I DO NOT OWN ANYONE OR ANYTHING IN THIS STORY BESIDES THE OC'S.
A Year Later-
Sarah's Point of View-
Neal and I have been married for almost a year now, I am 9 months pregnant and ready to pop at any given day now with our baby, we decided against knowing the gender of the baby until it is delivered. Peter allowed me to work in the office with him and Neal for my community service, I think he didn't want me doing too much with me being pregnant and all. Neal didn't want me to do anything too hard, he didn't even want me walking to Olivia's school because he didn't want my feet to hurt nor swell. In the morning, Neal would walk Olivia to school and June would pick her up after school. I started to make a snack for myself and for Olivia when June left to go to the school to pick Olivia up for me, I was just finishing the snack when Olivia ran into the room carrying something in her hands, I assumed it was another school project.
"Mommy, guess what happened today?" She asked excited as she stood next to me, taller than she was last year.
"What?" I asked turning to look at her running my hand through her hair.
"I met grandpa!" She said smiling.
"What?" I asked shocked and worried that it was the truth.
"See!" She said handing me the thing in her hand, I looked at it realizing it was a polariod picture of her and my dad.
"When did you come see you?"
"During lunch at school, it was a great surprise, thank you mommy!" Olivia said trying to hug me, and the moment she wrapped her arms around me resting her head against my stomach the baby kicked. "The baby kicked." Olivia said smiling.
"You felt that too?" I asked and she nodded, "I made us a snack, take it to the table." I said handing it to her. I went and grabbed the phone off the station calling Neal's cell phone before I begun eating my snack. I was worried about Olivia, now knowing my dad knows where she goes to school it is very easy for him to snatch her or use her to his advantage, and I didn't want my dad anywhere near myself, Olivia, Neal or this baby.
"Hello?" Neal asked answering.
"Neal, it's Sarah..."
"Everything okay? Your not going into labor are you?" Neal asked paniced.
"No, the baby is just kicking around right now...but we have a problem." I said turning to look at Olivia who was eating the ants on a log that I had made.
"What? Olivia okay?" Neal asked worried.
"Yes but no. My dad knows what school Olivia goes to, he made an appearance at her school and had lunch with her. I'm staring a picture of them right now." I said.
"How'd he get in?"
"I don't know...I am fighting the urge of going down there and bitching the school out." I said pissed that the school allowed him to be let in like that.
"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it in the morning, by the time you get there everyone will be gone anyway." Neal said.
"Okay...see you when you get home...I love you!" I said.
"I love you too." Neal said as I smiled putting the phone onto the dock before I joined my daughter at the table eating my ants on the log with my daughter, then helped her with her homework until Neal got home. "How is my two favorite ladies?" Neal asked as he walked into the loft carrying a pizza.
"Dad!" Olivia exclaimed, as she ran over to Neal hugging him tightly. Neal adopted Olivia as his daughter on our wedding day, Olivia feels better calling him dad than Neal and Neal doesn't mind being called dad.
"How was school?" Neal asked picking her up into his embrace with his free hand.
"Good, I met my grandpa and we learned addition today. Ask me any adding problem." She said.
"What is 4 plus 5?" Neal asked as he set the pizza onto the table.
"9." Olivia said confidently.
"Your smarter than me." Neal said setting her down as he set the pizza onto the table beside me as I was knitting a little hat for the baby. "Hey sweetie, hey baby." Neal said leaning over kissing me on the lips before he rested an hand on my stomach.
"The baby has been kicking a lot...does that mean it will be here soon?" Olivia asked climbing into the chair next to Neal.
"I hope so..." Neal said.
"I have an appointment on the 20th where they will induce me if it doesn't pop out before then." I said smiling.
"I can't wait until the 20th." Neal said leaning onto his hands that were on the back of my chair, he was mere inches from my face smiling.
"What would you like me to do? Use vaseline and start doing jumping jacks in hopes it slides out?" I asked jokingly.
"Slide out of where?" Olivia asked.
"No where." I said as Neal pecked me one more time before he went and grabbed some plates bringing them to the table.
