So when he finally got to the hospital he wasn't actually looking to deliver a baby anymore than to at least find one safely delivered by someone else.
He eventually found Boone in the family room cooing at what he could only assume was their baby and tears started to well up in his eyes. He stood in the doorway for a second and just watched Boone, a huge smile on his face. He took a step into the room.
"Hey."
Boone looked up and smiled at him. "Hey. You're late."
Jack looked at the baby. "So I see." He went and sat next to Boone and got a better look at the baby. "Hi there," he cooed. "Everything went okay then?" he asked Boone.
"Yeah, it was fine, it was great," Boone gushed. "I held Tayla's hand and I got to cut the cord and it was just amazing, Jack."
"So I guess Dr. Hamilton can deliver a baby," Jack said.
Boone gave him a look.
Jack looked back down at the baby. "So, erm... is it a boy or a girl?" he asked.
"Oh, right, yeah, sorry," Boone said, shaking his head a little. He held the baby towards Jack a little. "Jack, I would like you to meet Noah Christian Carlyle."
Jack looked down at his baby son. "Hi, Noah," he said, stroking the side of his face with a finger. "He's really... he's gorgeous."
"Yeah, he is, isn't he?" Boone smiled. "And he's totally healthy and everything. They did a bunch of tests and stuff and they said he's doing great."
"You mind if I hold him?" Jack asked.
"Oh, sorry, yeah, of course," Boone said. "You have to be careful with him though cos he's really delicate. And you have to support his neck." Jack just looked at him, God Boone was adorable. "But you're a doctor so you probably know all that already, right?" Boone realised.
Jack nodded his head. "Right."
"Okay," Boone said.
He carefully handed Noah over to Jack who supported him carefully in his arms. He looked down at the baby and he couldn't quite believe it. He'd been waiting so long for this moment and now that it was finally here it was so much different from what he'd expected. It was so much better. It was like time had stopped and nothing existed outside of this room. And quite frankly, Jack wouldn't care if anything existed outside of this room or not, he had everything he could ever want right here. He had his family.
Jack looked back at Boone. "Did you freak out?"
Boone looked away from Noah and met Jack's eyes. "What?"
"When I wasn't there. When the baby was coming. Did you freak out?"
"No." Jack looked at him. "Okay, a little."
Jack smiled. "I'm sorry I couldn't get here any sooner. I really tried. I went straight down to the airport but I couldn't get a flight and nobody seemed to care, it was a nightmare," he explained.
"Doesn't matter now," Boone said. "I did okay. And Tayla's like the most amazing woman ever."
"Did she do us proud?" Jack asked.
"I don't think I was holding her hand so much as she was holding my hand. I think she was the one trying to make me feel better," Boone smiled.
"Sorry, I guess that was my job," Jack said.
"Stop it, I said it didn't even matter," Boone insisted. "Look, we have a baby, who really cares how it got here?"
Boone had a point. They did have a baby. Which was ever so slightly mind blowing. And Jack was a little bit jealous that Boone got to be there and he had to sit in an airport playing 'I'm invisible' with apparently all airline staff but Jack was still sat here holding his son now so he didn't suppose any of that really mattered anymore. Austin felt like a million miles away right now, it felt almost like another life. Which he guessed it kind of was. That was his life before being a father.
"How's Tayla doing?" Jack asked.
"She's fine. She's sleeping," Boone replied. "That's why I brought him in here, he was crying, I didn't want to wake her up."
"I should really thank her later," Jack thought out loud.
"Oh, I did a lot of thanking, I think she gets the message," Boone said.
"It's a really amazing thing she did, isn't it?" Jack stated.
"Tayla's something special, all right," Boone replied.
"So you don't think she's a money grabbing baby seller anymore?" Jack asked.
Boone smiled a little. "I was kind of hoping you'd forget I said that."
"Don't worry, I have a special place in my head where I store all the stupid things you say," Jack told him.
"God, that must take up most of your brain by now," Boone replied.
"You don't say as many stupid things as you think you do," Jack assured him.
"Sometimes I talk before I think first," Boone persisted.
"Yeah, and sometimes when you do that you say the sweetest things," Jack told him. Boone rewarded him with a cute as hell smile. "And then sometimes you wind up being insulting and demeaning."
"I'm glad you're back," Boone said. Jack wasn't sure if that was a sly change of subject or if it meant Boone was rather fond of Jack's teasing. "I missed you. I missed you before the whole baby thing. I don't think you should ever go away, I think you should stay with me all the time. With me and Noah."
"I missed you too," Jack told him. "And don't worry, I'm not going anywhere for a long time. That conference was the last thing I had to do for work so I'm all freed up now."
"Are they gonna be mad?" Boone asked. "That you skipped out on the conference. You weren't supposed to be back for two days."
"I don't really care," Jack replied and found that he really meant it. Right now he couldn't imagine ever wanting to go back to the hospital again, not if it meant leaving Boone and Noah. No, right now he just wanted to go back home with his boyfriend and his baby and just hole himself up. Not that he could do that, Noah would have to stay here tonight of course, and then when they did go home there'd be lots of supply runs and such like to deal with. And a lot of visitors. But visitors he could deal with, he couldn't wait to show Noah off.
"I should phone my mom," Jack said absently, though he really didn't want to move right now.
"Yeah, I need to phone Sabrina," Boone agreed. "I called Shannon already. She yelled at me for waking her up. She congratulated me eventually though."
Jack smiled. "Sounds like Shannon." He gazed down at Noah. "He's so perfect."
"Yeah," Boone agreed. "He has your eyes. And he has the cutest little nose. And his fingers and toes, they're so tiny. He's like a miniature version of a grown-up."
Jack looked at him. "He is a miniature version of a grown-up."
Boone gave him a look. "You know what I mean."
Jack looked back at Noah. Yeah, he knew exactly what Boone meant. Jack was responsible for a whole other life now. And not in the way that he was responsible for other people's lives at work, in a way that was much more amazing and much more powerful than that. Being a father was much more important to the world than being a doctor. It was much more important to Jack anyway.
So, here it is, this is what it feels like when you have a baby. Jack had been wondering.