispering that they were better off without a man like his father.

He knew exactly who and what the man was and for some reason, he felt an overwhelming sense of excitement, knowing that he finally returned after fifteen years of being absent from his life. He had missed the man that he always put in the back of his mind. The man that had abandoned him before he could teach him anything about girls, farming, or writing. The man who ignored the letters he'd written to him. The man who was only present with birthday and Christmas cards.

He had his father-William Fitz- back and he wasn't going to let him escape his fingers again.

"You can't be who I think you are. He dropped out of our lives when we were kids. He ran away like a coward before the divorce papers were even filed." Kenneth hopped up and came to the opposite of where the man sat, taking on a furious and territorial stance beside his little brother, "I had to step up and take care of everything so then Mom could take care of us in a new home and in a new city. Why in the hell would he come back now when our lives are so much better off without him?"

"Ouch." He smirked, looking at Kenneth up and down, "You've grown into a fine young man. Nearly leading a perfect life; even without a father in the picture when you were a teenager. You're both success stories. I'm proud of you."

"You have no right to be! We may be biologically related, but you're not my father! You weren't there for me when I was going through hell trying to be the man of the house while you were off doing God knows what!" He screamed in his face, "You were there for none of it! I tried to find you when I was engaged to Natalie. You never met me halfway so you missed our wedding. I sent you a card so you could attend your first grandchild's birthday party and meet her for the first time. You never responded and I had to answer questions of why you didn't make it to a heartbroken little girl who just wanted her Grandpa Bill in her life!"

Tears poured from Kenneth's emerald eyes, staining his scruffy cheeks; this was the first time that Ezra had ever seen him cry over what their father had done to them in all of those empty years. To be honest, it scared the youngest Fitz brother, "I've gone to the edges of the Earth looking for you and now, when your youngest son is shot, you decide to show up and interrupt our lives without you? We've lived for fifiteen years without your bullshit and now you want to shove our noses into it!"

"Kenny-"

"Don't call me that! Don't pretend like the past fifteen years hasn't happened and call me what you used to when I was a boy, back when I needed you, when Ezra needed you, when your entire family needed you. You left without saying goodbye! Mom just said you were gone and that we didn't need you anymore. She lied to us! I needed you more than anything else and you were gone!"

"Do you think I wanted to leave? I had to!"

Ezra piped up for the first time, asking quietly, "Why did you have to leave?"

Bill sighed and spoke up, swallowing hard, "I always meant to come back. I just thought you didn't need me anymore. Your mother moved you to Manhattan and you were at the top of your classes, off to marvelous places in your lives. So, I stayed away."

"That didn't answer the question. I'll ask you again: why did you have to leave? Don't avoid it; just give us an answer."

He inhaled deeply and crossed his arms across his chest, eyes narrowed, as if he was remembering a dark tale that he had never told anyone, "The night I left was the night I was arrested. You see, my boys, when I was a teenager before I met your mom and had a family to worry about, I ran with a bad group of guys. My dad, your grandpa William Fitz Sr., had connections in New England; here in Boston actually. He was what you may call a mobster. His name was not really that; it was more of an alias, one of many actually. The name on his birth certificate says Phillip Fitzgerald."

He paused for a moment, thinking, "Well, I got tangled up in the swing of things, as I was the oldest son of one of the most wanted hit men in the country. I didn't think of anything of it at the time; I was carefree and naïve to what my father was doing. I hurt a lot of families with what I did; I never killed anyone, but I watched it happen with my father who was relentlessly cruel. Deep down, I knew it was wrong, but it didn't register with my conscience until much later. I earned my own place in the ranks until it hit me."

"I was about fourteen when I quit the business. It upset a lot of people; I knew too much and needed to be taken care of quickly and quietly. I ran away to live with my uncle, who was a lawyer in North Carolina. He owned a large farm and I started to work for him. I met your mom and everything seemed to be going great, especially after you two were born and we moved to Pennsylvania. I started running the shop and your mom nursed at the hospital. No one was able to find me; I changed my name to William Fitz, only because it was so obvious, no one in the mob would think it was me."

Kenneth cleared his throat, "Someone obviously did, though."

"Yes, they did." He rubbed his eyes, as if he was about to cry, "In '99, matter o' fact. My dad was somehow able to escape the business, but, unfortunately, he left a messy trail. He was killed when they found him in a squat house in North Dakota. Your mother received the call from my mother and she found out about the entire thing and that's when the fighting between us started. She wanted to head north with you boys and start over with new identities, but I knew well enough that running would only make us bigger targets. So, we stayed and stayed. We tried to go back to having normal lives, but I started shooting again. It wasn't like when I was a boy and I only had to look out for myself; I had a family to guard and keep safe."

