"Alright, Hannah, sit up like a good girl for Mama." Liz held her daughter straight.

She moved her hands away and Hannah tipped over with a squeal. She landed safely in Liz's arms.

"She'll never learn if you don't let her fall." Maria said standing in the doorway. "Watch."

Maria sat her up once again and held Liz back so she couldn't catch her. "She's gonna fall." Liz protested.

"That's the point." Moving away Hannah squealed before landing with a flop onto the bed.

She was silent for a minute before blinking. Her faced scrunched up and turned red.

Liz picked her up before too long, instantly she settled down and started squealing and giggling again.

"Now sit her back up again." Maria instructed.

Looking at Maria Liz set her on the bed. She steadied her before moving her hands away.

Hannah stiffened her back when Liz let go and kept herself from falling.

Liz clapped and Maria smiled. Hannah squealed, giggled and tipped. Before she could cry her hands caught her attention and she proceeded to chew on them.

"What's all that yelling about?" Alex walked in.

"Look, Alex." Liz held her daughter up in the sitting position and demonstrated to Alex what she could do.

Because of her excitement she fell over immediately.

"I'll show you later." Liz said picking her up.

"She wants to go to the park, she told me she did." Alex said taking her from Liz.

"No, Alex, not right now, it's nap time." Liz smiled at Alex. "When she wakes up, you can take her to the park." Liz promised.

"Oh, come on, Liz, she's not hungry or tired." Alex protested.

"Alex, she's six months old. She is hungry, because her mother feels like she's going to burst." Liz said patiently while taking Hannah from Alex.

She sat in her rocker which she had fallen in love with during the long nights awake.

"She'll be awake in an hour if you wanna come back then." Liz told them. "I'm going to feed her, Alex."

"I'll be back in an hour." He said before retreating back to his room.

"He's so besotted with her." Maria smiled throwing herself across Liz's bed.

"I know." Liz smiled.

"Did you get the waiver confirmations?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, I got them yesterday." Liz rocked her slowly.

"Can he find you?" Maria asked curious about the man who was Hannah's father.

"If he wanted to, he would find us." Liz told her. "If he really wanted to, he could, Maria, and that what worries me."

****

"Max, what are you doing?" Diane asked. It was two in the morning.

"Studying." He said not looking up.

"At this rate you'll have your own firm in a little more than two years."

"That's my intention." He told her.

"Where do you plan on starting one?" She asked sitting down.

"California."

****

Liz sat with Hannah in her lap when Kyle walked into the room.

Hannah let out a squeal of delight.

"Hey, Liz. Why do you look so down?" Kyle sat across from her.

"Because we have a heart appointment today."

"That should be a good thing, shouldn't it?" He asked unsure.

"Yes, they might take her off the night monitor." Liz handed Hannah to Kyle so that the poor baby would stop straining. "What are you doing here, Kyle?" She asked.

"Maria told me to come over and check up on you." He shrugged.

He said something to Hannah in French.

"What'd you say?" Kyle always did that.

"I asked her if she'd been a good girl, that's all." He said smiling.

"She's going to know more French than English. Does your mother speak French?"

"Yeah, and so does Maria but she chooses not to. My dad taught her when she was younger she likes to pretend she doesn't know it."

"Why would she do that?"

"Why does Maria do anything?"

"Good point."

"Hey, don't talk about me guys." Maria bounced into the room. "Liz, I can't make it to the appointment. I have to go get fingerprinted for TOP with my mother." Maria said apologetically. "It's a very last minute thing, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright." Liz said looking down at her hands. She hated going to the appointments alone. It made her want to contact Max. She knew she couldn't do that.

In a way she knew that he had a right to know there was something wrong with his own daughter. But then he really shouldn't care because he was willing to give her away to strangers.

"I can go with her." Kyle perked up. "If you don't mind, Liz."

Maria smiled proudly at herself.

"Sure, if you would, that would be really nice." Liz said relieved.

"Alright, when's the appointment?"

"In a half hour, we have to leave now." Liz stood up. "Hannah's ready."

"Alright." Kyle laid her in her seat and buckled her in while mumbling something to her in French.

"Kyle, please." Liz said with annoyance.

"Hey it's good that she learns two languages."

"Sure, make it one I know. I don't need a teenager who can curse me out in two languages."

"I can teach it to you." He said helpfully.

"Really?"

'yes, it wouldn't be a problem." He smiled.

"Fine you can teach me." She said before walking out the door sure he would follow with Hannah.

****

Liz sat quietly in the waiting room. Hannah chirped away happily.

The other mothers watched Hannah most heart patients were quiet, unable to breathe easily while silent.

Hannah had a need to be loud and nothing could be done to quiet her when she was happy. When she was in church she was just as loud.

"You seem sad, she seems to be perfectly happy." Kyle said observing the two.

"Yeah, she just thinks it's fun to be somewhere different." Liz smiled at her daughter who let out a shriek when her mother smiled.

"Ms. Parker." The MA called out. Kyle picked up the carrier and followed Liz into the back.

Within a few moments the doctor was in. "Hello, Kyle, surprise to see you here." He smiled. "I've studied Hannah's chart readings from the monitor It seems she is ready to come off at night." He said.

Liz looked panicked.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine, you won't even be able to tell the difference." He smiled.

"Just keep her the way you have been and she'll be fine."

Liz nodded. Hannah was quiet for once studying the doctor.

"She's a quiet one." He said smiling at the baby.

Kyle hid a smile and Liz stared at the doctor like he was crazy. "Not really. She usually jabbers non-stop when she's awake, she's just being quiet right now."

As if to prove her mother correct, Hannah let out a loud squeal and giggled. Then she began talking and mumbling nonsense.

"Told you." Liz winced at the high pitched sound.

"Does she get blue at all when she does that for a while?"

"Nope." Liz said. "She never seems out of breath either."

The doctor smiled brightly. "That's great, that means it's not near as serious as it could be."

Liz beamed.

"She's on baby food correct?"

"Yes." Liz nodded.

"We have a new medicine. It's in a small yogurt container. It tastes like yogurt. What it does, on some children is it helps the heart to patch itself back up. We can try it. The worst that can happen is that it won't work to the full effect but the surgery would then only be minor. Just make sure she gets one full container a day. They're not very big."

"We can try it." She nodded open to anything that might prevent a surgery.

"Great, I'll right a prescription. Any questions, Kyle?" He turned to him. "Oh, I just got a call, you're to be my intern next month."

Kyle smiled. "Great."

"Is that it?" Liz stood and put Hannah back in her seat.

"Yes." Give me a call if she likes the yogurt." The doctor said shaking her hand.

The doctor mumbled something in French to Kyle. Liz let out a frustrated sigh. She was going to learn French and she was going to learn it fast.