Ch 6
Over at Cap and Frannie's, Chris grabs the bag and takes Sam out of the car. Rita follows them in.
Frannie smiles and takes the baby. "Hi sweet girl. Oh I missed you."
Rita smiles. "I fed her just before we left so she's good for a while. We'll be back in time to get her before she's ready to eat again."
Cap nods. "Ok."
"There's a couple of sleepers in the bag for her if you want to get her ready for bed."
"Does she need anything?"
"Just cuddles."
"Ok."
"Thanks you guys. Call if you need anything."
"See you in a couple hours."
Chris takes Rita's hand and they head out. "Ok so seafood. Where do you want to go?"
"Does that not sound good to you?"
"I'm treating you tonight. You want seafood, you're getting seafood."
"Ok. There's that hole in the wall by the beach that I want to try."
He drives to the beach and they walk to find the place Rita was talking about but they were sold out and closed. "Ok so plan b. What sounds good? Chinese? Pizza?"
"Pizza. Usual spot?"
He nods. "Let's go."
They head back to the car and they drive to their spot. "To go or eat there?"
"There."
Chris gets out of the car and goes around to Rita. He holds his hand out for her.
She takes it and they walk inside. They find their usual booth empty and slide in.
"Doing ok?"
She nods. "I'm good. Sorry I flipped out on you earlier."
"It's my fault. I should've told you I was going to take the bag out."
She takes his hand and draws on it with her fingers.
"You like doing that huh?"
She nods. "Calms me."
The waitress comes. "Rita! Hi! I'm so sorry to hear.." she turns and looks. "Chris!"
He laughs. "Hi."
She stands there in shock. "How…what…"
He smiles. "Witness protection."
"Got it. Glad you're back. Sam special?"
He nods. "That ok?"
Rita nods. "Sam special."
"You got it. Drinks?"
Chris looks at Rita. "Tea?"
Rita nods. "Two teas."
The waitress nods and goes to put the order in. She comes back with the teas.
Chris looks at Rita. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Getting a little sore but it's not bad. I'll probably have to feed her before we head home."
He nods. "Ok."
A bit later, the waitress comes back with the pizza.
"One Sam special."
"Thank you."
Rita smiles and takes a bite. "Oh I missed this. After..ya know. I just couldn't do it."
He takes her hand and squeezes it. "Made me think of that time when you had that friend of yours house sit when you went up to Sanibel and she was killed."
"Oh yeah. That look on your face when I came in.."
He nods. "That was about the look on your face when I came in."
She squeezes his hand. "This is exactly what I needed."
"What? Pizza?"
"Time with you. Not that I don't love her.."
He nods. "I know. We have been busy. How about this..one night a week,we go on a date night. She can stay with Cap and Frannie..then the other nights after she goes down for the night, we'll just hang out on the couch and watch a movie or talk.."
She nods. "Sounds great to me."
The waitress comes back over. "How is everything?"
"It's just as I remembered."
"Good I'm glad. This one is on me just because I've missed you guys. Hope to see you two back again soon."
"Actually, we'll have a plus one with us. Our baby daughter."
"Oh how sweet! What's her name?"
Rita smiles. "Samantha Rose. We call her Sam and Sammy."
"We'll have to get a picture of her with the pizza named for her."
"We must."
Chris looks at his watch. "Speaking of Sammy, we should go get her. She'll need her Mama soon."
Rita nods. "Thank you for treating us tonight. We'll bring Sammy next time for sure."
He nods. "Definitely will bring her." He slides out of the booth and holds his hand out for Rita. She takes it and slides out of the booth.
They head out to the car and head over to Cap and Frannie's.
Rita walks in. "Hello.."
Sam starts crying.
"Hey Sammy. You're ok. Mama's here. You hungry?"
Chris tosses her the blanket and she snags it.
"Thanks."
She sits back and feeds Sam.
Cap smiles. "She just started crying."
"Rita has a good sense of when she's hungry."
Chris sits beside her and kisses her cheek. "How was she?"
