Back in the seclusion of their private hospital room Catherine and Warrick laid their baby down in his cot to sleep. The team had to leave to get some sleep before shift, they'd even talked Sara into going home to sleep as well and Cath's mom had taken Lindsey to school. Catherine sat down wearily on the bed, Warrick sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her. She dropped her head to his shoulder and sighed.
"How are you feeling sweetie?" Warrick asked planting a soft kiss in her hair.
"Tired!" She sighed into his chest. "But it was worth it. Look at him!"
The tiny baby boy lay peacefully in the cot, his blue blanket wrapped over him snugly. Behind his closed eyelids lay eyes that Cath believed would undoubtedly turn out to be the same beautiful shade of green as Warrick's. The proud parents beamed over their newborn baby.
"You know, if I hadn't gone through 21 hours of labour and been there when this little guy came out I would wonder if I actually had any claim to him. He looks exactly like you, Daddy!" Catherine looked dotingly on her son, shooting her eyebrows up at Warrick when she called him Daddy.
She had a point the baby looked exactly like Warrick; same shape of face, same jaw line and full pink lips. Tiny black curls fell onto his creamy brown forehead serving to make him look even more like his father. Warrick smiled down into the cot.
"That's not true, he has your nose!" He shrugged at her, but there was no denying the baby's resemblance to him. Cath giggled slightly.
"Can you believe this? I mean look at him, look what we did! He's perfect." The exhausted woman gushed as tears fell down her cheeks. She cursed the fact that the hormones don't stop after the baby comes out. Warrick hugged her tightly, slow tears falling down his own cheeks and landing in her hair.
"I know!" He whispered. He looked at his tired girlfriend. "You should get some rest, Mommy! This little guy's going to be up soon and he's going to be hungry." He got up off the bed to let Catherine lie down. She was more than happy to oblige, falling quickly into a deep sleep.
Warrick sat on the armchair in the corner of the room, watching his family sleep. He could safely say that this was, by far, the happiest moment of his life.
The next day, with mother and baby checked over and in perfect health, Warrick escorted them and his surrogate daughter Lindsey home as they embarked on the beginning of their new family life together.
"This is when the fun really starts!" Catherine gave him a sneaky smile. 'Why does that sound threatening?' Warrick thought to himself as he carried the bay full of baby supplies in from the car.
The next few weeks were filled with adjustments. The first few days they had to adjust to functioning during daylight hours, the week after that they had to adjust to being woke up periodically throughout the night, the next few weeks after that they had to adjust to following a new routine that involved the new baby, Lindsey's school work and Warrick returning to work. It took a bit of getting used to and a lot of working things out but eventually they found themselves settled into a nice routine.
Warrick would come home from work, cook breakfast and wake Lindsey for school. Cath who was usually already up with a now 2 month old Sam would feed the baby while he cooked. Catherine would then load Lindsey and Sam into the car leaving the house quiet and empty for Warrick to get some sleep. She would drop Lindsey off and school and then either run errands or call in with Sara to pass the time. When she got back she would feed Sam again and put him down for a nap. Then she would try to steal a few hours sleeping next to Warrick because she missed him when he was out at work. Warrick would get up when Sam did and spend some time with his son. He would then go collect Lindsey from school and have her home in time for the family dinner before he showered and got ready for work again. They were like a little clockwork family.
-
Waking up from his sleep Warrick exited the bedroom to find Catherine playing with Sam on the living room floor. He was lying, rolling over and kicking while Catherine tickled him and returned him to his original position on the play mat. He stood in the doorway and admired this beautiful sight. She was kneeling over the 5 month old baby smiling down on him as he giggled and babbled back up at her. Standing there watching her dote on their son made him fall in love with her all over again. She was amazing.
Stepping into the room he joined them on the mat to join in the fun. He was greeted with two large smiles and a kiss from Cath as he made faces at Sam who went into fits of laughter. They were playing together on the floor when Sam rolled over onto his stomach. Catherine was getting ready to roll him back over onto his back again when he propped himself up on his hands and knees. Catherine stopped in surprise at how steady he was holding himself up.
She and Warrick looked at each other sharing a proud look when Sam wriggled his hips and moved forward. Catherine's jaw dropped.
"Did he just...?" She looked at Warrick who was watching the baby carefully as he raised himself up again and with another wriggle of the hips he moved further forward.
"I think he did!" He looked back at Catherine who was now beaming with pride at her son crawling for the first time. "Isn't he a little young to be crawling?" Warrick's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"A little I guess, but you can never really tell how they're going to develop." She grinned as he took another wriggle forward. "Look at him go!" She laughed.
"Yeah!" Warrick's grin was giving Cath's a run for her money as they watched their son wriggle his way to the edge of the play mat before they lifted him and put him back in its centre.
"I gotta tell Lindsey!" Cath jumped up excitedly, reaching for her phone to send Lindsey a text message.
'Hey Linds, guess what! Sam's crawling! '
As she pressed the send button she sat down on the couch where Warrick now had Sam in his lap telling him how great he was. At that moment a thought crossed her mind and she gave her partner a nervous kind of look.
"He's crawling now! We're in for a lot of trouble." She laughed.
A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems like filler, but well it kind of is cause halfway through writing it I had a great idea for the next chapter so this one was kind of neglected. It's kinda fluffy though so I hope you at least enjoyed that
