Title: All the Ways I Love You
Author: phoniexchild
Fandom: Cory in the House
Genre: pre-series, post-series (as of season two), AU-ish
Rating: T/PG-13
Summary: "We always believe our first love is our last, and our last love our first." -Anonymous
Disclaimer: I do not own Cory in the House.

Chapter Nine
2034
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Newt's hand was in a death grip.

"Oh my god!" Meena yelled, "When will this end?"

"Soon," the nurse reassured, "The doctor will be here in a moment."

"So, she's, uh whatsit? - ten centimeters?" Newt asked, ignoring the pain in his hand.

"Yes," the nurse grinned and head out of the room.

"Finally!" Meena groaned, "I can't take this anymore!"

"Just a little longer," Newt said, flexing his newly freed fingers.

"You try pushing a small human through your vagina!" she snapped.

Newt bit his lip, holding back a joke. Meena would not appreciate it right now.

"Hello, Mrs. Livingston," Dr. Flores greeted, walking in and began examining Meena.

"How soon will it be over?" Meena asked in lieu of a greeting.

Dr. Flores laughed, "Soon enough, just try to relax."

Meena stared at her in disbelief.

Dr. Flores grinned, "It sounds crazy, but I do know what I'm talking about. I have two kids."

"You did this twice?"

Dr. Flores smiled, "It's well worth it." Then turning serious: "On your next contraction, I want you to push, got it?"

Meena nodded, smiling a little when Newt offered her his hand.

Newt's nerves were on end. He knew that childbirth wasn't easy, but he had never realized how painful it could be. Hell, he hadn't even seen a newborn baby before. Closest was after his niece Sama was born. He had spent his Spring Break in Philadelphia - Sama was ten days old by then.

Meena gripped his hand. Newt leaned forward and spoke encouragingly into her ear and prayed. He wasn't a particularly religious person, he wasn't raised one either, but he thought if there was a God, now would be a good time to ask for help and believe. They couldn't lose this one too.

A few months into their marriage, Meena had gotten pregnant. It was a complete shock, but still a joyful one. They looked up everything about pregnancy and childcare that they could find. Advice, it seemed, came from everywhere, everyone they knew had some words of wisdom. They started to redecorate the spare room in the apartment. Began to look up names, arguing over whether they would have a boy or a girl.

Then suddenly in the fifth month, they lost the baby.

It had taken awhile before they could talk about it, before walking past the nursery door didn't hurt so much, before they could touch each other like they use to.

About eight months ago, Meena had shown him the home pregnancy test. They had stared at each in shock. Then they had a long talk about what to do and how they would handle this pregnancy.

Ever so slowly, they finished the nursery, dusted off those books on pregnancy and childcare, and finally, finally began looking up names.

"The head's crowning!" Dr. Flores announced, grinning, "Keep at it, Meena."

She gave one final push, panting.

"There we go," Dr. Flores held the baby while the nurse cut the umbilical cord.

"Why isn't it crying?" Newt whispered. Meena squeezed his hand in fear.

Dr. Flores handed the baby to the nurse, who began cleaning.

"You have a boy," Dr. Flores grinned as suddenly and loudly the baby's cries sounded, "A very healthy boy," she laughed.

Newt let out a strangled laugh and turned to Meena who was crying. He kissed her.

Soon the nurse brought their son over, placing him in Meena's arms, while Dr. Flores finished up with Meena and began explaining about caring for a newborn.

Newt stared down at his son - he had Meena's eyes and her mocha complexion.

"We're parents," Meena whispered, kissing their son's head as Dr. Flores finished her instructions.

"Old parents," Newt grinned.

"A new Livingston family tradition," Meena suggested.

"We're older than my parents when I was born."

"By four years," Meena laughed, "Stop. We just had a baby - I don't want to feel old."

"Okay, okay, sorry," Newt laughed apologizing and kissed her.

Later after the doctor and nurse had left, after their son was resting in the hospital nursery, Meena was sleeping and Newt had stepped out into the hallway to call everyone - Casey, Sama ("I have a cousin!" the twenty-three year old had announced gleefully to her sociology class), Cory and Mary, Sophie, Amy and Andrew, Meena's parents, his parents-

"Hello?" Catherine Livingston's voice asked through the phone.

"Hey, Mom, it's Newt."

"Newton," she sounded pleased, but cautious, "Is...?" she let the sentence drift off.

"You have a grandson," Newt grinned, "David Raum Livingston."

--
"Where there is love there is life." -Gandhi
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Author's Notes: My knowledge of birth is very limited, so I apologize for any errors.

The next chapter (which is also the last) will be up either later tonight or tomorrow. Also, forgot to mention this in the last chapter - thank you MissCrazyChick for the great reviews!
Word Count: 763
Date Written: 2.19; 3.12, 13.2008