D: I do not own Higher Ground. I own my kitten. Well, half of her. And my
new snow outfit. That is all.
A/N: Here's the next chapter for you! Up faster than I thought I would. I might be finished this chappy or the next, not sure!! Please, please review!!! thanx! Enjoy!
AA/N: Those of you who asked for some more S&S 'fluff' stuff, sorry, but they have 4 NEWBORNS!! To take care of. They probably don't even get a chance to LOOK in each other's eyes let alone spare time to spend together. With all the help or not, they are still the parents so they act like that. They don't let everyone else raise their kids. Sorry!!
{#}
By Christmas Eve day, Shelby was learning the ropes of mommy hood and missing Madisyn terribly. But she had four other babies to be a mother to. Scott left early that morning to do some forgotten important paper work at the hospital. He told Shelby they had called. Shelby wanted him to visit Madisyn and kiss and hug her lots.
"What papers did they say you needed to sign?" Shelby asked just before he walked out the door.
"Uh..some..RELEASE forms for our four home now. Forgot some last time." Scott said, smiling all huge.
"Oh..okay. Love you, bye." Shelby said, brushing it off. Everyone was getting all excited for the Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchange. Everybody was busy in the kitchen cooking and chopping wood for later or some even called home to say Merry Christmas and such. By close to 2:00pm, Shelby was getting worried. Scott had been gone for 3 hours. She'd been busy caring for her babies with everyone's help, but she knew he'd been running late. The early Christmas dinner was close to being finished cooking. They would be eating by 3:00pm.
"Where IS my husband?!" Shelby said when she saw it click to 2:30pm. She'd just fed Drakeyn and put him down with his siblings; they had 2 monitors set in the kitchen and in the mess hall. Everyone was in their Christmas best and Danny was pacing the door hungrily.
"Ya' know what? I've never had a Christmas dinner before, let alone a Christmas?" Danny told Shelby, trying to distract her from worrying.
"Really?! NEVER?! Not even a stocking?" Shelby said getting mad for him.
"Well, on Christmas day we would get these cheesy cards with a roll of Life Savers stuck to them, they were usually old, I liked them. And on the streets there were the shelters. One year, my only Christmas gift, a teenage girl gave me her necklace. It was of a lady covered over her head with a cloth, holding her hands like this." Danny said, demonstrating for her.
"You don't know who that is?!" Shelby said shocked. He just looked confused and shrugged.
"That's the Virgin Mary! The mother of Jesus?!" Shelby exclaimed.
"Oh, okay. Like on the walls sometimes at some of the shelters ran by the churches. That's all that God stuff, huh?" Danny said, remembering.
"Yes! You know, we're Catholic. You WERE baptized before mom and dad gave you up, I continued and received my first communion..but never went on to my confirmation. I was supposed to have it done last year." Shelby explained. Danny listened intently, completely interested. Even after all this time since finding his family and who he was, he was still finding new things about himself.
"So, can you still do it? Can I?" he said softly.
"Yes, of course. I definitely am before we baptize my babies. All of you godparents need to. So, where's this necklace now?" Shelby asked, knowing he didn't wear it.
"Had to pawn it, for some money. Told the guy never to sell it. That I'd be back for it some day. He promised he'd save it. It's in a pawn shop on 138th and Gryffon St." Danny said, never forgetting. Shelby grabbed a paper as he left to find a seat 'just in case they start early' he said. She wrote down all the info. he just gave her and stuck it in her pocket.
About 10 till 3, Shelby was about to pop.
"Where. Is. Scott!?" she worried, glancing at the door constantly.
"Shel, he's fine. Just running late. I'm almost positive he's probably just last minute shopping and lost track of time." Jules tried to reassure her.
"Yeah. Probably found a baby store and poof in another world of daddy-dom." Jess said escorting her big sister to a chair at the table. The baby monitor was just over her shoulder. Everyone got a seat and got settled.
Just then, you could hear the door open and close. Mark came in, taking all his gear off and smiling.
"Just on time! Merry Christmas everybody..Happy Kwanza etc, etc. Let's eat!" he said happily, pulling up a chair.
"M-Mark? Where's..ohmy.." Shelby started to say, but drifted off when she saw Scott come walking slowly from around the corner.
He had his hands full.
He slowly went up to Shelby and stooped down.
