Imperfections (Zalfie)

Alfie

I feel someone nudging me before my arm drops, making my head fall too. I open my eyes to see a nurse standing infront of me with a smile on her face.

"Alfie? It's nurse Abigail. Zoe would like to see you now" She says

I immediately wake up, "She's okay? and the baby?"

She nods, "Yes she is okay. The baby is okay too but we had to do an emergency C-Section on Zoe to get her out. She developed internal bleeding and the baby needed out immediately. She is in an intensive care unit on a ventilator and will have to be there for a long time as she is severely premature. Other than that, all is good"

I nod, taking everything in. She? It's a baby girl. I'm a father to a baby girl, this is insane. My girlfriend is okay too, this is too much to take in.

I follow nurse Abigail to the room Zoe is in.

She opens the door and lets me in, leaving us alone for a while.

I look over at Zoe. She looks pale and unwell. She certainly looks beaten up. She has a cut eyebrow and lip and a bruise on her right cheekbone. She has a bandage across her stomach and a band-aid on her forehead. I can't believe I did this to her. This is all my fault.

I feel my eyes welling up again.

"Come here" She said, opening her arms out wide

I smiled, she doesn't hate me. I walked up to her and hugged her as tight as I could, never wanting to let go.

"I'm so sorry" I sobbed, "I didn't mean anything I said"

"Shhh" She soothed, rubbing my back

"We have a baby girl" I beamed

She smiled back, "Yeah, we do. I'm so sorry I never told you. It's my biggest regret. I was just so scared"

I nodded, understanding what she meant. "I'd never leave you little one, you should know that by now" I smiled warmly, caressing her bruised cheek.

"Can we see her?"

"I'll go ask the nurse" I smiled, letting go of her in search of the nurse.

I walked down the hallway a little bit, spotting Abigail in the distance. She noticed me as I waved her over.

She smiled and walked over, "Everything okay?" She asked

"Can we see our baby?" I asked

She nodded, "Of course. I'll just get Zoe a wheelchair and you can see her right away"

I nodded, smiling again. I walked back and told Zoe and soon enough, we were on our way to meet our baby girl.

Nurse Abigail opened the door for us, letting us in. In the middle of the room, was a ventilator and around it was loads of machines. The room was dimmed slightly too.

"You can touch her using these little hand doors" She says, pointing to the 4 doors around the ventilator only big enough for your hand to fit through.

I nodded and she left us alone with our baby girl.

"She's so small and beautiful. This doesn't feel real" I dry laughed.

"What shall we call her?" Zoe asked

"I like Georgia. It's cute"

Zoe beamed next to me, "That's adorable Alfie. I like Eloise as a middle name"

"Georgia Eloise Sugg" I smiled

Zoe's smile faded, "You don't want her to have your last name?" She queried.

I looked up at her in shock, "You want her to?"

She nodded, slightly smiling.

My smile grew wide, "Georgia Eloise Deyes" I said, looking down at my beautiful baby girl as I linked my hand with Zoe's.