Lona hesitated for a moment before adjusting her hold on the baby slightly, reaching out and loosening the blankets. She still couldn't quite bring herself to believe it. She had really had a baby. She had never really thought about having kids before, had pretty much concluded that her chances for having one were over anyway. And now, suddenly here was this baby, resting in her arms. She looked up at Elmer hesitantly before glancing down at the baby. She still wasn't sure about how things would work out with him but.... No, she wasn't going to let herself think about anything like that at the moment. She was just going to focus on the baby. She nudged the blankets aside a little and started down at the tiny body.

"She's so small," Lona whispered as she surveyed the baby.
Fingers and toes. It looked like all of them were there, like all of the parts were in the right places and in working order. "She's so small,
though." Lona repeated as a bit of fear crept in once more. She had just assumed that if a pregnancy was so odd as to happen overnight that it must surely count as a full term pregnancy but it suddenly occurred to her that maybe it didn't. "Elmer, did someone check her?" She demanded as she anxiously ran her eyes over her little girl again, looking for any sign of potential problems. Would she know what might be a problem, though? It wasn't like she had studied anything having to do with pediatrics since med school and.... she shook her head as she thought of it. Here she was a doctor and she couldn't even tell if something was wrong with her own child.
Oh, this was never, ever going to....

"Lona, calm down. Hook and my dad have seen her. They say she's fine." He didn't think that Lona needed to know that he had also asked the anteater to take a glance as well. Suddenly he stopped as what Lona had said sunk in. "She? It's a girl?" he whispered.

Lona nodded, pulling the blankets snuggly around the baby once more. She had finished nursing and was now resting contentedly against her mother's breast, her eyes closed and her little fingers wrapped around one of Elmer's fingers. She felt herself giggling slightly as she watched that, sinking back into Elmer's embrace a bit. Okay, he did act like a child an awful lot of the time but it was just so cute to watch him like that. Maybe things would be okay? She was almost afraid to let herself hope for that but....

"Lona, I love you and I promise I'm not going to leave you and our little girl or do anything to hurt either of you, okay?" Elmer said as he leaned down and gently kissed her. "I was so scared. I thought that I was going to lose you, lose both of you." He kissed her once more. "Please,
don't ever scare me like that again, okay? I promise that I'm never going to do anything that could do this again, nothing that could make you have to go through that."

Lona rolled her eyes slightly as she listened to Elmer. Really,
was he honestly expecting her to believe that he would willingly give up sex or.... Suddenly she felt a cold feeling wash over her. If he was serious, honestly how long would it be before he found someone else,
someone stronger who could give him things, who could.... She felt herself starting to cry softly as she thought of it, of being left alone. Okay,
she had always known that any relationship with Elmer would end that way,
of course. The age difference was just so large. Once he saw someone younger, someone he had more in common with, he would quickly loose his fascination with her. The thought of it hurt her all the same though and the baby.... Would he even want anything to do with the baby once he....

"Lona, I swear I love you." Elmer whispered as he looked down at her. How many times did he have to say that until she would believe it.
He felt a bit of frustration starting to build. Why did she think so badly of him, think that he would hurt her when all he had ever done was repeatedly declare his love for her. With a shake of his head, he forced that frustration back, though. Okay, he didn't really understand why Lona didn't seem to get that he really meant it when he said he loved her but if she didn't, then he would just have to keep telling her that again and again until she finally believed it, was sure that he wouldn't leave her.
"I love you, Lona, and I'm going to keep saying that until you understand it." He whispered into her ear as he cuddled her and the baby close.
Whatever it took, he was going to be there for her and they were going to be a family.