Chapter Text
Joel was mostly asleep as he fumbled for the phone ringing under his pillow. “Yeah?”
“Daddy?” Sarah’s voice was thick with tears.
“Sarah?” He sat up in bed, instantly alert. “What’s wrong?”
“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.” Joel’s heart started racing. He shoved down the bubbling panic and focused on his daughter.
“Okay. Okay, baby, we’ll figure it out. Are you hurt?”
“Not really. They gave me stitches, but it doesn’t hurt.” Joel jumped out of bed, stumbling as he pulled on the jeans he had discarded when he went to bed. Stitches. Jesus.
“Where are you, baby? Tell me where you are, I’ll come get you.” He pulled a t-shirt on and grabbed his keys and wallet from his nightstand.
“No, I can’t… I can’t leave. I can’t leave her.” Sarah’s voice broke on the last word.
“You don’t have to, baby. Just tell me where you are.” Joel shoved his feet into his work boots and started toward the stairs.
“I… Brigham & Women’s. They brought us to Brigham & Women’s.” He doubles back, quickly entering Sarah’s room to grab a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie that hadn’t made the move to her dorm closet.
“Okay, baby. I’m leaving right now, I’ll be there in half an hour.” He checked his phone, grateful that she called from her own phone and not a payphone. “Do you want to stay on the phone with me, baby?” He ran downstairs and out the front door, stopping just long enough to lock it behind him.
“Yeah. Yeah, that would be good.” Joel started the car and peeled out of the driveway. Sarah fell silent.
“Do you want me to talk, baby girl?” She sounded so out of it, he wasn’t sure if she’d be able to tell him what happened over the phone.
“Can… can you just stay on the line with me?” Sarah sniffled, and Joel felt his heart breaking for her.
“Of course I can, baby. Of course I can.” He drove in silence only broken by the sound of Sarah’s tears. He was ten minutes away from the hospital when she spoke again.
“I have to go, Daddy.” She had a muffled conversation with someone, then spoke to him once more. “They said you should follow the signs for obstetrics and ask for-” Another muffled conversation, this one shorter. “Ask for me.”
Sarah disconnected. Joel’s mind reeled. Obstetrics? One of her roommates was pregnant, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t due until after the spring term was over. Joel found parking as quickly as he could and rushed through the hospital. When he reached obstetrics, he was given a bracelet and led to a room with a partially opened door. He knocked lightly once before pushing it open and stepping inside.
Joel’s knees felt weak with relief when he saw Sarah sitting in a chair facing the door. He stepped over to her, cupping her face in his hands and dropping a kiss to the crown of her head. Pushing her back slightly, he examined her face and gently ran his thumb under the now-stitched gash that marred her forehead. He pressed his forehead to her head, breathing deeply through his nose in an attempt to center himself.
As he crouched next to her chair, he realized she was holding a newborn clad only in a diaper against her chest, her shirt cut away to give the baby access to her skin. The baby seemed to be asleep, little fists curled tight and resting on Sarah. Joel reached out, gently running a finger over the baby’s downy hair. “Hi, there,” he whispered as he tugged the blanket pooled in Sarah’s lap to cover both her and the baby.
Sarah cleared her throat and made eye contact with him. “Anna’s water broke. I was driving her here, and someone ran a red light.” She swallows, hard, closing her eyes against the memory. “I blacked out, I think, ‘cause there were paramedics helping me out of the car. They brought me here.” Joel reached up to wipe tears away from Sarah’s face. She let out a sob, burying her nose in the baby’s hair. “She died, Daddy.”
Tears gathered in Joel’s eyes as he reached to hold his little girl. “I told them I’m her partner. She doesn’t have anyone, Daddy. Didn’t.” Sarah shook her head sadly and leaned into her father’s embrace. “She doesn’t have anyone either.” She stroked the baby’s fist lightly, a small smile gracing her face when the baby let out an irritated whine. “The nurse said she started crying right away, loud as she could. Anna got to hold her for a little while, before…” Sarah trailed off.
The baby wiggled a little, and Sarah sat back to reposition her. “The social worker said if I don’t take her, she has to go to foster care.” She looked at Joel, eyes desperate. “I can’t let that happen, Daddy. I can’t. You only know a little about how Anna grew up, but it was terrible.” She pressed a kiss to the baby’s head. “She deserves so much better than that.”
Joel ran his hand over Sarah’s hair and squeezed her shoulder. “Shh.” He frowned as he examined her face. “Why don’t you go splash some water on your face, baby? I’ll hold her.”
Sarah shook her head, wincing at the motion. “The nurse said she needs skin-to-skin contact for as long as possible.”
Joel sighed softly before quickly lifting his shirt over his head. “There. I’ll hold her.” He reached for the baby, marveling for a moment at how quickly holding a newborn came back to him. He grabbed his discarded shirt and gently placed it over the baby’s back, hoping it would keep her warm. He hummed, carefully stroking the baby’s back. When Sarah reappeared, he smiled softly at her. “What’s her name?”
Sarah’s eyes glazed with tears, but none fell. She reached out to touch the baby’s hand again. “Ellie. Anna named her Ellie.”
“Ellie,” Joel breathed. He kissed Ellie’s head, and whispered into her ear. “Well, Ellie. We’ll just have to figure out how to make sure you come home with me, now don’t we?”
He and Sarah took Ellie’s answering gurgle as a ‘yes’.