Not Just Another Jane Doe

Chapter 12: Bonding

Disclaimer: These are not my characters they are fully James Duffs except for the non-Major Crimes characters.

I just love them so much and love to play with them.

Sophia Rose Claire Flynn was taken by Cesarean on June 18, 2015 at 11:30am. She was tiny, weighing in at 5lbs exactly and she was 17 inches long. Patrice handed her to Sharon wrapped in a pink fleece blanket and she had a little pink hat on her head.

"Oh, look at her, she's so beautiful and she's so tiny! Hello, Sophia Rose Claire Flynn, I'm your Mommy." Her voice became high and sweet.

Sophia opened her eyes and seemed to stare at her for a moment then closed them again.

"Patrice, how is Savannah? Can we see her?" Asked Andy.

"She's on her way into recovery. She won't wake up for hours yet. Meanwhile this little one needs to go to the NICU nursery to be checked."

"What about feeding?"

"Would you like to give her first feeding?"

"Yes, of course I would but I promised Savannah I would be there when she woke up."

"She won't wake up for a while. You have time. Follow me," Patrice walked them to the NICU nursery, she took Sophia from Sharon and handed her to the nurse in charge. They murmured back and forth. Then Patrice came back and handed them fresh sets of sanitary gowns to wear and took the ones they had been wearing and put them in a bin. "Ok, you come sit in the rocking chair and you can feed your new baby girl."

Sharon complied and Patrice handed her Sophia. Sharon saw Andy's face then, he had a soft look on his face and his eyes were moist.

"Before I feed her would you like to hold her?" He nodded and she handed him the baby.

"Hello, Sophia Rose Claire Flynn, I'm your Daddy." Sophia opened her eyes for a brief moment; she stared at him and then closed them again. Then she opened them again and began to mewl, "I think she wants to eat."

Sharon took Sophia and settled her close against her then introduced the nipple of the bottle into her mouth. "Seems so strange to bottle feed, I nursed both of mine until they were one. I wish I could nurse her. The bonding is so wonderful."

"You can."

"Really? How?"

"There is a feeding method called the Mandela supplemental nursing system. You can buy it and you can have that bonding."

"Well, I guess I'll have to get it then," she took the nipple out of Sophia's mouth and put her upright. Then patted her back for a burp. She then went back to feeding her. When she was almost done the bottle Sophie fell asleep.

Patrice took her and put her in her crib. "Now if you want to be there when Savannah wakes up, you better skedaddle. Sophia will be fine." Sharon got up and kissed Sophie's head, "I'll be back soon, my little love. I'm going to see your sister."

Patrice showed them back to the recovery room, Savannah was still sleeping peacefully. She looked so much younger when she was asleep. When she finally did wake up a half hour later, the first thing she saw was Sharon and Andy. "I woke up, just like you said I would."

"I told you you'd be fine. Are you in pain?"

Savannah was silent a moment, taking stock. "No not yet. Aunt Patrice said it would hurt for a while once the medicine wore off. Then before I knew it the pain would be gone and I could be a normal little girl again. But I'm not sure I know what it means to be a normal little girl."

Sharon smiled, "don't worry, I'll help you figure it out. You sleep now, Baby. They'll be taking you to your room soon."

"But I want to go home! I want to see Rusty, Ricky, Emily and Bo."

"You'll be able to go home in a couple of days sweetheart. Your brothers and your sister are on their way."

"Wanna go home!" She whimpered, her eyes were closing, she put her thumb in her mouth and turned on her side.

Sharon sighed, she would have to start breaking her of that habit when they got home. She rubbed Savannah's back suddenly her phone began to buzz in her pocket. She retrieved it, "Raydor speaking."

"Mom, do you have Sophia?"

"No, Andy is on his way down there why?"

"Well, we thought we'd take a look at the baby before we came to see Savannah and she's not in her crib."

"Maybe, they are changing her or examining her, she's 2 weeks early after all. Look send Rusty up here, he'll have to stay with Savannah while I meet you down there."

Rusty came through the curtains five minutes later, "hey Mom."

"Hey Rusty, look they will be taking her to her room soon. I'll be back as soon as possible. Is that her activity bag?"

"Yeah Uncle Pro..ven..za, brought it," he rolled his eyes.

Sharon smiled, "he's such a softy."

"He feels terrible that something he said caused the trouble."

