Ages:

Jim - 57
Melinda - 53
Ned - 32
Katie - 28
Aaron - 24
Michele - 24
Mackenzie - 18
Lana - 10
Emma - 7
Asher - 3

Enjoy! xx Mariah

Jim watched as Melinda anxiously paced back and forth. He reached for her hand as she passed by him again and tugged her to a stop. "Honey, you have to calm down. Everything is going to be okay." He said and smiled at her.

"Well, of course, I know that everything is going to be alright, Jim." Melinda stated, sitting on his lap.

Of course, everything was going to be okay. How could it not? There would be no other outcome.

"Will you calm down then?" He suggested, kissing her cheek. "Katie will be back any second now. The rest of the kids should be getting here within the hour. Mack already said that she'd pick up Lana and Emma from school."

Melinda sighed and then moved to sit down in the chair next to him. She held onto his hand and squeezed it tightly, as she was unable to keep the beaming grin off of her lips. "We are going to have our second grandchild, Jim." She smiled at him.

"I know," he said, beaming at her.

Melinda and Jim were currently sitting in the hospital, waiting to hear news from Michele and Aaron. Michele had gone into labor early this morning, and now they were mere hours away from meeting the newest baby.

Having been unable to focus on anything else since Aaron had called them, Melinda had gathered up the care package she made for Michele and had dragged him in on his day off to the hospital. She had been coordinating the arrival of Baby Clancy by keeping the rest of their family apprised of what was going on while she just watched and made sure she didn't go too crazy. Ned was getting food, Katie and Asher were getting Mackenzie who was gathering the younger Clancy girls.

"Have you heard from Katie yet?" He asked, looking at his watch. "She said that she'd be here in the next fifteen minutes, and I'm pretty sure she's bringing Hannah with her."

Melinda checked her phone and showed him that there was a message from Katie saying that she, Mackenzie, Lana, Emma, and Asher were on their way. "They should get here around the same time that Ned does," she said, seeing a message from him too. She craned her neck toward the double doors leading into the maternity ward in an effort to see if Aaron was coming to give them an update. She made a noise of annoyance in the back of her throat when she saw no one was headed in our direction. "I wish we could just know already," she sighed.

She knew that Melinda wasn't talking about if the baby had born yet or not. She was instead referring to the fact that they didn't know if they were having a granddaughter or a grandson.

"Mel, just let it go already," he laughed. "You're going to find out in a couple of hours anyway."

She pouted. "They won't even tell me what names they are thinking about."

"Babe, did we ever tell anyone before the kids were born either?" He pulled Melinda into his arms and kissed her forehead. "Let them figure it out. We did a pretty good job with him, after all."

Leaning back in her arms, she smiled. "You're right. We did do a pretty great job with all of our kids." She said and kissed him softly.

The double doors to the waiting room swung open and Katie came in holding Asher's hand, who was holding a big stuffed animal. Their eldest daughter's hair was knotted messily on top of her head and she had large sunglasses covering her face. "I didn't know what to bring, so I just picked out these flowers and balloons. And then Ash bugged about the baby not having a stuffed animal and I can't ever tell that kid no when I look in his eyes," Katie chartered, sitting down next to her mother.

She blinked at how slowly her daughter was speaking and Melinda looked at her. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

Katie shrugged her shoulders while Hannah snorted. "It has nothing to do with her. I'm just sick, and tired, and ugh, I feel like total crap," Katie sighed with a slight groan. "I don't know. Leave me be."

"She's totally pregnant. Just like me." Hannah laughed and she gasped, holding her daughter's hand.

"No. Don't listen to her, mom. Nothing is confirmed yet." Katie said, taking her sunglasses off. "Have we heard anything yet?" Jim could tell she was so excited to meet her niece or nephew, and, like her mother, she was fairly impatient.

"Not yet," Melinda muttered. "No news yet."

The waiting doors swung open again and Mackenzie appeared with Lana and Emma in tow who ran to their parents, one sitting on each other their laps. Ned was only seconds behind the girls with two bags from McDonald's and three kids' meals in hand.

"Salad for you and wrap," Ned said and gave his wife a kiss. "This is for you." He leaned down to Asher who gladly took the happy meal and smiled at his dad.

Asher quiet these days and none of them knew why. He only spoke little words to Katie or Ned in a hushed tone that no one else could hear. Jim was filled with complete, peaceful happiness as he looked at his family. Of course, Lana and Emma are giggling to each other about God knows what. On the other side of those hospital doors, his only son about had his first child. This was a truly amazing day for the Clancy family, to gain another child into the big bunch.

