it's here! Hope you enjoy, next one is on the way!

x layla

The minute Clara pulled the baby out, Jack could tell something was wrong. Katherine wasn't as responsive. Her eyes began to glaze, her breathing slowed and her familiar crushing grip of his hand grew limp. He remembered noticing her eyes shut, and immediately yelling at Clara to do something. With Darcy helping her swaddle and clean the baby in their arms, her mouth parted and she seemed to panic. "Darcy, take the baby."

She shuffled over and held two fingers to Katherine's throat, searching for a pulse. She found it thank god, weak but still there. "She's not dead. We need to keep her monitored though, she's lost a lot of blood." From her steel dish of instruments, Clara took a vial of an amber liquid and an empty syringe. She filled the syringe up and measured it with a squinted eye before lifting Katherine's dressing gown and injecting the thick, sharp needle into her hip.

"What the hell is that?"

"Oxytocin. They use it in the hospitals to stop bleeding and constrict the uterus. I believe something's ruptured during the delivery and she's suffering from a postpartum haemorrhage because of it."

He didn't understand a word she said, but still Jack nodded, however he couldn't take his eyes off his wife's limp form.

"Jack," Darcy grinned from the bottom of the bed. He was smiling at the bundle in his arms. "Come look."

Clara gave him a reassuring nod. She would take care of Katherine. He made his way over and carefully took the bundle from Darcy. Swaddled tightly, a pink cheeked, delicate lipped and dark lashed face protruded from all the woollen blankets. "A girl?" He asked.

Darcy nodded. "She's healthy. Got a strong pair of lungs according to Clara."

"Course she does," Jack chuckled, rocking his daughter slightly. "She's a Kelly. They're always yellin about somethin."

The baby girl fussed in his arms and he tried to hush her gently. "Hey, princess. Take it easy." His gentle, warm tone sent her snoring easily. As she slept, Jack noticed that she was the most heavenly thing he had ever set his eyes on, apart from her mother of course, and that he was instantly in love.

"Well we'd better leave you two alone for a bit. If Katherine stirs or you notice something wrong call for me." Clara reassured. She came over though to the baby before she left and planted a big kiss on her thick tuft of dark hair. His Black Irish genes must have been held accountable for that. He also noticed before that her eyes were his. Katherine did however get a look in with her nose and lips, but the rest of her was all Jack. As the door shut gently, he let out a long sigh. His heart crept towards Katherine; he wanted to show her so badly what they had been waiting to see for all these months. Instead, he carefully shifted the baby in his arms and sat down in the armchair they had placed next to Katherine's side. He'd used it through the delivery to relieve himself as it had gone on for so long and was a sore reminder of when she was conscious.

He had never put it into reality something like this could happen. He'd of course been aware it existed, for there had been friends of friends and those who kept themselves discreet in the dark of the Manhattan night that had slipped away the same way Katherine had. He just never really thought it would happen to her.

Looking at the innocent, soft and rounded face however cradled into him, he snapped back his drifting reverie. She wasn't dead, she couldn't be. Clara even said so. Their daughter needed a mother and there was no way that Katherine would miss out on being that for her.

"Don't you worry kid," he whispered and kissed her tiny fist. "Ya gonna be able to say hi to ya mom real soon."

The minute Clara and Darcy walked down stairs they were greeted by a much bigger, more excited crowd than they had seen when she had dismissed them all. The rest of the boys from the lodging house had made themselves present alongside Katherine's younger sisters. The living room was crowded, bursting with grins, all of which dampened Clara and Davey's hearts as they thought back to Katherine's condition. Clara could see Davey between Maggie Pulitzer and his brother Les sporting an expression that mixed between excited and confused. He could tell something wasn't right by her and Darcy's messy hair, disheveled clothes and weary faces.

"Is there a baby?" Crutchie piped up.

"Yes." Darcy nodded, wiping the sweat off his brow.

Angie leaned forward and elbowed Spot. "Boy or girl?"

Clara looked to Darcy. "A girl. But-"

"Damn it! There goes my two bucks!"

"When can we see the little ankle biter?" Called Race.

"Yeah, c'mon Clara! We've all waited nine months to see the kid." Specs added.

Almost everyone backed him, voicing their opinions loudly until Davey frowned as he locked eyes with Clara looking like she was exploding inside and bellowed, "Stop!"

The noise hushed. Clara bit her lip. "Katherine's not holding up too well."

It was like a weight had drop through the floor, pulling down everyone's jaws slightly along with it. "The baby's fine. But she, uh, she lost a lot of blood. I think it's best that we give her and Jack and the baby space for the moment."

