Hands in his pockets, Cameron stood before the glass, smiling at all the babies.  From what he could tell, there were more pink blankets than blue ones.  Scanning the rows, he found Tristan's rolling home and stared at him as he slept.  He was huge, almost eight pounds; Cameron recalled hearing him scream loudly as the doctor held him up after Kith's final push.

Tristan had eyes brighter than Kith's and a mop of curly brown hair like him.  Cameron already knew he'd be a good looking kid.

"There he is!"

Cameron turned to his left and smiled wide.  As soon as Tristan burst into the world, he'd texted Nate.

"New father!" Nate greeted him with a hug.  Half the frat was with him.

"We got you a balloon, bitch," Felix handed it to him before giving a congratulatory handshake.  Cameron smiled at the shiny, blue balloon bearing the classic: It's a boy! "Where he at, man?"

Cameron pointed him out in the second row.  Tristan yawned.

Nate looked thoroughly at Tristan and then at Cameron.  Then back at Tristan. "Yep. He's yours," he confirmed, stepping back from the glass so the other guys could get a better look.

"How can you tell?"

"He's lazy," Nate replied.

"Shut up," Cameron elbowed him.  Perking up immediately, he turned to his brothers. "Guess what his middle name is."

Everyone shrugged after a few moments of thought.

"Alpha-Chi," Cameron revealed.  Awed, their faces lit up one by one.

"Are you serious?" Ty slapped Cameron's chest. "How the hell did you get Kith to agree to that?"

"She didn't!" Cameron exclaimed.  Neither of them had discussed middle names.  They'd concerned themselves with a first name and then moved on to other baby-related things. "She was so doped up on pain meds that she didn't even notice!"

"Kith's going to kick your ass," Nate replied, fake-punching Cameron in the chest.  He still looked impressed.

"Probably," Cameron said knowingly. "But that's a sweet ass middle name. He's a legacy and he has our house name as his middle name."

It was genius.  Kith had to appreciate genius.

"A-C-E!" they started chanting loudly. "A-C-E! A-C-E! A-C-E!"

"Boys!" one of the nurses shot them a look.

"Sorry," Cameron hurriedly apologized as he motioned for them to quiet down.  The air of excitement was difficult to contain.  Cameron felt energized, like he did after working out for a long time.  He wanted to go crazy, flip things over, party, something.  Turning back to his friends, he reveled in the congratulations and the hugs.

"Cameron!" Kith sat up as he entered the room, pushing the plastic thing containing Tristan.  She'd waited diligently for his return.  If she'd had enough energy to walk, she would've hunted him down.  He couldn't have gone far, and knowing him, he was somewhere around the babies. She fondly recalled her first appointment that Cameron attended, where he had wanted to go see all the newborns.

"Shh, he's sleeping," he motioned.

"Alpha-Chi?!" she questioned in a loud whisper, glaring in his direction. "You named your son after a frat house?!"

"It was our first house!" Cameron defended himself.  What the hell is wrong with him, Kith asked herself.  Shaking her head, she relaxed against the pillows and wordlessly combated some lingering pain. "We have a lot of memories there, Kith!"

"I'm going to kill you," slightly irritated, she tapped her nails against the bed railings.  Coming up with a middle name had completely slipped her mind in the last month because other things seemed more important.  Kith rolled her eyes. "Alpha-Chi... Really, Cam."

"He's gonna be the most kick ass kid in preschool," Cameron resorted to his usual logic. "Think about it. No one messes with a kid named Alpha-Chi."

"That's not his name," Kith pointed out a little harshly.  Parents were supposed to agree on a baby's name.  She'd agreed to 'Tristan', because it fit her versatility request almost perfectly.  She hadn't approved the inclusion of Cameron's frat house in his name.  Beyond fatigued, she was not in the mood to have an argument.

"Yeah, but... it's part of his name," Cameron shrugged, lifting Tristan out. "And all the girls, or boys, will fall at his feet. He's going to have no problem getting a date to Prom." Beaming, he immersed himself in his own world, dancing while holding Tristan.

"Cameron-"

"Here's the happy couple," Nate poked his head in the door. "Is it safe to come in?"

"Yeah," Kith nodded, giving up.  It wasn't the worst middle name–her dad's middle name was Tutankhamun-but it definitely wasn't something she would've chosen.  And she knew there'd be no changing Cameron's mind.  Since there were other people in the room, she didn't want to fight in front of them.  That was rude. "I'm assuming you heard?"

"Oh yeah," Nate said proudly, filing in.  Eight more people filed in after him, nearly filling the room to capacity.  Felix waltzed over to the window, adjusting the blinds. "Alpha-Chi? We approve."

"Of course you do." Kith muttered.  She could only imagine the nurse's face when Cameron said that.  A frat house?  Really?  There's no way they think we're going to be responsible parents, Kith thought.  They were obviously young parents and with Cameron's executive decision... she could do nothing but shake her head.

