March, 28th Thursday
When Sofia woke up she needed a second to remember where she was. Hospital. Susan. She was a mother. Had a daughter. Susan was…where was she? The blonde got her prosthesis and left the bed. Yes, she could ring for a nurse and ask her to get Susan, but she wanted to see her daughter, where she was, in which bed she slept, get her herself into the room.
When she came to the baby ward, she looked for the next nurse to open the door for her. "Sorry, I'd like to see my daughter. Susan. I'm Sofia Curtis."
"Can I see your I.D. please."
"Sure." Tight security. Very good. She showed her I.D. and the nurse let her in.
"I get a colleague to open the door."
"Did she sleep?"
"Most times, yes."
"No problems?" Did she sound anxious? Or like any other mother, whose daughter slept the first night outside her womb. Away, from her mother.
"No problems. The doctor checked on her early this morning, she's fine."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"Denise!" The nurse called another nurse. "Could you assist me with the door?"
A few seconds later the door was open and the nurse could go into the room, where Susan slept in. Sofia had to wait outside, she wasn't allowed to go inside, for security reasons. The blue eyes of the blonde followed her to the bed and she smiled when she saw how her daughter was picked up. Asleep. Next to the little teddy bear, Sofia, Sara and Stephen had picked together as Susan's personal hospital protection.
"Here we go, Sleepy Beauty."
"Yes, she is beautiful." Sofia had to fight her tears when she took Susan in her arms. Her daughter was more than beautiful, she was…there were no words. "Come on, Sweety, I take you with me. Time to snuggle a little bit with your mother." She kissed the head of her baby. The short dark hair was a little bit curly. "I show you around." She whispered. So many years she dreamed about having her own baby in her arms, now this dream became reality. Her baby, Sara's and her baby, in her arms, asleep, well and taken care of by people, who seemed to love babies just as much as Sofia did.
When she came back into her room Lynn waited for her.
"Don't you have work to do, officer?" Sofia smiled when she saw her friend. What a nice surprise.
"I do, later. Changed shifts so I can come along and see this cute little girl." Lynn stepped next to Sofia, hugged her carefully and looked at Susan. "Oh, you're a cuty, I saw a few photos of you yesterday, live you look even better."
"She looks like Sara."
"Yes, there's no Don."
"Sara thinks Susan has Don's personality after she got her looks. Can you picture her as a Knicks fan?"
"No! I can't picture her this stupid. A Knicks fan, no way. She'll support the Lakers, we'll take care of that."
"Thanks. You heard that, Honey-Baby, we won't let him mess with you. No way. And when your grandparents from New York come and try to tell you the same about the wrong basketball team, don't listen to them."
"Right, Don's parents are coming over. I wonder for how many years they dreamed about their son having a child with you. Just like your parents did."
"My parents love my fiancé and are happy, Sara and me will get married. But they couldn't think of a better father for their granddaughter than our Yankee. And they will like his parents, a cop party. I wonder if somebody bought a little uniform for Susan."
"You didn't?" Lynn was surprised. After Sofia bought a little doctor and CSI uniform for Greg's twins, she thought, she got a cop uniform for her daughter too.
"Sara didn't let me. I'm sure mom has one, she wants a rookie and Sara can't deny her mother-in-law a wish after she'll be the babysitter."
"Beside looking cute your rookie can't do a lot at the moment."
"When you charm the crowd with your looks, so they stay calm and don't freak out, it's worth a lot. Oh, oh." Susan started crying and Sofia took her, walked around with her, tried to calm her down. "No reason to cry, you won't be on street duty, you can relax, Honey. No work, it's forbidden in your age anyway."
"Doesn't look like she believes you, she knows your mother already very well."
"Don't scare her. Are you hungry, darling?"
"Aren't babies always hungry when they're awake?"
"We find out. Hold her, please." Sofia handed Susan over to Lynn, sat on her bed in a comfortable position and took her daughter back. "Lets see if the milk bar is open. Not sure if you can order different flavors, but they're all served with love." Carefully she offered Susan her breast and the baby started drinking. "Yes, this is good, isn't it?"
"Just like her mother." Lynn grinned.
"Happy when she can drink?"
"Happy to be on a tit."
"You're silly!" Sofia tried to kick Lynn, but she couldn't move without irritating Susan.
"No, I'm honest. Will you turn her into a lesbian?"
"Sure, just like Steve will end up gay because he lives with Sara and me. We don't like straight people around, that's why we share our house with Don, Sally and Tony. They all date same sex partners."
"Really? Does Don date Tony instead Tanya?"
"Yes, he thought, hell there's no difference in dating a hot Latino woman or a cuddly Caucasian man. Do you see a difference?"
"Between Dirk and Tanya? A few."
"How comes?"
"I don't know…her Spanish is better. No, seriously, I'm sure Steve will date women, because he has his soft spot for Tanya and Susan will marry Eric, Sara will make sure, they get engaged as soon as Susan is eighteen."
"Might happen. I like the idea too. What do you think, Susan? Do you want to marry Eric? He's really cute and a nice boy. I'm sure he'll protect you when you're both in school. We'll raise you and him like…we can't raise you like siblings, because you're supposed to get married, but like very close friends. Oh yes, you and Eric, really nice. We get you a heart with Eric's name over your bed."
