FROM HERE TO PATERNITY
Written by Ann Rivers ann.rivers@virgin.net
Completed 28 March 2002
Summary This story follows on from Problems Plans and Proposals
Jesse and Susan are just about ready to become parents… which is really just as well…
Spoilers 35 Millimeter Murder and Misdiagnosis Murder
Disclaimer Diagnosis Murder and its characters belong to CBS and Viacom
No profit is being made from their use here…
Susan woke from an oddly uncomfortable, fitful sleep – to the now especially welcome sights of a breakfast tray on the bedside table next to her, and Jesse's gentle smile as he kissed her forehead.
"Good morning, soon to be mom…" he greeted her, giving the same gentle kiss to her stomach.
"Good morning, soon to be baby…"
While clearly enjoying this familiar ritual, Susan couldn't help but make a slightly peeved point.
"Soon to be baby seems to have his own ideas on how he's going to be born…" she retorted dryly,
smiling her thanks for the gentle support of his arm as she heaved herself cautiously upright.
"He's not due for another month, and he's already trying to kick his way out through my kidneys…"
Seeing her obvious discomfort, Jesse grew more serious as he sat carefully behind Susan's back.
Sliding his left leg around behind her for support, he then gently turned her until she sat sideways,
her weight supported against his body while her legs draped over the top of his right thigh.
Holding her in this sideways position, he then started to rub the base of her spine in slow, firm circles.
"There, is that helping…?" he asked softly, using his other hand to gently massage her stomach – encouraged by the drowsily nodding head against his shoulder to rub both a little more firmly.
"Mm, that feels wonderful…" Susan murmured, glancing up to cast him an appreciative smile.
"You must have been a masseur in a previous life…"
"Well, I don't know about that… what I do know is I was never a decorator…" Jesse retorted dryly,
glancing at a once dark blue T shirt that was now liberally flecked with soft yellow paint.
"No, apparently not…" Susan grinned while gently picking some more errant flecks out of his hair.
"Still, the nursery looks wonderful, even if there is more paint on you than there is on the walls…"
"Yeah, we should get the rest painted today, then we can get the crib and stuff put in…" he went on,
his enthusiasm fading back into concern as Susan shifted against him, clearly still in some discomfort. "You want me to call Amanda… tell her you won't be able to join her for lunch today…?"
"No, Jesse, I'll feel better once I'm up and moving around…" she assured him, shaking her head – though making no attempt to move from her snugly warm cradle as she looked up at him and smiled.
"For now, though… massage away, Michaelangelo… and pass me that great looking breakfast…"
"Yes, dear…" Jesse chuckled – wryly wondering if this was the henpecked shape of things to come.
In fact, he was quietly relieved that Susan would be meeting up for lunch with Amanda after all.
It would make the latest addition to the nursery, due to arrive that day, easier to keep as a surprise.
He just hoped that Amanda kept to her usual faultless timekeeping.
In fact she was early – reacting in some surprise as Jesse's apparently willing helper opened the door.
"He provides me with free coffee and donuts…" Steve explained in response to her quizzical smile.
"But not protective clothing, it seems…" Amanda observed, taking in his somewhat bedaubed shirt.
"Well, I did suggest that he use an old surgical gown, but he said he'd look silly…" Jesse chipped in – the sight of him apparently set for major surgery suggesting that Steve had a fairly valid point.
Laughing from both that and Steve's 'get me out of here' look, Amanda then turned to greet Susan –not entirely surprised to see that her face held the same eagerness for some calmer, saner company.
"Come on, let's get you out of this madhouse before the paint fumes get to you too…" she chuckled, laughing still more as Steve followed them to the door while nodding almost fearfully towards Jesse.
"Mommy, he scares me…" he comically pleaded, tugging her arm. "Take me with you… please…?"
"Sorry, Steve, this is a girls' day out…" Amanda said firmly, trying in vain to keep her face straight.
"Now, be a good little helper for he who provides donuts, and go paint…"
"And keep the nursery windows open…" Susan grinned, still rather flushed from Jesse's goodbye kiss.
With that they were gone – their laughter continuing long after the door had closed behind them.
Turning away from the door, Steve glanced back to where Jesse stood grinning expectantly at him.
