Saved
Zoe was on her way into work, head down against the rain that was pouring down.
The consultant was about to enter the ED when a dirty cardboard box to the right of the entrance caught her eye. She frowned, bent down, and lifted the flap of it.
Inside was a baby, less than a week old. Zoe gasped-how could someone be so heartless to leave a baby in a box?
She slid her bag onto her shoulder and gently lifted the baby up. She deduced that they were a he as they were wearing a blue babygrow.
The baby boy began to cry. "Shhh." Zoe cooed, rocking him, a smile tugging at her lips. "Let's get you out of the rain." She snuggled him against her to keep him warm, picked up a folded piece of paper from the box with one hand whilst keeping the precious bundle safe with the other, and entered the ED.
"Who's this?" Connie asked her, a smile on her face as she saw the baby.
"I have no idea. He was in a cardboard box to the right of the ED entrance-I'm surprised that no one noticed which suggests to me that he hasn't been there long. He's still quite warm as well, and as quiet as a little mouse until he was disturbed." Zoe explained.
"How could they abandon this little one?" Connie asked, a look of anger on her face.
"I know, it's terrible." Zoe sighed. She handed Connie the piece of paper that had been with the little boy in the box.
"It says "don't try to find me, I don't want it. It was born in the hospital so it's fine, I did it that one kindness."" Connie read. Zoe's stomach churned in hate.
""It"?! Excuse me, but this baby boy is a living, breathing, human being just like you and I!" She growled, rocking the baby in her arms as he began to cry.
"I know, it angers me too." Connie rubbed her arm. "Calm down, he's picking up on the fact that you're tense."
"Okay." Zoe breathed out and tried to calm down.
"Come on, let's go to Resus and get him checked over." The Clinical Lead encouraged her.
Zoe followed the other woman to Resus, chatting to the baby in her arms all the while, introducing herself and telling him where he was.
Connie smiled as she heard Zoe-her colleague was a natural.
"Little one, Mrs Beauchamp's just going to check you over, okay? I'll be back soon, I promise." Zoe cooed, laying the baby boy on a spare hospital bed. "I'm just going to nip to the staffroom to put my things away." She informed Connie.
"Okay." Her colleague nodded.
The consultant hurried to the staffroom and was a little shocked when she saw Robyn and Max sitting at the table, laughing and chatting together.
"Morning." She nodded to the brother and sister, making her way to her locker.
"Zoe." Max greeted her.
"Bit late aren't you?" Robyn frowned-Zoe was usually early, if anything.
"Yeah... I had something to sort out, let's say." The doctor replied as she locked her locker.
"Oh, okay." Replied the nurse as Zoe hurried off.
Max frowned. Zoe wasn't usually like this-distracted, her mind set on something. Something was up with her.
"Don't Max." Robyn saw his face and knew that he was thinking of going after her. "She hurt you, remember?"
"She's still my wife, remember that." Max answered. "I'd better go to work before Connie shouts at me." He said, standing up. Jacob or no Jacob, Connie could still be very tough on her staff.
Meanwhile, Zoe walked back into Resus. "How is he?" She made her way over to Connie.
"He's absolutely fine." Connie beamed. "No temperature, no injuries. It's a miracle."
"It is." The other woman agreed. "Can I give him a cuddle?"
"Yeah, go ahead. You're the one who found him, after all."
Zoe lifted the baby boy into her arms. "Hello again, Mrs Beauchamp tells me that you're fine." She cooed. "You're a little miracle. But then again, all babies are." She smiled.
Connie observed the other woman with a smile. Zoe definitely had a bond with the little boy, and was obviously besotted- the Clinical Lead didn't have the heart to call Social Services just yet.
"You know that if you hadn't have saved this little one, he probably wouldn't have made it if he was found later on?" She asked Zoe.
Zoe nodded. "I know-it's in us as doctors, Connie, to save the ones who can't save themselves. " She answered.