Melinda seemed to know exactly what he was thinking about because she smiled at him as she laid her head on his shoulder and pulled his lips down for a soft kiss. She beamed at him and pressed her hand to his cheek. He loved her with all his heart, and he knew that would never change. The doors to the delivery room opened and Aaron appeared, dressed in blue scrubs as he pulled his mask off to reveal a beaming grin on his face that all of their children had inherited from their mother.

Everyone in the waiting room immediately stopped what they are doing and turned to face him. "It's a boy!" Aaron announced. "Looks like I skipped the girl gene this time, dad."

Jim laughed and they all cheered. It wasn't a lie, the girls in this family outnumber and were double the number of guys in the family. Congratulations were exchanged, and Mackenzie wondered out loud if they could bring bottles of champagne into the hospital. Everyone hugged Aaron. The girls squeal and hug him at the same time while Ned and Katie both hugged him separately.

Aaron and Michele had asked them to be the Godparents weeks ago and they'd be honored and gladly accepted. Of course, since Aaron and Michele kept the gender of the baby a secret, Mackenzie had immediately organized a betting pool. The rest of their family members surrounded her as she settled the bets for gender, weight, and size.

Jim hugged his son tightly as happy tears stream from Melinda's eyes. She had promised herself that she wasn't going to cry, but she could hardly ever help it. She was just too happy and there was no way she would be able to stop the tears from her baby boy having his first child.

"I don't know how I could have done this without you, dad," Aaron said, hugging him. "Thank you." His eyes were earnest as he looked up at his father. "You taught me what it meant to be an amazing dad."

"Aaron, I am glad you took what I told you to heart kid." He hugged him again. "You would have figured it out on your own, buddy. But I'm glad I could help out."

His son grinned and then eagerly hugged his mother, patting her back comfortingly. "Come on, mom. Don't cry. You don't want to be crying when you meet your grandson, do you?"

"Right now?" She sniffles and wipes under her eyes with her fingers. "We're meeting him right now? Are you sure Michele doesn't want more time with him?"

"Of course we want you to meet him right away. Michele was the one who told me to come to get you, but it was my suggestions," Aaron said, smiling at them. "The first two people besides us that get to meet him have to be his grandparents, right?"

With a half-smile that instantly reminded him of Melinda, Aaron leads them to where his fiancee was. Michele was situated on the bed, looking tired, but happy. Her blonde hair was sweaty and piled on top of her head, but she had that new mother's glow that made her look radiant

The newborn baby was cuddled against her chest. The little boy was swaddled tightly in a white blanket with a tiny blue hat on top of his little head, and Melinda didn't think she had ever seen anything more precious.

"Hey, you guys," Michele greeted them with a smile. "I hope it wasn't too long out there. We did abruptly leave family dinner." The woman had been the one in labor for over eight hours and she wanted to make sure they were alright?

"Oh, Michele. We were fine. How are you doing?" Melinda asked and smiled at her son's girlfriend. Michele held him toward her so she could see him better. "He's so beautiful! He looks a lot like you did Aaron."

"He might be better looking than you were, Aaron," Jim joked and ruffled his son's hair.

Aaron's beam was a smile that mirrored his own. "I don't know. I just hope he takes after his mom." He said and smile at Michele.

Melinda pulled Aaron into a hug and kissed his cheek. He might have been over a foot taller than her, but he would always be her little boy and he would never be too tall for his mother to hug him.

"Aaron Clancy, you took after your father and you turned out just fine." Melinda grinned, rubbing his back.

"I hope he's just like his dad," Michele said softly as he came toward her. "He had some great role models, after all." She extended the newborn baby toward his father.

He took him carefully, walking toward his mother. "Do you want to hold him, mom?" Aaron looked at her with questioning eyes.

Jim knew that she had wanted to hold this little boy since Michele had announced that she was pregnant eight and a half months ago. To his surprise, she shook her head and gestured for Jim to hold their grandchild. With well-practiced ease that had come from having five children of his own, Jim took the tiny baby and cradled him carefully.

"What's the little guy's name?" Jim asked, smiling at him as Melinda wrapped her arm around him.

"Leo James," Aaron said, setting into the bed with Michele.

"After me?" Jim smiled at his son and then down at his grandson. "Thank you, Aaron."

Leo yawned and smacked his lips together, snuggling further into the swaddle of his blanket. Melinda leaned against his arm, and together they gazed down at their second grandchild.

"Welcome to the world, Leo James Clancy," Melinda whispered happily.