Summary: When Ted needs to forfeit the Ducks' game against the Cardinals because his wife is about to give birth, Charlie steps in.
The Flock Expands:
Ted's phone cut shrilly through the roar of the crowd. The Ducks were playing against Coon Rapids, playing a far better game than they had a month or so ago; currently, they were leading the game at two to one toward the end of the second period. Still, when Ted glanced down at his phone, he noticed his wife's number flashing on the screen.
His heart clenched as he looked over at his team. Currently, Guy, Averman, and Adam were out there on the ice, playing their hardest while Goldberg and Portman acted as defense. He supposed he could leave the kids alone while he answered the phone.
He turned away and left the arena. Once he was out in the hallway, he flipped his phone open and pressed it to his ear.
"Hey, Belles, what's up?"
"Ted," he heard Bella panting, "I know you're at the game, but . . . but you need to come to the hospital now."
"What is it?" He had a feeling he knew what it was, though.
"The baby . . ." Bella groaned. "The baby's coming."
Ted sighed nervously. Bella had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions since late last night, or so they thought. To hear that Bella's water had broken in the middle of the Ducks' game was the last thing that Ted had been expecting. But the timing would never be right. He knew when the baby was ready, it was ready, and that baby Teddy wasn't going to sit around and wait, though it concerned him since the baby was a month earlier than expected; they expected baby Teddy to be born in late November at the least.
"Belles, I can't leave the Ducks here unsupervised," he said, his voice strained.
"So, forfeit the game and get over here now!" Bella snapped, her hormones sending her into an angry torrent of cursing at her husband for worrying about the hockey game. He knew when Bella got mad like that, she meant it. But still, part of him did not want to forfeit the game; he wanted this win just as badly as the Ducks did.
"Bella, relax!" Ted said.
"Don't tell me to relax! You're not about to push a watermelon out of your vagina! The day you have that happen, I will laugh so hard!"
Ted winced. His wife's hormones made her especially terrifying. She was going to get worse after the baby was born – she had the worst case of mommy brain post-pregnancy, and the last time she'd given birth to Lucy, she'd struggled with postpartum depression for about a year until she went on antidepressants. He was already preparing for the many nights of diaper duty and the lack of sleep. In fact, he'd gone as far as to ask Dean Buckley for a month of paid paternity leave because he wanted to give Bella a break here and there; it was only fair, considering how much hard work she put into giving birth. The least he could do was his fair share. But that meant he'd need to leave the Ducks under the supervision of the J.V trainer, Mr. Bartlette, who would act as an assistant coach while Ted was gone for a month helping Bella with the baby.
"I'm not undermining that," Ted told her. "Listen, the Ducks are almost through with the second period. I'll get them into the locker room, and I'll talk to them and ask them what they wanna do. Because I know they'd been wanting to prove themselves against Coon Rapids since they lost miserably last time."
"I don't care! Just get over here! Because I am not having this baby without you! You put the baby inside me. You're gonna be here when he's born!" With that, she hung up angrily, and Ted winced again. Not many things could scare him easily. But driving in the rain and his wife's raging pregnancy hormones were his worst nightmare.
He wandered back out into the arena, watching Averman score the third goal just as the buzzer went off. The Ducks quacked victoriously as Averman went up to them, exchanging high-fives as he knelt down to touch the ice.
"Kids, follow me to the locker room!" Ted ordered, corralling the flock toward the home locker room, where they all sat down on the benches, panting hard.
"Good job out there, guys," he said. "Really. I can't express how proud I am right now. But something's come up."
"What is it, Coach?" asked Gaffney.
"My wife called from the hospital. Her water just broke, and she's going into labor. She's pretty much demanded I leave for the hospital and be there right now," Ted admitted sheepishly, feeling his cheeks color significantly, especially when Averman snickered and Luis coughed out the word "whipped," which caused him to whip his head up and glower at the speedster, who just as quickly threw his hand over his mouth to hide his smirk.
"Wipe that grin off your face, Mendoza," he snapped.
"Sorry, it's just funny that you're such a hard-ass, yet your wife controls everything you do," snickered Portman, causing Adam to elbow him in the ribs.
