Arrival
"Just breathe."
"I am breathing!" She shouted.
"I know it hurts, and I'm so sorry."
"It's horrible! Why would anyone ever do this on purpose? And don't tell me that I'll forget all about the pain once I have the baby in my arms. I'm calling bullshit on that one!" she yelled and clutched her swollen belly.
She looked like she was dying. It was freaking him out so bad! Her yelling wasn't helping matters either. But she was the one who was in labor, so if she wanted to yell, he'd let her yell. She probably didn't mean any of it anyways. And even if she did, he couldn't blame her.
She had been woken up at two in the morning with a backache that wouldn't go away. She was at the stage in her pregnancy where she didn't sleep very good at night, and that meant that Fitz didn't either. He reached a hand over to her side of the bed, but felt cool sheets instead of a warm body. He had immediately sprung to his feet to go find her and make sure everything was alright.
He found her in the kitchen eating a small bowl of ice cream. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked.
She shook her head no. "My back hurts. This house is filthy, so I thought I'd clean some more. But then I remembered that I have a freezer full of ice cream. It's just a small pit stop."
"Take it easy, Mr. Clean. You've washed and scrubbed and wiped every surface of this entire house from top to bottom. There isn't a dirty spot in the place." Fitz assured her. He went to a drawer nearby, pulled it open, and grabbed a spoon, before pushing it closed again. He knew better than to try to eat whatever she was working on. Instead, he grabbed a carton from the freezer, sat down beside her at the table, and got started.
"I know you probably think I'm insane."
"I'm very comfortable with your insanity by now." he joked.
Olivia paused and blew out a long breath with her eyes closed.
"Liv? You okay?" He asked as he watched her.
She opened her eyes when the feeling passed and brought the ice cream to her lips as if nothing had happened at all. "I'm fine" she said, bringing the spoon into her mouth. "Just a little pain. It's nothing."
Fitz's eyes practically bulged out of his head. "Nothing? Are you crazy?"
"I thought we were going with insane?" She said mildly.
"Olivia! You're due next week! You can't be passing off random pains as nothing. It could be early labor!"
"It could be, but I doubt that's what it is." She told him as she got to her feet to throw away the empty carton. She really had a lot to do today. She was not bringing a baby home to a dirty house.
Fitz was watching her like a hawk now. She needed to sit her little ass down and put her feet up. They were already beginning to swell. "What makes you so sure it's not labor?"
Olivia turned to face him and propped her hand on her hip. "Because my water hasn't even...Shit!"
A pair of blue lasers dropped to the floor as a puddle began to form at his wife's feet. They flicked back up to her brown ones and he smirked at her. "You were saying?"
It didn't seem like that conversation had happened just two hours ago. It felt more like two days ago that he and Liv had panicked over her water breaking before rushing around like lunatics and heading to the hospital.
He pushed all of that out of his mind and stayed present right now. He decided to speak soothing words. Comforting words. "I can't imagine what you're going through, Livvie."
"We aren't having any more kids either! Fuck that! Fuck labor! This is hard and it sucks!"
Surely, she didn't mean that! They had discussed having more kids. At least three more. Fitz closed his eyes and counted to ten. Soothing words. Comforting words. "Squeeze my hand when it hurts. I'm here for you, babe."
Olivia gripped her husband's hand as tightly as she could, when the next wave of pain rolled over her. She was trying to breathe like she had been taught, but the pain was so overwhelming, it made thinking difficult.
Holy fuck! He was going to have a withered hand. Fitz had no idea that Olivia was even that strong! But here he was, with no feeling in his right hand. Thank God she hadn't gotten a grip on his left one. It would be a bitch to learn how to write with his right one. He felt her grip begin to loosen as the intense labor pains began to subside. He was breathing just as hard as she was now.
"You're doing a great job, Livvie." Fitz praised, and quickly pulled his numb hand away from her super human grip. "Keep it up. I'll bet you have dilated even more by now. Riley will be here in no time."
