Psh, Quiting's for quitters. Baby 36

Okay, yeah she's going to get better very quickly but I want to get this show on the road. ^_^
I sit in the cafeteria picking at my french fries glancing up at Bridget every so often, to see her stone expression. "You need to eat." She always says pushing the tray of food at me. It's been two weeks since the accident, I've been released, Henry, after aging up, is on the brink of recovery. Caitlin however hasn't even waken up. After I finish what's on my tray Bridget leaves, telling me she'll be back later. She found out I wasn't eating, drinking, or leaving  Caitlins side, so she took me home one day. Demanded that I get dressed, fed, groomed, and best of all bathed. Then she took me back and instructed me to eat. I couldn't say no. After she leaves the front doors of the hospital I walk back up to the nursery.

 Henry sleeps silently in a little hospital bed. I put my hand on the glass and watch his chest rise and fall. When we were hit, Henry was crammed into the tightest space possible by metal, because we were trapped in the car so long it became harder and harder for him to breath, which hurt his lungs immensly. Now, however, after aging into a toddler by the doctors demands he's doing fine.

"Would you like to take him home?" asks the doctor from behind me. "Is he ready?" I ask peering back at him. "More than." The doctor replied with a smile. I nodded my head quickly, very excitedly. Henry was my child, I needed to get the full experience.

The doctor led me into the room and let me scoop Henry up. Not to say anything, but he does look a lot like me, and much less like Caitlin. I held him in my arms for a while and hugged him tightly. The doctor led us back out of the room, and to Caitlin's floor. I thanked her and quietly slipped into the hospital room, careful not to wake Cait.

She'd waken up once, her eyes lulled, then her head hit the pillow again. This was progress however, just not my regular Caitlin.

I've never had to take care of one single child, all alone, with nobody to fall back on. I guess I could fall back on Bridget, but I was going to try this alone. "Hmm. What should we do." I whispered to Henry. I placed him gently on the floor then sat down. "Alright. Let's uh. Teach you how to talk? Yes! I should teach you how to talk!" I said unsure. I don't know why I felt so nervous, but I did.

After Henry could say a few sentences and kept babbling on about chairs, I decided I might as well teach him how to walk too. I gingerly took his hands and placed them on my palm. I helped him take a few steps, then I let go. He stood there staring at me in a perplexed way. I stepped back, he tried to tottle forward, but only managed one step.

I held out my arms once I was a few steps away from him. "Alright Henry. Let's try and come to daddy." I told him making a bit of movements with my arms. "Daddy!" Henry squealed. He took one step, then another.

Before I, or him knew it, he was two steps in front of me. He was laughing and smiling, as I picked him up.

There is absolutely no better feeling in the world than teaching something, or someone, something so basic. I tossed him in the air as he laughed and giggled. "I did it daddy!" He said loudly. "Yes you did!" I whispered. I turned around pulling Henry into my side and looked at Caitlin. She stirred a bit from the noise but did not awaken. Wait, I thought to myself. The nurse never did exactly tell me that we couldn't wake her up. Sure thats mean, but if I could wake her up, then I'd be able to see if she was okay... "Henry?" I asked looking at him. "What- Da-ddy?" He asked in the sweetest tone. "Wanna get mommy?" I asked pointing towards Cait. "Moe-me?" Henry asked. "Yes, Mommy." I said. "Yush!" He quickly responded.
 I snuck around to the bed and looked at Caitlin. I knew she would wake up, a small pinge of guilt bit at me, but quickly went away. Caitlin rolled onto her side and blinked up at me. "Well hello there." She whispered. My jaw dropped about 80 feet. "Well, hello. You just ruined Henry and my plan, for waking you up." I told her she smiled at this.

 Caitlin and I's free time was cut short when three doctors rushed in. "She's moving!" One said happily. "Yeah?" Caitlin responded. "She's responsant!" Another one beamed. The third one, which was our main family doctor finished checking  her out, then sat on the couch.

 She sat down and looked at Caitlin then at me. "Well, you've just overcome our fears, and our thoughts!" She said. "We didn't think you'd live!" The doctor said. Caitlin looked puzzled. "Well, that's reassuring?" She asked sarcasticly. The doctor looked at her then me.

