Acknowledge His Heart

Fighter

Jasmine POV

After I had been cleaned up, checked over and given some clean clothes I was finally allowed to join Joe at Makoa's side. As I enter neo natal I am greeted by a nurse.

"Can I help you?" She asks with a smile

"Yes I'd like to see me son" I say

"Of course what is baby's name" she asks

"Makoa Anoa'i" I say and her face tell me she knows exactly which baby I am talking about.

"Oh first of all I want to apologise for the previous nurses behaviour towards your husband and I can assure you I will be dealing with Makoa's care from now on" she says

"He's not my husband, we aren't married yet" I say "wait.....what happened with the nurse?" I ask as her words finally sink in

"Don't worry about it it's been taken care of" she says as my eyes scan the room and fall on Joe sitting next to the incubator holding our son "I think he's feeling a little lost" she says "It's not easy not being able to do anything for your child"

"Um thank you" I say before walking over to Joe and placing a hand on his shoulder as I take a seat next to him "hey, how is he?" I ask

"Hey baby" he says kissing my temple "he's good, they reckon he'll only be like this for a few days"

"And how are you?" I ask

"Just like with Kalia I want to do everything for him and it's killing me that I can't" he sighs "I feel like I'm letting him down"

"Hey you haven't let anyone down" I say squeezing his hand "we will be able to take care of him soon we just need to wait for him to be ready"

"I love you" he says pulling me into a hug

"I love you too" I say into his hair "wanna tell me what happened with the nurse?"

"Oh that" he says "let's just say what started out as her explaining what was going on with our son turned into her asking me out for coffee"

"She what!" I gasp "I know I've just given birth and I may be sore as all hell but I can still deal with her where is she" I say looking around as Joe chuckles

"Woah there cheiftess" he chuckles as he leans over and puts his face close to mine "I dealt with it, I put her in her place and she is gone, relax" he says before pecking my lips

"You put her in her place huh" I smile "I suppose I should get used to this short of thing"

"Yeah I did, I told her you were my everything, you owned my heart and I am completely loyal to you" he smiles "and what do you mean get used to it?"

"Well I'm marrying a man who is by far the most handsome man on the planet, other women are bound to want a piece of you" I chuckle "you really said that to her?" I ask

"Yes I did, it's the truth" he smiles "all those other women can want all they like but only you get to have me, all of me" he says "jeez I'm sorry baby I haven't asked how you are feeling" he says

"I'm alright, a little sore but I'll be fine" I smile "our boy is more important" I say looking over at him "our beautiful boy, he's perfect isn't he"

"He sure is" he says taking his hand out of the incubator "here let him hold your finger for a while" he says moving me onto his lap and placing my hand in the incubator, straight away Makoa grips my finger and all I can do is smile.

"Hey little man, mama is here" I say quietly as Joe wraps his arms around me

"He looks like you" he says kissing my neck

"Yeah but with your hair" I smile

"Do you think it was something I did?" I ask "Do you think it's my fault he was early?"

"No baby absolutely not" he says holding me a little tighter "you did nothing wrong, it's not your fault please don't blame yourself"

"But I was the one carrying him" I say "who else can take the blame"

"Nobody is to blame" he says "especially not you, please believe me Jas don't beat yourself up over this"

"You're not the only one who feels like they let him down" I sigh

"And I'm going to say the same thing to you that you said to me" he says "you haven't let anyone down"

Joe and I fall silent as we gaze at our son, his tiny hand curled around my finger. All I could feel was the longing I had to hold him, and I'm sure Joe was feeling the same.

"What is he laying on?" I ask breaking the silence

"It's a heated blanket" he says "it's helping him keep warm until he can regulate his own body temperature"

"I'm so glad you were here" I sigh "god knows what I would have done without you"

"Well you don't need to think about that becuase I am here and I'm not going anywhere" he says "I love you, all of you, so much"

"We all love you too" I smile pressing a soft kiss to his lips before yawning

"You need some rest" he chuckles

"I don't want to leave him" I say looking at our son

"I know but you are no good to him exhausted" he says "come on we'll go take a nap and we'll come straight back when we wake up"

"Alright" I nod as we stand and Joe pulls me into side "see you soon sweetheart" I whisper as a gently remove my finger from his grasp

"See you soon little buddy" Joe says before guiding me out of the room, but something tells me that neither of us are going to sleep that well.