Chapter Twenty-five

*Three years later*

"It's a boy!"

Bo was barely aware of what the doctor said as she closed her eyes for a moment and let the muscles in her body relax. She felt Lauren's lips press against her forehead and when she opened her eyes, Lauren was smiling at her. "He's amazing, Bo," she said as she moved away from her just enough to inspect the crying baby.

"Is . . . is he okay?"

"Yes, he is," her doctor, Dr. Goodwin, said as he looked from her to Lauren. "Lauren, would you like to cut the cord?"

Lauren lit up, nodding then cutting the umbilical cord with a giant grin on her face. As soon as she did, the nurse took the baby away and Bo had to push again for the placenta, with Lauren whispering to her that everything was almost over.

"We didn't go over this but did you want the placenta?"

Bo's eyes were wide and she was sure she looked horrified. "Why would I want it?"

The nurse walked back to her, the baby in her arms. "Oh, hon, some women are very into all that natural stuff. Some dry it and eat it."

"Oh, God, no," Bo said. "I do not want to do that."

Lauren chuckled and kissed her forehead again. "Look, baby. Here's our son."

The nurse smiled as she placed the little baby in her arms. He was still a little fussy but as soon as Bo held him he quieted down and opened his eyes. She heard Lauren move a chair close and sat down next to them. Both of them looked down at the little miracle that entered their life.

After they got married, their busy lives had picked back up as if they had never paused to get married. Lauren worked an amazing amount of hours at the hospital and sometimes Bo didn't see her for a couple days. She would be lying if she ever said it wasn't hard, but she knew that Lauren was pursuing her dream and that it wouldn't always be like that. Besides, it had given her time to finish degree.

It had taken a couple years but a little over a year ago, Bo achieved her bachelor's degree. It was a day she was surprisingly proud of. Surprised because she had thought that the degree would mean more to others, like Lauren, Trick, and her father, than it would for her, but she was wrong. During the ceremony, she ended up tearing up and when Lauren came up to her after and told her how proud she was of her, a few tears actually fell. She was proud of the work she put in as well.

It was at the ceremony that she had the first thought of expanding their family. A month before she graduated Lauren had finally gotten her first consistent hours at the hospital. Sadly, it was the overnight shift, but she only had to work the schedule for a year before she could talk about changing it. Either way they had some consistency for the first time since Lauren became a doctor and it got Bo thinking.

Surprisingly, it was that night when Lauren asked her what her thoughts were about starting a family. Bo knew that the question was meant to only feel out how ready she was for children, but it only took one week for them to make an appointment.

Bo offered to carry their first child. She knew that Lauren would, but Bo didn't want to have her disrupt her learning at the hospital. Her wife protested when she explained it to her, telling her that her career was just as important, but Bo thought this was the best for them. She had already decided to change jobs and now could after she had their first child.

After graduating, she decided that once she had a baby she would leave her assistant job and start working at the Dal. She knew her boss would be disappointed, especially since he had wanted her to go to college so she could work with him instead of for him, but she wanted to follow her own path and not anyone else's. That meant she would keep the Dal in the family when the time came for Trick to retire.

They got amazingly lucky once they decided to have a baby. After agreeing on a donor, it only took one try and suddenly, Bo was pregnant. Everything seemed to happen so quickly after that. Her body seemed to change daily, morning sickness came and went, and the cravings were unbelievable.

Lauren was there through all of it and Bo was so grateful for her wife. Even though she was working nights, she made sure Bo always had what she needed. Her wife read every baby book she could get her hands on as well and was always trying to make sure she was eating healthy and keeping her body healthy for the baby.

One aspect of the pregnancy they decided to keep unknown was the sex of the baby. Lauren's mother had said she decided to keep it a surprise with both her pregnancies and kept all the colors for the nursery neutral for both Lauren and her brother. According to Bo's father, her own mother had done the same so they felt keeping the tradition was important. Lauren went so far as to not look during the ultrasound so she wouldn't notice.

People kept guessing what they were having, but most of them were wrong. Bo smiled as she thought about the fact that only two people thought their first child would be a boy: Trick and Lauren's father. Everyone else thought that she would be holding a little baby girl right now.

"Don't lie," Bo started out as she turned away from the bundle of joy in her arms to Lauren, "did you know that we'd be having a boy?"

