Ok I know this seems fast

~~

Time was passing by so fast. I always thought this part would take the longest but it didn't. This went by so fast, maybe it was just because I've been busy with work. But it was already Christmas Eve and here we were at the hospital heading into the delivery room.

"Holy shit, I'm gonna be sick," I mumbled.

"It's gonna be fine," Frank said as he held my hand.

It was a thing he did now completely out of habit, sometimes he'll just reach over and hold my hand at home.

"It hurts," Jamia sobbed.

"I know, sweetheart, you need to push now," the doctor said.

Jamia reached over to hold Frank's other hand and he winced in pain.

"Holy fuck you have a strong grip," he muttered.

I smiled, watching the nurses bumble around as we stood by Jamia's head.

"I-I can't do it," she cried.

"You can, it's gonna be okay," Frank said. "I know it hurts. Only a little bit more now."

"She's crowning, Jamia, you need to push now," the doctor said.

Jamia screamed and frank winced again as she squeezed. All the sudden there were little cries and my heart stopped.

"Congratulations, it's a girl," the doctor said. "Would one of you like to cut the cord?"

"I do," I said.

I went over and cut the cord before she went over to get cleaned. They handed her back and I grinned, holding my little daughter in my arms.

"Is she okay?" I asked. "She's completely healthy?"

"We're gonna do some tests," the nurse said. "We need you to fill out the paperwork for the birth certificate."

They took her to the other side of the room and I looked at Jamia. She was sweating and breathing heavily, tired and relaxed.

"How are you?" I asked.

"Just rad," she breathed out.

Frank chuckled and squeezed her hand. Everyone ended up shifted around but soon frank and I were in a room alone with Bandit. I cried as I held her, looking at her beautiful dark eyes.

"Hey, Bandit," I whispered. "You're so beautiful."

Tears were rolling down my cheeks as I looked up at Frank.

"Thank you so much," I cried. "Th-this is all because of you."

Frank smiled and rubbed my back.

"You wanna hold her?" I asked.

He nodded and I handed Bandit to him. Frank smiled as she looked up at him.

"She's gorgeous, Gerard," He said.

I nodded, wiping away my tears.

"Is your family coming?" He asked.

"No I told them it was okay since it was Christmas Eve and they were busy," I said. "But we're all getting together tomorrow for Christmas and we're taking her home then so they'll be able to meet her."

"That's good, I know your mom is really excited," he said.

I grabbed my phone so I could FaceTime Kristin. When she answered she had a huge smile.

"Oh my god, is she here?" She asked.

I turned the camera around to show Frank holding Bandit.

"Oh my god, I cannot believe you pulled this off," she laughed. "She's so pretty."

"Six pounds five ounces of pure cuteness," I said.

"Oh my god, I am going to go shopping now and get the cutest little clothes," Kristin said. "Rowan is so excited to meet her baby cousin. I'm telling you, she is going to grow up before you know it."

"She's gonna Stay my little sweetheart forever," I said.

"I can't wait for tomorrow when I get to see her," she said. "I can't believe she was born on Christmas Eve."

"It's so perfect," I said.

"She's tiny, she's like a football," Frank said.

"Please don't compare my baby to a football," I said.

Frank chuckled, taking my phone and handing her back to me.

"You're gonna be such an amazing dad, Gerard," Kristin said. "And, Frank, you're gonna be such an amazing divorceé."

"Thank you, that means so much to me," Frank said sarcastically.

Kristin smiled and Mikey came into the screen.

"You're so fucking weird, I cannot believe you actually married frank just to adopt a child," he said.  "But I'm glad you finally got her, she's beautiful."

"She is," I agreed. "I'm sure you guys are busy, I'll see you tomorrow."

We hung up just as Bert walked in.

"She's finally here, you two are finally parents," he said.

"We couldn't be happier, thank you," I said.

"You should've seen him ten minutes ago when he was a blubbering mess," Frank said.

"Oh shut up," I mumbled. "Let me just have a few happy moments without you trying to ruin it."

I smiled down at Bandit as she fell asleep in my arms.

"I love her," I said. "She is so cute."