"So, that's why you took us out and taught us how to us a rifle." Ezra pitched in.

"That's exactly why; you boys needed to help me protect your mama and also be able to protect yourselves." Bill smiled sadly at them, "Right after your birthday, Ezra, a man tried to break into our house and I thought he was part of it all to ambush us when actually, he was a low life looking for my guns which somehow he knew I had. So, I shot him. I shot him multiple times and he died before the police arrived. You two were asleep and your mother was keeping an eye on you when the authorities handcuffed me and took me away."

"Turns out that lowlife was the estranged son of the district attorney who nailed my ass in court. I was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. I talked to my attorney and to protect my family from the scrutiny of our town, I was transferred to the one in Milwaukee instead of the one in Philly. I was better off being a deadbeat husband and father than being a mobster and giving my kids a horrible future. I received and signed the divorce papers that Dianne had sent to me. My fellow inmates even started to call me Wild Bill when they heard about my history in the family business. I was never charged with any of that since I managed to cover my tracks a bit better than your grandfather."

"I sent the birthday and Christmas cards through a sympathetic Chaplin that came into the penitentiary once a week. That's why you couldn't find me. Though I did get your letters, Ezra. They pushed me through some low points in those first couple years." He glanced at his oldest son with a wide grin, "And you cannot imagine how immensely proud I was of you, Kenny, when I received the invitation to your wedding."

"All those years of being away, you were in prison? Why didn't Mom tell us? Has she known the truth for all these years and not told us?" Kenneth asked, calming down from his anger from ten minutes before, "Why didn't you respond to any of Ezra's letters?"

"Kenny, your mother jumped on the idea of me leaving Pennsylvania. She'd changed from the woman I met when we were high school sweethearts. She wanted nothing to do with me after those papers were signed." He shrugged, relaxing a slight bit, "I suppose she didn't want to tell you when you two were younger because she was afraid that you would get caught up in my shit that my dad tangled me in when I was just a boy. Little did she know, I wanted the exact opposite for my boys. I knew you two were going to turn out great, even without me in the picture. I knew that you, Kenny, would have to step up and take care of your ma and brother. I also knew that Ezra would probably learn how to shave right without the rest of my lessons." He smirked over at his youngest son before sighing and shaking his head, "I got out three years ago because of good behavior; just about the time when Emma was born. I wanted to come and see you two, but I knew that you probably better off without your lousy dad in the picture."

He glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed once more, "I better be going before your mother comes in here and threatens to sue me for harassing my sons." He shoved his hands into his pockets, swirling the toothpick that sat in his mouth around with his tongue, "I have a place not too far from the campus. I'll be squatting there as long as Ezra is here."

"What a coincidence. I suppose I won't mind having you so close. And Mom as well, since she's probably going to be around, wrapping me in bubble wrap for the rest of my life." Ezra rolled his eyes, "Well, it's not like she's not been irrational before, right?" He bit his thumbnail, deep in thought, "I think we're going to have a very colorful conversation about this after I get out of here and go back to my girlfriend's condo."

"Don't give her too hard of a time, alright? She just did what she had to do to keep the two of you safe."

Kenneth huffed in annoyance, "She's robbed us of the truth of knowing what happened to you for the past fifteen years; unless you're lying to us now about all of us. Why should we trust you? You've been gone for fifteen years and have missed out on so much in our lives; high school, college, weddings and grandchildren. And now you've just waltzed right in again and expect us to take your words in and not second guess them at all."

"Kenny, I know that I don't sit in your nominations for "Father of the Year" at the moment, but I never once lied to you boys when you were kids. Everything that I've told you today is the truth, whether you believe that or not. I know it's going to take baby steps to get to where we once were as father and sons, but I believe that if anyone can do it, we can." Bill replied to him before patting Ezra on his good shoulder, his gaze softening, "Don't stress yourself out too much about it, sport. I didn't mean to tell you this today, but I owed you the truth. Rest up, kiddo. We can continue this conversation another day." The room was silent for a few moments before Bill pushed himself to his feet, looking at the two of them, "I want to be part of your lives, boys. It's not just you anymore. I have a granddaughter who has never met me and I want to make up for the time that I've missed with her."

