Author's note: I will confess to knowing nothing about Pennsylvania paternity law and being too lazy to look it up. So we're drawing from what I know which is mostly Virginia with a hit of Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii.

And once again, if my story and reality disagree, my story always wins.

Thank you all for reading thus far; it's almost over. Reviews/critiques always appreciated.

John looked through the NICU windows at the tiny bed with the label, "Vega" at its foot. He wondered if it was some sort of divine vengeance or just a cruel irony that his baby should have Cristian's last name. She didn't really, he knew. Michael had explained it to him multiple times, "Hospital policy, while the baby's in the nursery it's referred to by the mother's last name. It's no reflection of what the birth certificate will say." Natalie had signed the divorce papers, but in the midst of everything she hadn't remembered to legally change her name. It was such an understandable oversight, and yet it hurt so much to see his child with another man's name. Especially considering all the history wrapped up in that name.

She was dwarfed by the ventilator and the IV's and whatever all the wires connected to the tiny baby were, but she was still the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. From what he'd been able to glean she was doing as well as could be expected. He'd been watching her almost non-stop for the past thirty-six hours, leaving only periodically to check on her mother who had yet to awaken. He wasn't allowed any closer than this; not allowed to talk with the neonatologist about her condition. He had no legal claim to the baby until Natalie woke up and said he did. Leaning against the glass he told himself Natalie would be awake soon; Natalie would be fine. Michael said she was doing better and seemed surprised she wasn't awake already. But since she couldn't be there at the moment he stood there willing his strength to their baby girl so she could keep fighting.

He suspected his constant presence was making the nurses uncomfortable. He heard a group of them talking as they walked by.

"-been there since yesterday. I swear I don't think he's moved. Wish half the dads were that dedicated."

"Yeah, mom seized in the OR and is still out. Hasn't told anyone who gets the second bracelet. He can't come in till she does."

"They're not married?"

"No, and I got asked about the last name issue already. Apparently it's her first husband's name or something and she's in the progress of changing hers and baby's gonna have dad's name… I don't know."

"Have to feel bad for him-"

"Don't feel too bad! No one to blame but himself—he could have married her."

As they disappeared into the nursery proper their voices became inaudible. He could almost laugh at the nurse's simplistic understanding of their situation. One thing they were right about though, he had no one to blame but himself.

Across the nursery, by the door he was surprised to see Victoria Davidson talking with one of the nurses. The nurse turned and looked at him momentarily then smiling turned back to Viki. He supposed that they were discussing the baby's condition; Viki, at least, was legally family. Unlike him.

Trying not to let himself be distracted by jealousy he turned his attention back to the tiny pink form of his daughter. He quickly became so entranced that he actually jumped when a gentle hand touched his arm.

"I didn't mean to startle you," Viki said.

"Mrs. Davidson. How's Natalie?" he asked eagerly.

"She's not awake yet," she said, "but she's doing fine. I'm sure she'll wake up soon."

He nodded in hopeful agreement turning his eyes back to his daughter. "She's beautiful, isn't she?" Viki observed. "A miracle, really."

"Yeah," he said softly in wonder.

"You know, John," she said, "There are certain unofficial perks of being on the hospital board."

He turned to her in surprise. Did she get access to the baby even though she had no more right to enter the NICU than him? It was unlike Viki to gloat over something like that. But Viki pointed down the hall a few feet where the nurse she'd been speaking to was motioning to him.

"Sir?" she said. He walked quickly to her. "I have to clean the inside of the isolette your baby's in. I need someone to hold the baby just for a moment while I do that. Mrs. Davidson suggested you might be willing."

"Of course," he said in disbelief. He turned back to Viki who smiled at him encouragingly. The nurse smiled and led him into the nursery.

And so a few moments later the nurse carefully placed Kiara Kathleen McBain, still tethered with wires, in her father's arms for the first time.

"Hey," he said to her softly. "I'm your dad. Mom will be here soon… she loves you very much, she's just a little sick herself… I have to let you know something… you might as well hear it now. Your dad's pretty stupid sometimes. You probably could have done better in choosing fathers, so I'm sorry about that. But I don't think I could have ever done better than you and your mom. I'm trying to stop being so stupid, for both of you… I promise that I am going to give you and your mom the best life I can, whatever that takes."

