Author's Note: There is a special surprise in here for one of my lovely fans. :D Hope she likes it. Thanks for being such a great friend and fan!

Chapter 7: A New Arrival

5 years 5 months ago

"Micky!" Sarah shouted while shaking him a little waking Micky up a few weeks later.

"What?" Micky asked groggily.

"Micky, wake up!" Sarah said her voice pleading and insistent.

"I'm awake," Micky muttered. "What is it?"

"It's Rose," Sarah said quickly and sounding terrified. Micky bolted upright and looked at Sarah. "I think she's in labor."

"What!?" Micky asked jumping out of bed. He quickly scanned the room for where his clothes had fallen the night before and spotted them near the door.

"She's in a lot of pain," Sarah answered as he quickly pulled on his pants and underwear. "She says she thinks she's having contractions."

"How long?" Micky asked.

"I don't know," Sarah answered as they dashed out of the room and down the hall to Rose's room. "I only just woke up and heard her moaning when I went to the bathroom."

"Ok, remember what I told you?" Micky asked as they reached Rose's room.

"Yes, I'm supposed to just help her breath and then clean the baby," Sarah said as Micky knelt down next to Rose. "I'll get the bag." Micky nodded looking at the bag in the corner of the room. It had been part of the things he'd packed before they'd ever escaped; scissors, clamps, towels, suction bills, bottles and powdered baby formula along with various other items. He knew she wouldn't be able to breastfeed the baby very well as she was a little malnourished, but they could feed the baby through the bottle to make sure that it got everything it needed. He'd also taken gloves and medicines from his mother including equipment to set up an IV saline drip.

They were still hiding out in the abandoned church rectory. Micky had wanted to leave a few weeks ago and go to their next hideout, but Rose wasn't in much of a condition to move, so he decided it would be best for them to stay. They were in a ghost town; an old mining town that had been completely mined dry. The few times that Micky had driven to the nearest town for food or other supplies, he'd always driven in the dark and made sure he wasn't followed. He'd stocked them up on their last trip with as much water as he could so that they could not only drink it, but he could use it to help clean the baby and Rose up after the delivery. But none of them had really taken a decent shower in a long time.

"How long have you been having contractions?" Micky asked Rose.

"A few hours," Rose breathed. "It comes in spurts."

"Yeah," Micky answered. "They're supposed to. How far apart are they?"

"Maybe a few minutes," Rose breathed. "It hurts like hell."

"I know," Micky answered as Sarah came over to the bed with them. "Just remember to breathe. Just the way I told you. Sarah, prop her up with the pillows. I'm going to see how dilated she is." Micky moved the sheet off Rose as another contraction hit her. She screamed in pain and Sarah quickly gripped Rose's hand.

"Breath through it, Rose," Sarah said breathing with her. Once the contraction was over about a minute later, Micky pulled her pants off and looked to see how dilated she was.

"She's almost there," Micky said. "Sarah, keep her breathing. She'll probably have another contraction soon." Sarah nodded and Micky moved to start preparing everything. A few minutes later, Rose gasped in pain again, signaling another contraction. They were only a few minutes apart and lasted for about a minute; which meant she was very close, so Micky had to move fast. He grabbed the towels to lay them out for the baby and put the suction bill on top of them next to her. After grabbing a bottle of water he'd use to clean her off, he moved to start setting up an IV for her knowing her dehydration would become a lot worse during the delivery after putting a pair of gloves on.

"Micky," Sarah said as he began trying to find the vein to put the IV in. "I think her water broke."

"That's fine," Micky said expecting that but checking in between her legs anyway. "Take a towel and wipe it up." Sarah nodded and Micky went back to trying to put the IV in Rose's arm.

"Micky," Rose muttered softly; she was already getting weak. "I don't...I don't think..."

"Rose, just hang in there," Micky said trying to help her relax as he finally found a good enough vein to start the IV in. It was the one thing he was glad that his mother made him learn. They taught him a lot about the things they did and how to get away with it which also included how to help a woman give birth and heal other wounds. His mother had made sure to teach him everything he might need to know to help heal people, which he'd always thought was odd when he was younger since she was the one who hurt them. But as he got older, he realized that they didn't want people to die of their injuries until they were finished with them. So now Micky knew most of the things people learned through years of med school. "It'll be over before you know it."

"I don't think I can do this," Rose answered as he carefully slid the needle in her arm.

"Yes you can," Micky said firmly. "You can do this. Just breathe."

"Micky..." she started.

