Erin heard footsteps come up beside her while she was making some notes.
"I was beginning to wonder when you were going to get here Patty. I knew you said you'd be running late, but-" She looked up and didn't see Patty, but David.
"Sweetheart," she said, getting up and hugging him. "This is a nice surprise. What are you doing here?"
"Patty texted me," he said. "Asked if I could come during lunch."
"Did she say why?" Erin asked.
"Nothing," he said. "I was hoping you knew." He looked around. "Not having lunch?"
"Not yet, I was waiting on Patty," said Erin. She looked over when she heard the door to the firehouse open. It wasn't but a minute or two later when Patty walked in, lighting up when she saw Erin and David together.
"Good, you are both here." She gestured through the open doorway to the building and Cheyenne came in, along with a young woman and another lady they didn't recognize.
"Patty?" said Erin, looking at Cheyenne and the teenager. The young woman couldn't have been any older than 14 or 15. She had a hand over a small but noticeable baby bump.
"Erin, David, this is Deandra and her mother, Sondra," said Cheyenne. "She is looking for someone to adopt her child. Patty and I have been telling her about two very nice people who are looking to adopt and she wanted to meet you."
"Hello Deandra," said David. He extended his hand and the teenager shook it.
"He's cute," she half whispered to her mother.
This made both Erin and Patty laugh while Cheyenne shook her head. Sondra just sighed.
Holtz was sitting on a chair and holding Abby tight against her. The physicist was sitting on a birthing ball and rocking her hips back and forth. Her contractions were down to every three minutes and Abby was no longer as composed as she had been and was shaking constantly with chills. Holtzmann had already taken her glasses while Abby had been trying not to cry into her shoulder. This was the part Holtz had prepared mentally the most for and was dreading it with every passing moment. There was nothing she could do to help but to be Abby's support during transition. She couldn't distract her from the pain for long. Holtz had been kind of glad that Abby hadn't gone for the epidural, but right at that precise moment, she would have begged for it to not see Abby like she was.
"You still cold?" she asked. Abby had already put on a pair of thicker socks and wrapped up in a terry cloth robe. When Abby nodded, Holtz wrapped one of the warm blankets the nurse had brought in around her wife.
"Distract me Jills," said Abby. "Tell me the corniest joke you've got."
Holtzmann thought for a moment, rubbing Abby's back. She grinned and started to speak.
"Alright, so… A woman had twins when she was very young and gave them up for adoption because she couldn't keep them. But she never wanted to lose track of them, so the agency told her that they had been split up and placed with different families and that they would always have access to her name and address. One of the babies had gone to a family in Egypt and is named Amal. The other went to a family in Spain and they named him Juan.
So, years later, Juan sent a letter with a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Amal. He looked at her like she was crazy and responds: 'They're twins. If you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal.'"
Abby groaned into Holtz's shoulder.
"God, that was terrible." She was laughing though, which made Holtz happy.
"But it's one of my best ones for the occasion." Abby lifted her head to say something and Holtz stuck a straw between her lips.
"Drink," she instructed. "You need to stay hydrated." The sour look Abby gave her made her cackle just a little. Holtz teased her wife by rubbing her cheek. The gesture made Abby swallow a tiny bit, mostly out of spite. But when she realized she actually was thirsty, she took a deeper drink.
"I thought so," said Holtzmann. "You've been avoiding food and water."
"Can't think," said Abby with a whimper. "Can't see either."
"Ah, but can you see the forest for the trees?" said Holtzmann, gesturing to the mural on the wall. The two rooms of the birthing suite had a tree and leaf theme that even extended to a beautiful lit glass panel in the bathroom with actual dried leaves.
"I can't see either without my glasses, honey."
"I've never heard of glasses honey. Is this a new product?"
The small whine that had escaped Abby's lips let Holtz know the contraction was she was having was peaking. She whispered lovingly in Abby's ear and rubbed her back.
"You're going to get through this Abs. Just a little bit more." Holtz greeted the nurse who had entered the room.
"Do you think she's up to a cervix check?" she asked quietly. Holtzmann helped her wife sit up.
