"Would it be alright if I stayed?" Lenny asked the nurse cautiously from the side of Midge's hospital bed.

"Of course," the nurse agreed cheerfully as she finished her examination, placing the covers back over Midge. "We welcome husbands who want to stay in the labor room. The only part you'll need to step out for is when we get to the actual birth, but looking at your wife, there's plenty of time before then."

"OK, thank you," Lenny replied, letting out a grateful breath.

"No problem," the nurse replied, a noticeable blush coming to her cheeks. "I will be back to check on you frequently," she said, directing her words to Midge. "But if you need anything, I'm sure that your husband can come and find me."

"Did you-" Midge began as soon as the nurse had left the room.

"I telephoned your parents, yes," Lenny reassured her, cutting her off. "They'll watch the kids for as long as we need."

"OK, that's good," Midge said, sitting a little easier.

"Somehow," Lenny continued, his fingers rubbing a soothing rhythm at the base of her neck, "Esther got wind of the conversation and she was squealing with excitement in the background."

Midge smiled. "I think she's going to make a pretty good big sister."

"I do, too," Lenny agreed, squeezing her hand as the conversation fell into a pleasant lull.

"That nurse told me she was a fan, you know," Midge commented.

"Oh yeah?"

"The words, 'I saw that new comic Joan Rivers, but your opening is so much better' have never sounded stranger than when they're coming from someone with their face mere inches from your vagina."

Lenny chuckled. "That sounds like the start of a pretty good bit to me."

"Well, I don't have my comedy notebook, so I'm relying on you to remember any comedy gold that might come out of my mouth within the next few hours."

"Just think of me as a human composition book."

"But you know," Midge continued, "not only did the nurse confess to being a fan of mine, but she also told me she's a fan of yours," she said, turning her head to see his reaction.

Lenny's left eyebrow shot up. "But she seems like such a nice, upstanding citizen."

"That's what I said," Midge batted back. "It turns out she was even at Carnegie Hall."

"Oh, wow."

"Actually, looking at the way she looked at you"–she bit her lip–"I think she has a bit of a crush."

"On me?" Lenny scoffed. "You're crazy."

"I don't think so," Midge persisted. "She was blushing talking to you, although I obviously can't say that I blame her."

"I'll take your word for it," he told her, unconvinced. "But frankly, I don't care if the Chief of fucking Surgery has homoerotic fantasies about me as long as you're taken care of."

Midge started to laugh before being overcome by another contraction. "Motherfucker," she cursed through clenched teeth. "I somehow forgot how much this hurts." After the pain had eased, she sat back and took a deep breath. "I suppose pain amnesia is nature's cruel way of making sure we procreate more than once, because trust me, if women remembered how fucking painful this was, they would never want to go within a mile of a penis ever again."

Lenny chuckled as he smoothed her hair from her face, his other hand still iron gripped with hers. "I'm definitely making a mental note of that one, although they'll never let you say penis on the Gordon Ford Show."

Midge made a show of considering deeply for a second. "How about dick?"

"Unless you're going to be talking about Dick Clark and his apparently 'Rockin'' New Year's Eve, I think the censors would still be pretty pissed."

Midge shrugged. "I guess I'll just save the dick jokes for a paying audience."

"It is what they expect after all," Lenny added.

Drawing up her shoulders, Midge nodded in wry acceptance. "Thank you for being here," she told Lenny affectionately after a beat.

"Well, my options were this or the waiting room," he said, playing it off as nonchalantly as possible, "and I spotted a Life magazine out there celebrating the end of World War II, so…"

Midge raised her eyebrows. "They're really spoiling you with such a vast, historical library."

"I swear I saw a copy of Time celebrating the election Calvin fucking Coolidge."

Midge chortled. "But seriously, thank you."

"You don't need to thank me, I want to be here."

"It's just Joel couldn't get out of the hospital fast enough after he dropped me off."

