Here's chapter 15. Bringing the baby home. Sorry for the long wait. The story is quickly coming down to the last few chapters here. I'll try not to take so long in between. I decided to have Susan be pregnant in this story as well, just to go along with some recent events. Anyway, give me a shout, tell me what you think. Enjoy….

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After two days of recuperating in the hospital, it was finally time to take the baby home. Elizabeth was dressed, packed, and more than eager to get out of the hospital and back to her own home.

A light knock on the door made her turn from the hospital window she was looking at. Robert came through the door carrying Alexis in his arms. She was bundled up from head to toe as they were about to brave the crisp Chicago weather.

"I think your paper work is almost finished, so we should be out of here soon," Robert said as he crossed the room and joined Elizabeth in front of the window.

"Good that will get us home just in time to feed this one," Elizabeth said, taking the baby from Robert's arms.

"I'll take you two home and get you settled, and then I'll head over to Susan's to pick up Ella."

"I'm glad Susan was able to watch her today. She would've been bored here waiting around all morning for us to go home."

"Yeah, I'm sure she's having a great time at Susan's. I hope that weird boyfriend of hers, what's his name, Chad…Chip…"

"Chuck," Elizabeth interjected.

"Right, Chuck. I hope he's not over there. He's dumber than a pile of bricks if you ask me."

"No he's not. I think he's nice."

"I didn't say he wasn't nice, but he's not the smartest cookie of the bunch."

Elizabeth just rolled her eyes and walked towards the bed where she sat down.

Finally a doctor came in to have Elizabeth sign the last of the paperwork.

"You're all set to go. The wheelchair is waiting right outside the door whenever you're ready."

"Is that really necessary?" Elizabeth began to question.

"I'm afraid it's hospital policy."

"But-"

"Don't argue with the man," Robert said. "I'll wheel you down myself."

"If you insist," she said, reluctantly giving in.

"Let me take down your stuff and pull the car around and then I'll come back up to get you and the baby."

She nodded and sat back down on the side of the bed.

A few minutes later, Robert was helping Elizabeth into the wheelchair, and they started down the hall and to the elevator.

"I'm parker near the ambulance bay, so we'll have to go through the ER to get there. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course. That'll give everyone a chance to see Alexis," she said, looking down at the baby in her arms.

The doors opened on the ground floor and as soon as he wheeled her out of the elevator they were surrounded by people. Haleh and Chuny ran up, cooing at the baby first. They were soon followed by Abby and Neela, and eventually even Luka and Pratt had joined the crowd.

"Hey, just because I took a few days off doesn't mean you guys can let this place go to hell. What are you doing just standing around?" Romano said, trying to sound like his usual gruff self.

"Oh, Robert, shut up for one second and let them admire the baby," Elizabeth told him.

"Oh she's the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Haleh gushed.

"She is pretty damn cute," Robert said with a huge grin on his face. Realizing who he was around, he quickly wiped the goofy grin off of his face.

"Ok, it's time for me to get these ladies home. They both need their rest," Robert said, and the crowd parted, making room for him to push them through.

"Good luck," Chuny called as they went through the door.

After strapping the baby into the car seat and helping Elizabeth into the front seat , they headed towards home. The car ride home had put the baby to sleep, so when they got home Robert gently placed her in the crib to let her nap for a while.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, headed for the kitchen, and after getting herself a glass of water, she settled down at the kitchen table with the stack of mail that had accumulated over the past few days. Robert came down to join her after putting the baby down.

"Can I make you something to eat?" he offered, trying to be helpful.

"I am kind of hungry. What do we have?"

He opened up the refrigerator. "A whole lot of nothing," he said as he slammed the door shut.

"How bout I pick something up for us to eat when I go get Ella. Speaking of that," he said, looking at his watch, "I should probably get going. I told Susan I'd be there by two. She's on at 4."

"All right. I'm going to go upstairs and take a nap while Alexis is still sleeping."

"Good idea. I'll be back in a little bit. Do you need anything before I go?"

"No, I'll be fine. I'll see you when you get back," she said, getting up slowly from the chair. She gave him a quick kiss before heading up the stairs.

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Robert rang the bell and looked around at the drab neighborhood that Susan Lewis called home. He knew that her County salary wasn't much, but surely she could afford a better place than this dump.