In one hand was a pot of paint and some brushes, while in the other…
Rolling his eyes, Steve just shook his head then headed for the kitchen to seek refuge – and donuts.
Hearing a contented sigh from the lounging chair beside her, Amanda glanced across from her own – and allowed herself a private nod of satisfaction on seeing the relaxed contentment on Susan's face.
Making, too, a mental note to give her mother a box of her favourite chocolates for her original idea.
Just before CJ's dramatic entrance into the world, a night that had been pretty dramatic for Jesse too,
Rene Bentley had brought her tired and nervously expectant daughter to this health and beauty spa.
After three hours of leisurely pampering, she had left feeling fit, strong and ready for anything.
Well, almost anything. She hadn't counted for giving birth to her first child in the back seat of a car, her only medical support a slightly hysterical intern who'd never delivered a baby before.
How far that terrified young intern had come since then, she reflected with a fondly affectionate smile.
Like Mark, she'd known from the moment they met that Jesse would become an exceptional doctor.
Now, as then, it was always a good feeling to see your instincts proven right.
Another sigh from the adjacent lounger roused her from her thoughts – and caused her smile to widen.
Relaxing after a gentle jacuzzi, Susan was clearly enjoying this afternoon as much as she had.
"You know, Jesse could probably come and work here if he ever gave up medicine…" she said at last,
meeting Amanda's quizzical stare with a mischievous smile and slight shrug of her shoulders.
"Soon to be born baby was kicking field goals through the base of my spine at seven this morning…
luckily I had my very own doctor cum fiancé cum masseur on hand to rub the kinks out…"
"Is there no end to that boy's talents…?" Amanda chuckled, adding in wryly amused afterthought, "Well, ruling out painting and decorating, of course…"
"Well, he does all our accounting… he's a great dancer… oh, and he can cook too…" Susan mused, smiling at the other, more intimate talents which, she knew, were best kept to herself.
"Always helpful when you own a restaurant…" Amanda agreed, prompting even more laughter.
Nodding in proud agreement, Susan then glanced back at her out of bright, equally mischievous eyes.
"So what do you think our multi talented boy is up to…? D'you reckon Steve's throttled him yet…?"
"I shudder to think…" Amanda retorted, grinning back at her while rolling lazily onto her stomach.
"One thing's for sure, though… I doubt whether they're having as much fun as we are…"
Jesse and Steve stood outside the nursery, studying the bane of the last half hour with thoughtful eyes.
The delivery men had agreed to haul it up the exterior stairs to the first floor, where the nursery was. Once they'd left, though… well, that was when the fun had really started…
"You did measure it before you bought it, didn't you…?" Steve asked at last, admirably straight faced.
"Well, uh… kinda…" Jesse mumbled, developing a sudden interest in the state of the hallway carpet.
"I – I mean, it didn't look so big when I saw it in the store…"
If not for his genuine disappointment and frustration, Steve would have loved to tease him further.
But with the surprise he'd so eagerly waited to arrive still sitting wedged in the nursery doorway,
that teasing was going to have to wait until they found a way to free it.
Instead, fondly shaking his head, he tried to console his disconsolate friend as only he could.
"Don't worry, Jess… one way or another, this big chair is going to go through that little doorway…"
A pause, before he grinned and tugged the paint daubed surgical gown around Jesse's shoulders.
"Even if you have to carry out some minor surgery on it first to make it fit…"
Pulling a rueful face back at him, Jesse then brightened as he remembered who he'd bought it for.
Maybe he was getting sentimental in his advancing age, but… well, it had just felt so right somehow.
So traditional to have an old fashioned rocking chair for Susan to relax in while she nursed the baby.
He'd seen a beauty yesterday and, on typical spur of the moment impulse, bought it there and then.
The rather important point of measuring it first had, in his eagerness, been completely forgotten.
"So you think Susan will like it…? Preferably without any kind of surgery…?" he asked hopefully.
"I'm sure she'll love it…" Steve chuckled – caught up, as he often was, in that infectious enthusiasm. Taking advantage of it, he then returned to the task in hand and picked up his end of the chair.
"Okay, Jess, look on this problem as… well, a trial run for when Susan has the baby…" he went on,
waiting for Jesse to stop laughing and pick up his end before adding a wryly determined countdown.
