Page 26 of Cass

“I really didn’t get much information, since the shit hit the fan before I arrived, but I know the baby is a girl. It’s a few weeks early, but it sounded like she was in pretty good shape. They didn’t seem overly worried. Brody hasn’t mentioned her. I’m sure we’ll find out more now that we know Harley will be okay.”

“Does she have a name yet?”

“I honestly don’t think they got that far before Harley started having issues. I doubt Brody’s seen the baby since the delivery. He’s been completely focused on Harley. It was a long few hours before you got here. It was pretty crazy. You arrived after the madness, but Brody was going insane over everything. He wanted to be in the O.R. with her.”

“I don’t blame him. That’s his wife. I’d be the same.” Payton nods in agreement.

I hear Brody tell the main doctor he wants to see Harley immediately. They tell him only a few visitors at a time. He laughs, despite the tears still streaming down his face. “That’s not really how this family rolls, Phil.” He motions back to all of us. “Harley has a pretty big army behind her.Everyoneis coming in to see her.”

The doctor doesn’t bother to argue with Brody on this one.

We all make our way back to Harley’s room. She’s unconscious and is connected to several machines, but Brody seems to know how to get around them, and he immediately gets into bed with her. He slides his arm under her, pulls her close to him, and peppers her face and head with kisses. Darian is seated on the other side, holding and kissing Harley’s hand.

We’re standing around in silence for a bit, until Harley’s eyes begin to flutter open. Reagan and Skylar immediately leave Cassandra to go to Harley’s side. I come up behind Cassandra and wrap my arms around her. She turns to give me a cautioning look, but doesn’t otherwise move to get away from me. I whisper in her ear, “Let me help you.” She nods and relaxes back into me.

Brody presses some button, and the doctor he called, Phil, walks in. He smiles down at Harley. “There’s our fighter. You gave usallquite a scare around here, though you may have set the world record for number of surgeons working on you.”

She’s still kind of out of it. He checks her eyes.

She gradually seems to more fully regain consciousness, and looks around in question.

Phil begins to speak before Harley has the opportunity to ask any questions. “Harley, you clotted and had a PE. We had to rush you into surgery. It was in a tough spot, and was pretty severe, but we eventually got it out. You’re very lucky. You’re on a series of blood thinners now.”

He smiles at her. “You had everyone in this hospital running around like crazy people. Your insane husband had to be physically restrained.” He smiles at Brody and shakes his head.

Harley looks over to Brody with tears in her eyes. He kisses her softly. She looks up at him. “I’m so sorry, Brody. Is…is our baby girl okay?” She can barely get out the words, her emotions overcoming her.

He pulls her hand to his mouth and kisses it. “You didn’t do anything wrong, baby. You’re so incredibly strong. You’re so brave. I love you.”

He kisses her again. “I haven’t seen her since you did. They took her to the NICU right away. She’s on oxygen, and they gave her a series of steroids for her lungs, but I think she’s otherwise fine. Honestly, I’ve been focused on you, not her. Thank you for coming back to me. To us. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Harley runs her fingers through Brody’s hair. “She needs you, Brody.”

He shakes his head with tears in his eyes. “When we see our daughter, it will be together.”

He puts his head into her shoulder and starts to shake with sobs. “I was so scared. I thought I’d I lost you.” He continues shaking. “I love you.”

She continues caressing him. “I’m fine, Brody. I’m going to be okay.” She kisses his head. “We need to be with her. You know as well as I do that she needs human touch. She needs our warmth.”

“I think Liz is holding her now.”

“She needsourtouch. We’re her parents.”

Phil interrupts their moment. “Why don’t I go down and check on her. If she’s up for it, we can have her brought up to you. Last I heard, she’s doing extremely well. I’m sure we can have her brought up here.”

Harley smiles at him and nods. “Thank you, Phil.”

“But you need to take it easy, Harley. Your body’s been through a substantial trauma. We need to make sure there are no more clots. Your body can’t take any more stress right now.”

“I will, but I need to see her, Phil. Please bring her to me.”

She turns back to Brody and caresses his face. “We need to name her.”

Darian leans over and kisses Harley’s cheek. “I love you so much, Harley.” She smiles. “What names are you thinking about? Maybe we can help.”

Harley looks at Brody and then back at Darian. “Brody’s Mom was named Eleanor. Neither of us love the name, but we like Ellie. We’re thinking of that.”

Darian smiles. “That’s beautiful. I love it.”

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