Chapter 62

Other than the call from Clay, the nurses checking on Sarah's condition had been the only interruption. However, that changed a bit after 1900 hours, when a nurse entered carrying a baby. "Lieutenant Bayer, I have your daughter here," she said to him.

"My daughter?" AJ questioned, a bit startled because of being so focused on Sarah.

"Yes, Sir. She is three hours old now, we've had her under a heat lamp after the stress of the birth." The nurse looked sad as she said this.

"Did something go wrong?"

The nurse glanced around as if making sure no one else was there to hear before speaking, "We lost…the mother," she whispered to him.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"But your baby is fine, don't you worry about that!" she reassured him; handing him the baby and the bottle she carried. "I thought that you might like to feed her, do you and your wife have a name picked out yet for this little angel?"

AJ's eyes flew to Sarah, who had still not come around, he told her, "No, not yet."

"Well, I will leave you to feed her. If you need any help, just push the call button."

Left alone with the baby, AJ looked down at her for the first time. She was awake, but not yet fussing for the bottle he held in his hand. She was wrapped in a soft pink blanket with a tiny knit pink cap on her head. Her eyes were open and AJ could have sworn that they focused on him, even though he knew it was not possible at her age. But he was amazed when he looked into her eyes. They were chocolate brown, just like Sarah's, instead of the blue eyes babies were normally born with.

He sat there feeding the baby, wishing that this could all be true…well, not the part where Sarah had been hurt, but that they were married and she had just given birth to this little angel in his arms. When she finished the bottle, he burped her just as he remembered doing to Francesca when she was that age. Then he couldn't resist the urge any longer. He had been staring at the wisps of hair peaking out from under the tiny pink cap, and he just had to remove it. The baby's head was covered in silky dark brown hair. AJ looked up at Sarah, lying there in the bed. This really could be her daughter! They looked so much alike, even to the slightly dark complexion.

'She is perfect,' AJ thought and then wondered if it was true. He was sure that the nurse would have told him if there was something wrong but he wanted to see for himself. So laying the baby on the bed next to Sarah, he unwrapped the blanket around her and counted ten tiny fingers and ten even tinier toes. 'She was perfect! Oh, Sarah, I wish you would wake so you could see her!'

After about an hour with the baby, the nurse came back to return her to the nursery, "No problems, Lieutenant Bayer?"

"None," he replied.

"Alright then, I will bring her back for her next feeding, about midnight. You'll be here?"

"Yes, I'm not leaving until my wife comes around."

And so it went, AJ sat there with Sarah, dozing occasionally till the baby was brought in at midnight. After the feeding, AJ moved his chair closer to the bed and while still holding Sarah's hand; he laid his head down and went to sleep.

The sun streaming through the window woke him and he got up to use the bathroom. Splashing cold water on his face, he ran his hand over his bristly jaw. 'I need to get a shave today,' he thought and returned to Sarah's bedside to find her stirring.

To be continued….