Ch 3

The next few months fly by. They finally catch all of the gang behind what happened to Chris.

Chris goes over to Rita. "Hey Sammy."

She hugs him tight. "Hi. This baby is out of room..can't walk far without getting short of breath.. I wish you were here with me."

"Me too. Might be sooner than you think."

"What?"

"Just hold on a few more hours ok? I promise it will be worth it."

"Christopher.."

"It'll be ok. I promise. Harry told me you moved when he came to visit my grave."

"Yeah. Had to keep the baby safe. They are the only part I have left of you."

"I miss you so much it hurts."

"I miss you too. I don't know what you can do…but if you can try, be there with me when this baby is born. I'm going to need you."

"Just look deep inside your heart. I'm always there."

She nods. "Ok. I love you. So much. Just keep coming to us. Please. I wish you could see this little one."

"Me too Sammy. But we'll have our dreams."

Chris gets brought back to Palm Beach. The first place he goes is the loft and it's empty. Then he heads to Rita's apartment and it's empty too. He finds a pay phone and calls Harry.

"Hello?"

"Cap, where's Rita? Our places are empty.."

"Are you.."

"Yeah. I'm out. I need to see her."

"Ok. Go to my house. I convinced her to come down before her due date so we could be there for her when she has the baby."

"Good. How can I keep her calm and not send her into labor?"

"Shes staying with us."

"Ok. But how are we.."

"I'll handle that. Just meet me there and we'll see her."

Chris hangs up and heads to Harry and Frannie's.

Harry shows up not long after him. He walks over and hugs Chris. "I'm so glad you're ok. Now let's go get you back with Rita." He opens the door. Chris walks into the kitchen. "Rita, Frannie, I'm home!"

"In here Cap!"

Rita is sitting on the couch in the living room with Frannie watching a movie.

"So can I tell you something I've been keeping from you for a while?"

Rita looks at him. "What?"

He takes a breath. "After you left, I got a phone call. From the Marshalls office."

"Witness protection…"

He nods.

"Where is he?"

Chris comes in and smiles. "Hey Sammy."

She gets up as quick as she can and goes towards him. "Are you.."

He nods and wraps his arms around her. "I'm home."

She breaks down and her knees buckle.

He catches her and holds her upright. "Hey…it's ok. I'm here." He smiles when he feels the baby kick. "Wow."

"Yeah.."

"How much longer?"

"Any day.."

He pulls back and rubs her stomach. "Hey baby. It's daddy. I'm home."

Rita smiles with tears streaming down her face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to. They wouldn't let me. I started calling you but.."

She nods and hugs him. "I missed you…so much."

"I missed you too. Cap kept me posted though."

Later that night, Chris is holding Rita in bed and kisses her neck.

"Sam…we can't.."

"Why not?"

She puts their hands on her stomach. "Because this little one."

He smiles and slowly drifts off to sleep. A few hours later, Rita wakes up and groans. "Christopher…"

He wakes up slowly. "Hmm."

"Baby.."

His eyes fly open. "Ok. What do I do?"

She takes his hand. "Calm down. I need you calm."

He takes a few deep breaths. "Ok."

Rita smiles and kisses him. "I love you. So much."

"I love you too."

She carefully sits up. "Ok. I need to get dressed and so do you. Then we need to tell Frannie and Cap."

He gets up and quickly goes over to her and helps her stand up.

"What are you going to wear?"

"Nothing fancy. Just hand me that shirt."

He nods and hands her the shirt. "Is that mine?"

She nods. "Needed to feel your arms around me sometimes."

"I'm here now. And I promise I'm not leaving again."

She wraps her arms around his waist. "Chris.."

"I know. I'm right here. Just hang on to me."

"Not letting you go."

He rubs her back.

Once she wakes Cap and Frannie up, they all head to the hospital.

After a long night and into the morning, Rita delivers a healthy baby girl. The doctor puts her on Rita and Chris cuts her cord. She opens her eyes looking right at her Daddy.

"Oh boy. I'm in trouble. Those are your Mama's eyes."

Rita smiles and kisses the top of her head. "Hey Samantha. Now Daddy's gonna have to come up with a different nickname for you."

"Did you decide on her middle name?"

"No. I can't decide between Rose or Frances."

"Samantha Rose…" Baby Sam squirms closer to Rita.

"And we have our answer. Rose it is."

Chris strokes Rita's hair. "I love you so much. I'm so proud of you. I'm glad I didn't miss this."

"Me too. I love you too."

The nurse takes baby Sam and gets her cleaned off and weighs her. She doesn't like that one bit and makes sure she lets everyone know. Chris kisses Rita and goes over to her. "Sammy, it's ok. Daddy's right here." He gives her his finger and she grabs on tight. "See..you're ok. Daddy's here. Mama's over there. We'll go see her shortly."

The nurse smiles at them. "She's got you whipped already."

"Just like her Mama."

The nurse swaddles her and hands her to Chris. "There's Daddy."

He smiles at her and wipes a tear from his eye as he looks over to Rita.

She smiles. "I'm glad you're home."

"Me too."

Rita holds her hand out for him.

He walks over and takes her hand. He carefully hands Baby Sam to Rita and climbs up on the bed beside her. He wraps his arm around Rita's shoulder and pulls them both close.

"I think this is what I missed the most about being gone. Just holding you."