The eldest Fitz brother exchanged a glance with Ezra before complying and going after him as he headed toward the door, "Wait, Dad!" The word was strange on Kenneth's tongue and his little brother as well as his father knew it. He looked over his shoulder into his emerald eyes and Kenneth exhaled before hesitantly saying, "Dad, if you're no longer involved in the mess of things with Grandpa's business and you swear that you're telling the honest to God truth right now, then I don't see any reason on why we can't make this work. You and Mom will have to work out your differences for our family's sake. Because you're right, it's not just Ezra and me anymore. You have practically two daughters and a granddaughter to bond with."

Bill grinned at his eldest son, beaming from ear to ear, "What are you saying, Kenny?"

"How would you like to meet your granddaughter Emma for the first time?"

"I would love to."

Later that Wednesday afternoon, once Ezra was able to shoo his pestering her mother back to her hotel room near the train station, his father was able to sneak back into the hospital from his own staying quarters near Aria's condo so then he would have the opportunity to meet Emma and his daughter-in-law for the first time. He ducked his head into the room, whispering like there was a huge secret; to him, there was, "Is it all clear for me to come in?"

Ezra nodded, keeping Aria close to him with his good arm, pressing his lips into her hair, "They're down in the cafeteria getting dinner. Katrin had to take off and go makeup the days she's made at BU. She'll be back later after she eats dinner. As will Mom, so we better going on this meeting."

"Most definitely. Your mother hasn't wanted to see me for fifteen years. I highly doubt she would to now." Bill agreed before shoving his hands into his pockets, chewing on Peppermint gum. He glanced over at Haley, who was settled in the chair beside the bed and she met his gaze with a smile and big eyes. He stuck out his hand for her to shake. "You must be Haley Russet. Ezra told me earlier all of the sexual innuendos that you say on his expense. Thanks for filling my shoes. I'm Bill."

"Oh it's been a pleasure." The teacher's assistant shot a grin in the couple's direction, "I'd say I've heard a lot about you, but until earlier today, I had no idea that Ezra even had a father. I figured that Dianne, the spawn of Satan, just performed some kind of masturbation gone wrong and had both boys on her own."

"I wouldn't doubt it." He chuckled and shrugged.

Haley looked at Bill up and down, reflecting her lack of shame and humility as she took in his appearance, licking her lips seductively, "What is it with the Fitz gene pool? How is it that all you men have the same curly hair and jawline. I am also going to go out on a limb here and ask: do you have abs like Ezra?"

"Not as long as you count a farmers tan and respect for women a six pack. However, if you must see…" He untucked his shirt and lifted it, revealing a great figure at the barely noticeable age of forty-two. Faint contour lines traced throughout his rather tan lower torso. He chuckled as he watched the young woman's cheeks darken and her eyes widen, "Now, now. You don't get these without working for 'em. I've been working on a farm in way or another since I was fourteen."

Haley shook her head in shock, standing up and starting for the door, her hands behind her head, "I need a lady moment excuse me." She closed the door behind her in a rush.

Aria giggled at her friend's expense, "You'll have to excuse my friend. She is only making up for the fact that she has a secret relationship with someone on campus and can't gush about him in public."

"Oh, sweetheart. Don't apologize for her. She's splendid." He noticed his son's girlfriend curled up on the hospital bed beside him; there was no room for even the Holy Ghost to fit, "So, Aria? You've seemed to have made yourself perfectly comfortable beside my kid there." He shook his head, making his way over to the other side of the room, plopping on Kenneth's usual place, "Young love. You both are still in the honeymoon phase."

Aria giggled and snuggled even closer to her injured boyfriend, "Well, we don't plan on ever getting out of it." She leaned up and kissed the stubble on his cheek, rubbing the top of his hand vigorously, "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

"Really? You're going to pull Dr. Seuss out of a huge hat of overused love quotes?" Bill rolled his eyes, smiling widely, "You two make me sick. But in the best way possible, I suppose." Somehow, he managed to spot the plastic ring that Ezra had given Aria from one of the weeks that had spent together and his eyes shot open, "Wait you two are getting married? Why didn't you tell me that you were engaged?"

"No, no, no, Dad." Ezra shook his head, chuckling along with Aria, who began playing with the ring as if she was remembering the day he'd given it to her with such great detail that it seemed as recent as earlier that day, "It's just a plastic ring that I bought for twenty-five cents from one of those dispenser machines. It was only a couple weeks after we established our relationship-"

"Established your relationship? Is what the young'uns are calling it these days? Establishing their relationships?" Bill laughed and shook his head again, chunking on his gum and raising his eyebrows mischievously, "So you mean after you two slept together?"

