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You're Home

Danny kissed his wife Elaine and pulled back and told her, rocking her in his arms, feeling his heart racing at the speed of light, "Shhh, don't talk, I'll talk, let me talk. I love you. I love you, and you're home now, and you're gonna be fine. I promise, Elaine, you're gonna be fine, you're gonna be just fine."

"I am fine," she weakly responded.

"You're gonna be fine, Elaine, you've got to be, you've got to be, please, please, please be fine." The sudden silence made his heart stop. "Elaine?"

He looked down, Elaine's head slumped back lifelessly, her eyes closed as if she was asleep, but she wasn't. Danny had almost no voice left. "Elaine?"

Tears rolled down his face as he held her against him, his voice breaking as he told her, "It's alright now, Elaine, it's alright...you're home."

Burt, Mary and Jodie stood just a few feet away, all leaning on one another as they shared in his shock and heartbreak. Nobody could say a word.

Off in the distance Danny could hear sirens approaching. Too late, they were just in time to be too late. Why couldn't they have gotten here five minutes earlier? Why couldn't Elaine have gotten home five minutes earlier? Why did he ever leave her alone in their bedroom? How had this happened?

The sirens were deafening now, they pulled up outside, they stopped. Doors opened and slammed shut, he could hear the paramedics talking, heard a radio somewhere. Why hadn't they gotten there sooner?

Danny knew they were going to take Elaine away, he just got her back, he couldn't let them take her away. He cradled her tight against him, murmuring her name over and over as if somehow he could draw her back, his throat swelling shut with tears, "Elaine...Elaine...Elaine..."

---

"Elaine...Elaine...Elaine..."

The bedroom door opened and a dark figure reached in and turned on the light. Elaine Dallas looked at her husband rolling back and forth in bed calling her name in his sleep as she stood in the doorway cradling their baby against her.

"Danny," she walked over to the bed and stood over him, "Danny...Danny! Wake up you yutz!"

A snorted sound got caught in Danny's throat as his eyes flickered open, adjusting to the sudden brightness.

"Elaine?" he turned and saw the woman hovering over him, and he about hit the ceiling. "Elaine! It's really you? You're alive!" He jumped out of bed and practically lifted Elaine off her feet and swung her around, but the baby presented a challenge with that.

Elaine was very deadpan as she pulled back and asked him, "You had that dream again, didn't you?"

"Again?" Danny paused and wracked his brain for a moment before remembering that no, this unfortunately was not the first time he'd dreamt about the night his wife had been shot by her kidnappers. "Yeah...I guess so." He did a double take and asked, "What're you doing up?"

"The baby woke me up," she said, holding their child up like she was presenting an exhibit in court, she also revealed in one hand she'd been maintaining a grip on a partially eaten peeled carrot, "and once we both have a snack we're going back to bed."

Danny's heart was racing in his chest and his breath was coming out in ragged heaves and gasps, his legs felt weak and he fell back against the bed. "Oh God, Elaine, it was so real."

"You think so? Try me, I'm the one that actually got shot," she replied nonchalantly as she took a loud snapping bite of her carrot. "Let me guess, I ran all the way home so I could tell you I love you?"

Danny nodded.

"No offense, Danny, but when you got a bullet in your back, the hospital is your first priority," Elaine said.

Danny nodded again. "I know."

"And running the whole way? Please," Elaine said as she rocked the baby, "this might not be New York but taxi cabs exist for a reason."

Danny nodded again, his mouth slowly turning upward into a smile. "I know." He looked at her and told her, "You were so brave, Elaine."

"I wasn't brave, I was scared to death, I'm just not stupid," she replied, "I knew there was no guarantee those yutzes wouldn't kill me even once they got the money, so I knew my best chance was to get loose and make a run for it." She turned and looked straight ahead at the wall as she added, "and then I was scared to death the whole time I was in the hospital. I couldn't wait to get out of there and come home, to you. Then I was scared to death when they told me I had a bullet taken out of me and I was pregnant."

Danny shook his head. "I just can't believe it, I still can't believe the whole thing. I..." he looked straight ahead with his mouth hanging open for a second before he said, "I can't believe Corrine's birth mother, Ingrid Svenson, was so desperate to destroy our family that she hired two guys to kidnap you."

"Me either," Elaine said as she sat down on the bed beside him, "I didn't even know the woman and she's trying to get me murdered for you guys's feud."

"Well...what's done is done, the kidnappers turned on Ingrid, and now they're all doing life in prison," Danny said.

"It's too good for them if you ask me," Elaine said. "Connecticut has the death penalty, why don't they use it?"

Danny shook his head. "I don't know...all I know is they can't hurt us anymore, and that's all that matters."

"God you're gorgeous," Elaine said suddenly, "have I mentioned that?"

Danny chuckled, "A couple times."

"How did I ever get lucky enough to wind up with you?" she asked.

Danny recalled, "Your father had a contract out on me...funny how life works out, isn't it?"

"Danny?"

The door opened again and Jodie stepped in cradling Wendy in his arms. "Hey guys, what're you doing up?"

"Danny had that dream again," Elaine answered. "What're you doing up?"

