Disclaimer – I own nothing.
Zach's POV
I woke to the sound of Disney channel blaring from the TV downstairs. I turned and found my wife sleeping soundly, her back was towards me; her protruding stomach faced away from me, her hand lay protectively on it. She had a slight smile on her face making her look peaceful.
I stood up quietly so as not to wake her, she was irritable when woken and would probably attack me, thankfully she stayed asleep. I walked towards the noise of the TV, which now seemed to be playing a very annoying, but unfortunately catchy, song.
I turned the corner and found one of my four year old daughters, Maddie, sat cross legged in front of the TV; her head was bobbing up and down to the song on the show. I walked towards the sofa where the TV remote lay, so I could turn the volume down before Cammie decided to wake up and murder me.
"Hiya daddy." She said brightly, turning to smile at me before turning back to her kid TV show. I turned the show done, "Hey daddy, I can't hear its now!" She said in an outraged voice, and started to pout.
"It's too early for you to have to TV on so loud. People are trying to sleep." She looked like she wanted to complain some more but something happened on the show and caught her eye. She pointed at me and glared before turning back to the show.
I chuckled slightly and walked into the kitchen to make my morning coffee. 5 minutes later Maddie come through from the living room, she jumped onto her chair and looked at me expectantly; I looked back at her for a few seconds before putting her pancakes in front of her.
"Thanks, daddy, you're the best." She grinned, and I couldn't help but smile back at her. Then she started to eat her breakfast as if she hadn't had food for a week.
"What about me? I thought I was the best." I looked to the door and saw Cammie stood in her dressing down, she looked run down but not like she wanted to kill me, so far so good.
"You're pretty good, mummy. But you can't make nice food." Maddie said matter-of-factly and continued to eat her food. I stuck my tongue out at Cammie and she hit me on the back of the head, but it was worth it. I gave her a wounded look and pretend that my head hurt, Cammie just went to sit down, she tried to keep the smile off her face but I knew she was dying to laugh.
I placed food in front of her and I knew that she had forgiven me if she was angry, she loved my cooking. Maddie finished eating and turned to go back and watch TV, "Maddie, go get your sister." She looked angry and shook her head, "I don't wanna." Why little children had to moan about simple tasks? I have no idea.
"Madeleine, it is not that hard to go and get your sister. Will you please go and get her?" I asked in my stern voice, that I had learnt when I became a dad. She turned around and walked to the bottom of the stairs, "LUCY! BREAKFAST IS READY!" She shouted up the stairs.
"Maddie, I could have done that." I said, she then turned and stuck her tongue out at me and stomped up the stairs.
I turned to ask Cammie why she didn't feel the need to intervene and help, but she seemed too enthralled in her food to even realise that Maddie had left the room. She must have felt my stare because she looked up at me, "What's up Zach?" She asked angelically and I'm sure she smirked a little. God, I was rubbing off in her.
"Nothing, you little sneak." She laughed but didn't deny that she could have helped me, "I was just struggling with a defiant four year old that could have killed me!" She giggled at my dramatics, "While, you sat there eating and smirking! I feel like I'm rubbing off on you, Gallagher girl." She smiled at me as I used her nickname, while she tried to keep an innocent look on her face.
"Aww you poor thing." She walked over to me and gave me a light kiss, "How could you ever live with a know it all that smirks all the time? I mean I do it all the time." I laughed and looked shocked. She just hugged me, "I'm going out with the girls today."
"Okay, be careful." She gave me an 'are you serious look'.
"I'm always careful."
"Sure you are." She hit my arm, "Hey, come on. You have to admit that trouble seems to always be around you!" She looked angry but then nodded.
"Okay, I'll be careful." She placed her head on my chest and I wrapped my arms around her.
"You're carrying precious cargo, you know. Need to make sure my little person is safe." She laughed, "And of course I'm worried about you."
"Yeah right." She said into my chest, we stayed there for a few more moments before she pushed off me and went upstairs to get ready. I followed her to see if Maddie had woken Lucy up yet, it was unlikely that she had.
I entered the girls room, they had to share since one of the rooms had been made into a nursery, they had been quite angry about that but I guess they will thank us when we bring the baby home and all he/she does is cry. As I entered the room, which was purple with a mixture of green – and no I don't even know how that happened – Lucy was still asleep on her bed but her duvet had been thrown on the floor. Maddie was sat on her bed with a children's book that she had been trying to read.
"Maddie, I thought I told you to get your sister, not sit on your bed and read. I don't mind you reading but it would have been better for you to wake her first." Maddie looked at me and shrugged.
"I tried to wake her up; I shook her and everything and pulled her cover." She said in her defence, "She opened her opened her eyes and went back to sleep." She looked too cute for me to be angry at her, damn these children, being all adorable.
"Okay, sweetheart, how about you go downstairs and I'll read with you." She nodded and ran out of the room.
