Prompt #10:Carter becomes a father for the first time. Memories come back to his mind.(The chapter is willingly inspired to the song "He didn't have to be"by Brad Paisley,with a few changes of course).

She didn't have to be. Looking back it had been him and his mother for a very long time. There had been dates,sure,but nothing had truly worked out. Nothing,till Kara had come into their lives. The woman sitting next to him was just as jittery and excited as he was,so much that if she could've,her legs would've been bouncing up and down.

He brought his hand to her shoulder as she turned around,smiling.

"Nervous?"

"A bit,you look more than me,mama"

"Yeah make fun of your mama,now"

"All for a good laughter"

Anything to send some of the tension away. His mothers were both waiting impatiently.

They had both been very happy of the choice he had made. They had loved his wife right away,and had been glad he had chosen to also make a family,asides from being always with them. Carter knew they were proud,but the whole happiness came from many other sources.

It was more than the first grandkid to them.

It was another source of life.

To his mom was seeing her child being all grown up and ready to go for this till the very end,to mama it was remembrance.

His aunt Alex had put all her efforts into protecting his mama,and she had always felt guilty about the things Alex had done,and renounced to. It had coasted her,and it had taken Kara a long time to accept that although it had been hard on her sister,Alex had willingly put lots of things aside,and given up some others to make it easier for her.

The woman she was now was the mirror of everything that had happened,and Carter was glad to see she was still by them. Still standing,even if not technically.

He nervously glanced through the window,as his mother stepped between them to hold them both. By him,Lexie,as always.

So she didn't have to be. Kara had sort of come flying into their lives in the same way she leaped into all the things she believed in,and had changed everything. She had been there a lot more,than that man he had used to call his father. A sort of father/mother figure together. Once he had totally chosen to get out of his life,Carter had been left hurt yes,and maybe he could understand what Adam had gone through with their mother. But he was also glad that links had been rekindled between them,and he could've it all,with Kara stepping in as his parent as well. Being there the way his father had never been.

She hadn't minded playing games with him,sharing junk food,or going out together. She hadn't done it because she had to,she had done it because she wanted,and to Carter this had counted more than anything in the world.

Nobody had asked her,but she had taken him in as her own kid,dealt with his teenage years,and supported him fully into his choosing the same job as her sister,actually convinced his mom to do the same. Give in and give it a chance.

If he could've glanced into the future he would've liked to see a good parent of himself,somebody who had taken the best of the advices he had been given,and be half the parent Kara had been to him.

His eyes were drawn back to the window,where a nurse was standing looking straight at him,as he waited for news on his wife.

A beautiful baby looking back at him,stretching her tiny hands forward as if to catch him. With rosey chubby cheeks,and looking so small and unprotected,he just wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her that everything would've been okay,that from this moment on he would've protected her with his own life.

He had chosen such path everytime. He had chosen it with his younger sister,and by becoming an agent.

Now it got renewed with a human being he himself had helped come into the world,create.

Now he could understand what it had been like to his mothers,to see Lexie being born,being with them,making their lives happier. Why the house had felt fuller,and everything had been easier to them.

Carter watched the nurse slowly moving out of the room and get out,baby in her arms.

"Mr Grant,here's your little girl"

He looked behind himself at his parents and sister,before he held his arms out,to hold his daughter in his arms.

The man he had become couldn't wait to introduce their child to his wife,laying only a few meters from him,the child was skipping up and down like on Christmas morning.

They all surrounded him,looking at the baby and cooing at her,with beams on their faces,as she didn't make a fuss. For a baby who had just been born it was surprising how she was quietly letting herself be looked at by her other relatives.

Being there,right at that moment,at 26,having a wonderful woman by his side, a family having his back,and holding his baby girl,felt like magic. He had never experienced so much happiness like that one.

Carter took a step forward,with his family following right behind. He knocked twice,and a nurse opened up the door for them to walk in,as Kara and Cat engaged a conversation with the co-parents in law.

He laid their little girl into the crib to the right of the bed,and sat behind it,head leaning on his hand,waiting for his wife to wake up.

Once the anesthesia had worn out,she would've finally been able to see the miracle they had produced together,and Carter couldn't wait to experience this new part of life with her.

Looking back he knew things hadn't always been easy,he felt glad for the woman he had found and the way she had accepted his job and how much she loved the family he came from. He was grateful for his sister,growing up to be stronger everyday,and his brother who tried to improve himself and his life everyday,and above all for the mothers he had had. For the one who had always stood by him since birth,and who had made sure he never went without anything,and for the one who shouldn't have been,but had,simply because she had chosen so,and was sitting there proudly looking at them,with tears of joy pooling at the corners of her eyes right behind her glasses.

Yeah,he had been lucky. Extremely lucky,and that was how greatly life worked.