A/N: I was getting all emotional... my mother laughed... or well she rolled her eyes... But you guys won't roll your eyes at me, will you? ;)


"Steps 44-53, Breathe & Push"

7. Step Fifty, Hear the Cries

Making it to the delivery room, with all necessary preparations, had been a surreal moment for all of them. This was it, soon there would be the baby boy they had been expecting all these months. As they came to stand on either side of her, Brittany looked afraid all of a sudden, and when they grasped her hands, they found out why.

"What if I do it wrong?" she asked. Santana bit back a smile.

"You won't, trust me," Kurt told her. "You've been amazing this whole time. You're almost there, we've got you, so let's do it," he nodded, and she mimicked him.

When she was first told to push, her face had focused, like she was running through something in her head, and even as she bore down, they could see her lips mouthing words along. Once she could pause, she was still doing it.

"Brittany? What are you…" Kurt asked.

"Don't distract me!" she muttered quickly, picking up her silent reciting. Whatever she was doing, which Santana would rightly guess to be her going through what she had been told of what would happen and what she to do, it seemed to be working for her at first, so they didn't stop her.

They guessed it wasn't enough anymore when her silent mantra ripped into outright yelling, which gave Kurt and Santana their cue to try and talk her through it once again.

"Come on, Britt, you're doing so good!" Santana told her.

"That's it, keep pushing!" Kurt followed.

"So that's why they were screaming!" she shouted, ignoring them both, though giving their hands a mighty squeeze which buckled their knees simultaneously. They had to power through it quick, knowing it didn't compare to what she was going through, so they continued to encourage her, feeling like the temperature had cranked up so high that they were losing all sense of time. Hearing the doctor tell them what was happening was the best they could hope for in knowing what was happening.

"You're almost there…" Santana was near tears as both she and Kurt huddled about the tired Brittany. "Come on, one more big one," she nodded.

"One more big one…" Brittany breathed, blinking, breathing deep; she was getting ready.

"Yes, that's it," Kurt was feeling his heart drum nervously. "Go, Brittany…"

"Come on, Harry…" she hummed before giving her all, everything she had left, taking all that the people she loved were giving her, and she could hear them calling 'come on, Harry' as well. That was the last thing she heard before she cried out, and then she felt… she wasn't sure how to describe it, but the next thing she knew she just stopped. She stopped, and her ears were gifted with the shrill sound of a baby's cries and… she laughed, barely breathing.

"You… you did it… He's here… it… it is a he, right?" Kurt looked stunned, more so as the doctor had raised up the newborn and placed him on his mother's chest.

"Yes, it's a he," the woman confirmed with a smile as Brittany reached a shaking hand to touch his back, tears flowing as she looked to him. Santana, at her side, could see him, and there was no power in her not to keep crying.

"Britt, he's beautiful…" she smiled, feeling a knot in her throat.

Kurt was still running on auto pilot, too many emotions working their way through him at once. He was asked if he would cut the cord and he had a brief terror that they would give him the scissors and he would somehow wound his boy's fragile flesh, but he blinked it away and nodded. He was given the tool, told where to cut, and he did it. Little Harry was taken to be checked out, cleaned…

"Santana…" Brittany looked to her, and she knew what she wanted, she moved up to be her eyes while the baby was out of her sight. Whatever was happening, she would know, as the information was relayed to her. What it summed up to though was that the boy was good and healthy, every little piece of good news reinvigorated her smile, as she recovered from the whole event.

When the baby was able to be returned to her though, as she could see Kurt standing there, still speechless, she had told the nurse to hand Harry to his father.

The moment they had placed him in his arms, it was like a shock to the system, waking him, and he gasped, smiling… There was his son, right there, real, and breathing and moving and staring maybe not directly at him but in his general direction.

"H-hi… Hello… I can't believe it, you're really here…" he breathed, sniffling back tears. "Right, you don't know who I am… That's alright. We've spoken before, but you were inside your mother, you probably don't remember. I'm Kurt, and… I'm your father." He had to pause, letting it sink in…

All these months, he had been preparing, with no idea of what this moment would be like. He just remembered all these little moments though… big moments really… The first time he'd seen him on that screen, hearing his heartbeat, finding out he was a boy, feeling him kick… Every last moment had been leading up to this, and now he knew what his father had been telling him, about the day when he was born, and when Burt had held him for the first time… Love at first sight.

Not once had he ever thought that he could turn away from Brittany when they had found out they were going to have this baby. Now he knew that, if he had, it would have been the biggest mistake of his life. His son was brand new, had done little more than cry and breathe, but that was just it, he was brand new. He had potential, a whole life ahead of him, and the thought that he could have ever missed out on that filled him with regret even though it wasn't ever going to happen. He would be in his son's life, from this moment on.

"Should I go tell them he's here?" Santana looked to Brittany.

"Yeah, can you?" she asked, and Santana bowed her head. Before she could get away, Brittany had gotten hold of her arm so she would turn back. "Couldn't have done it without you…" Santana smiled. She could have told her something like 'of course you would have,' but she didn't argue with her.

"I'll be right back, okay?" Brittany nodded, so she went, smiling to herself as she watched Kurt, so mesmerized by the child in his arms. She knew, like Brittany was thankful to her, she was thankful to him. He had gotten her to wise up, kept her from missing out on… all this. They were all in this together, and he had never kept her away, always included her, even when she didn't know she wanted to be. Now it was time to share the joy, the news of baby Harry's arrival.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)