So, here it is! I'd like to thank everyone for name suggestions,they were all really useful! Be warned, this is NOT the last part of the story, so keep checking in!


In the end, Nathan only managed to get a glimpse of the tiny baby covered in red before it was handed off to a nurse and whisked away to intensive care. Through the glass Nathan couldn't hear a thing, but the surgeon's frantic movements spoke volumes and Nathan ran his hand over his face in the universal action of stress.

"C'mon Audrey." He heard Duke mutter next to him, but kept his eyes focused on Audrey. Something bad was happening – he could almost hear the frantic beeping of the heart monitor.

Then suddenly, everything stopped. Everyone in the Surgery seemed to deflate all at once and movements relaxed, slowed.

"Wha?" Nathan stood up straight and held his hands out, palms-up "What just happened?"

"I think," Duke said with a pat on the back "that that dude just saved your wife's life."


Audrey was still under when Nathan finally found her room, but she looked. . . peaceful. Like she was sleeping instead of under anaesthetic. Her hair spun out in a golden fan around her face and her hands rested on her newly-flat stomach contentedly. Nathan collapsed into the chair, exhausted even though he had been at the hospital considerably fewer hours than most couples who had gone into labour. He sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the weight lift off his shoulders, leaving him light enough to fly and soar. So, just for a second, he closed his eyes and let himself relax.

"Nathan?" a small voice made his eyes snapped open and he looked up to see Audrey smiling up at him "You were sleeping." She smiled wider.

"I was?" Nathan yawned and blinked the sleep out of his eyes "Huh."

"How's our baby?" she asked nervously, and Nathan could see the fear of bad news in her eyes and the set of her mouth.

"He's fine – spending some quality time in Intensive Care, but the outlook is good. He's tiny."

"He?" Audrey whispered "We've got a boy?"

"Yeah," Nathan grinned, feeling like his heart was in his throat "we've got a boy!" Audrey beamed and hugged him tightly. Nathan could hear her laughing in his ear, feeling where her hair touched his face and neck.

"Now all we need to do is think of a name," she pulled back but Nathan came and sat next to her on the bed, wrapping his arm around her.

"I was mulling over Connor?" Nathan started.

"No – I knew a right jerk at school called Connor. Used to make fun of this deaf girl because she couldn't speak properly."

"Ok," he swiftly moved on "how about Jake? Jacob?"

"Hmmm," she thought for awhile "I prefer Jack."

"Jack Wuornos," Nathan smiled "it has a ring to it. Jack it is." A nurse knocked at the door.

"Mrs. Wuornos?" she poked her head in and smiled "You can visit your son now – Doctor says he's strong enough to be held as well. You're very lucky Dr Sharpe was on call last night – he's a miracle worker when it comes to surgery." All through this she was helping Audrey into a wheelchair, pulling a hospital blanket round she shoulders to ward off the drafts that swept through the large halls. She wheeled Audrey to the Intensive Care Unit, where they were led to a room full of little plastic boxes. The Nurse wheeled them to a box right at the back, where a tiny pink baby lay asleep, tubes sticking out of his body. Nathan could see Audrey tearing up when the nurse handed her her son, and Nathan stroked the small wisps of hair on his head, already a dark musky brown.

"He has your hair," Audrey whispered, looking up at him with a grin.

"Yeah, but look," he ruffled it gently again, feeling the soft skin underneath "it has curls – maybe one of your relatives had curly hair?"

"I don't know," she shook her head sadly "my curls fell out when I was ten. Who are you going to look like most, Jack?" she cooed at the baby "Like your Mummy? Or like your Daddy? Are you going to be tall like your Daddy?"

"Can I hold him?" Nathan asked gently and Audrey nodded, gently passing the delicate child over. The baby looked even smaller in Nathan's arms, and all the more fragile. Nathan was just about to give him back when Jack's eyes fluttered and opened, gazing at him with a forget-me-not-blue intelligence. Nathan smiled – he might not have been the first to find out Audrey was pregnant, or the first to feel his baby, but he would be the best Father in all of Maine. Nathan smiled down at Jack and, even though he knew it was impossible, he thought he saw the flash of a smile in Jack's eyes too.


As i said last time, got loads of complaints about Duke being the first to feel and know things about the baby, so rest assured, Nathan will be there for: Jack's first day of school, his first steps, his first words, first smile, first bath, first birthday, first pretty much everything. Hope that settled some complaints.