"Shelby Scarbrow-Barringer..Merry Christmas." He said softly, gently placing Madisyn Katie into her arms, all wrapped up in a Christmas print blanket and in a preemie jumper (white) that had a hood to make her look like an angel. Which was also the pattern on the jumper. Shelby instantly got teary eyed and gaped at him.
"B-but.h-how? Sh-she's ..okay?" Shelby stuttered out, kissing her little nose.
"She's 4lbs. 4oz. She's doing good. Only gotta keep a monitor on her heart 24/7 to be safe. See." He said, his own eyes tearing, he showed her the beeper sized box clipped to Madisyn's waist and the lines leading to a lead placed over her heart in two places on her tiny chest. The stickies holding the leads on were shaped like little hearts.
"It's a little too little to bring a preemie with this heart condition home, but Abby convinced them she's fine. The difference of maybe a few more days till she gained more weight. That's what took awhile, paperwork and learning all about her monitor and other things." Scott explained softly, touching Madisyn's arm gently. Shelby gazed at Scott like he was a million bucks then grabbed his face with her free hand a gave him an earth stopping kiss.
"Thank you..sooo much!" she whispered, sniffling. Madisyn was awake, gazing at Shelby once again.
"You did it! You kept your promise!" Shelby cooed to her. Madisyn just did this lopsided grin and wiggled a little. (most likely a gas bubble, but who's counting?!)
"She's got her daddy's smile!" Kat commented.
"Okay who wants to eat?" Sophie said getting the night going. Shelby held Madisyn all through dinner, letting Scott, Jules, and Sophie attend to the other 4 babies. By that night, everyone was holding a baby as they opened their secret Santa gifts. ((an: Dav=Jesslyn, Aug=Dustyn, Scott=Braedyn, Kat=Madisyn, Daisy=Drakeyn)) Shelby was a secret Santa for her parents, together. When they opened the box, they found the framed picture Kat took of the quints all lined up together in blankets and framed next to it was a legal paper. Sophie read over it quickly, then gasped. Her eyes instantly watered.
"Oh.Peter." She mumbled, showing it to him. She was gazing at Shelby, and she just smiled back. Once Peter read it, he was shocked.
"My 'father-in-law' helped with the paper work, though he didn't like to. It's all through the channels now. Finalized." Shelby explained as she took Madisyn away from Kat. She'd started fussing and stopped as soon as she was in mommy's arms.
"What IS it?" Jules said finally, everyone wanting to know.
"Scott and Shelby gave 2nd legal guardianship to me and Sophie over the quints." Peter said after a minute. Everybody nodded and smiled at that. They may be the godparents, but if anything ever happened to Shelby and Scott, they weren't going to split the babies all up. They just got a voice it what happens to each baby.
After that, everyone passed out their gifts, then toasted marshmallows and had some hot chocolate, playing with the babies. Everybody clambered off to bed before it got real late so Peter and Sophie could finish up the lounge and Christmas tree. Madisyn AND Braedyn slept better than any night before in the last week since they knew that the other one was nearby.
Christmas morning came and was the best yet for anybody. The quints were the center of attention; Kat getting pictures all over. Even that night when the quints received their first home baths. She got a picture of them when Shelby placed them all on their belly's, 'No quint porn please' Daisy had commented, buck @$$ed naked!!! (Talk about a full moon!) Everyone watched, enjoying the face expressions as the babies 'played' in the water.
By New Years, Shelby was adjusting well to a routine. A few days after New Years, they got a call that Mikala had had her twins. On January 5, the quints had check-ups, so she went to visit Mikala too. The twins were only 2 weeks early, weighing in at 4lbs. 6oz. and 4lbs. 4oz. and both 18 inches long. She named them Kaitlynn((pronounced caught-lynn, Irish style)) Faith and Ashlynn Hope. They were very healthy. Shelby loved the name similarity. The quints were all very good, and all had gained close to another pound. Shelby was the happiest mommy when she came home with her now almost 1- month-old quints. She got another picture of them all head to head in a flower formation.
