~ Miracles ~

~ By Vicky ~

~ Chapter 13 ~

Since Courtney had been put on complete bed rest, Jason and Courtney's bedroom had become the center of activity, and not in the romantic way one would think.  Nowadays, everything took place in the bedroom.  All meals were eaten there, all baby planning took place there, and oh was there a lot of baby planning going on.  Carly had every catalog and book brought to Courtney's bedside, and even a laptop to look at the online catalogs.  She was getting much enjoyment out of being Courtney's personal shopper.  All Courtney had to do was point, and Carly would either go out and get or have whatever she wanted delivered.  Courtney was never left alone in the penthouse.  Jason had seriously cut back on his work schedule and on those days he couldn't be home with her, Mike or Carly was.  Even Sonny took a shift here and there.

Today was a Carly day, and although Courtney enjoyed the company of her best friend, she was quickly learning it was something she could only take in small doses.  She let her eyes drift close as Carly's chattering over the newest "How to please your man" article in Allure magazine continued.  "Oh my! How corny is this?" she tossed the magazine aside.  "We don't need some junk magazine telling us how to please our men!  Do you have the In Style somewhere in that bed of yours?"

Courtney felt around beneath the covers, "Nope."

"You look tired Court.  Am I keeping you up?"

"Well, I do feel a little drowsy."

"Why didn't you say something?  I'll just pull out that new romance novel I picked up.  Pretty steamy, this girl comes to town and is forced to work with this really macho, his way or the highway type guy, but she is the same way and wants everything her way, and they fight ALL the time, but the sexual tension is just Grrrrr all over the place!  I'm just wanting for them to explode and… Ok I'll shut up now," she caught the look her friend was giving her and smiled.

Courtney returned the smile and let her eyes close.  She was just about to fall asleep when… THUMP! CRASH!  Courtney shot up into a sitting position.  "What the hell was that?"

"What?  I didn't hear anything?" Carly said oblivious, or at least trying to be.

"Carly!  It sounded like an elephant just fell through the floor in the other room!"

"What are you talking about?  I think you were dreaming."

"Are you doing something in the nursery?" she asked suspiciously.

"No, but if it makes you feel better, I'll go and check things out."

"Thank you…" she sighed.  "Be careful."

Down the hall, two doors on the right, Carly popped her head in the doorway.  "What the hell are you two doing?  Courtney was just about to fall asleep."

"Jason dropped the crib," Francis confessed as Jason sent him a dirty look.

"You dropped the crib?" Carly said with a pointed look to her friend.

"Nooo, for it to be a crib, it would have to be together.  This thing is not," he gestured to the pieces of maple wood and bolts in front of him.

"Well, good job.  Courtney's all suspicious now."

"Tell me why we didn't hire someone to do this again?"

"Because it will mean so much more to Courtney that you took the time and energy to this for your baby."

"Right…"

"Back to work boys!" Carly whispered before leaving the room. 

Carly walked back into Courtney's room to find her friend patiently sitting up waiting for her return.  "Well?"

"You were right.  A box must have teetered of one of the shelves," she answered.

"Anything break?"

"Nope, and don't you worry about anything.  Just rest," Carly patted her friend's head.  Courtney stared at her for a moment before reluctantly closing her eyes again.

"Fu---- Grrrrr!" a muffled grunt came through the walls and Courtney's eyes shot open once again.

"Ok, now that was definitely something! And it sounded like Jason.  Carly what the hell is going on?"

Carly peered over the top of her book.  Jason certainly wasn't making this easy on her.  "Court, just leave it alone."

"No, was that Jason?  Is he home?"

"No! Go to sleep!"

"Carly, I have a right to know if there are strange men in my house!" she said as she started to get up from the bed.

Carly was quicker though and grabbed her wrist. "Hold it Missy! What do you think you're doing?"

"I can't stay in this bed any longer," she whimpered.

She sympathized with her friend, but knew there was nothing she could do to change the fact.  "Court, I know but look you've made it 3 weeks in this bed, you're half way there." 

The doctors wanted her to hit the 32-week mark before they even considered a C-section.  The baby would be a preemie, but with technology these days it would have an excellent chance of survival, and the sooner they took the baby, the less at risk Courtney was.

