Author's Note: Okay, sorry I left you at such a cliff-hanger last week but I thought you would like a chapter with an abrupt ending rather than no chapter at all… So, here ya go! Oh, and sorry I couldn't get this up earlier, but happy birthday Ankhesanamun! Hope this is a good late birthday present. ;-) Also thanks for the reviews! They always help.
Chapter 21
After about two hours and a lot of insisting from Daniel, Peg went back to the Pierre Hotel for the rest of the party. She was going to stay and wait with her friend's father-in-law in the waiting room, but when it got to be about midnight Daniel saw that she was getting restless and even more jittery than he was getting, and decided that she needed to go have some more fun, no matter what she thought. "Daniel, you don't want to wait forever in this tiny grey room with old magazines for company and uncomfortable chairs by yourself," she had tried to convince him that she was fine, but it didn't work.
"I'll be fine Peg, really." He flashed a small smile, even though he felt nauseous with the amount of worry he was trying to hold down. "Why don't you go back to the party?"
The petite woman that was still dressed up in her best dress sighed, "I don't want to just leave you by yourself in here. Sure, I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to be alone," her eyes were soft and understanding.
The look in Peg's eyes made Daniel's stomach stop fluttering for a split second, seeing as how it was a familiar look. But considering it was one that Margaret gave him every once in awhile and more so during the last couple of days whenever he asked her if she was okay, the butterflies returned with a vengeance. The old man's shoulders fell a little and a very small, comforting grin spread across his face, "Go back to the party Peg, I'll be fine here."
"Only if you're sure."
"I am," he nodded.
"Alright," the fair-skinned young lady grabbed her purse and donned her thin black summer jacket. Before leaving the waiting room, she turned around and returned the comforting smile, "Good luck…and tell Margaret I'm preying for her."
The expectant grandfather nodded, "Thanks, I will."
There was one more thing that the lady in the long green dress needed to say, "About what we talked about earlier…I'll see what I can do about getting you and Margaret in on it too. Maybe even the little one, depending on when that happens of course."
Daniel chuckled, "That'd be great."
With that, she turned around and was gone down the hospital corridor. The old man returned to his seat and checked his watch for what must have been the hundredth time.
After about half an hour, and about sixty more quick glances to his watch, Daniel jumped when a young, curly-haired doctor stood before him. "Sorry Doctor Pierce." The young man wore a white hospital coat and looked genuinely sorry for startling the older gentleman.
"Quite alright," he stood up, a little more anxiously than he wanted to seem. "So, what's going on?"
"I just thought I'd come out and give you an update." Daniel searched his face for any signs of good news. There was at least one positive sign. The man's eyes weren't clouded over in a way that doctors always seemed to have when they gave bad news, something the old doctor of Crabapple Cove had noticed in med-school residency. He still looked worried though, something that wasn't exactly common for big city doctors about a single patient. "Your daughter-in-law's about two centimeters dilated but we've given her a tocolytic medication to slow down her labor." The grandpa-to-be nodded slightly in understanding, "It'll really only be affective for a maximum of two days or so. Unfortunately, she will be delivering early…"
"Yeah," the grey haired man nodded again, knowing that would come. He was hoping that her back pains were just back pains, but knew that wasn't likely. "So, what kind of a risks are we talking about here?" Being a doctor, he knew what kind of risks there were, but thinking there could be a loophole somewhere, he asked anyway.
The curly-haired doctor shrugged, "As far as we can tell, Margaret's just fine. Her blood pressure is a little high, but it's at the level where it can be easily treated. The baby's heart rate is steady, but at this stage of the game it's lungs aren't fully developed so that'll probably be a big problem for the little one after it's born." Digging into his the pocket of the tuxedo he still wore, Daniel was able to relieve a little bit of his stress by playing with an extra button while he listened to the man in front of him. "Fortunately, this hospital is equipped with all of the new technology that could really help with pretty much any problem there may be." According to his name tag, the man's name was Randy Ortell.
"Do you have any idea why she's so early?" asked the older gentleman, playing with the button in his pocket.
Doctor Ortell shook his head, "We have no idea. Personally I think the baby might just be impatient."
Daniel chuckled, "With the parents that it has, that wouldn't surprise me at all." He paused, "Is there any way I could see her?"
"Of course. She's a little drowsy from the meds, but she's been asking to see you." Randy seemed to have a bit of an air about him that most big city doctors didn't have. He was friendly and warm and had some good-hearted humor that a lot of doctors wouldn't even try after seeing about a hundred patients a day. "Here, right this way."
