"You'll be here when I get out of surgery, right, Mom?"

Erin nodded as she rubbed her thumb along the back of Chelsea's hand. "I promised you that I wouldn't leave you alone. While I can't go into the operating room, I will be in the waiting room, praying for you all the while. I know that this is moving a little more quickly than we had expected, but everything is going to be okay."

"I know. I love you."

"I love you, too, Chels." She looked up at Doctor Farley and gave her a small nod. "Now, it's time to let the good doctor do her work. This shouldn't take too long, and as soon as I'm able, I'll be at your side once more."

"Okay."

Erin blew her daughter one more kiss before slipping out of Chelsea's room, unable to think about her daughter going into surgery at a time like this. Somehow, she made her way down to the waiting room. Blindly, she sank down onto the open sofa and curled her arms around her waist as she sent up prayers to heaven. She wasn't certain what to pray for, so she just asked God to look after her baby girl, to keep her safe, to protect her, as she hadn't been able to.

"Erin?"

The familiar voice caused her to slowly look up, confusion causing her to squint. "Alex? What?"

The woman sat down next to her, and Erin reached out to touch her arm, to make certain that her brain wasn't playing tricks on her. Alex's arm was firm beneath her hand and Erin drew in a shaky breath before turning away from Alex, frantically brushing her tears away, trying to make herself look presentable. "You don't have to hide your tears from me, Erin. I'm so sorry…"

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Alex. I'm the one that treated you abominably during the Amerithrax case. I shouldn't have thrown you under the bus like I did."

"And I should have been a little less stiff-necked when I came back. If I had known what you were going through, I would never have added to your sorrows. You know what happened to Ethan." Erin nodded, watching from the corner of her eye as Alex's shoulders rose and fell with her labored breaths, as if she was trying to find the right words to say to her. "Please, can we start anew?"

"Yes." The word came to her lips quicker than she would have thought, and she turned to look at Alex, seeing the genuine smile on her face. "Oh, Alex, I'm so worried!"

To her surprise, Alex reached out for her hand, clasping it tightly. The woman had never been big on physical demonstrations of care and affection, so this was far outside her comfort zone. "I know. I know, Erin."

"How did you know we were here?" she finally managed to ask after a few moments of silence stretched out between them.

"Garcia actually filled me in when I asked where you were today. She was really defensive of you, which I'm thinking is her thing. I haven't gotten to know her quite as well as I would like yet, but I hope that will change, now that she knows I'm not quite so hostile to you." Alex squeezed her hand before letting go and hesitantly hugging Erin. "I know it is so terrifying to be here and not back with Chelsea. But you can't take her pain from her."

"Oh, how I know that, Alex. Did, did Penelope also tell you about the bit of news that we found out recently?"

Erin waited for a few beats, wondering if it had become common knowledge to the team or not, watching Alex's face carefully, trying to read it. "Don't try to profile me, Erin. I still can't control my expressions around you. And yes, she told me that Dave is Chelsea's father. I wondered, all along, you know. There was just something about her baby picture that reminded me of him more than Alan. How did he…?"

"Loudly. Of course, he caused a scene in front of the doctor. He always did love to needle me so." It felt so good to talk, really talk, to Alex once more, and she found herself relaxing as Alex reached out and patted her shoulder. This touch was more sure, more soothing, than the first hesitant touch, and she found herself tearing up, even though she hated every moment of weakness that she was displaying. "It seems like I can't stop crying these days. This never used to happen to me."

"I beg to disagree. When you were pregnant with Amelia, you used to cry at the drop of a hat. You just chose to hide it by claiming that you had to go to the restroom. Only, you never were able to get rid of your red-rimmed eyes."

"Oh," she murmured as she wrapped her arms around her waist. "Thank you for never saying anything?"

"I didn't want to embarrass you. I always knew that you were like me, intensely private, and not wanting the world to see the softness of the heart."

Erin nodded as she rested her cheek on her shoulder. There was something so heart wrenching about waiting for the surgeon to come out and tell her how the surgery had gone. She wished that she could have gone in with Chelsea, that she could have had the surgery for Chelsea. As she retreated more and more into her internal dialogue, she barely registered the fact that Alex wrapped her arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Lexie?"

"I'm here, and I won't run away this time. I promise."

"And I won't cut you off at the knees. I promise."

"I know you won't, Erin. Things have changed, and we're both different people."

She nodded and let out a deep sigh, resting her head on Alex's shoulder. "Would you tell me about how your life has been? I've missed so much, and…"

"I understand completely. And I don't know how much there is to tell. But, I'll five you as much as I can until the doctor comes out." Erin nodded a little, welcoming the feel of Alex's hand running up and down her arm. "I took some time off after everything went down, I had to go lick my wounds. James understood completely, he's always been so accommodating of me. And then, it was so easy to slip back into being a full-time professor. And I was good at that."

"I somehow knew that would be true. You taught me so much during the Amerithrax case, and I was always a little in awe of how intelligent you are."

Alex made a low sound in her throat as she squeezed Erin's shoulder softly. "You're just as intelligent. I don't have a doctorate in forensic psychology, after all. That was a lot of work, hard work, which made you more than qualified to rise to the position of Section Chief."

"Perhaps. But this is about you, not me."

Alex chuckled a little as she nodded, allowing Erin to scoot even closer. "We tried for another baby."

"Really?"

"Yeah, when you got pregnant with Amelia, I felt like maybe there was a chance for me to have one more baby. It never happened, but I was always happy for you, that you had another child." Alex let out a soft sigh. "And now, you're faced with my worst nightmare. I would never wish this on you, I hope you know."

"I do. I wish that we could have made amends a long time ago. And that it hadn't taken this ugly disease to break my pride."

She sat up and looked into Alex's eyes, seeing the sheen of tears there, and sighed deeply before leaning in and hugging her tightly. "At least we can still have this fresh start. And I can't wait to meet Nick and Amelia. When you're ready." Erin nodded, feeling the warmth of reconciliation wash over her, even as they still awaited news of Chelsea's surgery.