10. Early Days (Full Chapter)

*Exam completed! Now I'm back sooo here's the full chapter, THANKU so much for the comments guys ^__^*

It was almost 6am and Drake was still sat watching Nicki sleep. The ambulance had taken them to a different hospital to facilitate the baby's needs, the NICU at this hospital was a lot more efficient than the one where Drake worked. He was glad Nicki was sleeping through the ordeal of trying to get the baby breathing again, the whole time he felt as though his heart was in his throat but they managed to bring her back. Hearing someone else enter the room he turned around to see his Mother walking towards him with two coffees.

"Thought you might need this?" She handed it to him as he never once took his eyes off of a completely worn out Nicki as she slept heavily.

"Thanks."

"How are they both?" She took a seat next to him.

"The first few days are gon' be touch 'n go with the baby but she's ok for now, Nicki's fine. Just exhausted."

"You did really good Aubrey." She shifted slightly and he could tell there was something else she wanted to say so he waited for her to spit it out. "I just want you to know I'm sorry for having doubted your relationship. I've never seen you like this with any of your other girlfriends, it's really nice to see you happy." She gently rubbed his forearm as he turned to face her.

"Thanks Mom, that means a lot. I am happy. Be even happier once I can have them both home with me."

"How long do they have to stay here?"

"Well, Nicki can be discharged in a couple days but the baby's gonna be here for a while." Looking down he swirled the coffee in his cup as he thought.

"Roughly how long is a while?"

"Usually it's until their due date which would mean around six to eight weeks." He heard her exhale sadly.

"Well, for what it's worth I'm gonna help out as much as I can, y'know? With Nicki and the baby. I know it isn't easy and I not havin' her own Mother around won't help much." He looked back at her gratefully and was about to speak when they heard bed sheets ruffling. Nicki was awake.

"I'll give you two some space." She smiled at them both before leaving, shutting the door behind her. They'd managed to get her in a private room to let her have some privacy. She looked drained, understandably as she tried to sit herself up.

"Here." Jumping up he let her use his arm as a lever to sit up as he re-adjusted her pillows. "How you feelin'?" He pulled the chair closer to her bed and sat down again.

"Tired." Suddenly remembering what had happened she looked around the room frantically before his soothing voice stopped her.

"She's in the NICU, and she's fine." He saw her body relax back into the pillows slowly. "You wanna go see her?"

"Can I?"

"Of course you can, you're her Mom." She half smiled, revealing one of her dimples before he helped her out of the bed extremely slowly, still aware that she was probably tender.

She held on tightly to his hand as he led her down the hall, not caring if people saw. She had an excuse, it hurt like a bitch to walk unaided. They made their way there slowly for Nicki's sake before he keyed the code into the wall pad and they both sanitised their hands before entering. It was eerily quiet to Nicki as she remained holding on to Drake's hand, walking closely behind him.

"Here she is, baby Maraj." Tugging her hand he encouraged her to come to his side so she could see better but she was glued to the spot. "Nicki what's wrong?"

"She's so small, are you sure she's okay?" He could see the tears welling up in her eyes before he pulled her gently to him.

"I promise, she's fine. Havin' you here with her will help her to stay healthy. Come on." He pulled away and wiped her tears whilst leading her over to where her baby was.

"What's wrong with her eyes?" She was still holding on to him and slightly behind him at the same time, her voice was quiet and shaky as she looked over her tiny body. She had tubes and wires all over and two cotton patches covering her eyes, secured by the little hat she had on.

"Nothin's wrong with her eyes, they're just a lil' sensitive to the light 'cause she was so early." He was glad that nobody else was in the room with them so he could talk to her comfortably and tell her everything she wanted to know. Although he'd wiped away her tears they were still rolling down her face, she didn't look like she was crying though. They were just kind of trickling out continuously as she kept her eyes fixed on the baby.

"Can we go now?" His heart felt like it had dropped into his stomach as he watched her quickly smudge her tears away and turn to walk out again.

"Woah, wait. Don't you wanna hold her?"

"No. I might hurt her."

