2006

Lee opened his eyes slowly, and he could hear talking around him. He blinked. Where was he?

"That's a beautiful ending," Toll was saying. "Love it."

"I still don't understand why I had to die," Gunner was saying. "I mean, I coulda survived all that and had a happy ending too."

"It made the story have feeling," Caesar insisted.

"Then you coulda died," Gunner pointed out.

"Hey, hey, hey," Barney said, making them all stop talking. "Look who finally decided to join us. Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty."

Lee turned his head to see his team and Emily sitting there looking at him. Caesar and Toll were sitting on the floor while Gunner, Barney, and Emily sat in chairs, Emily's crutches beside her. Yang was standing.

"Whazzgoinon?" Lee asked, slurring a little. He cleared his throat and tried to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth better.

"You had a cardiac arrest during surgery, and then you decided to go into a coma," Barney explained. "You scared the shit out of all of us, but you're back now."

"Coma?" Lee asked, confused.

"Yea. Something about lack of oxygen to your brain caused it. I don't fully understand medical shit," Barney said.

"How long?" Lee questioned.

"Oh, two weeks."

Lee jolted inside at this. He'd been in a coma for two weeks? He tried to remember what had happened before getting here. He had been with Emily at her work. A man had entered and tried to shoot her. He'd shot him back and gotten shot in return. Screaming, crying, and hands on his wounds...

"Can you guys give me a minute?" Emily asked.

"Yea, sure," Barney agreed. The men got up and sauntered out, leaving Emily alone with Lee.

"What the hell happened?" Lee asked, still feeling confused.

"You saved me, then you got shot, and then you were brought here," Emily explained. "We...we've been telling a story to each other for the past two weeks just because we got bored."

"A story?" Lee asked. Something was in his head. It was nagging at him.

"Yea. It was a bit silly, but it passed the time. We had it that you had faked your death and then came back five years later after Eric went into a coma from a violent attack. It was supposed to be me originally, but he pouted enough that we let him have his way."

"Eddie?" Lee asked. It hit him hard. "Our son? Where is he?"

"Oh," Emily said, taking his hand in hers. "He...he was part of the story."

"What?" Lee said.

"Caesar is good at tragedy, angsty type stuff. It was his idea that I have a baby while you were gone and that Gunner should die saving you and us."

"I'm so confused," Lee told her. He put his other hand to his head. Eddie wasn't real?

"The moments between you and I were told when I was alone with you," Emily promised.

"Stop," Lee said, holding up his hand. "So we don't have a son?"

"No," Emily shook her head. "I guess you could hear us after all then."

"Joanna?" Lee asked. He remembered that name for some reason too.

"That was actually true," Emily said. "Barney can explain better."

"Water," Lee said then.

"Of course," Emily nodded. She was about to get up when the nurse came in having seen all the men standing in the hallway.

"He's alive!" the nurse joked. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused. Foggy," Lee answered.

"You will for a bit. It'll get better the longer you're awake."

"Will," Lee said then. "Where is Will?"

The nurse looked at Emily, who blushed a little.

"Um, he was part of a story we were telling each other," she explained.

"Right," the nurse said. She finished checking Lee all over before helping him sit up a bit.

"Call if you need anything," she said, showing him where the pager button was. "I'll tell them to bring you something to eat and drink."

Emily watched Lee try to piece things together. She felt bad suddenly that they had confused him. They hadn't realized he would hear them and create some kind of reality for himself.

"We made Will up," Emily told him. "We needed a villain for the story. James was deemed too wimpy for that part."

"Get Barney," Lee said suddenly.

"Okay," she agreed. She got to her feet slowly and went out on her crutches to the hallway. Within moments, Barney was in the room.

"Hey," he said.

"What the hell is going on?" Lee asked. "Why is it that I think I'm five years in the future, have a son, and killed some woman named Joanna?"

"She told you it was a story, right?"

"I got that, yes. Why?"

"We were bored."

"Em said Joanna was real?" Lee asked. Barney got up to close the door before returning to sit beside Lee again.

"I found Kazimir after you had shot him. He hadn't gotten far. He took some persuading, but he told me about Joanna and her connection to Miranda and how the news your father had started arms dealing again came through her, which got him and your mother killed. Miranda was your mother's cousin. Your father and Joanna were partners and lovers before your mother came along, and your father left to be with your mother. That stuff in the story was true. I found Joanna in England after dealing with Kazimir, and she confessed to it all. I didn't kill her, though. She's just going to spend the rest of her life in prison."

"So DeMarko was right. My parents were murdered," Lee said, remembering.

"It seems that way."

"So Em is safe? We're safe?" Lee asked.

"Yea. Once you're cleared from here, you are free," Barney answered.

"That's one hell of a story you guys told," Lee said.

"I should write a book, huh?" Barney grinned.

"Not by yourself."

"No? I thought my parts about Miranda and her daughters were good," Barney said, faking hurt.