Olivia felt sweaty and tired and not at all prepared like she thought she would be. Everything at home was ready for her daughter. The crib had been put together and fresh sheets were on it, her new clothes had been washed and put away, a large stack of diapers had been freed from the box they came in, and were sitting in the top drawer of the changing table. But her body felt like it was not ready. She had forgotten all of the breathing techniques, she was yelling at her perfect husband, and she just wanted the hard part to be over.
A sheen of sweat coated her forehead. The pain was subsiding again. Olivia took deep breaths with her eyes closed and felt so much calmer. "I'm sorry, Fitz. I didn't mean to yell at you. I should have..."
"Stop, Liv." Fitz timidly took her hand in his. "What happens in the hospital, stays in the hospital. I can't do anything but sit here and watch you go through this. I can't take the pain away or make it more bearable. I'm not going to take anything you say to me personally."
"You're the best and I love you. Could you get me some ice chips please? It's hot as hell in here."
"Absolutely, babe. Whatever you need."
Fitz came back with ice chips to see a couple of nurses scurrying around Olivia's room. "What's...going on?"
"Your wife has fully dilated and is at the pushing part." One of the nurses informed him.
"But we just got here less than a couple hours ago. Is that even possible?" Fitz was freaking out. In any movie he'd ever seen, women were in labor for a really long time. This was going at warp speed.
"Apparently, your daughter is really excited about being here."
"She's okay though, right?" Fitz asked.
"She's perfectly fine. Just impatient." she explained.
"Liv? Are you okay?" He felt like an idiot not asking about her. Olivia reached a hand out to him with a smile that quickly turned to a grimace.
"I'm...fine. Just...ohhhh! It hurts!"
"Remember your breathing." The nurse said patiently. "Let's take a look and see where we are. Dad? Do you wanna see?"
"Nope. I'm good right here holding her hand." Fitz stated, shaking his head back and forth. The grip on his hand tightened immensely in a second. He looked at Olivia and saw her face crinkled and a pain filled expression covering it. "You've got this, Liv. I'm right here."
"How are we doing in here?" The doctor asked one of the nurses from the doorway.
"Olivia is fully dilated and ready to start pushing."
"This is her first baby?"
"It is. This little one is ready to roll."
"We are going to start pushing on your next contraction. Okay, Olivia?" She asked.
Olivia nodded. She could already feel the pain starting to build once again. She held Fitz's hand tighter, propped herself up on her elbows, and began to push as hard as she could.
"Excellent job! Keep that up and we'll have a baby here in no time."
Dropping onto her back, Olivia took a moment to catch her breath. Fitz pushed her hair out of her face and whispered encouraging words to her. He was a rock, and she was thankful he was here with her. Although everything seemed to be happening so fast, probably much faster than normal, she knew she could do it. "We're gonna have a baby today." she told Fitz.
He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Today is gonna be Riley's birthday. You are doing amazing and I'm so proud of you."
"Here comes another one." she said gritting her teeth. Fitz helped her onto her elbows again and she started pushing.
"I see a head!" The obstetrician announced with a smile. "A few more fantastic pushes, Olivia and your little one will be here."
Olivia's determination doubled at the doctor's words. She panted until the next contraction came over her, and she pushed with all her might.
"The head is out! This little one has a super strong mommy."
"Yes, she does." Fitz said in complete agreement. He'd never felt so useless yet amazed in his whole life. His wife was bringing new life into the world using the strength of her body. He was vastly proud of her.
Two pushes later the doctor announced, "it's a girl!" and suctioned out her mouth and nose.
Olivia tried leaning closer to see her daughter. "Is she okay?"
Riley made her presence known with her loud cries of being in a foreign place after being housed elsewhere for the past nine months. "She's perfect" the doctor assured her. She clamped the cord and asked, "Does dad want to cut the cord?"
Fitz's eyes went wide in a flash and terror filled them as the blue shocked orbs went from the doctor to Olivia to each nurse. "I...I...I'm not really qualified to do that. Am I?"
"Dads do it all the time. Just cut right here." She handed him the sterile scissors and showed him exactly where to cut between two clamps. When he did as directed, she told him, "good job."
