This is my first story ever submitted, and accepted, I'd like to THANK my WONDERFUL BETA CYN for all her help and suggestions. Thanks my friend.... YOU ROCK!! Also I'd like to thank everyone at ARWOW for letting me participate in the RRs.



The Guardian

By Becky



She was such a tiny thing, this little girl of Nina's and Mark's. She had a shock of blonde hair, and her nose was the shape of her mother’s. She was pale, and seemed to struggle for breath.

Jamie stood, looking down at her sleeping form, and wondered what he was to do!

Nina had been in labor for two days. The hard labor came, for the most part, on the second day. Yes, she'd had some trouble, but finally the baby was here.

The doctors said it would be touch and go for at least seventy-two hours, and that she would have to stay in the nursery.

Jamie was sent back here for some unknown reason. But knowing better than to argue with or question St. Peter, he did as he was told.

He'd been sent to all sorts of places since helping Nina to move on with her life, and when St. Peter had called him, then sent him back here without an explanation, he was puzzled by the order.

"Jamie, you must go back to Nina!" That was all he'd said.

So, here he was, standing inside the nursery, looking down into the bassinette that held the sleeping child.

The nurses were hovering around the little bed that held her, and Jamie could tell they were worried.

As they went in and out the door, and hovered nearby, Jamie could sense that something was wrong with the child. Her breathing was shallow and labored, and they were giving her oxygen.

Jamie stepped back into the shadowed recesses of the room, and watched the activity before him.

The door opened, and a nurse came in, pushing a wheelchair. Nina sat there, gazing toward the small bed that held her child.

The charge nurse came in with a few papers attached to a clip board, asking Nina to sign them. "Mrs. Degremmauld, I need to know what name you've chosen for her." She held her pen poised over the form.

Nina and Mark had talked at length about this, and had decided to call her Jamie.

When Nina told the nurse the name they'd chosen, Jamie stepped out of the shadows and gazed down at the sleeping child.

Nina thought she'd seen something out of the corner of her eye, and turned in that direction.

She gasped when she saw him standing there, observing her child. Tears formed in her eyes, and she shook her head as if to clear it.

Not really believing who she was looking at, she mumbled, "I'm dreaming all this." The nurse turned to her. "What's that you say, dear?"

"Oh . . . nothing," Nina said, smiling. Her eyes never left Jamie's tall form, as she stood and approached the small bed holding her daughter.

The nurses moved aside and began to leave the room. Nina took a hesitant step forward, reaching out a trembling hand toward Jamie. She spoke first, as she touched his arm.

"Jamie, is it really you?" she asked, as tears spilled from her eyes and onto her cheeks.

Reaching out his hand, he wiped her tears away as she continued to speak. "Why are you here?"

A look of puzzlement crossed his features. "I don't really know; I was only told I had to come here."

Gathering Nina in his arms, he hugged her, and together they gazed down at the sleeping infant.

Nina's breath hitched suddenly, and she began once more to cry. Holding her at arms’ length, Jamie said in a worried voice, "What is it, Nina?"

"Oh, Jamie, have you come to take her with you?" she asked, as she started to tremble so hard she had to sit down.

Jamie's face took on a faraway look, and for several moments he didn't speak.

To Nina, it seemed as if he were listening to something or someone.

Glancing back at Nina, Jamie smiled, and held his hand out to her. Nina stood and drew closer to Jamie as she looked at him.

He pointed to the child. "Look." Nina saw her daughter draw a deep breath, and then she seemed to smile in her sleep.

Nina let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Jamie leaned close, and whispered, "She is going to be alright."

He released his hold on Nina's hand and turned to leave.

"Wait!" she said, her voice becoming ragged and her eyes holding still more unshed tears.

Jamie looked at her, and then said, "I was sent here to see my new charge; you'll have no need to worry . . . ever again, Nina."

"Your charge?" she repeated in a puzzled voice.

"Yes," Jamie said. "I'm little Jamie's guardian angel." And as he said those words, Jamie's form seemed to shimmer, and then he was gone.

Nina stood staring at the spot where he had stood, and then turned back to her daughter’s sleeping form.

Leaning over to kiss her, she whispered, "You'll never be alone, little one; Jamie will always be there."
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