Ryan kneeled down next to the incubator tapping his finger lightly on the glass as he was at a loss for words. Marissa already began crying right away as the baby's condition startled them both. Marissa was sitting in a wheelchair, covering her face with her hands continuing to cry.
"She's so small." Marissa muttered as she stared at the little helpless child, their daughter, lying there in the incubator fighting for her life. The baby laying there, so scrawny and as she breathed, a big indentation formed right below her ribs, her rib bones visible against her skin and then disappeared as she exhaled. She wore a special type of sunglasses that covered her eyes to protect them from the lights in the room and her tiny, limp arms had numerous IV's coming out of them filled with medicine's, food and water to keep the baby stabilized. Her breathing wasn't too good so the doctor's also had her hooked up to a respirator.
They were stunned and both didn't quite know what to do, they were eighteen years old and new parents dealing with a situation both weren't expecting.
"I know honey, but remember…. she's a fighter. Brittany' s going to be alright and we'll take her home as soon as she's able to. " Ryan turned away from the baby and hugged Marissa trying to comfort her as best he good, on the verge of tears himself as this situation was very overwhelming.
"No, this is all my fault. She was born early because of me and if –" Ryan stopped her and dragged his thumb underneath her eye drying tears.
"Shh. This isn't your fault, babies come early all the time, the doctor said so himself and he also said this had nothing to do with you. I guess she just didn't want to be in there any longer…. she wanted to come meet us." She smiled as Ryan tried to make her laugh which had been the first time all day.
Ryan noticed on one side of the incubator it had the baby's name, gender, weight and measurement. For baby's name, they decided on Brittany Alexa Atwood. She was born December 6, and weighed two pounds, eight ounces. Her length, a tiny twelve inches. She could fit in the palm of a hand.
"The baby's doing good. She's responding to the treatments we're giving her and she seems to be breathing better on the respirator. I know this is frightening, all these IV's going into her but I promise they don't hurt and they're just to keep up her health since she's not strong enough yet to drink anything yet. You're not allowed to hold her yet, she needs to come off the respirator first and if she keeps up the good progress that should be tomorrow." The doctor came in, informing the new parents. "We're going to take her now to x-rays to run some tests to see if there's any problems in her brain. Some preemies will experience bleeding and we need to check to see if anything like that is happening. She should be back in about an hour or so and she should go right away…. I'll have the nurse take you back to your room." Ryan shook the doctor's hand as he went back to get the nurse.
The nurse came right away and grabbing the handles of Marissa's wheelchair she began moving her backwards out of the NICU.
"No! I want to stay with my baby! She needs me, I can't leave her!" Marissa yelled trying to grab onto the baby's incubator. She'd been separated since the baby was born and now they were going to take her again? No. She wouldn't let that happen, she needed to be near her daughter.
"Marissa." Ryan placed his hands onto hers. "The baby will be fine. The doctor's know what they're doing, we'll let them do whatever they want just as long as Brittany's all right, right? Oh – before you go, can I just take a few pictures to show some of our family?" The nurse nodded and Ryan stood next to the incubator and snapped a few Polaroid's and as he turned to leave he kissed his fingers and placed them on the incubator's glass right where Brittany's hand was leaning. "I love you sweetie." He returned to Marissa's side and both of their heads were turned in their daughter's direction as they entered the elevator, holding their breathes in sadness as the doors closed and the baby was gone. Marissa again began to cry and didn't stop until the nurse wheeled her back into her room, got her situated, and told her she'd come back when the baby was out of x-ray.
Hours passed and Marissa and Ryan were enjoying the company of their families while they waited for news from their doctor.
"How's the baby doing?" Kirsten asked, knowing it'd be tough for them to see her especially since she would be so tiny.
"Brittany's doing good." Ryan handed her the few pictures he took and all the girls in the room began crying.
