authors note:thank you for the reviews, and for sticking with me through this story, i appreciate it : ), here's the final chapter, i hope you guys enjoy it. I used a little part from grey's anatomy because writing this chapter, my mind kept drifting back there. lol
-every man is afraid of something, that's how you know his in love, when his afraid to lose you.
She did it, she made it 92 more hours, almost 4 days. The baby got bigger during those hours and the chances for survival got greater, Kate on the other hand got weaker. Jack sat in the chair by her bed, holding her hand the whole time, the only time he moved was when she asked him for something, secretly she'd sometimes ask on purpose to take his mind off the baby and put it on something else, something unimportant, like orange juice. The doctors came in every hour on the hour, and Mark followed them, they always keep a neutral expression, the nurses on the other hand, would wear sympathetic faces, Kate was fine until they came in, then she was scared, but as if feeling her fear, Jack would squeeze her hand at those times and then she was okay.
On hour 93, she finally managed to convince Jack to close his eyes, he was out as soon as he did. His back arched over from the chair to the bed, while his head layed beside their intangled hands, she couldn't help but smile at the calming expression he wore, only when he was asleep, she ran her fingers through the dark hair on his head, and then the door opened, it was Mark
"How'd you manage to get him to sleep?" He asked, nodding over to his sleeping friend
Kate shrugged with a smile "It wasn't an easy task"
The pair laughed, and it woke Jack up right away, lifting his head off the bed, and stretching out his back, once he was fully aware, Mark looked back at Kate
"How are feeling Kate, anything we should be worried about?" He asked, his tone professional
She shook her head, a tried her best to give him a weak smile "I feel the same as the last time you asked me that, Dr. Silverman"
From his spot on the chair, Jack couldn't help but smile, remembering his first encounter with Kate, Mark laughed too "I'm just going to do a quick check up, okay make sure everything ticking the way it should"
He received a nod from Kate, and walked over to the other side of the bed, starting his check-up. About halfway through his routine, Kate's eyes closed and the monitor began to beep.
"What the hell is going on?" Jack asked, his eyes glancing at the monitor, and his heart starting to beat fast,
Mark shook his head, swearing under his breath "Her heartbeat is going up, dammit"
Jack's eyes were fixed on this monitor, these numbers that kept getting higher and higher, he looked back at Kate, then at Mark "Mark, do something, now!" He yelled
In a rushed scramble another doctor and a nurse came rushing into the room, pushing Jack into the corner of the room by the door. The other doctor looked at the number on the monitor and then at Jack quickly, "Get him out of here" He ordered
A nurse came to guide Jack outside, but he wasn't having any of that, she tried again and finally Mark came in, and pushed him outside the room, closing the door behind them
"What the hell is going on in there Mark, you have to let me back in there" He shouted, but Mark kept his hands firmly planted on Jack's shoulders, holding him back
Mark shook his head "You need to cool off, Man take a breath alright" He said, Jack turned away, running a hand through his hair
When he turned back, his breath was hitched and his chest was still puffing, his brown eyes were filled with water again "What's happening to her?"
Taking a breath, "The same thing that happen when she was brought in, the baby's heartbeat is conflicting with her own, causing hers to rise, and rise fast" He explained
"So what do we do now?" He asked
"Now, you need to make the decision, do you want us to take the baby out?" He asked
Jack's breath got caught in his throat, and he swallowed down a lump "What should I do, Mark?", he asked, his eyes pleading with him, to just tell him what the right answer was
"I can't tell you that Jack, I can tell you that because of the extra hours, the baby's chances went up about 11 percent, giving it about a 20- 45 percent chance of surviving, but if we don't take the baby right now Jack, Kate doesn't have those numbers, her's are far worse" He told him, patting his back, as he turned around and let tears fall down his face
Jack looked over at him "What would you do, Mark?"
The doctor gave a typical professional answer, and Jack shook his head "I need you to not answer me like a doctor right now, I need you to answer me like, I'm the guy who took a punch for you when we were kids, and I need you to tell me what I should do, If that was Marie in there, what would you do?"
