Zoe woke up to the sounds of hushed voices, smiling she opened her eyes to see her husband holding their little girl, as their eldest kids stood around Wade gushing over their little baby sister. It was a sight she really liked to see.
"Morning," she said, sitting up in bed.
"Morning, Mommy," Wade replied, getting up to hand their daughter over. "She's been changed, but I do think she's hungry, while you feed her, I'm going to take these two to get a bite to eat," he informed her.
"But we ate before coming here," Braxton argued, not wanting to leave his mom or sister.
"We really can't eat anymore," Ariel added on, wanting to stay where she was.
"Okay," Wade responded, "we'll go to the gift shop so you can get your little sister a present," he tried then.
"But we got her a stuffed pink duck," Ariel said, shaking her head, holding said duck up. "I really think that you need to get some sleep, Dad."
"And don't forget the pink and purple blanket," Braxton announced, picking the soft fleece blanket up.
"Fine," Wade said, kissing the top of Zoe's head. "We'll go for a walk and see where your grandparents went off to," he told them, kissing his little girl's forehead. Earl and Jackie had stayed long enough to gush over their newest grandchild but left the room not wanting to wake Zoe up. Harley was going to stop in later in the day after he had finished at the practice.
"They really don't have to leave," Zoe told him, her eyes on the little girl in her arms, her eyes open.
"I know," Wade told her, "but we'll give you a minute," he smiled, ushering Braxton and Ariel out of the room. "Just couldn't stay away could you?" Wade asked with a laugh seeing his brother walking towards them.
"She's just too adorable and besides I haven't even been able to hold her yet," Jesse smiled.
"Zoe's feeding her," Wade informed him. That's all it took for Jesse to change the direction he was walking. "Did you see Mom and Dad on your way up?" Wade laughed, he could sit and watch Zoe breast feeding his little girl, but he really didn't want his brother to witness it.
"They're outside," Jesse told him. "Can we talk?" Jesse asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets as they waited for the elevator.
"What did you do?" Braxton asked with a smirk.
"He sure is yours," Jesse commented with a small chuckle.
"Must be serious if he's avoiding to answer the question," Ariel smarted off, wearing a smirk.
"You sure she's not yours?" Jesse questioned turning to look at his brother.
"She is mine and nothing will change that fact," Wade said, smiling at Ariel. Blood didn't always make you a father, and that was what he was to Ariel. He loved her like his own and there was nothing anyone could say that would ever change that. "But like my son asked, what did you do, Jesse?" Wade asked him. Jesse had never really been the type of person to run out and get himself into trouble and he was smart enough to know that he wasn't running from the cops so whatever he had done, it wasn't that bad.
"Remember Taryn?" Jesse asked, pushing the button for the lobby. Wade nodded his head. It was hard to forget about the woman his brother had brought home, telling them the sickening cute story about how they had literally fallen for each other. They had been dating for the past year and a half now, he saw her quite a bit during that period, how was he going to forget her? Wade had went to ask what he did to mess that relationship up when Jesse finally spoke up. "She's pregnant, the doctor told her she was 4 months along."
"How did you guys not know this months ago?" Wade asked, letting the kids exit the elevator first, looking at his brother funny.
"For the past two months she's been back in Oklahoma dealing with family shit and she's barely showing as it is, she's never ate normal food so the cravings weren't all that unusual," Jesse explained.
"Even though I don't get how one wouldn't know they were that far along, I'm happy for you, Jesse," Wade told him. He was happy that his brother had finally started to settle down, not only that but now his little Eliza would have a friend. "I know that you're going to get all worried at being a horrible father, but I've seen you first hand with Braxton when he was little and you're a natural, Jesse, don't freak out about things you can't control and just enjoy this time, because soon enough everything is going to change," Wade informed him.
"In a good way right?" Jesse questioned. Wade looked at his brother with a smirk, shrugged his shoulders and walked over to where his kids and parents were at. "Wade!" Jesse yelled, hurrying to catch up to his little brother.
"What did you do to your brother?" Earl asked, looking at his eldest son's pale face.
"Dad didn't do anything," Ariel said.
"Uncle Jesse's having a baby," Braxton said taking over.
Jackie squealed, getting up to hug her eldest son, happy for him. She always wanted the best for her kids but over the last couple of years she just didn't know if Jesse would ever find someone to settle down with, Jesse was more like his father than Wade had ever been. Jesse wanted to be free and do his own thing much like Earl had when they were younger, Earl had been filled with stories of all the things he wanted to do, swore up and down that love wouldn't get in his way because he didn't do love, but like many people love had snuck up on Earl at an early age and all he could think about was doing things with Jackie by his side.
Jackie pulled Wade into the hug with Jesse. Wade was like her, a romantic at heart but he kept his heart guarded waiting for the right person to come along and he may have thought he found it before and one great thing came out of his first marriage. Jackie knew that it was fate for Wade and Zoe.
"I can't wait for my house to be filled with grandkids," Jackie smiled, kissing both her son's on the cheek. "Speaking of which, is Zoe awake?"
"She was feeding Eliza, I'm sure by now little Eliza has gotten her tummy full," Wade told his mom, a smile coming out as he talked about his little girl.
He knew it was a hospital and that his wife and daughter were safe but seeing the door to the hospital room open a crack, his heart drop to the pit of his stomach thinking the worst had happened while he was gone. It was quiet when they got to the door. No one else seemed to be as worried as he was as they went right on in. When he entered he scanned the room looking for his daughter.
"They had to take for a minute, she'll be back soon," Zoe told him with a soft smile seeing the panic her husband was in. She had found it cute. Wade nodded and moved to sit next to her on the bed, leaving what few chairs there were to sit in for his parents. Ariel and Braxton both sat on the foot of the hospital bed. Jesse moved things in the window and took a spot there. "Did I miss something?" Zoe asked looking around the room, feeling like she was being left out of something. A feeling it had to do with Jesse as he looked a bit worse for wear.
Wade was the one to fill his wife in on the fact Jesse was going to be a father. She was really happy for Jesse, she demanded that he get his butt over to her so she could hug him because she was just too comfortable in her husband's arms to get up to make her way over to him. He obliged going to Zoe to hug her.
Once Elizabeth had been brought back to her parents, she had been passed around and gushed over as she had fallen asleep in her grandfather's arms as he gently rocked her. Once she was asleep he moved the blanket out of his way that was wrapped around her so he could count her ten little fingers and her ten little toes.
"They all there, Earl?" Zoe asked with a smile.
"One can never be too sure," Earl replied back, wrapping the little blanket back around her, gently kissing her head.
"He did the same thing with Braxton, thought it would be funny to freak me out by saying that he was missing a toe and the ones he did have were webbed," Wade stated with a chuckle seeing the horror look on his son's face.
"Why would you do such a thing?" Braxton asked, glancing down at his feet, debating if he should take his shoes and socks off to look, he couldn't remember what his feet looked like, not that he had ever actually examined his feet.
"Because your father needed to remember to relax and enjoy the first few hours of your life," Earl replied, laughing at his grandson. "It was a joke Braxton, all toes are there," he chuckled.
"I know," Braxton replied. He'd double check later at home when he was safely in his room.
