Work Text:
Andrews POV
Andrew loves his brother he may never admit it out loud but he must if he is spending his Saturday afternoon with his ex-cheerleader wife. Aaron was away just for the night at some medical convention a few hours away and was due back early the next morning but Katelyn who is over 8 months pregnant decided she needed to do some last minute shopping for baby thing and that's how he found himself in his current situation.
'isn't it just so cute?' Katelyn asks holding up a pale yellow babygrow which looked like the last 3 she had held up. Andrew sent her a blank look that she must have taken as approval as she placed it into her overflowing basket. 'just a few more things then we can be done' she says. Thank god this awful trip is almost over and he can go back home to watch more terrible reality tv like his original plans for this day.
As Katelyn stretches to grab a tin of baby formula from the top shelf her face twists into an obvious face of discomfort that she quickly tries to hide with a smile. Andrew gives her a quick look looking for any further signs of discomfort but decides he cant see any and all must be fine and helps her to grab the tin. They continue through the ridiculously oversized baby store to find more diapers because according to Katelyn you can never have to many when she once again grimaces in pain although this time she does not try to hide it 'I think i need to sit for a moment' she states holding her stomach. Andrew perfectly guides them to the seats he saw earlier.
'whats going on?' Andrew demands. Katelyn is leaning forward slightly and doesn't appear to hear him. Andrew crouches slightly in front of her 'Katelyn' he says voice not soft but not his usual bored tone either. This makes Katelyn finally look up her blue eyes slightly watery meet his.
'I think I'm in labour' she whispers. oh shit this is not what he signed up for at all this was meant to be a few hours shopping trip max then he could drop her back home and call it done.
'are you sure?' he asks back and god he hopes she is wrong and this is not happening here and now in his care.
'as sure as i can be' she responds more sure of herself now ' look can you just call Aaron and then take me to the hospital?'. he immediately takes out his phone and dials Aarons number the first 2 times it rings through to voicemail and just when he was about to give up on the third try Aaron answers
'Andrew what do you want I'm kind of busy here' he says annoyed.
'Katelyn's in labor taking her to the hospital now might wanna hurry and get here' Andrew states in his usual blank tone.
'Fuck, okay your serious right? of course you are. i cant get back i carpooled with people here left the car with you shit what am i gonna do?' Aaron starts rambling and clearly panicking.
'Neil will pick you up. be ready hell be there in an hour' Andrew tells him then hangs up before he can respond. he then sends a text to Neil who was spending his day visiting Matt he wouldn't be happy about having to leave early especially to pick up Aaron but he would do it only because he seemed to have some weird friendship with Katelyn.
They walked silently to where the car was parked and the 35min drive to the hospital was silent apart from the intermittent pained gasps from Katelyn. Her contractions was around every 5 minutes now andrew thinks which means this was moving quickly. They pull into the hospital car park and Andrew parks as close as he can to the entry.
'thank you. you can go now don't worry i know my way around here pretty well' she laughs. Andrew stares at her blankly did she really think he was just going to drop her off and drive away leaving her own her own.
'im coming with you' he says plainly exiting the car. Katlyn looks at him with shock and so Andrew hesitates he didn't want to force himself into a situation he wasn't wanted but he also didn't like the idea of her being alone while she gives birth to his niece. eventually she smiles and leads the way into the hospital.
Admission was relatively quick probably a perk of both the patient and her husband being doctors at the hospital. the progression of the labor seems to have slowed down but getting more painful. Andrew has sat protectively but silently in the corner sending occasional texts to Aaron and Neil to see how far away they are, an hour according to Aaron who sends a text asking for non existent updates every five minutes to the point Andrew has started ignoring him.
a nurse walks in and asks Katlyn if she is up for some kind of probably invasive test that Andrew is not really listening to.
'No' Katelyn says not unkindly but also forcefully that gets Andrews attention.
'you really should have it, its for the best so we can see how things are going and get a better timeframe for when baby is going to be here' the nurse explains irritated.
'I know why its preformed i also know its not necessary at this moment' she fires back obviously in pain and angry now the nurse opens her mouth to say something back and Andrew shifts from his corner to come stand closer to her. However it seems before his movement the nurse hadn't seen him and instead turns to him instead.
' you should really get your wife to do this its important you know and she isn't thinking straight right now' the nurse tells him. He really didn't want to get involved but this nurse was starting to annoy him and it had been a long day and he no longer had any more patients.
' she said no and you will respect and i think Dr Katelyn Minyard knows what's right with her body also I'm not her husband and we want another nurse' Andrew states trying to sound calm but his anger bubbling slightly to the surface. the nurse opens her mouth to likely argue back 'now' Andrew says harshly and the nurse obviously senses the danger behind the words and wisely leaves.
