"Excuse me?" Maria said incredulously. Lily swallowed and tried again.

"I’m gay, Mom. I know now probably isn’t the best time to tell you seeing as I was almost killed in a car accident but I’m tired of hiding it from you. I could have died and you never would have known the truth. I’m gay and I love Nicole. She’s my girlfriend in the romantic dating sense. I’m sorry if that’s a problem for you," she explained confidently and unapologetically.

Nicole listened to Lily explain herself to her mother and her heart swelled with love and pride. Lily sounded proud of her and that filled her with a new sense of self worth. She then heard Maria begin a rant in Spanish. While she didn’t understand the language, Nicole had no doubt that what the woman was saying would make a sailor blush and judging from the shocked look on Lily’s face, she was probably not far off the mark.

"Mama!" Lily hissed. "How dare you?"

"Me? How dare you?" Maria countered. She turned her ire on Nicole. "And you, get out of my sight you pervert!" Nicole unexpectedly burst out laughing.

"Pervert? Man, have you got problems," she laughed. Even Lily looked at her strangely. "I love your daughter, get over it." Maria started ranting in Spanish again and Lily started answering her. Nicole sat and waited for the exchange to end. She caught a few words here and there, but not enough to make out the entire conversation.

"And that’s final!" Lily yelled after which she grabbed her pounding head with her good arm and started to cry. Maria stormed out of the room. Nicole moved up onto the bed to hold the crying form.

"OK, what’d I miss?" she asked gently.

"She wanted to know if this was for real or a phase and I told her it was real. That I loved you and I wasn’t going to stop because it bothered her. Then she wanted to know if it was your idea or mine and I told her I knew I was gay before you came along. She was not a happy camper."

"That was obvious," Nicole joked. "And that last part?" Lily sighed.

"She wanted me to change my mind or at least get rid of you. She knows you’re a Julian and she hates your family. I don’t know why, really. And I said I was staying with you despite anything she had to say, I was old enough to make my own decisions and that was final." Nicole leaned her head on Lily’s shoulder while being careful not to hurt her.

"I guess you told her," she pointed out. Lily laughed slightly.

"I guess I did. Now I guess we just wait and see what she does next."

**

Harrison and Carmen had gone home earlier and Mike and Jane reluctantly left as well leaving Brooke alone in Sam’s hospital room. Sam was still unconscious and Brooke hated sitting there watching her so still. She held Sam’s hand and gently stroked the back of it with her thumb while speaking softly.

"Gave me a good scare, Sammy," she said. "I was afraid I was going to lose you. And that scared me. I didn’t realize until I saw your car all crumpled there in the road how far I’d fallen. I mean, I knew I loved you, Sam, but until that instant, I didn’t know how much. I’m desperately in love with you, I hope you know that."

"I do," came the soft response. Brooke jumped at the sound of Sam’s voice.

"Sammy, you’re awake," Brooke whispered happily as she leaned over the bed. Sam’s eyes slowly opened and focused on Brooke.

"Hi," she said with a weak lopsided grin. Brooke grinned back at her.

"Hey," Brooke answered her. "You scared me." Sam frowned.

"Sorry, didn’t mean to. Is Lily OK?" Brooke nodded.

"Yeah, broken arm and a bump on the head. Your car is trashed though." Sam sighed.

"Better it than us," she commented before shutting her eyes and yawning. Brooke pushed Sam’s hair out of her face and crawled onto the bed next to her.

"Go back to sleep Sammy, I’ll be here when you wake up," she vowed.

"Promise?" Sam asked sleepily. Brooke kissed her temple.

"I promise."