"I'm so happy to bring Amelia home, but it's just not…"
"Complete?" Chris finished for her as he opened the door for his girlfriend and daughter. Stephanie looked over at him and nodded her head. In an ideal world, she would have both her kids coming home from the hospital with her, but it wasn't to be. When they'd given her the latest update on Brant, they'd given her a tentative date for his discharge from the hospital and although it was only three days from now, it seemed an eternity.
"I just thought that we'd get to bring them both home at the same time and we'd lay them in their cribs, and I know it's too idyllic and whatever, but I just pictured it that way," she sighed a little bit, trying not to feel sad when she had her daughter in her arms.
"I get it," Chris reassured her that his feelings were one in the same, which eased her broken thoughts a little bit. Stephanie walked over the threshold and her mood did pick up a little bit as she looked down at Amelia. She was alert, at least as alert as a newborn could be, and her eyes seemed to be searching for something even though her range of vision was probably a few feet, if that.
"Welcome home, Lia," Stephanie whispered to the little girl. "I think you'll like it here."
"She better, we don't have anywhere else to go," he joked as he set their things down by the door. "Do you want to go upstairs and nap? I can take care of Lia for a little bit while you get some rest. I can't imagine that being in a hospital is very restful, plus this is the most you've moved since the C-section."
"You just want me out of the picture because you want to be alone with your daughter, I'm onto you," she told him, but her sentence was punctuated with a yawn, which belied how tired Stephanie actually was. Chris raised an eyebrow knowingly, and she made a face. "Okay, so I'm a little tired."
"Thought so," he smiled. "So why don't you go upstairs? Lia doesn't look like she wants to nap."
"I guess so," Stephanie said. She looked up the stairs and winced. It wasn't going to be fun climbing stairs for a while.
"Come with me," he told her, wrapping his arm around her waist. He'd caught her look, but he already knew that she'd be sore and that stairs might not be the easiest thing for a while. He led her to the downstairs guest bedroom, where he'd brought a lot of their things. There was also a bassinet in there, and she looked over to him in surprise. "I figured you would need to stay on one level for a week or so."
"You bought a bassinet?"
"It was a gift, actually."
"A gift, from who?"
"Lance and his wife," Chris said. "I didn't even know he was going to send it, but it arrived yesterday. I thought it was perfect to put in here so we don't have to climb stairs every time Lia cries. There's another one too for Brant, but for now it's still up in his room."
"This is great, I'll have to send them a thank you," she said, idly running her finger along the edge of the bassinet. She yawned again, but before she climbed into the bed, she wanted to change. "Did you bring clothes down?"
He nodded his head towards the dresser, "All the essentials. I know you can get upstairs, but I figured you'd want to do that as little as possible."
"I do," Stephanie said, "I think I might take a bath a little later, but right now, pajamas sound lovely."
"I'll leave you to it," he kissed her. "Lia and I will be in the living room so if you need anything, just call. We'll be right here." He kissed her again then left her alone in the room. She hardly ever used this room, and it was almost like she was looking at it for the first time. She glanced at the bed and smiled thinking about how comfortable it looked. She changed and climbed in, and she was asleep within minutes.
Meanwhile, Chris was sitting on the couch, his feet propped up against the coffee table. He laid Amelia against his raised knees and watched her. It was strange how you could just feel so content watching another person. This was different though, this was his daughter, his little girl, and watching her was fascinating. She was so new, so everything she did was something he'd never experienced before.
She kept clenching and unclenching her fist, like she too was trying to get used to all of this outside world. She was probably so cramped in there with her brother that she had no space to move around at all, and now she had all the space she could ever want and more. Her eyes were still alert, and he wasn't too experienced with babies, but he was convinced that she was already smarter than any other baby that had ever existed. She looked curious and interested (she was also a few days old, but you couldn't convince Chris that wasn't curiosity etched across her small face).
Her face looked like many other babies, but he could see traces of Stephanie in it. Her chin looked strong already, and her lips were perfectly Stephanie. She was going to have a mean smirk when she got a little older, and if she was even half as beautiful as her mother, she would be gorgeous. Three days and this little girl had made herself the center of his world. He didn't know what fatherhood would be like before he had the twins, and he still wasn't sure what the future would bring for him, but whatever happened, this was the greatest feeling in the world. He'd never believed in instant love until he saw his children for the first time.
"God, you're beautiful," he whispered to her, but more to himself. "You're just so beautiful."
