Welcome to the last chapter, it was never meant to be longer than a simple little one-shot. Thank you.
Mikki belongs to KikiJuanita, and as always you must ask permission to use her. The names you don't recognize from the show belong to me and can't be used without my permission. The rest belong to Glee.
Enjoy!
"Baby, what's with the save the date cards?" Clint asked his wife, joining her at the kitchen table, leaning over to kiss her cheek. He had spent his day hanging out with the guys. They have been married for six months now, together for almost two years, as they waited a year to get married.
"Box on the counter will explain it," she told him, as she finished writing the last bit of info on the card before her.
"Okay," he said slowly, getting up to grab the box on the counter, coming back to sit at the table. "Should I be worried?" He asked, looking at his wife, nervously playing with the dark blue ribbon tied around the box.
"We can worry about that after you open the box," she told him, placing the card on the small pile before her. "I'm not saying anything until you open it," she stated, tapping the small white box sitting before him on the table.
"I feel like there's a big piece of the puzzle I am missing here," he chuckled, slowly pulling the bow from the box.
"If you would just open the box, those missing piece will be put into place," she smiled sweetly at him, waiting for him to see what news awaited him. She was finding it hard enough not to hurt the news out, but she wanted to see this through and he would know soon enough.
"You got me a shirt?" He asked confused, seeing the black cotton. Onyx shook her head. Clint frowned, lifting the article of clothing up to see a very positive pregnancy test and the black onesie, with white writing, saying, Hi daddy, I've been assured by Mommy that you're the best. You'll be amazing, I'll be meeting you soon. "A baby?" He asked, looking at his wife, unshed tears in his hazel eyes. His emotions over having an offspring, starting to get the best of him.
"It was the logical explanation as to why I have been feeling sick one second and totally fine the next, and why my breasts have been tender," she told him. "My Doctor confirmed it yesterday, and I really wanted to find a cute way to tell you," she smiled, placing her hand on his hand closest to her.
"Do you know how far along?" He asked, taking all of the information in.
"Nine weeks," she replied, placing her free hand on her stomach. "That's what I'm doing with the cards," she shrugged, pushing a card over to him.
"You mean to tell me, that I can't say a word until Christmas Eve?" He asked, having read over the card.
"It's safest to wait until the second trimester, and I figured we could host the Christmas party here, since everyone takes turns hosting it," she said in way of an explanation. Last year it had been Seb and Mikki that hosted the party.
"It would only be right," he nodded, glancing back to the items in the box. "This isn't some cruel joke is it?" He asked.
"I would never pull a joke like this. I don't see anything funny about pulling a joke like that," she told him. "We're going to be parents in 7 months time."
"Are we even ready for this?" He asked, licking his lips. Don't get him wrong, he wanted kids, but they had yet to sit down and have a serious conversation about kids and the right timing for them. They further they ever said about kids are that they wanted them, when the time is right. He knows how far off track plans go, so he really shouldn't be as shocked or as surprised as he is over his wife being with a child.
"Is any parent ready for kids?" She asked in a way of an answer. "The most planned out pregnancy can take a person off guard. I honestly believe that no parent is fully ready for a baby," she told him. "We can do this," she softly told him.
"Yeah?" He questioned, a smile slowly taking over his face. Being a great uncle was one thing and not something one could compare to being a father. It is one adventure he is starting to think won't be such a bad one. "You're serious about waiting until Christmas Eve, to tell our friends and family?" He double checked. He didn't know if he could wait a little over two months to tell anyone.
"Very serious," she nodded. "So much can happen in the first trimester, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, if we happen to have a miscarriage," she explained, knowing the risks were higher in the first trimester. "If a misunderstanding were to happen, I wouldn't want them to feel the pain we're going to be dealing with. It's best to hold off," she assured him.
"Yeah," he responded, taking his hand from hers to lay it against her stomach. "It's surreal to know," he whispered.
"You don't have to tell me," she replied, turning back to the task at hand. "This does mean you have to actually finish cleaning out the spare room closest to ours for the nursery," she told him.
"We've got time," he chuckled, 7 months was a while away.
"Not only do we need to clean the room out but get it set up into the nursery, babe," she told him. "And it may seem like we have a lot of time on our hands before this one," she started to say, placing her hand on her stomach, "is here, but the next 7 months is going to go by fast," she informed him. "Ask my brother or even ask Seb and Mikki," she tacked on.
"I'll wait until we share our news," he smirked. "Any views on how to go about telling them the news?" He asked, playing with the onesie before him.