Lauren laughed as she carefully ran a finger over their son's delicate features. "I swear I didn't know. I never even looked at any of the stills. I wanted to be surprised, just like you."

"He is definitely a surprise."

"A wonderful one."

Bo watched Lauren lean down and kiss their baby boy's forehead. "It's a good thing the nursery is yellow and green."

Lauren smiled. "I guess we've officially started on filling the house with children like your father has been teasing us about."

Once they found out Bo was pregnant, they made the decision to finally leave the apartment Bo loved and find a house. Her father had offered to purchase one for them as a present, something he had also offered to do when they had gotten married, but they politely declined. Bo compromised by letting him come along to look at houses and he ended up being surprisingly helpful, guiding them to a four bedroom, three bath house in a quiet neighborhood that wasn't too far away from either the hospital or the Dal.

"Well, we didn't exactly buy a small house."

"I wanted something we could grow into and not have to worry about moving in a few years," Lauren said, keeping one hand gently on their little boy. "It's a beautiful house that we could afford and thanks to the team of inspectors your father insisted on walking through the place, we didn't have to do much work on it."

Bo smiled as the baby moved in her arms. She couldn't believe that this tiny person was just living inside her only a couple hours ago. It seemed so surreal, but all that could be ignored when she looked at her son. He was just so perfect in her arms.

"Are you getting tired, honey?"

Bo managed to look away from the baby to look into the eyes of her wife. "I'm exhausted, but then I look at him and I'm not so tired." She smiled at how Lauren was looking at the two of them. "You can take him."

"Are you sure? He looks very content with you."

"You're the one who said bonding is important," Bo pointed out. "He needs to know his other mother, too."

Lauren grinned as she gently took their son out of Bo's arms and into her own. Bo watched as she cradled him carefully, kissing the top of his head again. He squirmed a little before he almost sighed contentedly and closed his eyes, falling asleep in her arms. "You know, we never completely decided on a name."

"We agreed to nothing weird," Bo said, smiling.

"Yes, and we agreed on what we considered weird," Lauren said quietly. "We just never had the one name. Or one boy's name anyway."

Bo chuckled quietly. Because everyone thought they would be having a girl, they worked more on a girl's name than a boy's. "We had decided on Charlotte for a girl. Maybe we could use Charles?"

Lauren looked down at their son and shook her head. "He doesn't look like a Charles. What about Patrick? You brought that up a couple months ago. You know, kind of a way to honor Trick."

"Middle name, yes, but maybe something different for the first name." Bo smiled, watching Lauren cradle their son against her chest. "Too bad your brother beat us on using your dad's name."

"Oh, that was always going to be his," Lauren said. "It was something he wanted to do. Kristi told me."

Bo nodded, knowing that even though Jack still wasn't the greatest communicator, he married someone who was. They talked to Kristi all the time and had agreed that they wanted their kids to not only be close in age but also good friends. John was eighteen months and last month they found out that baby number two was on the way.

"So what are we going to name you, little man?" Lauren said, smiling at the baby.

Thinking back to when they had started to narrow down the list of names to just a few boy and girl choices, Bo smiled. "At one point we did have it narrowed down to three: Connor, Ethan, and Harris. Are you still okay with one of those?"

Lauren leaned in and laid the baby back down on Bo's chest. "Okay, baby. What do you want your name to be since your mommies can't decide?"

"What about Ethan?" Bo asked. "Ethan Patrick Lewis Dennis."

"I think we found a name." Lauren placed a light, delicate kiss on Bo's lips before turning her attention back to their son. "What do you think, Ethan? Do you like that name?"

He opened his eyes and looked at Lauren, moving around on Bo's chest as he babbled. "I think we have a winner," Bo said.

When she looked away from Ethan to Lauren, she noticed tears in her eyes. "We have a family, Bo. We have a son."

"Yes, we do."

"Do you think he's okay in his seat?"

Lauren laughed as she stood next to Bo, who was buckling Ethan into his car seat. "Yes, honey, he'll be fine. You fed him before he and you were discharged so he'll probably sleep the entire trip."

"I guess."

Kissing Bo's cheek, Lauren took one last look at their sleeping son before backing away. "Why don't you sit by him while I drive us home? We have visitors waiting for us."

