**Epilogue**

"Brian we have a code baby situation here. Dess is having contractions." Val's voice told me quickly through the phone.

I dropped my guitar and ran from Matt's basement. I fumbled with the keys to the jeep when I finally reached it. By the time I eventually successfully opening the doors and jamming the keys in the ignition, the guys were clambering into the jeep, laying all over each other in an attempt to just get in. I sped through the streets to my home on the beach.

Dess was laying calmly on her back in the middle of the living room while Val, Leana, Gena and Lacey raced through the house, throwing everything they thought she would need into a huge deathbat marked bag.

"I'm fine," Dess stated randomly. It was then I noticed her cell was by her ear. "Yes, mom, Brian is here. He did. He didn't. I did. We still don't know. Because we want it to be a surprise even though it can only go one of two ways. Sure thing," she held the phone out to me, still dumbstruck at how calm she was.

It felt like the world was crumbling around us the way everyone was shrieking and barrelling through every room of the house. Jimmy knelt down by her head and stroked her hair while I held the phone to my ear. "Brian? Are you there?" the worried voice of Dess's mom asked.

"Yeah I'm here. Hi, Anne Marie." I answered in a daze. I was vaguely aware of Zacky on the phone to the hospital in the other room.

"Oh good! I thought she was just saying you were there to make me feel better. I know you guys were supposed to be busy today."

"We are pretty busy," I smiled.

"I've noticed!" she laughed a little. "How's she doing?"

"She's doing good," I answered, watching Dess closely. She was breathing deeply and staying relaxed, unlike everyone else who were freaking out. "She's the most relaxed one out of all of us."

"She always was a little strange when it came to panic inducing experiences like this. I want you to call me as soon as she has the baby. If I'm right then she'll have all of you in the waiting room for her. We'll all be down as soon as she's had a chance to recover."

I was nodding. "That's probably best. Jimmy'll be freaking out about his little sister and you would have to listen to him rant and be eternally pessimistic until he sees her again," Jimmy was shooting poisonous daggers at me as I spoke to his mom.

"We all could avoid that. Good luck, Brian. Kiss my little girl for me."

"I will, Anne Marie. Bye."

I set Dess's purple phone on the sofa beside a pale green Zacky and lay beside Dess on the floor. I leaned over and kissed her softly. "Your mom told me to kiss her little girl for her," I told Dess. She smiled softly before grimacing in pain and her breathing spiked, getting heavier and faster. She grabbed my hand and held on tightly. "I fucking hate you," she moaned at me.

I laughed along with everyone else. "I know you do, honey." She had been telling me this at every opportunity, just like she'd promised me seven months ago when she first started throwing up every day.

"Okay, people, lets go. Car's ready and we've got everything you need," Leana told us proudly as she re-entered the living room.

"Ready to go?" I stupidly asked Dess. She was currently cursing quickly in every language she knew. I shook my head and scooped her up before walking swiftly out to the jeep. There was a blanket spread out in the back and Val was already waiting there. I would be driving. I lay Dess across the back seat, her head in Val's lap. Dess had enough sense to bend her legs to allow me to close the door.

I panicked the entire drive there, Dess screaming that she hated me at the top of her lungs. And again when she was placed in a wheelchair. And again when we ran into the hospital, Jimmy yelling 'woman pushing out a parasite here' to the reception area. And again when Dess was squeezing my hand so tight I thought I would never regain full functionality of it again. And again when I heard the screaming bloody mess that was our child. And again when I was handed scissors to cut the spongy rope that was the umbilical cord.

Not once did I panic more than I panicked when the baby girl was placed in my arms. My baby girl. Dess was smiling tiredly at us both. "You look terrified."

"You look exhausted." And so amazingly perfect, even with your hair clinging to your sweat coated face.

She smiled. "In case you didn't notice, I just pushed our child into the world. And, trust me, that was no walk in the park."

"I noticed," I whispered happily.

"Thought of a name yet?" she asked, yawning softly.

Oh yeah. Our deal. If it was a girl, I'd name her. A boy, Dess would name him. "Lily Anne Haner."

"You just broke up my middle name!" she accused with a laugh. The sparkle in her bright blue eyes told me she was only teasing.

I inclined my head to the side, not wanting to chance any bigger movement with the fragile being that was my daughter resting in my arms. She's stopped screaming as soon as I held her. Maybe I was going to be better at this than I thought.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," I smiled. "Besides, this way, we can tell your mother that we chose her middle name to honor her."

Dess nodded. "She'd like that," she stated before yawning widely.

The doctor who delivered Lily into the world strode back into the room, wearing clean scrubs. He smiled at the panicked look I'm sure was still on my face. "The recovery room is all ready for you now, Mrs. Haner and a nurse will be here momentarily to take your daughters name, if she has one, and take her to rest in the nursery," he informed us seconds before a small nurse strolled into the room, a chart gripped in her hands.

"Do you have a name for your daughter?" she managed to squeak out. Why was she so nervous?

"Lily Anne Haner," Dess informed her with an exhausted smile.

The small brunette wrote down the name and handed the chart to the doctor before taking my little girl from me. As much as I wanted to continue holding my daughter, I felt relief so strong it was almost overbearing when she wasn't resting against me. Every moment I had been holding her, I felt like I was going to drop her or hurt her in some way. Even though I wanted to keep her close to me. I was already fucked. Nothing would stop me from protecting my girls. Even though I had let down one of them majorly once before. I was a fucking idiot.

