Closer 2

199.

Ray tried so hard to be calm as he led the little angel into the room. He wished so badly that his palms weren't sweating, and that the tears weren't pressing on. He knew his baby, this precious little angel that he and May and created, who he already knew he loved to death, would upset Elise. His little niece, who he also loved to death. And he felt guilty. So so guilty. Had he gotten the choice, they would've waited. Waited until Elise was older, more independent. Until she had more adults in her life to lean on. Maybe just a few more years until she started school.

But reality was that it was happening now. And he had to make it as good as it could be. He didn't want to lose Elise.

They had wheeled the plastic bassinet into the corner, basically hidden her so Elise wouldn't notice right away. Which thankfully seemed to work.

"Auntie!" Elise shrieked with relief and happienss, letting go of Ray's hand to run up to the bed. He followed and very carefully lifted her up onto the bed so she could hug May, knowing May couldn't with the wound from the emergency c-section still healing.

"Hey sweetie, I'm here, it's okay," May smiled, wiping away some tears from before that were still running down Elise's cheek.

"Auntie... got ouchie?" Elise asked, pointing to the needle she still had in her hand for pain medication, and Ray just got more and more nervous as introducing them got more and more delayed.

Behind him stood Brett and Eddy, both feeling nervous too. And guilty. Guilty for robbing Ray of this happy moment of introducing his child to them because they had messed up their child. They knew they had, it was just difficult to admit.

"Yeah, Auntie got ouchies, but I get some stuff that takes away most of the ouchies through here," May explained softly, showing her the tube leading up to the bag. "I'm okay. Sharkie kept me safe. Thank you for letting me borrow Sharkie."

"Is okay, Auntie," Elise said, leaning more against auntie and hugging her.

Ray felt like he was about to pass out from the nerves. They had agreed that May would be the one to introduce the baby. Or rather, May had insisted she would be. In case it went wrong. In case Elise got upset. May didn't want Ray to be associated with that. She didn't want him to be the 'bad guy' in Elise's eyes.

May placed a careful kiss to Elise's hair, just enjoying this moment with this precious little girl that she met at work one day. The little girl that clinged to this handsome, sweet man who caught her interest right away, and who actually found her interesting enough to go on a date. It was crazy how important Elise was to their relationship. They probably wouldn't even have talked if it wasn't for her!

"Auntie?" Elise asked softly, looking up at her.

"Yes, Li-Li?" May said softly, brushing her hair away from her face.

"Where's Sharkie?" she asked softly, and May knew that was the cue. She gave her a small smile, wanting her to feel safe.

"Sharkie is looking after someone for me right now," May explained softly. "Just like he looked after me before."

Elise looked all big eyed up at her.
"Who?" she asked, and May gave her a squeeze.

"It is someone who's very very fragile and who gets hurt really easily," May said softly. She was also getting a bit nervous now. "And Sharkie had been very careful while taking care of her, only using his gentle fins."

"Gentle fins?" Elise asked curiously, tilting her head slightly as she looked up at May.

"Yeah, like you have gentle hands, yeah?" May said, carefully taking Elise's hand between hers. "That only do good touches."

Elise nodded, and Ray just prayed she understood. He didn't want to pick between them.

"Do you want to meet her?"

Ray felt his heart jump out of his chest. He would probably have passed out from how nervous he was if Eddy hadn't reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder to support him.

"Yes please," Elise said softly, leaning against May again just as May gave Ray the nod. The signal to get their little one. Ray was terrified.