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Chapter Twenty Four: Preparing for Baby Girl McBain Part One

John walked into the hospital to see Marty waiting for him in a chair. He hoped her therapy session went well and that she remembered more things.

"Hey." He greeted smoothly smiling at her.

"Hey." Marty repeated as she stood up.

"So how did it go? Did you remember anything else?"

Marty shook her head and John could see the disappointment in her eyes. Before she could confirm what he already knew he gently pulled her toward him and crashed his lips against hers. Slowly but surely Marty gave into the kiss realizing this is what she needed as she wound her arms around his neck pulling him closer.

"Feel better?" John asked resting his forehead against hers.

"Much." She answered with a smile.

"I've got the rest of the day to do whatever you want. Is there anything you want to do?"

Marty pondered John's question and her thoughts immediately went to their baby. Had they started decorating the nursery yet? Was there even a room in the apartment they chose for the nursery?

"Have we started planning for the baby? Do we have a nursery picked out? I mean I know that four and a half months seems like a long way away, but it's really not. And babies take a lot of . . . "

John silenced her with another kiss and upon pulling away said, "Hey, lady let's slow your roll for a second. We haven't started decorating the nursery yet but we've got a space picked out. If you want, we can go back to the apartment and I can show you."

Marty nodded eagerly a wide smile on her face as she grasped John's hand in hers and guided him out into the parking lot of the hospital. Preparing for Cole's birth was one of her favorite things about being pregnant. It even brought her and Patrick closer together. Even with the uncertainty of her memory loss Marty could see the little girl inside of her bringing her and John and closer together.

The pair walked into the apartment and hung their coats in the near by closet. John then guided Marty down the hallway past her bedroom to a room a few doors away at the end of the hallway. Opening the door he let her walk in first and watched her as she walked around the room. He remembered how excited she had been about the prospect of their little girl or boy growing up in this room when they had picked it for the nursery.

Marty's head was going a million miles per second as she looked around the room. It was spacious enough for a crib, changing table and dresser not to mention it already had a closet in it. The large window inside provided a lot of natural light and a ceiling fan already hung from the ceiling so the room would be kept cool in the summers. It was the perfect room for a nursery except nothing was in it . . . yet.

"It's perfect." She mused smiling at John who still stood in the doorway too enthralled by her childlike excitement to move.

"That's what you said the first time. Now that you've seen the nursery what now?"

"Now we decorate." Marty proclaimed. "I'm sure I have nursery and baby magazines around here somewhere. I amassed quite the collection when I was pregnant with Cole you know?"

"Do I ever," John quipped dryly. "You've amassed quite the collection right now. They're all you ever read and you have this red pen that you keep with you when you read them. You circle everything you like and then you ask me what I think."

"And you say whatever you like is fine Marty, don't you?"

"Of course I do. I'm a guy. What do I know about nurseries?"

Marty shook her head, "You sound like Patrick did when I was pregnant with Cole and would ask him about Cole's nursery. Well guess what that stops here and now, Mister. I dragged Patrick around with me to help me decorate the nursery and you're going to help me too and you'll like it."

"Yes, ma'am." John mock saluted as they left the room, which earned him a playful shove.

John and Marty walked out into the living room where he showed her where she kept all of her nursery and baby magazines, which had amounted to more than two dozen. Carefully she spread them all around and they began looking through them with her trustee red pen as their companion. As Marty began looking through the magazines for cute nurseries for little girls, a thought occurred to her. Had she and John picked out a name for the baby?

"Hey, John?" She says. "Yeah?" He asks looking up from one of the magazines. "Do we have any names picked out for the baby?"

A knowing smile crept onto John's face as he got up and walked over to the book shelf. Pulling out a baby name book he walked back over to Marty and handed her a folded piece of paper from inside the book's front cover. "Here," He said, "We discussed names with Cole and these were the ones we liked. For both boys and girls."

Marty's heart swelled at the fact that they had included Cole in the naming of his sibling. It meant so much to her that John was so receptive of her son and that they really seemed like a family. Unfolding the piece of paper, she found a list of four names they each liked for a girl and a boy.

Girl Names

1. Ella Sofia

2. Maria Raye

3. Claudia Joy

4. Caitlin Eve

Boy Names

1. Ryan Patrick

2. William Connor

3. Andrew James

4. Nathan Cole

"They're all so beautiful," She whispered. "Have we picked one out yet?"

"No, not yet. We're still deciding but I'm sure we'll have a name for her soon."

"I want to decorate the nursery now, today. Cole will be home from school soon and I want us to do this together, all of us. I want us to feel like a family. I want to know what that feels like again."

John pulled Marty into a loving embrace, her head resting on his chest as he rubbed her arm soothingly. Kissing her head absently he stroked her hair, "We can do whatever you want. And if that's what you want, we'll do it."

"That's what I want."