A/N: I'm sorry if Nora is really OOC. I just had this idea and had to write it down.
Disclaimer: I don't own LWD
Beautiful blue eyes. A tuft of brown hair. Nora grins as she imagines her new baby. Her perfect little baby.
Half McDonald and half Venturi. A binding symbol of love between her and George.
Today is a happy day. Today is the day she is finding out the sex of the baby.
Nora sits on the cold metal counter, waiting.
"I'll be back in a couple minutes," the nurse had said. Nora looks at her watch. 30 minutes has passed. It hadn't taken this long with Casey or Lizzie. But maybe it's been too long and she's forgotten how long it really took.
10 minutes later, she finally hears footsteps coming towards the closed door. She also hears whispering.
The door opens, but the nurse is gone. In her place is a doctor.
Nora glances at him. His shoulders are slumped, and he won't look her in the eyes.
He finally looks up. His eyes are full of pity.
It's a boy, he says quietly.
For a split second, Nora is happy. A boy will be new and exciting. She's never had a boy.
But then, the doctor takes a deep breath and continues. A boy with Down's syndrome.
And that's when Nora's heart breaks. When her world comes crashing down. When her tears come flowing down.
Down's Syndrome. It echoes in her head. Her perfect baby boy isn't so perfect. And that is all that is going through her head as the doctor explains her options.
She can't bring herself to tell George or the kids. So when she goes home, all she tells them is, "It's a boy!" She forces herself to sound enthusiastic.
Immediately after, she rushes to the basement. She's going down the stairs when she hears the cheers from the kids. She's sobbing as she hears George reassure the kids that pregnant women are just very emotional.
That night, Nora dreams. She's had her baby boy. In fact he's a toddler with blue eyes and reddish brown hair. She has quit her job to take care of him. Casey has given up Queens to stay at home to help her mom out. A preteen neglected Marti has fallen into depression.
The next day, Nora goes down to the doctor for a very different reason. This time she doesn't tell the kids or George. This time, she knows exactly what to expect.
What she hadn't expected was the tears. The horrible empty feeling she was left with. The burning guilt.
As she drives back, she can barely see the road through her tears. She goes straight to her room in the basement and stays there.
When he gets home from work, George comes down to see her. He strokes her hairs, wipes her face, and asks her what's wrong.
And that sets Nora off crying again. She doesn't deserve to be treated like this. She feels like a monster.
But George is persistent. He stays with her, rubbing her back, waiting for her to be ready to talk.
She finally finds her voice. It is a barely more that a whisper. "The baby didn't make it." She fails to tell her husband that she herself is the reason.
"We can try again." George tries to reassure her, but his own voice is quivering. "It will all be okay Nora."
Then, tears that are not her own are falling onto her head.
Nora falls into depression. When Casey leaves for college, Nora only falls deeper.
Months pass. She still can't look at George without feeling guilty, much less talk to him. She withdraws from him. She begins sleeping in Casey's bed.
When he comes to tell her he wants a divorce, she isn't surprised. She feels relieved in a sick sense.
She moves out to a little apartment. She makes sure it's still in the same school district. Lizzie resents her enough for forcing her to move again, for forcing her to give up her much loved blended family.
When Lizzie comes home from school to find her mom drunk again, she loses it and screams at her for being the "worst mom ever."
Nora has nothing to say back.
Please review! Thanks.
