When Emily woke up, her eyes got caught by the vision in front of her. Cal was holding Alison in his arms while both of them were asleep on the rocking chair. She got to sleep a few hours while she was in labor but she was sure Cal didn't. He had been up since1 amwhen she woke him, Alison was bornat 9.26amand it was now midday, which gave him more or lessa 4hsleep in total. She was finally starting to feel her body again, a clear sign that the anesthesia was disappearing, but she was still a bit tired, a lot less than before but tired and she knew she would start to feel some pain in a few minutes. She smiled looking at them until a nurse came in to check her.
"I see you're awake, I can't say the same about your husband tho" she chuckled.
Emily smiled too, why was everyone thinking they were married? Didn't they see that there was no wedding ring on their fingers? Was it a sin to have a kid without being married? But honestly she didn't care now, she was too tired even to think about it.
"He has been up since1amwith a two hours sleep" Emily smiled looking at him.
"I get it. I need to take Alison for a while to make all the tests I need to complete her files. Did she eat?" the nurse asked, checking Emily's vitals and removing the drip. They had gave it to her to restore some of her energies and keep her hydrated, but now she could eat and drink on her own.
"She did. More or less two hours ago" Emily explained.
"Ok, I see she is asleep now so I don't think she would be hungry for now. But I'm gonna bring her back to you if she will. Did everything went well with breastfeeding?" she asked.
"Everything was fine, I already have a son, he is a teen now but actually I remember how to do it. I thought I forgot" Emily admitted.
"It's something natural so you can't really forget how to do it. If you'll need any kind of help don't hesitate to ask us. We're always available for everything" the nurse said.
"Thank you" Emily smiled at her.
"Now I think it's time to wake your husband up" the nurse pointed out.
Emily gently extended an arm to touch her boyfriend's shoulder, slowly calling him. She didn't want him to get scared since he had Alison in his arms but Cal was so used now at detecting her voice in his sleep that he opened his eyes immediately, looking around confused.
"They have to take Alison for a while, would you mind let her go?" Emily chuckled, seeing how his arms were still wrapped protectively around her.
"Yeah, sure. Here" he got up and gave Alison to the nurse, trying to be as gentle as he could, not to wake her up.
The nurse went out with Alison and left the two of them alone. Cal looked at her, suddenly feeling empty.
"What?" Emily asked him, taking his hand.
"What am I supposed to do now?" he asked back.
"What do you mean?" she definitely was confused.
"What should I do when I'm not holding her? I mean what did I do before she was born?" he actually couldn't remember.
Emily chuckled, reaching for his lips and kissing him softly, hooking an arm around his neck.
"Mmh that's a good idea, I remember that" he said between kisses, gently holding her face with his left hand.
They kissed for a while, just enjoying the moment between them and sharing their happiness with each other. Their lips parted when the need of air became necessary. It always fucked her mind how her heart still raced and her brain went blank when he kissed her, it was always like their first kiss all over again.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, running a hand softly through her hair, his thumb caressing her forehead.
"I'm tired, a bit in pain but I'm ok. I'm actually a bit hungry" she admitted.
"I'm pretty sure you can eat everything now, I can ask the nurse if you want" he answered.
"Oh you know what I really crave? One of those burgers from that place near the city center" she said closing her eyes and throwing her head back on the pillow.
"I can ask if you can eat it and go buy you one" he suggested.
She opened her eyes, looking at him and her eyes lit up.
"Would you?" she asked him, almost begging.
"Of course. I think I'll take a while tho" he answered.
"It's ok, but you don't have to if you don't want it" she rubbed his hand, she didn't really want to be a burden for him.
"It's ok. I'm gonna ask someone if you can eat it and I'm gonna go buy one. Wait for me" he left a kiss on her forehead and she laughed, like she could have gone somewhere.
The nurse told him she could eat everything she wanted, but to go slowly, so he went straight to the parking lot to get the car and go take the burgers. He decided to order one for him too since he was hungry and he also bought a chocolate milkshake, he didn't know if she wanted it but he bought it anyway, he could still drink it himself. He didn't ask if she could drink some soda but he figured out that water would be just fine for her now, she was a bit dehydrated so water would be great. He headed back to the hospital with the paper bag in his hands and entered the room. Emily was sleeping quietly on her bed, he thought for a moment whether to wake her up or not but he didn't want her to eat cold food.
"Em, darling, food is here" he said, gently shaking her shoulder.
She opened her sleepy eyes at him and started to get herself in a sitting position, but failed due to a hard pain on her back. He helped her right away, positioning her pillows in the way they made her feel more comfortable.
"Thank you" she said smiling at him.
"You're welcome. I bought you your burger, some fries and some water. I also bought a milkshake if you craved something sweet, chocolate, your favorite. If you don't feel like drinking it I'm gonna do it don't worry" he explained, positioning the food on the tray in front of her.
"I don't know if I will be able to drink it all but we can share it if you want" she suggested.
"Sounds good to me" he smiled at her.
She ate slowly, but ended up finishing everything he bought. They did share the milkshake, she didn't want to eat more than she needed.
"May we come in?" a nurse asked, peeking from the door.
"Sure" Cal nodded.
"Someone got up and I think she is missing mum and dad" she said holding a crying Alison in her arms.
