2 hours and 45 minutes later.

Pain. All she felt was pain in her head. It hurt so bad. Red had never experienced anything like this before. And what was that weight on her legs? Slowly, she opened her eyes and it took them a minute to focus. She looked down and saw a big bunch of bushy hair. Beautiful brown curls. This seemed to make the pain in her head subside to a bearable level. She knew those curls; she could spot them a mile away. It was her Nicky. Her beautiful girl. How relieved she was that she was here with her.

Red stuck her hand out slowly, which to her surprise was shaky, and placed it on the back of Nicky's head. She gently stroked her hair and played with her curls. Nicky always loved it when red did that; whether it was through one of those nasty detoxes or just to help her get to sleep. Out of nowhere, she started to cry. The thought of her current situation and the hell Nicky must be going through because of it made her heart ache. She continued to run her fingers through Nicky's hair for a while longer. She had a daughter who would do anything for her, who would even die for her because she loved her so much. And that is what kept her going.

Nicky felt something on her head but thought it was just a dream. She opened her eyes but continued to feel her hair being played with.

RED!

But Nicky wanted to enjoy this moment, so without moving or making any sign that she might be awake, Nicky laid there on her mother's lap while her mother played with her hair. If she was being completely honest with herself, Nicky thought she would never have a moment like this again. To go from it never being possible again only 4 hours ago, to it's happening now, is a type of surrealism that Nicky never knew existed. It almost felt imagined, and that just proved to Nicky had good she had it in life. She had a mother who would do anything for her, who would even die for her because she loved her so much. And that is what kept her going.

After about a half hour or so of not being able to take the suspense any longer, Nicky turned her head up to Red, who to Nicky's surprise, had tears streaming down her cheeks, which immediately set the tears off in Nicky.

"I love you." Red said through her tears.

"I love you too." Nicky responded, believing that she could not have heard a more beautiful sentence coming from her mother at this point.

"How are you feeling?" Nicky sat up.

"I have the worst headache of my life. It hurts so bad." Red scrunched her face up as another wave of pain went surging through her skull.

"Crying is only going to add to the pressure." Nicky said softly.

"I can't help it if it hurts." Red winced which made Nicky wince.

"I'll go find a nurse and see if they can give you more medicine." Nicky stood up to leave when she felt Red grab her hand.

"But are you ok?"

As Nicky was about to answer, a nurse happened to walk in.

"Good morning. I heard you two talking and figured it was an ok time to see how you're doing. Can I get you anything, Mrs. Reznikov?" The nurse asked politely.

Before Red got the chance, Nicky blurted out,

"She needs more medicine. She is in pain."

"Well we can fix that in no time." The nurse walked over to wear Red's IV was an injected something into it.

"What is that?" Nicky asked as if she were a concerned mother not wanting anyone to harm her child.

"It is just a bit of morphine. I've upped the dose so she should be feeling a real difference within seconds. If not, just give us a buzz." And she gestured to the 'Nurse' button in the side of the bed, then she left.

"Better?" Nicky asked looking back at Red.

"Better." Red replied, wearing the truth of it on her face.

"Good." Nicky said smiling.

"Now, are you ok?" Red asked as if getting back to business.

"What do you mean?" Nicky asked, kind of knowing where this was headed.

"I fall in the shower and scream your name. You find me, naked on the shower floor with as much blood as you've ever seen all at one time coming from my head. You thought I was going to die. I want to know if you are ok." Red finished in a tone that sounded as though she was trying to ween the truth out of 7-year-old.

Nicky could not prevent it, she burst into tears. It was the first time she allowed herself to expression how she was feeling about herself rather than how she was feeling about Red.

"Haven't…thought about…me." Nicky managed between sobs. "Only…you…"

"Shhh, my sweet girl. And that is one of the million and a half reasons I love you. You are very selfless and caring. You make your mother proud." Red began to tear up herself.

"Come." Red slid over in the bed so Nicky could climb in. Once settled in, Nicky put her head on Red's shoulder, minding her head, and Red put her arm around her daughter. Nicky was still crying.

"Shhh, my girl."

