"Oh, my God…" Rachel mumbled as she held the tiny little bundle in her arms, watching the baby fist the air apprehensively. "She's…Puck look at her!"
"I am not touching that thing…"
"But Puuuuuuuck-"
"Not my baby, Berry."
She pouted, clasping the baby to her chest and crooning into her ear, smiling stupidly. "I think she's beautiful."
"You wanna know what I think?" Santana murmured briefly behind her magazine, only to be silenced by Brittany's 'not now' look. "What?"
"Is Quinn awake yet?" Brittany said instead, getting up and moving to Rachel's side, tickling the baby's chin with her index finger. The girl gave a small gurgle of appreciation, and Rachel smiled.
"I think she is. Let's go check."
The hospital room was white and pristine and generally smelled like antiseptic. Normally, all these things threw Rachel off, what with their association to sickness and death. But right now, she couldn't help but be happy. At least for her wife's sake.
There she lay, Quinn in her economy-sized hospital bed, the image of weariness and pain. She was wincing slowly as she rose up carefully, sitting up in her bed. She smiled weakly at Rachel, who rushed to her and handed her the baby.
"She looks just like you, Quinn! Look at her…"
Quinn took the baby in her arms again, smiling at her. "Hello, Julia. It's so lovely to see you again…" She had given birth to their baby girl three hours previously, and Rachel had taken her in hopes of getting the baby familiar to her smell, her feel, her voice.
"Julia Dianna Berry-Fabray," Santana looked at the name chart pinned to the bed. "What a mouthful this kid's gonna get…"
"Santana."
"What?" she growled, throwing her arms into the air. "I'm just being frank!"
"Wait…"
Everyone turned to look at Brittany as she scratched her head slowly, staring into empty space.
"Who's Frank?"
Puck rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to laugh, knowing that his reward would probably be a punch in the arm from the fiery brunette standing next to the ditzy blonde.
"Never mind, honey…" Santana grinned, hugging Brittany from behind and resting her head on her shoulder.
Quinn took her gaze off the three other people in the room and turned to look at Rachel, who was fighting the urge to cry. Julia was sleeping soundly in her mother's arms, and Quinn knew how emotional Rachel could get…
"Hey, honey, shush, alright? It's fine, we're both fine and she's beautiful."
"She is…" Rachel whispered, leaning down to brush her lips across the top of the blonde baby's head. "And so are you…"
Quinn smiled, feeling her previous drowsiness returned. Giving birth really took a lot out of a person…
"I love you, Quinn…" she heard Rachel say into her ear, so softly, so peacefully…
A brush of lips on her forehead was the last thing she felt as she drifted off to sleep, her daughter clutched firmly in her arms.