Episode 514: A Ride Back Home

"Did you find out any-" Lucy’s distressed voice caught the moment she saw them file through the doorway. "I thought you were- A friend of mine just went to see- so," the girl visibly trembled, "she’s okay, then?"

"She’s gorgeous," Curran was first to chime in, and he took Michael’s hand. He squeezed it, gazed at her with seemingly all the gratitude of a proud husband whose wife had just given him a child.

She shook her head, she didn’t deserve praise for this, she hadn’t done anything, and shouldn’t welcome it from him, shouldn’t enjoy the moment nearly as much as she did, given the shaky state of not only their marriage, but this adoption. Between catching Curran sleeping on the floor rather than in their bed, and the concern, the love for that little baby written all over Lucy’s tired face, it was all so painfully uncertain.

While the doctor explained to Lucy that the baby’s temporary breathing scare had proven exactly that, temporary, Michael held her own breath, and Curran’s hand extra tight, waiting with a heavy heart for what would happen, what Lucy would decide.

The doctor excused himself to tend to another call. A nurse, swaddling the baby, approached Lucy. "This little sweetums is just begging for someone who doesn’t smell so antiseptic to hold her. Would you like to, or let one of these lovely people have their first snuggle?"

"I- I don’t know. I don’t know what to do."

"Well, you can at least narrow down your options," Curran said. "I shouldn’t hold her just yet. My back’s acting up so badly that I had to sleep on the floor."

It was a stroke of genius, and enough for Lucy to give Michael the nod. Having that warm little body tucked into her arms felt like a miracle. She didn’t know who she was more in love with at that moment, her baby or her husband. She kissed them both.

Episode 515: Don't Speak