Hi all! This is my first Soul Eater fic, and let me just say I was beyond psyched to find out my OTP of SteinxMarie is cannon! There's nothing like a baby on the way to ensure your pairing is as good as gold in the eyes of the manga's creator!

Disclaimer: Soul Eater does not belong to me.

He was well accustomed to pain.

Throughout his life, he'd wound on the wrong end of something sharp on far too many occasions, both accidentally and on purpose-both his and his opponent's doing.

But this, oh but this...was the worst pain he'd had to deal with since...well since ever.

Stein sucked in a short breath through his teeth as Marie squeezed his hand so hard he felt the knuckles in his fingers shifting and popping. He made a mental note to check the state of his hand when this was over. Sometimes Marie had no concept of her own strength, and now was one of those times. Speaking of Marie, his gaze left his hurting hand down to the sweat-stained, tired, face of his wife. She clenched her teeth in an effort to stifle a shriek as yet another powerful contraction shot needles of pain all throughout her body. With his free hand, he reached over and stroked her hair. One tired, pain-glazed eye glanced over at him. Stein smiled.

"You're doing well, Marie. Just breathe."

Did those words reassure her? They didn't do the trick for him. As someone who was well acquainted with the science of the human body, Stein knew just how much stress a woman's body went though giving birth. While it was becoming less and less common these days, there were still women out there who died in childbirth. Stein knew the extent of Marie's strength, knew it quite well given the state of his poor hand, but even she had her limits. Could this be beyond that? He hoped not.

Marie didn't share in his trepidations however, and smiled back at him.

"I love you." she panted.

"I love you too." Please get through this unscathed. Stein could feel her soul energies fluctuating, trying to cope with the stress, pain, and encroaching exhaustion all at once. He held onto the feeling of those wildly jumping energies-proof that she still lived and fought to help usher the little soul inside of her out into the world, which while not as active as its' mother's, flickered for just the briefest of moments, causing Stein's heart to seize in his chest.

After all, it wasn't just women who sometimes died in childbirth.

Marie screamed. The doctor present glanced down between her open legs.

"The baby's crowning, just one more push should do it. One big push."

Marie's chest heaved as large drops of sweat rolled off her brow. Ignoring the tendrils of pain that crept through his hand, Stein gave her hand a confident squeeze, stroking the back with his thumb.

"You can do this Marie. You're almost there." he told her, squeezing again for good measure.

She looked over at him, "Franken..."

"Push Marie, just one more. You can do it. I know you can."

Strength renewed by his words, Marie closed her eyes, sucked in a breath and pushed. The moan of pain soon broke through her ground teeth, turning into a scream of agony that rivaled the best battle cry both in volume and intensity. Stein both felt and heard a crack as a couple of his fingers broke. Yeah, Stein thought, I'm going to need some ice for my hand once everything's said and done. The final scream that Marie had let out came to an end, and she flopped back on the bed, exhausted. Sounds of all kinds filled Stein's ears. His wife's labored breathing, his heart thundering away inside his chest, the rush of the assembled medical team moving around, the occasional beep of the medical equipment, but there was one sound that was not present. Stein swallowed, icy dread creeping down his spine.

Then, all of the sudden, he heard it. Loud enough to make him jump, a sound that some others may have found annoying, but to him it was like a chorus of angels at that moment. It was the baby, his and Marie's baby-and it was crying.

Upon hearing the sound, both Marie and Stein looked up to find the doctor standing by the right side of the bed, holding a squirming pink bundle in his arms. His eyes glowed as he looked down at the new parents.

"Congratulations, she's a healthy little girl." He said, handing the newborn to an excited Marie.

Marie took the baby (letting go of her husband's aching hand for which he was quite grateful) and cradled the little one close to her chest. The infant girl had fallen silent and now dozed in her mother's arms. Smiling, Stein watched his wife stroke their daughter's chubby cheek.

"Isn't she adorable?" Marie whispered, voice choked with emotion.

Stein smiled and leaned over so he could get a better look at the tiny creature who shared his blood, "I think beautiful is a more fitting term."

Marie chuckled. The two continued to watch the sleeping infant for a little while until Marie went to hand the baby towards Stein.

"Here." she said.

Stein blinked. "What?"

"Here." Marie repeated, gesturing as best she could towards the baby.