"Yeah," Lenny said with a huff, "I gathered as much from what he told me at the club earlier."

Midge frowned, her mouth forming an o-shape as she looked at him questioningly.

"It's not important now, I'll tell you later," Lenny said with a shrug. "I'm just glad I'm here. You know, I wasn't even in the building when Kitty was born - hell, I didn't see her until I'd come round from the bender I was on and she was already two fucking days old."

"You shouldn't blame yourself," Midge told him, her face sad as she shook her head furiously. "Addiction, it's an illness…"

"I know that, I do," Lenny agreed with a slight shrug, smiling a little at how lucky he was to have such an understanding partner, "but sometimes when I think of the things I've done, the person it made me…it's hard to reconcile."

"You're a great father now, that's what counts," Midge said, squeezing his hand as she looked at him. "Kitty adores you, and so do Ethan and Esther. I've got a hunch this one is going to be pretty fond of you, too."

"I hope so."

"Fuck," Midge cursed, gripping Lenny's hand hard as a particularly intense contraction hit some seven hours after they had arrived at the hospital. Once the pain abated, she loosened her hand from his, the white marks she'd left behind proof of how solid her hold had been. "Shit, I'm sorry."

"Eh, what's a broken finger or two between a man and the woman he loves?" Lenny asked rhetorically with a smile as he lifted his hand and flexed his fingers before slipping it back into Midge's hold.

Midge bit her lip and contemplated for a moment as a thought came to her. "When did you know?"

"Know what?" Lenny asked with a frown.

"Well,"–Midge looked away from him for a second in embarrassment–"that you loved me, I guess."

Lenny raised his eyebrow. "When did you know?" he asked her in lieu of an answer to the question.

Midge thought for a second, a little unsure of how to start. "After Carnegie Hall," she finally began, "after that fight we had, it made me so mad and so upset, but you weren't telling me anything I didn't know deep down. But then I realized that I was scared, because you saw me - you really saw me in a way I'm not sure anyone else ever has or will - and the words hurt so much because I wanted you to be proud of me. I wanted to be able to stand beside you as an equal, not just professionally, but personally too, and that's when it hit me: It wasn't just flirting and amazing sex-"

Lenny cut her off with a laugh. "I am very glad to hear the word 'amazing' used in reference to my abilities between the sheets."

"Well," Midge said with a slightly bashful shrug. "It was the best sex I'd ever had."

"Was?" Lenny asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Until the next time we had sex, obviously," Midge added drolly with an eye roll, her head tilted. "Anyway," she continued, taking a breath, "I realized that I didn't want to live my life without you by my side, not just because you saw me, but because I was in love with you."

Lenny considered what she said, and although he said nothing, the expression of quiet love and understanding that appeared on his face was answer enough.

"So," Midge prodded, "what about you?"

Lenny hesitated in his reluctance to answer, his face softening when he saw another contraction hit her.

"Come on," Midge encouraged once the pain faded and she rested her head back against the pillow, "I could use the distraction."

"The truth?" he asked, studying her face to make sure she was ready for his honesty.

"The truth," she confirmed.

"When you offered to come to the Steve Allen Show, that's when it hit me," Lenny admitted. "That's when I knew."

"That long?" Midge asked, eyes wide with surprise.

"I mean, I tried to ignore it because it scared me shitless, but I felt it. So yes, that long."

"I had…no idea."

"You were the first person in such a long time to really care about me," Lenny uttered, looking down at her hand held in his, his thumb stroking her wedding band, "not as a comic, but as a man, and in that moment, I knew I was in love with you."

"I love you," Midge said with a smile before yet another hard contraction hit. "And if this contraction is anything to go by," she continued through gritted teeth, catching her breath enough after a few seconds to continue, "this baby loves you already because they really want to get out here to meet you."

Lenny laughed for a second before realizing she was serious. "Shit, should I get the nurse?"

"Mm-hmm," Midge hummed as best she could with a clenched jaw, "I think that might be a good idea because I really, really want to push."

