Endings and Beginnings

Chapter 23

"DANA?!" Meryl screamed at seeing her brother who should be in jail holding her 2 week old daughter; and she immediately moved towards him so she could take her baby. The sight before her almost brought her to her knees. All she could think about was how Dana beat Don and the awful things he said to both of them. She couldn't stop thinking about how Dana said he wanted her baby, well babies since they didn't know at the time she was pregnant with twins, dead. She knew she needed to be smart when dealing with her brother, knowing he wasn't stable; and all she wanted was her baby. "Come here, angel; Mama's here, my love."

Dana moved so Meryl couldn't get to the baby. "You don't want her; you have another baby. We are going away. She's going to be mine; just like the baby girl I was supposed to have. This will work-we each will have a baby now."

"Dana, I do want her; we want her so much. Don and I both have fought so hard for her; our little miracle baby. She's only 10 days old, Dana; please be careful with her." Meryl choked as she slowly walked towards Dana as Mags was screaming from the top of her lungs; obviously feeling the tension that was present in the room. She hated that she was begging her brother to give her baby back to her but she would do anything to have Margaret back safely in her arms."She's scared; please let me take her. I've never heard her cry like this before; please give me my baby back, Dana!"

Dana pushed Meryl back so she couldn't get to Mags. "You didn't even know about her! You don't need her!"

"Margaret! Meryl!" Don exclaimed as he helped his wife up after running into their babies' nursery with a sleeping Brady in his arms. "Are you okay?"

Meryl looked at him with tears in her eyes; and then she looked back at her little brother. She knew that she not only needed to talk sense into her brother; but that she also needed to keep Don as calm as possible if she had any hope of diffusing the situation. "Let me handle this."

"Dana, what in the hell are you doing here?" Don started to go towards his brother-in-law until Margaret starting crying louder. "She doesn't like to be held so tightly. You're hurting her!"

Meryl pulled Don back; and got in-between him and her husband. She was desperate to reach the heart that was her brother; not the person he had turned into in the last 4 months. "Dana, it's me, Mary. Talk to me. I know you didn't want to hurt us and you don't want to hurt Mags; I have to believe that. We weren't raised to live this way. Please Dana, give her to me and we can talk. We want to help you; just please don't hurt her."

"Not in front of him." Dana looked at Don; he was too ashamed with how he acted to reveal his struggles to a man he had always looked up to. "This is between brother and sister."

Don turned pleading eyes to Meryl. "I can't leave you two in here with him, Mer."

"You trust me?" Meryl choked as she and Don walked to the corner of the room while still keeping their eyes on Margaret.

Don sighed as she kissed Brady who was in his arms. "Of course, but baby..."

"Please, I can get through to him." Meryl choked. "He's lost, Don; look at him. He's my baby brother. I won't take my eyes off her."

Don nodded as his hand went behind him and turned on the baby monitors. "I know you won't, sweetheart, I don't doubt that for one second; you need me and..."

"I'll give you a sign in the camera." Meryl smiled softly knowing he just turned it on. "Love you."

Don kissed her forehead. "I love you too, both of you."

"Dana." Meryl breathed when Don left as she went over to her brother. "Talk to me. This isn't you. You don't want my baby."

Dana cried into the baby's head. "I do; she should have been mine. I should have had another little girl. I should have had another chance; not you and Don."