The nurses put the baby immediately to Olivia's chest and began rubbing Riley down with towels to clean her up a bit. "She sure was in a rush to meet her mommy and daddy." One of the nurses commented.
Fitz wasn't sure if he could touch her or not, but he crouched down beside Olivia and kissed her. "You were absolutely amazing, babe. A real friggin rock star! I'm so proud of you and how you did that. I love you so much!"
Olivia was bawling as she held her daughter and kissed her husband. "I love you too and I can't believe she's finally here! Can you believe it?"
The new mom looked loving at her newborn, absolutely star struck at how beautiful she was, and that she was all theirs. She wiped her eyes and tenderly put a kiss on top of her little one's head. "Happy birthday, Riley. I've been waiting an awfully long time to see you, my sweet girl."
Fitz was speechless. Riley was so tiny. Naturally, he knew babies were small, but theirs was itty bitty. He momentarily wondered if she should be safely tucked inside an incubator. No one seemed worried about it, so he wasn't going either. Maybe he'd mention it in a few minutes just to be sure.
The top of her head was covered with thick curls. He smiled, knowing they had that in common. She looked like a carbon copy of Olivia. In fact, she had stopped crying the moment Livvie had started talking to her. It was like Riley knew she was her mother. She was staring up at her mother with a mix of fascination and exhaustion on her face, but she was completely calm in her mother's arms.
Riley had the cutest little nose, and watching it crinkle when she yawned was adorable. Her fingers and toes were incredibly small, but he took a minute to count them all, twice, to make sure there were ten of each. She was a beautiful baby. He knew lots of people said that their newborns were pretty babies, and they might have been, but his daughter really was and no one could tell him otherwise. He couldn't wait to watch her personality shine through as she grew up.
She was laying on Olivia's chest having some skin to skin time, happy as a clam. Her eyes were still slightly open, but they looked like they were losing that battle fast. It was the cutest thing. One of her tiny hands was in a fist on her mother's chest, but the other one was open, and Fitz couldn't resist. He carefully stuck his index finger into her warm little palm. The newborn's hand immediately closed around it, holding onto her daddy's big finger. Fitz started to cry.
Olivia tore her eyes from her daughter long enough to look at her husband. Riley already had her daddy head over heels in love with her. He was an emotional mess and it was the sweetest thing to see. She was glad she wasn't the only one. "Are you okay?" She asked him.
He nodded and wiped his eyes with his free hand. He wasn't ever moving his finger out of her hand. They were gonna have to...
"You wanna hold her?" Olivia asked.
Maybe he'd let go of her hand for a minute.
"Yea!" His answer was immediate. And maybe a little too loud. Riley was startled by it and her little body jumped. She started crying, and Fitz froze. "Maybe I shouldn't."
Olivia smiled at him. "She's not gonna break. Are you, Riley? No, you're not. We're just all gonna have to adjust to each other, huh?"
Fitz scooped Riley up from on top of Liv as if she were made of glass. He'd never held a newborn before, but he took special care holding her close to his chest. That was the moment. He felt infinitely close to his daughter. And protective too. As he held Riley, he vowed to protect her from anything bad in the world. That she would get the best of his time, attention, and help whenever she needed it.
She was so much smaller than his two hands. It was amazing to see. He peered down at her resting comfortably against his chest and looking back up at him expectantly with that same sleepy expression. Fitz kissed the top of her head began to sway with her. She blinked at him, and he thought his heart would burst with love. He smiled big and proud, not caring who saw it.
Learning from his previous mistake, Fitz leaned down and quietly murmured, "Hello beautiful girl. I am your daddy. You don't realize it right now, Riley Amelia, but we are having our very first daddy daughter dance. There will be lots more of them as you grow up, but this one is the most special. You're gonna have to teach me all the newest dance moves so that I don't embarrass you. I'll do enough of that on my own."
"Okay, Fred Astaire. If you're done with the dance lessons, we need to give your daughter a physical exam, and then she will get her very first bath." The nurse told him.