"Nicki, you won't hurt her. Here, you can sit down and I'll pass her to you, is that better?" He rushed to grab a chair as she just watched him. "There, you sit on this and I'll get her out." She apprehensively did as she was told whilst he re-arranged the wires and tubes so they wouldn't get in the way. She looked even smaller in his arms. "Open your gown a lil' bit, you have to have a lot of skin-to-skin contact with her 'cause she's so young." She could feel her tears as each and every one of them dropped off of her face and onto the bit of skin showing on her chest. Weirdly, as soon as he placed the baby in her arms she relaxed almost immediately. Moving around the chair Drake stood to the side and just behind as he watched over them both, kissing Nicki on her head as she and her baby bonded.

"What are all of these for?" He looked away from the baby as she let her eyes wander over all the tubes and wires.

"Well, this one here is feedin' her and that one is helpin' her breathe." He smiled comfortingly but her face remained troubled.

"You mean, she can't do any of it by herself?"

"No it's not that she can't but she just needs a lil' help Nic." He brushed the hair away from her face gently. "She's a premature baby, just give her time. You'll see, she'll be fine." Kissing the side of her head he stood back up straight hearing the door click open. It was a woman in a nurses uniform, she was scrubbing her hands together after sanitising.

"Oh, I was just comin' to see how she was doin'. I didn't know you were in here." She smiled over them before explaining everything about the baby's health and what was going to be happening over the next few weeks. They really couldn't determine when they'd be able to take her home, it depended on how she responded to treatment and whether any complications cropped up. Since she was only a few hours old they were monitoring her closely, the first few days were going to be crucial. Nicki couldn't help but feel so grateful as she looked over at Drake, he was listening intently to everything the nurse was saying. Like he was absorbing all the information, like this baby was actually his daughter. Of course she wasn't though.

It had been two weeks and Nicki was visiting the hospital everyday without fail, Drake felt awful that he couldn't make it sometimes but he'd applied for his annual sabbatical so that when Auburn was finally able to come home he'd be able to spend that time with Nicki and her. He smiled thinking about the name choice. She'd completely surprised him with it and he was truly honoured that she'd chosen a name so similar to his. He squeezed her hand as they entered the hospital, today was the day they were going to be told whether Auburn could have her feeding tube removed. Understandably Nicki was anxious but there really was no reason for it. Auburn had been progressing miraculously over the last fortnight.

"It'll be fine." Although he'd had to let go of her hand he was still there for her as they waited for the elevator.

"I know it's just after this we're one step closer to gettin' her outta this place. Then it's just us. No nurses or other people helping."

"Well we've got my Mom for a while, she said she's gon' help out a lot, so stop stressin'." She smiled before they both stepped into the elevator and continued up to the NICU. Rachel, Auburn's primary care-giving nurse was already with her.

"I was wonderin' where y'all were! Take a look at this." She followed them with her eyes as they got closer, both were watching Auburn. "It's out, that was her last feed usin' the tube."

"Seriously?"

"Mhm." She nodded happily.

"So, no more feedin' tube?" He felt like he had to ask just to be doubly sure.

"No sir." Both Rachel and Drake looked at her little body, which was now secured against Nicki's chest as she held her. "That means you can stop usin' that awful breast-pump now and feed her yourself if you want. You can carry on expressin' though and bottle feed too if you don't wanna feed her directly yourself."

"Ugh good, I hate that thing." There was a mixture of relief and happiness in her voice as she looked at Auburn's tiny face. She'd had those patches taken off of her eyes too. The only thing left was the oxygen tubes.

"She's doin' really well, as soon as the oxygen tubes are out then I don't see any reason why she can't go home. Of course I'll have to talk that through with a doctor first and everythin'."

"Thank you so much."

"Not a problem, I'll come back a bit later to check her over." She gave them both a smile and stroked Auburns little head and left.

"Can you believe this?" Just by the way he said it she knew he was smiling. Instead of answering she turned around and kissed him. Nobody was looking, they were safe. They stayed for a few hours with Rachel returning momentarily to help Nicki feed her for the first time. It took a while partly because of the whole experience being new to both of them and the fact that Auburn had never actually had any of her feeds pass through her mouth but through the tube instead. Eventually they got the hang of it but at first Nicki was overwhelmed by it all, the only thing making her feel ok was knowing that Drake was by her side the whole time.

Leaving was always the worst and the first few times she cried but it was slowly becoming more routine and as Auburn grew stronger they didn't find themselves sat waiting for the dreaded phone-call.

"Do you think she'll be okay Drake?" The car had been silent up until she opened her mouth. He took his eyes of the road for a split second to look at her. She was just staring out of the window.

"Yes, I do. You even heard Rachel say so. She's doin' so good Nicki and she'll be home in no time."

