Title: The Gift
Author: lyricalpeach
Summary: Follow-up to Bless the Broken Road, future speculation. No ER action.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Without Prejudice. All the ER characters are property of NBC. No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and are used here without permission. Please don't sue me. The other words are my own. Please don't steal.
Notation: Ray's thoughts 'Neela's thoughts' Abby's thoughts
Chapter 7
The next two days were tiring for both of them. Ray went home each day to shower and change, check messages and call Neela's parents. He ran out only when they'd just started a nap so he could be back before Ana woke up.
Early in their last morning in the hospital, Ray and Neela dozed, she on the bed and he on the fold-out cot. They'd had two days of training as parents.. not that they didn't intellectually know what to do to care for their new daughter, but it just wasn't the same. Their friends in the ER came up to visit briefly over the two day period, but otherwise left them alone to enjoy their new family, except for Abby, who bugged them about various things two or three times a day and told scary stories about the first few weeks at home. Of course, they welcomed her openly – she was their best friend and confidante. If not for Abby, they certainly wouldn't be here celebrating the birth of their daughter.
Ana woke them up with a cry, and Ray handed her to Neela for feeding, and watched with admiration for Neela-mommy as Ana nursed. After Ana was finished and had drifted off to sleep, he gently took her from Neela so as not to wake her, changed her diaper, and then laid her back down gently into the tiny hospital crib.
The nurse came by with all the exit papers, and said she'd be back in an hour or so with the wheelchair.
Neela got ready while Ray gathered their things. Ana woke up after some of the commotion, so together they entertained and dressed Ana. Ray set up a tripod to take a few going-home pictures, and then packed the tripod and took their things down to the car except for the camera and Ana's diaper bag. He had just gotten back to the room when they heard a knock on the door. The wheelchair was loaded with pink and green celebratory balloons that Ray had ordered from the gift shop. Neela smiled at how cute they were, but she was too overcome with joy to be going home to say anything. She looked at Ray and kissed him lovingly, and he held her tightly. Ray whispered, "We're going home, baby, we're taking Ana home."
Ray helped Neela into the wheelchair and lifted Ana from her crib to gently place her into Neela's arms for the ride out to the car. He grabbed the diaper bag and the camera. "I'll do the honors, thank you," Ray said proudly, as the nurse was about to take hold of Neela's wheelchair handles. Leaving the room where they had spent the first night as a little family, Ray pushed them very carefully down the hall. They rode the elevator down to the first level and stopped in the hotel lobby. They couldn't go to the ER to say goodbye, because Ana was a newborn, so Abby came out, and a few others who were free at the moment, in their turn, walked over to the lobby to wave goodbye. Ray asked Abby to take a few pictures of them, and then handed the camera around as people came to wish them luck.
Abby had removed her lab coat in the ER and grabbed her warm winter coat, and she waited with Neela while Ray went to pull the car around. "You're going to be a wonderful mommy," she said, as she watched Neela gazing down at how pretty Ana looked. "And that is a great outfit that you picked out."
Ana was wearing a very, very soft pink cotton sleeper that had been washed at least 3 times by Ray and Neela combined and didn't look exactly new anymore, but it certainly was comfortable. A pale green long sweater with an embroidered simple white orchid and a green stem on it was layered on top of the sleeper. A knitted, cotton-lined matching beanie cap with a smaller version of the same embroidered orchid covered her head. Neela stared at the tiny baby in her arms, amazed that this was what she and Ray had made together with so much love. And then she studied the outfit she'd picked out and had customized. It really was amazing – they'd have that forever to keep and remember the day they brought Ana home.
As Ray pulled up, Abby helped Neela bundle Ana in a soft, very warm cream colored bunting that Ray had chosen, with a faux-fur lining around her tiny face. Abby still had the camera, and she took a few pictures of Ana in her bunting.
Ray came in from the cold, leaving the engine running to let the car warm up a for a while. He waited before touching his daughter, he didn't want her to get cold. Seeing the thick bunting he'd chosen that Ana was wrapped in, he said, "I better go and adjust the car seat straps. She's not going to fit in there otherwise. Just unzip her for now so she doesn't get too hot." He headed back out to the car.
Abby and Neela watched through the window as he struggled a bit with the straps.
Finally coming back in, he grinned and said, "Are you ready?"
"We've just been waiting for Daddy, haven't we, Ana?" Neela smiled. "Let's go home."
Abby pushed Neela out to the car and Ray took Ana from her, put Ana in her carseat snugly and then helped Neela into the back seat so she could sit with their daughter all the way home. As he closed the door, Abby handed him the camera and asked, "Ray, do you have enough gas in the car?"
