Jean was honestly worried sick right now. Despite his efforts to calm and comfort Armin, he wondered if it were really he who needed the encouragement. That's what he'd been saying to himself, ever since he found his way to the chapel located in the hospital. Now, he was looking downwards at his feet, trying to find the right words.
Last time they were in this building, it ended in tragedy. Now Jean was hoping to make it clear that he didn't want it to happen again.
Images of Armin being cut open were flashing through his mind. He was being cut open to have another little human get taken out of him. It was honestly sort of terrifying. Jean tried to ignore them, but they just wouldn't disappear.
In the end, Jean simply clasped his hands together, his fingers woven with one another. He was found doing that while hunched over when a nurse came to find him.
...
"Mr. Kirstein?" Jean snapped himself out of it when he heard Nurse Petra calling for him. "If you would come with me, please?"
Jean nodded, standing up and following her. The entire time, numerous questions floated about in his mind:
Is the baby alive? Is it okay? What about Armin? Is he okay?
At least two of those questions were answered when Nurse Petra brought him over to the NICU. It was then Jean caught sight of Nurse Nifa attending to an apparent newcomer to the place.
Somehow, he just knew that that was the one. His eyes didn't once leave it while putting on some kind of sterile outfit over his regular clothing.
...
"Here we go," Nurse Nifa loudly whispered when Jean came in. "Say hello, Daddy. We've been waiting to meet you."
Jean was awed into silence as he stepped closer, and closer. The baby said to be his was covered in wires and being closely monitored. He knelt down when he was close enough, placing his shaky hand flat against the side of the incubator.
"That's..." His throat and mouth suddenly felt very dry. Not only that, he couldn't seem to find the right words to say. "This is...That's my..."
Jean looked over the incubator. On the bottom of it, a piece of paper taped on proudly declared "Baby Arlert-Kirstein" was a boy. Not only that, he was a 'rainbow baby', whatever that was. Surrounding the words were also little rainbow stickers, to emphasize this.
Looking at his newborn son made Jean's heart ache something powerful. The fragile state he looked to be in just made Jean want to pick him up out of there and cradle him.
"He's really tiny," was the best he could think of saying then. Then he looked to Nurse Nifa, pointing at the baby. "Can I...?"
She nodded, giving him permission. After hesitating a bit, Jean put his other hand in through a hole in the incubator. He then carefully (or as carefully as he could) slipped a finger into one of the baby's miniature hands. When he did, he could've sworn the baby tried to squeeze it.
"He's actually a bit smaller than most babies born just shy of 28 weeks," Nurse Petra said behind him. "So he'll be here in the NICU for at least a few weeks."
"He's got a few breathing problems, and his organs aren't completely developed yet, but you're allowed to visit him as much as you like," Nurse Nifa added on.
Jean kept this all in mind as he pressed his forehead against the side of the incubator. The longer he gazed upon the newborn he helped make, the more he could feel his emotions building up inside him.
"Son..." He whispered mostly to himself. "This is my son. This is...my little boy."
He shut his eyes, breathing shakily now. Then Jean pulled a hand away and clutched his chest, now overwhelmed by it all. Hot tears began spilling out down his cheeks, indicative of many emotions; namely, joy at knowing that this was really happening, but also sorrow at the state his newborn child was in.
Jean tried to focus on the joy.
"Hey there, little guy," he whispered to the baby. "It's Daddy. I'm your Daddy." The magnitude of what he was saying then hit him in full force. He tried not to get too loud about it, though.
"I'm a dad...Oh my God, I'm a dad! I'm really a father now! I'm a father, I can't believe it!"
Now his tears were really pouring down. There was also a bit of laughing from him (mostly from persistent disbelief that he really was a dad now).
Jean couldn't stop himself from hugging the incubator, either.
"Thank you, God," he whispered. "Thank you...Thank you so much."
...
Later on, with much reluctance, Jean let go of the incubator holding his and Armin's baby. He instead asked the nurses to bring him to Armin's room.
Armin was still evidently sleeping off the anesthesia when Jean came in. He looked oddly at peace, or as much as he could be given he'd had a c-section. Jean was aware that underneath the bandages wrapped around his belly, a freshly cut scar with stitches was there.
After about fifteen minutes upon arriving at the recovery room, Armin's eyes began fluttering open.
...
