Code Blue

~ Chapter 56 ~

Chapter 56
Thursday November 23rd
Harry's POV

"Is there going to be mashed potatoes?" Stevie tilted her head and asked me curiously.

"Of course there's going to be mashed potatoes lovebug" I chuckled.

"What about corn?" Stevie perked up. I turned my head and looked at her with a smile, her bright eyes looked into mine.

"Yes sunshine" I answered, leaning down to let her press the elevator button. She was perched on my side, dragging me out to the courtyard to watch the sunrise. I couldn't be less thrilled about it, but I wasn't going to tell my little girl no.

"Will there be....turkey?!" She gasped, hitting the button to call the elevator excitedly.

"It wouldn't be thanksgiving without turkey!" I answered her with the same amount of enthusiasm, glaring at that one forgettable intern as they passed by. In front of us, the elevator doors split open, and we headed inside the thankfully empty space.

"Yay!" Stevie clapped her hands together. "Will Archie be there?"

"Maybe, he's been feeling a bit better" I answered honestly. Of course I wasn't working directly on the peds floor yesterday, but that didn't stop me from reading everything in their charts once Stevie went to sleep last night. Could I have went right to sleep after Ava's surgery? Yes, but I needed to make sure Dr. Plack didn't majorly ruin anything in my absence. Instead, I snuggled up in the bed next to my sunshine and read the chart notes in the darkened room, making sure all of my other kids were just as safe and sound.

"What about Uncle Max?" Stevie tapped her cheek with her pointer finger as she waited for my answer.

"He'll be there, and aunt Lola too" I smiled. I headed out of the elevator once we made it to the ground floor, making a left towards the door we always exit out of to reach the fountain. I knew that hearing her godparents would be in attendance would make her happy. She truly cares about my best friends and I'm glad they love her just as much.

"What about Mommy?" Stevie questioned, wrapping her arms around my neck and squeezing, to give me a bit of a side hug. I appreciated her hug, but her next question made me want to wither away. I couldn't give her the same definite yes now that I could just a moment ago. I should be able to.

"Mommy's out of town right now baby" I sighed before I pushed the answer out, saddened to disappoint her for what felt like the millionth time. Just once I wanted to be able to tell her with confidence that her mother was going to show up for her, and that day still hasn't come. I want it to; I want to be able to tell Stevie that Bonnie was going to 100% be there the same way I was. I want Stevie to experience those family moments like many other kids do, but we just weren't there unfortunately.

"Oh" Stevie frowned, the excitement she once had was abruptly taken from her face. It pained me inside to see that sad childhood innocence, confused and disrupted over the constant let down. I hated to see her any type of way that didn't involve a smile on her face.

Stevie always deserved to be smiling.

"Hey we're almost at the sunrise" I pointed out, quickly changing the conversation to push her away from the disappointment. I knew that a mention of the sunrise would divert her attention, since she was four and it was still easy to do that with kids her age.

As expected, she pointed avidly at the sky as we exited the hospital. The sun hadn't started to come up yet, but it would any minute now. I still found all of this undoubtedly silly, but it didn't fail to cheer Stevie up again, so I guess I couldn't be too mad at it for now.