Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The hallway was dark as Alan made his way to the bedroom at the end of the hall. Opening the door just a crack, he could see the nightlight was still on as he had left it two hours previous. The room was dimly lit with the nightlight but enough he could make out the sniffling wide awake baby laying in her crib. "Zoey, aren't you supposed to be asleep?"

Zoey smiled and kicked her feet when she heard her daddy's voice. He leaned against the doorframe, watching her. He still couldn't believe she existed, this bright and beautiful child he had never even imagine having in his life. It had certainly been a shock but one he wouldn't have traded for the world.

A YEAR EARLIER
Ellie was quiet at breakfast and wasn't eating much. Alan had noticed but didn't say anything. He wasn't sure he should, this steady relationship thing was a very new thing to him and he was almost terrified to break it.

"Remember I have appointments this afternoon, so I'm not sure I'll have be home for dinner." She reminded him, picking up her purse to head out for the day.
"I'll keep dinner warm, like a good househusband." He joked but it fell flat.

"You don't have to do that, Alan. It's okay." She tried to tell him.

"I know I don't have to, Ellie. That's not the point."

She simply nodded. It was odd, to have someone want to take care of her the way Alan wanted to. She couldn't remember the last time someone had volunteered to keep dinner warm for her.

"So I'll see you tonight," he guided her out the door. "Dinner, maybe one of those cooking shows you like, nice quiet evening at home."

"Oh, Maddie said she might call tonight."

"Well, that's good. I won't answer the phone." Alan wasn't certain where he stood with Ellie's kids.

"She likes you."

"She does, but she doesn't." He'd come downstairs last weekend to find nineteen year old Maddie sitting at the kitchen table. She'd given him a "hey, dino man," and gone back to whatever she was doing on her phone. He still wasn't sure if that had been a good interaction or not.

"She's more unsure about this," Ellie gestured to the two of them, "then you are." She glanced at her watch. "And now I must go." She gave him a quick kiss and dashed down the driveway to her car.

Alan watched her drive off and turned back to the house. Ellie's house, he mused. He lived there now, but it was still most definitely hers. All he had added was some clothes and himself.

________________________________________

Ellie paced the small bathroom. Back and forth, back and forth. She leaned against the bathroom counter, looking at herself in the mirror. How was she was supposed to tell Alan? This had certainly never been in the plans.

After coming home, she'd snuck up the stairs, avoiding him as long as possible. She knew there was no way to keep the secret for very long. She wouldn't be able to. There was a part of her that was rather thrilled but mostly she was terrified and even a bit annoyed. She was too old for this, Alan was too old for this, neither of them wanted more kids and hers were finally out of the house. How had this even happened?

Just then Alan knocked on the door, reminding her just how it had happened. "Um, Ellie? Are you all right in there? It's been over an hour."

Ellie gasped and checked her watch. It really had been over an hour since she locked herself in the bathroom. No wonder he had started to worry! "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'll be out soon."

Alan stood in the hallway, confused. She wasn't acting like herself and he was getting concerned. First she hadn't ate much of any breakfast, then she'd been gone all day and snuck back into the house, or at least she had tried, he had noticed as soon as her car pulled up. Locking herself in the bathroom for an hour was certainly unusual. He wondered what he was supposed to do or say, relationships weren't his thing.

The door unlocked suddenly and Ellie was standing before him, looking like a truck had hit her. He'd seen her face dinosaurs and come out looking less shocked. "We need to talk."

___________________________________________________

They sat down in the living room. Alan was sure she was about to tell him this just wasn't working out and he needed to go back to being a nomad.

"I had appointments today as you know, " Ellie started, unsure just how to announce this.

Alan simply nodded. Yes, he knew that. He hadn't inquired exactly what sort of appointments and was beginning to regret that. Maybe that was the sort of thing one did in a relationship.

"The first few were about my new book and the lectures the university wants me to give." She continued, not looking at him.

He tried to follow along, unsure why they needed to have a talk about her lectures. Maybe her agent wanted her to do a book tour thing, he'd have no problem tagging along on that if she wouldn't mind.

"Then I had a doctor's appointment." Here she paused to gather her words, to try to make sense of her thoughts. "Actually more then one."

He snapped to attention with that news. "Are you all right? Is something wrong?"

Ellie closed her eyes for a moment. "Yes and not exactly. I don't know."

"Ellie, whatever it is, we'll get through it. We've been through some pretty bad situations together before."

She looked him square in the eyes. "I'm pregnant."

Chapter Text

PRESENT DAY

Alan walked into the nursery and over to the crib. Zoey gurgled and smiled when she saw her dad. She was still, and probably always would be, one of life's greatest mysteries to him. He couldn't quite believe she even existed but there she was everyday, smiling at him.

"You like your old dad, huh?" He stood looking down at her in the crib. More giggles. "You know, I once told your mom I didn't want kids. Kind of why she decided to go off and leave me on my own."