"No, that's what I mean. When we take her..." She took a few seconds to say the rest of her sentence but she spoke it slowly. "Home." She'd never called his house home before but she was positive that as soon as Auburn was with them it would feel more like a home rather than a house.

"Of course. I'm gon' be there to help and I'll even do the whole gettin' up in the middle of the night stuff." He smiled, showing his teeth before resting his hand on her leg. There were no words to describe how she felt about him and the same went for how he felt about her. She rested her hand over his for the rest of the ride home before they pulled into his driveway. They entered the house quietly only to be greeted with the smell of food, their stomachs growled simultaneously.

"Ugh, I love your Mom's cooking." Pulling her coat off she hung it on the rack and went through to the kitchen. Sandi had been so great with Nicki and Auburn, often going with her to the hospital whenever Drake couldn't go and he'd really noticed how well they got along.

"Aubrey."

"Yeah I'm comin' Ma. I'm just gon' go shower up first." He stood waiting for an answer but only heard the oven door open again as she put his plate back in to keep warm.

"So how's the little one doing?" Sandi sat her fork down as she chewed politely on some broccoli.

"Really well, she had her tube taken out today."

"Oh that's wonderful news! Now it's just the oxygen tubes left?"

"Yeah. Hopefully the aren't in for much longer either." She returned a smile back to Sandi genuinely. She felt so privileged that her own daughter was going to grow up with a loving family around her. Not like her own childhood. She understood that everything she was going through wasn't the average for a sixteen year old and obviously things were going to be difficult, but she really had never been happier than she was at that moment. But nothing compared to how she felt when she overheard Sandi refer to Auburn as her grandbaby, she felt as though she was smiling for days.

They continued to make small talk as Drake cleaned up and got himself dressed again. It was already eight in the evening and as always he'd had a stressful day at work but as soon as he saw Nicki he felt all the tension wash away. He'd been more on edge after seeing Ashley conversing with some higher staff members, not to mention the fact that she found out that Nicki had given birth already. How she discovered that, he had no idea. Jogging down the last few steps he entered the kitchen cheerfully, he didn't want for Nicki to be burdened with any other worries.

"What, how are y'all finished already?" He laughed seeing Nicki's jaw drop but leaned down to kiss her on the way past. That was something Sandi was still getting used to but she was being respectful of their relationship and never said an ill word about it.

"Aubrey take your plate through there, we wanna sit on somethin' comfy." Sandi ordered pleasantly before grabbing her wine glass and moving through to sit down. Nicki just watched him as he sprinkled more pepper over his food before she spoke up softly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just glad to be home after today." Suddenly feeling her tiny arms wrap around his torso from behind he relaxed into her hold before pulling her hands away and turning to face her whilst putting her arms back around him. She stayed limp as he moved her arms for her.

"Rough day?"

"Rough is an understatement, I felt like I had freakin' patient notes and files fallin' outta my damn ears."

"Well, they are big enough." She started laughing before she'd even finished talking.

"Ouch, that hurt Onika!" He playfully held his hand to his chest as she continued to cackle.

"Aw, I'm sorry baby. I didn't mean it." She bit on her bottom lip as she looked up at him. They were now pressed against each other with their arms wrapped around the other's body.

"Only I'm allowed to bite on them." He freed his hand and gently tugged her lip from her teeth before they were interrupted by Sandi clearing her throat. Immediately pulling apart Nicki felt her face starting to burn as she grabbed her plate from the table and began to wash it.

"Hope I wasn't interrupting anything." She knew she was but she'd finished her wine waiting on them.

"No, no 'course not. We're abouta come through now." He picked up his plate and grabbed a knife and fork out of the draw as Sandi re-filled her wine glass and disappeared again. She heard them giggling as she sat back down and couldn't help but smile. They were both so happy.

***

Shutting the car door Jelani squinted up at the house. It looked exactly the same as when he'd left. A complete dump, only now a few of the windows were missing glass and instead had cork-board replacing it. He'd been getting a number of calls from their next door neighbours, they were worried about Robert. His Father wasn't the reason he was visiting though. The only person he needed to know was safe was Nicki.

*Sorry if it's a lil' short! I finished the worst exam but now I have to study for Psychology :o I'm posting on some Onikafaree fics later though ^_^ Hope this was ok and thanku so much for all the comments on the sneak peek!! Oh and as you now know*