A/N: See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer.

Chapter 3: Grandma Garrett

"Oh, God," Mrs. Garrett whispered to herself, not thinking that Jo could hear her.

"What is it, Mrs. G.? What's wrong?" asked a very worried Jo.

It was terribly difficult in those moments, but for the sake of Jo and her baby, Mrs. Garrett managed to stay in control of her emotions and act calm. "Jo, your baby is breech. It's coming feet first," she replied. "Jo, I know how hard it is, but for your baby's sake, you have to remain calm now. Just listen to me and do exactly as I say, alright?"

"I will," Jo told her. Then in the next moment, Jo had to push again, and when she did, all of her baby was delivered except the head.

"Jo, I need you to listen to me very carefully now," said Mrs. Garrett.

"I'm listening, Mrs. G."

"All of the baby is out except the head, and we need to get the head delivered as soon as possible. So when the next contraction comes, I need you to push with every ounce of strength you can muster. Give it everything you've got."

"I will," said Jo.

A few seconds later, Jo started having another contraction, and she did exactly as Mrs. Garrett said and gave a very hard push.

"Good job, Jo. The baby's out," Mrs. Garrett announced. But then, silence filled the room. Not the sound of a crying newborn.

Jo quickly turned around on her back so she could see her baby. "What's wrong, Mrs. Garrett? Why isn't my baby crying?"

"Give me a minute, Jo. Let me work," Mrs. Garrett told her as she started cleaning out the baby's nose and mouth with a towel. She then covered the baby's nose and mouth with her own mouth and gave it several breaths.

Finally, the tiny baby let out a loud cry, and both Jo and Mrs. Garrett began crying as well. Then Mrs. Garrett wrapped the baby up in a towel and gently placed the baby in Jo's arms.

"Congratulations, Jo. You're the mother of a beautiful, healthy-looking baby girl," Mrs. Garrett informed her.

As Jo stared down into the face of her newborn daughter, she was just overwhelmed with love for her. Just hours before, she hadn't even known that she'd been living inside her; she'd had no clue that this precious little life even existed. But now, Jo couldn't imagine her life without her.

"I can't believe it. She looks just like me," Jo said as tears of joy fell down her cheeks. And it was true. The baby girl had her father's blonde hair, but she had Jo's exquisite green eyes and Jo's nose and mouth and chin. With the exception of her hair, she was the very image of her mother.

"Oh Jo, she's gorgeous," Mrs. Garrett whispered as tears came to her eyes as well.

"I have a baby," Jo whispered in disbelief.

"A beautiful baby."

"Yeah. A beautiful, perfect little baby."

After several silent moments, Mrs. Garrett told Jo, "I think I'll go out to the living room and wait for the paramedics to get here. That'll give the two of you a chance to get acquainted."

Mrs. Garrett started to walk out then, but Jo stopped her. "Wait a minute, Mrs. G. Don't leave us. I like having you here with me. It's comforting to have you close-by."

"Alright, then. I'll stay right here," she said kindly, and then she sat down in the rocking chair in the corner and watched lovingly as Jo cradled her brand new bundle of joy in her arms.

The paramedics finally arrived about an hour later, and Mrs. Garrett followed them to the hospital in her car. Jo and the baby were examined by the OB/GYN on call that night and she assured Mrs. Garrett that both Jo and her baby were perfectly fine. However, she also determined that the baby was premature; that she had probably been born at around thirty-three or thirty-four weeks. She weighed four pounds, fourteen ounces. Her lungs were slightly underdeveloped, and Jo was told that her daughter would probably have to stay in the hospital for around the next three weeks or so until her lungs matured a little more and she gained some weight.

Mrs. Garrett called all the girls the next morning and told them about what happened. At first they didn't believe her, but she eventually managed to convince them that she wasn't joking around and that Jo actually did give birth to a baby last night. The following day, the girls all arrived at the hospital in Massachusetts and they and Mrs. Garrett got together and threw Jo the biggest surprise baby shower ever in her hospital room. As one might expect, Blair really went crazy, and she bought Jo's baby more baby clothes, toys, socks, baby shoes, blankets, formula, bottles, pacifiers, and Pampers than any new mother and newborn could dream of. She also bought a crib, a bassinet, a baby swing, and a playpen and had them all sent to Jo's apartment. And while Mrs. Garrett and Natalie and Tootie couldn't give Jo and the baby as much as Blair could, Jo was deeply touched by their gifts as well. Mrs. Garrett gave the baby a pink, blue, and yellow blanket she knitted especially for her, and Tootie gave Jo a tape of lullabies she'd recorded for the baby. Natalie's gifts to the baby were a journal, a dictionary, and a thesaurus to help her refine her writing skills when she got older. Neither of Jo's parents could get away from their jobs just yet, so it would be a while before they finally met their new granddaughter, but they each informed Jo that they were sending her a number of baby gifts through the mail, which Jo appreciated (although she would have appreciated their presence a lot more than any gift they sent to her.)

