Finding a New Life Ch. 21-22

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"You're what?" Tyler asked.

"Pregnant," Lily repeated.

"You're sure?" Tyler wanted to know.

"The doctor ran three blood tests and then there is this," Lily murmured, handing him a piece of paper. Tyler smiled when he saw the fuzzy ultrasound picture.

"Is everything okay? Are you healthy?" Tyler wanted to know. Lily nodded.

"They're going to watch things more closely since I'm over 30 now, but Doctor Franklin said everything looks good," Lily answered. Tyler pulled Lily into a tight, but gentle hug. "You aren't mad? I know after David, you said you didn't want any more," Lily wanted to know.

"I love you Lily, and I'll love our baby, hell, if you got pregnant a dozen more times, I'd love every baby we have together," Tyler promised. Lily smiled and closed her eyes as Tyler leaned down and kissed her gently. "Why are you crying?" he asked, wiping the tears away.

"I don't know," Lily admitted.

Tyler laughed and kissed her again.

"Let's go tell the kids," Tyler said after Lily had composed herself.

"What's up?" David asked.

"Thanks for setting the table," Lily said.

"We finished making dinner," Mia told her mother. Lily smiled.

"Are you okay Lily? You looked really pale when you came home," Catie commented.

"I'm fine, I just had a surprise," Lily answered. She watched the kids as they put the food on the table before she sat down.

"What's going on mom?" Mia wanted to know. Lily gave a small smile before glancing at Tyler.

"I had a physical today," Lily began.

"Are you sick?" Mia asked.

"No sweetie, not sick. I'm pregnant," Lily said. She watched the different reactions on the kids' faces.

"Please have a boy, I'm tired of being out numbered," David pleaded.

"But you're so old!" Mia exclaimed. The only one who didn't say anything was Catie.

"Thanks Mia," Lily said dryly. "And as for having a boy, that's up to your dad," Lily told David.

"Catie, what do you think about this?" Tyler wanted to know.

"May I be excused please?" Catie asked.

"You haven't had anything to eat yet," Tyler protested.

"I'm not hungry," Catie said. Tyler opened his mouth to protest again but Lily intervened.

"I'll save you some," Lily promised. Catie stood up and practically ran out of the dining room and up to her room.

-hours later-

"Catie, are you okay?" Lily asked walking into Catie's bedroom and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Fine," Catie said.

"What's wrong?" Lily wanted to know.

"Are you going to send me back to my grandmother's now that you're pregnant again?" Catie asked.

"What? No! Why would you think that?" Lily wanted to know.

"My mother threatened to have a baby with Carter and to get rid of me," Catie admitted.

"Catie, I'm not Jenni, and you live here now. I'm not going to just kick you out because your father and I are having another baby. All I'm going to ask for is some more help around the house," Lily told Catie. Catie nodded and smiled.

"I can do that," she said.

"Good. Now why don't you come downstairs and have some dinner," Lily said, standing up.

"Eli, what's wrong?" Lily asked, sitting down across the table from her brother.

"Emma left me," Eli answered, wrinkling his nose after taking a sip of his coffee.

"What? Why?" Lily wanted to know. Eli waited for the waitress to come take Lily's order.

"Her mother blames you for Carter and in order to keep from causing major family problems, she's requested a divorce," Eli answered. "What's with the milk?" he wanted to know.

"Just don't want a coffee," Lily answered.

"Bull," Eli said. He studied his sister. "What's really going on?" he wanted to know.

"I'm pregnant," Lily said after a minute. Eli smiled and reached across the table to squeeze Lily's hand.

"I'm happy for you," Eli said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

-months later-

"Happy Birthday Catie!" Lily said cheerfully.

"Whoo-hoo, I'm twelve," Catie said bitterly.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked.

"There's a boy at school who's interested in me and Ty's already said that I can't date," Catie grumbled. Lily gave a laugh.

"You'll be able to date soon. Invite him to the party," Lily suggested.

"You're seriously having a party for me with as far along as you are?" Catie asked in surprise.

"You only turn twelve once," Lily said with a shrug. She looked up as Tyler knocked on the door. "Is Gail here?" Lily asked.

Tyler nodded and watched with a grin as his daughter quickly pulled on a robe and ran down the stairs

"How are you feeling?" Tyler asked as Lily walked over to him. He ran his hands down Lily's back and she moaned in contentment.

"I'm more than ready to have the baby," Lily answered, tensing as Tyler hit a knot.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a sore spot," she answered.

"How much longer?" Tyler wanted to know.

"Two weeks," Lily said, heading for the stairs. They walked in silence into the kitchen where Catie was eagerly opening the presents Gail had brought over.

"Well look at you," Gail said with a laugh. "Tyler just never stops does he?" she teased.

"Apparently not," Lily agreed.

"Mom are you sure you don't need me to drive?" Mia asked.

"I'm fine Mia," Lily said, wincing a little.

"Is the baby coming?" Mia asked.

"No, it's just a back ache," Lily answered as she climbed in the car.

"Mom, I can drive, I have my permit," Mia reminded Lily.

"I know, but it's just a few miles," Lily said.