"Brittany? That's our grand-daughter's name?" Jimmy looked at the pictures and smiled, yes she was tiny but what a beauty. Kirsten, Julie, Sandy and Jimmy all exchanged joyful glances at each looked over each other's shoulders looking at the pictures of their new grandbaby.
The waiting seemed like forever, basically like the pregnancy and Marissa would do anything to get the last few days back…. to have the baby back inside of her where she was safe. Marissa sat in bed; her expression still stern. She wasn't going to be fine until the doctor came and gave the news that Brittany was all right. The doctor knocked on the door and walked in examining the charts he held in his hand.
"Mr. and Mrs. Atwood." The doctor looked up after skimming a few lines off the top sheet and began to speak. "Brittany just got out of x-rays and she's clear of all brain problems, there are no signs of any bleeding occurring in her brain. The nurses are up with her now and they said she's doing good, her breathing has improved though she still is on the respirator and she seems to be taking fluids from the IV's."
"Can we come see her?" She exhaled loudly as the words 'she's doing alright' escaped the doctor's mouth and now all she wanted was to see her.
He looked at the time, it was almost midnight and the x-raying took a little longer then they expected. "Mrs. Atwood, I'm not denying you visitation of the baby but it's almost midnight and you had major surgery a little over twelve hours ago. We had to put her to sleep in order to do the x-rays and she's still asleep upstairs so-" The doctor was stopped by Marissa.
"I don't care, I want to see my baby and I want to see her now." Marissa would have gotten out of the bed if she could but she was sore from her c-section and could barely move as it is.
"Alright, whatever you'd like to do. A nurse will be right with you." He nodded his head and walked out of the room and a nurse soon entered, the same as earlier. This time the rest of the family was able to go and see her so behind Marissa and Ryan walked the rest of the Cohen/Cooper clan.
As the group surrounded around the baby's incubator, the women all immediately started crying, Sandy and Jimmy looked at the baby bending down slightly watching her as proud grandparents, and Seth sat down on a stool he moved next to the incubator and started taping lightly on the glass. The thought that he was going to have one of these, God willing in three months, kicked in and he gave a look to Summer.
"She is beautiful." Julie said wiping tears from her eyes and kissing Marissa on the head while squeezing Ryan's shoulder lightly.
"You guys have been here all day why don't you go back home and get some rest. We'll call you if anything happens." Ryan looked at his family, his voice tired and his facial expression clearly showing it.
"Yeah we should get back. We have to go to work tomorrow but we'll stop by afterwards." Kirsten walked over to Marissa hugging her and then hugging Ryan, Sandy doing the same as everyone waved good-bye to them and Jimmy and Julie stood up next.
"We should get back too. Work. We are now the new grandparents of a gorgeous little girl. Congratulations, she's gorgeous." Jimmy patted Ryan's shoulder and Julie hugged Marissa good-bye and the two then exchanged their person. They but assured Ryan and Marissa to call them if they heard anything and that they'll come back and visit soon. The shadows of Jimmy and Julie disappeared in the distance and the tired new parents looked back down at their remaining family members.
"Summer, you still need your rest you still have three more months to go." She looked down at her feet a little jealous that Summer was still pregnant and that their baby's healthy. Deep down Marissa would do anything to be pregnant again.
"Coop don't worry about Brittany she's going to be fine. She's a fighter, I mean look who her father is…. the King of fighting." She laughed a little and saw that Ryan and Marissa were both smiling too, the first they've seen all day. "But tomorrow I'll come by the house early and I'll hang out with you all day, I'll treat you to breakfast so save the appetite." She finished hugging Ryan and then hugged Marissa who nodded in agreement to Summer. They all gave their good-byes and the end of the group left leaving Marissa and Ryan alone with their daughter.
"Marissa you should go to sleep, you had major surgery earlier and the doctor said you should take it easy and rest. Nurses are monitoring the baby and if anything was to go wrong they'd be there to take care of it. She'll be there in the morning and the next day and the next day…. until she's eighteen and we kick her out." He laughed but he seemed to be the only one.