Bo let a small smile show. "You think I'm being overprotective, don't you?"

"No," Lauren said, though a small part of her did find her wife's actions a little humorous, "I think you're acting like a new mother. So climb in next to Ethan and we can get home."

She watched Bo climb into the back seat of their SUV before getting into the driver's seat and starting their drive home. As they left the parking lot, Lauren did a mental check to not only make sure they had everything from the room and all the gifts Ethan had already collected even though he was a day old. Their son was already quite the charmer.

Lauren still couldn't believe he was here and she was a mother. Bo was only in labor for four hours, though she knew better than to use the word 'only' when she was describing it. She knew that women could be in labor for days and feared that Bo would have a difficult pregnancy. That hadn't been the case, however, and she was grateful for that. She would have felt guilty for not carrying their first child if her wife had a hard nine months.

There was a small part of her that felt part of the reason Bo offered was because she thought that Lauren's job was too important for maturity leave. While it was true she was still learning in her career, she would have carried Ethan in a second if Bo had said she didn't want to but still wanted children. It wouldn't have even been a discussion. Her supervisor was already insisting she take a few weeks off to help with Ethan and to form that mother-child bond.

She hoped that was already starting. Ethan was always calm and stopped crying when either she or Bo held him. She hoped that was a sign.

"You're always thinking when you're this silent."

Lauren took a glance in the rearview mirror, noticing that Bo was watching her, before turning her attention back on the road. "Just thinking about the last day. Our lives have changed in a huge way."

"In a good way."

"Of course," Lauren agreed. "It can get a little overwhelming at times, but we have each other."

"That's right."

Lauren smiled and glanced at her family again before concentrating on the road. Their house was a good 30 minute drive from the hospital and she didn't want to take any chances by getting distracted. Not when she knew they wouldn't be coming home to an empty house.

While some of their close friends and Trick and Bo's father had stopped in to see Ethan, Lauren's parents were too far away to drop everything and make a six hour drive. It was a distance that Lauren hated in times like this, but her parents had responsibilities and she respected that. It was a work ethic they taught her so she couldn't fault them for it.

Instead, Jack offered to look after the store for a couple days and they started their drive early this morning so they would be at the house when they would arrive home. When she talked to her mother earlier, all she talked about was how excited they were to meet their new grandchild. She also wanted to talk about when they would visit as well since she wanted everyone else to meet the little bundle of joy.

Along with her parents, there was a good chance that if Martin and Trick weren't at the house right away, they would be stopping by. That was the same with Kenzi. Bo's best friend was at the hospital almost immediately when Lauren called and had been the first person to hold Ethan other than his two mommies. She said she was going to show up with lots of presents.

"How many people with be at the house?" Bo asked.

Lauren looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Bo was happy but tired. "Well, my parents will be there and they called your father to let him know they'll be here for a day or two so I bet he'll be there. You told Kenz that you were getting discharged, right?"

"I did."

"Then she'll probably come over. Ciara and Crystal said to call them if it was okay to stop by. I was going to wait to see how you and Ethan settled in before we did that."

"What do you mean by that?" Bo asked and when Lauren looked back again she had an eyebrow raised.

"Bo, you had a baby yesterday," Lauren started out, "it's normal to be tired and not want to entertain a bunch of people at our house."

Bo let out a quiet sigh. "I guess I'm okay with your parents coming and staying but . . ."

"But, what?"

"But I don't know what I'm doing, Lauren," Bo said. "What if your mom doesn't think I'm going to be a good mother?"

"First, my mom won't think you're not a good mother," Lauren said immediately. "She might give you a tip here and there, but that's it. I'm okay with getting a little advice, honey. This is all new to us and our parents and Trick have been through this before."

"I guess."

Lauren smiled. "Is he still asleep?"

Bo looked down and also smiled. "Yep, just like you said."

"There are times when he is going to be the easiest baby in the world and there'll be times when we'll want a break from him." Lauren laughed, remembering stories a couple of her coworkers shared. "It'll be a balancing act for us." She paused. "And great practice for baby number two."

"Already thinking of the second one?" Bo asked, laughing. "We should probably figure out how to take care of the one we have first."

"Gotta fill the house, remember?"

