Chapter 4 – Held Her in My Arms
The room was filled with a buzzing noise coming from the bedside table. Arthur was awoken by the sound of the Beatles ringtone blaring through is phone. He opened his eyes to find a faint beam of light seeping through the hotel window. Arthur reached for his phone, trying not to disturb Alfred, whom was draped over his side. He used his finger tips to reach his cell phone, trying to awaken the "sleeping beauty". He finally was able to reach the cell phone and answered.
"Hmm...hello?"
"I'm sorry Arthur, did I wake you?"
"It's quite alright Angelique. What do you have for us today?"
"I actually was calling to see if you were willing to meet with a social worker at the Noyes Memorial Hospital around noon. It's not too far from your hotel room."
"Really? Well, then yes, it shouldn't be a problem. Is that where she is?"
"Yes, she's there".
~USUKUS~
Arthur was couldn't sit still the whole way there. Even Alfred was a little nervous, running his hand through his hair every minute or so, fortunately he had the road to distract him. The fifteen minute car ride felt like an eternity, if not more. When they finally made it to the hospital, Alfred parked the car (crooked, but it times like these do you really worry about proper parking?) and they made their way into the hospital. As they walked in and took a look around the expansive room, wondering what they should do next.
"Did she tell you what to do when we got here?" Alfred asked.
"No, she failed to mention how we go to see her, only that we should be here around this time."
"Didn't she say we were meeting the kid's social worker?"
"…Yes, but I don't recall her mentioning a name."
They looked around the room for any clues for their next move.
Bloody hell, I just want to see the child, damn it, Arthur thought.
"Al-Alfred?" a soft, gentle voice asked.
Arthur and Alfred both looked around to find a timid man shoulder length brown hair and green eyes staring at them.
"Wait, is that you Toris?"
"Yes Alfred, how have you been?"
A grin began to spread across Alfred face as he swooped the other man into a hug.
"Long time no see, pal! What has been up with you these days?"
"Alfred you know this man?" Arthur interrupted.
"Yea, we went to high school together. We use to hang out all the time!"
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Toris, Toris Laurinatis."
"Arthur Kirkland. It's nice to meet you too."
"What are you guys doing here? I hope for nothing serious."
Alfred smiled, "No worries, man. No medical emergencies today. Well, we are here to see a sick kid. We were referred to this hospital in order to meet someone so we can meet this kid we're interested in adopting."
Toris's eyes grew wide in shock, "Really? Are you hoping to meet a little girl by the name of Guinevere, by any chance?"
Alfred and Arthur stared at each other. Alfred smirked, "Yes, how do you know?"
Toris chuckled, "The social worker you're here to meet is me."
Alfred started to giggle loudly, "Dude, that's awesome! So are we gonna just stand here or we gonna go see the little squirt?"
Arthur rolled his eyes as Toris continued to chuckle, "Sure. I'll lead the way. I've been here quite a few times already."
Arthur and Alfred continued standing there as Toris went over to the reception desk to check them in. When he was done signing them in, one of the nurses waved at them and they followed her through a long hallway and into an elevator.
When they were all in the elevator she explained that they needed to go up a few levels and down the hall to the neonatal intensive care unit.
"Fortunately, it seems like we will be able to transfer her over to the nursery soon. Things are looking up for Guinevere. Her lungs are finally developed enough where she can breathe on her own. We are just playing it safe right now by keeping her here for another couple of days," the nurse said.
Arthur looked up at Alfred and smiled. He grabbed his hand as she led them down the hallway toward their destination.
When they arrived, the nurse led them over to a small sealed bassinet. Lying there, covered in many different tubes, was a small baby girl with a light brown hair. To Arthur's relief, she looked a lot better than she did in the picture. She looked bigger, stronger, and healthier. She could pass as a perfectly normal child if it were not for all the machines she was hooked up to. The nurse placed her hands through a small round door and rubbed the baby's cheek with her finger. The baby reacted and shifted her attention to the nurse's hand, then to Arthur and Alfred. Arthur could finally see the baby's very pretty green eyes. They were not emerald green like his, but more of a forest green, like the rolling hills back home in England.
Arthur couldn't take his eyes off her, she was breath taking.
The nurse turned to Arthur. "Come over here."