"Dad!"

He ignored the plea, his grin growing wider. He turned to Aria this time, "So, was my kid throw in some good moves?"

Ezra threw his head back in frustration, "Dad, if you don't shut up, I swear I am going to beat you to death."

"Easy there, Thor. No need to say threats that you're not going to follow up on because you're too much of a chicken to lay a finger on me. I have the fighting experience that you'll never have."

"Dad, I didn't mean it like that, but you know I could-"

"Oh no you couldn't. Just face the facts. You know it's true, kiddo. Don't even both denying it. You're just lying to everyone in this room." He just shook his head at his son and then peered at Aria, deep in thought, "When he was born, the doctors thought he was a girl because his little pee wee was so damn small! It was like a little schmuckle 'bout the size of a Tic Tac."

"Dad, just stop!" With his cheeks beat red, Ezra glanced at Aria who was also crimson from the attempt not to giggle. He shook his head, trying not to laugh himself, "You're not just going to show up in my life again and start talking crap that isn't even true!"

"Well, maybe not after puberty when your testicles finally dropped and you grew a couple hairs underneath your arms." Again, Bill totally disregarded his son's request and his smile widened even more, "So, Aria, did he? Did he throw in some moves in the, um, establishing of your relationship?"

"Guess whose back? Back again. Haley's back, tell a friend. Hey, hey all of you! What have I missed? " For some reason, God decided to throw Haley back into the room again. She walked through the door, alert and ready to be involved in the conversation, "Wait, are we talking about penises here? " She clapped her hands in excitement, "Yay, penis jokes! So, I heard this one…"

God made up for His previous falter when Kenneth poked his head through the hospital room door, his beaming smile spreading across his face, "Mr. William Fitz, would you like to meet your granddaughter, Princess Emma of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? She's just over three feet tall and is three years old. She has a heart of gold and she's ready to meet the man she's been waiting to see for her entire life." He opened the door a little bit more so Emma could slip in the room.

Haley made gushing noises at the little girl as she made her way over cautiously to her grandfather, "Hey there, short stuff."

"Hi, Princess Haley. And it is Princess Emma, if you don't mind." She stuck her tongue out at her before turning back to Bill, whose eyes were as wide as saucers as he took in his granddaughter's appearance for the first time. It was the first time that Ezra noticed something that set Emma and Bill apart from the rest of them. He guessed that Kenneth had never seen it before when Emma first opened her eyes. It was rather hard for the family's situation but he noticed it as soon as the two were set across from each other.

They had the same eyes.

Emma looked at Bill with happiness and tenderness brimming from her young features. She extended her hand to him, which he took with gratitude as he knelt down before her. She tapped him on both shoulders, "Hello, King William. I am Princess Emma."

He kissed the top of her hand, tears shining in his eyes as he blubbered out, "Hell-Hello, Princess Emma. King William Fitz at your….Oh just give me a hug!" The little girl strung her arms around his neck as he pulled her in close, pressing his trembling lips into her curly light brown hair, "I'm sorry I haven't been around in your life, princess. But I promise that I am going to be here for you for the rest of my time here on Earth."

She pulled away and kissed his cheek, "Well, I will have to check with my royal council about the new addition to the kingdom. But I think they'll make an exception if the new king is my Papa." She turned to Ezra and her father, who were watching the entire scene with watery eyes, "Addressing my royal council, Batman and Prince Uncle Ezra."

Ezra laughed and then straightened up for his niece who was taking this very well for someone who just found out that her grandfather actually existed, "Yes, Princess Emma?"

"I send in a…request!" She struggled with the last word request, but managed to say it after a couple tries, "May King William join the kingdom of Pennsylvania?"

Kenneth glanced at his little brother who nodded with ease, "He may have to shave that raggedy beard of his, but yes, my Princess. He may join the kingdom."

"Yay!" Emma clapped and looked to Bill once more, tapping her fingers against his shoulder's, "I announce you King William, the king of the Kingdom of Pennsylvania." She hugged him again before tugging him out of the room, "Come on, Papa! I want you to find me a book downstairs at the bookstore! I think Princess Katrin said that she read me If You Gave a Mouse a Cookie. Then it can be the book you can read me when we go back to the kingdom of Philly. Maybe you can take me out for a cheesesteak! They're my favorite things in the whole word. Apart from my Ariel doll of course!"

