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“Mom, can you go get Mercury and everyone else?” Jayce asked his mother as he stepped out of the hospital room, his face red from crying.
“Oh, mijo, how is she? Is–” Ximena reached out to her son, but Jayce’s face cracked into the biggest and brightest smile.
“She’s beautiful, mama, she’s just perfect!” Jayce was winded as he put his hands on his mother’s shoulders to stabilize himself, his arms trembling slightly from the adrenaline rush coursing through him. Ximena didn’t miss the bandages on Jayce’s arm that peeked out from his ‘Best Dad’ sweatshirt, though she didn’t bring it up.
“Is… Mel alright?” Ximena asked, getting a nod from Jayce.
“She’s recovering beautifully, doc said she only needed two stitches, everything will heal up perfectly,” Jayce assured with that warm smile he loved to flash.
“And… Did Viktor handle everything alright?” Ximena felt a bit timid to bring it up, though it couldn’t be avoided after Mercury’s labor was so intense.
“He’s fine, didn’t even– you know,” Jayce vaguely gestured with one finger up and down the center vertical line of his nose.
“Ah, none of the– Herald-ness,” Ximena nodded in acknowledgement, which Jayce shook his head over.
“Yup! So if you don’t mind getting – um, everyone and our little princess?” Jayce asked, fidgeting as the emotions were running through him like he had just double-fisted two energy drinks.
Ximena nodded at her son, patting his arm and kissing his cheek softly before going to the waiting room where Mel’s mother and brother as well as Viktor’s sister were waiting with Mercury. The little girl was sitting on the chair with a book in her lap while her uncle leaned over, listening to her attempt to explain the story.
“-- And what happened next?” Kino asked, not noticing that Ximena had rounded the counter until his mother perked up from her cup of coffee.
“Any news?” Ambessa asked, her voice hoarse from exhaustion. Kino really tried to encourage both grandmothers to take shifts in waiting for the birth of the baby, but both were stubborn in their resolve. They wanted to be present for the birth of all their grandbabies.
“She’s here,” Ximena announced, which had Ambessa up on her feet quickly.
Mercury looked hesitant, the three year old glancing between her grandmothers with a quizzical look. Those big green eyes held so many questions as she stared up at her gram.
“Your new baby sister,” Orianna whispered in her timid voice, leaning over her own seat before standing up to offer Mercury a hand.
“You remember when we gave you that shirt, princess?” Kino asked his niece, pointing to the shirt the little toddler was wearing. It was a shirt that Orianna and Kino had picked out as a surprise for their siblings, one of those ‘World’s Best Big Sister’ shirts they found at the children’s clothing stores.
It was bright, pink, and glittery; which meant Mercury loved it.
“You get to meet your baby sister,” Orianna added as Mercury took one of her hands. The toddler then gripped Kino’s hand with her other free one, following her grandmother through the bright white and sterile halls of the hospital.
“No accidents this time?” Ambessa asked Ximena as they walked ahead of the two with the toddler.
“Jayce said it went well, plus I didn’t see anyone getting rushed out to trauma,” Ximena sighed with an endearing smile on her face while they went through the maternity ward to the recovery rooms.
They found the room with ‘M. Talis-Medarda’ written on a board outside the door. Ambessa knocked on the door before Ximena could, which was then opened by Jayce.
“Papa!” Mercury shouted as she ran from her aunt and uncle, wrapping her arms around his leg. Jayce crouched down slowly, mindful of his brace while scooping up his daughter to squeeze her close.
“Hey there, sunshine,” Jayce whispered as he kissed her cheek several times. “You’ve been good for your auntie and uncle?”
Mercury nodded, trying to look around her dad’s legs to see into the room. “Is mama and daddy here?”
“Uh-huh, sweetie, now just use your inside voice, okay? We want to introduce you to someone very special,” Jayce said as he took her hand, starting to lead his daughter into the room. The rest of the family crowded behind them, Kino quick to pull out his phone to record the little girl’s reaction as they pushed past the privacy curtain.
In the room was Mel laying on a hospital bed with a little swaddled baby laying on her chest. Viktor was sitting next to her with his head on her pillow, slightly nestled in the crook of her neck as he watched the sleeping baby that was also clinging to his finger with her grasp reflex.
“Mama,” Mercury whispered as she moved over, though then looked up at Viktor while holding her arms out to him to be picked up.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Mel smiled, her eyes half hooded and exhausted as she rested on the refined bed.
“Oh, what an adorable shirt,” Viktor praised softly as he pulled away from his wife to look down at their daughter, their now oldest daughter.
Viktor leaned over, picking up his daughter to kiss her cheek and smush his nose into the side of her face. “Little mouse, look,” daddy whispered as he rubbed her back.
Mercury’s eyes blinked as she leaned over the chair railing to look at the swaddled baby on her mom’s chest. Her papa moved to sit on the other side of mommy’s bed, all eyes on her as she looked at the bundled baby.
