Author's Note:
I'm heinously sorry that this chapter has taken so long to be written and posted, especially as we're so close to the end anyway, but my laptop was in the shop for a long time as it got a virus. Anyhow, I've got the data back now so I've leapt right back into this fanfiction so that I can wrap it up for you lovely – and hopefully patient – readers. Do enjoy and please leave me reviews. I adore them!
DaenerysTargary3n
Three months later…
Out of the seething cauldron of my woes,
Where sweets and salt and bitterness I flung;
Where charmed music gathered from my tongue,
And where I chained strange archipelagos
Of fallen stars; where fiery passion flows
A curious bitumen; where among
The glowing medley moved the tune unsung
Of perfect love: thence grew the Mystic Rose.
~ The Rose and the Cross (A. Crowley)
As Will sprinted after the flourish of nurses and doctors who were clustered around Quinn as she was being wheeled down the hospital corridors towards one of the operating rooms, he was deathly sure that he had never been so tense and afraid in all his years. Not even finding Quinn doused in a pool of her own blood, witnessing Kayleigh's arduous delivery and preparing for the opening night of One Night Too Long (still on a successful run) compared with his heightened senses while nurses wrapped and scrubbed him so he could be at his wife's side.
"Now, Mr. Schuester," the scrub nurse said kindly, "your wife has already been sedated and we are ready to proceed with the C-section. I gave your wife's notes to the surgeon once we heard you were in the ambulance, so everything is prepared for. You know – of course – that this procedure is not an emergency Caesarean section but is being done on account of your wife's…gynaecological history?"
All the nervous father could do was nod his head unsteadily. Their situation was a double-edged sword to him. On the one hand, he was relieved that Quinn wouldn't actually have to endure natural childbirth again but on the other, he detested the notion that the struggle of birthing Kayleigh had required such a drastic step in one so young.
Once the nurse had re-entered the OR to assist in the delivery of his second child, Will began to get a grip on his nervous system and remember what he was supposed to do once she had been admitted.
He dialled his cell speedily and waited for one of the men who were first on the phone tree to answer.
"Hello," the quirky, posh voice chirped, "Blaine here."
"Hi Blaine, it's Will, just a quick call to say you need to get over here to Saint Catherine's. Quinn's having the baby! Yeah, yeah, it's great, I know! Anyway, before you leave you have to call Rachel so she can tell everyone else."
Before Will could issue any further instructions to his former star performer, the jovial nurse emerged from the OR and beckoned for him to come in. He waved back in response before returning his attention to his phone call.
"Hi Blaine, listen, I've really got to go now so I'll catch you later. Actually, can you pick Kayleigh up from day care and bring her. Tell her, her little brother or sister is making an appearance. I don't know, just use your imagination! Whatever, bye!"
With that errand done, he flipped his phone closed and hastened into the maternity OR behind the scrub nurse to witness the birth of his child.
He was truly amazed, after being with Quinn while she laboured with Kayleigh, just how swift the process of releasing the squealing infant from the confines of his mother's womb was. It only took about half an hour for his adorable, jammy, lizard-looking son to be swaddled away from Quinn and the surgeon to face him with the proposition for the anxious (and relieved!) parent to cut the cord. Will couldn't imagine why in that moment any parent would pass up the opportunity to play such an integral role in their child's birth, particularly when the mother was presently unconscious and unable to do so. The grammar dispute of question vs. demand aside, Will Schuester stepped forward and snipped the spongy tube that had nourished his son, wincing as the sensation compelled the baby to cry with a resounding din.
"What a pair of lungs my boy has!" The singing teacher and singer in him pronounced.
The surgeon, now relieving Quinn of the afterbirth, replied with a grin, "All parents say that when they hear their child cry for the first time. The relief a newborn's cry bears is extraordinary. After nine months of waiting and anxiety, the little one is here but for the record, your kid does have a very echoing wail."
"Thanks." Will said and was stunned that that was all he was able to say so immersed was he in his son's comeliness.
The nurse cleaning the baby off said to Will, "Well, Mr. Schuester, your son appears to be in ideal health, so I see no reason for any worry. Mrs Schuester did fantastically so they'll close her up and wheel her down to the maternity ward where she can recuperate, but would you like to walk your son down to the baby ward with me and get started on his paperwork?"
Will felt his fragile heart nearly tear in two when the woman made that offer, however, upon reflection Quinn loathed filling out forms and dealing with official documents (and he wanted to watch his son during his first moments), so he told the nurse he'd accompany her and his son.
Over the next hour and a half, their friends flooded into the maternity ward waiting room. Kurt, Blaine, Rachel, Santana, Artie, Sam, Mercedes and Finn all succeeded in making to the hospital before Quinn regained consciousness so they got to have a chat with Will before meeting the newest Schuester. With Kurt and Blaine came a young Miss Kayleigh and she was extremely excited to meet her new sibling but professed an overwhelming desire to play with the toys on offer so she soon put the fact that she was no longer an only child to the back of her mind.
"Guys, guys," Will exclaimed in his teacher tone, "I know you really want to see the baby and Quinn but she's not awake yet and I really can't let you see her son before she does – you know her, she'll kill me – so you'll just have to wait here for a bit longer. As it is, she'll be regaining consciousness any minute so I'll go back in to her room and sit with her so she's not alone when she wakes. I'll come get you all in a while. All you lot, be patient! Kayleigh…argh, who cares? That girl is so easily distracted!"