"No. I want to stay here, she needs me. She's here in a scary place and she doesn't recognize anyone and we're the only familiar voices and –"
"And she's fine, everyone's said so. Yes she has a long road ahead of her but she's going to survive and when she comes out of the hospital she's going to need a mother who's rested and sane." He kissed her forehead and saw the fear and sadness that filled her tear dwelling eyes. "Marissa sweetie. This has been a busy day for all of us, we're parents now but we all need to get sleep and let whatever is going to happen take place…. and in Brittany's case that means to let her get better."
Marissa rested her hand on the glass and nodded knowing Ryan was right. Marissa was going to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow and was going to need her rest in order for her to recover from her major surgery. They spent a few minutes up there, talking with Brittany until they tearfully had to part again until the morning.
The next day came around and the doctor came into Marissa and Ryan's room holding papers that Marissa had to sign off on in order for her to leave the hospital. She was given some tips on how to deal with her c-section scar and after she was dressed Ryan and Marissa went upstairs into the NICU to say good-bye to Brittany. Of course they'd stop by everyday and check up on her but for now they both needed to go home, catch up on sleep and get their minds straight.
"Hi sweetheart" Ryan said as he sat on a stool situated next to the incubator. Brittany had her eyes closed and looked different then she did yesterday, she was definitely starting to grow and change already. "Mommy and I have to go back to our house, but we promise we're going to come visit you everyday until you get better okay sweetie?" He hated how they were going to walk out of the hospital, just the two of them with no new bundle of joy to come home with, instead they were left empty and in pain as they both knew their daughter was fighting for her life and there was nothing they could do for her. He looked back up at Marissa and rubbed her back. "I'm going to go get the car, I'll be right back." Ryan stuck his hand in the arm slots in the incubator stroking Brittany's tiny little hand. He needed to leave or else he'd begin to get emotional and he was all cried out. He turned the corner out of the NICU and went to go get the car so him and Marissa could go home.
Marissa was left looking at her daughter, noticing every intricate detail about her face. She was already starting to look like the two of them, Marissa and Ryan's blondish hair, Ryan's blue eyes, Marissa's nose and ears and Ryan's cute little dimples that were present when she'd form a smile. Marissa sat there, stroking the baby's hand, her fingers half the size of her fingers.
"Sweetie, this is mommy." The baby squirmed a little bit; Marissa thought it was because of the familiar voice. "I need you to get better because I don't know what I'll do if I ever lost you. You need to start growing so mommy and daddy can take you home and we can be a family. You'll love our house, yes it's a little apartment but it has a pool and your aunt Summer and uncle Seth live right next door. And pretty soon you'll have a cousin, your aunt and uncle are expecting their first too. You'll love aunt Summer, she'll make sure you and your cousin are the best dressed babies in the state of California and uncle Seth will teach you, when you're old enough, how to play computer and play station games…. you'll also be the only girl who knows absolutely everything about comics." She laughed at that but her happiness in explaining her family soon turned to sadness. "And you'll just love your grandparents, my parents grandpa Jimmy and grandma Julie…."that's something she'd never thought she'd say, grandma Julie? "…. and your daddy's parents, grandpa Sandy and grandma Kirsten, your grandparents all love you very much and are very anxious for you to come home. See Britty, that's why you need to get better and start breathing on your own and start gaining some weight so you can come home and be with your family who loves you."
Ryan came in the room, passing by other mothers and father's standing vigilantly with their babies all a few feet away from one another.
"Marissa? Are you ready to go home, the cars outside." He caught the ending of her speech but knew that the best thing was for some mother-daughter time, which was his excuse to go get the car.
"Yes, I'm ready." She kissed her finger and put it to the baby's forehead. "I love you sweetheart, we both do very, very much – we'll be back later to check up on you," She stood up hesitantly as she still wasn't recovered from her surgery and was suppose to be taking things easy. Ryan smiled, he had already said his good-byes but stated an 'I love you' again and the two, hand in hand, walked out of hospital into the car and the two rode home, with an empty car seat in the backseat.
