Ishita slept fitfully throughout the night. At one point she was submerged in beautiful dreams about Raman and their baby and then the next minute she was plagued by horrible nightmares.
~ Ishita 's Subconscious ~
She had just given birth to the most beautiful, most amazing baby that she had ever laid eyes on. The perfect combination of both her and Raman. Ishita cuddled the baby close to her, when the door opened and Raman walked in. "Good Morning." he greeted her as he made his way over to the bed. "How's Papa 's little angel ?" he asked, lifting the baby out of Ishita 's arms and cradling her in his own.
"Perfect, Ishita ." he told her. "A wonderful addition to the Bhalla family."
"Not to mention beautiful."
The door to her room burst open again and Shagun came walking inside. "Are you ready Raman ?" Shagun asked. "We should get our Baby home."
Raman smiled down at Ishita . "We really must be going." he told her. "I'll see you some other time."
"Alright." Ishita agreed as she waited for him to hand the baby back to her. Instead he walked over to Shagun and placed the baby in her awaiting arms. "Raman , what are you doing?"
"I'm handing my Baby over to her mother." he said simply.
"No!" she cried. "I'm the mother, not Shagun "
"You shouldn't have lied to me Ishita ." he replied. "If I can't trust you to tell me the truth then how can I trust you to raise my
child?"
"Raman !" she yelled. "You can't do this!"
"I love Shagun , she's a wonderful mother to Adi, Ruhi and Pihu and she'll be wonderful to our new born as well." he told her. "Along with Adi,Ruhi ,Pihu the baby has made our family complete."
Shagun cradled the baby gently in her arms.
"No!" Ishita started screaming. "I'll never let you take my Baby . Never!
~ Present ~
Ishita awoke screaming and in a cold sweat. She had never been so frightened in her entire life. The thought of Raman taking her child was bad enough, but
Shagun was too much. There was no way that thoughtless Shagun would ever get her hands on her baby.
Suddenly the room was flooded with light and Raman was at her side. "Ishita , what's wrong?" he asked. "Is the baby alright?"
"The baby is all that matters to you." she accused. Her dream and reality were intertwined and she was having a difficult time distinguishing between the two.
"You don't care about me at all." she said as she began to cry.
"Ishita !" he said as he grabbed her by the shoulders, gently shaking her so that she would look up at him. "You know that's not
true." he told her.
"Yes it is!" she cried. "You're going to take the baby away from me."
"No." he tried to assure her. "I'd never take our baby from you. Ever."
"It wasn't suppose to happen like this." she told him. "Everything's a mess."
"We have some things to work out. We haven't had a chance to talk about the future." he reminded her. "In the morning we're going to sit down and talk things through, but this time there's not going to be any yelling or screaming, okay?"
Ishita nodded. "Okay." she agreed.
"Now, do you want to tell me why you woke up screaming?" he asked. "That must have been one hell of a nightmare."
"It doesn't matter." she told him.
"You woke up screaming."
"You hate me don't you?" she asked, changing the subject. "You're never going to forgive me for this."
"Ishita "
"I know you have not forgiven me that with my fake dead yet. You hate me."
"Hate is a very strong word." Raman replied.
"But fitting."
Raman shook his head. "I could never hate you." he told her.
"It would probably make this easier if you did."
"Make what easier?"
"Settling things between us." she told him. "The divorce and the custody of the baby."
"You didn't file the divorce papers?" he asked, confused. "I had them sent to you before I left the first time."
And I had just found out that I was pregnant." Ishita replied. "Besides you and I both know that we can't divorce whilst I'm pregnant. We'll simply have to wait until after the baby's born."
"Is that really what you want?" Raman asked.
"Isn't that what you want ?" Ishita asked.
"Ishita , I want you to tell me what you want." he told her. "You obviously had your own plans for the future. Have they changed now that I'm here?"
"My plans for the future always included you." she said softly. "You were always a major factor. How could you not be ?You're the father of my children "
"So you planned to share joint custody?" he asked.
"No." she answered honestly.
"No?" Raman questioned. "I thought you said that I was a major factor in your decisions?"
"You were." she answered. "You are."
He felt as if he was going in circles. "Ishita , what does that mean?"
"I always thought that we would be raising the baby together."
"Together?"
Ishita nodded. "As a family." she clarified.
Raman was taken aback. "Oh." he sighed. "I didn't realize that you wanted to..."
"You don't want to?"
"I don't know." he answered honestly. "So many things have happened since we were married."
"I'm still your wife." she reminded him.
"Technically." he replied. "But we haven't been together in years Ishita . We've both changed so much."
That didn't stop you from going back to Shagun after all those years." she pointed out. "Is the love you shared with Shagun really greater than the love you shared with me?"
tbc...
