#4 in my KanaMari Family series! This fic was inspired by You're Gonna Be by Reba McEntire!
A strong wail arose from Mari's legs and Kanan let out a shaky breath, grinning. Kanan leaned over and kissed the top of her wifes head, squeezing her hand tightly and Mari started to cry. Kanan didn't know it was from joy or just relief, but she assumed it was both. Maris face was red and sweaty, her blonde locks sticking to her face and pillow as she slumped back in exhaustion. Kanan walked over to where the doctor was holding the newborn and carefully snipped the cord. A short while later, after the baby was clean and Mari was laying on the bed comfortably, the nurses carefully placed the infant on Maris chest and covered them both with a blanket. Mari instinctively wrapped her arms around the newborn while Kanan leaned in close and placed a hand on the babys head, rubbing it softly with her thumb.
"I'm so proud of you Mari," Kanan whispered, pressing a kiss into her temple. Mari leaned her head into Kanan and the both stared down at the baby in their arms. "She's absolutely perfect, just like you and Rina." Mari couldn't help but agree, the baby looked like a perfect mixture of them. She had a decent amount of dark hair covering her small head, but Kanan could tell it would lighten down to a beautiful blue color like her own. They hadn't had a chance to see her eye color, but Kanan hoped that they were the same gold color as Mari's.
"I can't believe she's ours." Mari smiled.
"Me either." Kanan agreed. The pair spent a few quiet moments staring down at their daughter before something came to Kanan's mind. "You know we still haven't decided on a name." Kanan mentioned.
"Well we did write down a list somewhere. Did you bring it?" Mari asked and Kanan shook her head.
"I remember some of the names though. There was Aina, Suki, Nanaka and Kanako." Kanan and Mari both looked down at the sleeping baby, as if just looking at her would give them the answer. "I think I like Suki personally, but Nanaka also has a nice ring to it. What do you think?"
"Nanaka Matsuura is a bit of a mouthful." Mari smirked. "We should go with a shorter name, since her last name is long." Mari suggested. "Suki Matsuura." Mari said aloud, testing the name on her tongue. Her face broke out into a grin. "I think that's the perfect name for our little girl."
"I couldn't agree more." Kanan smiled. "I love you Suki." Kanan whispered, placing a kiss on the infants head. "Me and Mommy love you so much."
"I love you Kanan." Mari smiled, placing a hand on her wifes cheek.
"I love you too Mari." Kanan beamed, leaning in and kissing Mari softly, not even noticing little Suki beneath them cracking a hint of a smile.
After a little while the nurses grabbed Suki out of Mari's arms to do a quick checkup and wrap her in blankets. Kanan took this time to walk out into the waiting room and let everyone know that little baby Suki had arrived. After lots of hugs and congratulations from their friends and family, Kanan knelt down and held out her hand to Rina.
"You ready to meet your little sister?" Rina nodded excitedly and grabbed Kanans hand. The bluenette lead them down the hallway toward Mari's room.
"Papa, do you think the baby will like me?" Rina asked, and Kanan heard a bit of nervousness in her voice.
"I'm sure she will love you little fish! You're her big sister after all" Kanan assured the girl, leading her into the hospital room.
"Hi baby." Mari smiled. Rina smiled back, but seemed a bit scared to go over to her mom and Kanan understood why. The hospital room was big and cold looking. It was all white and her mother was laying down in a white mechanical looking bed. "Come onto the bed and give me a hug. It's ok." Rina nodded and climbed onto the bed quietly. Kanan watched in awe as the usually boisterous little girl careful sat next to her mom and looked down at the infant sleeping in her arms.
"Is that her?" She asked, a smile appearing on her face. She placed a hand tentatively on the babys blanket.
"Yep, her name is Suki Matsuura." Mari told her.
"Hi Suki. I'm your big sister Rina" She introduced.
"You can give her a kiss if you want, just be gentle" Kanan informed. Rina nodded and leaned in, kissing the babys forehead. "Can I hold her?" She asked Mari, not taking her eyes off her baby sister.
"If you sit nicely, but I have to help you with her head ok." Mari instructed. The young girl immediately fixed her posture and sat against the back headboard, holding out her arms expectantly. Slowly Mari placed the baby into her arms, making sure to help support Sukis head.
"She's so cute" Rina commented, staring down at her sister with pure adoration. She leaned down and kissed Suki again and both parents were sure their hearts were going to explode.
"Oh, let me take some photos of this." Kanan pulled her phone out of her pocket and held it up to take photos of the girls together. As Kanan snapped a photo, her eyes drifted away from the screen to look at Rina and Suki. Mari watched the bright smile slowly fall from her partners face and she stared at the girls, her phone going limp in her hand.
"Kanan!" Mari said loudly. Kanan jerked and gave herself a shake, letting out a chuckle before continuing to take photos.
A few hours later
Kanan sat in the armchair looking out the window at the night sky as Mari slept soundly beside her in the hospital bed. A small whine from the nearby made Kanan look away from the stars. SHe walked over and stared down at the bundle of blankets that her daughter was wrapped in. Kanan hesitantly lifted her daughter, barely a day old, from the little bed and moved gingerly to the rocking chair next to it.
