When Seth found the Copeland Clan sitting in the hallway all eyes were on him and he sat down across the hall from them. Beth was holding their baby while Adam glared at him, not at all trying to hide his distaste for the younger man. As tempted as he was to say something, Seth did the smart thing and kept his mouth since he was severely outnumbered and the fact that he was even called was blessing enough.
"How is she?"
"I'd say that emotionally, she's healed just fine." Adam stated, knowing that Seth was asking about how CJ was doing in labor but not exactly caring. He didn't want Seth there. He could understand why Dean wanted him there but that didn't mean that he had to enjoy that Seth was there. "But she's with Dean, so she'll be okay."
"That's good." Seth mumbled, checking his phone to see that he had missed three calls from his mom. She was going to be pissed but right now CJ was more important than thanksgiving dinner. "She deserves to be happy."
"Let's take a walk, Seth." Adam suggested, standing and heading down the hall before Seth even had a chance to answer. But the younger man followed the blonde, catching up quickly and looking dead ahead as they walked towards the nurses' station. "I need your honest to god word that you will make this whole ordeal as virtually painless as possible."
"What do you mean?" Seth asked, glancing up at Adam briefly before looking to the tiles ahead of them.
"Paternity wise. The last thing she needs is you being a dick about custody and visitation if you are the father or being a dick if you're not." The older of the two stated, looking down at the younger man as they stopped in front of a window. Seth looked out at the early morning lights of Vegas, formulating how he was going to respond. "She doesn't need any more stress about this."
"Dean already told me how things would go and I don't have a problem with it."
"And how is that?"
"If she's mine, I get visitation at their house because he doesn't trust me-"
"And he shouldn't." Adam commented and Seth sighed.
"-and if she's not I back off and leave them the hell alone. No media fire, no backlash, just letting them be happy." Seth continued, acting as if he hadn't heard Adam's comment. "It's gonna hurt, because I love her, but I'll figure out how to move on."
"I thought that you three could've done it." Adam spoke softly, keeping his gaze firmly locked on the window. "I really did."
"You mean, like, us three being together?"
"Yeah. I wasn't sure that Dean could settle down and level out, and that's why I felt like you three could do it." Adam explained, sighing deeply while Seth glanced between the Canadian and the window. "But Dean proved me wrong and so did you."
"I hate you." CJ muttered to Dean as another contraction hit and he nodded, having heard plenty of hateful comments from her in the last three hours while she squeezed her hand and worked on pushing their baby out. She had opted to not have any pain meds or epidural, so she was really feeling everything and he had expected hateful comments after all the reading he had done. So he stood there, held her hand, and told her that he loved her after every hateful comment. The nurses thought it was comical, and he could live with their giggling as they helped with the birthing process. They'd been there for an about six hours so far, and he knew he'd be able to handle all the hateful comments in her vocabulary ubecause it was helping her get through giving birth to their daughter.
"We're never having sex again, Ambrose." She breathed once the doctor told her to relax again and he nodded as he wiped at her forehead with a cold washcloth.
"You're doing so good, Copeland." He whispered in her ear, kissing her temple and giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "So good."
"You think so?"
"I do. It won't be long until we've got our Princess." He reminded, smiling when she nodded. "This might be a bad time to drop this bomb, but I called Seth."
"Push, Christina!" The doctor called and she stared at Dean as she did so.
"You what!?"
"I figured that he should be here, y'know? Just in case she's his product." Dean reasoned and she shook her head as she relaxed again.
"What if she's not? Then Seth just flew all the way down here for a disappointment." CJ stated, glaring up at him as he wiped at her forehead agin. "How would you feel?"
"Appreciative that I was thought of at the very least." He spoke honestly, pushing her slightly damp hair back so it wouldn't stick to her face. "He's been here for about an hour."
"Ambrose..."
"No man should miss the first few hours of his first child's life. It's a pride thing, darlin'."
"Fine, asshole."
"I love you." He whispered in her ear, smiling as she looked over at him. "Need anything?"