"Why don't we eat dinner on the couch and watch a movie?" Neal asked.
"What movie?" Olivia asked excitedly.
"What about the Jungle Book?" I asked.
"I'll go get it!" Olivia said as she climbed off the chair running to the bookshelf to get the movie as Neal helped me up from my seat and I stopped the knitting where it was at then helping Neal carry the stuff to the coffee table. I plopped onto the couch watching Neal help Olivia put the movie into the VCR, and we waited until it rewinded all the way before we begun to dish out the pizza and eat our dinner. This is the type of life that I wanted Olivia to have where we watched movies, played board games, she had a dad and people that cared about her to help with homework, give her piggy back rides and play imaginary games, Neal did all of that.
"It's time for bed, Olivia." Neal said as he begun to tickle her on her stomach.
"Do I have to? I want to watch another movie." Olivia said.
"We'll watch a movie tomorrow." I said.
"Okay, but I get to choose." Olivia said.
"Okay." I said.
"Night mommy. Night baby." Olivia said giving me a hug and putting her hand on the stomach before Neal squatted down letting her climb on for a piggy back ride over to her room. I got up after bits of struggle going to the table grabbing my knitting taking it to the bed climbing in getting comfortable which always took the longest. Neal came back in shutting the door behind him, he started to get out of his work clothes. "She was excited about her grandpa." Neal said as he walked past the bed to go to the closet.
"I know...I feel bad not wanting her to see him, but I don't know what to expect...I just don't trust my dad."
"Maybe just do supervised visits..." Neal said from the closet.
"You want her to see him?" I asked shocked.
"No, but I'm just saying she wants to know her grandpa, what's so wrong with that? At least if you or me are there we can kind of control the situation rather than him randomly showing up at her school not having any control."
"True..."
"Plus, I know I would want to know my grandkids even if my kids didn't like me...it'll kill me on the inside." Neal said walking out of the closet wearing a white tank top and his pajama pants.
"Yeah, I guess your right...maybe he is trying to correct his wrong from the way he raised me." I said as he turned off a few lights leaving the lamp near me on.
"Yeah...will you think about it?" Neal asked as I watched him climb into the bed beside me.
"Only for you." I said smiling, he leant over pressing his lips to mine for a kiss before he rested his hand on my stomach and put his ear up against my stomach to talk to the baby as I continued working on the hat, this was a nightly habit for Neal. "The hat is done!" I said holding it on my fist and started putting the needles aside.
"It's cute..." Neal said as he looked up to me, he sat up moving to a regular laying position resting an arm on my stomach. I turned the light off before I cuddled closer to Neal but felt uncomfortable all night. The next morning, I got up with my daughter and Neal because today I was going with Neal to the headquarters to get my anklet cut off since my one year is over now. I seemd to be moving slower than normal but never thought anything of it. I liked the walk to Olivia's school and the fresh air, I stayed out front while Neal went into the school talking to the office. "Alright, they made note of it and I told them if it happens again we are transferring her to a different school." Neal said as he walked down the steps.
"If it works." I said shrugging.
"You think about what I said?" Neal asked grabbing my hand interlacing our fingers together.
"Yeah...but haven't came to a decision." I said as we made our way into the headquarters, I was nervous going in there with being as fat as I was with this baby but it was exact opposite of what I thought it would be. Everyone was excited to see me, was asking about when the baby was going to be born and other questions about the baby, like what gender we wanted. Peter finally joined us after he finished the work he was working on carrying a pair of scissors.
"Are you ready to be independant again?" Peter asked.
"Yes." I said excitedly.
"Don't be too excited now." Peter said smirking before he squatted down cutting the anklet off.
"Thanks." I said smiling.
"No problem...why don't you three come over tonight for dinner?" Peter offered.
"Would love that..." I said as Neal leant onto his desk smiling.
"Elizabeth's cooking right?" Neal asked.
"Yes, Elizabeth is cooking, your lucky..." Peter said.
"Your cooking can't be that bad." I said.
"No, it's bad." Neal said chuckling when I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and felt a wet sensation between my legs knowing I didn't pee myself.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked concerned.
