Hi everyone! Sorry for the wait! I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and leave me feedback!

Anyway, let's get to it shall we?

Enjoy!

I've Got Time

Chapter 24

Tara

Tara pushed the accelerator on her car a little more insistently. She was late as hell, and needed to find a parking spot right now!

She spotted one and steered her car that direction, completely cutting a car off. She slammed the car in park, grabbed her bag and took off, waving over her should apologetically at the car she cut off.

She rushed through the halls towards her staff meeting, panting as she snuck in.

"Sorry I am late," she murmured to room of doctors, setting her coffee down, "Traffic."

The meeting continued on and Tara mapped out the rest of her day, occasionally joining in the conversation when it was required.

After the meeting wrapped up, she gathered her things and made her way to the doctor's lounge where she could change into her scrubs for the day. She was rooting through her bag when she knocked into someone and dropped everything to the floor.

She bent down, sighing when someone handed Tara her badge. Tara glanced up and flushed in embarrassment. His face flashed in her mind from this morning. He was the guy she had cut off.

Recognizing her too, the man looked down at her badge in his hand and read, "Dr. Tara Knowles: Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgeon and Parking Spot Thief Savant."

Tara smiled and chuckled, grabbing her badge from him, "I am so sorry. Really. I was crazy late, but that's no excuse."

He smiled kindly, and helped her grab the last few scattered items that had fallen from her purse and said, "Its okay. You'll just have to make it up to me by coming to lunch with me."

Tara smirked and said, "I can't go out with you. I don't even know your name."

"Andrew Hayden, Pediatrician."

"Tara."

Tara wrinkled her brow in confusion...that wasn't the right voice. Far more gravely than Andrew's smooth voice.

"Tara?" the voice repeated.

Tara snapped back to reality and looked to Dr. Bryant, who stood beside her.

"Did you hear me?"

Tara looked once more ahead of her to Andrew...hooked up to a ventilator that kept him alive and breathing. She shook her head and murmured, "No, I wasn't listening."

If Dr. Bryant was offended, he didn't show it, he just put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Doctor Thompson was wondering if you had made any progress on making a decision and if you have questions."

Dr. Thompson was the head of Neurology at this hospital. He had explained that Andrew was brain dead. He was never going to wake up. Tara knew he was right, but at the same time she couldn't' believe it.

"I am a doctor, Bruce. I know what the stats, the numbers, the chemical levels, and the lab results say. I just...I can't. I can't," Tara said, tearing up, reaching for Andrew's hand. She squeezed it, hoping it would trigger a response but it remained lifelessly still.

There was a long silence and then Bruce said, "He wouldn't have wanted this Tara."

Tara's jaw trembled as she fought a sob and tears poured down her cheeks, "I know."

Bruce kissed her on top of the head and she felt tears fall into her hair. He was losing his friend and associate. It was painful and incredibly hard on him too. Without saying another word, he left.

Tara picked Andrew's hand up and kissed the back of it. "I need your help with this Andrew. I can't do this alone," she murmured, not to his body, but to him. She knew he was here. She could feel him.

She felt fresh tears track down her cheeks. His parents would be coming in tomorrow morning. She needed to be prepared for anything.

"So tell me your life story," he asked, grinning at her from across the table.

"My life story?" Tara asked nervously.

"Where did you live before moving here?" Andrew asked.

"How do you know I moved here?" Tara asked, smirking.

"I would have met you before now," he said confidently, with a sparkle in his eyes.

"I am from California," Tara answered him, "I moved myself and two kids out here when I found this job."

"Why would you ever move from California to Connecticut?" he asked in disbelief.

Tara sipped at her wine and said, "I needed a change of scenery."

Andrew studied her a moment and then said, "Well, I am glad you picked Connecticut."

Tara really liked Andrew. He had that type of personality that put everyone at ease and felt like she could tell him anything and not scare him away. She smiled and responded, "Me too."

"Any change?"

Tara turned to find Jax standing in the door, looking at her with an odd expression on his face.