At least he didn't say something ridiculously stupid, like a hobbit name from LOTR or a superhero. Covering her face with her hands, she raked fingers through her hair and hoped her appearance wasn't too unsightly.  Their visit was unexpected.  Cam's mom had come in shortly after Tristan was born; she'd been Kith's only anticipated visitor.  Austin didn't dare show his face after the scene Cameron had made.

She was afraid hospital security would've ended up throwing both Austin and Cameron out, because she knew if he stayed any longer, Cameron probably would've assaulted him. The last thing Kith wanted to do was take her newborn son to the police station with Nora to bail him out of jail.

"You look great, Kith," Ty commented.  She smiled back in response.  Her smile remained as she watched Cameron dance around with Tristan; it was cute.

Getting down on one knee, Cameron held Tristan up in the air in the direction of his gathered brothers/friends, carefully making sure he was supporting Tristan's head properly, just the way his mom showed him. "Tristan Alpha-Chi Blake, I present you to the eventual fathers of your future frat brothers!" he proclaimed.  They whooped and cheered.  Rising regally from the floor, Cameron handed Tristan to Nate, who had three little sisters and held Tristan like an expert. The boy's all clambered over to Nate, each wanting their own turn holding Tristan. After ensuring Tristan's safety, Cameron walked backwards to Kith's side.

"We can change his middle name if you want," he said in a low voice. "I can see how much you hate it." He laughed.

"No," Kith sighed and observed their son being passed from one guy to the next. "You love it too much, and knowing you, you think its genius."

"That I do," he concurred.

"And you've already told them," she gestured to the horde of people in her room. "And they're excited, so I'll suck it up and get used to it."

"Yes!" Cameron grinned excitedly.  When he leaned down to hug her, Kith inhaled a relaxing combination of sweat and cologne. "If I told you that I kind of might love you a little, would that freak you out?"

"Yes," she nodded as he pulled away.

"Okay," he said, unperturbed. "Then I won't tell you." Smiling, he wrapped his fingers around the railing and watched Tristan move from arm to arm.  From their position, it sounded like his friends were arguing about something. "Support the head!" Nate commanded before relinquishing the baby to Felix, who was wiggling his fingers like a maniacal villain. If Nate and the rest of the guys weren't there, Cameron was convinced that Felix would probably try and sneak Tristan out with him like some mustached Mafioso in a telenovela like his mom watched.

"He has hair like Cameron's," someone pointed out.

"Do you think he'll be as stupid?" Nate stared over Felix's shoulder.

"Nah." Several of them shook their heads. "He knocked up Kith. This kid's going to be smart." Kith smiled at the compliment.

"You think he'll be as slutty?"

"Maybe. Look at those eyes."

"I have something else to tell you, too. And it's kind of embarrassing," Cameron lowered his eyes and scuffed his heel against the ground.

"What?" she raised a suspicious eyebrow.  That first thing had been heavy enough.  Normally, she wouldn't be able to tell if he was serious. But the look in his eyes told her he was. And that was scary.

"You owe me twenty bucks." He said it so casually that Kith almost laughed.  Strolling into the center of the testosterone-laden pack, he accepted Tristan back into his arms.

Cameron shifted in his chair.  Hectic wasn't the right word to describe the past month or so.  After bringing Tristan home-the frat house, that is-Cameron and Kith had to pack up pretty much everything and move back to their real house an hour away.  College was over; Cameron's sophomore year was done.  At the start of the year, his room housed one person.  Now, there were three people vying for space.  It was tight, it was cramped, but they were doing their best to make it work.

He quickly realized that Kith had been right, scarily right.  Tristan's first night home, he went straight to sleep, fooling Cameron into thinking that being a dad wasn't so hard.  Tristan woke up two hours later, screaming.

Wanting to make a good impression on Kith to show her he was serious, and he wasn't going to leave her or Tristan, ever, Cameron got up, lifted Tristan from his crib, and took him from the room so she could keep sleeping. He was tired, very much so, but he didn't mind the one on one time. There was something peaceful about calming down his son and putting him back to sleep.  After quieting him, he laid him back down, only to be startled awake two hours later.

Then again two hours later.

It took almost a week and half for Cameron to get used to his new sleep schedule, and not a night went by where he didn't silently swear while holding Tristan and watching late-night infomercials.  He and Kith decided to alternate turns during the night because it seemed fair, and it kept both of them equally sleep-deprived.  The only problem was high school.  Cameron's year was over and done with; Kith still had a little over a month left before graduating, which meant she still had classes, tests, and homework.