There were still no words. Some shuffles of trousers and skirts, a couple clicks of heels against the floor, but no one had the courage to elaborate on what Clara was getting at. Katherine needed to spend the remainder of her time with her family, even if that meant shutting out the rest of her friends.

The group began to disband, each other nodding to one another murmuring a few short reassuring comments. "She'll make it through" and "it's Kathy we're talkin about" seemed to stand louder than the rest.

When everyone had left, Clara and Davey remained, scrubbing dirty towels in a pail of water at the kitchen table.

"Are you alright?" He asked her softly after moments of still silence.

Clara squeezed her towel into a long twist, letting the stained water trickle into the pail. "I'm ok."

"I'm here to listen you know? You look upset. You should talk."

"And say what Davey? Confess that my actions have resulted into what could possibly be the death of my best friend? A wife, a daughter, a mother?"

"I just don't want you to bottle it all up."

She wiped away a tear. "Sorry, that was mean."

Davey rubbed her hand, kneading circles into her tendons. "It's ok. I'm used to being Jack's personal punching bag for all his emotional baggage."

She giggled slightly at this. "How's he holding up?"

"Better than I thought. He's crazy about that little girl, though. I think he sees Katherine in her."

"To me she was all Jack."

"I think she's the perfect muddled up version of the two of them."

Clara smiled and let her towel sink to the bottom of the pail. She dried her hands off on her skirt and went to kiss Davey's cheek. "Can you stay tonight?"

"I'm sure I can work something out."

"I'm going to need all the help I can get."

"And ya mom's favourite colour is lilac. And daddy's favourite is blue." Jack explained softly to his daughter in the same position they had been in all night. It was very early in the morning and he was trying to get her to sleep. It wasn't as if she was crying, she just wouldn't close her eyes which gave Jack another reason to stay up and look over Katherine. He had started telling her things about her parents for the past hour; before it was their favourite foods, then their favourite animals and now it had changed to colours.

"Y'know, ya still ain't got a name princess." He kissed her nose. "Ya mom liked Victoria and Charlotte, but I reckon they're too prissy for a Kelly girl. How about... Jessica?" He looked at her and raised his brows. "Maybe...Lillian? Or Lilly?" She slipped her tongue out and Jack chuckled. "No? Not Lilly? How about... Lizzie? Ya mom likes it because Elizabeth sounds all proper and formal in front of her parents and we can call you Lizzie when they ain't around. That sound like a deal kiddo?" She gurgled and Jack swore he could detect a smile on her delicate little lips.

Just as he pressed a big kiss to her forehead, the door creaked open and an unkept looking Marie and Joseph Pulitzer came through, shock on their faces as they rushed to their daughter's side.

"Speak of the devil." He whispered to Lizzie.

"Oh Jack! What happened?" Marie cried as she wept over Katherine's figure beneath the duvet.

"Clara said it was severe bleeding. She's stable now though." Jack had to say it through his teeth. He wasn't really sure if that was true, but he knew that he couldn't just upright say that it wasn't to their faces.

"Oh thank god." She caught sight of Lizzie and her tears turned into those of happiness. "Is this my grand baby?"

Jack smiled and passed the baby to her, in which she gurgled and blinked calmly enjoying all of the attention and new people she was meeting. She must have been bored spending all of her time with her father, Jack thought.

"Isn't she beautiful," she cooed, her eyes glazing with adoration. "Joseph look at her." Joseph sighed and pressed a kiss to Katherine's temple, before proceeding to come and look at his granddaughter.

Marie held Lizzie tight whilst her husband offered one of his rare smiles. He protruded his index finger to brush her cheek but it was quickly seized by all five of the infant's fingers tightly.

Jack laughed behind the back of his hand. Pulitzer flickered his gaze towards him, still upholding the smile thank god. "She's got a strong grip."

"Like her mother's." He replied. "Does she have a name?"

"Elizabeth. Lizzie. That's what Katherine wanted. She ain't got no second names yet; Katherine wanted her input in that I'm sure."

Marie took a long breath and turned her head to Katherine. She looked gaunt lying in the bed. The once rosy pinch of her cheeks had flooded and her flesh resembled the colour of marble. Veins in her eyelids stood out in their prominent blue hue and beneath them dark circles ringed her under eyes. Her head was propped up against two of the plush pillows which tilted her chin up, where her cracked lips parted acutely. Jack wondered if their baby understood why her mother was lying there; did she even understand that she was her mother?

Marie spoke softly. "You don't need to lie to us Jack." Her words shocked him. "I'm a mother of many years and I know how these things happen so often in our day and age. There is no guarantee for a woman with child to make it to the end. I've seen many a time when its even come to the decision between saving the child or the mother. I know that this is the likely case for our Katherine. But please, listen to us. We want the best upbringing for our granddaughter. Let us take care of the finances; you even know yourself you can't support her on your own salary."

