Settling in Seattle

Chapter 26- We're Home Now

"Rosalie Ross... Ah, hi guys, come on in." Dr Fringe led them into his office, he was reasonably calm. Mike picked up the car seat and they walked into the room holding hands.

"Okay, so if one of you wants to remove her little onesie, and then you can explain to me when this happened, and what her other symptoms are."

"Yes, we've been away for the weekend, and I noticed that Rosalie was refusing her regular amount of milk. I tried quite a few things, but a lot of the time she just wanted to sleep..."

"Yes, and then on our way home she slept almost half the way, so we stopped to give her something to eat, and to check on her." Mike started to explain, passing Rosalie to Rachel, knowing she'd prefer to have her in her arms.

"Ah, okay, and that's when you noticed the rash on her chest?"

"Yes, Rachel went to change her and there it was. We checked her over and it doesn't seem to be anywhere else, except she was reasonably hot."

"Okay, let's take a look at it." Rachel placed the baby into Dr Fringe's arms, and he looked over the nasty, blistered redness. Mike looked at his wife and smiled, he had calmed slightly. "This looks like impetigo. It's a bacterial infection most common in toddlers but can occur in infants as young as little Rosalie here."

"Is it serious?"

"Not generally, it can be solved with some anti-bacterial cream, however, I am going to have to run one quick blood test, just to be sure it isn't anything more serious."

"Okay." Rachel stared at her baby girl who was squirming in discomfort. The doctor passed her back to her mother, and she settled slightly.

"Impetigo is something that doesn't really hurt, but is very itchy, and I would invest in some mittens to keep her hands off it when it's exposed. It just needs cleaning twice a day, and the anti-bacterial cream applied to it in the morning and evening. These bloods won't take a moment, I just will have to run them through tests, and I'll ring you with the results tomorrow." Rachel dressed Rosalie back into her onesie and Dr Fringe took a little prick machine out from a drawer and set it at Rosalie's heel. Rachel closed her eyes as it pressed into her briefly, and Rosalie let out a scream. A plaster was frantically applied, and Rachel raised Rosalie onto her shoulder, patting her back gently.

"Thank you doctor," Mike shook his hand, and he gave him a tube of the cream, "Are you going to just carry her out to try and calm her?" Rachel nodded, and stood up with Rosalie still clung to her chest. Mike picked up the carrier and they thanked Dr Fringe once more before leaving.

"We can take a breath now. He was definitely sure it was that impetigo," Rachel spoke softly to Mike as they made their way out back to the car, "At least we can go home now."

"Yep. Home, finally. Oh, before we go out here,  wrap this around her, it's cold out." Mike held out a pink starry blanket, and Rachel took it, concealing Rosalie's body into it.

"Oh, baby girl, it's okay, you're okay, we're home now." Mike whispered into Rosalie's head, her soft, dark wisps of hair blowing slightly. They walked towards their front door, as the light turned on from them walking towards it. Rachel unlocked the door and pushed herself into the house, breathing a big sigh of relief, kicking her boots off and hanging her trench coat up.

"Babe, I'll go and get her pyjamas, we can wash her, apply the cream and settle down, but can you order something to eat, I'm starving." Rachel got half way up the stairs when she shouted down to Mike.

"Sure!" He had slumped onto the sofa with Rosalie rested on him, her little arms up by her head, her body squished up into a little ball.

"Right," Mike placed both his hands on her hips and kissed her neck gently, "Thai ordered, baby asleep, fed, and clean, now what do we do?" He embraced her and kept pecking her cheeks.

"We lie down on the sofa, if we lie down here, we'll never get back up and you know that." Rachel spoke with some humour, putting her hands on the back of Mike's head.

"Okay, yep, you're right." He turned so he was in front of her and kissed her properly, deeply, full of care.

"Let's get down there." She broke it off and pivoted on her heels, almost running away from him to get the inside spot on the sofa.

"Oh, so that's why you ran away from me!" Mike sprawled down next to her, and laced his fingers into hers.

"God, I love you so much." Rachel's eyes were glistening.

"I haven't seen that look in your eye for a while?" Mike smiled, and she looked quizzically at him, "It's a good thing, a very, very good thing." He leant down and gave her a small kiss.

"Oh, is it now? Well I don't know, maybe I've just been a bit overwhelmed lately, sorry, I haven't really been giving you the greatest time of day."

"Really, because I would've said differently after the past two nights in that cottage?" Mike smirked.

"Mike, what's done and said in the Portland cottage, stays in the Portland cottage." She smiled and looked up at the ceiling.

"Right, sorry. Well, I don't think you'll be wanting to forget that, just saying."

"Okay, let's stop now. I'm actually starving, what did you order?"

"Enough for you and your grumbling stomach."

'My stomach is not grumbling."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't."

"Rachel, relax, I love you, and your noisy stomach."

"I love you too," She sunk in further to the sofa, more squished into Mike, they kissed each other passionately, like it was the last time they were going to see each other, like it was their last night on Earth. "Oookay, that's enough, the food'll be here in a moment."

"Spoil sport."

"Um, who was just referring to the cottage?"

"Rachel, what is done in the cottage stays in the cottage." Mike imitated her and gave her one last kiss, smiling, before they turned on Netflix, cherishing the moments they had, sat eating Thai with a baby monitor sat on the table too.