"You know, the first time I ever saw your mom, I was completely amazed with her, she walked into the room with her cape, like no-one has ever used a cape the way your mother has, I hope you get that courage to just wear anything with that much confidence, anyway, when I saw her that first time I could see nothing else but her and it's been like that ever since, until now," Archie said softly. "Somehow I don't think she'll mind sharing my attention with you."
Veronica stifled a laugh as she watched her husband sitting on a chair next to her hospital bed, with their hours old daughter in his arms, talking to her while she watched him with big eyes like she already knew exactly who he was. She had just woken up to what she thought was definitely her new favourite sight in the world.
"I can't wait to take you home, your mom and I decorated your room, well your mom and your aunt Betty did, I just watched, it's pink and purple and all the girly stuff that your mom loves and I let her go crazy with it because she gets so excited and also she was really scary when you were still in her belly, I hope that now that you're out we go back to normal," Archie said, the last part in a whisper tickling the baby's belly as he said it and Veronica rolled her eyes to herself, his attention was fully on their daughter so she kept as still as she could, just wanting to watch him with their baby thinking that no-one could hear. "Your mom loves make up and fashion and pretty things that I am hopeless with, I know you'll probably like that stuff too and she's going to teach you so much but I'm hoping you like your clueless dad enough that you want to spend time with me and we find something that's just ours."
At this Veronica smiled, her daughter was going to be the biggest daddy's girl, she could already see how her daughter was going to follow Archie around everywhere wanting to know what he's doing and wanting to do whatever he was doing with him. There's going to be so much that's going to be just theirs.
"There's a little crib that you're going to sleep in, it was mine when I was a baby, your grandfather pulled it out of storage somewhere when he found out about you and he helped me restore it, he's so excited, you'll meet him later, I don't know what you're going to call him, probably gramps but he insists that he's the cool grandpa so you'll just call him Fred, I don't think your mom will allow that but you're so cute you could probably get away with anything," Archie said tilting his head down carefully to touch his nose to hers, Veronica smiled, thinking back to when she was pregnant and he would bump his nose to her belly because he was giving her an Eskimo kiss and here he was with her in his arms giving her an actual Eskimo kiss. "The crib doesn't match your room at all but your mom insisted that we keep it, she loves it when I do things for you even when it goes horribly wrong."
Veronica almost snorted, no, that crib did not match the room at all, the interior decorator that she had helping her almost threw a fit but while a normal Veronica was scary, a pregnant Veronica was apparently terrifying and no-one said anything after she said that it stays, they could add something to it to make it work.
"Speaking of your grandparents, they are on their way back to the hospital to see you again, you were asleep after they cleaned you up earlier so hopefully you open your pretty eyes for them when they get here, all of them will be here except for your mom's dad, he's in prison, he'll be there for a long time for the things that he did," Archie's happy baby voice dropped away, a more serious tone replacing it and their daughter reached out an arm to brush against his chin and Archie smiled, bringing up a finger for her to wrap her tiny hand around and Veronica's heart melted at the sight. "I wish I didn't have to tell you that, I wish I could protect you from him, I wish I could protect your mom from him, but he does love her in his own twisted Hiram Lodge way and he's her dad and she loves him no matter what she says, so I will tolerate him just to see her happy, I'd do anything for your mom ... you'll meet him soon, I know she'll take you to see him the next time she visits and I know that he's waiting to see you, I won't be there for that but your grandmother will be and I trust her with my girls."
Veronica blinked the tears away as much as she could but the tears still came, every time she thought of her father and the pain that he had put her and Archie through, she cried. She knew how Archie felt about the relationship she had with her father, they had enough fights about it over the years but they had come to a compromise that involved her going to see her father but her mother always had to be there and afterward she and Archie were never to speak about it.
"Anyway, enough about your grandparents, you can figure them out after you realize who they are," Archie said, Veronica took a few deep breaths to control the emotion she felt and looked back to her daughter who was now yawning and blinking sleepily up at her father. "Are you sleepy? You don't have to try and stay awake to talk to me, you have your whole life ahead of you to listen to me ramble on, by next week you'll probably be making that face your mom sometimes makes when I can't shut up and she's annoyed."
"In my defense you were asking questions while I was trying to watch a movie," Veronica croaked, she couldn't keep quiet any longer, she needed to get in on this conversation. Archie's head snapped up to look at her and he smiled, tilting the baby in his arms to show her off proudly. "Is she sleeping?"
