Set some time in some near (hopefully) future. Based on a prompt on Tumblr asking for a 'Peraltiago baby fic' :)
Title is from Light by Sleeping at Last.
The World Is Brighter Than the Sun Now That You're Here
"Charles? Charles!"
As she's on her first week past her eighth month of pregnancy, Amy, who's been assigned on desk duty at work for awhile now, is taking a break and relaxing in Babylon with her husband's best friend.
Since Jake is currently out on the field with the rest of their squad, the later wouldn't let her alone more than just a few minutes, 'you know, in case something happens and you need someone'.
And even though she felt a bit annoyed by it at first – she's pregnant, not dying, no need to worry that much about her; she can handle herself –, she can't help but be glad he insisted on staying with her, after all. Because, given how badly her contractions hurt right now, more than it ever did before, and the puddle that appeared between her legs, it looks like 'baby Peraltiago,' as her partner took the sweet habit of calling it from the day she told him the news, decided to come out sooner than expected.
"Yes, Mommy?" Charles answers enthusiastically, not looking at her right away. "You need anything?"
"Call me Mommy one more time and I–…" the other detective starts, but then soon stops in her tracks, and takes a deep breath. "You know what, nevermind. There's no time for it right now. My waters broke," she lets it out in a rather matter-of-factly way, and the man's reaction to it doesn't wait to come.
"WHAT?!" he suddenly turns to her, panic easily readable in his tone and gestures, and his gaze soon fixates upon the puddle for a few seconds, as if lost in a sort of trance state.
"My waters broke," Amy repeats what she just informed her colleague of, ever so quietly.
This seems to take Charles back to life, since only a few seconds later, he's looking at her, right into her brown eyes. He hasn't calmed down a bit, though – all the contrary, even.
"No, it can't be!" he starts rambling. "You're still about a month due, and Jake's not here, and…"
"Charles!" she calls his name to make him shut up. "Stop freaking out, everything's gonna be just fine, but you have to focus up and listen to me!" she can't let his panic reach her – not right now.
She's prepared for this moment. There's nothing to worry about, then. "There's a binder in my desk that I left in case something like this would happen," she informs him. "I need you to go look for it now, and then you'll take me to the hospital. I'm taking care of bringing Jake back."
"Okay…" the older detective's voice is still shaking as he answers the younger woman, but at least he's not shouting anymore. He begins his way out of the room and up the bullpen, until he stops and turns again. "Take deep breaths, I'll be back soon," he tries giving Amy some advice as he sees her actually struggling with her pain, though she manages to hide it pretty well. "And… don't give birth before Jake's here, okay? I'd hate it for him to miss that moment."
"I can't really promise any–…" he gives her a threatening look as she's talking about not really being the one deciding here. So she sighs in return, and corrects herself, "I'll do my best."
Charles smiles at that, apparently pleased with her answer this time, and finally rushes out.
"You've heard Charles," she whispers once alone in the secret bathroom, tenderly rubbing at her huge, right now very hurtful belly. "You're gonna wait for daddy, right?!"
After that, she reaches for her phone, and dials Rosa's number. "Pick up, pick up, pick up…" she prays as she not so patiently waits for her to answer.
"Rosa!" she practically screams her coworker's name when she finally lets out her 'hello?'
"Amy? Are you alright?" the brunette, at the other end of the line, asks, suspicious.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," she says in a too high-pitched, too enthusiastic voice to sound true. "Everything is doing great."
"What's going on?" Rosa doesn't buy it for a second – she can tell something's up.
"Are you and Jake still on your way to your crime scene by any chance? Because it would be awesome if you guys could turn back as soon as you can, and join Charles and I at the hospital. Oh, and tell Holt he's gonna need backups on his case as well."
"What happened? Why do you want us to go to the hospital?" the other woman starts really panicking this time, which of course freaks Jake out as well, who's next to her, driving the car. Amy can hear him asking tons of questions through the phone. What is she saying, what's going on, is she alright?
