The smile seemed to be permanently set on his face as he sat and watched them sleep. Lisa had fallen asleep immediately after being brought into her room. Not soon after, the nurses brought the baby in as she had instructed them to do. Now, the little clear crib sat on side of her hospital bed, with a little pink card that read 'Baby Girl House, July 10th 1993, 8lbs. 3oz. 18 ¼ in. They had already had a lot of visitors, all who said they would come back after Lisa had finished resting. He watched them a little while longer before he saw the tiny blanket started to move a little. He sat up in his chair and peeped over the side of the crib. He saw a pair of dark blue eyes curiously searching the room, bouncing from wall to wall before they came to settle on his face. He smiled when her attention stayed focused on him. He got up and took a couple of steps towards the crib and reached into it, picking her up. He secured her his in his right arm, snuggling her closer to his body, and she sighed as if she was content.

"Hi, Hayden," he said softly as he walked over to the window of the room. He shifted her so he was holding her in his hands, facing him. He felt his heart flutter as her eyes roamed his face taking in and becoming familiar with all of his features. "You finally get to put a face with the voice now. I'm your dad. Just to get you acquainted with the term, because I plan on betting your mom that you'll say daddy before you say mommy," he told her. She just stared, as if she could understand what he was saying. "But not that incoherent babble like 'da da' or 'ma ma'. We know that doesn't count, so just remember that when you decided to actually start talking. Yeah that crazy lady back there is your mother. She's the one I told you about trying to strangle me. But don't worry about that, she'll actually probably start to be nice again now that you won't be giving her anymore kidney shots." He smiled at the thought of him getting surprising blows at night from Lisa after she had felt a kick or an elbow to the ribs. "You know she's been waiting for you," he started again, "I think since the day she found out about you. I tried to tell her not to rush it, because we take you home tomorrow…and well, we're gonna be in for it.

He didn't notice Lisa stirring in the bed behind him. She opened her eyes slowly and looked over at the clear crib. All she saw was a blanket, and her attention went over to the tall figure standing at the window. She saw that he was holding a bundle wrapped in blankets, and decided not to disturb him as he continued talking.

"But you're lucky, you've got a great mom. Because I gotta tell you kid, if it was left up to me, you'd be in trouble."

"You'll be a great father," she said quietly. He turned around to see her staring at him with a smile on her face. Her eyes quickly went to the bundle in his arms, and not being able to resist any longer she held out her hands. He smiled and walked over to the bed placing the baby in her arms. Her smile grew wider as she looked down at the baby, who was now staring straight up at her.

She slowly unwrapped the blanket, inspecting the physical for herself. After she was satisfied with the ten finger and ten toes, she wrapped the blanket back around the baby's little body. She remembered him saying something about a full head of hair, and she peaked under the little cap to see the baby did have hair that resembled her own in color.

"I still can't believe we have a baby," she said, staring back into the baby's face.

"Yeah, me either," he started. "They said we can take her home tomorrow. I say we get out of here first thing in the morning before they change their minds."

She laughed a little. "We'll be fine. We have no other choice." She said before turning her attention back to the baby. "She's perfect."

He agreed and they continued their two way conversation between the three of them. A while later the nursing coach came in. After Hayden had had her first feeding, the lady left, but only to be replaced by Lisa's mother and sister. More visitors came as the day went along , and by the end of the day the room was filled with flowers, teddy bears, and pink balloons. The nurse had come in to get the baby again, only to check her temperature and things like that to make sure everything was still working the way it was supposed to. Greg had taken that opportunity to gather his colleagues and show him that his kid was indeed the cutest in the nursery. He hated that he had to leave and go see to a patient, but her mother and sister kept her company and fawned over the baby enough to make up for his absence, but he still wanted to be the one to do it.


"Lets get out of here," Greg said as he strapped the baby into the beige and light pink car seat. It was the one they had decided on after he had fought tooth and nail about her getting the pinker one. "I don't want to be at this place if I don't have to."