A few seconds later, the door swung open revealing Chuck, who greeted Romano with a smile.

"Hi, come on in. Suze is just getting Ella's things together," he said, gesturing inside the small house.

Romano stepped inside and surveyed the interior of the home. However shabby the outside looked, Susan sure made up for it on the inside. It was decorated perfectly with beautiful furniture and accessories.

"Nice place," Robert said, partly because he meant it and partly to keep some conversation going.

"Yeah, Suzie loves to decorate. You should see her starting to decorate the nursery for the baby already."

"That's a bit early. Didn't she just find out she was pregnant last week?"

"Well, no, last week was when she finally started telling people. She's already about eight weeks along."

"Oh I see." Just at that moment, Ella came bursting through the kitchen door, Susan following behind her carrying her Powerpuff Girls duffel bag.

"Hey, Dr. Romano. It's good to see you."

"I hope Ella wasn't too much of a handful."

"No she was wonderful. We both had a great time. How are Elizabeth and the baby doing?"

"Pretty good. They're both at home taking a nap right now. Elizabeth is exhausted."

"I bet. And it's only going to get worse before it gets better, with all the midnight feedings, and colic, and so on."

"Yeah," Robert said, letting out a nervous little laugh. "I'm looking forward to it, actually."

"Well, good. I hope you enjoy it."

"We should get going," Robert said, reaching to take the bag from Susan, and then taking hold of Ella's hand. Chuck opened the door for them.

"Thank you for watching Ella. We really appreciate it," he said, as they headed out.

"No problem, and congratulations."

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"We're home!" Robert called as he and Ella entered the house.

"I'm in the living room," Elizabeth called. "I'm feeding the baby."

Ella quietly tiptoed into the living room.

"Hi, mommy," she said quietly.

"Hi there, sweetheart. How was you sleepover at Susan's?"

"It was fun," she said with a huge grin on her face. "We had ice cream last night!"

"Ice cream, that sounds good. What else did you do?"

"Well, Susan let me watch Powerpuff Girls last night too."

"Well, I'm glad you had a good time. Where'd Robert go?" she asked.

"Upstairs," she told her mother.

"Could you tell him to come down here please. You can go play outside on your swing set until dinner if you want."

"All right, mommy." She gave her mom a quick kiss before climbing up the stairs to find Robert.

"Wobert, where are you?" she called down the upstairs hall. "Wobert?"

"In here Ella," came Robert's voice from the bedroom.

Robert sat on the bed, his hand gripped to his prosthetic arm, a look of pain on his face. Ella popped into the room a few seconds later.

Immediately she noticed the look of pain that had taken over Robert's face. "What's wrong, Wob?"

He grunted a little, his face contorting in more pain.

"Are you hurt Wobert? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Ella. You wouldn't understand." He leaned back against the pillows trying to relax a little. He tried breathing deeply, in through his nose, out through his mouth.

Tears welled up in little Ella's eyes. She ran from the room and quickly flew down the stairs to get Elizabeth.

"Mommy, mommy!" Ella yelled.

"Shh, Ella, you have to be quiet."

"Mommy, something's wrong with Robert. Something is hurting him."

"What do you mean, Ella. Is he ok?"

"I don't know," the little girl responded.

Elizabeth got up, placing the baby in the cradle in front of her.

"Robert? Robert, are you ok?" she called, dashing out of the living room and taking the stairs two at a time.

"I'm ok, it's nothing to worry about," he called to her, but she had already made it into the room. Robert was still gripping his prosthetic arm firmly, and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut.

"Oh, Robert," she began sympathetically. "Are you having phantom pain?"

He nodded.

She went to the side of the bed and sat down, letting him lean his head onto her shoulder. "Is there anything I can do?" she asked.

"No, it'll go away in a little while."

"Have you had it before?" she asked. "You've never mentioned anything."

"It usually happens in the middle of the night."

"Why didn't you tell me. You should've woken me up."

"No, I didn't want to bother you. There's nothing you can do anyway. I usually just get up and walk around for a while, and then climb back in bed until I can fall back asleep. It's usually gone by morning."

Elizabeth lay with him on the bed for a little while longer, and eventually she realized his breathing had evened out, and the look of pain had disappeared from his face, and he was peacefully sleeping.

She gently kissed his forehead and left him to sleep while she went to check on the baby.

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