"This'll make a great card photo." Shelby commented as she got the pictures back. The media would check in to see the progress of the quints every so often. Now the whole school was involved in Agnes's 'Barringer Bunch' quints. Mostly the Cliffhangers though, would be seen carrying one of them to class or back or in the mess hall. It was great therapy. Before lone, they were all normal sized infants, not a trace of being preemies in them, and all their pictures were put on Horizon's web page and in albums. Now with Jess, the 2nd photographer-to-be in Horizon, being the cameraperson. Scott and Shelby loved their new lives as parents and never regretted anything, even though it was hard at times, like when Madisyn had to go in to undergo a simple heart surgery to repair the problem she had since birth. After that, though, she would no longer need the heart monitor, and was predicted to live on a healthy, long life.
Walter eventually went to prison for statutory rape, and manslaughter, since he did purposely drug minors. The quints and twins would be in college or out by the time he was considered for parole. If he survived in there. The inmates watch the news too. And they all have a soft spot for babies, especially these ones. Oh, and his cellmate's name happened to be Braydon also. (hehe..oops!)
THE END
{#}
A/N: There you go! I finally finished! Hope you all enjoyed the story!! Now, I'd like to thank ALL my reviewers who supported my story and reviewed it!! Without y'all I'd not get my muse to continue on and also I'd not know if I was doing okay or not!! I love you ALL!
My Guardian Angel Award goes to: Mandy, thanks girl for having my back!! It'll always be a great story to remember!! Hope to hear from you soon on any of my other fics!
My #1 Reviewer award goes to: hoplessromantic. You reviewed the MOST out of everybody; I had to acknowledge that!! You're great and helped me out when I needed it. Thanx!
I don't know enough great awards to give out to all of you, even though you all deserve one, but I am definitely mentioning all of you individually so thanks a million to all of you guys!!:
Christie
Carebear
Just Groovy(my close 2nd in most reviews! Thanx!)
Emer(where my Danny inspiration came from, thanx for letting me borrow him!)
Eminemluver
Leeanna
JC Skywalker
Prettyg36
Sallysue
Adrianne
Ashley
Kelly
Ss41981
Tracy
Tatiana
Duck
Mr. Personality(You gotta email me and tell me what's the significance of how you spell your name, with all the upper and lower case letter. It's boggling my mind trying to figure it out!)
Rosey
And
Anne(hiduh) ((for making my life a little bit more interesting, even if you didn't like the story, if you're even reading this now!))
A/N: Here's the next chapter for you! Up faster than I thought I would. I might be finished this chappy or the next, not sure!! Please, please review!!! thanx! Enjoy!
AA/N: Those of you who asked for some more S&S 'fluff' stuff, sorry, but they have 4 NEWBORNS!! To take care of. They probably don't even get a chance to LOOK in each other's eyes let alone spare time to spend together. With all the help or not, they are still the parents so they act like that. They don't let everyone else raise their kids. Sorry!!
{#}
By Christmas Eve day, Shelby was learning the ropes of mommy hood and missing Madisyn terribly. But she had four other babies to be a mother to. Scott left early that morning to do some forgotten important paper work at the hospital. He told Shelby they had called. Shelby wanted him to visit Madisyn and kiss and hug her lots.
"What papers did they say you needed to sign?" Shelby asked just before he walked out the door.
"Uh..some..RELEASE forms for our four home now. Forgot some last time." Scott said, smiling all huge.
"Oh..okay. Love you, bye." Shelby said, brushing it off. Everyone was getting all excited for the Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchange. Everybody was busy in the kitchen cooking and chopping wood for later or some even called home to say Merry Christmas and such. By close to 2:00pm, Shelby was getting worried. Scott had been gone for 3 hours. She'd been busy caring for her babies with everyone's help, but she knew he'd been running late. The early Christmas dinner was close to being finished cooking. They would be eating by 3:00pm.
"Where IS my husband?!" Shelby said when she saw it click to 2:30pm. She'd just fed Drakeyn and put him down with his siblings; they had 2 monitors set in the kitchen and in the mess hall. Everyone was in their Christmas best and Danny was pacing the door hungrily.
"Ya' know what? I've never had a Christmas dinner before, let alone a Christmas?" Danny told Shelby, trying to distract her from worrying.
"Really?! NEVER?! Not even a stocking?" Shelby said getting mad for him.
"Well, on Christmas day we would get these cheesy cards with a roll of Life Savers stuck to them, they were usually old, I liked them. And on the streets there were the shelters. One year, my only Christmas gift, a teenage girl gave me her necklace. It was of a lady covered over her head with a cloth, holding her hands like this." Danny said, demonstrating for her.