With that little dent in their newfound parenthood, Cameron basically became a stay-at-home-dad.  As promised, his mom taught them how to properly hold and change a baby, how to warm up bottles, how to change diapers, everything.  After the first two weeks, she stepped aside as teacher, but kept a watchful eye in case Cameron screwed something up.

While Kith learned and his mom worked, Cameron dressed Tristan in the morning, fed him at whatever intervals he demanded, changed him when necessary, and put him down for naps in the afternoon.  At night, while his friends partied and hit on girls, Cameron bathed Tristan and played with him while Kith did her homework.  This was his new life. It was hard, but he didn't find himself wishing he was out partying every night, drunk off his ass. He had a newfound sort of purpose. He had a son, and Kith. It was hard, but it was more than worth it. Sometimes he even opted not to go to sleep, knowing Tristan would wake up, and instead watched his tiny son sleep, lulled by the baby's soft breathing. He resolved to be a better father to Tristan than Cameron's father ever was.

His mom had come home from work early one afternoon before Kith got out of school. He'd taken to picking Kith after school with Tristan in tow. The same girls from their class that had one time shamed and shunned Kith during her pregnancy, would now surround his truck and coo at a sleeping Tristan in his car seat. He learned early that girls were suckers for guys with babies. Kith would just roll her eyes and kiss him on the cheek and he'd grin like the cat that got the canary, because whether or not she realized it, she was marking Cameron as hers.

"Oh, good, you're home," she said as she stripped off her cardigan and tossed it haphazardly on a ring of the coat rack, along with her purse.  Where else would he be? "Where's Tristan?"

"I just put him down," he yawned. He'd contemplated a nap after feeding and changing Tristan and finally getting him to sleep, but something in his mom's expression told him that wasn't going to happen.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the hospital with Austin," she started, wringing her hands together.

Cameron closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in expiration, knowing this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. "Mom," he warned. Nora was more accepting of Kith now, but that didn't mean she kept her opinions to herself, and she was treading into dangerous territory by mentioning that jackass.

"Kith probably wouldn't tell me, but..." she looked as uncomfortable as he felt. "Something you said at the hospital, it hit me... Is Austin Tristan's father?"

Cameron glared at her from the couch, getting more angry and frustrated by the minute. "No, I'm his father. I'm the one who's been there for Kith, I'm the one that has taken her to her appointments, I made sure she's had her prenatal vitamins, ate right, and Tristan is my son."

"Of course he is," Nora said determinedly, brow wrinkling as she sat in an armchair, toying with the ends of her hair. "What I'm asking is, is he Austin's biologically."

Cameron scrubbed his hand over his face, tired and irritated with this conversation, and the fact he couldn't seem to escape fucking Austin. He could only imagine what his mother thought of Kith now, if she put two and two together and realized that her other son was the biological father of their son. It wasn't his story to tell, and he didn't want Nora to pity Kith, either. Kith was a fighter. She had already intended to raise Tristan herself, cut off from her family, alone, long before the two of them got involved.

"Well... you're asking, so you already know the answer," he grumbled. What did biology matter anyway? Cameron's biological father stepped out and abandoned them. Clearly, it wasn't everything. He sucked in a deep breath and slowly exhaled, looking over at his mom. "It's not my story to tell, okay? None of this is Kith's fault. I'm Tristan's dad because I want to be, and he needs one, and... just don't start."

Reaching over, Nora placed a hand on his knee, holding his gaze. His mom completely surprised him by answering, "I won't." It wasn't like Nora Blake to concede defeat and he eyed his mom from across the median. "Kith's a good girl and she's a good mom," she said by way of apology.

Seemingly content, she got up to make her way to the kitchen, stopping once in the threshold. Nora turned to look at him with a small smile and said, "I'm proud of both of you. Now, go get some sleep before you pick the girls up from school. I will take care of my grandson when he wakes."

Mutely, he nodded.

After a couple of hours of much needed sleep, Cameron begrudgingly rolled out of bed, leaving Tristan to be spoiled by his grandmother while he went to get Kith. He was quiet on the drive home. Kith could tell something was bothering him, but wanted to wait until they were alone in the privacy of their bedroom to ask.

He told her about the conversation he'd had that afternoon with his mom. He was waiting for her to be upset and angry, but instead she just nodded vehemently, understanding, with her lips in a tight line and a crease in her forehead.

Later that evening, after putting Tristan to bed for the night – or for the next several hours, he walked into the living room and stopped in the hallway, his ears perked at the sound of Kith and Nora. He peaked around the corner. Sitting on the couch was Kith, in nearly the same spot he was in earlier that day, and his mom murmuring quietly from beside her. Nora's eyes glistened in the low light, but Kith was openly trying to stifle sobs, pressing her hand over her mouth and palming her cheeks.

