Fic: Leap Year Baby
Title: Leap Year Baby
Author: Mary (stillxmyxheart)
Beta: Lindsay (rowofstars)
Rating: G
Genre: Fluff, Family, Friendship, little bit of Angst
Word Count: 5,105
Characters/Pairings: Eli, Hannah, David, Karen, Stuart, John, Madison, Theo (Eli/Hannah, Karen/Stuart, Madison/Theo)
Eli smiles from where he's stretched out on the daybed in Hannah's hospital room, watching her as she sleeps. The nurses took the baby away to the nursery a couple of hours ago and she fell asleep not long after, exhausted after nearly a full 24 hours of labor.
Almost nothing about being pregnant was easy on her, and Eli's glad it's over for the two obvious reasons: one, so that she'll hopefully be able to feel normal again, and two, because his son is finally in the world.
His smile widens as he thinks of the appointment when they learned the sex of the baby. There wasn't a doubt in either of their minds about knowing, and while Eli swore to himself it didn't matter either way, something about knowing it was a boy made him feel happy. Maybe it was some macho, first born son thing, but regardless, there it was.
Ever since, he'd been daydreaming about how his son might turn out, if he would like baseball or maybe basketball, or maybe shun sports altogether and be into computers or something like that. He wondered who he might take after, if he'd be dark-haired and blue-eyed like his father, or blond and hazel like his mother, or some combination of the two. Would he be average height like most of his immediate family, or would Adam's genes work out to make him tall and broad?
One question had been answered right away when the baby was revealed to have fine dark hair. His eyes are blue, though Eli knows that can change, and he measured fairly long, so maybe he will grow up to be tall like his grandfather.
All of those thoughts vanished, however, the first time Eli held his son, staring at the baby in awe, unable to believe that he'd helped create this little life. He'd wanted and dreamed about this day for so long and now that it was finally here, it just felt surreal, but in the best way.
Nothing could beat David's reaction to the name, though. It was a secret Hannah and Eli kept closely guarded, not wanting to share until the baby was born, and David had asked, smiling as he stared down at Hannah and the baby, "Okay, you have to tell us the name now."
"Well," Hannah began, smiling a little wearily as she shifted the baby in her arms. "His first name is Nicholas. We kept Eli's family tradition and one of his middle names is Elias."
"One of?" David asked, frowning slightly.
"The other is David," Hannah said softly.
David's eyes widened, rapidly filling with tears. "What?"
"His full name is Nicholas David Elias Shaw."
"You named him after me?" David murmured, sounding awed.
"Of course I did," Hannah replied. "He's named after the two best men in my life."
"I'm touched, baby," David whispered as he leaned down to press a kiss to Hannah's forehead, lifting his hand to brush her hair back. He kissed the baby's head next and then nodded happily when Hannah asked if he wanted to hold his grandson.
It's late now and everybody's gone home, even Kari, who was one of Hannah's nurses for the first 8 hours of labor. She went home briefly when her shift ended to shower and sleep, and then came back and stayed by Hannah's side for the rest of the labor, holding her hand and encouraging her all the while. It's too bad Madison couldn't be here, but Eli sent her both a picture and a video of Hannah holding Nicholas for the first time and he hopes that'll do.
Eli intends to stay at the hospital until he brings Hannah and Nicholas home, wanting to be here in case Hannah needs his help with anything and because he knows that if he went home, he wouldn't be able to sleep for wanting to be with her and the baby.
He knows she feels guilty for going into labor at his birthday dinner the night before, announcing in a shocked voice when she stood up from the table to go to the bathroom that her water had just broken.
"Izzie, I'm so sorry," she'd gasped, remarkably worried about making a mess on the floor of Isabelle's restaurant.
"Honey, that's what mops are for," Isabelle had replied, shaking her head. "Get to the hospital."
It doesn't bother Eli in the least, though. He thinks she gave him the best birthday present she could have given him, and he also thinks it's pretty cool, because Nicholas was born in time to be a leap year baby - February 29, 2016 - and Eli will happily share his birthday with his son during the three years where February 29 is missing from the calendar.
Hannah shifts in her sleep and Eli smiles again as he stands to walk over to the bed, looking at her a moment before leaning down to press a kiss to the side of her head, running his hand along her hair.
The following Friday, Eli opens the door to Karen and Stuart and smiles as he steps back to let them inside.
"Congratulations," Stuart says as he shakes Eli's hand, and Eli thanks him before turning to hug Karen.
"We're glad you guys could make it," he says when he pulls back. "Han really wanted you to see the baby."
"Where is she?" Karen asks.
"In our bedroom, she was nursing last I checked, but she might be done. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you went in to see her, though."
"I'll stay here, just in case," Stuart says with a bit of a grin, making Karen laugh as she starts for the bedroom.
"Hannah?" she says, tapping on the door.
"Come on in," Hannah replies and Karen pushes open the door, smiling when she sees Hannah settled in a rocking chair, her son in her arms.
"Hey, Mom," Hannah says, smiling back at her.
"Hey, Han," Karen says as she perches on the edge of the bed. "How are you?"
"I'm good. It's only been a few days, but so far no huge catastrophes. Eli taking time off work has helped a lot, though."
Karen smiles and nods. "It's good he's around to help. Your father was good at that too. And how's the baby?"
"He's good too, doing all the stuff newborns are supposed to do. He actually just finished eating; do you want to hold him?"
Karen nods, feeling a little anxious but excited at the same time. Hannah shifts the baby, taking a minute to burp him, and then sits up in her chair as Karen stands.
Karen carefully takes the baby from Hannah, shifting him gently in her arms, and smiles down at him once he's settled. She remembers losing it when she held Stuart's granddaughter the first time, but is determined not to do the same with her grandson.
"His name is Nicholas?"
"Mmhmm," Hannah hums as she fixes her shirt. "Though we've been calling him Nicky."
"Hi, Nicky," Karen says softly, smiling again when Nicholas fixes his blue eyes on her face. "I'm your Nana."
As soon as the words leave her mouth, she looks at Hannah, her eyebrows knitting together. "Is that okay?"
Hannah just smiles as she pushes to stand. "You're his Nana."
Karen relaxes, smiling back at her daughter before looking at Nicholas again.
