Author: Merel
Time Frame: Takes place after the show ended, the marriage is common knowledge
Archive: Will be archived at Blue Boxers and Beyond (www.geocities.com/blueboxersandbeyond); all others ask first.
Feedback: Definitely!
Absolutely! Positively!
Great Expectations 15/15
Lee's arms trembled as he helped his wife lean forward so that she could strain to push their unborn child into the world. Her usually curly hair, now laden with sweat from the hour or so of active labor, was matted and plastered to her neck and face. Her effort finished for the moment, she leaned back into Lee's arms. He could feel the fatigue in her muscles and in the way her head sank against his shoulder, her eyes closed. The moments in between having to push seemed so short; too short for her to regain any amount of strength. He would have done anything at that moment to trade places with her, to take the pain away from her body and place it within his own. But there was nothing he could do, and feelings of frustration and fear kept threatening to wash over him as he watched her continue to struggle.
He tossed a weary glance to Penny, who was positioned between Amanda's legs. The doctor's blue eyes met his own and her smile softened his anxiety a bit.
Lee leaned down, his lips pressed to Amanda's ear. "You're doing so well, Amanda. Just a little bit more, Sweetheart."
Amanda opened weary brown eyes and gave him the start of a quivering smile before another contraction and another order from Penny to push brought them back to the business at hand. She clenched his hand in hers as she pushed and grunted through the contraction and Penny's encouragement that it would not be much longer.
"Okay, Amanda," Penny's called out. "You're going to feel a pinch, I'm giving you a local so we can do an episiotomy."
Amanda grimaced and Lee again glanced to Penny.
"It's okay," she explained. "It's better to do it this way than to let it tear."
Penny administered the injection and picked up the surgical scissors to make the incision. They had placed a mirror so that both Lee and Amanda could see the progression of delivery; now, however, Amanda's eyes were shut in concentration and Lee's were focused on his wife's features.
"There," Penny said, finishing her task, "Now we have some room to work. Okay, Amanda, I want you to give me a big push with the next contraction."
When the time came, Amanda leaned forward with a groan as Lee supported her back and shoulders. Penny watched as Amanda and Lee seemed to merge into one in an effort to push the child from her body. She looked back and smiled, watching the crowning of a dark head appear as payment for their efforts.
"Oh, my God," Lee whispered, watching in the mirror as the baby's head crowned and then disappeared.
"Okay, I think this next one is going to do it. Lee, do you want to come down here and help me out?" She smiled at him.
Lee nodded, wide-eyed, watching as a nurse took over his position at Amanda's shoulders. He went to stand next to Penny, his mind desperately willing his knees and hands to stop their shaking. This was it. This was the moment they'd both waited nine months for. His mouth suddenly became very dry and he swallowed what felt like a tennis ball in his throat. How could this be happening? Unbidden, his mind quickly flitted back to that fateful fall day on the train platform at Union Station. He was rushing towards a woman… a woman whom he had known, in one heartbeat, would help him. He hurried towards her, and in that moment they began the journey towards a future that no one could have ever predicted. She'd very simply taken the package from him. No thunder rolled. No cymbals clanged. No marching bands or fireworks marked the occasion. And yet, in that one instant they set into motion an adventure that would change them both. From that moment to this one. One chance meeting gave them both the opportunity to trust again, to become friends and partners, to become lovers, and now… to bring into the world a little part of both of them.
The poignancy of the moment washed over Lee, his eyes filling with tears. Together they'd moved from that first fateful beginning to this moment. Together they'd created a life. A life that was at this moment fighting to come into the world. A life that Lee wanted more than anything to hold in his arms. He watched in amazement, his heart pounding as if it might escape from his chest, as his daughter pushed free of Amanda's straining body and into Penny's capable hands.
"Looks like we can add a girl to the clan," Penny laughed, placing the tiny, screaming infant onto Amanda's abdomen and turning to Lee. "I need your help here, Lee," she said as she clamped off the umbilical cord.
A nurse handed him a pair of surgical scissors and, with trembling hands, he cut the lifeline between his daughter and her mother. He watched as Penny siphoned out her nose and mouth. After wrapping a blanket around her and placing a tiny cap on her head, she offered Lee his daughter. "Here, Daddy," she said. "Why don't you bring her over and introduce her to her Mommy?"
Lee looked down into the tiny face of his daughter. She'd stopped screaming and was now red, wrinkly, and simply the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his whole life. She made a small mewling sound, scrunching up her face, and his heart exploded into a million pieces. He moved a step closer, gently taking her into his arms. He'd been so afraid of this moment, holding his child for the first time. But she felt so natural there, her tiny body fitting snuggly into the crook of his elbow, her arms and legs softly pushing against the cotton blanket.
"Hey," came a weary voice from beside him. "She's going to be Daddy's girl her whole life… can I get her for a minute?"
Lee looked down into the weary face of his wife. With a smile that threatened to take over his face, and eyes still bright with tears, he placed their daughter into her waiting arms. He leaned over and pressed his lips to Amanda's. "I love you," he whispered into her mouth, the words tangling with the tears in his throat. "I love you so much."
