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June was buzzing around the nursery planting more and more stuffed toys and decorations. The room was practically finished months ago, months before they even had a name. June and Bea were persistent on being allowed to decorate the room more because even with the light purple painted walls and all the necessary furniture, books, and toys, the room had “no personality”.
To this, Alex said, “That’s because she has no personality yet. She’s not even born.”
“And she’ll never develop one in a boring ass room.”
“Henry and Bea did.”
Henry cuts in with a shout located in the kitchen downstairs, “that is uncalled for!”
“How the hell can he hear you?”
Alex grumbles, “He can hear my insults from a mile away, but hears nothing when I ask him to take out the fucking trash.”
June sighed and nodded, “Sounds like Nora.” June glanced around the room before announcing, “Something is missing.”
“A rug?” Bea suggested, sitting in the corner of the room folding some baby blankets. June thought for a minute before shaking her head.
“Lights?” Alex tried. Again June shook her head.
“A baby?” Henry asked as he walked into the room holding a tray of drinks. From the looks of it, they were just Shirley Temples.
June took the first drink off the tray and took a sip before saying, “Ah, that’s it.” She continues to fiddle with objects around the room, as if she thought moving a stuffed bear a quarter of an inch would fix her issue. Maybe she did. “Maybe some crystals would help.”
Alex responded quickly, “No putting spells on my daughter, June. I mean it.”
“Witch!” Nora shouted as she walked in carrying a box of more stuff.
“Oh god, what now,” Alex said, peering into the box taking out a miniature violin. “Nothing that could cause a curse, right?”
“Not unless you think being multitalented and cultured is a curse,” Bea said as she stood up and walked toward the entryway of the room, taking the box from Nora. This room wasn’t meant to hold 5 adults, let alone all standing in one area. “What type of dystopian universe are you living in? These are just a couple of kid instruments.”
Alex dropped the violin back into the box, “One where I have to make sure my sister doesn’t turn my unborn child into a fucking witch.”
“You’ll thank me later,” June smiles as Alex shakes his head, finally taking a drink from the tray Henry placed on the dresser.
“Y’all realize that she won’t be able to use most of this stuff for at least a year, right?”
“Shut up, Alexander, and be grateful.” June snarks, leading Alex to take a fake offense.
Gasping while holding his chest, Alex repeats “ Alexander? Why must you use such hurtful language, Bug.” Henry’s phone rings as the group laughs, so Henry excuses himself to the office.
Bea retreats back to the corner of the room strumming a little tone of a guitar that is uncomfortable too small for her size, but she looked content. Nora threw herself onto one of the chairs by the window while watching Bea. June just looks at Alex.
“Yes, June?”
“I’m having a hard time reading you right now.”
Alex raised an eyebrow, “I thought you were a witch, not a telepath.”
“I’m multifaceted,” she replies easily. “Also you are either a nervous wreck or a dickhead, and I can’t tell which.”
“Those aren’t mutually exclusive, you know,” Nora interrupts.
June smiles and her gaze on Alex softens. “You have a point.” June continues to study Alex and he makes a point to look visibly disgusted. “Alex, everything is going to be okay.” She concludes softly before turning to Nora and sitting on her lap.
“I don’t understand why you are telling me that,” Alex exclaims. “You were the one running around this room manically just 5 minutes ago.”
“Maybe that was me distracting you. Maybe that was me showing you what your head looks like right now.”
Nora giggles, “Maybe it was Maybelline.”
Bea stops strumming and places the miniature guitar in the closet. She had her hair down, and she was wearing a t-shirt of a pop-rock band, with some skinny jeans. She looked as if she stepped out of an indie film about a group of teens running away from home trying to find the real meaning in life. But she speaks with elegance and poise that only someone who has already realized her priorities in life could, but only when she chooses. “It’s honestly very heartwarming how over the edge you are about this, Alex. Henry too. Is he sleeping? Are either of you? Please sleep.” Bea settles into the chair next to Nora and June before continuing, “You two are absolute disasters and probably shouldn’t be allowed near young children, let alone raise one, but I can see how much you already love and care about her.”
“Was that supposed to be helpful, Beatrice?” Henry asks from the doorframe of the room, seemingly having finished his phone call.
“Of course, Henry. Anyway was that Philip? He said he was planning on calling you today.”
“No, that was Pez-” Nora and June made a screechy type of noise that probably meant they missed him. Henry ignored them, “He says the opening in Montario went well and he should be on his way back soon.” Everyone in the room let out a celebratory whoop before the three girls decided it was time for them to go.
“We’ll see y’all at the hospital, okay?” June informs while giving both Henry and Alex a kiss on the cheek. “Get some rest. You have an early morning.” She knows full well they won’t, but she told them anyway. Tomorrow was the start of their new lives.
