Bounty (Leland Chapman Fanfiction - Unedited)

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"I love you," Maggie said softly, cradling the tiny human. "You are so cute, yes you are," her voice was soft, baby voice. "He has your nose."

"He has your eyes," Leland replied, smiling. "Come on, time for dinner," Leland rubbed Maggie's back as he stood up and left the nursery.

"You have Daddy's smile," she cooed softly, holding him tight as she followed Leland down the stairs. She smiled as she was met with Terry, who went all Googly eyes as she gently took Sam from Maggie, cradling him gently. His bright blue eyes drifted shut as he fell asleep. Terry grinned, looking down at the baby as Maggie sat down at the table, not hesitating to, quite literally, inhale the mashed potatoes.

Dinner consisted of Sam being passed around the table a couple times before he woke up and began whaling, where Maggie left to feed him. Afterwards, Jake, Terry and Danny said their goodbyes before leaving out of state for the winter to stay with distant family.

Maggie cradled Sam, staring down at his sleeping face. She couldn't take her eyes off him ever since she got home from the hospital a couple nights ago, she loves him too much to do that. His little eyes, long eyelashes, button nose and a Leland smirk plastered on his face, he was irresistible. He was a premie, when he was born he weighed 6 pounds and 2 ounces, so he was pretty small. Nevertheless, he was born a healthy little man.

"You gonna sleep at all tonight?" Leland asked softly, his arms wrapping around her waist as she smiled down at Sam.

"If he sleeps at all tonight," Maggie replied quietly. "Oh, look!" She grinned as Sam yawned. "He's sleepy," she whispered. Leland snickered, gently taking Sam from her arms.

"I got him, go get some sleep, I know you're exhausted."

"Thank you," Maggie whispered, yawning herself as she didn't hesitate to lay down in Leland's bed - which is really her and Leland's bed right now. She pulled the blankets over her sweatpants, letting out a breath as she closed her eyes. As soon as she did so, Sam began crying. Leland smiled, leaving the room as he continued whaling. Minutes later, Leland came back.

"He won't stop."

"Ugh, just come here," she patted the bed beside her, where Leland laid down, putting Sam beside them. Sam's little eyes looked around until he saw Maggie's face, and he stopped crying. He smiled, his hand patting her nose before he yawned and then fell back asleep. "This works," she said quietly, holding Leland's hand as she drifted to sleep herself.

***

"Well I am off, technically, but I actually got permission to take the rest of the school year online, aside from my final exams," Maggie replied to Duane Lee as she typed away at the computer.

Sam was about 2 weeks old, and they had just celebrated Leland'a birthday yesterday, December 14th.

Maggie finished her assignment, sighing as she shut the computer and tucked it away in her backpack. Oh, that feels good, she thought. She eyed Duane Lee, who was tapping Sam's nose as he slept, and Sam's response to a nose tap was either a nose wrinkle, sticking his tongue out, or a yawn.

He's too cute.

She walked upstairs, going into Leland's room where her phone started ringing. Currently, Leland, Beth and Dog were out on a bounty, and Duane Lee and Maggie were the only two home.

Maggie laid down on the bed, inhaling Leland's scent with a grin as she drifted to quick sleep. The exhaustion of being a new mom hit her hard, and sure enough the family did help her a lot, however with Sam being a premie, he needs to be fed every 3 hours. That means she gets about 2 hours of sleep in between that, however, Sam tends to not like it when his mother sleeps without him.

So is Sam is awake, Maggie is awake.

Sam also doesn't like it when his mother is not holding him or nearby 24/7. If he loses sight of her face, unless he's really comfy wherever he is, he starts crying.

Maggie has no idea how she's going to do this. Balance being a mom and a pre-med student. Beth swore that with their help she'd be able to, but she doesn't know. She doesn't know how she can do it.

Nevertheless, she's going to do what it takes to give Sam the best life that she can give him.

Even if that means dropping out of college.