Author's Note: So sorry that I had you guys wait so long for an update (and thank you so much to the ones who gave me a nice reminder that I had wonderful fan waiting). Real life got slightly hectic and I was swept up in it like we all tend to do sometimes. So I hope you accept my apology and to show my good faith, I might just post the next chapter by the end of the week...maybe. LOL

As always...ENJOY!
~JP

True North
By Jaclyn Parker

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
~Elizabeth Stone

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"Tell me, again, why I have to be in this stupid thing?" Carly said with a huff, crossing her arms as she sat fuming in the wheelchair.

"Because I said so." Lee replied simply as he strolled next to them while Jack pushed the wheelchair down the hallway towards the NICU.

"Yeah…try again." Carly sniped and glared at him.

"Because I said so?" Jack said, half-joking, half serious. The highly un-amused glare that Carly turned on him would have melted the polar ice caps. "…or not."

"I'm fine! I can walk! I've been doing it for quite some time now!" Carly argued and struggled to stand up so she could walk in to see her new child on her own two feet. Jack's hand landed on her shoulder and with a loving, but firm pressure, he pushed her back into the seat.

Lee exchanged an exasperated look with Jack and then bent down to Carly's level as Jack paused the wheelchair just outside of the NICU doors.

"Look, Luv, I know you feel better than you did yesterday and a million times better than you did on Monday, but the truth is, you just woke up from a coma. Walking around will put too much strain on your unused muscles and possibly elevate your blood pressure and heart rate." Lee said and Carly looked away, knowing inside that he was right but still not wanting to hear anymore. And she sure as hell wasn't going to mention now, that when she tried to stand, her legs had screamed in pain and her heart had begun to pound

Lee glared at her reaction to his admonishing and continued.

"You are not superwoman. You need to let your body rest and listen to the advice of your doctors if you want to be able to go home and be with your family."

Lee's tone became very stern and even though she still would not meet his gaze he knew he had her full attention. His next words drew Jack's attention as well.

"I am your friend, but most importantly I am a doctor. If I find that you are pushing yourself too hard or ignoring the advice of my medical staff, I can and I will restrict your visitors including your children. They have waited far too long to have your stubbornness ruin any progress and destroy their hope of having you come home soon. Do you understand me?"

When Carly finally let herself look into Lee's face she saw, for the first time in almost a year, the full professional looking back at her. While there was definitely compassion in his eyes, his entire bearing read how incredibly serious he really was.

Carly looked up at Jack and could tell by his face that while he wasn't happy about what Lee had just said, he would back him up if it came down to it. Knowing that all they wanted was for her to get well, she sighed.

"I just…I wanted it to be normal the first time I held her, you know? Not sitting in some wheelchair." Carly said, hitting the arms of the chair in frustration.

"Carly, she's barely a month old! She's not gonna realize that you aren't up to doing jumping jacks beside her bed." Jack said, slipping to replace Lee in front of her. He took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles. "All she's gonna know is that she's being held by her mother and that she's safe and loved."

"She's not going to know I'm her mother. Like you said, she's only a month old and I haven't been there. I just hope I still remember what to do." Carly said and gave him another look but he could see that this time it was just nerves doing the talking.

"Trust me, babe. Emmy will know. And so will you." Jack said and leaning forward kissed her forehead before standing to go behind the wheelchair again. "So let's go. Onward and upward."

A moment later, they entered the NICU when the doors opened with a buzz.

Jack heard Carly's soft intake of breath and ran a comforting hand over her hair while they paused to let her take it all in. Both he and Lee had tried to prepare her for what it was going to be like, but they knew from experience that no one could really be ready for the sight of the NICU.

"I'm okay." Carly whispered and Jack pushed her back towards the guest of honor. But when they got there, the little bassinet with soft pink blanket inside was empty.

"Where is she?" Carly asked, reaching forward to touch the side of the clear incubator, a bit of panic on her face. "Where's my daughter?"

Jack looked at Lee who shared his expression of concern as they helped Carly transfer from the wheelchair to the rocking chair by Emmy's bedside.

Lee had purposefully called up to let them know they were coming and so this was not making either of them happy. Jack was about to go hunt someone down when suddenly one of the nurses appeared with a small wrapped bundle in her arms. The pretty brunette looked up from her precious cargo to see them all staring at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Reynolds! We know you wanted to have Emmy waiting but someone had a slightly explosive diaper incident and we had to give her an emergency bath."

They let out small chuckles, mainly out of relief, and Jack stepped forward with his arms outstretched to take his daughter from her.

"Thanks, Allie. Not going to lie to you, we were a little worried." He said as he looked down at a freshly scrubbed Emmy.

"Well, I'm not going to lie to you Detective Snyder." Allie said, tucking a piece of the blanket away from the baby's face. "The day you guys take this sweetie pie home, you might have to pat all the nurses down to make sure we didn't hide her from you."

Allie seemed to notice Carly for the first time and her bright smile turned up a watt.

"You're Carly, right?" At Carly's nod, Allie stuck out her hand. "I'm so glad to see you're feeling better. Detective Snyder and your kids have done nothing but talk about how much they missed you and how exited they were when you woke up."

"Thanks, I missed them too." Carly said, fully meaning it but her eyes hadn't strayed from the infant in Jack's arms for more than two seconds. Allie saw this and ducked her head to hide her chuckle.

"I'm going to go and let you get acquainted with your daughter." Allie said and then with a small waved walked away.

Jack turned to Carly who immediately put her arms out and wiggled her fingers in his direction, not able to hold back any longer.

"Give her to me…please."

Without hesitation, Jack placed a wide-eyed Emma Rose Snyder into the waiting arms of her mother. Blue eyes stared up into blue and it was as if all time stopped just to witness this one moment.

