Ch 15

Once they get to the studio, Rita gets out of the car. "Can you grab the.."

Chris holds it up and she smiles. "Please."

He comes over and helps her adjust it. "Good?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

He kisses her cheek and gets Sammy. He helps her put Sammy in it.

Sammy wakes up and looks around. She grabs Rita's shirt and sighs.

"Hi baby girl."

They walk inside and Abby smiles. "Hi! Thanks for coming in."

"Thanks for calling. How'd they turn out?"

Abby leads them over to the desk and hands them to her.

"Oh wow. I love them."

She smiles at the one of her and Chris at the beach when she was nursing Sammy. "We need to frame this one."

"Yes. And this one of Sam." He shows her one of her in the stroller.

They flip thru all the pictures. "These are all amazing Abby. Thank you."

"You're very welcome."

Rita looks at Chris who nods and smiles. "Do you happen to do weddings?"

Abby nods. "Of course."

"We were going to renew our vows with everyone on our anniversary this year but since it's been so crazy we decided to wait til next year. You up for it?"

She nods. "Of course. Thank you. When is it?"

"December third."

She looks at the schedule. "Got you down."

"That's one less thing we need to do."

Abby smiles. "What size do you want these to be?"

"I know I want this one in a four by six for my office." Rita shows her the one of her and Chris on the beach. "And this one of Sammy in a four by six. Can you do the size for lockets?"

Abby nods. "Absolutely."

"Ok so this one in locket size too. And this one of Chris at the beach in a locket size."

"Perfect."

She flips thru the rest and smiles.

"What?"

She shows him. It's one of the ones from the proposal recreation.

"Oh we need that one framed too."

"Definitely."

"Let's just get them all." Rita laughs.

"Read my mind."

Abby laughs. "I'll order the two locket size pictures for you and I'll call when they are ready."

"Thanks Abby."

Sammy wakes up and looks around. She whimpers a bit.

"Hey baby girl. You're ok."

Abby smiles. "Hi Sammy. You're so cute."

Sam smiles at her.

Rita's cell phone rings. "At least it's my personal one." She gets it out of her pocket. "Hello?"

"Rita..it's me."

"Holly. Hey. What's up?"

"They said you were supposed to be back today.."

"That was the plan til I broke my ankle. I get the cast off soon. Then hopefully I can go requalify and be back up there. Harry going crazy?"

"Yes he is."

"Ok. Tell him we're coming up with a surprise."

"Ok. See you soon."

"Thanks Holly."

Rita smiles at Sammy. "Apparently Cap didn't tell everyone that my return to work date was pushed back."

"Oh no. Trip to the store for frames and surprise him?"

"You got it."

Rita hands Abby her credit card.

"Just pay me when you get the locket pictures."

"Are you sure?"

She nods. "I'm sure. Do you have the locket with you?"

"No, I don't. We'll bring it by soon."

"Sounds good."

"Do you need the pictures for reference?"

"No, go ahead and take them. I have the negatives."

"Thank you. See you soon."

Chris takes the pictures. "We're going to have to get something to store these in."

"Yes we are."

They get out to the car and Chris helps her take Sammy out.

Sammy wasn't happy about that and starts fussing.

Rita kisses her cheek. "Sammy…you're ok."

She takes off the carrier and puts it back in the trunk and takes Sammy back.

"It's ok pretty girl."

Rita looks at Chris. "That's not like her."

"I know. Guess she just wants to cuddle with you."

"Guess so. Hopefully I can get her in the car seat."

He nods. "Hope so."

Sam drifts off to sleep and Rita carefully lays her in the car seat and buckles her in.

"I'm thinking we should go home and you go take the pictures to Cap."

"Sounds good to me. Hopefully some Mama cuddles gets her right."

"I hope so. And she needs to eat soon."

"Ok."

Chris drives them to the loft and Rita gets the diaper bag and Sammy out.

"Be careful."

"I will. Love you."

"Love you too."

She leans over and kisses him.

He smiles and kisses her back.

Rita heads in and puts the bag on the bar and goes to sit on the couch with her.

"That better now?"

Sammy wakes up and cries.

"Time to eat huh?"

Rita gets her settled to nurse and strokes her hair.

Sammy looks up at her and grabs her finger.

"Mama loves you too baby."

After Sammy gets done, Rita leans back on the couch and lays Sammy on her chest. "You just needed some Mama time huh?"

Sam looks up and smiles.

"Hi pretty girl."

Sam yawns and drifts to sleep.

Rita grabs her cell phone and calls Chris

"Lorenzo."

"Hi."

"Hey. How's Sammy?"

"Asleep on me. She just needed some cuddles."

"Good. She had me worried."

"Me too."

"How was Cap?"