"Don't worry," she tries reassuring them, then. "It's just…"
She doesn't have time to finish her sentence, because at the same time, Charles enters the room, and starts yelling, proudly showing what he has in his hands, "I HAVE THE BINDER! Let's go!"
"Amy?!" Rosa urges her to continue.
"… my waters broke," she acknowledges before hanging up without even waiting for a reaction of any kind on the other end of the line, and painfully stands up, leaning on Charles on their way to his car.
As for Jake and Rosa, following their colleague's call, there's a few seconds of utter silence inside the vehicle, during which none of them says a word. Until it finally occurs to Jake's mind.
"It's… it's happening?" he stutters, in shock. "Like… for realz? I'm gonna be a father?" Tears start prickling in his eyes, threatening to fall down his cheeks, as he lets out the last word.
Father. He's about to be a father.
Amy and he will be parents very soon. Sooner than expected, even.
"OH MY GOD, I'M GONNA BE A FATHER," he suddenly shouts, startling the woman next to him with his enthusiasm. "I can't miss it. I have to be there," realisation hits him, and all of a sudden he's turning the wheel in the middle of the road to change directions, and drive right back to the hospital.
"Hey, careful, you don't want to create a accident, not today," Rosa reprimands him.
"Sorry, I'm just… super excited… and stressed out, and… Rosa, what if I'm not ready to be a father?! I'm already missing my baby's birth, how bad of a father am I for missing it? I knew I should have stayed with Amy today, she didn't feel too good this morning. I should have known it meant something."
The male detective can't really think straight anymore, spiraling, overwhelmed by all different kinds of emotions coursing through his mind, all at the same time.
"I mean, I didn't have any good father figure growing up, how can I become one? What if I freak out one day and leave my family behind just like mine did? What if it's something that runs in the family?"
"Jake!" the brunette next to him stops him in his tracks. "Look at me," he turns then, quiet.
"Actually, no, look at the road, and just listen to me," Rosa corrects herself, seeing that he's not paying attention to the road before them anymore. "You're not your father. You're a good man. You love Amy, and you already love this baby, and you won't abandon them. I'm sure you're gonna be a great father. Plus you're not going to miss the birth. It's not like she was in the middle of labour already, and we were at the other end of the city. We have plenty of time to make it there."
She puts a hand on his shoulder to leave more weight to her words, and he smiles at the gesture. She actually managed to calm him down a bit, finally. She's right. Everything's gonna be alright.
And he's not alone in this, anyway. He has the most wonderful woman with him, to go through this amazing journey ahead of us, that is to be a parent.
Who needs him by her side, right now…
"Thanks, Rosa," he offers her a tender rictus.
"Yeah, no problem," she simply shrugs, and concentrates back on the road.
"Listen to me baby," Charles, as they're waiting in his car at a red light in their way to the hospital, with Amy by his side trying to keep her breathings as even as she can to control the increasing pain she's feeling, turns towards her, watching her stomach as he points at it and starts talking to it.
"Do not blow this up for us, okay?" he says. "You may want to go out early, but at least wait for Jake to be there. I know you're a good baby. You're America's dream couple's baby after all. And half-Jake."
"Charles, I swear, if you don't stop talking to my belly right now, I'm jumping off the car and go to the hospital by foot," his colleague threatens. She's currently hurting too much to deal with his ramblings.
"No, no, no, don't do that!" the man panics. "I'll shut up, I promise. You stay calm, and don't move too much. It'll help keep the baby inside if you just… relax. I can put on some music if it helps?"
"If it means I won't have to hear you talking anymore…" she agrees, rolling her eyes, as she tries to find a comfortable position on her seat – or at least the less uncomfortable one she can manage.
The rest of the ride goes rather quietly then – besides Amy's cries of pain from time to time, as her contractions are getting bigger and bigger with every new minute passing by.
Soon enough hopefully, they're parked in the hospital, and doctors are already taking care of her, leaving Charles alone as they're running some exams on her to make sure everything is going well despite the fact that she's a few weeks early and putting her in a room to prepare her for delivery.
