Here we are, folks:

Guest (I LOVE their name): Asked for Reed and Caitlin when Lauren is born. So here we go!

"WHY ARE YOU SO SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWW?!" Cate cried, digging her nails into the arm rest of her car seat. Her pregnant belly was pushing against the dashboard and her eyebrows were knit together like two caterpillars. Her normally pristine hair was matted and knotted together at some points. A thin layer of sweat covered her features.

Reed pressed down on the gas as much as he dared to. The hospital was only a few minutes away, but Cate was already breathing heavy and he honestly wasn't sure if she'd make it. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Everything Cate said turned into a howl, and Reed winced whenever she did.

He felt like he was failing her by not breaking the law and going 180 in a school zone.

A red light. A freaking red light. He tried to honk, tried everything, but the fact was that his way was blocked with cars. He couldn't zoom past and be a hero even if he tried (and he really wanted to). Cate turned to face him, and her eyes were kind of twitchy when she said: "I'm not having my baby in a dirty car, Reed."

Green light. He pressed down on the accelerator, a little too hard, and cursed the traffic camera they zoomed past. His hands were clenched on the wheel as he listening to his wife howl; every so often he would say encouraging words, but Reed was mainly focused on getting them to the hospital in one piece. His hands were shaking, his arms were shaking, and he too had sweat dripping down his head.

They were having a baby!

Reed had dreamed of this moment. When he first found out Cate was pregnant, it was all he could do not to name the baby in the first trimester. They had decided to keep the gender a secret and thus made a name for each gender: Lauren if it was a girl, Andy if it was a boy.

"I want a Lauren!" Cate had shouted one morning, high on pregnancy hormones. She was eating cereal with a fork, and Reed had never loved her more. "I want our girl to be Lauren."

"What if it's a boy?" Reed had asked back, shifting through their drawers to find a spoon for Cate. "I was thinking Andy. After my great grandparents, you know?"

This gave his wife pause. "Wasn't it Andrew?"

Reed shook his head. He was pretty sure it was Andy... and he didn't really know much about his grandparents anyways. His dad had never talked about them, and he never really talked to his dad anymore. "Nope. Andy."

"As long as she's a Lauren!" Cate said indignantly, stabbing a clump of cereal with her untensil. Reed walked around the counter and kissed her on the head.

"Of course."

Now Reed was racing in his car, and when the hospital was within sight, he hit the pedal, almost made it to the next green, and-

sirens.

Freaking sirens.

Cate groaned. "I'm walking to that damn hospital I swear to God Reed holy shit this is painful motherf-" She wasn't even speaking in full sentences anymore. Her eyes were bloodshot, and a fire was burning in them. When the police officer walked up to their car, Reed tensed when Cate lifted her hand.

Was she actually going to give a cop a middle finger?

"Are you aware of what speed you were driving at?" The officer asked, leaning down so his elbows were on the window. Reed was irked, to say the least, couldn't he see that they were in a time-sensitive situation? "40 miles above the speed limit, are you aware you're so close to a school zone si-"

"Listen to me. I'm having a baby in five minutes. So either you stand hear and watch the miracle of life, or you let me and my husband into that damn hospital."

The police officer backed up in surrender, and Reed sped off. They made it into the hospital parking lot when contractions were two minutes apart, and she was in a wheel chair when the baby was ready to come out. Reed tried to run off after her, but she was being wheeled into an emergency room for a c-something or another. Reed's head was swimming, but he knew he should be concerned. That couldn't be good, right? A c-something had to be dangerous if it was named after Reed's least favorite letter.

"I demand to see my wife!" He yelled, almost hysterical.

Needless to say, the fourteen year old with a swollen wrist did not know where his wife was.

A nearby desk nurse did, though, and after much lawyer-ing on his part, he managed to get the number of the room she would be in after her surgery- he gulped at the word surgery- and was there when she finally came in.

She was holding a baby.

His baby.

Their baby.

It was a girl, and when Cate was wheeled in she let him take their little girl without a second thought. He swept the little baby and held her close to his chest, as if she would float away. It was too good to be true. Cate was exhausted from surgery, Reed was probably going to jail the next day, but... they had their baby. And that was keeping them both standing (Cate was in a wheelchair, but you get the point).

She had stubby blond hair and beautiful eyes. She looked so much like Cate that it was scary, but in a good way. Reed didn't think he had ever loved a little sack of flesh and bones more. He was surprised by the sudden flood of emotion; by the fact that he was ready to lay down his life for this little girl and he hadn't even had a conversation with her yet.

"I'm going to be a good dad." He said finally, staring at Lauren. "Not like mine. Mine sucked."

He could feel Cate tense next to him, and he knew that he should give Lauren back, at least for the time being. He kissed the little girl on her forehead and sighed as he gave Lauren to her mom, already feeling detached. Like he had nothing to do with his hands.

"I love you so much. You're going to grow up so beautiful and amazing." Cate was crying. Reed was crying. When had he started crying? Probably when he saw Lauren for the first time. That was easier than admitting that he was crying in front of a police officer.

The three of them couldn't be separated (except for when necessary). Reed took days off of work and Cate was stuck on bed rest, but the two of them couldn't have been happier if they tried. They always laid down with Lauren in between them, and at eight ounces, she was the cutest thing they had ever seen. They liked playing with her little fingers and nuzzling their noses against hers. By the second day Lauren had her laugh, and it was the cutest thing they had ever heard. Reed recorded it and made it his ring tone, nevermind that those who didn't know him personally would be a little disturbed.

Cate recovered quickly. She was a nurse herself, and over time the people at the hospital grew to ignore her when they checked in on her vitals. Cate was doing fine, but she always had to make sure the baby was okay too. She asked about Lauren's heart rate, whether or not she was getting enough nutrients...

And behind all that, the fear that she had done something wrong, and her baby wasn't healthy.

But she was, and Cate had done nothing wrong. They were both perfect.