Marissa walked into the apartment seeing a highchair next to the kitchen table, bottles sitting on the counter, pacifiers, bibs, the house was baby-fied for a baby who wasn't even here. Being in the house just brought back the thought that it was her fault their daughter wasn't home and moved lazily into the living room and plopped down on the couch.
"I hate to do this, but it's almost ten and I have to go to work. But I wont – I mean if you want me to stay home, I will." He sat down on the couch rubbing Marissa's legs.
"No. Don't worry, I'll be fine and anyways Summer's planning to come over and keep me company so I'll be fine until you get home." Ryan exhaled and kissed Marissa's forehead.
"I love you." He said.
Marissa wasn't paying attention, her mind was in a different place, the hospital NICU to be exact not to mention the tv was now on and that took up some of her concentration as well. "Yeah, love you too."
Ryan soon was out the door and about two hours later Marissa was joined by Summer who was just full of energy.
Summer waddled into the living room holding presents and activities to do today to get Marissa out of her slump.
"Come on Coop, your baby is fine. You know where she is, you know she's under great care – why are you so depressed?" Summer sat in an adjacent chair setting the movies, nail polish kit and other goodies down on the coffee table.
"You wouldn't understand. She's in the hospital, not with Ryan and me and I'm not going to be happy until she's home, safe."
Summer gave her an empathy look and emptied the bags onto the table. "Coop – cheer up, this is why I'm here. Seth and Ryan are at work and the girls are home alone, the friends reunited. "How about a manicure? Um…maybe a movie, I rented some Ben Affleck movies and we can totally crush on how cute he is." Seeing she wasn't pleased she looked around to see what else she could do. "Come on Coop, work with me here. What do you want to do?"
"See Brittany."
"You know you can but don't you want to wait for Ryan? He is going to be home in a few hours. Speaking of the baby, how is she?" She knew this was the only way to get her to talk, so for her it was worth it.
"She's good. The doctor's are going to take her off the breathing machine and then we'll be able to hold her for the first time. She's gaining weight and they said she could come home as soon as the end of this week if everything goes well. "
"See! She's doing great and has all the odds behind her so I don't know why you're in such a bad mood. It's Wednesday, she could be home in as little as four days!" Summer exclaimed. "Now you need to get your mind off of it and have some fun because as soon as she comes home – you and Ryan will be very busy."
"Well, I can't do too much – I'm suppose to be taking it easy from the c-section but painting our nails sounds good." Marissa smiled, the first time she had in a few days.
"Well you can paint both but me, I haven't been able to see my feet in three months, I'm not even sure if I'm wearing matching shoes. It's enough trouble getting myself ready in the morning." Marissa laughed and grabbed at some gold, sparkly nail polish and the two started to revert back to their childhood days. Days where the two would spend hours over each other's houses giving each other manicures and pedicures, filling up on the latest gossip and talking about whatever. Those times were now gone forever and instead of going off to college in the fall they were going to be at home, with their boyfriends taking care of their children, but for now old times had returned.
"God my feet are swollen. I think they say swollen feet is a sign of a boy." Summer had her feet resting on the coffee table, as she adeptly had to bend over to paint her toenails.
"I'm so happy ours is a girl. I've always wanted that bond and I know Ryan wanted one too, though I bet in a few years he'll be pushing for a son." Marissa had finished one foot and now was on the other.
"I don't care what we have, just as long as it doesn't have some abnormality. Seth is convinced it's a boy."
"Have any names?" Marissa asked painting her big toe.
"No, we really haven't talked about it as silly as that sounds and we're just now decorating the nursery." She grabbed a paper towel wiping her skin next to her toenails off that she accidentally painted with nail polish.
