"Do you think Harper's going to resent her? I've done everything that I could think of to make her feel like she's just as important as the baby is going to be," Santana grimaced as she gripped Charlie's hand tighter at the contraction, she took a deep breath. She may have had some choice words to say for her mate when she had dragged her to lamaze classes and all the other pregnancy classes that she had put off, but she was grateful that she had learned to breathe. She had known that pregnancy was painful and she was most certainly never doing it again.

"Harper has been talking about her new sister non-stop for the past two weeks, and wants to bring them in for show and tell. I said we'd think about it."

Santana was about to relax when she felt another painful contraction, they'd been in here for over ten hours and it felt like she wasn't any closer to having her baby. She sighs, "Are you sure that she'll be fine?"

Charlie shrugged, she wasn't certain about anything. "Harper has a therapist, and she knows that Harper is getting a new sibling so they are working through her feelings on the matter, but she did tell us that we should try to disrupt Harper's routine as much as possible, which is why I think that you and Harper should still have your storytime, and your spa time with her, and I can still take her out on the weekends and practice with her. We've kept her involved, we decorated her new room, and she helped decorate her sister's new room with us, and got her that big teddy bear. She's going to be a good big sister."

Santana was about to open her mouth before grimacing again and she can feel Charlie's nervous energy hit her, "I'm fine."

"You don't have to be fine, I'm here, and I know I'm nervous, but if you want to curse me out, if you want to break my hand squeezing it, that's okay, it's my left, so I'll just punch my opponent with my right and if that doesn't work—" Charlie smiles when Santana squeezes her hand again.

"I love you," Santana says, pulling her mate in for a quick kiss, but before she can place her lips at her she feels a particularly painful contraction and she jerks upward, nearly hitting Charlie in the face, but her mate pulls back. "Fuck, get a nurse to come see how dilated I am, the contractions are coming in faster," before Charlie can go she grabs onto Charlie's arm again. "We're not doing this again."

Charlie nodded immediately, she wasn't even sure she wanted to do this again. Santana had spent the last couple of weeks miserable, and had been beyond self-conscious once the weight had begun to pile on. No matter how attractive she found her mate, and how little things would set her into a rut, Santana had struggled through the pregnancy, mentally and she was worried about whether Santana would be okay post-pregnancy. "I know. I'm going to be right here, and once I'm out I'll call your parents to let them know that you're okay."

"Don't forget to call your parents and—fuck—talk to Harper. If she asks for me—holy shit—tell her—" Santana grits her teeth as another wave hits her, lasting longer than the other ones.

"I've got this Santana," Charlie informs her mate, kissing her forehead. She was starting to get worried, she had no idea it was supposed to hurt that bad. She had time to work, the promotion that she worked for had worked with her when it came to Santana's birth and she'd already successfully defended her title last month. She had taken a small break from her online classes, just so she could be as available as possible for her mate. They were even moving back to her parents estate for a few weeks, so that Santana could recover.

~ O ~

"Are you sure you don't want us to take Harper?" Judy whispered, glancing over at her youngest child's beautiful family. Harper was curled into Santana's side sleeping soundly with Santana, who was completely dead to the world, an arm wrapped around Harper in a protective fashion. She had wanted to take pictures but Santana had shot that down and Charlie was going to do whatever she needed to protect her mate.

Charlie shook her head, "Doctors say we might be able to go home tomorrow, so she'll just stay with us tonight." Charlie turned to look at her family, she knew she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. She was going to sit and watch over her family.

"Try and get some sleep, even some light sleep. You're going to need it," Russell offers and watches as Charlie nods at him absentmindedly, he can't help but smile at the nostalgia. He had been in Charlie's shoes before. He turns ready to take Judy home when he stops and glances at his daughter. "Charlie?"

"Hmm?" Charlie glanced at him impatiently.

"Stay for as long as you want, it's good to be around family at a time like this."

Charlie nodded, she hadn't planned on leaving the guest house, their new place still needed a few things fixed up and the contractor was driving her up the wall with the delays. She closes the door to the room and moves back to sit in the chair next to the lamp. Crossing her arms over her chest, she slouches in her seat and just watches Santana and Harper together. Her gaze lingers for a moment before she turns her attention to the bassinet.

Isabela had been written on a little slip of paper. It had taken two attempts to get a reading on whether she was an alpha, omega or beta. When the first one had come back inconclusive, she had nearly gone into a panic. She hadn't given it any thought on what she would have done if Bela had been a beta. She had just assumed that she would have an omega or a beta with Santana, it had never actually crossed her mind that they might have a beta. A second test had revealed that Bela was an alpha but for a few moments Charlie had been worried about what her daughter would be classified as.

"Charlie," Santana mumbled, waiting till she felt her mates gaze on her, "stop worrying."

Charlie gets up and heads over to the bed where Santana attempts to give her a very serious look, but she simply looks exhausted and Charlie smiles for a moment. "Can't help it."

"Is Bela—"

"She's perfect San," Charlie interjects, hoping that it eases her mate. "I was just worrying about bonding with her."

Santana looks over at Bela for a moment and then glances down at Harper and adjusts her arm slightly and looks at her mate. "I'm supposed to be the one freaking out, you can't freak out with me. You've done this before."

"I know—" Charlie turns and looks at Bela who had begun to fuss. Without hesitating she gently picks her daughter, cradling her and supporting her head and bringing Bela close to her for some close skin contact. It doesn't stop the fussing immediately but after a few moments, Bela falls back asleep after some gentle rocking.

Santana lets out a small laugh, "You're an idiot you know that."

Charlie looks at Santana, as she gently places Bela down, "What do you mean?"

"Even if Bela was born a beta, you wouldn't love her any less, and if you thought you loved her less than you should. You'd be in Roz's office tomorrow morning, trying to figure it out. I'm sure you're going to head to Roz later this week to check in."

"Am I that predictable?"

"Yes," Santana laughs gently as Charlie huffs at her. "But I could feel the distress in the bond when they didn't immediately know what she was. And that's okay, I was worried too. Maybe not for the same reasons, but because I love her."

"Enough to try again?" Charlie asks, watching as Santana gives her the look. "Kidding, our family is perfect just the way it is." Charlie shuffled over to her mate and leaned against the edge of the hospital bed and kissed her forehead. "Go back to sleep, I'm not going anywhere."

Santana nods, feeling the exhaustion take over, "You're a good mom."

"So are you," Charlie said looking over at Harper who had lifted her head and had given them an annoyed look before flopping back into Santana's side. She zips her lip and heads back to her seat and simply watches her family.