EPILOGUE
With his chest held high and a confident expression despite the nerves flitting through his belly, Rick Rodgers walked into the Manhattan Child Development Center through the same doors he'd been entering for nearly a full year. Inside the vestibule there was a metal gate and a man seated inside a glass booth, who was in charge of vetting all visitors. Used to the process at this point, Rick had his ID ready to slide into the small slot in the booth. He pushed it through the tray as he said, "Good morning, I'm here for visitation with Jacob Rodgers."
The man in the booth took his ID, scanned it into his computer screen, waited a moment for the information to populate, and then smiled up at Rick. "You're all set; have a good visit, Mr. Rodgers."
"Thank you." Rick retrieved his ID but didn't pocket it as he knew he'd need to show it again before he could get into Jake's assigned nursery. Once gate door opened, he stepped inside and shut it behind him. Then he walked through the lobby to the bank of elevators. After calling the elevator, he selected the fifth floor, and rode the car up. There, he was met with another vestibule with another gate. He again showed his ID and the gate door opened for him. That time, he pocketed the item, and felt his stomach buzz with excitement as he walked down the hall towards room twelve, where Jake and three other boys around his age were housed.
Though he had never missed one of his weekly allotted visits with Jake, Rick had never seen any of his "roommates" as fathers were only allowed to interact with their own children until the children were over one year in age, which for Jake would be in just a matter of days.
When Rick arrived in front of the appropriate door, cheerfully decorated with cartoon elephants holding balloons with their trunks, he knocked and waited for the boys' nurse to open the door. Today, it was a woman in her late sixties named Ellen, whom Rick had come to know during over the past nine months. She waved to him through the small glass window in the door and then held up her index finger indicating he needed to wait a moment. Rick slid his hands down into his jeans pockets and tapped his foot impatiently until the door swung open. During a typical visit, this would mean that he and Jake could go into one of the available rooms and play with toys or read books for ninety minutes, but thankfully this visit was not a typical one.
"Heyyyy, there he is; there's my big boy."
The boy in Ellen's arms with dark hair and sparkling blue eyes like his father reached out his chubby hands and cooed, "Da da"
Rick pulled Jake into his arms, kissed his head, and then looked back to Ellen. His stomach practically boiling over with butterflies, he asked, "Has everything come through as approved?"
She nodded. "You're aware that you'll be evaluated monthly for the next year and if you're ever found to be unfit-"
"I know the rules and I won't be an issue," Rick assured her. He'd been waiting for nearly an entire year for the moment when he took Jake out of the government facility and into his home. He wagered that by that point he knew more about the rules and regulations than some of the government officials. He had them all memorized, absurd as some of them were, and he was fully confident he would never put so much as a toenail out of line.
"Then you're all set." She stepped back into the room, grabbed a small paper bag from the ground, and handed it to him. "Diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes—only enough for a day."
"We have plenty at home already." He promised, though he did take the bag and hook the handles over his right wrist while he held Jake firmly with his left arm. Turning back to his son he smiled and said, "Wave goodbye to Miss Ellen, JJ." Jake merely smiled and then flopped his head down on his father's shoulder.
After thanking Ellen and bidding her goodbye, Rick retraced his steps back to the elevators. He rode down, still gripping tightly to Jake, and then, once in the lobby, waited patiently for the gate to be buzzed open in order for him to leave.
"I thought you were just visiting." The man in the glass booth commented as they walked by.
"No," Rick told him, "We're going home."
True to his promise to Kate, he'd worked tirelessly to secure his future with his child from the moment the two of them were separated in the hospital. As he still needed to maintain his job with the NYPD, this mean he went long stretches of sleeping only two to three hours per night, but in his mind, it was worth it; his family was worth it.
Over the next few months, he took every required parenting class and wrote dozens of letters to every official he could find until he was finally granted approval to see both Kate and their son shortly after he was born. Typically, fathers were only allowed to see their children from behind the glass walls of the nursery visiting area and the first time they were permitted to hold their child was at the three-month mark when they entered the child development center. Rick had somehow managed to convince the fertility board that the fact that their child was naturally conceived gave them all a special connection, so he was permitted to visit and hold his child just a few hours after he was born, which Rick considered to be one of the greatest moments of his life. Since his visit was being monitored by staff, he and Kate could do nothing more than hold hands as they discussed the name for their son. Since he hadn't seen her in months, he was thrilled for the chance just to sit with her, but that didn't make it less heartbreaking for him to leave them both behind, him for three months, and her for an undetermined amount of time.