Instead of sleeping, Henry suggested they put together a puzzle while the television played a Star Wars marathon on in the background. It was comfortable and sweet, except for when Alex threw puzzle pieces at Henry for no reason other than just trying to raise a reaction. He was especially good at causing his husband a spectrum of emotions, and it was his favorite game to see what annoying things he does can cause which emotion because no matter how hard he tried, he could never actually annoy him. Not anymore. Maybe not ever.
They got into a miniature puzzle throwing war before they both conceded and were left heaving breathless laughs constricting them to lay on the floor. Henry’s arm was thrown over Alex’s torso feeling the jolt of his laughter send shivers up his arm directly to his heart like a lifeline, keeping him present and reminding him that this is, in fact, reality. How could he not kiss him then?
Alex was a bit shocked by the sudden movement but fell into the kiss quickly and easily, even smiling a bit. “What was that for?” Alex breathed, blushing a bit. Henry has never failed to make Alex blush.
Henry shrugged, “I love you. I love you and I know that next time we walk into this house there is going to be, yet another reason for me to love you more. I’m so excited.”
“Oh, baby. I love you. So fucking much.”
“I mean, you better,” Henry laughed. The rest of the night went like that, the two of them laughing, smiling, kissing, arguing whether to show their daughter watch the Star Wars prequels first or in the original first so it’s in release order, deciding it won’t matter, arguing for another 30 minutes anyway, laughing, eating an absurd amount of snack food, before being able to finally leave for the hospital at 5 am. Alex had protested the thought of leaving the house anytime before 9 am, but to keep the birth a secret and private, it made sense to leave before sunrise. Alex still complained the entire drive over.
Once at the hospital, check-in was insane. Apparently, it’s difficult to check in for a scheduled C-section without the person having the c-section present. Also being royals or whatever doesn’t help the situation seem any more normal, but eventually, the surrogate arrives and is whisked away to a private room while Alex and Henry were told to stay put in the waiting room. It was thankfully empty considering visiting hours didn’t start for another five hours. Alex had a new thing to complain about.
“Okay, but aren’t we allowed back there? She said it was fine, that we should be there. Is this homophobic?” Alex rambled. “This is New York. This can’t be allowed. I’ll sue. I’m a lawyer, I’ll do it myself. I mean, at least, you should be in there.”
Henry placed his hand on Alex's bouncing leg in an attempt to be calming, “We are just waiting for some test to be done, love. Nothing important or major is going to happen without us.” The worry is completely understandable. The last few weeks have been difficult on the surrogate, and there were concerns about the placement of the umbilical cord and whether or not it was wrapped around the baby’s neck. The recent ultrasounds indicated that there was no immediate danger, but it would probably be best to proceed with a scheduled c-section considering the due date was within the next week or so.
It was around 7:30 am when June and Nora walked into the waiting room, both carrying two iced coffees and blankets draped over their arms. They look prepared to camp out with seemingly packed backpacks on and chargers sticking out of Nora’s hoodie pocket. June looks radiant and ecstatic as ever. Nora looks like she wants to crawl back in bed for another year.
Henry had barely had time to stand up before June shoved a coffee at him and pulled him into a tight hug. “I thought I told you both to sleep,” she says when she switches to give her brother a longer, tighter hug. “That baby is going to be keeping y’all up all night, you would think it would be a smart idea to...oh I don’t know, sleep while you can?”
“You see, Bug, there is one fatal flaw in that logic,” Alex speaks, taking a coffee and hug from Nora. “That being, have you met us?”
“You exhaust me. Mom and Leo said they’d be here soon. Bea is on her way from the airport with Pez and Catherine.”
“Dad?”
“Parking the car,” June says. “I told you I would figure everything out. Also, Find My Friend is a blessing.”
“You know what else is a blessing?” Nora grumbled from beside June. “Coffee. Coffee is a fucking lifesaver.”
“Nora, you are in a building full of actual lifesavers.”
Nora shrugged, “Whatever. Alex, I understand how you survived solely off coffee for 10 years now.”
And that's how, soon enough, the small waiting room was filled with two families mixed together waiting for one more to join them. Nora, having drunk both hers and Henry’s coffee, was reciting famous people and their accomplishments that happened to be born today. Henry could tell Alex was too busy bouncing his leg to be paying attention, and no amount of coaxing has calmed him down. Then, as if God decided to give them mercy, a smiling nurse walked into the waiting room, holding up two hospital hair caps and disposable hospital jumpsuits. It was time. “Are you two ready?”
“Are we really ready for this?” Henry had asked once. That doesn’t matter now, does it? There’s no more room to be anxious. There’s no time for cold feet. There’s no time to be talked down from the ledge he has found himself on. It’s happening. It’s time. Get ready. Get set.
“Hell yeah! Come on, let’s go!” Alex gripped his hand pulling him up. His smile was wide and proud. Comforting and all-consuming. Beautiful and breathtaking. It’s so completely Alex . Thank god they are in a hospital because watching that smile might be the death of him.