"On the count of three… one… two… three… now, push…!"
For the second night in a row, Susan was finding it too uncomfortable to enjoy any decent sleep –
no matter how much she snuggled against the warm human body that lay gently supporting her own.
Not wanting to wake Jesse, she'd lain quietly, watching him enjoy the peaceful rest that eluded her.
Well earned rest, too, if the now fully painted and furnished nursery was anything to go by.
She only wished she knew why she'd had to wait until the sound of frantic shoving and creaking from the nursery had stopped and a slightly red faced Steve had come downstairs to actually get to see it.
She hadn't seen Jesse look so dubiously innocent since he'd surprised her with her engagement ring. He was up to something again now, she was sure of it. And somehow Steve had become involved too. Still, she mused with a fond smile, at least if Steve was involved, that something had to be legal.
Another fitful kick within her caused her to catch her breath – enough for Jesse to wake with a start.
"Boy, even I felt that one…" he murmured, wincing in sympathy for her obvious discomfort.
"Yes, I'd love to know what this baby has against my kidneys… apart from his feet…" Susan retorted,
sighing in grateful relief while that gently skilled hand instinctively rubbed and massaged her back.
"And you've had this pain all day…?" Jesse asked – hoping his voice sounded calmer than he felt.
"Well, yes… on and off…" she nodded drowsily, savouring his comfort as she snuggled against him.
The pensive silence that followed prompted her to look up – puzzled at first, then in open surprise.
"But he isn't due for another month yet…! And – And surely he'll be later rather than early…?"
"It's probably a false alarm… just like Amanda had…" Jesse assured her, trying to ease her alarm. "Just to be on the safe side though... come on, soon to be mom… let's get you both checked out…"
Susan, however, still didn't look entirely convinced as Jesse helped her to get dressed.
"And where did Amanda end up having CJ...?" she asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
From where he knelt lacing her shoes, Jesse cast her a playfully warning glare before rising to his feet.
"Don't even think about it…" he muttered, smiling though while he slipped his arm gently around her.
"Think about this instead… wherever and whenever he's born, I'm going to be right here beside you…
and the chances are this is a false alarm anyway, and we'll be home again in a few hours… okay…?"
Greatly reassured, Susan grinned back at him and nodded, much happier now as they left the bedroom.
After all, if you couldn't trust a doctor who'd delivered countless other babies, who could you trust…?
Eileen Delaney straightened from examining her latest patient and nodded in thoughtful approval,
then turned amused green eyes towards one rather shamefaced doctor and one rather red faced nurse.
"Well now, isn't this a turn up for the books…?" she said at last in her still broadly Irish brogue.
"Here we have one supposedly expert doctor, charged with the care of one heavily pregnant nurse…
and between the two of you, neither realised said nurse is in the first stage of labour…?"
"Well, no… but to be fair, Jesse couldn't have known that my waters had broken…" Susan argued,
laughing helplessly at the sheepish contrition on Jesse's face even as she loyally defended him.
"And I didn't know about it either, it must have happened during that jacuzzi I took at that spa…"
"Sorry, coach, I'll know better for next time…" Jesse shot back, trying to reassert his authority – wondering why Susan then jabbed him so hard in the ribs when she wasn't even having a contraction.
"And where was this spa exactly…?" their obgyn asked, choosing her moment before adding dryly, "Just for me to know not to use their hot tub anytime soon…"
"If you promise to keep this little secret of ours quiet, you can use ours instead…" Jesse said eagerly, offering her his most melting smile from where he sat behind Susan, supporting her against his chest.
"With a face that cute and a smile that adorable, how can I refuse an offer that good…?" she retorted, winking at an equally amused Susan before, seeing her catch her breath, she grew serious once more.
"Okay, kids, time to get to work… ten count it down, Jess… get ready, Susan, and push…!"
Jesse nodded, totally serious as he took Susan's hand, holding her close as another contraction hit –
knowing the discomfort from her tightening grip was nothing compared to what she was experiencing.
He'd known what to expect, of course, but to see and feel Susan going through so much pain as this…
So when, after several hours of exhausting effort, Jesse and Susan found a familiar face beside them,
it was a dead heat as to who looked the more relieved and grateful.