Arthur hesitantly walked closer to the bassinet.
The nurse smiled, "Do you want to touch her?"
Arthur was a little nervous but he carefully placed his hand inside the circular door. He gently placed a finger over the palm of her hand. On instinct, the baby grabbed hold of Arthur's finger. Her hand was tiny compared to his, and it was amazing. Arthur didn't notice Alfred had come up from behind and place a hand on his shoulder.
"She's beautiful, ain't she?"
Arthur smiled, trying not to water up, "She's more than beautiful. She's perfect."
Alfred slid his hand off his shoulder and gently grabbed hold of Arthur's and squeezed it. Arthur looked up at Alfred and smiled. Alfred was grinning ear to ear. The way that Arthur was looking at him, he knew that there was no doubt about it. They didn't need to see the other children; they had the one just for them lying right in front of them.
Alfred grinned and looked over at Toris, "When can we take her home?"
Toris laughed, "As soon as her mother signs her over."
"Aww, man. We can't take her now?"
Arthur elbowed him in the gut, letting out an unf.
"No, you git! She's still not ready to be discharged."
The nurse started looking over her charts at the end of her bed.
"Hmm…she's probably got about a week left. She's been here for three weeks already, and like I said, she's shown signs of major improvement. We were really nervous at first, but I think we're in the clear, for now."
Arthur sighed, "Thank god. Her profile sounded like a nightmare."
Toris groaned, "Yea, her mom really is responsible for that. She helped build her profile for the agencies, and she really didn't make her sound to healthy, at all. I don't think she is ready to totally give her up yet."
"Oh no, is she thinking about keeping her after all?"
"Well, I don't know. I think she wants to, but knows she can't. I think after meeting you guys, she will be more willing to finally let her daughter go."
"So, when do we get to meet her?"
"Well, if you guys can come up next week, I can arrange for you to meet her mom and take her home as she's being discharged. I could tell by the look on Arthur's face that he's smitten. Plus, I think it's best for her if she can get use to living with you guys as soon as possible. I don't think it would be good for a baby that needs to be looked after constantly to be moving place to place. She needs stability."
Alfred nodded. "So the plan is to meet her mom, sign the paperwork, and take her home next week?"
Toris smiled, "Sounds about right."
Arthur could feel waves of excitement rush through him. This is what he's been waiting for.
"Then I guess we'll be heading out soon, right Arthur?"
Arthur looked over at the child before him. "Can we stay a little bit longer?"
Alfred giggled, "Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you want."
~USUKUS~
After three hours at the hospital, Alfred finally had to drag Arthur back down to the car so they could go home (and so Toris could go back to his life too). They had only met Guinevere once and Arthur already didn't want to leave her side. He couldn't stop smiling the whole way back to the hotel.
"I want to take her home so badly."
"I know dear, but you heard what he said. We got a few more things to do before we can take her home. Besides we still have to finish the room upstairs."
"Oh dear, I totally forgot about that! We'll need to decorate it too!"
Arthur realized that maybe a week was too short. They still needed time to finish the room.
"Don't worry Arthur. She'll need to stay with us for the few months anyway. We just need to worry about getting a bassinet this week."
Arthur forgot about that, he started running a check list through his mind of the things they would need: diapers, clothes, bottles, formula, blankets...
Arthur could feel a headache coming on from just thinking about all the work they had this week.
"Besides, I forgot about something. I might have mentioned us adopting a baby to a certain art teacher at the high school who would just love to paint the baby room for us."
"No way…you're kidding right?"
"No, I'm serious. Feliciano and I were just talking when I told him about us getting approved for adoption. He was so excited to hear about us getting a baby; he offered to paint the baby room as a present."
"I wouldn't protest at all."
"I'll tell him when we get back! He's going to be so excited!"
Arthur smiled, but he still felt a little worried. He wanted it to be perfect when he finally brought her home, not half assed!
~USUKUS~
Alfred had called Feliciano Sunday afternoon and told him about how they would love for him to paint the baby room. Feliciano was ecstatic to say the least. He showed up Monday afternoon with a box full of paintbrushes of different sizes, paint rollers, paint buckets, and of course every color paint under the sun. Arthur was a nervous at first seeing everything that he had lugged upstairs into the room, but Feliciano reassured him that the room was going to be spectacular when he was done.