Jack stiffened his expression. "I appreciate the offer, but I can't. Katherine ain't dead, nor is she going to be and I don't need you to tellin me that I ain't up to the task of bein a good father!" His voice raised itself to the point where he was afraid he had scared Lizzie. She however just looked at him with confusion, the same way Joseph and Marie did. Jack ran a hand through his unruly dark hair and took back Lizzie. "I'd appreciate it if you left me with my wife and daughter."

Pulitzer tightened his mouth into a hard line before trying to advance on Jack. "Now she's my daughter too so don't you go telling me when or when not I can see her-"

Marie took his arm and held him back. "Joseph he's right. We need to let them be. We've had Katherine's pleasure for seventeen years, but this little one, well she's hardly known her at all." Pulitzer grumbled something under his breath but obeyed his wife. At the turn of the door, Marie smiled at Jack. "We'll check in with you soon."

It had rolled into the next day's afternoon and Katherine had been out for almost a day. While Jack remained by her side, Davey and Clara took Lizzie briefly downstairs to give her a bottle of formula. It had dawned on them when she began to wail profusely that she hadn't ever been fed since the moment she was born. With Katherine out of action, they had to compromise with the powdered formula Clara had sent Davey to buy from the pharmacy. Down in the kitchen, Davey held the newborn in his arms whilst Clara tried her best to get the bottle into her mouth.

"Sweetheart," she pleaded. "You have to drink it. I have nothing else to give you."

"Why doesn't she want it?" Davey frowned trying to keep the struggling baby upright.

"It's not from Katherine that's why."

"How would she even know the difference?"

"Babies just understand these things." Lizzie had had enough and tossed her little head away to Davey's chest. "Lizzie!"

"God she's like Jack. Stubborn as ever."

"And Katherine. I hope that Lizzie turns out not be double the stubbornness they both have." Clara shook her head, sighing. She took the baby from Davey and bounced her gently against her chest. "Sweetheart don't you worry. Your mommy's gonna be with you as fast as you can say milk formula's awful."

"Well seeing as she's only about a day old-" Davey began.

"Shut up Davey." She smiled though and leant into him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They looked down at their friends' daughter who's eyelids began to grow heavy. She shifted her little mouth into a yawn, and drifted off to sleep in Clara's arms.

"She needs to be fed." Clara murmured. "She's going to get malnourished."

"Katherine will come to it soon, won't she?"

"I gave her the oxytocin to stop the bleeding. I just hope she hadn't already lost too much."

"She'll be ok. She just needs rest. To recover."

Clara nodded. "Hopefully." She raised her lips into a smile watching Lizzie trying to shift to get comfortable. "But look at their baby Davey."

She felt his lips at her jaw. "Makes you want one yourself."

Clara raised her brows and turned into him. "Are you saying we should have our own baby?"

"Maybe not just yet." He laughed. "Marriage first, then perhaps a baby."

"Marriage?" She smiled, her powder blue eyes sparkling.

He kissed her softly and instantly. "After all of this blows over."

"David, I don't know-"

"Oh come on! Jack and Katherine did it. We can't be all that different, can we?"

"This is a bad time and you know it. If Jack hears a word that you and I are engaged it's going to crush his heart. We're practically rubbing salt into his wounds."

Davey rubbed her biceps and kissed her again, this time lingering a little longer, enough so that Clara found it difficult to pull away. "Wait for me then." He whispered into her.

She smiled, content with his solution. "Okay."

"Alright kiddo," Jack sighed, tucking Lizzie into her blush chiffon draped bassinet that evening. It had been Katherine's parents gift at the baby shower and hadn't been used as Jack had been just sleeping with her in his arms. "You sleepy yet?"

Lizzie gnawed on her hand and flashed her father with her big green eyes. She let out a little grunt which Jack chuckled at and tickled her chin then kissed her forehead. "G'night my love."

He padded his way to the armchair and sat down tiredly. He threw the woollen blanket from the couch over his body and curled up settling himself to go to sleep as well. He managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of rest before he was awoken to the slam of the doors to the balcony. His eyes were shot open wide and he immediately looked to the bassinet to check if Lizzie was still sleeping soundly. There was no noise or movements from behind the chiffon so he assumed she was. The doors still rattled from the wind outside and he had to rub his eyes before getting up to close them. Once he saw that they were locked, Jack leant his temple against the glass panel, shutting his eyes for a moment.

"Jack?" He thought he was dreaming when he heard it. Raspy and so unbelievably warm and familiar, he knew he wasn't. When he turned around to the bed, he grinned with hope. Tears pooled in his eyes and threatened to spill. Katherine was awake.