A/N: Apologies for strange formatting...it's not my fault I swear!!

The door slams, and the bang echoes through Reagan’s mind. She stands in the middle of the room, fuming silently, still glaring at the door with angry intent.

She wants to go after him. Grab him and shake him and force him to remember how much he loves her. She almost misses those days, when heated arguments led to heated making-up.

But she doesn’t. Because they’re not young anymore. Life has doused the fire. Now she’s nothing to him but a wife and a mother.

She closes her eyes and swallows the memories. She was dazzling and charming. He was strong and passionate. How wonderful it had been to be in love. Not just to love. Reagan remembers him chasing her, and how it felt to have such a power over him. Now her voice is pale and gone is the time when she was the only one in his world.

She lets out a breath, deep and tired and returns to her seat. She can’t even remember standing up. She hadn’t realised. All she could remember was the words.

You have Simon!...What about me?

How foolish she had been. She threw her head back with defeat and as she did, she caught sight of the cabinet adjacent to the lounge.

It was littered with Tam family paraphernalia. Trophies, medals, pictures and captures, and even a painting that River had made for her father when she was five.

Of course, it wasn’t like Reagan had remembered this. It was there at the bottom of the page.

River Kamilah Tam, 5 years old – in carefully written characters, much too neat for a normal five year old to have created with her brush.

Reagan shook her head with disbelief putting it back down and then trailing her hands over the various framed pictures and some captures which make up the majority of the paraphernalia. She pauses, when she gets to one of the larger frames because unlike the others…

This one, she remembers with perfect clarity.

She picks it up and for the first time in a long time, she smiles a real smile of real happiness.

The day River was born.

Gabriel took it, she recalls. While she sat on the hospital bed, with River in her arms, and Simon sitting on the bed next to her, looking with wide eyed love at his little sister.

“She’s so tiny…” he had breathed, almost afraid to touch her.

Reagan laughed, “She’ll get bigger, don’t you worry…”

“What’s her name?”

Reagan shared a look with her husband before saying to her son, “You’re her big brother…what do you think would be a good name for her?”

Simon seemed to give the question a lot of thought. At length he had said, “Gerda.”

Gabriel had snorted with amusement, but luckily Reagan had enough control to keep her amusement to a slight giggle. “I’m sorry darling…” as Simon was looking mildly disgusted at his parents, “Why Gerda?”

“Because Mrs Mavel in the kitchen’s first name is Gerda…and she’s nice…her cookies are good too.”

Gabriel cleared his throat, “But don’t you think it’d get a bit confusing. With two people in the house called Gerda?”

Understanding shone on Simon’s face and he nodded, “I hadn’t thought of that…”

“I was actually thinking Kamilah…” Reagan said looking at the baby’s face, “After my mother – it means ‘the perfect one’.”

“My God Reagan, give the girl a chance!” Gabriel guffawed, “If ever a woman were wrongly named-“

“Gabriel! Hush!” Reagan snapped, glaring at him, “Not in front of Simon…”

Simon however, didn’t seemed to be listening to his parents. He was staring at his baby sister with such intent that Reagan almost laughed again.

“Besides…” Reagan said raising a pointed eyebrow at her husband, “I carried her – I can name her whatever I want. When you give birth to our next child you can name them whatever you want.”

“What about…Summer? I always thought that was a rather nice name.” Gabriel said putting an arm around his son.

Reagan looked up to give Gabriel a glare, “I am NOT naming my daughter after your first girlfriend.” She hissed, daring him to argue.

Gabriel had the decency to look sheepish, “What about Yolanda-“

“River.”

Reagan and Gabriel blinked.

“What?”

“River.” Simon said determinately, “Her name’s River.”

“Oh darling, that’s a lovely name but…”

“River,” Simon insisted, reaching out to touch his sister’s hand, “River, ni hao.”

As if agreeing to it, River gurgled delightedly.

“See! Her name’s River!”

And thus the bond was forged. Between a brother who would give up everything for his sister, and a sister who couldn’t do without her big brother.

After that, there didn’t seem much point arguing. So when the nurse came in to fill out the birth certificate, Reagan answered before her husband could object:

“River Kamilah Tam.”

Later, since Simon had pestered his father to take him for a walk around the hospital so he could watch the doctors work, Reagan was left alone with River in her room. She almost wished she had not insisted Gabriel go with Simon because she had just received news that her usual doctor, Dr Harding had been in an accident and as a result he had sent ahead someone else whom she had never met to take care of Reagan in his absence.

“Mrs Tam?”

Reagan looked up and saw a woman smiling at her in the door way. She was wearing long white coat, and her black hair was tied back in a tight bun. As she came closer, Reagan was shocked to find that she had a pair of the most hypnotic green eyes that Reagan had ever seen.

“Are you Doctor Min?”

The woman smiled and nodded, “I am.”

“I got the message from Doctor Harding. I hope he’ll be alright?”

“He’s fine…just a little bruised and battered as you can imagine.”

Mrs Tam shook her head, “Those skycars are so dangerous…”

Doctor Min tapped at the screen by Mrs Tam’s bed and brought up her chart, “They are.” She replied lightly, tracing a cursory eye over the information, “But don’t worry. He’ll be fine with a bit of rest, and in the mean time,” she took a second and looked at Mrs Tam, “I’ll take good care of you.”

Reagan blinked and instinctively avoided Doctor Min’s eyes. For some reason, there was something in the bright, almost alien greenness of the woman’s eyes that made her want

to shy away and hide. She clutched her daughter closer to her as the little girl began to fret.

“Isn’t she lovely…” Doctor Min moved closer and smiled down at the baby. She drew a hand across the little girl’s head, her finger tips hardly touching the fine downy hairs on the baby’s head, as if there were a heated force field preventing her from getting too close.  “What did we call her?”

“We…I mean…” Reagan shook her head and laughed slightly, “She’s called River.”

“That’s an unusual name…”

“Yes, it’s a little outlandish…”

“…but fitting…for an unusual child…”

“…and we thought-“ Reagan started, and pulled her daughter closer to her side farthest from Doctor Min’s body, “Wait,” she snapped, “What did you say?”

There was a flash of something in Doctor Min’s eyes, a recognition, a confusion, but as soon as it appeared, it was gone. The Doctor blinked innocently, “Did I say something?”

“Yes!” Reagan said insistently, “You said she was unusual…what is that supposed to mean?”

When Doctor Min didn’t reply straight away, Reagan leaned over the press the button by her bed, “If you…if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak to my husband. NOW.”

“Mrs Tam I didn’t mean-“

“Now…”

Doctor Min gulped and nodded, “I shall fetch him for you.”

It was only when she had left that Reagan could relax. She exhaled with relief and looked down at the baby in her arms.

River blinked at her, big beautiful eyes and gurgled. Reagan laughed with her, and tickled her chin, “Don’t worry about that awful doctor River…I think you’re just perfect…”

The crash of breaking glass brought Reagan back to reality. She looked at her empty hand and then at the picture frame on the ground and frowned over the silvery shards of glass that littered the space at her feet.

The irony forced a bitter mirthful laugh from her. God, she thought, had it really come down to this? Her laughing at obvious jokes that no one was around to hear?

Automatically she leant down and began to pick up the pieces. But she was careless, and yelped as one shard cut through the skin.

She lifted the thumb to her lips and tasted blood. Her eyes went to the picture and she took it and got to her feet, her thumb marking the picture with blood. She tried to wipe it away but it wouldn’t come unstuck. Reagan felt the tears prickle in her eyes, the tears she thought she’d never cry again and she held the picture close to her body.

“I’m sorry baby…” she whispered, closing her eyes, “Forgive me.”