"It makes it much easier knowing the sex of the baby, along with the fact if Sandy and Kirsten didn't help we wouldn't have had everything done for Brittany's arrival. They were definitely life-savers."
"Kirsten's coming over this weekend to help with the nursery. We're keeping it white until the baby comes and we bought neutral baby blankets – we thought animal print, we couldn't go wrong." The two joked and Summer pulled herself up off the chair and waddled into the kitchen. "Want anything while I'm up?"
"No, I'm good."
Summer opened the fridge door and grabbed water and walked back into the living room. The two joked around some more, watched some movies and before they knew it Seth and Ryan returned from work.
"Oh look, they're sleeping." Ryan whispered as the two walked in to see the girls asleep on the couches.
"Something I'd like to be doing right now…. I'm exhausted." Seth itched the back of his neck and noticed Summer awakening from her slumber and Marissa soon alert too.
"Ryan you're home." Ryan came to her side and he hugged her stroking the back of her hair with his hand. "Can we go to the hospital now?" Marissa had that on her mind all day and was awaiting the return of her boyfriend so they could go see their daughter.
"Sure."
Summer stood up, resting her hand on her stomach and Seth swathed his arm around Summer's waist.
"We should leave anyways, we have parenting classes to attend." The four said their goodbyes and Ryan and Marissa drove to the hospital and Seth and Summer drove to their parenting classes.
At the hospital the doctors decided to take Brittany off the respirator and Marissa and Ryan were there to witness it. The doctor informed them that this could get serious, if the baby didn't start breathing right away they'd have to put her back on the machine and that he wouldn't want them to view this because it could get very difficult to view. The doctor entered the room, accompanied by nurses and Ryan and Marissa stood huddled together clutching each other's hands tightly sending in a prayer that she breathes on her own. The doctor removed the tube and at first the baby struggled to breath, her chest moving very slowly up and down, like her little heart and lungs were too weak. Marissa began to cry the noises poisoning her ears; the doctor let her continue this in hope of her breathing on her own. Ryan and Marissa held their breaths watching their daughter struggle and miraculously she began breathing regularly. The doctor was right. They both let out a relieved sigh and hugged each other tightly. Not only did this mean she was getting better, but that she could be home sooner and they could hold her for the first time. They had to wait a while to make sure she was doing alright and as Ryan and Marissa waited nervously in the patient waiting room the doctor came out to let them know they could come and hold her.
The doctor carefully took her from her incubator and wrapped her in a white hospital blanket and readjusted her pink baby cap on top her head and placed her in Marissa's arms. A moment Marissa had been waiting to have for six months. She was so fragile, her tiny little limbs were wrapped tightly in the blanket and as she squirmed a little Marissa rocked her in her arms staring down at her face, the blanket catching her tears.
"She's so little and helpless…. and she's ours." She looked down at the baby's dark blue eyes that were staring into her mother's and her mouth with her tiny little lips opened ever so wide exposing her toothless gums. Ryan hunched over Marissa's shoulder and held his index finger out to the baby who then wrapped her tiny fingers around his; this difference in size was amazing. He laughed, as this moment was now real, their baby was there, tangible and all theirs. And for the first time they were now a real family. They stayed in the NICU fussing over the baby, talking with her and explaining the craziness she'd be coming home to. A while passed and after a goodbye they stayed to talk with the doctor.
"She seems to be making remarkable progress. She came off the respiration sooner then we thought and has responded better then we expected. She's gained one and a half pounds in two days and we're going to keep her one more day for observation but I think either by tomorrow night or Friday she should be able to be released from the hospital." The doctor told them.
That was news they've been waiting for and were extremely excited and also overwhelmed by the situation.
"Thank you doctor. I have the day off work so we'll be in tomorrow at our regular time." Ryan and Marissa shook the doctor's hand and after he left, the two went out to their car and drove home. There wasn't any reason to be upset anymore, they were going to be a family soon,
At parenting class Seth and Summer arrived and walked into an large conference room full of expecting parents, bulletin boards with baby information on it, plastic baby dolls and everything needed for this.