She obviously didn't answer, but he liked to think there was a little bit of recognition in her features. Cocky already was his first thought. "I can't wait until your brother is home, he should be here in a few days, so we'll have to welcome him home, and you'll have to show him the ropes, okay?"
Chris didn't know how long he sat there just watching his daughter, but eventually, she fell asleep, and he cradled her to him and brought her into his temporary room with Stephanie, laying her down in her bassinet. He looked over at Stephanie, and she was still sound asleep, looking comfortable and inviting. He doffed himself of his clothes, leaving himself in his boxers and climbed into bed next to her. He hadn't slept well the last few nights without her, and it was strange how ingrained she'd become in his life.
They'd started as friends who decided to have children together, and now he couldn't imagine his life without her and their children in it. He loved her, and how could he not? How could he have ever thought he could go through with this just being her friend? He didn't ever want to be relegated to that title again. He laid down behind her and wrapped her arm high around her waist, mindful of her C-section site and not wanting to aggravate it.
She stirred a little when he tightened his grip around her, but otherwise didn't wake up. He fell asleep easily too, and it wasn't until a couple hours later that they woke up, at the same time, when Amelia decided that she didn't want to be alone in her bassinet. Stephanie startled awake then groaned when she twisted her body the wrong way. This woke Chris up more than anything.
"You okay?" he asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she told him, "I just twisted myself the wrong way, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Uh huh," she gingerly got out of bed and went over to the bassinet. Amelia was wailing inside of it, and she quickly lifted the little girl up into her arms, bringing her back to the bed. She sat down and cradled Amelia against her. She kept rubbing Amelia's back, hoping to calm her down.
"So this is our life now, huh?"
"I guess it is."
"Are two babies more difficult?" Stephanie said, looking over at Chris to see what his answer was.
"We have no experience with one baby, so we really don't know what's normal or not. We have our routines, and we know them, and I think at this point, it would actually be strange to have just one kid because we're so used to having both babies."
"That's true," Stephanie agreed, "we don't know anything different. It would probably be easier if the kids had any kind of related schedule, but they are already very different individuals. I don't think they'll be wearing any matching outfits any time soon, they're just too different, and I think they had enough of each other when they shared my uterus."
"Again, true, the two of them are like night and day, but in a good way."
Stephanie looked longingly at Brant as they lifted him out of the incubator. He was no longer the sickly yellow he had been when he was born. His pallor had improved dramatically, and he looked bigger too, more filled out. Amelia was a milk hog, the little girl loved to eat, and it looked like her brother was going to be the same way. They handed Brant to Stephanie, and she clutched him tightly in her arms. This was the day she'd been waiting for, and the last three days seemed to drag horribly.
"You ready?" Chris asked.
"More than ready," she told him, itching to get home. Her mother was watching Amelia at home, and while her mother loved being a new grandma to her two grandkids, Stephanie wanted them to get home so they could feel like a complete family finally.
"I took care of the paperwork while you were in here," Chris said, "so we can go."
She beamed at him as they left the NICU and headed down to the car. She wished she could hold Brant the entire way home, but it wasn't possible and it wasn't safe, but she did spend the ride in the backseat next to him, looking down at him. She'd had three days to stare at Amelia, but now it was Brant's turn. "He's so handsome," Stephanie commented.
"Not yellow?" Chris joked.
"Nope, perfect," she grabbed Brant's hand and brought it up to her lips, kissing his hand. He turned his head slightly to look at her. "Hey, you, you ready to go home? I bet you are, I bet it was boring sitting in that incubator for all that time. Don't worry, we have a place for you at home, and you're more than welcome to stay for a while, 18 years or so should do it."
Chris laughed from the front seat. "We kick them out at 18?"
"We'll need time to ourselves at that point."
"What if we have other kids?"
"Wow, thinking a little too far ahead there, Chris," Stephanie said, "let's just deal with the two we've got right now before we even begin to discuss more."
"I'm just saying, it could happen."
"Maybe," she said cryptically, secretly thinking about how she probably would want more children with this man. Maybe she'd also want a ring and a wedding from him too, but again, too far ahead of her.
They were home in no time, and Stephanie was carefully lifting Brant into her arms, a recreation of the scene a few days before when they'd brought Amelia home. Chris followed her just like last time, but this time they weren't lamenting the fact they'd had to leave one of their children behind. Now they were all together, the way it was meant to be, the way they pictured it. They would be a family now.
They would be complete.