Author's Note: *peeks around the corner* Hi guys...no hitting okay? :) Instead of doing a lot of talking I'm just gonna let you guys go read since you're probably already skipping this and thinking "blah blah blah...what happened to Carly?!?" Am I right? ;-)
~JP

True North
By Jaclyn Parker

"Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening,
but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't
take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death."
-Unknown
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They all stared at Dr. Adams for a long moment; no one speaking for fear that it would cause him to repeat his horrific words once again.

"What do you mean, 'you're sorry'?" Jack finally growled out, roughly wiping the tears from his cheeks with the heels of his hands.

"Jack…" Holden started to say but Jack whirled on him and jabbed his index finger into his cousin's chest.

"Shut…up, Holden! She's not dead, you got it? So just…shut up and let the doctor talk." Jack turned back to Dr. Adams, his eyes blazing as he repeated his previous statement. "She's not dead."

Molly wandered over to Lee's side and he automatically wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her trembling and he wished that he could take away her fear for her cousin, but he knew that this feat wasn't possible.

Dr. Adams looked around at them then back to Jack, before he sighed and shook his head.

"No, she's not dead, Mr. Snyder."

Molly let out a small sob and Lee gathered her closer into his arms as they both whispered a prayer of thanks heavenward. Holden closed his eyes and clasped his cousin on the shoulder, a bow of his head displaying his own quick thanks to God. While Jack felt a small release of the fear deep inside he knew that Dr. Adams was waiting to tell them something and he knew it wasn't good.

"Then what the hell is going on with my wife?" Jack said and when Dr. Adams sent Lee and Holden a look, both men just shook their heads to let the marital title go.

Dr. Adams gestured for them to take a seat in the empty OR waiting area but when Jack stood firm, no one else made a move to go either. With another sigh, Dr. Adam's started to explain.

"Usually, in pre-eclampsia, delivering vaginally is the best way to go. And once we got the umbilical cord from around your daughter's neck it went really well. Due to her premature stage, she'll require a stay in the NICU. They can give you more information about what to expect when you go see her. However, all in all, she's a fighter and by my estimation should be there for a very short tenure considering the normal statistics." Dr. Adams said and Jack's heart fluttered at hearing how well his new daughter was doing. But a second later his mind had already jumped back to the newborn girl's mother.

"And Carly? What happened with Carly?" Jack demanded again, causing Dr. Adams' expression to become more solemn.

"At just under 5 pounds, the baby was small enough that there was no unnecessary stress or tears to her birth canal." The doctor said. "Unfortunately, sometimes, things develop after the birth and this is what happened in Carly's case."

"During the afterbirth delivery, it appears that the placenta tore away from the uterine wall instead of shedding naturally. This caused massive internal bleeding, known as post partum hemorrhaging. Thankfully we were able to extract the whole placenta but it wasn't in time to stop the enormous amount of blood loss. Now, you have to understand, that if a person has 30% amount of blood loss their body goes into shock, almost like a protective measure."

"So Carly needs more blood?" Jack asked, placing a hand on his head and trying desperately to stay patient as the doctor spouted off his medical information. Dr. Adams paused and then shook his head.

"It's…it's not that simple. We are giving her as much blood as we can; she's already on plasma. But she went into shock so quickly that she flat lined, unfortunately more than once. And while none of those times was enough to cut off significant oxygen flow to the brain, we had to use the defibrillator to try and bring her back which just added more stress to her severely traumatized body."

Jack shook his head and ran a hand through his own hair. His brain couldn't take anymore drawn out medical explanations of what went wrong. All Jack wanted to know now was what they were going to do to fix it.

"Enough. Just…tell me the bottom line."

"The bottom line, Mr. Snyder, is that Carly has slipped into a coma."

"A…a coma?" Molly couldn't help but gasp out. She immediately placed a hand over her mouth as if trying to stop anymore words from escaping and making the nightmare more real.

"For how long?" Jack asked, his jaw ticking as he ignored Molly.

"At this point we can't exactly be sure. The next 24 hours are critical…honestly very touch and go. We're going to continue to give her blood transfusions until her count is back up and then if that doesn't work we'll start to give her what's known as a 'coma cocktail'."

"What is that?" Jack asked, frowning.

"It's a combination of a vitamin called thiamin, glucose, and a substance called naxolene. It is just a common course of treatment for coma patients and nothing in the 'cocktail' will hurt Carly. We will also be monitoring her electrolyte balance and once she is stable enough, we will send her for an MRI to officially rule out any intracranial pressure."

"What happens if none of that helps?" Molly asked, still trying to wrap her brain around the fact that her beloved cousin was in a coma.