Zoey's answer to that was to reach out her pudgy arms toward her father. "Yeah, you want picked up? We can do that." He pulled her out of the crib and into his arms. He was rather grateful to quickly realize she didn't have a dirty diaper, only a wet one. "So that's why you're awake. I wouldn't want to stay in that diaper either." Alan had become a pro at diaper changes, much to his shock but secretly managed to pawn off the dirty ones as much as he possibly could.

___________________________________

A YEAR EARLIER

He stared blankly at Ellie, speechless, thoughts running a million miles around his head. "How?" he croaked out, barely.

She looked at him like he was an idiot. "I do believe you know how, DR Grant."

"Mine?" He was still trying to wrap his head around this suddent announcement.

She smacked his leg for that. "Of course, you dummy. What, do you think I'm sneaking out on you?"

Alan shook his head, trying to focus on any thought he could. "No, no, I don't know what to think."

"Neither do I." Ellie admitted, softly.

"Well, um, what are your plans? Do, do you want to keep it?" He cleared his throat.

"Yes." Anything else hadn't ever crossed her mind. "We're adults, we can handle a baby. I have before." They hadn't been Alan's before and she had been much younger but surely not that much had changed.

"Okay. So you want to keep it."

"Do you want to?"

"If that's what you want."

"It is."

"Okay." He took a deep breath. "So I guess we're having a baby."

"Yeah, I think we are."

_____________________________________

NINE MONTHS EARLIER

Ellie had never been so happy to hit the midway point in a pregnancy. The morning sickness was finally easing off, she had energy again, she wasn't too big yet, it was a good point to be at. Even if she did seem to have to pee every ten minutes!

"You seem happy." Alan remarked as they drove to yet another doctor's appointment. It seemed if the parents were, ahem, older, then there were many appointments to be had.

"I am. Today we get to do the ultrasound and find out the gender." Ellie told him.

"Ah. We're not doing one of those crazy gender reveal party things, are we?"

"Absolutely not. Maddie wanted to, but I told her no. I'm trying to talk her out of a baby shower. Honestly, you'd think she was the one having the baby with how excited she is."

"How's Charlie with everything?" Alan rarely spoke to her kids, he wasn't sure they entirely liked him.

Ellie shrugged. "He's 23. I think he's just living his own life right now. Which is a good thing! I'm glad his job has worked out, you know he's working in state government. Only an intern, but he has to start somewhere!"

"Yes, you've told me." He had, in fact, written a letter of recommendation for Charlie to get that internship.

"Well, did you know that pregnancy literally rewires the brain?"

"You have mentioned that, yes." Not to mention he'd also read everything about pregnancy and childbirth and infancy as soon as they'd decided they were going to do this. It was all very new territory for him, he'd never had reason to know any of these things before and he was beginning to feel facing a T Rex again might be easier.

"It means I have a reason to forget why I tell you things."

"Looks like we're here." Alan pulled into the parking lot, grateful to have cut that argument off before it had a chance to begin.

_________________________

"All righty." The nurse noted something on a small card and slipped it into an envelope. "Looks like a healthy baby to me."

Alan was a bit confused yet pleased to hear the baby was doing well. "Ellie, I thought,"

She shook her head and took the envelope. "That's what this is. I thought it'd be nicer to find out by ourselves." She quickly buttoned her shirt back up, and he suddenly realized she was wearing one of his button downs. He liked it better on her.

"You know I hate surprises and waiting." He remarked, a little disappointed they weren't finding out right away.

"I know. Trust me, it'll be better this way." Ellie had a plan that she wasn't telling him.

"I believe trusting you is how we got here."

She laughed. "That's not how I remember it, dear." She waved the envelope. "Let's go."

Alan decided he had no choice but to follow her back to the car. He didn't mind following her around one bit.

"Do you remember where we first met?" Ellie asked him, once they were in the car.

"Yes, of course." He chose not to mention he remembered every place they'd been to together.

"Go there, and we'll open the envelope to our new future where it began in the first place."

"Yes. That's a good idea." Alan wondered why he didn't think of things like that. He started the car, driving towards the university where thirty years ago he'd met a young scientist who had become his partner and more.

They sat together in the car, in the parking lot, watching a new generation of students and teachers wander around campus.

"Is it me, or does everyone just seem so damn young?" He remarked, wondering when he'd gotten so old.

"It's not you." Ellie grimaced, realizing again just how much older they'd be than typical parents.

"Are we ready yet?" He really didn't like surprises or waiting.

"For what?" She asked slyly. She pulled the envelope out of her purse. "Are we ready for everything this is going to entail?"

"Not in the slightest, but we'll manage. We'll have to." Alan was still having a bit of a hard time believing he would be a father in a few months time.
"We should open it together." She leaned forward.

He took one flap, he took the other and the envelope popped open, revealing a black and white sonogram photo. They stared at it for a moment. It was the first one they'd gotten where they could truly see a baby and not just guess the parts.

"Wow. Never got one of these fancy ones with the other two." Ellie was mesmerized.

"I, uh, I don't mean to be crude, but how do you tell?" Alan couldn't take his eyes off the photo. It was making things suddenly very real.