'Thank you' Katelyn says softly Andrew just stares blankly at her and returns to his seat in the corner.
It wont be long now the contractions are about 2 minutes apart and a lot stronger with most leaving Katelyn crying out in pain. Aaron and Neil are stuck in traffic about 30 minutes away and Andrew is starting to panic that he isn't going to make it in time but he wont let it show.
'Talk to me' Katelyn suddenly demands panting through the pain.
'about what?' he asks dumbly
' i don't know anything I guess. look I know you don't like me and probably hate me or whatever but i just really need something to concentrate on right now so I'm not thinking about the pain or how Aaron isn't here or the fact that im about to become a mom and in no way feel ready so say anything' she angrily tells him
'i don't hate you' Andrew blurts out even he doesn't know he was going to say it ' I don't hate you' he says again more confidently.
'yeah i get it you don't care enough to even hate me but you know what i mean but anyway it doesn't matter' she replies gripping the side of the bed while another contraction racks through her. Andrew really didn't want to have a heart to heart with his twins wife right now but her didn't really see any options
' I don't hate you. i don't even dislike you. i think your actually pretty... decent. your strong, you take nobody's shit and your good for Aaron. you likely always was but i had a job to protect him and i couldn't...wouldn't trust anyone else other then Nicky to do so. But your good for him he's better with you. also you don't need to worry your gonna be a good mum because if your not i will kill you' he takes a breath at the end of his speech. Katelyn looks close to tears and he isn't sure if its the pain or what he just said for comfort reasons he's going to pretend its the pain.
after a small while kately speaks again 'Andrew can i hold and squeeze your hand? it really hurts and im still scared' Andrew considers this for a second before walking back over to the bed and holds out his hand that she takes.
finally he gets a text from Neil they have arrived and its just in time as the nurse has just declared it was time for Katelyn to push and he would have stood by her side continuing to let her squeeze his hand (which he may have to get checked out by his team nurse before playing again after this) but he was relieved to not have to. Aaron ran into the room faster then Andrew had even seen him run when they was playing exy in college and Andrew dutifully let go of Katelyn's hand and stepped outside to Neil.
Neil and Andrew went to the hospital cafeteria where Andrew ordered the biggest hot chocolate with extra cream and extra chocolate sprinkles and Neil ordered some fruity smoothie while they waited for any news from his brother and Katelyn. after finishing their drinks they took a walk around some of the hospitals shops, being in the hospital always made Andrew and Neil nervous but there was no point in going home to just come back so they was killing time. in one of the shops their was a grumpy looking teddy with what may have been a scalpel but looked more like a knife in the small bears hand. it was so inappropriate for the hospital gift shop that it immediately got Andrews attention and before he could think about it he was handing over the money to buy the thing.
'they are ready for us to visit' neil tells him while holding up his phone showing the message from Aaron. Andrew nods and leads the way back to Katelyn room.
Andrew hesitates at the rooms door. sure he had been around kids before and had just spent the whole of his day in this room but it felt different. This was his twins daughter someone he had sworn to protect the second he found out Katelyn was pregnant. he looked down at the small teddy he had purchased not 10 minutes before. he looked at Neil who also seemed to be having the same conflicting feelings and he took his hand and walked into the room. Katelyn was holding a small bundle with a baby with fair strawberry blonde hair and big brown eyes. Aaron eventually dragged his eyes from his daughter to Andrew and smiled a true genuine happy smile. Andrew held out the toy he had purchased which caused Aaron and Katelyn to laugh slightly. Aaron took the toy and stared at it for a moment ' looks like you, how did you even find something like this' he asked.
Andrew cleared his throat ' cant give away all my secrets' he replied.
After a while of fawning over the baby and everyone taking turns holding them in which Neil who had never been near a baby this young before looked terrified of breaking them the entire time. it was time for them to leave for Katelyn to get some much needed rest. Aaron showed them out and just before they left the exit of the hospital he asked Andrew to stay back alone for a moment. Neil looked at Andrew but not seeing any problems shrugged and said he would wait for Andrew in the car.
'Thank you' Aaron said after a moment of awkward silence they was trying to get better at talking and fixing their relationship and they was much better then they was in college but they still had a long way to go. when Andrew didn't respond Aaron continued ' for all of this, for staying with her and making sure she was okay. she told me what you spoke about and we know your gonna protect this baby with your life and that's why we want you to be her godfather if you want'
Andrew was shocked of course he was going to protect his nieces life with his own if needed but he didn't expect Aaron to acknowledge it or give him such a big role in her life. 'Okay' he said eventually then turned to leave to meet Neil in the car finally able to go home and watch his terrible reality tv but now he was going home as his brothers daughters godfather.