(Unedited, 2nd draft)

Chapter 21: Visions of the Future

"Milly, please give me some sign you can hear me?" I could hear his cries once my world started coming back into focus. His hand wrapped around mine clutching to it very gently, which made me squeeze his back. "Milly can you hear me?" he now sounded more exultant that I was reacting back to him. "Nurse, Nurse." I could hear him crying out now, as he ran out of the room.

It was silent for a moment as I felt his hand leave mine until more voices came into play. "Sir, you need to calm down, or we will have to ask you to leave the ICU." A female voice said walking into the room.

"But she squeezed my hand; I think she's finally waking up." Chance tries to explain to her.

"Milly, please give me some sign you can hear me?" I could hear his cries once my world started coming back into focus. His hand wrapped around mine clutching to it very gently, which made me squeeze his back. "Milly can you hear me?" he now sounded more exultant that I was reacting back to him. "Nurse, Nurse." I could hear him crying out now, as he ran out of the room.

It was silent for a moment as I felt his hand leave mine until more voices came into play. "Sir, you need to calm down, or we will have to ask you to leave the ISU." A female voice said walking into the room.

"But she squeezed my hand; I think she's finally waking up." Chance tries to explain to her.

"Sir, she has only been out for twelve hours and just got out of surgery about ten of those hours from removing the bullet; it could be her muscles reacting to the surgery."

"No, I'm telling you she is waking up." Chance reassures her since I've yet to say anything.

Then I felt his rough hand wrap against my right hand along with a softer hand on my left. "Miss Dunn if you can hear me, please squeeze my hand."

I squeezed just Chance but not hers, "See she is waking up."

"That's just her muscles twitching from the medication. You have to think she's going to be in a lot of pain, and she's lucky that the bullet didn't hit anything too severe. Now please either sit here quietly, or we will have to ask you to leave." Then I felt her hand left mine has her footstep faded away.

"Chance, what happen?" I asked when I knew we were alone.

"Milly, thank god." Chance almost yelled. "Let me go get the nurse."

"No Chance, tell me what happen" I started opening my eyes, seeing the gray walls with the guy that I was madly in love with next to me with a worried look upon his face.

"Rose shot you in the shoulder. The bullet hit a bone and got lounged; they had to put you in surgery to remove it. Rose is in the hospital under an officer watch. Marcus and her will be going to jail for attempted murder." He explains gripping my right hand and kissing my fingers repeatedly.

"When did you find out what happen?" I asked, looking into those green eyes, wanting more than anything to take away the anxiety out of his eyes.

"I just pulled up into the driveway when I saw two police cars pull up from behind me. One told me to stay in the vehicle with Ayanna has someone called in a gunshot coming from inside the house. I had never been so scared in my life. However, when I heard the second shot go off I ran out of the vehicle telling Ayanna to stay put as me and the other officer ran in the house. I saw you fall to the floor bleeding from your shoulder, and I thought she had shot you in the heart. I've never been so scared of losing you again until I was at that moment." He went on and explain.

"I'm sorry I should have checked to see who was at the door before opening it. I never thought Rose or Marcus would be capable of doing such a thing." I told him, feeling the tears running down my cheek. "Where's Ayanna at, is she okay?"

"She's with Aunt Maria, but a little shaken up. She watched them wheel you out in the ambulance, and she just kept calling out for you. Julia, Carlos, and Greg are all in the waiting room waiting to hear any update about your condition. I think Greg is putting more of the blame on himself since he said he had seen the way Marcus acted around you but did nothing to stop it. He was already talking to the police about it also." He went on to say, but I was more worried about my poor daughter having to see me like that.

"Can Aunt Maria bring Ayanna here so she knows I'm okay?" I asked, wanting to hold my baby girl, so she knew I was alright.

"Not right now, it's past visiting hours, and they only allowed me to stay since I'm your fiancé," He explains, "Just try to get some more sleep. I'm sure the nurse will be back, and she'll notice you're finally awake."

"Alright, would you at least tell the others that I'm fine, and hopefully I'll be out of here soon?" I asked, glancing up into his forest green eyes, making my heart beat rise a little too that the monitors started picking it back up.

"Sir, what are you doing?" I could hear the female voice again as she walked back into the room. "I told you that she needed her rest. Stop trying to wake her up."

"But I'm already awake," I announced to her as she walked around to the other side of the bed looking back over at the monitor.

"Well, that's good, how are you feeling?" she asked, picking up a clipboard checking over the papers inside now.

I hadn't really thought about how I was feeling, with the fact the Chance had been here the moment I woke up, but now it seems my body was in a numb state. "I can't really feel anything at the moment," I answered, looking over at her to see that my shoulder was wrapped in a banged and was popped up on a pillow.

"That most likely the morphine working, now that you're awake, we'll be slowly taking you off of it, and you'll start to feel the pain of your womb.

"How long will I have to stay in here for?" I asked something about being in this bed brought back memories from when my father dead, and it was too emotional to think about that at the moment knowing everything I had just gone through with Rose and Marcus.

"That all matters on what the doctor said when he comes and checks up on you," the nurse confirmed, but the hard glare in Chance's eyes told me he wasn't pleased her answer.

