The newest member to the Villiers-Farron family had finally arrived after waiting for 235 days, 12 hours, 41 minutes and 29 seconds, and yes the seconds were indeed counted.
Lieutenant Lightning Farron still could not believe it despite being by her sister's side offering moral support and a hand to be crushed after a nameless hero had an argument with gravity.
The former leader of the group of l'Cie, considered heroes ever since the Fall five years ago, was now an aunt. And her sister, Lightning had cared for so long, was a mother.
Perhaps what Lightning still and most likely will never fathom was that her big buffoon of a brother-in-law was a father. A father! He must be the most… second most… okay, third most stubborn person she knew.
A stubborn idiot to boot.
It was only two months ago he and the other male members of NORA tried to bring down an oretortoise. During mating season no less!
To this day Lightning still believes it was divine intervention that saved them from being flattened by the angry giant males.
Sadly, Etro had no sympathy for Lightning, her co-workers and Fang when it came to ensuring the sleepy seaside town's safety. It had taken the better part of the day to steer the beasts away from the town.
How, on Etro's throne, could someone like him be a parent?!
Sure he's more than capable of defending the people he loves and is always determined to do the right thing. That had been apparent in their travels as l'Cie.
He and his friends did work day and night for three months to build a new home for Serah, him and the baby. And he's been able to provide for Serah with his carpentering, which he's surprisingly good at.
Throughout her pregnancy Serah always told Lightning how Snow looked after her, went to every doctor's appointment, built all of the baby equipment in the nursery and took care of all Serah's cravings.
Now that Lightning thought about it. Snow did say Serah was craving for oretortoise tail soup at the time of the oretortoise incident.
Lightning had seen how well Snow was with the children in town. She wasn't going to admit out loud, but the fact was that big, stubborn, caring blockhead would make a good father.
The only thing was that Snow could be a little… what's the word... brainless at times. And that bothered Lightning. She didn't want the child to grow up with…
"Claire?" A tired voice broke Lightning's chain of thought.
Glancing across the room, Lightning realised how deep in thought she had actually been. Didn't even hear when others arrived.
Next to Lightning stood Lebreau and idiot two, Gadot. Standing between the two and the door were Sazh and Lightning's protege, Hope. The two native Pulsians stood at the foot of the bed. The rest of the NORA members were on the other side of the bed. Snow, who was holding an ice pack to the back of his head, was the only one sitting.
It was only when Lightning's eyes landed on Serah she saw how exhausted the new mother was.
Her eyes wandered down to the sleeping newborn in Serah's arms. He was wrapped in a light blue blanket.
"Sorry, I was just thinking." Lightning answered.
"I hope it's not about work, soldier girl." Everyone chuckled to Sazh's little comment except for Serah, who didn't see pleased at the idea.
"No, not this time." Someone else had spoken something, but Lightning didn't hear it. All she could hear was the soft breathing of her nephew.
Etro! The famous fal'Cie slayer was an aunt. Aunt. Perhaps he'll call her Aunt Lightning. No, that didn't sound right to the normally unemotional soldier.
It was at that moment Lightning realised she had only seen glimpses of her nephew. As soon as his umbilical cord was cut, a nurse had whisked him away to be checked. Lightning had been tempted to follow the nurse. Just to make sure she wasn't stealing him away from his rightful family. But she chose against it, with Snow still out who else did Serah have.
When the nurse returned, he was wrapped in a blanket and handed over to his mother. But by then Lightning was already too caught up in her own thoughts to notice.
"May I hold him?" All eyes fell on the stoic soldier who asked as if scared the answer was going to be no.
Serah gave a small smile before offering the baby to her older sister. "Of course, you can."
With a little guidance from Serah, Lightning gently placed her arms around the sleeping newborn and lifted him up slowly not to wake him. She held him in her arms as if he was the most fragile thing in the world, which he was as far as Lightning was concerned.
With one look, she could see he was going to grow up looking a lot like his father. A faint smile appeared on Lightning's face when she noticed a small patch of pink hair sticking out of the blanket.
Fang, who's eyes had been on Lightning majority of her time there, leaned back against the wall. "Just think, sunshine. In a few years time, you can start teaching the little squirt to beat up his blockhead of a father." Snow's protests were quickly shadowed by everyone's laughter. Lightning chuckled.
"Alright!" Sazh opened the door. "Time to give Serah much earned rest. Everyone save for Snow and Light, out!" Protest started to fly, but Sazh raised his hand silencing them.
He had gone through this before and knew how tiresome childbirth could be. Dahj's birth had taken well over seven hours and he had been tired just from watching. "There's enough time to see the baby once Serah is well rested."
Though Serah hadn't said anything, it was clear she had been thankful of Sazh.
They had been too caught up with the baby to notice Serah was using all of her remaining strength to stay awake.
Fang began gently guiding people towards the door. "The old man's right. Everyone out."
However, Vanille had been reluctant to move from her spot. "What about his name?!" Vanille shouted, startling everybody, even herself. It hadn't been her intention to shout, she just got a little anxious. "Can we at least know his name?" The petite red hair spoke more calmly.
Much to Vanille's disappointment the name had been the one of the things Serah and Snow didn't seem to agree on throughout the pregnancy. It was the one thing she HAD to know before leaving.
How could she stitch his name into the countless blankets, pillowcases, onesies and hats she had made for the past four months if she didn't know his name? Truth be told the petite Pulsian may have gone overboard with the responsibility of being goddess-mother.
Placing the ice pack down on the side table next to the bed, Snow took his wife's hand. With a smile and a nod, Serah gave him the honour of announcing.
