Author: Nelle Donaghue

E-mail: Elbereth235@aol.com or head_smeg@yahoo.com

Title: Olivia

Rating: G

Spoilers: The Wedding

Summary: Frank and Olivia

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, don't make any money off 'em. Just borrowing them.

Author's notes: I know this isn't how things are done now, but this is fiction, so I claim poetic license*g*. This is a short, short snippet, I apologize, but Frank wasn't more talkative and I am working on a longer Frank-centric fic, which should hopefully be done before the next ice age*g*. Not beta'd, but has been read through by others and spell and grammar checked at least twice.

***

I'm wired from too much caffeine and not enough sleep as I stand here watching her. She's so small and fragile, hard to imagine that someday she'll be big. Someday she'll not ask her Daddy what to do, someday she'll bring someone home to meet Daddy. I lean my head against the cool glass and watch Olivia sleep seeing her whole future stretching ahead of her.

A nurse comes out of the nursery and walks over to me. She asks me if I am a new father, I tell her yes. She asks which baby is mine; I say Olivia Pembleton. She smiles and says that I can hold her if I want to. I want to hold my daughter.

The nurse has me wash my hands and sits me down in a gliding rocking chair. She picks up Olivia and brings her over to me and sets her in my arms.

My daughter.

Yesterday those words were just that, words, now they mean so much more. I'm holding my daughter alone for the first time. She yawns sleepily, and I hold her tighter. I want this moment to last forever, just my daughter and I where everything is safe in the world. No criminals to rip it away from me. Just us. I rock her and imprint this memory in my mind.

I'm finally getting sleepy and so I hand her back to the nurse and go home to sleep. I'll be back in the morning to see Mary but until then, I'll just hold onto the image of Olivia in my arms sleeping peacefully.

~~finis~~