Everything Will Be OK.
A/N: I was going to make this the last chapter, but I can't. I thought of more that I need to write. From here on out it should get considerably happier. I will try to get in another chapter of Lightning too. Christmas is coming, sort of. And if you thought I knew a lot of random normal songs, you have no idea how many weird-ass Christmas songs I know. I've already started preparing.
Chapter Three
Inside the ICNU of St. Luke's Hospital, doctors worked furiously to pumps air into the tiny girl's lungs and keep her heart rate up. Once they had gotten her heart rate to stabilize, they moved her to another incubator in the ICNU nursery, hooked up to a machine to help her breath, and left her. They would have to wait it out.
Tade had followed them to the door of the nursery and waited for an update with hope sitting around his eyes.
"We've stabilized her heart rate." The doctor explained. "Right now we're just waiting for her to gather the strength to breath on her own." He finished. Tade looked the doctor over. He had silver hair and lines around his face that showed he had been doing this for a long time.
"So she'll definitely be ok?" Tade asked with begging eyes.
"Nothing is definite, but her chances look very good." He said in a doctor voice before his eyes softened to speak to Tade as a father. "I've seen a lot of babies in my day. Some have survived and some have not, but your daughter is one of the strongest kids I have ever seen." He said sincerely as he gave Tade a pat on the back.
"Thank you." Tade shook the doctor's hand. "Can I go in and see her?" He asked.
"Sure. Just go to the nurse's station at the end of the hall on the left and they'll get you in some scrubs and take you to the nursery." The doctor said with a nod before taking leave of the new father of two.
As Tade walked down the hall he saw a pay phone and realized that he should probably call the rest of the family. After desperately sifting through the change in his pocket he found the correct amount and made the call.
"Hello?" Blue answered the cell phone that he had tucked into the front pocket of his overalls.
"Hey Blue, it's Dad." Tade said into the phone. He was nearly radiating happiness.
"Hi Dad." At this, everyone else in the waiting room's ears perked up. Luke, Will, Toby, and Mark had come to join the group of waiters in the waiting room. Luke and nine year-old Will sat in identical positions with their elbows resting on their knees and their heads bent in thought. Mark had taken hold of Essien's hand to keep him calm. Lorelai held seven year-old Toby in her lap. Blue was sitting in a big pile of all their winter coats. He had taken the role of King of the Waiting Room. "How's the baby?" He asked sensing that his father was happy again.
"She's doing much better. Tell the other's that we're almost in the clear." Tade told his son.
"Ok. "Blue put his little hand over the phone. "He says that the baby is doing better and that we're almost in the clear." He relayed the message and loved the smiles it brought to everyone's faces.
"How's Mommy doing?" Tade asked the boy.
"The nurses say she's still sleeping, but don't worry, when she wakes up I'll make sure she's happy." Blue confirmed and Tade gave a little chuckle.
"Ok little man. Can you give the phone to Uncle Essy?" He requested.
"Sure." Blue slid off the coat pile and handed the phone to Essien. "He wants to talk to you." He said in a very serious voice.
"Hey kid." Essien spoke into the phone after sending a smile to his nephew.
"Hey Bro. It's about 5:30 now so I was just wondering if you could make sure Blue got some food and then I was hoping he could stay with you tonight." He inquired.
"You're son has already been to the cafeteria five time and I anticipate more trips before the night is through. Also, he is always welcomed to stay with me, you know that." Essien informed his brother.
"Also, I probably don't need to tell you this, but Luke and Lorelai will most likely want to stay the night with Rory, so could you offer to take their boys too? I just really don't want them going to stay at Rory's and my place because we left it in a rather unsuitable state." Tade added.
"Messy?
"No, uh, bloody." Tade gulped back the memory of panic that he had felt that morning.
"Oh." Essien's voice became quiet. His brother had been through a lot that day. "Don't worry Shombay. We're taking care of everything over here. You just tell that little girl that her Uncle Essy says "Hi". Ok?" He smiled into the phone.
"Will do. I'll call again later." Tade promised.
"Bye kid." Essien hung up and looked around at the expectant group. "Everything's going to be ok." He said before pulling Mark into a hug and then hugging Lorelai.
Inside of Rory's room, she stirred slightly before opening her eyes. Her gaze wandered the empty hospital room. Her abdomen was still numb, which was probably a good thing. She looked past the missing mound of her stomach and was suddenly worried. Where was the baby? Where was Tade? Where was Blue? Was everyone ok? As her eyes landed on the scene outside the window she saw the dark sky of a city in winter and noticed large flakes of snow falling calmly past her window. She let a smile creep across her face. Everything was going to be ok. She knew it.
Back in the ICNU nursery, Tade was dressed from head to foot in green scrubs with a smile too big for his face as he put his hand through the tube of the incubator and placed his pinkie finger in his daughter's open palm. There was a tube in her nose, heart monitors attached to her chest, and an IV in her hand, but she slept soundly. The bright lights of the nursery reflected off of the curls of hair on her head to create a nimbus that her father couldn't help but feel was not accidental.