The girls stayed at an inn nearby and spent the next few days in Massachusetts, visiting with Jo and her baby every day that they were there. And obviously, Mrs. Garrett came to see them every chance she could get, and Raymond came to visit them a couple of times as well. However, Jo and everyone else was acutely aware of the notable absence of one person: the baby's father.

When Rick filed for a quickie divorce from Jo and moved in with his high school sweetheart Susan months before, sure, he did it because there was a lot of attraction between the two of them. A lot of history. But more than anything, he did it because being with Susan gave him a way to escape true adulthood. Susan was a successful attorney now and she made a substantial salary. She was pretty well off. And because her feelings for Rick had never changed in all these years, she actually didn't mind letting him live off her. As crazy as it was, she actually was in love with him, and she was perfectly happy to overlook his mooching ways as long as she could have him in her life. Rick actually had felt something for Jo at first, and at the time, he'd been convinced that he was in love with her. But then after the fun and celebration of the wedding day was over and he came back from his concert tour in Europe to start his married life with Jo, reality set in. All of the sudden, he found that he actually had to be a husband, and that being a husband meant that he had to hold onto a job, even if it was a job he hated. All of the sudden, he no longer had the option of doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without any consideration for anybody else. After getting married, he slowly came to realize that he actually had to put his wife first in everything from now on. And that really depressed him. Leaving Jo and moving in with Susan meant that he could go right back to being a silly, self-centered little boy; that he no longer had to worry about growing up and accepting adult responsibilities like a man.

So naturally, when Jo called him and told him what happened, he got angry and he absolutely refused to believe it. And when Jo tried to convince him to come to the hospital and see his baby for himself, that only made him angrier. Jo finally lost her cool and she really ripped into Rick, and Rick knew that if he didn't want to get his neck broken by his ex-wife, he'd better go to the hospital like she said.

"Is everything alright, Jo?" Mrs. Garrett asked just as Jo was hanging up the phone.

After Mrs. G. sat down in the chair beside Jo's hospital bed, Jo told her, "Oh, it's no big deal. I was just talking to Rick. Every conversation we ever have ends in a shouting match these days. It's nothing new."

"Is he finally coming to the hospital?"

"Yeah, but I really had to twist his arm. Rick may have left me for another woman, but I really do believe that the real reason he filed for a divorce had nothing to do with his affair. That was just a cover; an excuse. The real reason he left me was because I wouldn't let him get away with acting like a teenage boy all the time. He left me because I was trying to hold his feet to the fire and make him accept the responsibility of being a husband. And believe me, Rick's never been a fan of responsibility."

"Sounds a lot like my ex-husband. He wasn't a fan of responsibility either."

"If Rick was willing to end our marriage because he discovered that he didn't want the responsibilities of being a husband, how on earth will he react to this?"

"If he's anything like my ex, he'll run. He'll hit the road and run as far away from this as he can possibly get."

"That's what I'm afraid of. I just found out this morning when I talked to the school principal over the phone that my school is closing. I'll still get my maternity leave pay, thank God, and that'll keep the two of us afloat for a little while, but I'm going to have to find another job really soon. Maybe more than one. If we're just talking about me, I can make it on a teacher's salary. But if you add a baby to the equation, I really don't think it's possible. This is turning into such a nightmare, Mrs. Garrett. As you already know, I was a latchkey kid growing up. When Pop left us, Ma had to work at two jobs to support us, and I barely got to see her at all. I don't want that kind of life for my daughter. I don't want her growing up without a father, and I don't want her growing up a latchkey kid who never gets to see her mother."

"Jo…how would you feel about moving back to Peekskill with the baby and living with me? I still have the house. You know yourself that there's plenty of room for the three of us, and I personally think it's a much better neighborhood to raise a child in than the city. And I could help you with your little one. You two wouldn't be all on your own."

"I love you for that, Mrs. G. I really do. But ever since I was fifteen, you've been right there, bailing me out every time I did something stupid and got myself into trouble. For so much of my life, you've been rescuing me whenever things went wrong and I needed help. That was fine when I was a kid, but I'm a grown woman now. It's time for me to act like it. I got myself into this mess by rushing into getting married to a man I didn't really know. I got myself into this mess by being careless and having unprotected sex. And I have to be the one to accept responsibility for it and figure a way out. I can't just come running to you every time something goes wrong in my life anymore. My baby and I are not your responsibility."

