Three years ago, Fareeha and Angela had been on their weekly walk around town. It had been mostly the same as it always was, but they instead decided to turn down a different path and found themselves at a children's playground.
The two of them never really discussed children until that moment, neither of them really expecting their lives to get to the point where it would be possible, but with Overwatch having more than enough field medics for Angela to not really have to go on missions anymore, and with Fareeha beginning the process to become the Strike Commander, they didn't have to worry about any potential child losing a parent because one of them had to go on a mission and didn't come back.
They'd looked at their options extensively, and eventually settled on taking the cell modification route. At first, the plan was for Angela to be the one to carry the child, but after two years of failed attempts and her revelation that she was unable to have children, they'd stopped looking into it.
That was until a month ago.
They decided there would be one last attempt, and that final attempt would be on Fareeha. If it didn't work, then they had since come to terms with not having children. If the desire ever hit them hard again, there was always the option of adopting a child, but this was the last chance to have a child that was biologically theirs.
"I mean, I don't think it worked. I don't feel any different.". Fareeha noted as she placed the pregnancy test on the counter. "And I've had periods randomly be late before.". She added, trying not to get her hopes up. She carried on talking about how she was certain it would be negative, staring at the bathroom door knowing that the time for the result would probably pass faster if she didn't keep staring at the results window. A memo Angela clearly hadn't got.
"Not only does nothing feel different, but it's not that likely anyway. It was just one attempt."
"Fareeha…"
"Plus being a Strike Commander is stressful, so that probably doesn't help."
"Fareeha."
"and I'm 41 now, so the chance is even lower…"
"Fareeha!" Angela shook her to get her to pay attention.
"What?"
"You're pregnant!"
"What!?" Fareeha whirled around and grabbed the stick on the counter. Sure enough, it was showing positive. It had worked. She was pregnant and, if everything worked, in 9 months' time both her and Angela would be mothers.
Angela threw herself at her, hugging her tightly before backing off and resting a hand on her stomach, grinning madly as Fareeha found herself doing the same.
They visited the doctor the next day, who did a quick scan and a few tests to verify that the pregnancy was definitely a viable one, before booking them in for another appointment at 12 weeks.
The time it took for that prenatal appointment to arrive seemed to go on forever, especially when they were both acutely aware that anything could happen in the first trimester.
Thankfully, the appointment went well, the foetus well on its way to growing into a happy and healthy baby. They got to hear the heartbeat, and both women couldn't help but beam at the sound. Afterwards, they were offered a picture from the scan, in case they wanted to keep it in a scrap book, and they eagerly accepted it before making another appointment for a months time.
Coming out of the appointment, knowing that Fareeha had gotten to twelve weeks and everything was fine, they made the decision to begin telling people. Angela had wanted to gather all their friends and tell them at once, but Fareeha very quickly stopped her, voicing her opinion that they should tell their families first.
Ana took the news well, as did Sam when they called him. Fareeha found both her parents were more than ecstatic at the thought of becoming grandparents, her father even making promises to move so that he could be closer to his grandchild.
"Do you know what it is?" He asked excitedly, Ana letting out a huff and rolling her eye.
"Of course, they don't. She's three months. They won't know for at least another two." She stated matter-of-factly before she turned to face Fareeha. "But just so you know, whether I have a grandson or granddaughter, I'll love them no matter what.".
Angela scratched the back of her head while Fareeha rested her hand and idly stroked her ever so slightly expanded stomach. "Actually, the way they do this, it takes longer culture the artificial sperm to carry a Y chromosome, and we didn't want to wait." Angela explained.
Fareeha watched as Ana's eye widened and Sam's face lit up with joy. "I'm going to have a granddaughter?!" He asked excitedly, Fareeha feeling the emotion flood through her as she nodded.
Ana chuckled, letting out a snide comment about how, if Sam did move, he would have to deal with four Amari's. He shot her down instantly, saying that he loved a challenge.
Soon enough, Sam had to go and disconnected the call. Fareeha was about to leave with Angela when Reinhardt walked in, clearly intent on seeing Ana if the confusion on his face at seeing the couple was anything to go by.
"Angela, Fareeha, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He greeted, as if he hadn't already seen them multiple times this week.
"Ya hayati, my daughter and daughter-in-law have some pretty big news to tell you." Ana smirked
Reinhardt glanced over at the two of them. Fareeha opened her mouth, heart pounding in her chest much like it had done when she told her parents about the pregnancy, but the words of announcement never had a chance to leave her mouth.
"You're pregnant?" Reinhardt gasped, gripping Fareeha in a gentle hug she genuinely didn't think he was even capable of giving.
"How…how did you know?" She asked, more than a little confused.
"Eh, you were looking a little soft around the middle." He lightly patted her stomach. Fareeha really wasn't sure whether or not she should be offended, but simply settled for accepting the congratulations that he offered in the end.
After that, they made their way over to the Ziegler residence, intent on telling just Falke and Genji about the pregnancy. When they arrived, they also found Zenyatta sat in the living room, enjoying a quiet spot of meditation alongside Genji.