After being lead through a very long, dark, and actually pretty empty hallway, the Pierce man stood in front of a light brown, heavy wooden door with the normal hospital appearance. It had silver metal trim and a brass holder for a card that said Pierce, Margaret as well as a lot of medical information. There was a small silver number 2 on the door also. He hesitated a moment, but knocked lightly before opening the door, not wanting to wake his daughter-in-law if she was asleep.
She wore one of the blue and grey hospital gowns, her beautiful pink party dress hanging in the small closet opposite the bed. Her golden hair fell loose around her shoulders and she was propped up in the hospital bed, the back raised to where it was comfortable for her. Daniel couldn't be sure if she was asleep or not. She faced away from him, either gazing out the 29th story window at the pretty great view, (oddly enough of the Pierre Hotel and a couple other big buildings), or she was asleep and, to make sure he didn't wake her if it was the latter of the two, he walked quietly to the side of her bed and sat down in the comfortable chair. He reached over to where her right hand was sitting amongst the blankets and lightly covered it with his, letting her know that he was there.
"Dad?" she spoke quietly, not really opening her eyes or facing his direction.
"Yeah, I'm here," her father-in-law replied in the same quiet tone. "How do you feel?"
Turning her head so she was facing him, Daniel saw that she was crying a little. "Scared," she sniffled back a few tears.
The salt and pepper haired man got up and carefully sat on the edge of the bed, Margaret's hand still in his. He smiled comfortingly and teased, "Where's that rock hard Major Houlihan that Hawkeye wrote about to me all the time?" She smiled and started wiping away her tears.
"She's been too busy working and putting her baby at risk…" her small smile disappeared and she looked away from her husband's father.
The statement came as a shock to the man, "What?" he asked softly.
"You and Ben both wanted me to stop working for the time being, but no. I had to be my stupid, stubborn self and kept going until we left to come here. Sure I cut down to half days, but that just meant I worked even harder at home." She shook her head, feeling disappointed in herself. "Why can't I ever just take people's advice and not think I have to be so stubborn to get along in this world…?" The scared woman's tears started up once more, "And now it's not just me that I'm putting at risk, but a little life that I already love with all my heart. It's like I'm already failing at being a good mother."
Daniel's heart sank, hearing that the girl that he had grown to love like his own daughter felt the way she did. "Margaret don't say that," his eyes grew even softer, "You're gonna be a great mother and none of this is your fault." He reached over for the box of tissues that was on the side table and handed one to the crying woman, "Doctor Ortell said you're perfectly healthy and that wouldn't be the case if you've been working too hard. Doctor Bradford in Spruce Harbor even said you were the healthiest expecting mother he'd ever had to examine when you went in for your last check up." He pushed back a lock of golden hair out of the way for her that had fallen in front of her eyes while a small smile played on her lips.
Again, the smile disappeared, but this time a more confused look took it's place on her tired face. She wiped her eyes with the tissue again, "Then why would I go into labor so early?"
"You're a nurse. You know that babies either come early or late…never exactly when they're expected."
"Isn't that saying, 'three weeks early or three weeks late'?" she corrected, "It's a little more than three weeks early."
"Sometimes that's the saying, but in some cases it's earlier than even this." The man with loads of experience, from delivering most of the population of Crabapple Cove, laid a light hand on Margaret's stomach, "But in this particular case, I should have seen it coming."
"Huh?"
Daniel winked, "With a mother like you and a father like Hawkeye, I should have known that my grandbaby would be pretty impatient."
Margaret finally let a chuckle escape, putting her left hand where Daniel's had just been. "You're very right…" Feeling a small kick she smiled absentmindedly once more and drifted off into thoughts.
"You should really get some rest Maggie," he started to sit back down in the chair.
She shook her head, "I can't."
"Why not?" the old doc stood up, thinking maybe there was something urgent that he should know about.
Yet again, her smile faded and she bit her lip, staring across the room but not actually seeing anything. "Every time I close my eyes I see the same thing. I'm six years old again, sitting on this big green braided rug in the living room with my, at the time, four year old sister, hearing my mother scream upstairs…"
"Huh?" Sitting back down on the chair, he gently grabbed Margaret's hand again in support.
"I was really young at the time, but I still remember the look on my dad's face when mom was having pains. We were in the backyard at our tiny little house on one of the bases my dad was stationed at in Florida, and my mom just doubled over, screaming. That was the first and only time I've ever seen my dad look scared. All my sister and I knew was that the stork was going to visit in about three months, but we didn't know that it could come early."
"Your mom was pregnant?"
