Recovery

Chapter 5

"You're doing great," Mary encourages Veronica. She's practically an expert diaper changer by now, being able to take care of her baby much better than in the beginning.

"Does she look bigger?" Veronica frowns. It feels like her baby gets older each passing second.

"It seems like it," Mary agrees, laughing.

Veronica takes hundreds of photos over the first month, and videos, documenting every moment so that she can share it with Archie. She spends long nights in the nursery with her little girl, imagining how Archie would sit beside her, massaging her shoulders while she nursed and making sure she was taken care of.

Though their baby didn't inherit his red hair, she looks a lot like all of her father's baby pictures, and she's got his honey brown eyes.

"Hi, baby," Veronica soothes the little girl as she feeds her, watching her as the baby closes her eyes, showing her long eyelashes. This baby is so perfect.

"Fred talked to Archie again today," Mary informs her. "He asked tons of questions, he wanted to know how much sleep you were getting."

"Close to none," Veronica smiled at the baby, lifting her up. "But you're so worth it, huh baby?"

"He really misses you, both of you," Mary frowns. "Fred said he sounded really good over the phone, like he was making some progress."

"I should call him this afternoon," Veronica decides. "Just let him know how everything is going."

"I think he would like that," his mother agrees.

Later, when it's just her and Claire, Veronica steals some time to make the call, with the baby wrapped against her chest. It rings a few times before someone answers, directing her call to Archie.

"Ronnie," he breathes out. "I can't believe she's here, how are you? How is she?"

Veronica laughs at all of his questions. "She's, she's perfect, I'm great," she smiles. "We miss you so much."

"I miss you more than you can imagine," Archie sighs. "I want to be there with you."

"We're okay, Archie, I promise," Veronica grins. "But we can't wait for you to be back... Claire is going to love her Dada, huh, aren't you sweetie?"

It warms Archie's heart to hear her chatting with the baby.

"Hey, I was actually gonna ask if maybe you would come visit this next week," Archie scratches his head. "I'm getting my 60 day chip, and I just thought maybe you'd want to come. My sponsor will be there, so I thought maybe you could meet him."

"Well, I would be there, but I don't think I should bring the baby," Veronica sighs.

"It would only last a couple of hours," Archie pleads. "Even if you can't bring Claire, you could leave her with my parents and it would go by really fast, and I could see you and show you all the progress I've been making."

"I'll try to be there," Veronica notes, and then the two go on to discuss every little move Claire has made and everything they do during the day.

The day of the small ceremony, Archie wakes up with a smile on his face, for the first time in a long time. He rolls out of bed with a positive attitude, greeting all of his friends before meeting with his sponsor.

"So you've got family coming today?" his sponsor, Munroe asks.

"Yeah, um, my fiancé is coming and hopefully she'll bring the baby, which means my Mom and Dad can probably come too, but it might just be her," Archie rambles on and on. "Which that would be okay too, I haven't seen her in over a month since she had the baby, so I just can't wait to see her."