Carlton stared miserably at his wife, whose eyes were watering with delicate tears. Juliet lay in the hospital bed, cradling their tiny little daughter. It's amazing, he thought, how circumstances can change so fast. Just thirty precious minutes ago, he and Juliet had been the two happiest human beings on the planet, celebrating the newest member of their small family, and now they knew nothing but despair.

The baby had been born, and for ten short minutes he sat rejoicing with his wife and positively adoring the sweet little girl in their arms. But then there were "complications".

Of-darn-course, he thought bitterly. Of course the first Lassiter-O'Hara child had complications. They had defied everything they knew- protocol, conventional ideas, the opinions of their family and friends -just to be happy. It seemed that ever since they had married, the world had been out to get them. Juliet had had a hard enough time getting pregnant, and now, as soon as they had finally achieved the pinnacle of happiness, it had been snatched cruelly away from them.

"She's not breathing," Juliet whispered tearfully, and his heart broke at the pain in her voice. "She's gone, Carlton." She started to sob, the tiny little body pressed tightly against her chest.

Carlton felt an odd sensation run through him as he watched his beautiful wife sob like a hysterical school girl. He had the strangest sensation of deja vu as he watched her shake and tremble there on the bed...

It was February 24, 2009. He had just barely rescued her from the clutches of Yin. He arrived in the nick of time, just before the clock struck half past four and sent her spiraling down to her death. She seemed scared and subdued, not wanting to speak to him or look him in the eye. He asked her if she was okay and she said yes, which he took for an answer- at first.

Then that wretched EMT came to her, insisting on taking her to the ambulance and looking her over. She pushed him off, but he just continued doggedly. Carlton heard her shrieks and was there in two strides.

Gone was the EMT, gone were the reporters. It was just Carlton and his partner.

She told him, for the millionth time, that she was perfectly fine. He was too good a detective to not see the truth. He could sense the pain that lay so badly disguised under the surface and brought it out.

After four years of disrespecting her, after four years of scorn and derision, he told her- not in so many words -that it was okay to cry.

Those six little words- "You don't have to be okay" -destroyed her. The dam was broken and the emotions, the tears came rolling out in great waves. He wasn't quite sure what to do- after all, he hadn't had much experience with emotional women -but somehow he knew what to do. A quiet little voice in his head told him it was right.

And it worked.

He stared at his wife. Why had this memory jumped to mind? This situation was entirely different, entirely out of his hands. There was nothing he could do.

But before he knew what he was doing, he knelt down beside his wife. "Give her to me, Juliet," he commanded softly. She looked up at him with red eyes and a tear-streaked face and slowly, carefully lifted the soft white bundle up into his arms.

"Thank you, sweetheart," he whispered, brushing his fingers gently against her face before lifting the baby away from her. "You try and get some sleep."

She nodded and turned over, staring at the wall as tears ran down the side of her face and soaked down into the mattress.

He walked over to the window and stared out at the dark city night. The lights of Santa Barbara were beautiful in all the deep, velvety black glory of 12:04 AM.

How unfair that the night be so beautiful when my wife and I are suffering.

He looked down at the little angel in his arms. When he fell in love with Juliet, he never thought he could love anyone as much as or more than he loved her- but that was before she gave birth to this sweet little flower who had only lived for thirteen minutes and seventeen-and-a-half seconds. He was hopelessly in love with this little princess. Her skin was a perfect pearly pink and her lips were red and puckered exactly like a rosebud. Her dark eyelashes curled down to touch her face and there she lay peacefully, almost as if she could be sleeping.

He pressed his fingers against her little wrist just to make sure there was really no pulse.

There wasn't one.

He rocked his daughter against him, cradling her gently. If there was anything I could do to bring her back to life, he thought, feeling tears come to his own eyes. He hugged her tighter.

Suddenly, the little girl let out a gasping breath.

His heart started to pound. He ran out into the hall, his daughter still pressed protectively against him. "Nurse! Nurse!" He shouted, stopping a young Latino woman in her tracks. She turned around and quickly ran towards him.

"What is it, sir? Is your wife okay?" she asked urgently.