"Yeah, she was awake for a little bit while you were resting, the nurse showed me how to clean her diaper, which I think you should do or we could ask my mom to live with us until she's potty trained," Archie joked and Veronica wiped her eyes and pushed herself up on the bed, she couldn't wait to go home the next day and sleep in her own bed in her own room. "And then baby and I chatted for a bit."
"Yeah? What did you 'chat' about?" Veronica asked scooting over on the small bed and patting the space she just vacated for him to get into, if she was forced to stay in the hospital then she would do it with her husband and daughter in bed next to her. "Hi angel," she whispered when Archie settled down with the baby still in his arms and Veronica leaned her cheek onto his shoulder and watched her daughter who opened her eyes wide to look at Veronica before they fluttered closed again. "She's fighting sleep."
"She's a fighter already, just like her mother," Archie said and Veronica glared at him until he kissed her. "She's beautiful too, just like her mother."
"Your girls," Veronica commented watching his cheeks turn red and the proud smile form on his lips as his eyes were drawn back to their now sleeping baby. "We should name her, we can't call her baby Andrews all her life."
"What do you suggest?" Archie said turning to look at his wife. "Of all the things we prepared for with having a baby, I never realized how big of a responsibility choosing a name would be, what if she hates the name we choose? She's going to be stuck with it her whole life."
"Babe, calm down," Veronica said amused at the panic in his voice and gently touched her daughters perfect face. "We have some time to think about it."
"You already have a name don't you?" Archie asked and Veronica smiled pressing a kiss to his arm where she could reach, just because. "Tell me."
"I still don't know whether I want her name to be traditional or modern or whimsical," Veronica said with a roll of her eyes and Archie made a face. "Ok, not whimsical."
"Just tell me what you're thinking," he laughed, the idea of whimsical to him just sounded like Polly's twins names, Juniper and Dagwood, he thought that was enough for whimsical names in their friend group. "Because I'm drawing a blank."
"I liked the name Feyre," Veronica said hiding her face on his arm and peeking up at him to see what he thought. Archie didn't outright laugh at her, he seemed to roll the name around in his mouth, pronouncing the 'Fey-rah' a few times to get used to it before looking back down at his baby daughter for confirmation and then turning his eyes back to his wife. "It's an English name, it means beautiful."
"It sounds beautiful," Archie said sliding down the bed a little more so he could be more face to face with her, their noses almost touching. "Miss Feyre Andrews, I think it suits her."
"Our daughter," Veronica said giddily, she could barely stop smiling.
"Are you ok?" Archie asked, his eyes squinting slightly as he took in her expression and Veronica nodded, both her arms wrapping tightly around one of his, the one not holding their baby.
"It's been an emotional day," Veronica said shrugging, she didn't want to admit it to herself but after listening to Archie talk to their daughter, she wished (just a little) that her father was coming to the hospital with her mother to meet their granddaughter for the first time. "Just being here with you and our girl makes everything ok."
"She does make everything better," Archie agreed and then his face turned serious again like it did earlier and his eyes stayed on her face even when she looked away from him and down to the sleeping baby. "Ronnie, I know we agreed that there will be no talk about your dad with us but I still want you to talk to me, even if it is about him, I don't want you to cut me out of that part of your life no matter how much I don't like it."
Veronica pressed her lips together and nodded, blinking her eyes even though it was doing nothing to keep the tears at bay and she buried her face into Archie's arm. "I heard you earlier, when you were talking to her, about protecting us from him," Veronica said wiping her eyes and gripping Archie's arm just a little tighter when he went to protest. "I agree Archie, if the situation was reversed I would be doing the exact same thing, I just ... he's my dad, we had a different relationship in New York and that's probably because I was very blind to everything that he did but - I've always been a daddy's girl, I've always wanted to believe that he had the best intentions, I still do."
"And you're hoping maybe he'll change now that she's here?" he asked carefully, watching Veronica's face twist slightly at the thought. "She's not a bargaining chip."
"She won't be," Veronica exclaimed, pushing herself away from Archie at the accusation. "I'm not him, I won't use my daughter like that, all I want is for him to remember what he wanted for me and my life when I was born, I want to at least see that the man I adored when I was a child wasn't just an act, that he's still there, somewhere."
"Ronnie..." Archie began, this was not a fight he wanted to have now, or ever, but a redeemable Hiram Lodge was something they weren't going to agree on.
