I Dreamed A Dream
Part Five - Always and Forever
By Breigh
breighbers@juno.com

Ok, this series needs explanation, and here's one:
This series starts around 6 years after "The Storm". When Doug left Carol was pregnant, and she decided to not tell him about the baby. Instead of having twin girls, she had twin boys, Ben and Joel. (You might not like the idea now, but trust me, it grows on you as the series goes along. Also, this story is one of my first, and the next ones are a lot better developed, and they're better than this one, this is just the one that explains everything and gets you into the series.) One day Doug comes back to Chicago for a conference and finds Carol and he meets the two little boys that he never knew he had, and that's where it all starts! Feedback is always appreciated, send mail to: Breighbers@juno.com

Carol makes a decision that she was bound to make before long.

"Doug?" Carol said as she looked down in Doug in shock. She wasn't expecting him to wake up that soon, and she tried to take it as a good sign, but she knew that it might not be. "Doug, if you can hear me, then blink, or squeeze Ben's hand." Carol said looking intently at Doug. He blinked, and by Ben's reaction she knew that he also squeezed his hand. That was a good sign, because it meant that there was a good chance he wasn't paralyzed. The doctor's never said the he would be, but she always feared it. "Ok, I'm going to go get the doctor, you two stay here. Do you hear me? Don't move, either of you." Carol said looking at the boys. "Ok." Ben said. He was still holding Doug's hand. Joel was sitting over on the chair, away from Doug. He just nodded at Carol, and she walked briskly out of the room.

Carol stood at the foot of Doug's bed with her arm around Ben, who was standing in front of her. Joel was still sitting in his chair, just watching the doctor examine Doug. Carol looked over at him and winked, but he just turned his head to look back to Doug.

"Alright Doug, your CT came out normal. I want you to blink if you can understand me." Doug blinked and the doctor continued. "Right now we have you on 40% oxygen. I don't want to take it off completely right now, incase that your lung can't handle it. I'm going to wean you off of it. Once again, I want you to blink if you understand." Doug blinked once again and then the doctor continued, "I'm going to see if you can handle 20% decrease." The doctor said as he decreased the oxygen. Carol watched intently, hoping that Doug would be able to handle it. She was relieved when she saw that he could. "Alright Doug, I'll be back to check on you again within the hour." The doctor said as he wrote something on Doug's chart and the re-hung it on the bottom of the bed. He nodded at Carol and then walked out of the room. Carol stood at the bottom of the bed for a little while and then left Ben there and walked over to Doug. She ran her fingers up his arm and looked down at him. Just as she was about to talk Carter knocked on the door.

"Wait a second." She said with a smile as she walked over to the chair and picked up Joel, then she went over and put her hand on Ben's back and moved him out of the room to where Carter was awaiting them outside. Carol had called Carter to see if he could keep the boy's overnight, to which he accepted.

"How is he?" Carter asked looking at the boys and giving them each a smile.

"He's awake, so that's a good sign."

"Yeah, yeah it is."

"The boys talked to him and stuff, but I don't want to over do it."

"Carol, it's no problem." Carter said as Carol put Joel down. She bent down to them and gave them a smile.

"You two be on your best behavior, and don't stay up too late."

"Mom, is daddy gonna be ok?" Joel asked.

"Everyone is going to do their best to try to make sure that he is." Carol said kissing each of the boys on their cheek, and then she hugged them. "Love you guys." Carol said with a smile.

"Can you tell dad that we love him?" Ben asked.

"Of course." Carol said as she stood up. "Thanks again Carter." Carol said as she moved over and hugged him.

"Think nothing of it." He said as they parted. Carol watched as Carter and the twins disappeared into the elevator before she turned back to Doug's room. She took a deep breath as she walked in. She hesitantly walked over to Doug; she tried with all of her might not to let her emotions get them best of her. She pulled a chair up to Doug's bedside and sat down. Then she took his hand in hers and gave him a smile.

