A/N: Part 6 was uploaded yesterday so don't skip it by accident! The internet told me "dod" means "uncle" in Hebrew, and Dov told me "Dov" means "bear"...
Once again, thanks to scoobeedooh for nudging me to finally finish this up!
"When you wade in water wide, without a map to steer, I will comfort you. When you find the other side I will still be here to measure out my love"
"Hey look!" Dov pointed across the room to where Chris was somewhat awkwardly rocking the baby as he crossed over the threshold into the room, "he smiled at me!"
"He can't even see you, genius," Gail rolled her eyes as Dov crossed the room and shoved a balloon tied down to a small carmel colored teddy bear into her arms. The bear was soft, really soft. The back of the left leg was embroidered although it was hard to read as the cotton fur overtook the silver embroidery; 'To keep you safe - Dod Dov'. Gail couldn't help but think about what an adorable dork Dov was.
"What are you talking about?" Dov whipped his head around as he plucked the baby from Chris's arms.
"Babies can only see about a foot in front of them," Gail rolled her eyes.
"I bet Holly told you that, genius," Dov countered knowingly with a snort.
Holly raised her hands in surrender, she wasn't getting involved.
Chris chuckled along, finding delight in how Gail huffed and crossed her arms when Dov had called her out. Chris drew a long breath in through his nose, thinking he smelt Chinese food.
"Well, hello hello," Oliver breezed through the door with two large paper bags of take out hanging by the handles from his open, outstretched hands. Gail immediately glided over and took the food off of his hands, she hadn't had lunch after all.
"Well, if it isn't little Oliver Peckstart," Oliver grinned cheekily as he walked over to Dov and hoisted the bundle of mostly blankets into his arms. His time spent holding his own girls shone through. Unlike Dov, and even Chris, Oliver didn't seem nervous or awkward around the baby boy. His feet bounced off the floor slowly and lightly as his hand gently patted at the blanket cocoon. Oliver held a baby as naturally as a cup of coffee or a sandwich. It looked like nothing to him, yet his grin stretched from ear to ear.
"Yeah, that's not his name," Gail said cooly and firmly as she looked from Oliver to Holly. He really had no shame.
"Ah," Oliver shook his head back and forth as he made tsk-ing noises with his mouth, "such a shame," he joked. Oliver peeled the blanket back a little more from Miles's face, hooking and unhooking his finger in front of the baby's eyes, while making a silly face, "so what is it," he looked from Gail to Holly with curious anticipation. Holly looked to Gail, prompting her to answer but Gail's mouth hung slightly open, motionless. Oliver's eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"Miles Jerry," Traci piped up calmly and proudly.
"Oh," it was clear Oliver's jokes were out the window. "Ya don't say," Oliver's head made a half circle as it curved down to look into the little boy's brown eyes. He smiled toothlessly, genuinely, tinged with sadness and hope. "Well, that," he continued patting at the pile of blankets, "that's alright then," he concluded with a bittersweet smile.
