Then There Was You

After bringing Bryson home from the hospital, Sofia ended back in the hospital. She ended up going while Ryan was at practice. When she starting getting sick, that was when Dean and Teresa took her to the hospital. So with the packed baby bag, they headed back to the hospital. There was no way she was going to leave her son who was barely a week and a half old with her soon to be husband's parents and brother. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, because she really did, but if she was leaving the apartment then so was Bryson. He was her baby and it just wasn't going to leave him while she was gone for who knows how long.

It didn't look too busy at the hospital, which Sofia was happy about. Then maybe she could find out what was going on sooner rather than later. The only thing she was worried about was if she had to be emitted for more than one night. Knowing Ryan he would want to be with her and Bryson. Ever since she had Bryson, he had become such a doting father just like she knew he would be. It made her heart melt when would fall asleep on the couch, Bryson on his chest and his arms securely wrapped around their son. He was a great father in her opinion and she knew his family felt the same way she did.

After waiting an hour and a half, she was emitted and that's when Ryan showed up. She didn't count on Drew calling the rink and telling him that she went to the hospital, she just thought that he would find out when he got home. But she was glad that he was there with her. She gave him a smile when she saw him walking up to her as she sat in a chair holding Bryson while his dad was sitting next to her. He leaned down and gave her a small kiss on the lips before kissing his son's head while he was having a bottle. “How long until you get called back?”

“From what the nurse said,” Sofia said. “Anywhere between twenty and thirty minutes.”

“How high was it today?” Ryan asked sitting next to her, placing his hand on her leg.

“I took it before we came here and it was about a hundred and three point two.”

“Well, since your here now, Ryan I'll leave you two alone, if you would switch keys with me.” Dean said as he stood up from his chair.

Standing up from his chair, Ryan took the apartment and car keys out of his jean pocket and handed them to his dad. “Where are the keys to the car?”

“In Bryson's diaper bag along with everything else.” Sofia said taking the bottle out of Bryson's mouth and started wiping his mouth where there was excess milk.

“Call us if you need us.” Dean told them, with a small smile as he looked at his grandson who started crying since his mother took away his source of food.

“We will,” Sofia said as she lifted her son to start burping him. He was just like his daddy, upset when someone took something he wanted away from him. Sofia thought it was cute the first time it happened with them at a party in college. Ryan had gone to get them some drinks and some guy who she wasn't interested in started talking with her and he came back with a look in his eyes that she had recognized right away. She had seen it with Oliver when they first started dating. But once Ryan came up and kissed her to make the guy go away, Sofia was surprised and not too happy about the way he had acted. She had let him know that too, but eventually they had made up after fighting about it for an hour. “If you want something for dinner let Ryan know so he can go shopping for food since there isn't much but a few leftovers from last week.”

“I'm sure that we can manage to make something or even take you out to dinner,” Dean told her. “As long as you are okay to do so.”

“I'll call and let you know as soon as we know anything.” Ryan told him as he wiped his son's mouth as Sofia placed the screaming baby back into her arms to continue feeding him.

With a nod of his head, Dean started walking towards the exit and then stopped. “Where did you park Ryan?”

“In the spot next to you.”

“He sure is hungry,” Ryan commented as he touched his son's cheek with his finger. “I wanted to ask you something since we are alone now.”

“If you are going to break up with me, I swear Ryan I'll-”

He stopped her mid-rant as he silenced her with a kiss. “I'm not breaking up with you. I love you too much.”

“Or you just love Bryson more and would feel bad for admitting that's the only reason you wanted me here in the first place.” Sofia said as Ryan wiped the tears that came out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

“Sofia, stop thinking like that, I love you and I'm not breaking up with you. I wanted to know if you wanted to get married before my parents and brother leave.”