Max, who was wheeling someone in a wheelchair into Resus, watched the scene, a smile on his face. Zoe was a natural.
Zoe spotted Max looking at her and gave him a smile. He smiled back at her before getting on with his work.
A while later...
Zoe was in the staffroom, bottle feeding the baby boy in her arms.
The hospital was quiet, it was lunchtime.
Max made his way to the staffroom, unaware that Zoe was there with the baby that she'd saved. He stopped at the doorway when he saw her with the little baby.
"Hello." Said the porter softly.
Zoe looked up at him. "Afternoon." She said, dipping her head to check on the little bundle in her arms.
"May I?" Max asked.
"Of course you can-you'll have to burp him, though. Here's a muslin." Zoe passed him the cloth.
"Thank you." He put it over his shoulder and held his arms out.
Zoe made sure that the little boy had finished his bottle before gently placing him into her husband's arms.
"He's beautiful. Who's is he?" Max asked, rocking the baby boy, who was falling asleep, gently.
"That's the thing, we don't know. I found him abandoned in a cardboard box in the way to work. There was a note in the box, presumably from his birth mother saying that he was born in hospital and not to try and find her."
"That's awful."
"Yeah, he's a little miracle." Zoe said. Max nodded in agreement.
"How are you?" Her husband asked with a smile.
"I'm okay..." Zoe said, sounding slightly more confident than she sounded. In truth, the consultant missed her husband more and more every day.
He saw her face. "What's the matter?"
"I miss you Max. I see you every day at work and wish that things were how they used to be... Sneaking up to your office, coffee and curlywurlys,walking into the ED hand in hand... everything." Zoe unexpectedly poured her heart out to him.
"Zoe..." He whispered as a tear fell down his wife's cheek. "I miss you too, and all the things you just said." He admitted.
Both of them wanted more than anything to be back together-each were too scared to admit it, and were scared that everything would come tumbling down again.
"D'you want to hold him again? He's fallen asleep." Max asked.
"... I think that we need to talk. There's an incubator in Resus, I'll ask Dylan to keep an eye on him for a while." Zoe said as she held her hands out for the baby.
Zoe went to Resus and came back, her heart thudding and her mouth dry with nerves.
"Are you alright?" Max asked as his wife re entered the room.
"Yes. No." She sighed. "I miss you so much." She said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"We could try to make things work again?" Max asked as Zoe poured herself a glass of water.
She promptly dropped the glass she was holding into the sink in surprise-thankfully, it didn't break.
"You... What? Really?" She asked nervously, holding his gaze.
"Of course. I still love you and I think that you love me...Let's just forget the past, shall we?"
"I do..." Zoe said, slightly shocked. "And yes, let's put the past behind us and forget about it." She nodded, sitting next to him on the sofa. "Could you... Move back in to the apartment? if that's moving too fast, it's-"
She was cut off by Max's lips on hers. She ran her hands through her hair-she'd missed this.
"I take it that's a yes?" The consultant asked when they broke apart.
Max nodded and smiled against her lips. "I love you."
"I love you too." She held his hand. "I've missed you so much."
"I missed you too." He reached up to her face with his free hand and wiped the tears that still lingered there away. "You know the baby boy you saved?"
"Yeah?"
"This is probably going too fast, but once I've moved back in and everything, how about we try to adopt him? I can see that you've bonded with him, it's going to break your heart to let him go. And I know how much you want a baby... I do too." He told her.
"Okay." Zoe nodded. "Let's go for it."
Two months later...
"Zoe, wake up, it's about Leo." Max said to his wife who had fallen asleep on the sofa.
Soon after they'd got back together, Zoe and Max began the process of adopting the baby boy whom Zoe had saved. She had been the one to name him Leo, meaning lion. The couple both liked this name because lions were strong and brave animals- Leo was strong too, so the name suited him well.
