Chapter Thirty Six

Today was the day Chasity and Jon had been waiting for, for months now. Today Kaleb got to come home from the hospital. Since her first preterm labor scare all the way through the first month of Kaleb's life, Chasity had prayed for this day, and today she was finally getting it.

Kaleb did have one minor setback as the doctor had warned them might happen. He had developed a random rash that Doctor Michaels thought was a result of the formula they had been feeding him. That scared Chasity and Jon a little bit because if it was the formula that meant he could be stuck on the feeding tube longer. But the nurses had immediately stopped bottle feeding him, taken him off the formula and, in true Kaleb form thus far in his life, he overcame the issue within forty-eight hours.

Once the rash cleared up they went back to bottle feeding him at every feeding with a different formula, and he picked up right where he had left off and never looked back. By the time he was two weeks old, Doctor Michaels authorized the nurses to remove his feeding tube. After he recovered from his small set back, and he was back on bottle feeding, he never looked back and hadn't needed the tube again, so having it in place when it wasn't needed was unnecessary; hence the doctor's orders to remove it.

As for his oxygen, that was removed the day before the tube was. Just as Doctor Michaels had told them, they continued to decrease his oxygen levels until it was down to five percent. Then they would take the nasal cannula off every now and again just to see how Kaleb would tolerate it. When he had no issues breathing on his own after a few 'test runs' of removing the nasal cannula, Doctor Michaels ordered that they leave it off of him overnight to see how he tolerated that. When he made it through three nights, breathing on his own without any issues, Doctor Michaels cleared the nurses to go ahead and move him up to the front of the NICU; which was where the baby's that were getting ready to go home were taken care of.

His jaundice had cleared up by the time he turned two weeks old. Therefore he was no longer in need of bili light treatments. With each obstacle they passed successfully, Chasity had to do her best to suppress her excitement because she knew it meant they were that much closer to Kaleb coming home.

And now, here they stood, getting ready to take him home. Chasity was standing beside Jon as they both diligently worked on putting Kaleb's "going home" outfit on him. She nor Jon had to hide their excitement any longer in fear of another setback because today they were finally bringing their son home with them.

Kaleb's going home outfit was absolutely adorable. Chasity had been searching the internet one night about three weeks ago and came across the cutest little outfit that she thought was perfect to bring Kaleb home in. It was a navy blue romper with a matching hat that you could get personalized with the baby's name and initials. 'KALEB' was written on his little hat, while 'KJG' was written on the left chest of the outfit in white lettering. It was absolutely adorable and she couldn't pass up the opportunity. So she placed an order, and it had arrived about a week ago; with plenty of time to use it as his "going home" outfit.

Once the outfit's buttons had all been secured, Chasity and Jon brought him into the 'wellness nursery' where the newborn photos were taken and handed him over to the nurse that was helping the hospital photographer. Normally, these are taken two days after a baby is born; usually when they're leaving the hospital, but with preemies, they obviously have to wait. So while these would technically be considered Kaleb's 'newborn' photos, they really weren't. But either way, Chasity loved that she was gonna have photos of Kaleb wearing his new, personalized, little outfit.

Once the photos were done, the nurse brought Kaleb back over and handed him over to Chasity. "You're all set. By the way, I love his outfit. That is absolutely adorable!" Chasity smiled.

"Thank you. I found it on the internet a few weeks ago. I'm just glad it arrived in time to bring him home in." The nurse smiled.

"And you'll even have photos of him in it," she winked. Chasity chuckled.

"Yeah, that was actually just an added bonus," Chasity admitted as she slowly handed Kaleb off to Jon, so he could buckle him into the car seat that was sitting on the floor beside his right leg.

"Not a bad bonus," the nurse said, before walking away to tend to one of the baby's that was crying.

"You ready to head home now," Jon asked, as he tucked a blanket securely around Kaleb's body and legs.

"More than ready," Chasity said. Jon stood up and grabbed Kaleb's car seat with his right hand, extending his left out to Chasity, who gladly gripped it with her right hand as they re-entered the NICU to say goodbye to Doctor Michaels and all of the nurses that had helped take care of Kaleb during his stay.

As soon as they got home, Jon carried Kaleb into the apartment and followed Chasity into the living room. She continued onto the kitchen to place Kaleb's bottles and formula away while Jon placed Kaleb's car seat down on the coffee table, pushed the handle back and unstrapped him, gently pulling him out. Jon ignored the fact his little hat had fallen off in the car seat as he pulled him out, and sat down on the sofa, resting Kaleb's head against his broad chest, with his hand protecting the back of his son's head just in case the baby decided he wanted to look around and threw his head back. If there was one thing Jon never thought he'd be doing it was sitting in his living room, willingly cradling a baby to his chest. But here he sat, doing just that. And he wouldn't change it for the world.

Chasity finished putting away Kaleb's formula and bottles and walked back into the living room. She could tell Jon was lost in thought as he sat on the sofa with his head resting back against the high back of the sofa, his one hand cradling Kaleb's fragile neck while his other hand absentmindedly, and gently, rubbed up and down a sleeping Kaleb's back.

Chasity walked over to grab Kaleb's hat out of his car seat and turned around to slide it back on his head, but she froze. Doing a double take, she looked closely at her sleeping son and still spaced out boyfriend. That's when she saw the similarities.

Dropping the hat, Chasity sat down in the chair on the other side of the room trying to figure out how she hadn't seen them before, and trying to figure out how that could even be possible. "You okay, Chas," Jon asked, obviously having snapped out of his daze and noticed his girlfriend's shocked and confused face.

Hearing his voice, Chasity shook the shock and confusion from her face she gave him a smile as she reached down and picked Kaleb's hat up off the ground. "Yeah, fine. I just had a thought that surprised me, that's all," she told him. It wasn't a complete lie. She had thought of something that surprised her, however she wasn't ready to point out what it was to Jon just yet. She had to figure out how it was possible and why she hadn't noticed it previously before she could bring it to his attention. This was a huge revelation and if she didn't have all the details and answers when she brought it up, it could severely fuck up everything from her relationship with Jon to Kaleb's relationship with Jon, and that meant it could fuck up Kaleb's entire life. All the positives to all of these pretty much clung to this information. She couldn't risk ruining any of that. Not without every piece of the puzzle being put into place first.

Now her challenge became remembering that night and everything that happened throughout the course of it, and piecing the puzzle together without making Jon any more suspicious than he already was.

Author's Note: So, when I initially started this story, this is NOT how I intended on having it go, but the puzzle just came together this way in my head and I thought this was better than my original idea. I kind of gave hints to how this could even be possible earlier in the story, but I won't tell you what hints they were. Some may have already figured it out, but if you haven't, have no fear, it will be revealed a little later in the story. However, if you think you know what the 'hints' were please don't comment on them in your comments. If you really wanna know if you're right, PM me, but don't leave it in a comment. I want this to play out for those that aren't sure. After all that's what makes the suspense and the story better, right? ;)