“I thought we talked about this, Ryan,” Sofia sighed as she took the empty bottle out of Bryson's mouth and handed it to Ryan before placing the burp cloth on her shoulder before she held him and rubbed his back and gently patted his back every so often. “I'm not ready to be married yet. We just had Bryson, not even a month ago, I'm not exactly very attractive these days and we can't afford a wedding.”

“We don't need a big wedding, do we?” Ryan asked. “All we need is us and some witnesses.”

“Ryan I love you, I really do, but I've been planning my wedding since I was a little girl and I don't want it just to be your parents and brother. That's fine that they will be there, but I want my friends to be there as well. I don't think we need to rush this thing. We aren't going anywhere right now. I like what we have going. Can't we just keep it how it is?”

“It was just a thought,” Ryan said as he moved some of her hair from her eyes. “How has he been doing since I left? Was he good?”

“I think he prefers when I feed him than anyone else. He was such a pain for Drew when he tried helping me so that I could get a little more sleep.”

“That's because he knows you the most. You had all that alone time together and he doesn't want to share you now.”

“He shares fine when it's you.” Sofia pointed out.

“That's because its me and he's used to my voice and I talk to him when I feed him.”

“If you say so Ryan,” Sofia said as she brought Bryson down and placed him in her arms. “Bryson Neal Miller, you won't ever break your mother's heart will you? Never try and make her decide a life altering decision while in the waiting room to find out what's wrong? I bet you wouldn't.”

“Is that a hint?” Ryan asked, with a grin on his face.

“Ms. Lewis? We can take you back for the exams now.” A nurse said with a clipboard in her hands.

Standing up, Sofia kissed Bryson's head before placing him into Ryan's awaiting arms. “He'll be needing a diaper change soon.”

“I got it Sofia. Go and find out what's going on with you so that we can go home sooner.” he told her before giving her a soft kiss and letting her walk towards the nurse who was smiling at them.

Four hours. That's how long it took for them to find out what was wrong with her. The good news was it wasn't anything life threatening. The bad news was that they wanted to keep her overnight in the hospital. That was the last thing she wanted, she had just spent three days in the hospital last week when she gave birth to Bryson. After they had set her up in the room she was staying in, Ryan and Bryson were allowed back in the room with her.

“Hey, so more hospital time?” Ryan asked as he put the carseat with their son on the chair. Then he took the diaper bag off his shoulder and set it near her bed. “Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay to you?” Sofia bit out at him. “I've got an IV in me, I'm in a hospital gown and checked in.”

“At least tell me what happened. What did the tests say?”

“Basically I got an infection after having Bryson. So they are looking for antibiotics I can have and continue to breast feed.”

“Is it serious?”

“They say no, but I'm not sure.”

“What do you mean?” Ryan asked as he started to take Bryson out of the carseat since he was being fussy and starting to cry.

“Its another stay in the hospital. I don't think we can afford this, especially since I'm not working now.” Sofia explained.

“It's covered in the insurance stuff,” Ryan told her as he handed Bryson over to her. “You need to stop worrying so much over the money issues.”

“I just don't want anything bad to happen,” Sofia said. “I don't want to have to ask your parents for money. It isn't like I can go to my parents about it.”

“I'm in the AHL, Sofia, I got drafted and as soon as they think I'm ready I'll be playing with the rest of those guys in the NHL. It'll be sooner than you think.”

“I don't want to think about it though,” Sofia admitted. “I just want it to be here and now.”

“I love you to death, Sofia, but if you don't stop worrying over these stupid issues then you are going to drive me insane.”

“Did you call your parents?” Sofia asked, softly kissing Bryson's forehead as she started humming when she noticed how close he was to falling asleep.

“They wanted to know if they should come and bring food, but I told them that we would be fine and we'll call if anything comes up.”