"No, you can do this," Micky said. "I know you can. And so do you. Just relax and breath." Rose was about to respond again, but gasped in pain as another contraction hit her. She arched her body a little off the bed and Micky quickly slipped his fingers in to put pressure on her spine. She immediately relaxed and started breathing again.

"What was that?" Sarah asked.

"Acupressure," Micky answered moving to finish the IV. Once everything was set up, Micky took another look to see how dilated she was. When he looked, he saw the baby's head crowning. "Ok, I think we're ready. Rose, you ok?"

"I don't wanna do this," Rose said painfully.

"I know you don't, Rose," Micky said. "But you have to. You can do this. I need you to start pushing. Take a deep breath, squeeze Sarah's hand and push."

"I can't," Rose answered.

"Yes, you can, sweetie," Sarah answered softly. "I'm right here for you. We'll do this together. All three of us. On the count of three." Rose didn't answer, but looked like she was at least listening.

"Ok," Micky said positioning himself to help her. "One...two..."

"Three..." Sarah finished and Rose closed her eyes tight and pushed. She screamed in pain as the baby slowly started coming out.

"That's great, Rose," Micky said as her body relaxed for a moment. Her hair was already starting to stick to her face completely drenched in sweat. "Keep breathing and give me another strong push."

"No," Rose said weakly.

"Come on, Rose," Sarah urged. "You can do this. You're such a strong woman. I wouldn't have made it this far if it weren't for you. Don't give up now. We've come this far. Let's do this. One...two...three." Rose pushed again, harder this time. The baby's head cleared and her body relaxed.

"You're doing great, Rose," Micky said. "We got the head out. Just a little more."

"Ok, another push," Sarah said.

"No," Rose answered much more weakly than before. The color had completely drained from her face and her head rested limply against the pillows behind her. Micky grew very worried; he knew that paleness and weakness was to be expected, but not this severely. Something was wrong. Micky quickly checked to make sure there was no excess bleeding, but knew they had to finish this quickly for the baby's sake.

"Come on, sweetie," Sarah pressed.

"Make sure she's breathing," Micky cautioned. "But we have to get this baby out now."

"Right," Sarah nodded. "We're gonna push again, Rose. On three. Ready?" Rose shook her head but Sarah counted anyway. Rose pushed on the count of three, but it didn't have nearly the strength the others had. It was enough to let the baby's shoulders clear, but only just. Micky looked up at Rose and saw her eyes were only half open.

"Rose?" Micky prompted worriedly.

"Micky..." Rose answered. "I can't..."

"Rose, hang in there," Micky said trying to keep his voice calm. Rose said something else, but Micky couldn't hear with how weakly she said it.

"Rose, don't," Sarah pled. "You can do this!" Rose slumped back on the bed and passed out.

"Shit!" Micky exclaimed.

"What do we do!?" Sarah panicked.

"Rose, wake up!" Micky prompted, but nothing happened.

"She said to make sure you take care of the baby, Micky," Sarah said. "What does that mean? Is she going to..."

"No," Micky answered not letting her finish. "It's just too much for her. Her body's too weak to begin with. She needs to rest. She'll be fine."

"What about the baby?" Sarah asked.

"We're going to have to do this together," Micky said. "I need you to listen to me very carefully and do everything I say. Get behind her and hold her up for me. You're gonna have to push for her."

"Ok," Sarah answered doing as he instructed.

"Hold her up," Micky said as Sarah did just what he told her to. She looked scared, but determined. He got a good grip on the baby as the next contraction hit and nodded to have Sarah push down on her stomach. Micky was able to pull the baby out the rest of the way with no further complications. He worked quickly to grab the clamps to put on either side of the umbilical cord where he would cut it. Once the cord was cut, he carefully started using the suction bill to clear the baby's airway and waited desperately for it to start crying. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he heard the cries as the baby started wiggling in his arms.

"Oh, thank God," Sarah breathed.

"We aren't done," Micky said. "There's still the afterbirth."

"Just tell me what to do," Sarah said. Micky instructed her to hold Sarah up again as he reached in and pulled the afterbirth out as another contraction hit her. He pulled it out and placed it in a nearby garbage bin after checking it over to make sure it was intact. He then pressed on her stomach around her hip to make sure he didn't feel anything else in there before he felt it was ok to have Sarah let go of her.

"Go clean up the baby," Micky instructed grabbing a clean towel and the bottled water he'd set aside earlier.

"Are you sure she's going to be ok?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, just go clean the baby up and get some formula made," Micky answered. Several hours later, Micky was worn out and wanted to go back to bed. Rose was cleaned and redressed, but was still out and Sarah was in the other room taking care of the newborn baby. Micky had changed his own clothes and had washed himself up and now sat down on a chair next to the bed. Sarah came in just as Micky was starting to drift off.