"And that's the university," Gail pointed out the window and to the right, tilting the swaddle of blankets in her arms up so he could see, even though she knew he couldn't. Gail looked out across the city. The sun was well on it's way to setting; it was nearly nine o'clock. Visiting hours were over and the room was dark and quiet. People and cars bustled about down below, probably headed home after basking in air conditioning on someone else's dime for as long as possible. "And that's the art gallery," Gail spun them to them to the left, pointing down the street. "Your mama loves that place. I guess it's not so bad." Gail bent her head down to whisper even more quietly in his ear, "don't tell her I said that though." Gail looked up, back out the window, "they do have a really good brunch menu," she admitted with a tilt of her head. It was an unspoken understanding that when Holly smiled, suggesting they go down to the Gallery to check out a new collection, that Gail would go along without much protest, so long as they stopped at Frank, the Gallery's restaurant, for a drink at the very least. Gail realized she and Holly probably wouldn't be having Sunday brunch there for a while, but that was okay. "And really good dessert," she reasoned, thinking back to a week ago when she and Holly had shared the mini pastry sampler. Their little deal had really been working in her favor for the past few months as the amount of time Holly felt like walking around decreased exponentially. "The dinner's not too bad either," Gail's mouth almost started to water thinking about the steak frites she'd inhaled last week. "They have really good food, okay?" Gail confessed, looking Miles in the eye. He seemed unfazed by her admission. His eyelids drooped closed, and he let out a soft breath. Gail looked back down to the street. A small crowd was starting to gather at the bus stop on the corner. For most it was probably just an ordinary Wednesday night, albeit unusually hot. They were probably going home or going out. To most it was just a hot and humid weeknight. She saw a squad car cross through the intersection a block up. They would have just barely started their shift, or they were rushing back to the barn late, having worked overtime. Gail looked down at the tiny fingers that had latched onto her's, and she couldn't help but smile at the sleeping baby cradled in her arms. Today was not usual. It was one of the least usual days of Gail Peck's life. Part of her was sure she'd wake up with a start any second, realizing it had all been a dream. If it was, she wanted to stay asleep as long as possible. But that's how you know it's not a dream right? When you're actually dreaming do you ever think 'I hope I'm not dreaming,' or 'shit what if this is all just a dream?' Gail smiled at that realization.
She looked up at the red and purple stained sky. The clouds glowed red and scattered into violet hues, little puffs spread out evenly across the sky. "Your mama would know what kind of clouds they are," she explained softly to her sleeping baby, "I listen, I swear, but I usually don't retain the sciencey mumbo jumbo." Her eye's snapped down as a bus ground to a halt, it's brakes hissing into the night. A few passengers scampered off and dispersed down the street, up the street, and across the street. Those who had gathered to wait climbed aboard, and were whisked away as the doors slapped shut. They all looked so small. Gail wondered if they knew, if they knew the population had changed. New eyes, new ears, new hands, new feet, and new smiles. Gail's eyes were drawn away from the window when her finger was squeezed tighter. Another hand flailed slowly against her chest as his fist scrunched closed and his face contorted into folds as a yawn overtook his entire body. "Hey there, little cheese puff," she poked his swaddled stomach lightly with her pinky.
"Did you just call our son 'cheese puff'?" Holly's voice drifted from other side of the room.
Busted. Gail had thought Holly was still asleep. "Maybe?" She continued to face the window as a blush spread across her cheeks. How long had Holly been listening?
"That sounds like an insult you would throw at someone who's overweight and uses too much fake tanner."
"What?!" Gail spun around, "that's possibly, the most endearing thing I could call someone." Horror was written all over face, didn't Holly know her.
Holly raised an eyebrow.
"It'd be like if you nicknamed someone 'microscope.'"
Holly eyed her suspiciously, "you're being kind of a baby hog, you know?"
Gail took a few steps towards Holly's bed and feigned insult, "well excuse me for trying to let you rest."
"Always so thoughtful," Holly smiled and reached up with her hands as Gail came closer.
Gail shifted onto the bed next to Holly, "sorry, he's latched on and won't let go," she shrugged and raised her eyebrows, "nothing I can do about it."
"You poor thing," Holly gasped quietly before reaching out to lightly jostle Miles's blanketed foot. He reflexively relinquished Gail's finger as he fanned about with all fours. "Saved you," Holly joked as she scooped him up, out of Gail's arms. "There's my boy," she cooed.
"Baby napper," Gail crossed her arms, pouting.
"Don't say that in here," Holly hushed. "They've probably already activated the silent alarm."
Gail looked down as she brushed a piece of lint off her pants, "well they did bill this place as an impenetrable baby fortress," she leaned back, resting her head against the pillow. "They're obviously full of shit though, since they let my mom in."
"Gail,language," Holly scolded her while keeping her voice light and cheery; singsongy.
"So, are you like, not going to yell at me ever, if he's in the room?" Gail raised an eyebrow, hopefully curious.