As he pulled back, Amanda reached up to wipe at the tearstains on his cheeks. "I love you, too," she whispered back, blinking back her own tears. "Thank you for our beautiful daughter." Her fingers stayed on his face, running lightly back and forth across the slight stubble on his chin.
Penny walked up to the other side of the bed, hating to interrupt the moment. "Amanda, why don't you let us get her cleaned up, and then you can nurse her?"
A few minutes later, the nurse returned to Amanda's bedside, holding the precious bundle, now wrapped in a pink receiving blanket and wearing a matching knit cap. "Lee could you… " Amanda asked, nodding toward the baby.
He once again held their daughter as Amanda adjusted her gown. When she was ready, he returned the baby to Amanda's arms and watched as his daughter began to nurse at her breast. In awe, he watched as mother and daughter became one, bonding and communicating with each other without benefit of words. He took a step back, enjoying the vision before him.
He took a moment to offer up a prayer of thanks to whomever had lead him to this place in his life. Be it from the grace of some all-powerful higher being, a grand destiny, or simply fate, he knew that he'd been handed a great gift. Just a few short years ago, Amanda had helped him find meaning in his life; helped him learn what it meant to love and be loved. And now, just when he'd thought himself the expert… thought his heart knew all the mysteries and secrets that love had to offer…he learned that the lessons of love never ended.
*****
Billy Melrose exited the elevator and turned left around the corner. Passing the long glass wall, his eyes ran quickly over the name plates attached to the front of each incubator. At last he located the one he was looking for. Baby Girl Stetson. But it was empty. With a frown he continued down the hall to the nurses station.
"I'm looking for Amanda Stetson's room," he asked a young woman sitting behind the counter, jotting notes in a file. Glancing up at a marker board, she wrote down the room number and handed it back to Billy.
He walked halfway down the corridor and stopped in front of Room 617. Knocking softly, he waited, then knocked again. Hesitantly, he pushed the door open and peeked into the dimly lit room. His eyes glanced over the baskets and vases of flowers that were perched on every available counter space, then settled on the sight of Amanda, slumbering peacefully in bed, the standard white hospital issue blanket pulled up to her chin, her hands resting lightly on her chest.
Scarecrow was sprawled, asleep, in a chair that had been pulled up close to Amanda, his feet propped up on the bed. His mouth was open, and a soft snore told Billy that the younger man had had a busy evening and morning and obviously needed the rest.
He placed the bouquet of flowers and the large pink stuffed bunny on the stand at the foot of the bed and turned to leave.
"Billy," a hoarse, sleep-filled voice caught him, his hand on the door. Billy turned to see Lee moving from the chair. "Don't leave… I'm awake."
Billy smiled into the face of his favorite agent and friend. "Just barely, Scarecrow."
"Yeah, well… " Lee ran a hand through his tousled hair. "Say, look, Billy, Amanda is going to be down for the count. She just finished nursing the baby and they gave her something for the pain so she's gonna sleep for a while. The nurse just took the baby to bathe her. How about we go grab a cup of coffee and then I'll take you and introduce you to my daughter."
Billy clasped Lee's hand, then pulled him into a bear hug. "Now those are some words I never thought I'd hear coming from the mouth of Scarecrow." The older man chuckled, releasing Lee and stepping back.
"Yeah," Lee shrugged, smiling bashfully. "I can't quite believe it myself. But, God, Billy," he swallowed the lump that formed in his throat at the thought of his daughter. "She's beautiful. She looks just like Amanda." He smiled broadly, his eyes sparkling. " And when I held her the first time…" his voice cracked, as his emotions threatened to run away with him. Clearing his throat, he looked at his old friend and realized that this man knew exactly how he was feeling. He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and reached out to open the door. "Let's get that cup of coffee. I have a lot to tell you."
"I bet you do, Scarecrow,"
Billy smiled at his friend. "I sure bet you do."
Epilogue
"Sweetheart, there's mail for you," she called out. She listened as she heard him turn off the computer in the den and walk into the kitchen. She handed him the square, brown envelope.
"Wonder who this is from," he pondered aloud, prying open the flap.
"No return address?" she asked, looking over from finishing up the salad they were going to have for dinner that night.
He flipped the envelope over to check once more. "Nope, just a Rockville post-mark." He finished opening the envelope, pulling out two pieces of cardboard, taped together. "Gee, this is strange," he said, separating the cardboard and looking at what it enclosed.
"What's that, honey?" His wife walked away from the counter and peered over his shoulder. She glanced from her husband to the picture he held in his hands. "Is that someone you know?"
"Nope," he shook his head. "Cute shot though, huh?"
Linda smiled at her husband. For as long as she'd known him he'd always been a sucker for kids. "Yes, it is. Wonder who they are and why they sent us this picture?"
"Probably just some mix-up," Dean shrugged, tossing the picture onto the counter with the rest of the mail.
His wife walked over and picked it up, taking a closer look at the snapshot. It was a close up of a man in jeans and a t-shirt stretched out on a couch, a tiny newborn baby propped on his chest. Both were sound asleep, the infant sucking its fist. Linda turned the photo over. There was a note in feminine script. It said simply…Thank You.
THE END