"Other than Jeff, no," she said shaking her head. "I want to do the same thing I did here for you for Jeff, maybe find little shirts for Ember, Jasper and Jett," she shared.
"I like that," he smiled getting up. "I'm going to take a shower," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Do join me when you're done here, it's not like I can knock you up now," he teased. Onyx swatting him.
Over the weeks, they slowly got the room they were going to use as a nursery cleaned out, what they didn't want they donated, as they saw no need for it to sit around collecting dust, when someone else would enjoy it much like they had when they first bought the items. Along with cleaning the room out, they took a little time to check out baby furniture, finding the set they liked the best. For the color and theme of the nursery, it was going to be gender neutral, as they were still very much undecided about if they wanted to find out the gender of the baby or wait.
"But think of all the fun ways to reveal what we are having," she protested weakly. As fun as the gender reveals are to watch, she didn't know if she really wanted to partake in any of them, as she felt it best to wait until the baby is born to know whether it be a boy or a girl.
"I could care less about the reveals," Clint told her, flipping through a baby name book. "It would be easy to pick a name out and buy stuff if we knew for sure," he offered. To him it really didn't matter one way or the other, it would be easier to buy and prepare for their little one, if they were to find out, but that didn't mean they had too know.
"That is true," she nodded. "But we can pick a boy name and a girl names," she told him. "And there is enough clothes and toys and what not we can buy that is gender neutral," she tacked on. "And we can have our choice of car seat," she said, showing him the internet page she is looking at, that has a variety of choices of car seats for sale. "We don't need one that is pink, blue, green or even purple," she told him. "The safest one is the only one I care about having," she stated.
"I am with you on that, babe," he replied, scrolling down some. "The Mickey Mouse one is cute," he laughed. Who didn't like the cartoon mouse?
"It would make for a good laugh, considering," she smiled. "I know we can't have it both ways," she sighed. "But I feel like we should wait," she shared.
"Then we wait," he told her.
"But…" she started to say.
"No, babe," he laughed, leaning over to kiss what she wanted to say away. "We'll wait," he told her. "Now how do you feel about the name Emerson?" He asked.
"It's cute," she smiled. "And I do want a more unique name for our little one," she shared. She was blessed with a more unique name, and she wanted that for her child, as she didn't want her kids to be given a name that a bunch of kids in their classes through the ages would share a name with, as they could be a headache to deal with. "Finley is a pretty name as well," she commented.
"I don't know about that name babe," he commented not to keen on the name of Finley. "What about Justice or Davis?" He questioned.
"Justice Finley has a pretty ring to it, if we have a boy," she commented.
"I actually like that name," he nodded. "We can agree that we have one name down?" He asked.
"Yep," she smiled. "Now what's a name that goes with Emerson?" She asked, opening a new tab to look up girl names, while Clint looked through the baby book, in his hands. "Soleil is pretty. Emerson Soleil," she smiled.
"What about Emerson Blaine?" He smirked, holding back his laughter at his pregnant wife.
"You would stroke Blaine's ego like that?" She questioned, turning to look at him, her eyes wide, her lips curving into a smile.
"No," he said, shaking his head. "I don't have a fondness for the man, but he was there for you in your time of need over the years, that is something that I can appreciate," he easily explained. "I don't have a problem in honoring him for that reason alone," he shared.
"You would be okay with that?" She smiled. She wouldn't use a name he wasn't comfortable with. They needed to be on the same page when naming their unborn child.
"I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't okay with the name," he told her. "I know everything that you've had with him is long over with and that you needed him when you felt like you had no one, he is your best friend," he stated.
"I think someone likes Blaine, more than he lets on," she teased, nudging him gently with her elbow.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," he grumbled out. "I'm not signing up to be buddies with him or anything like that, but I can tolerate him," he said. "And I know what he means to you," he stressed. "So I am okay with using the name Blaine in our child's name," he stated.
"Thank you, baby," she said, leaning into kiss his cheek lightly. "Mind checking on dinner?" She asked, a sickly sweet smile on her face.
"Of course, babe," he laughed, getting up. He left the baby name book on the coffee table; all of his intentions were to come back and keep looking for a name he liked better than the rest. "Want anything while I am up and in the kitchen?" He asked.
"Some green olives and the cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving the other day," she responded with.
They had spent Thanksgiving at Matt and Harlow's place, enjoying the friendly atmosphere around them. It took a lot not to blurt out they were with child, when she found herself eating more than she really should have eaten. They had to play off the comments made as they couldn't give away to the playfully banter actually being real. It also gave them the perfect chance to hand out their little save the date cards for Christmas Eve dinner at their place.