"Abby? Jaina wants to check your dilation." Abby mumbled something in the affirmative and leaned into Holtz.
"Nice music," Jaina commented as Holtz helped her wife get off of the birthing ball and over to the purple birthing chair in the space at the nurse's direction.
"Enya. It's the only thing she wants to listen to right now," said Holtzmann, rolling her eyes.
"Don't knock a pregnant and laboring woman's music," Jaina said, putting on her gloves. "She's the one doing all the work." After checking her dilation, she helped Abby with her clothes. "Getting to be time for pushing," said the nurse, taking off her gloves and throwing them in the trash. "You're almost fully dilated." She grimaced in sympathy while Abby was having another contraction. Holtzmann automatically went to her wife's side.
"If she wants to start pushing, ring for me," said Jaina to Holtz. "I'll alert the doctor."
The thrilling feeling going up and down Holtz's body knowing that their baby would be there soon was making her want to jump around in joy. But the grip Abby had on her forearm and wrist wasn't allowing for that.
"Will do," she responded. "How much longer do you think?"
"Anything from 30 minutes to another couple of hours. Depends on those two." Jaina headed for the door with a wave after making a note in Abby's chart.
"Do you want to go back to the birthing ball?" asked Holtz, leaning down over her lover.
"I want to go home," said Abby, whimpering.
"In a couple of days sweetheart," said Holtz, smoothing down Abby's hair. When she noticed the ponytail was askew, she took it down and run her fingers through it to straighten it before putting it back up. "We've got to get someone out of you first." She went and picked up the blanket she had put on the back of the chair she had been sitting on and placed it over her wife, who was still shaking a little.
"I'm so tired Jills."
"I know honey, I know," grimaced Holtzmann. "But just think... once the kid is born and you get to come off maternity leave, you get the first pick of busts. Prime choice for like, weeks."
Abby wanted to laugh, but she was feeling a lot of pressure in her lower body and all she wanted to do was rock her hips to deal with it.
"Be glad you didn't do this," moaned Abby. She leaned forward into Holtzmann, who was standing in front of her and gripped her vest. "I mean it, Holtz."
"Noted," said the engineer, wishing she was dealing with the pain and contractions instead, despite what her lover had proclaimed. She squeezed Abby's hand before moving around and gently pushing Abby forward and rubbing her back and shoulders.
"Where do you want to go now?"
"I'm good right here at the moment," said the brunette. "Kind of like something solid under my butt for a while." The comment made Holtz snort, wrinkling her nose. She wanted to make a joke about getting out a recorder to capture any EVP's that might rip loose but now was probably not the best time. Maybe after delivery. She continued rubbing Abby's back.
Patty greeted the new team when she heard the Ecto-3 pull into the garage and come in. They had gone down to Syracuse to look at the building and give it a once over to see what all they would need. Erin and Holtzmann had already been a couple of weeks before just to give it a glance over. That had been one of the most stressful days of Patty's life because that was Abby's wife and oldest and dearest friend going out of town for some time. If she had gone into labor, that meant Patty was taking her to the hospital. She loved Abby, but that was a job she did not want.
"Good trip?" she asked the group.
"Nah, the drug deals were over three streets away and I- oh, you meant..." Angie snorted at Diana's attempt at a joke and punched her lightly on the shoulder. Patty just chuckled at that. Beth was frowning as she watched Erin seemingly pacing in front of a whiteboard, spinning a marker between her fingers.
"Something the matter with her?"
"Yeah, don't mind that," said Patty. "She's got a lot on her brain. We still haven't heard from Abby and Holtzmann and Erin and her husband may have found a child to adopt."
"See? Moms," nodded Diana.
"Still not your momma," teased Patty. "But yeah, families all around."
"You and your wife are adopting no?" asked Jen as she walked up.
"Fostering," added Patty. "Still waiting to hear."
"Anything come in today?" asked Angie.
"Nothing too big," said Patty. "It can hold off until tomorrow." She paused. "You'd better have a good, comprehensive list of what all you think you still need equipment wise. I need something to distract Erin."