“Let’s go,” Henry agreed, matching Alex’s grin.
Nora started cheering and Catherine was crying. Leo smiled from beside Ellen, who looked like she did right when she was reelected, if not happier and prouder. June and Bea hug their respective brother’s wishing them good luck, and threaten to kill them if they aren’t the first ones back to meet her after all is said and done. Pez was off at the front counter negotiating a private waiting room, or a big private room to be placed in to wait. Oscar patted them both on the back and said “I would say good luck, but you don’t need it. Go meet your daughter, Mijos.”
On the way back to the delivery room, the nurse, Nurse Angela as it turns out, updates them on why things were going along at a slow pace. “As I’m sure you are both aware, hospitals and doctors tend to run on their own time. It took about an hour for a doctor to come and run the necessary test on Sarah. And, not to scare you, it turns out the baby’s heartbeat was a bit slow, which led to even more tests. In the end, everything is okay and everyone is safe. The doctors are ready to proceed.” Nurse Angela led them to their private room, “So here is where you two and the baby will be. Your surrogate is just that door right there. Get changed and I’ll wait for you at her door.”
The room was what one expects from a private hospital room. It wasn’t piercing white walls, but more of a muted tan color. There were pictures of landscapes and tall cabinets that seemingly functioned as linen storage and a wardrobe. It was a hotel room that cost one thousand dollars a day. Fucking American health care.
As Henry helped Alex tie the back of the blue paper protection garment, he couldn’t help imagine what the next 3 days would hold. Holding their daughter, trying and failing to sleep in a single-person hospital bed, family members filing in and out to hopefully catch her awake and not crying, Alex trying to stop June from leaving crystals in their daughter’s bassinet. Pez showing up with bedazzled onesies and baby blankets. Ellen, Catherine, and Bea crying and going on and on about how they were going to spoil the little princess . Oscar holding her and whispering a little song while trying not to cry. The love and joy in the air.
This reality starts to come into fruition 40 minutes later when the first cry of a newborn baby hits the air. Alex, who had been holding Henry’s hand, squeezes and mumbles a quiet “I’m going to cry.” They could see her being carried away to the washing station to be cleaned up and weighed, they can hear her cry, and they could see her tiny body. And finally, after everything, she’s in their arms.
Well, she’s in Henry’s arms with Alex opposite of him, wrapped around them. “Hi, Aria Marie,” Henry says so quietly only for them to hear.
“I’m going to cry,” Alex repeats.
Henry laughs lifting his eyes to look at his husband, who was looking down at their daughter, “you already are, love.”
The moment the three of them arrived home, they retreated to the master bedroom where they had previously set up a temporary crib for the baby to stay until they felt comfortable enough having her sleep in a separate room. While they still would have to change her diaper in the nursery and travel to the kitchen for bottles, it was nice to be able to have her in their arms the moment she needed it.
Currently, Alex was laying on his stomach on the bed in front of a barely conscious baby that just so happened to be holding his pinky. “H, I’m going to die from cuteness overload. She’s so adorable .”
“Oh? I thought you were going to die because you ‘love her so much it’s unbearable’. Or was it because ‘she’s so small and fragile’ that you wanted to be run over with a bus?”
“Shut up before I run you over with a bus.” Alex laughs, animated but not loudly. Henry swears he hasn’t been loud once in the past three days. The last time he could recall was when they were laying on the floor after an intense puzzle piece throwing war. He would probably be concerned if he couldn’t see Alex’s face right now. The face cooing at their daughter, so in love and happy that it hurts . Henry knows the feeling. He feels it too. So he kisses his husband on the cheek and smooths down the fuzz that is Aria’s hair before heading towards the door out of the bedroom. “Where are you headin’?”
“I have to go feed David and make sure we have some premade bottles ready.”
“Have fun. Say ‘have fun’, Aria,” Alex says before moving the finger that Aria was holding to mock her waving while speaking in an ungodly high voice, “Have fun.”
The moment Henry opened the door, David ran in and jumped onto the bed, right next to the baby, but not quite touching. Apparently, he had been waiting to meet the new family member.
“Oi! David, no,” Henry called, stepping forward to grab the small dog.
“Wait, sweetheart. It’s fine.” Alex reaches over with his free hand to pet David’s head as the dog touches his nose to Aria’s arm. When she didn’t react, David cautiously licked her arms which only caused her to cry. The sudden change in attitude made David leap up and spin around away from her only to start growling. “Look. He’s protecting her! Baby, he’s protecting her! Oh, my God. I’m going to die,” Alex said, then turning his attention back to the screaming child, ”Oh, it’s okay.” He mumbled, kissing her head and rocking her gently. “You’re okay.”
And yeah, it was okay. Everything was okay.