"So good. She just snuggled and was looking around."
"Oh good. We need to get you guys a swing. She loves it."
"We'll get one."
Sam looks up at Rita.
"Hi baby girl. Did you have fun?"
Chris smiles at her. "So Cap..Rita and I were talking. We were thinking a date night out once a week. Interested in babysitting?"
He nods. "Any time. She's the best."
"Yeah she is. But we are a little biased."
Rita hands Sam off to Chris and he kisses her cheek. "Hi baby girl."
Sam takes a hold of his shirt.
"I missed you too baby."
He rubs her back and she drifts off to sleep.
Harry smiles. "She loves to do that huh?"
Chris nods. "There was one day Rita went to run some errands. And when she got home, Sammy grabbed her shirt and held on. Only let go a little when she fell asleep."
Rita puts the blanket back in the bag.
"We better get her home so she can go to bed for a couple of hours."
Harry nods. "You guys be careful. We'll see you soon."
"Next week for sure. One of us will call about a date night."
Frannie smiles. "That sounds perfect. Have a good night."
"Goodnight. Thanks again for watching her."
"Anytime."
Chris and Rita head back out to the car and head back to the loft. Rita takes her in and changes her for bed.
"Sleep good Sammy." Rita lays her in her crib and gets dressed in her lounge clothes and heads downstairs. "She's asleep for a few hours."
"Good. What do you want to do?"
"Wanna watch a movie?"
He nods. "You pick. I'll go change and make us some popcorn."
Rita smiles. "Ok."
She flips thru the movies and finally settles on one. She puts it in the vcr and grabs the remote.
Chris comes back downstairs and goes to make the popcorn. "Want anything on the popcorn?"
"Plain is fine."
He nods. "Ok. Need anything else?"
"My pump. She didn't eat enough and I'm sore."
He brings the popcorn in and goes up to get the pump. He looks at Sam and smiles.
Rita grabs a blanket and covers up with it.
Chris comes back down. "Here you go."
"Thanks." She gets it set up and turns it on. "Oh that's better."
"Good. I'm glad we got you one. Want me to try her with a bottle tonight so you can sleep?"
"I'll still wake up because I'm going to be sore."
"Ok. We'll figure it out."
She goes to put the milk in bags and in the freezer after she wrote the date on it. She goes to rinse out the bottles and lets them dry. "Okay. All set."
He smiles and lifts the blanket up for her.
She climbs on the couch and curls up in his arms.
He pushes play and wraps his arms around her. "Comfy?"
"Yeah."
He kisses the top of her head.
She turns her head and kisses him.
Halfway thru the movie. Sam wakes up screaming.
Rita carefully gets up and goes upstairs. "It's ok baby girl." Rita picks her up and kisses her cheek. "What's wrong? Bad dream?" Rita quickly changes her diaper and grabs her blanket. "Let's go downstairs and cuddle with Daddy.."
They head downstairs and Chris isn't anywhere. "Christopher!?"
"Right here Sammy."
"Where did you go?"
"Just got up to stretch while you were getting Sam."
She sighs. "When am I going to stop?"
He wraps his arms around his girls. "I don't know but I'm glad you do it. Just to make sure I'm not gone again." He kisses her softly.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't. It's ok."
She sits on the couch and lays Sammy on her knee.
"Got room for me?"
She nods and scoops Sam up so she can scoot forward.
He slides in behind her and she leans back. "Better?"
Rita nods. "Yeah. Thank you."
"For what?"
"Calming me down. Not thinking I'm a nut case."
"You have every right. You went from being a newlywed to thinking you were a widow in the span of a couple of weeks. On top of that being pregnant.."
She nods and lays her head on his shoulder. "I never want to do that again."
"You won't have to." He smiles at Sammy who had fallen back to sleep. "She'd never cried that loud before."
"Yeah. I think she had a bad dream. Once I changed her and had her in my arms she was fine."
He strokes Sammy's cheek. "Ready to go to bed?"
Rita nods. "Yeah." She scoots up and he gets out.
