Chapter 5:
Gibbs and Jack quickly loaded up in the truck to head to the hospital. They had been told by Dr. Millett from the very beginning that at any sign of labor they needed to head straight to the hospital so that they could monitor Jack and the baby closely through the whole process. It was about a twenty-minute drive from the house. The first half of the drive was spent in complete silence. Gibbs was completely focused on driving and getting them there as quickly and safely as possible. Jack was focused on her first real contractions. They were coming faster than she had expected for this early in the process and were already quite strong. Gibbs could see her bracing through some of them, and he reached down to grab her hand between the two of them. He still remained silent, simply squeezing to remind her of his presence. It was all she needed at this moment. After the first of the contractions finally passed, she finally broke the silence.
"Jethro, this is our last time just being us. After today, we will be a family of three."
"Yeah, I was just thinking about it. Just wanting to soak it all up before everything completely changes. I'm so ready to meet this little one, but I am going to miss the simplicity of it all, of our bubble that we have been in for a while."
"Yeah… me too. Let's make a promise though," she then cut off and squeezed his hand tighter, bracing through another strong contraction. He said nothing, but instead just squeezed her hand back. It was all he knew to do; Jack wasn't one for verbal encouragement. He did exactly what she needed him to do in the moment to get through it, "a promise, to keep what we have. This baby can't be something that pulls us apart; it can't be something that takes away everything that we have had. This baby will be an addition, not a divider to our love. Promise?"
"I promise, Jack." This baby could never take away from my love for you. It could only make me love you that much more. You are the reason I even get the chance to be a father again. I will forever be indebted to you for that. I love you, Jack."
"I love you more."
Before they knew it, they were pulling up to the hospital. Gibbs had called Dr. Millett before they left the house to warn him that they would be coming in. Dr. Millett told him that he would meet them there. Just as Gibbs and Jack got in the doors of the Labor and Delivery Ward, Dr. Millett barged in behind them. He helped lead them back to their room. As Jack was getting set up with the assistance of the nurse, Dr. Millett made his way over to check on Gibbs.
"What Gibbs? No coffee for me this time?"
"Not enough time doc," Gibbs responded with a laugh.
Dr. Millett then made his way over to check on a very anxious Jack, "Just couldn't wait to see me again huh Jack?"
"As much as I wish I could take credit doc, this was definitely not a part of my plan. I mean, I'm not ready yet. You told me this morning how important it was to get this baby to as close to full-term as we can. I mean… everything is going to be okay right doc? You can't let anything happen to this baby."
"Jack, your baby will be just fine. You are at thirty-two weeks. By this point, all of your baby's vital organs are fully developed except the lungs. Those will be close to full development though, baby will have even been taking practice breaths to prepare for entrance into this world. What you can expect is a little time in the NICU for your baby, but nothing too major. I would predict anywhere from a few weeks to a little over a month's stay. That stay will include breathing therapy to help finish developing the lungs and some time to allow baby to get to an acceptable weight to go home. I can assure you though, that your baby will be in the best hand possible for however long it may be. We won't let anything happen to you, and we won't let anything happen to your baby. Now, you have a job that you need to do so that we can do our jobs. I will be back in an hour or so to check up on you," Jack reached out his hand to the doctor. He then extended his hand in her direction to meet hers.
"Thank you, Dr. Millett, for taking such good care of the both of us this whole time."
"My job's not over yet, but you are beyond worth every minute of it. This whole journey with your little family has truly been a blessing."
Jack and Gibbs were left alone in the room for the next hour or so. Gibbs continued to silently support Jack as she labored. He admired her as she worked through the pain. He knew she didn't need words; she just needed his presence to feel safe. She had been through all of the worst pains humanly imaginable in her lifetime, but this was an entirely different kind of pain. Although her body had been through this once before, she couldn't remember any of it from how drugged out she was when she went through it the first time. She was actually grateful for the fact that she couldn't remember most of it; this allowed her to dull the heartache from the whole experience and made every moment of this experience more real and special.
Suddenly, something felt completely different. She couldn't tell if what she was feeling was something going wrong or just further progression, but it had her worried. Her demeanor changed in an instant from a calm focus to terror. Gibbs sensed this shift in mood immediately, "Jack?" he asked with a slight shake in his voice. He was clearly worried, but he didn't want her to see that.
"Call for Dr. Millett, I'm not sure what's going on," her breathing was rushed as if she were panicked.
Gibbs instantly bolted to the door and shouted out to the nurses' station that they needed Dr. Millett now. The nurses suddenly scrambled towards Jack's room, and quickly behind them, rushed in Dr. Millett. Jack had made her way back into the bed while all of the commotion was going on. She had avoided the bed pretty much the entire time; she hated feeling confined. This was one way that both Gibbs and Dr. Millett knew that something was up.
"Jack, give me a sitrep. That's what it is called right?" he joked, trying to distract Jack from her panic for even a second.
"Something's off doc. I just suddenly felt off."
"Well, lay back and let me figure out what could be going on," he then examined her to try and see what was going on. "Jack, nothing is off; that difference you feel is your baby telling you that it's ready to meet you. You are fully dilated, and your baby is literally right there. A couple of solid pushes and your baby will be here."
"Really?" Jack asked.
"Yes Jack, really. Also, remind me not to ever mess with you. You must have one hell of a pain tolerance if you progressed that quickly without a complaint," the doctor said with a laugh.
"You have no idea doc," Gibbs chortled back at him, shaking his head.
"Well, okay then you two. Are you ready to finally meet your baby? Jack, when you feel your next contraction I want you to take a deep breath in and push."