She started awake with only one thought—the baby was gone. For so many months now she'd grown accustomed to the constant presence of that life within her and now it wasn't there. They'd taken her somewhere. She touched her empty stomach, it felt sore, hollow. She had to find her baby.

She sat up and horrific pain ripped through her abdomen, but adrenaline quickly kicked in and she put her feet on the floor. She was tangled in wires and cords. She ripped one of them off and it screamed at her.

Michael was exhausted. Between working his shifts and being there for John he had only left the hospital for moments at a time over the last couple days. But when he heard the alarm, instinct took over and he walked swiftly to find the source. His heart sank as he realized which room it was coming from. "No," he thought, "please God, not her…"

But when he walked into the room he was surprised to see Natalie sitting on the edge of the bed looking at her monitor leads in confusion. She turned to him and said weakly, "I took these off and they started buzzing."

Laughing with relief and at her naïve statement he said, "That's because you're not supposed to take them off, you nut." Taking her by both shoulders he tried to ease her back into the bed, but she struggled against him.

"Michael, my baby!" she exclaimed.

"She's in the NICU," he said in his calm doctor's voice, "John's with her."

"John," Natalie said mostly to herself, wishing he was here. He would find her baby for her.

"He's gonna be real glad to see you're up," Michael told her, "If you let me get you settled back in I'll go get him."

"No!" she said fighting his attempts to maneuver her back into the bed, "I need to see my baby!"

The door to her room opened and Rex walked in, lighting up to see Natalie awake. "Hey! Sleeping beauty's up!"

Pegging him as an ally Natalie turned to him and said plaintively, "Rex, he won't let me see my baby."

"Natalie," Michael said firmly, "you're not supposed to be up yet. You're going to rip your stitches. And you need to calm down! Your heart stopped during the section-"

"My heart's going to stop again if you don't let me see my baby!" she argued, slowly becoming more lucid and even more determined to see her daughter.

"She's right, doc," Rex said, "we both know her; she's not going to calm down till she gets what she wants. Can't we wheel her down there or something?"

Michael looked at Rex and looked at Natalie, studying her desperate face. He was probably going to get in trouble for this, but how could he tell her 'no'? She wouldn't listen anyway, Rex was right. "Okay," he sighed, "But just for a couple minutes. Let me get a wheelchair and a nurse to clean you up."

Natalie looked down and realized for the first time that there as blood running down her legs. Seeing the look of panic on her face Michael said calmly, "It's from the section. It's okay, it's normal."

John stood outside the nursery again, feeling like the glass barrier was much thinner than it had been a few minutes before. Somehow he was certain now that Kiara was going to be okay. His thoughts turned to Natalie and he considered going downstairs to check on her just as he heard her voice calling his name softly. He turned, although he fully expected to discover it had been his imagination, and there she was. In a wheelchair being pushed by his brother and followed closely by hers. She looked pale and weak but she was okay.

He ran to her side and knelt in front of her. "You have no idea how glad I am to see those eyes," he said caressing her face.

"John, the baby?" she said sounding desperate.

"She's right over here," he said, motioning towards the nursery. "She's amazing."

Michael nodded to a doctor who approached them, "Guys, this is Dr. Amireh, he's the neonatologist." They had both been introduced to the doctor the day before Kiara was born; he nodded to them.

"How is she?" Natalie asked anxiously.

Dr. Amireh smiled kindly, "Well, as you know she's very premature. Considering this she is doing very well. She has a touch of premature lung disease, which is exactly what it sounds like—her lungs just aren't quite developed enough yet so we have her on a ventilator. She's actually been trying to breathe on her own, and fighting with the ventilator-"

"She's just like her mom," Michael mumbled.

"-but because she can't quite breathe well enough we have given her a tranquilizer to make her stop. We don't want her wasting her strength fighting the vent. Things with preemies are always delicate, but she is doing very well. We usually estimate that we keep them here till their due date, but you may be able to take her home sooner."

"Can we see her?" Natalie begged more than asked.

"Come with me," Dr. Amireh nodded.

As he took the chair away from Michael, John bent over and kissed her on the cheek. She craned her head so that she could kiss him back. "See I told you," he whispered, "we always get through."

To be continued.

Author's note #2: There's just the epilog left. I really hope you all like it so far.