The Gift

Part XXIX

EJ was greeted with smiles as he returned to Madison's room. Her disposition not affected in the least by her loss of hair, in fact she and Belle seemed to be having a grand time with one another.

"Daddy, look at all my new hats!" Madison exclaimed, her smile lighting up the room as soon as she saw her father.

Belle and Madison were sitting at the round children's table, a mirror on one side, the other littered with hats, costume jewelry and lots of lip gloss. Madison pursed her lips as she put on her favorite flavor of grape lip gloss and beckoned her father over to her side.

EJ crouched down so that he could receive a sticky kiss upon his cheek from Madison and then she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck, hugging him close to her, "I love you Daddy!"

"I love you too angel," EJ kissed her cheek, feeling a lump form in his throat again; he wasn't going to let his daughter see him cry. For the first time in a long time, he said a prayer to God thanking Him for his daughter's sweet spirit and unconditional love that she had always shown toward him.

He let her go as she turned her attention back to the table to retrieve another hat, she took off the one she was wearing and plopped another hat upon her head. She reached for another hat, this one a floppy hat that looked like you would go to a summer garden party in and placed it upon her father's head, laughing at his appearance.

"Daddy looks cute, doesn't he Aunt Belle?" Madison's mischievous voice was teetering on the verge of laughter.

"He most certainly does," Belle replied as she tried to stifle her laughter, she had never imagined EJ would be so playful with his daughter, this image of him shattered the reserved persona he usually maintained around everyone who came into contact with him. "Now if you don't mind Miss Madison, I need to go to work for a while."

"Thank you Aunt Belle for playing with me this morning," Madison said as she waved to her aunt.

"Yes, thank you Belle," EJ chimed in and then added, "for everything."

"No problem, I'll see you both later," Belle replied as she left the room, glad that she was able to have Madison laughing and smiling on what could have been a terrible morning for her.

"Daddy, you can take your hat off," Madison said giggling as he pulled her into his lap.

"Thank you for your permission, my little sprite," EJ laughed as he took his hat off and placed it back upon the table. He kissed Madison on top of her head causing her hat to go askew.

Madison felt her hat sliding off her head and turned to look at her dad. "I guess you can tell my hair fell out."

"Sweetheart you are beautiful whether you have hair or not," EJ removed the hat from her head, and kissed the top of her head again, this time without the hat being in place.

"You really think so Daddy?"

"I know so," EJ touched her nose. "You are the most beautiful girl in the entire world."

"Daddy, you're just saying that because I'm your little girl," Madison gave him a look that suggested she didn't really believe what he was saying to her.

"Yes, you are my little girl and I'm so proud to be your daddy." EJ pulled her into another hug, wishing all it took was for him to kiss her and make everything right within her world, but he knew now that wasn't possible.

"I'm proud to be your daughter too," Madison hugged him, thinking she was the luckiest girl in the world to have such a wonderful daddy.

"Well good morning Madison," Dr. Lykens voice boomed as he entered the room finding father and daughter wrapped up in their own conversation.

"Dr, Likey," Madison jumped up from EJ's embrace to go see her new favorite doctor.

"Good morning to you too EJ," Dr. Lykens extended his hand after EJ got up from the floor.

"Likewise," EJ shook Dr. Lykens hand.

"Dr. Likey, my hair fell out," Madison said as she pointed to her head.

"Remember when we talked about how some of the medicine you had to take might do that," Dr. Lykens put down his clipboard and gently picked Madison up to place her back upon the edge of her bed.

"Yeah, I remember," Madison replied with a sigh.

"Looks like you have all kind of neat hats to wear," Dr. Lykens strode over to the table to pick up a hat, this one a crocheted one that was rainbow colored and brought it back over to inspect it while he was talking to Madison.

"Aunt Belle brought me all kinds of cool stuff this morning," Madison stated starting to fill Dr. Lykens in on all the goodies Belle had given to her this morning after she had awoke.

Dr. Lykens and EJ listened to every word Madison told them as she went on and on about all the wonderful things her aunt had bestowed upon her, when Madison finished going over all the items, she motioned for her daddy to go back over to the table to pick up the pack of bandanas that were also upon the table.

"Daddy, these are our pirate bandanas," Madison announced with pride.

"So we're going to play pirates today?"

"Maybe this afternoon or tomorrow," Madison stifled a yawn, as she shifted her body around to lie down in her bed.

"How about you get to play pirates with your dad in your own home instead of being at the hospital?" Dr. Lykens asked as suddenly Madison sat up in bed, her tiredness being overrode by her obvious excitement over the prospect of going home.

"Dr. Lykens, are you sure Madison will be okay at home?" EJ asked, not wanting to quell his daughter's happiness over the possibility of being able to go home, but not wanting her to give her false hope either.

"That was the main reason I was coming to see Madison this morning, was to check her vitals and to speak with you and Sami about her being able to go home."

"Oh Daddy, I can't wait to go home with you!" Madison squealed with delight.

"Sweetheart I have to check with your mum to see which place you can go," EJ said softly, realizing he and Sami had so much more to discuss than they had previously thought.

"Mommy can just come home with us," Madison declared with a triumphant smile and lay back down to close her eyes. She was quite sleepy even with all of the good news and presents that she had received this morning.

Dr. Lykens checked her temperature, heartbeat and blood pressure before she could take her nap and then he pulled EJ aside after Madison had settled in to go to sleep, "EJ, I apologize for jumping the gun so to speak, it was just that I knew how much Madison had been wanting to go home that I failed to remember that she does indeed have two separate homes to go to. Please forgive me, I have a hard time remembering you and Sami are not a couple."

"It's quite all right, sometimes I wished I could forget that we aren't a couple either," EJ sighed and then shook his head; he didn't need to spill out all of his problems to Dr. Lykens.

"Stop by my office in the morning so we can set up Madison's appointment schedule for her other chemo treatments and to give you a checklist for her when you take her home. I'll also give you a list of my top home health care nurses that specialize in Madison's specific treatments for ALL."

"Sure thing Dr. Lykens, Samantha and I will be there first thing in the morning," EJ said as Dr. Lykens picked up his clipboard and exited the room leaving EJ to ponder exactly where Madison would return home to and if he would be able to convince Samantha to let him take Madison home with him.

Then his mind wandered back to Madison' suggestion of having Sami come home with them and wondered if it was even possible that Samantha would even entertain the thought, much less agree to it. It had been like pulling teeth to get her to consent to go out to dinner with him, now he was going to ask her something that he had absolutely no idea on what she would say and how they would both be able to deal with a scenario of them actually living together under the same roof.

Yes, tonight would prove to be an interesting date indeed.