"Yes."
"Has the carseat installation been certified?"
"Yes, this car has LATCH and it's all been checked out."
"Okay," Abby said, trying to feel convinced that they'd be just fine. Even though she knew deep down they would be, she also knew what new parenthood was like. "If you need anything, just call. Advice, errands, anything except babysitting… except in an emergency."
"Don't worry, Abby. Besides, Ana's too young for Joe," Ray smirked.
"She's dressed for a hot date," Abby laughed, "and three years won't seem like a lot when they're in their thirties."
"Oh my God, Abby!" Ray exclaimed in the cold, "She's TWO DAYS OLD. Give her some time," he laughed.
Neela made faces and knocked on the window. "I heard all that!" came the muffled voice from inside the heated car.
Freezing, Ray hurried to give Abby a hug. "Thanks, Abby, for everything."
"I'll come visit when you're both ready, just let me know."
Ray got into the car and slowly pulled away. "Ok, we're going home, girls," he sang.
000
Abby headed back to the ER where everyone was eager to hear the details of Ana's going home. She described Ray's balloons, the nursery color scheme matching them and Ana's fancy outfit, noting how Ray chose the bunting. Luka finally made it back and smiled at her.
"Abby! Sorry I missed it," he said, turning the corners of his mouth down just a bit. "Did you ask them about the gas and certified installation?"
"Yup, Ray was all ready with everything." Abby looked pleased that everything was going so smoothly for the happy couple.
"That's great," Luka started, "but I know they're going to have questions in the next few weeks."
"And we'll be ready to answer them," Abby finished, smiling.
Whispering, Luka commented, "Oh, I heard Ray had morning sickness, is that true?"
"Where'd you hear that?" Abby whispered back.
"Actually, I heard him in the bathroom," Luka smiled smugly. So, he'd gotten sick other than just in the morning, No wonder he was so pale after a month! Poor Ray. Luka only had it in the mornings...
"So you're happy you're not the only one?" Abby grinned. "I knew about it, he came to me for a silent checkup."
Luka had a suspicious face on, but he wasn't surprised. Abby always seemed to know instinctively what was going on with those two. Not that other people couldn't tell, she just had an unusual talent for it. Answering his face, Abby admitted, "And, yes, I did share your secret, but only with Ray, so he wouldn't feel alone."
"Ah, what happened to, 'Your secret is safe with me, honey.' " Luka made a face. "Alright. But nobody else, ok?"
"Of course not, Ray and Neela are a special case, our closest friends."
"They most certainly are."
000
Ray drove home at an absolute snails pace compared to other cars, even on the highway, and took the safest roads possible. Neela was a bit uncomfortable in the car, but held her tongue because she wanted to get Ana home safe as much as her overly cautious husband did.
"Finally, we're here!" Neela grinned and bent down to kiss her daughter on the forehead. "We're home, Ana, just an elevator ride away from your very own room."
Ray parked as close as he could to the elevator lobby door. "Wait a sec, I'll come get you." He opened the trunk to take out the stroller and set it up. Closing the trunk and pushing the stroller around to the side of the car, he opened the door to help Neela out. "Here, babe, hold the stroller still while I get Ana." He leaned into the car and unhooked the travel part of the carseat from the base, slowly lifted it up and put it on the stroller, buckling it in. "Do you want to push or do you want me to?" he asked.
Neela answered, "I'd love to." She took the handles proudly and headed toward the lobby doors, and Ray walked with her, supporting her, then rushed around to open the door for her. Inside the elevator lobby, Ray hit the button and went to stand behind his wife, hugging her. Leaning around to kiss her cheek, he heard the 'Ding!' and reached over to put his hand to make sure the elevator door stayed open until they were all safely inside. Ana, surprisingly, hadn't cried at all. The ride home had been short, and she'd dozed and cooed all the way, not complaining about anything. They finally reached their door, and Ray unlocked it. Thank God I remembered to program the thermostat yesterday so it'd be warm when we got home.
Finally inside, they closed and locked the door and quickly took off their warm things. Ray helped Neela out of her coat and then took Ana out of her carseat and the heavy bunting. Ray handed her to Neela and then took his coat off, hanging both on the coat rack. Hugging his girls, Ray said, "Welcome home, Ana," and stretching his neck over their daughter, he kissed Neela deeply first, then slowly pulled back. Penetrating her eyes with an intensity and strength beyond what she'd already seen, he finally relaxed his face to turn up the corners of his mouth to give her a soft smile, and said, "Welcome home, Neela."
000