Doctors continue to busy themselves around Linda, with some attempting to stem the flow of blood and some rushing around getting the necessary equipment. Mick can't help but panic. The more time passes, the more Mick loses hope, hope that his wife will pull through.
After what seems like a lifetime for Mick, the beeps start to ease and one doctor approaches him to explain how they've had to give Linda a blood transfusion (luckily her blood type was O, the most common) and goes on to tell Mick it'll be awhile before she wakes up.
"She will be okay though? like when she wakes up and that she'll be fine, she'll be fine won't she ?"
"She'll be a bit weary at first so go easy on her, but she'll be fine."
Mick breathes a sigh of relief "oh thank god, thank you, all of ya."
The doctor smiles.
"Aw she's beautiful isn't she," the doctor looks down at the newest member of the carter clan.
"Yeah, yeah, just like her mummy." Mick looks at his wife and smiles.
Mick is relieved and sits down near Linda with their daughter waiting for her to wake up, trying to take in everything that has happened in the last hour.
"We'll wait here for mummy to wake up yeah gorgeous, then you can meet her yeah? She's so excited to see you, she's gonna love you, I think she'll wanna dress you up in pink all the time just to warn you, I don't think you'll have much choice."
Half hour passes and Mick begins to get anxious before Linda's eyes begin to flutter
"L? Linda? I think she's waking up!"
Linda tries to open her eyes, "Mick....Mick is that you?"
"Yeah I'm right here baby ." The relief on Mick's face is priceless as he strokes her forehead with his fingers and holds their daughter in his other arm.
"The baby?" Linda says weakly.
"Here she is."
"Awwh my baby girl...look at her...she's beautiful isn't she." Linda says very slow and weakly.
"Yeah, yeah she is."
"Our little miracle baby." Linda exclaims.
Linda tries to sit up but winces in pain.
"Woah woah you take it easy, you've been through a lot L, you'll get plenty of chances to hold this little one."
Linda lays back down and turns to Mick
"What happened anyway." Linda questions Mick
"Well after they got this little one out, you...you lost a lot of blood L, you just blacked out, and... and I was so scared. I...thought...I thought I'd lost..." Mick says as he strokes her face lightly.
"Oh Mick." Linda says faintly as she takes holds his arm.
"I dunno what'd I'd do without you L, cos I..." Mick gets a little emotional
"Shh baby it's okay... I'm still here ain't I?" Linda says as she strokes through his beard with her thumb.
"You can't get rid of me that easily Mick." They both smile as they lock eyes with each other.
"I love you." Mick whispers with slightly teary eyes.
"You soppy sod."
"I mean it."
"I love you too, and you." Linda says as she strokes their daughters face.
"She's definitely got your eyes Mick." Linda says softly
"Oh cheers, I'll have to fork out on another pair of bins then won't I?" Linda smiles as Mick replies softly.
They pause and look at her for a second and smile
"Mummy and Daddy love you very much." Linda says.
"You heard your mum." Mick kisses his daughter head again as their baby girl grips her tiny fingers around Linda's who is still rather weak from surgery.
They spend time with their beautiful girl, totally and utterly besotted. As time passes, Linda begins to recover from her surgery slightly and is eventually stable enough to be transferred to a normal ward.
Linda is now well enough to sit up and hold her newborn in her arms and Mick stares at them in awe, they mean everything to him, and he can't believe how lucky he is as he wells up slightly.
"We'll just have to think of a name for your beautiful face won't we." Linda exclaims softly.
"Which musical name you thinking of this time?"
Linda curiously thinks ,
"Well you know when I was watching Mamma Mia..."
"You can't call her Donna Sheridan Carter for god sake."
"No silly, her daughter."
"Who?"
"I've really gotta make you watch that again."
Mick huffs,
"While I was watching it, I thought what a lovely name Sophia was if we had a girl." Linda says as she looks up at Mick in a query face.
"Would you like that ey?" Mick says as he smiles at his little girl and strokes her little cheek as Linda stares in awe at them, "Sophia Carter, yeah, yeah I like that, it's perfect." Mick says as he smiles at his little girl.
"Yeah?" Linda smiles and queries Mick,
"It's a beautiful name baby, as beautiful as her mother." Mick says as he strokes her arm.
You can see Linda emotionally melt as Mick says them words and then turns her head towards Mick's and they share a precious kiss before continuing to stare in awe at their little girl.
Not long after Linda begins to get tired so she places Sophia in the cot beside the bed and rests her head on Mick's chest who is laying down also with his arm wrapped around the back of her and they begin to engage in conversation.
"I really don't know what I'd do without you Mick Carter, if it weren't for you being right beside me for the past few days I just...I just don't know how I'd cope."
"I was hardly gonna leave you like that was I baby, you know I'm always gonna be here for you." Mick kisses the side of her head.
"I know, at least it was a significant improvement from last time Mick."
"Yeah erm sorry about that... you know how awful I felt about that... you falling down the stairs and little man just about pulling through... don't think I've ever sprinted so fast... I definitely pulled something that day..."
"You were more out of breath than me when you eventually showed up."
"Oi leave it out." they both giggle.
"At I least I made it up for it this time."
"You definitely did." Linda turns and shuffles her head to look up at Mick before approaching his lips with hers "I love you, so so much" Linda gets emotional before planting a kiss on his lips.
Mick strokes the hair off her face and behind her ears.
"I love you my Wonder Woman."
Linda smiles, giggles and settles on his chest again.
"I'll whack that out for you soon baby don't you worry."
They enjoy each other's company laid there for a split second.
"Fives enough now isn't it."
"Yeahhh, doesn't mean we can stop with the sex though L you're just too much fire for me not to be turned on to be honest." Mick replies.
"You've got a short memory you, have you forgotten how time consuming a newborn baby is."
"Well that didn't stop us when Ollie was a baby did it."
"You cheeky..." Linda whacks his chest
They both giggle.
Doctors come in to check in on them saying how brave they've been throughout the whole process and says how brilliant parents they'll be to their newborn daughter, Mick asks when they can go home and the doctors says they'd like to keep her in overnight at least.
Shirl meets her new granddaughter and gets slightly emotional which is a rare occasion for her and say how beautiful she is and how lucky the baby is to have them as parents before she uses the excuse to get them a change of clothes to hide how emotional she really is and Linda thanks her as she later brings them their son Ollie as well as Tina.
Later in the day Ollie arrives at the hospital to meet Sophia and instantly falls in love with his baby sister who he dreamt of meeting so much and he thanks them for his very late birthday present, kissing her head, Mick and Linda are in awe of their beautiful children as he joins the pair of them on the bed, their family is finally complete.
