A/N: Here's a little update to get you through the weekend. Thanks for all the notes and suggestions. I think there will be a few more chapters after this one. Hope you enjoy - please let me know what you think! :)

May 23 - County General Hospital, somewhere upstate New York

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Andrea nervously paced in the small waiting room. When Miranda lost consciousness in the ambulance, she was nearly hysterical and almost forgot about the newborn baby boy in her arms. At the hospital, they rushed Miranda into surgery and the nurses took the baby to be thoroughly checked out.

"Andrea? Honey, come here. Tell me what happened," Mary said, walking up to her and hugging her. Andrea had never been so relieved to see a midwife.

Mary proceeded to ask what Miranda had decided regarding the baby, and honestly, Andrea wasn't sure. When they had last spoken about it, Miranda was leaning towards keeping the baby and somehow having Andrea's name listed as the birth mother. They hadn't discussed details or logistics because, well, they thought they had more time. Andrea told Mary how she had given her name to the paramedics instead of Miranda's, and the midwife seemed to think that was a good idea.

Andrea didn't care too much about the finer details at the moment; she just wanted Miranda to be alright.

A nurse came up to Andrea. "Sarah? We've been calling for you for nearly ten minutes."

"Oh! Sorry, I was just preoccupied—how is Mir, um, Andrea?" she asked.

"She's out of surgery. It was too difficult to stop the bleeding, so the doctors had to perform an emergency hysterectomy. She's very lucky, but I think she's going to be fine. We'll keep her under supervision for a few days, and she'll have to take it easy at home for at least six weeks, but I think she will be just fine. You're lucky you called the ambulance when you did. A few minutes lost and she might not have survived."

Her heart sank as she thanked the nurse. "Can I see her?"

"Sure, I'll show you to her room. They'll bring her back once she starts to wake up."

Andrea followed the nurse to the empty room that would be Miranda's, and when she was finally alone, she broke down in tears. Over the past few months she had grown so close to Miranda, she couldn't imagine her life without the woman. To know that she had come so close to losing her was overwhelming.

A short while later, a few nurses wheeled a groggy Miranda into the room, and after ensuring she was connected to the appropriate monitors, they quietly stepped out. Miranda was awake, but barely. It looked like she was fighting sleep with every muscle in her body.

"Miranda," the young woman called, tears streaming down her cheeks as she approached the bed. She sat on the edge and reached over, hugging the older woman and kissing her gently on the cheek. "I was so scared," she said, pausing to wipe her tears. "I didn't know what to do. I thought I was going to lose you… But you're okay. And the baby's okay."

"Yes, yes," Miranda said, hugging her and kissing her cheeks. "We are okay. We'll figure everything else out tomorrow," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind Andrea's ear. "My angel," she said, closing her eyes.

"You must be exhausted. I'll let you sleep, and I'll just go back to the waiting room."

"No…stay," she said, before drifting back off to a drug-induced sleep.

Andrea smiled and pulled up the chair closer to the bed.

The next day, Miranda woke in a panic, calling out Andrea's name.

"Hey, I'm here," she said, rushing over to bedside. "How are you doing?"

Miranda reached for the young woman's hand and squeezed. "Okay, I think." Her eyes fixed on the bassinet on the other side of the room. "Can I see him?"

Andrea smiled and nodded, carefully picking up the newborn and bringing him over to his mother. "I was just about to give him a bottle when you woke up," she said, carefully laying him in her arms. "I didn't think you weren't planning on breastfeeding, but the nurses said it would be really beneficial for him—at least for the next few days while you're in the hospital."

Miranda smiled at him and kissed him gently on the forehead. "Are you hungry, sweetie?" she asked as she reached behind her neck and untied the hospital gown. "My little baby boy who I've been dreaming about for twenty years," she said. With very little assistance, the baby began nursing and reached his little hand up in the air.

Andrea quietly stepped out of the room to give Miranda some privacy and went in search of some caffeine. When she returned, Miranda was again struggling to stay awake, so Andrea quickly took the baby from her arms.

"What should we call him?" Miranda asked.

"You're asking me?"

Miranda nodded. "Your name is going to be on his birth certificate, right?"

"What about Caleb?" Andrea said. "I always liked that name."

A giant smile slowly spread its way across Miranda's face. "Caleb was my father's name, and I think it's perfect. Caleb Michael."

Andrea smiled and squeezed the woman's hand. "Perfect. I will have Mary work on the paperwork while you get some rest."

Meanwhile, Andrea finally was able to charge her cell phone and saw that she had two missed calls from Nigel, and a missed call and a text from Emily. Checking the message, she saw: Can you reach Miranda? Urgent issue w/ C&C. -EC

Andrea quickly texted Emily back: Yes. Send me James' number? -AS

Emily responded with the number and Andrea quickly placed a call, not thinking of what time of day it was.

"Hello?"

"Hi, James? This is Andy. I'm Miranda's assistant," she said, cringing at that last part.

"Andy?"

"Andrea," she corrected.

"Oh! Right. What happened? Is Miranda okay?" he asked. "She was supposed to Skype us last night and she didn't, and we couldn't get in touch with her."

"She's okay—"

"The girls were disappointed more than anything, but," he paused and lowered his voice to a whisper, "Miranda told me about the baby, and I guess I just feared the worst."