"When will he be in to see her then?" He asked in a shrine voice.

"Unsure, but he will be in before his shift ends I'm sure," she answered looking over at him in annoyances. "I know you just woke-up, but I think it be best if you try to get some more rest before the doctor comes back to check-up on you."

"Thank You," I said as a yawn slipped from my lips. The nurse just smiled and walked out the room, leaving me and Chance alone once again. "Why don't you go get Ayanna and go home to get some rest yourself. I'm most likely just going to sleep until the doctor comes in."

He let out a little chuckle before gripping hold of my hand and bring it up to kiss the top, "I'm not going anywhere." I started to say something back, but he held up his other hand. "Stop being stubborn Milly, I'm not leaving end of the line."

Deep down, I did really want him to stay, but we still had an obligation to take care of our daughter, "but Ayanna needs at least one of her parents with her. We've been leaving her with Aunt Maria too much lately."

"Yes, I know, but I'm sure Aunt Maria understands the circumstances at the moment and won't mind keeping Ayanna a little while longer." He then stood up and kissed the top of my forehead, "Now stop arguing with me and get some rest. I'll be right here, and I don't plan on going anywhere until they kick me out, or they let you go home."

As I closed my eyes, all, I could think was how I got so lucky I was to know that fate had a way to bring us together. Even fought with me when I try to push him away, he still stood by my side no matter how stubborn I was. Now with being in the hospital he refused to leave my side. There was no doubt in my heart that this man was meant for me, he was my soul mate.

"We need to set a wedding date." I spoke only to hear his laughter in response.

When he finally stopped laughing, I open my eyes to see he had laid his chin against my pillow looking straight at me, "I'm not sure if it's the drugs in your system, or if you really mean it, but that is the best thing I could hear you say." Then he stopped and looks thoughtful before saying, "That, or maybe you were pregnant, but I'm sure we will be finding out about that soon enough."

"I had a dream that we had gotten married and had a baby boy right after," I confess. "I really like to see it come true, I want to be your wife and give you that baby boy you want so badly."

That's when he leans over and gave me a peck on the lips. "I had hoped the next time I saw you in a hospital bed would be the day you gave birth to our baby boy, but right now I need you to get rest and get better because once the doctor gives you a clean bill of health we're going to be at it until your belly nice and round holding our baby boy inside."

I didn't say anything after that since I felt myself falling back to sleep thinking about the perfect life with Chance and our children.

********

Ayanna had come to see me the next day and was all but tears and keep saying that bad guy wasn't allowed to hurt her mommy anymore. She refuses to leave my side when it came to lunch and said she needed to stay with me to help me, in case I needed anything. It broke my heart though to see her leave when visiting hours were over; Chance did leave then so he could comfort her.

That's when Greg stayed with me. He didn't say much just how sorry he was about not seeing the signs in Marcus. He felt guilty about what had happened to me, but I had to let him know he had no hand in it, plus Rose had pulled him into her in games to take Chance away from me. That seems to make him feel a little better, but not much.

The next day I could go home, and it seemed no one was willing to go home, even my mother and Chance were here to help with the housework and make sure I was comfortable. They were pleased to hear Chance and I had worked out our differences and were planning on moving forward with our lives together.

It wasn't until after everyone went home, and Ayanna had gone to bed that Chance came to sit on the couch, leaving my feet up before placing him in his lap, while I was reading the same book from that nightmare's day that I could feel something was off.

"Milly, I know I've been joking around a lot about having a baby boy, but you have to know I'll be fine if we had another girl." He just bluntly said looking at me with a straight face. "I want to experience this whole parenting fully. I feel I didn't hold up my end with Ayanna until now.

Placing the book down in my lap, feeling disappointed on robbing him to be a part of her life from the beginning, "I know this Chance, and I can't express how sorry I am that I took that away from you."

He leaned his head down and kissed my belly on top of my shirt, "If you're in there, please give your mommy hell, because she's a suborn one." Then he looked up at me, "Do you remember what you told me in the hospital about getting married?"

"Yes," I said, feeling nervous about where this was going now. He was acting strange and jumping from one topic to another.

"Good," he said before getting up and dropping my feet to the side of the couch and walking away leaving me dumbfounded about what just happen. I stood up to follow him to the backyard only to see that it was lit up, like stars falling around us and everyone we knew was standing there, even Ayanna there in her nightgown in Greg's arms.

"I thought you all went home?" I found myself saying as Chance turned to face me with a smile on his face, the same smile that showed he was up to no good.

"Milly, let me start by saying you are the most stubborn women I have ever met, but I'm just as bull-headed and knew when something is right you fight for it, like you and me. We are one in the same heart that has once again found its way back together." When he dropped down to one knee, I felt the tears start to fall has I covered my month in shock. Given we have already proposed our love to one another, but here he was giving me a more elaborate proposal in front of everyone made my love for him grow. "I plan on spending the rest of my life with you, married or not because that's how strong our love is. Lilly Elizabeth Dunn will you do me the honor and marry me and forever be my Lilly?"

Author Notes:

There one last chapter then we say goodbye to Lilly and Chance. :'(