Title: Christmas Joy
Author: IceGirl2772
Summary: Ben and Julie receive a special Christmas present.
Disclaimer: Aside from Ben and Julie's child, I own nothing. Islydial belongs to JBAL19. Her parents belong to me.
Spoilers: Slight spoilers for Breathtaking.
AN: Just a short story.
"What's taking them so long?" 20-year-old Ben Tennyson groaned as he paced impatiently in the hospital waiting room.
It was Christmas Day and, currently, his wife, Juliet Yamamoto – or should I say Julie Tennyson – was in labour with their first child. The baby was one month premature and by the time they arrived in hospital, she was fully dilated. Doctors and nurses immediately wheeled her into the delivery room. His mother-in-law, Melanie, went in with her. He thought it would be a good idea if her mother went in with her because he might get called out on a mission. She understood and told him he didn't have to be there.
"Ben, Julie's only been in there for an hour. Sometimes, women take more than 3 hours to deliver a child," Ben's 22-year-old sister-in-law, Sarah Ashford, remarked while holding her 1-month-old daughter, Islydial, in her arms.
Her husband, Nelson, went down to have a cup of coffee and said to let him know when the baby was born. Ben's 7-month-pregnant twin cousin, Gwen, and her husband, Kevin went down with him.
"But she was fully dilated by the time we arrived at the hospital. When I called you and the others, she was in the delivery room," Ben retorted.
Sarah hesitantly stood up and approached her brother-in-law, still holding her daughter in her arms. Ben stopped his pacing as soon as he noticed Sarah and Islydial next to him. He sighed.
"Here. Hold Islydial. It'll make you feel better," Sarah kindly commanded as she held her now sleeping daughter towards him.
He smiled gratefully to his sister-in-law before taking his niece into his arms. His child was on its way at the moment. So he might as well practice holding a baby before he held his son/daughter. Sensing her uncle/god father, Islydial woke up and reached for him, cooing. He held out his finger, which she tightly grasped. How can a 1-month-old baby be so strong? Suddenly, Ben and Sarah winced as they heard Julie's screams of agony and pain, which made Ben even more worried.
"Why didn't I go in there with her?" Ben groaned, mentally cursing himself.
"Ben, she'll be fine. Julie's a fighter. She's not gonna let childbirth bring her down," Sarah assured him.
Suddenly, they heard a different cry. (AN: Did I forget to mention that they're standing by the door? Whoops.) It was the cry of a baby. Ben and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief before hugging each other carefully so they didn't squish Islydial. Just when the nurse came out, Sarah took her daughter away from Ben.
"Mr Tennyson, do you want to see your wife and baby girl?" she asked.
"I'll be there in a minute. I have to call Kevin and tell him that he owes me $20," Sarah told Ben, only to earn a strange look from her brother-in-law, "What? We made a bet."
Ben just sighed and walked in only to see his wife on a hospital bed covered in a coat of sweat and looking exhausted. Her mother was sitting by her side. He immediately was at her side, running his fingers through her shoulder-length jet black hair and kissed her passionately. He broke the kiss with tears of joy in his eyes, only to earn a tired smile from his wife. He just pulled her into his arms.
"She's beautiful. She looks a lot like you," Julie breathed into the crook of his neck.
They broke apart just the midwife walked in carrying a baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket. She placed the baby into her mother's arms before nodding and leaving the happy family alone.
"I'm gonna call your brothers and tell them that the baby's born," Melanie told her youngest daughter, noticing that the new family wanted some alone time.
When Melanie finally left the room, Ben sat on the edge of the hospital bed and admired his newborn daughter in her mother's arms. Her slightly chubby cheeks were rosy red and she was staring at her mother with the piercing emerald eyes she inherited from her father with her mother fell in love with. There was a touch of mahogany hair on her tiny head. Both of them knew that when she grew up, she was going to be the splitting image of her father.
"You wanna hold her?" Julie asked.
That should have been a rhetorical question. Ben was already gently taking his daughter from her arms into his own. Her tiny hands were reaching for her father. Just like with Islydial in the waiting room, Ben held out his finger and his daughter held it in her hand, her tiny fingers grasping his finger. Ben was now crying of joy as he stared at his daughter. Julie only admired the moment between father and daughter.
"What are we gonna name her?" Julie asked her husband.
Ben wore a thoughtful look on his face for a moment before finally deciding on a name.
"Isabella. Isabella Joy Tennyson," Ben decided. (AN: OK. Bella is mentioned in JBAL19's story It Just Happened, right? Well, I told her that she could borrow Bella as well as Sarah and Nelson if she wanted to. So...like I said before, Ben and Julie's child belongs to me as well.)
"Isabella Joy Tennyson. I like that," Julie remarked.
Ben only smiled and kissed his wife tenderly before they both went back to admiring their daughter.
18 years later...
"Happy Birthday, Bella," 27-year-old Ben Tennyson said to his now 18-year-old daughter. (AN: Sarah and Julie are Sonakites in this as well. Sonakites and their loved ones stop aging at 27 and remain that way for 5 centuries. After that, they will age normally again or live forever.)
As Julie predicted, Bella was the splitting image of her father. Her mahogany hair was slightly wavy and was now past her shoulder blades. Her emerald eyes were slightly darker than they were when she was only a newborn. She inherited her mother's smile and some of her personality, which caused Ben to fall in love with her in the first place, along with her powers. Bella was wearing blue skinny-leg jeans, a green figure-hugging strapless shirt and black knee-high boots.
"Thanks, Dad," the 18-year-old replied as she hugged her father before admiring the locket around her neck.
The locket around her neck was one of her 18th birthday presents. The necklace belonged to her grandmother, Rosalie. Rosalie handed it down to Julie before she passed so she could give it to her oldest daughter on her 18th birthday. Inside the locket were 2 photos: One of her and Ben and the other one of the whole Tennyson family. (AN: When I say that, I mean Ben, Julie and Bella.)
"It seems just yesterday when you were a newborn. What happened to all the good times?" Ben wondered to himself, trying his best not to suddenly start crying.
"Daddy, no matter how old I am, I'll still be your little girl," Bella reminded her father.
As if on cue, her mother walked in, spoiling the father-daughter moment.
"Honey, Edward's here," Julie told her.
Edward is Bella's boyfriend. They met at a talent show at Bellwood High when they were 15. They started dating around the same time Ben and Julie did. Ben was against the idea at first, but he started to like Edward eventually and let him date his daughter.
"He said he has special planned for my birthday since I'm 18 now," Bella remarked as hugged both her parents before heading out.
"Be back by 10!" Julie called out.
Ben wrapped his arms around his wife from behind and placed his lips against her temple. Julie just smiled and leaned against her husband's chest.
"What happened to our daughter?" Ben mumbled.
"She's growing up, Ben. Pretty soon, she'll be a 27-year-old Sonakite," Julie answered.
"Don't scare me," Ben whined as he spun his wife around and kissed her passionately.
They broke the kiss and started imagining their daughter as a little girl running around the house/Ben 10'000's headquarters.
OK. That wasn't much but that was one of my Christmas presents to you guys. The second one, you shall wait and see.
Review and I'll see you in another story.