Holly almost laughed it off, "I don't yell at you."
"Let me rephrase," Gail shifted so she was more or less on her side, "are you going to speak in a cheery, baby voice whenever he's in the room even when I do something like set the stove on fire?"
"Do you really want to find out?" Holly finally turned to look at Gail and smirked.
"No," Gail sighed,"but I probably will," she added with a laugh as she leaned her head onto the top of Holly's shoulder.
Holly smiled in silent agreement.
Gail eyed Holly out of the corner of her eye. "You're really great you know," Gail sounded serious again.
"Thanks for coming," Holly tilted her head to the side, kissing the top of Gail's head.
"Of course I came," Gail shot back quickly, "what are you talking about? I got here before you did."
"I don't know," Holly took a deep breath, "I was worried you'd be staked out somewhere, or trapped in court or traffic or something."
"Not a chance," Gail answered immediately, nuzzling into Holly's neck.
They sat in a content silence for a few minutes, more than happy to just be.
"Hey," Holly whipped her head back in Gail's direction urgently, "are there any more of those cookies left that Chris brought?"
"You mean the ones from my favorite bakery across from Fifteen?" Gail clarified apprehensively.
"Those would be them," Holly raised an eyebrow, Chris had only brought one bag of cookies, of course those were the ones.
"Right," Gail brought her hand behind her head and leaned back, her elbow sticking out to the side.
Holly furrowed her brow, Gail really didn't think she was just checking up on the status of the cookies, did she? "So, are there any left?" She was a little more insistent.
"Maybe," Gail answered noncommittally, letting her eyes fall close.
Screw it, "okay, this is where you offer to go check and bring me one." Holly lightly raised her elbow up from her side, nudging Gail along. Gail quickly uncrossed her legs, rolling off the bed, landing her feet on the linoleum floor. She made her way over to the mini fridge that was hidden behind the wooden cabinets below the sink. "And if you really love me," Holly called quietly after her, "you'll bring me two."
Gail grabbed her phone off the counter to check it quickly, letting out a snort when she read the text from Steve. "Steve said Leo's pissed that he was at baseball practice until after visiting hours ended."
Holly chuckled, "that's kind of adorable."
"Apparently he's been making fresh little comments about not being told ever since Traci picked him up," Gail continued scrolling through the congratulatory texts.
"Ha," Holly chuckled. Leo was a good kid, but he was whip smart just like Traci, and she was sure, especially being a teenager and all, he could make his discontent known in more entertaining ways than a tantrum.
"Sounds like dinner was a riot for Steve, and a test in patience for Traci," Gail laughed, locking the screen on her phone before tossing it back down onto the counter, turning to tug the refrigerator door open.
"There are a couple dumplings left," Gail tried to offer an appealing alternative as she peeked into the fridge.
"Nice try," Holly chuckled softly.
Gail huffed, grabbing the white paper bag, and softly shutting the refrigerator door. "There's only one left," she reported sadly, with a pout, plopping the bag onto the bed next to Holly.
"You can have half," Holly offered, passing Miles over to Gail, "after you change him," Holly popped an excited smiled as Gail narrowed her eyes.
"You're lucky I love you so stinkin' much," Gail turned towards the changing table.
"Indeed, I am very lucky."
"Oh, awkward," Gail feigned an awkward, shy guilt, "because I wasn't talking to you."
Not two moments later did Gail feel a wet ice chip hit her squarely on the back of the neck, and she couldn't help but laugh, Holly sure was.
A/N: Credit to ragingscooter for the "cheese puff" bit!
Anyway, that's all she wrote. For a while at least...if there's something specific you want to see as a continuation of this story drop me a line, but this where my imagination stopped. That's not to say I couldn't be spurred on to write some more on this if prompted.
Thanks so much for all the views/reviews/favs/follows and PM's about this story! I'm so glad you guys enjoyed it! Sorry it took me SO long to get the last two chapters out, but I hope they were slightly worth it.
Love to you,
XOXO