Present

Milly's eyelids slowly fluttered open. It took a second, as everything seemed blurred together, before slowly the darkness faded away, and the sounds of the beeping machines from the hospital room filled the air.

The last thing Milly remembered was the sharp cramps ripping through her, before blacking out. She blinked, feeling groggy, and in some sort of deep haze. She blinked, before her eyes slowly shifted to the side and she saw Eric sitting right beside her, head lowered slightly, shoulders sagged down, clutching her hand. She looked around, and felt oxygen tubes going up her nose, and could see she was hooked up to two separate IVs, and machines. She looked over at her husband, and sadly knew this part all too well. She had lost count over how many times she woke up in the hospital, Eric sitting beside her just like this, and the devastating news she already knew about to be revealed. "I lost the baby didn't I?" Eric lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot from crying. He sniffled, looking startled that she had just spoken. Milly felt him clutch her hand tighter, and instantly she knew something was different. She felt numb from the waist down, and was so sore she could barely move despite whatever heavy meds they were giving to her. She tried to shift her body slightly, but found she couldn't.

Her blankets were pulled up, and even though she had just started to show her pregnancy, she knew what didn't matter. Even if the baby was dead, her stomach would always hold whatever shape it had last been before anything happened for some time, just adding to the misery that followed after suffering from such a horrible devastating loss. She blinked slowly, before looking across at her husband's face, and could see something was different in his heartbroken eyes.

"She's dead isn't she?"

Eric tried to keep it together, he squeezed her hand, sniffling, as silent tears continued to roll down his face. Before he could say anything, there was a soft knock on the door, and Eric looked over. Dr. Weaver entered, her eyes just as lost, and devastated as Eric's.

"I'm sorry, can I come in?"

Eric used his free hand to roughly wipe his eyes, before he nodded. More tears rolled down his face. Dr. Weaver walked over, before pulling a chair up beside Eric. She sadly smiled, patting his shoulder, before reaching over, and rubbing Milly's arm. "How are you feeling honey?" Milly's eyes slowly scanned the machines, before she looked right at Dr. Weaver, and Eric. Her eyes were just completely blank of any emotion, as she spoke in a flat tone.

"I lost the baby didn't I?"

Dr. Weaver sighed.

"Yes, I'm sorry darling. The placenta detached, there wasn't anything you did wrong honey. You were hemorrhaging badly, and by the time your friend called the ambulance, we nearly lost you twice while you were in route to the hospital. We ended up having to do emergency surgery. I was afraid with your history of miscarriages, and truma to your uterus there would be a risk of this. We tried everything we could Milly, but your levels were dropping, and we ended up having to do an emergency hysterectomy. Trust me, if there was any other way I would have tried it. It came down to a choice. This was the only way you would have stopped bleeding and survived the surgery. I'm so sorry darling."

Hysterectomy.

The word seemed to just hang in the air for a moment, as Milly felt the overall shock of what she had just been told hit her like a cold bucket of ice water. She laid there, suddenly understanding why she could barely move. On top of her losing her little girl, she had also nearly died. Now this was it. After twenty plus years of trying, and miscarriages, stillbirths, heartbreak, and finally Marshall...fate had been tested too much. Her body had simply given up. She would never get pregnant again, or carry another baby. She knew that window was getting smaller and smaller with each passing year, and the unplanned pregnancy with Robyn, her little girl, had been completely unexpected.

She figured this would be the last baby she would ever have. But, she got cocky she figured, sure she had been careful, and followed up with all of her appointments, and took extra care of herself like she did when she was carrying Marshall...but somehow she figured that all of the pieces of her life was finally falling into place, and their family was finally complete. She should have known better. Marshall had been a miracle. Even though she had been looking forward to having this little girl, thinking back on her other daughter she delivered and lost, her heart broke. Not because of the hysterectomy, and the reality that her days of ever having babies were now behind her. No, she felt devastated over the loss of another child. She thanked God she had survived the surgery. She could have never left Eric and Marshall behind. She was grateful she was safe, and in the hospital with her husband, and doctor that she now viewed as family over these past few years. Looking at their devastated faces, she struggled to hold back tears, as she swallowed.

"Marshall?"

Dr. Weaver shook her head.

"He's fine. He's with your friend Geneva. You can see him tomorrow honey. We're currently giving you another blood transfusion. Had your neighbor not swung by then she did...even if she was ten or so minutes late, I honestly don't think you would have made it Milly. I know this is a lot to take in..."