Holtz knew Abby was ready to surrender to the exhaustion when after thirty minutes of pushing with Jaina she had wanted to move to the bed. Her contractions had moved from every two minutes to four minutes and the urge to push was overwhelming. Jaina had moved the hospital bed into a sitting up position where gravity would help with the process. Holtzmann arranged the pillows at Abby's back and did everything she could to make her wife comfortable. Jaina had stayed from that point on and was helping Holtz coach Abby through her contractions while also keeping an eye on the baby's progress. Holtzmann had been glad for this since Jaina could instruct Abby to do things better than she could by being quite blunt. Abby wasn't really listening to her instructions at this point.
"Almost there," said Jaina. "Someone's about to crown. Can you feel the head pressing Abby?"
The physicist had her eyes closed and was concentrating, but she gave a nod. "Burning... lots of burning. More pressure. Ow..."
"All good signs," said Jaina. "Next contraction, don't push, just breathe." Jaina reached over and hit a button on the side of the bed. Not even a minute or two later, the door swung open and two nurses appeared, along with Abby's doctor. Suddenly the room was filled with activity.
"Someone finally decided it was time to make an appearance, I see," he said teasingly. Holtz gave a salute to the doctor. But she nearly collapsed to the floor when Abby squeezed hard between her fingers, catching her by surprise.
"Ow ow ow Abby, I need that hand..." Holtz pleaded while Abby was trying not to push. Her grip was strong. Holtzmann ran her other hand through Abby's hair, peppering kisses across her forehead.
"Just keep breathing out," she said softly. "They'll be here in just a few minutes." She really was admiring Abby's quiet strength. Once she had started pushing, she really hadn't responded much, other than the occasional whine till their baby was crowning. Holtz couldn't help but take a peek at the baby and saw hair. Lots of dark hair.
"They're going to have your full head of hair," grinned Holtzmann. She rubbed Abby's arm and shoulder and kissed her temple. She watched as the doctor instructed Abby to push on the next contraction to get the baby's head out. Holtz turned around and faced her wife, kissing her forehead and squeezing her hand.
"Push against me again," she instructed. Abby grabbed onto Holtz's shoulder and moaned softly into it as she pushed.
"Perfect," said her doctor. Holtz turned a little and saw that the baby's head was completely sticking out of her wife's labia. The doctor was checking the baby's neck for the cord and suctioning out their tiny nose. The rest was a blur as she helped Abby push carefully to work on the shoulders at Jaina's direction. It wasn't long till their baby was completely out of her wife and they were putting a very unhappy and screaming newborn on Abby's now bare chest. Jaina had suggested undoing her gown for baby's first skin to skin contact once they were out. Holtzmann was speechless for a moment, looking at the beautiful child that had come out of Abby. They were both half laughing, half crying at the sight of their baby. Abby was still holding them close as one of the nurses was clamping the cord and handing Holtz a pair of scissors.
"You mean I can't use a blowtorch? I brought one with me and everything..."
"Holtz," warned Abby softly, but sternly. Holtzmann grinned happily at her wife, cutting the cord. Another one of the nurses came up and was helping Abby clean off the baby and wrapped them up. They hadn't stopped crying yet. Holtz leaned over and kissed their child on the forehead once they were all cuddled back into Abby's arms.
"Welcome to the world, Eliana Danielle."
Patty went running down the steps to the first floor before stomping down on the last one. Erin was talking to Kevin at his desk before he left for the day. She ran over to the pair.
"We have a baby Ghostbuster!"
Erin started pulling out her phone. "Are you serious?" She squealed. "Holtz texted me too!"
"Abby had the baby?" said Kevin. "What is it?"
"Holtzy didn't say," said Patty. "Just that she wants us to get our asses there, ghosts be damned." The two Ghostbusters started for their lockers to get their coats. Even if it was the end of March, there was still a bit of chill in the air.
"Kevin, you coming?" asked Patty. "You were texted too."
"Oh, I-" he began, moving a hand to his pocket to get his phone. "I sort of figured this is a team thing?"
