Well here is chapter 2 as promised. Enjoy!
The Perfect Gift 2
Oh I forgot to mention before. This fic is set just after PJ and Tatiana got together. And PJ and Jo never got back together afterwards. She left before Tatiana broke up with PJ so therefore she didn't get kidnapped either. So this is set in Christmas 2003. Just thought I would let you know so this doesn't get confusing. I should have cleared that up last time. Sorry!
OK there are going to be time gaps here cause I'm sick of working with such a tiny baby. Izzy is going to get older really fast ok!
The hospital:
"I can't believe how beautiful she is." Mary was holding Jo's baby in her arms. "Does she have a name?"
"Well I do have one suggestion..." Jo smiled. "How does Isabelle Margaret sound?" (AN: That's what I'm going to name my first-born girl. after my grandmother)
"Did you say Margaret?"
"Of course. Who better to name my first child after than the best friend I've ever known?"
"It's beautiful." Mary replied. "I love it."
"So do I." Jo smiled.
"I just can't believe how tiny she is. Jamie was almost twice as big when she was born."
"Man that must have hurt."
"Well I wouldn't know. They gave me drugs to kill the pain."
"Fair enough. I would have had drugs if this little one wasn't so eager to come into this world." Jo laughed.
"Yeah I suppose you're right." Mary replied. "Anyway I'd better get going. I've got to get to work." She handed Isabelle back to Jo and gave them both a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll be back in as soon as I finish work."
"Mary you don't finish work until one o'clock in the morning." Jo laughed.
"Well I'll still come in anyway. I ant to keep an eye on you two."
"I'm sure we'll survive without your help for 12 hours. Now get to work. And don't come back here until you've been home to sleep." Jo said firmly.
"Yes Mum." Mary laughed. She waved and blew a kiss as she left the room.
"Hello there little Isabelle." Jo held the tiny baby's hand. "I'm your mummy." She smiled. "Yes I am. I am going to make sure nothing ever happens to you. I'm going to be there for you no matter what." She held Isabelle close and gave her a soft kiss.
Three weeks later Jo and Isabelle are home and Jo is getting sick of having to keep getting up in the middle of the night to feed Isabelle.
"Not again." Jo groaned when she heard Isabelle start screaming. "Go back to sleep." She called hoping it might work. However it dint so she groaned once again as she made her way into Isabelle's room.
"It's ok baby Mummy's here." Jo yawned and picked her up. "Are you hungry baby?"
Isabelle was still crying. "Ok Mummy will give you something to eat.
Jo sat in the rocking chair and began feeding Isabelle whilst rocking gently.
When she was done feeding Jo rocked her back to sleep and placed her in her crib then headed into her bedroom. As soon as her head hit the pillow she fell asleep.
Later that morning she was woken once again by Isabelle screaming.
"It's ok mummy's coming." She grabbed Isabelle and carried her out to the kitchen.
"I am getting so tired of this." She sighed and sat in the kitchen chair where she once again fed Isabelle. She had just put Isabelle down when the phone rang.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Jo Hi. It's Mary here. I need you to come down to the station. There's someone here that wants to see you." Mary's voice came form the other end of the phone.
"Yeah alright. I'll just get Isabelle ready and then we'll come down." Jo replied.
"Great. I'll tell him you're on your way." Mary said cheerfully. "See you when you get down here."
"Bye." Jo hung up the phone and turned to where Isabelle was lying in her bouncer. "It's Christmas Eve, I haven't even had a shower yet and already they want me down at the station. I'll tell you this better be important." She said to her daughter. "Come on baby." She grabbed the bouncer and Isabelle and carried them into the bathroom. She placed Isabelle in the carrier on the floor then she had herself a shower.
"Hey guys." Jo said as she walked into the station.
"Where is she? Let me see her." A woman ran up to Jo. Several of the other officers followed.
"Hey Carrie." Jo smiled.
"Oh hey." Carrie said and then she got Isabelle out of her carrier. "She is so gorgeous." Carrie cooed over here.
"You'd better watch her James or she'll start wanting one of her own." Jo laughed.
"Hey how are you doing?" James asked and he gave Jo a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"I could be better. I haven't exactly been getting enough sleep."
"Tell me about it. The twins are almost a year old and they still don't sleep through the night." Heather another one of the Constables at the station said as she admired Isabelle.
"She's gorgeous." Annette cooed.
"OK guys that's enough. Stop smothering her." Jo laughed. "Where's Mary?"
"She's in her office with some guy." Kane another constable told her.
"OK guys back to work." The Sergeant Darcy Harlow cried. "There'll be plenty of time to admire Jo's baby after work. Now go on get to work."
"Yes Boss." Several people replied and they all scrambled off to their respective desks.
"Hey Jo how are things?" Darcy asked.
"I'm great Darcy." Jo smiled.
"What brings you down to the station?"
"Mary said there was someone asking for me."
"Ah right. The mysterious stranger. He wouldn't tell us who he was. Just wanted to see you desperately."
"Oh." Jo was confused. "Well I'd better go find out who it is."
"Yeah. Make sure you say bye before you leave." He said as Jo walked off.
"I will."
"Hey Mary did you say I had a...visitor." She paused when she saw who it was. "PJ what are you doing here?" She asked.
"I came to see you." He held up a piece of newspaper. "I saw this in the paper."
"What?" Jo asked stepping closer to him. "Who the hell put that there? There wasn't supposed to be a birth announcement. How did it manage to get into the Mt Thomas Gazette?" Jo glared at Mary.
"I err...gotta go." She quickly exited the room.
"Is that her?" PJ asked pointing to the capsule on the floor next to Jo.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you and Isabelle." PJ replied. He walked over and looked into the capsule at the sleeping baby.