Milly closed her eyes for a second, a single tear squeezing out and rolling down her face. She felt her heart ache deeply in her chest, before she let out a slow deep breath, before turning her head slightly, and opening her eyes, looking at Eric. He was crying again, and brought her hand up, and gently kissed it, before staring down at her. Milly felt herself crying, before she closed her eyes again, and started to softly cry, before Eric leaned over, and gently gathered her in his arms.

Together, they wept over the loss of their little girl.

July 1989

It was a hot July day. Geneva, Andy, Milly, and Eric all decided to head to the town's public pool. It was the third of July, so everyone was at the park celebrating the 4th of July themed events that were being held all week long. Today there were live bands, and fireworks down at the park. Everyone seemed to be down there, including Milly's mother, and Garry. They understood why Milly really wasn't comfortable going to the park to swim after what happened that time. She had gotten Eric into the shallow end a few times, but she knew he really didn't like it after what happened. So, instead Geneva came up with the idea of them heading down to the public pool, since it would pretty much be deserted. At the moment, the four of them all lounged on the chairs, soaking up the sun. There were only two other women there, laying out across the way, tanning, with their sunglasses on. They hadn't bothered to even look up when they arrived. Eric was sitting up, and Milly was sitting cross legged behind him, carefully applying sunblock onto Eric's back.

The scar from the bottle was still fresh, and she was careful to put the cream around it gently. Milly was wearing a black and purple one piece, her hair put in a ponytail. Eric was wearing blue swim trunks, his entire body already deeply tanned. Geneva wore a pink one piece that had a skirt. Andy wore red swim trunks, and had his sunglasses on. The four of them all were talking about Keith, and they were all happy that everything caught up with him.

"He could have killed you."

Geneva said sipping on a cold can of New Coke. Milly sighed as she continued applying the sunblock on Eric.

"What's really scary is he was aiming for me. If Eric hadn't gotten in the way he could have jammed that bottle in my throat."

"From what I heard the place Keith went, it's pretty bad. He's in Westfield. I heard it's awful. My mom always threatens to send my brother there when he's a jerk. I hope he rots."

Milly sighed.

"I know, but six months don't seem like a long time."

Andy waved his hand.

"He's got a restraining order against Eric and you. He'll be on probation, he'll know not to mess with you...not after six months at Westfield."

Milly took another deep breath before nodding.

"I hope so."

Geneva slowly stood up and stretched.

"I'm baking here, let's get in the water and cool off."

Andy grinned and stood up, slipping off his flip flops. Milly smirked looking up at them, headed to the stairs that led into the shallow end.

"We'll be right behind you."

The two smiled, and started into the water, as Milly watched smiling. Putting down the bottle of sunblock, she leaned in close and kissed Eric's left shoulder. Smiling, he turned and looked back at her. Milly smiled back at him, before she slid off the chair and offered her hand.

"Come on."

Eric smiled, and got up, before he eyed the water nervously, and slipped his arm around her waist, and held her tight against him. She knew water with her was a trigger for him. She knew she had to go slow. He eyed the pool nervously, before she reached down, and slipped her hand into his. Slowly bringing their hands up, she kissed his hand and smiled.

"We'll go slow, come on."

She knew Eric really didn't know how to swim, so she had to be careful. They would go slow, and only stay in the shallow end if he could handle it. Andy and Geneva were already in the water, splashing each other and laughing. Slowly they walked to the stairs, and Milly slowly stepped into the first step, wetting her feet. She motioned for Eric to do the same, and he slowly stepped in. Milly smiled standing beside him. "Water feels good huh?" Eric smirked at her, before they slowly went down another step, going above their ankles. They smiled, before going down another, and another. Milly proudly watched Eric as they kept slowly stepping into the pool, and before she knew it, the water was up to their stomachs. Milly figured this was deep enough. She smiled and when she tried to let go of Eric's hand, he gripped her hand even tighter, showing her he wasn't comfortable. Milly continued holding his hand, and together they stood in the water, and even lowered themselfs slightly in the water together. She could tell Eric was nervous, but kept smiling, and reassuring him everything was okay. Geneva and Andy swam around them, knowing not to splash, and scare Eric. They all enjoyed themselves, and Milly was even surprised when Eric even dunked himself after Milly did it. She clapped with glee when Eric did it, and really loved how he looked with his hair wet and slicked back.

They all enjoyed themselves as the sun beamed down on them for their last summer in the 1980's.

Later...