He takes Sammy and helps Rita up. "Want some cuddle time with her before I put her to bed?"
Rita nods. "Please. Both of you."
He nods and lays Sammy in her crib. Rita glares at him.
"Relax. It's just while I get you comfortable."
"Ok."
He turns down the covers and helps her in bed. "You comfy?"
"Yeah."
He gets Sam and hands her to Rita then gets in bed. He scoots close to Rita and kisses her cheek. "I love you."
"I love you too.."
"Talk to me. Tell me what's going on."
She shakes her head. "I'll be ok. Just need to get my body back in balance."
He nods. "Ok. You tell me if I need to do anything."
"Just keep doing this. Keep loving me."
"Always and forever. You and this little girl right here.."
She nods and scoots back into his arms more.
"Do you know how much I wished for you at night? For you to be just like you are now?"
Rita nods. "Probably more than me. The only time Sammy would calm down and sleep at night is if I had on one of your shirts and my hand on her."
He smiles. "I wish I could've been there the whole time. But maybe in a couple of years.."
"Maybe. I want more than one but not too far apart in age. Maybe start trying when she's a year or something.."
"Does that mean I can't.."
"Oh no. No. Definitely before then too."
He nods. "Ok."
She yawns and drifts off to sleep.
He kisses her forehead and carefully gets up "I'm putting Sammy to bed. Don't worry."
Rita nods a little.
He carefully picks Sam up and kisses her cheek. "I love you baby girl." He lays her in the crib and rubs her stomach to settle her. "There you go. Sleep good." He crawls back in bed and pulls Rita in his arms. She sighs and lays her head on his chest.
He rubs her back. "Sleep good Sammy."
A few hours later, the baby wakes up screaming. Chris carefully gets up and gets her. "Wow. You're mad aren't you?" He kisses her cheek and changes her. He goes back over to the bed and kisses Rita's cheek. "Sammy's up. I'm gonna take her downstairs and see if she'll take her bottle. Love you."
Rita nods. "Love you too."'
He takes her downstairs and puts her in the swing and turns it on.
He fixes her a bottle and picks her up. "Ok pretty girl. Let's see if you'll take this." He takes her to the couch and gives her the bottle.
Sam looks at him and starts whimpering.
"I know it's not Mama but Mama's going to go back to work and you'll be home with Daddy so you need to try and like this.."
He tries again and she finally takes it. "That's my girl."
Rita wakes up and starts walking downstairs. She smiles when she sees Sam taking the bottle and goes right back up to bed.
Chris burps Sam and carries her back upstairs. He lays her back in her crib and gets back in bed.
Rita turns towards him. "Hi."
"Hi."
"How'd she do with the bottle?"
"Didn't like it at first but tried again and she took it. So I'll start doing the middle of the night feedings so you can sleep."
"Ok."
He pulls her on top of him. "I love you."
"I love you too." She kisses his neck.
"Sammy…we can't."
"Why not?"
"The doctor said six weeks."
"But.."
"I want you to get this in your head. When you get the all clear, I'll take Sam over to Cap and Frannie's with some bottles and come home."
"Ok. But.."
"No buts."
He kisses her softly. "Just another couple of weeks ok? Just hang in for me."
"Ok."
He rubs her back. "What else is wrong?"
"I just don't feel like myself."
"Like what?"
"Like all I am good enough? Like all I am seen as now is Sam's mom."
"Rita Lee..listen to me. You are more than good enough. And yes people see you as Sam's mom. But I also see you as the love of my life. The one I would be miserable without. And believe me. I was."
She nods. "I was too."
"Every time I called Cap, after I said hi..first words were how are Rita and the baby. You were always on my mind."
She rolls off him carefully. He pulls her close to him. "You have our rings?"
"Yeah. On my necklace. Had to wear them there when my fingers started to swell."
"Where is it?"
"I take it off at night. It's on my table over here."
"Want me to put it back on you?"
"Yes. Please."
"Now or in the morning."
"In the morning."
"Ok."
She yawns and cuddles close to him.