"He was going nuts like everyone said. I got him calmed down. Of course he asked for Sammy but once I told him she needed some Mama time he understood."

"Good. How'd he like the picture?"

"Loved it. He wants us to take the rest to Frannie so she can pick some out for the house."

"Sounds good. Hopefully she will be better after this nap."

"I hope so too. This isn't like her."

"Yeah. She has to be going thru a growth spurt or something.".

"Need anything while I'm out?"

"What time is it?"

"Almost two."

"No, we are good."

"Ok."

"Be careful."

"Always. Bye."

"Bye."

She hangs up and kisses the top of Sammy's head.

"Daddy's on his way home."

Sammy smiles in her sleep and cuddles closer.

"Oh Sammy…do you know how lucky we are that Daddy came back to us? I thought for sure it'd be you and me by ourselves."

Chris walks in the door and smiles. "Hi."

"Hi."

He walks over to her and kisses her. "Sammy better?"

"Yeah. She ate and went back to sleep."

"Good."

Sammy whimpers and squirms. Chris smiles and picks her up.

"Hi pretty girl. Let's go get you changed."

Rita smiles. "You look good with her."

He kisses Rita. "Be right back." He takes Sammy up to get her changed. He lays her in the crib and stares at her.

"You hungry?"

"Yeah."

"What do you want to eat?"

"Surprise me."

She looks in the fridge. "Chicken?"

"Sure."

She preheats the oven and reaches for the baking dish and goes up on her tip toes to get it. "Ugh. Chris!"

"Yeah?"

"Can you get that eight by eight dish for me please? My ankle is screaming at me now."

"Of course." He gets it and kisses her cheek.

"Thank you." She grabs the cooking spray and sprays it.

"How are you going to fix it?"

"Bake it. Not sure what on top or on the side yet. I need to look."

She puts the chicken in and washes her hands. "Let's just play around shall we?"

"Go for it."

She grabs the cream of chicken soup and a stuffing mix. "What do we have in the fridge for a sauce?"

He looks in the fridge. "Sour cream..cheese.."

"Perfect. Grab those please."

Sam starts screaming.

"And I'll grab her too."

He puts the sour cream and cheese on the counter next to her and runs upstairs to get Sammy.

"Hey pretty. You're ok. Daddy's got ya." He wipes her tears away and kisses her cheek.

Rita puts the cheese on top of the chicken and mixes the sour cream and cream of chicken soup together in a bowl. "Need a splash of something."

Sam kicks her legs when she sees Rita.

"Hi baby. I'll get you in just a minute. What cooking wine do we have?"

"Hmmm not sure."

She looks in the fridge. "Oh sherry. That will work." She adds a splash to the bowl and mixes it in. "Oh yeah. That will be good." She adds that on top of the chicken and cheese. "And the stuffing.." She puts it on top and puts it in the oven.

"How long?"

She looks at him. "To eat? Maybe forty five minutes."

He nods. "Sammy wants you."

Rita takes her and smiles. "Hi my girl."

Sammy smiles and nuzzles her head in Rita's shoulder.

"Aw baby. It's ok. I'm right here."

Chris smiles. "I'm going to go run your locket to Abby and go grab some dessert. You need anything?"

"You back safely."

"Always." He kisses her. "I'll be back soon."

"Be careful."

He grabs the keys and heads out.

Rita walks back over to the couch and lays Sammy on her lap. "Whatcha think?"

Sam kicks her legs and smiles.

"Oh yeah?"

Sammy coos and moves her arms a bit.

"You think we should?"

Rita laughs and smiles. "I love you too baby girl."

She lifts Sam up and kisses her cheek.

"Sammy, if something happens to me, your daddy will take good care of you. And I'm gonna try hard to be here for you. But Mama has something in her head that can go pop any time."

Chris pulls up about thirty minutes later and hears Rita talking to Sam.

"You and your daddy are the best things that have happened to me."

He wipes a tear from his eye. "I'm back."

She smiles. "Hi. Just talking to Sammy."

"I heard some of it. Why do I get the feeling you were telling her goodbye."

"I just needed to tell her just in case of my aneurysm pops."

"I promise you, if it does and for some reason we are the ones at the cemetery, she will know what her Mama was to me….to her."

"Good."

The timer goes off a bit later. She gets up and takes Sam over to Chris. "Try and get rid of me now."

"I never want to get rid of you."

"Good answer."

She gets the chicken out of the oven and while it's cooling a bit, she gets plates down. "Wanna eat here or at the table."

"Wherever you're most comfortable."

She nods. "Here's fine."

Chris puts Sammy in her swing and she smiles at them.

"Oh Sammy girl. You're too cute."

Rita smiles. "My pretty girl."