A/N: I was really hoping I wouldn't have to write this chapter, but here it is.

Grandpa

I'm Willing To Bet Ya

When he took his hand away from the glass, the faint outlined remained, like a footprint on the beach or the outline of a body at a crime scene. For all intents and purposes, this was a crime scene. The infants behind the glass, crying and sleeping and smiling, they made his heart cry out, because she, his granddaughter, was not among them.

It was true, he had never wanted his son to be a father at the tender age of sixteen. Even when Ben had wanted to marry Amy Juergens, it had been different: John wasn't Ben's. Yes, he had agreed to let Ben marry Amy then and he knew Ben would've been a wonderful father then, but somehow…somehow it was just different with Adrian. Maybe because he feared Ben didn't really love Adrian, maybe it was because he didn't really love Adrian, not like a father-in-law should that is. But whatever it had been, over the last nine months, he'd grown to love that little girl, long before he'd ever dreamt of her face.

"Mr. Boykewich?"

Leo stirred from his thoughts to find a nurse poking her head out of the nursery door. He smiled as best he could, although he didn't recognize her. That happened to him quite frequently, people knowing him from somewhere, even if he didn't know them. "That's me."

The nurse smiled sympathetically. "I recognized you from a billboard." She stepped out of the doorframe and cautiously approached him. "I saw that your son and his wife had been admitted today…"

"It's a tragedy what happened," Leo whispered, trying his best to keep the frailty from his words. "But things like this do happen."

The nurse nodded, seemingly gauging his eyes. "Would you like to see her?"

"See her?" Leo's lips trembled and his legs felt likewise. He started to shake his head. "Ben and Adrian said they already saw her-"

"In cases like these, we always give immediate family the option to see and hold the child."

"I'm only the grandpa-"

"I know."

Leo swallowed hard and looked back into the nursery. He felt a little nauseous. "Would Ben have to know?"

She shook her head. "No."

He scratched the back of his neck cautiously. "Perhaps I…" Leo nodded. "Yes. Maybe just for a few minutes. Yes."

The nurse smiled, a bit glassy eyed. "Here," she said, motioning her arm to direct him down the hallway. "This room is empty…" She pushed the door open. "Why don't you just wait in here while I get her?"

Leo nodded. As the nurse left, he looked about the room. First he moved to the stool and sat down, then stood up and moved to the chair. That didn't feel right either, so he tried to sit on the bed, but couldn't stand the sound of the tissue paper crackling beneath his weight. Finally, he just chose to stand. Stand and wait, bouncing his weight between the falls and toes of his feet. His stomach felt tight as a noose and it may have been his imagination, but he could barely breath. In all the times he'd imagined her, she'd always been smiling and staring at him and grabbing his finger like Ben had done after he was born. But he knew when he saw Mercy, she wouldn't be anything like that. He wasn't sure if he wanted that, to see her like that. He hadn't even been able to see Sarah after she had died. "How can I do this?" he whispered to the thin air. He reached for the door handle, making his decision: he couldn't.

At that moment, it twisted and Leo stood frozen in place. The nurse edged her way inside, holding a pink and white bundle. He recognized it immediately, it was a blanket that he and Betty had bought for Mercy and Adrian had said she'd put it in their hospital bag. His heart sank as the nurse smiled up at him and held the bundle out. He hesitated for what seemed like a hundred years in only thirty seconds and then, with quivering arms, accepted his granddaughter.

"I'll leave you two alone."

Leo closed his eyes, unable to open them until the nurse had left. The bundle he held was lightweight, but it felt like thousand pounds. When he finally found the strength to open his eyes, he peeled back the edge of the blanket and found himself staring into a faintly olive face, with closed eyes and thick lashes. He'd expected her to be more pale, more blue, but she looked as alive as she had in his dreams, a color the perfect mix of Adrian and Ben. She had pudgy lips and a lustrous hair, clearly favoring Adrian and Cindy. But if he looked closely, he could see a dimple on her cheek and thick brown eyelashes.

"Sarah…" Leo cradled the little girl to his chest. When he closed his eyes, he could see his late wife, smiling with that same dimple and batting those gorgeous Italian lashes. He'd always expected to meet Mercy and whisper into her miniature ears, If only you could see her now. Paradoxically, he figured, "Somewhere she must be holding you too, with your eyes open…both of you smiling that single little dimple grin." When he closed his eyes, he could almost see it, both of them outlined in a whitish-gold light, and he could almost hear her words: If only you could see her now.

He felt a tear trickle from the corner of his eye and down his cheek. It fell in slow motion onto Mercy's face, across from her nose. To the unsuspecting gazer, it might've looked like she had shed it herself, and then fallen asleep into her grandfather's loving arms. Gently, Leo moved his finger across her smooth skin, wiping away the offending drop. As if handling a priceless relic – and he was – Leo lifted Mercy to his lips and kissed her forehead. His head then fell back, his eyes sparkling, and stared at the ceiling. "Sarah," his begged, his voice breaking like a porcelain doll, "please take care of our Mercy!"