A quick bolt of fear, not unlike the creeping dread he'd felt earlier, coursed through his body. Marie wanted Stein to hold their daughter, this new life that they'd brought forth into the world. This wasn't some doll, this was their child. What if he dropped her? She was so tiny and fragile, brought into the world not even one whole hour ago. If he dropper her...

Sensing his discomfort Marie giggled, "Silly, she's not made of glass. She your daughter. If anything, she's made of steel."

Stein couldn't help but smile at that. Conceding, he took the baby from Marie, being very cautious in his movements as he did so. When he became certain he would not drop her, he situated the baby in his arms and got his first good look at his daughter. A round, rosy-cheeked face complete with pink lips and a button nose-definitely a cute baby. As Stein watched, the baby squirmed a little and opened her eyes. Pride made the scientist's heart swell when he saw his daughter's eyes were the same color as his. Would she share his hair color too? Only time could tell. The newborn girl looked her father right in the eye, cooing and gurgling. She stretched up a tiny hand towards her father, pudgy fingers grasping at air. A warm feeling spread through him and as best he could, Stein reached a hand around and allowed that tiny hand to grasp his finger-one that wasn't broken.

The baby gave a giggle and pulled Stein's finger closer to her.

"Hey there little one," Stein murmured, "welcome to the world."

Another giggle that this time turned into a squeal of laugher when the newborn noticed how much the man holding her was smiling.

As his daughter contented herself with trying to nibble on her father's finger, Stein observed her soul. At times like this, when he felt content with the world, what Medusa had said during the Kishin's revival would come back to him. The witch had talked of putting evolution back into motion, getting out and involved in the progress of the world and allowing Stein to experiment to his heart's content. Times like that made him see how wrong Medusa had been when she'd made the assumption that science was all about doing, all about experimenting and changing. That wasn't true. Sometimes, his most favorite part of the field (the most crucial part of the field in general) was just to sit back and observe; to note how organisms interacted with their environment, to note how changes in their environment made both them and their soul wavelengths respond, or just to observe the souls around him in general.

Tiny and vulnerable, the soul he held in his arms glowed with such intensity that it nearly pained him to look at it. Stein could feel the wavelength coursing through the baby's body. It thrummed; steady, constant, and strong. Marie was right, if anything, this child was made of steel. Not that he'd needed any reassuring on that end. Over the past few months, he'd watched over the soul developing inside Marie's womb, watched it flicker and pulse-proof of the union between he and Marie, proof to Stein that he was indeed capable of feeling love.

Marie's lips curled upward in a tender smile as she watched her husband bond with their daughter. This was the Franken Stein that only she and very few others knew, and she was glad that another person was becoming a part of the exclusive group.

"So," she began, interrupting Stein's train of thought, "what do you think we should name her?"

Stein looked up at his wife, then back down to the still gurgling baby in his arms.

"Hm, I'm not sure," he said, handing the baby back to Marie. Stein reached up and twisted the screw in his head, "for now I'm fine with just watching her. We've got time to think of names."

"Yeah, but the doctors are going to want a name for their files." Marie stated.

She had a point. Giving the screw a few more twists, Stein wracked his brain. What would be a good name? It had to be something fitting, something unique. What had Spirit suggested? Emily? No, for some reason that would never work. And while he didn't want to offend Lord Death, Persephone had never been one of his favorite figures from Greek mythology; and one couldn't really name their daughter Aries. Could they?

"Lily."

Stein stopped twisting the screw, "What?"

"Lily." Marie repeated.

Cocking his head to one side, Stein considered the name. Given the strength he'd felt from the baby's soul, didn't Lily seem like too delicate of a name? Then again, Marie had a pretty delicate name and look at her strength. She hadn't earned the nickname "Marie the Pulverizer" for nothing. Lily. Stein looked over at the fresh new soul in Marie's arms. Green eyes stared back at him. Lily. It fit.

"It's perfect." Stein told her, "Lily it is."

Upon hearing the agreement, Marie smiled down at their daughter, "You hear that sweetie? Do you like that name? I think it's sweet, you're our little Lily."

Lily giggled and Marie proceeded to tickle the tiny girl. Stein chuckled and sat back, glancing down at the two swollen fingers on his right hand. It hadn't been easy, but if it was worth watching the bud in his wife's arms bloom into a spectacular flower, then everything was going to be all right.

Still, some ice for fingers couldn't hurt.

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