The doctor gave him a sad smile "I don't know" He answered honestly
Jack sighed "How am I supposed to choose, there's one that I'm just getting to know, and she's this incredible person, and the other one, I haven't even meet yet but I already love her, so much"
They heard people scrambling in the room, and Mark looked at Jack, his hand on his shoulder "Jack, I need you to give me an answer"
He looked down at the ground, swallowing a sob, as he thought about his options, and he lost in both of them, with tears falling down his cheeks, he said "Save her life, Save Kate"
The moment he answered, they were pushing Kate down the hallway, through the doors to the operating room. They had been in there for awhile, and Jack sat in the waiting room with his mother, Claire had went home because she had Aaron but told him to call if he needed anything. It felt like he'd been sitting there for an eternity waiting for someone to come out and tell what was going on, sitting there he realized that it was so much easier to be the one in the operating room, the one with a life in your hands, that was easy compared to this, to waiting, to not knowing. It was hell.
Mark finally came out, his expression wasn't giving anything away on how the procedure went, he came over to them and took off his mask
"What happen?" Jack stood and asked, before the doctor could say anything
"It went well, we managed to control Kate's heart rate after we took out the baby, she's sleeping now but she's stable and we belive she'll be just fine" He started
Jack swallowed hard "What about the baby?"
Mark gulped "She's small, Jack"He stated simply, following it up with an explanation " She isn't quite 2 pounds, and at the stage she was in, her organs were still maturing, her lungs would have started to produce Surfactant, which helps to prevent her lungs from sticking together, helping her breath after the birth, we are monitoring her very closely because we still aren't sure she produced enough to do the job"
Jack blow out a big breath, his hands on his hips, eyes watery, and Mark put a hand on his shoulder "But she is alive, she's a fighter, man"
Jack, nodded slowly, and small smile coming to play on his lips, "Can I see her?"
Mark nodded, he couldn't go into the room yet, but she was in front of the window, Jack took a breath, looking at the name card on the front, reading baby Shephard, and for the first time he realized they never picked out a name for her, Kate still didn't know it was a her, looking above it, he saw her, she was so tiny, not much bigger than a toy doll, he felt his chest tighten at all the wires and machines that were attached to her, he felt someone come up behind him and touch his arm, turning around he saw his father
"Is that her?" He asked, poiting to the baby, and he recieved just a nod from Jack
Christian, squeezed his sons arm "She is beautiful, Jack"
He nodded again, and choked out "She's small"
He gave Jack a sad smile "You did good today, Jack"
Shaking his head, and biting down on his bottom lip "I don't feel good,right now" He said
"Maybe, not yet, but I have faith that, that little girl is going to be just fine, I'm proud of you Jack" He told him, and Jack gave him a half hearted smile, looking back at his little girl
He stood watching the baby for a while, he wasn't really sure how long. Then he went up to Kate's room, figuring she'd probably be awake now and wondering where he is. He opened the door, and she was laying on her back, her eyes were only half open and she looked a little dazed, then she looked over at him, and was suddenly awake again
"Jack" She mumbled out
He smiled at her, trying his best to give her a real smile, and walked over to sit on the end of the bed, his eyes were filled with tears again, and she reached for his hand the moment he sat down "How you feeling?" He asked, almost in a whisper
Kate just smiled, and in a jagged voice said "Why did you tell them to take the baby out Jack?"
"To save your life" He answered, he knew she'd want to have this conversation, but he didnt expect it so soon
She was crying now "Why?, you wanted this baby so much, and i've done nothing but try to get rid of it, why would you choose that?"
He thought it over, bringing his hand to her face, to wipe away the tears that were falling from her green eyes, he smiled at her "Because I love you"
She smiled back at him, and turned her cheek more towards him warm palm, she laughed a little as she spoke "I tried not too, but I love you too"
Laughing he brought his head down to her, and kissed her lips softly, he felt tears on his lips and he wasn't sure if they were hers or his, but it didnt matter. They pulled away, hands locked together, their foreheads still touching.
The baby had to stay in the hospital, in the NICU for a little over 9 weeks after she was born. The nurses first task was to get her to eat, which wasn't exactly easy, they were trying everything, but she was stubborn like Jack, and a fighter just like Kate, but eventually they got her to lache the bottle and eat something without any machines. The doctor's learned that she produced enough Surfactant to seperate her lungs, but it took about a week and a half before they were confident enough to take her off the breathing machine, but when they did, her little chest floated up and back down, then up again all by it self. A few days later they got to take her home.
They named her Hannah Shephard.
Hannah meant, blessed by God, and that's exactly what she was.
end note: It's over, and i'm a little sad about it, but you can all breath now because I didn't let anyone die this time, ; ) I really did enjoy writing this story and I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. I don't think i'll write anymore stories, just because I have to let go of lost, because it's making me crazy. lol. Anyways for the final time, let me know what you think, hit the button ; ).