Stay the Night

Chapter 37

August 6th, 2003

Michael numbly followed Katrina into one of  the rooms a little down the hall from Mariah. Another nurse was gently rocking the baby in her arms.

"Would you like to hold her?" She asked. 

Michael nodded, taking his daughter in his arms. He could help but smile as he gazed upon the little one for the first time, his feelings of regret dissipating. It was a feeling that he didn't think he'd get over: meeting his children. 

His daughter stared at him, her head titled inquisitively, as if she couldn't understand all the fuss that was going on. She almost reminded him of Noelle when she was born. 

"Hi, Melanie." He whispered.

"There you are."

Michael turned and saw Janet and Jermaine standing at the door with a bag of KFC.

"Come meet your niece." He said, turning his attention back to his baby.

Janet and Jermaine approached, Janet with a wide grin on her face. Michael lowered his arm a bit so they could both get a good look at the new edition.

"She is so big! "

Katrina, who'd been sitting and observing the family from as desk, nodded. "She was ten pounds, ten ounces."

"Damn, that's a big baby. Ten pounds?" Jermaine exclaimed.

Janet's eyes were the size of moons.  "Almost eleven pounds, no wonder Mariah couldn't push her out."

Michael nodded slowly, remembering that he still didn't know what was going on with his wife. He cradled the little one, trying to use her to distract himself from his fears.

"She looks just like Mariah." Jermaine commented.

Michael nodded, chuckling. "She really does."

"With a full head of red hair." Janet added. "She's definitely more Carey than Jackson."

Michael didn't respond, instead choosing to take in each one of his daughter's delicate features. She looked like Mariah for the moment, but he figured she would look more like him as she grew, not unlike her older sister Elizabeth. 

Katrina walked over to the trio with paperwork in her hand. "I don't know if you're waiting for your wife or not, but do you have a name for the baby?"

"M-Melanie." Michael  answered, looking back down at the baby. "Melanie..."

"Amara." Jermaine interjected.

"Jackson." Janet finished. 

"Melanie...Amara...Jackson." Katrina noted the name on the paper. "Alright Dad, sign here."

Janet took the baby so that Michael could sign the birth certificate. 

Katrina took back the clipboard. "So we've got Melanie Amara Jackson, born at 3:33pm and weighing ten pounds, ten ounces and twenty one inches."

"So do you know when we'll be able to see my wife?" Michael asked.

Katrina shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I'll try to page Dr. Gates so I can update you on her condition."

"Thank you."

August 6th, 2003

Mariah opened her eyes, feeling like she'd just been in a terrible car accident.  All of her muscles hurt and she struggled to pull herself into a sitting position. Everything looked and  sounded far away, and she couldn't quite move her mouth.