He wasn't lying.
A couple days later, Arthur walked into the little room to find a large tree painted on the wall with its branches reaching high toward the ceiling. The room was surrounded by different creatures, many of them mythical. There were paintings of fairies, unicorns, and even a dragon. Arthur could only smile at the beautiful scene ripped straight from a classical storybook that was now painted on the walls.
"Feliciano, you're doing a fantastic job!"
Feliciano turned away from the flowers he was painting to look over at Arthur. He was wearing a white t-shirt covered in paint and a pair of jeans rolled up at the bottom.
"You really think so?"
"I do. This is marvelous. I can't thank you enough."
Feliciano began to turn pink, "Thank you! I knew that you really liked fantasy and I thought why not paint something like out of a picture book, you know?"
"I couldn't ask for anything more."
~USUKUS~
While Feliciano was painting the baby room, Arthur went out to the mall to start gathering supplies for the baby room. He went to a baby store in the mall and picked out a frilly pink bassinet and several different cute onesies for her arrival. He also started perusing their cribs to see if there was any that caught his attention. He needed to wait for Alfred to buy the crib but it didn't hurt to look around. He noticed a few that caught his eye, but he would wait. As Alfred had said, they still had time to pick one out. That's when he remembered – he needed a changing table. He found a nice wooden one painted white that was perfect. After purchasing everything, he gripped at one of the pimply, teenaged, texting employees and kindly asked him to "get his head out his ass and start helping him take everything to his car".
Once he and the belligerent teenager had packed everything into the car, he drove off to the department store to start picking up the rest of the necessary supplies. He got a cart and just started pushing things off the shelves into the basket: bottles, formula, loads and loads of diapers, pacifiers, wet wipes, baby powder, etc. The cart was nearly full to the brim by the time he got to the register. The girl at the counter raised an eyebrow at the amount of stuff in the cart.
"New dad I see."
"Yes, you are correct."
"Congrats. It must be exciting," she said.
"Oh, you have no idea."
~USUKUS~
It was Thursday afternoon when Alfred walked into the living room to find Arthur quietly quilting away on the couch, TV turned to BBC (he had made Alfred pay the extra charge per month so they could have all of the BBC channels). Alfred started giggling as he made his way over to the couch and plotted down next to him. He could see Arthur was sewing the pieces of fabric together to form different patterns of all different shades of pinks and yellows. In one of sections, he had neatly stitched in the word Gwenhwyfar. Alfred glanced at it curiously.
"What does that mean?"
"Gwenhwyfar is Welsh for Guinevere, you git! It means "fair and yielding". The name also can be traced back to Arthurian legend to King Arthur's wife, whom was named Guinevere."
"Wow, really?"
"Yes, don't you remember? I did lend you my copy of Le Morte de Arthur."
"…Yea, I never read it."
"I should smack you, but I have a needle in my hand. I don't want to stab you with it."
"Thanks Artie, I do rather enjoy not getting impaled by sharp objects."
Alfred grabbed hold of one end of the quilt, and examined the different shapes and patterns.
"This is really pretty Arthur."
"Thanks Alfred, I'm glad you think so."
"You've always been good at girly stuff like this."
"Shut it, you wanker!"
"What? I'm just sayin'."
"…You need to learn to keep your mouth closed."
"Ha! I don't think that will ever happen."
Arthur giggled, "No, I don't think so either."
~USUKUS~
It was finally the day they prepared for all week, the day they finally got to take Guinevere home. Arthur had a hard time sleeping the night before, thus forcing Alfred to drive the next day. He was able to catch some shut eye in the car, but not much. He could only think of how soon he would be holding the little girl in his arms. He looked in the back at the car seat that Alfred brought home Friday afternoon. They were so close, so close it hurt. Arthur couldn't recall wanting anything more in his life.
When they finally walked into the hospital, Toris once again met them in the lobby, but this time he was escorting a short, brunette girl. She looked young, barely seventeen years old. They walked up to Toris and greeted them.
"Hey Toris! Nice to see ya again!" Alfred chirped.
"Yes, lovely to see you again. And who is this lovely lady next to you?" Arthur asked.