Tara just shook her head and looked back to Andrew.

"Are you okay?" Jax asked, "Can I get you anything? Food, something to drink?"

Tara shook her head again, feeling some kind of pressure in her chest that she couldn't explain.

Tara didn't know if Jax was still there or not, but she didn't turn around to find out.

"I have two kids," Tara said, "Amazing kids. One is just six years old and the other is almost three. Their names are Abel and Thomas."

Andrew looked at her and Tara asked, "Do kids freak you out?"

Andrew smirked at her and asked, "Do they bite? Are they possessed by the devil?"

Tara chuckled and shook her head, "What kind of parent do you think I am, letting my kids walk around biting people? They are perfect angels."

"Well, then no, they don't freak me out," Andrew answered as he chuckled, "If kids freaked me out I wouldn't be a pediatrician."

Tara felt Jax set his hand on her shoulder and she cringed, shrugging out of his grasp, "Don't," she whispered.

"Tara-"

"Just don't," Tara snapped.

Jax was silent and Tara said, "Everything was perfect. He was perfect. And then you come back in town and now this…"

Jax flinched and Tara understood what that pressure in her chest was. She was angry. At Jax. At herself. At Andrew. At his doctors. And she was taking all that out on Jax.

A small voice in her told her she wasn't being fair, but she could barely hear it over the wailing pain in her heart and the screaming anger that coursed through her veins.

"Just go," Tara said, not even looking his way. She wanted him out of here before she really let loose and said something she really regretted.

Jax wordlessly left and Tara rested her forehead down on the bed next to Andrew's hand and closed her eyes as she tried to breathe through her anger and her pain.

Tara watched as Andrew pushed Abel and Thomas on a swing set in the park nearby her house. Thomas and Abel were so happy. They laughed and squealed to go higher and higher and shrieking when they thought they did.

Andrew waved over at her between pushes, smiling against the sun.

She finished pulling the sandwiches and fruit cups out for the boys, followed by juice boxes and sub sandwiches for her and Andrew. She took out water bottles for them.

"Boys, lunch!" she called.

The boys jumped off the swing set and ran towards her. Andrew followed and they all sat and ate lunch. Abel and Thomas finished quickly, leaving half-finished sandwiches and empty juice boxes scattered.

Andrew and Tara watched them run around chasing each other as they played tag.

"You should move in," Tara said, "You stay at my place more than you stay at yours."

"Really?" Andrew asked.

Tara smiled and nodded, "The boys would love it, and I would love it," she whispered provocatively, leaning forward and kissing him, "And we are engaged."

Andrew smiled happily and said, "Okay."

Tara woke to someone brushing the hair from her face.

She opened her eyes against the light and looked up into Helen's face. She looked down at Tara with the saddest smile on her face.

"Hi honey," she said softly. Tara jerked up and looked at the clock, but she didn't need to, because Andrew's parents were crying on the other side of the bed. She had slept through the night.

Tara looked to Helen, panicked. It couldn't' be that time.

"It's gonna be okay, sweetheart," Helen said softly, wrapping her arm around her.

Tara looked across the bed to Andrew's parents. His mother was hugging Andrew, shaking with sobs as he husband looked on shaking with horrified sobs.

Tara stood and walked out of the room, knowing they needed a moment with their son. Or what was left of him.

Dr. Thompson walked by and noted Tara out in the hall and she gestured into the room, "His parents are here."

Dr. Thompson nodded and asked, "Are you alright?"

Tara shook her head and said, "No."

He nodded and said, "I guess there is such a thing as a stupid question."

"I guess," Tara responded, not knowing why he was hanging around.

He left then, going into the room to give the "brain-dead" spiel to Mr. and Mrs. Hayden.

"Do you ever miss California? Or the boys' father," Andrew asked. They were lying in bed, Tara with her back to him. It was so warm and comfortable.

Tara was silent, thinking about how to respond. Tara had decided to not keep anything from Andrew. To tell him anything. Lying and omitting the truth had been apart of her life in Charming and her relationship with Jax. And that had gone to hell. She didn't want the same thing to happen to her and Andrew.

