the apartment across the hall

49

Ella had been born for a few hours when Brooklyn's mom and brother arrived. They walked into the silent hospital room to see the new parents staring at their sleeping new baby.

Brooklyn handed the baby over to Vinny. "Her name is Ella."

"Hello Ella, this is your Uncle Vinny. You're just the prettiest girl I've ever seen." He spoke to her softly.

"Give me my granddaughter." Brooklyn's mom took the baby from Vinny.

"You look good." Vinny said to Brooklyn.

"Do I have the new mom glow?" She laughed.

"You do actually. Leave it to you to give birth in full hair and makeup."

"Well giving birth wasn't exactly on the agenda for today, but I guess it was on Ella's."

"That's such a pretty name." Her mom said.

"Brian picked it." Brooklyn smiled.

After a long day at the hospital, everyone was tired. It was getting late and Brooklyn's family had to leave the hospital for the night.

"You guys can stay at our house, we have plenty of room. It's cheaper than staying in a hotel." Brooklyn offered.

"I can give you a ride back to the house if you want." Brian said.

"You don't mind being alone for a bit?" Vinny asked Brooklyn.

"Ella's with me. I'll be fine guys just go." She replied.

They agreed and they all went down to Brian's car to ride home.

Brooklyn sat alone in the hospital room holding her baby, thinking how blessed she was to have her.

After a while there was a knock at the door, Brooklyn just assumed it was Brian coming back. The door opened and someone walked in. Brooklyn looked up and saw someone she hadn't seen in months.

"Hi. I really hope I don't upset you by being here but I wanted to see your baby if you'd let me." He said.

"Reid... how did you know?"

"You guys are pretty famous, it wasn't hard to find out. I can leave if-"

"No, come see her."

Reid walked over to the hospital bed.

"Have a seat and you can hold her." Brooklyn said.

Reid sat on the edge of her bed. Brooklyn handed over the baby to him, showing him how to support her head. He just looked down at her.

"Brooklyn she's beautiful." Reid said in awe. "What's her name?"

"Ella Blair Warner." She answered.

"You're beautiful, Ella." Reid stared at her for a few more minutes.

"It's nice to see you again." Brooklyn said.

Reid looked up at her. "Where is he?"

"He gave my family a ride home."

"How are you two?"

"We're good, we got married."

"I heard. 'Marilyn Manson Elopes in New Jersey' It was all over Rock Report."

Brooklyn nodded. She took a minute to watch him holding Ella, looking down at her. She studied his face again, the same way she did when they met in the courtyard. Her mind reeled and she imagined an alternate world where they'd stayed together and Ella was his daughter. She stopped herself and forced words out of her mouth to stop the damaging train of thought.

"Reid a lot happened between us, and looking back I realize that you were just trying to help me."

"Everything I did was because I cared about you. I still do. I hope that we can get past everything that happened. I really want to be a part of your life again, and Ella's."

"I don't know how Brian would feel about that, but I... I don't want to lose you."

He looked up at her to find that she was just as shocked that she said that as he was.

"You never have. I've tried to keep in touch but you moved and changed numbers. The only way I can keep up with your life is through the magazines."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disappear, you know how it is... I want us to stay friends, here's my new number." She wrote it down on a piece of paper and put it in his shirt pocket like she did the day they met.

Reid smiled. "I could hold her forever but I should probably go before he gets back." He gave Ella back to Brooklyn and stood up.

"Thank you for coming to see us."

"My pleasure." He bent down to give Ella a kiss on the forehead and Brooklyn smelled his familiar cologne.

"I'll see you around." She smiled.

"I hope so." He left the room.

Just a few minutes later Brian came back eager to hold his daughter.

"Did my they settle in well?" She asked as she gave him the baby.

"Yeah, they're fine." Brian thought he smelled a hint of cologne on Ella's blanket but decided it must have been Vinny's. "I can't get over how beautiful she is."

"Me either." Brooklyn smiled. "Thank you for giving me such a beautiful baby."

"No thank you, you did all the work."

"I almost don't even want to go to sleep because I don't want to stop looking at her."

"Yeah but you must be exhausted, you probably should get some sleep. I got her for the night if you want to."

"Alright, wake me up if either of you need anything."

"Sleep well mommy, we love you."

"I love you too."