Mallory woke suddenly in the night and rolled over to see Daniel sitting up against his pillows, wide awake. She sat up and moved closer to him, laying her hand on his chest, "Babe, are you ok?"
Daniel had been staring forward but her voice grasped his attention and he turned and looked at her, "What?" he asked, unaware of what she'd said.
"Babe," she started, "It's the middle of the night and you're wide awake. What's going on in that head of yours?"
Daniel blinked as he realized what she meant and he looked at her, "I'm just having a hard time sleeping but you need your sleep so close those eyes, Dear," he deflected.
"Daniel Charles," she stated, her tone firm, "I know you better than that and I know if you were only having trouble sleeping you'd be playing on your tablet, not staring out into the darkness. Remember that I am here for you so you can tell me what's going on."
Daniel sighed as he nodded, "I'm just thinking about Dr. Wheeler. Dr. Reese said that he reached out to her a few times and I can't help thinking that if she had come to me, I could have helped him. I think that seeing her so torn up by it is making it harder to deal with and process."
Mallory nodded as she scooted closer to him in the bed, laying her hand on his chest, "I know Sarah has been having a really tough time but you can't let this get to you, at least not to this level. Dr. Wheeler was lost and I don't know that anyone could have reached through to him. But listen, you need to sleep and maybe talk to your doctor about it if it has you this consumed. His death was a tragedy but if we all get lost in it, then none of us will be able to do our jobs."
Daniel nodded as he reached his arm around her and rested his hand on her hip, "You're right. I just can't stop replaying Sarah's revelation to me that he needed help and she knew. I know what happened to her. I know that as a psychiatrist, we get so consumed with our patients that we can't hear what the people around us are feeling but I just wish she had told me."
"If she didn't really hear his cry for help as a true cry for help until after his suicide then she never would have thought to mention it to you," she countered, "Now, can I make you a cup of tea or something of that nature so you can get some rest?"
Daniel shook his head, "No, I'm ok now. You just helped me more then you can ever know. Goodnight my Love," he kissed her gently.
"Goodnight," she smiled back as their lips parted before laying her head on his chest and falling back in a deep sleep once more.
A few days later, Daniel had settled down and Mallory was officially showing. She had stopped wearing scrubs to work and had started opting for flowy dresses to hide the proof of her impending motherhood.
"Hey Sweetheart," Daniel said that morning as he saw her putting on another floor length, flowing summer dress, "Do you think maybe it's time to make an announcement instead of hiding your bump with bigger clothing?" he asked, hiding a small laugh as he watched her looking at herself in the mirror.
Mallory looked back at him once before looking in the mirror to see the little hint of her swollen abdomen peeking out of the front of her dresses, "You're right," she sighed, "I can't hide it anymore can I?"
Daniel smiled as he stood from the bed after lacing his shoes and walked over to wrap his arms around her from behind, "No, you can't. Tell everyone today. They'll love the news and then you can just go buy some bigger scrubs. I know it's driving you crazy that these dresses keep you away from the action you crave."
Mallory frowned as she thought about what the world might think but she knew he was right. She pulled off the dress and put on her scrubs, frowning instantly as she saw how pregnant she looked now that her outfit was form fitting. She wanted to wait for that part of the reveal so she threw on a loose sweater to keep herself from showing too much.
"I don't know why you'd want to hide that bump at all," Daniel said as he looked at her with her sweater, "I love it on you. Would you like me to make you a coffee for the ride in?"
"More than you know," she replied as he laughed and left the room for her to work on her shoes which were becoming just a little bit of a challenge.
Once Daniel and Mallory arrived at Med, they parted ways and began their work. Mallory took a big swig of her coffee before getting to the insanely large amount of work that was awaiting her. As she logged into her systems and began scheduling patients for various surgeries, her screen froze.
She tried a few things to get it to fix itself but nothing was working so she turned to Maggie, "Hey, is your computer working right?" she asked.
Maggie shook her head and as she did, all the computers main screens were replaced by a ransom note from a hacker.
"Dammit," Mallory said as she read the message, "I have so much work to do. Call Goodwin," she stated as she got up with her now empty mug to get a refill in the breakroom.
When she returned, she saw Goodwin conducting a meeting with the entire staff in the ER. Mallory listened and realized that she was going to have to find some non computer work to do for the day as Goodwin finished her report and began having IT collect anyone's handheld devices.
"Ms. Goodwin," Mallory said to get her attention.
"Yes Mallory?" she asked as she was prepared for a work related question since all of Mallory's work was on the computer.
"I'll get all the surgeries on the whiteboards so we can stay up to date but I actually have an announcement to make and since everyone is here," she trailed off for a moment, "It just seems like the perfect moment."
Mallory's words caught Daniel's attention and distracted him from his sudden feeling of anxiety after his tablet was taken away. Goodwin nodded, "I don't see why you can't make your announcement. What do you want to share?"
Mallory swallowed as she suddenly felt a lot more nervous about her moment but she took a good deep breath and pulled off her sweater to reveal the burgeoning belly underneath, "Well, everyone. Dr. Charles...Daniel and I are having a baby." As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt her cheeks turn red but the room burst out in words of congratulations which quickly put her mind at ease.
"Well," Goodwin began, "That is some good news coming off of a bad morning. You two are going to make wonderful parents. Alright everyone, get to work."
Mallory nodded as everyone went into action mode and she went to the storage room to get out the whiteboards she had used at her old hospital during construction. As she pushed one out, Dr. Choi came out of nowhere to push it for her.
"You don't need to be doing that," he stated, "I'm really happy for you two. You make Dr. Charles a better person."
"Thanks Ethan," she smiled, "But for the record, these boards weigh nothing so I can handle them," she finished with a smile.
As she began writing, Daniel was headed her way with Sarah on his heels, "I still have patients to evaluate on the psych floor but now I can't get to the history's. What do I do?"
"You'll have to take paper ones and retake some but don't let the patients know about the problem because it might give them some concern especially in their state of mind. It's going to be a tough day but I know you can do it," he replied.
Sarah nodded as she walked away leaving Daniel with Mallory, who was setting up the surgery boards manually.
"That worked out well," he said to her, "I told you that you had nothing to worry about."
"Are you going to be ok today?" she asked, changing the subject so her cheeks wouldn't turn red again after her big moment.
"What do you mean?" he replied, pushing his glasses onto his face the way he liked them.
Mallory grinned as she stopped writing for a moment and grabbing his tie in her hand, "I know how much you love having that tablet on you and big change gets you worried. So, will you be ok?"
"Of course," he replied as he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, "I am not a millennial. I can go a day without technology. Have a fun day writing out all of this," he finished with a wink.
"Yeah, it's too bad I don't have someone who can help me with my work," she sparred back as he walked away and she continued her work, wondering how long it would take before not having his tablet would get to him.