just the way of the world

Andrew's eyes looked up at Amelia and he rose a brow. "So what I'm hearing is that once the kiddos are in bed, you can elaborate a little more, Dr. Shepherd?" He swayed back and forth, his eyes never leaving Amelia but the weight in his arms kept him present, a smirk touching his lips.

Amelia stood up slowly, making sure not to wake Scout as she did so. He was a heavy sleeper, something she was eternally grateful for. "He's so lucky he's still light enough to carry," she chuckled softly. "Meet in the bedroom once they're down?"

He smiled down at her, raising a brow as he bounced slightly. "Hear that, Stella? Mama knows he deserved it." He looked down at her for a few more seconds before the other half of the sentence came out and he looked up at Amelia again, he brain short circuiting for a moment before he smirked. "Hot huh? I knew you liked it when I get all he-man on people." He wasn't one to start fights or confrontations, but he'd reap the benefits of this particular one.

She nodded. "He did," she agreed. Amelia smirked. "Hot, yes. I do really, really like it," she said. "I don't think I can elaborate while there's kids in the room though," she told him with a small shrug.

"I'd say he's right. She definitely got a lot from her momma." Charlotte's gaze then turned to Amelia, taking in her grin and the way she looked at her sleeping daughter. "She's beautiful, Amelia. Absolutely perfect. She got a name? Please don't tell me you went with something seasonal."

She smirked slightly, and a laugh followed it. "Not entirely seasonal, but the shoe fits to a degree," she admitted. "Stella. It means star, so it's a little on the nose for Christmas, but it's pretty. Her middle name is Lucia, after Andrew's mom."

"Yeah, we had words." He looked down at her, his smile softening at seeing both of the kids almost asleep in her arms. He moved to the sink in the kitchen, washing his hands before drying them on a dishtowel and walking back over, making grabby hands at Stella. Once she was in his arms, he smiled down at her lovingly, swaying from side to side.

"You see Stella, Daddy doesn't like it when people are mean to Mama. Or your Mami."

"Daddy likes to grab other men by the shirt to teach them a lesson," she said, eyebrow raised along with a pretend serious look on her face before she laughed. "Don't worry. It's fine. I appreciate you standing up for us. L-i-n-k is an a-s-s sometimes."

She paused. "And mama likes it when daddy takes charge like that. It's hot."

Andrew couldn't go home. It had been a few hours since she was born and Amelia had said he could whenever he needed to, but he physically couldn't leave. And with Amelia currently asleep, here he sat. He was seated in a rocking chair in the nursery with his daughter on his chest, and he couldn't look away. Every detail of her face was etched into his mind, into his soul. It took his breath away every time he remembered that she existed. It seemed surreal, that he was a father.

And when the door opened, he didn't look up at who it was quite yet. He knew who it was, who had entered the room as he rocked his sweet little girl against his chest. And when he looked up at his big sister, his eyes were watery, like a leaky faucet. He felt like he'd cried more in the last twelve hours than he had all year.

"I have a daughter, Carina. I'm a dad."

"You're a dad, Andrea," she said. She wiped some happy tears that finally slipped down her cheeks. "I'm so proud of you, and this little girl, she's the luckiest," she said. She knelt down and brushed the newborn's cheek gently. "How does it feel?"

Liz had been told Amelia was in labor with her hands inside of a patient, doing her hysterectomy. She had casually asked where Dr. Deluca was and when they had revealed where she was, her hands paused, her head immediately shifting up to look at the nurse who had spoken, her jaw dropped behind her mask. She recovered quickly, finishing the surgery within an hour and scrubbing out. She had nerves of excitement running through her body, causing her to almost trip over her own feet as she exchanged he scrubs for fresh ones and changed quickly.

She made her way toward her sisters room, having snuck a peek at the nurses station before sliding down the hall and knocking softly at Amelia's door before sticking her head in and smiling softly.

"You feeling up for a visitor or are you about to sleep?"

"Well, I'd be an ass if I kept you from meeting your niece," she said, using her relatively free hand to beckon her sister closer. "It's fine. I can't promise I won't fall asleep if and when you hold her, but for now I'm good," she confirmed with a nod. "And she should be fine, she's fed and happy," Amelia added.

"Liz, this is Stella."

Charlotte had been hovering by the door for what she felt was an appropriate amount of time before she decided to knock. She had left her best friend alone for hours, deciding to finish her work day and sit through the most boring meeting in history before she finally cracked. She opened the door slowly and poked her head in, looking at Amelia as she laid in the bed, before she slid inside and closed the door behind her.

She had been there for Christopher's birth, for one of the most painful days she was sure Amelia had lived through. But today, today there was another beautiful baby girl named Shepherd in this world. And while that pain would be there forever, she hoped that Amelia could breathe easier now that she was in this world.

"Hey...I heard the good news. Congratulations, Amelia."

When Charlotte finally came in, Amelia grinned. "Thanks," she said softly, patting an empty spot on the bed. "I can't believe she's here." Charlotte had been there through her first pregnancy with Christopher, and even though she'd had Scout since then, it didn't make the bittersweet feelings go away. They'd probably always be there, that was what happened when you lost a child.

Looking down at the sleeping baby, she sighed. "Isn't she beautiful?" she asked. "Andrew thinks she looks like me."

"She's so beautiful. Must be the Shepherd genes. She looks just like you."

He moved past Carina, taking small, careful steps until he made it to Andy, catching her eyes as he nodded, placing her into his other lover's arms, taking Amelia's hand and resting the other on the small of Andy's back. He watched his daughter with rapt attention, squeezing Amelia's hand gently.