“Hi baby,” Mercury whispered as she leaned over more, Viktor putting one hand on her stomach so she wouldn’t topple over on her mother. “Why can't she say ‘hi’ back?”
The trio of parents chuckled at their daughter, Mel carefully rubbing the newborn’s cheek with the side of one of her fingers. “Because little babies don’t speak, princess,” Jayce explained in a hushed voice, keeping on hand on Mel’s arm to soothe and support her.
“This is your little sister, darling,” Mel told Mercury. “Meet Venus.”
Mercury blinked at the baby and then her mother before she climbed into the hospital bed. She wiggled and wormed before getting cozy next to her mama, looking down at the baby with big wide eyes. The toddler was too in awe with her little sister to notice her other family members were taking photos and recording the touching first meeting moment.
“Are they really going with planet names for the little ones?” Ambessa side-eyed her son, who was trying his best to ignore her comment.
“She was in my belly, baby,” Mel said to Mercury as she motioned to the blankets over the compression wrap.
“Woah—” Mercury gasped, though then sealed her lips when Venus opened her eyes. “She looked at me!” she exclaimed in a whisper.
Mercury placed her head on Mel’s shoulder as she watched her new sister, her daddy reaching over to hold her hand. Her papa was sitting across the bed with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face, and her mama was peppering kisses in her oldest daughter’s head while rubbing the newborn’s back.
“Hi, Venus,” Mercury whispered as she reached her hand out, the baby’s grasping reflex taking hold of one of her fingers.
“Bags in the car?!” Mel shouted across the house as she ran from her office to the nursery, her bare feet echoing upstairs as Jayce panicked in the laundry room to grab some clean clothes for the girls’ sleeping bag.
“Yes!” Jayce called back as he threw fistfuls of unicorn shirts and tutus into Mercury’s duffle bag and started looking for enough socks to last a whole winter for both of their children. Mel made a mad dash across the upper story of their house like she was a marathon runner, nabbing last minute items to throw into the various bags while trying to keep her ears peeled for any grunts or groans.
“Why are papa and mama running around like that?” Venus asked her daddy while he sat on his large grey yoga ball. Mercury sat on the floor with her backpack, next to Viktor’s feet, watching her mother run across the house. Their papa’s steps were far louder, but mama was much quicker-- probably because of their papa’s injury.
“Because we’re going to the—-...- the hospital, starshine,” Viktor responded with labored breaths, rubbing his swollen stomach with one hand.
“Are you sick?” Venus asked, turning her head to look up at Viktor. “Is the baby okay?”
“Baby is– baby is fine, they’re just ready to come out- so… so mama and papa need to take me to the hospital,” Viktor explained, rubbing his stomach in slow circles.
Venus moved closer to Viktor, placing her two hands on either side of his swollen belly to start helping him rub. “Why are you making daddy hurt, baby?”
Viktor bit his tongue over the cuteness and closeness, though allowed the girl to touch him even in his discomfort. “Mercury, baby, can you– can you help Venus pack some toys for-”
A pause, Viktor’s eyes went wide as he felt a sudden gush before his face was drained of all color. His daughters looked at him with shocked eyes before Venus shouted and ran away up the stairs, Mercury quickly avoiding her little sister’s hyper dash away.
“Daddy peed himself!” Venus screamed loudly as she ran into the hallway, only to smack right into Mel’s legs. Mel froze as Venus rebound fell to the ground, her eyes looking to her daughters before shooting up to see Viktor standing with his forearm crutch and wet sweats. There was a moment of processing before she took in a deep calming breath, reaching down to pick up Venus and help her stand up on her feet.
“Mel,” Viktor whispered as the color came back to his face, tears pricking at his eyes. Mercury moved over to take hold of Viktor’s free hand to comfort him.
“My little wild one, go tell your papa that I’m taking daddy right now, okay?” Mel instructed, Venus nodding before looking back at her daddy and sister. The little girl booked it down the stairs, rushing to find her papa while her mama tended to her daddy.
“My water didn’t break until-” Viktor trembled as he grabbed onto the footboard of their bed, Mel going over to grab some towels and a fresh pair of clothes.
“It’s alright, nothing that won’t come out,” Mel promised, kissing Viktor’s cheek several times as Mercury moved around the pair in silence. She looked between her two parents before nuzzling her face into the side of Viktor’s hip, looking at the profile of his swollen stomach.
“They didn’t want us waiting in the hospital this time,” Ambessa seemed to be pouting, which made Ximena chuckle while sitting at the hospital cafe with the girls. Mercury had a chocolate milk and apple slices while Venus had orange juice and a chocolate chip cookie, both absorbed in their coloring book while their grandmothers chatted.
“Well, I don’t think they were planning on this one coming so quickly, I’m glad the labor didn’t take as long as Mercury’s,” Ximena said, making the oldest daughter perk up.
“I took long?” she asked, blinking at her abuela.