"Okay," Mia said, getting in the passenger seat of the car. "Mom, look out!" Mia exclaimed as a deer bounded into the road. Lily slammed on the breaks, everything she'd learned in driver's training flew out the window as the car began to slide on the icy road.

"Mia, are you okay?" Lily asked when the car finally came to a stop. Mia nodded.

"What about you and the baby?" Mia wanted to know.

"I think I'm okay," Lily answered, ignoring the persistent back ache. Mia screamed as bright lights barreled towards them, an F-250 slammed into them.

"Ty, it's Grant. There's been an accident. Mia and Lily, they're in the ER. It doesn't look good," Grant said.

"What happened?" Tyler demanded to know.

"We don't know exactly, but it looks like they hit a deer and then got hit by another vehicle," Greg said.

"Are mom and Mia going to be okay?" David asked.

"And what about the baby?" Catie chimed in.

"The doctors don't know yet," Caroline said gently. Tyler looked like he had been hit by a Mack truck. "But I'm sure they'll be just fine. Mia survived Cancer twice and Lily survived Carter twice, they're both fighters," she added. Tyler looked up when Grace hurried into the emergency room, Hope and Hope's brother Hogan.

"You guys need to stop growing," Tyler said with a small smile.

Grace gave her brother a tight hug. "They'll be fine," Grace murmured, brushing his cheek with her thumb.

"Ty, you can go see them now," Grant said from behind Tyler.

"You go see Lily, we'll go see to Mia," Caroline told her son. Tyler gave his mother a look of thanks before following Grant into the trauma room that Lily was being worked on in. His eyes zeroed in on the fetal heart monitor.

"His the baby's heart rate supposed to be that high?" he wanted to know.

"150, yeah, that's good. It's if it drops below 120 or above 170 that we really need to worry," Grant said. Tyler looked relieved and sat down in the chair by the bed. "They're running tests, they'll come talk to you when they know more," Grant added.

"Any change?" Grace asked.

"No. Lil's still in a coma. They're talking about performing a c-section," Tyler answered.

"What about Mia?" Grace murmured.

"Still unconscious, but showing signs that she'll be waking up soon," Tyler told his sister.

"That's good," Grace said with a smile. Tyler nodded.

"How are David and Catie handling this?" Tyler asked.

"They're doing okay. They've helped a lot," Grace said.

"Good." They both looked up as an alarm on the fetal monitor sounded. Doctors rushed in and made Tyler and Grace leave the room.

"Grant, what's going on?" Tyler wanted to know.

"The baby's heart rate is falling, they need to take the baby by C-section now," Grant answered.

Tyler and Grace stood in the hall helpless as Grant was paged back to his department.

"Excuse me, Mr. Billings? Your daughter Mia, she's awake," a nurse said, walking up to Tyler.

"I'll call mom, you see to Mia," Grace said softly.

"Daddy?" Mia asked, her eyes wide as she looked around the room.

"Hey baby," Tyler said, a small smile on his face. He forced himself to stay calm, he didn't want to alarm his daughter. "Do you remember what happened?" he asked gently.

"A deer jumped out in front of us. I don't think we hit him, but a big pick up crashed into us about two minutes after. Is mom okay?" Mia wanted to know.

"She'll be fine sweetie," Tyler promised, hoping that he wasn't lying. He sat with Mia until she fell back to sleep before he went in search of information about Lily's condition.

"Hey mom, can I talk to Catie?" Tyler asked.

"Hey dad, is Lily okay?" Catie asked. Tyler paused for a moment and smiled as he realized what Catie had just called him.

"Mia's awake, but Lily's still in a coma, but they had to take the baby by C-section. It's a little girl, I know David will be disappointed, but the baby is healthy at least. Have grandma bring you guys up later this evening," Tyler said in a rush.

"Oh Ty, she's beautiful," Caroline said with a small smile.

"What have you named her?" Catie asked.

"I was thinking Nasya Sheli," Tyler answered.

"We aren't Jewish Ty," Caroline reminded her son.

"It means miracle of mine," Tyler told his mother. Caroline smiled.

"It's perfect," Caroline told her son.

"I can't believe it's another girl," David groused. Tyler laughed. "When is mom gonna wake up?" he asked.

"I don't know, but don't say anything to Mia about your mother being in a coma, it could set her recovery back," Tyler said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Tyler tossed and turned in the bedside chair and his eyes snapped open when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked over and saw Lily's eyes open, blinking slowly as she looked around the room in confusion. "Lil, thank God you're awake," Tyler breathed, pushing the call button.

"Yes?" the nurse asked.

"My wife's awake," Tyler answered.

~~~~~~~~~~

"How do you feel?" Tyler asked gently.

"Tired." Lily looked up at him and blinked.

"What's wrong?" Tyler murmured, reaching for her hand.

She pulled back and asked, "Who are you?"

Nasya is pronounced Na-see-a and Sheli is pronounced Shey-lee. Yes, both names are Hebrew. Nasya does mean Miracle and Sheli means mine. Comments are gladly accepted, but if you ask a question, please give me an email address so that I can email you with an answer. Thanks for reading!

Ashira