Fitz stopped moving and had a quiet conversation with his daughter. "Riley, what do you think? Do we want to stop dancing for a bath and stuff?"
Riley sighed and closed her eyes.
"I don't think my little girl is completely on board with that plan yet." Fitz looked at the newborn and chuckled. "Come on, sleepyhead."
Fitz watched the nurse like a hawk as she handled Riley like she was a bag of potatoes. He was not a fan of it, but since no one else was calling her out on it, he kept quiet. Riley was still asleep through it too, and he figured if she wasn't happy, she'd be letting them know.
"She weighs seven pounds seven ounces and is twenty inches long." The nurse declared.
"What are you doing now?" Fitz asked.
"I'm going to take her footprint. You can take pictures if you want."
Riley was not a fan of that at all! She screamed at the top of her lungs while the nurse grasped her ankle and patted the bottom of her foot to an ink pad before pressing her little foot to the rectangular 'It's A Girl' announcement that was taped to her bed.
Fitz was endlessly fascinated watching her expressions through it all, but his favorite was the bath. His girl didn't like, but loved her bath. Fitz took another million pictures as she smiled when her hair got washed. Of her getting all clean. That joy was nothing compared to when the nurse began to dry her off and put a diaper on her little bottom.
"Babe? Can you put this on her please now that she's clean?" Olivia asked.
"Me?" He asked, taking the long sleeved onesie from his wife. "Am I allowed to dress her?"
"She's your daughter, Mr. Grant. Of course you can dress her." The nurse assured him. First time dads were the cutest thing to watch. She stepped aside and kept an eye on him.
"I've never done this before, Riley so please be patient with your daddy." Fitz pulled apart the three snaps at the bottom.
"Go ahead and bunch it up in your hands, so you can easily slide it over her head all at once." The nurse told him.
"Okay." Fitz did as he was told.
"And do the arms carefully, but quickly. They usually hate the arms part, so be warned. She'll probably cry."
"Will you do it if she cries?" Fitz asked.
She chuckled and told him, "sure."
Not a whimper was uttered as Fitz dressed his daughter in a onesie. He puffed up with pride as she slept through the whole thing. When he finished snapping the three round silver closures, Fitz watched Riley stretch her arms up past her ears with her eyes closed, and her lips poked out. She laid there as content as could be. That was the moment he read what her onesie said.
Daddy's girl
His eyes filled as he looked down at her with a happy smile. Salty tears slid down his face as he watched his perfect tiny daughter sleep peacefully. No thoughts of her getting married or leaving home ever entered into his mind. Fitz was living in the deliriously happy moment that she was finally here. Nothing could be more perfect, in his opinion.
Fitz picked her up and handed her to Olivia as gently as humanly possible. "She is perfect."
"She really is." Olivia agreed, as she studied her daughter's features. "Oh! I need to count her fingers and toes."
"I already did that. Twice." Fitz told her with a grin as he kept his eyes on Riley. "It had to be done. I can't believe that she was in your belly earlier this morning."
"Right?"
"Poor girl really was all squished up in there, huh?" Fitz leaned down and kissed her tiny hand.
"No wonder she was kicking all the time. Precious girl had no room." Olivia rubbed her index finger against the newborn's cheek. "Her skin is soft and smooth. I'm so glad she's finally here. She is amazing."
He smiled at his wife and kissed her cheek. "The second most amazing female I know. I love you so much, Liv."
"I love you too." They watched her in pure amazement for a few more minutes before Olivia began to get sleepy herself. "Babe? Can you take her please? I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open right now and I want to take a little nap before the grandparents storm in here and take over, okay?"
"Yea, yea. Of course." He said, happily taking Riley from Liv's arms.
"I don't want to sleep long. Just a half hour, okay?" She asked as she curled onto her side facing away from him.
"Absolutely." He assured her.
The second it was obvious that Olivia was asleep, Fitz started a conversation in hushed tones with a sleeping Riley in his arms. "Now is as good a time as any to go over the rules, young lady. You will take your time growing up. We are not rushing through a minute of anything. No wishing you are five when you're four. No walking before you crawl. I mean it.
