A/N: You guys! Thanks so much for all the reviews! Here's the story of Eliot's birth. I hope you enjoy!
They'd known since before they were married that they wanted to have kids. It was Nate who first brought the subject up, just after their engagement. "So," he'd said one Saturday morning as they walked through the Boston Gardens. "We should bring our kids here one day."
Sophie hadn't missed a beat. "Oh yes! All seven or eight of them!" she'd replied, leaving Nate stopped in the middle of the path trying to determine how serious she was.
But life was busy and they worried about the right timing to try and add the additional element of parenting into their hectic lives. They'd been married for almost four years before they found time to really talk about it.
"Nate," Sophie had said, tears in her voice. "There isn't going to be a perfect time."
"I know," he'd said, hating that it felt like such a complicated and frightening decision. "Let's try. If it happens it happens, and we'll deal with it like we deal with everything else."
She'd smiled and grabbed both his hands. "Together."
And they'd tried for almost two years. At first, they assumed it was stress from their work, but it became apparent that they were going to need help. They saw a specialist and spent the next year undergoing a variety of disappointing and expensive fertility treatments before their second round of in vitro worked.
They were terrified to hope. It seemed like they had been trying for so long that it would never happen, but they both began coming home with toys and clothes and soon their apartment was filled with expectancy.
When they found out he was a boy they argued over names long into the evenings, Sophie vying for Eliot after her grandfather and Nate for Spencer just because he liked it.
And then, at only twenty-seven weeks, Sophie started bleeding. One of her coworkers at the museum took her to the hospital while she frantically tried to get a hold of Nate before he got on a flight to New York for a trip for IYS. They were wheeling her into emergency surgery when he finally picked up, just before boarding. She was crying so hard he could barely understand what she was telling him, and then they had to take the phone away to go into surgery.
Nate was panicking the entire way to the hospital. He hadn't been able to gather what was wrong from Sophie, but plenty of worst-case scenarios played in his head and he was half sure that by the time he got there both his wife and baby would be gone. After finding out where they were he raced up to the labor and delivery floor, and was nearly run over by a team from the NICU rushing into the surgery.
He tried to follow them, but was told to wait outside. A nurse led him to the waiting room telling him he'd have to be patient and that they were doing all they could. That didn't sound good to Nate.
"Please," he said as the nurse headed back. "Please."
She forced a smile and Nate was left alone.
It was only half an hour before they let him in to see Sophie in recovery, but it felt like much longer. They told him on the way that Sophie had lost some blood but would be okay, and that the baby was in the NICU in critical condition. He didn't know whether to feel grateful they were both still alive or terrified for his son.
Sophie was trembling from pain medication and blood loss, her face pale and frightened. "Have you seen him? Did they let you see him?" she asked as he gripped her hand tightly and bent down to kiss her forehead.
"No, I haven't seen him. They said they were taking him to the NICU but …" He found himself suddenly shaking and he slumped down on the edge of her bed. "Sophie … I …"
She squeezed his hand, tears in her eyes. "He's come this far with us. He has to keep going."
They waited in exhausted, frightened silence for news of their baby for the next hour. They moved Sophie into a room, and Nate could tell she needed to sleep, but that wasn't happening until they knew what was going on.
There was a soft knock on the door and both of them took a deep breath, watching as the nurse that had seen Nate to the waiting room earlier came in.
"Your little guy is doing as well as can be expected," she said, smiling at them. "But things will probably be up and down for the next few hours and days. The doctor, Dr. Call, will be here soon to tell you more. But I thought you might like to see a picture?"
She held her phone out to them and Nate grabbed it eagerly, hardly believing that their baby was even here. They gazed at the picture together, and while it was on a small screen and he was covered in numerous wires and tubes, they could just make out his tiny face.
Sophie gave a small gasp that turned into a hiccuping sob. "Nate," she choked. "Look at all that hair!"
Nate brought the phone closer to his face, cupping it in both hands as if he could hold his son somehow through the picture. "He's … he's beautiful," he whispered. "And you're right. He looks like an Eliot."