"There's still time to go if you want to –" Seth said feeling a little out of place, yes he was going to be a parent but the parents were at least in their twenties and thirties.
"No, we're having a baby in less then three months and this class is to help us prepare for it. Now you're doing this." Summer grabbed his hand and dragged him in.
"Okay, welcome everyone. My name is Cheryl and I'll be your lamaze and parenting instructor for the evening. If everyone can sit on their mats we'll try some breathing exercises." Cheryl watched everyone sit down on their mats and began the exercise. "Okay, when the ladies experience contractions to ease the pain take a deep breath in and exhale three times. He-he-who, he-he-who. Everyone try it. Breath in…. exhale, he-he-who." She walked around the room, past Summer and Seth commenting on Summer's breathing.
Seth seemed all but interested in this and just looked around the room during the breathing exercise which made Summer very angry. Seth was sitting on the matt; Summer's back resting against his chest while she got into it.
"Great. Next exercise we'll do is involves a breathing and concentration technique. Holding onto this ice cube, you'll all breath through the pain until it melts. Ready?" Everyone laughed and as she came around giving everyone an ice cube she began breathing loudly, the women and men both imitating her. With all their eyes closed Seth had his opened, holding the ice cube in his hand he began to wince in pain.
"I'm not doing this." He stated, Summer shooting him a look.
"Yes you are!" She scolded holding a half melted ice cube in her hand. She watched him to make sure that he closed his eyes and did the exercise and after he shut his eyes, pretending, she then shut hers too. He looked around and noticing everyone had their eyes shut, he plopped his ice cube into the drink he got at the refreshment counter and then took a sip. A few seconds later everyone's eyes opened up and Summer looked immediately down at Seth's hand noticing the ice cube wasn't there.
"How'd that feel? Did the breathing exercise work?" Cheryl asked and everyone bombarded them with 'yes's'. "Okay, moving on. Everyone grab a baby and sit at one of these tables." Seth stood up and walked away, leaving Summer to get up by herself. Second strike for Seth. He was really agitating Summer and finally with no help whatsoever, she got to her feet, pulled on her maternity shirt and waddled towards Seth who didn't even bother to get a baby while he was up. She groaned and grabbed the last baby from the counter and brought it to their table. Seth took a sip of his drink and watched Cheryl talk as Summer watched him out of the corner of her eye.
"I'm going to teach you to wrap the baby in a way that it'll feel safe. Everyone lay the blanket in a diamond on the table, fold the bottom into the middle." She did it at her table, watching the rest of the parents and correcting them if needed. "Lay the baby in the middle of the blanket and wrap one side around the baby and tuck that excess under the baby's back and do the same with the other. After, bring the bottom up and fold it under the top of the blanket. This makes the baby feel like it's still in the womb, all safe."
"Boring, I know how to wrap a baby in a blanket" Seth said taking another sip of his soda noticing the glare he was receiving from Summer.
The next activity was burping a baby, Cheryl explained how to do so and let everyone have their shot while she came around to observe. Seth held the baby in his arms patting it on the back as he rolled his eyes thinking how lame this is.
"Either patting the baby on the back or moving your hand in small circles will also release bubbles the baby may have from eating." She moved to another teenage couple, probably around the age of Summer and Seth. The guy was hitting the baby's back, his version of burping. "Easy there, you don't want to make its head fall off – and though it's a doll, you need practice on how to burp a baby." The guy chuckled and continued.
Cheryl rounded the room and made her last stop at Summer and Seth's table where Summer was burping the baby and Seth was holding his doll upside down by its leg.
"That isn't how you hold a baby. First off you need to support its neck, second we're practicing burping."