"If it hadn't been him it would have been someone else. In any case it's over now. Sophia Rose is here. Now I have to go find her."

"Do I have to...um...rub her back?"

"No, just be here in case she wakes up." With that Sharon rushed towards the NICU nursery she saw a knot of people in front of the windows. She looked for Emily and Ricky, they were in the corner talking with Andy who had Sophia in the crook of his arm. "What is going on?" She reached for the baby and Andy gave her to her.

"Well, your daughter Emily missed her calling."

Sharon's brow wrinkled. "Don't talk in riddles please, spit it out. What happened?"

"Well, we couldn't find Sophia in her crib. When we arrived we saw a woman dressed in Sponge-bob scrubs and a face-mask carrying a tiny baby out of the NICU nursery. We didn't know what Sophie looked like, so we didn't realize it was her at first. Once we did we remembered she wasn't going in the right direction to be taking the baby to you. So we started asking people if they'd seen her as we went towards the exit doors. Once we got outside we saw her heading towards a car. Emily took off running. When she got to the her, she stood between the car and the woman. She started talking to her asking her name and what the baby's name was. She asked to hold her and the woman tried to refuse, but Emily told her that she was looking for our baby sister who had been kidnapped and if she didn't let her check her she would call the police. The woman shoved the baby at her and took off running like the devils of hell were after her. I tried to catch the woman but lost her.

"What did she look like Emily?"

"Not very tall, she looked to be about 5'3. She had dark hazel eyes and chestnut brown hair wrapped in a bun. She was wearing a pair of Spongebob scrubs with turquoise tennis shoes."

"Was She Caucasian or Latino or ...?"

"She was definitely Caucasian."

"What could she want with Sophia, I wonder?"

"I didn't get a chance to ask her that. Though I do want to ask this,

does every day have to be filled with this much drama?"

Sharon snorted with laughter, "such is the life of a police captain."

"Or at least this one."

The phone buzzed. Sharon fished it out of her pocket and handed it to Andy. "Hello, oh hi Rusty, room 301. Okay we are on the way up as soon as we make a detour. To NICU yes, she's fine we got the baby back. How is Savannah? Still asleep, good, we'll be there in ten. The whole team is there? Well, let them know we are on their way."

Sharon in her best Darth Raydor voice asked for the head of the NICU unit. "I know you have a lot of babies to look after, but my daughter was almost kidnapped. How is it there are no safeguards against this?"

The Charge Nurse replied nervously, "we have cameras, but not enough staff to make sure somebody doesn't make off with the babies. Especially if we don't know said baby is in danger. Also the person was dressed in scrubs and had a hospital identification tag.

"Someone will be here to get the recordings from those cameras. We didn't know she was in danger either. For now on I will be keeping Sophia with me. I need her crib, bottles, formula, and some diapers. My partner will be going to get the rest from home. Until our other daughter is released from the hospital, we'll be here in room 301. Also, do you know where I can get the Mandela nursing system?"

"I will write it down for you."

"Thank you."

"If you don't mind my asking, were you a good nurser? Or did you have trouble?"

"Yes, I was actually, I had no trouble with that. In fact it's one of the few things that went without a hitch, in my life back then. I produced more then enough milk for them up until they were one year old when I weaned them."

"Well, that is in your favor. Until the nursing system arrives practice, by giving her skin-to-skin contact with you while she is feeding with the bottle squirt a little on your own nipple and have her switch. You can use breast milk that has been donated, or formula with a syringe so the baby associates the taste with the suckling, just until the nursing system comes in the mail. You can choose to have it Fed-exed, I suppose. The skin-to-skin contact is very important to the bonding. I could see earlier that you knew what you were doing and felt confident about it. That goes a long way too. Good luck, also a combination of birth control pills and Domperidone help to stimulate lactation but since you were good at it once you may only need the stimulation over a period of time and the nursing system. Don't expect it to happen right away.

They rolled the crib and baby supplies to Savannah's room. They found her surrounded by the team, sitting up and playing with a Just Like Me Doll. There was a cake and balloons one of which said, it's a girl from earlier were on the table next to the bed. "Well, what's all this?"

"You know that sense of occasion we mentioned earlier? We never got to have our cake so we brought it over, and now we have an even bigger reason to celebrate!" Gushed Amy. "Ooh is this Sophia? Can I hold her?"

Before Sharon could answer. Savannah wrinkled her nose, "Ewww what's that smell? Did she do that? Good grief, I'm glad I gave her to you to take care of. That's awful!"

