Begin Again: Darcy's Story-H.S. Fanfic

Millie's Diagnosis

Josh: 33
Darcy: 31
Penny: 12
Via: 10
Violet: 3 1/2
Lucy: 2 1/2
Delilah: 1 1/2
Millie & Sophie: 2 hours old

August 9 2042- (1 1/2 hours after the twins were born)

"Darcy, you have to tell me what you're thinking,"Josh sighs, his fingers absentmindedly rubbing against Sophie's bald head as he stares straight at Darcy who he's starting to get a tad frustrated with. He knows she's keeping something from him, and it scares the sh*t out of him to keep watching her scanning over Millie with concerned eyes, "you're freaking me out."

Darcy exhales deeply, pressing a kiss to Millie's forehead, both of her pointer fingers being held by Millie's tiny wrinkly palms before she sits up straight and looks at Josh with a hopeful grin that illuminates the tears in her eyes. "I think she has Down syndrome. We need to get her to a hospital to see."

His mind starts to spin at the words. Down syndrome. Down syndrome. His little girl might have Down syndrome. "What?"

"She's showing signs,"Darcy begins to explain, beckoning for Josh to lean in closer and take a look at their little girl as she points down at her, "she's got almond shaped eyes," she guides her fingers against Millie's eyes that are now shut as she peacefully sleeps. She brings her fingers down to pick up one of Millie's little hands, splaying it out wide to show Josh, "her thumb is significantly smaller than the rest of her fingers." She gently places Millie's hand back onto her little belly before taking one of her tiny feet in her hand, holding onto her big toe as Josh's eyes fall to it, "her big is spread apart from the others." She smiles softly and reaches to pick Millie up, supporting the back of her head as she lays her chest to chest so that they can do a little skin to skin, her fingers trailing up and down Millie's back as she presses little kisses to the top of her head that's covered in brown hair that's sticking straight up now that it's dry. "And her heart murmur could be a sign as well, heart defects are really common in babies with Down syndrome."

He doesn't know what to say, honestly. It's been about an hour and a half since Millie was born, so Darcy has had that time to process all of her findings and come to terms with the surprise of the lifetime she's getting, but Josh has not had that time, and he's not going to really get that time since Darcy knows that they inevitably need to go to the hospital to get her checked on.

"What about her?"Josh asks nervously, his voice a bit caught in his throat so it only comes out as a mere murmur, looking down at his little Sophie who's still laying against his thighs peacefully with her eyes shut, breathing perfectly as Josh rubs his fingers over her belly.

"No, not her,"Darcy promises, shaking her head. She already did the little checks on Sophie as well when they were all sitting on the couch and introducing the twins to their older sisters  just to be sure, but everything about Sophie pointed towards her not having Down syndrome. "Just this sweet girl." She leans down to press another delicate kiss to the top of Millie's head, basking in the amazing feeling of Millie's skin against her bare chest, a feeling she's been waiting for for nine months now. "We need to take her into the hospital to get some bloodwork to be sure. I'm also just a bit worried about her heart because it's fairly common in babies with Down syndrome to have holes in their heart."

"A hole?...in her heart?"Josh chokes out, his whole face going pale as his body freezes. His little girl. His tiny little four pound nine ounce daughter could have a hole in her heart.

"Yeah, but it's okay, I promise,"Darcy insists, much more familiar with this type of news than Josh is. She's so numb and used to medical conditions that it doesn't even really phase her anymore. Of course it terrifies her that her little girl could have one of those medical conditions, but she's seen so many infants have it and be perfectly fine that she has a bit of peace with it that Josh absolutely does not have. "She's going to be just fine, most of the time they are so small they don't even need to be operated on."