Jack felt the next contraction coming on and braced down to push. Just as the doctor said, in just two pushes the baby was out. She then heard the best words she had ever heard in her life from the man she loved more than she ever thought possible, "Oh Jack, it's a boy, and he's completely perfect," just as Gibbs had finished saying this, her beautiful son was laid out on her chest. Right as he made contact with her he let out the most beautiful little cry. She couldn't help but cry silently along with him; this was a moment she always dreamed of having for herself but never thought possible.
"Time?" Dr. Millet asked his nurse.
"The time is 15:04 doctor."
Next thing she knew, the baby had been removed from her chest and was being taken aside to be assessed and measured, "Jethro, don't you leave him for a single second," Jack cried out.
"I won't, I promise," he replied as he placed one last kiss on her head before walking off to go with the nurses and his brand new son.
The remainder of the nurses finished cleaning up Jack and getting her ready for post-delivery for the next half hour. They then moved her up to a different room; she was going to have to stay in the hospital for the next week to recover due to risks associated with delivering a baby at her age. She was starting to get a bit restless awaiting an update on her baby's condition. In just the perfect timing, Gibbs had walked into her room, "Where is he? You promised you wouldn't leave him!" Jack said as he walked towards her.
"Shh… Jack, it's okay. They are coming right behind me with him."
"They are?"
"Yes, they are," he said as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"So, does that mean…"
"He's perfect babe. He is breathing completely on his own, and he is just a little underweight to leave yet. Doc said he shouldn't have to stay more than a couple weeks at most."
"He—he's okay?" she began to tremble, trying to hold back tears of shock and joy.
"Why don't you let him tell you for himself," they heard Dr. Millett say as he surprised them by wheeling in their baby in front of him to the edge of Jack's bed. Gibbs then bent down to pick him up and then proceeded to sit him down on Jack's chest. Instantly, she was unable to hold back the tears as she looked down on the perfect little bundle on her chest.
"So, just how tiny is he exactly?"
"Four pounds, two ounces, and seventeen inches long," Gibbs replied.
"He will be able to go home once he reaches four and a half pounds. His breathing is perfect; no assistance is needed at all. I guess he is just an over-achiever. It's likely he is just trying to establish his place among his parents' ranks. I would say that he will be able to go home in a little less than two weeks as long as he is a good eater. Jack, you did amazing. I am so proud of you for this entire journey. Now, I will leave the three of you be," Dr. Millett said as he left the room.
The three of them laid in complete peace together in the hospital bed. Gibbs laid with Jack layed up against his chest between his legs in front of him, and the baby slept peacefully on her chest. She hadn't let him leave this position for the last hour. Gibbs had texted the team to announce the birth of the baby, but he asked for them to wait until the next day to come meet the baby and find out the gender. They just wanted to stay in their new bubble for one night if possible and soak up every perfect moment. They were both still in utter disbelief that this was all real life and that it was their lives. The silence was broken when Jack decided to speak up. She turned her head around to meet the cool sea of blue that was Gibbs' eyes looking back at her, "Do you think he could be any more perfect?" she asked in a gentle and content tone.
"Nope. Don't think that's possible," he responded.
"We're going to have to give him a name you know? We can't introduce him to his family as baby no-name Gibbs. You know, I was so convinced that he was going to be a girl that I didn't come up with any boy names?"
"Yeah, me too."
"Do you have any ideas though? I mean we both know the importance of a solid name."
"Yeah. I was thinking that maybe I wanted to include Jackson in his name, maybe as his first name? That way we could honor two very important people with his name, his grandpa and his mom" I mean I was wanting to include Jacqueline in his name if he was a girl, so why not use Jackson instead? It's solid… And, I was just thinking about maybe using Vance as his middle name; I mean, without Leon, this little guy wouldn't even exist."
"I don't know babe. I mean if we choose to include Vance in his name you know that Leon will forever feel like he owes us something. Plus, I'm thinking that he needs to have his daddy included in his name somewhere. I was liking Jethro for his first name," Gibbs grinned, shaking his head, "Oh, come on Gibbs, Jethro is a strong name, and we could honor his big sister in his middle name. I was wanting to use Kelly for his middle name if he was a girl, but I think it works just as great for a boy."
Gibbs looked back at Jack with tears in his eyes, but he choked them back and instead began to chuckle, "Babe, we can't name him Jethro, I'm sorry, but I draw the line there. Naming him Jethro sets him for all kinds of trouble; trust me. How about instead, we try and merge our ideas? How do you like the sound of Jackson Kelly Gibbs?"
Instantly, a single tear fell down Jack's cheek, "That's it," it was all she was able to choke out. She had no clue what she ever did to deserve this, but she would never give up this moment for anything else. She simply wrapped back into the arms of her true love and stared at the perfect mix of the two of them asleep on her chest. She couldn't imagine any moment ever topping this one.
"Welcome to the family Jackson Kelly Gibbs. We love you more than you could ever know," she said as she placed a kiss on top of his head.
***Well, here is the big day. I hope the wait has been worth it. I hope some of you caught the time of the baby's birth is the episode where Gibbs and Jack met (15x04) wanted to get creative with that by using military time; I know quite a bit of hospitals use this type of timekeeping as well. I know I likely disappointed some of you with the gender of the baby. I just know that both Jack and Gibbs have blessing and pain associated with daughters, and I just imagine them to be the best boy parents of all time. I also really wanted to find a way to honor Gibbs' dad's name with this baby while also honoring Jack herself. I could see that being something Gibbs would want to do. I also hope that Kelly isn't too girly of a middle name for you all. I know a couple of men named Kelly, and really like the idea of Jack wanting to include it in the name of their baby. Please keep reviewing and leaving suggestions. Next chapter is everybody meeting the baby. Please tell me who you would like to be included in this; I am willing to bring back old characters if I see fit, but I will not bring back Abby. I am no longer much of a fan of her character after all of the Pauley P. drama. Anyways Thanks as always for reading!