I walked over to the other bed and looked at the sleeping form of my child, she looked cute as well, but she needed to get up and she wouldn't look happy when I wake her. "Lucy, wake up. I've got pancakes for you." I saw her eyes open and her head jerked up so she was facing me.
"I'm tired, can I have pancakes later?" She pouted but I wasn't going to let her win and I knew the way to get her up.
"Okay but I'm going to get the tickle monster!" She sat up and stared at me, I started to tickle her sides and she started to laugh uncontrollably.
"Stop it Daddy!" She said in between giggles. I let her wriggle from my arms and run downstairs. That was easier than expected; sometimes she punched me which hurt even though she was little.
Once Lucy had eaten, Cammie came downstairs and left with Macey, Liz and Bex to go and shop for 'necessities', which basically meant things nobody wanted and clothes. I sat down in the living room, a show was on about parachuting and the girls seemed to be hanging on very word that was being said by the host.
"Daddy, can we go parachuting?" Lucy asked, "Yeah, can we daddy?" Maddie joined in. They both seemed to be pleading me to say 'yes' with their eyes, and their little hands in front of them.
"Not until you are older and have a license." Both of them looked down with sad eyes.
"Why not?" Maddie asked with a sad voice that could be seen as whining.
"Because it isn't safe for little girls, and they could get hurt and then mummy would kill me." They still didn't loo happy, "How about you two go and play outside, it's very sunny, you can use your imagination and do some parachute practice." They smirked at that and ran upstairs, to get something.
They came running down with two blankets and ran straight out the conservatory doors. From my position I could see them running around with the blankets behind them, as makeshift parachute. They were laughing and smiling and I had to snap a few pictures. Their blonde hair was blowing in the wind and their green eyes were ablaze with excitement and amusement.
I was in the kitchen getting them some cookies and orange juice when I heard a high pitched scream that I knew had come from one of my little girls. I dropped the tray I had in my hand on the table and sprinted through the house to get to the garden. That scream wasn't one of excitement, it was one of fear and that worried me.
I entered the garden and saw Maddie lay on the floor and none of my spy training prepared me for the panic that filled me as I saw one of my little girls lay on the floor hurt. I continued to sprint towards Maddie, her arm was at a funny angle and seemed to be swelling, I had been a spy for long enough to know that it was broken. "Maddie, can you hear me darling?" Her eyes opened at my voice and she looked at my worried face, "Yeah I can daddy." She sat up and looked at her arm, her faced turned terrified and she started to cry, she must have been in shock not to have noticed the pain from her broken arm, it had never happened to me but I'd seen it when Cammie had some glass in the side of her body and she didn't realise until it was pointed out.
Maddie's crying continued and I tried to calm her down while I searched for Lucy, "It's going to be okay Maddie, daddy's got you. LUCY! WHERE ARE YOU?" I shouted, while my eyes darted for my other little girl.
"Daddy?" I heard a quiet voice call from above me; I looked up and saw Lucy hanging onto a branch of the tree that stood in the middle of the garden. That must have been where Maddie had fallen from. "Daddy, I'm scared." She called down to me again and she seemed to be crying.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm going to come and get you. You hold on, give me a second and I'll be up there." She nodded. I looked at Maddie who was ghostly pale and was still crying, "Kiddo, I'm going to go and get your sister, you stay here and don't move. I'll be back in a second." I kissed her forehead and started to climb the tree as fast as humanly possible.
I got to Lucy in about 30 seconds and I stood on the branch she was hanging from, "Hey, I'm going to get you, don't move, sweetheart and don't worry." She nodded, I stood on the branch keeping my balance, and I reached down and grabbed her hands pulling her up. I held her in my arms; she was crying slightly, "I'm going to give you a piggy back, okay?" I kneelt down slowly and she climbed onto my back, carefully. "That was easy wasn't it? Now I'm going to climb down, so keep tight hold of me." She put her face in my shoulder so she couldn't see what was happening.
I climbed down the tree slower than I had going up it, but I was still down in a minute. I pulled Lucy from my back and placed her next to Maddie, "You're okay now. Did you get hurt at all Lucy?" She nodded, and pointed her shoulder which was covered with a bloody sleeve, she pulled the sleeve back and I saw a nasty cut that was bleeding badly. "Stay here!" I said as I ran to get a towel, I got back to them and tied the towel around the cut tightly, to apply pressure and hopefully stop the bleeding.
"Okay, we are going to go to the hospital, alright?" They nodded, Maddie seemed like she wanted to be sick and Lucy still looked terrified. I lifted Maddie up, carefully so as not to touch her arm, I did the same with Lucy and ran to the car. I was doing a lot of running.
Once we got to the hospital, I ran – yet again – with the girl's in my arms into A&E. The receptionist seemed flustered, most likely because I had two terrified children in my arms and I was running like a mad man. I told the receptionist the girl's details and their injuries, the woman told me to wait to be called through.
