Happiness

I love Brady and Theresa together so much. I can't wait for them to get their baby back from crazy Kristen, so I decided to write a possible scenario for it. It's just a one shot but I hope you enjoy it!

"So what are we going to call her?" Brady asked as he sat in a chair beside Theresa. They were watching Kayla as she examined their little daughter.

Their daughter. Hers and Brady's. The thought sent Theresa's insides to tremoring. Dear god, how was she going to raise a kid she hadn't known existed twelve hours before? Would Brady even let her have a say in this little girl's upbringing?

Theresa kept her eyes riveted on the dark-haired two month old squirming under the cold metal of Kayla's stethoscope. Theresa wanted to reach out to her baby but she was actually afraid to try. Afraid? No, terrified.

How would she take care of an infant? She had no baby-raising skills, let alone any baby-related items for the tot. She hadn't gotten to buy anything in preparation – no bottles, nor booties, well, anything at all – because she hadn't known that there was someone to buy them for. She felt sick and worried and scared and about a hundred other things all at the same time. Most of all, she felt unworthy.

"A name, Theresa," Brady prompted again. "She needs a name. Kristen was calling her Kitty but-"

"I hate it!" Theresa snapped, finding her voice. It sounded raw and hoarse to her own ears. "I hate that name. What kind of a name is 'Kitty' anyway? My god, she's not a cat. She's a little girl – a sweet, innocent little girl who deserves so much better than she's gotten so far." Theresa's hands trembled on the chair arms.

"Theresa –" Brady started but she was already vaulting out of her chair, charging towards the door. She ripped it open, practically off its hinges, wanting to be free; needing to be free. She couldn't breathe; she couldn't fucking breathe! It hurt. It hurt so much.

Fat teardrops rolled down her face as she ran for the bank of elevators. "Theresa!" She heard Brady calling after her. She quickly pressed her fingers down on the button to call the elevator. When it took a second too long to arrive, she swore loudly and ran for the door leading to the hospital's emergency staircase.

She burst through the door and was two steps down when she heard it open after her. Brady was right behind her. She looked back, though she wished she hadn't. He wasn't looking at her like he hated her for once; so what did he feel? Why did she care?

"Theresa, what the hell?" He asked. "Where are you going?"

Theresa kept scaling the steps, gripping the railing tightly lest she fall. All she cared about right now was getting out of there.

"Theresa, come on," Brady shouted down to her. "Come back."

"No! Just leave me alone!" She cried.

"Theresa, where are you going? Our daughter-"

"Your daughter, Brady; she's yours."

"You know the truth now. You know she's a part of you too. You can't run away from that."

Theresa kept running down the steps. "Theresa, stop!" Brady called and she heard his footsteps on the stairs now. He was giving chase. How she had wished all along that he would care enough to come after her and now that he was, she was running away.

She couldn't stop running.

She crashed out the door on the first floor. She raced outside, the cool air immediately smacking her hard in the face. She still couldn't breathe.

She went to cross the street but suddenly felt a firm hand grab her arm, pulling her back from the curb. "Brady, I swear to God-"

"You're not going anywhere," Brady said. He turned her around to face him. She wanted to hit him so hard but settled for wrenching free of his grasp.

"Dammit, Theresa, why are you being like this?" Brady asked. "Our daughter is upstairs needing us and you're running away. Why?"

"Brady," she said through gritted teeth. "Don't force this. Quit pushing me dammit."

"What- pushing you to be a mother to that little girl? That innocent, perfect little girl we somehow created from our crazy, messed up DNA?"

"Shut up!" Theresa snapped. Another shameful tear rolled down her face.

"If you're scared –"

"I'm not scared," Theresa said but her voice wavered. "I'm terrified. Terrified, okay? Is that what you want to hear? I know that I am going to mess up that sweet little angel somehow. I don't want her to be like me. I don't. She deserves so much better."

"Theresa, regardless of what we are and what we've done, I believe two hundred percent that we can take care of her; that we can love her. I know you would never hurt or let any harm come to her."

"But I didn't – I didn't protect her! That's how that bitch Kristen Dimera got her in the first place. There's no telling what hell that little girl has gone through being raised by the likes of her. Maybe I'd be no better for her though."

"You know that's not true," Brady said and his hands came to rest on her shoulders. "Not true at all. You're a lot of things, Theresa, okay, but you're not a monster. You would never hurt a child, let alone one of your own."

"Brady-" She longed to pull away from him and run off again but she could only sag a bit under the pressure of his strong, warm hands. "I want her to be happy."

"She will be, okay? We'll make sure of that. And when she's not happy, when she falls down – because she will every once in awhile, we'll be there for her, to dust her off, to put band-aids on her little knees …"

"I didn't take care of her!"