"I think my water just broke." I said shocked.
"Okay, okay...don't panic. I'll call June and have her go get Olivia and meet us at the hospital. May we borrow your car?" Neal asked looking to Peter.
"I'll drive you." Peter said as him and Neal helped me up to my feet from the chair I was sitting in. They helped me down to Peter's car, I climbed into the backseat and Neal climbed in on the other side of the backseat holding my hand as Peter drove us towards the nearest hospital, with every contraction I got I would squeeze Neal's hand but they weren't that close right now. Neal called June telling her the good news and knew that she would be there soon with Olivia. Peter dropped us off near the front door of the Emergency Room where we were given a wheel chair and rolled back into a room the moment they found out my water broke. Neal hadn't let go of my hand and was there beside me for every moment.
"You need to get into these robes before we start hooking you up." The nurse said handing me two robes, the nurse left letting me put these robes on and Neal helped me when I couldn't do a part of it. The nurse came back giving me an IV in my right elbow, did my blood pressure, put the finger thing on my finger, a machine that determines my contractions and a machine where we were able to hear our babies heartbeat. Neal pulled up a chair sitting beside me holding my hand and kissing the back of it.
"I love you." Neal said.
"I love you too." I said smiling, I was in pain but I couldn't be happier at the fact that I was about to have another baby with the man that I do love.
"I'm not going to leave your side during this whole time."
"You better not."
"I won't." Neal said as he held onto my hand being patient with me, June and Olivia arrived and the nurse let Olivia come in since I wasn't quite ready to push yet.
"Mommy, look what June and I bought." Olivia said walking in with a bear that was holding a balloon that said 'Congrats' on it.
"That is adorable, thank you Olivia." I said as I grabbed it from her looking at it.
"Is the baby okay?" Olivia asked.
"Yes, its on the way...you hear that noise?" Neal asked.
"Yeah, what is that?" Olivia asked.
"That's the babies heartbeat." Neal said.
"That's what the heartbeat sounds like?" She asked.
"Yep..." I said feeling another contraction gritting my teeth squeezing Neal's hand.
"You okay mommy?" Olivia asked concerned and scared.
"Yeah, I'm okay." I said when the nurse came in.
"Olivia, why don't you go outside and work on your homework with Peter?" Neal asked grabbing Olivia's hand walking with her out of the room.
"I can't do my homework..." Olivia said.
"Why?"
"How do you expect to think when the baby is on the way?" She said, I chuckled at how cute it was and watched Neal go into the hall with her.
"Try your best." Neal said as he came back in shutting the door.
"Well, your at 4 centimeters dilated...6 more until we start to push..." She said.
"Okay." I said as Neal joined me by my side, he sat there patiently running his hands through my hair, kissing the back of my hand or just plainly staring at me. He encouraged me even though I wasn't giving birth yet, he let me squeeze his hand everytime I had another contraction.
"They are getting closer together." Neal said.
"Yeah...that is usually a good sign..." I said.
"I can't believe that is the little heartbeat." Neal said smiling, I could see the happiness, proudness, joy and pride written all over his face and in his voice.
"It is." I said smiling as the doctor came in finally.
"I guess it's time for this baby to be born, it's been overdue..." She said.
"Yes, it has...I'm impatient." Neal said smiling cupping my hand with both hands as the doctor sat in a seat rolling over to the bed checking the contraction machine that was printing out everything.
"They are getting closer...sounds like the baby isn't stressed...let me check how along you are." She said rolling over checking, "You are pretty close 8 centimeters after being here 4 hours...was your daughter this easy too?" She asked standing up taking her gloves off.
"No, she was a long labor..." I stated.
"How long?" Neal asked.
"15 hours..." I said honestly.
"Yeah, that is a long labor." Neal said.
"I've seen longer..." The doctor said before she put my file back into the slot before heading out of the room. We sat through a few more hours of contractions before the doctor came back for another check up on how we were doing. "I think we are ready Mrs. Caffery." She said smiling.
"Are you ready?" Neal asked pushing strands of hair out of my face and wiped sweat off from how hot it has been in that room alone.