"Coming right up, babe," he told her, walking to the kitchen to check on the dinner in the Crockpot before getting the half jar of green olives and small container holding the cranberry sauce, grabbing a fork, not bothering with a plate, as she is the only one to eat either one of them, as he isn't a big fan of either of them. "Are we certain on the whole godparent situation?" He asked, handing her the items in his hand, moving the laptop for her, to take a look at what she was looking at, to see if he liked anything on the page.
"As hard as the choice was to make, I thought we were both okay on the choice we made?" She asked, glancing at him, while opening the jar of olives.
"Just wanted to make sure before ordering the stuff we need to make that reveal," he smiled, opening a new tab to go into their bookmarks to open the pages needed, making sure his wife could see as well, not wanting to mess the order up.
"Daddy, can we open presents now?" Ember whined, looking at the presents that sat under the tree at her Aunt and Uncle's place, as they tortured her, wanting to be ripped open.
"Sweetie, we went over this, we're not going to open them until after we eat," he told his daughter for what felt like the millionth time. She'd been on him the second they walked through the door.
"Actually," Clint said, getting up to dig under the tree. "We have a present you can open," he shared, pulling the five presents out that he needed.
Onyx and Clint talked about it that morning, while getting their house ready the rest of the way for their group of friends and family. Clint being in charge of the ham and the turkey for dinner that night. They decided that after everyone showed up they would let the select few open the presents so they could share their news, as they couldn't take the waiting any longer, they wanted their friends to know.
"Why don't the rest of us get to open presents?" Matt questioned, watching his friend hand out the presents to Jeff, Sugar, Ember and placing the small wrapped packages in front of the almost two year old twin boys.
"Because you weren't special enough," Clint smirked, sitting down by his wife, who rolled her eyes at his response to his friend.
"Best Uncle? Check. Cool Uncle? Maybe! Awesome Godfather?" Jeff read the saying on the little dark blue onesie in the box, next to the godfather question there was one little box to check off; the only option being yes. "Are you really pregnant?" He asked, looking from the onesie to his sister, back again.
"Keep looking," Onyx urged him, knowing that there was still another piece to his present. A framed photo of their latest scan, having the feeling that they would need the proof. As they were ready for the whole are you sure you're not faking the pregnancy jokes, they were expected.
"We just want to make sure, what with the way you decided to fool us a few years ago," Mikki pointed out.
"A bit old for those jokes, don't ya think?" Clint asked, looking over at his friends.
"Maybe," Seb shrugged. "But you guys are the ones that thought it would be okay. How are we supposed to trust you now?" He asked with a smirk.
"You can shove it," Clint laughed, shaking his head.
"Do you know what you're having?" Sugar asked, looking at the little pink onesie in her box that simply read, Awesome Aunts make Awesome Godmother's. Will you be mine? "How far along are you?"
"Nope," Onyx replied shaking her head. "We've talked the subject to death, and we have decided that we are going to wait for our little bundle of joy to be here," she shared, rubbing her slightly round tummy, one that she could still hide under her loose fitting clothes. "Almost five months."
"What about a baby shower?" Harlow asked. "What are we supposed to get you?" She asked with a slight laugh.
"We've got enough stuff, and things that we need to bring baby home," Onyx shared. "And any one of you is more than welcome to throw a baby shower, but I request that you wait until after he or she is here, so the guest of honor can attend, and that way you all know what to get," she told them.
"Otherwise, gender neutral isn't going anywhere," Clint smirked. "Ember, sweetie, how do you like your shirt?" He asked, seeing that she had slipped her bright pink shirt on over the red velvet dress her mother dressed her in.
"Can't you tell?" She questioned in a duh tone. "I"m going to be the bestest cousin ever!" She exclaimed. Her shirt read, Will you be my best friend, cousin? Within the group of friends, she already considered the other kids her cousins, but this time it would be a little different.
"Yeah, Uncle Clint, can't you tell," Onyx teased her husband. "I know you will be sweetie," Onyx smiled at her niece.
The little shirts they got for Jett and Jasper said the same thing. Jett's shirt was a light red color, whereas Jasper's shirt was green. The saying, Bound by love, trouble here we come. "Ain't that the truth," Sugar laughed.
"That it is," Jeff laughed. "And do you really think that I would pass up being your little one's godfather?" He asked. That isn't something that he would pass up for anything. "I'm honored that you picked me," he smiled.