"Then we run more tests and adjust the medications as a result of what they can tell us." Dr. Adams said, softly.

"Wait…what? That's it? That's all you can do?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Mr. Snyder, I can understand your frustration," Dr. Adams said, ignoring the undignified snort that Jack gave in response to that statement. "But we're honestly in one of the top medical hospitals in the country and I assure you that we are doing the best that we can in this position. Comas are not easy medical situations, but fortunately Carly's condition is more than likely caused by a reversible metabolic process and as soon as we figure it out, we will treat it accordingly."

"I know. I'm sorry." Jack said, breathing out a long sigh. "I just…feel so helpless."

"Look, we're going to move Carly into a private ICU room." Dr. Adams said, placing a friendly hand on Jack's arm. "While we're doing that, why don't you go up to NICU and say hello to your new daughter before heading down to tell your family the news about Carly. It'll be nice to give them some good information before you hit them with everything else."

"My daughter." Jack repeated, his voice filled with the awe that suddenly swept over him.

He was ashamed to admit that with the situation with Carly, the little girl that had just arrived had been pushed to the corner of his mind. But now the need to see her was immeasurable and he couldn't get to the NICU fast enough. As if sensing this, Lee nodded to Dr. Adams.

"Michael, I'll take Jack up to the NICU. After you get Carly situated could you please make sure that a nurse comes back here and lets Molly and Holden know the room number?"

The two adults of discussion nodded discretely to Lee to show him that they understood his unspoken instructions to stay where they were. They all knew that if Molly and Holden went down to the family now, one look at their faces would give away that something was wrong and Jack was the one who needed to break the news about Carly, especially to their children.

A few minutes later Jack found himself standing outside of the electronically sealed doors to the NICU. He looked questioningly at Lee when the man hung back.

"No." Lee said, shaking his head and smiling in answer to Jack's silent question. "Going in there is a Daddy's privilege."

"Lee…" Jack wanted to say more but found that no words could begin to express the amount of gratitude that he had towards the man who, he had a feeling, would become a very good friend. In the end, he simply stuck out his hand. "Thanks."

Lee grinned and accepted the gesture, placing his other hand on top of their grip.

"Go on, mate. Go say hi to your new baby girl." Lee said, nodding his chin in the direction of the NICU doors that were slowly opening with a loud buzzing noise. "I'll be right here when you get back."

Jack nodded too and then stepped forward into the NICU.

He stopped immediately, frozen in his tracks at the sight of several incubators surrounded by loud and overwhelmingly large machines. The tiny bodies inside the small plastic containers looked too small to be real and the amount of wires coming out of some of them, made Jack suddenly nauseous. He knew that the NICU was a serious place for a baby to end up, but he hadn't been even remotely prepared for this sight.

A woman who looked to be in her mid-to-late fifties with slightly graying brown hair noticed him and surveyed him with eagle eyes.

Nurse Helen Hudson was the supervising nurse of Oakdale Memorial's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and she took her job incredibly seriously. The other doctors and nurses lovingly and respectfully called her the Baby Champion because no matter how dire the circumstances that an infant came in, Nurse Helen championed for them with the same level of intensity. For the parents that left the hospital with their children, she stood there waving proudly as they walked away and for the cases where the parents suffered the hardest loss they will ever face, she was right there mourning with them.

After assessing the situation she handed the chart she was holding to one of her underlings and walked over to where Jack stood.

"Can I help you?" She asked softly, letting her words sink in to the stranger's brain.

"I…uh…" Jack started, blinking as he looked around. His words caught in his throat as he noticed a mother, dressed in a white hospital gown, sitting in a rocking chair and holding a baby that could have fit in the palm of his hand. He swallowed hard and tried to focus on the nurse waiting patiently in front of him.

"My name is Jack Snyder. My daughter was brought here a little while ago."

Instantly Helen's eyes became warm and sympathetic. "Your daughter's name?"

"Emmy." Jack said instantly and then took another deep breath. "Emma Rose Snyder."

"Ah! The little rosebud." Helen said and Jack blinked quickly at her, his heart tripling in beat at the sound of Carly's nickname for Rosanna slipping off her tongue. It had to be a coincidence…right? But as a sudden warm feeling of comfort flowed over him, he wasn't so sure.

"Emmy's a beautiful little girl, Mr. Snyder." Helen said, utilizing the nickname that she had heard Jack use at first. Placing a gentle hand on his elbow she started to lead him through the room. "All the nurses are already completely in love with her."

