Dawn's Innocence

The woman was exhausted. She barely had the energy left to give a weak push. Monitors dinged and alarmed in a clamoring symphony. The baby was losing the battle and so was the mother. He was determined, not to let either one of them go. No one would die today. Not if he could do anything to prevent it and he could.

"Thomas..." Claire whispered, shaking her head no.

"Carter is closer to her than anyone. Have him brought in." He met Claire's worried stare, "We have to. There isn't any time left." He slipped off his gloves and gripped Shayla's cool, pale hand. "Don't you worry, Shayla. Don't you worry about a thing. Everything is going to be just fine. I promise."

Torr hopped out of his seat and hurried over to help Erica into a chair. The coffee bar was deserted this late in the afternoon. The next wave of customers wasn't due to arrive till after business hours. Except for the barrista who was busily texting on her phone in complete obliviousness. They had the place to themselves. "Thanks for agreeing to meet me."

Erica slid into the chair and avoided Torr's stare. That one phone call to him had been the most difficult call she'd ever had to make. He'd eagerly agreed to a two o'clock meeting for coffee. Baby steps, she had to remind herself. Today was about baby steps. She nervously sipped a foamy café latte to keep from saying too much too soon. "Coffee is my weakness."

"Mine too," Torr smiled.

Erica dug in her purse with trembling fingers and found the envelope she'd stuffed into the side pocket early this morning. Torr watched her intently, his eyes traveling over every move she made. She'd been up late, flipping through photo albums and scrapbooks to put together the story she wanted to tell. Copies were ten cents apiece and the Super Center and while a snapshot wasn't exactly the same as being there. A picture told a thousand words. Gingerly, she slid the envelope across the table to Torr.

Torr pulled out the pictures and flipped through them. His eyes scanned every detail in the snapshots as he laid them out one by one on the table. The envelope contained dozens of candid shots of Fallon at various stages in her life. My god, he'd missed so much.

He found one picture in particular that caught his eye. Fallon wrapped arm in arm with her mother, the two of them smiling over the top of a birthday cake decorated in pink icing. The inscription on the back read 'Fallon's fifth birthday' in Erica's neat handwriting. "She's such a pretty little girl," Torr said, his voice wavering with barely restrained emotion. "She looks so much like you."

"She looks like her father too."

"If I could ask," he said putting the picture down on the table and lifting his eyes to meet Erica's stare. "Who is her father?" He held her gaze and met it with his own. The words were there, dancing on the tip of her tongue, waiting to be spoken. He needed to see it, to see the truth of the words when she finally spoke them.

"You are." Erica pressed a hand to Torr's forearm and quickly glanced away from his stare. His facial expression was not one of shock, but one of gratefulness and humble awe. She was glad to have the truth out. She felt lighter than air as if the truth she'd been hiding and dreading to confess for all these years had suddenly been lifted. There was guilt underneath the weight of the truth. Nothing she could ever say could make up for what she'd taken away from him. "I should have told you sooner. I'm sorry. I had no right to keep her from you all these years."

"You had every right. I never tried to contact you after...I should have. It is I that am sorry. You went through so much on your own. Carried the burden alone for so many years." He gently took the tips of her fingers in her hand and held them over the photos littering the table. Torr saw the guilt written all over Erica's expression. Such a dark emotion had no place on her pretty face. They'd both made mistakes and they'd had their reasons for making them. He was equally sorry and equally guilty for his part. "Can you forgive me?"

"You still have a chance to be her dad."

"I'd like that, Erica. I'd really like that."