That night, Sofia was lying awake in her hospital bed, Bryson was in a crib that the hospital provided next to her and Ryan was asleep in the pull out bed they had provided. Hospitals were never the place she liked to be. It always caused her to worry even when she had no need to. The nurse that had come in before they were going to bed had told her how adorable her son was, and she was right. Bryson was the cutest baby she had ever seen. She wanted to give him so much, but that was going to be hard when she didn't graduate from college. She was a dropout. Although she wanted to go back, she knew it wouldn't be anytime soon. It was only the second week into being a mother and Sofia was exhausted. She wanted Ryan's career to take off, not for her, but for him. He worked so hard and for so long that he deserved to be recognized for what he did. Although he loved playing hockey, he knew that it could bring in the money so that they wouldn't have to worry over things. They would be able to move out of their apartment into something bigger so that one day they could expand their family. Sofia knew Ryan wanted a large family and she was fine with that, as long as they were all boys. She didn't want to chance a girl turning out like her sister. That would not be okay with her.

“Close your eyes and go to sleep.”

Glancing in the direction of the voice she saw Ryan rolling over onto his side and looking at her. “I can't sleep.”

“That's because the wheels in your head keep turning.”

“No, its because you are all the way over there,” Sofia sighed. “Ever since we started sleeping together and we could sleep in the same bed whether it be to have sex or sleep, we shared a bed and you are on the other side of the room and I know you are over there and I have a hard time sleeping when you are close by and not in the same bed.”

“You put way too much thought into that for this time of night. One night isn't going to kill us. We didn't sleep together after you had Bryson.”

“That's because you had a game and I sent you home even though I didn't want you to go.”

“Baby, please just try and get some sleep. Bryson might be getting up soon for a feeding and you don't want to fall asleep while feeding him do you?”

“Well no, but-”

“Then get some sleep and I'll make you a romantic dinner after my parents leave and its just the two of us.”

“It'll never be the two of us,” Sofia reminded him. “It's the the three of us now.”

“And one day four, then five and maybe six.”

“Four kids?” Sofia asked.

“What's wrong with that?” Ryan asked. “I think that's a great number of kids for us to have.”

“And when exactly am I supposed to finish getting my degree?” Sofia asked.

“After our third, you'll be a master at getting them under control by then.” Ryan grinned sleepily from his spot.

“You think your so clever Ryan Miller, but I'm the one that has to carry the babies, get sick, and gain the weight, so I don't think I'll wait that long.”

“We can talk about it later after you get some sleep,” Ryan yawned. “Just like the wedding.”

“Good night, Ryan.” Sofia said as she rolled her eyes at him.

Leaning over her bed carefully she saw that Bryson's blanket wasn't covering him, so she moved it back up so that he wouldn't get cold. At home they were able to keep the temperature the way they wanted it, but at the hospital they had no say in the matter. If the baby was cold all they would bring was a thin blanket.

Closing her eyes, Sofia let out a deep breath. She just hoped that tomorrow would be a better day. She wanted to go to Ryan's home game, but it was still too cold to bring Bryson out into. She didn't want him to get sick, so she relied on him telling her all about it.

Tomorrow would be a better day, there was no way it could be any worse than staying over night in the hospital when you'd rather be at home with your family. Even if her family was with her, she felt bad that Ryan's parents and brother were at the hotel because she had to be hospitalized. But there wasn't much that she could do about it.

Knowing that there would be more memories and more times for them to spend together, helped her relax a bit. Although they would be leaving at the end of the week, Bryson probably wouldn't even remember them. He was just too young, but that didn't matter. What mattered was knowing no matter what, he had family that he could trust and go to when he was older.

“Go to sleep Sofia,” Ryan said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Sofia yawned. “There is a bottle ready when he gets up, so have fun.”

“After all this time not one thing has changed since the day I met you.”

“Did you want something to change?”

“Only the size of our family and it already has.”

“Good night Ryan.”

Turning onto her side so she was still facing the bed where Bryson was at, Sofia closed her eyes and just hoped that things tomorrow would be better than what had happened today. No point in looking to the past when the future is in front of you. Miranda had once told her that. And it just felt so much truer at this point in her life.