Jack looked down at the petite woman holding on to his arm and then when he looked up again, he noticed that they were now standing in front of a small incubator. Inside lay a sleeping infant sprawled out with her tiny hands curled up into fists by her head, clad in an impossibly small diaper. The pale pink card taped on the outside read in bold black letters "Emma Rose Snyder; 4lbs 7ozs, 16 inches long".

Helen gently guided him closer to the incubator and began to speak in a low and soothing tone.

"Emmy is resting inside of a temperature controlled bassinet which will help keep her warm and protect her from outside germs until her system is more prepared. Because her lungs are not completely strong enough yet, she is getting help through the oxygen tube that is placed at the base of her nose. However, she has already made some progress and the doctors anticipate that, after some steroid treatments for her lungs to grow stronger, Emmy will be able to be placed on incremental doses of an oxygen mask within the next couple of weeks."

As Helen spoke she gently touched each piece of equipment and paused in case Jack wanted to ask a question. When she saw that he was taking in each piece of information, she continued.

"For the time being, Emmy is being fed through a tube but since babies generally develop the feeding reflex by the 35th week of gestation, we don't foresee that being a long term process either. Will Emmy's mother be coming here to pump breast milk for her?"

Helen looked up to see Jack's face twist in pain and he shook his head fiercely.

"No, she…she can't right now." Jack managed to get out. It occurred to him that this would be the first of her biological children that Carly wouldn't be able to breastfeed. He knew that the time she spent with her babies during the feeding process was almost sacred to her and something inside of Jack died a little knowing that she would be so upset to learn that she wouldn't have that with Emmy if she…when she woke up.

"Jack," Helen said using his first name to bring him back to her. She saw the emotions flow across his face and wanted to tell him something. When he looked at her she smiled sympathetically. "It's okay."

Before he could speak, Helen gestured over her shoulder to a large metal door that looked to be a refrigerator.

"Oakdale Memorial is one of the first hospitals in America to employ the process of a breast milk bank. Mothers from all over the state have pre-pumped and donated their breast milk so that the initial nutrients that a mother would pass on to her infant in normal circumstances can still be given. It has surpassed everyone's expectations and helped many babies."

"That's…wonderful." Jack said, not able to find another word that could accurately describe how generous he thought those women were.

"Yes, we like to think so." Helen said, chuckling slightly. "But many many babies, once they leave here, are given formula and are just as happy and healthy. We'll have plenty of time to discuss all the options when everything is not so overwhelming."

"Um…" Jack paused, wanting to ask a question but realizing he hadn't even learned her name.

"My name is Helen Hudson, but you can just start calling me Helen. We're going to get to know each other very well, Jack, over the next few weeks."

Jack smiled and for the first time since he stepped foot in the NICU, he started to relax.

"Helen, can I…?" Jack gestured towards the Emmy and Helen grinned.

"You can't hold her just yet, but you can certainly introduce yourself."

After leading him over to a nearby sink to show him the proper technique to wash his hands, she took him back to the incubator and guided his hand inside.

At his touch, Emmy's entire little body jerked suddenly and he immediately went to pull his hand back, stiffening with fear that he had hurt her. But before he could move completely out, he felt Helen's hand pushing his arm back inside.

"It's a reflexive movement, Jack. You didn't hurt her. She looks more fragile than she really is, I promise. You won't hurt your daughter by touching her."

Jack frown displayed his obvious disbelief at her statement but did as she said. This time, when he touched the baby's chest, she didn't jerk only gave a tiny shuddering breath. Jack slowly traced his way down her smooth little torso and legs before moving back up to her arms.

"Hi, Emmy. It's Daddy." Jack said softly and as he said this he let his index finger slide down her right arm to her hand.

The tiny starfish like hand opened and then closed again around his finger and suddenly Jack found he couldn't stop smiling or crying.

"That's right, Angel. Daddy's here."

Ten minutes later the NICU doors reopened and having seen, firsthand, the miracles that lay beyond the doors, Lee couldn't blame Jack for the mixed look of awe and fear that he wore as he headed towards him.

"How is she, mate?" Lee asked and Jack sent him a smile.

"Absolutely gorgeous."

Lee grinned and clasped Jack on the shoulder. "Hey, with Carly as her mother was there ever any doubt?"

Jack laughed and shook his head. "No."

Lee laughed a moment with him and then taking a deep breath, looked at Jack with a serious expression.

"Are you ready to do this?"

Jack's smile slipped away and he shook his head.

"No," he replied honestly but straightened his shoulders. "But it's time to do it anyway."

Lee nodded and gestured to the elevators that would take them back down to where their friends and family waited below.

And chief among them were three children whose world was about to be torn apart once again and there was nothing either man could do about it.