Chapter Summary: On Violet's first birthday, Shaun and Lea finally hold a memorial service for Baby Eleanor.

AN: Here is the last chapter, which is pretty much just an update over what happens one year into parenthood for Shaun and Lea. Also, I edited the whole story to where Lea proposed instead of Shaun. I just realized that I like that so much better, so I changed it to Lea being the one to propose in Chapter 2.

On October 9th, 2017, Shaun and Lea met each other as next-door neighbors when Lea asked Shaun to borrow some batteries for her video game controller. On January 8th, 2018, they shared their first kiss…and then Lea moved away back to her hometown of Hershey a few days later. On October 24th, 2018, she returned to San Jose, which eventually led to them having their first fight between each other. On October 29th, 2018, they moved into an apartment together as roommates and friends and just friends only. They agreed to never become a couple.

On January 2nd, 2020, she moved out at Shaun's request so he could make Carly, his girlfriend at the time, happy. On February 5th, 2020, they finally got together as a couple after a terrible, ugly feud almost ended their entire friendship and relationship altogether and even after the tragedy of losing someone that worked at St. Bonaventure. On November 23rd, 2020 after being kept apart by COVID, she moved back in.

Sometime in January of 2021, they unintentionally conceived their first child together despite using protection both ways. On February 14th, 2021, they actually discovered that they were going to have a baby and were aware of it. Unfortunately, on June 8th, 2021, they tragically lost their daughter to an umbilical blood clot. For the rest of the summer of 2021, they tried to heal from their grief over Baby Eleanor by going on a camping trip that turned to hell with Shaun breaking his foot, attending a support group, going to therapy, and then going on a mission trip to Guatemala…which was when the healing process exceeded when they helped save a baby together, and then Lea proposed on August 15th, 2022.

At the beginning of September 2021, they finally started having sex again after abstaining for so long after the loss…and also when they started to discuss trying again. On October 15th, 2021, Eleanor's due date had arrived, yet she was already born lifeless too soon. On November 4th, 2021, they got married.

On December 2nd, 2021, they found out that they were going to have another baby and that Lea was around six to seven weeks pregnant as Dr. Vargas confirmed Lea to be seven weeks at her first appointment four days later. On August 7th, 2022, their rainbow baby, Violet, was born and they officially became parents after a difficult and scary pregnancy.

However, in October and November of 2022, their mental health took a turn for the worse when they received diagnoses for postpartum mental illnesses. On November 4th, 2022, Lea was admitted to the psychiatric ward after a disastrous anniversary picnic. On November 24th, 2022, Lea went missing and tried to attempt suicide as she was found bleeding out and admitted to the hospital the next day. She was transferred back to the psychiatric ward a week later. Fortunately, on December 25th, 2022, Lea was finally cleared to go home before actually going home two days later. Then, on January 10th, 2023, Lea was finally able to return to work as St. Bonaventure's IT director.

Things have gotten better for them although they were still struggling slightly. But thanks to the help of therapy and medication, they were both around 98% recovered from PPD and PPP. In addition, Lea also started a gardening hobby; growing plants in pots on the patio and naming it "Eleanor's Garden".

The couple really has been through too much.

Now, today was August 7th, 2022, which was Violet's first birthday, meaning that Shaun and Lea had reached an important milestone in parenthood. That milestone was being parents for a year.

At five months, Violet became ready to start learning about object permanence, which involved Lea and Shaun hiding objects and then revealing them. Every time they would cover her Dr. Duckling, she would start crying due to thinking that her favorite toy was gone. She started sleeping in the crib in her nursery (although Shaun slept on the nursery floor for the first week when that happened because he was afraid of leaving her alone) instead of the bedside bassinet. She spotted toys out of her reach and then would just reach out to grab them. While Shaun was holding her and sitting at the table during breakfast, she surprisingly reached far to knock over the glass of orange juice sitting on the table in an attempt to grab it. She was also turning her head once she heard sudden sounds, but she was more fascinated with her hands and bringing them together. When it came to her diet, she also started eating solid foods.

At six months, Violet started to learn to crawl and it was also when she started teething. She became even more fascinated with her toys and other things, always examining them with her hands and mouth.

At seven months, Violet's fine motor skills continued to improve, she started sitting herself up without any help, and she learned to crawl for only a little bit. She was a bit squirmy, though.

At eight months, Violet started crawling for long distances at a faster rate. When it happened for the first time, she was with Dr. Glassman. When he put her on her tummy, he turned his back on her for only five seconds to put something away, and when he turned back he saw that she had crawled a long way to the shelf and was already pulling books off of it. Whenever she would follow Shaun or Lea into the kitchen, they would close the baby gate on her and then she would start crying because she wasn't going to explore the hazardous kitchen. She had been rolling, crouching, twisting, and rocking. She also developed better eyeball distance and depth and was introduced to a sippy cup.

At nine months, Violet started pulling herself up to standing and clapping her hands. At 10 months, she got more playful with her parents and everyone else close to her. At 11 months, she started walking (it was mostly toddling around the apartment).

