Legal Prejudice 2 - Weather The Storms

Chapter 26

Rose had been with them a few weeks and everyone had now met her. She occasionally woke during the night because she was teething, but was easily soothed back to sleep and Allie was feeling more confident by the day. Michael had headed back to the office and Allie had managed on her own for two days, so she rang Daniel just before nine and asked if he was free for lunch so she could bring Rose to show everyone in the office. Daniel couldn't conceal how pleased he was to hear she was coming in and as soon as she came out of the elevator she saw he was hovering in reception.

Robyn and Carly appeared too and everyone oo'ed and ahh'ed when Rose broke out in a smile to see Daniel and squealed. Allie passed her over and he kissed her little cheek before they walked through. When they reached the paralegal area Carly jumped up coo-ing "Allie she's adorable honey. Dan, don't hog the baby." Allie laughed as Daniel looked at her. Allie nodded "Let Carly have cuddles." He handed her over and Rose looked at Carly slightly warily. Daniel threw an arm around Allie and Max came out of his office beaming "Allie honey I've got a client meeting in a minute, come here." Allie moved over and he hugged her tightly and said "Right Carly, I got to run in a minute so I need quick Rose cuddles, hand the baby over." Carly frowned but handed Rose to him. He walked off down the office with her to show some of the other staff and Allie rolled her eyes fondly at Daniel. She turned to Carly and said "if you want to annoy him just call him grandpa, he hates it."

Max came back and handed Rose back to Carly shouting to Allie that he'd see her at the weekend. Carly reluctantly passed Rose to Robyn who was planning on going over to the hospital to grab quick lunch with Jeremy. After Daniel, Allie and Rose left for lunch. Carly, Robyn and Liam chatted about how cute Rose was and Carly turned to Liam "I couldn't help notice how different Allie was compared to Carrie with Emmie, remember Liam?" Liam nodded and Carly turned back to Robyn "You weren't here Robyn but Carrie brought Emmie in when she was maybe like a month old. She wouldn't let Daniel get the baby out of the stroller and got really mad that people leaned in to take a look. She was only here like ten minutes or so. Poor Dan, I felt so bad for him. And here's Allie handing Rose around to anyone who wants some baby time." Robyn sighed "Yeah, Dan's great with Emmie and I think he's enjoying there being another baby around." She laughed "On Sunday we were having breakfast and Michael and Dan took Rose and Emmie for a walk. Some lady stopped to talk to them and made it obvious she thought they were a gay couple. They were so funny telling us." Liam laughed "Oh my God I'm so going to enjoy letting Dan know I heard that one." Robyn chuckled and grabbed her stuff to head out.

The following day Allie took Rose to Michael's office to meet him for lunch. Michael proudly carried Rose around the offices and Landon came out and embraced Allie warmly "Congratulations Allie sweetheart, she's beautiful." Rose began to cry a little at all the unfamiliar faces and Michael kissed her tenderly and passed her back to Allie to soothe. Nathan came out of one of the offices and looked hesitantly at Allie. She smiled at him and said "Hi Nathan, sorry did the noise disturb you? Rose is just a bit overwhelmed by all the new faces. We'll be out of the way soon, going for lunch." Landon winked at Allie and moved off saying "See you at three Michael. Great to see you Allie." Nathan had reached out to Rose and she had grabbed his finger with her right hand. He smiled up at Allie "She's really sweet Allie. I'd better go. Nice to see you." Allie made direct eye contact "Yeah Nathan, you too."

When they got to the café Michael placed Rose in a highchair and reached across the baby between them to kiss Allie. "Well who would ever have thought one cute baby could cure Nathan of being an asshole?" Allie burst out laughing "I'm sure it was only a temporary thaw in relations, but it was nice all the same and I'll take it." She sighed "I do wish he wouldn't hate me so much." Michael jiggled a toy for Rose and said "Well you should tell him what you did for Solomon" Allie shook her head "No way, he'd just think I threw money at the problem anyway. In fact he'd probably hate me more. I just know he's difficult with you because of me, and that makes me feel bad." Michael sighed and looked at her "Allie he and I didn't get along long before he knew you. I know I can be a dick, but he takes it to a whole new level. He always thinks he's right and Landon has to reign him in regularly. Let's order, I'm starving and Rose looks like she might eat the highchair in a minute!" Allie laughed and reached out to touch her husband's beautiful features as Rose gurgled between them.

Allie would look back on the next few months as a golden period. Every day she and Rose would go out and meet either Susan or Margie. They walked the park, the beach and the mall, chatting and enjoying Rose who Allie discovered did something new every day. When Michael came home she couldn't wait to tell him all Rose's new skills and by eleven months old she was making the first attempts at walking. Michael saw her first couple of shaky steps and said "Allie look, she did it!" Allie had caught Rose and lifted her up to kiss her. The following weekend they took her to buy her first pair of shoes and Michael and Allie held a hand each as she tried walking in them for the first time. The house now had stair gates and cupboard locks and Allie despaired at the number of times Rose toppled over and bumped her head.

The official adoption had gone through smoothly and she was now officially Rose Stevenson. When she turned one they had a party at the house and Allie sat with Max talking about coming back to work and he said "I'm not going to lie Allie, I'll be glad to get you back. Quite apart from how much you bill, I miss having you around. But listen, Margie wants me to ask you, and you can say no, she wants to look after Rose for you one day a week. What do you think?" Allie jumped up and hugged him enthusiastically "Really, oh my god I'd so love that. It would be so lovely for her to have some time with family and not always be in daycare." Max held her, relieved she liked the idea because he knew how much it would mean to Margie, but he said "Okay, but run it by Michael yeah, check he's good with that too." Allie nodded "I know he will be though."

When everyone had left and they were clearing up after Rose had gone to bed Allie told Michael about Margie's offer. He dropped the trash bag he was holding and caught Allie by the waist "That sounds so great Allie. I know you're nervous about Rose going to day care, so to have one day with someone who loves her so much must help yeah?" Allie dropped to sit on the couch "Yeah, I know we've visited the day care and it's lovely, we know Holly and Emmie's been with her for ages, so I know it's going to be fine. She hesitated and her eyes filled up with tears "But it's still going to be hard to leave her you know?" Michael sat next to her and pulled her onto his lap stroking her hair "I know honey. I know, but she's going to have fun and she'll get so much from being around other kids. Why don't you go over to Margie tomorrow and tell her we'd love to take her up on the offer."

In the event Rose settled happily in day care and was always excited to see Emmie when Holly came to collect her. Allie had returned to the office and life settled into a busy but happy routine. To celebrate her return to the office Margie had offered to babysit Emmie and Rose so the others could have a night out. Liam tagged along from the office, Landon made an appearance with Max and Jeremy was out, relieved for a break after a long run of nights on call. Freed from childcare responsibilities Michael and Allie were determined to enjoy the night off and John was equally as determined to get them drunk. Max laughed fondly when Landon pointed to the dancefloor where John was delivering another round of shots to Allie, Susan, Robyn, Michael and Dan "Think we might be keeping the kids most of tomorrow if their hangovers are anything like they should be. Time I was gone Landon." Daniel staggered home with Michael and Allie for no good reason he could remember and ended up in their guest room. When Michael came in the next morning bringing coffee and donuts he said "Everything's how it should be, the three of us nursing post party hangovers with coffee, advil and donuts."