"Wendy got me up," Jodie said. "Oh, Danny...Mom wants to get the nursery repainted tomorrow, so would it be okay with you if we move the cribs in here until the paint dries?"

Danny nodded, "Yeah, sure, it's perfect, our baby's six months old and he's already got his first slumber party."

"Just wait until he meets his new uncle," Jodie replied.

"Oh man," Elaine said, "isn't that weird with your mom being pregnant again? Your brother is going to be younger than your kids."

Jodie shrugged one shoulder as he rocked his daughter, "This family's never been known for being too normal to begin with, but we always seem to manage. It's really kind of perfect if you think about it, our kids, Corrine's little Timmy, and Mom's new baby, they're all going to be very close in age to one another, they're always going to have someone to play with, none of them will ever have to be alone."

"That's beautiful," Danny said.

"That's weird," Elaine noted.

Jodie responded, "I doubt it can get much weirder."

"Doesn't anybody in this house ever go to sleep?" a high pitched voice asked as Chuck and Bob entered the room, dressed in matching pajamas as usual. "How's a fella supposed to get any rest with this ruckus going on all night?"

"Chuck, what're you doing up?" Jodie inquired.

Bob's eyes blinked as he turned his head towards Jodie and Wendy and his high pitched voice responded, "There she is! My little Wendy-Wendy-Wendy!" he said rapidly. Then his head turned the other way and his head about popped off as he exclaimed, "Another one! They're both here! Burty-Burty-Burty!" His head pivoted back and forth looking at both babies and exclaimed in an even higher voice, "I can't stand it! It's too much cuteness! I'm losing my mind!"

Elaine let out half a chuckle and remarked, "That's a good trick."

"Oh!" Bob exclaimed as his head turned one way and another, "If Mary and Burt's baby is half as cute as these two, I WON'T BE ABLE TO STAND IT! I love babies, they're so adorable when they're small, it's when they start talking I have no use for them."

Jodie thought of something and chimed in, "Hey Chuck, you think you'll ever settle down and have kids?"

"Him have kids?" Bob asked and laughed hysterically, "oh that's a laugh riot, that's rich."

Chuck turned to him, "Why's that?"

Bob responded, "What child would ever want the responsibility of you?"

Chuck looked offended, "Hey!"

"Please!" Elaine broke it up, "we're trying to get our kids back to sleep."

"Oh Danny," Bob called over, "while the nursery's being painted can they stay with me? I just can't get over how cute they are!" His head shook rapidly as he chattered in a frenzy, "Wendy-Wendy-Wendy-Wendy-Wendy Burty-Burty-Burty-Burty-Burty!"

"What do you think Mom and Dad will name the new baby?" Jodie asked.

"I don't know," Danny replied, "I wonder what it'll be? We already named our baby after Burt, so if it's a boy they can't name him Burt too. If it's a girl, they could name it after Mom."

"Mary and Mary?" Jodie raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Yeah, I saw this new Addams Family special on TV a couple years ago," Danny said, "they had Wednesday and Pugsley, and Wednesday Jr. and Pugsley Jr."

"Danny," Elaine spoke up, "that would only work if they named it Burt Jr. or Jodie Jr."

"Jodie Jr., hmmm," Jodie looked intrigued.

"Guys, can we have some privacy?" Danny asked.

"Sure thing, Danny, goodnight, Elaine," Jodie said as he carried Wendy out of the room.

"Yeah, goodnight, Danny," Chuck said.

"Goodnight, Danny, Elaine," Bob added, then paused, and repeated, "Burty-Burty-Burty-Burty-Burty!"

Chuck walked out of the room and took Bob with him.

"We are definitely not normal," Danny realized. "There is nothing normal about us."

"Hmm, I seem to recall that being our discussion right before I got kidnapped," Elaine told him.

"Yeah, but that was different," he said, "that was about...you know."

Elaine laughed coyly. "I know."

"Oh man," Danny thought of something, "have you thought about what we're going to tell Burt when he grows up?"

"About what?" Elaine asked.

"How we met. Your father had a contract on my life, I break into your bedroom to discuss him, you won't let me leave, you keep me in bed for days with no sleep, your father forces me to marry you, you force me to marry you, we get married, and we hate each other for the longest time, you're horrible to me, so I'm horrible to you, only then did we really love each other. How do we explain that to our son?"

"We tell him the truth," Elaine answered. "We fell in love, it just took a few more falls than usual."

Danny smirked. "I like the way you think."

Elaine looked at their baby and whispered to Danny, "He's asleep. I'll get him put back in his crib, and I'll be back."

"I'll go with you," Danny got to his feet.

"That's not necessary."

"I left you once, Elaine, I'm not taking that chance again," he said.

"Danny, come on," Elaine shook her head, "the kidnappers will never come back here, nobody else will ever try it."

"Maybe not, I hope not, but I lost you once, Elaine, and I almost lost you forever...I'm not going to lose you again."

She smiled, "That's so sweet."

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again," he said.

"That's going to get annoying," Elaine replied.

They smiled at each other and shared a small laugh before they headed out into the hall to take their son back to the nursery.