And now, she was 12 months old, which was one year. She was also probably autistic like Shaun because she wasn't even babbling yet, she wasn't that much of a fan of smiling and eye contact, and she was sometimes a bit too quiet. As usual, that possibility didn't bother Lea and Shaun.

For her first birthday, both Shaun and Lea had the day off so they could spend it with their daughter. Violet didn't like strangers very much and Shaun didn't really want an epic house party at their apartment, so it was just him, Lea, Dr. Glassman, Debbie, Pam, Mike, Donnie, and Raul who attended.

According to Lea's family, Violet was definitely a mini-Lea minus the blue eyes. She definitely had curly hair as a baby just like her daughter.

For her birthday, Shaun and Lea dressed Violet in the cute little dinosaur onesie Claire got (she saw it at the store and thought it was cute). Watching her toddle around in it all day was adorable. Instead of the presents she received, Violet was more interested in the bags and boxes they arrived in.

Once everyone left their apartment, Shaun and Lea decided to finally hold a private funeral for Eleanor on their porch. Although Shaun did accept the death of his child a lot faster than Lea did, the grief did resurface (and serious mental health problems developed for him as well, as the loss of a baby was one crisis he didn't get over fast) when Lea found out she was pregnant again and sometimes even when the thought of trying for another baby was brought up. Now that Violet was one, Lea finally seemed to be able to fully move on, but not without her and Shaun remembering their lost baby and holding a missed memorial for her in order to complete the full closure.

They were staring at the memorial stone, urn, and all of the pots and beds of flowers Lea and Shaun had planted and allowed to bloom - lilies, roses, and carnations of white, blue, pink, and purple - while Violet (still in her new dinosaur onesie) was being held in her mother's arms. As for Shaun, he was holding the funeral scripts in his hands, beginning to recite them word for word.

"We are gathered here today for the late, delayed funeral of Eleanor Grace Dilallo-Murphy. When we lost her, we wanted to pretend that it never happened, but that didn't help us come to terms with our loss. Due to be born in October of 2021, she died in the comfort of her mother's womb on June 8th, 2021. She is survived by her loving parents, Dr. Shaun Murphy and Lea Dilallo; her grandparents, Deborah Wexler and Dr. Aaron Glassman and Pamela and Michael Dilallo Sr.; her uncle, Michael "Donnie" Dilallo Jr.; and her sister who was born a year later, Violet Dilallo-Murphy. She is preceded in death by her uncle, Steven Murphy; and her maternal great-grandparents, Eleanor and Rodney Russo," read Shaun, setting down the papers and then pulling up a copy of the book, Doctor Ted. "Before reading our eulogy, Eleanor's mother will now read Doctor Ted to her. The actual teddy bear her grandparents got her also would have been her first toy."

Once Lea transferred Violet into his arms, she grabbed the copy of Doctor Ted from his hands and then read the entire book with tears in her eyes until they both decided to take turns reading paragraphs of the eulogy they had written together, starting with Shaun.

"Neither of us is a writer or even poetic, but today on the first birthday of our precious rainbow baby who will always be a joy in our lives, Violet Eva, we come together in sorrow over the death of her big sister; our baby girl, Eleanor Grace," began Shaun, remembering the heartache he experienced when he took in the fact that the baby was dead. "Our baby - unplanned, unexpected, yet whose arrival we were so excited for - died, never having the opportunity to take her first breath or be held in our arms."

"To us, the disappointment, the pain, and the heartache were definitely there when we lost her…and the loss will be carried heavily in our hearts forever," continued Lea. "Even after being parents to our second baby for a year and even after things have gotten better and even after finally coming to terms with the loss, we still miss our first baby. Well, we have moved on, but we will have a special place in our hearts for her."

Shaun read the next paragraph.

"This child's life was short even though she was never born, yet the death left a huge void in all of our hearts and lives for a while after it happened. She was two weeks short of viability. Let us remember today and for always the tiny baby who will never see childhood or adulthood, but will remain our tiny baby forever."

"However, now that her sister, Violet Eva, has turned one, we definitely feel like things are getting better and that the fog has lifted after everything we have been through since the loss of Eleanor and the birth of Violet. Finally, we feel like the storm has finally passed and that the rainbow has finally come," concluded Lea. "I love you, berry."

"I love you, too, berry," added Shaun. Writing poetry wasn't his thing nor Lea's, so they did need to use some templates off of the internet to help write their eulogy. "Also, even though we're not religious, we believe Violet is under the watchful eyes of her uncle and big sister."

Lea giggled a little at Shaun's comment.

After the funeral was over, they put Violet to bed and then sat down on the couch to watch a movie together. After everything they have been through, it all felt worth it no matter how difficult was, especially with the other parenting challenges that they might face in the future and the ones they are dealing with right now. They would always love her and she was definitely worth the wait.

"Shaun, I love you," professed Lea, snuggled up to her husband on the couch.

"I love you, too, Lea," expressed Shaun as he continued to run his fingers through his wife's hair.

AN: So, the end! With all the ups and downs, I hope you all enjoyed this story and I do hope Shaun and Lea have a rainbow baby later on in canon. Please review and share your thoughts.

Also, if you want the right image of the onesie that Violet was prancing around in, just google "dinosaur onesie toddler" as I can't put any links in ff.