"It's nice to see you both." Falke said as he returned from the kitchen with a cup of coffee for Angela and a glass of water for Fareeha. Three months in and she was already begrudging Angela for still having the ability to consume caffeine. "So, what did you two want to talk about?"
Fareeha was about to announce the pregnancy to them, but decided to stop and let Angela. After all, she was the one who told her parents.
"Fareeha and I are having a baby!"
Falke's jaw dropped open as Genji went from sitting cross legged on the floor to being stood up on the sofa in one jump. "I'm going to be an uncle!?" The volume of his shout startled Zenyatta to the point that his orbs stopped floating around his head for a second and clattered to the floor.
"Yes, you and Falke are both going to be uncles. In half a year, you two will have a baby niece.". Fareeha smiled as Genji began jumping up and down next to Falke who started to cry.
"Blessings be upon you both, and your daughter. She'll no doubt be strong and intelligent like her mothers.". While Zenyatta was incapable of facial expressions, Fareeha could very clearly hear the smile in his voice.
Telling Jesse and Hanzo in the evening went much the same, with Hanzo being the sensible one while Jesse immediately went to grab alcohol to toast the new baby who was still half a year away, and after that, they gathered those who didn't know into a group and told them all at once.
Within a week, everyone on the base knew, no doubt thanks to Hana and her various social media accounts.
It was another three months before Fareeha's cravings set in. She thought she was doing fairly well, the only major difference from being pregnant being the physical changes and the increased bathroom visits, but then one day she woke up with a strong desire for pickles.
It was 2:30 in the morning and Angela had managed to tangle herself with her fairly well. Through years of practice, Fareeha had successfully extracted herself and made a beeline to the cupboard in the kitchen where they kept jars, searching through the various food items until she found her prize.
There was only one pickle, but she figured that if she ate one, the craving would be gone and she could return to bed.
Angela stumbled into the kitchen half an hour later to find her curled up on the floor, crying as she held the now empty jar.
"What's wrong, liebling?" She yawned, turning on the light and immediately wincing at the brightness.
"We have no more pickles." Fareeha sobbed as Angela came to kneel next to her, the other woman pushing up her glasses slightly as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"It's okay, I can get more in the morning. Why don't you come back to bed?"
Something about effectively being told to wait until morning made Fareeha suddenly stop being upset, and suddenly very angry. "Why do I have to wait until morning? Do you know how many times I've had to get stuff for you in the middle of the night when you've been too busy working to sleep?" She hissed, glaring at Angela whose eyes went wide at the sudden outburst. Immediately Fareeha regretted what she had done and started crying again. "I'm so sorry, Angela. I didn't mean it.".
She allowed Angela to pull the empty jar from her grasp as the woman repeated over and over that it was okay.
"It's normal to get mood swings. I won't hold this against you.". Fareeha allowed herself to be pulled into a seated position as tears still flowed down her face. "Now come on, why don't we go back to bed and in the morning, we can go to the supermarket and buy some more pickles?"
Fareeha nodded as she stood, leaning on Angela as they went upstairs together.
The next morning Fareeha told Angela a trip to the store wasn't necessary as she no longer craved pickles.
Now she wanted to eat paper.
If there was one thing Fareeha had a huge amount of trouble being decisive over, it was naming things. In fact, she had so much trouble naming things that she'd purposely put off discussing baby names with Angela until there was only a month left to go.
She knew it probably wasn't a good idea, but she couldn't really see any downsides.
That was until she was forced to endure the discussion and reminded about who she was married to.
"Did you just…go to a baby name website and grab every Arabic and swiss name you could?" Fareeha asked as she scrolled through the 27-page long document on the tablet ahead of her. Angela's lack of response was more than enough of an answer.
"I was thinking we could just start with the A's and keep going until we find one we both like.". Her wife proposed, and when Fareeha couldn't think of any better ideas, they went ahead and did just that.
When they'd made it over halfway through the list and found they couldn't agree on a single name, Fareeha began to grow concerned. What if they couldn't think of a name? What if the child had to spend its whole life going around as 'Baby' or 'Daughter' because both of her mothers were too indecisive?
"What about that one?" Angela asked, clearly sensing the panic that began to overtake Fareeha. Damn, did she hate pregnancy hormones.
Fareeha read the name, saying it out loud to see how it sounded. When Angela told her what it meant, Fareeha fell in love with it, as did their unborn daughter, judging by the way she suddenly became far more active.
"She's moving a lot again." Fareeha smiled as she rubbed her now very obvious baby bump, Angela herself reaching across to feel for their kicking baby.
"Maybe she wants to come out." Angela smiled, leaning towards Fareeha's stomach. "But you have to wait at least another ten days before you're allowed to come out, even if we can't wait to meet you.".
When Angela had said about their daughter having to wait another ten days, Fareeha had simply smiled. She knew that it would put her safely into the 'term period', but she honestly expected another three weeks before she would be panic-waddling out of the bathroom and down to the basement to find Angela.
"Angela, habibti, my water broke." She called as she began to make her way down the second flight of stairs.
Angela seemingly appeared out of nowhere, rushing to the second to top step with such speed Fareeha was somewhat surprised there wasn't a dust trail behind her.