"I was so…scared…oh my God…" Red simply put a finger to Nicky's lips and wiped her cheek stained tears.

"Well you don't have to be anymore, honey. I'm alright, I'm here…with you." Red comforted her and brushed her hair with her fingers once more.

"Did they tell you I woke up just before the surgery?" Red asked her softly.

"No... they didn't." Nicky managed between sniffles.

"Well I did. And you know the first thing I said was your name. I called out for you, I screamed for you. They told me to calm down because my screams were causing my head to experience more pressure. But you know what? I didn't stop. I was begging anyone who would like at me if they knew where you were or if you could come to me. I needed you and they wouldn't let me have you. That feeling of being denied my beautiful daughter in a time when I thought I wasn't going to wake up again was worse than all of this." Red finished with tears flowing like little water falls but somehow her voice stayed steady.

Nicky's voice, on the other hand was anything but steady. "Really?" She almost whimpered.

"You are my world, Nicky." And red squeezed Nicky's shoulder giving her as close to a tight hug as she could. "My last thought before they put the mask on me and told me to count backwards from ten, was your smile. Just your beautiful smiling face."

"Mommy?" Nicky sounded like a small child.

"Hmm?"

There was a point in the waiting room, it was when they were telling me how your surgery went, when all I could think about was your smile and I have no idea why."

Red kissed Nicky's temple.

"Well now maybe you know why, my sweet girl." And they both were silent for a few moments, enjoying being with each other.

"I have just one more question."

"If you had a thousand questions I'd answer them."

"In just these 8 hours or so I've missed you so much. But maybe it feels like an eternity since I thought…I thought…" Nicky stammered.

"It's ok, Nicky. You don't need to finish that sentence. In fact, I don't want you to. I'm here, right here. And I'm not going anywhere. I understand what you are feeling because I felt the same way about you. Even though I would've been the one gone, I still would be gone without you." Red was holding Nicky close and Nicky felt her heat warm.

"When we were in the ambulance, and I told you if you go, I go- "

"I know you meant it." Red finished for her. "I know."

"You're the best mom."

This took Red by surprise and she got a lump in her throat. There were countless times Nicky could say something, at the right moment that would catch Red completely off guard and this was one of those moments. It pulled on her heartstrings so much so, she would tear up immediately every time.

"But what I wanted to ask you, what's in the little black bag?" Nicky's curiosity had been slowly eating at her.

"Oh, yes. Hand it to me would you?"

As Nicky was reaching for it, Red asked "Did you have trouble with the combination?"

"Not really. But two days after I got into Litchfield, what is so special about that day?"

"That, my sweet girl is the day you became my daughter, November 20th. Isn't that a thing that parents use their child's birthday for various combination and passwords?" Red beamed at Nicky.

Nicky's smile was the type to melt a parent's heart, which Nicky had a habit of doing.

"Now Nicky this is something very important and I thought if I never was able to, that shouldn't prevent you from having this."

Out of the bag, Red pulled out the little box and handed it to Nicky.

"I wanted you to have this for the longest time. I've kept it from you because I was waiting for the perfect moment, but seeing how last night's events played out, I figured it was a now or never situation. Now I wake up and realize it is a now or later situation but I pick now. So go on and open it." Red finished with a huge smile.

Nicky slowly took the lid off of the box and looked. Inside there was a beautiful gold Italian horn on a gorgeous thin gold chain. Nicky's eyes teared up.

"You see, it means something. There is an Italian flag across the top there. See?" Red pointed to it as if showing Nicky something as fragile as a gear inside a wrist watch. "The colors of the Italian flag, Red being me and I know your favorite color is green, and the white is the glue that keeps us together." Red finished, sounding so mesmerized by the symbolism.

"Wow, Mommy. It's beautiful. I love it." Nicky kissed Red's cheek and sat up to put it on. Without asking for help, red took the two ends from Nicky's struggling fingers and clipped the necklace on her.

"Thank you, Mommy. It makes me want to go to Florence like we always talked about." Nicky joked.

"Ahh, but my girl, look."

To Nicky's amazement, Red pulled out of the bag in a side pocket Nicky hadn't noticed before, a rather large, very large envelope and handed it to Nicky.