"Mark, your timing is, as always, just perfect…" Eileen greeted him from the foot of Susan's bed,
nodding to where two rather breathless, slightly dishevelled figures sat slumped at the opposite end.
"After six hours of playing hard to get, baby Travis here has finally decided to make an appearance…
and these two kids of yours are playing an absolute blinder together… doing a great job…"
"I wouldn't expect them to do anything less…" Mark replied, smiling proudly at both in turn –
resting a hand on each of their shoulders while offering Susan some much appreciated encouragement.
"You're almost there, honey… the presentation looks perfect, and…"
"So he's crowning now…?" Jesse asked, glancing up from where he'd been bathing Susan's face.
"He certainly is…" Eileen agreed, winking at Mark before offering Jesse a playfully teasing grin.
"And I know you're just itching to come down here and catch the little fella yourself, Jess, but…
well, I'll take care of this end… you stay up that end and take care of your lady… okay…?"
"Yes, what happened to my soothing back rub…?" Susan asked, squinting pointedly up at him –
not knowing whether to laugh at Jesse's plaintive expression or cry at the pain that now racked her.
"That's it, girl, you tell him…" Eileen agreed, winking at her before returning to the task in hand.
"Okay, Susan, this looks to be it… come on, now, you're almost there… another ten count, okay…?
Jesse, breathe along with her now… ready, and push… that's it, Susan, keep it going… come on…
that's it… yes, he's definitely coming now… here he comes… gently now… gently does it…"
For the last six hours, Jesse and Susan had ten counted together and cried out in effort together.
Now, as they slowly recovered from this final exhausting effort, a new voice yelled along with them.
An unmistakeable, newborn cry that made all the pain and exhaustion of those six hours worthwhile.
A revitalised Jesse was already looking up in response to that cry, his eyes widening in realisation.
"That's it Susan, it's okay, it's all over…!" he whispered, carefully raising himself and Susan to sit up.
"Oh, my God, he – he's beautiful…! Honey, he's perfect…! Oh God, Susan, he's perfect…!"
"He certainly is…" Eileen confirmed, beaming back at them while reporting those first vital details. "Eight pounds nine ounces, ten fingers, ten toes… and a very healthy set of lungs…"
Gradually aware of the new life being laid gently in her arms, Susan inevitably burst into tears –
Jesse immediately following suit as both instinctively checked that tiny life over.
Enjoying their delight too much to be offended, Eileen glanced at an equally elated Mark and grinned.
"You know, Mark, I've been delivering babies since before those two were born…" she said at last, nodding to where Jesse and Susan were still tearfully hugging each other in pure, total elation.
"Watching this wonderful moment for over forty years now… and it never loses its magic…"
"I know what you mean…" Mark agreed, hugging her in his own proud relief for his young friends.
"And the day you fail to enjoy that magic will be the day you'll know to quit…"
"I think hell will freeze over before then…" Eileen replied, still smiling as she turned back to Jesse – gaining his still slightly dazed attention at the third amused attempt and a gentle pat on his shoulder.
"Jess…? Jesse…? Jesse, do you want to cut the cord…?"
"The – The what…? Oh, yeah, the – the cord… yeah, uh… yeah, sure…" he finally stammered,
taking the scissors with a hand that was shaking so much that he almost dropped them.
Seeing three proudly amused faces watching him, Jesse then grinned ruefully and shook his head.
"Hands of a surgeon…" he sighed, both voice and hands still decidedly shaky as he cut the cord.
Still laughing, Mark patted his young friend on the shoulder while Eileen retrieved her scissors.
"Okay, you two rest up while I break the good news to the proud godparents…" he said softly –
not at all surprised when he received two once more distracted nods for an answer.
Trading another proudly amused grin with Eileen, he then left to find Steve and Amanda.
He didn't have far to look – both were still hovering just outside the door, anxiously waiting for news.
"A beautiful boy, eight pounds nine ounces…" he announced, embracing both in a delighted hug.
"The birth went fine, Susan and Jess are both fine too… just still naturally overwhelmed by it all… just give them half hour or so to get their breath back, then I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see you…"
"Great… that just gives us long enough to check out the maternity unit gift shop…" his son enthused –
his father left smiling in their wake as two ecstatic godparents hugged each other along the corridor.