"That's not true. It was me – me! - who let her down; who let you down. You tried to tell me you were pregnant and I was too upset to believe you. I just yelled at you and kicked you out of my life."

"I gave you good reasons," Theresa admitted. "I hurt you over and over; I used you… I hurt your father… That's something I can never forgive myself for. I was just so desperate to keep you at any cost… I hurt people, Brady. Don't you get it? That's what I do. That's who I am, this like, destructive force. I don't want that sweet baby to be collateral damage."

"Theresa-"

"You raise her, Brady; you and Melanie. I've seen Melanie with her brother, Parker. She knows how to take good care of children."

"Melanie's great, Theresa, but she's not you," Brady said. His eyes locked on hers, holding her gaze for a long moment. "I mean, Melanie isn't her mother. A kid needs their mother, believe me, I know. Marlena was amazing to me growing up but she still was no substitute for my mom, Isabella. Melanie can't be a substitute for you either. And believe it or not, I think you'll regret it if you walk out of our little girl's life."

"What will I teach her – how to con, steal, lie, cheat, push people around?"

"She can and will learn for our mistakes. The truth is though, if anyone knows how intensely you can love and protect people, it's me. I know no harm will ever come to her head now that we know she's ours."

"Brady –"

"It all boils down to one thing, Theresa. Do you want to be a part of her life? Be honest here."

Theresa didn't even hesitate. "Yes, I do."

"Then you do it, you do your damned best too. You fight for her, you love her fiercely as I know you will, you never let her think for a second that she isn't your world, your whole reason for being. I know those are all things you can do. The rest, we'll figure out together."

"Aren't you scared?"

"Yes! I'm actually shaking inside. You can't see it, maybe, but I have all the same fears as you. I just figure that our negative traits have to cancel each other out."

"Brady-"

"She won't be us, Theresa. Looking into those little girl's eyes… All I can see is perfection. She's the best thing we ever did, Theresa. The one thing so amazing that even we can't mess up it up."

"But –"

"No buts, Theresa. You said you want to be a part of her life and you should be. You will be. Now let's go upstairs and get our girl. We were cheated out of too much time with her already. I don't want to lose another second, do you?"

"No…"

"You don't have to do this alone, Theresa. I'm going to be there every step of the way. I swear. You need someone to change diapers? I will. Need some help one night when she's colicky and grumpy, I'll come right over. You need a break to just be for awhile, I'll be around to pick up the slack. You need someone to love this kid as much as you already do? I'm that person."

He squeezed her shoulders gently. "Now what do you say? She would go claim our daughter?"

Theresa slowly nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Brady offered her a smile – the first genuine smile she'd seen directed at her in god knew how long. She found herself smiling back, dashing at her tears as they hurried back inside.

The whole elevator ride up, they said nothing, just stared at each other with wondrous smiles. Theresa was going to hold her daughter for the very first time. She was freaking out inside but was also incredibly excited.

They hurried back into the exam room. Kayla mercifully didn't ask any questions about where they had gone. She just held the baby out to Theresa. "She's in perfect health, you guys, and she wants her Mommy, I think."

"I hope so," Theresa said. She slowly held out her arms and Kayla handed the baby to her. Theresa held the infant out in front of her for a long moment, looking at her daughter, just memorizing her. She had Brady's eyes and chin but everything else was Theresa. It scared her and exhilarated her too.

Theresa then tugged the squirming infant to her chest and began to rock her slowly. The baby looked up at Theresa with eyes full of curiosity and trust. Trust? Yeah that's what it was. May Theresa always be worthy of that trust.

Theresa and Brady took turns holding the baby and when it was time to go home, a dozen family members at least gathered to coo and awww at the baby. "What are we going to call her?" Brady asked quietly as Theresa tucked the baby against her shoulder. People knew better than to ask to hold the infant right now. Theresa and Brady wanted and deserved to have her all to themselves for a time.

Theresa thought it over and looked at her daughter who had fallen asleep against her heart. "I kind of always liked the name Harper."

"Harper?"

"Yeah, if you don't-"

"I love it," Brady said, kissing the infant's little head. She didn't wake but rather snored contently. That was another thing she got from Brady, apparently.

"Harper Isabella Donovan-Black."

"Isabella?"

"After your Mom," Theresa said.

"Thank you," was all Brady said. It seemed to be a "thank you" that encompassed more than just his appreciation for her making his late mother their child's namesake.

Hope had brought them Ciara's old car seat and they carefully settled the baby into it. Harper would spend the night with Theresa, it was decided, but when they arrived at her apartment, Brady invited himself in anyway; in fact, he invited himself to stay for the night. Theresa couldn't find it in her heart to tell him to scram. She honestly didn't want to.

As they sat on the sofa for hours, just holding their slumbering daughter, Theresa thought that this was what true contentedness, true peace, true happiness, must feel like.