As per the fertility center's policy, Rick was not permitted to contact Kate or learn any more information about her after their child was sent to the child development center. This was, per the agency, part of their safety protocols for the birth mothers. This would have been nearly unbearable for Rick, but thankfully he had an easy work around, as Kate's contact with her father was not limited at all. Thanks to Jim, Rick was able to find out that Kate was impregnated with three embryos just a few weeks after she was separated from Jake. One failed to implant, but the other two did making her pregnant with twins with different fathers. Though she seemed to be doing well at first, it seemed her twin pregnancy was destined to echo that of her mother's. She unexpectedly went into labor almost three months before she should have. Naturally, Rick was heartbroken to hear about the medical struggles of both Kate and her premature babies; yet a small part of him could not help but find a glimmer of hope in the scenario.
The destiny of women who passed the government approved childbearing age of thirty-five was varied. Many were recruited to remain at the child development center and help care for the new children entering the world. Others went on to have careers as teachers or nurses. Most, it seemed, did have some semblance of a normal life, though they struggled if they didn't have families who could help provide for them. Rick thought it would be plausible for Kate to join them once she was done with her government mandated reproductive duties, but he though that time would be at least five or six years away. As time progressed, he'd been thrilled to learn that was no longer the case.
Three weeks earlier, Kate had informed her father that due to the severe hemorrhaging she had at the end of her twins' pregnancy, the fertility doctors had determined her too high risk to be impregnated again, which meant that she would soon be released from the facility. She told him she would like to return home to continue to recover from her difficult delivery until she could find a job for herself. Naturally, her father was all too happy at the prospect of having her home—as was Rick, who had been diligently working on his own plans to bring Jake home. He had asked her father not to tell Kate about any of his pans regarding Jake because it was unusual to approve the release of a one-year-old child into his father's custody, even in the most ideal of circumstances. Thankfully for Rick, his diligent research and endless wealth of determination paid off, and he would be reuniting his family nearly half a decade sooner than expected.
"Are you ready to surprise Mama, JJ?" Rick scooped his son up from the playmat on the floor and held him to his hip. He'd just finished hanging up the last of the party streamers when he received the text message from Kate's father stating they had just entered the building.
"Ma ma," JJ parroted, and Rick tickled his belly to get him to smile.
"Yeah, that's right, Mama."
JJ had only been home a few days, but he was doing well all things considered. He had struggled to sleep for the first two nights, but Rick didn't mind frequently waking up and rocking him. In fact, he was thrilled about it, because it meant JJ was finally home for good and wouldn't have to spend another moment away from his family.
When he heard a key grinding into the door lock, Rick clutched JJ tighter, and his heart began to slam beneath his ribcage. He heard Kate's slightly annoyed, "Dad, I'm fine. I can walk. It's been eight weeks and I—oh god!" She gasped when she stepped through the door and her eyes fell upon Rick and JJ.
As though he'd been cued to do it, JJ called out, "Mama!" and Kate immediately broke down into sobs.
Rick walked forward and handed the boy over to her. Kate gathered him in her arms and held him tightly, rocking him gently back and forth. Unlike fathers, who were only permitted weekly visits with their children, mothers were allowed daily visits with children under one year of age, assuming they were in good standing for visitation per their doctors. Kate had been visiting JJ regularly up until her twins had been delivered, but she hadn't seen him since as she was still considered to be in recovery.
After hugging JJ tightly for several minutes, Kate looked up at Rick and asked simply, "How?"
"With a lot of planning," he said with a light chuckle as that felt almost like an understatement. "Your father and I came to an agreement. I sold my apartment and moved in here. We took all the classes and went to all the meetings required to bring a child under five into our home and we figured we had just enough money for him to stay home with JJ until he would be ready for school."
She looked at him with disbelief. "You mean, you had this all planned even before…"
Rick rubbed her arm gently, giving her a rather apologetic smile. "We didn't want to say anything to you because we were afraid something would go wrong at the last minute. Then, when we found out you'd be coming home, too, we thought it might be a fun surprise."
"The best surprise," she corrected. Then she threw her free arm around his shoulder and the family of three held each other tightly for the very first time.
The joy Rick felt in that moment could not have been verbalized even if he wanted to. He was so happy to have her back and, as far as he could tell, for good. They were a family and that was never going to change.
A/N: thank you all for staying with me through this sadder fic. I appreicate it!
I'll be back with my annual holiday story coming later this year!