Chapter Forty-Eight

(A while later.)

Brady had no idea how long he had been sitting there when he felt fingers tapping him on the shoulder. He didn't want to turn his eyes away from his infant son, but begrudgingly did so. He turned to face the same nurse from earlier, still with the same polite smile plastered on her face.

"Mr. Black... You know I'd let you stay in here all night if I could. But, the hospital has a policy that I have to enforce."

Brady nodded in understanding and turned back to look at his son. "It's okay... I should go back to my wife anyway."

Brady rubbed one hand over the top of the incubator and smiled. "I'll be back later, kid. I love you."

He paused to take one last loving glance at his son, and then quickly left the NICU. He thanked the nurse for her help, and peeled himself out of the hospital scrubs in the room off to the side. Brady peered through the window before leaving, his son seemed so far away to him, but still close to his heart.

He found his way back to Chloe's room and quietly opened the door. Craig and Nancy were inside, sitting on either side of her bed. Chloe was still a bit out of it, but she smiled sweetly when she saw him walk in.

"Brady... You saw him?"

"I did. He's perfect, Chloe. Absolutely perfect."

Chloe sighed with relief, her voice still quiet, but her words clear. "So... Where's my twenty bucks?"

Brady laughed softly and rolled his eyes. "How did you know he's got blonde hair?"

Chloe looked to her mother, and Nancy grinned at her son-in-law, expressing Chloe's thoughts for her. "Because, Brady... A mother always knows."

Chloe laughed, and Brady thought it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. His wife, who had been through so much in one night, was laughing. Truly another miracle.

Brady rolled his eyes at her and grinned. "I guess you'll just have to put it on my tab, Diva."

"With interest, of course."

"Of course."

Craig and Nancy shared a glance with each other and Craig motioned towards the door. "I think Chloe needs her sleep, and so do we."

Nancy nodded in agreement and looked towards Brady. "We let everyone in the waiting room visit with her for a few minutes, and shipped them off too. There's no reason for everyone to lose sleep tonight."

She stood up and walked around the bed towards Craig, who stood from his chair. Craig looked at Brady and questioned him. "Brady... Should we get another bed in here for you?"

Brady shook his head. "No, I can sleep in the chair just fine. Thanks though..."

Craig and Nancy quickly kissed Chloe goodbye, and Nancy wrapped her arms around Brady firmly before leaving. She whispered in his ear as she hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Brady. For always watching over my daughter."

Brady nodded slightly and whispered back to her. "And, I promise I always will."

Nancy let go and smiled at him before walking out the door. Craig said goodbye to his son-in-law with a brief hug before following his wife out. Brady slid up the stool to Chloe's side and once again grabbed Chloe's hand.

Chloe smiled at him. "So... He's perfect?"

"Perfect. And he can't wait to meet you."

"I can't wait to meet him either."

Brady nodded and smiled back at her. "And you will. Very soon. He may be devastatingly handsome like his father, but he's definitely strong like you. He'll be out of that NICU before you know it."

Chloe raised one eyebrow at him. "Devastatingly handsome, huh?"

"Yeah... A real looker."

Chloe yawned loudly, her eyelids began to droop, and Brady leaned forward to kiss her gently on her dry lips.

"Looks like you need to get some sleep, Diva." Brady's next sentence was spoken through his own yawn, as yawns were always contagious. "And apparently, I do too."

"Are you going to sleep up here with me?"

"I... I don't know. I don't want to pull your stitches out in the middle of the night or something."

Chloe shook her head slightly and pouted. "You won't. You're usually pretty calm in your sleep. Please, please, please?"

Brady frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "I just want to make sure you get a good night's sleep. I want you to be comfortable."

"The only way I will be comfortable is if you're up here with me. Please, Brady..."

Brady nodded and quickly slipped his shoes off and slid them under the bed. He helped Chloe slide over and scooted into the bed beside her, lying on his side. He carefully pulled her into his arms, and she rested her head against him with a sigh.

"Thank you, Brady... I love you."

Brady snuggled into her and kissed her on the forehead. "I love you too. Sleep tight."

Chloe let her eyes fall closed, and a smile curled up on her lips. Brady watched her for a few minutes, until his own exhaustion took him over. He said one more quick prayer before he drifted off to sleep. He prayed that when they awoke in the morning, they'd be greeted with good news about their child.

***

(In the middle of the night.)

Brady heard something that stirred him from his sleep. He opened his eyes and tried to look around the darkened hospital room but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Chloe was still sleeping peacefully beside him, and Brady closed his eyes again. Then he heard it again. Almost like a whisper, but he couldn't figure out what the voice was saying.

He slowly slid out of the bed, trying not to wake Chloe as he did. He walked around the bed and through the door, slipping quietly into the hallway. He looked around and saw no hospital staff, just an empty hallway that was only lit by a soft white glow. He heard the noise again, and he followed the direction of where the whispers were coming from. It sounded like a woman's voice, and the closer he got the more it sounded like she was whispering his name.