"When you get married one day, you'll get it, Portman. Pregnant women are especially demanding."
"So, what are we gonna do?" asked Russ.
"Yeah. It's not like you can leave us here with no coach," pointed out Connie.
"It's either we forfeit, or my wife gives birth without me there, and I'll risk her asking for a divorce," Ted said, though he was partially joking. He knew his wife would not be happy with him if he failed to show up to the birth of his own son.
The kids all glanced at one another. He could tell that this was a painful decision for all of them to make because they'd been working so hard. Still, he knew they were aware of his wife's pregnancy – Charlie had been the first one to learn about it back in September when Ted and Bella had given him a ride home late one night, and somehow, word had gone around the Ducks about Bella being pregnant with her and Ted's baby boy – Ted knew it had been Charlie's doing because one day, he walked into the ice rink for an early morning practice, with Charlie strategically telling him Bella should come with Lucy. Neither he nor Bella expected what they walked into.
"Why did they insist on me being here? So they could have me listen to you yell at them?" Bella asked him as they walked toward the ice rink.
"I don't know, Belles. I really don't. But Charlie told me the other night that he wanted you and Lucy here," Ted said as he pushed their daughter along in the wheelchair.
"But Daddy! It's five in the morning. I wanna sleep!" Lucy whined.
"You can go back to bed after this is all over. Maybe you can nap in my office," Ted tried to assure her.
Lucy groaned tiredly. He knew that this would be the consequence of waking his six-year-old up like this. He just hoped that her going down for a nap in his office on the couch would make up for waking her so early. He'd already packed her lunch box with an impromptu breakfast of bottled milk, apple juice, and a mini box of cornflakes, as well as a banana, a plastic bowl, and a spoon; that way, she could at least eat something. But he knew that tomorrow morning, he'd have to make her pancakes or bring home bagels to make up for her not being able to have bacon and eggs like they typically had on the weekends.
He continued pushing Lucy along, except when he went to unlock the front door, he pushed down and realized the door was already unlocked. Perplexed, he pushed the door open and made his way inside, the cold air greeting him immediately. But they noticed nobody was on the ice yet at all.
"I know I locked the doors last night," he muttered as he, Bella, and Lucy walked inside. "They better not be playing around." He knew Charlie and Averman were the masters of practical jokes. He hoped that this wasn't a case of that. Sighing, he went off toward the J.V. locker room, knowing he needed to track the kids down and get them out on the ice. Usually, they would be starting warmups by now.
But when he, Bella, and Lucy entered the J.V. changing room, he heard the collective "SURPRISE!" which nearly caused him to jump out of his skin. Ted was greeted by the sight of all the Ducks crowded in the locker room, except none of them were dressed for practice yet. Instead, the benches were crowded with what looked like a variety of baby blankets, a couple of baby toys, pacifiers, bags of diapers, a diaper bag, and baby books.
"Oh, my God!" Ted heard Bella gasping and turned to see her eyes filling, her hand over her mouth in shock, and Ted turned back toward the Ducks – Charlie was wearing a slight smirk on his face, and Ted knew Charlie had told the other Ducks about Bella being pregnant with their extended flock member. And there was no way the Ducks would let Bella's pregnancy go by without some acknowledgment.
Turning to face the Ducks, he couldn't keep the smile off his face, especially when Charlie winked at him.
Looking at his team now, he knew they were seriously contemplating. Finally, Charlie spoke up.
"We'll forfeit," said Charlie. "If you don't go to the hospital, Bella will kill you."
"Really?" Ted was shocked that Charlie was willing to blow the game so he could be at the hospital with his wife. He knew out of everyone, Charlie had been looking forward to this game the most, considering he had not been there when the Ducks faced the Cardinals the first time because he'd been close to dropping out of Eden Hall completely, at least until he learned the truth and found out about Ted's predicament that he chose to keep hidden because he didn't want pity, yet Charlie respected him enough to keep his secret, only informing the Ducks about Lucy as well as Bella's pregnancy.
"It's just one game," Charlie reasoned. "We've got plenty more to look forward to. Besides, your wife needs you more than we need to win."
