It had been a hectic day, to say the least. Louis paced the ante-room to the delivery room in expectation. Hours had passed, and they hadn't had many news. Had something happened? Was Clem okay? Question after question raced through Louis's mind, and every few seconds, his brain would convince him of the worst possible scenario.
"Oh God, she's dead, isn't she?" exclaimed Louis with glancing at the double doors behind him.
Scoffing in frustration, Vi stood up from her seat and walked up to her friend. She slapped Louis twice for good measure.
"Will you fucking relax?" she demanded, shaking him on the spot. "Clementine is just fine. It's not uncommon to have to wait this long."
"Well, I know you're right," he said lamely, rubbing the side of his face where she'd hit him. "But I just get this feeling like everything's gone totally wrong."
"It hasn't," she assured him, nodding encouragingly at him. He returned the gesture, and Violet took her seat by her girlfriend Minnie.
Taking a few deep breaths, Louis looked around the room and took in his surroundings. Might as well pass the time coming up with the best jokes to tell the little guy. Or girl, he wouldn't judge. The room was extremely white, and was impeccably clean. A few plants decorated the walls, and there were no windows. He felt claustrophobic just standing there.
Lining the walls were a number of couches and chairs, all of them currently occupied by Louis's and Clem's friends and family. On one of the seats was Lee, Clem's adoptive father, being used as a makeshift pillow by his ten-year-old son AJ. Although he'd never had any kids of his own, his two adoptive children spoke volumes of his amazing father qualities. Lee himself was nodding off, though Louis gathered that he wouldn't want to miss the birth of his first grandchild.
Next to them, on a loveseat, were Violet and Minnie. Louis always said them getting together was one of the best things that'd ever happened to him. If they hadn't, Louis would never have met Violet's best friend: Clementine Everett. Louis and Violet had hit it off as an instant friendship when Minnie introduced her to the group, and even though she'd flip him off more times than he dared to admit, he knew she loved him.
Sophie, Minnie's twin sister, was sitting next to Marlon and Aasim. Louis could sense the sexual tension between Sophie and Marlon a mile away, and he would always urged his best friend to go for it already. "It's not the right time," he'd always argue. Lame excuse for being afraid to get shot down, Louis thought ruefully. It wasn't like he hadn't done it a thousand times before, so why did he keep beating around the bush with this particular girl
It wasn't surprising that Tenn, Sophie and Minnie's adoptive brother, was not so interested in the whole affair. He was excited for Clem and Louis but, being the teenager that he was, he couldn't keep himself from his phone rather than the people in the room. Louis was still grateful that he had come at all, though.
After he ran out of people to look at, his mind started to wander once more. Most of his thoughts were pleasant enough, and all of them contained Clementine and the baby. He still couldn't believe they'd decided to have a baby at 22, but Clem had been very persuasive. Plus, Louis had always had a fatherly nature; even more so after meeting AJ. That had actually been one of her arguments.
But in between daydreaming about their child, a horrible, horrible thought crossed Louis's mind.
"Oh dear God, what if the baby hates my jokes?" he practically yelled, startling Lee awake, and receiving a death glare from the older man.
"Here we go again," Marlon said under his breath, causing a soft giggle from Sophie and an eye roll from Violet.
"No dude, I'm serious," Louis pleaded, brows furrowed in sincere concern.
"Lou, I'm gonna tell you something," said Marlon as he stood up and placed a reassuring hand on his best friend's shoulder. "And what I'm about to say, I say with the utmost love for you and your sanity."
"What is it?" asked Louis, rather intrigued.
"You're a fucking moron," Marlon said with a deadpan expression plastered on his face. The tension that had built up in the room until then seemed to dissolve with an eruption of laughter from everyone. Even Lee let out a chuckle at his son-in-law's expense. Even Louis bent over backwards in uproarious laughter, which helped relieve the tension and the worries built up in his mind.
"I love you too, jackass," Louis shot back at his friend, clapping him hard on the shoulder.