"Better be careful what you say Savannah or you will be changing diapers." Ricky joked.

Sharon shook her head, quickly and efficiently changed the baby's diaper and onesie. Then she disposed of the garbage and went to wash her hands. "Amy, you can hold her now, but I'll be feeding her soon. I'd offer to let you feed her but we are in the bonding stage and I don't want to confuse her. So you will have to wait for that, I'm sorry."

"Not a problem Captain, I can wait." She lifted her from the bassinet, "she is gorgeous and soo tiny. What does she weigh?"

"Five pounds and she is seventeen inches long. Savannah, Darling where did you get your new doll?"

"Aunt Patrice and Uncle Pro..ven..za and everybody else. They were afraid my Sharon Rose doll would break cuz it's bisque. So they gave me one I can carry around with me without breaking her, and she looks like me. See! Don't worry, I still love Sharon Rose, but she'll stay in my room. Where it's safe."

Sharon sat on the bed, "did you say thank you?"

"Yes, Ma'am"

"I haven't thanked you for my doll, yet have I? Thank You Savannah so very, very much! I couldn't love her more even if I had given birth to her myself. That goes for you too, my sweet girl. She kissed her on the cheek.

Savannah's face clouded for a moment, as she tried to puzzle out what Sharon meant about the doll, then she realized she meant Sophia and her face cleared. "Oh, you're welcome! Glad you like her. I worked. Really, really hard to make her." Sharon looked at her with a funny expression on her face, like she wasn't sure whether to reprimand her for her cheekiness or hug her for it. "What? Too soon?"

"Now, you sound like Ricky!" Sharon snorted, and playfully smacked her lightly on the arm.

Savannah laughed, "May we have some cake? I am starving!" After they'd all had their fill of cake and the baby started mewling to be fed.

Sharon decided the best way to clear the room was to give everybody assignments. "Alright everyone, back to the murder room. Buzz stop by the NIC unit and get the camera feed please," she said as she jiggled Sophia and gave her a knuckle to suck on, while she gave orders. "Emily I need you to go with them and describe the woman who took Sophia to a sketch artist."

"Wait a minute, I can draw the person if she describes her to me. See look what I did with Uncle Pro..ven..za," Savannah showed them a perfect rendition of Louie Provenza doing a crossword puzzle."

"That is beautiful darling, but you are not a trained sketch artist and I need..." Savannah pouted; Sharon blew out a breath but stuck to her guns. "I need a trained sketch artist, you can try later okay and you can see how close the two sketches are. Right now you need to rest. Ricky, Rusty and Andy I need you to go home and get some stuff for me. We'll need a bag for each of us Savannah, Sophie and me. You also need to get me a breast pump from the pharmacy or Wal-Mart, and don't forget the car seat for Sophie. Lieutenant, have you interviewed Mullaney yet?"

"No Captain, we postponed, it, when Savannah fell and went into labor."

"Well, set up another meeting for tomorrow please. I want this case closed and a deal set up before I officially go on leave again. Okay everybody out. Thank you for the sweet surprise and for Savannah's gift. See you tomorrow."

Sharon dropped into the recliner next to Savannah's bed, and started unbuttoning her blouse. She took a blanket and a ready-made bottle from the bassinet, which she put between her leg and the chair to warm it.

Taking a wet paper towel she had gotten from the bathroom and wiped off her breast, and then guided Sophia to her nipple. She winced a couple of times and bit her top lip but she kept reminding herself the bonding was important and worth the discomfort it caused. She let the baby suckle, making sure there was skin to skin contact while she squeezed milk from the bottle around her nipple and into the baby's mouth for a few minutes. Finally continuing skin-to-skin contact, she switched to the bottle to finish the feeding, propping the bottle onto her breast. Sophia finished the bottle after burping twice and suckling from Sharon before and after.

As Sharon looked from Sophia she realized Savannah was watching. "Why are you doing that if it hurts so much?"

"Because I'm trying to create a bonding experience for us both."

"But if it hurts you, why do it?"

"The hurt goes away, at least you get used to the feeling. But the bonding, the connection is important to the relationship between mother and child. It helps me and it helps her."

"You didn't nurse me and we are bonded. Aren't we?"

Sharon smiled, "Oh yes, we bonded alright. Rusty and I are bonded in a different way then you and I. Different circumstances promote different kinds of bonding but each and every experience is important. Look you need to rest. Close your eyes."