Another rule is that your daddy gets the biggest hugs every single day. I don't care if you're twenty-six, and your boyfriend is waiting for you. I'm gonna need a hug every day from you. A tight one. With both arms.
And while we're on the subject of boyfriends. You are not allowed to date until you are at least eighteen."
Riley gave a smile in her sleep.
"You can't just smile your way out of things with me, Riley." But he was already feeling his reserve failing. "It's the most beautiful smile, but I'm married to the queen of using her smile to get her own way. Just because it works for her, doesn't mean it will work for you. We're going to at least pretend it won't work for you. Okay?"
"Let's talk about your mommy for a minute. She is an absolute superhero. She's the smartest, kindest, funniest, most beautiful person in the whole wide world. Your mommy is going to take such good care of you, and love you so, so much. She's probably going to take you shopping the second you learn how to walk. But that's okay. My girls need to have pretty things.
You are not allowed to be mean to her or say things that might hurt her feelings. On accident or on purpose. Ever. You will treat her with respect and tell her that you love her all the time. You will make her cute macaroni necklaces and give her flowers on Mother's Day. You will do your best to be just like her, because she is an amazing person.
Your grandmother is going to go nuts when she meets you in a little while. She's going to cry and hold you tight and cry some more and take lots of pictures. But that will be nothing compared to your two grandfathers. They are going to cry more than your grandmother." Fitz chuckled at the thought of his dad crying the minute he holds his granddaughter for the first time. "But they are going to be great allies for you. And they will love you a lot too. And they will buy you whatever you want. Within reason."
"Aunt Abby and aunt Quinn are going to try to teach you to be sarcastic. Don't you let them! You keep being the sweet and perfect little girl that you already are. They are going to love you too though." He added with a smile. "They are mostly harmless, and fun and nice. Don't tell them I said that though."
"Promise me that you will always call me dad, even after we tell you about your father when you're older. I promise I'll always love you and protect you and your mother. I'm not going to always get it right. I've never been a dad before, so you're going to have to be patient with me sometimes. And I'm going to have to be patient with you too, but we are family, and we are in this together, okay?
I'm happier than you will ever know to have your mommy for my wife and you for my daughter. I love you both to the moon and back and I always will." Fitz pressed a light kiss to her forehead and quietly watched her sleep. He had no plans of waking Liv up in a half hour either. She had had a rough night and he'd let her sleep as long as she wanted. He was more than content right where he was.
Olivia grinned as she listened to her husband's rules before falling to sleep. He was the cutest daddy.
Two hours later, Fitz couldn't put it off any longer. His phone was blowing up with texts and missed calls from the grandparents who were eager to meet their granddaughter. More than one message had threatening undertones to it. Sighing loudly, Fitz knew the quiet little bubble was about to be broken.
"Liv? Hey, babe? You've gotta get up."
Olivia cracked her eyes open and stretched as she yawned. "Has it been thirty minutes already?"
"Wellllll, it's been a little longer than that."
She turned her head, looking for her phone. "How much longer? The grandparents have been out in the waiting room expecting to come up and meet her."
"I let you sleep for two hours, babe."
"TWO..."
"Stop. You needed the rest. You didn't sleep good last night and was up early with labor pains."
"But..."
"No buts. It's done with. They can be mad at me if they want."
"That works. How's our little girl?"
"Just as exhausted as you apparently." he chuckled. "She's been out the whole time too. Who knew life with two girls would be so quiet?"
"Gimme my baby, Fitz." She said with a smile and held out her arms.
"No way. She's my girl." Fitz said as he rocked her.
"Fine. You wanna play it that way." She grabbed her phone and touched the face of it a few times. "Hey, momma. You and daddy can come up now. Yea. Bring Max too please. Love you."
Fitz's eyes got big and he handed Riley to her mother. "That was just mean."
A knock sounded on the door a moment before Marie, Aaron, and Max stepped inside. The room was filled with soft ooooooh's and awwwww's from the excited new grandparents.
