A week later Mark was at home again. Isabelle had decided since it was already so close to Christmas that she would stay through the holiday's to help Elizabeth get ready for the baby, and Elizabeth was reaching the end of her rope.
"Mother I swear if you ask me about the nursey one more time today I will kick you out of the house." Elizabeth said angrily as she stirred a pot of oatmeal.
Isabelle rolled her eyes. "It's still morning Elizabeth, and you need to be preparing the baby's room. You're due in less than a month and you have nothing ready for this child."
"All of Ella's old things are in the attic. We'll put the baby in the bassinette in our room for the first little while. We've got everything we need." Elizabeth replied as she slammed the pot of oatmeal onto the counter.
"You don't even know if the baby is a boy or a girl. How are you supposed to prepare for that?" Isabelle replied as she pulled bowls out of the cupboard.
Elizabeth clenched her fists, knowing her patience was running out. "We didn't find out with Ella and everything worked out fine."
"Because I went shopping when I got here. You had nothing for my granddaughter when I got here." Isabelle pointed out.
"I can't do this." Elizabeth said, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Elizabeth." He mother called after her as she began to slowly ascend the staircase. "Elizabeth!"
Rachel walked into the room, a smirk on her face. "What did you do?" She asked knowingly as she served herself a bowl of oatmeal.
"I just suggested that we should go shopping for the baby." Isabelle replied, clearly confused. "And now she's mad again."
Rachel laughed. "She's stressed enough without adding shopping on top of everything else. The baby is going to be fine."
Isabelle smiled in response. "How did you get to know my daughter so well?"
Rachel shrugged. "Elizabeth's done a lot for me."
Isabelle nodded. "She cares about people, so much." She affirmed. "Sometimes I wonder if she's actually my daughter."
Rachel smirked but didn't reply.
"So what are your plans for today?" Isabelle changed the subject.
Rachel shrugged again. "I don't really have any."
"Isn't school still in session?" Isabelle asked curiously.
"I… I haven't really gone to school in a while." Rachel admitted quietly.
"Why not?" Isabelle asked, clearly taken aback by the confession.
Rachel awkwardly avoided eye contact. "No one has really paid enough attention to me to notice." She replied. "Mom didn't care enough to put me back in school when I moved there… and since I got back everything's been kind of crazy."
"What does that mean?" Isabelle asked curiously. "Elizabeth keeps saying things have been intense or a bit scary, but what is going on?"
Rachel stiffened, gripping her spoon anxiously. "Uh… my step-father did some things to me." She muttered softly. "He's going to prison for it."
Isabelle's brow furrowed slightly, but she maintained her composure. "I'm sorry Rachel." She said sincerely. "Whatever happened, you didn't deserve it."
Rachel shrugged.
Isabelle sat quietly for several moments before speaking again. "Elizabeth loves you, you know that right?"
Rachel looked up at her, her eyes narrowed. "Not like she loves Ella."
Isabelle shook her head with a small smile. "Rachel, she sees you as her daughter."
"No." Rachel replied quietly. "I don't want her to. I don't need her to."
Isabelle put her hand on her shoulder gently. "I didn't tell you that to upset you. I'm sorry if it did."
Rachel shrugged away. "I just don't like people getting close to me."
"Elizabeth won't hurt you." Isabelle said gently.
Rachel nodded. "I know." She assured her. "I just don't like people caring about me."
Isabelle was about to reply when Elizabeth came back into the room, Ella on her hip. "Hello Ella." Isabelle greeted her granddaughter as she took her from Elizabeth. Ella smiled as she rested her head against her grandmother's shoulder.
Elizabeth pulled out a plastic bowl from the cupboard and scooped a small portion of oatmeal into it before grabbing a banana and chopping it into slices on top of the cereal. "Could you put Ella in the high chair?" She asked quietly.
Isabelle placed Ella in the high chair before taking the bowl and spoon from Elizabeth. She began to feed Ella as she watched Elizabeth sit down gingerly on one of the kitchen stools. "Are you feeling alright?" She asked softly.