In truth, they didn't so much check out the gift shop – more brought its entire contents back with them.
"We couldn't decide what to get, so we… well, kinda got one of everything…" Steve explained,
trying to justify his armload of cuddly toys, balloons and flowers to his highly amused father.
"Well, son, I can't blame or begrudge you for that…" Mark replied once he'd stopped laughing.
"But if you'd just asked, they would have delivered all that here to Susan's room for you…"
"Great, now you tell me…" Steve muttered, pulling a face while Amanda turned expectantly to Mark.
"How are they doing…?" she asked, nodding towards the still closed door of room 412.
"Well, when I last checked, Eileen was still settling them in…" Mark replied, checking once more. Nodding briefly, he glanced back at two excitedly hopeful faces and nodded before ushering them in – noting in wry amusement that he'd been left to hold the presents, if not the new baby.
That honour currently lay with Susan, who still sat resting with Jesse's arm around her shoulders.
She was still a little flushed, but the joy in her smile had lifted much of the tiredness from her face.
The cause of that joy now lay in a tightly wrapped, gurgling bundle against Susan's right shoulder.
And though still awake, baby Travis now regarded his godfather with a yawn of complete disinterest.
"I see your effect on babies hasn't changed…" Jesse said at last, grinning wearily up at Steve.
Steve tried to glare at him – which was fairly difficult when you were enjoying the same joke.
"If not for the fact that you'd probably keel over if I tried it, I'd box your ears…" he retorted – concerned enough, in spite of his teasing, to rest a brotherly supportive hand on Jesse's shoulder.
That won him another tired smile from the proud parents – and the chance to hold his first godchild.
A deeply moving and emotional moment – one marked, to much amusement, by another mighty yawn.
"Hey, what have you got to be tired about…?" Steve grinned, gently tickling five tiny, perfect fingers.
"It's these two guys here that have a right to be tired, you know, not you… they did all the work…
you probably just lay there and pulled faces at the obgyn…"
"No, he just lay there and yelled at the obgyn… just like you did…" Eileen grinned, winking at him.
Pointedly ignoring the four-way laughter that followed, Steve just pulled a face back at her.
"Well, maybe if you hadn't slapped me so hard…" he shot back, turning to his father for support – and, to the great amusement of everyone else, finding only a wickedly mischievous grin.
"Why do I even try…?" he sighed – thinking this to be quite a good time to change the subject.
"So, how are you guys doing…?" he asked, looking from one drained but elated face to the other.
"We're both fine, Steve… just a little tired…" Susan grinned, casting Jesse a glance of pure adoration.
"And Jesse was simply wonderful, doing all my breathing exercises with me and everything…
when he was finally born, he yelled so loud I thought he'd had the baby for me…"
"That must have been the time that Steve thought you were killing him…" Amanda chipped in,
laughing at Jesse's look of mock alarm as she gently took the baby to enjoy an eagerly awaited hold.
"So, have you two decided on a name for this little guy yet, or will he forever be little junior…?"
"Well, nothing we've chosen seems to really suit him…" Jesse replied, shrugging his shoulders –
whatever he planned to say next then lost in what would undoubtedly become a very familiar sound.
"That's typical of your average Leo… loves to let everyone know when he's hungry…" Eileen sighed,
too engrossed in setting up the crib to notice the thoughtful glances that were being passed behind her.
"Hey, I'm a Leo…!" Jesse protested – falling wisely if peevishly silent at five wry, amused glances.
Beyond her amusement, Susan was nodding now, in thoughtful approval as she glanced up at him.
"Leo…" she mused, smiling her thanks as Amanda placed a now thankfully calm baby in her arms.
"Leo… with both our grandfathers names too, to stay with tradition… what do you think, Jesse…?"
"I'm thinking there's no way you can link someone's appetite to their star sign…" Jesse retorted dryly, grinning too, though, as he considered both name and its new, now contentedly gurgling owner.
"Leo Benjamin Martin Travis… yeah, I like that… has a real nice ring to it…"
"Well, now that's settled, here's something else with a real nice ring to it…" Mark suggested gently. "Rest now, for both of you… and a good night's sleep, while you both have the chance to enjoy it…"
Both Jesse and Susan were already nodding in grateful agreement – Jesse, though, in some reluctance.
