The best is yet to come

Be still my heart

Present time

Carina was still asleep.
Jo had told her she could remove the mask only when she held the baby, but to keep it when she wanted to sleep cause she had been put under a very big effort.

Maya was sitted on the chair in front of the window finally holding that little bundle of life that had just seen the light of the world.
She was playing with her fingers with her baby's hospital bracelet.

December 1st 2022. Joy Rachel Bishop-Deluca. 7.4 lbs. 11:34 AM.

Maya's eyes glazed over and she smiled as the baby emitted some kind of involuntary giggle.
Was it really possibile? That those tiny eggs they had removed from her uterus more than a year ago, were now that little girl? Her little girl, their little girl.

She had been spending time thinking about how she could love her kid if she had grown in an environment that denied that love. But as soon as the baby reached her arms she felt attached, she felt like she would have done anything, anything at all, to protect her and to love her.

Her little hands and fingers, her little cheeks and her little lips felt like a drug she was already addicted to. No cure for this kind of illness.

A soft knock on the door dragged her out of her thoughts and she heard Carina moving awake in her bed.
She knew who it was. Cause she had stayed out the whole time until apparently Doctor Wilson told her she could come in.

So both Maya and Carina turned towards the door as it opened and Leslie walked in.

She watched her mom a little frightened by the oxygen mask she was wearing but Carina reassured her pulling it down and tiredly smiling at her.
Then she turned her gaze to her right and noticed Maya sitting on the chair she had previously occupied with a tiny yellow bundle in her muscular arms.

And the girl's heart melt instantly as she walked closer smiling wide.
Maya's eyes glazed over once again as her older daughter approached her and moved her hand, sticking her finger out so that the baby's fingers could wrap around it.
And then she laughed and a tear fell, scrolling along her cheek, and she wiped it away.

It was so silent and soft and lovely, that Carina thought about closing the door to keep the four of them in there forever.

"I'm...what's her name then?" Leslie finally asked in a wisper but still looking at the little one.

Maya's eyes reached Carina's who nodded towards her wife.

"Joy Rachel Bishop-Deluca." Maya spoke softly.

Instantly, Leslie's eyes met Maya's in an amazed look.

"What?" She sniffed and tried again to wipe away the tears that were now streaming down her cheeks.

Her mother's name was Rachel. They named her after her mom.

Maya nodded and Leslie turned towards Carina who had pulled the mask away feeling a lot better. The italian smiled at her daughter and gestured her to come closer. Leslie did, sitting on her bed and sinking her head on her chest in a tight hug.

Maya stood up keeping the baby in her arms and reached the girl on the bed.

"Do you want to hold her?" She asked moving her arms a little forward.

Leslie glanced up relising herself from the hug and nodded softly.

"But I don't know how." She said trying to place the arms in the same position as her mother.

"Just like this." Carina moved to take her arms and place them right. "And then you use the hand to hold her head." She helped in a wisper to not wake the baby.