(Hello there friends, this shall be yet another update, hope you enjoy more than the last, not quite finished with this fic yet- ill probably stretch it out for as long as possible…. Love the comments Please enjoy and read read read Comments are always welcomed and much appreciated!)
One Week Later-
"Baby update!" Marshall smiled as he burst through the door of Mary's new recovery room, smiling exuberantly at his cell phone.
Mary looked over her shoulder from her chair by the window; sitting in her sweat pants and T-shirt Stan had so kindly brought her a week ago. Just today they had finally let her wear her own clothes, it was a total relief. Mary couldn't stand the fact that if she sneezed, suddenly her boob would fall out of her gown- and forget reaching for anything more than three feet away, she couldn't count how many times Marshall had seen her ass in the past week either. She stood up ever so slowly, biting her nails. Thoughts arose in her head that she always tried to push aside during these updates, she hadn't even met her own son yet and she was still trying to convince herself she loved him. Mary always heard of stories how mothers took one look at their babies and loved them-but how could she love a child she hadn't even met? How could she feel motherly, when she had been unconscious through the whole birth, or have a bond like every other mother on this floor when she hadn't even gotten to hold him yet?
"They haven't weighed him yet today, but I think he looks bigger!" Marshall said hopefully, his eyes sparkling joyfully. He had really stepped up the past week, bringing Mary little prizes, taking pictures of the baby whenever he could, keeping Jinx away at all costs, all of the things that made Mary happy. He was willing to do anything and that included telling his soon to be mother in law that Mary was always be napping when she came around or answering her phone calls from Brandi, using the same excuse, but with way less guilt.
Mary held the phone in her hands,
"He does look bigger!" she sighed, little excitement filling her tone.
"And guess what?"
"What?" She looked up, her voice not even displaying half the excitement of his.
"He breathes on his own now! Tonight they're taking him off of the machines and they'll closely monitor him, if he keeps breathing by himself through tonight, they're gonna transfer him to the nursery just down the hall!"
"What?" she asked again, rage bubbling from her throat rather than the happiness Marshall was feeling.
"Mary, that's a good thing!" he reassured.
"No! They're gonna take my kid, my kid, the tiny creature that fed off of me, that was inside me for thirty two weeks off of the machines that have been keeping him alive this past week, nuh uh, no way Marshall Mann you cannot let that go down, I swear I will never forgive you!" she huffed, out of breath,
"You're not being rational! Mare, they'll be a nurse watching him like a hawk all night long, they aren't going to lock him in a tiny room by himself, while he lies in a bassinet for eight hours! This is it! This could be the turning point; we might be able to take him home soon!" Marshall argued in a fatherly tone, one of which Mary was still getting used to, she hadn't found her motherly tone, hell she still wasn't sure she had one, and was worried that she would never have one.
"Marshall?" she found herself crying- again. This had been happening since the day after the delivery, when she was happy, sometimes when she was sad, most of the time for no reason at all. It figured that one of the symptoms she had managed to avoid for nearly seven months had come back to bite her in the ass.
"Oh, c'mon, I didn't mean to yell." He held her in a tight embrace.
"I'm not upset, it's this stupid hormones thing, I-I can't help it!" she sobbed.
"Shhhh." He soothed, taking her left hand,
"This is well overdue." He smiled sliding a tiny ring onto her finger, "Not to mention all I could manage that night, there aren't many jewelry stores within walking distance, really not many jewelry stores at all in Albuquerque to be totally honest…"
"Oh thank you Marshall- it's wow, that's small?" she looked down expecting a tiny fleck of diamond, but a tiny rock on her hadn't seemed to be weighing her down/
"Yeah, I didn't think you'd like my Grandmothers ring.." he admitted, showing off how much he knew his partner.
"What is it, a ruby with a gold band?" she retorted, trying to be cunning.
"Yeahhhh." He admitted.
"Oh." Mary was surprised, usually she could never guess correctly while trying to be sarcastic.
"You're gonna get hell from your mother aren't you?" Mary asked.
"Yeaaaahhh" he answered again still holding her in his arms.
She looked down at the ring again and her heart fluttered. With what she wasn't sure, this was making it so real, and nothing seemed real right now. She couldn't imagine what it was going to be like, finally meeting her kid and realizing this wasn't some sort of sick dream she had thought up, or she wasn't in the twilight zone. Marshall's eyes gleamed, and he practically glowed with happiness the last few days. She felt happy, but there was something missing, something she felt that was just off. Of course she felt hollow, but not emotionally, more like literally. The person who had been taking up space in her uterus had just been evicted by his defective placenta. Leave it to her and Mark to give the kid a defective something. Oh yeah and Mark, he had disappeared, not that she actually cared, but she wasn't sure what she was gonna do. Now it was clear she was keeping her baby-maybe he left thinking she was going to give him up for adoption, maybe he left because he knew he had no chance. It was all just a big mess. She had no idea what she wanted, but she knew she wanted Marshall. And if she wanted Marshall, and if that kid was anything like her, he'd want Marshall. At this point he had no choice, the baby had no say, Mary had signed her name on the birth certificate, and Marshall had signed his.
Marshall's head shot toward the door as the doctor walked in.
"Mary?" the woman asked. Apparently, after someone cuts you open and prevents your baby from being drowned in placenta goop it's an automatic switch to a first name basis.
"Yes?"
"I just want to take a look at your incision…"
"Oh great!"
This was always the part that had Marshall shaking with eagerness. He knew that when that doctor finally cleared Mary free of any infections, she'd finally get to meet their son.
Mary hobbled over to the bed, clearly still sore. Marshalls heart raced with suspense as the doctor lifted Mary's shirt and peeled the bandages away to reveal the still nasty looking wound. Just as his heart fell, the woman smiled,
"Lookin good! Wanna go for a little walk?"
"Where?" Mary asked, obviously off in her own little world.
"To meet your son." The doctor urged.
"Oh, HOLY CRAP! What?"
Marshall grabbed Mary by the hand!
"You're gonna be amazed by how much he looks like you." He smiled.
"I'm if- what if he doesn't like me?" She asked with so much innocence in her tone, Marshall would have felt bad to laugh.
"Mary, your being ridiculous! He loves you!"
"I haven't even met the kid yet!" Mary couldn't even convince herself she wasn't making excuses.
"You made him! Isn't that reason enough?" he asked frustrated.
"Yeah and wanted outs from my womb early! I haven't even seen my own son in person yet and I've already screwed up!"
"Mary, for the final time, you didn't screw up, those things happen! He is a healthy little guy, the whole lungs thing is just a setback!"
"Oh yeah, I popped the dud out early, he couldn't breathe on his own and it's just a setback? Where is your head doofus?" She questioned.
"Maybe setback's not the word! C'mon Mare! You have to meet him, I promise you'll never love someone more! Please? Don't be afraid anymore! Besides, he can't be Baby Shannon Mann forever! Everyone thinks we gave him a girl's name. You said you wanted to see him before we named him, this is our chance! Let's go name our baby!" smiling, confident he had convinced her this time, Marshall held out his hand.
Mary hesitated but finally grasped it,
"Okay Marshall, let's go name our baby."
