The Pregnancy Ship

Chapter 29: Miracles Do Happen

This is an A/U story

Andy looked into her eyes and knew what she was thinking. "Sharon, I know that you could do the same thing and maybe do it better, but Emily is becoming as dear to me as my own daughter. I'd like to do this for her, okay?"

"O...okay," she nodded.

"Should I be worried that that was too easy?" Andy asked warily.

Sharon rolled her eyes, "no. Contrary to the last few months, that seems to suggest otherwise. I know I have a tendency to be very independent, but I know when to pick my battles. This is a battle I have no intention of starting much less winning. You're doing this for my daughter. In the last two years I've seen you be more of a father to my children then their real father has ever been. It's taken awhile but I'm learning to trust you to do right by our family. So do what you feel is best, but ask Emily for permission to proceed. It's her life after all."

"He's already got it," Emily said, as she came into the living room from the sliding glass doors leading to the patio. "He asked me last night if it was alright if he looked into the situation."

Andy picked up the conversation. "Even without knowing that Emily was pushed, I felt it was worth looking into. They, Paolo and Petra, seemed to have planned this from the beginning. It wasn't just happenstance that she fell into bed with him against her better judgment. From what Emily said I'm inclined to believe she was drugged with a date rape drug. Ecstasy is my guess."

Sharon nodded; she had thought the same thing. "Maybe even mixed with a tiny amount of GHB or Rohypnol, but wait. Emily you remember what happened didn't you? You said you couldn't remember how it happened, so it couldn't be those. Maybe the champagne helped to make the drug work faster and stronger."

Emily looked from her mother to Andy and back again. "You really think I was drugged?" she asked. Since her conversation with her mother yesterday she had wondered but hadn't wanted to think it.

"Well Darling, yes I do. You've always been very strong in your commitment to dance. I feel that you wouldn't have thrown caution to the winds so cavalierly just because Paolo came from Europe to the states supposedly for you. You said yourself that one minute you were drinking champagne and then the next minute you were having sex with him and you didn't know how that happened." Sadly in Sharon's job she had seen this happen to other victims with a more tragic ending. She was thankful to have her daughter still with her.

Emily ducked her head, feeling even worse about the situation than before. It was bad enough when she thought she had been overcome by the romance of him coming to the states just for her, but to truly know that she had not only been duped by them from the beginning but also been drugged to make her go to bed with him and she had not even suspected it. It seemed far worse to her that she had been so completely clueless. "How could I have been such a fool, Mom? How could I have not known this? I never even suspected that he would drug me. You mentioned it yesterday, but it wasn't until yesterday that I even thought about it like that. How could I be so naive?"

"Emily, you may be naïve but you weren't necessarily a fool. You weren't meant to suspect it. They planned it out very deliberately, I'm pretty sure. At first when you told me what happened it sounded like just an unfortunate accident, but the more I think about it the more I think it is true. How did you actually meet Paolo? Who introduced you to him?"

Emily frowned in concentration. "I was at a party in Rome, thrown for the ABT. He was there. I remember spotting him from across the room and thinking he was gorgeous. He's from Northern Italy so his hair was blondish and curly and his eyes were bright blue. He had a strong nose and high cheekbones and a full sensual mouth. He had a five o'clock shadow too, it seems to be a thing these days. Um as to who introduced me to him, I believe he introduced himself. He came over to me, told me his name and asked me mine. He was so nice, sweet and considerate. He said he was a friend of one of the Italian ballet dancers that danced with us there. One of the dancers from the main ballet troupe of each city in Europe that we went to would dance with us. It was a publicity thing."

"Was Petra one of them, maybe from Russia? Or Germany?" Sharon asked.

Shaking her head, "no, Petra's ancestors were from Czechoslovakia, but she was born in New Jersey. The really bad part is that I thought she was my friend. She pretended to be anyway. Then I overheard her talking to Paolo that day. She said she deserved to be the lead dancer not me. She said I danced like a robot, with no grace or style."