"I know you hate him after everything that he's put us through, I do too, if there was ever a choice I would choose you," Veronica said and the surety in her voice that she would choose him over her father broke Archie's heart because that's not something she should ever have had to think about. "But he's my dad and sometimes, I just wish that he could be a normal part of this, to meet her and love her like a grandfather should."
Archie didn't think there were words that he could say back that could adequately convey how much he wanted to take this pain away from her, so he picked his arm up to wrap around her body, pulling her as close to him as their position would allow, Veronica wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his chest, her ear just above his heart, careful of the newborn already cradled right next to her.
"Do you want to hold her? I've been hogging all her attention since you've been sleeping," Archie said after a moment, holding this little body in his arms was therapeutic to him, it might just be for her as well.
"I've been hogging her for 9 months, I think I can let you have her for just a few more minutes," Veronica said softly, clearing her throat of her emotions, bringing a hand up to hold the baby's hand, and she wrapped her hand around Veronica's finger, squeezing tightly even in her sleep. "I'm sorry."
"No, you don't have anything to be sorry for," Archie said with a sigh. "He's your dad, of course you'd want him to be here and for her to know him as the person you thought he was."
Veronica nodded, this time accepting her daughter when Archie shifted them so he could place the new born in her arms, properly wrapping his arms around Veronica, careful not to crush Feyre between them and pressing a kiss to her head.
"You know this is supposed to be a happy day, no more tears," Archie whispered and Veronica smiled and nodded tilting her head up and waiting for him to kiss her. "We'll figure it out."
"I love you," Veronica whispered, gasping as Feyre stretched out in her arms. "I love you too little one."
"You know they say that the best place for a baby to sleep is on her fathers chest," Archie mentioned and Veronica gave him a disbelieving look. "Scientific fact, my dad told me."
"So it's a dad fact?" Veronica laughed. "I don't think having her sleep in your arms is going to be good for us when she gets older."
"We can deal with that when we get home," Archie said rolling his eyes, they had read all the books, as soon as he found out Veronica was pregnant he went out and bought every baby book their bookstore had, which reduced a normally very composed Veronica to tears. "I just want to hold her for as long as I can."
"Which isn't going to be too much longer, it's almost visiting hours," Veronica said glancing up at the clock, their parents were not going to let Archie or Veronica anywhere near their baby until visiting hours were over. "Betty and Jughead are coming up with our parents right?"
"Yep, they wouldn't miss the chance to be one of the first people to see their goddaughter," Archie laughed. "When we get home tomorrow, that's when the real chaos begins."
"Does it make me a bad mother to be really glad that my mother is going to be staying with us to help?" Veronica asked as a joke but her voice betrayed the nervousness she felt, her body was sore and drained and she knew Archie would help out as much as he could but neither of them knew the first thing about newborns no matter how many books they had read or video's they watched, being at the hospital was safe and easy, if something went wrong, trained medical professionals were right there.
"No, of course not, I'm kind of hopeless with her and you just pushed a baby out, I think the help is needed," Archie said, looking down at his sleeping daughter in his wife's arms. "Besides you are already the best mom and she loves you, but there's a few tricks from the best dad handbook I have that might help."
Archie started listing the most obscure "scientific" facts that he found in books about being a father that made Veronica laugh and tease him for actually repeating them until their visitors arrived. The absence of her father hung above her head when everyone walked in but then Archie picked Feyre up and showed her off to their family, beaming with pride so bright that everything else faded away. Archie and Feyre were her family and they were the only ones she mattered anymore.
A/N : Just fluff, kinda pointless but super fluffy
Hi guys, hope you enjoyed this little baby fic, it was meant to be a fathers day post but I got side tracked, this is set in the future taking into account that season 2 ending so it's post season 2 and of course Archie gets out of jail and Hiram gets put into jail because justice
The name Feyre comes from 'A court of thorns and roses' by Sarah J Mass, I love that name and I think it would suit a Varchie baby
I've just finished watching all 5 seasons of Brooklyn 99 and guys if you haven't watched that show, please do, its so so so good
Please leave me a review and let me know what you think, my writing as been pushed so far back these past few months but I'm hoping that when Riverdale is back my muse will be back with it and we have a date October 10th yey, the cast starts filming next month so maybe they'll post enough to rouse my muse from her sleep lol
Anyway, please review and Until Next Time (^^,)