"You don't know who that is?!" Shelby said shocked. He just looked confused and shrugged.
"That's the Virgin Mary! The mother of Jesus?!" Shelby exclaimed.
"Oh, okay. Like on the walls sometimes at some of the shelters ran by the churches. That's all that God stuff, huh?" Danny said, remembering.
"Yes! You know, we're Catholic. You WERE baptized before mom and dad gave you up, I continued and received my first communion..but never went on to my confirmation. I was supposed to have it done last year." Shelby explained. Danny listened intently, completely interested. Even after all this time since finding his family and who he was, he was still finding new things about himself.
"So, can you still do it? Can I?" he said softly.
"Yes, of course. I definitely am before we baptize my babies. All of you godparents need to. So, where's this necklace now?" Shelby asked, knowing he didn't wear it.
"Had to pawn it, for some money. Told the guy never to sell it. That I'd be back for it some day. He promised he'd save it. It's in a pawn shop on 138th and Gryffon St." Danny said, never forgetting. Shelby grabbed a paper as he left to find a seat 'just in case they start early' he said. She wrote down all the info. he just gave her and stuck it in her pocket.
About 10 till 3, Shelby was about to pop.
"Where. Is. Scott!?" she worried, glancing at the door constantly.
"Shel, he's fine. Just running late. I'm almost positive he's probably just last minute shopping and lost track of time." Jules tried to reassure her.
"Yeah. Probably found a baby store and poof in another world of daddy-dom." Jess said escorting her big sister to a chair at the table. The baby monitor was just over her shoulder. Everyone got a seat and got settled.
Just then, you could hear the door open and close. Mark came in, taking all his gear off and smiling.
"Just on time! Merry Christmas everybody..Happy Kwanza etc, etc. Let's eat!" he said happily, pulling up a chair.
"M-Mark? Where's..ohmy.." Shelby started to say, but drifted off when she saw Scott come walking slowly from around the corner.
He had his hands full.
He slowly went up to Shelby and stooped down.
"Shelby Scarbrow-Barringer..Merry Christmas." He said softly, gently placing Madisyn Katie into her arms, all wrapped up in a Christmas print blanket and in a preemie jumper (white) that had a hood to make her look like an angel. Which was also the pattern on the jumper. Shelby instantly got teary eyed and gaped at him.
"B-but.h-how? Sh-she's ..okay?" Shelby stuttered out, kissing her little nose.
"She's 4lbs. 4oz. She's doing good. Only gotta keep a monitor on her heart 24/7 to be safe. See." He said, his own eyes tearing, he showed her the beeper sized box clipped to Madisyn's waist and the lines leading to a lead placed over her heart in two places on her tiny chest. The stickies holding the leads on were shaped like little hearts.
"It's a little too little to bring a preemie with this heart condition home, but Abby convinced them she's fine. The difference of maybe a few more days till she gained more weight. That's what took awhile, paperwork and learning all about her monitor and other things." Scott explained softly, touching Madisyn's arm gently. Shelby gazed at Scott like he was a million bucks then grabbed his face with her free hand a gave him an earth stopping kiss.
"Thank you..sooo much!" she whispered, sniffling. Madisyn was awake, gazing at Shelby once again.
"You did it! You kept your promise!" Shelby cooed to her. Madisyn just did this lopsided grin and wiggled a little. (most likely a gas bubble, but who's counting?!)
"She's got her daddy's smile!" Kat commented.
"Okay who wants to eat?" Sophie said getting the night going. Shelby held Madisyn all through dinner, letting Scott, Jules, and Sophie attend to the other 4 babies. By that night, everyone was holding a baby as they opened their secret Santa gifts. ((an: Dav=Jesslyn, Aug=Dustyn, Scott=Braedyn, Kat=Madisyn, Daisy=Drakeyn)) Shelby was a secret Santa for her parents, together. When they opened the box, they found the framed picture Kat took of the quints all lined up together in blankets and framed next to it was a legal paper. Sophie read over it quickly, then gasped. Her eyes instantly watered.
"Oh.Peter." She mumbled, showing it to him. She was gazing at Shelby, and she just smiled back. Once Peter read it, he was shocked.