"My daughter! She's alive!" He thrust the baby towards her. "She just gasped! She's alive!"

Skeptically, the nurse took the baby from his arms and felt for her pulse. With a sympathetic expression, she handed the baby back to him.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said gently. "It's just a reflex. She's gone."

Feeling frustration and anger and devastation settle down on him, he persevered. "Come on, you hear these stories all the time about babies coming back when people thought they were dead-"

"Sir!" she interrupted, putting a manicured hand on his shoulder. He pulled away, scowling at her. "Sir, she's really gone. I'm so sorry, but there's nothing we can do."

Feeling hopelessly devastated now, he slowly walked back to Juliet's room, feeling the young woman's piteous stares on his back. I don't want your darn pity! He wanted to scream. I want my daughter back.

He wandered dejectedly into the hospital room. Juliet was still sitting there, fully awake, her eyes red and puffy.

"What happened?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head, turning away as his eyes stung with hot salty tears. "Nothing. It was nothing. Go back to sleep, honey."

Carlton looked down at his daughter again. Even though he had only known her for thirteen minutes and seventeen-and-a-half seconds, he already felt a connection with her, already felt like they were best of friends.

He opened the sliding door in the hospital wall and walked out onto the balcony. He had been sure to get Juliet a balcony room because she had wanted the view, and she deserved everything he could give her.

He closed the door behind him and looked over at the world, still rocking his daughter. Her body was still warm.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said finally, looking down at the tiny child. "I know you can't- you can't hear me, but I'm going to try anyway.

He paused, thinking. "They say you're gone already, but I've read a thousands articles about things like this. There's usually a forty-five minute period where it's still a possibility that the person can come back to life. Of course, that's complicated stuff you'll understand when you're older..." He swallowed a lump in his throat, remembering that she might never get older. "Listen, this is my point, baby. I need you to get through this night, for yourself and your mother and me. We've been waiting for you for a long time and we don't want to say goodbye so soon. You're too young. We can't lose you."

He listened to his words echoing in the warm summer night. "Before I met Juliet- that's your mother, she's the most wonderful human being I've ever met -I always felt so alone. I always felt like I had no-one. Now I have Juliet, but we both need you. We need your help."

His face started to sting and he lifted her close to his face, shaking with emotion. "You need to make it through this night, baby. You need to survive. I love you." He slowly pressed his lips to her face and pulled away, feeling the tenderness of it.

A split second passed. Then another. Then another...

Nothing happened. Tears began to roll down his cheeks and onto the bundle in his arms. Who was he kidding? This wasn't a feel-good family movie. Sweet words wouldn't bring his precious little darling back to life. It was humanity, that's what it was, and humanity couldn't be stopped. He started to sob, realizing that there really was nothing he could do. He rocked back and forth with the child in his arms, his shoulders shaking.

Then he felt something. She twitched. He looked down at her sharply and saw that the corners of her mouth were bent up in a tiny smile.

Confused, he put his hand on her tiny wrist.

There was a pulse.

He held her up in the moonlight to get a good look at her. "Are you- alive?" he whispered.

Suddenly, the two sets of long black eyelashes flew up, revealing two beautiful blue eyes just like her father's. At that moment, Carlton's daughter began to cry her heart out.

It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. He flung the door open and rushed back into the hospital room. "Juliet, she's alive!" he cried, shaking his wife awake.

"Wh-what?" Her eyes flew open, filled with confusion, and then she broke into a tentative smile as she finally understood. She started to cry tears of joy as he climbed into bed next to her, placing their baby gently between them.

In what felt like whole eternities but was only minutes later, doctors and nurses were swarming the room, trying to take the baby away, which Carlton consented to for only a few minutes while they made sure she wasn't in any immediate danger. Shortly after that, the protective new father took his daughter back and put his arm around his wife as they sat together, rejoicing the sudden return of their daughter's precious life.

"What should we call her?" Carlton whispered, his head resting against Juliet's.

"Lily," Juliet said decisively. "Lily Elizabeth Lassiter."

"I love you, Lily Lassiter," he murmured, kissing little Lily's head. "Thanks for coming back."