"Come with us," a nurse comes to Charles once everything is ready, as he's walking around the waiting room, unable to calm down, watching through the window in desperate search of Jake and Rosa. "We can take you to your wife now. She's fine. Labour hasn't started yet," she informs him, and he chokes at her use of words, even though he's relieved to learn there's still some time for his best friend to arrive.
"Ugh, gross. I'm not the husband. He's actually on his way so… can you make sure the baby stays, you know, where it is until he's there, please?"
"What?!" the nurse exclaims, quite shocked by such a request. "That's not how it works!"
Just as Charles is about to argue, a voice in his back, breathless of having run four floors because he couldn't wait for the elevator to come, cuts him in his tracks. "Don't worry buddy, I'm here."
"Jake!" the older detective shouts as he turns around, and finds himself face-to-face with the brunette. "You made it! I knew you would!" he's as happy as he's ever been right now, all worry he's felt leaving his whole body all of a sudden at the simple sight of the man in front of him.
"Yeah. Where's Amy?" Jake doesn't waste any second on engaging in small talk.
"Well, I suppose you're the husband then?" the woman who was speaking to Charles just before asks. "Come with me. As I was telling your friend, your wife is doing just fine – labour hasn't started yet," she offers him a smile, and he doesn't reply with anything other than a thankful rictus.
All he wants now is to see her. To be where he needs to be.
By her side.
When he finally enters her room and their eyes meet, glowing, a simple glance at the other manage to calm them both down instantly, and the male detective rushes towards the love of his life without waiting any longer.
"Thank God Jake, you're here," Amy lets out a sigh, relieved.
"Of course I am," he kneels beside her, and takes her hand in his, kissing it on his way. "I'm so sorry I'm not the one who took your here. I shouldn't have left you."
"Hey, it's nothing. We couldn't know it would happen today. And actually, Charles did a great job… I'm glad you're here now th–… aaargh!" a contraction cuts her at the end of her sentence.
"What's going on?" Jake, worried, turns to the nurse who stayed by the door.
"Nothing," she reassures him. "I think it's time to call the midwife."
Then, after that, it's a rather long, painful process – several hours of labour, of Amy crushing Jake's hand between her fingers as she's hurting too much, of him telling her how great she's doing, tenderly stroking her wet hair and reminding her of how much he loves her – but in the end, after one last push and shout of pain, the room suddenly fills out with silence, only for a few seconds though.
Because soon enough the woman's yellings are replaced by baby cries, just as one so tiny, so delicate little human is presented to them.
"It's a girl," the midwife informs them of their child's sex with a grin as she quickly examines the infant to be sure everything is okay with her before gently putting her into her exhausted mother's arms, and it's all it takes for the couple to burst into happy tears at the same time.
"Hi Ana," the female detective calls her by the name Jake and her both already agreed on giving if they were to have a girl while she oh so tenderly rubs her belly. "Welcome to the family, baby."
She kisses her forehead then and, watching the now two loves of his life like this, Jake can't help but think this is by far the best day of his life, and the most beautiful picture he's ever seen as well.
For awhile they remain like, without saying anything, until Amy finally looks up, salty pearls of joy still prickling in her eyes, and smiles broadly, though tiredly, at her husband. "Do you wanna hold her?"
"Of course," he's quick to answer, and carefully takes the little girl from her mother's arms.
And, as he softly rocks her, Ana peacefully sleeping against his chest, the doubts he had before about being a father suddenly disappears. Looking at her, he knows everything is going to be fine.
He knows the three of them – and all of the girl's future siblings – are going to form a beautiful, happy, united family. He's actually never been so sure of anything else than he's sure of it right now.
He'll never let her down. He'll never let them down, with Amy.
"I love you," he whispers to the baby's ear, then sits next to his wife on the bed, making sure not to wake the infant up in his way, and kisses the woman's temple as he adds, "both of you."
"I love you too," Amy replies with emotion, letting her head rest on her husband's shoulder, watching their baby sleep in her father's arms and enjoying this quiet moment before Charles, Rosa, and the rest of their big family start visiting them and welcoming little Ana Peralta-Santiago into the world.
For now, it's just the three of them, surrounded by all the love they share.