A\N: Thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting this story. I hope everyone likes this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Spoilers: None

Warinings: None

Chapter 36

Shane looked at herself in the mirror and tried to smile. The past week had been a roller coaster of emotions for her, now that she had been discharged from the hospital, she found that she was struggling. She missed being at her house, as crazy as it might be, she couldn't stop thinking of what could have happened to Elizabeth. Nightmares of her baby dying because of her cause her to ger very little sleep. She didn't want her depression to get as bad as it did after she Julia but so many things were different now, she'd need to find online counselling.

"Shane," Oliver walked into the guest bedroom at his father's house, "I think you should stay home today. You have just been discharged from the hospital and I do not want you to overexert yourself."

"No," Shane shook her head, "I need to see Elizabeth Oliver I need…" She began to cry but wiped her tears away quickly. "I'm going to the hospital to see Elizabeth. You can come switch with me tonight if you want to," She tried to walk past him, but Oliver put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Shane I am very worried about you. You did not sleep well in the hospital and las night I know you tossing and turning. Please let me help you."

Shane turned around and faced Oliver, fresh tears in her eyes, "Mothers are supposed to look after their children. Elizabeth could have…. I just feel so responsible for her being born early. If wasn't so stressed out because of the Pandemic and the kids this wouldn't have happened. I should have rested like you wanted me to."

"None of what happened is your fault My Love," Oliver gently wiped away her tears, "You are a wonderful mother who loves our children. You are doing everything you can to help Elizabeth as well as Matthew, Lucas and Julia. I am worried that even though you are supporting the children you are not getting the support you need.

Shane took a deep breath, "I know I'm struggling Oliver. I want to look after the kids, but I know I need to look after myself as well. I don't want things to get as bad as after Julia was born. I'm going to see if I can access online therapy. Now can I go to the hospital?" She wondered.

"Of course," Oliver kissed her on the lips

Shane had never been through the visitor's entrance in order to see Elizabeth. She was amazed at how well prepared the hospital already as wit a screening process and even masks. She made her way up to the NICU and scrubbed up. She was still sore from the C-section so it took her awhile to complete on her. Walking into the NICU she quickly glanced at the babies who looked sicker then Elizabeth was. It broke her heart to think about what those parents were going through. She silently prayed for them as she walked to Elizabeth's incubator.

"Good morning Shane," Sarah one of the NICU nurses greeted Shane as she walked over to her, "Elizabeth had a good night. She's showing real improvements. She's strong enough now to be held."

"Yes!" Shane eagerly nodded her head, "Yes please I'd love to hold her." She added, the idea of getting to actually hold Elizabeth made her so happy, she had waited so long to hold her and now she was finally going to be able too. Shane untied her scrub top and then un-buttoned her shirt as Sarah gently placed Elizabeth on her chest.

"She should be good for about fifteen minutes," Sarah told Shane as she put a blanket over Elizabeth to keep her warm and to give Shane some privacy.

Shane nodded her head. She then looked down at her daughter who was just waking up. Elizabeth had brown hair already and although her eyes were currently blue, she wondered if they'd change colour. Despite her situation Elizabeth hardly ever cried and was already a calm baby, much like Matthew was. Shane was happy about that she didn't know if she'd be able to handle two girls that took after herself.

"Hi sweetheart," Shane gently kissed the top of Elizabeth's head, "I'm your Mommy. You'll see Daddy later on I promise. You also have two older brothers and an older sister who are so excited to meet you. Things are a bit tricky right now; they can't come and see you and neither can anyone else. You have lots of people who love you and can't wait to meet you." Shane smiled as she saw Elizabeth had fallen back asleep.

As the day went on Shane took every opportunity, she could to hold her daughter. In between she gladly helped change her diaper and used her breast pump to make more bottles for Elizabeth. At four o'clock Shane looked down at Elizabeth who was currently sleeping in her incubator, she gently reached into it and took her hand, "Mommy has to go now but Daddy will be here soon. He'll be so happy he can hold you now." She whispered.

"Mommy! Daddy! Guess what! Mickey Mouse is doing a sing-along! I've been practising!" Julia said excitedly as soon as Shane logged onto the Zoom chat session.

Shane could see her daughter was wearing her Ariel dress as well as the red wig and her hairbrush was in her hands. She guessed it had been a full day of Julia singing songs from "The Little Mermaid" and possibly the "Baby Shark" song as well, "A Disney sing-along. Oh, that sounds like so much fun." Shane smiled, she then turned to look at Matthew and Lucas, "Boys, have you been trying you best to do schoolwork?"

"Yes." Lucas responded, "I was good yesterday, so Grandpa showed me a science experiment!" Lucas almost yelled, "It was so fun! Tomorrow we're making a volcano!"