"He's beautiful, Han. I'm really proud of you, and I know you're going to make a really great mother."
"Thanks, Mom," Hannah murmurs, her lips curving as she leans forward to hug Karen.
They move back into the living room and Stuart smiles as Karen walks up to him, the baby still in her arms.
"Can I hold him?" he asks, raising his eyebrows as he looks over at Hannah.
"Yeah, of course you can."
Karen transfers the baby to Stuart's arms and Stuart grins as he looks down at him. "He's beautiful, congratulations, guys."
"Thank you," Hannah murmurs, smiling when Eli slides his arm around her waist and presses a kiss to her cheek. "Do you need any help with your bags?"
"No, Eli and I brought them in while you two were in the bedroom," Stuart replies.
"We'd love to take you guys out while you're here, but he's only a few days old -"
Karen cuts Hannah off with a wave of her hand. "Don't even worry about that. We came here to visit, not to be entertained."
"Besides," Stuart says, "I was planning to cook for you guys tomorrow night, if one of you wouldn't mind running me to the store."
"Not at all," Eli replies. "I need to go tomorrow anyway, so you can get what you need then."
"Then it works out, doesn't it, Nicky?" Stuart grins as he looks down at the baby, and they all laugh when Nicholas yawns. "Yeah, he doesn't care; his food comes from Mommy right now."
Karen rolls her eyes as Hannah and Eli laugh again.
Karen and Stuart leave on Sunday after a quiet weekend, and a few days later, Hannah and Eli decide to take advantage of a rather warm day to take Nicholas to the university so John and some of Hannah's other coworkers can see him.
"Hey," John says when he opens his office door and sees them standing there, happily pulling Hannah into a hug and dropping a quick kiss to her cheek. "Come on in."
He opens the door wider for them, stepping back as Hannah walks in, followed closely by Eli, who's toting Nicholas in his carrier.
"Just set him on the table there," John says, moving quickly to clear off the coffee table in front of the small couch. Eli carefully sets the carrier down and John smiles as he looks inside and sees Nicholas, awake but still looking a little sleepy.
"So, how's everything going? I thought about coming by the hospital, but figured you had enough visitors."
"Everything's going good," Hannah replies. "Mom and Stuart came out to visit this past weekend, so that was nice, and Maddie's coming into town on Sunday."
"Lots of visitors."
"Lots of help," Hannah counters, arching an eyebrow. "Eli goes back to work on Monday, so it'll be nice to have Maddie out here for a little while."
John laughs and nods, and then holds up his hands. "Okay, I need to hold him, can I?"
"Sure," Hannah says, laughing softly as she bends to unfasten Nicholas from the carrier. He whimpers quietly and she murmurs to him as she lifts him into her arms, rubbing his back as she turns to face John. She carefully transfers the baby into John's arms, and he smiles as he straightens, his eyes on the baby as he absently rubs his thumb over Nicholas's leg.
"He's beautiful, Han." John looks up at her, his smile widening into a grin. "I think I can give you an A+ on this particular project."
Hannah laughs again. "Thanks. I'm pretty proud of it."
John grins, and then Eli jokes, "What about me?"
"Participation points," John deadpans, making Hannah giggle as Eli snorts.
The following Saturday, David rings the doorbell to Hannah and Eli's house. A moment passes and then he hears Eli's voice call out, "I've got it, babe."
He smiles when Eli opens the door and the younger man smiles back as he steps back to let him inside.
"I'm early, I know, I hope you don't mind," David murmurs as Eli closes the door.
"No, no, it's fine," Eli replies, waving his hand. "I was just cleaning the kitchen from last night. I made dinner, and then we all just sort of... crashed and nothing got cleaned up."
"I promise Jules and I will clean up after tonight, so you guys don't have to."
Eli smiles a little as they start towards the kitchen. "Normally I'd say don't worry about it, but that'd actually be really nice."
David laughs softly and nods, remembering what it was like just after Hannah was born.
"You're back to work on Monday?" he asks as he sets the bags in his hands on the counter.
Eli nods as he steps back over to the sink to continue washing the dishes. "I wish I could take more than two weeks, but even that was pushing it, though I am glad the transfer hasn't come through yet. I would've hated to start a new job and then have to take time off. But yeah, I wish I could've taken more time, but I don't want to use up all my leave in case I need it later, and Han's taking the whole semester off, so one of us needs to bring in some money."
There's no note of resentment in Eli's voice at the idea of Hannah not working, just a fond statement of the fact, and David smiles.
"Yeah, I was like that when Hannah was born, except Karen wasn't working at all at the time, so I really had no choice."
Eli nods and an almost sad smile curves his lips. "I just hate the thought of not being here. I know it's silly, I'll still have plenty of time to spend with him, but part of me just wants to be here all the time."
"Been there," David murmurs, remembering how hard it was for him to go back to work after Hannah was born.
He moves to place a few things in the refrigerator and makes sure the other things he'll need for dinner are together but out of the way, and then looks at Eli.
"Is Han awake?"
"Yeah, or at least she was. She was in her nook with Nicky last I checked."
David nods and leaves the kitchen to walk through the living room.
Hannah's nook is a sunny little room just off her and Eli's bedroom; it seemed almost like it had been designed with her in mind, even though it came with the house.
"Han?" David says softly to announce his presence, not wanting to just barge in on her in case she's nursing.
There's no response and David moves towards the doorway, saying her name one more time before she comes into view. He stops in place and smiles irresistibly at the sight in front of him.
Hannah's in her chair, feet propped up on the foot rest, with her almost two-week-old son on her chest and her year old tabby cat curled by her feet, and they're all three sound asleep, Hannah's hand resting on Nicholas's small back.
Bright mid-March sunlight streams through the windows, making Hannah's hair almost glow and helping David to forget the cold temperatures outside.
He pulls his phone from his pocket, unable to resist snapping a couple of pictures of his daughter and grandson, and Hannah opens her eyes just as he's putting his phone away.
"Hey, Dad," she murmurs a little sleepily. "You're early. I was going to put the cat out before you got here."
He smiles again as he moves towards her, carefully picking up the cat and setting her on the floor before settling on the edge of the foot rest.