Nicky took the envelope from Red and looked inside. Nicky had no idea how many 100 dollar bills there were but she stopped after 22.

"Are you serious?" Nicky's eyes filled with tears.

"We are going to Florence, my dear. As soon as I can get out of here and am good to go."

"Holy shit, Ma. There is a lot more money for a week's vacation in here though." Nicky was amazed.

"Well I guess we will just have to, what is it? Go house hunting?" Red smiled.

"You're joking? You're fucking joking?" Nicky was lost for words.

"I'm not joking, this is happening. We are going to buy a house in Florence." Red's eyes once again filled with tears at the site of her daughter being so happy. Something that a mother couldn't stop even if she wanted to, was happiness at the site of her child happy.

"Where'd all this money come from?" Nicky asked curiously.

"It was the money that I had made while in the mob that I guess the feds couldn't trace. The day I went back to the old apartment, I went to check just to see and there it was, in the safe under the floor board of the closet." Red said in a kind of proud way that she was able to hide it so well.

"This is incredible, Ma. I love you." And Nicky hugged Red. "You really are the best mom."

"I'm only the best mom because I have you." Red said in Nicky's ear and then kissed the top of her head. They held their embrace for a few moments.

A knock on the door startled them and then the doctor walked in.

"Hello, how are you doing Mrs. Reznikov?"

"Just fine, as soon as I can get out of here I will be great." Red said probably a little too seriously for the doctor's liking.

"Well that might be sooner than we thought. After getting your CT Scan results, which we took just after your surgery while you were still out, it turns out the bone fragment did not cause any internal bleeding of the brain, which is what we feared." The doctor explained.

"So what are you saying?" Nicky wanted to know.

"I'm saying her only injury that we were concerned with besides the memory loss was a bleeding brain. Since there is no bleeding in the brain, she only has to treat her head carefully as if she has a bruise on it and she will be ok to be discharged this afternoon." The doctor finished, smiling.

"Do either of you have any questions?"

"No." Red replied, so happy to have heard the words discharged this afternoon. She hated hospitals.

"Yeah, I've got one." Nicky piped up. "Before I came in here to see her you said she had memory loss and you just mentioned again that she had it. But when she woke up this morning, she knew exactly who I was and what had happened to her. What's that about?"

"Well I can assure you that when she woke up from surgery she did not know her name, the day of the week, what state she lived in, or what happened to her. But it is possible that a loved one can have an effect that basically triggers all memories of a traumatic scene if that loved one was present when the trauma happened. So I suppose, you had that effect on her."

"Alright, thanks for the answers, doc." Nicky got up and looked at Red, "Ma, I'll be right back, I'm going to use the restroom."

And she walked out of the room.

"You know you have a pretty protective and demanding daughter when it comes to the care and attention you were receiving. She kept asking questions and was having me promise that I would give you all of the medicine you asked for. She said even if you got a paper cut than I'd better put Neosporin and a bandage on it." The doctor recalled with amusement.

"Oh, yes. That sounds like my Nicky."

"Well, she's a good kid." And the doctor smiled and left the room.

"No." Red said allowed to no one in particular as a single tear of pride for her daughter fell down her cheek. "She is a great kid."

1 month later.

"Are you ready, Ma?" Nicky was practically jumping in line to get onto the airplane.

They were on their way to Florence, Italy. A dream come true for them both.

"My sweet girl, if I thought I could, I would be jumping up and down with you." Red smiled at her.

They showed their passports and plane tickets and were both walking down the tunnel to get onto the plane. When suddenly Red stopped to look out the window at the city in the distance they were leaving behind.

"Everything alright, Ma?" Nicky asked concerned.

"Yes, I just am saying goodbye to the city is all." Red said, feeling a little sentimental which was very rare unless it had something to do with Nicky.

"Well Florence is waiting. Are you ready?" Nicky sounded like a little kid dragging her mom on the newest roller coaster at an amusement park.

Red looked at her daughter and thought all at once how beautiful she is, how much love she felt for her daughter, how lucky she was to have her in her life, and how much her daughter loved her.

Red replied, "If you go, I go."