"Hey – I know how to do this, teach me things I don't know." Seth swung the baby up into his arms and the head went flying a few feet ahead of them. Summer covered her eyes in embarrassment as Seth smiled. Cheryl was definitely not pleased at all and everyone stared at the couple. The hour went by and after a few more things, the couple left.
As Summer and Seth left the building she waddled a few steps ahead of him and Seth took that as a signal that she was angry not to mention the death glares she gave him during their parenting lesson.
They got into the car, she slammed the door and Seth got in cautiously, starting up the car. They drove for at least ten minutes in dead silence until he broke it.
"Are you angry?" He asked stupidly.
"No, no. I'm not angry, why would I be angry? Except for the fact you seem to have no interest in learning to take care of a baby – a baby that is coming very soon. But no, I'm not angry." She said sarcastically looking out the window.
"Sum – I am very involved in this it's just all the stuff she taught us in there doesn't take a genius to figure out. First time parents are going to make mistakes and not be able to do everything, but come on…. wrapping a baby in a blanket, burping? Anyone knows how to do that."
"Really? Hmm, that's funny because I didn't and I can't wait to see when you actually have a real life baby and see how good you really are."
"I'm sorry, you're right. I was out-of-line to act like that, is there anything I can do to make it better?" He held out his hand, Summer ignoring his hand.
"Maybe a pizza, the works, and a diet coke for starters. I'm scared about bringing a baby into this world especially since I'm only eighteen. I need you to be there for me, I can't do this by myself and you acting like a moron in there did not help anything."
"I know. I'm sorry, I am – I'm a jerk and I know it." He rested his head against the headrest and pulled into a pizza place along the way, and ordered a large pizza and a large diet coke and a small cheese for Seth. It was a twenty-minute wait and after their orders were taken they walked back to their car, Summer's anger seemed to have disappeared.
"I don't know I'm just scared. I can't believe we're having a baby pretty soon and as the time gets closer I'm starting to become petrified. I'm not ready to give birth, we're not ready to have a child depend on us twenty-four seven for the rest of our lives. I'm screwed up enough from my own parents I don't want to do this to a poor innocent child, look who its parents are!" She said looking between the both of them.
"Hey. I'm just as scared as you and there's a lot of what if's but we'll be great parents and we'll have great kids. It's just nerves." He told her, his hand in hers.
"And how would you know this?"
"I called my parents. My parents were young when they had me and they told me about how they felt when my mom was pregnant. Their nerves, how scared it was but then said what a great pay-off it was when the baby comes and you see it for the first time and all those fears melt away."
"Yeah I hope so. I also hope you'd speed up, I'm hungry and I really want that pizza." Seth laughed and they drove home.
Ryan and Marissa were at their apartment up in their bed snuggling. Ryan traced his fingertip on Marissa's skin, the two staring into each other's eyes, her skin creating goose bumps.
"Can you believe that this may be the official last night of it just being the two of us? Our daughter may be coming home. Ryan I'm so scared."
"Shh. Don't be scared, we'll make wonderful parents and she doesn't know how lucky she is to have us as her parents. Not to mention her huge family that loves her. We'll be fine, just imagine how much fun it'll be when she gets older. Her first word, walking, starting school, starting high school, going on dates…." He laughed, he hadn't thought of that. "She'll definitely keep us on our feet. Marissa laughed too.
"I just needed to hear that. I love you. Goodnight." The two kissed and she turned on her side and Ryan placed his hand on her side and immediately went to sleep. Not Marissa though, she stayed awake thinking of what their life will be like with a baby, a daughter. A blond, blue eyed one year old in their toy infested living room, Marissa and Ryan sitting around her smiles on her face as the baby says her first word – Ryan and Marissa ecstatic, embracing the baby in a hug and swinging her in the air, she envisioned smiles and lots of happiness. Brittany wasn't a scary, bad thing, yes it'll change their lives but in a good way. Marissa closed her eyes; a smile on her face she continued to dream about Brittany's 'first' only creating more excitement for her to come home.