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Phainon paced back and forth in his hotel room anxiously, he kept checking his phone every minute. No texts. It had been 9 hours since Anaxa’s last text to him and Phainon was on a flight to his next destination.
His husband had been feeling unwell and along with stomach cramps. Phainon had advised him to go see the doctor and have someone to cover his class instead, an advice that had been fallen to deaf ears by Anaxa. Phainon sighed and gave him a hug and took care of himself as he had to head off for work.
Two hours before his flight, his teaching assistant, Hyacine had texted him that Anaxa was in the hospital and the doctor was trying to find out what happened to him. He tried his best to stay calm and texted Hyacine to keep him updated, he hoped it was nothing serious as he prepped for his flight.
Right now, even after reaching his destination there was no news. His layover was 11 hours, and he hated the feelings of dread.
Finally he received a text from Anaxa.
Hey, sorry I just woke up. Couldn’t text earlier.
He quickly texted back.
I just landed a few hours ago, how are you? What did the doctor say? How long will you be hospitalised?
The reply came faster than Phainon expected.
I am alright now after hours of pain and getting rid of the pain. So we have a problem here.
Next minute, Anaxa video called him and Phainon answered. The first thing he saw was a very exhausted Anaxa hooked up to an IV drip.
“Hey.”
“Hey, I need to show you the problem. Please, don’t freak out.”
Anaxa said before he turned his camera and flipped the camera around. There was a baby in a droma printed swaddle and sleeping in a bassinet in front of him now. Perhaps it was because of the long hour flight that’s making his brain work slower than usual, Phainon took a moment to register what he was seeing in front of him and he wondered why Anaxa was showing him a baby.
That’s when it hit him.
He widened his eyes and dropped his phone when he realised what Anaxa was telling him.
“So congrats, you are a dad and we are parents now.”
Anaxa’s deadpan voice came over.
“Wait h-how…?”
Phainon asked, shakily squatting down and picking up the phone.
“I believe you know the answer to how the baby was made.”
“I know that! But we were careful and you didn’t show any symptoms?”
“The doctor said it was a cryptic pregnancy and I didn’t look or had symptoms of being pregnant either, so none of us knew.”
“Is it a he or she?”
“She.”
“Have you named her?”
“No.”
Phainon curled his lips and stared at the phone, their daughter was sound asleep. He couldn’t see her features clearly, he reached out gently used his index finger to tap her cheeks on the screen.
“Phai?”
“I am still here…it’s quite alot for me to take in.”
“It is for me as well when the doctor told me I was pregnant and that my stomach cramps were contractions, so immediately they had to ward me and prep for delivery. Didn’t have time to process everything that happened.”
Anaxa explained, Phainon watched as he reached out a hand to gently poke their daughter’s cheek causing her to stir a little.
“Is anyone with you now?”
Phainon asked, as he lay down. He wished that he was by Anaxa’s side now instead of being half way across the world away from him.
“Hyacine said she will come back tomorrow with Castorice. Mydei insisted on coming along, he said that you will definitely be worried about me and will probably want to be by my side now, so he will take care of me until you return. He said he will cook a meal for me too.”
“Wait Mydeimos knows about the baby before I did!?”
“You were flying and we didn’t want to disturb you when you have hundreds of passenger’s lives in your hands.”
“…you have a point.”
Phainon sighed, he was glad Mydei knew him very well enough that he would be worried about his husband.
“How long will you be staying in the hospital?”
“About a week, there were some minor complications since it was a cryptic pregnancy so they need to monitor our daughter and I before they could discharge us.”
Anaxa said, letting out a yawn.
“Go get some rest love, I’ll rush to the hospital immediately after I land.”
Phainon said and Anaxa nodded.
“Good night to you and our little one.”
Phainon said, waving goodbye to both of them.
——
He hugged the two droma plushies in his arms tightly while he was in the cab to the hospital. He saw these two at the duty free shop in the country he was laying here in and bought a big blue droma and a small one, one for Anaxa and one for their little girl.
Once he reached the hospital he quickly brought his luggage along and went to the reception to check for Anaxa’s ward number. He thanked the receptionist and hurriedly took the elevator up to the maternity ward indicated.
He entered the ward and was greeted by the sight of Anaxa laying in bed as he carried their little girl in his arms as he quietly hummed a tune.
“Hey.”
Phainon said he still couldn’t believe what was happening. He was finally meeting their daughter.
“Hey, you look tired.”
Anaxa observed.
“Not as tired as you are.”