"Well, I know this is quick. Going from your death bed to well, me saying, you can go home! Tomorrow afternoon or so!" The doctor said with a smile. Caitlin smiled, but I was a bit puzzled. "She can go home? And she'll be perfectly fine?" I asked. The doctor smiled. "She'll get pain medication of course, but yes, she'll be just fine.
Back to Caitlin's POV <3

 The next day I was more than ready to go home. I quickly got dressed and we checked out of the hospital by 7 am. Things were going smooth, although I had a headache, and my right side hurt when I walked, but other than that things were going to go back to normal. Once we got home Matthew pulled me in and lightly kissed my lips. "You don't know how much I missed that." He said quetly pulling away.

 We both decided Henry was more than ready to step into childhood. We pulled out a cake and he blew out the candles.

 If I thought he looked like Matthew when he was a toddler, I was totally blown away when he grew up to be a spitting image of Matt. His eyes, hair, lips, facial features, he was a little clone of Matt. We decided today would be a family day, so we all ventured to the backyard to have fun.

 Henry did a handstand by the sandbox. It didn't last long. Matthew came up behind him and lifted him up by his legs and put him over his shoulder. Henry started bubbling with laughter as Matthew spun him around and around in the air.

 After that my boys went and played catch. Henry started with the ball, but had no clue how to throw it.

 "Just toss it here." Matt told him. Henry gave him the weakest toss in the world. "There..." Henry said defeated. Matthew got ready to throw that ball, "Like this Henry." Then he let it fly.

 "Ah!" Henry screamed as the ball came at him flying. He barely caught it and you could see the pain painted on his face as he held it up.

"Dad! That hurt!" He yelled. he held the ball in his hand as he rubbed the other one on his pant leg.

"Oh man, my bad. I'll throw it harder next time .Unless you can throw it to me." Matthew said. I knew where he was getting at.

Henry stepped back and threw the ball as hard as he could. It was a perfect throw and it landed right in Matt's hands. "That's my boy!" Said Matthew happily. He went up to Henry and tousled his hair. Henry beamed with pride.

 I haven't taken a family picture in a while so I busted out the camera and set it on 30 second take picture mode. We got all set up 3 times, we failed miserably twice but the third one came out great.

 After I was done messing with the camera we ate lunch, then Henry wanted to go on the swings so I pushed him for about an hour. Matt took him on in a one on one game of football while I made dinner, and then we had hotdogs. After that Henry was practically tired out. He was trying to keep his eyes open, but they kept drooping closed. "How about a bedtime story?" I suggested. He slowly nodded his head yes.

 He got into his baseball pajamas and curled up on his bed. Then I pulled out Where's Bella, a classic and began reading.

 It took only moments for his head to hit the pillow, then he added one soft snore and he was out. I closed the book and set it on the nightstand. I gently kissed his forehead.

 I rubbed his shoulder then got up and flicked the lights off. "Goodnight Henry." I whispered as I shut the door, he rolled over to his other side. "Goodnight mom, I love you." He whispered. "I love you too." I added then clicked the door shut.

That night Matthew and I layed in bed. It had been a perfect first day home, although my head throbbed. "Are you continuing with the challenge?" Matthew asked changing the subject of our conversation. I felt that this was a dumb question but I answered anyway. "Yeah, why would I quit?" I asked. Matt looked somewhat sad. "Just wondering." He said. He got up taking a pillow along. "You want to uh, play child for a while?" He asked. I nodded and grabbed a pillow.

Matthew whacked me pretty good in the start, but I definitely returned a harder fire back. Matthew was doubled over with laughter.

 We went outside, and for the rest of the night we watched the stars. We talked, and laughed for hours on end.

 In the morning I got a knock on the door. A challenge father! I was expecting to wait a while until I started back up again, but hey beggers can't be chosers. I answered the door and stepped outside.

 We chatted for a bit, his name was Abnormal Nucleas, I didn't ask many questions about that. "So you know the ifs ands and buts of the challenge?" I asked. "Like the back of my hand." He assured me.

 We went to the bedroom, and well, everybody knows what happens during this. I heard the jingle and celebrated in my mind.