"Alright," he said, leaning over to quickly kiss Midge's forehead. "I'll be right back," he assured her, placing one last kiss to the back of her hand for good measure before he dropped it.

It was a blur after that as Lenny was ushered out of the room for the delivery. He may not have been allowed to be in the room, but he damn well wasn't about to retreat to the waiting area and read a bunch of magazines from the Jurassic era as his wife gave birth; so outside the door he stood, smoking, as he paced a few steps back and forward.

After what seemed an eternity of hearing: "That's right, Mrs. Bruce" and "Not long now, Mrs. Bruce" through the door, he was relieved to finally hear that his wait would soon be over. "OK, just one last big push for me, Mrs. Bruce," the doctor said, "and the baby will be here."

Stilling entirely, Lenny waited, barely breathing, his attention so focused by what might be happening on that other side of the door that the cigarette in his hand burnt down to ash. Finally, he heard a sound he would never be so happy to hear again: the baby crying.

Closing his eyes, he smiled as he let out a sigh of relief. As some of the adrenaline he had been running on ebbed away, he finally registered the remnants of the cigarette in his hand and tossed it hastily into the nearby trash can, only for the doctor to barge out of Midge's room and straight past him before he had chance to ask any sort of question.

"Is everything alright? Can I go in?" Lenny asked keenly seconds later as the nurse opened the door.

"Er…" The nurse considered for a second, looking back into the room.

Most of the husbands waited until the baby was in the nursery for their first look, and the wives liked to make themselves more presentable post-delivery; not to mention the fact that the delivery room hadn't been properly cleaned up. The nurse had, however, rarely seen a partner as eager as Lenny and decided his unmoving wait outside the door during the labor deserved some reward. Plus, she was a fan and he was terribly handsome in person.

"Sure, you can go in," the nurse finally told him. "It might look a bit messy, but I'll be right back to clean…" Her words trailed off as he zipped past her through the door.

"Hi," Midge said with some surprise, reaching up with her free arm in vain to fix her somewhat bedraggled hair.

"Hey," Lenny beamed, looking down reverently at the newborn she held in her arms. "Is it…?"

"You were right," Midge said with a smile. "It's a girl."

"It's a girl," he repeated with a grin. "Abigail."

"Abigail," Midge concurred. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Fuck yes," Lenny replied.

Midge chuckled before passing the baby over.

"Hey, this is our kid," Lenny said as he took hold of her, "so she might as well get used to four letter expletives sooner rather than later."

"That is true."

"Hey Abby," he whispered as he held out his pinkie finger for her to grip. "Welcome to the world. It can be kinda scary, but you got a whole lotta people who love you so much already, so I think you'll be just fine."

Midge watched on, smiling serenely.

"She looks like you," Lenny said softly, his fingers ghosting over the smattering of dark, downy hair on his daughter's head.

"You cannot possibly tell," Midge said skeptically.

"I can tell," Lenny assured her with joking indignation. "She has your nose, and your eyes."

"All babies are born with blue eyes," Midge reminded him.

"I know that, but I'm pretty sure hers aren't going to change."

"Hmm, I suppose you did get it right when you said she would be a girl."

"Just remember, I am not only very important, but also extremely wise," he said, flashing her a devilish grin as he cradled his daughter close, placing a gentle kiss to the top of her head.

"According to your mother, the kids were working on a cake and a 'Welcome Home' banner all morning," Lenny told Midge just before he opened their front door. "So even if they're not the best, try and look impressed."

"I can do that," Midge assured him as she cradled the baby in her arms. "It's just between you and me, but I once pretended one of Ethan's paintings of me got covered in tomato sauce so that I could throw it in the garbage. I told him I loved it and that I was devastated it got ruined, but he had me wearing lime green polka dots and hot pink stripes." Midge looked at Lenny, her expression pained. "A crime of fashion is a crime of fashion, and the color combination was giving me a headache."