As Will meandered back to the room where Quinn was stirring from her sedation, the present members of New Directions mused at the father's easy dismissal of his daughter's princess ways and wondered how the three Schuesters would deal with being the four Schuesters.
"Hey, baby," Will crooned to the love of his life as her eyes fluttered, "wake up. Our son is here and wants to meet his mommy."
"We have a son?"
Will guffawed loudly, "Yes, love and he's gorgeous. Honestly, the pair of lungs he has on him, he'll be a singer one day. No question about it."
Quinn laughed softly, still feeling the pull of the stitches across her lower abdomen but she still managed to whisper, "Is he okay? There weren't any…complications?"
Her companion winced at his wife's doubtful and nervous nature when it came to her pregnancies, but once he placed a chaste kiss on her pale brow, he shook his head.
"No, it took barely half an hour and he was born crying and they let me cut the cord and I brought him down here with the nurse and filled out most of his paperwork."
Quinn found the strength to laugh with more gusto, "Trust a child with your genes to be easy to deliver! Can't help but be perfect, can you, Will Schuester?"
"Hey! Why are you complaining? My perfection has just saved you a lot of worry and pain!"
She smiled knowingly, "I know. You're right – as usual – so thank you."
He caressed her hand tenderly and asked, "Shall I go and find a nurse so that you can meet our son properly? Then, the band of miscreants are outside and are eager to see you both so you can have the baby for as long as you want then I'll go and invite our friends and Kayleigh in to see the new addition to our family."
Quinn's eyes lit up when her husband mentioned their daughter but she shook her head, "No, to be honest, Will, I would quite like our friends and Kayleigh to be here when the baby comes so just go and bring them in already."
The new father was shocked by his wife's request but as usual, he acquiesced and fetched their impatient and jumpy horde of friends before mentioning to a nearby nurse that Quinn was awake and desired fervently to meet her son. The ritualistic hugs and kisses of congratulations and a few selfies took place before a confident knock was heard at the door silencing the room.
"Come in." Quinn invited with bated breath.
An unknown nurse wheeled in a small clear plastic crib with a squirming form in sky blue within it making the endearing sounds of new life and abject innocence. Much like everyone did when the baby's father took to the stage with a guitar or just with a song to sing, the entire room fell silent instantaneously to welcome the son of two of their dearest friends to centre stage and the limelight.
"Oh," Quinn exhaled, tears already welling, "he's gorgeous."
"Hi momma," the African American nurse greeted Quinn, "let's get you acquainted with this beautiful baby of yours."
The mother in question nodded fervently and extended her arms, which had felt the loneliness and pain of being deprived of her infant, to embrace her son.
When the nurse settled Master Schuester in his mother's arms and ensured that he was well looked after, she left the room with a smile. That just left the room of cooing adults with a newly interested young girl and the baby who was smiling at his mother.
"Awww, he's precious!"
"What a cutie!"
"He'll break some hearts!"
As their friends exclaimed their appreciation of their child, Will and Quinn leaned past them to see Kayleigh pushing past Santana and Brittany to get a glance at her baby brother.
"Mommy! I want to see!" She shrieked.
Will fetched her and picked her up to rest on the side of the bed beside her mother so she had a prime view of her new sibling.
"There, love. Is that better?"
Kayleigh inspected her baby brother with an intensity that reminded everyone of Quinn's piercing gaze when she was the captain of the Cheerios. Once she had ascertained that her brother was satisfactory, she turned to her mother with wide eyes.
"Mommy, can I play with him? What's his name? Can we take him home to play with Tia, Mia and Lia?"
Quinn laughed, "Yes, sweetheart, you can play with him but you have to be gentle. I'm sure he would also love to play with your dollies with you," she looked at her husband, "and as for his name…Will?"
He nodded and took his son from his mother's arms, "Well then, my lad, let's give you your name then. Welcome to the world, Jackson…"
"William." Quinn interjected.
Will smiled at his wife, "Fine. After your mother rudely interrupted daddy, I'll carry on. Your name is Jackson William Schuester."
"I love Jackson William Schuester." Quinn said with tears now rolling down her cheeks.
Will wiped them off with a smile, "I'm glad because I do too."
Everyone clamoured round to get a view of the newly named baby and Will held Kayleigh. He wondered just how he had got so lucky after the first marriage debacle with Terri, a thought at which he snickered as he couldn't recall the last time he actually spared a miniscule thought for his ex-wife. He was that happy with his new life with Quinn, Kayleigh and now, Jackson, that his manipulative, immature and deceitful ex-wife seemed like a memory of a former life.
Quinn gave her son to Mercedes, who had called dibs, before turning to Will and sending him a 'now, idiot, now' stare. Fortunately, for the receiver of the silent communication, he knew exactly to what Quinn was referring.
"Hey, guys, can I have your attention for a sec? There's something Quinn and I would like to ask Kurt and 'Cedes."
"Well, Will," Mercedes replied, "just spit it out."
"Quinn?" Will said, deferring this question to his wife.
She rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll ask. Kurt, Mercedes, would you do us the honour of being Jackson's godparents?"
"Hell yes!" Both chorused simultaneously.