"Fair enough," Mrs. Garrett said, and then there was a knock at the door, and a nurse pushed a hospital bassinet into the room, which of course had Jo's baby inside. Jo thanked the nurse and she left, and then Jo scooped her baby daughter up into her arms. Mrs. Garrett remained silent for several long moments as Jo lovingly gazed down into her daughter's face, and then after she got up from her seat, she told her, "From this moment forward, Jo, I won't ever try to bail you out of trouble or do anything to help you through a problem ever again. You're absolutely right. You are a grown woman now, and it's time for you to stand on your own without any help from me. But now you have to promise me something in return."

"What's that?" Jo asked, still gazing into her newborn daughter's precious little face.

"You have to promise me that the instant your little girl turns eighteen, you will never do anything to help her or support her in any way whenever she has a problem or makes a bad decision and gets into any kind of trouble."

Jo remained silent for the next few moments, and then she looked up at Mrs. Garrett and knowingly laughed. "You got me, Mrs. G. You know I could never make a promise like that."

"Of course you couldn't. And in the same token, you can't expect me to ever stop wanting to be there for you. I'm not your mother, of course, but I couldn't possibly love you any more if you were my very own daughter. Nobody's twisting my arm, Jo. I love you and your baby so much, and I want to do everything I possibly can to help you."

"I don't know what to say," Jo gasped as tears came to her eyes. "You're incredible, Mrs. Garrett."

"You mean you're only just now figuring that out?" Mrs. Garrett teased, and Jo laughed.

"Okay, Mrs. Garrett. You win. I'll move back in with you."

Mrs. Garrett then lovingly kissed the top of Jo's head, and she said, "Now that that's settled, it's time to get onto the next matter of business. You've got to decide on a name for your little one."

"I was thinking…Eden."

"Eden," said Mrs. Garrett. "Oh Jo, that's so beautiful."

"Every time I look into her little face, it's like…seeing a tiny piece of paradise. So it seems fitting that her name should be Eden. And also, Eden is as close to Edna as I can get. I figure after all you did to help me bring her into the world, it's only fair that she should be named after you."

"Oh Jo, I don't know what to say. I'm so honored."

"Now I can finally fill out her birth certificate. Miss Eden Dawn Bonner."

"That's absolutely beautiful, Jo."

"Yeah. Even if I do say so myself, it's not half bad. But still, I guess I should discuss it all with her father before I actually do fill out the birth certificate."

"Of course," Mrs. Garrett agreed.

Then she and Jo continued talking and fussing over the baby for the next couple of hours until Rick finally arrived. Jo allowed Rick to hold his baby daughter, of course, although it was painfully obvious how uncomfortable he was with her. Both Jo and Mrs. Garrett could tell that he would've gladly severed a limb to get out of that hospital room if he could.

After holding Eden for barely two minutes, he set her back down inside the hospital bassinet, and then he turned to Jo and said, "Well Jo, it was nice seeing you again." In the next moment, he started trying to walk out of the hospital room.

Thankfully, Mrs. G. quickly blocked his exit. "Not so fast, young man," she told him very sternly. "You do not get to run away from this. What are your plans?"

"Plans? What do you mean? What plans?"'

"I mean, you have a daughter to think about now. Everything isn't all about you anymore. You have to have some kind of plans to provide and care for your daughter. What are those plans? Jo deserves to know."

"I certainly do," said Jo as she picked Eden up out of the hospital bassinet and cradled her in her arms.

Rick then turned around towards Jo and said, "Well Jo, you're its mother. Can't you just handle it?"

Outraged, Jo yelled, "Eden is not an 'it,' Rick! She's not just some inanimate object you can just leave with me and forget about while you're off doing your own thing. She's a human being. She's precious. And she deserves to have both her mother and her father in her life. Things may be over between you and me, but you cannot just run off and do whatever you please and forget about your own child."

"What makes you so sure it's mine?"

After Mrs. G. let out a loud groan of protest in the background, Jo said to Rick, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh come on, Jo. Don't try to act so nice and pure. We all know how it is in the real world. Nobody ever stays faithful, especially not when things get really tough. I'll bet I'm not the only one who started fooling around with other people when our marriage hit the rocks. People step out on each other all the time in this world. That's just life."

"Rick, just because you didn't have any decency or integrity or self-control during our marriage doesn't mean that I didn't. Unlike you, I do have the ability to keep my pants zipped up and stay faithful, even when times get tough. Just because you happen to be an immature, self-centered, lying, cheating creep, that doesn't mean that I am."

