The waiting room was dead quiet. George, Ashley, Ben and Margaret were still waiting on news of Amy and the baby. It had been at least 45 minutes since they heard Dr. Hightower being paged. George could not sit still; he was worried about his daughter. He would get up every few minutes to just walk off some of his nerves. He had just gotten up to go take another lap around the floor when the ward doors swung open. There Ricky stood with a blue blanket bundled in his arms, wearing that famous smirk. They all jumped up and ran to him. Ricky handed the baby over to Ashley.
"This is Aidan George Juergans." He said to them.
George looked at Ricky and gaped at him.
"George?" he asked stunned.
Ricky nodded and smiled. George stood there and stared at Ricky, but looked away before he saw him tear up. He leaned in and looked at the baby.
"Ohh I think he gets his good looks from Grandpa." George told them beaming, touching the baby's chin.
Margaret reached over and gave Ricky a hug.
"Congratulations Ricky." She said to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Ben stared at the baby, looked at Ricky, and then back to the baby. He had obviously noticed that the two quite resembled each other, yet he forced a smile.
"Congratulations." Ben said to him, as Ricky nodded.
"How's Amy?" Ashley asked, giving the baby to Margaret.
"Oh, Amy's doing okay.. she's tired.. but it went really well. You can go back to see her if you want. Room 203." Ricky said, as Ashley and Ben hurried through the doors.
"Oh Ricky, you sure do have a mini me." Margaret said smiling at Aidan. She looked over to George, "Want to hold your grandson?"
George smiled at the baby as he took him in his arms.
"Ricky," Margaret began "I'm going to head home. It's very late, and I'm sure Amy is tired, tell her I said hello and congratulations, I'll visit her tomorrow."
Ricky nodded and smiled at her.
"Thanks for being here." He told her.
"Wouldn't miss it." Margaret said, touching his face.
He waved at her as the elevator door was closing and looked back over to his baby in George's arms. George looked at Ricky. He situated the baby so he could hold him with one arm, and stuck out his hand towards Ricky. Shocked, Ricky reached out and shook it.
"Congratulations." George told him.
"Thanks" said Ricky trying not to let his surprise come out in his voice.
They headed back to Amy's room together.
_
They were all in Amy's hospital room. Ben was sitting in a chair beside Amy; Ashley was sitting on Amy's bed. George and Anne were sitting on the guest cot. Ricky was sitting in a chair opposite Amy's bed, still admiring his son in Amy's arms. They were all tired, Amy especially was exhausted but couldn't seem to put her baby down, she wanted to keep holding him.
"Well Ashley, we should probably be getting home." George said standing up, "Ben I'll drop you off at home."
"Well you don't have to my driver-"but he caught himself, "Thanks." He told George.
George kissed Amy on the cheek, and touched the baby's face before heading out the door.
"We'll be back tomorrow pumpkin." He told her.
"Bye" Ashley told them as she followed George.
"Yeah I'll be back tomorrow Amy," Ben said to her.
After they left, Ricky went back over to Amy and sat in the chair beside her bed. Aidan was starting to get fussy.
"He's probably hungry Amy," Anne told her looking at the baby. "I'll go ask a nurse for some formula."
As she left the room, Amy looked over at Ricky.
"If you're tired you can go home, I'll be alright."
"I'll leave in a little." Ricky told her. As tired as he was, he didn't want to leave yet. He wanted to stay with his family, just the three of them, like it was right now.
Amy unwrapped the blanket to reveal a tiny baby in a little white onesie. She smiled as she picked up his arm and touched his soft leg. Ricky got up and leaned over the bed rail to get a closer look. He smiled as he touched his son's little foot.
"Holding the baby with his tiny little hands and feet.. completely helpless.." She repeated what Ricky had said to her a few months back. "But.. we're not handing him over to anyone." She said smiling up at Ricky. Ricky smiled back at her. "He's ours." He told her.
_
After Anne showed them what to do, Amy and Ricky took turns feeding their son.
"Make sure you burp him Amy," yawned a very tired Anne. "Wake me up if I fall asleep and you need me." She said, lying down on the cot.
Ricky was feeding Aidan contently. Amy watched him and smiled.
"You're a natural." She told him.
He looked up at her.
"Am I?" he asked.
The baby stopped eating.
"I think he's done." Ricky said to Amy, "Do you want to try and burp him or me?"
"I'll do it." Amy said as Ricky got up and gave Aidan to her.
He watched her as she rested the burp cloth and baby on her shoulder, patting his back. It was she who looked like the natural. She might have been fifteen, but Ricky knew she was going to be a great mother to their son. And at sixteen, Ricky was going to be a great father to their son. He looked over at Anne, who was fast asleep on the cot. He smiled to himself, they were already doing it, no one was helping them, they were taking care of their son on their own; they could do it.
_
After Aidan was fed, Amy rocked him in her arms to sleep. She looked at Ricky who still seemed to not be able to take his eyes off of their son.
"Sorry for yelling at you today." She told him.
"What?" he asked her, "Oh, don't worry about it, you were in pain, I understand." He said to her.
"Yeah," she sighed "I'm so glad it's over with."
Ricky nodded, he bet she was glad it was over with. It looked awfully painful. Which reminded him, he wanted to tell her something.
"Amy?"
she looked at him.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." He said to her. "Thanks for letting me be in here when he was born, it means a lot to me."
"You had a right to be here, and I kind of owed you that much." She looked down at Aidan and smiled, "Besides, he would have wanted you to be here."_
Ricky woke in his chair to a whimpering baby. He checked the clock, it was 3 a.m; they must have dozed off as they were talking. He took the baby out of the hospital bassinet.
"Shh.. you're alright." He whispered to Aidan, comforting him.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked sleepily.
"I'm not sure." Ricky told her, trying to inspect what might be wrong. "He can't be hungry, maybe he needs his diaper changed?"
"Okay give him here." Amy told him.
Ricky handed her the baby, and grabbed a diaper from a pack that was in a cupboard.
"Will you be alright if I leave?" he asked her. He didn't want to leave, but he was tired and needed some rest, some rest he couldn't get from a chair.
"Oh yeah go ahead, I'll wake my mom up if I need anything.' She said to him. "Thanks for staying and helping though."
"Yeah no problem." He told her, "I'll be back in the morning."
"Okay, hey could you grab me some wipes?" she asked him as she pulled off the baby's diaper. "Ugh! Aidan George Underwood! What did you do!?" she said laughing.
Ricky laughed as he grabbed her the wipes, but stopped abruptly.
"Wait, did you.. I thought…" Ricky stuttered.
Amy looked at him confused.
"Did you say Underwood?" Ricky asked.
Amy gazed at him before smiling in amusement; she had surprised him yet again.
"Your last name is Underwood… right?"