Carefully laying the baby down on her thighs, Carly slowly began to unwrap the pink receiving blanket around her daughter's tiny body. As if sensing her mother's need to do this, Emmy stayed surprisingly quiet and still. The temperature in the NICU was slightly higher than most rooms, not to mention that Carly didn't intend to keep her daughter outside of her cocoon for long so both Lee and Jack just let her do what she had to do.

Gently caressing the small limbs in a ritual that Carly had missed out on a month ago, she counted the 10 little fingers and 10 little toes and inhaled the soft sweet smell of her baby. Emmy endured it for as long as she must have deemed necessary but a few moments later she scrunched up her petite face and started to voice her discomfort. With a combination of natural and practiced ease, Carly re-swaddled her quickly and held her close to her chest to quiet her again. It worked like a charm and Emmy seemed content to just be held and listen to the sound of the heartbeat near her ear.

"God, she's so perfect." Carly breathed slowly, tracing her fingertips over Emmy's soft cheek. "She looks just like Sage did."

"You think so?" Jack said, squinting at the baby in Carly's arms and then smiling as she let out a long yawn. "I think she looks just like you; absolutely gorgeous."

Carly sent him a look to show that she was not impressed by his flattery but he could see the sparkle in her eyes before she turned back to Emmy.

"Well, who do we have here?" Helen said, coming over to join them and grinning down at Carly. "You must be Mommy. Emmy looks just like you."

Jack looked at Carly and she rolled her eyes at the victorious expression on his face. Looking at Helen, she nodded.

"I'm…" She started to say but Helen shook her head.

"No introductions necessary. I'm Helen, Carly. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Oh!" Carly said, finally making the connection to the woman in front of her and the stories that Jack had been telling her the past few days. A lump filled her throat as she tried to find the right words to tell Helen just how grateful she was that she had watched over family for her. But again, Helen just shook her head and placed a hand over one of Carly's own, giving it a light squeeze.

Helen looked at Lee and squinted her eyes. "Don't you have some rounds to do, Dr. Reynolds?"

Lee's own eyes widened and then he chuckled. "Yes ma'am."

With a wave and an air kiss sent in Emmy and Carly's direction, he headed out with a promise to check in on her later.

"Think you can teach me to do that?" Carly said, grinning up at the matronly woman in front of her.

"Sure thing. Just gotta have some iron in your voice and a secret chocolate cake recipe passed down by my great-grandmother." Helen said with a wink and Carly laughed. Emmy made a noise and began to wiggle in Carly's arms, who instinctively began to rock and hold her closer.

"I think someone is getting hungry." Carly said not noticing the look of satisfaction that Jack and Helen gave each other.

"I was just going to suggest that I go get one of her bottles." Helen said and slipped off to do just that.

"So much for worrying that you're not going to know what to do." Jack said, crouching down so that he was level with Emmy and Carly.

Carly looked at him in surprise and then blinked. "I guess so."

"I was too late." Helen said returning not five seconds later with a warmed bottle in her hands. "One of the nurses in Emmy's fan club had one ready to go."

Carly laughed and accepted the bottle from Helen, letting Emmy latch on to suck greedily. They all watched her eat for a minute before Helen broke the silence.

"Carly, there is something we need to discuss and if you want Jack here, that's up to you but it is a rather delicate subject to some women."

Carly looked at Jack, who wore a confused expression, but she had a feeling of what was coming and wasn't ashamed to have him hear it at all.

"No, it's okay." Carly said, keeping an eye on the amount of formula Emmy was drinking before she needed to be burped. Jack had been right; it was like riding a bike.

"As you know, having been in a coma for the past month, your natural milk supply has dried up. However, if you still would like to try to breastfeed Emmy, there is a process called re-lactation." Helen said and, paused to let Carly shift Emmy in order to burp her and then continued. "While it's been very successful, I don't want to give you a false picture. The re-lactation process is not easy; it can be relatively painful for the mother and frustrating in the beginning for everyone involved."

Carly looked down at the little girl who had begun eating again, her eyes starting to droop as her stomach filled. She knew that babies who were bottle fed were every bit as happy and healthy as babies who were breastfed. That debate had never been one that she felt she needed to weigh in on since she considered the only end result that mattered in both methods a happy and healthy child. It was a personal choice and Carly respected every mother to do what she felt was best for her and her child.

"I want to do it, but if it looks like it's impeding Emmy's progress at any point I'll stop." Carly said, burping Emmy one last time and then rocking her gently. She watched as Emmy finally drifted into the sleep she had adorably been trying to fight during the last ounce or so.

"Are you sure?" Helen said and Carly nodded without delay. "Okay, then when you get back to your room I'll have Dr. Schiller come down to give you a shot of the hormone that's used in the procedure and I'll be down with a lactation nurse to talk to you about what's going to happen in the next few weeks."

"Thank you." Carly said and when she looked up, Helen knew that it wasn't just for the information she had just given her. "For everything."

"No need, my dear." Helen said and then with a smile she looked over as a nurse called her name. "I have to go, but you enjoy the rest of your visit and I'll see you later this evening."

Jack and Carly both said their goodbyes to her and soon it was just the three of them in Emmy's little corner of the NICU.

"So, what do you think?" Jack said and Carly frowned at him. "Think she's a keeper for the Snyder family?"

Carly looked down at the sleeping miracle in her arms and grinned up at him again when Emmy let out a soft snort in her sleep followed by a small noise from the opposite end. A tiny smile appeared on her cupid's bow-like lips, seemingly completely self-satisfied with herself and somehow Carly knew that this one was going to give her and Jack a run for their money every step of the way.

Carly chuckled softly and settled in to the rocking chair, laying her head on Jack's shoulder as he pulled up another chair to sit close to them.

"Oh, I think she'll fit in just fine."