Milly was deeply kissing Eric up in the attic. The radio was playing softly, and due to the heat, both were completely slicked with sweat. Eric was thrusting away, and Milly gripped gently onto his arching shoulder blades, careful around his wound. His pace sped up, before finally he snapped his eyes shut, buried his head against her shoulder, and climaxed. Milly laid there for a second, smiling as he collapsed against her. She kissed his cheek, before he lifted his head, his hair hanging down and smelling like chlorine. Today was the perfect day. After the pool, they all dried off, dressed, and headed down to Skips for burgers. Afterwards, Geneva and Andy headed to the park to watch the fireworks. Milly and Eric made an excuse that they were going to head back home and watch movies. Instead, they walked to the woods, where Eric took her hand and they flew for an hour, before the fireworks started. Even from where they were, they could see them perfectly from the park. Eric held her hand as they floated up above the trees, and watched the fireworks explode in the sky.

The bursting flowers of colors lit up the summer night's sky. They watched in awe, just like in Milly's dream all those years ago when she first discovered his gift. While watching, Eric squeezed her hand, and gently turned towards her before kissing her. When they headed back, they found Eric's home deserted since Uncle Hugo was most likely down at the bar. Together they raced up to the attic, where they frantically undressed, and spent the last hour fooling around. Eric smiled looking down at Milly, before he leaned down and deeply kissed her. Their mouths opened and closed, before finally Eric smiled and pressed his forehead against hers and smiled.

Later... Both showered, before getting into comfortable clothes. Milly wore one of Eric's T-shirts, and together they went downstairs. The living room was the only room that had an AC unit, so they turned it on, shut off all the lights, and turned on the TV. On NBC they were showing Jaws. Both climbed onto the couch, and laid together, Eric behind her, and Milly cuddled up against him. They watched the movie and Milly covered her eyes whenever the shark came on screen.

The two enjoyed themselves, and to Milly it was the perfect way to end a perfect day. Lacing her hand into Eric's, she smiled and watched the movie as the humming of the A,C continued, and the shark on screen swam around the Orca. Smiling, she laid back and never felt happier in her entire life.

Present three months later.

Milly was laying on the living room floor. Marshall was waddling around, playing with his plastic rings. Eric walked in, carrying two iced teas. He smiled, before Milly looked up and grinned. She picked herself off the ground, as Marshall plopped himself down, and seemed fascinated by his toy blocks, which he attempted to stack. Milly sat down on the sofa, before Eric joined her. He sat down beside her smiling, and handed her the iced tea. Both clinked their glasses together smiling, before sitting back and watching their son. It had been a hard road. It took Milly a time to recover, but she began seeing her therapist again. She went to her weekly, and it had really helped. Losing their 9th child had been devastating. It had been hard to wrap their minds around it, as well as the fact that Milly could no longer have children. Eric of course moured their daughter, but he was grateful that Milly was okay, and counted his blessings. They cremated Robyn, and scattered her in the forest where they liked to fly. Afterwards Milly cried in Eric's arms, until finally she felt as if she was all cried out. When they came back home, Geneva was watching Marshall, with her daughter, and the second their baby turned around and lit up seeing them, they somehow knew this was all meant to be.

They had Marshall, which was a miracle.

They were lucky, and knew it. Still, whenever Milly saw her scar from her surgery, she felt the grief come slowly washing back over her. The other night, while Eric and her were fooling around, he gently kissed the scar she had been so self conscious about. He had signed to her that it wasn't ugly, nothing about her was ugly. Fighting back tears, she gulped and said it would be a constant reminder about her losing Robyn, and the fact they were done having babies. Eric laid beside her, taking her hand and kissing it. He then signed that as much as he misses Robyn, he feels better she's in Heaven with her siblings, and all of them are looking down watching them and Marshall. That they had been through a lot, and after learning she could have almost died, he felt maybe this was for the best. They had Marshall, and were lucky. Besides, even though it was just the three of them, they could maybe look into adoption or foster care further down the road. That he loved her, and just knew if something had happened to her, he might not be able to handle it. Milly sniffled, before leaning in and kissing Eric. Pulling back, she blinked her tears away.

"I know...it's just, maybe we got too cocky. After having Marshall we thought everything would be okay...I just keep thinking what if I did something different..."

Eric then took hold of her face gently and made her look him in the eye.

He struggled, but spoke...

"You...d...d...did nothing w...wr...wrong Milly."

Milly sighed, before nodding, and leaning in close, and cuddling up against him. Closing her eyes, she sighed as his arms slowly wrapped around her. They had been doing okay, and really focusing on Marshall.

Together the two sat back watching him, before Milly smiled and leaned against her husband.

"He's perfect." Eric smirked, and signed... "He sure is."