Unexpected
Chapter Twenty Three
Mark made several appearances on Raw in the two months following Wrestlemania, but decided he wanted some more time off when Stephanie entered the final months of her pregnancy. He wanted to be there when the baby was born.
Somewhere along the way he and Stephanie had gotten engaged, Shane moved to Houston, and Sydney was transferring to a college closer to home though he wasn't sure which one. It had been a crazy ride the last several months.
Stephanie refused to find out the sex of the baby so the couple had spent more hours than either could count trying to name the baby, but had yet to reach success with a name for either sex.
Mark was on his last plane ride home for a while. Honestly he was thinking more and more about retiring when his current contract was up at the end of the year. He wasn't sure that he could physically and emotionally spend all the time away from home all the time. His joints couldn't take the stress of both being a father and a wrestler. Being a father was the most important of the two without a doubt.
* * * * * * *
Stephanie was helping Savannah with her graduation and open house invitations. Both were coming up in about three weeks. She was so big she could hardly do anything, but she was happy for the first time in a long time.
She was also anxiously awaiting Mark's return that evening and Sydney's the next day. She remembered how excited and happy Mark was when he told her he was coming home for a couple months and that Sydney was staying at home for the rest of the summer save a week and a half trip to her grandparents house, which is why she was coming home tomorrow.
She was also getting excited about the baby all though it was getting annoying always having someone check on her. It seemed like there was always someone. The one good thing about it was she was talking to her mom a lot more.
"Hey little one calm down," she said rubbing her stomach. The baby was being extremely active at the moment. She thought it was going to be a girl, and Mark thought it was going to be a boy. Mark said the baby was to active to be a girl. Steph didn't argue with him.
* * * * * * *
Mark came home to quiet house which was a rarity. He found Savannah and Sierra in the kitchen having a snack and assumed that Stephanie was sleeping.
"Daddy," Sierra said getting up and giving him a big hug. She was almost two and he'd been gone much of her short life but she still loved him more than anything. He admitted that he wasn't gone as much as when Sydney and Savannah were her age, but it was still a lot more than he would like.
He hung out with his little girls for a while. As much as Savannah hated being referred to as his little girl, she always would be. Then he proceeded upstairs to find Stephanie. Coming home today had reaffirmed his theory to not renegotiate a contract after this one ran out. If he got bored later, which he doubted, then he could start a mechanic shop or something.
He watched Stephanie for a few moments before letting her know he was home. He still loved watching her sleep.
"Steph, I know you want to return after the baby's born but once my contract is up, I don't think I'm going to renegotiate it," Mark told her.
"That's fine. I'm not even sure I want to go back anymore. I was really interested, but then I realized what I would be missing. I would miss the day to day things. I might not see the baby's first steps or words. I don't want to miss out on those things," Stephanie told him. They were both relieved they had said that.
The rest of the evening was pretty normal, even by more conventional standards.
* * * * * *
Three weeks later in the middle of the night Steph woke up, which wasn't unusual seeing as the baby usually wanted to be active when she was trying to sleep.
She immediately had to go to the bathroom which again was pretty typical. The baby was fond of kicking right near her bladder. That's when she felt what must have been a contraction. It passed quickly and she decided to wait for the next one to say something to Mark.
About twenty minutes later she woke Mark up. "It's time," she told him.
The pair ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, before making their way to the hospital.
* * * * * * *
Mark called Shane shortly after they arrived at the hospital. The doctor said it was likely that Stephanie would be in labor for several more hours. Steph wanted him to call Shane now anyway.
Mark had to laugh when he heard Shane's greeting when he picked up the phone, as it was about 4:30 in the morning. He told Shane what was going on and of course Shane said he'd be there soon despite that Mark said it would probably be several more hours before the baby made his first appearance.
* * * * * * *
That afternoon at 3:52 Stephanie gave birth to a baby boy. When she held him in her arms she knew that she didn't want to go back and have an onscreen role. She would miss him so much. After a few moments she let Mark hold him.
Mark held the little boy and felt the same awe that he had the first time he held each of the girls. For all intents and purposes the little boy was his. The DNA didn't matter He was the one who was with Stephanie through much of her pregnancy, and made the middle of the night trips to get whatever weird food she was craving at the moment.
"What's his name?" the nurse asked gently.
The couple had spent weeks trying to figure out a name and just the previous day they had. "Caleb Shane Callaway," Stephanie told the nurse. Mark smiled. He had left the last name totally up to Stephanie.
"I'm going to take him out and let Shane and the girls see him," Mark sdi.
"Just have them come in here. They're going to want to see me, too. At least I think they will," Stephanie said with as small exhausted smile. She wanted to see her family before she fell asleep.
Mark smiled at her before asking the nurse to bring him in. Moments later they were all gathered around Stephanie's bed.
Shane was happy to see his sister, though exhausted was okay and to see his nephew. He smiled as held the little boy who didn't yet have any features that were obviously Paul's. Shane hoped never would.
"What's his name?" Shane asked. Last time he knew they hadn't decided on a name.
"Caleb Shane," Stephanie said yawning.
Shane wanted to know about the last name but wasn't nosey enough to ask. He made a mental note to ask later. "Congrats you guys. I'm going to let you get some rest. I'll talk to you later, sis," Shane said giving his sister a hug.
"Yeah, I'll call you when I get out of here," Steph said.
"Good luck finding the time. Having a baby at home is going to eat up most of your time," Shane told her before leaving.
Sydney and Savannah also left shortly after Shane did. They figured their dad and Steph needed some alone time and Steph needed some sleep.
"Since we know we have a brother we should probably start sorting though the clothes and finish setting up the crib," Savannah said when they got home.
"Now you understand how weird it is to have a sibling young enough to be your own child?" Sydney asked remembering how her sister couldn't understand how Sierra's birth kind of freaked her out.
"True," Savannah said.
* * * * * * *
Mark and Stephanie didn't talk. Mark sat with her while Stephanie fell asleep. He was getting tired himself but he wanted to stay with Steph.
When he fell asleep he decided to peek through the nursery window to watch his most likely sleeping son. He remembered anytime he brought anyone to see the girls they were always sleeping.
He watched the helpless baby and smiled that Caleb would have a mom, dad and three older sisters who loved him. Not all kids had that kind of support.
* * * * * * *
Stephanie and Caleb spent the standard day and a half in the hospital, before being released. Steph was happy to leave as she usually thought of death and injury when she was in the hospital.
"Think you can handle middle of the night crying?" Steph asked on the way home.
"I've spent the last five months working or getting you food in the middle of the night, I think I can handle it for a while longer," Mark told her.
"It could be more than a while, depending on how difficult Caleb wants to be.
"Great I may never have a goodnights sleep until they all move out," Mark joked.
"Quit being over dramatic. I think you will unless you have another child no one knows about," Steph told him.
"Well…" Mark said jokingly.
"Don't make me call Glenn so he can rat you out," Steph teased.
"There aren't anymore," Mark reassured.
* * * * * * *
Sydney and Savannah couldn't wait for Mark and Stephanie to get home. They'd made some changes to the nursery to make it a little more boyish.
Stephanie walked in carrying a sleeping Caleb and Mark had her bags. "Dang these baby carriers are heavy," Stephanie said. "I should have let you carry it."
"Come look," Savannah said leading the way to the nursery.
Steph was amazed at what the girls had been able to accomplish by themselves.
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