Ambessa hummed, grabbing her bitter black coffee to sip on. “You just put up a good fight, pup,” Grammy Ambessa assured with a wink to her oldest grandchild. Mercury smiled to herself at the praise, taking an apple slice to tuck between her lips. Her little sister didn’t seem to understand, just happily slurping down her juice while swinging her legs and coloring on the sheet.
Both older women got an alert on their phones at the same time, meaning it was in the family group chat. When Ximena checked it she perked up, her eyes lighting up with a twinkle.
“Girls, how about I clean up our little snack while you and grammy go pick out a little gift for the new baby? Maybe some flowers for your parents?” Ximena offered, Ambessa nodded as she slipped her phone in her pocket.
The tall Medarda matriarch stood up and motioned for her little ones to follow, which they did after shoving a few more bites in.
After grabbing a small plushie and the least sad-looking bouquet of flowers for a reasonable price, the girls and their grammy met Ximena outside the small gift shop. Venus was happily holding onto Ambessa’s hand while Mercury gripped onto Ximena’s, not minding her two prosthetic fingers that her papa had made; in fact she thought they were cool.
“Are we going to meet the baby?” Mercury asked her grandmothers as they moved through the halls of the hospital, her eyes peeking at the various framed pieces of art on the walls.
“That’s right, baby didn’t want to wait any longer,” Ximena said as they kept going.
“Is it going to cry?” Venus asked, getting a snort from Ambessa.
“Yes, they cry and stink and make messes, but your parents have a talent for making quite excellent little specimens,” Ambessa remarked, making the two girls grin.
The four went through the hospital until they got to the room number they were directed to by a nurse shuffling out with a spooked expression on her face.
“Oh goodness,” Ximena gasped, looking at Ambessa before the other woman rolled her eyes and pushed on in to check.
“Are we good to bring the girls in?” Ambessa asked.
“Yes, mother,” Mel answered from the other side of the privacy curtain, which the two girls rushed to push past before either grandmother could stop them.
Both Mercury and Venus were quick to be by their parents’ sides, though paused when they saw their daddy laying on the hospital bed with a bundled baby on his pale scarred chest. Venus looked a bit confused as she moved over to sit in her mama’s lap, scampering up to lean over the railing of the bed.
“Its face is all scrunched up and– red and ugly,” Venus blurted out, which caused Viktor to snort. Mercury moved around the foot of the bed to the other side where her papa was sitting, seeing his tired face have that same warm and welcoming smile that always greeted her after school-- just a more exhausted and teary eyed version than usual.
“Come here, honey,” Jayce said as he held his arms out for his daughter, the little girl moving over to her papa’s arms to climb into his lap carefully. She sat on his good leg, leaning over the other railing to look at the bundled baby on her daddy’s chest.
“Girls, meet your baby brother,” Viktor introduced as he moved his arm to expose more of the small little one. He was a bit bigger than Mercury was when she was born, but notably smaller than Venus was when Mel gave birth.
“What’s his name?” Mercury asked her daddy.
“Atlas, his name is Atlas,” Mel answered.
“Oh thank the gods, not another planet name,” Ambessa mumbled under her breath, getting a slight and playful elbow nudge from Ximena.
Venus leaned over even more, “Hi, baby Atlas! You’re really ugly now, but I hope you grow up to be cuter!”
Jayce couldn’t help but to laugh at his blunt daughter, “Babies are usually pretty squished up and alien-looking when they’re born, honey.”
“Yeah, but he’s like– really weird!” Venus exclaimed. Mel hushed her softly as she squeezed her side, getting a giggle out of the six year old as she recoiled to sit in her lap.
Mercury slowly moved to climb into the bed, almost as if she remembered she had done this before. She didn’t register her grandmothers taking pictures as she cuddled up with her daddy, nuzzling up to his side while reaching out to place a hand on her brother's tiny body.
“Hi, Atlas, we’re your sisters,” Mercury whispered, Viktor turning slowly while minding the IVs in his arm. Atlas opened his eyes, they were barely open as he rooted against Viktor’s skin before he gurgled something. “And I’m going to be your best big sister… in the whole world— pinky promise.”
Mercury slipped her pinky in his grasp, letting the newborn’s grasping reflex tighten around her finger. A small smile came to her lips, as if a memory of something familiar warmed inside her heart. She already loved him to the moon and back.
Venus blinked before looking up at her mama. “Mama, when is it papa’s turn to have the baby?” Venus bluntly asked, making Jayce lurch.
“Good question, honey,” Mel snickered, side eyeing her husband sitting across the room with their eldest.
Viktor chuckled as well, keeping one hand on Atlas while pulling Mercury close for a hug. “Come on, Venus, get up here too,” Viktor called to his daughter.
Venus scampered to climb into the bed, with some help from her mama to not knock anything over with her flailing legs. As she cuddled up close to Viktor and her sister, their other two parents stepped over to press into a family embrace, the trio of adults and trio of kids. Well, one of those kids was more like a swaddled potato at this stage, but still.
Two very teary eyed grandmothers happily took as many photos as they could of this precious moment, to cherish forever and remember fondly.