Lenny snorted, turning the key to open the door before ushering his wife through it and down the hall.

"Welcome home!" the three older children screamed from the living room, the sweet but very obviously homemade banner hanging lopsided above the fireplace.

"Thank you," Midge beamed. "And you made that banner?" she added, feigning disbelief as she looked up at it. "It's lovely," she continued, smiling warmly at the group of children, "thank you so much."

A smiling Esther was the first to run over to Midge. "Oh, she's so tiny and so cute!" she exclaimed as she peered at the baby. "Can I hold her?"

"She is very cute," Midge agreed as she looked down at the yawning baby who was already closing her eyes. "But she's very sleepy right now, Sweetie," she explained to Esther, before addressing the other two children as well: "I promise you can have all the cuddles you want later after she's had a nap."

"Oh Miriam, she's beautiful!" Rose gushed as she finally took a peak at the baby. "She looks just like you."

"That's what I said," Lenny agreed slightly smugly.

"Oh, she really does!" Abe agreed with surprise as he saw his new granddaughter up close for the first time.

"Well, that is enough excitement for this little one for now," Midge said with a playful eyeroll. "I think it's time for you to go and have a nap in your new crib, isn't it?" she asked Abigail, who unsurprisingly gave no reply.

"Dad," Kitty said, tugging on Lenny's hand. "Come and look at the cake Esther and I made."

"Yeah, Lenny, you need to try it," Esther added excitedly.

"Alright," Lenny agreed. "I'm just gonna," he told Midge, pointing to the kitchen where the girls had already disappeared.

As she settled Abigail into her crib, Midge had a flash of just how lucky she was to have what she did: a blended family with a husband that was so loved by all members of the household. It could have all been so different, she reflected as she stared down into the crib and watched her daughter fall into a deeper sleep, had Lenny never had the strength to check into rehab.

So immersed in her thoughts, Midge fell into an almost meditative state as she gazed at the sleeping newborn, only to be jumped back to reality with a knock on the open nursery door.

"Susie," Midge exclaimed with surprise as she turned to the door.

"Lenny let me in, told me you were up here," Susie informed her nonchalantly.

"I wasn't expecting to see you," Midge said, her face a picture of shock.

"Well, when I heard you were coming home today, I thought I'd come round to say congratulations and all that shit." Susie shrugged as casually as she could. "That's what people do, right?"

"Yes, that is what people do, but you're not people, you're…you."

"Look, I can go if you want-" Susie started, embarrassed that such attention was being called to her doing a supposedly nice and normal thing.

"No, no," Midge insisted, seeing her discomfort. "I'm sorry," she offered. "She's just gone off, but…" She debated for a second. "Do you want to hold her?" she asked finally as she carefully scooped the baby up.

"I erm…" Susie fumbled, Midge handing over the baby before she had time to give an answer.

"Support her head," Midge guided her, noting the expression on Susie's face was somewhere between abject terror and bewilderment. "She likes you," Midge said with a smile as she watched the baby settle comfortably into Susie's hold.

"Huh," was all Susie could muster, her face softer than Midge had ever seen it. "She's kinda cute, I guess."

Midge watched on, radiating the kind of pride all new parents seem to possess.

"I mean, when she's not shitting, pissing and crying like babies always fuckin' do," Susie added, mask of crotchetyness falling back into place as she held the baby away from herself in a fashion akin to that of an unexplored bomb.

"Hm," Midge said with a skeptical grin as she took Abigail into her arms and placed her back into her crib.

"Here," Susie said, handing Midge a small bag. "I got you something."

"You got me something?" Midge asked in mild disbelief.

"Well it's for the baby, not you," Susie added as a caveat.

"I think that might be even more incredible," Midge continued as she gingerly looked into the bag, crinkling the tissue paper inside before carefully pulling out a tiny rose-colored satin dress.

"You like it?" Susie asked keenly.

