Work Text:
September 2027
Yaz has never been more tired in her life. Even though she wasn’t the one giving birth — no, that was her amazing superhero of a wife Sammy — the past thirty six hours have been a nonstop storm of stress, anxiety, and a literal storm. Ever since the frantic rush back to the Watering Hole when Sammy went into labour right as a hurricane was brewing.
The following hours — no, they were days somehow — were a nonstop flurry of panic as the other four did everything they could to make Sammy comfortable while trying to figure out how to get medical help to their house. A frantic zoom call with Darius and Kenji’s mum — a trained labour nurse — and Yaz’s mother — trained in keeping panicked people calm — later, Brooklynn was hazarding the treacherous roads on horseback to pick up a midwife, while Yaz, Ben, Darius and Kenji hurried around making Sammy as comfortable as possible in her bed, Yaz and Darius assisting her with labour, as Ben and Kenji went back and forth getting everything they needed.
And it was all worth it to gaze down at her tiny baby girl, a swaddled bundle sleeping soundly against Sammy’s chest.
“She’s wonderful,” Yaz whispers for what feels like the millionth time since her little miracle came into the world, pressing a kiss to the top of her wife’s head.
“Not to be dramatic, but I would literally die for Julieta already,” Brooklynn says, sitting cross legged on a chair by their bedside.
A chorus of same’s arises from the other three, and Sammy chuckles softly. “C’mon, guys, Julie’s gonna need some living aunts, uncles and Godparents.”
The four sit up abruptly, her words only just registering. “You mean we— you want us to be her...” Kenji gasps.
“Uh, duh.” Sammy grins.
“We want you four to be an active part of her life,” Yaz says.
Both of Darius’s hands cover his mouth, and Brooklynn’s eyebrows are curved like she can’t believe what she’s hearing. Kenji laughs, almost giddily, and Ben just looks overjoyed.
“Welcome to the camp fam, Julieta,” he says, pushing himself closer.
“Wanna hold her?” Sammy asks.
Ben’s mouth falls open. “Seriously?”
Yaz scoffs playfully. “Go meet your baby niece, Pincus.”
Julieta babbles up at him, and Ben’s eyes grow wide in wonder. “Hello, Julieta. I’m your uncle Ben.” He gently brushes her cheek with his finger — almost comically large compared to Julieta’s tiny body. “Do you wanna go meet your uncle Kenji?”
“Oh my God,” Kenji whispers breathlessly, as Ben carefully passes her to him. He cradles her in his arms, cooing down at her. “It’ll be nice to have a little one to spoil now that Smoothie’s all grown up.”
The other four pass her around, so incredibly careful with her, in a way Yaz hasn’t seen them be since Smoothie. She keeps an eye on them — not out of mistrust, but the sight of her family being so gentle and affectionate to her baby girl makes her feel warm all over. She could sit here, Sammy in her arms, watching the joyous scene in front of her unfold forever.
It isn’t forever, but Yaz gets a blissful nearly-ten minutes before the midwife returns to check Julieta is healthy.
Brooklynn, holding Julieta, hands her over, her eyes hardening instantly. Their heads swivel to the midwife as she props Julieta on her chest.
She walks towards the door, and four pairs of eyes follow her.
The midwife, keenly aware she is being watched, gives Yaz and Sammy a strange look.
“Don’t mind them,” Sammy says with as polite a smile as she can manage. “They just wanna make sure Yaz, Julieta and I are safe.”
“Well I’m obviously not going to hurt any of you,” the midwife says with a saccharine smile, evidently a little offended.
It’s a waste of words — their instincts run deeper than logic and no amount of reassurance from a stranger could erode that — but the other four avert their eyes, making it less obvious they’re still keeping a close watch on the situation.
As she moves to leave the room, Sammy cries, “Wait!”
She does. Hesitantly.
Sammy’s voice is tired and soft, too quiet to be anything other than desperate. “Can’t you... examine her in here?”
“My equipment is in the kitchen,” she says rather shortly.
“Aren’t babies supposed to have as much skin to skin contact with their parents as possible?” Asks Darius.
The midwife gives him a stony look. “I know what I’m doing,” she says, too coldly to be comforting.
Yaz meets the others’ eyes with a flicker of panic. The four nod, and wordlessly follow the midwife out of the room.
Sammy collapses with relief against Yaz’s chest, her head rolling along Yaz’s collarbone. Smiling, Yaz presses a kiss to the top of Sammy’s head, and her lips come away tasting the faint smell of sweat. If she’s tired, she can’t imagine how Sammy must feel. The struggle to keep her eyes open is getting harder by the second, but Yaz can tell she’s holding back. Even when Yaz murmurs, “You can go to bed now, babe, it’s okay,” Sammy sleepily insists otherwise.
Until, the other four return, and the midwife informs them “She’s perfectly healthy, nothing to worry about” and “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me,” before promptly walking out. Then, Sammy goes slack against Yaz’s body, a soft sigh leaving her body.
“You get some sleep,” Darius says. “You guys must be knackered.”
“Can you guys stay up with Julie?” Sammy mumbles.
“Course we can,” Ben says. “You guys get a few hours of sleep, and we’ll hold her.”
“Give her loads of skin contact,” Sammy says, already half asleep. “And keep her warm.”
“Done and done.” Brooklynn gently settles Julieta on her chest, wriggling her top over Julieta to keep her little body warm. Yaz smiles tenderly, and Sammy might’ve said something, but it’s lost to her final wisps of consciousness.
As Yaz begins to drift off to sleep, Kenji says, “I can’t believe they have a baby now... Seems like only yesterday they were getting engaged.”
“And the day before that they started dating,” Darius adds.
“Oh, we’re so gonna spoil the shit out of her.”
“Brooklynn!” Darius scolds.
“It’s not like she understands what that word means yet. And she’s eventually gonna learn all the swear words from her cool auntie Bwooklynn, isn’t dat wight, widdle Julie-wulie—”
“No baby talk,” Yaz mumbles tiredly.
“Sorry.”
“We’re gonna need a nickname for her, though,” says Darius.
“Oh? Like what.” Asks Ben.
“Hm... I like Ju-ju.”
“Like Jujitsu?” Comes Kenji’s voice. “It would fit with Miss Capoeira over there.”
“How about... juice box?”
“Save that for when she comes off breast milk.”
A soft hum of laughter fills the room, and as the final dregs of consciousness leave Yaz, she hears Brooklynn whisper, “Oh, she is gonna grow up so freaking loved...”