"Could you lay with me for a little while?" She asked plaintively.

Andy came in then with three bags. She kissed him to thank him. "Honey would you hold Sophia for a little while?"

"Of course."

"Did you put a nightgown in here?"

"Sure I did. I brought your matching blue and white polka-dot nightgowns, your tan sweater, our pillows and those fleece blankets you two like. Also two changes of clothes and those fleece socks you got at CVS. Did I do good?"

"You did wonderfully. What would I possibly do without you?"

"I hope we never find out. I also brought some sweats for myself, two changes of clothing for me, and air mattress we can share if her bed becomes too uncomfortable. Ricky and Rusty are at home waiting for Emily. I think that covers everything."

"Mommy!" Savannah cried out as a nurse came in to check her vitals.

"Let's change our clothes okay? Could you help us get her nightgown on please?" Sharon asked as she pulled the curtains around the bed. The nurse nodded and unhooked Savannah from her IV, while Sharon helped Savannah into her nightgown. Then she hooked her back up. Something about the woman sent Sharon's alarm bells ringing. She was just about to put medication into Savannah's IV, when Sharon stopped her.

Sharon said in a very Darth Raydor voice, "I need to see your identification before you do that. Forgive me, but my youngest daughter was almost kidnapped today by someone dressed up like a nurse so I am not overly trusting right now. Also you haven't spoken a word to my daughter or me about what you are doing. So please show me your identification or I am calling security! As a matter of fact I am doing that anyway." Suddenly without warning the woman pushed Sharon as hard as she could. Not having a enough time to brace herself Sharon fell hitting the side of the bed with her forehead and slammed into the floor on her left side. Andy placed the baby in bed with Savannah and tried to help Sharon, but she screamed, "get her! I am all right. Gooooo!"

"Mommy, Mommy!"

Sharon got up from the floor with difficulty, "I'm fine baby. I'll be fine." Another Nurse came in and Sharon put her hand up to stop her from touching her. "Please, contact Patrice Perry for me and Lieutenant Louis Provenza." She realized her phone was broken and their numbers were in her phone. She had them memorized, but the way her head hurting she was having a hard time remembering them. Sharon looked at her phone, it laid broken on the floor. She let out a breath, and shook her head wincing as she did. It's a good thing she had a good insurance plan.

"Savannah, is your phone in your activity bag?"

"Yes."

"Call Uncle Louie or Provenza or whatever and Aunt Patrice please. Tell them I need them ASAP and also call Dr Beverly. Sharon was beginning to feel dizzy and she lowered herself into the chair. She had a cut on her forehead right below her hairline it was bleeding and it was making her feel lightheaded.

Her rib felt like it was bruised she also felt like she may have hurt her left arm. It hurt something fierce. She kept biting her lip to keep from crying out loud and scaring the children.

Andy came back, "I caught her! Just as she was about to jump from the roof, Tao and Julio have her and are taking her to booking. Sharon honey, are you listening Sharon?"

"Yes, I'm listening, please not so loud! You'll wake the baby."

Patrice came in just then. Followed by Ricky Rusty and Emily. "Did you hit your head Sharon?"

"Yeah, I think on the way to the floor she hit it on the bottom of the bed."

Patrice could see by the way Sharon moved she was in a great deal of pain and not just from her head. "What else hurts, Honey?"

"My whole left side feels like it's on fire but it's just bruised. I'll be fine."

"Pardon me, if I don't take your word for it. Beverly is finishing up with her last surgery, she'll be up in a little while. Meanwhile, I'm taking you somewhere I can fix you up and then to X-Ray."

"Andy, come with us. Louie, Ricky, Rusty and Emily guard the children. Don't let any nurses or doctors come in that don't identify themselves right off the bat." Patrice walked Sharon to a gurney and Andy gently put her on it. She grabbed his hand and held on tight. There were tears in her eyes. "What is going on Andy? Two incidents in a matter of three hours! My babies! I don't want to leave them, but I...I couldn't protect them even if I stayed."

"I called Lieutenant Cooper and he's bringing some guys from his SIS squad and they will protect them. They'll be fine."

Patrice put a needle that Sharon didn't see coming in her forehead, to numb it and then started sewing it closed. It was a small gash that only needed 5 stitches. "This is why I hate hospitals, nurses and doctors you know that right. Present company excluded of course."