"No, I don't miss California," Tara answered decisively, "But I miss Jax. The Jax I fell in love with as a teenager, not the Jax I left."

Andrew was silent and Tara turned to him and asked, "Does that make sense?"

He nodded and said, "It does, but I don't understand. I never fell in love when I was a teenager."

Tara turned back around and thought about teenage Jax. He had been so different then. So different than the man he was now.

"I love you, Andrew," she said in the darkness. It was the first time she had said. The first time either of them had said it.

Andrew didn't say anything, just hugged her closer and nuzzled her neck.

"Tara," Carol Hayden said through tears.

Tara stood and walked towards Andrew's mother.

"I don't even know what to say," Tara said, tears pricking her eyes.

Carol nodded and said, "Me either. My heart...surely I won't live through this pain."

Tara gulped and closed her eyes.

"We need to make the call soon," she whispered, "Andrew is gone. That Andrew is gone."

Tara looked beyond her to where Andrew lay. She swallowed against the lump in her throat and nodded.

"Are you okay?" she asked, wondering if Tara was going to lose it.

Tara said, "Can I...I want to say goodbye."

She nodded and Tara walked back inside the room. Dr. Thompson and Glenn Hayden left the room to give her some privacy.

Tara sat in the chair next to Andrew and reached for his hand. She closed her eyes and imagined him standing there with her.

"Andrew," she whispered.

"I just want you to know, that you brought my heart back from a dark place. And I am so thankful. And I love you very much. And my boys love you very much. I wish...so many things, but most of all that we could have had more time. But I am thankful for every day we did have. And I miss you so much already. I don't know how I am going to get through this, but I do know you will be there with me."

Tara woke up the next morning, feeling lighter from telling Andrew she loved him. She really did. He was kind. And funny. Good with her children. Outgoing. Generous. He was everything.

He hadn't said he loved her back, but maybe he wasn't ready. She was fine with that. It had taken her a long time, so she understood if it took him time.

She rolled to find his side of the bed empty and she frowned. Tara sat up and that's when she smelled breakfast. Unless Abel and Thomas had learned to cook, that meant Andrew was cooking.

Tara got up and padded down the stairs. She stopped midway down the stairs, listening to Andrew teaching the boys how to flip pancakes. She smiled to herself and walked the rest of the way down and into the kitchen where Andrew and the boys were cooking a big breakfast.

She walked into the kitchen and smiled and said, "Morning."

"Morning Mommy!" Abel said, "Watch me flip this pancake, Mom."

Tara watched in horror and amusement as Abel flipped the pancake, barely catching it with the pan that Andrew helped guide.

"Good job, bud," she said, "Can I help?"

"Nope," Andrew said, "We are just about done."

"Good," Tara said, glancing at the clock, "Do you want to ride into work today together?"

He shook his head and said, "We aren't going into work. You're sick."

Tara looked at him in confusion and he nodded and said, "And I am your doctor, so I need to take care of you, so I am not going in either."

Tara put her hands on her hips and said, "Quit messing around."

"I am serious, look at the table," he said, smirking at her from behind the counter.

Tara walked to her place setting picking up a scrap doctor's note and read it.

Ailment: Love

Remedy: Getting married

Doctor's Note's: Will you?

Tara looked up at him in shock and he smiled and said, "I love you."

"I love you too Mommy," Abel said, not understanding what was happening.

"Love you," Thomas squealed as he stuck his hand in the pancake batter.

Tara smiled and walked to Andrew and hugged him, whispering in his ear, "Yes."

She choked back her tears and brought his hand to her lips again, but decided it wasn't enough. She need to feel his lips on hers once more. She kissed him softly, shuddering against the pain in her heart.

"I love you," she murmured again.

She then went to the door and nodded once to Dr. Thompson and to Andrew's parents.

Okay so really sad chapter, but this one was dedicated to Andrew and Tara. I hope you all enjoyed it.