No Matter What

Chapter 43

Don and Meryl rode with Liz and Larry back to the house. Stacey said she would be along in a bit, she just wanted to finish writing up Meryl's medical plan and sen it over to Dr. Abbott, though she knew she would be Meryl's physician for as long as they were in Indianapolis which looked like could be quite a while due to the trials. Liz insisted that Don sit up in the front with Larry and she would sit in the back with Meryl, but Don wouldn't hear of it. He wanted to sit back there. Meryl even tried to convince him that she would be fine in the back with Liz as she was a doctor after all, but he insisted. Meryl knew she scared him, and she hated that, even though it was out of her control. If he wanted to fuss over her, she was going to let him, hoping that would make him feel better. Don was sure Meryl could tell how worked up he was, though he was trying to hide it. It was a combination of the fear of finding her gone and then with the gun, and anger at what his mother did to her. He just needed to be close to her. He needed to see with his own eyes that she was indeed okay. He needed her and his kids close, and since they talked to the kids on the phone before leaving the hospital, he focused on having his wife and babies close to him. He might not be able to control his mother's actions, but he could control keeping his family as safe as possible.

***

"Sweetheart, I should be helping you in the house." Meryl pointed out as Don had one arm around her waist and was holding onto her hand with his other one. "You are the one that can barely walk."

Don shook his head. "I don't have brain trauma, you do. I am going to be fussing over you, deal with it."

"Thank you." Meryl smiled softly at him as she tenderly kissed his lips while Liz opened the door from the garage to the kitchen. "I love you."

Don kissed her lips and then her forehead. "I love you, Darl."

"Here we are." Larry smiled as they walked into the kitchen. "And surprise surprise, Dad is drinking coffee and eating Mom's pie."

"She served it to me! I can't get in trouble if she serves it to me." Mike held up his hands in surrender as he got up and walked over to Don and Meryl, kissing Meryl's cheek. "How's our girl?"

Meryl nodded with tears in her eyes. "I will be fine. Mike, about what I did..."

"Sweetie, it is NOT your fault." Mike said with a kiss to the top of her head. "I do not want you to give it another thought, please."

"What he said." Maggie said as she then got to hug Meryl while Mike was hugging Don, and then she got to hug Don. "Come on you, two, come sit down."

Don helped Meryl sit down as Maggie them helped him, though he towered over her. "Where are our babies?"

"I need to get my hands on them." Meryl said as Don gave her a look. "Stace said it was okay as long as I don't walk with both of them. And your arm..."

"Is just fine." Don said with a kiss to her lips hoping he could stop her from feeling guilty about that. "Besides, I can hold one with the other arm. Teamwork."

Liz smiled as she handed Meryl and Don each a mug of tea. "That is why we are here. We want to help, please let us."

"Absolutely." Larry said. "We could have the babies sleep upstairs so you two can rest and bring them to you if they need to nurse throughout the night."

Don knew how his wife would feel about it, just the same as he did. Nursing was so important to Meryl, and while she could still nurse if the babies slept elsewhere, he knew she wouldn't want that any more than he did. He wanted his babies and his wife close to them, not a floor or two away. In fact, he wished they were with them right now. However, he also knew that his wife needed rest. "Thank you for the offer, but I think we will both feel better if they were in the room with us."