"But there's no way I'll be able to get to Lucy in time. Someone needs to pick her up at aftercare."
"Leave that to us," piped up Connie, grabbing Guy's hand. "Guy needs to get to the elementary school anyway to pick up Felix and Seth. We can get Lucy, too."
"Thanks, kids. I'll see you all there soon."
After four long, grueling hours of labor and an emergency C-section, Bella gave birth to Theodore Hans Orion; the baby was four pounds, three ounces, so tiny that Ted could practically hold him in one hand. While Bella rested in the bed, sweat slick on her forehead, baby Teddy lay on her chest. The little guy hadn't cried once, even when the nurses gave him his first bath. For a C-section baby, Teddy was such a good baby, so peaceful and looking like an absolute angel. Ted couldn't help feeling that there was no finer boy out there in the world.
Ted couldn't help marveling at his son. After Bella had gone through so many complications trying to get pregnant again, they finally had the little boy they'd always wanted. It made enduring hearing Bella scream bloody murder the whole time worth it.
"I can't believe we made that," Ted whispered for the tenth time that night, stroking the baby's cheek with his finger, feeling the silky softness of Teddy's skin as the baby lolled his head a little closer into his touch.
"He's perfect," Bella sniffled as they heard a knock at the door, and the nurse, Emily, poked her head in.
"Bella, someone's been asking to come in and see you for a while," the nurse informed them.
"I think I know who. Let him in," said Ted, smiling as the nurse opened the door wider, and Charlie came into the room bearing what looked like a plush yellow duck with a big, red bow tied around its neck.
"Really? A duck?" Ted quirked an eyebrow at the boy.
"It would've been stupid if it were a teddy bear," Charlie pointed out, placing the duck on the bedside table before he inched closer to the hospital bed. Ted watched as the boy's blue eyes widened in surprise at the sight of baby Teddy sleeping so peacefully.
"You wanna hold him?" Bella asked.
Charlie looked taken aback by this. Granted, things between him and Ted were getting better, and he was starting to trust him, but Charlie clearly never thought he'd get the honor of holding Ted's newborn son. He looked like he didn't quite know what to do about this.
"Um, I never . . ." Charlie stammered, his face coloring a significant shade of pink.
"Just support his head like this." Bella shifted her arms to display to Charlie how to do it, and Charlie extended his arms nervously, allowing Bella to place the baby in his hold. The baby's head leaned back on Charlie's arm, and Ted watched as Teddy's eyes slowly blinked until they were open slightly; he glanced at Charlie in curiosity, marveling at the sight of the Ducks captain.
"Hey, little guy," Charlie whispered, and Ted noticed tears shining on the boy's cheeks. "You're part of the crazy flock now. So, um, quack, I guess."
"Quack," Ted agreed, chuckling as he watched Teddy blindly reach up to clutch at Charlie's shirt collar. "He's taken with you already."
"You're gonna be crazy like your Uncle Charlie," Charlie murmured to the baby. Ted reached over to show his baby son the stuffed duck. "Remember who got you this," Charlie added, smiling as Teddy reached to touch the duck's beak.
"Quack, quack, quack," Ted grinned, nuzzling Teddy slightly with the stuffed toy, and the baby boy produced a toothless smile, drooling before he drifted off again, yawning widely as Charlie adjusted the baby so his head was elevated further.
"You're a natural with him," Bella said, smiling. "You'd make a great dad."
"Really?" Charlie glanced up, eyes wide. Clearly, he never thought about having kids. Until now.
"Trust me," Bella assured him, and together, Ted and Bella watched as Charlie rocked baby Teddy slowly, bouncing him slightly, which caused Teddy to stir and start giggling. The baby giggled even harder when Charlie leaned his head down and nuzzled him slightly before blowing a raspberry into his neck. And Ted had to agree that Charlie would make a great dad one day.
This will be one of the last short stories included in the Orion and Charlie series. I plan on doing one more story that will take place during Game Changers that will sort of be the resolution to everything. Also, I stayed up until almost one in the morning writing this, so I might edit and expand it; I just started it and couldn't stop writing it once I got going, so I hope you like it.
Edited on 11/15/24