Re: log: hospital - sam/louis
"What a relief. So many institutions I enter aren't appropriately prepared for my ass," said Louis, holding Joey a little tighter despite reassurances about the springiness of the floor. Springy or not, he was not going to be the brother who dropped the baby.
When Sam asked Louis what Cris had said to him, he shrugged - very slightly. Very slightly. All gestures were muted due to the fragile baby in his arms. "Not much," he said. That was true, and what little Cris had said he didn't think he ought to recount blow by blow for Sam. Cris was his friend, and it would also defeat the purpose of trying to draw him out, for his own good, if he thought Louis was going to tell Sam every detail of their conversations. So he decided not to mention what Cris had told him about the 'date' with Connie. "I asked him about Meredith, and he isn't interested in talking about her, which I understand. He seems better, though, in general. Not at one hundred percent, but better."
She seizes was not what an inexperienced man holding a baby wanted to hear, but he resisted the urge to gently put the child back down in sheer terror that she would seize and it would somehow be his fault. It instantly made him think of Sam, and he glanced up at her. He could go the rest of his life without seeing someone seize again, especially not an infant, but he hid his worry decently enough. It came out mildly alarmed instead of very worried. At least Sam seemed to be taking it in stride. It must not be too terrible, then.
The hovering nurse was not helping Louis' self-confidence, but he chose to ignore her, sitting down very carefully with the screaming child. The rocker, the rocker was supposed to help, wasn't it? He settled in with Joey and began rocking at a ponderously slow pace. This was going to take some practice, certainly. One step at a time.
Infants became very red when they were screaming, and he tried not to worry every single second that the baby was going to seize in his arms while he was feeding her. The cold, petrifying peril of being responsible for a human life wasn't new, exactly, but nothing about this was like being a detective. That somehow had never felt as high stakes as holding his tiny niece while she cried.
He followed Sam's instructions to the letter, picking up the bottle and propping up Joey's head. His arms and hands were long enough that he could easily hold her with one, but it was still a little nerve-wracking to get her positioned correctly, reach over for the bottle, and then settle her in both arms again.
That done, he tipped Joey up again and placed the nipple at her lips, teasing as instructed. "I am getting something out of it," he said, still looking at Joey, brow furrowed in concentration as he waited to see if she would latch on. "I'm getting peace of mind that you don't have to worry about the day to day at the store. It's entirely selfish."
That was a bit blunt, and his face finally broke into a smile when he looked up and saw her grinning. It was surprised, and a little rueful. He chuckled. "No," he said, looking back down at Joey. "No. I talked to Lin, he's still feeling sore about Daniel. I asked Daniel about him. That could have gone better," he murmured, to the baby. "No, I expect they'll get back together as soon as Lin goes by to see him. Daniel certainly won't do the opposite. He won't leave the bloody music store, will he?" he asked the baby. "No. No he won't."