Guessing the cause for that reluctance, Mark then smiled and gently patted his shoulder.
"I know, Jess… when Steve was born, I didn't want to leave him or Katherine either…" he said softly.
"Don't worry, I'm here for the rest of the day… and I promise to take real good care of both of them…
but for now, you really need to rest… go home, or at least crash out in the lounge for a few hours…"
"Better do as he says, Dorothy…" Steve chipped in, grinning at his friend in light hearted warning. "Remember what he did to you the last time you refused to go bye-bye…"
"Oh yes, he mickey finned me all the way to Kansas…" Jesse grumbled, casting Mark a baleful glare. "It was for your own good, Jess…" Mark chuckled, grinning as Jesse nodded in grudging agreement. "Well, now that we're agreed on that… Susan, I'll be by later… as for you, Dorothy… bed… now…"
He really should have guessed from that suddenly agreeable smile that something was afoot beyond it.
Something beyond his genuine gratitude as Amanda and Steve hugged their goodbyes and quietly left. When Mark returned a short while later to check on Susan, he found out what that something was.
Standing in the doorway of Susan's room, he stood shaking his head in fatherly exasperation.
Maybe stressing the words bed and now quite so emphatically hadn't been such a good idea.
Taking advantage of the hospital's generously sized beds, Jesse had slid in carefully beside Susan –
a typically ingenious way of staying close beside her while both enjoyed some much needed sleep.
And that was exactly what both were doing now, soundly and peacefully, snug in each other's arms.
Both were still smiling – that of a resourceful young doctor holding, too, a fair measure of smugness.
Seeing Amanda and Steve return with the ER staff's gifts for the baby, he beckoned them forward – sharing their admittedly subdued amusement at the peaceful scene within.
"Well, the hospital gossiphounds are gonna love this…" Steve observed dryly, glancing at his father. "Maybe you should have specified to Jesse which bed you actually meant…?"
"I think it's a little late for that…" Amanda retorted, carefully arranging her gifts on Susan's dresser.
"I don't care where he does it, Steve… just so long as he and Susan rest…" Mark chuckled softly.
"And from what I can see from here, I don't think Susan has any complaints…"
Sure enough, Susan's smile now widened as she hugged Jesse's waist before settling back to sleep.
"Apparently not…" Steve agreed, though unable to resist one last dig at his soundly sleeping friend.
"So you think we can trust him to behave himself…? You don't think Susan needs a chaperone…?"
At two patiently amused looks, he then grinned and held up his hands in good natured surrender.
"It's a little late for that too…" Amanda said it anyway – loving the face that he pulled in response.
While enjoying this familiar banter, Mark felt it only fair to speak up in Jesse's defence.
"No, son, Jesse's all she needs right now… she doesn't need anyone else to protect her…" he went on, enjoying one final glance towards the two snuggled figures, before all three left them to sleep in peace.
When those same three glanced in several hours later, Susan was still sleeping soundly in Jesse's lap.
Jesse, however, never one to stay idle for long, was already awake, still watching proudly over her –
too distracted in addressing his son to notice three quietly watchful presences in the doorway.
"Well, little guy, you're finally here… and I guess you're wondering what it's all about, aren't'cha…?
Okay, let's see… first of all, you see that beautiful lady right there…? Now, she's your mommy…
and she loves you so much… just don't bite her when she's feeding you, 'cos she won't like that…
and I'm your dad… well, kinda… and I'm kinda new to all this too, so be gentle with me, okay…?
But I know how to change your diaper, so that's gotta be good… and for all the stuff I don't know…
well, you're gonna have Mark to help us both on that… he's kinda been my dad, like I'll be to you…
and you'll have Steve to take care of you too… and Amanda… in fact you're gonna have all of us…
you're gonna have this amazing family… and we'll all love you and protect you and keep you safe…
all you've got to do is grow up safe and happy… oh yeah, and don't be a typical Leo, okay…?
Just be a good baby and let your mom and I get some sleep once in a while… just like y'are now…"
Pausing for both breath and composure, Jesse then gently laid his sleeping son back in his crib – unaware, as he wiped his eyes, of three people doing the same as the door closed silently behind them.