Elizabeth nodded with her eyes closed. "The baby's just pressing against my spine."
Isabelle smiled knowingly. "That's all you ever did." She said with a laugh. "For the last two months of my pregnancy you rested along my spine."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I don't know how that's helpful."
Rachel smirked as she put her bowl in the sink. "I can take care of Ella this afternoon if you want." She offered quietly.
Elizabeth shook her head. "It's fine. I'm not going…"
"That would be great Rachel." Isabelle cut Elizabeth off. "I'd like to take Elizabeth shopping."
Elizabeth glared across the room. "Mother…"
"Elizabeth, I'm going to take you out to help me pick up Christmas presents for your children." Isabelle stopped her again. "I'm allowed to buy things for my grandchildren for the holiday. I don't know what they need and I'd really like your help."
Elizabeth sighed. "Even if I wanted to go, I need to stay here with Mark."
"No you don't." Mark's voice sounded as he entered the room. "Go with your Mom."
"Mark." Elizabeth said exasperatedly as she got up from her seat. "You shouldn't be out of bed."
"I'm fine." Mark assured her as she led her to a kitchen chair, before sitting down next to him. He looked at her clearly nervous expression. "I promise you, I will be fine." He said before gently pressing his lips against hers. "Rachel and I will stay here and watch some movies with Ella."
"You're supposed to be observed for at least another forty-eight hours." Elizabeth replied, clearly anxious.
Mark smirked. "I'm sure Rachel can observe me." He said with a wink in his eldest daughter's direction. "Besides if anything happens we can page or call you."
Elizabeth sighed. "Mark…"
"I'm fine." He assured her once again. "You need to get out of the house."
Elizabeth rubbed her hands across her face. "I just don't want Rachel to feel responsible if anything happens." She said softly.
"I will call you if anything worth mentioning happens." Rachel replied honestly. "We'll be fine Elizabeth."
Elizabeth sat in silence for a few moments before she replied. "Okay. I'll go." She finally conceded.
"Elizabeth what can I get you for the baby?" Isabelle asked insistently as they roamed a baby boutique in the mall.
Elizabeth sighed. "We're not going to buy anything for the baby until after he or she gets here." She reminded her.
"Elizabeth." Isabelle said sternly. "I'm going to buy a Christmas present for that baby with or without your opinion. You can either tell me what you'd like or I can pick something by myself."
"Honestly Mother." Elizabeth said, clearly exasperated. "We don't need anything."
"How about a car seat?" Isabelle suggested as they entered an aisle lined with car seats and strollers.
"We still have Ella's infant car seat so we won't need two for about a year." Elizabeth replied.
"What about a double stroller? That way you can take both Ella and the new baby out." Isabelle suggested.
Elizabeth shrugged. "Ella's not a big fan of her stroller anyway. She'd rather walk or have Mark or I carry her."
Isabelle rolled her eyes as they turned onto the next aisle. In front of them were piles of receiving blankets. She quickly scanned the piles and found a soft white blanket. "Let me buy you this." Isabelle insisted. "The baby deserves to have something of its own from the day it's born. It's okay to not want to buy lots of things until you know what the baby needs, but it's also okay to get excited about this baby."
Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm not." She admitted quietly.
"Elizabeth?" Isabelle asked, immediately concerned.
"I'm not excited for this baby." Elizabeth repeated. "I'm so worried that I'll have to raise this baby without my husband, that this baby will never know its Father." She continued as tears began to form in her eyes.
Isabelle was about to respond when an employee rounded the corner. "Hello ladies. Can I help you find anything?" She asked cheerfully before noticing the tears Elizabeth was now wiping from her eyes. "Oh… I'm sorry…"
"We're fine." Isabelle assured her quickly. "Thank you though." She said with a stern expression that caused the employee to excuse herself from the situation. "Elizabeth…" Isabelle began after she looked back to her daughter.
"I don't want to talk about this here." Elizabeth said quietly.