"Yes...I can do this..." I said letting out a deep breath as the doctor got a couple of nurses to come in to help with the whole process. Neal stood up holding my hand the whole time while they put my legs in the stirups preparing for me to push.
"Alright on the next contraction push." The doctor said as she put her gloves and mask on preparing for it. The next contraction came, Neal helped me push by holding my back while the doctor counted to ten.
"Your doing great sweetie..." Neal said, I was biting my lip of not being one of those mean pregnant ladies during birth.
"Relax." The doctor said, Neal leant over kissing the top of my sweaty forehead.
"I can't do this..." I said.
"Yes you can, just give me two or three more pushes..." Neal said running his hand through my hair.
"Okay, another contraction is coming, you need to push again." The doctor said, when the next contraction came I pushed again hearing her count to ten again. "I see a head, just need one more push, relax." She said as I relaxed hoping this is the last push and was told to push again, which I did and then I heard the cries of the baby that I just gave birth to. Neal held onto my hand tightly awaiting to be told what gender it was. "Congratulations, it's an healthy baby boy." She said as she held up my baby, tears stung my eyes from how adorable he was. "Would you like to cut the cord?" The doctor asked Neal.
"Yes." Neal said as he was handed a pair of scissors cutting the cord before the doctor handed my baby over to a nurse who washed him off, weighed and measured him. Neal came back standing beside me as the doctor was sewing anything that needed to be sewn back up and checking me out before I was able to take my legs out of the stirups.
"A baby boy, are you happy with that?" I asked smiling.
"Yes, I didn't care if it was boy or girl." Neal said smiling, I could tell he was purely happy and excited.
"Me either." I said.
"I love you." Neal said leaning over kissing me lightly on the lips when the nurse carried my baby over that was wrapped in a blue blanket and a blue hat.
"Here he is, he weighed in at 7 pounds and 8 ounces and lengths at 22 inches long." She said as she gently set him into my arms.
"He's so adorable." I said as I ran my finger along his now clean cheek seeing his hands react to it.
"He's ours." Neal said as he propped down the handlebar sitting on the edge of the bed.
"You two know a name?" The nurse asked, I looked to Neal not knowing what to name our new son.
"Joseph Blade Caffery." Neal said.
"I like it." I said smiling as the nurse nodded walking out to write up this birth certificate, Neal and I stared at our new son. "You want to hold him?" I asked looking up to my husband.
"I would love too." Neal said smiling as I gently handed our son over to his grip, he seemed like a natural and the same nurse walked in pushing an incubator for Joseph to sleep in tonight and with the birth certificate for us to sign. Neal and I both signed the certificate before Neal walked out into the hall with our baby showing him off, he led them back into room where they saw me and said their good-byes. June took Olivia home for us, Neal stayed with me until I fell asleep. I woke up when I heard Joseph crying, I looked over seeing Neal waking up as well in the chair he was laying in.
"I got it, you need your sleep." I said climbing out of the bed rolling the IV pole with me to Joseph's incubator.
"No, I want to be up and there every moment like this." Neal said getting up joining me next to Joseph's incubator. I picked him up holding him in my embrace and he was still crying.
"I think he's hungry." I said as I carried him to the bed where I laid back down without dropping him and got him situated to feed.
"Where did these flowers come from?" Neal asked looking at a flower vase that had a balloon attached to it.
"I don't know..." I said not remembering it being there before hand.
"It's to you." He said bringing me the mini card, I opened it pulling out the mini card reading it. 'Congrats on the new baby boy, even if it is a Caffery. Remember, never trust everyone, especially those with criminal pasts. I paid your medical bill for your delivery and I dropped $1,000 off in your mailbox for little Joseph. -Dad.'
A/N: OKAY, THIS IS OFFICIALLY THE LAST CHAPTER, THERE IS NOT MUCH MORE THAT I CAN THINK OF ADDING. IF I THINK OF ANOTHER STORY PLOT THEN I WILL EITHER DO A BRAND NEW STORY OR A SEQUEL, HOPEFULLY THIS IS A BETTER ENDING.