They laughed as Lauren took a turn into the driveway, noticing her parents' car parked off to the side. She waited for the garage door to open then pulled in, making sure the vehicle was safely inside before shutting the door again. She hopped out of the driver's seat, both nervous and happy. It felt like such a huge moment, bringing home their baby son, and she couldn't imagine sharing it with anyone other than Bo.

Lauren grabbed a couple of bags from the hospital while Bo tended to Ethan. The little boy was still asleep, but Lauren knew he probably wouldn't be for long. He would probably want to be held at some point.

When they walked into the house, Lauren could hear the faint sound of ESPN so she figured her parents would be in the living room. If she knew her father, he probably had sat down on the couch as soon as they arrived and fell asleep. It had been a long drive after all.

"Mom? Dad?" Lauren called out as they took their shoes off in the mud room and walked into the kitchen.

She heard more movement before her parents walked out of the living room, smiling wide as they looked from the couple to Ethan sleeping in his carrier. "Well, look at him," her mother commented as they met them. "Isn't he adorable?"

"He is," her father agreed.

"Why don't we go into the living room and get settled?" Lauren offered, watching Bo rest the carrier on the center island of their kitchen. "I know Bo wants to get Ethan out of the carrier."

Bo gave her a playful dirty look, but her mother only laughed. "Oh, I know that feeling. You feel that you holding them is the ultimate protection." She gave Bo a hug before leading her into the next room. "Come on, you have to be tired. Let's sit down and Lauren can get Ethan."

Lauren smiled at the fact that Bo was too tired to really argue the fact. She hadn't slept much the night before and now she would have to wake up with Ethan more often than not. Turning away from them, she worked on unbuckling Ethan from the carrier. He moved around slightly but his eyes stayed closed as Lauren carefully picked him up and adjusted him in her arms.

"He is a cute little guy, isn't he?"

"He sure is, Dad," Lauren answered, smiling at him. "Everything went smoothly yesterday and we've already gone through eating and a diaper change."

"And how are you?" he asked.

"Tired, excited, scared," she listed off. "I'm so proud of Bo, Dad. She was amazing yesterday and the first time she held Ethan . . . it was like my world stopped, but in a good way."

"Happens every time." He winked at her before leading her into the living room. Bo and her mother had sat down on the couch and Bo smiled as she looked at her holding their son.

"Do you want to hold him, Mom?" Lauren asked, walking to where they sat.

"You don't even have to ask." She reached out and Lauren carefully handed him over, smiling as her mom cooed over him. She sat down next to Bo while her father sat down in a chair. "I'm surprised they kept you so long. I thought hospital pretty much deliver and kick you out nowadays."

"Well, Lauren does work there," Bo said, leaning against Lauren as she looked at Ethan. "I figure we get special treatment."

"We didn't," Lauren put in, "but there weren't any complications so we got a little sleep and went home."

"He's going to look just like you, Bo," her mother said. "Look at all this hair. I bet he'll have dark brown eyes, too."

Lauren smiled as her mother cooed over the baby. "His features will change a lot, but I have a feeling there's a lot of Bo in there."

No one said anything for a minute as they watched Ethan. He opened his eyes and looked around before closing them again, not quite caring that he wasn't being held by one of his mommies. Lauren put her arm around Bo and watched the scene in front of her, not quite believing that she was finally at this point in her life.

"You know, you can call me whenever you want if something's wrong," her mother said, looking up from Ethan to the couple. "I have a great relationship with Kristi, but when she has a problem with John, she calls her mother. I guess it's instinct to ask your own mother." She paused, letting a smile show. "Even though I'm not your mother, I hope you'll feel you can call me. Even if it's just to vent. You'll never get any judgment from me."

Lauren leaned in and kissed Bo's cheek before whispering, "see, I told you."

"Thank you, Liz," Bo said. "I'll definitely be calling you. Every five minutes I get the feeling I have no idea what I'm doing."

"That's normal," her mother insisted.

"So what would you like for dinner?" Lauren asked. "I'm not sure what we have in the fridge, but I know I can come up with something."

"Oh, no, pumpkin," her father said, "we've not letting you cook for us. Martin and Trick are coming over with food and then we are going to spend the evening with them so you can get settled in."

"Yes, too many visitors can get overwhelming," her mother added. "This way you can have some space to have your friends over without all of us old people getting in the way."