"She's gorgeous."
"PJ why did you come here? You have no business being here."
"I do if that's my daughter." Jo ignored his comment.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to see my daughter."
"Don't you get it PJ she's not yours. She never was and she never will be." Jo snapped.
"So you're telling me you cheated on me?"
"No PJ. I didn't cheat on you." She retorted. (At least not willingly) she thought to herself.
"Who is the father then?" PJ asked.
"That's none of your business." Jo cried. "None of this is any of your business. My life stopped being your business when you slept with that doctor."
"Jo she broke up with me three days after you left. She said it was because I was too in love with you." He paused and looked down. "It turns out she was right."
"PJ it's too late ok. I've got a new life now and no matter what you say or do nothing is going to change that. I am never going back to that place."
"Jo please I need you. I love you!" He looked up at her. She replied with a slap in the face. Then she picked the capsule up and walked out of the office.
"What happened?" Mary asked when she saw the tears in Jo's eyes.
"He told me he loved me."
"I take it that's a bad thing?" Mary asked.
"Why couldn't he have said that before? Why couldn't he have said it before I moved away? I came here to get away from the pain. And now it's all come back."
"Is he Isabelle's father?" Mary asked.
"No. But things would be far less complicated if he was." Jo sighed.
"I'm sorry." Mary said. "This is my fault."
"No it's not."
"It is. I put the notice in that paper. I didn't realise that something like this would happen though. I just thought all of your old friends would want to know."
"It was a nice thought." Jo replied.
"I should have asked you first. I'm sorry. Do you forgive me?" She asked.
"Always." Jo replied and hugged her.
"So if he's not the father...then who is?"
"I can't tell you. I can't tell anyone because I don't want him to find out. He's got a new life now like I do. He's married and his wife is pregnant. I don't want to ruin his happiness."
"What about your happiness huh? Did you think of that? What about Izzy? What if she wants to know who her dad is?"
"If she wants to know when she's older then I'll tell her. I just don't want to ruin anyone else's lives."
"What do you mean 'anyone else's'?"
"Well I've ruined PJ's. He loves me but I don't love him anymore. And I've ruined Izzy's life because of me she's going to grow up without a father."
"Jo stop. You have not ruined anyone's lives. PJ can go get screwed. He's waited this long to tell you so he obviously doesn't mean it as much as he says he does. And children grow up all the time with single parents. It's not going to hurt Izzy." Mary assured her. "So quit being so negative."
"Sorry. It's just a habit of mine."
"Hey look Darcy and I are going up to the snow for a week just after Christmas. I'll have to ask him about it but why don't you and Izzy come with us. Just to get away from everything for a while."
"No thanks. I wouldn't want to intrude on your romantic holiday." Jo smiled. Mary burst out laughing.
"You're kidding right." She stopped laughing. "Since when has Darcy been romantic?"
"I guess you're right."
"Great. It's going to be so much fun!'
"Only if Darcy agrees." Jo smiled.
"Ok." Mary hugged her. "Now what are we going to do about PJ?"
"You know what?" Jo cried. "I'll deal with him." She stood up. "Look after Izzy for a few minutes."
"Will do. You go girl." Mary smiled and watched as Jo walked out of the office with a determined look on her face.
"Jo." PJ cried. "You came back." He hugged her.
"Get off me!" She cried and she pushed him away. "I only came back to tell you one thing. Stay away from Izzy and me. We're happy here and we don't need you messing up what we've got. I don't love you anymore PJ and nothing you say or do is going to change that."
"But I thought..." He started his voice filled with pain.
"Well you thought wrong." Jo snapped. "Now get out of here before I do something I'll regret." She turned and he looked at her with tears in his eyes. She didn't budge.
"I'm sorry Jo." He lowered his head and left the office.
Jo took a deep breath and sighed.
"So?" Mary asked walking in with Izzy. "How do you feel?"
"Free and relieved." Jo smiled.
"That's great. So no more PJ?"
"No more PJ. Or any of the others at all. It's all gone. And no one is ever going to know who her father is."
"Not even your best friend?"
"Sorry Mary." Jo shook her head. "It's best this way."
"I understand." Mary smiled. "So are you going to the office Christmas Party?"
"Well I don't know. I've got Izzy and it'll be a bit difficult."
"Right. Well maybe Darcy and I will drop by later and we can have our own Christmas Party." Mary suggested.
"Thanks. But I'd rather just head home to bed. It is Christmas Eve after all."
"Well ok then. Merry Christmas." Mary gave her a kiss. "See you tomorrow?" Mary asked.
"Actually no. I'm not in the mood for partying. I think Izzy and I are just going to have a quiet Christmas at home." Jo replied.
"Jo..." Mary started. "Darcy's parents are having a little get together and we thought you'd like to join us."
"No Mary. No parties." Jo replied.
"Fine. Spoilsport."
"I've got to go." Jo hugged Mary and left.
The next morning she was standing at the counter watching Izzy in her bouncer and preparing herself some toast when there was a knock at the door.
"Merry Christmas!" Mary cried as she, Jamie, Darcy, Jerry and Greg walked into her apartment wearing Christmas hats and carrying gifts.
"Guys." She smiled. "I said no fuss."
"Well we couldn't let Christmas day go past without giving you a party."
"I told you no parties."
"Well I decided if you weren't going to go to a party then we'd bring the party to you."
"Thanks." Jo smiled.
"We brought gifts." Greg held up two packages. One rather large one and one small one.
"Put them under the tree." Jo smiled. She felt good to know there were people in her life that would rather spend Christmas day with her than their families.
Well that's this chapter. Please let me know what you think. Any changes or anything let me know!
Thnx!