He kisses her forehead and pulls her closer. "I love you. So much. Don't you think otherwise."
She drifts off to sleep.
Early the next morning, Rita wakes up and goes to get the bottles downstairs for her pump. She goes back upstairs and starts to pump.
"Hey Sammy."
Rita jumps. "Christopher. You scared me."
"I'm sorry." He goes over and kisses her. He hands her his ring. She smiles and slides it back on his finger. "That's better."
"Almost." He slides her ring back on her finger. "Perfect." He kisses her.
"Perfect?"
He smiles. "Parfait."
She smiles. "How's Sammy?"
"Still asleep. Should be up soon though. She was squirming a bit."
"Ok. I'll go get her." Rita heads upstairs. Sam is awake just laying there. Rita smiles at her. "Hey sweet girl. You ready for some breakfast?" She quickly changes her and heads downstairs.
"There's my girls." Chris smiles.
Rita sits on the couch and adjusts Sammy so she can nurse. "So what do you want to do today?"
"I still need to get a car."
"Yes you do."
"While she's having her breakfast, I'll go get ready."
"Ok. I'll get her ready when she's done."
He kisses both their foreheads and goes to get ready.
Rita smiles. "You know how lucky we are Sammy? Hm? I don't think I could've picked a better Daddy for you."
Sammy looks up at her and drifts back to sleep.
Rita smiles and kisses her cheek. "Let's go get you dressed."
She takes Sam upstairs and lays her in the crib. She opens the dresser drawer with Sam's tops and flips thru them. She finally settles on a light pink shirt with a pair of shorts and gets her dressed. "There you go baby. Now hang out here while Mama gets dressed." She lays Sam in her crib and goes over to her closet. She finds a light pink tank top, a white button down shirt and some capri jeans. "Hey Chris.."
"Yeah?"
"I'm gonna run down and grab her bag so I can pack it. You almost done?"
"Yeah. I'm just getting dressed. Go ahead. She's good."
"Ok." Rita goes downstairs and grabs the diaper bag. Her foot gets caught in the strap and she falls. "Ouch."
"I heard that! You ok?"
"I think so..". She gets up and starts to put weight on her ankle. "Nope. Can't walk. Guess we're going to the urgent care first before car shopping."
"Ok. I'll call Frannie and see if she can come hang here with Sam."
"Ok."
Chris grabs the phone and dials their number.
"Hello?"
"Hey Frannie. Rita fell and messed up her ankle. Can you come here and sit with Sammy while I take Rita?"
"Of course! I'm on my way."
"Thanks."
"Ok. Bye."
Chris picks Rita up and sets her on the couch. "Frannie's coming. I'll get her bottles washed and go grab your pump."
"Thank you."
He kisses her. "Be right back."
She nods and leans back on the couch.
Chris runs up and grabs her pump and Sam. "Go snuggle with your Mama."
Rita takes her and smiles. "Hi baby."
Sam looks at her and grabs her hand.
Frannie knocks on the door.
Chris goes over and answers it. "Hi Frannie. Thank you for coming."
"Of course."
"Hey Frannie. I just fed her but there's milk in the freezer for her. She loves her swing. Just put it on low and she'll probably go to sleep."
"Oh doll… I'm sorry."
"It's ok."
Frannie picks Sammy up. "Hi sweet girl."
Chris comes over. "I brought some diapers and wipes down. If she needs a change of clothes her dresser is next to her crib. She can sleep in the swing or her bassinet."
"Bottles?"
"In the kitchen on the bar. Milk is in the freezer like Rita said. She's not much of a fan of the bottle but she will take it after a couple of tries." He scoops Rita up in his arms. "We'll be back soon. I'll call when I hear anything."
"Please. See you soon and be careful!"
Rita grabs her purse and the bag with her pump.
Chris takes her to one of the urgent cares in town. The doctor comes in rather quickly and look at her ankle. "I would like to get X-rays. Are you pregnant?"
Rita shakes her head. "No. She's almost a month old."
The doctor nods. "Congratulations."
