Chapter Three

Syd Jennings had never heard Drew like this before. The sound over of the baby monitor of him talking to baby Avery when she woke up from her nap made her smile. Avery seemed to stop crying almost immediately at the sound of his voice. It was the first voice she heard and the first touch she felt. That would likely stick with her without her realizing it.

Drew hadn't stayed long enough to see it, but Avery's mother hadn't held her until hours after her birth, then it had been just for a moment and at the coaxing of nurses. There were no loving words spoken to her. Drew had been the person who said to her "oh my, you're such a pretty little girl. You're gonna have quite the story to tell," when he cut her umbilical cord. The on-call OB/GYN arrived by that time to take over. In the hallway, the OB/GYN started to scold Drew about not sending the woman up to labor and delivery. For fuck sake. What did she think he was, stupid? No, he wasn't an OB/GYN but he knew the patient didn't have time to get to one. If she had, Drew would have sent her upstairs. In his career he had delivered around forty babies so far, even though it wasn't his specialty. He had to have assisted in a certain number of births as part of training. Several had been complicated deliveries and three had been c-sections, including one in Afghanistan a girl just a year older than Brianna. He had an idea how to handle the situations.

"Are you serious?" Drew had asked. "Then that baby would have popped out in the elevator! And what if the cord had been wrapped around the baby's neck or the shoulders' got stuck?"

Scott chimed in Drew had extremely valid points. Even as a surgeon he wouldn't taken that chance. Given the amount of time or lack there of, the safest place for the baby to enter the world was a trauma bay. It was seldom that happy things in there.

Rick told Syd that as soon as Drew got home that fateful morning two days ago, all he could talk about was the baby girl. Despite only seeing her for a moment, he could recall her every feature; her tiny toes and fists and huge blue eyes. Drew looked to be waiting with baited breath waiting for Rick to answer if he wanted to adopt the parentless newborn. The last time Drew had that look of excitement and joy was when the judge finalized Brianna's adoption.

Drew came down the hall carrying his baby daughter. "What?" He said watching their faces. "Ever see a grown man coo over his baby before?"

Rick eagerly took the newborn from his husband. He kissed Avery's head. Still pink around the ears and hands Avery stared up at her other dad. Syd wondered if the baby realized just how wanted she was. Unlike her sister, she wouldn't have the memories of abandonment. Brianna was doing well in counselling, working through her grief with losing her foster mom, the years of experiencing nothing but disappointment and the trauma of having to meet Justin Wilson. Her bond with both Drew and Rick was solid. She still liked to spend time with them over her friends although she still had a very typical teenage life. During the past five days and nights the army dads had made it through dirty diapers, baby spit-up and late night feedings. And loved every minute of it. Syd thought if she could, baby Avery would shout out "stop! Enough already!" with all the kisses and cuddles she was getting from her daddies. The little one was getting a few hours break from her sister doing the same because Brianna was at school. Brianna was one proud big sister.

Syd laughed when Drew said Avery was a good cheering section when her dads got a few minutes to play Call of Duty. Rick said Avery watched with keen interest from her infant seat.

"You mean you guys actually put her down when she's not sleeping?" She teased even though Syd knew full well she would have been the same with the newborn. Those days were so short and precious; she missed out on much her own daughter's babyhood because of her career. She didn't need to tell the dads to savor every moment, they clearly had that figured out. The words were not in the understanding of the newborn her daddies were already telling her that miracles came in many forms, Brianna and her being just two of them.