Holding her the way the nurse had shown her earlier, Kanan gazed down at her baby girl lying awake, now quiet in her arms. "Hi," she said softly, smiling a little. Suki stared up at her with wide eyes, golden like Maris, as if she was waiting for Kanan to tell her something important. Something about that look made Kanan want to keep talking. "You got a head of hair there, don't you? Looks just like mine. I guess we gotta thank the donor for that. Well, the nurse that delivered you said that it's important for infants to feel skin to skin contact and heartbeats, and you seemed to like it before with your mommy, so I figured I'll hold you a bit while everyone's gone and we can have a little papa and daughter talk. How's that sound, Suki?" Her daughter stretched out both her legs in a small kick. "Looks like you're up for it to me. Don't worry, I'll do all the talking," she added with a grin.
"I never had much experience with children. It was decided that I was "too rambunctious" for that kind of thing, at least until I got a little older. So I'm not really sure…what to do, or how to act, or anything. I have some experience with your sister Rina, but she was already five when I met her, not a tiny baby like you. I have Mari though, and she knows almost everything, at least it always seems like she does. She'll help me stumble through this thing."
Kanan paused a moment, contemplating what was in her mind, how to continue. "I know Mari will be the perfect mom, and wife. She already is the perfect wife, but she'll be your perfect mom. She is the strongest person I know, and she's already an amazing mommy to your big sister." Kanan smiled and looked down at her daughter. "I on the other hand. I've never really done this. It makes me kinda scared, knowing that you're gonna rely on me for everything." Kanan stopped, gazing down at her daughter, who was now sleeping in her arms. That didn't stop Kanan from talking though. "I don't know what kind of Papa I'll be to you. Your mom seems to have faith that I'll be a good one at least, or she wouldn't have agreed to marry me and help raise your sister. I'm glad she did though, or else you wouldn't be here right now."
"I promise you Suki, that I will do the best I can to be the best Papa. I will do anything and everything possible to keep you happy, safe, healthy and loved. I already love you, a lot. About as much as I love your mom, but its different somehow, a good different."
"I'll try to protect you from all the bad in the world, but sometimes I'm gonna have to let you find out about the bad stuff on your own. It won't be fun, but it'll help you grow." Kanan sighed. "You're gonna cry sometimes, and other times your gonna soar toward the clouds. You'll have dreams you'll chase and mistakes you'll make. You'll learn one day that life isn't always fair, you mom could tell you all about that, but I promise one thing to you Suki. I promise that no matter what, your mommy, sister and I will always love you. No matter what, you're always gonna be loved."
"A promise I know you'll keep" Kanan looked over to see Mari smiling at them sleepily.
"Excuse me, this is a private conversation." Kanan teased.
"Kanan," Mari questioned softly, "are you okay?"
"What?" She asked blinking at her. Suki had fallen asleep in her arms and Kanan took a moment to put the baby back into her crib before turning around to her wife. "Of course I'm ok."
"What happened before? When Rina was here." Her wife questioned, shuffling over so she could sit beside her on the bed. "One minute you're perfectly fine, talking about taking some photos, the next, you're completely spacing out."
"It was nothing, I just spaced out." Kanan assured her, but Mari narrowed her eyes. One look at Mari was all it took for Kanan to melt. "Fine, but this is going to sound a little dumb," She began, rubbing the back of her neck embarrassingly. She paused in hopes that a nurse or someone would come in and give Kanan an out, but nothing happened. "I've been a Papa for well over two years now, but I never truly felt like one." She admitted in a soft voice. "Rina always called me Papa, and we even changed her name and everything, but there was part of me that never truly felt like I was a Papa." A heavy sigh left Kanan's lips as she spoke. "When I saw Rina holding Suki, and the way she kissed her and looked at her, it was just…like a wave of affection hit me. All I could think is, how much I loved them, how cute they were together and how they're all mine. I had the urge to take a million photos and show them off to random people and say 'those are my daughters'. It was that moment that made me realize that if I had to give up my life for them, I wouldn't think twice about it. I hadn't felt anything like that until today," She trailed off. Wiping her eyes quickly, purposefully avoided looking at Mari. "Yeah, stupid, I know."
"No, not stupid, not stupid at all," she told her, resting a hand on her arm. "It's actually pretty beautiful."
Kanan looked at her, into her beautiful golden eyes, and they confirmed that she really, truly did believe that. She wrapped her arms around Mari's waist, embracing her. "I love you," she whispered in her ear, "so much."
"I love you, too," she whispered back, "more than I thought possible. And you are going to make a wonderful Papa to our girls. You already are in fact."
"I might mess up sometimes though," Kanan warned.
"We can mess up together then, no parent is perfect," She said confidently. Kanan nodded and gazed briefly at her daughter sleeping peacefully in her cradle, her mind and thinking about the Rina who was, hopefully, asleep in her bed at home.
"We may mess up, but I know that I can be the best Papa. I will love our girls no matter what." Hugging Mari to her, she relaxed into the bed, kissing the top of her head. "I will."
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Forever&Always,
Kimmie