"Do you want me to text someone to go grab Scout from daycare? Or wait for a little bit and rest?"

There was a moment where the energy in the room felt so charged. Like something immense was happening as Carina handed that darling girl over to Andrew. A beautiful encapsulation of their relationship.

Andy watched with rapt attention as Andrew walked over to her, feeling her heart thunder in her chest. He looked so incredible with a baby in his arms. Their baby. A baby that the two loves of her life had created together. It was something…spectacular, unexplainable, world-changing. “You look so good with her.”

She carefully took the baby into her arms, looking down at her with a smile. She was the second baby that she had held so close to their birth; remembering for a moment the experience of helping to bring Pru into the world, before her focus sharpened in on the perfection of this moment.

“Hello, beautiful girl. Welcome to the world. We are so happy to have you here with us.” She rocked her gently, a hum falling from her lips as she tried to ease the cranky baby who had been so warm and was now experiencing so many new blurry sights and loud sounds.

And then Andy was holding her. Amelia was quiet as they three of them bonding, Carina coming back to her for the delivery of the placenta. She looked back at her partners as she was being cleaned up and prepared to be able to move into a different room for the rest of the stay.

"You both look so good with her. It was meant to be that we're her parents," she said. "As for Scout, we'll leave him there for now. I don't want to overwhelm him yet, we'll wait until things have settled a little more," she said. "I want to be showered before anyone, even my son, comes to see us."

Richard Webber stood at the door, watching Andrew as he was in the middle of an appy, just about to close. He looked over his shoulder at Richard, his eyebrows scrunching up as he tried to process what was going on. He removed his hands from the patient as Richard was being gloved and gowned.

"I'm just about to close, Dr. Webber. Is there an emergency?"

"Amelia is in labor."

Andrew's eyes widened and he was frozen for 5 seconds, long enough for the words to compute before he was pulling everything off and throwing it into a biohazard bin. He didn't even bother with the elevator, instead taking the stairs two at a time to Labor and Delivery, letting one of the nurses guide him into the room. He walked up to Amelia, pressing his lips to her temple as he looked at Carina.

This was it. He was gonna become a father. And even more special, his sister was going to watch it happen, going to help bring his daughter into this world. And when Andy walked in, his smile widened even more. He pressed a kiss to her lips before going around the bed and taking Amelia's hand, holding it in his own and rubbing gently at her wrists.

For hours, he made sure Amelia was as comfortable as possible. Anything she or Andy needed, he was ready to get them whatever was needed. And when it came time to push, and Amelia was crying out and saying she couldn't do it, he moved closer to her head, still holding her head but speaking low to her.

"Amelia, you are such a badass. You can absolutely do this. Soon, we're gonna meet our baby girl. You can do this, amore mia. You are so so strong."

And when she was out and laying on Amelia's chest, that was when Andrew noticed the tears in his eyes, what was blurring his vision. He gently let her leg go at Carina's assurance, wiping his tears with the back of his hand.

He pressed his lips to Amelia's more tears falling as he pulled away, caressing her face with his hand.

"Grazie, principessa. You did so well."

He looked up at Andy, gesturing to Andy to grab them.

"Ready?"

The drive to the hospital simultaneously felt like the longest and shortest drive of her life. She’d taken this exact route so many times before, but never for the birth of her child. And that caused her heart rate to spike in unprecedented ways. 

The length of time it took for her to park her car and rush into the hospital felt like an eternity and she only felt like she could begin to breath when she pushed through the doors and into the room she’d been directed to on Labor and Delivery. 

Her eyes scanned over the sight in front of her and her feet were moving before she even recognized that it was happening. She accepted the kiss from Andrew before finding her way next to the bed, taking Amelia’s hand in her own. “Hey, beautiful.” She said gently, pressing a kiss to Amelia’s lips before then kissing her knuckles.

During the hours of labouring, Amelia proved once again that she was one of the strongest people that Andy had ever met. “You’re doing so well. I’m so proud of you, mi corazón.” 

Andrew was doing an incredible job at using words to encourage their love and so Andy did her best to encourage her in physical manners: kissing her knuckles, kissing her temple, wetting a cloth and wiping the sweat away from her body. 

That first cry from their daughter caused a relieved breath to leave her body and she felt her heart crack open to allow space for this new little human to occupy. She didn’t notice the tears falling down her cheeks, but she did notice when Amelia looked at her. “I love you so much.” 

She took the tool from the nurse and looked at Andrew, smiling as his hand covered her own and together they cut the cord that was connecting their daughter with Amelia. It was such an intimate moment that Andy felt completely overwhelmed and let out a soft sob before heading back to the head of the bed to kiss Amelia’s forehead.

For a brief moment as the nurse got them the needed tool, it was as if the nobody else existed but her and her daughter. Her daughter. That in itself felt foreign. Both her kids before this were boys, this was the first girl for her, and it felt different already. "Your brother Christopher is watching over you. And your brother Scout is going to love you so much," she whispered to her.

"I love you guys," she said to her partners, watching as they snipped the cord. She let Carina and the nurses take the baby to get her cleaned up, weighed, and do everything they needed to do. "She's perfect," she said.

When Andy kissed her forehead, more tears fell. "You're a mama," she told her, pulling her in for an actual kiss. She looked between the two of them. "You're a dad," she told Andrew. "How does it feel?" she asked them, with Carina bringing the baby back to them. "Let one of them hold her."

Once Carina was in Teddy's arms, she rubbed her hand up and down her back gently as she rocked them. "Whatever you need Carina, I'm here. I'm not letting go."

"I don't know what I need, I.. I don't know."