Someone Like Us | Completed ✓

Chapter Twenty: Like Us

December 22

Today had to be the biggest day of Joan's life. When she thought back, nothing compared to how important today was, except for the day she found out she'd conceived. It was incredible how only nine months had passed since then, and in those nine short months her entire life had changed forever.

She walked over to the dresser in Davian's nursery and pulled an outfit for him out of the drawers (picked out especially for this day), then gingerly put them into the white and blue striped diaper bag. The outfit was a soft white sleeper with light gray feet and a white and gray penguin on the front, along with a matching gray hat, gray bib and white swaddling blanket with penguins on them. Also in the bag was a few more blankets, some diaper changing and feeding supplies, some mittens, a teddy coat and a blue pacifier.

Her mom poked her head into the room. "Ready to go, honey?" she said.

"Yep," Joan said. She stood up, picked up Davian's bag, and walked out to the car, stopping to put on her boots, coat, and hat and grab her purse on the way out.

Wesley got up from the front passenger seat to let her sit there instead, but Joan stopped him. "I... want to sit by Davian's car seat," she said, blushing. Wesley smiled. "That's okay," he said. "Go right ahead." He took Davian's bag and put it in the trunk, and Joan got into the back seat next to Davian's black and light blue car seat. Lilly and Wesley got into the car and they pulled out of the driveway.

They drove for a while before pulling into the Maack's driveway down the road. Alyssa burst out of the front door and raced out to the car.

It was a little cramped, but everybody managed to fit in the car. As they were driving, Joan put her hand on Davian's car seat and stared at it. Nobody said anything for a while, until Joan's phone pinged in her purse.

"Who's that?" Wesley asked. Joan got her phone out and looked at the text message. She smiled. "It's Ace. He and his family beat us to the hospital."

"Of course they did," Alyssa said with a grin and a roll of her eyes.

"So, what are you thinking, Jo?" she asked. "Are you excited?"

Joan laughed. "Excited?" she exclaimed. "Excited doesn't even begin to describe how I feel! I'm more than excited, Alyssa! Davian's finally coming home!"

It was quite possibly the longest twenty minutes of Joan's life. When they drove into the hospital's parking lot and parked, Joan rushed to jump out of the car, grab Davian's bag, and jog to the hospital's doors. Only Wesley's gentle warning stopped her from slipping on the icy pavement.

As they walked through the hospital's halls and rode the elevator, people stopped to tell them 'Merry Christmas'. Joan barely heard any of them.

The only time she stopped and listened was when they walked into Davian's room. Ace was over by Davian's crib changing his diaper. Davian was crying, and Ace was singing to him, trying to calm him down.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby..."

Joan's parents went over to talk to Ace's foster parents, who were talking to the doctors, Alyssa stood by Nick, and Joan rushed over to Ace. She set down the bag, pulled the pacifier out of it, and put it in Davian's mouth. She nudged it a couple of times, then Davian started sucking on it and slowly stopped crying.

Ace breathed a sigh of relief and kissed Joan. "You're a life-saver," a said. Joan laughed. "I do what I can," she said.

Ace finished changing Davian's diaper, then turned back to Joan. "Do you have his going-home outfit?" he asked. Joan nodded and took the penguin outfit out of the bag. She started to hand it to him, but he stepped back.