I know I promised a birthday chapter, but I probably wrote 16 and didn't like any of them enough to claim it as Danni's birthday. So, in order to move on with this story, I regretfully say that this is not a birthday chapter, but infact takes place after Danni's birthday.
The whimper began, right before the chorus of "mamama's" that always followed. Once again she was in Will's bed, curled into his side, despite the fact she was very aware that she should have been in Peter's. He would have been furious to know that she had left his bed the evening before to go to Will's apartment. Originally she had sworn herself to the couch, but he wouldn't hear of it, insisting he could take the couch. Inevitably, they both agreed they were adults who could platonically share a bed.
Danni was a year old. Somehow Alicia had gone through 365 days of motherhood and managed to keep everyone involved happy and alive. Her little girl was beautiful, bright eyed, and definitely showing signs of her father's charm with her mother's attitude. It amazed her that she could see so many parts of both of them in her when she was just so little.
"Mamamamama," the little voiced whimper as she looked directly at Alicia from her crib. Will preferred the girl's bed to be in his room lately due to an alarming number of break-ins in the area. It wasn't exactly uncommon in college areas, but he wanted to make sure if anything happened she was right there with him.
"Danni," Alicia cooed, pushing the covers off softly as she walked over to the crib where a red face, curly haired child looked tearfully at her. "It's a little early for you."
Arms reached up as baby hands flexed to be lifted. Who was Alicia to refuse? Especially in the wee hours of her birthday! As soon as the little girl was lifted, she settled deep into her mother's warmth and Alicia noticed she was cold. It was fairly chilly in the room now that she thought about it, but Will's body heat must have kept her warm. The temperature must have been dropping, because before they went to bed it was actually quite comfortable.
"Oh, sweetie, let's lay down with Daddy," she whispered noticing Will watching them both with sleepy eyes. The room was barely lit from a street light peeking through Will's blinds, but it was more helpful than hindering.
Alicia laid back in the bed and settled Danni in between them. The chubby baby hands patted Will's face. "Dadadada," she chanted sleepily.
"Shh," he replied gently, tracing over her own face with one of his fingers. Her skin was still so soft. "It's bedtime, baby."
As usual, Danni gave him a grumpy face at the mere word, but she just settled deeper between them. Both Alicia and Will were on their sides, building solid walls of protection around the perfect being that was completely theirs. They had been parents for 365 days. In that time they realized what unconditional love was from a whole new standpoint. Their hearts had grown to love something to an impossible extent and they were sure they would never be able to live if something ever happened to their baby.
"Alicia?" Will whispered, looking away from their daughter to meeting her eyes, but Alicia didn't look up. She was still staring the beautiful little girl when she hummed for him to respond. "Thank you."
At that Alicia did look up. She looked completely confused but pleasantly surprised. "For what, dare I ask?"
Will's finger gently went out to trace Danni's face again. It trailed down the side of her cheek, around the curve of her chin until he touched her lip softly. "For making me a dad."
"We should have had Danni in the room," Alicia quipped sleepily as their little boy nursed for the first time. She could barely keep her eyes open, but the gentle smile was still there as she ran her fingers over their little boy's soft hair. It was as Dark as Alicia, Zach and Danni's. Will's was a touch darker, and according to his sisters was closer to blond as a child. "Show her what happens when you don't practice safe sex."
Will managed to chuckle and groan at the same time as he rubbed her shoulder. He was partially behind her, her body weight resting on half of him while he got the best view from over her right shoulder. Their son was truly beautiful. The most gorgeous baby boy Will had ever had the privilege of laying eyes on. He couldn't manage to leave his wife or baby's side for even a moment in the last eight hours, and it had been a long eight hours.
"I would love to see the look on Travis's face if she called him half the words you called me," he fired back. The language that came out of Alicia's mouth when he was simply, softly encouraging her would have made a sailor blush. However, it just made the nurses giggle and Will question why he was getting yelled at the second time around while the first time she simply held on to his hand. Perhaps it was the simple fact both of them were a little too afraid to say anything the first time.