"Then we won't." Isabelle assured her. "Why don't you go get us a table at that sandwich restaurant? I'll meet you there in ten minutes."
"Mother please don't buy the store…" Elizabeth said anxiously.
"I won't." She replied sternly. "Now you go. I'll see you soon."
Elizabeth sighed before making her way out of the store and to the restaurant. "Table for two." She requested quietly when she reached the usher's stand.
"Table or booth?" The usher asked as she grabbed two menus.
"Table." Elizabeth replied before following the usher to the table. "My mother will be here in a few minutes to join me." She told her before she walked back to the front of the restaurant.
Elizabeth flipped through the menu without much thought until her mother arrived, placing several shopping bags below the table.
"Mother I told you not…" Elizabeth began before Isabelle cut her off.
"I just bought some presents for my grandchild. Don't worry about it." She assured her. "I would, however, like to worry about you."
Elizabeth shook her head. "I shouldn't have told you."
"Elizabeth, you shouldn't be this scared, not about this." Isabelle said gently. "Do you remember at your wedding? You told your father and I that you weren't scared of being with Mark, but you were scared of being without Mark. You've been given so much time with him since then, and you'll have time with him for much, much, longer."
"You don't know that." Elizabeth replied anxiously. "We don't know how much longer he'll be here. We thought that the trial was going to help him stay for years, but after the hemorrhage, I realized he could be gone at any moment."
"Oh darling." Isabelle said sympathetically. "That's true no matter what. With or without cancer, we can't guarantee that anyone will be here the next moment. All we can do is appreciate the time we're given, with those we have been given." Elizabeth smiled softly as he Mother took her hand in her own. "You've been given an amazing husband, and two, soon to be three, beautiful children. Appreciate them, every day you have with them is a gift."
Elizabeth shook her head as she smiled. "You sound like a Hallmark card."
"It's the truth Elizabeth." She said pointedly before reaching for the other menu.
It was then that a waiter approached the table. "Good afternoon ladies what can I get you to drink?"
Rachel woke up late in the afternoon to Ella crying. As promised, they had stayed home and watched movies all day, but they also had fallen asleep. She sat up and saw that her Dad was still asleep. Sighing, she got off the couch and moved to the kitchen where Ella's cries, which were now mixing with coughs, were coming from.
Rachel furrowed her brow in concern as she rounded the counter to find Ella sitting with several containers of leftover Chinese food, the contents of which were spread all over her and the floor. Ella's body was covered in red blotches, and her coughing intensifying by the moment. "Dad!" She yelled nervously as she picked Ella up. "Daddy!" She said, louder as she ran back into the living room. "Dad its Ella!" She said anxiously as she moved to shake his shoulder.
"What's going on?" Mark asked groggily as he sat up.
Ella's cries began to die down as she started to breathe more heavily, clearly more burdened.
"I found Ella in the kitchen, I think she ate some of the leftovers from last night, and now she's got a rash and she's breathing really hard. What do I do?" Rachel said quickly as she paced around the room, Ella's head resting heavily on her shoulder.
Mark took one look at his younger daughter before swearing under his breath. "We need an ambulance." He said firmly as he picked up the phone, taking Ella from Rachel's arms. "Call Elizabeth, tell her to meet us at County."
Rachel nodded before pulling out her cell phone, quickly inputting Elizabeth's number. She shifted her weight as she listened to Mark talking to the 9-1-1 operator. "Elizabeth?" She asked anxiously as soon as she heard a noise through the phone.
"Rachel? What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked hurriedly, hearing the anxiety in Rachel's voice.
"Ella's having an allergic reaction or something. She can't really breathe." Rachel replied quickly.
"Where's Mark?" Elizabeth's voice replied, this time sounding as if there were tears behind it.
"He's calling for an ambulance. He told me to call you and ask you to meet us at County." Rachel said nervously.
"I'll meet you there." Elizabeth replied firmly."
Rachel nodded before hanging up the phone and moving over to where Mark was trying to check Ella's airway. "What can I do?" She asked nervously.