"It's fine," he replies, reaching over to absently sweep his hand over Hannah's leg. "I drugged up before I left the house. And yeah, Jules had to run into work, and I got bored, so I just decided to come over now. She'll be here as soon as she's done."
Hannah nods, pushing against the armrest with her free hand to sit up a little straighter, trying to be careful not to wake Nicholas.
"How are you?" David asks, staring at her face. "You look tired."
Hannah gives a small smile and a shrug. "He's two weeks old."
It's enough of an explanation and David laughs quietly as he nods.
"What's Eli doing?" she asks, glancing at Nicholas.
"He was cleaning up the kitchen when I got here."
Hannah groans softly, a frown creasing her brow. "I told him to rest. He's got to go back to work on Monday, I wanted him to relax this weekend."
"Nervous energy, maybe."
"Yeah," Hannah agrees, and then smiles. "He's been so good these past couple of weeks, though, running errands, fixing dinner, helping keep the house clean."
David grins. "You've trained him well."
Hannah giggles softly and shakes her head. "Hush. I still feel kind of bad for messing up his birthday."
"Yeah, that whole pesky going into labor thing." David gives Hannah a look. "You gave him the best birthday present he could get; I don't think he's terribly upset."
Hannah smiles again. "Yeah, he said that. Still though. Maybe when Maddie's here and can stay with Nicky, Eli and I can go out or something."
David nods. "When's she getting here again?"
"Tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully we'll all go get her from the airport, but at the very least, Eli will pick her up. It'll be nice having her here; I've really missed her."
David nods again, thinking back to Madison's whirlwind engagement and wedding before she moved out to California permanently to live with her new husband.
"Okay, I should put him in his crib and go help Eli. Can you take him?"
David pushes to stand and steps around the foot rest to bend and carefully lift Nicholas from Hannah's chest. The baby whimpers sleepily, but doesn't wake, and David smiles as he gently shifts the boy to rest him against his chest.
Hannah stands and stretches and then starts into the bedroom where Nicholas's crib is temporarily stationed, David trailing behind her. He lowers Nicholas into his crib, and he and Hannah stand a moment before David sighs.
"I'm so proud of you, baby," he murmurs, sliding his arm around Hannah's shoulders and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.
She laughs softly. "What for?"
"For the past 28 years and what, 10 months?"
Hannah snorts. "I didn't know living my life was something to be proud of."
"Please," David mutters. "After everything that happened with your mom, with Seth, with the kidnapping - I can't lie, sweetheart, I was really worried about you for a long time. You weren't happy, and then Eli came along, and now you're married and you have a son. You've come so far, and I really am so proud of you." He pauses and then grins. "Plus I'm your dad, so being proud sort of comes with the territory."
Hannah laughs again and nods, letting her head fall against David's shoulder.
He turns his head to press a kiss to the top of hers, murmuring, "I love you, baby," against her hair.
"I love you too, Daddy."
Late the next afternoon, Hannah hears the front door open and rushes from the kitchen, smiling broadly when she sees Madison step inside, followed closely by Eli as he brings her suitcase in.
"I've missed you, Lexie," Hannah murmurs as she and Madison hug. "I'm so glad you're here."
"I've missed you too, Lisey," Madison replies, smiling when they pull apart. "I'm glad to be here; I've been dying to meet the little guy in person."
"I literally just put him down for a nap, but we can go peek in on him, if you want."
Madison nods hopefully and Hannah smiles as she turns to lead her towards her and Eli's bedroom. The crib is against the wall near the window and Hannah and Madison walk quietly over to it, peering down at the sleeping baby.
"Oh my god, he's adorable," Madison whispers. "And you would have him in a Harry Potter onesie."
Hannah grins. "That was actually a present from Ben. The Gryffindor is honorary though; like his religion, we'll let him decide his Hogwarts house on his own when he's older."
Madison laughs, though she feels something twist in her stomach at the mention of Ben, and after a moment she and Hannah leave the room, Hannah carefully closing the door behind them.
"He's beautiful, Han, seriously," Madison says, smiling as she looks at Hannah. "And he looks so much like Eli."
"He does, Miriam showed me pictures of Eli as a baby, and I know Nicky's only a couple of weeks old, but the resemblance is definitely there."
"At least there's no doubt as to who the father is," Madison teases, grinning when Hannah rolls her eyes.
Later that night the girls are in the living room, watching TV with the volume down low as Nicholas lies on Hannah's chest, her hand rubbing in small circles over his back. Eli's already in bed since he has to get up for work in the morning and Hannah gives a soft sigh.
"I already can't wait for him to start sleeping through the night. Hopefully he won't wake you up when he cries, since he's in our bedroom for right now."
"No, he'll just wake you guys up," Madison says, her hand idly petting Tabby where she's curled up in her lap.
"Tell me about it," Hannah murmurs. "And Eli's a much lighter sleeper than I am, so half the time he's the one who wakes up first, and now I feel bad because he's got to go back to work."
"Yeah, but it won't be forever."
"I know. I just don't want something to happen to him because he's sleep deprived."
"He'll be fine. He might take naps at lunch instead of actually eating, but he'll get through it."
Hannah laughs softly. "Crashing on the couch in Chris's office, no doubt."
Madison grins and nods. "Has Eli's transfer come through yet?"
"No," Hannah sighs. "Hopefully it won't be much longer. But Dad and Chris are in their new jobs and they both seem really happy, hopefully it'll be the same for Eli when his comes through."
Madison nods and then grins again. "I wish I could've been there when you went into labor at Izzie's restaurant."
"Oh god," Hannah groans. "I felt doubly bad because it was her restaurant, but also Eli's birthday dinner."
"I doubt either of them was too upset, especially Eli."
"I just feel like he had a crappy birthday because of me."
Madison shrugs. "So why don't you take him out while I'm here? I'll watch the baby for a couple of hours, it's no big deal."
"Yeah, I was actually already thinking that, if you didn't mind."
Madison shakes her head. "Totally fine." She smirks. "Now, if you wanted to make it a total date night..."
Hannah snorts. "Yeah, sex isn't happening for a while. I pushed a 10 pound baby out of me two weeks ago; it's a war zone down there."
"Welcome to just one of the many reasons why I'm never having kids," Madison mutters, arching one eyebrow, and then sighs. "Speaking of..."