He almost burst in there, ready to yank her into the cocoon of his harms and chastise his mother for making his girlfriend cry. Instead, Kith stopped talking, and Nora slid closer to her, engulfing Kith in her arms. If anything, Kith cried harder when his mom started rubbing soothing circles on her back, petting her hair the same way she would his when he woke up crying in the middle of the night after his dad left. "Shhh," she whispered, rocking the girl in the safety of her arms.

Cameron felt as if he were intruding and quietly stepped back into the hallway.

He was dozing off by the time she came back to the room, eyes red. She blinked at him, as if she hadn't expected him to be waiting on her. "Cam..."

"C'mere," he said, scooting further across the bed, he raised the covers invitingly. She slid in a moment later, pushing her back against him like a little spoon, pulling his arm over her stomach. "I told your mom," she said quietly, pressing her lips shyly into his forearm as his arm tightened around her. She burrowed into him with relief. "She told me she asked Austin to move out."

That was news to him, but he wasn't going to dwell on it. "I'm proud of you." His voice was warm and reassuring against the top of her head that she couldn't help but wiggle around until she could see him, eyes glistening in the darkness. Kith rubbed her cheek against the warm cotton of his t-shirt, nestling closer. His breath fanned against her hair and his hand took up a slow caress at the base of her spine.

It'd been a long time since she could really remembering feeling like a family, like part of something, free to breathe and heal. She was glad that she got this one, with Cameron and Tristan, and Nora.

Rubbing his eyes, he looked around the gargantuan room.  He couldn't remember his last full night's sleep.  He'd never pulled an all-nighter before, but he figured that was basically the same as taking care of a baby all night.  Roaming his eyes over the audience, he transported himself to this same date two years ago, June fifteenth.  There were so many people.  So many people.

Families screamed as their graduated paraded across the stage with a big smile on their face.  Turning his eyes to the stage, he stared at the members of the school board, some of whom looked like they'd rather be somewhere else.  A guy crossed the stage.  Yep, Cameron thought, same as always.

Walk across the stage, shake the principal's hand, receive diploma, shake some guidance counselor's hand, walk off.  That walk, with the cameras and the lights, was the most nerve-wracking part of graduation.  Cameron smiled at the memory of some kid tripping at his graduation.

Biting his bottom lip, he gazed over the sea of intermingled red and gold robes.  Unlike most schools that dressed graduates by gender, robe color at his former high school was determined by grade point average.  Honor graduates received yellow robes; everyone else got red ones.
A last name starting with 'L' caught Cameron's attention the second time.

"Mom," he attracted her attention.  Since he had the baby, she had the camera.  Standing up, he cradled Tristan and turned him around so he could see the stage.  Cameron listened anxiously for Kith's name. "Mommy's graduating," he said in a low voice to Tristan, bouncing him up and down.  Cameron silently prayed that Tristan didn't throw up on his blue shirt.  Tristan was also clad in blue because, according to Kith, it made his eyes 'pop'.  Glancing down, Cameron couldn't help but agree; his tiny eyes did look brighter.

"Mom," he said again, looking over to his right.

"Yes, Cameron, I'm filming," she assured him.

"Okay," he nodded, bouncing Tristan. "Are you zoomed in on the stage?"

"As much as this thing allows," she commented. "I know how to film a graduation, Cameron. Yours is at home, nicely done, remember?"

"Mhm," he nodded.

"And you should probably stop bouncing him. He just ate," she reminded him.

Cameron stopped immediately.  He'd been thrown up on once before, and it'd been one of the grossest moments of his life, and the smell of sour milk seemed like it'd never go away.  He didn't need a repeat in front of all these strangers.  Tapping his foot, he continued waiting.  An excited buzz pervaded the air.  This wasn't even his graduation and he was excited.

After all the diplomas were distributed, the principal would ramble on for a bit, and then declare them graduates.  Tassels would turn, caps would shoot up, and then rain down onto crying, elated seniors.  They would then march from the room to a song Cameron had heard a million times but couldn't name, and he would locate Kith outside amongst the mass of families, congratulations, and flowers.

"Kith Jamila Hassan Lawson," the speaker enunciated.  Grinning, she marched across the stage in her yellow robe.

"Look!" Cameron pointed excitedly. "Look, Tristan! Mommy's graduating!" He glanced down at Tristan, who didn't look as interested or ecstatic.  Even though their son wasn't nearly as enthused, Cameron couldn't prevent a stupid grin from coming to his face.

Not only was he excited, he was proud.

Part of him wanted to run down there and crush her in a hug, but they were only in the middle of the alphabet.  He had to control himself for at least another half hour.  Cameron watched her return to her seat and refrained from yelling out something ridiculous.  Reaching a tiny hand up, Tristan hit Cameron in the face.  Smiling wider, Cameron looked down again, wishing Tristan understood the day's importance. "Mommy's graduating."

Aaaaaand we're done here.

It's been a ride. Hope ya'll enjoyed it.