Phainon said, as he placed the luggage next to the sofa at the side of the room. He noticed that the room one side of the room was filled with cards, congratulations balloons and stuffed toys.
“Hyacine came by along with Castorice and Mydei with all these from my students and the faculty staff. I told them they did need to buy unnecessary things like these.”
Anaxa said, Phainon took out the two droma plushies he bought and smiled as he handed them to him.
“These two, I will accept.”
Anaxa said as he smiled softly at the two plushies.
“Can I hold her…?”
Phainon asked as he looked at the baby in his arms.Anaxa nodded tiredly, as he carefully handed the baby over to him.
“Thanks, my arms were getting tired from carrying her.”
Phainon stared at the baby in awe. He always wondered why some parents could spend so much time looking at their babies. Now he could understand why. He looked at her little chubby cheeks and cute button nose and resisted the urge to poke them, afraid of waking her up.
“She has your eyes…”
Anaxa said, as he let out a yawn.
“Really, a pity, I could only look at them once she wakes up.”
Phainon said, as he gently rocked her in his arms. The baby instinctively snuggled closer to his chest. Suddenly, he felt the baby stir a little and slowly she opened her eyes revealing her blue eyes similar to her father’s.
“Hi, little one.”
Phainon said, as the baby blinked her round blue eyes as she stared at him. He gently booped her nose and she let out a soft coo.
The coo suddenly turned into a whine and then a gurgle before becoming a cry.
“Did I scare her…? Or is she scared of me?”
Phainon said as he tried to rock her to sleep and tried to calm her down but it just made their daughter cry even louder.
“Perhaps she is still unfamiliar with you, let me hold her please.”
“But-“
“Phainon, let me hold her.”
Phainon nodded and slowly placed their daughter back into Anaxa’s arms, he gently rocked her and whispered words of assurance to her which calmed her down as her cries reduced to soft sniffles as Anaxa shifted her closer to him.
“There you go.”
Phainon sighed as he sat down on the chair next to the bed, feeling helpless in trying to ease things for his husband. He thought he knew what to do as he had taken care of crying children in the past but it seemed like he was not ready for parenthood.
“When Hyacine, Castorice and Mydei tried to carry her, she cried too. She seems to hate being carried by anyone she is unfamiliar with, since you just came back, she will need time to be familiar with you first.”
Anaxa explained, turning to Phainon. He knew that he would start blaming himself for not being able to help. He smiled at the little bundle of joy in his arms before he spoke softly to her.
“Don’t be so scared, that’s your other papa. He just wants to carry you, okay?”
Anaxa said as he placed a kiss on her forehead as she slowly went back into her slumber. After that, he had gestured Phainon to help place her back into her bassinet next to the bed.
“So…have you thought of a name for her?”
Phainon said as they both quietly started at their slumbering daughter. He reached out and gently touched her cheeks
“Not really…Mydei, Castorice and Hyacine suggested some names while they were here”
“What are some of the names?”
“Thea, Ophelia,Athena, Irida… there were more but I remembered these four.”
Anaxa said, as he lay back against his pillow.he watched as Phainon went to the counter and poured some water for him.
“What name do you have in mind?”
Phainon said, as he handed him the cup of water and Anaxa drank the water in one gulp.
“I wanted a name related to the sun or sky for the little ball of sun shine we have…”
Anaxa replied, gently touching the slumbering baby’s cheek.
“How about Helia?”
“Just like Helios, the Greek sun god?”
Phainon nodded and continued.
“I was thinking about that name on the flight back here, and realised how it would be a name fitting for her.”
Phainon said as he let out a yawn and he rubbed his eyes. The excitement of meeting his newborn daughter and reuniting with his husband finally diminished as exhaustion from his flight finally sunk into his bones.
“We should get some rest too, while we can. She’ll wake up in a few hours for her meal.”
Anaxa said, yawning as he sunk his head back into the pillow and Phainon went over to help him adjust the blanket to make sure it was covering him. He placed the two droma plushies into his arms, almost immediately, Anaxa had also fallen into slumber.
He checked on Helia one last time before he went over to the long couch. Upon realising that there was no blanket provided, he quickly went to his luggage and took out his white coloured jacket.
He lay down on the couch trying to stretch out his leg as much as possible. At the back of his head, he started listing out things he had to do for the next few days - he probably have to hastily write in for leave, going to get some baby things for Helia and things for Anaxa, as he kept thinking he slowly drift off to sleep, anticipating a new life ahead .