"Nah, it's a family thing," said Patty. "And you're family." He grinned at that and put the business phone to go to the answering machine and grabbed his jacket and bag.
"Okay," said Erin as they headed out the door as she counted on her fingers. "Holtz texted me a shopping list this morning for her after birth party. We need two large pizzas, two dozen doughnuts, and two large piping hot coffees with sugar and double shots of espresso. The latter is for Abby."
"Holtz and Abby plan to eat all of that?" said Kevin, looking amazed.
"Boy, have you not paid attention to all the food that skinny little blonde can pack away on her own?" asked Patty. Kevin shrugged.
"I don't know how you're going to get that much food in there anyway."
"Kevin's probably right," agreed Erin, her brow furrowing. "The hospital might have some sort of policy."
"You know, Abby doesn't need that much caffeine. She has been keeping herself to one cup a day," added Patty.
"They're not going to be happy with us," sighed Erin as they started towards the nearby subway station.
"I think Holtz can live on some healthy hospital food, just this once," said Patty with a laugh. "We can have the after birth party when they come home from the hospital."
The threesome made their way up to labor and delivery. They stopped at the nurses' desk after realizing Holtz hadn't given them a room number.
"Abby Yates, possibly Holtzmann?" asked Erin.
"Are they expecting you?" asked a young blonde nurse, looking confused at the group. Erin rolled her eyes at how the nurse's own lit up at the sight of Kevin.
"They'd better be," Patty said. "When they asked for us to come."
"We don't usually allow this many visitors at a time, especially right after birth, but... let me call for them." She pressed a button on what looked like a switchboard and spoke. It wasn't but just a minute when they saw Holtz round the corner, grinning like a maniac.
"Ladies," she greeted. "And Kevin." She tackled Patty and hugged her tight.
"Abby gave birth and I'm still alive," she said. Holtz looked disappointed when she saw no boxes in anyone's hands.
"No pizza?"
"No pizza," said Erin.
"Awwwwhright," she said in a sing-song type of voice. "But I will not let this get me down. I have a beautiful baby girl and I have been blessed with the best of visages— my wife breastfeeding." She hugged Patty again.
"I'm happy for you, you little weirdo," grinned Patty. "So it is a girl?" Holtzmann nodded.
"Eliana Danielle Yates-Holtzmann, born at 3:39 p.m. today, weighing 8 pounds and 8 ounces."
"Not too big then," said Erin.
"Yeah, Abby was worried about that since the baby was overdue," said Patty. "Can't blame her for not wanting to give birth to a bowling ball."
"Technically she did," said Holtz. "Bowling balls can weigh between 6-16 pounds."
"I'm not even going to ask how you even know that," said Patty.
"I was in a bowling league with some nuns and a very lovely lady who worked in the field of criminal forensics. Not really my type though, sadly. But those nuns were a hoot to share a nacho and a beer with on a Thursday night." She clapped her hands. "Enough with the old memories! Let's go make some new ones." She gestured for them to follow. Half of a hallway later, and Holtzmann opened the door to the birthing suite. The bed had been changed back to normal, and Abby was sitting up in a pair of button front pajamas and looking very tired. But in her arms was baby Eliana, who was very much attached to her mother's breast.
"Someone must be very hungry," grinned Erin as she came close to the bed.
"Erin," said Abby with a smile. "You... three did make it. And yes, this is her second feeding."
"Like we would have missed this for the world," said Patty, coming up beside Erin, who was still grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Holtz had already crossed the room and was holding up a video camera. She sat down and was filming everyone, much to the annoyance of Patty and the amusement of Kevin. He came over and sat down beside her.
"So how does it feel to be a mom?"
"Best feeling ever," said the engineer. "Getting to see her born will be one of my favorite life moments."
"She should be through in just a minute and everyone can hold her," said Abby when she noticed Erin getting antsy. "We're still trying to get the hang of this." She smiled at the little one in her arms. "Someone's getting sleepy."
"Egbert was not happy when she was first born," piped up Holtz. "She just kept wailing like a banshee, but she quietened down and even fell asleep when Abby started talking to her. Almost slept through her first attempt at a meal and did sleep through all her tests."