"Okay, you need to get to the car, I'll go grab the call and bag Ana, Sam and Falke and tell them to meet us at the hospital."
Fareeha was about to correct Angela's mistake, but her wife was already out of sight again, leaving her to make her way towards the car on her own.
She barely had a chance to buckle up before Angela was throwing the 'baby bag' into the backseat and jumping into the front. Fareeha's panic worsened as Angela pulled out of their driveway at terrifying speed, and multiple times on the way to the hospital, Fareeha had to remind her wife to slow down lest they end up going to their destination for far less joyful reasons.
When they arrived, their families were already there, Ana, Sam and Falke (who was already wearing a 'Best Uncle' shirt) following the two women into the birthing room. The midwife that greeted them immediately performed some checks to see how far Fareeha was into labour.
As it turned out, she was already surprisingly far into it, but it was still another twelve hours before the pain grew to being unbearable. The midwife gave Fareeha a breathing apparatus that she knew was meant to ease the pain.
"I know you all want to be here, but there's a maximum of two family allowed present for the birth.". The midwife explained sweetly as Fareeha gripped Angela's hand. A rather strong contraction hit her, and she was absently aware of the pained noise Angela let out when she squeezed her hand.
She glanced at her mother who nodded, Sam grabbing Falke's upper arm and taking them both out of the room.
The moment both men had left, the midwife assisted Fareeha into the birthing position and before long, she was being coached through the birth. The very tiny part of Fareeha's brain that wasn't entirely focused on getting the baby out of her realised that Angela was following all the instructions for breathing too.
Someone said something, but Fareeha ignored it, doing her best to continue pushing as she felt something large trying to exit her.
Suddenly, the pain was gone and the room was silent.
A small sound was heard from the space between Fareeha's legs, and it grew into a fully fledged wail.
The midwife held up Fareeha and Angela's baby, and both women began crying as their eyes settled on the single most beautiful thing either of them had ever seen. The woman then made her way over with the new born, Angela taking initiative to pull the top of Fareeha's gown down so that the midwife could place their daughter on Fareeha's chest.
Fareeha stared at the baby she was now holding, lightly running a hand through the black tuft of hair atop her head. "Hi there." She said as tears streamed down her face. A pale hand came to rest on the wrinkled back of the new born, Fareeha feeling Angela's lips press against her forehead.
"I'm so proud of you." Angela mumbled tearfully,
Ana wasn't fairing much better as she made her way over to see her granddaughter. "She's so beautiful, just like her mothers and grandmother." She smiled.
Fareeha was aware of the midwife cleaning up down below. She finished after a moment and went to fetch Sam and Falke, both men rushing into the room, intent on seeing their granddaughter and niece.
Falke immediately began to snap photos while Sam gushed over how cute the new baby was. "What's her name?" He asked once he finished proclaiming how she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
"Rahma." Fareeha answered.
After their families had left and they had some time together, they began calling their friends who intermittently visited them over the two days they were in hospital.
Angela had called Genji, who was currently in Nepal with Zenyatta, almost straight away. Upon showing him his niece, Genji ran off and soon returned wearing his own 'Best Uncle' shirt and joking about divorcing Falke for not telling him sooner.
When Hana and Lucio visited, Hana immediately treated Rahma to her first photo op, gently placing headphones and sunglasses on her while Lucio snapped a picture. He'd sent it to both Angela and Fareeha, and they both set it as their phone backgrounds.
Lena and Emily both took turns holding Rahma and making baby noises, Fareeha certain Amélie nearly turned blue again when the Lena passed Rahma into her arms.
"You won't break her." Angela smiled as Amélie continued to look terrified. She eventually passed the baby to Emily, and Fareeha thought she was about to pass out from relief.
The strangest thing was when Satya and Sombra turned up. Fareeha could never recall ever hearing Satya making baby noises at anything, and found it incredibly sweet to see her making those noises at her daughter. Sombra, however, had something she desperately wanted to show both Angela and Fareeha.
"It's from an old friend, he wanted me to show you this." She explained as she passed the two of them her tablet, the screen showing a message that read:
Congratulations on the new kid. I don't know what she looks like, but I trust she's beautiful. I'm happy for both of you.
Both Fareeha and Angela didn't need a name to know who it was from.
The final guest was unexpected to say the least.
"Jack." Angela greeted the former Strike Commander.
"Angela. Fareeha.". He nodded at the two of them. In his hands was a teddy bear, and he pointed it in the direction of the Rahma's crib. "I heard the news. I wanted to say congratulations, and to give her this, if you'll allow it.".
Fareeha smiled. "I think it's too big for her, but you're more than welcome to see her and hold her if you like.".
Angela strode over to him and took the teddy bear. "Thanks for coming, Jack." She smiled and Fareeha let out the breath she didn't realise she had been holding. She knew Angela had a few problems with him, especially after she found out he was still alive. She was glad that they didn't matter now, if at all.
They went home the morning after Jack's visit, and as they placed Rahma in the crib in her nursery, Fareeha couldn't help but feel like the luckiest woman alive to have the two most beautiful girls in the world in her life.