"I come bearing gifts!" Penelope exclaimed as she walked in the door early the next morning. Erin groaned a little as she turned to look at the woman, seeing that she indeed had a bag in her hands, and she sat up with a small struggle, glancing over to see that David was still sleeping in the recliner. "Oh, sorry, I thought that you both would be up," she said in more hushed tones as she made her way over to Erin's side, carefully taking a seat on the bed as she handed the present over. "I hope that you don't mind, but I only brought this to the hospital, I dropped off the rest last night."
"The rest?" Erin asked as she pulled the bag into her lap, carefully pulling out the tissue paper to reveal an absolutely tiny dress and hat.
"Yeah, I thought that you might need something smaller to bring her home in, when she can come home, but that you'd also need smaller diapers, too. At least until she catches up with full term babies. It's not much, but I left four packs with Helen to put in the nursery, along with a blanket that I knitted for her. I'll have a hat and booties soon, too, but since she's early, I have to scale back a little. And I also bought her the sweetest little teddy bear that I saw at the baby store, I couldn't resist, but I left that at the house, too."
"Why would you be so kind?"
"Because I know that I fucked up when you first found out you were pregnant, and this is just a small way for me to atone for my actions. I should have protected you better, and I didn't. So now I'm trying to make things right. Do you think that I could see her before I head in to work?"
"She's in the NICU."
"I know, Helen told me when I dropped the gifts off last night." Penelope gave her a soft smile as she reached out and patted her leg. "You did so good keeping her growing inside for as long as you did. Like I said, I was keeping tabs, so I know that things could have gone a lot more wrong than they did."
Erin nodded as she burst into tears, looking over at her partner, wishing that he would wake up, but he was still dead to the world. Before she knew it, though, Penelope was pulling her into a tight hug, and she melted into the woman, allowing her to comfort her. "She didn't cry right away."
"Oh, Erin, that must have been so scary. Come on, let's go see her." She nodded as she got control of her emotions, swiping at her eyes as she pulled away from Penelope to slip out of the bed and pad over to the bathroom, pulling on her robe before going to David's side and gently waking him.
"Huh? What?"
"Darling, Penelope has come to visit us, and she wants to see Elise before she heads in to work. Will you please be a dear and take us up to the NICU? I'm still not allowed to walk there on my own yet, not until Doctor Brunner gives me the all clear to leave." He nodded as he got to his feet, the thin blanket that covered him falling to the floor.
"I got it, Erin. Don't bend down," he said as he crouched and grabbed the blanket, dropping it into the chair before threading his arm through hers and guiding her over to the wheelchair by the door. "Are you ready to meet our little princess?"
Penelope nodded as they exited the room and Erin hummed lowly beneath her breath as they started for the nearest elevators, remembering from last night that they would have to pass by Haley's room to reach it, and she stiffened slightly as they got closer to said room. Penelope was chattering away to David, and so neither of them noticed that Aaron was wheeling Haley towards them in an effort to get back to their room, and she struggled not to cry as the younger woman gave her a glare that rivaled some of the ones Erin had used on Aaron and Jason when they had royally fucked up. Glancing up, she saw that Aaron was similarly stone faced, and Erin drew in a deep breath as she raised her chin and tried to act nonplussed as they passed them by, only to deflate the moment they were all in the elevator.
"Is everything all right, Erin?" Penelope asked, finally noticing that something was wrong, and she shrugged a little. "Your face is so white. Are you in pain? Do we need to get you back to your room?"
"No, it, it was just seeing Haley and Aaron coming back from the elevators. It threw me for a loop." She clasped David's hand tightly as they rode up two floors to the NICU, leading Penelope to where their daughter rested. Her nurse was taking her vitals when they approached, and Erin carefully rose from the wheelchair to take the few steps over to the incubator and look down on her daughter. "How is Elise this morning?"
"Hungry, so you came at the perfect time, Erin. If you want to head over to the recliner, I'll bring her to you, and you can hold her for a few hours."
She nodded as she did as directed, beckoning for Penelope to join her. David parked the wheelchair by the door, and then joined them just as the nurse was placing Elise in her arms. "She really is a little bug, isn't she?" Penelope whispered, averting her eyes as Erin unbuttoned her nightgown and then brought Elise to her breast, finding a sense of satisfaction when her baby successfully latched on. This was the fourth time she'd fed her, and each latch had been good, so far, but she knew that that could change. "What was her birth weight again?"
"Four pounds, ten ounces," she replied off-handedly as she stroked Elise's tiny head. "But she's perfectly formed for how tiny she is."
"She really is," Penelope replied as she gazed down at them. "Do you think that I can hold her when she's finished eating?"
Erin glanced over at the nurse, wanting to take her cues from the professional, and nodded as soon as she got the smile and nod from the woman. "Yes. It might take about half an hour, but you are more than welcome to hold her when she's finished. How about you and David get breakfast while you wait? Darling, bring me back a banana and some oatmeal, if it's available."
He nodded as he leaned down and kissed her cheek tenderly. "We'll be back in thirty minutes, Erin." Before he stood, David looked down at their daughter, and let out a little sigh. "Elise is doing better this morning. Look at that little fist wave."
She nodded as she stroked her cheek gently. "She has a name, she has to stay. I am going to pour every ounce of love that I can into her and keep her here. After everything I went through to have her, she can't leave us so quickly." A few tears started to roll down her cheeks, and she smiled sadly when David wiped them away with his handkerchief before he kissed her gently. "Now go, before I just have the two of you stay and do nothing while she eats." He nodded and kissed her again before gesturing towards the door with his head, Penelope giving her a wide smile before they left her alone with the nurse and her baby.