Cammie was going to kill me! She leaves me with the kids for a day and they end up in hospital. That was going to be a great conversation. At least the girls seemed a bit better apart from the broken arm and the bleeding cut thing. We were called in and the girls were checked over. Maddie, although they knew it was definitely broken, needed an x-ray to check the severity of the break and then she would have a cast. Lucy needed stiches, the nurse sent me to the doctor who would do that.
Lucy didn't like the stitches but she got through it without injuring the doctor or me, much. Maddie was quite happy after she had been given some medicine and the pain had subsided because she would be able to get everyone to sign her cast.
Once we were finished, which took about 3 hours, I realised I would have to ring Cammie. I sat in the car as the girls snoozed in the back; it had been a very long day for them and for me. I started to dial Cammie's number, when my phone rang and Cammie's name appeared on the screen. It was like that woman was psychic.
I answered it ready for her to shout at me, "Zach, you need to get to the hospital. Now." Her voice sounded strained and I could hear panicked voices.
"Why? What's wrong?" She didn't answer but I heard her breathing heavily, "Cammie, what is wrong?"
"Well, my water broke." She said as calmly as possible.
"WHAT? Where are you?" I felt panicked again.
"I am on my way to the hospital, meet one of the girls there; they will take Maddie and Lucy, while I give birth." With that she hung up. I sat in the car for another second while trying to figure everything out. Then I screamed a little, waking the girls up, then I grabbed them from the car and ran to the entrance of the hospital.
Cammie turned up a few minutes later with Liz, Bex and Macey. Cammie seemed surprised that I was already there but she smiled, "Zach, thank God you're here." She gave me a light kiss as she got to me. She turned to Lucy and Maddie and was about to give them both a kiss, when she noticed Lucy's upper arm bandaged and Maddie's cast. Great, I was kind of hoping she wouldn't notice until I was holding our baby as protection o she wouldn't hit me.
"Zach, what happened?" She looked at me but I couldn't speak, damn me for being speechless in this moment.
"We fell out of a tree mummy." Maddie smiled at Cammie, "We were trying to parachute, but I guess daddy was right about it being dangerous." Lucy nodded backing up Cammie's story.
I finally found my voice, "We will explain more later. How about you go and give birth to a baby first?" Cammie gave me a glare, but kissed the girls and allowed me to sign her in.
8 hours later, the baby was nearly here and Cammie had finally forgiven me and was talking to me again.
The doctor said it was one final push and the baby would be here, I think Cammie just wanted it to be over, but at least she wouldn't have to give birth to two babies like last time. I'm pretty sure she would have murdered me if that was about to happen. She squeezed my hand and gave a final push and cries filled the room.
They checked the baby's vitals considering, he/she was 3 weeks early. The doctor came back to us with a little baby covered in blood and stuff, "Would you like to hold your little baby boy?" And then I fainted.
"Don't worry about him, this happened last time. I think it's a tradition of his." I heard Cammie's voice remark. I was about to say something to her, when I realised I was lay on the floor and my head was hurting. I opened my eyes and lifted my hand to my head; a nurse was looking down at me with a worried expression. "I fainted, didn't I?" She nodded. Not again, why did this always happen when Cammie gave birth?
I stood up, and saw Cammie and my little baby boy, now clean. "He's beautiful." Cammie smiled and handed him over to me, I sat down and stroked his cheeks, he was snoozing. He had some dark blonde hair and he had a mixture of mine and Cammie's features.
Cammie went to sleep while I held the little boy. Liz, Macey and Bex brought Lucy and Maddie to see their little brother. The twins seemed in awe of the little baby, while the others cooed at him. Cammie woke while they were there and they chatted about how beautiful he was, they left to call their significant others and Cammie's family to tell them the news.
"What's the baby's name, mummy?" Lucy asked from the bottom of the hospital bed where she and Maddie sat. I looked at Cammie and she nodded for me to answer the question. I looked at the boy in my arms and then at my girls, "This is Noah Matthew Goode." They seemed to approve the name of their little brother and went back to drawing. Cammie smiled at them and then at me and Noah, obviously holding the baby had stopped her from throwing any punches and being angry at me.
She went back to sleep, obviously having been run down. I sat and stared at Noah, "Hey, little man," I spoke quietly, "I'm your daddy, I'll always be there for you, and so will your mummy and Lucy and Maddie even though those last two might annoy you. You picked a great day to turn up, you know. I mean, first Maddie and Lucy climb a tree and fall out of that tree and end up in A&E, which was not fun. So if you ever want to blame someone about why you can't climb trees or why there is no longer a tree in our back garden, you can go to your big sisters. Then you are born and, don't tell anyone, I fainted, which really hurt my head, by the way. So yeah, a great day for a birthday." My son slept in my arms oblivious to my heart to heart. "Yeah, baby boy, just a normal day in the Goode household or as some would say the mad house, but don't worry I'm sure you'll fit right in."
Hope you liked it :)