Chapter One- You Have My Word

"No! No!" Jude sobbed, holding out her weak, shaky arms. "Please! Please let me see my baby, please!" She begged. "Please!"

"Nurse, come back here with the boy." Timothy said calmly.

"He's, he's a boy?" Jude smiled, still holding out her arms as the nurse walked back toward him. She scoffed, giving the desperate Jude a dirty look as she placed the baby in Timothy's arms.

"Look, there he is." Timothy told her, turning to her and showing her the newborn baby.

He tried his best to display as little emotion as possible, not wanting to show Jude that he cared for the child or for her, even though he did. The situation was too complex and it was much too much for him to bear. He looked down at the newborn boy in his arms, not allowing it to register within his mind, that it was his baby son, given to him by a woman he loved very much.

"Oh!" Jude gasped, tears pouring down her cheeks.

Her heart skipped a beat, stopping for a moment to fill with a sense of desperate longing. She studied her son's features carefully, wanting with everything in her to just rip him from Timothy's grasp and hold him tightly. She had no words for the joy in her heart she felt at seeing the baby she'd wanted for so long.

"P-please Timothy let me hold him, please!"

"Jude, you should rest, I don't know if it's a good…"

"Please Timothy, give me our son!" She cried.

Timothy looked over at his former lover and paused, sensing how crushed she was. The new Mother's arms were empty and her spirit filled with longing in such a way that her sadness seemed to reach out to him. After a moment, even he couldn't bare to watch her sorrow continue.

"Alright." He relented quietly, transferring the newborn into her arms.

"Oh! Oh there ya are!" Jude sniffled, holding her son tightly. She placed a kiss upon his tiny forehead, leaning hers against the baby's, beginning to cuddle him tightly. "Mommy loves ya so much, so much more than anyone in the whole world is ever gonna love ya."

Timothy watched sadly as Jude continued to cuddle and kiss the newborn boy. He put his head down, starting to feel guilt over what was about to happen.

"Jude." He said, after a few minutes. "I think it's time you let Sister Bernadette take the baby now."

"No." She told him. "I haven't had enough." She sniffled. "I haven't had enough time with him yet." She stared into the baby's face and played with his fingers." The baby was comfortable in his Mother's arms. He already knew her voice and could distinguish it from all the others. Her arms were right where he wanted to stay.

"You need your rest." He gave an excuse. "Give our son a kiss and say good-bye now." He instructed.

Jude hesitated and leaned down, kissing her baby's forehead.

"I love ya sweetheart, Mommy'll see ya soon." The baby began to whimper as the nurse, Sister Bernadette came back and took the baby away. Jude looked in his direction longingly as she heard his sobs grow increasingly louder.

"Timothy, he's screaming, I want him back. When can I see…"

"Jude." He said, his tone so calm that it made Jude raise an eyebrow. Didn't he care about his own baby crying? "That's something I've been meaning to discuss with you."

"What is?"

"I'm a Priest. You're a patient in a mental hospital…"

"Held here against my will and far no reason!" She added. He ignored her.

"Neither of us are in the position to raise our son."

"No!"

"Jude, the nuns from St. Ursela's are coming in the morning…"

"No! No! You can't be serious, you son of a bitch!" She growled. "Where's my son, give me my son, please!" She called, hoping against all hope that someone else nearby would help.

"Jude you've become unhinged."

"How dare you give away yar own son, you heartless bastard!" She cried, using the rest of her strength to begin punching him. "Give me my baby, please Timothy, please!" She cried, her anger dissolving slowly into quiet pleading. Timothy took her wrists in his hands, her own hands still clenched into fists still.

"It's clear you've lost your mind, Jude."

"Please, please, I demand to speak to someone, he's stealing my baby! Please!" She sobbed.

"Sister." Timothy called quietly, gesturing to the nurse on the other side of the room. "Clearly, Ms. Martin needs to be sedated."

"Yes Monsignor."

"Please, Timothy, no! Don't do this. Far all the love ya had far me, please!" She asked, trying hard to break free of the firm grasp he had on her wrists. "Please have mercy on yar son, I don't want him ta be an orphan when he has a Mother who loves him, please!"

Timothy ignored Jude's pleas and helped hold her down as the nurse came back with a shot to sedate her.

"Here Jude, this will keep you calm." He whispered.

"No, no, ya can't do this. Ya won't get away with this Timothy, you have my…my word." She cried, her words becoming slower now as the medication acted fast, overtaking her system and making her very tired.

"I'm sure I do." Timothy said as he watched Jude drift off to sleep.

When the nurse left, he stood and looked at Jude for a moment, cupping her tear-stained face in the palm of his hand. He ran his thumb over her cheekbone, smiling sadly.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way Jude." He said simply. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to walk down the hall, leaving Jude unconscious and alone in her bed, still bleeding from the birth.

Timothy blinked, keeping his head down as he walked, trying not to admit that a single tear was rolling down his cheek. He stopped when he heard a baby wailing loudly, seeming to be screaming bloody murder. He'd never heard a baby cry quite like that and it caught his attention, not just because he realized the sound was unusual, but also because it hit him that it was coming from his own child. Timothy's heart skipped a beat and he turned back, walking into the room where two nurses were tending to the baby.

He stood quietly and watched, neither of them said a thing to him. He swallowed nervously as he watched the baby be washed and swaddled.

"M-may I see him?" He couldn't help but inquire. His heart began to beat faster and he warned himself that holding his son was a bad idea. Nonetheless, he couldn't help it.

One of the nurses eyed him suspiciously, having heard Jude's repeated accusations, throughout her labor, that the child was his also. The Monsignor's odd request to hold the bastard child seemed to only confirm the former Nun's words. Nonetheless, the sister handed the boy over and slowly his crying came to a standstill. Timothy looked down at the baby, holding him in his arms, he watched carefully as the baby slowly opened his eyes, greeted with the same little twinkle that seemed almost ever-present in his Mother's eyes. Seeing this was like a punch in the stomach to the Monsignor: it overwhelmed him with guilt. Timothy surveyed the boy's features, including his nose and his eyes and blonde hair very carefully.

"You look just like your Mother." He whispered.