Alan knocked softly on the door, making sure that Margaret was ready for him to come in.

"Honey, I'm here with Donnie. You ready for us?" He pushed on the door and stuck his head in the room.

She was half asleep, with a small smile on her face. She looked up. "Hey, you two," she said quietly. "Where's Charlie?"

"Sniffles. I thought him being here wouldn't be our best move." He took the couple of steps over to the bed and kissed the top of her head. "Hi." He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the little bundle she held in her arms. "Hi, little one." He stroked the soft little cheek with one finger.

They both looked over to their elder son, still standing near the door, shifting his feet, looking awkward. "Don," she said. "Aren't you going to come over to meet your new baby sister?"

Don took a couple of hesitant steps towards his mother's bed. Alan and Margaret glanced at each other and smiled. It wasn't very often that Don was hesitant about anything. Usually, he plunged head first into most everything that came his way, but this, this was way out of his comfort zone. Of course, babies were probably out of the comfort zone for most 15 year old boys…

"Her name is Julia, Julia Renee. And she really wants to see her big brother," Margaret coaxed. He took the last step to the bed and looked at the little face of his new sister. Margaret reached up, took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze, reassuring him.

"She's tiny," he whispered, not wanting to make too much noise, in case he might scare her. Or just wake her up.

"She's 6 lbs, 14 oz. She's not tiny. She's just right. Aren't you, sweet girl?" Margaret cooed to the baby, but also to her son. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Hold her?"

She smiled. "Don, sit in the chair. Alan, take her to her big brother." As Alan slid off the side of the bed, she shifted the baby in her arms then handed her to her father. Alan took the couple of steps over to the chair where Don sat. He settled the bundle of pink blankets and baby into his arms.

"Now make sure that you support her head," he said, shifting Don's arm so that it was in the right place. He stepped back.

Don looked up at his parents. "Now what?" he whispered. He was afraid to do anything, lest he upset her. But it didn't matter. A moment later, she started to cry. His eyes got wide. "Mom? What do I do? Take her." He moved to hand his sister back to his father.

"No, Donnie. You can do this." She smiled at him. "Just talk to her."

"Talk to her?" He looked skeptical. "What do I say?"

"It doesn't matter, Sweetheart. She won't understand. But she'll recognize your voice. That's what matters."

"Okaayyy." He looked back down at his sister. "Hi," he said softly. "I'm Don. I'm your big brother. Well, one of your big brothers. You have another brother, Charlie. He's not here right now. He's got a cold or something and Dad wanted to make sure that he didn't get you sick." He looked to his parents. "This sounds stupid."

"No, it's fine, Donnie. Keep going. You're doing fine," she said.

"Right." He took a deep breath. "Mom and Dad told me your name is Julia. That's a nice name. I think people won't tease you too much. You'll appreciate that when you're older." She stopped crying and looked up at him. "I'm glad you stopped crying." He took one of his fingers and wiped the tears from her little round cheeks. She wiggled her hands out from her blankets. He touched her little fingers, which she wrapped around his finger. "You have such little hands. And quite a grip. How do you do that when you're so small? I don't know. It doesn't seem quite possible." He kept stroking her hand. "You know, we're all going to take really good care of you. Really look out for you. I know I will," he whispered.

Margaret and Alan looked at each other and smiled again. She rested her head on her husband's shoulder. "I think we did good here. They're bonding," she said.

"Yes, I think you're right."