Fortunately, Ross already knew where the shower was.
And he already knew how to drive her crazy.
In bed. And out.
She could definitely live with both.
The only thing she couldn’t live without, was him.
EPILOGUE
Ross
He’d done a lot of amazing things in his life, but nothing compared to the minute he was finally able to hold his brand-new daughter.
She was pink and wrinkly, tiny and scrunchy, her skin a little bit dry because she was eight days overdue. She was struggling to open her eyes, eyes that were fringed with the sweetest little lashes. He could already tell they were going to be blue, those gorgeous eyes. She had a sweet little nose, perfect lips, ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes.
She was absolutely gorgeous. Utter perfection. Everything everyone always said about their children and a million times more.
“Welcome to the world, Amberina Jade Day,” Ross said softly. “You have four excited grandparents out there about to bust down this door to see you.”
Amberina didn’t make a sound. She shut her eyes and nestled into the warmth of his chest. She had one of those tiny pink hats and the nurse had done an expert job swaddling her. Now that the hard work of being born was done, she was content to drift back off, cocooned and warm and safe.
“They’ll be allowed in soon enough,” Teela said softly. “Let’s just enjoy this moment for a little while longer.”
It was funny that she said that, completely focused on her brand-new daughter, while the doctor was still working on stitching her up. It hadn’t been a long birth, but it was a hard one. Nine hours of labor followed by an hour of pushing. Amberina was a larger baby, eight and a half pounds, and Teela was pretty tiny herself.
Ross got the memo that birth hurt. It hurt real bad. Listening to Teela screaming and being able to do absolutely nothing about it, was one of the worst things he’d ever had to witness. Seeing someone you love in pain is never easy, but as soon as Amberina popped out, the contractions tapered off and everything just stopped, and all that pain was worth it because they were parents.
Teela gave a soft smile and Ross could see how exhausted she was. Her hair was tangled, her hospital gown was soaked in sweat. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were swollen from all those tears that leaked out during the past half a day, but god, she was beautiful. She’d done something he could never do. He had to admit that he was damn thankful he was a guy, though being on the other end of it probably wasn’t any better.
“I’m glad they’re here though,” Teela whispered as the doctor finished up. Nurses buzzed around the room, cleaning up mysterious bags and other things that Ross rather wouldn’t look at. He was pretty rapt just staring down at his daughter, then back at Teela. Back at his daughter. Back at Teela. “Everyone.”
“Your parents have been as excited as mine were these past months.”
“Only because we got our sh- er- crap together and finally moved into one place. Now that we’re settled and not living in sin, well, kind of, my parents can just breathe a sigh of relief. When we said we were building a new house, I think they kind of figured that we were going to be together for the long haul. Maybe it wasn’t the unmarried thing they were worried about. They were just being normal parents, freaked out about their daughter having a baby with a complete stranger.”
The whole lab thing and what Amy did, they’d decided to keep that amongst the three of them. It didn’t matter how Amberina was conceived, it just mattered that she was here.
Ross already loved her madly. He’d loved her from the second he found out about her, if he was honest, but that love had steadily grown over the months and the second he set eyes on her, it was like his heart had burst wide open and even more love flowed back in.
“The best stranger,” Ross deadpanned. “They can let out as many sighs of relief as they want.” He sent Teela one of those pointed, I’m never letting you go, I promised to drive you crazy until we’re old and wrinkly looks.
“She’s worth sighing over,” Teela agreed, starry eyed, at her their daughter.
Their daughter. It was so crazy to even say that. He’d said it before, since the ultrasound revealed they were having a girl, but this- now that she was here, it was just so surreal. “She’s amazing.”
“Incredible.”
“You did a good job.”
“We did a good job.”
“Amy did a good job.”
Ross held Amberina a little tighter. It was crazy to think that neither of them chose this. Each other. It happened all because of Amy. Her choices. She brought them together.