Toris looked over at the short, brunette girl and nodded, "This is Guinevere's mom, Sara."
Alfred leaned down and offered her his hand, "Nice to meet ya! I'm Alfred!"
Sara looked confused, very confused. "Which one of you is adopting my daughter?"
Alfred glanced over at Arthur before responding, "We both are! We're going to be here parents."
Sara's face grew in concern, "You both are? When they told me that a married couple was going to be taking my child, I wasn't expecting…this!"
She stood there in shock, trying to process the idea that her daughter was going to be adopted by these two.
She turned to Toris, tears welling up in her eyes, "Why didn't you tell me that my child isn't going to have a mother?"
Before he could respond, she quickly ran out of the lobby to the courtyard out front. Arthur and Toris stood in shock, as Alfred ran after her.
"Wh-what just happened?"
Toris shook his head, "I don't know. I guess we didn't make it clear that two men were adopting her baby."
Arthur moaned, "Great. Now what do we do?"
Toris looked over at the entrance to the lobby. "I think your husband is already on top of that."
About twenty minutes later, Alfred walked in the door with one arm slung around Sara's shoulder, making their way back toward Arthur and Toris.
Alfred flashes a thumbs up as he approached.
"Sara and I had a little talk outside, and I think everything is alright now."
Toris laughed nervously, "Well…alright then! Shall we go see baby Guinevere."
They once again checked in at the reception desk and followed a nurse through the hallway toward the elevator. This time they stopped on a different floor and found themselves in a nursery. The nurse led them over to one of the bassinets, where baby Guinevere was sleeping.
"She's been cleared to leave when you are ready to take her home. I just need her mother to sign off on the paperwork."
Toris nodded, "Thank you."
The nurse walked away to attend to some of the other babies in the nursery.
Toris moved closer to Sara and took her hands in his, "I think it's time for you to say goodbye, for now at least."
Sara slowly walked up to the bassinet and carefully took her into her arms, placing her cheek against the top of her head. "Momma will always love you," she said, tears running down her face, "I'll always be thinking of you. Where ever you may go, momma will be there." Alfred, Arthur and Toris just stood there quietly as she held the baby in her arms, rocking back and forth. Arthur felt awkward standing there, watching her tearfully say goodbye. It almost felt wrong for him to take her away, but he knew that Guinevere was his now, his responsibility. He was taking on all of her medical bills from her birth onward. Her mother was giving her up for a reason, a good one. After what seemed like a half an hour, Sara walked up to Arthur and looked down at Guinevere.
"Here, why don't you take her?"
Arthur blinked, "O-okay."
Sara gently placed baby Guinevere into his arms.
Arthur almost had the breath knocked out of him as he held the small bundle in his arms.
Sara looked up and stared Arthur in the eyes. Arthur was slightly taken aback.
"Your partner promised me that you would take the utmost care of her. I don't know if I quite believe him, but I really have no choice. I will give her up to you two. Just promise me like he did that you will take care of her."
Arthur smiled and nodded, "I swear on my life, I won't let anything happen to your daughter."
Arthur pulled her closer to his chest as she shifted in his arms.
"Just remember to send me an update or two every once in awhile, and for god sakes pictures!"
Alfred grinned, "Of course! No problem!"
"I might not be able to be there all the time, but just remember to let her know that her mother will always be there for her."
Arthur nodded, "I will, I promise."
Sara wiped the tears away from her face, "Good, now I'm going to sign the paperwork. I'll be right back."
As she walked away, Arthur looked down at Guinevere and smiled. She just felt so right there in his arms. Arthur looked over at Alfred, who held a grin that could put the Cheshire cat to shame.
"Why don't you hold her, Alfred?"
"Whoa, okay."
Arthur gently placed the baby in Alfred's arms and watched as he carefully took hold of her.
"Dang, she's practically weighs nothing."
"She's just tiny compared to you. Plus, you're too use to carrying around your fat ass cat."
"Hey! Don't you insult Bear! He's not even here to defend himself!"
"He's a cat Alfred, he can't talk."
"So, at least say it to his face if you're going to insult him."
"He's a cat, Alfred, a CAT!"
"Cat's have feelings."
Arthur just shook his head as Alfred started rocking back and forth.
"She's awfully quiet," Alfred said.