Marie cried silent happy tears and hugged both of her girls before taking the baby from her mother's arms. "Happy birthday, Riley. I'm so glad you're here. And let me tell you before your mother distorts the facts, I knew you were a girl from the moment I found out about you. I said you were a beautiful soul with a brave and wonderful mother, and I didn't lie. Look at you! You're a carbon copy of your mommy, and one day you will learn just how brave and wonderful she really is."
"Oh my goodness. She does look just like you did when you were born, lil bit." Aaron said with a proud smile.
"Really, dad?"
"Absolutely. We'll have to dig out pictures to compare after you get home." he looked at Fitz and said, "you have been taking pictures in here, right son?"
Fitz got to his feet. "Only a couple hundred. But I can get more storage on my phone for more pictures if you think I should."
Max stepped into the room and pulled his son close for a hug. "I'm sure you have plenty for now, son."
"Hey, dad." Fitz held on tightly for a moment before letting go.
"Long night?" Max asked with a grin.
"Actually, it went really fast. From the time Liv's water broke until Riley got here, it was like less than three hours."
"Did she yell at you a lot?"
Fitz rolled his eyes and nodded. He wasn't about to answer that question out loud within hearing distance from his wife.
"Your mom yelled at me a lot too." Max told him.
"Really? That's oddly comforting."
Max peered over at Aaron, who was holding Riley and having a quiet conversation with her. "She's beautiful."
"Well, I can't take any credit for how she looks." Fitz said as his eyes flicked lovingly over to the newborn.
"That may be true, but you can make sure she's just as beautiful on the inside."
"Thanks, dad." Fitz pulled him close for another hug.
"Your parents are good as gold. You just have to train them. I can help with all of that, but something tells me you're not gonna have that problem, itty bitty." Aaron chuckled and kissed the top of Riley's head.
"Awww, dad. Is that her nickname?" Olivia asked as she teared up.
"Lil bit's baby has to be itty bitty."
"Oh my gosh, that's the cutest thing in the world." Olivia cried and wiped at her eyes helplessly. Pregnancy hormones were a bitch!
When Fitz and Max parted, Aaron got to his feet and stood in front of Max. "We've got a beauty here, Max. You know what our job is in all of this, right?"
"To spoil her rotten." Max replied with a conspiratorial grin.
Aaron chuckled and handed the newborn to her grandfather. "Yes, Sir. I think we can take care of that task just fine. What do you think?"
"Oh, I believe we are just the men for the job." Aaron went to talk to Fitz and Liv and he took a moment with his perfect brand new granddaughter. "Hi, Riley Amelia. I sure am happy to finally meet you. I'm your second grandfather, but you can call me whatever you want to. I promise I'll love it. You should know that your daddy picked your first name. That might not seem like a big deal to you, but it is. One day you'll understand how important it was for your mommy to trust your daddy with picking your name.
Your middle name was your grandmother's first name, and that was your mommy's idea. That might not seem like a big deal either, but it is to me. Your grandmother would have loved you right to pieces." Max stopped his little speech to watch the newborn. She had been sound asleep, but opened her eyes and blinked a few times, and kept them open. He couldn't help himself. He leaned down and kissed her chubby little cheek. "You are a miracle to me, and I love you. Like your daddy says, to the moon and back."
Riley grinned up at him and closed one eye before closing the other one too. Both for good this time. It looked like she winked up at him. That was something his wife used to do before she went to take a nap on Sundays. Max broke into a huge proud smile. Riley already had just effectively wrapped her grandfather around her perfect little finger. Max had a feeling that none of their lives would ever be the same as they were before this moment.
Don't worry, they're not gone for good. We'll peek in on them from time to time in holiday one shots like we do with Olitz from WCFIO. If you read this story, left a review, tweeted or commented on Facebook about it, THANK YOU. Honestly, it means a lot to me. I've said it before & I'll say it again, I really don't know what I'm doing, but you guys make me feel like I do. All of you are an amazing source of encouragement to me. A new story will be heading your way before too long. Until then, I'll be busy working on Duty Calls.