Dark brown eyes slowly opened, eyelids fluttering in the unnatural light his eyes were not used to. As his body shifted from sleep to awake his breathing became quicker, almost coughing as his eyes forced themselves open, falling on the most welcoming sight God could have given him. There before him sat an angel, with long blonde hair and sparkling green eyes and a smile that could reflect the warmth of summer and that angel was his wife, his beloved Calleigh.

“Cal,” She smiled, her soft warm hands wrapping around one of his cold ones, holding it gently, stroking his skin with the very tips of her fingers, as though she was painting a picture on his palm.

“You look awful.” He smiled slightly, almost grinning at the slight smile on her face. One of them had to say it, acknowledge the reason why he was in hospital, that he had been shot and did look like a mess. He was just glad she had said it because he hadn’t seen how he looked.

“You’ve had all of us worried. You’re mother didn’t sleep at all last night, it took me hours to get the children to sleep,” she paused, looking into his eyes, those strong brown eyes that always spoke more than his words did. His hand in hers, his strong soft grip, and his smile, that showed all his inner strength. She shouldn’t have doubted him because he was strong, he wanted to be strong for her and the their family.

“I’ll get them.” He grinned, watching her as she left. His wife was strong, emotionally, mentally and physically and he’d never acknowledged it, always thought that it was part of her, part of who she was. They all said he was the strong one, but Calleigh was stronger than he would ever be, she held the family together like glue making sure everything ran smoothly.

“Daddy!” Small bodies ran to his bed, arms reaching up to hug him, climb up to lay their heads on his shoulders, careful not to hurt him. He couldn’t imagine his smile being bigger than the one he had on his face now, his three children around him, his wife sat at the end of his bed smiling at the scene in front of her.

Hours later he lay back against his pillows, his children still in his arms, all of the asleep, Calleigh softly sleeping in the chair beside him. Looking at them, at all their calm faces he knew that he was lucky to have them because they were the ones who made him strong, made him fight and it was that thought that allowed him to sleep soundly for many nights to come.