"And her first bath," said Abby. "I'm hoping she takes a very long nap after this so I can get one."
"Abby, you can rest," said Erin. "We can g-"
"I needed to get her started on a feeding schedule," Abby said, shaking her head. "It's fine."
"Feeding schedule is not going to work if you're falling asleep too, Abs," said Holtzmann, coming over to the bedside. She rubbed the top of Abby's head and kissed it.
"Think she's about done?"
"She's just about asleep," said Abby.
"Oh Erin!" said Holtz, turning to the redhead. "You must grab your staff and be ready to bless Eliana. Now that our child is fed and clean, we need to take her to the rooftop. She must be christened the future Queen of Pride Rock." Erin just shook her head while Patty laughed at the reference.
"Please tell me you don't have a crazy brother or sister out there somewhere, Mufasa."
"Thank god she was an only child," said Abby, gently moving Eliana's lips to help break the suction on her nipple and areola. Her little blue eyes had now fully closed and Abby could tell she had gone back to sleep. It still amazed her that their little girl was still inside her body only about three hours ago. It all still felt so surreal.
"Because I don't even want to think about who Timon and Pumbaa would be."
"Benny and Kevin," said Holtzmann. "I've already planned this out."
"Alright!" grinned Kevin. "I love Disney movies."
Abby shook her head as she refastened her bra and top after handing the baby over to Holtzmann. She had already done enough hard work over the past day or so, she was not about to have to choose who was going to hold their daughter first: Erin or Patty. Much to her surprise, Holtz kissed Eliana on the head and snuggled her close instead of automatically giving her to one of their friends. Abby yawned, feeling the tiredness that was seeping into her bones. She was really sore and still having contractions. During labor, she had been so cold and shaking, but now that everything was said and done, she was sweating like a racehorse after a derby. She knew this was common like the nurse had explained, but it still didn't help the feeling that she was out of sorts. It also didn't help that she felt like Niagara Falls was happening in the lower part of her body. She knew there was a lot of bleeding after labor, but it still felt insane, and that didn't even count how her whole entire vaginal area felt like she had been in a boxing match and the other side hadn't pulled any punches. She smiled when she noticed Patty handing the baby off to Erin as Holtz was taking pictures or video with her phone. Abby was glad there was going to be a record of some sort of Erin holding her child for the first time because she was not going to be able to stay awake for very long. She didn't even hear her best friend say something to her as she quickly drifted off.
"Abby's asleep," said Kevin as he got up and looked at Eliana over Erin's shoulder.
"Finally. Exhaustion won out," Holtz said quietly. She went over to the bed and tucked the blanket in closer around her wife after carefully removing her glasses. She went back over to their friends. "I've been trying to get her to rest for over an hour, but she wanted to see everyone."
"It has been a crazy day," said Erin, smiling at Patty.
"Kevin, you up?" asked Holtz as she gestured to Eliana.
"I need to hold my new niece," he said happily. Erin and Patty both smiled at that. The redheaded physicist handed the baby gently to Kevin, who cradled her close to his chest. Even after being passed through five pairs of arms, Eliana hadn't woken up. Patty laughed when Kevin handed her his phone so he could send a picture to his husband.
"You know, Abby has a brother," teased Erin to Holtz. "Maybe she's Mufasa instead."
"Nah, they've already got their own fairy tale," said Holtz. "Get it. Tale? Taaaaail. Because Ariel's-"
"A mermaid. We get it, baby," said Patty. "Holtzy, why don't you come sit down? I know you've got to be tired too."
"You have no idea," said Holtzmann. "But I must be vigilant." She turned around on the spot and gestured. "My family is sleeping."
"Not all your family," said Erin. Holtz's eyes lit up and she went over and curled up in Erin's lap, snuggling her head into her neck.
"I think I'll take a nap on you then." Erin let her legs go slack and Holtz ended up in a heap on the floor.
"Erin, my love... do you not care for me anymore?" sniffed Holtz, pouting from the floor, her head propped on her arm.
She pointed around the room. "Not when there are perfectly good chairs and couch space."