"Hi baby" Emily extended her arms to take her and she laid Alison in her arms.
The nurse smiled at them and left the room as Emily tried to rock her to calm her down.
"I think she is hungry" Emily stated after a whole three minutes of rocking that wasn't working.
She got into a more comfortable position and started to feed Alison, lucky she was right, it worked. Emily gently caressed her daughter's head as she ate, feeling Cal's eyes staring at them in adoration.
"Does it hurt?" he asked, he didn't know how it felt like and he was just genuinely curious about everything she was going through right now, actually since the pregnancy started.
"I have just pushed a whole human out of my body, trust me, this is nothing compared to that. But yes, just a bit" she chuckled, making him chuckle too.
"Too bad we didn't have twins, in that way we could both hold a baby at the same time. I feel empty without her" he rubbed his thumb on Alison's forehead while looking at her eating.
"Cal one baby is already a lot to take care of... and you already had your time with her. You hold her for two hours it's my turn now" Emily said holding her protectively, making him chuckle as Alison stopped eating.
"Your mummy is protective you know, but don't worry, she is amazing and she already loves you more than everything" he said, looking down at her.
"Yeah let's wait until you'll come home saying you like someone, then we will see who's gonna be the protective one" Emily chuckled, looking up at Cal who chuckled.
Emily kept stroking Alison's cheek for a while as Cal just looked at them, neither of them was talking, they didn't need it. They just needed to enjoy that moment as much as they could. Cal even took a few pictures for the first time, totally forgetting about the fact that they didn't told anyone that she was born. Cal had just called Crown to say hw wouldn't have gone to work that day.
All of a sudden Alison let out a soft cry as she started moving, Cal immediately got near as Emily tried to calm her down to prevent her from crying. Suddenly a pair of big and confused hazel eyes were stating back at them.
"She has your eyes, I'm so fucking screwed" Cal said, provoking a laugh from Emily.
She remembered their talk in the park, him saying that he would have never been able to say no to a little version of her with the same pair of hazel eyes looking up at him.
Suddenly Cal's phone started ringing and he talked for a while, she assumed they were his parents that would definitely come visit once they were at home or in a few hours, she couldn't understand it. She actually never met his parents yet, they had been so busy with the house and Cal's work that every weekend was just a relaxing day on the couch.
"My parents said they are on their way to visit us. I couldn't stop them I'm sorry" he said, putting his phone away.
"It's ok, don't worry. My dad should come too. I just wish Flynn could be here too" she admitted.
"It's safer for him to visit us at our apartment, in that way no one can see him" Cal explained, he knew how important it was for her to have her son there, but he wouldn't suggest anything that could put him in danger.
Cal's parents were actually so nice, they came into the room and immediately asked her how she was feeling and if everything was fine. They asked her if they could hold Alison and she took the opportunity to go to the bathroom and walk a bit through the room with Cal's help. Soon her dad and Jack arrived too and the room was filled with people who got to knew each other for the first time. She sat there, rocking Alison to keep her asleep as she tried to talk with everyone, eventually letting Cal hold her to take a walk again. She actually felt a lot better now so she tried to walk as much as her body could take to feel a bit better.
Soon everyone was gone and promised to be back the next day. Emily definitely needed to take some more sleep and they just wanted to have as much alone time with Alison as they could, hopefully their family understood. A nurse came in and told them that Emily could actually go home in three days if no more complications came along. They told Cal that he should have got home but he insisted that he would have also slept on a chair in the waiting room but there was no way he was going to leave his two girls alone. The nurse gave up at that point and just told him he could sleep on the bed next to Emily's since the room was emotional for now, but if they needed the bed he had to leave it. Obviously he agreed and luckily no one had to use it in the following three days, which allowed him to actually take some good night sleeps, the last ones in a long time since Alison was at the hospital's daycare for now at night and not with them.
That morning everything seemed to slow down. They let them sign a few papers and he helped Emily to get dressed, she was feeling way better and she almost got back to normal, she was just still a bit sore. Cal took all their stuff as Emily hold their baby in her arms as they exited the hospital and headed through the car. Luckily they had already equipped it with everything they needed since Cal went back home and did it while she was in the hospital.
Their ride home was quiet, Alison was such a good and quiet baby... for now. A sense of confusion and fear hit him once their home's door closed behind them.
"What now?" he asked disoriented.
"Now you're gonna stay with her and I'm gonna take a shower because I definitely need one, then I'm gonna stay with her and it will be your turn to take one" she explained, gently shifting Alison from her arms to Cal's.
"Wait you leave me alone? What am I supposed to do?" he asked scared, he had never hold her while Emily wasn't there.
"Cal she is three days old, it's not like you can play Poker with her. Just sit on the couch and cuddle. Weren't you the one saying we should have had twins so the both of us could hold one?" she chuckled.
"Yes but you were there, what if I drop her?" he was so scared.
"You're not gonna drop her Cal, you were amazing in the last few days. It's just a shower, I'm not gonna take forever, I promise" she said caressing his face.
"Ok, I'm gonna sit here" he said slowly sitting on the middle of the couch, in that way if Alison would have moved he felt more safe at knowing she could fall on a soft couch.
Emily smiled looking at him before entering the bathroom. She could understand his fears, she was just like him with Flynn, he just had to get used to it. It was gonna be a great adventure for sure.