Epilogue

Luke felt Grace shift next to him. He was lying on his back wish Grace curled up on her side next to him. Her stomach (which was by this point huge) was kind of resting on his abdomen. It had been a little uncomfortable the first time they'd slept like that, but when he'd been woken up by their child kicking him in the chest... That was just cool, so he put up with it. Besides, it was the only way Grace could sleep comfortably lately, and any guy would have to be crazy not to do exactly their pregnant girlfriend told them. It was like the law.

In fact it seemed that his entire family was doing exactly what Grace wanted. It had been three weeks since Grace had dragged herself into his room in the middle of the night protesting that if she couldn't sleep then he shouldn't be able to either since this was his "damn fault." She'd stolen his pillow, curled up next to him and promptly fallen fast asleep. He was left kind of in shock, a little uncomfortable and unreasonably glad she didn't snore.

Since then they'd been sharing a bed every night. And his parents didn't seem to mind. It was like Grace was a pod person that had brainwashed the entire Girardi family.

But to be truthful his mother had said something about the bed situation but had been swiftly silenced by Grace telling her that there was no way Luke was ever getting that close to her again. His dad had muttered something about "playing house" but the kept his mouth shut. Joan didn't seem to have an opinion, but that was because she was always either at Adam's house or Adam was at there house with his lips permanently attached to Joan's. And anytime anyone told them to quit it, Joan just snarked that they were getting married and could do what they wanted. Then she would spent 10 minutes showing you her ring until Adam whispered something in her ear and they'd go back to making out. If it weren't so annoying it would actually be kind of cute.

Luke was actually sleeping a lot better since he had Grace with him. He wasn't sure why, but he knew he would miss having her here once the baby was born and his parents made them go back to sleeping in separate rooms.

He reached up and rubbed his hand across Grace's belly.

"Hey baby," he whispered to his child. "You're quiet tonight. You giving Mommy a rest, huh?"

He didn't speak like that all the time because it bugged the heck out of Grace. But when Grace was asleep he could be the stereotypical soppy geek. Except...

"No Geek boy, there is no rest for 'Mommy'. It's called the kid not being able to move due to the fact it's going to be making an appearance in a few hours," Grace said sleepily.

"What!" Luke almost leapt out of bed. "You're... I mean..."

"I'm in labor? Pretty much."

"Then we have to leave! We have to get to the hospital."

Grace snorted. "Geek, chill ok. We have a while yet, and I'm not going to that place until I absolutely have to."

"Grace!" Luke's voice was strangled with panic.

"No. When it hurts enough that I want the drugs, then we go. Or when the contractions hit less that seven minutes apart, whichever comes first."

Grace pulled her boyfriend back onto the bed and curled up against him again. "I'm getting some sleep while I can dude. Because you know we're not getting any for the next six months, right?"

They actually managed to hold off on the hospital until 6.45 the next morning, when, according to Grace it hurt way too much not to be on a serious amount of drugs. They were in the delivery room for hours. Grace had been given an epidural anesthetic so it actually wasn't that painful. It was just taking a long time. After 17 hours of labor, Grace was still only 9 centimeters dilated.

Things finally kicked off at around six that evening. Grace almost broke Luke's hand when the contractions got really strong, and it was kind of gross and messy. But when it was over, it was totally worth it. 20 hours of labor had produced a beautiful little girl.

They let Luke cut the cord and it was one of the most magical experiences of his life. And once their daughter was cleaned up a little and weighed and measured they handed her to an exhausted Grace.

"You are so never getting near to me ever again. That was way to painful to even think about doing ever again."

Luke just smiled as his tiny daughter opened her eyes and tried to focus on the world around her.

"She's so beautiful. She had blue eyes just like you. And look at her little hands."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Are you even listening to me, Nerd boy?"

"Grace! Could you please quit that! I'm not sure how I'll explain why my daughter calls me Nerd boy and not Daddy."

"Whatever dude.

"So what we gonna call her?" Grace changed the subject quickly.

"I don't know. You told me not to think about it."

"I don't know either. I was thinking maybe Helen after your mom, but not as a first name."

"She'd like that." Luke paused. "How about Amelia after Amelia Earhart."

Grace smiled. "I think I kind of like that. Amelia Helen Polk Girardi."

"And we can call her Mia for short."

Grace groaned. "I know I shouldn't have let Joan talk us into watching that damn chick movie."

"Grace it's called the Princess Diaries and you cried."

"I was eight months pregnant, I cried at everything. It won't happen again."

"So Mia then?"

"If you insist."

"Mia Girardi. I like it."