"Yeah," the blonde nodded, "about six months along. Dad helped her into the house and carried her upstairs. The doctor that was on the base only lived a couple of houses down from us and I remember Dad was yelling at me to run as fast as I could to go get him. I did as I was told since I really didn't want to have to go out behind the woodshed again, and I got the doctor. Four hours later, my sister and I are down in the living room trying to get answers out of our father as to what was going on, but he just kept yelling at us to be quiet.
"The doctor finally came down the stairs and told my dad that he had a son that weighed a little over a pound… They both went upstairs and since Rebecca and I wanted to know what the heck was going on, we snuck up there too."
"You had a brother?"
"For about an hour," she replied, a sad look in her eyes. "Rebecca and I heard the doctor talking with our parents, saying the baby had maybe a ten percent chance of making it past the first couple of hours. It wasn't making any noises or moving or anything and, since the walls and ceilings were thin, we knew he hadn't even cried when he was born. I remember how scared I was when I was able to sneak to the door to my parents' bedroom and look inside. The doctor had laid the baby on the bed after he had cleaned him and was examining this tiny…almost translucent little thing.
"And if I close my eyes for too long I see that again and it scares me even more so than I already am. When I was old enough to finally…comprehend what had happened…I've had this fear of having what happened to my little brother happen to a baby of mine. I still don't know how my parents made it through that day after the doctor took my little brother's lifeless body away…" Margaret's shoulders shook as she started crying harder than she had all day. Daniel's eyes were also very moist when he leaned over the bed and hugged the crying woman in his arms. In his shoulder, he was able to hear her continue, "But I never want to know what they were feeling."
"Shh…there there." Daniel tried to comfort the crying girl, but he knew it was a lost cause. She was scared, tired, and stressed about everything that was going on. "Everything's gonna be okay, I promise."
A half an hour later, the country doctor and nurse were both tired and could barely keep their eyes open. They chatted about different things, mostly the night that Hawkeye was born. Daniel had moved back down to his chair, but maneuvered it around so it was next to the bed like a dining room chair with a table. He did the fatherly thing, and gently rubbed his 'daughter's' hand comfortingly while they talked. She would laugh sometimes, although only half-heartedly. When it got to be around two in the morning, Margaret dozed off. Soon after, her 'supporter' migrated over to the small couch that was under the window and fell asleep in his tuxedo.
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Margaret sat in a chilly, grey room. She wore a soft yellow robe and sat in the middle of the small grey walls that made up the cold feeling space. In front of her was a small cart, padded with baby-blue blankets. Amongst the blankets was a small, restless little boy with a tiny white diaper fastened with silver baby-pins. He had thin, fuzzy black hair, covered mostly by a little blue hat. A nose that looked very similar to Hawkeye's poked out amongst his miniscule features, and when he opened his eyes, the young mother could see that they were bright blue with tiny little specks of gray in them, a mixture of hers and her husband's. Reaching a gentle hand out, she touched her small son's arm, surprised at how cold his soft skin was. He was pale and looked even more fragile than any other baby the nurse had ever seen. A tiny IV was in his foot and thin tubes seemed to be situated everywhere.
She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, seeing the little life in such a pitiful way. "Mommy's here," she whispered through the tears. "You're gonna be just fine. You're strong. It's in your blood."
Margaret felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up, expecting to see Daniel. Instead, she saw her husband in his class A's. They looked slept in and, in a way, so did Hawkeye. His eyes were cloudy and he looked a little older than normal, partly from traveling so far, and partly from worry. The woman gasped and stood up, "Ben," she spoke breathlessly and overwhelmed as he pulled her into his arms, making a few of her problems seem to go away. He was there. She started crying with a mixture of joy and sorrow, not really knowing how she could be feeling any joy with her tiny son the way he was. But her husband was there and she felt…relieved.
"Shhh…it's okay." Hawkeye spoke softly, rubbing his wife's back while looking into his son's eyes for the first time and instantly falling in love. "He's a Pierce, that makes him one heck of a fighter," the man stated, more to himself. Squeezing Margaret's shoulders a little, he added, "And he's a Houlihan, that makes him really tough."
The woman in her yellow robe wiped a few tears away, "You're right."
"I know I am." He flashed a small smile and ever so gently touched his son's cheek. "Hey little guy…I'm your dad."
"He looks just like you," Margaret stated, putting a hand on Hawkeye's back.
The man cocked his head, examining his tiny little boy, "He does, doesn't he?" Straightening up, he took his wife in his arms again and hugged her as much as he dared. "I missed you so much," his eyes looked tired but reflected all of his emotions.