"Let me see Em again," Lee ordered. He was finally coming around to knowing that it was 2006 and he hadn't missed out on five years with Emily or had a child he didn't know of. That gave him some relief.

Barney patted his shoulder enthusiastically and got up to get Emily again. She came back looking concerned.

"I really am sorry," she started.

"Hey, it's fine," he interrupted. "I'm just glad we're here now."

Emily got as close to Lee as she could before leaning in to kiss him.

"I missed you," she said.

"I missed you too."

"Caesar wasn't too far off on one thing," Emily said. She was smiling.

"What's that?" he asked. She reached into her purse and pulled out a stick, handing it to him to look at. He stared at it, trying to comprehend.

"It's a pregnancy test, Lee," Emily said, helping him out. He looked up at her quickly.

"Are you...?"

"Yes," she laughed. "I am."

Lee felt more relief then. So he was going to have a child after all. He pulled her in for an awkward, sideways type hug before kissing her hard.

"You're not going to miss out on anything," Emily promised.

"I'm done being an Expendable," Lee said.

"I know."

He held her hand tightly in his. He was never letting her go, and he was never putting himself at risk ever again.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked. "I'll take you there."

"Well, since I quit Runway, I think I'm open to going anywhere, but I want to wait before we do that. Let's just stay here a while and have the baby and then go from there."

"Okay," Lee agreed. One step at a time. They'd take it one step at a time.

"Here," Emily said, taking off the chain and handing his St. Christopher's necklace back to him. "It served its purpose."

"Keep it," Lee told her. "It looks better on you anyway." She smiled and put it back on. She did like the feel of it weighted on her chest.

Then Eric came in with Rosemary and talked for a bit, and Barney came back with the guys later before going to the hotel for the night.

Lee couldn't wait until he was discharged and could start his life with Emily.

...

Barney was the last one down for the night. He'd listened to the boys chatter and talk amongst themselves before slowing turning in. Toll, Caesar, and Yang were sharing a room. Gunner and Barney were sharing another. He kept thinking about the story they'd told together. No one knew that he'd spoken with Miranda after the incident. It was how he'd gotten the information that she'd told Joanna about Michael Jones. Miranda had been extremely reluctant to speak with him, but he'd gotten through to her. He'd seen the picture of her twins and asked about them. Miranda had shared that her husband was fighting for custody, claiming Miranda couldn't care for them as her work took precedence over everything. He hoped the twins wouldn't be pulled in many different directions because of it.

"Think we could go to that cabin someday?" Gunner asked, breaking into his thoughts and startling him. He'd thought he was the only one awake. "The fishing sounds good up there."

"I didn't realize you actually liked to fish," Barney laughed.

"Sometimes," Gunner said defensively. "I'm not all guns and ammo, you know."

"Sure, man. Someday we'll have a vacation," Barney promised. The cabin on the island was real too, of course.

"What're we gonna do without Lee?" Gunner questioned.

"We'll get along just fine."

"If you say so."

Barney got settled into his bed and groaned as Gunner started snoring loudly. He put a pillow over his ears, wishing he'd remembered that Toll was the quietest sleeper out of the group.

Five Years Later

"You can see the tower from my room!" Eddie exclaimed. Lee and Emily laughed. They were finally in Paris, which was Emily's dream. Barney had mentioned stopping by sometime when they were in the area. Lee was looking to get a job as a mechanic because he enjoyed working on cars. Emily was looking into the fashion industry as she was still doing that type of work at a different magazine.

"See? Our story had the same ending," Emily said to Lee after Eddie showed them the view from his window.

"Well, not quite," Lee said as their two year old daughter woke up finally and squawked for attention. Lee went to pick her up and held her tightly in his left arm. His wedding band glinted in the sunlight. It matched Emily's. Before Eddie was born, they'd had a very small ceremony.

"Bird," the girl said, pointing at his tattoo of the raven and skull.

"That is a bird. Good job, Laurie," he said. She beamed at him, and his heart melted.

"Eddie, come help me take your things to your room," Emily called.

"Yes, Mummy," Eddie said, obliging.

Lee watched them work together and smiled to himself. He knew he'd made the right choice by quitting his job. He didn't regret it at all. He had his family, and he had the knowledge that his job wasn't going to potentially kill him every day. Em gave him a smile before disappearing into Eddie's room, and Laurie planted a kiss on his cheek before asking to be put down. Then she was off to join her brother and mother, leaving Lee to observe and feel so grateful.

He wouldn't trade it for anything.

The End

If you've read enough of my stories, you know how much I love my twists :D. I hope that wasn't too weird of an ending, but it came to me after I started writing this story, and I couldn't see any other ending that would fit.

Also, I did some reading on comas, so if it is inaccurate, blame Google. I'm not a doctor.

Thank you to those who reviewed, followed, and favorited! Until next time :)