"Young man, I've got something I want to say to you," said Mrs. G. in her best no-nonsense voice, and Rick turned around to face her. "I don't believe that you actually think that Jo was fooling around with other men and that Eden isn't your baby. I think that you're just saying that because inside, you know that Jo was never unfaithful to you and that Eden is, without a doubt, your baby. And I think that scares you to death and you're trying to run away from it. I think it's quite obvious that from the moment you came out of your mother's womb, you've been given everything in the world except for proper discipline. And because you grew up so spoiled, you clearly believe that the whole world revolves around you and that it's perfectly okay for you to abandon the people who need you the most if being there for them and putting them first causes you a moment of discomfort. You've gotten away with this selfish, despicable attitude your entire life, but as of this moment, all of that is officially over. From here on out, you are going to start working a steady job, even if it's a job you don't like, and you are going to provide for your daughter. And not just financially, either. You are going to come to this hospital every chance you can, and you are going to hold your daughter in your arms and rock her and bond with her and feed her and change her and bathe her and do anything else you can think of to help Jo with her while she recovers from giving birth. And afterwards, once Jo and Eden have left the hospital and moved in with me, you are going to come by the house as often as you can and you are going to spend time with Eden and you are going to care for Eden and be a father to Eden and you are going to be a source of emotional support for Jo and do everything you possibly can to help her. She is the mother of your child, and you will respect her as such. You are not going to abandon Jo and leave her behind to raise Eden all on her own. It's not all about Rick Bonner anymore. From this moment forward, whether you like it or not, Jo and Eden are going to come first. And if you even think of abandoning Jo and Eden once you walk out of this room, I assure you, you will answer directly to me. I'm a registered nurse, and I know precisely what to do to inflict the greatest amount of pain on the human body. And if you ever neglect Jo and Eden or do anything under to sun to hurt them in any way, I assure you, I will get ahold of you and I will make you wish that you had never been born! Do you understand me, young man?"

As Rick looked into the blue pools of fire that Mrs. Garrett's eyes had become, he knew better than to even think of trying to defy her. Really, there was no way he could defy her, because deep down in his heart of hearts, underneath all of his childish stupidity, he knew that she was right. So he looked at her in that moment and said the only thing he possibly could: "Yes, ma'am." And then he quickly made his escape from the hospital room before Mrs. Garrett could do any more damage to his overblown ego.

Once Rick was gone, Jo said, "Once again, Mrs. G., I don't know what to say. Thank you for that."

"Don't mention it," said Mrs. Garrett with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I've been there, Jo. I've been a young mother, struggling to raise a family without an ounce of help from my self-centered, immature husband. I will do everything I possibly can for you and Eden, but I will not let her father get away with running off and refusing to do his part."

Jo locked her eyes with Mrs. Garrett's then and told her, "I don't know what I'd ever do without you, Mrs. Garrett."

Mrs. Garrett put a loving hand on Jo's shoulder and assured her, "That's one thing you'll never have to worry about. I'm always here for you and Eden, Jo. Always."

It was soon evident that Mrs. Garrett's diatribe really put the fear of God into Rick, because over the next three weeks, he came to the hospital every chance he could to spend time with Eden and help Jo with her. He also got a job and finally stopped mooching off his girlfriend, and he started helping Jo out financially as well.

After Eden had spent three weeks in the hospital, her lungs had completely matured and she weighed in at six pounds, ten ounces, and she was declared healthy enough to go home. She'd had a brief episode of jaundice, but it was common for premature babies and it quickly cleared up, and when Jo and Mrs. Garrett brought her home from the hospital, she was in excellent shape.

Two days after they brought Eden home, Blair informed Jo that a teaching position would be open at Eastland next fall. Obviously, it was a no-brainer for Jo. Unlike most public schools, Eastland paid its teachers very well. And it really did mean a great deal, both to Jo and to Mrs. Garrett, for her to be teaching at the same school that had given her so much for so many years. And Jo knew that if they were still living in Peekskill when Eden turned twelve, she would proudly enroll her daughter in Eastland.

Later on that night, Jo walked into the nursery to check on Eden. (Jo was now sleeping in Andy's old bedroom and they'd converted Pippa's old bedroom into a nursery for Eden.) When she opened the door, she smiled when she saw Mrs. Garrett sitting with Eden in the rocking chair, rocking her and singing her to sleep.

When Mrs. G. was finished singing, Jo walked up to her and Eden and asked with a smile, "You really love being a grandma, don't you?"

Mrs. Garrett looked up at Jo and told her truthfully, "More than anything. Oh Jo, I can't thank you enough for bringing Eden into the world."

"And I can't thank you enough for being such an amazing grandma," Jo said with a grin that was a mile wide. Jo knew that the years ahead wouldn't always be easy, but she couldn't thank Jesus enough that she had Mrs. Garrett with her. The journey ahead might not always be a smooth one, but Jo knew that no matter what life threw at them, she and Eden and Mrs. G. would all be okay.