"Em, that's not true and you know it! Listen to this review of Petra dancing in Romeo and Juliet this is just one of many." Andy said reading from the theater section of the New York Times page on the Internet. "This writer misses the graceful and softly stylistic dancing of the beautiful and talented Emily Raydor as I watch her understudy and replacement, Petra Chalupnik dance if you can call her robotic movements dancing across the stage. She needs to go back to the drawing board and relearn her dancing or get out of the business altogether. She doesn't hold a candle to the lovely talented Emily Raydor who has charmed audiences for years. Too bad her career was cut short. It is this writer's considered opinion that even with a lame ankle Miss Emily Raydor could dance circles around this cow in toe shoes!"

Emily's eyes were huge in her face. "Wow," Emily said. "Who wrote that?"

"Patrick Munsey," Andy said.

"See, Darling you are missed and loved by your fans and critics, but more than that you are loved by your family," Sharon said.

"Hmmmm, th… thanks Mom, thanks Andy."

Andy shrugged, "hey whatever I can do to help. You're really were and are a wonderful talented dancer and you are part of my family and nobody messes with my family and gets away with it."

Emily smiled. "Thank you again for feeling that way, Andy." She looked down at her bare toes, and looked back up at him biting her bottom lip. At that moment, in spite of her dark eyes and darker hair she looked a lot like her mother at that moment. "I… I was wondering, would you mind very much if I called you… Dad?"

Andy swallowed, overcome with emotion. He looked at Sharon for clues about how she felt about Emily's question. Sharon nodded at him; there were tears in her eyes too. "I would love that Em, but… Are you sure? I mean."

"Yes. I'm sure," she looked down again and pressed her lips together. "I was always a wannabe daddy's girl, believing I meant more to him than I really did. This year I've finally… I finally realized that he was my biological father, not my dad. You have been more of a dad to me the last two years than he was my entire life. I mean we didn't really see each other that much until I came back home, but you have talked to me on the phone and on Skype. When I lived in NYC, you called me and sent a card on my birthday. I don't mean signed your name to a card my mother bought but actually sent a card yourself two years in a row. My father never even called me at all on his own unless he was prompted by my mother. You brought my mother to see me dance Giselle for her birthday, you opened your home to me when I got hurt, and you've been so patient with my moods. You have been so supportive and you treat me like you treat your daughter Nicole and now you are helping me with getting revenge on Petra and Paolo."

"Emily, it's not revenge I'm seeking for you but justice. Petra and Paolo took your career from you they caused you a great deal of heartache in a lot of different ways. That's not even taking into account the medical trauma you suffered at their hands. It could have ended even worse than it did. You could have been killed or paralyzed and they did it all out of selfishness and greed not necessarily for the money so much as the fame and notoriety. That's not okay!" Emily nodded and hugged him.

Sharon who had got up to put Mikey in one of the swings, walked over to them and squeezed Andy's upper arm, he put his arm around her to include her in the hug. She cuddled closer to him and wrapped her other arm around her daughter. "Group hug," they all said together in a loud whisper.

After the hug Sharon looked at the clock, "Andy you really need to go to the hospital. Kayla is being operated on now and it will take an hour with traffic to get there."

"Not the way I go," he smirked. "You forget I have lived here many years, so I know my way around."

"Yeah, well don't get shot getting there okay? We need you around here." Sharon put her arms around Andy's neck, "I need you! More than you'll ever know."

They kissed, long and lovingly. Then she tapped him on the backside. "Go before I change my mind and…" she caught herself before she blurted out something provocative in front of Julio, and her daughter. Emily had let the detective in while they were saying their goodbyes and… Sharon hadn't realized it until she had seen them over Andy's shoulder, standing by the door smirking. She decided to get a little playful revenge on her daughter and Julio. "And well… you know," Sharon said in a sultry voice, in-spite of her deep blush. Andy whispered in her ear and the blush became even more pronounced. The two young people looked at each other and rolled their eyes as if to say 'old people sex, ewwww.'

Andy left reluctantly and after driving thirty-five minutes met his friend and partner in the neonatal waiting room after checking in and getting his visitors sticker. He looked around the room and found Rusty and Provenza sitting in the corner. Patrice was nowhere to be seen.