"It was a hard choice to make, but we couldn't find a better person than you and Sugar," Onyx smiled. Her brother and sister-in-law made the perfect choice to her in the end, as not only did she have this special relationship with them over the last two years, but Clint did as well with Jeff being his best friend since they were kids.
"I'm with my husband; I'll be honored to be the godmother to my niece or nephew," she smiled.
"As hurt as I am by you not picking me," Blaine smirked. "I'm happy that you're getting the family you have always wanted, Onyx. But can we eat now?" He asked with a laugh.
"Can I rethink my answer?" Clint asked softly, kissing his wife's temple.
"Nope," she smiled sweetly at him.
"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked, looking at her brother.
"Nothing," Clint laughed shaking his head. "It is something, but you'll know after the baby is born if the baby is the right gender," he clarified the best he could without giving away one of the names they had picked out.
"Baby names, huh?" Mikki questioned. "Are you really going to make us wait until the baby comes in four months time?"
"Yes, we are," Onyx smirked. "Now let's eat because I'm starving. I am eating for two now," she said, making her husband help her up from the couch.
"Yes, mama," Clint smiled, pulling his wife in for a small kiss.
Chatter was made throughout dinner, sharing laughs. And all of them sharing the most helpfully parenting tips with them, as they all knew that they have different views of how to parent that works best for them and they weren't about to tear each other down over it not being the way they do it. Onyx and Clint were thankful for the tips they were given, but they too knew that any of those ways wouldn't work best for them, and they would have to figure out the parenting style best for them. It was nice knowing that they didn't have to take this scary jump into parenthood alone without knowing what exactly they were doing.
They decided to open presents before having dessert giving their stomachs a chance to recover from all the food they had eaten. They called it a night with kids falling asleep where they sat on the floor playing with their toys and a very exhausted Onyx falling asleep on her husband's shoulder.
"Do I really have to be here?" Clint whined, turning the car off at Mikki and Seb's place. "I thought these things were for woman and not men," he commented, unfastening his seat-belt.
"They're also normally held before you give birth," she smiled sweetly at him. "Our friends are in there and I'm sure the guys don't want to be here as much as you don't, but they are sucking it up for our baby. Don't you think you can do the same?" She asked him sweetly. She was loosing her patience, as she had been up most the night with their newborn. The small nap she had before leaving the house, not doing enough for her.
"Okay, okay, I'll get our peanut," he told her, climbing out of the car.
"That's all I ask," she replied, pushing her door open to climb out of the car as well, grabbing the diaper bag from the backseat of the car, walking to the door to knock, Clint meeting her on the front porch as they waited for someone to open the door for them.
"Come in," Seb ushered the new parents. They smiled at him entering the house, slipping their shoes off, to enter the house fully. Clint setting the car seat down on the coffee table to unbuckle her from her restraints to pull her out of her car seat.
"Are we going to learn her full name?" Jeff asked, easily taking his little niece from his friend.
"It is only fair," Clint said looking to his wife. After their little girl was born, they refused to tell any of their friends the full name they picked out for their little bundle.
"It is fair," she nodded. "But I don't want anyone to be getting a big head or a massive ego once we share our baby girl's name," she warned looking around the room, seeing that they had been the last ones to arrive.
"I'll let you do the honor," Clint smirked, knowing what would be coming their way, as a certain someone would be getting a big ego out of the name they choose. It still didn't make him want to reconsider the name they picked out, because it meant more to his wife than she lets on it does.
"Thanks for that, babe," she laughed. "Tierney Blaine," she shared, casting a look over at her best friend to see his reaction.
"You named your daughter after me?" He asked a smirk spreading across his face. "And here I thought you didn't like me, Clint," he commented.
"I tolerate you for my wife," he made clear. "And you mean a lot to her and that is something that I can respect," he stated.
"And I can respect that," Blaine said. "Now let me see my namesake," he smiled, getting up to take the little baby from her uncle.
"I thought his ego would have been bigger," Clint commented, pulling his wife down to sit on his lap on the couch.
"You don't give him enough credit," Onyx whispered, kissing his temple. She knew how Blaine came off to people, especially to her husband, but that wasn't the guy he truly is, as she has seen just how vulnerable he really is underneath it all. How sweet and caring he can be to the ones he loves.
Sharing laughs with those closest to her, gave her everything she thought she lost along the way. A family. Looking back on the last two years of her life, gave her everything she ever wanted. She no longer saw it as this burden or question herself why she agreed to Clint's plans to begin with, because sitting here, she has come to see that agreeing to be his fake fiance will always be the best thing she can ever agree to doing.