 "Alright, we discussed this we can't hace an avid relationship." I told Abnormal. He began screaming at me telling me that I was a whore. He tried to hit me when Matt butted in. "You need to leave!" He yelled at Abnormal. Abnormal gathered his things and stomped out of the room. Matthew muttered something under his breath but didn't say it loud enough for me to hear.

 I pulled Matthew into a long hug. "Thank you so much." I whispered in his ear. He backed away and went downstairs. Something wasn't right. I caught up with him but he shrugged off my questions. We sat and joined Henry on the couch.

 I put my questions outside and began to play a football game with them. My player kept running around in circles while Henry and Matt's team scored touchdown after touchdown. "How do I do this?" I exclaimed smacking the controller. Henry and Matthew laughed and continued to kick my butt.

That night the school called and proclaimed that it would be canceled because of snow storms coming in. I was surprised to look out the window and see a foot or so of snow on the ground. It was only October second, but I guess mother nature didn't care.

 That night I had morning sickness like no tomorrow.

 The next day Matt took Henry outside and they played in the snow. They had snowball fights, and made snow angels, and pretended to be lost in the snow. They did everything imaginable that they could before they were tuckered out and rosy cheeked.

 I came outside and picked Henry up. He was falling asleep in my arms as I led him inside.

 Matt fell asleep on my right and Henry curled up on my left and fell asleep. My mind was full of questions. Matthew was not acting normal at all. He was being reserved, like something was bugging him. What bugged me most, was that he wasn't telling me.

 Later after the nap the baby kicked, I was pregnant. Baby 36 here we come!

 We didn't do much because of the storm. I did the laundry, cooked and cleaned. That was pretty much the highlight of the pregnancy.

 Although Henry and I did have some mother son time. We had an amazing pillow fight!

Henry was fascinated with rubbing my belly. His eyes would light up when the baby kicked his palm. Then he would run around rubbing his hand, telling us that he was magical since the baby kicked him.

 Matthews attitude was really stinking. He was in a dreary mood and it was bringing me down. "You, bedroom now." I told him. He got off the couch and came with me. In the bedroom I hugged him tightly and whispered into his ear. "Matthew Humphrey, I love you with all of my heart, but honey whats wrong?" I asked. I could feel Matthew shake his head. I felt the warmth wetness of his tears. He never cried in front of me... "Matthew just tell me what's wrong." I whispered. "I can't." He replied.

 He slowly pulled away and wiped his tears on his sleeve. "I love you." He whispered. "I love you too." I replied.

 We returned back downstairs and began playing another video game. I sat out this time, my mind was still floating in the air.

 I stood up with a pain piercing through my back. I hurt worse than I remember, but then again my body was still recovering from many things. I was in labor for four hours and then I simply gave birth.

To a sweet baby girl. Welcome to the world Dani, welcome to the world.

In the morning I felt the vacant warmth by my side. I rolled over, to my surprise Matt wasn't in bed. I sat up on his side of the bed and caught the wiff of his shampoo on his pillow. On his nightstand lay a piece of paper, with his scrawly handwriting all over it. Right next to it was a bouquet of flowers and his coffee mug. I hid my tears as I folded open the note. I read every word five times over, then I read the note again and again. I crumpled the piece of paper and threw it at the wall. I curled up on my side and wept to myself, finally an hour later I crawled back to the note and read it one more time.

I'm so sorry, I've known this for weeks now, as long as I've been back actually. The truth is I couldn't see you get hurt anymore, and honestly, I couldn't have you see me get hurt. I've been deployed again. I know I told you that I wouldn't ever have to go back, but you know people lie. Tell Henry I love him. I swear to god its not your fault, it's mine, one hundred percent. I'll be back sometime I swear. But until then keep yourself safe, keep Henry safe. I know you might not see this note for a while, but when and if you do, my plane left at 9:30 in the morning. I love you when I get back I will be your all I will be your everything, you can finish the challenge then we will live happily ever after. love you Caitlin Anne Murray, more than it may seem. And for the final time, I'm so, so sorry. I'll stay safe.
Love you, Matt.

I crumpled on the ground and cried and cried. Why'd he have to do this to me again? He said he was done! I glanced at the clock. It was seven am. I raced to the phone and called a babysitter. I threw on an old dress and I ran outside in my bare feet. I hopped into the car and I raced to the airport. He was not going to leave, and if he did there would be another war brewing.