failegaidin

Another drabble. The prompt for this one was "Name" and I did it all by myself (smiles proudly).

His legs refused to hold him up any longer, and Jack sank into the nearest chair. Nurses and doctors moved around him, all oblivious to the fact that his entire world had just shattered at his feet. He was vaguely aware of a woman standing nearby, watching him, but he couldn't draw in enough breath to ask her what she wanted it. His eyes stayed glued to the floor, his hands shaking and his head pounding. Memories danced through his mind, teasingly, and he struggled to grasp them. But the woman was speaking now, and her voice pushed the memories farther away.

"Mr. Bauer?"

He lifted his eyes to her, trying to focus, and she recoiled slightly from the pain she saw there.

"My name is Melinda Busch. I'm with Child Protective Services."

Jack looked at her in confusion, vaguely wondering if the woman was lost. He struggled for some kind of appropriate response, but he couldn't remember what you were supposed to say when someone was lost.

"Sir, do you remember what the doctor told you? About Mr. and Mrs. O'Brian?"

The mention of Chloe's name sent pain rippling through his chest. He tried to breathe, but he couldn't seem to pull in enough oxygen. "Dead," he croaked.

Her eyes softened as she saw just how badly he was affected by all of this. "Yes. But do you remember what else? Do you remember him talking about the baby?"

The words echoed around in his head, and slowly he did remember the doctor saying…something. But it was lost, and he was too tired to dig around for it. Melinda saw this and repeated the doctor's words for him.

"Mrs. O'Brian was pregnant…the baby survived the crash and the doctor's got her out of the womb soon enough that there was no brain damage."

"The baby…the baby's alive?" He looked around wildly. "Who…who's going to take care of it?"

She smiled at him gently. "That's why I'm talking to you, Mr. Bauer. Mr. and Mrs. O'Brian wrote in their wills specifically that if anything happened to them, they wanted you to take custody of their child."

Jack's eyes widened as the implications of her words began to sink in. "But…but…Morris hated me. He never would have wanted…"

"Sir, I already had the department's lawyer's look over the document. Everything is legitimate. There is no one else to take this baby. Mr. O'Brian's brother has already said he'll stand by the wills."

He was no longer having trouble breathing, but he couldn't pin a single thought in his head down long enough to actually look at it. He had swung from abject grief to…wherever he was now…so quickly, that the rest of him was still trying to catch up.

"Sir?"

His head snapped up as another woman came up to them. She was holding a bundle of blankets in her arms.

"Sir? Would you like to hold her?"

He nodded dumbly, automatically stretching out his arms to take the baby. He stared down at her perfect face as she slept, blissfully unaware of everything that had been taken from her that day.

"We need a name for the birth certificate, sir."

He looked at the nurse for a moment, not comprehending. "They…Chloe hadn't picked out a name yet?"

"Not that we know of."

His eyes once again traveled to the little girl in his arms. "Elizabeth," he rasped.

"Excuse me sir?"

"Elizabeth Jean…Jean was her mother's name. And Elizabeth…Elizabeth was Chloe's middle name," he choked out.

"O'Brian or Bauer?"

His head snapped up. "O'Brian," he said fiercely.

The nurse nodded and walked away, leaving Jack with Elizabeth and Melinda. The older woman watched him as he stared at his new ward.

"There will be papers to sign," she said gently. "But they can wait. We'll call you in a couple days."

Jack nodded and she moved away. When they were by themselves, he slowly sank back into the chair.

"Elizabeth," he whispered.