It feels right that Steve's the first of their family and friends to meet her daughter. He knocks gently on the door, bearing flowers and a four-year-old monkey named Ethan hanging off his back.
"Hey, ladies," he says, "Up for a visit from the handsomest men you know?"
Gail laughs. "Oh," she says, "is Leo with you too?"
He smirks at her as he raises a hand to steady the bouncing boy on his back
"Get in here, you dork," she says, and squeezes Holly's hand excitedly.
"Dad, dad," her long-limbed, wild-haired nephew whispers loudly, "let me down. I wanna see."
Steve helps his son down and then takes the boy's hand in his own. They cross the room to the bed where Holly is propped up against a pile of pillows, one hand in Gail's and the other just resting on the hospital bassinet at her side.
"Hey, mom," he says, and kisses Holly's cheek before indicating the flowers in his hand, "these are for you."
Gail, predictably, objects. "What about me?"
"You," Steve says pointedly, "didn't do any of the work."
Holly lets out a tired laugh at that. Gail just pouts.
"Oh, fine," Steve says. "E—do you have your present for Aunt Gail?"
The boy nods seriously, and walks over to Gail to wrap her legs up in a strong hug. "Happy mama's day, Aunt Gail," he says, and shyly hands her something soft.
Gail crouches down so they're face to face. "Thank you, E. Now," she says, unwrapping the present from the scrap of blanket it's tucked in, "what is this?"
"It's for the baby," he says.
It's a furry little rabbit, not unlike the one Gail brought to the hospital on the day he was born.
"Oh, Ethan, she's going to love it." She tickles his tummy and kisses his cheek before picking him up in her arms and depositing him on the hospital bed next to her wife. "Hol," she says, "look what E's brought." Holly oohs over the sweet boy and his gift while Steve looks back and forth between his son and the bundle in the bassinet, an excited grin on his face.
"Put the flowers down, Steven," Gail says in an excited tone that many a rookie has learned to be wary of, "there's someone I want to introduce you to."
She leans over the bassinet, still in awe of this tiny person she's helped to bring into the world. Her daughter—her daughter—is light as a feather in her arms, and Gail knows that there is nothing she will not do to make sure that the world never weighs her baby girl down.
She gently places the bundle in Steve's experienced arms, teasing a finger over the little crop of dark hair.
"Katherine," she says with a wide smile, "meet your dorky Uncle Steve. He's probably going to be the one who teaches you how to sweet-talk your way out of trouble and the only things that really matter about being a Peck, so you might want to keep him around."
If either of them notice the tears in the other's eyes, they wisely keep it to themselves.
Pecks have each other's backs.