The nurses had told him to talk to her. At first he thought this would be embarrassing, but he didn't care about the other people in the nursery anymore. It was all about his daughter.
"Hey there girlie." He said softly as he knelt by the incubator. "You gave us a scare today. That was probably your plan though. You're just like your mother. She once told me that on her first day of elementary school she showed up so early that the school wasn't even open. I suppose you were just eager to start life. I don't blame you. I think life is pretty great. And I promise that I will spend the rest of my life making sure that you feel the same way." He promised quietly. When he looked up he saw a nurse standing in the doorway to the nursery with tears in her eyes.
"That little girl is lucky to have you." She told him as she wiped away the tears and smiled.
"Not nearly as lucky as I am to have to her." He said to the nurse with a warm smile before turning back to his daughter. "You hear that baby? You've made me the luckiest guy around. I've got you, and your fabulous mother, you know her, and your wonderfully caring big brother. I can't wait for you to meet him. He'll keep an eye out for you. You have a huge family to look out for you. You have ten uncles. You don't know your numbers yet, but when you find out how much ten is you'll be amazed. But that's not even the end. You have three aunts, two grandmas, two grandpas, and two great-grandparents. Not to mention the fact that an entire town in Connecticut and an entire country in Africa will be celebrating your birth. You've got an immense fan club and you're not even a day old." His eyes were wide with animation as he told his daughter about her family in a theatrical whisper. At that moment his eyes caught sight of white fluttering outside the nursery window. He looked up and smiled at the snow before looking back to the baby. "Look at that, even Mother Nature is a fan. I'm sure your mother would tell you that this snow is just for you, and I have to say that I agree. The Gilmores love snow, almost as much as they love coffee. Something tells me you'll be a coffee girl too. That's ok as long as you don't start drinking it until you're at least four. I don't want it to stunt your growth because you have some catching up to do. You're the tiniest little girl I've ever met. The nurse told me that you only weigh four pounds and two ounces. That's nothing! That's less than the weight of a chicken I saw at the super market yesterday. I'm sure one day you will get it into your crazy little head that you weight too much, but just remember that the day you entered this world you only weighed four pounds two ounces. You've got a whole lot of growing to do, but promise not to grow up too quickly ok?" He asked although he knew there was no way he would get a response. He knew that he should feel happy that she would be silent for this short period of time because he had a Gilmore girl on his hands, which meant constant noise from the moment she started until the moment of his death. He stood up from his kneeling position and looked over the top. "I know what your name is. You're mother may kill me, but I'm going to give you your name right now and then I'll come back here to continue this conversation." He promised before kissing his fingertips and touching them to the top of the incubator.
Rory pressed the buzzer by her bed so that she could get a nurse's attention.
"How are you feeling?" The overly cheery nurse asked after walking into the room.
"Much better." Rory answered. "There wouldn't by any chance be a young boy out in the waiting room would there?" She asked.
"There are three little boys, one woman, and three men." The nurse had been watching this large family all afternoon.
"Oh, could you tell them that Rory would like to see them very much." She figured out who all the people must be.
"Sure." The nurse turned and went out the door to the happy group. "Rory would like to see you very much." The nurse relayed. "But I suggest that you go in two at a time." With that she left the group to decide.
"I say Lorelai and Blue go first, then Luke and the boys, she only suggested two at a time, and then Mark and I will go." Essien ordered in his diplomatic voice.
"Ok. Let's go see Mommy." Lorelai said nostalgically as she took her grandson's hand and led them down the hall.
"Mommy!" Blue shouted as he raced into the room and put his arms around his mother's neck.
"Be careful sweetie." Lorelai told the boy. She didn't like seeing her daughter in a hospital bed and she didn't want any accidental injury keeping her there.
"It's ok Mom." Rory said with a smile. "Everywhere that should hurt is completely numb." She informed.
"Well that will wear off." Lorelai smiled back at her daughter.
"So Blue," She turned to her son. "How's the baby?" She asked with a grin.
"Daddy, says she's doing much better and she's almost in the clear." He repeated the message again.
"I have a little girl." Rory's eyes began to well up. She hadn't been told about the sex of her baby yet.
"Don't worry Mommy," Blue didn't understand the tears. "Girls aren't that bad. Dad was very happy." He told her in a comforting tone.
"I'm sure he was." She smiled through her emotional tears.
"He's with her now at St. Luke's Hospital." Lorelai broke in with more information. "But how did you know she was ok? I could tell that you already knew everything was ok when you asked." She was amazed.
"I knew because of the snow." Rory said simply, pointing to the window as though this explained everything, and it did.
"Snow!" Blue ran to the window as Rory and Lorelai shared a tear-filled smile.
"Hey Mom?" Blue began as he turned away from the window. "Are you happy?" He asked with a questioning look in his tender eyes.
"Yes. I'm very happy." Rory answered with new tears of happiness in her eyes as she looked at brave, handsome son.
"Good." Blue smiled at his mother before they all turned to watch the snow float through the city.