"My 'father-in-law' helped with the paper work, though he didn't like to. It's all through the channels now. Finalized." Shelby explained as she took Madisyn away from Kat. She'd started fussing and stopped as soon as she was in mommy's arms.
"What IS it?" Jules said finally, everyone wanting to know.
"Scott and Shelby gave 2nd legal guardianship to me and Sophie over the quints." Peter said after a minute. Everybody nodded and smiled at that. They may be the godparents, but if anything ever happened to Shelby and Scott, they weren't going to split the babies all up. They just got a voice it what happens to each baby.
After that, everyone passed out their gifts, then toasted marshmallows and had some hot chocolate, playing with the babies. Everybody clambered off to bed before it got real late so Peter and Sophie could finish up the lounge and Christmas tree. Madisyn AND Braedyn slept better than any night before in the last week since they knew that the other one was nearby.
Christmas morning came and was the best yet for anybody. The quints were the center of attention; Kat getting pictures all over. Even that night when the quints received their first home baths. She got a picture of them when Shelby placed them all on their belly's, 'No quint porn please' Daisy had commented, buck @$$ed naked!!! (Talk about a full moon!) Everyone watched, enjoying the face expressions as the babies 'played' in the water.
By New Years, Shelby was adjusting well to a routine. A few days after New Years, they got a call that Mikala had had her twins. On January 5, the quints had check-ups, so she went to visit Mikala too. The twins were only 2 weeks early, weighing in at 4lbs. 6oz. and 4lbs. 4oz. and both 18 inches long. She named them Kaitlynn((pronounced caught-lynn, Irish style)) Faith and Ashlynn Hope. They were very healthy. Shelby loved the name similarity. The quints were all very good, and all had gained close to another pound. Shelby was the happiest mommy when she came home with her now almost 1- month-old quints. She got another picture of them all head to head in a flower formation.
"This'll make a great card photo." Shelby commented as she got the pictures back. The media would check in to see the progress of the quints every so often. Now the whole school was involved in Agnes's 'Barringer Bunch' quints. Mostly the Cliffhangers though, would be seen carrying one of them to class or back or in the mess hall. It was great therapy. Before lone, they were all normal sized infants, not a trace of being preemies in them, and all their pictures were put on Horizon's web page and in albums. Now with Jess, the 2nd photographer-to-be in Horizon, being the cameraperson. Scott and Shelby loved their new lives as parents and never regretted anything, even though it was hard at times, like when Madisyn had to go in to undergo a simple heart surgery to repair the problem she had since birth. After that, though, she would no longer need the heart monitor, and was predicted to live on a healthy, long life.
Walter eventually went to prison for statutory rape, and manslaughter, since he did purposely drug minors. The quints and twins would be in college or out by the time he was considered for parole. If he survived in there. The inmates watch the news too. And they all have a soft spot for babies, especially these ones. Oh, and his cellmate's name happened to be Braydon also. (hehe..oops!)
THE END
{#}
A/N: There you go! I finally finished! Hope you all enjoyed the story!! Now, I'd like to thank ALL my reviewers who supported my story and reviewed it!! Without y'all I'd not get my muse to continue on and also I'd not know if I was doing okay or not!! I love you ALL!
My Guardian Angel Award goes to: Mandy, thanks girl for having my back!! It'll always be a great story to remember!! Hope to hear from you soon on any of my other fics!
My #1 Reviewer award goes to: hoplessromantic. You reviewed the MOST out of everybody; I had to acknowledge that!! You're great and helped me out when I needed it. Thanx!
I don't know enough great awards to give out to all of you, even though you all deserve one, but I am definitely mentioning all of you individually so thanks a million to all of you guys!!:
Christie
Carebear
Just Groovy(my close 2nd in most reviews! Thanx!)
Emer(where my Danny inspiration came from, thanx for letting me borrow him!)
Eminemluver
Leeanna
JC Skywalker
Prettyg36
Sallysue
Adrianne
Ashley
Kelly
Ss41981
Tracy
Tatiana
Duck
Mr. Personality(You gotta email me and tell me what's the significance of how you spell your name, with all the upper and lower case letter. It's boggling my mind trying to figure it out!)
Rosey
And
Anne(hiduh) ((for making my life a little bit more interesting, even if you didn't like the story, if you're even reading this now!))