Armin couldn't remember a thing from the moment he was put under to now. Going by his now flat belly and the feeling of a hand going through his hair, though, he knew it actually happened.
Slowly, he glanced over to see Jean at his bedside. Knowing that he kept his promise brought him immense joy.
"Jean..." But Armin was promptly shushed with a finger pressed against his lips.
"I said I'd be here," Jean murmured to him as he then pulled back. "What kind of husband would I be if I never did what I said I'd do?"
To that, Armin just smiled. Jean kept combing his fingers through his hair, so gently that it was almost lulling Armin back to sleep.
"The nurse said you did great in there," Jesn said now as he leaned in to kiss Armin on the cheek. Now Armin was blushing. "No serious complications or anything, besides going into early labor."
Hearing this reminded Armin about the baby that had been taken out of him.
"Is the baby all right? Is... Is it alive?" He questioned Jean while sitting up and holding one of Jean's hands. In return, Jean simply pushed Armin back down.
"Yes Armin, the baby is alive. He's really little since he's premature, but he's alive." Jean added one more thing to try and reassure Armin. "And he's beautiful."
...
After some begging and pleading, Jean and Armin finally convinced one of the nurses to bring Armin to see his newborn son.
Now Armin was being wheeled over tp get a glimpse of the baby. Seeing the state the poor thing was in, it was enough to almost immediately drive Armin to tears.
"You're right, Jean," he said as he wiped his face. "He's so tiny." A few sobs could be heard, although they were quickly replaced by a chuckle or two. "And he really is beautiful. He looks like you."
By now, the baby's eyes had opened, showing the honeyed shade of brown. A shock of brown hair to go along with it, and he really did look like a miniaturized Jean.
Much like before, Jean put a hand on the incubator in lieu of actually touching his son. Armin did the same thing, putting his hand on top of Jean's.
...
A little while later (after Armin was sent back to his hospital room to rest), Jean was made aware of several visitors at once. Nurse Nifa came into the room where Jean and Armin were, and let them know that some of their friends were in the building.
The two of them would've known anyway, given how loud said friends were in the hallway.
"Come on!" Connie was heard saying. "I wanna see Junior!"
"Yeah! I bet he's super cute!" Sasha added on.
Everyone was then making such a ruckus, causing Nurse Nifa to try and calm them all down. When she couldn't do it by herself, Nurse Petra had to step in and try to help.
Despite this, however, Armin and Jean couldn't help but smile. At least this time it was a more happy occasion-
"Come on, let us see our nephew!" Eren cried out as he and the others were now ushered away back to the waiting room.
Even though he felt bad that they had to be shooed off without seeing the new baby, Armin did breathe a sigh of relief. Then, he looked over at Jean, taking hold of his hand.
"Make sure they get to see the baby later, okay? That way they don't try and cause a riot," he whispered. Jean nodded, a smirk on his face.
...
During one of his later visits, Jean was confused when the nursing staff requested that he wear a button up shirt the next chance he could. He was even more confused when they told him to unbutton it the next time he did wear one.
Once the reason became clear, though, then Jean was happy to do it.
It was when his mother came to see her grandson that she saw Jean in a room with his child. The baby was tucked safely under his shirt, as Jean himself kept looking downwards at the little one. A TV was attached to the ceiling, airing a cartoon under closed-captioned silence.
"Oh, now isn't that precious," she said upon arriving. "It's my baby, with his baby." Jean simply looked up at her, and grinned a little.
"You got what me and Armin asked for, Mom?"
Miss Kirstein nodded, and pulled out a portable radio from a bag she was carrying. Along with that, she also pulled out a CD with various songs from around the world.
"Here we go," she told her son, bringing her voice down to a whisper. "Hopefully little Joaquin likes Eastern European lullabies."
"I'm sure he will, Mom," Jean answered while carefully readjusting Joaquin on his chest. "And if he doesn't, well, he's too full of lunch to care a whole lot." He paused, briefly going deep in thought.
"I still can't believe I'm a dad now," he went on after quickly shaking himself out of it. "I keep thinking I'm gonna wake up and the last couple of years were just some crazy dream. But that's not happened, so..."
Neither of them said anything more; they all just watched TV and relaxed to soothing music.
Jean didn't get too relaxed, however; he didn't want Joaquin to get dropped or smothered.