"Flip it over, she wrote it on the back."

He tugged the photo free of its flaps and flipped it over. In bright pink ink, it read ITS A GIRL.

Chapter Text

PRESENT DAY

Zoey settled down in her dad's arms. "You know, you were quite the shock to your mom and me." Alan told her as they sat down in the rocker.

Big eyes blinked up at him. "Yes, you were. But here we are, you and me. Guess I'm an okay girl dad, huh? I'll admit the idea of a daughter was a bit terrifying. I've faced dinosaurs, Zoey, but you, a little bit of a human girl scared me more then a t rex."

She continued to suck on her pacifer and listen to Alan, very content to lay in his arms and have his full attention. "I mean, I don't know, the idea of a girl just seemed scarier. Your mom didn't think so. But she's had one of each already. You know your big brother and sister, they adore you so much."

Alan watched his daughter slowly nod off into dreamland as he talked. It had certainly been an interesting journey to end with this, his and Ellie's daughter, but he wouldn't change it.

SIX MONTHS EARLIER

"She's due tomorrow, Alan, and I mean she's due tomorrow." Ellie sounded rather determined.

"Ah, can you actually make her born on her due date? Most babies aren't." Alan had done quite a lot of research into babies, labor and delivery in the past few months.

Ellie raised her eyebrows. "I can."

He decided not to even inquire on that one and went back to reading. It seemed the safest decision.

"She still needs a name."

"You don't like Harper anymore?" That had been the only name they could sort of agree on.

"I don't think she's a Harper." Ellie shifted in bed to face him.

"Then we better think of something if she's going to be here tomorrow. How long do we have before the hospital insists we name her?"

"Hmm, I think we're supposed to before we take her home."

Home. That word brought everything to a sudden halt for Alan. A baby was going to come home. He'd known that for months but it was jolt to his brain every time he heard it. "We'll think of something. Maybe once she's born she'll just look like an Edith or a Deanna."

"Nobody uses Edith anymore," she reminded him.

"I went to school with a Edith," he protested.

"My point. Nice name, but no. Remember no E names."

That had been Ellie's rule, no C, M, E or A names, which had cut a lot of selections early on. "Yes, I remember, no repeating initials." He'd simply accepted her rule, it still left plenty of pages in the name book he'd bought and gotten odd looks at the bookstore for.

"Tomorrow, Alan, two things will happen. I will make sure this baby comes and we will decide on her name."

TWO DAYS LATER

Alan stared with wonder at the eight pounds six ounces of a baby girl that apparently the universe thought he could take care of. Ten fingers, ten toes, bright blue eyes that were already alert every time one of her parents spoke, he had never seen such a miraculous bit of life and that was saying something.

Gingerly, he picked the baby up from the bassinette. She shifted slightly in his hands and he froze.

"She's easier to handle then a baby raptor." Ellie was watching from the bed. It had been a long couple days. It'd been nearly twenty years since she'd had a baby and labor/delivery had been no easier and just as exhausting.

"Grady had a muzzle on that thing!" He retorted, still frozen in place.

"She doesn't bite, unlike the raptor. She doesn't even have teeth."

Slowly, Alan inched the baby closer to his torso, where he could hold her safely. "We need to stop calling her she and give her a name."

"Oh, I don't know, the Baby Girl Grant Sattler on her little paper there is kind of catchy."

He walked carefully over to the chair next to the bed, barely breathing as he sat down. "Can you imagine going through life being called Baby Girl? She'd be made fun of."

"You got a better idea? Because we've been through every name in that book of yours and then some. They won't let us leave in the morning without signing the birth certificate."

Alan was quiet a few minutes, just looking at the baby. "Life finds a way," he murmured. That phrase had stuck with him for years. "Zoey means life." He looked over at Ellie. "I would think a name that means life would be quite fitting."

"Zoey." Ellie repeated, thinking it over. "Zoey Roberta Grant Sattler."

"I like it." He answered, "Do you like it?" He asked the tiny bundle in his arms. The baby blinked, taking in her new world. "I think she likes it too."

_________________________________________

PRESENT DAY

"And that, Zoey, is how you got named after a dinosaur that tried to kill us. Wonder if that was an all right thing to do, name you after a T Rex?" Alan rocked the baby as he talked.

She kicked her feet happily, she liked to listen to her daddy.

"Yeah? You like dinos? That's good. Your brother used to call me the dino man, you think he remembers that? He was a bit older then you are now. " He leaned back into the chair, it really was a rather comfortable rocker. "Maybe someday I'll take you on a dig. Wouldn't that be fun? Be a lot more fun to be on a dig with you and your mom." He closed his eyes. "Let's just sleep now, Zoey."

The baby snuggled into his arms, safe and content. It was a good feeling, Alan thought sleepily. He'd certainly never envisioned this future but it was better then he could've ever planned.

Ellie came home an hour later and came upstairs to find daddy and daughter sound asleep. She stood in the doorway, watching them sleep. This hadn't been the journey either of them had ever imagined but life has its ways.