"Mom, you're never in the way," Lauren said quickly. "But thank you. We're not sure who'll stop by. I'm sure Kenzi will want to and Crystal and Ciara probably will, too."

"Then it's settled." Her mother smiled down on her grandson before continuing on. "Now, tell us how you decided on the name."

Bo was so tired and Ethan would not sleep.

The first two months with him seemed to go by in a flash and their son was an easy-going baby. He was healthy and according to Lauren, was on the right track with weight and all the other things doctors tracked for. All Bo knew was that he already had a personality and was a generally happy little guy.

Not lately though. In the last couple weeks, he would cry for what seemed like hours on end and Bo didn't know what was wrong. Lauren had started back up at the hospital again so she didn't have any backup that she felt she might need. She didn't know what she was doing and it was stressing her out in the worst way.

Her mother-in-law had been amazing in giving her helpful tips on how she might be able to settle Ethan down or figure out what was wrong. Even Kristi had told what had worked and what didn't when John was the same age. The problem was none of it had been working with her son today.

"I'm a horrible mother, Kenz," she said into her phone as she held a crying Ethan against her shoulder.

"You're not horrible, Bo-Bo. The little guy is just getting in a good cry."

"I really wish you were right."

"So nothing Liz suggested you try yesterday worked?"

"No, he finally just cried himself to sleep," Bo answered. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong. What if he's hurting and I'm not able to tell?"

"Bo, don't do that to yourself. Listen, I have to go but do you want me to come over after I get out of the office? I can tell Hale I'm going to your house for practice."

Bo laughed at the comment. Kenzi and Hale were getting married in two short months and she had been teasing him that if they were having kids, it should be around the same time as her bestie. "Lauren should be home in an hour or two. Maybe she can work some kind of magic with him."

"Okay, but I'll still call you when I'm done just in case. And you're coming with me to meet with the wedding planner tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, Lauren has the day off so she will be with Ethan. Talk to you later, Kenz."

They finished their goodbyes before Bo ended the call and turned her full attention back to her crying son. She couldn't understand what was wrong and why he wouldn't stop crying. It had to be her fault in some way.

"Sweetie, I really wish you could tell me what's wrong so I can fix it," Bo commented as she bounced him in her arms gently. "That's part of my job as your mom and right now, I don't feel very good at it."

He continued to cry for what felt like an eternity to Bo before she heard the door to the garage open and close. She looked up at the clock above the TV and saw that an hour had passed without her even realizing it. Ethan was still crying but he wasn't nearly as loud as he had been.

"Bo? Honey?"

"We're in here," Bo answered, still trying to rock Ethan gently.

Lauren walked into the living room, fresh in the clothes she had packed in her bag when she left for the hospital 15 hours ago. She took one look at the pair and dropped her bag on the floor, closing the distance between them. "What's wrong?"

The question instantly made Bo cry. "I don't know. He won't stop crying and I can't get him to stop. I'm a horrible mother."

"No, you're not," Lauren said immediately. "Let me take the little guy and let's sit down." Bo let Lauren take Ethan out of her arms and pressed him gently against her. "Why don't you sit down and take a break? I'll take care of Ethan, try to get him settled down."

"Lauren, I can take care of him."

"I know you can, but you have since I left for the hospital. It's my turn and we're going to get him fed and changed and get him to sleep because it looks like he's used a lot of energy crying." She leaned in and lightly kissed her. "And it looks like he's used up a lot of your energy, too."

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Bo said, trying but failing to keep the defeat out of her voice.

"You're not doing anything wrong," Lauren said, "and you are an amazing mother. Ethan will calm down and he'll be his happy self soon enough."

"I hope you're right."

Lauren smiled. "I'll grab a bottle and Ethan and I will hang out in the nursery. You rest a little, okay?"

Bo smiled. "I love you."

Lauren winked at her as she kept hold of Ethan, who was slowly quieting down. "I love you, too."

A/N: hi, everyone! This chapter took a surprisingly long time to write but I'm trying to finish it up and wanted to get a chapter out by my birthday (which is tomorrow or today depending on where you are). Probably one more chapter. Hopefully, this is worth the wait. Please let me know what you think. I'll probably be working on one of the other in progress stories next. Until next time! Twitter: hayley128 :)