"It's lovely," Midge replied, genuinely impressed with the gift. "I wasn't expecting you to purchase something so delicate and so…pink."

Susie stuffed her hands in her pockets as she shuffled her feet in subconscious deflection. "Yeah well, full disclosure: I had a bit of help choosing it."

"Yeah?"

"A erm…"—Susie raised a hand to straighten her cap—"a friend helped me pick it out."

"A friend?" Midge repeated doubtfully.

"What, I can't have friends?" Susie fired back defensively.

"The kind of friends you have would not help you pick out frilly baby dresses," Midge stated disbelievingly.

Susie nodded begrudgingly in agreement. "So I might be, kinda…seeing someone."

"Oh my God."

"Don't make a big deal out of it," Susie warned, holding up her hands.

"But it is a big deal," Midge insisted. "All these years I've known you, you've never been with anyone."

"Yeah, well," Susie replied with a shrug, "I guess now I am."

"Where did you meet her?" Midge asked before quickly questioning herself. "It is a she, right?"

"Yes, it's a she," Susie confirmed. "That bar you took me to that time years ago, well I guess I was feeling lonely or some bullshit"–she fidgeted a little uncomfortably, avoiding Midge's gaze as she shrugged her head to the side–"so I decided to go there one night, and well"–she finally made eye contact again with the her friend and client–"that's…that's where we met."

"That is… " Midge was so surprised she found herself almost at a loss for words. "That's wonderful. Can I meet her?"

"Hey now, hold your fuckin' horses," Susie exclaimed, holding up her hands, palms facing forward. "It's still pretty early days, but maybe one day, sometime soon."

"I look forward to it," Midge informed her peppily. "I can already picture the outfit I'm going to wear."

"What is it, your 'New York lesbian meeting dress'?" Susie snorted.

"You should know by now that when I say I have an outfit for every occasion, I do mean every occasion."

"Of fucking course you do," Susie said with a dry laugh. "Anyway, I should get going. Pop in and see me in a couple of weeks, maybe we can talk about a tour or something."

"Will do," Midge agreed cheerily. "And thank you again for this," continued as she held up the dress.

After Susie left, Midge turned her focus back to the baby in the crib. Leaning forward, she watched her daughter wriggle a little in her sleep, her mouth open the tiniest bit and her eyes still closed.

"I see Susie left," came Lenny's voice softly beside Midge, his hand lightly brushing the small of her back as he bent forward to gaze at sleeping Abigail.

"Yep, she brought this," Midge told him, taking a step back from the crib and grabbing the small pink garment to show it to him.

"Wow," Lenny said as he stood fully upright, turning his attention fully onto his wife, "I am in actual disbelief that Susie went into a store and picked that out."

"So was I, but when I questioned her, it turns out she had help from her new…" Midge thought for a second. "Girlfriend," she said finally, if still a little unsure.

"Girlfriend? Like, girlfriend girlfriend?" Lenny asked for clarity.

"Mm-hmm, romantic relationship type of girlfriend."

"Huh," Lenny huffed, impressed. "Good for Susie. Maybe now she's finally getting some she'll stop being so goddamn grouchy all the time."

"I wouldn't bet on it."

Lenny chuckled. "By the way, I forgot to say, the other day…"

Midge looked at him, her expression open and curious.

"It was for me, too."

"What was?"

"The sex," Lenny clarified, his words a little hushed due to the proximity of the baby, despite knowing there was no way his daughter would register what was being said. "That night, before Carnegie, the first time we did it, it was the best for me, too."

Midge smiled. "Until the next time."

"Until the next time," Lenny agreed with a sly grin and a nod. "And then every time since." He paused for a second. "And in the future."

"You're putting yourself under a lot of pressure there, Mr. Bruce," Midge told him, one hand touching his hair. "That's a lot of work you're going to have to put in."

"You know what they say: Choose a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life; so believe me when I say"–Lenny took hold of her hand, moving it from his hair to press it to his lips for a kiss–"there is no work required."