It was almost noon, and they were getting ready to leave the hospital after they had signed the release papers. They made their way down to the front of the hospital, where Jennifer had pulled the car up under the pavilion. Lisa was happy that her mom and her sister would be there for the first few days. They would ease some of her anxiety about bringing the baby home, because Greg wasn't helping with his constant reassurance that they had a really good chance of 'breaking her'. She was sure they would be fine. After all, they were both competent people. They would manage, but having her mother there was still a huge relief.

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"Oh my God, you're going to kill us all," Greg yelled from the passenger seat. "You can't turn here."

"Shut up, I can drive," Jenn retorted. "I'm just not used to this city."

"Well apparently," he started.

Lisa drowned them out, after laughing at them both as she stared down at the baby. She smiled humbly at the sight before her. The baby sat slightly slouched with the help of the supporter that framed her little body. The car seat would have swallowed her without it. The seatbelt fastener covered her chest and abdomen, and she didn't stir at all from the peaceful sleep. Lisa reached out and started to caress the palm of her hand. The baby instinctively flexed her hand and tiny fingers before relaxing them loosely around her mother's finger. She was in heaven, at least until she heard one of Greg's comments.

"Just pull over and let me drive, for God's sake, you drive like your sister," he told her.

"Hey," she said in her defense as her face frowned up. "I drive perfectly fine…," she started in on the argument.

Anne just smiled as she replaced Lisa's fingers with her own in Hayden's palm. "Don't worry sweetheart," she started, "they're all crazy, but Grandma will be here to make sure you're okay…for the first few days anyway. I just hope your mother and father will be able to take over after that. "

"I am not pulling over," Jennifer told him, "we're only a block away now."

"Can you just make sure we get there without having to make a U-turn back to the hospital?"

"Are you sure you don't wanna go back to the hospital?" she asked him. "Because it can be arranged."

He looked at the two sisters who were both staring at him with identical sets of eyes boring through him. He just turned and looked out of the window, deciding not to criticize anyone else's driving skills for the time being. They arrived at the home in one piece and made their way up to the third floor. When they got into the apartment, Greg sat the carrier on the sofa and Lisa immediately unstrapped her and took her out of the seat. He backed away. He wanted to hold her, but he knew better than to get between women and babies.

"Lisa, you're not supposed to just hold her all the time," her mother told her.

"It's not all the time," she retorted. "We just got home. I haven't held her since before we left the hospital." She had just opened her eyes, but stared tiredly at the faces around her. Jennifer and Anne sat on either side of Lisa as they all awed and cooed over the baby, while Greg was in the kitchen cooking something for them all to eat.

"Okay," Anne said getting up from the sofa, "you are going to spoil her then you'll be sorry. I think you should put her down, you'll have plenty of time to hold her later."

Anne went into the kitchen and took over the cooking duties, practically pushing Greg out of the kitchen. Lisa sighed and reluctantly placed the baby back in her seat. Before she could get up, Jenn had reached in and picked her up. Lisa just stared at her.

"What?" Jenn asked. "I can hold her, I'm leaving in a few days. "

Lisa rolled her eyes playfully, before going upstairs to take a shower. She was excited to be home, but it was a new feeling for her. Her stomach was flat again, although she would have to do a little work to get it as firm as it used to be, and now she had a baby. She never would have thought that she would have been a mother at twenty three; it just wasn't in her plans. But she was happy to have her baby home with her. It was going to be interesting.

She had just pulled her shirt over her head, when she heard a fussy cry coming from the other side of the bedroom door, followed by Greg's voice. "Open up," he started. "It's your turn to hold her now."

She smiled to herself as she unlocked the bedroom door. She took the baby from him and walked over to the arm chair on the other side of the room and sat down. Greg followed her and sat on the edge of the bed. By now one of Hayden's flailing fists had found it's way to her mouth, she sucked on it for a few seconds before realizing that it wasn't doing the job, and she starting crying again.

"So when are your mom and sister going home?" he asked as she pulled up her shirt and tried to get the baby to latch.

"Why? Are they bothering you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, not really. Just need to know how long we're going to have extra people hanging around."

"Don't worry. They're leaving in a couple of days," she assured him.