"We were actually thinking about naming him Daniel." Snow continued, hesitantly. "If that's already right with you, sis."
Wishing she had asked her sister beforehand; Serah squeezed her husband's hand in anticipation.
With a smile on her face, Lightning eased the couples' worries. "Of course, it is. And I'm sure dad would have liked it too." Looking back at Daniel, she quickly added. "And I'm not your sister." That had earned a few chuckles.
With Vanille's curiosity satisfied, everyone congratulated the new parents once again, and with the herding skills of Fang left the room one by one.
The party had been too engrossed with the talk about the celebration party at Lebreau's, the bar owner had announced, to take notice that Fang had stayed behind.
After closing the door on the youngest NORA member, the tall Pulsian walked up next to Lightning.
With her body barely touching Lightning's, Fang leaned over Lightning's shoulder.
"Couldn't wait, I see. Impatient as always." Lightning glanced at Fang.
Much to Fang's delight, Lightning didn't seem to care that Fang was invading her personal space.
"How else can I get this close to you without you smacking me?" Fang grinned seeing Lightning rolling her eyes.
Lightning turned to face Fang better. "That happened once."
Actually it had been four times, three times during their l'Cie days and fourth soon after Fang and Vanille had awakened, but Fang didn't feel like correcting her.
"He looks a bit like Snow." Fang glanced towards Snow, brushing few of the strayed hairs from his wife's face who had finally fallen asleep. "Will you be joining the celebration at Lebreau's or be staying here?"
Lightning answered softly. "I don't know." She paused to think. "I might stay."
Fang stood back, her eyes fixated on the soldier. "Alright." Fang couldn't help but admit she enjoyed the sight of Lightning holding a baby. With a smile, Fang continued. "I'll keep your spot clear, just in case you change your mind."
Her spot. It had started little after Serah's and Snow's wedding the two former l'Cie would show up at Lebreau's bar and talk about their day with a couple cold beers.
It had been become such a daily routine that recently a bucket full of bottles and ice would be on the table waiting.
After sensing Fang was still staring, Lightning glanced up. The smile on the Pulsian lips confused Lightning. "What?"
"It's just…" Fang shook her head. "Nothing. I should go and make sure Vanille isn't making anything more for him." Fang bend over to the baby Lightning was holding. "Now you be good to your Aunt Claire." After congratulating Snow for one last time, Fang left the room.
Aunt Claire. Aunt. Claire.
Lightning had liked the sound of it.
But no auntie Claire, she thought.
As if the newborn had read her thoughts, little Daniel opened his bright blue eyes and his gaze connected with Lightning's. It was at that moment auntie Claire knew she had caved. He could call her whatever he wanted.
"Hey." Lightning whispered. Unsure what to say.
What does one say to a newborn? Besides that annoying baby talk that everyone seems to do. She won't be doing that! Absolutely not!
Daniel yawned.
'Look at him!' Lightning thought. 'He's so cute with his big baby blues, his little nose and his little mouth. Who's a cute baby? You are. Yes, you are. You're a…'
A voice once again broke Lightning's chain of thought. "Is he awake?"
Chills went down Lightning's spine. She wasn't speaking out loud, was she? If she had, Snow seemed to have enough sense not to mention it.
"Yeah. Just woke up." Lightning watched as Snow got up from his chair and slowly walked around the bed to Lightning. She saw the fatigue on Snow's face as he approached.
It hadn't surprised her since Snow was with Lightning at the construction site of the new Guardian Corps base when the news that Serah had finally gone to labour after being overdue for two weeks.
After the five years of training recruits to fight beasts on Pul… Gran Pulse, she had never seen someone panic as much as Snow had. Even the rookie who had climbed a tree and soiled himself when a pack of gorgonopsid appeared seemed less freaked out. To be honest if it wasn't for her Guardian training, Lightning would also have forgotten the velocycle she had arrived in, and started running the near nine mile journey to the hospital as Snow had.
Snow gently stroked his son's cheek. "Hey there."
Lightning watched the interaction between the two Villiers generations.
"Snow." Snow was a little nervous upon seeing the seriousness in Lightning's eyes. "Promise me, you'll always care for him, love him and, most importantly, never leave him. He needs a father."
Had anyone else been standing with them, they would have assumed Lightning thought Snow would abandon his wife and son. However, Snow knew better, Serah had told him about their father's death and how close he and Lightning had been. The stoic soldier just didn't want her nephew be without a father, like she and Serah had.
With a little more determination in his voice, he spoke. "I promise you, Light, I will never leave or stop loving them. I'll do right by them."
After a quick glance at her sleeping sister, Lightning slowly handed Daniel over to Snow. "I believe you."
She noticed how natural it came to Snow to hold his son. "I'll give you some time alone." Lightning began to walk towards the door.
"Light?" Lightning turned to face Snow as she opened the door. "I just want to say, thanks. Thanks for being there. I know Serah appreciated you being here. So thanks again." With a nod Lightning left the room.
A/N: Hoped you enjoyed it to some extent. This multi-chapter fic - yes sadly it's not an one-shot, please endure a little more - was inspired by a prompt in fangrai-february. Don't remember the number, but it's the one about our heroines watching a sunset. Yes, yes, I know there wasn't any in this chapter. But bear with.
Also, sorry for my poor grammar. I, personally, enjoy reading something that's grammatically correct. But as soon as I start writing, I turn into Yoda, just less green and taller. Actually I'm more like the Cookie monster. Hmm, cookie have I must. Cookies!