"Flynn, you're here." Louie looked relieved. He was pale, Andy thought and the rims of his eyes were red.

"Of course I'm here. You're my partner, where else would I be?" he said squeezing his friend's shoulder. Um, where's Patrice?"

"Making bottles of expressed milk for Kayla, once she's out of surgery and out of recovery they'll feed it to her in the stomach tube." He winced and shuddered. "Patrice was also talking to one of her colleagues about Kayla's chances I guess."

Concerned Andy asked, "What are her chances?"

"I have no idea, you'll have to ask Patrice. I don't really want to know, to be honest. At least if I don't know, I can hope for a miracle."

"So… if you need a miracle that means her chances aren't good?" Andy asked confused.

"I told you I don't know Flynn!" Provenza's voice was loud in the quiet waiting room.

Andy backed off with his hands up, "Hey, I'm sorry just trying to figure things out. Geez."

"Guys, keep it down," Rusty said, trying to break the tension and shush them at the same time.

Patrice came into the waiting room carrying a big Vera Bradley bag. She looked very tired but beautiful as always. 'Hi, Andy, thank you for coming it's gonna be awhile," she said kissing him on the cheek. "Maybe you can help distract poor Louie. He's beside himself worrying."

"Yeah, I get that. I'd be worrying too, if it was one of my girls going through this. So what should I do? Take him for a walk?"

"What am I a poodle?" Provenza asked irritably, coming up on the last bit of the whispered conversation.

"No, I'd say more of a Basset Hound or a French Bulldog," Andy said. Patrice and Rusty could be heard chuckling at their banter. "Come on let's go check out the cafeteria. See if there's any decent coffee to be had, I for one could use some. Who knows they might even have a Starbucks stand. You could get a nonfat vanilla latte, my treat. Rusty, you want to come?"

Rusty looked up from his laptop to answer, "Thanks Andy, but I'll stay with Patrice. I have to work on Identity, if I'm going to get the next installment out this week. The Lieutenant gave me some good points to consider."

"Okay, we will be back before long," Andy said.

"Andy, Thank you. He's just been really having a hard time." Patrice said, worried for her husband.

"Yeah, I can see that," Andy said as he watched his friend looking lost. Then he looked back at Patrice, "How are you doing?" He asked concerned. "Also what are Kayla's chances? Louie said he thought well that..."

"That we'd need a miracle?" Patrice sighed. "I'd like to be able to say that her chances are not that bad, she's a plucky little girl with an iron will to live. She's the miracle. She's made it this far in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds. We just have to believe she'll make it through the surgery. It's critical surgery, very intricate and will take several hours to accomplish we can only pray that our little Kayla will have the strength to get through it." Her voice belied her optimism it was full of the tears she was struggling hard to swallow back. "As for me… I'm taking one moment at a time. I'll be fine once Kayla gets out of surgery and I can take care of her. It's the waiting that's hard," she smiled tremulously. "Now go, Louie needs you a lot more than I do. Amy called she's on her way over. She and Rusty will keep me company, while you keep Louie busy. Get him some breakfast and swing by the gift shop, a big book of crossword puzzles will keep him occupied if all else fails."

Andy saluted her and walked up to Louie who was looking out the windows at the city of Los Angeles. "Coming, Old Man?" he asked and started walking up the hall.

"Who are you calling Old Man?" Provenza asked hurrying to catch up.

"You. Now where exactly is the cafeteria?" Andy asked turning his head left and right, finally spotting it he pointed in that direction. "Oh, here it is. So Louie, let's get some coffee and some food in you and maybe it will improve your mood."

"I'll have you know there is nothing wrong with my mood! This is who I am!"

"Yeah Grumpasaurus, that's you!"

The two friends got their breakfast and coffees. Andy got a southwestern vegetarian omelet and Louie got a side of pancakes with scrambled eggs, sausage and a side of bacon, then they found a corner table and sat down. "Well, I'm glad to see your appetite hasn't suffered," Andy said sarcastically.

"What? I have to eat!"