"Oh?" Hannah says, looking over at her. "Trouble in paradise?"
Madison sighs again. "Things are okay, for the most part, but after Eli sent me the video of you holding Nicky after he was born, Theo and I watched it together, and now he's started talking about us having kids, even though I told him I don't want any."
"I'm sure it's not a huge deal," Hannah replies. "Some people just see babies and all of a sudden think they want one. I'm sure it'll pass."
"Hopefully."
Nicholas suddenly starts to stir and Hannah grins. "Yeah, right on time, little man. You mind if I nurse him here?"
"Nothing I haven't seen before," Madison says with a wave of her hand and Hannah snorts as she starts to unbutton the top of her nightgown.
As Madison's two weeks in Arlington are nearing their close, Hannah asks her one night about her return flight home.
"Yeah, it's supposed to be Sunday afternoon," Madison murmurs with a thoughtful frown.
"Supposed to be?" Hannah echoes, frowning as well as she glances up from changing Nicholas's diaper.
Madison shrugs. "I don't know. I feel like I want to stay here a little longer."
"I'm happy to have you here, Maddie, and I'm grateful for your help, but if you just don't want to go home because you're avoiding Theo or something, then I'm not really comfortable supporting that. You're married now; you can't just keep running away from your problems."
Hannah's gaze is on Nicholas as she speaks, focusing on the task at hand, and Madison is quiet as she watches, the corner of her mouth rising as Hannah coos softly to her son.
"You're a really good mother, Han," she finally murmurs.
"Well, I'm trying to be," Hannah replies, lifting the freshly diapered baby from the changing table. She turns to look at Madison. "Call Theo, okay? I'm fine with you staying a few extra days, but you need to call him."
That night after dinner Madison takes her phone out to the back patio so she can call Theo.
"Hey, baby," he says when he answers, and she can hear the smile in his voice.
"Hey, Teddy." She has to admit, she does miss him a little bit.
"So how're things out there? How're Hannah and the baby?"
"They're good." She laughs a little. "It's crazy how fast babies grow, I've only been out here almost two weeks and he already looks different now from how he did when I got here."
Theo laughs. "So you're coming home Sunday, right?"
"Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about that." Madison starts forward, stepping off the patio and onto the lawn. "I was sort of thinking about staying a few extra days."
"Oh," Theo says quietly. "If that's what you want to do, then okay, I just - I miss you."
Madison doesn't reply, chewing on her bottom lip as she stares down at her feet, and then Theo speaks again.
"Is this about the baby thing? Because I'm sorry for that, Maddie, I really am. Seeing the pictures of Hannah and her baby just sort of... made me want one, but I know you said you don't want any, and we agreed to that, and it was a dick move for me to try to change your mind."
Madison smiles a little. "Thank you for apologizing. It - it was sort of about that." She takes a breath. "Nicky's one month check up is on Tuesday, and I kind of want to help Han with that, so what if I change my flight home to Wednesday? Is that okay?"
"That's fine. Just let me know what time you'll be getting in."
"I will."
"I love you, Maddie."
"You too, Theo."
The call ends and Madison lowers her phone, staring at the display a moment before sliding it back into her pocket. She turns towards the house and startles slightly when she realizes that she walked the entire length of the yard while she was talking to Theo.
With a quiet sigh, she starts back to the house.
Madison's new flight is the following Wednesday night, and this time Hannah and Eli both go to the airport, leaving the house after Eli gets home from work.
"Don't forget me, little man," she says, bouncing Nicholas in her arms.
"I hate to break it to you, Maddie, but he's going to," Hannah says with a smirk.
"Shut up and let me dream," Madison retorts, the corner of her mouth rising when Nicholas grabs a section of her hair in one small hand. "He likes redheads; you better keep an eye on that."
Hannah snorts and takes the baby so Madison can hug Eli goodbye, kissing his cheek with a smile, and then Eli takes the baby from Hannah, walking away to give the girls some privacy for their goodbyes.
"I'm so glad you came, Maddie, really," Hannah says. "It was so nice having you here."
"At least you got a free nanny for a couple of weeks."
Hannah rolls her eyes. "And I got my best friend back too. I appreciated the help, but I also liked having you here. I've missed you."
"I know. I've missed you too. Living in California... I don't know. I think I got too used to living out here or something. Maybe I could talk Theo into relocating to the east coast."
Hannah laughs softly and Madison grins.
"I'm really glad I got to see Nicky too," Madison continues, glancing over at Eli and Nicholas. Hannah follows her gaze and they both smile as Eli points to a brightly colored poster on the wall, raising his eyebrows as he looks at his son. "I may not want kids of my own, but it makes me so happy to see you as a mommy. And Eli as a daddy too, you're both so good at it."
"Yeah, well, I guarantee that we're still terrified at least like, seventy percent of the time, but it's slowly going down. As rough as the pregnancy was, Nicky's actually a really good baby, so there's a small blessing."
Madison nods, still smiling as she looks back at Hannah. "I'm not sure when I'll visit again, though I think I'll definitely pop back over for your birthday, for that weekend, at the very least. Can't not be with my Lisey on her birthday."
Hannah smiles. "It's just too bad I couldn't visit you for yours."
Madison waves her hand. "You had way more important things going on, like growing the little man for another month. We still Skyped, that was enough for me."
Hannah nods and steps forward to pull Madison into a hug. "I love you, Lexie."
"I love you too, Lisey. I'll call you when I get home, and we'll talk about my next visit soon."
Hannah nods again as they pull apart, and Eli wanders back over as Madison bends to pick up her carryon bag.
"I'll see you guys later," she says, giving them one last smile before she moves to get in the security line.
They wait until she's safely through and then turn to leave the airport, Nicholas still in Eli's arms.
"You want to go somewhere for dinner?" Eli asks as they walk. "He's in a pretty chipper mood right now."
"Until he realizes he's lost Maddie's hair as his primary source of entertainment," Hannah replies with a grin, reaching up to sweep her fingers over Nicholas's arm.
Eli laughs and nods. "We'll just keep that detail from him and hope he doesn't notice. Right, little man?"
Nicholas hasn't begun smiling yet, but he looks intently at Eli when he hears his voice, and Eli smiles, pressing a kiss to his son's head as they make their way out of the airport.
Author: Mary (stillxmyxheart)
Beta: Lindsay (rowofstars)
Rating: G
Genre: Fluff, Family, Friendship, little bit of Angst
Word Count: 5,105
Characters/Pairings: Eli, Hannah, David, Karen, Stuart, John, Madison, Theo (Eli/Hannah, Karen/Stuart, Madison/Theo)
Eli smiles from where he's stretched out on the daybed in Hannah's hospital room, watching her as she sleeps. The nurses took the baby away to the nursery a couple of hours ago and she fell asleep not long after, exhausted after nearly a full 24 hours of labor.
Almost nothing about being pregnant was easy on her, and Eli's glad it's over for the two obvious reasons: one, so that she'll hopefully be able to feel normal again, and two, because his son is finally in the world.
His smile widens as he thinks of the appointment when they learned the sex of the baby. There wasn't a doubt in either of their minds about knowing, and while Eli swore to himself it didn't matter either way, something about knowing it was a boy made him feel happy. Maybe it was some macho, first born son thing, but regardless, there it was.
Ever since, he'd been daydreaming about how his son might turn out, if he would like baseball or maybe basketball, or maybe shun sports altogether and be into computers or something like that. He wondered who he might take after, if he'd be dark-haired and blue-eyed like his father, or blond and hazel like his mother, or some combination of the two. Would he be average height like most of his immediate family, or would Adam's genes work out to make him tall and broad?
One question had been answered right away when the baby was revealed to have fine dark hair. His eyes are blue, though Eli knows that can change, and he measured fairly long, so maybe he will grow up to be tall like his grandfather.
All of those thoughts vanished, however, the first time Eli held his son, staring at the baby in awe, unable to believe that he'd helped create this little life. He'd wanted and dreamed about this day for so long and now that it was finally here, it just felt surreal, but in the best way.
Nothing could beat David's reaction to the name, though. It was a secret Hannah and Eli kept closely guarded, not wanting to share until the baby was born, and David had asked, smiling as he stared down at Hannah and the baby, "Okay, you have to tell us the name now."
"Well," Hannah began, smiling a little wearily as she shifted the baby in her arms. "His first name is Nicholas. We kept Eli's family tradition and one of his middle names is Elias."
"One of?" David asked, frowning slightly.
"The other is David," Hannah said softly.
David's eyes widened, rapidly filling with tears. "What?"
"His full name is Nicholas David Elias Shaw."
"You named him after me?" David murmured, sounding awed.
"Of course I did," Hannah replied. "He's named after the two best men in my life."
"I'm touched, baby," David whispered as he leaned down to press a kiss to Hannah's forehead, lifting his hand to brush her hair back. He kissed the baby's head next and then nodded happily when Hannah asked if he wanted to hold his grandson.
It's late now and everybody's gone home, even Kari, who was one of Hannah's nurses for the first 8 hours of labor. She went home briefly when her shift ended to shower and sleep, and then came back and stayed by Hannah's side for the rest of the labor, holding her hand and encouraging her all the while. It's too bad Madison couldn't be here, but Eli sent her both a picture and a video of Hannah holding Nicholas for the first time and he hopes that'll do.
Eli intends to stay at the hospital until he brings Hannah and Nicholas home, wanting to be here in case Hannah needs his help with anything and because he knows that if he went home, he wouldn't be able to sleep for wanting to be with her and the baby.
He knows she feels guilty for going into labor at his birthday dinner the night before, announcing in a shocked voice when she stood up from the table to go to the bathroom that her water had just broken.
"Izzie, I'm so sorry," she'd gasped, remarkably worried about making a mess on the floor of Isabelle's restaurant.
"Honey, that's what mops are for," Isabelle had replied, shaking her head. "Get to the hospital."
It doesn't bother Eli in the least, though. He thinks she gave him the best birthday present she could have given him, and he also thinks it's pretty cool, because Nicholas was born in time to be a leap year baby - February 29, 2016 - and Eli will happily share his birthday with his son during the three years where February 29 is missing from the calendar.
Hannah shifts in her sleep and Eli smiles again as he stands to walk over to the bed, looking at her a moment before leaning down to press a kiss to the side of her head, running his hand along her hair.
The following Friday, Eli opens the door to Karen and Stuart and smiles as he steps back to let them inside.
"Congratulations," Stuart says as he shakes Eli's hand, and Eli thanks him before turning to hug Karen.
"We're glad you guys could make it," he says when he pulls back. "Han really wanted you to see the baby."
"Where is she?" Karen asks.
"In our bedroom, she was nursing last I checked, but she might be done. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you went in to see her, though."
"I'll stay here, just in case," Stuart says with a bit of a grin, making Karen laugh as she starts for the bedroom.
"Hannah?" she says, tapping on the door.
"Come on in," Hannah replies and Karen pushes open the door, smiling when she sees Hannah settled in a rocking chair, her son in her arms.
"Hey, Mom," Hannah says, smiling back at her.
"Hey, Han," Karen says as she perches on the edge of the bed. "How are you?"
"I'm good. It's only been a few days, but so far no huge catastrophes. Eli taking time off work has helped a lot, though."
Karen smiles and nods. "It's good he's around to help. Your father was good at that too. And how's the baby?"
"He's good too, doing all the stuff newborns are supposed to do. He actually just finished eating; do you want to hold him?"
Karen nods, feeling a little anxious but excited at the same time. Hannah shifts the baby, taking a minute to burp him, and then sits up in her chair as Karen stands.
Karen carefully takes the baby from Hannah, shifting him gently in her arms, and smiles down at him once he's settled. She remembers losing it when she held Stuart's granddaughter the first time, but is determined not to do the same with her grandson.
"His name is Nicholas?"
"Mmhmm," Hannah hums as she fixes her shirt. "Though we've been calling him Nicky."
"Hi, Nicky," Karen says softly, smiling again when Nicholas fixes his blue eyes on her face. "I'm your Nana."
As soon as the words leave her mouth, she looks at Hannah, her eyebrows knitting together. "Is that okay?"
Hannah just smiles as she pushes to stand. "You're his Nana."
Karen relaxes, smiling back at her daughter before looking at Nicholas again.
"He's beautiful, Han. I'm really proud of you, and I know you're going to make a really great mother."
"Thanks, Mom," Hannah murmurs, her lips curving as she leans forward to hug Karen.
They move back into the living room and Stuart smiles as Karen walks up to him, the baby still in her arms.
"Can I hold him?" he asks, raising his eyebrows as he looks over at Hannah.
"Yeah, of course you can."
Karen transfers the baby to Stuart's arms and Stuart grins as he looks down at him. "He's beautiful, congratulations, guys."
"Thank you," Hannah murmurs, smiling when Eli slides his arm around her waist and presses a kiss to her cheek. "Do you need any help with your bags?"
"No, Eli and I brought them in while you two were in the bedroom," Stuart replies.
"We'd love to take you guys out while you're here, but he's only a few days old -"
Karen cuts Hannah off with a wave of her hand. "Don't even worry about that. We came here to visit, not to be entertained."
"Besides," Stuart says, "I was planning to cook for you guys tomorrow night, if one of you wouldn't mind running me to the store."
"Not at all," Eli replies. "I need to go tomorrow anyway, so you can get what you need then."
"Then it works out, doesn't it, Nicky?" Stuart grins as he looks down at the baby, and they all laugh when Nicholas yawns. "Yeah, he doesn't care; his food comes from Mommy right now."
Karen rolls her eyes as Hannah and Eli laugh again.
Karen and Stuart leave on Sunday after a quiet weekend, and a few days later, Hannah and Eli decide to take advantage of a rather warm day to take Nicholas to the university so John and some of Hannah's other coworkers can see him.
"Hey," John says when he opens his office door and sees them standing there, happily pulling Hannah into a hug and dropping a quick kiss to her cheek. "Come on in."
He opens the door wider for them, stepping back as Hannah walks in, followed closely by Eli, who's toting Nicholas in his carrier.
"Just set him on the table there," John says, moving quickly to clear off the coffee table in front of the small couch. Eli carefully sets the carrier down and John smiles as he looks inside and sees Nicholas, awake but still looking a little sleepy.
"So, how's everything going? I thought about coming by the hospital, but figured you had enough visitors."
"Everything's going good," Hannah replies. "Mom and Stuart came out to visit this past weekend, so that was nice, and Maddie's coming into town on Sunday."
"Lots of visitors."
"Lots of help," Hannah counters, arching an eyebrow. "Eli goes back to work on Monday, so it'll be nice to have Maddie out here for a little while."
John laughs and nods, and then holds up his hands. "Okay, I need to hold him, can I?"
"Sure," Hannah says, laughing softly as she bends to unfasten Nicholas from the carrier. He whimpers quietly and she murmurs to him as she lifts him into her arms, rubbing his back as she turns to face John. She carefully transfers the baby into John's arms, and he smiles as he straightens, his eyes on the baby as he absently rubs his thumb over Nicholas's leg.
"He's beautiful, Han." John looks up at her, his smile widening into a grin. "I think I can give you an A+ on this particular project."
Hannah laughs again. "Thanks. I'm pretty proud of it."
John grins, and then Eli jokes, "What about me?"
"Participation points," John deadpans, making Hannah giggle as Eli snorts.
The following Saturday, David rings the doorbell to Hannah and Eli's house. A moment passes and then he hears Eli's voice call out, "I've got it, babe."
He smiles when Eli opens the door and the younger man smiles back as he steps back to let him inside.
"I'm early, I know, I hope you don't mind," David murmurs as Eli closes the door.
"No, no, it's fine," Eli replies, waving his hand. "I was just cleaning the kitchen from last night. I made dinner, and then we all just sort of... crashed and nothing got cleaned up."
"I promise Jules and I will clean up after tonight, so you guys don't have to."
Eli smiles a little as they start towards the kitchen. "Normally I'd say don't worry about it, but that'd actually be really nice."
David laughs softly and nods, remembering what it was like just after Hannah was born.
"You're back to work on Monday?" he asks as he sets the bags in his hands on the counter.
Eli nods as he steps back over to the sink to continue washing the dishes. "I wish I could take more than two weeks, but even that was pushing it, though I am glad the transfer hasn't come through yet. I would've hated to start a new job and then have to take time off. But yeah, I wish I could've taken more time, but I don't want to use up all my leave in case I need it later, and Han's taking the whole semester off, so one of us needs to bring in some money."
There's no note of resentment in Eli's voice at the idea of Hannah not working, just a fond statement of the fact, and David smiles.
"Yeah, I was like that when Hannah was born, except Karen wasn't working at all at the time, so I really had no choice."
Eli nods and an almost sad smile curves his lips. "I just hate the thought of not being here. I know it's silly, I'll still have plenty of time to spend with him, but part of me just wants to be here all the time."
"Been there," David murmurs, remembering how hard it was for him to go back to work after Hannah was born.
He moves to place a few things in the refrigerator and makes sure the other things he'll need for dinner are together but out of the way, and then looks at Eli.
"Is Han awake?"
"Yeah, or at least she was. She was in her nook with Nicky last I checked."
David nods and leaves the kitchen to walk through the living room.
Hannah's nook is a sunny little room just off her and Eli's bedroom; it seemed almost like it had been designed with her in mind, even though it came with the house.
"Han?" David says softly to announce his presence, not wanting to just barge in on her in case she's nursing.
There's no response and David moves towards the doorway, saying her name one more time before she comes into view. He stops in place and smiles irresistibly at the sight in front of him.
Hannah's in her chair, feet propped up on the foot rest, with her almost two-week-old son on her chest and her year old tabby cat curled by her feet, and they're all three sound asleep, Hannah's hand resting on Nicholas's small back.
Bright mid-March sunlight streams through the windows, making Hannah's hair almost glow and helping David to forget the cold temperatures outside.
He pulls his phone from his pocket, unable to resist snapping a couple of pictures of his daughter and grandson, and Hannah opens her eyes just as he's putting his phone away.
"Hey, Dad," she murmurs a little sleepily. "You're early. I was going to put the cat out before you got here."
He smiles again as he moves towards her, carefully picking up the cat and setting her on the floor before settling on the edge of the foot rest.
"It's fine," he replies, reaching over to absently sweep his hand over Hannah's leg. "I drugged up before I left the house. And yeah, Jules had to run into work, and I got bored, so I just decided to come over now. She'll be here as soon as she's done."
Hannah nods, pushing against the armrest with her free hand to sit up a little straighter, trying to be careful not to wake Nicholas.
"How are you?" David asks, staring at her face. "You look tired."
Hannah gives a small smile and a shrug. "He's two weeks old."
It's enough of an explanation and David laughs quietly as he nods.
"What's Eli doing?" she asks, glancing at Nicholas.
"He was cleaning up the kitchen when I got here."
Hannah groans softly, a frown creasing her brow. "I told him to rest. He's got to go back to work on Monday, I wanted him to relax this weekend."
"Nervous energy, maybe."
"Yeah," Hannah agrees, and then smiles. "He's been so good these past couple of weeks, though, running errands, fixing dinner, helping keep the house clean."
David grins. "You've trained him well."
Hannah giggles softly and shakes her head. "Hush. I still feel kind of bad for messing up his birthday."
"Yeah, that whole pesky going into labor thing." David gives Hannah a look. "You gave him the best birthday present he could get; I don't think he's terribly upset."
Hannah smiles again. "Yeah, he said that. Still though. Maybe when Maddie's here and can stay with Nicky, Eli and I can go out or something."
David nods. "When's she getting here again?"
"Tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully we'll all go get her from the airport, but at the very least, Eli will pick her up. It'll be nice having her here; I've really missed her."
David nods again, thinking back to Madison's whirlwind engagement and wedding before she moved out to California permanently to live with her new husband.
"Okay, I should put him in his crib and go help Eli. Can you take him?"
David pushes to stand and steps around the foot rest to bend and carefully lift Nicholas from Hannah's chest. The baby whimpers sleepily, but doesn't wake, and David smiles as he gently shifts the boy to rest him against his chest.
Hannah stands and stretches and then starts into the bedroom where Nicholas's crib is temporarily stationed, David trailing behind her. He lowers Nicholas into his crib, and he and Hannah stand a moment before David sighs.
"I'm so proud of you, baby," he murmurs, sliding his arm around Hannah's shoulders and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.
She laughs softly. "What for?"
"For the past 28 years and what, 10 months?"
Hannah snorts. "I didn't know living my life was something to be proud of."
"Please," David mutters. "After everything that happened with your mom, with Seth, with the kidnapping - I can't lie, sweetheart, I was really worried about you for a long time. You weren't happy, and then Eli came along, and now you're married and you have a son. You've come so far, and I really am so proud of you." He pauses and then grins. "Plus I'm your dad, so being proud sort of comes with the territory."
Hannah laughs again and nods, letting her head fall against David's shoulder.
He turns his head to press a kiss to the top of hers, murmuring, "I love you, baby," against her hair.
"I love you too, Daddy."
Late the next afternoon, Hannah hears the front door open and rushes from the kitchen, smiling broadly when she sees Madison step inside, followed closely by Eli as he brings her suitcase in.
"I've missed you, Lexie," Hannah murmurs as she and Madison hug. "I'm so glad you're here."
"I've missed you too, Lisey," Madison replies, smiling when they pull apart. "I'm glad to be here; I've been dying to meet the little guy in person."
"I literally just put him down for a nap, but we can go peek in on him, if you want."
Madison nods hopefully and Hannah smiles as she turns to lead her towards her and Eli's bedroom. The crib is against the wall near the window and Hannah and Madison walk quietly over to it, peering down at the sleeping baby.
"Oh my god, he's adorable," Madison whispers. "And you would have him in a Harry Potter onesie."
Hannah grins. "That was actually a present from Ben. The Gryffindor is honorary though; like his religion, we'll let him decide his Hogwarts house on his own when he's older."
Madison laughs, though she feels something twist in her stomach at the mention of Ben, and after a moment she and Hannah leave the room, Hannah carefully closing the door behind them.
"He's beautiful, Han, seriously," Madison says, smiling as she looks at Hannah. "And he looks so much like Eli."
"He does, Miriam showed me pictures of Eli as a baby, and I know Nicky's only a couple of weeks old, but the resemblance is definitely there."
"At least there's no doubt as to who the father is," Madison teases, grinning when Hannah rolls her eyes.
Later that night the girls are in the living room, watching TV with the volume down low as Nicholas lies on Hannah's chest, her hand rubbing in small circles over his back. Eli's already in bed since he has to get up for work in the morning and Hannah gives a soft sigh.
"I already can't wait for him to start sleeping through the night. Hopefully he won't wake you up when he cries, since he's in our bedroom for right now."
"No, he'll just wake you guys up," Madison says, her hand idly petting Tabby where she's curled up in her lap.
"Tell me about it," Hannah murmurs. "And Eli's a much lighter sleeper than I am, so half the time he's the one who wakes up first, and now I feel bad because he's got to go back to work."
"Yeah, but it won't be forever."
"I know. I just don't want something to happen to him because he's sleep deprived."
"He'll be fine. He might take naps at lunch instead of actually eating, but he'll get through it."
Hannah laughs softly. "Crashing on the couch in Chris's office, no doubt."
Madison grins and nods. "Has Eli's transfer come through yet?"
"No," Hannah sighs. "Hopefully it won't be much longer. But Dad and Chris are in their new jobs and they both seem really happy, hopefully it'll be the same for Eli when his comes through."
Madison nods and then grins again. "I wish I could've been there when you went into labor at Izzie's restaurant."
"Oh god," Hannah groans. "I felt doubly bad because it was her restaurant, but also Eli's birthday dinner."
"I doubt either of them was too upset, especially Eli."
"I just feel like he had a crappy birthday because of me."
Madison shrugs. "So why don't you take him out while I'm here? I'll watch the baby for a couple of hours, it's no big deal."
"Yeah, I was actually already thinking that, if you didn't mind."
Madison shakes her head. "Totally fine." She smirks. "Now, if you wanted to make it a total date night..."
Hannah snorts. "Yeah, sex isn't happening for a while. I pushed a 10 pound baby out of me two weeks ago; it's a war zone down there."
"Welcome to just one of the many reasons why I'm never having kids," Madison mutters, arching one eyebrow, and then sighs. "Speaking of..."
"Oh?" Hannah says, looking over at her. "Trouble in paradise?"
Madison sighs again. "Things are okay, for the most part, but after Eli sent me the video of you holding Nicky after he was born, Theo and I watched it together, and now he's started talking about us having kids, even though I told him I don't want any."
"I'm sure it's not a huge deal," Hannah replies. "Some people just see babies and all of a sudden think they want one. I'm sure it'll pass."
"Hopefully."
Nicholas suddenly starts to stir and Hannah grins. "Yeah, right on time, little man. You mind if I nurse him here?"
"Nothing I haven't seen before," Madison says with a wave of her hand and Hannah snorts as she starts to unbutton the top of her nightgown.
As Madison's two weeks in Arlington are nearing their close, Hannah asks her one night about her return flight home.
"Yeah, it's supposed to be Sunday afternoon," Madison murmurs with a thoughtful frown.
"Supposed to be?" Hannah echoes, frowning as well as she glances up from changing Nicholas's diaper.
Madison shrugs. "I don't know. I feel like I want to stay here a little longer."
"I'm happy to have you here, Maddie, and I'm grateful for your help, but if you just don't want to go home because you're avoiding Theo or something, then I'm not really comfortable supporting that. You're married now; you can't just keep running away from your problems."
Hannah's gaze is on Nicholas as she speaks, focusing on the task at hand, and Madison is quiet as she watches, the corner of her mouth rising as Hannah coos softly to her son.
"You're a really good mother, Han," she finally murmurs.
"Well, I'm trying to be," Hannah replies, lifting the freshly diapered baby from the changing table. She turns to look at Madison. "Call Theo, okay? I'm fine with you staying a few extra days, but you need to call him."
That night after dinner Madison takes her phone out to the back patio so she can call Theo.
"Hey, baby," he says when he answers, and she can hear the smile in his voice.
"Hey, Teddy." She has to admit, she does miss him a little bit.
"So how're things out there? How're Hannah and the baby?"
"They're good." She laughs a little. "It's crazy how fast babies grow, I've only been out here almost two weeks and he already looks different now from how he did when I got here."
Theo laughs. "So you're coming home Sunday, right?"
"Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about that." Madison starts forward, stepping off the patio and onto the lawn. "I was sort of thinking about staying a few extra days."
"Oh," Theo says quietly. "If that's what you want to do, then okay, I just - I miss you."
Madison doesn't reply, chewing on her bottom lip as she stares down at her feet, and then Theo speaks again.
"Is this about the baby thing? Because I'm sorry for that, Maddie, I really am. Seeing the pictures of Hannah and her baby just sort of... made me want one, but I know you said you don't want any, and we agreed to that, and it was a dick move for me to try to change your mind."
Madison smiles a little. "Thank you for apologizing. It - it was sort of about that." She takes a breath. "Nicky's one month check up is on Tuesday, and I kind of want to help Han with that, so what if I change my flight home to Wednesday? Is that okay?"
"That's fine. Just let me know what time you'll be getting in."
"I will."
"I love you, Maddie."
"You too, Theo."
The call ends and Madison lowers her phone, staring at the display a moment before sliding it back into her pocket. She turns towards the house and startles slightly when she realizes that she walked the entire length of the yard while she was talking to Theo.
With a quiet sigh, she starts back to the house.
Madison's new flight is the following Wednesday night, and this time Hannah and Eli both go to the airport, leaving the house after Eli gets home from work.
"Don't forget me, little man," she says, bouncing Nicholas in her arms.
"I hate to break it to you, Maddie, but he's going to," Hannah says with a smirk.
"Shut up and let me dream," Madison retorts, the corner of her mouth rising when Nicholas grabs a section of her hair in one small hand. "He likes redheads; you better keep an eye on that."
Hannah snorts and takes the baby so Madison can hug Eli goodbye, kissing his cheek with a smile, and then Eli takes the baby from Hannah, walking away to give the girls some privacy for their goodbyes.
"I'm so glad you came, Maddie, really," Hannah says. "It was so nice having you here."
"At least you got a free nanny for a couple of weeks."
Hannah rolls her eyes. "And I got my best friend back too. I appreciated the help, but I also liked having you here. I've missed you."
"I know. I've missed you too. Living in California... I don't know. I think I got too used to living out here or something. Maybe I could talk Theo into relocating to the east coast."
Hannah laughs softly and Madison grins.
"I'm really glad I got to see Nicky too," Madison continues, glancing over at Eli and Nicholas. Hannah follows her gaze and they both smile as Eli points to a brightly colored poster on the wall, raising his eyebrows as he looks at his son. "I may not want kids of my own, but it makes me so happy to see you as a mommy. And Eli as a daddy too, you're both so good at it."
"Yeah, well, I guarantee that we're still terrified at least like, seventy percent of the time, but it's slowly going down. As rough as the pregnancy was, Nicky's actually a really good baby, so there's a small blessing."
Madison nods, still smiling as she looks back at Hannah. "I'm not sure when I'll visit again, though I think I'll definitely pop back over for your birthday, for that weekend, at the very least. Can't not be with my Lisey on her birthday."
Hannah smiles. "It's just too bad I couldn't visit you for yours."
Madison waves her hand. "You had way more important things going on, like growing the little man for another month. We still Skyped, that was enough for me."
Hannah nods and steps forward to pull Madison into a hug. "I love you, Lexie."
"I love you too, Lisey. I'll call you when I get home, and we'll talk about my next visit soon."
Hannah nods again as they pull apart, and Eli wanders back over as Madison bends to pick up her carryon bag.
"I'll see you guys later," she says, giving them one last smile before she moves to get in the security line.
They wait until she's safely through and then turn to leave the airport, Nicholas still in Eli's arms.
"You want to go somewhere for dinner?" Eli asks as they walk. "He's in a pretty chipper mood right now."
"Until he realizes he's lost Maddie's hair as his primary source of entertainment," Hannah replies with a grin, reaching up to sweep her fingers over Nicholas's arm.
Eli laughs and nods. "We'll just keep that detail from him and hope he doesn't notice. Right, little man?"
Nicholas hasn't begun smiling yet, but he looks intently at Eli when he hears his voice, and Eli smiles, pressing a kiss to his son's head as they make their way out of the airport.