"Stop it!" Brad Bronson barked.

Nineteen year old Dylan Mitchell instantly complied, slamming the ball of his foot back down onto the floorboard instead of bouncing his leg like he had been doing. Apparently it had annoyed his partner for some reason. Although, there were days when Dylan was certain that his very presence now annoyed the man, since he had been assigned to work with Brad during his rookie year at the department. Even though the older man had become much more tolerant since his salvation in the month before Dylan became a deputy, there were still days that they got on one another's nerves. Dylan knew full well that today was one of those days.

He didn't really blame Brad for being aggravated with him either; he was pretty sure that he would be aggravated with him too, if the circumstances had been reversed. Jade's due date had been the day before, but nothing had happened, so he was now officially on edge – he kept checking his cellphone for calls from his wife, and he knew that his nerves had long ago given way to just plain jitteriness.

Dylan took a deep breath, admonishing himself, "You're really over-thinking this, man."

The shrill ring of his cellphone cut through whatever else he might have said to himself. He checked the caller ID. Kayla Hayes. His eyebrows drew together; his mother-in-law never called him when he was at work… unless… His imagination ran into overdrive as he answered his phone.

"Hi, Kayla."

"Dylan, you'd better get over to Phoebe Putney here pretty quick. Jade is officially in labor."

The already rising amount of adrenaline in the young father's body skyrocketed as he asked, "You're sure?'

"Absolutely positive. She didn't want me to call until her water broke, and I'm calling now, aren't I?"

Note to self: Kayla was stressed out as well right now.

"Alright, we're only about ten minutes away right now going the speed limit, so we'll be there in under seven."

"Fine," Kayla agreed, and then she paused. "But let Brad drive, not you, and tell him to go carefully; we need you in here for Jade, not a broken neck."

"I know; we'll be careful. Talk to you soon." He ended the call and turned to Brad, his tone more fierce than the other man's had been only a minute ago as he ordered, "Brad, we're going to Phoebe Putney. Now."

Startled by his tone, Brad made the necessary U-turn and obeyed. He glanced at Dylan, asking, "She having the baby?"

"Yep."

Dylan tensely stared straight ahead until Brad flipped on the lights and sped up, ordering, "Contact the sheriff, tell him we're taking the day off, then you'd better call Hayes and Mitchell; they'll wanna be there too."

Dylan turned slowly to look at the man at the wheel. This was not normal behavior for him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Brad noticed Dylan staring and asked, "What?"

"Nothing," Dylan said, shaking his head and dialing his dad's number. "Just… thanks."

"I've got three kids; I get it. Now call."

Dylan felt something akin to genuine friendship for this man start swelling as he put the phone up to his ear.

Dylan literally ran into the hospital. Nathan and David were a step behind him, his father was behind them, and Bobby Shaw and Brad were in the back of the pack. A nurse, whose nametag read "Robyn," saw them and a smile tilted the corners of her lips upward.

"Are you looking for the delivery room by any chance?" she asked.

Dylan nodded quickly. "Yes, ma'am."

"Alright, well, Dad will go that way and all your friends will go to the waiting room down this next hall."

Dylan shot off in the direction that Robyn had indicated, one word that she had said sticking in his mind. Dad. This was it; within the day his daughter was going to be in his arms.

"Look who's here…" a white-haired nurse that they had all seen before, Anna, came into the hospital room pushing a clear, plastic, hospital cradle in front of her.

All of the people who were standing between the doorway and the hospital bed where Dylan and Jade sat slowly shuffled aside so that Anna could make her way to the new parents with their tiny daughter. Cries of "awe; she's so cute!" (from Isabel) and "poor girl got her dad's nose" (from Bobby) followed her as her crib was stopped in front of Dylan and Jade.

When Dylan caught sight of her, she stole his breath away. Sure, he had gotten a quick glimpse before the nurses had whisked her away to clean her up, but now that she was clean, she looked like the sort of baby that people always wanted to take a million pictures of. Or at least grandmas did. And parents; definitely parents.

"So, who gets to hold her first?" Anna asked, looking between him and Jade.

Jade nodded in his direction. "He can."

"Well, alright then." Anna took a step back from the cradle, saying, "I've heard that you two know what you're doing, so I'll leave you to it for a little while, then come back later to talk to you. Okay?"

Jade nodded and the nurse stepped back out. Terror froze Dylan's ability to move.

"Go ahead," Jade prompted him again, nodding towards the plastic cradle with a tired smile.

Dylan swallowed the lump of fear in his throat as he looked at the infant girl lying in front of him. She opened her mouth, plump lips forming a silent "O." So tiny. So pretty. So perfect. So much a part of him. So terrifying. So very, very loved by him.

He scooped her up carefully, astounded by how well she fit into nothing more than his hands, she was that small. He felt himself smile at his daughter. His daughter.

"Geez, Dylan," he muttered to himself under his breath. "You're a dad now. You have a daughter. Wow…" It hit him anew as he looked at her. He was a dad. "Yeah," he started talking – quiet and cheerful – to the angel in his arms, forgetting the others crowding the room. "And you know what? That's all your fault, Miss Emma."

Victoria, who was standing next to him and looking over his shoulder, asked, "What did you call her?"

"Emma." Dylan answered, turning to his mom. "Emma Joy Mitchell."

Neither one missed the tears in the eyes of the other, but both of them smiled.

Victoria winked at him, showing him that his and Jade's choice of a name really was okay with her as she said, "Good pick, Daddy."

Dylan sank slowly onto the edge of the hospital bed beside Jade.

"Are you okay over there?" Amanda spoke up from across the room.

He nodded, positioning himself so that Jade could see Emma too. "Sure am."

Amanda smiled and cocked her head to the side, looking at the trio that they made. Seeing her melancholy expression, Dylan would've bet a week's worth of pay on the fact that she was thinking of her own, much more unhappy, experiences as a teenage parent. With that thought in mind, he didn't know if he should do it or not, but he did it anyway.

He leaned towards his wife and kissed her, declaring, "I love you, Mrs. Mitchell; you know it?"

"I do know it," she answered with a loving smile.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed, loving his girl – girls now – and how right it felt to hold them both.

"And I love you too, Emma," he told his new little princess with a smile.

Princess Emma smiled back at him as his heart swelled with the unexplainable love that only a father could understand. Yes, the idea of raising a baby of his own scared him, but he loved her too much to care.

This is the last of the "Through the Flames" series - I'm afraid that I decided not to add any more to the series lest it detract from the main storyline. I hope you guys all enjoyed this one-shot and the rest of the series! Reviews make my day, as always; thanks!:)