"I could use a hug." She mumbled right before the doctor told her to push again. Dean only nodded, keeping his grip on her hand as he climbed into the bed to sit behind her. He felt better about all of this knowing that he could give her what she wanted and would be able to hold both her and her hand through this. He was grateful for his flexibility, since it made the way his legs were stretched out comfortable for him when it probably wasn't all too comfortable of a position for the average guy. He released her hand to grab the washcloth, but braced his other arm across her chest to keep her close.
"Good?" He asked softly, kissing her cheek and smiling when she nodded.
"Great." CJ breathed, relaxing into him and taking a couple deep breaths. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."
"You're the woman who wrestled for weeks on a torn ACL, you can handle childbirth." Dean assured, reaching down to gently massage her thighs. "You can do this, baby. Do whatever you have to for pain management. We're in this together."
"Damn straight." She agreed, tipping her head back to get a better view of her boyfriend. "I still hate you for this."
"I love you, too, Christina." He spoke with a small smile, pressing his lips to her damp forehead. "Let's have this baby, okay?"
It had been a few hours and Seth was getting antsy. Adam had taken his mom and the baby back go CJ and Dean's house, leaving him with Beth for the time being. He just wanted to see the baby. His kid or not, he wanted to see if CJ made beautiful children just like he thought she did. He knew for sure that if she was Deans baby, then she'd be a downright gorgeous blue eyed blonde. There was no questioning that.
"Nervous?"
"That and excited. I've never seen a newborn baby, before." Seth admitted to the older woman, a bit caught off guard when she smiled at him. He was under the impression that he was public enemy number one with CJ's family so he was surprised that Beth would actually smile at him. "You don't have to pretend to be nice to me. I deserve all the angry stares and cold shouldering."
"You made a mistake, Seth. Everybody makes mistakes and I can understand that."
"I broke her, though. I-I worried her and neglected her, betrayed her trust, I don't deserve any of this."
"You aren't the first, Seth."
"That doesn't make it okay nor does it warrant any forgiveness. I told her that it'd be different with me. I promised her that everything would be okay and then I broke her." Seth argued, looking down at his feet in shame. He knew that he'd never be able to forgive himself for the emotional turmoil he put CJ through all those months ago and he knew that he'd end up running himself into he ground with all the guilt he carried on his shoulders. But he didn't really care. He earned all of it on the night of June second, when he turned on the two people who would've had his back through thick and thin and sent CJ into a panicked state. "I broke her."
"Seth-"
"Rollins, come look at what one of us made with CJ." Dean called into the hall and Seth was quick to comply, unable to fight the smile on his face when he saw CJ holding the small bundle. Although looking slightly disheveled, she still looked amazing to Seth with her blue eyes bright and a small smile on her face. Seth looked to see that Dean had a small smile on his face, as well, and slowly took a small step towards the bed.
"You wanna hold her, Seth?"
"Of course." Seth spoke softly, sitting on the edge of her bed. Dean transferred Olivia from CJ to Seth, smiling at the baby the whole time before he sat down next to his girlfriend. CJ leaned her head on his shoulder, kissing the bare while they watched Seth with Olivia. "I can feel myself getting attached. Do you want her back?"
"I want a nap. Childbirth is hard work." CJ mumbled, looking up to Dean. He nodded down at her, as if giving her permission to get some rest, and kissed her still-damp hairline. "They said ten minutes before they came to swab your mouths?"
"Ten to fifteen." Dean confirmed and she nodded, smiling at Seth.
"She's beautiful, CJ." Seth spoke softly, glancing up at the couple before looking down to the bundle in his arms. "She definitely has your eyes."
CJ only nodded, watching as Seth offered his finger to Olivia and the way her tiny hand wrapped around his finger. It was adorable, really, and the smile on Dean's face told her that he approved of the scene before them. Having Seth around if he was Olivia's father wouldn't be too bad, as long as everything stayed pleasant between them. But she still wanted Dean to be the father so Seth could butt out of their lives and they could all start a new chapter in their lives and she knew that Dean wanted that too.