"Oh," Shane smiled at her son's excitement "What science experiment did you do?" She wondered.

"We put candy in soda, and then it exploded high, like is," Lucas raided his hands high above his head to demonstrate. "Grandpa said the volcano is more messy."

"I am glad Grandpa is teaching you boys science. Is the volcano going to be made outside?" Oliver inquired.

"Don't worry son," Joe spoke, "The science experiment as done outside and the volcano building is going to be in the backyard as well. It's mostly Lucas and I working on them Matthew isn't to sure he likes all the mess; and Julia won't get her dresses dirty."

"Julia," Shane looked at her daughter, "Princess can do anything they want to. They can do science experiments while wearing dresses, maybe you and Grandpa can find an old dress you don't mind getting dirty. You used to love science and nature." Shane understood girls grew up an outgrew some interests. She was quite concerned though that Julia was outgrowing things a bit too fast. She wasn't even five years old and she already wanted to wear make-up all the time and usually would only wear dresses.

"Maybe," Julia replied.

"Matthew, Lucas, tell Mommy and Daddy who we sent a video question to?" Joe prompted his Grandsons."

"To the President," Matthew said, "We asked him a question."

"in his press conference today, the President said he was going to hold a special news conference for children on Sunday, he asked kids to send in questions they had. We talked about what the President does and what questions to ask him."

"That is something very good to know," Oliver told his son's "What question did you decide to ask the President."

"We asked when you and Mommy would be home," Lucas answered.

"There biggest worry was how the Pandemic had caused them not to be able to see you two or Elizabeth. They asked when the Pandemic will be over, and Mommy and Daddy can come home."

Shane's heart broke as she heard what her sons wanted most, "You boys and your sister are being so brave and strong right now. I know this is so hard for you. Mommy and Daddy don't like being away from you either but right now we need to see Elizabeth. She's getting stronger all the time hopefully by next week while be able to bring her home."

"I miss you," Matthew started to cry, as soon as he started to cry, Lucas and Julia did as well.

"Mommy and I miss you all as well," Oliver told the children, "Mommy is right, we know this situation is hard on us all. We love you and miss you as well. Hopefully we will be able to come home soon."

"I love you," Shane blew kisses at the screen of her IPad, "Have a good sleep tonight. Julia, please listen to Grandpa when he says you need to take off your Ariel dress for bedtime. You have pajama's you can wear. You have a Ariel nightgown, you can wear that."

"It itches Mommy," Julia explained.

"Then you can wear a t-shirt underneath it," Shane explained, "Now you three need to go be ready for bed. Mommy and Daddy love you; we'll talk to you tomorrow night."

"Bye," All three kids waved and blew kisses at the screen as Shane ended the ZOOM video call.

Shane put her IPad on the bedside table and sighed as she stood up, "I know we're doing the right thing. We both want to be able to see Elizabeth. I'm afraid it's too hard on the kids though, what if they blame Elizabeth for all of this. You remember what Matthew was like with Julia when she was a newborn. The kids are older and stronger now I just…."

"I do not think they blame Elizabeth for what is going on. They would prefer for us to be at home, just like we would like to be at home as well. Once we are able to take Elizabeth home things will be-"

"Crazy," Shane laughed out of frustration, "Four children under six, possibly at home with us all summer. Summer camps might be cancelled. We don't know when or if Matthew and Lucas' school will open before summer break."

"Yes, it will be difficult," Oliver agreed, "I do think we will be able to get through this pandemic as a family. Did need anything before I go to the hospital to spend the night with Elizabeth?" He asked Shane.

"No," Shane shook her head, "I think I'll look at ordering some baby clothes for Elizabeth. We don't have much yet. Maybe I'll text Joe and see if he can pick up what we did order at the store.

"I suggest you hold off on buying anything for Elizabeth. I suspect my father is putting together a nursery for us. It will have all of the furniture we order already set up and I believe it will be painted pink."

Shane looked up at her husband, "What makes you think that?" Shane asked.

"For the past two nights my father has had little bits of pink paint on his hands. I have also observed the children appeared to be doing lots of artwork and playing outside. I suspect he is having the children help as much as they are able to and then playing with them outside for a while. After that the children might be playing in the backyard while he is painting the room. The window in the room gives a clear view of the backyard."

"That does make sense. I know we still have some of Julia's old clothes, Elizabeth is smaller than she was though, do you think we should buy anything."

"I think we'll bring Elizabeth home and find everything we need."

"That would be nice."

TBC

A\N: I hope you liked the chapter.

Up Next: Shane and Oliver bring Elizabeth home. How will they manage looking after four children under the age of six?