Andy was actually glad to see him eating and he was well aware he was being snarky but that was his and his partner's dynamic. Although it would seem like he wasn't trying to be sensitive to the fact that Provenza was worried about his daughter to an outsider. His "poking at the bear" was to distract Louie from the all-consuming terror of the surgery and the possibility of losing Kayla. Once they began eating, he steered the conversation towards baseball. They reminisced about the skybox tickets and the last case they had worked together before Brenda had left and how well things had turned out in spite of Provenza's dire predictions. Andy tried to keep the conversation light and full of laughter.

Several hours, two walks around the hospital, a trip to the Chapel to pray with Patrice and they ended up where they started. They had two more cups of coffee and then Rusty came to the door of the cafeteria and scanned the room, Andy waved and Rusty headed over to them. "The nurse came out and said the doctor was on his way. Patrice wants you with her, Lieutenant."

"Did she, the nurse say how the surgery went?" Louie asked nervously.

"No, just that Kayla survived it so far," Rusty, said repeating what he remembered from the conversation.

"Come on Louie, it sounds like that miracle you actually prayed for might have actually happened," Andy said gratefully.

"Don't jinx it, Flynn."

"I'm pretty sure that the word jinx and pray shouldn't be used in the same sentence," Andy mused.

They arrived in the waiting room just as the doctor arrived. She was a short black American woman with dark freckles across her wide nose; she still had her scrubs on. Introductions were made and the doctor started her report. "Well, we had a couple of really close calls, somebody must have been praying and your daughter has an amazing will to live, for such a little one. We managed to replace the malformed valve with a newer more improved valve made out of her own tissue, so it's less likely to be rejected and we placed the internal pacemaker in. The next 48 hours are critical but once she gets past that we should see marked improvement in her sinus rhythm and consequently her over all color will improve. Then, once she gets the stomach tube removed she will hopefully be able to nurse. By then she should be strong enough. Barring infection, she's could be out of here within the next 2 to 2 1/2 weeks, give or take a few days. Any questions?"

Everybody looked at each other and then back at the doctor. Louie cleared his throat, "What… what if she gets an infection?"

"We'd have to put her on antibiotics and hope it will be enough to kill the infection and won't damage her other organs." Dr. Bailey unconsciously rubbed her hands together as she looked around at everybody. "Listen, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. It's definitely a consideration but not a forgone conclusion. Kayla is very tenacious. Her will to live rivals babies who I've worked on who's health issues weren't nearly as complicated as Kayla's was when she was born. . . Well she'll be in recovery for a while. Patrice and Lt. Provenza you can go in now if you like although, perhaps you should wait to see her once she gets back to the neonatal ICU. You can go back, but Kayla is still under anesthesia, so she won't know you're there for awhile yet."

"Thank you, Dr Bailey for everything. Mere words aren't enough to express our gratitude."

"You are very welcome," said Dr Bailey as she started down the hall.

"Patrice grabbed her husband's hand and looked at him. "Louie, do you want to go with me? Or would you rather wait until she's in the neonatal nursery?"

"I want to go and see her but…"

"But what, Honey?" Patrice asked, her hand stroking his cheek.

Provenza's voice was low when he admitted, "I'm scared, Patrice. It's funny really, I'm a homicide cop. I've seen sights that would curl your hair. I used to chase hardened criminals down the streets of L.A. I've shot them between the eyes and hardly blinked, but seeing my baby daughter all hooked up to those tubes and machines, looking so helpless, scares the living crap out of me."

After hugging her husband Patrice confirmed her worries also, "Well, I've been an emergency room nurse, and I've seen sights that would curl your hair too, Louie. Seeing her like that scares me as well. However we're the adults, we've got to be there for her. She has a strong will to live because we've been there for her. We touch her, we've even held her, and we talk to her. She knows our voices, our touch; she knows she has a reason to live. Some babies even healthier babies than her don't have that. Let's go Louie, let's go see our baby girl."

Andy watched as his friend and partner was led away by his wife then he turned away to go to the courtyard to make a phone call.

Thank you for reading my story. A special thank you if you have taken the time to leave a review.