"Yes, my Princess Emma." Bill hoisted the three year old up onto his shoulders and kissed her knee, "Let's go find that book!"

Ezra smiled at the sight as Bill, Emma, and Kenneth left the room. He knew that Emma had been asking ever since she was able to communicate properly that she wanted to meet the grandfather that was absent for her first three years. Knowing his father from when he was a boy, he also knew that Bill was an expert at making people like him. He had the charm that he had engraved into his sons when they were toddlers. He was going to make up for it and spend every waking moment with his first grandchild.

He leaned over and kissed Aria's temple, "Aren't you looking forward to experiencing that one day with our own prince or princess?" She didn't respond for a couple moments and he peered at Haley who was staring at her friend with intensity. He huffed in exasperation, growing impatient with the silence from both of them, "Okay, you two need to cut it with the secrets. We never had the chance to discuss the other night, but now that I am awake and alert, it's time for the truth to come out. Haley," He locked gazes with his girlfriend's colleague, "I know that you know something that my girlfriend doesn't want me to know. So, if you don't tell me what you congratulated me for on Thursday morning, I am just going to continue to assume the worst."

Haley took that as her cue to actually become serious. Her face, which was usually filled with mischief, was dead serious, "That's not my job to do. It's your girlfriend's." She excused herself from the room, giving him the distinct impression that Aria needed to tell him something that even one of her closest friends couldn't sit in on, "I should go check in with the dean and let her know what is going on. Aria," The friends and colleagues locked eyes, "This is your chance to tell him the truth." She kissed her forehead and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Ezra was extremely alarmed; between the pain killers and the huge revelation of his father being back in his life, his mind was racing with a million thoughts. And Aria keeping secrets from him was not what he planned to be dealing with. He clung tighter to her, setting his chin on top of her shoulder, "What are you keeping from me, Aria?"

"I guess there is no point of running away from it anymore, is there?" She sighed and pushed him away, leaving his arms icy cold as she left them so she could begin to pace around the room, one of her hands cradling her stomach, "I never intended for you to find out this way, Ezra. I was going to tell you eventually but I just couldn't when we were over three hundred miles apart and couldn't afford the time off work or the plane ticket to Rosewood."

He cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his thick curls, "What are you hiding? Is it really so bad that you had to hide it from me? Aria, we agreed to tell each other everything; especially after you took this job in Boston. I've never kept anything from you before; hell, I even told you about my dad, who says that, he, my father who I hadn't seen in almost two decades, met you on Saturday. That's another lie that you've kept from me! Do you realize how pissed I am about that? You saw my dad and never even bothered to mentioning it."

"I'm sorry! I never meant to hurt you by keeping it from you!" She wailed through her tears, continuing in her path of pacing around his hospital room, "But I never lied to you, Ezra!"

"By not telling me the truth about your intentions behind questioning the living hell out of me about him is lying! So, what else are you hiding? Tell me before I find out through Katrin, Haley, or even that piece of shit Nicholas who seems to always be hanging all over you like some deranged lunatic looking for an escort to a brothel!"

"That isn't true and you know it!"

"I don't know what to believe anymore! You've been keeping something huge from me and I have no idea what it is. I've been guessing for a while and I have come up with nothing. Why don't you just tell me? I just want honesty out of you, Aria. As your boyfriend, that's not a huge request from you." He looked up at the ceiling, trying not to cry and show the pain that was brewing over the chambers of his heart, "So just tell me the truth!"

Aria took in a shaky breath and finally was able to calm her nerves, sitting in the chair at his bedside. She tentatively took his hand and he squeezed it comfortingly, looking at her with regretful eyes, "I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry I yelled at you. But please understand that I'm just worried about you, about us. Please just tell me the truth. Please." He pleaded with her, kissing her fingers by each individual limb, lips lingering on her skin.

She nodded, locking gazes with him; her hazel one drowned him a sea of almonds and coco butter, warming his icy soul, "Ezra, do you remember the night before I came to Boston? We were on the balcony and we danced and then we…"

"We made love. I remember." He narrowed his eyes and asked quietly, nervousness creeping over him, "Did I give you a STD or something? Aria, I'm so sorry. I had no idea! I'll pay for the medical expenses and cover your health insurance deductible. I can't believe that I was that stupid! I should have gotten tested before we ever…This is all my fault!"