"She is gorgeous," he agreed. "I just wanted to check up on everyone here, I'll be over soon to do a home inspection. I will email you."

"Thank you so much," I said.

He smiled and nodded before he left. The nurses came to take care of Bandit and take her back to the nursery when it began to get late.

"You two should go home and get some rest, it'll be your last night before you have a child in the house," Bert said.

"Um, I kind of want to stay," I said.

"That's fine, it's your choice," he said.

He shook our hands and I looked into the little window at all the babies.

"I don't wanna leave," I said. "What if something bad happens?"

"I'm gonna go check on Jamia then go home for a shower," he said. "I'll bring back some clean clothes for you."

"Thank you so much," I said.

He kissed my cheek before blushing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that," he said. "Habits die hard."

I chuckled, waving goodbye to him. A nurse got me a chair and I sat outside the window as I watched Bandit. I ended up falling asleep there until Frank came back with a bag.

"How is she?" Frank asked.

"She's doing just fine, she's gonna need to be fed soon and the nurse said I could," I mumbled sleepily.

"You should go home and rest, you need it," he said. "Especially since you're gonna be up with the baby."

"No, I think I'm okay," I said.

"Gerard, I know you're worried," he said, kneeling down next to me. "It's gonna be okay for you to just go home and sleep for a bit. You're gonna need to rest. I'll stay here with her, I'll make sure no one touches her other than the nurses."

"I don't know," I mumbled.

"It's okay, I'll take care of her," he said.

"Fine, I guess I'll go home," I said. "But I'm coming back as soon as I can tomorrow."

"That's okay," he said. "So, which one is she again?"

"Oh, Frank, please don't joke," I mumbled. "I just wanna feed her first."

He nodded and I motioned for the nurse. She already had a bottle ready as I took Bandit.

"How's Jamia?" I asked.

"She's good, just tired but definitely feeling better," he said. "I think the medicine is really helping."

"She still has a little schoolgirl crush on you so I don't know what you're going to do about that," I said.

"She doesn't," Frank denied.

"She does," I said. "And no offence but I don't want her around the baby."

"Why not?" Frank asked.

"Because Bandit knows that she's her mom and I want to imprint on her, not Jamia," I said.

"Whatever you say, she knows the agreement," Frank said. "We'll send milestone pictures every now and then but that's it."

"I know but she's my daughter and I really just can't help but worry," I said.

"That's okay," he said.

Frank smiled, resting a hand on my shoulder.

"Gerard, what time are you going to be heading out?" Frank asked. "Just so that way I know you get a good night of sleep tonight."

"I don't know, probably soon" I said. "Maybe I'll just feed her and then change her diaper and--"

"Gerard," he interrupted. "Go home. Get some sleep. You're really going to need it. Babies stay up all night and it doesn't help that it is going to be Christmas tomorrow."

"A newborn on Christmas Eve," I mumbled. "That's perfect.

"She could've been like Jesus and been born on Christmas, that would've been even cooler," he said.

"You have a very loose definition of cool," I said.

"Oh shut up, whatever," he mumbled. "You're the one being ridiculous now."

I smiled as Bandit started to fuss, turning her head away. I burped her and Frank handed her back to the nurse.

"Now go home, seriously," he said. "I love you and all but I am starting to get sick of seeing your face."

I chuckled and stood up.

"Don't you need to sleep?" I asked.

"I'll be able to sleep when you're up with the baby," he said. "Besides, I'm staying the night at my mom's house tomorrow, I'm gonna get a nice sleep tomorrow."

"Lucky man," I mumbled.

I looked in the window and smiled at Bandit's sleeping figure in her little clear crib.

"Bye, bye, my beautiful little girl," I whispered. "I will see you first thing in the morning, as soon as I can. I promise I'll be here before you even wake up. You won't even notice I was gone."

"Gerard, she's a baby and not even in the same room," Frank said.

"Shut up, I'm sentimental," I said. "I'll see you tomorrow, man."

Frank smiled and gave me a hug. I waved goodbye to Bandit before heading off home. I was already missing her by the time I had showered and crawled into bed but thankfully Frank sent me a picture of her. I grinned, staring at my phone screen until I fell asleep hugging my device.