"You are like your mother."
"You say it in a way, that makes me believe, it's something bad."
"Well, you plan the life of your daughter, her relationship. Like your mother did with you. Don't you want more freedom for your daughter?"
"We talk about this when you're a mother. Should be soon, after all, you and Dirk are…"
"Not in a state of our relationship to discuss children. Maybe next year."
"Spoilsport. What about a wedding?"
"After you're married we can talk about me getting married. First I want to see you in a white dress. Inspire me for my own wedding."
"When I don't look like a whale anymore I can look for a dress. Susan left a lot of behind. I'm not sure if I'm unhappy or happy about it. All the additional weight means I've to cut back on chocolate, but if she had taken the weight with her…the birth would have been a nightmare. I can tell you, they look tiny, but in reality they're huge."
"I think so. But she's so cute…and hungry."
"Just like her mother. You've got my appetite, don't you Susan? Luckily I'm home the next four weeks, your milk bar on legs is around all the time, after that you have to live with milk out of a bottle. Drinking out of a bottle can be fun too, in a few years you'll understand what I mean with this. The first parties, the first alcohol, the first trouble with your parents for it. Or I remember how I was when I was your age and won't be a nightmare; which doesn't mean you're safe, your grandmother will not like the idea of you drinking. She's very strict when it comes to the law."
"What about Sara's mother? And her brother?"
"They've no idea I was pregnant and she doesn't want to change that. We don't want them around, not see us nor Susan and we don't want them on our wedding. They're not a part of our lives."
"What I know of her brother tells me these are good decisions."
"Sara's life is better since he's gone and Susan has two grandmothers and two grandfathers, she doesn't need more. Plus there are a lot of funny aunts and uncles around. Aunt Lynn for example."
"Aunt Lynn, who will borrow sweet little Susan sometimes and take her out for a walk, ice cream and other nice things. Grow up fast, baby girl, there are so many things to do and see. No time to sleep and eat the whole day."
"No, take your time, Susan. You have to run around the rest of your life. The few weeks or months, you can do nothing else than sleep and eat are special, you'll never get them back. Or if you get them back, when you're very old, you can't enjoy them anymore. Only the next four weeks we've got the time to be together the whole day, after that, it's back to every day life." Sofia sighed. She hated already the idea of going back to work and leaving Susan home alone. Not alone, her mother was with the baby, but…didn't she belong with the baby? She and Sara? The parents should be there. So much for missing work, her friend were right. As soon as Susan was born she didn't want to go back to work.
The whole day there had been people around, came to see Susan, to congratulate Sofia, tell her stories about babies and new mothers. Her family, friends, they were all here, brought presents and made her smile, but the happiest time of the day was, when they were all gone. All besides Sara. Her lover sitting next to her on bed, with their daughter in her arms, they were alone, in a quiet room and only held hands.
"Our son is amazing." Sara said with a smile. It had been Steve's idea that everybody left before the official visitor time was over and give them some time alone.
"Yes, he should have stayed, he's a part of the family too."
"He knows is, but he knows, when we have some time for us, it will be nice too. Adult and baby time, while the teenager stay at home…alone…with a girl."
Sofia grinned. "We're open minded parents, we don't mind when our son is home alone with a girl. I wonder what her parents say about them being together all the time. Do they believe Lea and Steve are a couple?"
"I'm not sure, we should invite them over again, see what they think of their relationship. It has been a while we met."
"And they need to meet Susan." The blonde smiled and looked at their daughter in Sara's arm, asleep after she cried for five minutes and they had no idea why. Probably this would happen to them a few more times the next weeks and months. "Did you take a few photos of our baby?"
"A few like fifty." Sara grinned. "And you?"
"A hundred or so. Various with everybody who was here, her alone, I gave my camera to the nurse to take a few photos of her in her bed. We'll be very busy with our first photo book. I think we can make one only for the first month."
"You." The brunette kissed her lover. "You have the time to do that while you're at home. I come home at night and look at your work, tell you if it's good or if we need more photos of our baby and you."
"Photo book, milk bar, housewife, I see my next month is… different than all the other months."
"I'm sure you can handle that."
"Better than two more nights without you. What if you hide under my bed and as soon as the nurse is gone, you slip into the bed and we can spend the night together. Not a lot of space, which means, you have to snuggle into my arms very, very tightly."
"Or we climb out of the window, go home and come back before the nurse come into the room for breakfast." Sara suggested. "This way, you can be at home, sleep in our bed."
"Can we take Susan with us?"
"Of course."
"Nice idea." Sofia closed her eyes. "Home sweet home. Tell me more about our party."
"Which party?"
"Hey." She bopped her lover. "My baby shower party and it' your job to organize it. Together with Don. With unlimited chocolate for the mother."
"What happened to your bikini wish?"
"For this one night the beach body has to wait. So, what did you plan so far?"
"No details, it's all a surprise."
"A nice one?"
"More than one nice surprise."
"And a private party after the party? With my fiancé?"
"Maybe." Sara grinned and kissed Sofia passionately. A little party after everybody was gone and Susan slept? She would keep this in mind.