"Upstairs, in the medicine cabinet there will be a bottle of liquid Benadryl. I need you to go get it and one of the syringes in my bedside table. I don't need a needle, just the syringe. The largest opening on the end you can find." He instructed quickly.
Rachel quickly made her way up the stairs before coming back with the items requested.
"Okay I need you to fill the syringe with the Benadryl and then you need to put it in her mouth as far back as possible without touching any part of her throat, we don't want her to throw up the medication. Do you understand?" Mark instructed seriously as he moved to the kitchen counter so that he could put Ella on the surface.
Rachel nodded as she twisted the cap off the bottle and filled the syringe as instructed. "So I just put it back here?"
"Yes." Mark affirmed. "I need you to slowly dispense the medication while I try to coax her to swallow it."
Rachel shook slightly as she moved to do as instructed. Several minutes later the two of them had gotten Ella to swallow almost half the medication when they heard the ambulance pull up outside.
"Rachel go let them in." Mark said firmly as he took the syringe from her.
Rachel ran to the door and swung it open. "My sister's in here." She said before running back to the kitchen, paramedics in tow.
"Doctor Greene." One of them said in surprise upon seeing the familiar man.
"Jess." He acknowledged the woman who he had worked with several times.
"What've we got?"
"20 month old experiencing anaphyalxsis. I've got about half a dose of antihistamines on board but she's going to need epinephrine." Mark replied.
"We've got it in the rig, do you want to ride-along?" Jess asked as the other paramedic took Ella to the ambulance.
Mark looked at his other daughter nervously for a moment.
"Go." Rachel insisted quickly. "I'll wait here."
Mark nodded before gently kissing her forehead. "Keep your phone on you and call if anything happens." He said firmly before following Jess outside.
As Mark climbed into the back of the ambulance he found himself hesitating.
"Are you coming or not Doctor Greene. We've got to go now." Jess asked firmly.
"I'm coming." Mark assured her as he climbed in, allowing Jess to get in behind him, pulling the door shut.
"What caused it?" Jess asked as she began an IV.
Mark sighed as he looked down at his daughter. "I don't know."
"Mark." Elizabeth's voice filled his ears as she opened the door to exam four.
"Oh thank God." Mark replied quietly, moving to pull her into his arms.
Elizabeth hugged him briefly before pulling away. "What's going on? Is she okay?" She said as she moved to check her daughter's vitals.
"She's fine." Mark assured her quietly. "She's breathing normally, and all of her levels look good."
Elizabeth nodded, showing she understood. "What the hell did she eat?"
"She got into the leftovers from Thursday." Mark replied softly. "It could have been fish or nuts. They're going to do a skin test once she's been awake and responsive for awhile."
Elizabeth nodded before sitting on the stool Mark pulled up for her.
"Are you alright?" He asked her softly.
Elizabeth sighed, rubbing her temples. "I just can't believe we're back here."
"We do work here." Mark joked slightly, but frowned when he saw tears form in Elizabeth's eyes. "Hey… what's going on?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "Hormones." She said, trying to divert his attention.
Mark sighed. "What can I do?"
"Just promise me we're going to get to be at home for Christmas, rather than here." Elizabeth replied with a smirk.
"We'll we're both on leave, and Ella should be released within 24 hours. So barring any additional medical emergencies, we'll be at home." Mark assured her with a soft kiss to her forehead. "Where's your mother?"
"In chairs." Elizabeth replied, not meeting his eyes.
"We should send her back to the house to get Rachel." Mark said softly.
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "She's there alone?"
"You know they can only take one ride-along." Mark replied defensively.
"I know… I know..." Elizabeth replied.
"You need to rest." Mark said softly. "Go up to surgery and find a bed."
Elizabeth shook her head. "I have to stay with Ella…"
"She's fine. You've checked her yourself." Mark reminded her. "Talk to your mother, then go take a nap. I'll page you if there's any change."
"Thank you." Elizabeth replied quietly.
"Anytime."