"Mr. Haner, would you mind going to appease those in the waiting room that came in with you? There is one gentleman that has not stopped yelling at the top of his lungs since you both were brought in here. I'll come find you and take you to your wife once she's been cleaned up and is in her room."

I nodded. Three guesses for the madman yelling? "See you soon," I told Dess as I leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"Promise?" she asked as two young interns pushed up the breaks on her bed and began to wheel her out.

"I promise," I called after her. The doctor nodded at me and followed behind Dess. I sighed and left the room, heading towards the waiting room. I heard Jimmy before I saw him. I laughed silently as I watched everyone yell at him to calm down through the small glass panel in the swinging doors that led from the white corridor I was in to the waiting room.

I pushed the door open and stepped out, wishing I had taken the stupid green apron thingy off before I left the delivery room. Everyone silenced when they saw me, giving me their undivided attention. The nurse behind the desk breathed an audible sigh of relief at the silence that fell upon the room at my appearance.

"Ladies, I have a daughter," I announced with a grin.

The four girls screamed and ran towards me for hugs while the guys all yelled some sort of congratulations at me.

"How's Dess? Can we see her? How's the baby? Have you guys named her yet? Can we see the baby? Who does she look like? Was it gross?" Leana threw her questions at me quickly, bouncing up and down.

I laughed along with everyone else and tried to answer them as best I could. "She's tired. As soon as the doctor comes back and tells us we can see her. The baby's fine, she's in the nursery. Yes, her name is Lily Anne Haner. You can see her from the nursery window when you figure out where it is. She doesn't really look like any of us at the moment, considering she's only minutes old. It wasn't gross, it was…" I paused. There really was no words to describe what seeing my daughter come into the world was like. It was ice cream on a hot day. It was hot cocoa in the snow. It was Jack Daniels straight from the bottle. It was absolute heaven. Not including the screaming and watching my wife in pain. As soon as Lily was out of her everything was okay again and Dess looked as though it was the best thing she had ever done. Well, she did get a daughter out of it.

"We get it," Val smiled. "It's indescribable when you see another human being join the world. There's just no word for it. How many times did she tell you she hated you?"

I shrugged. "Lost count after the first twenty."

"And she said it at least forty times before we called you… I win!" she exclaimed with a laugh. "She has to have said that she hated him over a hundred times because it's all she muttered and screamed while we were in the car with her, she was yelling while in there and at your house. Pay up!" she grinned at everyone in the room.

"What the hell?" I asked as everyone passed her fifty dollars each.

"We made a bet on how many times Dess would tell you she hated you on the day, well, days, she spent having your baby. I was the only one to bet that it would be over a hundred," Val grinned, folded up the bills and stuffed them in her jeans pocket.

"What do you mean days?"

"You've been in there for a day and a half, Bri."

Wow. It honestly didn't seem like that long. To be honest, it all seemed like it was over in seconds.

"Mr Haner?" a small squeaky voice caught my attention. It was the nurse from before, the one who had taken Lily to the nursery.

"Yeah?" I asked, my voice not exactly my own.

"Your wife's been asking for you," she informed me. "And you can take that off now," she held out her hands for the apron I was still wearing. I untied it and wrenched it off, hoping I wouldn't have to wear one of them again any time soon.

She balled up the green material and motioned for us to follow her. She led us over to a huge white elevator and held the doors open while everyone got in. I watched closely as the nurse pushed the button for the seventh floor. I smiled. Dess would like that, she always had had a weird fascination with the number seven.

Dess was propped up against many pillows when we finally got to her room, a book poised against her knees. She looked up and smiled when she saw us. Never before has that woman looked more radiant than she did in this moment, her black hair hanging wet around her shoulders, her face void of any kind of make up and her black rimmed glasses perched on her nose instead of wearing contacts like always.

"Hey, Beautiful," I grinned and kissed her hello.

She smiled up at me and turned her head towards the door as it opened up again. A different nurse walked through the door, a pink bundle in her arms. The woman smiled a warm smile as she passed through the room to Dess. Every small sight of Lily was met by some murmur of awe from everyone present. Dess pushed the book aside and sat properly as Lily was passed to her very capable arms. The nurse left the room as Dess gazed at the small face of our daughter. As soon as the door was closed, Dess pushed down the barrier on the side of her bed and moved over. I climbed up and lay beside her, an arm around her shoulders and my other hand pushed the pink blanket further away from Lily's face.

"She's so beautiful," Val and Leana whispered simultaneously.

I looked up to see everyone staring at my daughter, most with tears in their eyes. Or, if you went by the name James 'The Rev' Sullivan, then you already had tears streaming down your face, even though you were also wearing the biggest grin ever seen on planet earth.

A flash caught our attention. I looked up to see Johnny had a camera in his hands and was grinning hugely. "First ever picture of the happy family and the first Avenged Sevenfold baby," he grinned and stuffed the camera into a pocket.

"You were the first Avenged Sevenfold baby," Jimmy shot back as Val quietly asked Dess if she could hold Lily, her hazel eyes bright with the look that only women, really, get when they're around babies.

"Course," Dess smiled and gently passed our daughter to Val.

Why is it, that any woman can be handed a baby and immediately know how to hold it properly, yet guys feel awkward while holding them? Like their just gonna break or get hurt while they're with us or something. Guess it's just some kind of maternal instinct. I was positive I would have the whole 'holding the baby properly' thing down in a few days. She was my baby, after all.

I watched proudly on with Dess as Lily was passed from the capable arms of the women present, to the awkward arms of the guys. Zack was the only one who looked like he knew what he was doing. I guessed that was because of his sister's kids.

There never was a more perfect moment in my life.