"Danni's nicer than I am. We both know that. Plus, Travis would have never made it into the delivery room with her. You would have killed him by then."
Will hummed in agreement. "That's true, and after the baby was born I would have locked Danni in a tower until she was thirty- Can we stop talking about this? I'm beginning to feel like we're going to jinx ourselves."
That made Alicia laugh, which disrupted their little boy enough to break his latch and cause him to whimper. She gently shushed him and brought her back to her breast while shooting Will a dangerous glare. "Your fault," she whispered referring to their son's irritation.
"You're right. How dare I make my wife laugh?" With that, he leaned down to capture her lips in what was just supposed to be a quick peck, but Alicia didn't let him go so easily. She kissed him lazily, like she had just woken up from a perfect sleep to find her handsome husband beside her. These were moments of sheer perfection, and Alicia was honest enough with herself to know she was more than a little grateful to have her body back.
"Gross. Don't you know that this is how you got into this situation in the first place?"
Zach's voice made them break apart and grin at their children. The nurse said the children would have to wait outside until Will went to get them, but of course their lovely masterminds had managed to wiggle out of the rules.
"Hello to you too," Alicia replied covering herself a little better with the blanket being sure not to scare her sixteen year old. Grace was standing behind him looking like her nervous self. Alicia was sure that the nervous gene had to have come from her, because both her daughters had inherited it. They worried. About different things, yes, but they both were very much worriers.
"Want to meet your little brother?" Will offered, beckoning his two step-children up while wondering where Rue and Danni were.
The baby had chosen the right time to decide he was finished and Alicia shifted him onto her shoulder to gently burp him. Grace wrinkled her nose at him while Zach looked just as hesitant.
"He's all wrinkly," she stated sounding oddly fond and weirded out at the same time.
"He's tiny," Zach also observed. "Like really tiny."
Their son was five pounds one ounce. He was quite small, but healthy. Very healthy and very happy. Just like his momma. The pregnancy that had everyone on edge had ended up going very smoothly.
"He's okay," Alicia assured them just as the baby let out a tiny burp. "Would you like to hold him?"
Both teenagers looked hesitant, and Will smirked. He would have probably looked the same way at their age. Even when he first held Danni he was a bundle of nerves and sure her was going to somehow break her. Now, now it was like second nature. It was natural. It was nature.
"I do!"
Danni had suddenly appeared in the doorway with Rue on her hip. Rue looked well past sleepy and cranky. Her eyes were red from obviously crying and her cheeks fevered from the tears. Even now, her inhales were shaken. She walked past her siblings and offered Rue to her father. "She has no idea what's going on, but she hates it."
Alicia chuckled as Danni bent down to claim her little brother in her arms. She had no fear of babies. After all, it came from being the oldest, even if they all were so close in age. She had sat in her mother's lap and held Zach when she was two, and though she couldn't remember it, there were plenty of picture to prove it.
"Hi there," she cooed as the baby stretched in her arms. "I'm Danni, the cool and fun big sister. That's Zach, he's the nerdy one, and that's Grace. She's the nicest of us."
Rue however did not want to look at him. She turned her head into her daddy's neck and looked hesitantly at her mommy. She knew her mommy looked tired, really tired. She wanted to go to her mommy just to make sure she was okay, because she knew that something was wrong with her. Something bad had to be wrong if they were here in the hospital and not allowed to see her. The same thing happened with her heaven mommy before. She couldn't remember the best, but her whole body just knew something awful was going to happen.
Suddenly she started whimpering again, turning her head into Will's neck. Quickly the whimpers turned to full blown wails and Will looked at Alicia in alarm. The little girl sounded so sad. They weren't angry tears, or frustrated tears, they were the just sad. Sadder than any toddler should ever sound. The disturbance quickly made her little brother join in.