Courtney fell back against the bed, but the sadness and desperation in her eyes were still there.  Carly stroked her hair, "Oh sweetie, look just rest up, take a nap, and later I have a surprise for you, one you're going to looooooove," Carly smiled.  

Courtney gave her a weak smile in return, "Thanks Carly.  I'm sorry I'm such a mess," she wiped away at a stray tear that rolled down her cheek. 

"Hey, you're entitled.  You're pregnant."  Carly climbed into the bed with her and continued to sooth her until she fell asleep. 

Three hours later, Courtney was awake and in better spirits, which Carly was grateful for.  It seemed as though she really needed the sleep.  She eyed the clock; Jason had told her he could probably have everything ready in another hour if she stopped bugging him.  She wanted to get in there and put the decorative finishing touches on things though. 

"Hey Carly, did Jason call while I was sleeping?" Courtney asked.

"Ah yeah, said he should be home in an hour or two."

"Oh… he hasn't worked this late in awhile."

"He better get the work in now, once that baby is born, he won't ever want to be separated from you two."

Courtney smiled at that, "Yeah."

"You ok here?  I wanted to go downstairs and raid your fridge," Carly lied.

"Yeah sure."

This was her chance, her chance to make sure everything looked perfect before Courtney saw all their planning realized.

It was a little over an hour before Carly made her way back to Courtney's room.  "I know you were not cooking downstairs in my kitchen," she announced at her friend's arrival.

"What?" Carly asked puzzled.

"You were down there for over an hour!"

"Forget that!  It's time for your surprise!"  Carly moved away from the door to reveal Jason pushing the wheelchair they used when Courtney had doctor appointments.

"What's this?" she smiled at her husband.

"Road trip!" he smiled back.

"I thought you were working?" she said as she made her way from the bed to the chair.

"I was…" he pushed her out the door and down the hall with Carly giddily following.

When they reached the room and Jason had pushed open the door, Courtney's breath caught in the back of her throat.  It was everything she had imagined and more.  The walls were painted a light sea foam green with a yellow duck border running along the top.  The hardwood floors were accentuated by a large yellow and green home knit rug.  The light maple wood crib sat against the left wall, and had sea foam green trimmings.  Against the opposite wall, was the matching changing table dresser and toy/book shelf.  The shelf was filled with stuffed animals and all the toys a new baby could enjoy.  Beside the large bay window in the backside of the room, was the gliding rocking chair Courtney had fallen in love with before she was put on bed rest.  Sitting in the chair was a large stuffed duck with a matching green bow around its neck.

"You guys… it's beautiful!  I don't know what to say," Courtney announced as her eyes filled with happy tears.  Jason wheeled her into the spacious room, so she could explore further.  They showed her the double closet that already had a few newborn outfits both boy and girl and the duck night-light on the nightstand beside the crib.  Also on the nightstand was a silver frame that showcased a picture of Jason&Courtney on their wedding day. "Perfect, this is all so perfect," she said holding the frame.  Jason bent down to place a soft kiss on her head as he looked at the picture, which was Carly's idea.    "When did you do all this?" she asked.

"Well, Jason and I painted it a couple of days ago, and then he and Francis put the furniture together today," Carly revealed. 

She looked at her husband in shock, "You did this?  As in put it together and everything?"

He nodded proudly, "It was nothing."

Carly tried to stifle her laugh, and Courtney looked at him knowingly.  "Thank you Jason, I love it.  Thank you both," she said looking to Carly.  "It's so special.  This little one will love it.  I know it," she caressed her expanding stomach lovingly. 

~

The rest of the evening Courtney was on cloud nine.  Their baby had a nursery, a nursery designed by its mommy and built by its daddy.  That night Jason and Courtney snuggled in bed together.  Jason fell asleep fast and deep after working in the nursery all day and Courtney soon followed, lulled to sleep by happy thoughts of their new baby asleep in the nursery down the hall.

Sometime during the night, those peaceful dreams were interrupted by a shooting pain throughout Courtney's stomach.  She tossed and turned before jerking awake into a panic.  She clutched Jason's arm, "Jason! Jason wake up!"

He startled awake, "Wha… what?"

"Something's wrong…"