She looked at him widely, shaking her head and trying to soothe his nerves by rubbing the top of his hand vigorously, "No, Ezra, calm down! You didn't give me a STD."

He let out a deep breath, his good shoulder relaxing a bit as he loosened up and untensed, kissing her fingers again, "Thank God, Ar. I would have hated myself for burdening you like that." He opened up his arms for her to lie in, ignoring the slight pain on the right side of his body. She obliged without hesitation, settling her head into the crape of his neck. He sighed happily, pressing pecks to the strands of her hair, "So, if that's not what's going on here, then what is it?"

She tensed against him and met his eyes again, twirling one of his curls around her finger, "Well, you didn't have any condoms, but I told you that I had it taken care of and that we didn't have to worry about it…" Her sentence trailed off after a few moments and she didn't bother to finish the words that stuck to her tongue like superglue.

"Tell me, Aria. I don't want to lose you now. You're the other half of me. You've been right here all along. You're the only one for me, baby and I can't lose you."

"If you really mean that, you have to promise that you will be beside me every step of the way. What I am about to tell you is that…"

His mind flashed back to that night in August. The sweet cries of fervor that had echoed throughout their apartment in the small town of Rosewood on the fifth floor of the old apartment building. The banging of the headboard against the wall to clarify the coming of a man and a woman being together in the most physical way possible. He remembered the sense of her touch sending a shiver down his spine as her nails had dug into his back as he tried to pleasure her, her moans and groans falling into the back of his throat as they were locked in a deadlock makeout session.

He hadn't stocked up on condoms because he hadn't planned on having sex that night. He had expected the dance and a few kisses mixed with tears while they cuddled on the couch, but that was how he showed his love for her. He wasn't all for the physical stuff. He had warned her of that from the beginning; he wanted to know the real her and much rather kiss her sweetly than screw her every second of every minute of every day or every week. Ezra Fitz wasn't that type of guy; not even when his hormones controlled him during his time as a teenager. Maybe he was a different breed of man that hadn't been listening during Sex Ed.

Aria had convinced him that if they made love that night that she would be covered. What if she wasn't like she said? What if she had missed her birth control pill for the day? Or even pills?

He knew. He already knew what she was about to tell him.

He swallowed deeply, stroking Aria's hair and buried his face into it, "Just say it, Aria. Say it out loud."

That was when Aria and Ezra's gazes locked. All that had happened between them, from reuniting to their first date to their first time and then moving into together after what happened with his stubborn older brother and then adjusting to that, becoming closer and closer by each passing moment was going to change. The move to Boston and being so far apart for months at a time; not before making love in the most beautiful way. Everything was going to change now. Everything.

She finally uttered a sentence that he had never thought he'd hear. Not one until after they were on the road to making their relationship work with just the two of them. Not until they were in the same state and not three hundred miles apart; that they would be lucky enough to only be inches apart. Not until they heard the wedding bells from the old church in Rosewood. Not until one established their career in the same city as the other. Not until they actually planned for something like this.

"Just say it."

She took in another shaky breath before whispering in his ear, her breath stinging the tiny hairs along the pattern of his neck.

"You're going to be a daddy."

First off, I'd like to thank you all for sticking with this story, despite the lack of updates because of my hectic schedule. Your support has been nothing short of awesome. And I think that all of you are really going to enjoy the sequel that I hope to post the first chapter of by next weekend. Without you all, I wouldn't be as confident as I am in my writing. I would still be in the days when I didn't even want to say the word sex in my fanfics. I genuinely hope you enjoyed the final chapter of the first part of the IKT trilogy. You're in for a crazy ride!

By the way, the sequel's title is "Never Let Me Go", based off of the empowering song by Florence + The Machine. So, like I said, make sure to keep a look out for it sometime within the next eight days. Also keep your eyes peeled for a very delayed Chapter 6 of Thin Skin and Barely Bone sometime this week as well. Hopefully (if I manage not to get distracted by a shiny light), I will have it updated by late Saturday evening.

Please, please, please, PLEASEdon't forget to leave me feedback! I tried very hard on both parts of I'd Fall in Love and although I write for me, as said before, your reviews are fun and encouraging to read, especially when I don't feel confident in my writing ability. So, just drop a sentence or two about how you liked/disliked this chapter. Please constructive criticism, no burning!

All of you have been so amazing through the past year and a half through the struggle it has been to write this fanfic. My first AU has really done well on this archive and I certainly its sequel just does as well.

Thank you again! And see you soon!