Toris giggled, "She's quiet now, but wait until you get home. No sleep for you two…..ever."
Arthur rolled his eyes, "Haha, very funny."
A few minutes later, Sara returned with paperwork in hand. "She's ready to go when you guys are."
She walked over toward Alfred and pecked baby Guinevere on the cheek, "Momma loves you. She will always love you."
~USUKUS~
On the car ride home, Arthur sat in the back seat, next to the car seat. Alfred laughed and told him that it would be fine, the baby was safely secured and nothing would happen to his precious bundle of joy, but Arthur wasn't taking any chances. It was a long car ride home, but it was one of the happiest of his life. His precious gift was next to him and he couldn't be happier.
When they finally made it home, they were exhausted. Alfred and Arthur quickly made their way upstairs to the bedroom where they climbed in, with the baby in Arthur's arms. He couldn't let go of her. He sat up holding her watching TV, until his arms couldn't take it anymore, before placing baby Guinevere (whom Alfred had nicknamed Ginny) in her bassinet right next to the bed. Arthur slept pretty well the rest of the night, even with the few times he woke to change Ginny's diaper and to make sure she was alright.
~Prologue~
"Papa, can you read me another story?" little Ginny said.
She was almost four now and cute as a button. Her hair was curly brown and her eyes still as green as the forest. She was beautiful. Arthur patted her on the head.
"Which story do you want me to read tonight, love?"
"I want you to read me the story you wrote, papa!"
"Again? I've already read you that one a million times already!" Arthur teased.
"I know, but I want you to read it!"
"Okay, but just because you insist."
"Hey, don't start the story without Daddy!" Arthur turned around to find Alfred standing in the doorway.
"Daddy! Come sit next to me! Papa's about to read me a story!"
"Uh oh, is he reading the unicorn story again?"
"Yes, it's my favorite!"
"I can tell! Hey where's Frankie?" Alfred asked.
Ginny looked around the room before she pointed to the table next to the little bookshelf in the corner, "He's over there daddy!"
Alfred giggled as he went over to the table and picked up the stuffed winged mint-green bunny.
He placed it on the bed next to the toddler.
"You can't go to sleep without Frankie!"
She laughed as she took the toy in her arms and hugged it to her chest.
"Papa, why don't you start with the story?"
"I would, love, but daddy interrupted me!"
Ginny giggled, "Silly daddy!"
Arthur smiled, "That he surely is." He pressed a kiss to Alfred's cheek before going over to the bookshelf and picking a book with a picture of a pink unicorn on the cover.
Arthur sat back down in the chair by the bed and held the book up for Ginny to see and began reading, "Once apon a time, there was a unicorn named Ginny…"
...
After Arthur finished the story, he closed the book and looked over at the child dozing off against her pillow. Arthur pulled the blanket up over her before placing a kiss to her forehead.
"Good night, princess."
"Good night papa, is daddy going to say good night?"
"Of course, baby! Why wouldn't I?"
Alfred leaned over and planted an over dramatic kiss on her cheek, ending with a loud mwuah!
Ginny giggled before resettling in the bed covers.
Alfred patted her head, "Good night darling."
"You too daddy."
"Good night, love."
"Good night, papa"
"We both love you very much."
"I know papa, you tell me all the time."
Alfred smiled, "And we'll continue to remind you."
She giggled.
Arthur got up and dragged Alfred out of the room, and stopped by the doorframe.
"Sweet dreams, love."
He closed the door behind him and Alfred. Once the door was closed, he leaned up and kissed Alfred sweetly on the lips. He pulled away and smiled up at his husband. Alfred smiled back and silently took Arthur's hand in his and walked down the hallway toward their bedroom.
THE END
A/N: OMG IT'S FINISHED…for now! I'm probably going to do a oneshot for this story here or there in the future. It's just too adorable not too. I would love to talk about what they went through AFTER taking the baby home. Like I said, we'll see what the future holds~ Thank you to my beta reader, whom I'll just call "Ninja of the Night", and I'd like to thank Jacquzy for being so patient with me and leaving me lovely reviews for this fanfiction. I'm so happy you enjoyed it and I hope it's everything you expected. I wish I could have spend more time on certain parts but meeting the deadline on top of working IRL stopped me.