He takes Rita down to X-ray and gets a few pictures.
Chris paces the room waiting for Rita.
"You ok?"
"Hurts. But I'll be ok."
The doctor comes in. "It's broken. But not horribly. But it does need to be set and casted."
"Can you do it with a local? I'm nursing."
He nods. "I can."
Chris picks her up and holds her on his lap. "Ready?"
Rita nods. "Yeah."
The doctor nods. He gives her a shot and pops it back in place. "Ok. One more set of X-rays to make sure it's set right. If not, I'm afraid you might need surgery."
She sighs. "Ok."
Chris takes her to X-ray and waits outside the room for her.
The doctor opens the door. Chris goes in and looks at her. "Hurting?"
She nods and reaches out for him.
He scoops her up and takes her back to her room. "You know what we need?"
"What?"
"Pictures with Sammy. I just realized we don't have any at all."
"Oh no. I wanted to get pictures too."
"Hey, we have time. We'll just do them sitting down and waist up."
She nods. "Ok."
"I'll call around when we get home or tomorrow."
The doctor comes in. "Unfortunately it's not set correctly and you'll need surgery..today."
She sighs. "Ok so..since I'm still nursing how will this work?"
"Do you have your pump?"
She nods. "Yeah."
"Pump as much as you can before surgery. Then about 24 hours of pump and dump and you should be ok."
"Ok."
"Am I going to be able to go home tonight?"
"Perhaps. If not it'll only be overnight."
"Thanks."
Chris kisses her cheek. "It'll be ok. Sam will be fine."
"I know. I trust Frannie."
"I better call the loft and tell her."
She moves a bit and winces. "Ok I shouldn't have done that."
"What do you need?"
"My baby."
"I know honey. I'll bring her and Frannie up to the hospital once you're settled."
She starts crying.
He rubs her back. "It's ok." He holds her and kisses her cheek.
Chris grabs his phone and calls his loft.
"Hello?"
"Hey Frannie."
"Christopher. How is she?"
"Broken ankle. Needs surgery to fix it. So I'm going to take her and get her settled then I will come get you and Sam."
"Ok. We'll be ready. Where's her car seat?"
"In the car. She hates being in it for any longer than necessary so we just take her out when we get wherever."
"Ok. Do you have a stroller?"
"In the trunk."
"Of course. See you shortly."
Rita groans when she moves.
"Take care of her Chris. We'll wait for you."
"Thanks."
He takes her to the hospital and gets her settled in a room after checking her in.
"You gonna be ok while I go get Sammy?"
She shakes her head. "Don't leave me."
"I have to. Frannie doesn't have a car seat."
She sighs. "Oh."
He kisses her. "I promise I will be right back. Pump some and maybe it will be time for her to nurse so you can feed her before they take you back."
"Ok."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
He goes back to the loft. "Frannie?"
"Up here Chris! Getting her bag packed."
"Ok. Sam up there?"
"In her crib asleep."
"Did she eat yet?"
"She'll be ready when she wakes up."
"Perfect. Now we need to get to Rita. She didn't like me being away from her."
"She's scared. Let's go."
Chris picks Sammy up and the diaper bag. "I don't know if Rita will be there overnight or what but if she is, would you and Cap stay with her?"
"Of course."
"Thanks."
He takes them both to the hospital and gets the stroller out. "Hey Sammy. Let's get you to your Mama."
They walk into Rita's room and she wasn't there.
"Uh, where's my wife? She was supposed to nurse before you took her back."
"And she is?"
"Lorenzo. Rita Lorenzo."
"Oh. I'm sorry. They took her already. She was hysterical too. Said something about Chris and Sam?"
He nods. "I'm Chris and our daughter is Sam. And she needed to nurse. I made sure you had a note on her chart."
The nurse flips thru. "No..no note. I'm so sorry."
Chris sighs. "Thanks. How long?"
"A couple hours at least."
"Thanks."
He gets Sam out and fixes her a bottle. "I'm sorry baby. We'll just wait for Mama."