"Hmm?" Zoe asked. They had had the final meeting with the adoption board a couple of weeks ago and were waiting for a phone call to see if they could adopt him or not. The process had been fairly quick compared to other cases, or so they had been told, so Zoe and Max considered themselves lucky.
Today, they'd had a busy day at the ED, when they got home Zoe had a single a bite of toast, got into her pyjamas, and had fallen asleep.
"Someone from the adoption board rang. We are now Leo's parents." Her husband informed her.
Zoe's eyes flew open. "Really?"
"Yes, Zo. We just have to go to the hospital to pick him up and sign the papers."
"That's amazing." Zoe sat up and beamed at him. "What about the nursery?"
"I've put it together, don't worry. They rang a few hours ago to tell us unofficially, and rang again a few minutes ago to tell us for definite. I thought that you would need your beauty sleep." He said.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"It's okay." He said. "You get dressed, I'll make us something to eat."
Zoe nodded, and kissed him. "I love you." She whispered against his lips.
"I love you too." He grinned, and with a squeeze of her hand, left the room.
The consultant re dressed and did her makeup once more.
She slipped her favourite pair of heels on and a jacket, and wandered into the room which was to be Leo's
She looked around and saw that Max had put the cot up, and had brought the rocking chair that had once been in Zoe's room when she was a child. She smiled at the mobile above the cot- moons and stars.
She opened the chest of drawers to the right of the cot to see that Max had filled them with the baby clothes that they'd bought a few days ago, along with the cot and a few other things.
Zoe smiled as she saw the outfit that Max had laid out for Leo to wear when they brought him home. A blue onesie with "I know, I know, I'm adorable!" on it, a little hat with a bear face and ears on it, and a red coat with blue stars on it.
The consultant carefully packed the clothes into the baby bag that she'd purchased with Max.
"Ready?" her husband called.
"Yep." Zoe replied.
Max grinned at her as she entered the kitchen/living room area.
"What?" Zoe asked.
He took it the stripy top, blue jeans, and the leather jacket that she was wearing, complete with a purple pair of heels, the baby bag over her shoulder. "You look like a Mum already, bar the Jimmy Choos."
"The Jimmy Choos are staying." Said Zoe. "Yeah, we're going to be parents." She smiled, tucking into the cheese on toast that he'd made her.
"I am not looking forward to the sleepless nights." Said her husband, taking a drink of his coffee.
"It's going to be worth it, just like the last couple of months have been." Said his wife.
Max nodded.
"Anyway, let's bring our son home." Said Zoe.
"Let's." Max agreed, putting his cup down and taking her hand.
When they got to the hospital, Zoe burst into tears.
"Hey." Max rubbed her arm.
"I never thought that I'd get the chance to have a happy family." Zoe sobbed. "I messed so many chances up, I thought that I'd messed my chance with you up..."
"Zoe, sometimes dreams to come true, they take a while though." Max reassured her. "I love you with all my heart, I am not going anywhere. You, me, and Leo are going to be a family."
"I know." Zoe replied, reassured and warmed by his speech.
A while later...
"Hello little one." Zoe smiled as she saw her son. The papers had been signed and Zoe and Max were now free to take Leo home.
She smiled as he wrapped his hand around her little finger. "I'm your Mummy now, and Max your Daddy. It's been a long journey." The consultant cooed as she lifted him out of his cot. An unpleasant smell hit her nose. "Looks like you need your nappy changing- I'll have to do it. I'll change you into the outfit we picked for you to come home in too." She informed him.
A short while later, Zoe met her husband as she was walking out of the ladies'.
"One of the nurses told me that you were here." He informed her.
"Ah okay." Zoe said as Leo wriggled around in her arms. "Go to your Dad, I'm sure that he wants a cuddle." She handed Leo to Max.
"Hey, son. We're going home now." Max smiled at the baby boy.
"We are." Said Zoe, slipping her hand into the crook of Max's elbow.
Together, the three of them walked out of the hospital, ready to start life as a family.
The End