"Oh, Lyric, look at the baby." Judith cooed to Lyric once she saw Dean, Seth, and CJ enter the house with the carrier. Adam and Beth were right behind them, and they all congregated in the dining room. "I cooked the turkey, it's in the oven."
"Thank god. I'm starving." CJ mumbled, taking a seat beside Dean at the table and taking Olivia out of her carrier. "Hospital food is great, but nothing beats nana's cooking."
"I don't recall a shining attitude being a side effect of giving birth." Judith teased and CJ playfully rolled her eyes.
"I'm just excited that I only have to sit around for six more weeks until I can start exercising again." CJ spoke with a smile, watching as Olivia fell asleep in her arms again. "Where's my other baby?"
"They're all playing in the back." Adam stated, looking to see that they were all actually sleeping in the grass, while he set CJ's plate in front of her.
"Thank you."
"Not a problem. I see you've already got her in a cute little outfit." Adam observed and CJ smiled down at her baby, who was in the little yellow onesie, white and yellow plaid pants on over the onesie, and little white booties that Dean insisted on her wearing instead of the pink set.
"I think my favorite part about being a mother will be the little outfits." The young blonde laughed, gently running her finger along Olivia's jawline. "Do we have to take the traditional naked baby pictures?"
"I love the baby in a basket pictures, so yes." Beth stated, pointing at CJ as she sat down at the table. "Your baby would look good in a basket."
"You think so?"
"I know so. Make that your Christmas card photo."
"We're sending out Christmas cards?" CJ asked, in shock that she would have to do so much now that she had a baby. "I've never done Christmas cards."
"That's because Beth and I just put your name on ours without telling." Adam stated now that his mouth wasn't full. "Now that you have a kid of your own, Christmas cards are your own deal."
"I would only send them to you and Jay. Maybe Ted, but-"
"Did you tell the bio grandparents about the pregnancy?" Judith asked and CJ shook her head.
"I didn't want them reporting to Chris. For some reason they believe that we've gotten close."
"And you, Dean?"
"Nobody for me to tell except for Roman and his family." Dean stated, draping his arm across the back of CJ's chair. He started playing with her ponytail and she just let it happen, too hungry to bother with asking him to stop.
"Do you think we could put Bear and Olive in the same basket?" CJ asked before putting some turkey in her mouth and Dean shrugged.
"That would be pretty cute." Beth said, watching as Bear trotted into the dining room and went to lay down in the corner. "He's such a little fluff ball."
"I know. He's the best cuddle buddy."
Seth would be lying if he said that he was comfortable in Dean and CJ's house. They had offered to let him stay with them until they got that paternity test results and he accepted, not wanting to come across as ungrateful or not wanting to be around his maybe-baby. Although he had a right to be there for now, he still felt really awkward surrounded by people who technically had it out for him. On the plus side, their couch was really comfortable and one of the many dogs scurrying around the house had decided to lay on his legs so he wasn't totally lonely.
He had sent his mom a really long apology text, telling her that it was just business and he'd be home when he could make it in. She was upset with him, but it was worth it in his opinion. He was actually hoping that Olivia would carry more paternal traits to make it obvious who her father was, but she was just as gorgeous as her mother which made the paternity test necessary. He knew it was going to be a long ten days and he got to spend them figuring out how to tell his mother that he hid a pregnancy from her, trying not to roll his eyes whenever he saw Dean and CJ being cute together and, most importantly, bonding with a child that possibly wasn't his.
For some reason this chapter was really hard for me to write. I had to do a lot of reading and then my muses for other stories were battling for attention and it was a pain in the ass. But alas, I made it work.
I'd apologize for the bitch cliffhanger but I'm not sorry.
Anyways, thank you to TajiaK, Moxxy, angelsdee327, Guest, Sammie94, justisgirl, tophersmommy06, ChelleLew, Reigns-Ambrose-Rollins Girl, LeahMarie, ladyjade37, CosmopolitanIcecream, Kdaniels270, NikkiMoxey, and Sarcastic Nightmare for reviewing the last chapter! Definitely the most reviews I've ever gotten for a chapter!