Shaking her head, the blonde's eyes watered some more, "I just can't believe you're here…"
"Colonel Potter set it up with the Red Cross to send me home to be with you through all of this."
The young mother's lower lip started quivering, "You mean Colonel Potter doesn't think…" her voice got very strained from the oncoming tears as she continued, "that he'll make it?"
The handsome man shook his head, "No," he replied soothingly, "No, he just wanted me to be here with you. He couldn't stand the thought of you going through this alone…well, without me anyway." She nodded in understanding and laid her head on her husband's chest for the first time in months.
Turning her head so she could see her little boy she whispered, "I'm just so scared…"
"I know, so am I," his voice was raspy with emotion and he rested his chin on his wife's blonde hair. Suddenly, her grip tightened and a pained look spread across her face. "Margaret? Margaret…?"
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A contraction, much more intense than they had been before the tocolytic medication had been administered to her, seized Margaret's lower half. Grabbing the sides of the bed, she groaned loudly, throwing her head back in pain.
"Margaret?!" Now fully awake, Daniel sprang from the couch and stood by her bedside, giving her his support.
Letting go of the side of the bed, the woman, in plenty of pain, grabbed her father-in-law's offered hand. "Dad…I don't think the baby's gonna wait…" She was breathing hard and clenching her teeth, trying to get through the pain without screaming.
"I'll go get the doctor." The man was trying, very hard, to stay calm on the outside, but inside he was shaking like a leaf.
"Hurry!"
Daniel did as 'instructed' and hurried down the corridor to the main desk where he was just hoping Randy would be. The hallway had become a little more crowded despite the late, or rather very early hour, but he was able to weave through the people to find Doctor Ortell, thankfully where he thought he might be able to catch him. "Doctor!"
The young man looked up from his clipboard and a cup of coffee, "Doctor Pierce?" Noticing the panicked look in the old man's eyes, his own eyes took on a concerned look. Without even needing anything said, he knew what was going on. He turned to the young nurse behind the counter, "Nurse Josten, we're gonna need you in the second delivery room." Turning back to Daniel, there was a professional, yet a little bit of a worried look on his face, "Doctor I need to tell you something. The medication we gave your daughter-in-law is pretty new. We explained everything about it to her, and she still accepted."
"What's the problem?" Even more butterflies spread in the expecting grandfather's stomach, afraid that there was something horribly wrong with either his daughter-in-law or his grandbaby.
"Well, the drug has never been used with painkillers. Mrs. Pierce still agreed to it, but it'll be pretty tough for her, seeing as how this is her first time for all this." Biting his lip, he added, "I don't usually let men in the delivery room, but I think she'd feel better if you were in there with her…"
"Uh, yeah…maybe. Since Hawkeye can't be here…" He felt guilty, being able to eventually see what he knew his son would give anything to be there for, but knew Margaret would really appreciate the support of someone she actually knew and not just a random nurse.
"Well, come on then." With that, the two men hurried back to Margaret's room where she was finally a little bit relaxed, the pain slowly going away, even if it was only temporary. She was using the little bit of time to catch her breath when the two walked in. "Junior's not gonna wait any longer, huh?" The woman shook her head, starting to feel some more pain again. After checking her progress, the young doctor smiled, "Well you're progressing nicely. If the little one doesn't want to make me look foolish, I'd say you'll be meeting your son or daughter in a few hours." Seeing the blonde's nervous expressing he smiled under his mask, "Everything'll be okay Mrs. Pierce. After a little time in the pediatric ward you're baby will be just fine, as far as we can tell."
Twenty minutes and three contractions later, Margaret gasped and squeezed Daniel's hand a little tighter. "My water just broke…" her voice was strained and depicted her fear.
Dr. Ortell went over to the bed from where he was leaning on the wall across the room to give his patient a quick examination. "It won't be long now."
Panting, the soon-to-be-mother clutched at the side of the bed and squeezed her father-in-law's hand, "I gotta push!" she screamed.
Uh oh…sounds like baby Pierce is in a huge hurry now! Okay, so the medical stuff I'm not too sure about so I hope no one looks too much into that. I really don't know if the tocolytic medications would have been around in the fifties, but that's what I found while doing my research so I stuck with it. I just hope there aren't any doctors reading this! ;-) Or, if they are, they'll take into account that I'm no med student! But, I really hope you liked this chapter and I'm sorry it's so short. But, tell me what you thought! Oh, and I'm sorry it's kinda angsty…. I hope you don't mind. :-S
Merry Christmas! :-D
PS: I might not be able to update soon, so don't hate me too much for leaving you with a cliffy!