She knew that he didn't really have a problem with them being there, but she had warned him to watch what he said and did while they were there. She knew that he didn't like being censored, so the faster they were gone, the better for him.

She looked down at the baby who was now successfully feeding. She smiled and caressed her little hand until he started talking again.

"So uh…" he started, "how long are your boobs going to stay that size."

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "I'm guessing they'll go back to their regular size, a couple of weeks after I stop nursing."

"Then can I play with them again?" He asked sounding like a little boy who had just gotten his favorite action figures taken away.

She laughed a little but didn't bother answering him. By the time the baby finished feeding, she had fallen asleep. Greg had left the room to go answer the phone and he was currently trying to answer all of his mother's questions about the baby that couldn't really be answered. She pulled her shirt and bra back down, before wiping the stream of milk that dribbled from the corner of the baby's mouth. She then stood and brought her into the nursery, laying her in her crib. She turned on the baby monitor that hung on the bars of the crib and took the other with her as she went back downstairs. She walked past Greg who had taken up residence on the futon as he continued to talk to his mother. She went downstairs to join her mother and sister.


"Com'on Hayden," she said as she shifted the baby to her other shoulder. "You're not hungy, I just finished feeding you, you have a clean diaper, so what do you want?"

It was their second night at home with the baby and though the first night had gone exceptionally well, the second night was proving not to be as pleasant. She was tired, and for some reason, the baby wouldn't stop crying. She wanted to go to sleep. Before long her mother showed up at the door of the nursery.

"Here," she said holding out her arms, "let me take her for a while." She studied her mother for a moment before reluctantly handing the baby over. She walked out the nursery and went into the bedroom. She sat down on the bed waking Greg, as she put her head in her hands.

"Is she asleep?" he asked groggily. He had only gotten home from the hospital a few hours ago, and had to get up soon to go back. He became a little bit more aware when he saw that she had started crying. "What's wrong?" he asked pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her.

She felt inadequate, like she wasn't good enough to be a mother. She couldn't even get her baby to stop crying. She was at least supposed to be able to do that, after all, she was her mother. Her mother and sister were doing a good job at helping her, and she had been doing fine with little to no help from them until now. They would be leaving the next day, but Blythe would be coming out the next week. She would only stay for a couple of days, so she had to learn to deal with being a new mother on her own, and she had to learn quickly.

"She won't stop crying," she said between sobs. "I did everything I know to do and she won't stop crying."

"Well," he started trying to find some comforting words, as he heard the baby's wailing from the other room, "babies do that. They can be perfectly fine and they'll still cry just because they can."

He rubbed her arm as she continued to cry. "Maybe she's crying because she knows you're upset."

"I'm not upset," she told him. "Well at least I wasn't anyway, but… I don't know…I'm just tired."

"But you are now, so that might explain why she's crying now. They're just little primitive reflexive instincts; they pick up on things like that. Just try to calm down a little bit."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer to him. A little while later, her tears stopped and she decided to give it another go, seeing as she could still hear their daughter's obviously healthy lungs coming from the other room. She figured he was right, but why did he always have to make everything so scientific. She climbed out of the bed and he followed, choosing to occupy the rocking chair as she went over to her mother and took the baby from her.

"Shhh, Mommy's here," she said softly as she cradled the baby close to her chest as she continued to cry. She began rocking her gently as she gently caressed her back and began pacing the room. The baby's wailing started to quiet a little bit, and became mostly random little fussy cries, and she continued to whisper soothing words to her. Before long she had quieted completely and her eyelids started getting heavy, and she was soon asleep. A smile came to Lisa's face as she looked down at the now sleeping baby. Greg smiled to himself as she got lost in her own little world once again. He knew that she would be a great mom.

"Great," Greg exclaimed as he got up from the chair. "Now that the almighty ruler of the house has quieted down, maybe the rest of us can get some sleep."

Anne left the room and went back down stairs, while Greg went into their bedroom, followed by Lisa and the baby. She climbed in placing herself between Greg and the baby, knowing she would be up in another three to four hours for another feeding.