Brady kept walking, and suddenly found himself in front of the neonatal intensive care unit. He looked through the wide window, and realized that it looked different than it had earlier. The other babies were gone, and only the incubator where his son had been remained. But, his baby wasn't in the incubator.

Brady rubbed his eyes in confusion, hoping that his vision was deceiving him. He heard the voice again, only this time she was singing. He didn't recognize the voice, but it still seemed somewhat familiar to him.

The woman's singing was beautiful and clear as she softly sang the lullaby.

***Baby mine, don't you cry.
Baby mine, dry your eyes.
Rest your head close to my heart,
never to part, baby of mine.***

Brady looked all around him, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. He spotted something out of the corner of his eye, and turned to look at it. The beautiful woman in the white gown turned the corner and walked down the hallway towards him. She was holding a tiny bundle in a pale blue blanket and singing to it as she rocked it in her arms.

"Mom..."

Isabella looked up from the child in her arms and smiled. "Brady... My beautiful boy."

"I... I never knew you had such a beautiful voice."

Isabella grinned at him slyly. "What? You thought you got your voice from your father?"

Brady laughed softly and shook his head. "No, no, no. I've heard my dad sing..."

"That's right. John Black: priest, ISA agent, longshore man, mercenary, police officer, business tycoon... but not exactly Broadway bound."

The baby in her arms cooed softly and Isabella smiled as she looked at her grandson. "He's beautiful, Brady. Absolutely perfect."

Brady nodded in agreement. "I know... I can't believe that I made that. I did that."

"You did have a lot of help from Chloe. He's going to grow up and amaze you someday."

"He already amazes me."

Isabella nodded in understanding and kissed the baby on the forehead. "I know, but someday you will realize that you have created the perfect combination of all of the things that you love about Chloe, and all of the things she loves about you... Well, you'll be even more amazed than you are right now. Just like you amaze me."

Brady shrugged bashfully. "I'm far from perfect, mom."

"Nobody is perfect. Nobody. But, you... you are everything I ever wished for you to be, and more."

"I just hope my son gets to grow up... I believe in his strength and in his future, but there's always a chance that we could still lose him."

Isabella shook her head in disagreement. "You're not going to lose him. He's going to grow up strong, healthy and happy."

Brady was about to reply when he saw Chloe turn the same corner that his mother had come from just moments ago. She smiled and walked towards them, standing next to Isabella and looking down at her baby lovingly but directing her words to Brady.

"Your mother is right. She told me once before that together we could get through anything, and we can. The three of us -- you, the baby and me. We're a family, and we fight together, and we stay together. No matter what."

Isabella looked at Chloe proudly and nodded. "I also told you that I'd watching over you, all three of you. And, that's what I'm here to do. To make sure that your prayers get answered."

"Mom... I don't know what to say, except thank you. I've always felt your presence when I needed you the most, and here you are now when I need you again. Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me, that's what mothers are for. Just tell me... Have you two picked out a name for my grandson yet?"

Chloe and Brady exchanged a glance, and Chloe shook her head. "We haven't. We've been thinking about names for a long time, but we never made a final decision."

Brady grinned at the two most important women in his life. "Got any suggestions, mom?"

Isabella looked her son in the eyes and paused to think. "Well, let me tell you something. When your father and I chose to name you Brady, it was for a lot of different reasons. Not just because John wanted to honor the only family he had known since he came to Salem. But, also because, to us, they represent all of the virtues we wanted to teach our son. Honor, loyalty, love, strength... So, you two think about all of the things you want your son to be, and then you'll find the perfect name. A name that reminds you of all those qualities."

Chloe raised her eyebrows sarcastically. "You make it sound SO easy. There are a lot of names to pick from out there."

"Trust me, Chloe. It will just come to you, to both of you, out of nowhere. And then you'll know that it's the name he's meant to have."

Brady nodded in understanding and stepped towards her, kissing his mother on the cheek. "I love you, mom."

"And I love you. I will always be here for the three of you. I promise."

Chloe smiled and leaned in to kiss her on her other cheek. "Thank you."

Isabella sighed softly and then motioned towards the room with the empty incubator in it. "I hate to leave you so soon, but this little guy has to go back. I have a feeling you'll be seeing him again very soon."

She smiled at them one last time, her sweet, angelic, motherly smile that Brady had only known in pictures and in dreams. Then she turned and walked back down the hallway, as Brady and Chloe watched in silence until she turned the corner and disappeared.

Chloe turned to her husband, tears welling up in her blue eyes. "Everything really is going to be okay, isn't it?"

Brady nodded and smiled at her. "It really is."

He pulled Chloe into his arms and held her tightly, closing his eyes for just a moment. When he opened them again, he was no longer outside the NICU, but back in the hospital bed next to his wife. He looked down at Chloe, her eyelids fluttered open and she stared at him in surprise.

"Brady... did you dream it too? Your mother..."

Brady nodded, his eyes widening with shock as he repeated the same two-word phrase several times. "I did... I did."

***
To be continued!