"Well," Andrea said, taking a deep breath, "it was pretty close. She went into labor yesterday, and there was a really bad storm so it took the paramedics a while to get to us. She delivered a perfectly healthy baby boy, Caleb Michael, and then she started bleeding out. They had to do emergency surgery and remove her uterus, but the point is that she is okay."

"Oh my god. You were there with her though?"

"Yes. Forgive me, but it's been a blur. She's exhausted and going in and out of sleep, but I did talk to her and she seems in good spirits," Andrea said.

"Is she going to keep the baby?"

"I am not sure of the details, so you'll have to ask her that. I do know that she will need the next two months to recover from the surgery, though."

"Do you think she can give the girls a call later today? It can be quick—if she can just say something came up and she misses them, they should be fine," James said.

"Um, yeah, we didn't bring her phone—we left in such a rush. But I'll figure something out."

After talking to Mary, she realized this county hospital had very little in terms of records management. They never asked to see identification at all; in fact, Miranda's chart only had a first name listed—no last name, no date of birth.

On the birth certificate, at Mary's urging, they entered the name "Andrea White" as the birth mother. Mary explained that this would keep her from any future legal trouble for fraud or identity disputes.

When they returned to Miranda's room, she noticed the bassinet was right next to the bed. Miranda was sitting up a little bit, with her arm reaching over and softly stroking the little boy.

"Hey, how are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm really sore," Miranda said. "The doctor came by and explained what happened and what they had to do—I guess they told me when I woke up from surgery, but I didn't remember."

Andrea sat on the edge of the bed. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, but thank you. They're going to remove the catheter tomorrow, and then I will certainly need some help getting around, but I am fine now," Miranda said.

"So, we got the birth certificate filed with Caleb Michael Priestly as the child's name, and Andrea White as the birth mother. You'll need to contact your lawyer to have the official adoption drawn up, but for all intents and purposes, he's yours."

Miranda smiled as a tear fell down her cheek. "I know you didn't sign up for this, but thank you for standing by me through it all."

"It's not over," Andrea said. "You're going to need to rest for the next two months, so you're not getting rid of me that quickly," she teased.

"Andrea, I was hoping to never get rid of you."

The young woman's eyes widened. She had been working so hard to ignore her feelings for the woman, hearing her say something like that was almost unbelievable.

"I have to tell my children something—at least until they're old enough to know the truth—and I was hoping that you would still be willing to play along with the whole birth mother situation."

"Oh, sure," she stammered. "I, uh, didn't think that you still wanted that."

"Come here," she said, motioning for the young woman to come closer. She reached up and cupped her cheek. "I would like Caleb's birth mother to be involved in our lives for at least the next eighteen years. I would like you, sweetheart, to be in my life for at least that long. Is that understood?"

"Um, sure, I guess I'm just a little confused," she said.

Miranda pulled her closer and kissed her, square on the lips. It was brief, but there was no denying the feelings behind it.

"Yes," Andrea said, smiling. "I don't know what I was thinking, but yes, of course."

Miranda smiled and laid back against the pillows. "We'll figure everything out."

"Oh, before I forget," Andrea said. "James has been trying to reach you. He was wondering if you could give the girls a call—you missed their Skype date and they were worried."

Miranda sighed. "I forgot all about that. Do you have his number? I'll call now."

Andrea pulled up his number and handed Miranda the phone.

"Hi, it's me," Miranda said.

"Mira, how are you? I was worried sick."

"You're at the office," she said. She could hear the sounds in the background. "My little boy came a little early," she said as she started to cry.

"But you're okay? And the baby is okay?"

"Yes, yes, we are all fine, thanks to Andrea," she said, looking up at her and smiling. "We named him Caleb Michael."

Now she could hear James crying on the other end of the line. "Miranda, I'm so relieved that you're okay, and so happy for you. This little boy doesn't realize yet just how special he is."

Miranda wiped her eyes. "I know. And James, since he is Caroline and Cassidy's little brother, I really want them to spend time together, even if that means with you. You're such a good father to them, and I know you would take such good care of Caleb."

"Miranda, I would be honored."

"That's great. Can you tell the girls I called? And that I am so sorry but something really important came up? I'll try the house tonight when you're all home."

"I will, and take care, Miranda."

She ended the call and handed the phone back to Andrea. "I can't wait to go home, so I can be with all of my babies," she said, her lip curling up in a frown.

"The next few weeks will be over before you know it," Andrea said. "Can I ask, why did you and James ever divorce? You seem to get along really well for a divorced couple."

"We were just better apart than together. We had been through so much when we were trying to conceive, and we were always fighting and blaming each other, even after the girls were born. He blamed me for miscarrying Michael and wanted to try again for a son, but I was so overwhelmed with two little children and then my job, I more or less told him that if he wanted more children he would have to do that with someone else. I didn't think he would take me seriously," she added with a chuckle. "But, sure enough, the next day he told me he thought we should divorce. I was furious at him and kicked him out, and then maybe six months later, we laughed about how stupid it all was. I'm sorry that we had to put the girls through all that, but I think it worked out very well in the end."

"You really are great coparents," Andrea said.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me, coming from you."

"So, what happens now?" Andrea asked.

"We will have to take things slowly as I heal, but I think we should probably practice that kissing, don't you?"

Andrea grinned. "Oh, absolutely."

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TBC