"Baby," Alicia cooed, reaching up for Rue while Danni bounced her brother to gently calm him. But Rue fought her, she twisted and yanked away from her.
"No!" she cried. She through the open door of the room, she could see nurses glancing in at them. If they didn't calm Rue, they would probably ask someone to take her outside so they didn't disrupt the other families.
"Rue," Alicia tried again as Will struggled to hold onto her. She was fighting tooth and nail to get away and he had to set her on the ground to keep from dropping her. Still, her body twisted and jerked until she managed to get out of his grip and past the rest of her siblings out the door.
Will was after her in a heartbeat while Alicia looked at her older children. Grace shrugged. "She has been like that since we walked into the hospital. Danni tried to talk to her but she just kept crying. Not exactly like that though…"
In an instant Alicia put it together. It was the hospital. Katie. It was all too familiar for the little girl and she couldn't process the differences. Yet, here she was, in a hospital gown, probably looking the worst Rue had ever seen her.
"Oh god…" Alicia sighed feeling like crying herself.
Rue ran until her little feet lost their coordination and she fell hard on her hands and knees on the cold tile floor. A nearby nurse was there in an instant, pulling the little girl up while Will came up from behind her.
"No Momma," she cried clinging to the pink scrubs of the nurse's attire. "They hurt Momma. Don't hurt Mommy…"
Will quickly drew the difference between Mommy and Momma. Mommy was Alicia, Momma was… Katie. He apologized to the nurse as he peeled her toddler off of her. "Shh, it's okay," he whispered to her, moving toward the room they had come out of.
"Mommy…" she cried into his shoulder. "I want mommy!"
Will caressed her back while he walked her back into the room. By the look on Alicia's face, she had already put it together. She all but pulled Rue out of Will's hands and curled her into her chest. She hummed and shushed her, kissing her hair and caressing her back.
"I'm okay," Alicia assured her.
Zach and Grace looked at each other as they too connected the dots. Danni had turned her back to them. She had her own tears. Katie was the one person on Will's side that she was close to and the idea of how scary it had to be to lose her mom, and Rue so sure it was happening again, she couldn't control her own tears.
"Mommy…" she cried making Alicia cry with her as she looked hopelessly at Will who could only rub her back.
"It's okay, sweetie. We're okay," Alicia assured her. "I'm going to go home tomorrow, and so will your little brother."
Rue kept crying, but her sobs were turning into hiccups and whimpers. "Broder?" she asked, leaning back to look her mother in the eye. Alicia nodded and noticed her older daughter wiping her eyes and trying to pretend she too wasn't sobbing a moment ago.
"See that little bitty baby right there?" Alicia asked beckoning her oldest daughter closer so Rue could get a better look. Zach and Grace also leaned in. The family of seven were all now sitting around Alicia's bed. "That's you little brother."
"Caiden?" Rue asked and Alicia shrugged a bit.
"Actually, Daddy and I decided on something a little different." Will's hand slid around her shoulder as Danni placed the baby back in her arms. It was suddenly very poetic that she was holding both her babies with her older children around her and her husband behind her. "We thought we could call him Liam. Short for William, like Daddy."
It was the first time the older children had heard about this as well, but their eyes lit up with approval.
"Liam," Rue repeated looking first at Alicia then at the baby. "Liam and Mommy go home forever? Not like Momma?"
Alicia struggled to swallow the lump in her throat as she nodded. "Liam and Mommy go home with Daddy, Grace, Zach and Danni. Tomorrow."
Rue nodded and rested her head in the crook of Alicia's shoulder. "I wuv you, Mommy," she said sleepily, before she looked at her little brother without lifting her head. "… and Liam."
The Gardner/Florrick family had already decided that very few events in their lives could go without some sort of drama. They were intelligent and passionate, and that sometimes made sparks. However, they could handle the drama because they loved each other with just the same amount of passion. With that love, they welcome William Paul Gardner II to the family.
Okay, sooooo much better than the original chapter I posted. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I hope to have another one up in a couple of days!