Usually there's a bit if a time gap between my chapters, but this one follows straight on from Chapter Thirteen. It's slightly shorter than usual. Enjoy!
Leaning back against the pillow, she closed her eyes and took a minute to even out her breath. When she opened then again Tom looked at her expectantly. His question still hanging in the air between them. She'd never considered she'd be anything but alone in this, but there he was. Asking to share in it, whatever it was, because it belonged to her. Jimmy's face crossed her thoughts, he'd have run by now. In fact he did run, long before they'd got to where Tom and Izzie were now.
"Chlo," she breathed her daughters name almost silently, "she was early too." Tom nodded, nothing he didn't know already. He'd been there, visited with Lorna, held Chlo in his own arms. But that had been months later, when Izzie was home, when she was back in control. "They took her from me Tom. Weeks and weeks she was in that box," Izzie shuddered and Tom moved closer, curling his arm around her shoulder. She moved over on the bed, and he crawled up next to her. His hand rested on her own, stilling the shaking once again. Izzie closed her eyes again, an attempt to shut out the pain of the memory "They forced me. They knocked me out Tom, I missed it all," tears fell down Izzie's cheeks and spilled onto Tom's shirt as she rested her head on his chest. "I was scared they'd do the same, she'd take her first breath and.." she trailed off, leaving only the sound of the faint cries of other peoples newborns. He leant down and kissed the top of her head. The couple stayed that way for a while, silently comforting each other. Tom's thoughts raced in the quiet, Izzie had been alone for so long but she shouldn't have been alone through that. He thought he knew Izzie better than anyone, but laying beside her in the hospital bed he came to the realisation that she would always be an enigma. Still he knew she was a puzzle he wanted to spend the rest if his life working out. His eyes flicked to the small bulge in the pocket of his jacket, draped over the back of the chair, and he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the nurse pushing open the door.
"She's prepped for visitors" she said in a sing-song voice, the kind Tom and Izzie would have mocked in any other circumstance. Tom smiled and gave the nurse a nod as he began to untangle himself from a now sleeping Izzie. "I'll give you a minute" and the door clicked closed behind her. Tom gently roused Izzie, shaking her shoulder slightly. The small velvet box pushed to the back of his mind for another day.
"She's so tiny," Tom marveled at his first born child, who lay swaddled in the incubator before them. He could feel Izzie's anxiety, could see it in her eyes, so he held her hand tightly. He was not Jimmy, he was here and he wasn't going anywhere.
"It's the tubes," Izzie started, "they make her look smaller," she leaned closer, face almost pressed against the clear plastic separating them.
"She's perfect," Tom leaned over the back of the wheelchair where Izzie sat, the side of his face pressed gently against Izzie's, "thank you, Izzie" he smiled and kissed her temple. Izzie slid her hand into the clear box, rubbing the blanket beside the tiny bundle, afraid to touch her incase she broke. Tom's hand snaked in after hers, resting atop Izzie's gently enough to still allow those small circles to press down into the fabric.
"She's in need of a name," the nurse said a few minutes later, "can't call her 'baby girl Redpath-Clarkson' forever"
"Baby girl Clarkson" Izzie corrected, with a smile. Tom's heart swelled, he gave Izzie a look. They'd talked about names, of course, and they'd managed to whittle their list down to just two: Esme or Eden. Tom's eyes met Izzie's and they both knew that neither name would belong to their tiny miracle. "Ayah" they said in unison, Tom turning to the nurse with a huge smile. "Ayah Olivia" Izzie whispered.