After a few more seconds of laughing, the double doors burst open and a small nurse came bustling in with a smile on her face. Louis shushed everyone as he stood expectantly looking at the tiny woman.
"Would you like to meet her?" was all she said, the smile never leaving her face.
Louis, however, was speechless. He had a daughter? He was a father? No amount of Lamaze coaching had ever prepared him for this! He stood motionless for a few seconds before Marlon pushed him forward and grinned at him, "go get her, tiger," he encouraged.
Nodding, Louis turned to the room ahead of him. It was much like the one they'd been waiting, except this one had a single bed in the middle of the room, and a bunch of machines were hooked up to the back of it. Of course, the rest of the room was a blur to Louis, as he only had eyes for the two ladies lying on the bed in question.
From the bed, Clementine beamed at her husband and then looked down at the bundle in her arms. It was tiny, Louis realized. Tinier than he would have expected, but it was there nonetheless. He noticed Clem had dark circles under her eyes, and she was struggling to keep from nodding off.
"Do you want to hold her?" she breathed, her voice hoarse, probably from all the screaming she'd done in the past four hours. Louis didn't trust himself with words at the moment, and so he nodded silently before approaching the bed. When he got to her side, Clem gingerly placed the bundle of blankets into Louis's arms and laid her head on the pillow.
Louis looked down at the bundle, and could not help but smile. She was perfect. It was almost as if she had magical powers that could lift anyone spirits. That was what it seemed like to Louis, at least. The baby yawned instinctively, which made Louis's heart melt.
"Hey there, gorgeous," he whispered, careful not to wake an already fast asleep Clementine. He'd never hear the end of it if he did...
At the sound of his voice, the small baby twitched. Louis frowned, thinking he had already messed up in his role as a father, but relaxed when he noticed the baby's eyes opening. After a few tries, she got them to open completely, revealing a beautiful grey coloring where her irises were.
"Let's hope you get your mother's eyes, eh?" he teased, running an ever so gentle finger down the bridge of her small nose. Clem stirred in her bed, and Louis saw her trying to open her eyes as well. She beckoned for him to get closer.
"I don't wanna miss this," she whispered, so low Louis had to strain his hearing to understand. He nodded softly and looked back at their daughter.
The baby was jealously taking in her surroundings, starting with her parents. She was scanning both of them fiercely, her small grey eyes darting back and forth between them.
"She can't decide who her favorite parent is," Louis jokes, producing a smile from an exhausted Clementine. "Though I think it's pretty obvious it's gonna be you."
"Flattery will get you nowhere," she reminded him tiredly, making him smile at a particular memory of when they met. Truth be told, he had never been good at flirting.
"Aw, I was just going to mention how incredibly beautiful she is, but I guess I'll keep it to myself," he said, shrugging dramatically. Clem smiled once again, reaching for her husband's forearm and giving him an affectionate squeeze.
Shortly thereafter, Clementine could take it no longer and finally dozed off. Louis fixed her blankets, and moved away from the bed. Sitting on one of the single chairs, he lifted the baby up to his eye level and studied her. As they stared at each other, his eyes starting glossing over and he let the tears fall freely. Who cared if he cried? This was the happiest he'd ever been.
Suddenly, every doubt he'd ever had about being a father at such a young age disappeared. He knew he could do it. It felt… right. He knew exactly what to do, and what to say.
"You are the love of my life," he told her softly, the words rolling off his tongue sweetly. He couldn't stop himself from shedding yet another batch of tears. He didn't even notice the door creaking open and Lee standing on the doorframe, staring at his son-in-law. "Everything I have, and everything I am, is yours. Forever," he promised, looking deep into his baby's eyes.
After a few seconds of silence, only broken by his constant sniffing, Louis's eyes found Lee. The older man was nodding at him in approval, and they both shared a knowing glance in Clem's direction.
"Sir," he said to his father-in-law, knowing how much Lee hated being called 'sir', "I'd like you to meet," he said slowly, lifting the baby so the older man could see her, "Ellie."