"Hey." Carol said as tears once again came to her eyes, she let them fall, knowing that she had no other choice. "You scared me." She said as she rubbed her hand up and down his arm. She paused and bit her lip as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. "Doug, I didn't know how much I'd missed you, and how much I love you, or how much I want to be with you, until I almost lost you." Carol paused again, and her eyes wandered around the room. "Doug, I know that you've been gone for 6 years, but now that you're back, I don't want to loose you. We've made some really dumb decisions in our time, but being apart for so long, just may top the list." Carol said with a smile. Doug blinked at her, and she moved her hand up to his head and ran her fingers through his hair. "I know that we're going to be moving fast, but we've wasted so much time…I think we both need each other, and the sooner the better." She said leaning down and kissing Doug on the forehead. "Ben and Joel were really worried about you. They love you already." Carol said with a smile. "Are you in pain?" She questioned sympathetically. Doug blinked his eyes. "I can't believe that this happened to you." Carol said as she began to cry harder. Dougraised his hand to her face, and caressed it gently, and then he rested it on her cheek. Carol put her hand over his and looked at him. "Love you…" She said through her tears, "Always and forever."

"Ok Doug, I want to take you off of the venelator now." The doctor said as he walked up to Doug. He unhooked the tube and moved it aside, and then he removed the tape from around Doug's mouth. "Alright, on the count of three I want you to blow out." The doctor said as he raised Doug's bed so that he was sitting straight up. Carol stood at Doug's side as the doctor began counting to three. "One…Two…Three." The doctor said as Doug blew and the doctor removed them tube. Doug gagged a little, then coughed, and then he leaned his head back against the pillow.

"Here's some water." Carol said handing Doug the glass of water that was on the table near her.

"Thanks." He said in a whisper and then took a drink of the water.

"Carter, do you think my dad is gonna be ok?" Joel asked as Carter put a blanket across Ben and Joel. They were on the couch in the living room. They'd stayed over Carter's a couple times before. They'd sleep on the couch, and Carter slept on the recliner.

"Hope so." Carter said with a smile.

"Did you used to know him before he left?" Ben asked.

"Yes I did."

"Did he use to love our mom?" Ben asked again.

"Yes, very, very much."

The doctor walked out of Doug's room, leaving just Doug and Carol. It looked like he was miraculously ok. He caused quiet a scare, but things looked like they were going to turn out all right. Carol looked over at Doug and smiled.

"Did you mean that stuff that you said?" Doug asked in a horse voice. Carol scooted over closer to Doug and took his hand.

"Yes, and I'm sorry that it took something like this to make me realize it." She said gently sqeezing his hand.

"I'm just glad that you realized it."

"Why did we do this to ourselves?" Carol questioned as she lowered her head.

"Carol, I honestly don't know. " Doug said with a smirk. "I should never have left you…"

"Hey, I say that we put the past behind us. We both screwed up, you leaving, and me keeping the boys from you. But that's not important now."

"So then does this mean that we're together again?"

"I hope so." Carol said with a smile.

"Well, we wasted no time."

"Well, we don't have anytime to waste if we want to give Ben and Joel a brother or sister for their birthday." Doug said with a smile.

"Doug, I don't know about that."

"And why not?"

"Because, we were known to rush into things, but another baby?"

"Carol, we're not as young as we used to be, and I don't want too much of a time gap between the boys and the next baby."

"Doug, how do you know I even want another baby."

"I don't, I was just assuming." Doug said lowering his head. He did want another baby with Carol. He wanted to experience being there for her, and with her, and he knew that in the 4 days he'd been there he loved being a father more than anything else, and he wanted to be a father from the beginning to another baby. He'd just assumed that Carol felt the same way.

"Doug, I was just kidding, I do want another baby…and I want it with you." She said standing up. "I love you, and I love everything that you've given me. Without you I wouldn't have Ben and Joel, and without them I don't know how I would have been able to get through these past couple years, and I'm so, so sorry that I didn't tell you about them."

"Hey, you said it the best before. Let's not dwell on the past, cause there's a whole bunch of crap that neither of us should have done. But the bottom line is we did, and now I say we start over, like a clean slate. We will be together and we will raise our son's. Adjusting will take time, but in the end it will be worth it, cause you'll be there, and I'll be there, and we'll have made it through."

"I love you." Carol said rubbing her hands down Doug's cheek bones.

"I love you too." Doug said as Carol leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips.