Fic: Here Comes My Girl (3/?)
Title: Here Comes My Girl
Author: x_avecia_x
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Think this one is fairly clean!
Word Count: 4,767
Disclaimer: I do not own Community - although I would totally marry Dan Harmon then claim half in our (inevitable) divorce settlement - that is unless he concedes to my end game Jeff/Annie demands. If you recognize any of it, it isn't mine.
Summary: Annie tries to find her place in the lives of Jeff and his daughter.
Author's Note: Next instalment! Sorry I've been MIA - work is kicking my ass and I'm trying to move house so I've not had much time to write. Hopefully that will change soon, so to tide you over I bring you this. A mix of a little angst with fluff in between. Hope you enjoy x
_____
She was twenty seven when she moved to San Diego.
Although she wanted a child of her own, when she began dating Jeff again, she had accepted that it might never happen for her. As much as she’d never had a problem with the fact he was twelve years older than her, when she realized this put him almost in his forties and already with a young child, she had contented herself with what she had.
And it had all been pretty damn good.
They’d moved in together, choosing instead to buy somewhere new instead of her moving into the home he had shared with his wife. Although Jeff had insisted that it wasn’t an issue for him or Sophie, Annie had wanted it to be a fresh start for the family.
Despite some initial reluctance, Sophie had adjusted pretty well to having Annie around. She got over the ‘lack of parental responsibilities’ issue and had accepted Annie into her life, even if she wouldn’t call her ‘mom’. Annie still fulfilled that role as much as she could; putting the little girl to bed at night, making sure Sophie always kissed the photograph of her mother on her nightstand before she went to sleep.
She was completely happy and satisfied with her life. She had everything she ever wanted - in Jeff she had a man who completely adored her and a little girl, who although not her own, she loved with every fibre of her being as if she were.
So when Annie discovered at the age of 28 that she was expecting a child of her own, she had completely freaked out.
She was terrified that the balance she’d managed to achieve in her life (and that of Jeff and his daughter) would be completely undone.
It took her three days to confess her news to Jeff, and even then it wasn’t her choice. She should have been more careful when absentmindedly telling Sophie that she could play Angry Birds on her cell phone which had been in her bag. Later, she would put her lapse in concentration down to raging hormones.
The loud declaration of ‘Annie, what’s this?’ as Sophie wandered into the den holding out the positive pregnancy test for her (and Jeff) to see clearly caused Annie to freeze in terror as she caught the look of shock on Jeff’s face.
If the ground could have opened up to swallow her there and then, she would probably have been ok with that, because the awkwardness of having to answer Sophie’s question as well as confessing to her other half that they were going to be having a baby of their own was probably the most awkward thing she’d experienced since giving Jeff that horrendous Christmas-serenade-come-lap-dance back in third year at Greendale.
In between the ‘What the fu...we’re having a baby?’ and ‘Annie, how do you make a baby?’ questions being fired at her, together with a full complement of slack jaws and inquisitive eyes, somehow she managed to compose herself enough to answer ‘yes, we’re having a baby,’ and ‘that’s a question you can ask your dad when you’re older.’
When the dust had settled and Jeff had given himself an extended pat on the back for having impressively agile sperm at the age of forty, he’d gathered Annie into his arms and told her she’d made him the happiest guy on earth before telling Sophie she was going to be a big sister.
Everything had gone by in such a blur since then.
It had been difficult trying to explain to Sophie exactly how she was going to be a big sister even though her real mom was no longer with her. But she’d accepted it and proudly declared to all of her friends at her sixth birthday party that the reason Annie was so fat was because she was having a baby and that baby was going to be her little brother or little sister.
Annie had wept for half an hour straight at being called fat (she was barely five months gone), and then another half an hour after that because Sophie had seemed so proud of the fact she was going to be a big sister. Jeff had eventually given up trying to make sense of her sniffled responses and handed her the biggest slice of Sophie’s birthday cake - the one he’d managed to wrestle away from that one kid who had been circling the refreshments table in their back yard like a shark for an entire hour before he’d even brought his daughter’s cake out.
It seemed to do the trick when Annie smiled and kissed him tenderly. She was so thankful that he was attuned to her hormonal breakdowns, the benefit of previous experience no doubt, but she wasn’t jealous. Just thankful.
Sophie had quickly developed a routine not long after her sixth birthday, where she would spend an hour at night lying with Annie on the couch, talking to her bump, sometimes reading out loud excerpts from her latest school reading book until she became tired, more often than not requiring Jeff to pull his sleeping daughter over his shoulder to put her to bed.
Annie loved this time with Sophie, and although she already knew Sophie had accepted her into her life, it made her heart flutter every time the little girl would cosy into her.
The closer Annie got to her due date though, the more subdued Sophie became. Annie was sure it was because there would be a new baby in the household. She’d talked to Jeff about it when one night he’d come home late from work to find Annie crying on the couch in the den.
‘I think she’s worried about being pushed aside Jeff - we’ve been so pre-occupied getting ready for the baby that she’s feeling left out.’
‘Annie, she’ll be fine. We’ve involved her in everything from decorating the nursery to picking out names.’
She didn’t respond and continued to weep as he sat down beside her.
‘Hey, come on. Your hormones are just getting the better of you. If it makes you feel better I’ll talk to her. And if that doesn’t work we’ll just bribe her to put a smile on her face - Christmas is a week away, I’m pretty sure if we’re extra generous she’ll come around.’
Annie gave him a pointed look but her anxiety quickly waned as soon as Jeff pulled her feet into his lap and started his ministrations to ease out the tension from toes to heel. The rather audible groan of pleasure at feeling him work her skin was enough to draw a smirk from Jeff, delighted no doubt at having diffused a potentially explosive situation, especially with the range of emotions she had been drawing on lately. With four weeks left until baby Winger made his or her appearance she was desperately trying not to let her anxiety transfer onto him.
‘We spoil her enough as it is Jeff without having to resort to manipulation by bribery. What kind of examples are we going to set by doing that?’
‘She’s six, I hardly think we’re going to do lasting damage.’
‘Oh really, and just how old were you when you realized your natural gift for manipulation if you simply talked long enough?’
He stopped massaging Annie’s feet, raising his head to look at her before narrowing his eyes.
‘Did you just try to lawyer me?’
‘Maybe. And I’m pretty sure it actually worked.’
Annie pulled her legs back and crawled across the couch, firmly implanting herself under his arm, earning a long drawn out sigh from Jeff, ‘dammit.’
_____
When Annie’s waters broke literally on the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve all hell broke loose.
With most of their friends out at New Years parties and the neighbours away for the holidays Jeff had no option but to wake Sophie from her bed to take her to the hospital with them both. Annie had to watch helplessly from the front seat as Sophie cried hysterically the entire way, trying simultaneously to placate Jeff’s daughter and time her contractions.
Jeff mumbling from the driver’s seat about Annie being typically early for everything didn’t help the situation.
‘This wasn’t supposed to happen for another two weeks.’
‘Jeff, it’s not like I did it on purpose, I can’t help it if nature wanted things to happen quicker than we expected. At least I’m not going to give birth in a Greendale classroom like Shirley did,’ at this point Sophie tried to climb out from her seat and wrap her arms around the head-rest to hug Annie as if her life depended on it, ‘Oh Sophie, please! Come on, everything is going to be fine. Now sit back down and put your seat belt back on.’
Annie caught Jeff’s quick glance in the rear-view mirror at his daughter, not missing the tension in his jaw as he fixated on Sophie weeping in the back of the car.
‘She shouldn’t be here. She hates hospitals.’
His clipped tone was unusual for him to the point of being emotionless and Annie couldn’t help but feel like this was not how things were supposed to be - there was no happy elation at her labor finally starting, no quick kiss before setting off on their journey to the hospital. Nothing.
‘I know,’ she whispered, feeling deflated, ‘but Troy and Abed are on their way to pick her up, they’ll be here in an hour or so. I’m sure we have time before things progress any further.’
But just as she was lamenting inwardly about a horrendously painful, drawn out labor another contraction gripped her and she reached out to grip the dashboard.
‘You were saying?’ he replied, pushing that little bit herder on the gas pedal.
They reached the hospital and Annie was quickly situated in her private room to await the gynaecologist’s exam. A tear ran down her cheek as she heard Sophie scream from down the hall for her daddy, the night nursing staff having the unfortunate job of trying to stop the fit of hysterics.
Annie sighed and reached for Jeff’s hand as he winced hearing Sophie’s wail of ‘daddy!’ ring out loud down the maternity unit corridor.
‘Go to her, I’ll be fine.’
‘I’m not leaving you.’
Though there was conviction in his voice, Annie knew that there was part of him that wanted to just run to his little girl and hold her until she stopped crying. She knew it because she wanted nothing more than to do the exact same thing.
Annie breathed through yet another contraction, noting this time there was barely three minutes between them now. Though she knew her baby was coming, and quickly at that, she want to know Jeff’s head was in the game.
‘She needs you, I think you’ve got a bit of time before...’
‘Annie I’m not leaving you. What if something happens, I...I can’t leave.’
And like the most terrible contraction, the pain of realizing that he (and most likely Sophie) were terrified of losing her like they had Lauren hit her hard in the chest. Sophie’s odd behaviour in recent weeks seemed to fit into her realization and she was so upset with herself for not figuring it out before.
‘This isn’t like what happened before, I mean, it was...an aneurysm, I don’t...’
‘It still happened.’
Annie tried to find a response but they all faded in the back of her throat as Jeff’s grip on her hand tightened, his other hand trailing over her stomach. They were interrupted by Annie’s doctor cheerfully making his entrance before asking her permission to begin his examination.
Jeff grimaced slightly, brought back into the reality of what was happening in front of his eyes, before carefully manoeuvring himself closer to Annie’s head.
‘Please,’ she whispered in his ear, ‘just go talk to her about this. You’re her father; don’t let this get out of control.’
As the doctor used the words ‘six centimetres dilated,’ she noticed Jeff struggle to control his gag reflex and extracted her hand from his.
‘I’m serious, go now and talk to her before this moves on any more. Please?’
Jeff looked unsure but after hearing another impassioned plea from Sophie someway along the hall for her daddy, he sighed and leaned over to kiss her forehead.
‘I won’t be long, and if I can’t calm her down maybe I can convince the doctors to give her something to knock her out.’
‘I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,’ mumbled Annie’s doctor from underneath her hospital robe and with a double take at the body with a hidden head and shoulders, Jeff exited the room.
As he turned the corner he could see one of the nurses trying and failing miserably to hold his daughter back from exiting the children’s room at the end of the hall. When she caught sight of him, Sophie broke free and catapulted herself down the corridor towards her father, wrapping herself around his long legs.
Bending down he pushed the mess of hair away from her bright red eyes.
‘Soph, I’m going to need you to stop wailing like a banshee anytime about now. You’re going to wake everyone up. It’s the middle of the night.’
The nurse who had been trying to look after his daughter gave him a thankful nod of appreciation before taking the opportunity to disappear into a nearby supply closet, no doubt seeking out some peace and quiet in the dark.
His little girl had dialled down her hysterical crying to something more like a sob but she was still hitching her breaths and wouldn’t let go of him.
‘There’s no need for all this, Annie’s going to be fine. The doctors are taking really good care of her.’
‘They didn’t take care of mommy though.’
Jeff sighed and tried hard to choose the right words, wishing he’d done the same in the past when Sophie had witnessed his angry breakdowns about what happened to Lauren.
‘Sophie, what happened to your mom was...’ drawing breath, he realized he was trying to convince himself too of what he was telling his daughter, ‘...well, the doctors did everything they could, but sometimes people just can’t be saved. It was nobody’s fault; you need to believe me on that.’
Sophie looked at him curiously, still unsure of what she was supposed to believe. Jeff wasn’t sure he was going to get any kind of response from her, so instead he decided to capitalize on having a less hysterical daughter to try and reason with.
‘You know, your brother or sister will be here pretty soon. That’s something to be excited about isn’t it?’
‘I don’t think I want one.’
‘I’m sorry, what?’
Sophie sighed dramatically and pulled away to look at her dad.
‘I said I don’t think I want a brother or a sister,’ as if it was the most glaringly obvious thing in the world.
Jeff started to panic, knowing this conversation was going to take longer than he probably had before Annie would be taken to the delivery suite.
‘Sophie this is kind of non-negotiable, it’s happening whether you like it or not. But I’m pretty sure when he or she arrives that you’ll love having a brother or sister. I wish I’d one to play with when I was your age.’
‘I don’t need a little brother or sister to play with, that’s what I have Uncle Abed and Uncle Troy for, duh.’
Jeff moved to sit in the nearby plastic seating in the waiting area and motioned for Sophie to join him. She didn’t move at first but the growl of ‘now’ from Jeff, quickly had her perching herself beside him.
‘Ok, first things first what have I told you about using ‘duh’ in a conversation.’
Sophie thought hard and dramatically tapped her fingers on her forehead in a way that Jeff was sure she was taunting him. Eventually she responded.
‘That it’s a lazy way to put my point across?’
‘Right, so we’ve established that you do actually listen to me when I tell you not to do something and that it won’t happen again?’
Sophie held his gaze, her little red nose crinkling at being told off but grudgingly conceding his point with a nod of her head.
‘Ok, good. And secondly I want to know why you’ve changed your tune all of a sudden. Two months ago you were really excited about the baby and I want to know what’s changed.’
Sophie kicked her shoes off the linoleum floor leaving scuff marks but stopped when Jeff pulled out his PG version of the Forest Whittaker eye.
‘Nothin’,’ Sophie mumbled, staring at the floor.
‘Sophie...’ he warned with a natural dad tone that he somehow had perfected after years of telling off Pierce.
‘It’s just...one day at school Sammy Harper said I was going to be a reject once the baby arrived. And I didn’t really know what that meant until I remembered that Annie’s not my real mom and I thought maybe she wouldn’t want me around once she has her own baby? I don’t want to be a reject daddy.’
Jeff felt physically sick at not knowing everything that had been troubling his daughter for the past few weeks and instantly pulled her onto his knee.
‘Well I wouldn’t believe everything Sammy Harper tells you - he was dropped on his head when he was two months old, and I should know, I was the one who did the dropping...’
Jeff recalled that incredibly awkward moment at Sammy’s baptism about two months before Lauren gave birth. He had been trying to figure out how to hold the baby when the damn kid reached out and punched Jeff square in the eye causing him to lose his grip. Not only did it result in Jeff and Lauren having to leave the reception early, but this had naturally set off Jeff’s ‘I’m going to be a terrible father’ hang ups for weeks afterwards. His wife of course managed to talk him around and he’s sure he remembers telling Lauren it was all her fault anyway for dragging him to the boring baptism of her colleague’s child. He’d never liked the Harper family and unlucky for Sophie she’d been saddled with having Sammy in her class at school since Kindergarten. Now he had even more reason to dislike the Harpers and their devil child.
‘..Sophie, you will never be a reject. If I can promise you just one thing it’d be that.’
His daughter didn’t look convinced in the slightest.
‘But, I’m not Annie’s am I?’
Once again Jeff pushed the hair out of Sophie’s face and looked her in the eye.
‘Well, it all depends on how you look at things. Nobody could ever replace your mom, I’ve told you that a million times, but Annie loves you just as much as me - do you think I’d ever push you aside?’
Sophie appeared to think for a few moments before shaking her head, adding in the rather embarrassed ‘no’ to accompany it.
‘Exactly, so if Annie loves you just as much as me she’s not going to push you aside either, ok?’
Sophie still looked unsure but threw her arms around Jeff and hugged him tight.
‘I’m going to take that as a yes.’
Just as Jeff heard a loud scream coming from down the corridor, this time from Annie in her private suite, he’d never been so relieved to see Troy and Abed bursting through the doors to the maternity unit. They came to a brief halt in front of him, scooped up Sophie (who had long forgotten her hysterics at the sight of her favourite uncles in their Inspector Spacetime outfits) and made their way toward the doors again.
‘We’ll take her back home and wait for you to call,’ Abed announced as he approached the exit
‘Yeah,’ agreed Troy, ‘I’ve seen the hospital scenes in Knocked Up one too many times. I do not need to see Annie like that.’
They both chimed ‘good luck’ as Sophie waved animatedly over Troy’s shoulder and yelled ‘bye daddy’ as they disappeared from sight behind the doors.
‘Mr Winger, we’re taking Annie into delivery,’ the doctor called from further down the hall as he heard the creak of the hospital gurney being wheeled out into the corridor.
Jeff sighed loudly, running his fingers through his hair. Now all he had to look forward to was Annie cursing him out for having the audacity to sleep with her. This was the part he’d been looking forward to the least, but after having just averted a crisis of epic proportions with his daughter he couldn’t wait to witness prim and proper Annie trying so hard not to swear at him like a trucker.
_____
Leo James Winger was born at 2.25pm on New Years Day with Annie turning the air blue in agony and Jeff considering how long would be an appropriate delay before excusing himself for an x-ray. He was positive his hand was at the very least fractured.
Although it was more traumatic that she had anticipated, the sight of Jeff cradling his son to his chest made everything worth the drama.
‘I know that women find men with children attractive but could you stop staring at me, it’s getting a bit creepy.’
Annie blushed and gently pulled herself up in her bed. She’d been asleep for nearly four hours yet Jeff still seemed to be in the same position as he’d been in when she’d drifted off from all the exhaustion of expelling a healthy seven pound baby from her uterus.
‘I was staring at my beautiful son thank you very much Mr Ego.’
Jeff smirked and moved to hand Leo back to her, helping her get into the most comfortable position.
‘Well I already produced one good lookin’ kid, was there any doubt this one would be different?’
He didn’t let her answer and instead gently climbed into the bed beside Annie, wrapping one arm around her shoulder, stretching his legs out over her blanket.
‘By the time you came back to me earlier I didn’t get to ask what happened with Sophie.’
‘I know, you were a bit too preoccupied yelling at high volume how sex was not gonna happen again anytime soon. That wasn’t embarrassing in front of the doctors, like, at all.’
‘Jeff,’ she warned but with a little less firmness in her voice than she would usually adopt whenever he was avoiding a topic of conversation - she was far too tired for that, and besides, when staring down at her beautiful son asleep in her arms she couldn’t be mad at Jeff even if she wanted to be, ‘will you just tell me what she said?’
‘Well, you were right, she was scared the doctors weren’t going to take care of you, but I uh...I think I finally faced up to my own issues over what happened to Lauren and did my best to reassure Sophie there was nothing to worry about, and you were going to be fine.’
Leo wriggled around trying his best to free his arms from the shawl he was wrapped in but Annie just smiled at his valiant efforts before pulling her son tighter into the knitted wool.
‘Was that all that was bothering her?’
‘Not really, she was worried about being rejected now the baby’s here...’
Annie gasped in upset that Sophie would think that either she or Jeff would put their son before Sophie’s welfare and happiness, but Jeff quickly urged her to not get upset.
‘...relax, she knows that’s not true. But if I ever see Sammy Harper again I’m going to have to try really hard to not deliberately drop him on his head again.’
Annie looked confused and thought about asking for an explanation, but in all honesty she wasn’t sure she wanted one considering how tired she still was.
‘He has your pointy nose,’ she paused and stared at the ceiling for a moment, ‘which thank you God for not giving him mine.’
‘I happen to like your nose,’ he offered, reaching over to leave a kiss on the top of it, ‘Let’s just hope he takes after you in the forehead department though. As handsome as I am I’m not quite sure I’d want my kid saddled with that particular facial feature.’
Annie laughed quietly to herself as Jeff fussed with the tiny crop of hairs on Leo’s forehead, trying to cover the baby’s forehead as much as he could.
‘Jeff, that’s our son you’re talking about. He’s beautiful regardless of who’s nose or forehead he inherits.’
She reached one arm gently up to bring him down for a kiss, holding Jeff close before letting him go with a flutter of her eyelashes. Jeff didn’t miss that and looked down suspiciously at the innocent looking woman in his arms.
‘Yeah...you can stop it now with the Disney eyes - it’s gonna take a lot more than that to get back in my good books after banning all future sexual relations. Just because you realize now what you’d be missing out on doesn’t divert from the fact that such a statement hurt my feelings.’
All Annie could do was roll her eyes and shake her head, ‘Jeff...shut up.’
_____
When Sophie was finally allowed to visit later that morning with Troy and Abed, they found Jeff, Annie and Leo in almost the exact same position, only this time Jeff was lying on the bed beside his girlfriend with his son nestled in his arms, legs crossed in front of him, looking extremely comfortable.
‘Oh let me see!’
Troy ran quietly over to the bed for a look at his surrogate nephew and met Annie’s eyes filled with tears of his own. Troy’s masculinity took a complete back seat as is barely hidden feminine side forced its way out with a rather emotional, ‘Oh, doesn’t he look just like his daddy?’
‘Yep, he’s beautiful alright.’
Annie gave Jeff a bemused look yet couldn’t help but laugh as he was in fact right, the little boy was a beautiful mix of his parents; from the barely there, mop of brown hair, to the brilliantly blue eyes with the longest little eyelashes - he was the perfect blend of Annie and Jeff.
‘I never understood why people always say that about babies, ‘oh he looks just like his mom’ or ‘oh he has his daddy’s eyes.’ Abed mused, ‘I think all babies look like Bruce Willis - bald and with lots of wrinkles.’
‘Hey watch it, that’s my son you’re talking about,’ Jeff warned.
Sophie took curious steps towards the hospital bed, but without wanting to commit too much interest in the baby at this stage without some more information.
‘So I have a little brother? Didn’t you want another girl like me?’
‘I’m just glad the baby is healthy, with ten fingers and ten toes,’ Jeff replied to his daughter, ‘Besides, having one daughter like you is quite enough without another to be worrying about.’
He motioned for Sophie to climb on the end of the bed to get a closer look at her brother, even though she looked unsure of whether she should show any further interest in the baby. In the end she crawled up and in between her dad and Annie, who squeezed her tight feeling more like a mother than ever before.
After some initial discussion between the adults about who would be the first to get to hold the baby, with Jeff fielding the accusations between Troy and Abed over who was in fact a dropper and should not be within five feet of a breakable object like a baby, Jeff turned to Sophie who was sitting quietly on the bed, mesmerized by the baby in her father’s arms.
‘What do you say Soph, do you want to hold your brother?’
‘Really? But what if I drop him?’
‘What do you think all those weeks of throwing that football about in the back yard has been all about? You passed the test a hundred times over, and I should add that if the thought didn’t freak me out so much I’d say you have a future career as a wide receiver.’
Sophie beamed openly as Jeff passed his son into her arms. He knew Sophie would look out for Leo like all older siblings should, and that despite her protestations otherwise, she would love being a big sister.
Author: x_avecia_x
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Think this one is fairly clean!
Word Count: 4,767
Disclaimer: I do not own Community - although I would totally marry Dan Harmon then claim half in our (inevitable) divorce settlement - that is unless he concedes to my end game Jeff/Annie demands. If you recognize any of it, it isn't mine.
Summary: Annie tries to find her place in the lives of Jeff and his daughter.
Author's Note: Next instalment! Sorry I've been MIA - work is kicking my ass and I'm trying to move house so I've not had much time to write. Hopefully that will change soon, so to tide you over I bring you this. A mix of a little angst with fluff in between. Hope you enjoy x
_____
She was twenty seven when she moved to San Diego.
Although she wanted a child of her own, when she began dating Jeff again, she had accepted that it might never happen for her. As much as she’d never had a problem with the fact he was twelve years older than her, when she realized this put him almost in his forties and already with a young child, she had contented herself with what she had.
And it had all been pretty damn good.
They’d moved in together, choosing instead to buy somewhere new instead of her moving into the home he had shared with his wife. Although Jeff had insisted that it wasn’t an issue for him or Sophie, Annie had wanted it to be a fresh start for the family.
Despite some initial reluctance, Sophie had adjusted pretty well to having Annie around. She got over the ‘lack of parental responsibilities’ issue and had accepted Annie into her life, even if she wouldn’t call her ‘mom’. Annie still fulfilled that role as much as she could; putting the little girl to bed at night, making sure Sophie always kissed the photograph of her mother on her nightstand before she went to sleep.
She was completely happy and satisfied with her life. She had everything she ever wanted - in Jeff she had a man who completely adored her and a little girl, who although not her own, she loved with every fibre of her being as if she were.
So when Annie discovered at the age of 28 that she was expecting a child of her own, she had completely freaked out.
She was terrified that the balance she’d managed to achieve in her life (and that of Jeff and his daughter) would be completely undone.
It took her three days to confess her news to Jeff, and even then it wasn’t her choice. She should have been more careful when absentmindedly telling Sophie that she could play Angry Birds on her cell phone which had been in her bag. Later, she would put her lapse in concentration down to raging hormones.
The loud declaration of ‘Annie, what’s this?’ as Sophie wandered into the den holding out the positive pregnancy test for her (and Jeff) to see clearly caused Annie to freeze in terror as she caught the look of shock on Jeff’s face.
If the ground could have opened up to swallow her there and then, she would probably have been ok with that, because the awkwardness of having to answer Sophie’s question as well as confessing to her other half that they were going to be having a baby of their own was probably the most awkward thing she’d experienced since giving Jeff that horrendous Christmas-serenade-come-lap-dance back in third year at Greendale.
In between the ‘What the fu...we’re having a baby?’ and ‘Annie, how do you make a baby?’ questions being fired at her, together with a full complement of slack jaws and inquisitive eyes, somehow she managed to compose herself enough to answer ‘yes, we’re having a baby,’ and ‘that’s a question you can ask your dad when you’re older.’
When the dust had settled and Jeff had given himself an extended pat on the back for having impressively agile sperm at the age of forty, he’d gathered Annie into his arms and told her she’d made him the happiest guy on earth before telling Sophie she was going to be a big sister.
Everything had gone by in such a blur since then.
It had been difficult trying to explain to Sophie exactly how she was going to be a big sister even though her real mom was no longer with her. But she’d accepted it and proudly declared to all of her friends at her sixth birthday party that the reason Annie was so fat was because she was having a baby and that baby was going to be her little brother or little sister.
Annie had wept for half an hour straight at being called fat (she was barely five months gone), and then another half an hour after that because Sophie had seemed so proud of the fact she was going to be a big sister. Jeff had eventually given up trying to make sense of her sniffled responses and handed her the biggest slice of Sophie’s birthday cake - the one he’d managed to wrestle away from that one kid who had been circling the refreshments table in their back yard like a shark for an entire hour before he’d even brought his daughter’s cake out.
It seemed to do the trick when Annie smiled and kissed him tenderly. She was so thankful that he was attuned to her hormonal breakdowns, the benefit of previous experience no doubt, but she wasn’t jealous. Just thankful.
Sophie had quickly developed a routine not long after her sixth birthday, where she would spend an hour at night lying with Annie on the couch, talking to her bump, sometimes reading out loud excerpts from her latest school reading book until she became tired, more often than not requiring Jeff to pull his sleeping daughter over his shoulder to put her to bed.
Annie loved this time with Sophie, and although she already knew Sophie had accepted her into her life, it made her heart flutter every time the little girl would cosy into her.
The closer Annie got to her due date though, the more subdued Sophie became. Annie was sure it was because there would be a new baby in the household. She’d talked to Jeff about it when one night he’d come home late from work to find Annie crying on the couch in the den.
‘I think she’s worried about being pushed aside Jeff - we’ve been so pre-occupied getting ready for the baby that she’s feeling left out.’
‘Annie, she’ll be fine. We’ve involved her in everything from decorating the nursery to picking out names.’
She didn’t respond and continued to weep as he sat down beside her.
‘Hey, come on. Your hormones are just getting the better of you. If it makes you feel better I’ll talk to her. And if that doesn’t work we’ll just bribe her to put a smile on her face - Christmas is a week away, I’m pretty sure if we’re extra generous she’ll come around.’
Annie gave him a pointed look but her anxiety quickly waned as soon as Jeff pulled her feet into his lap and started his ministrations to ease out the tension from toes to heel. The rather audible groan of pleasure at feeling him work her skin was enough to draw a smirk from Jeff, delighted no doubt at having diffused a potentially explosive situation, especially with the range of emotions she had been drawing on lately. With four weeks left until baby Winger made his or her appearance she was desperately trying not to let her anxiety transfer onto him.
‘We spoil her enough as it is Jeff without having to resort to manipulation by bribery. What kind of examples are we going to set by doing that?’
‘She’s six, I hardly think we’re going to do lasting damage.’
‘Oh really, and just how old were you when you realized your natural gift for manipulation if you simply talked long enough?’
He stopped massaging Annie’s feet, raising his head to look at her before narrowing his eyes.
‘Did you just try to lawyer me?’
‘Maybe. And I’m pretty sure it actually worked.’
Annie pulled her legs back and crawled across the couch, firmly implanting herself under his arm, earning a long drawn out sigh from Jeff, ‘dammit.’
_____
When Annie’s waters broke literally on the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve all hell broke loose.
With most of their friends out at New Years parties and the neighbours away for the holidays Jeff had no option but to wake Sophie from her bed to take her to the hospital with them both. Annie had to watch helplessly from the front seat as Sophie cried hysterically the entire way, trying simultaneously to placate Jeff’s daughter and time her contractions.
Jeff mumbling from the driver’s seat about Annie being typically early for everything didn’t help the situation.
‘This wasn’t supposed to happen for another two weeks.’
‘Jeff, it’s not like I did it on purpose, I can’t help it if nature wanted things to happen quicker than we expected. At least I’m not going to give birth in a Greendale classroom like Shirley did,’ at this point Sophie tried to climb out from her seat and wrap her arms around the head-rest to hug Annie as if her life depended on it, ‘Oh Sophie, please! Come on, everything is going to be fine. Now sit back down and put your seat belt back on.’
Annie caught Jeff’s quick glance in the rear-view mirror at his daughter, not missing the tension in his jaw as he fixated on Sophie weeping in the back of the car.
‘She shouldn’t be here. She hates hospitals.’
His clipped tone was unusual for him to the point of being emotionless and Annie couldn’t help but feel like this was not how things were supposed to be - there was no happy elation at her labor finally starting, no quick kiss before setting off on their journey to the hospital. Nothing.
‘I know,’ she whispered, feeling deflated, ‘but Troy and Abed are on their way to pick her up, they’ll be here in an hour or so. I’m sure we have time before things progress any further.’
But just as she was lamenting inwardly about a horrendously painful, drawn out labor another contraction gripped her and she reached out to grip the dashboard.
‘You were saying?’ he replied, pushing that little bit herder on the gas pedal.
They reached the hospital and Annie was quickly situated in her private room to await the gynaecologist’s exam. A tear ran down her cheek as she heard Sophie scream from down the hall for her daddy, the night nursing staff having the unfortunate job of trying to stop the fit of hysterics.
Annie sighed and reached for Jeff’s hand as he winced hearing Sophie’s wail of ‘daddy!’ ring out loud down the maternity unit corridor.
‘Go to her, I’ll be fine.’
‘I’m not leaving you.’
Though there was conviction in his voice, Annie knew that there was part of him that wanted to just run to his little girl and hold her until she stopped crying. She knew it because she wanted nothing more than to do the exact same thing.
Annie breathed through yet another contraction, noting this time there was barely three minutes between them now. Though she knew her baby was coming, and quickly at that, she want to know Jeff’s head was in the game.
‘She needs you, I think you’ve got a bit of time before...’
‘Annie I’m not leaving you. What if something happens, I...I can’t leave.’
And like the most terrible contraction, the pain of realizing that he (and most likely Sophie) were terrified of losing her like they had Lauren hit her hard in the chest. Sophie’s odd behaviour in recent weeks seemed to fit into her realization and she was so upset with herself for not figuring it out before.
‘This isn’t like what happened before, I mean, it was...an aneurysm, I don’t...’
‘It still happened.’
Annie tried to find a response but they all faded in the back of her throat as Jeff’s grip on her hand tightened, his other hand trailing over her stomach. They were interrupted by Annie’s doctor cheerfully making his entrance before asking her permission to begin his examination.
Jeff grimaced slightly, brought back into the reality of what was happening in front of his eyes, before carefully manoeuvring himself closer to Annie’s head.
‘Please,’ she whispered in his ear, ‘just go talk to her about this. You’re her father; don’t let this get out of control.’
As the doctor used the words ‘six centimetres dilated,’ she noticed Jeff struggle to control his gag reflex and extracted her hand from his.
‘I’m serious, go now and talk to her before this moves on any more. Please?’
Jeff looked unsure but after hearing another impassioned plea from Sophie someway along the hall for her daddy, he sighed and leaned over to kiss her forehead.
‘I won’t be long, and if I can’t calm her down maybe I can convince the doctors to give her something to knock her out.’
‘I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,’ mumbled Annie’s doctor from underneath her hospital robe and with a double take at the body with a hidden head and shoulders, Jeff exited the room.
As he turned the corner he could see one of the nurses trying and failing miserably to hold his daughter back from exiting the children’s room at the end of the hall. When she caught sight of him, Sophie broke free and catapulted herself down the corridor towards her father, wrapping herself around his long legs.
Bending down he pushed the mess of hair away from her bright red eyes.
‘Soph, I’m going to need you to stop wailing like a banshee anytime about now. You’re going to wake everyone up. It’s the middle of the night.’
The nurse who had been trying to look after his daughter gave him a thankful nod of appreciation before taking the opportunity to disappear into a nearby supply closet, no doubt seeking out some peace and quiet in the dark.
His little girl had dialled down her hysterical crying to something more like a sob but she was still hitching her breaths and wouldn’t let go of him.
‘There’s no need for all this, Annie’s going to be fine. The doctors are taking really good care of her.’
‘They didn’t take care of mommy though.’
Jeff sighed and tried hard to choose the right words, wishing he’d done the same in the past when Sophie had witnessed his angry breakdowns about what happened to Lauren.
‘Sophie, what happened to your mom was...’ drawing breath, he realized he was trying to convince himself too of what he was telling his daughter, ‘...well, the doctors did everything they could, but sometimes people just can’t be saved. It was nobody’s fault; you need to believe me on that.’
Sophie looked at him curiously, still unsure of what she was supposed to believe. Jeff wasn’t sure he was going to get any kind of response from her, so instead he decided to capitalize on having a less hysterical daughter to try and reason with.
‘You know, your brother or sister will be here pretty soon. That’s something to be excited about isn’t it?’
‘I don’t think I want one.’
‘I’m sorry, what?’
Sophie sighed dramatically and pulled away to look at her dad.
‘I said I don’t think I want a brother or a sister,’ as if it was the most glaringly obvious thing in the world.
Jeff started to panic, knowing this conversation was going to take longer than he probably had before Annie would be taken to the delivery suite.
‘Sophie this is kind of non-negotiable, it’s happening whether you like it or not. But I’m pretty sure when he or she arrives that you’ll love having a brother or sister. I wish I’d one to play with when I was your age.’
‘I don’t need a little brother or sister to play with, that’s what I have Uncle Abed and Uncle Troy for, duh.’
Jeff moved to sit in the nearby plastic seating in the waiting area and motioned for Sophie to join him. She didn’t move at first but the growl of ‘now’ from Jeff, quickly had her perching herself beside him.
‘Ok, first things first what have I told you about using ‘duh’ in a conversation.’
Sophie thought hard and dramatically tapped her fingers on her forehead in a way that Jeff was sure she was taunting him. Eventually she responded.
‘That it’s a lazy way to put my point across?’
‘Right, so we’ve established that you do actually listen to me when I tell you not to do something and that it won’t happen again?’
Sophie held his gaze, her little red nose crinkling at being told off but grudgingly conceding his point with a nod of her head.
‘Ok, good. And secondly I want to know why you’ve changed your tune all of a sudden. Two months ago you were really excited about the baby and I want to know what’s changed.’
Sophie kicked her shoes off the linoleum floor leaving scuff marks but stopped when Jeff pulled out his PG version of the Forest Whittaker eye.
‘Nothin’,’ Sophie mumbled, staring at the floor.
‘Sophie...’ he warned with a natural dad tone that he somehow had perfected after years of telling off Pierce.
‘It’s just...one day at school Sammy Harper said I was going to be a reject once the baby arrived. And I didn’t really know what that meant until I remembered that Annie’s not my real mom and I thought maybe she wouldn’t want me around once she has her own baby? I don’t want to be a reject daddy.’
Jeff felt physically sick at not knowing everything that had been troubling his daughter for the past few weeks and instantly pulled her onto his knee.
‘Well I wouldn’t believe everything Sammy Harper tells you - he was dropped on his head when he was two months old, and I should know, I was the one who did the dropping...’
Jeff recalled that incredibly awkward moment at Sammy’s baptism about two months before Lauren gave birth. He had been trying to figure out how to hold the baby when the damn kid reached out and punched Jeff square in the eye causing him to lose his grip. Not only did it result in Jeff and Lauren having to leave the reception early, but this had naturally set off Jeff’s ‘I’m going to be a terrible father’ hang ups for weeks afterwards. His wife of course managed to talk him around and he’s sure he remembers telling Lauren it was all her fault anyway for dragging him to the boring baptism of her colleague’s child. He’d never liked the Harper family and unlucky for Sophie she’d been saddled with having Sammy in her class at school since Kindergarten. Now he had even more reason to dislike the Harpers and their devil child.
‘..Sophie, you will never be a reject. If I can promise you just one thing it’d be that.’
His daughter didn’t look convinced in the slightest.
‘But, I’m not Annie’s am I?’
Once again Jeff pushed the hair out of Sophie’s face and looked her in the eye.
‘Well, it all depends on how you look at things. Nobody could ever replace your mom, I’ve told you that a million times, but Annie loves you just as much as me - do you think I’d ever push you aside?’
Sophie appeared to think for a few moments before shaking her head, adding in the rather embarrassed ‘no’ to accompany it.
‘Exactly, so if Annie loves you just as much as me she’s not going to push you aside either, ok?’
Sophie still looked unsure but threw her arms around Jeff and hugged him tight.
‘I’m going to take that as a yes.’
Just as Jeff heard a loud scream coming from down the corridor, this time from Annie in her private suite, he’d never been so relieved to see Troy and Abed bursting through the doors to the maternity unit. They came to a brief halt in front of him, scooped up Sophie (who had long forgotten her hysterics at the sight of her favourite uncles in their Inspector Spacetime outfits) and made their way toward the doors again.
‘We’ll take her back home and wait for you to call,’ Abed announced as he approached the exit
‘Yeah,’ agreed Troy, ‘I’ve seen the hospital scenes in Knocked Up one too many times. I do not need to see Annie like that.’
They both chimed ‘good luck’ as Sophie waved animatedly over Troy’s shoulder and yelled ‘bye daddy’ as they disappeared from sight behind the doors.
‘Mr Winger, we’re taking Annie into delivery,’ the doctor called from further down the hall as he heard the creak of the hospital gurney being wheeled out into the corridor.
Jeff sighed loudly, running his fingers through his hair. Now all he had to look forward to was Annie cursing him out for having the audacity to sleep with her. This was the part he’d been looking forward to the least, but after having just averted a crisis of epic proportions with his daughter he couldn’t wait to witness prim and proper Annie trying so hard not to swear at him like a trucker.
_____
Leo James Winger was born at 2.25pm on New Years Day with Annie turning the air blue in agony and Jeff considering how long would be an appropriate delay before excusing himself for an x-ray. He was positive his hand was at the very least fractured.
Although it was more traumatic that she had anticipated, the sight of Jeff cradling his son to his chest made everything worth the drama.
‘I know that women find men with children attractive but could you stop staring at me, it’s getting a bit creepy.’
Annie blushed and gently pulled herself up in her bed. She’d been asleep for nearly four hours yet Jeff still seemed to be in the same position as he’d been in when she’d drifted off from all the exhaustion of expelling a healthy seven pound baby from her uterus.
‘I was staring at my beautiful son thank you very much Mr Ego.’
Jeff smirked and moved to hand Leo back to her, helping her get into the most comfortable position.
‘Well I already produced one good lookin’ kid, was there any doubt this one would be different?’
He didn’t let her answer and instead gently climbed into the bed beside Annie, wrapping one arm around her shoulder, stretching his legs out over her blanket.
‘By the time you came back to me earlier I didn’t get to ask what happened with Sophie.’
‘I know, you were a bit too preoccupied yelling at high volume how sex was not gonna happen again anytime soon. That wasn’t embarrassing in front of the doctors, like, at all.’
‘Jeff,’ she warned but with a little less firmness in her voice than she would usually adopt whenever he was avoiding a topic of conversation - she was far too tired for that, and besides, when staring down at her beautiful son asleep in her arms she couldn’t be mad at Jeff even if she wanted to be, ‘will you just tell me what she said?’
‘Well, you were right, she was scared the doctors weren’t going to take care of you, but I uh...I think I finally faced up to my own issues over what happened to Lauren and did my best to reassure Sophie there was nothing to worry about, and you were going to be fine.’
Leo wriggled around trying his best to free his arms from the shawl he was wrapped in but Annie just smiled at his valiant efforts before pulling her son tighter into the knitted wool.
‘Was that all that was bothering her?’
‘Not really, she was worried about being rejected now the baby’s here...’
Annie gasped in upset that Sophie would think that either she or Jeff would put their son before Sophie’s welfare and happiness, but Jeff quickly urged her to not get upset.
‘...relax, she knows that’s not true. But if I ever see Sammy Harper again I’m going to have to try really hard to not deliberately drop him on his head again.’
Annie looked confused and thought about asking for an explanation, but in all honesty she wasn’t sure she wanted one considering how tired she still was.
‘He has your pointy nose,’ she paused and stared at the ceiling for a moment, ‘which thank you God for not giving him mine.’
‘I happen to like your nose,’ he offered, reaching over to leave a kiss on the top of it, ‘Let’s just hope he takes after you in the forehead department though. As handsome as I am I’m not quite sure I’d want my kid saddled with that particular facial feature.’
Annie laughed quietly to herself as Jeff fussed with the tiny crop of hairs on Leo’s forehead, trying to cover the baby’s forehead as much as he could.
‘Jeff, that’s our son you’re talking about. He’s beautiful regardless of who’s nose or forehead he inherits.’
She reached one arm gently up to bring him down for a kiss, holding Jeff close before letting him go with a flutter of her eyelashes. Jeff didn’t miss that and looked down suspiciously at the innocent looking woman in his arms.
‘Yeah...you can stop it now with the Disney eyes - it’s gonna take a lot more than that to get back in my good books after banning all future sexual relations. Just because you realize now what you’d be missing out on doesn’t divert from the fact that such a statement hurt my feelings.’
All Annie could do was roll her eyes and shake her head, ‘Jeff...shut up.’
_____
When Sophie was finally allowed to visit later that morning with Troy and Abed, they found Jeff, Annie and Leo in almost the exact same position, only this time Jeff was lying on the bed beside his girlfriend with his son nestled in his arms, legs crossed in front of him, looking extremely comfortable.
‘Oh let me see!’
Troy ran quietly over to the bed for a look at his surrogate nephew and met Annie’s eyes filled with tears of his own. Troy’s masculinity took a complete back seat as is barely hidden feminine side forced its way out with a rather emotional, ‘Oh, doesn’t he look just like his daddy?’
‘Yep, he’s beautiful alright.’
Annie gave Jeff a bemused look yet couldn’t help but laugh as he was in fact right, the little boy was a beautiful mix of his parents; from the barely there, mop of brown hair, to the brilliantly blue eyes with the longest little eyelashes - he was the perfect blend of Annie and Jeff.
‘I never understood why people always say that about babies, ‘oh he looks just like his mom’ or ‘oh he has his daddy’s eyes.’ Abed mused, ‘I think all babies look like Bruce Willis - bald and with lots of wrinkles.’
‘Hey watch it, that’s my son you’re talking about,’ Jeff warned.
Sophie took curious steps towards the hospital bed, but without wanting to commit too much interest in the baby at this stage without some more information.
‘So I have a little brother? Didn’t you want another girl like me?’
‘I’m just glad the baby is healthy, with ten fingers and ten toes,’ Jeff replied to his daughter, ‘Besides, having one daughter like you is quite enough without another to be worrying about.’
He motioned for Sophie to climb on the end of the bed to get a closer look at her brother, even though she looked unsure of whether she should show any further interest in the baby. In the end she crawled up and in between her dad and Annie, who squeezed her tight feeling more like a mother than ever before.
After some initial discussion between the adults about who would be the first to get to hold the baby, with Jeff fielding the accusations between Troy and Abed over who was in fact a dropper and should not be within five feet of a breakable object like a baby, Jeff turned to Sophie who was sitting quietly on the bed, mesmerized by the baby in her father’s arms.
‘What do you say Soph, do you want to hold your brother?’
‘Really? But what if I drop him?’
‘What do you think all those weeks of throwing that football about in the back yard has been all about? You passed the test a hundred times over, and I should add that if the thought didn’t freak me out so much I’d say you have a future career as a wide receiver.’
Sophie beamed openly as Jeff passed his son into her arms. He knew Sophie would look out for Leo like all older siblings should, and that despite her protestations otherwise, she would love being a big sister.