"I missed it too."

The next day, Chris comes in the room as Rita finishes getting dressed. "Hey Sam. Ready to go?"

She nods. "Ready. So now I have a question for you."

"Ok.."

"Actually it's more than one question. First, do you still want to be married to me?"

"Rita Lee! Are you kidding me? The whole time I was in there I kept looking at our wedding picture."

"I didn't know if you.."

"Don't. No, I didn't find anyone else. I don't want anyone else."

"Ok so next question… do we want to stay here or do we want to move where we are?"

"That's up to you. Where do you want to be?"

"As long as I'm with you, I don't care."

"Let's stay here for a bit then head to where you moved. How long is your lease?"

"Month to month. I didn't want to be stuck if I didn't feel safe."

"Good idea. So let's find a place here and then go back there, pack up and move you back home."

"I'm home..wherever you are is home."

He kisses her softly. "I missed you so much."

"We missed you too."

Baby Sam starts whimpering in her bassinet.

Chris gets up and picks her up. "Hi baby girl. Daddy's got you." He brings her against his chest and walks back over to the bed.

Rita smiles and tears start falling down her cheeks.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Happy tears. Thought I'd never get to see this."

Chris pulls Rita in his other arm and hugs her tight. "I thought for sure I was going to be gone for a year or so. But I'm glad they got everyone."

"Me too."

Rita smiles and rubs Baby Sam's back. "Let's get you dressed baby girl." She carefully takes her from Chris and lays her on the bed.

Rita makes quick work of getting the baby undressed and dressed in a sleeper that has rainbows on it.

"There. All ready to go home."

Chris comes up behind Rita and wraps his arms around her.

Rita sighs and relaxes into his arms. "I love you."

"I love you too." He kisses her cheek.

"Chris… are you going to.."

He shakes his head. "No. If I have to again, you and Sam are coming with me. I'm not putting you thru that again."

She nods. "Good. I couldn't do that again."

He steps beside Rita and smiles at Baby Sam. "Hi baby girl. You ready to go home?"

Rita grabs her car seat and sets it on the bed.

Chris carefully picks her up and sets her in the car seat. "There you go baby."

"I've got a feeling she's going to be a big time Daddy's girl."

"Just like her Mama."

Rita smiles. "That's for sure."

The nurse comes in with the discharge papers and a paper copy of Sam's birth certificate. "Just making sure we file it correctly. Samantha Rose Lorenzo, born June 8,1996 at nine in the morning. Weighed seven pounds, ten ounces. Twenty two inches long. Mom Rita Lee Lance, Dad Christopher James Lorenzo " Rita nods. "All good."

The nurse nods. "Just sign where the x is and you're free to go."

Rita picks up the pen and starts to sign Lance as her last name but catches herself and does Lorenzo.

Chris helps Rita in the wheelchair and puts the car seat on her lap. He grabs the bags and slings them over his shoulder. "Ready?"

"Yeah. Let's get this little one home."

"Oh. I didn't put our places up for sale. And I still have all our stuff. So if you want, we could move in to one of them.."

"Ok. Which one?"

"The loft? Then we can rent out your place for extra money."

She nods. "Sounds good."

He parks the wheelchair right inside the door. "I'm going to go pull the car up. Be right back." He kisses the top of her head.

"Ok."

Sam starts to wake up a bit.

Rita smiles and strokes her cheek. "Hey baby girl. It's ok." She gives her finger to Sam. "Yeah. It's ok. Daddy's coming right back."

Chris pulls up about that time and smiles. "She ok?"

"Yeah. Woke up a bit but she's ok."

He gets the car seat and locks it in place. "You wanna ride with her or with me?"

"You. She'll be fine once we get going."

"Ok." He helps her in the car and takes the wheelchair back. Once he gets back in the car, he puts it in gear and takes her hand.

"Where are we heading?"

Rita sighs. "I would say the loft but all our stuff is at my rent house."

"How far is it?"

"Far enough. Let's just go back to Cap and Frannie's. Then we'll head up there to get the stuff in a few days."

He nods. "Sounds good."

"Why do I still feel like this is a dream and I'm going to wake up and you won't be here."

He lightly pinches her hand.

"Hey!"

Sam starts screaming.

"It's ok baby girl. We're almost there."

Chris pulls up in the driveway and parks the car. Rita carefully gets out and unbuckles the baby.

"Hey baby. It's ok. Mama's got you now."

He grabs the bags and takes them inside.

Sam starts nuzzling Rita's shoulder.

"Someone's hungry. Ok…let's go get you fed."

"Need anything?"

"Come sit with me."

He sits beside Rita as she gets herself situated so she could nurse the baby.

She lays her head on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm glad I didn't have to do this alone."

"You are never alone. Cap, Frannie.."

"I know. But I mean.."

"You did what you needed to when you thought I was gone. And yes it's tough but I'm back, you're where you belong. Sam's here.."

Rita looks down at the baby. "She's pretty cute."

"Yes she is."

Chris takes her once Rita carefully pulls her away and burps her.

Sam squirms and makes it known she's not happy. "I know baby. Daddy's sorry but you've gotta burp." He lays her against his chest and rubs her back. "I'm sorry baby."

Sam lets out a burp and drifts off to sleep.

"That's my girl. Daddy loves you Sammy."