"How is she?" Sarah asked.

"She'll be fine," Micky answered. "Malnourished, dehydrated and in a lot of pain. How's the baby?"

"It's a girl," Sarah answered holding the baby out. Micky thought for a moment he would just walk away; he'd planned on leaving all of the baby handling to Sarah, but he took one look at her face and melted. It wasn't that he was going to judge her based on where she came from, but he was afraid if he bonded too much with her, it would make it harder for him to give her away. Despite the fact he knew that was what was best for her. Sarah placed the girl in Micky's arms and he almost started crying.

"She's beautiful," Micky said taking her in his arms.

"She looks a lot like you," Sarah said. "She's got your eyes."

"That doesn't mean anything," Micky answered gruffly.

"Are you that adamant against her being yours?" Sarah asked.

"We just don't know who her father is," Micky said. "And it doesn't matter. I want her to have the same life any other kid deserves. A life I never got. No matter where or who she came from."

"You don't want to admit that there's a good chance the baby could be yours because it'll be harder to give her up," Sarah said. Micky didn't respond knowing she was right but not knowing how to respond.

"Can I see her?" Rose asked waking up.

"Of course," Micky answered getting up and carrying the baby over. "You're still too weak to really hold her, but you can see her."

"She's beautiful," Rose whispered. "Her name is Hope."

"That's a beautiful name," Sarah said.

"She is my hope," Rose smiled.

It took them a week to drive from where they were to LA only travelling at night. Rose was almost fully recovered and Micky enjoyed playing with the baby a lot more than he thought he would. He still didn't want to admit that there was a chance the baby was his for fear of being unable to give her up. But not bonding with her was turning out to be harder than he thought. She didn't cry often, but the few times she did, Micky would pick her up and she'd stop crying even if she wasn't hungry or needed a diaper change. Rose and Sarah tried sometimes, but Micky was really the only one to get her to completely stop. At night, he would sit with her and sing her to sleep. There were a few times when she was hungry, she'd nuzzle Micky's chest and every time she grabbed his finger, he melted. They had enough diapers to last a month, but she was eating a lot more than Micky had expected, so they were running out of formula.

But now they were finally home and Micky had to track down the teacher he trusted to find a good home for Hope. When they arrived in LA, he snuck into the school late at night and looked up her address. He gave Rose one last day with Hope before driving them all over to her house to talk to her. He pulled into a beautiful 2 story house just as dusk began to fall. Sarah said she'd wait in the car and keep a lookout for anyone approaching while Micky and Rose walked up to the house with Hope in their arms. Micky almost didn't want to go through with this, but he knew he had to when he looked down at her in his arms. She was sleeping and looked so peaceful and Micky wanted it to stay that way. If they kept her, he knew it wouldn't stay that way at all. His resolve set, he knocked on the door.

"Hello?" his former teacher answered as she opened the door. "Micky?"

"Hi, ma'am," Micky said. "I know I asked you for a big favor a while ago, but I need to ask another one."

"Is that a baby?" she asked.

"Yes," Rose answered. "It's mine."

"Come inside," she said stepping aside to let them in.

"Do you remember I told you that my parents were abusive, horrible people, Ma'am?" Micky asked sitting down on a couch she indicated them to sit down on.

"Please, call me Lisa Anne," she said. "And yes. That's why you were running away."

"Well, part of what they did made this baby," Micky said.

"What?" Lisa Anne said shocked.

"It's very complicated and no one would believe us if we told anyone," Micky sighed. "But we can't keep this baby. We can't give it the life it deserves. You're the only person I trust."

"What makes you think you can trust me?" Lisa Anne asked.

"Because you always tried to help me," Micky answered. "You looked out for me and believed me when I told you where my bruises came from."

"We want to make sure Hope has a good home," Rose said.

"Hope?" Lisa Anne asked. "That's a beautiful name for her."

"Can you help us?" Micky asked. "Make sure she's taken care of? We have a little formula left and some diapers. I found a car seat and I have a little extra money so you can buy what you need."

"Of course I will, Micky," Lisa Anne answered.

"You can't ever tell anyone where she came from," Rose said.

"Even her," Micky said. "I don't want her to know. I want her to have a chance at happiness, and if she dwells too much on the dark place she came from, she'll never be able to be truly happy. I want her to think she's just like every other child out there."

"She is like every other child out there," Lisa Anne answered with a smile. "You have my word that I will find her a happy home, Micky. She will be safe and she will be loved."