It was a warm Spring afternoon in Boston, the upper floor at the obstetrics ward was uncommonly quiet, and a couple of doctors was rejoicing discreetly inside one of the rooms.
"She's not going to disappear if you look away, you know." Casey smiled softly at his display. The strains of her fatigue showed in her eyes. "She might even be getting tired of being crept around for so long."
The weight of his infant daughter stirred in his arms. Watching the rise and fall of her chest during her sleep brought him unspeakable comfort, a peace he often longed for but shied from obtaining.
"I will take my chances, honey." He muttered, but there was good humour in his words. "I'm sure my daughter will never get tired of being around her old man."
"We'll see about that in fourteen years." The blonde woman commented offhandedly.
The new father smirked confidently. "I am prepared for everything, Case. You'll see, she's going to be daddy's little princess until she's thirty."
She laughed then, softly. "I'd say. You should really be prepared to be a father."
"I already have two sons, indeed." Bryce shrugged before gingerly pulling the chair by her hospital bed over and sitting himself down. "A sweet little girl will be a breeze after we had to pull Rémy down from that tree."
The diagnostician laughs, remembering the Boston Globe piece titled Four-Year-Old Stuck in Tree. She still had a clipping of the picture of the firefighters helping her son get down on a frame at their mantlepiece.
She laughs now, but at the time she did not know whether she would be arrested for child neglect or for slaughtering her husband when she arrived at home from a shift and found her youngest eight meters from the ground, perilously hanging on a branch, with the entire neighbourhood around their home watching it all unfold.
It was all attitude and mockery, but Casey knew that all that self-confidence was just a front, and her snarky comebacks were all about chirping away at the surface until he was ready to break.
Now, with the labour done with, and as the adrenaline levels return to normal on their bloodstream, Bryce's eyes were filling up with tears. She tapped her palms against her thighs, signalling her intent to play with his hair.
"It's hard for me to lay down on your lap in this kind of bed, Casey." He commented, darkly.
"It never stopped you before." The doctor pointed out.
The surgeon raises an eyebrow. "My hand is still aching from two hours ago, when you told me we would never do that ever again."
"I told you that when we had Kai, and look at us now." She responded, with a wicked tone on her voice. "C'mon, big baby, give me your hand. I'll nurse it back to health."
He complied, and his wife nestled it on hers after kissing it softly.
"I know you, honey, you can't lie to me. I know you've been tense since I told you about the pregnancy, Bry." She confronted him softly. "Who are you lying to? What are you afraid of?"
"Myself, probably." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before slotting his free arm under his new-born daughter with measured care again.
Casey is a nationally-renowned psychiatrist and diagnostician, she knows all his tells and all his secrets, but Bryce just does not want to face them. He does not want to come out and say that, after having two kids, he is still afraid of fucking them up just like his parents did him and Keiki. Saying that would make it real, and no matter how many times he is told that it does not help at all, he staunchly refuses to change his position.
"I see." She muttered in her disappointed doctor's voice and sunk back down in her bed. The aches of her body shot up her spine with the simple movement, but she ignored it save for the frown that escaped her husband's notice. "When will the boys arrive?"
"Kai's fetching a few things from home before he came. Rémy has classes so he'll come afterwards."
"I have an inkling that Rémy will come much earlier. Call it mother's intuition if you must." She grinned at Bryce when his tired expression shifted into a slight frown at their rebellious middle child.
"He has an important exam today." The surgeon said, waveringly.
"And when that has ever stopped him before?" She questions, on a sing-song voice.
"...I will call Keiki." He moved to give her their daughter. However, before he even stood up midway, they were interrupted.
"Hey, mom!" Rémy's nasal greeting cracked into the peace of the room and immediately had Bryce grimaced upon his entrance.
With one glare from the older man, he immediately clammed shut and stopped in his track. However, in doing so, he became a blockage in Kai's way.
"Ouch!"
Thanks to their collision, any hope to retain the peace was good as gone. Not only that, they also garnered the attention of the sleeping child, earning them a sigh from Bryce. In a moment, the room was in complete silence while everyone watched the new-born baby going from mild wakefulness before she shifted back to sleep again.
"Oops." Rémy mumbled underneath his breath before shuffling into the room, a sighing Kai on his tail. "Sorry about that."
"Good to see you, Rémy." His mother smiled at him, although there was a hint of teasing in her smile. "Isn't it a bit early for your classes to be over?"
"Uh…" He stuttered. "We had an early day?"
Casey laughs. "And how was that exam of yours?"
Just before Rémy dug himself into his early grave, Kai put down the bag he brought into the room and butted into the conversation. "I asked Aunt Keiki to call his teacher and asked for her permission before picking him up. I figured he'd have tried to sneak out anyway, so might as well save you a school meeting, mom."
Bryce threw him a look with a raised eyebrow. "You could've asked me about this."
"You would've told Rémy to stay in class until school's over." Kai argued lazily with his father. "That wouldn't work. You know how impatient he is."
"And he also knows I'd be here if he thought about skipping."
"Well, first of all, I had a plan." Rémy cheekily chimed in.
Before the conversation could go sour, they were interrupted by the only voice of reason in the room.
"I thought I came to a hospital, not an episode of Maury." Keiki hushed, taking off her fashionable sunglasses. "Where's my niece?"
"Keiki's right, boys." Casey reinforced. "Aren't you here for your sister? You haven't even said hi to her since you entered the room."
With her reminder, the light of recognition entered the boys' eyes when they set on the sight of their infant younger sister. Rémy moved first, far more cautious and gentler than usual, Kai and Keiki hovered a short distance behind.
Between their awe of happiness and his wife nodding towards him, Bryce had no choice but to let them get up close, and when Rémy reached his hands out, even with the sigh of resignation, he gingerly allowed the younger boy to hold his sister in his arms.
"She's so tiny." He whispered, turning to the side to show Kai the new-born.
"What's her name, Bryce?" Keiki asked, in awe of the little baby.
"Nani." He proudly announced. "Because she is beautiful and precious, just like her mother."
Casey pulled her husband down and kissed him full in his lips.
Keiki hooted. "Get a room, you two."
"We have a room. You're in it." Casey responded, and her sister-in-law showed her the tongue.
Meanwhile, both of his sons had this look of wonder in their eyes that filled Bryce with warmth whether if he would admit it out loud or not. For the first time since forever, his family felt whole, and he did not know whether if he should leap for joy or simply bask in the warmth for as long as he could.
All he knew that when he looked back at his wife, seeing the love in her eyes reserved for their big family, he would do anything to protect what they both held dear.