~ In the present ~

"I am never doing that again! Three times is shuckin' enough!"

I threw my head back. It landed into the soft pillow behind me, in a Med Bed. Minho sat beside me, face white as a ghost, staring at the baby I just delivered.

A nurse picked the baby up as I tried to calm my breaths and heart rate down. It was exhausting and the worst pain ever. Minho reached for my hand, taking it tightly and squeezing a bit.

"You did amazing, Princess." He told me quietly. I nodded and gasped for more air, then sat straight up, excited to see my kid.

I hadn't really told anyone, but the moment I found out I was pregnant from them, I was excited. Very excited... it was just the thoughts of Minho not wanting me anymore ruining it.

"Congratulations."
The fully clothed baby got put down on my chest. A pink hat was on the small head, along with white clothes. "It's a girl."

I smiled brightly, staring at her face. Her eyes were closed, her lips plump like Minho's, and the rest was just like a normal baby. A bit blood still covered her face.

"Well?" I laughed and gave Minho a quick glance. He stared at her with wide eyes.

"Uh.. she's b-beautiful." He stammered.

"If you think she looks like a bloody, naked rat, just say it." I whispered, so not everyone heard that comment.

Minho laughed nervously and shook his head. "She is beautiful. May I hold her?"

"In five minutes." I assured, not wanting to her to leave my arms right away. I couldn't stop staring at her face, especially when the eyes slowly opened. They didn't have much color yet, but that was normal for a newborn.

"Hello, Jessy." I said quietly.

Minho came up with the name. A girl, Jessy. For Jeff, the boy I knew saved Minho at the end of the maze. If it would've been a boy, Ben. For his best friend. We both loved the names.

It made me want to cry, so I did. It wasn't like I was sobbing loudly, but enough tears streamed. I smiled through them all, then gave Jessy to Minho. Her body was so tiny she almost disappeared in his arms.

"I don't think Charlie will be as disappointed as he told us. He'll love her, even when it's a girl." I assured, staring at Minho and Jessy even longer.

Minho hummed in agreement. Mostly he paid attention to Jessy, intertwining her small fingers with his, playing with her clothes, and rocking her back and forth. I tried to cover up my laugh, which made it sound like a snort. By the looks of how he held her, he already loved Jessy a lot.

I then let out a slight giggle. Minho gave me a glance through his eyelashes, raising one eyebrow, but then he returned to the baby. Later, I couldn't stop myself but to laugh out loud.

"What?" His cheeks got a slight blush.

"You like her a lot." I chuckled.

"Of course I do. It's my baby. Our kid. Something would be horribly wrong if I didn't like her, Lee."

"Yeah, I know, but-." Another laugh. "I'm already suspecting she won't leave your hands for the next days. Will Jessy be your favorite kid?"

"I love all my kids equally." Minho told me, though his cheeks gained even more red.

It only made me want to tease him further. "You don't have a favorite?"

"Nope. Do you?"

"No." I smiled. "But.."

"But?"

"But since Jessy's a newborn, it'll mean we'll spend a lot of time with her, no matter if we want to or not." I turned more serious now, not joking anymore. "We'll have to feed her, aka the thing I have to do, you know? With the-."

"That's what you call breastfeeding, Lena." Minho said plain and blunt.

"Yeah, that." I cleared my throat. "She has to learn how to talk, walk, not grab my hair like Charlie kept doing, not spread face cream all over the bathroom like Abby once did, and everything beside that."

"I think that you should stop worrying so much." Minho pointed out. "She's just born, Lee. Get rest since you legit just pushed a I don't know how many pound baby out of your crotch."

I sighed and leaned back into my pillow, realizing I might've been overreacting and ranting a bit. "Sorry. Just excited."

He laughed. Dimples appeared on his cheeks and eyes squinted closer. "That's okay. Just don't get overwhelmed."

"But do I get to hold her now?" I put on unnecessary puppy eyes. "Please?"

"Sure, Princess." Casually, he lay Jessy down on my chest. "I'll check up on the other two, alright? Will you be fine? And I'll ask them to come and see their baby sister. Yeah?"

"Yes, yes, and yes." I nodded. Minho nodded back and walked out of the Med Room, leaving me alone. Immediately I relaxed my tensed shoulders and carefully wrapped an arm around Jessy, feeling my eyes getting heavy at the sudden relax already. 

And it didn't take long to fall asleep to a sleeping baby, too.

~

My eyes shot open when someone blew in my ear, followed by a high-pitched yell. "Mommy!"
Charlie stood by my side. He removed his mouth from my ear and inspected my face.

"Hey, Char." I smiled at him. "Thanks for waking me up, I guess."

I noticed Newt in the corner of the room. Thomas stood next to the bed with Abby on his hip. She was staring at Jessy— who was still in my arms— with wide, twinkling eyes. Charlie stared too.

"It's a girl." He blurted out.

"Yep." Minho bent down on his knees next to Char. "One more for you to tease."

Then the corners of his mouth turned up too. He was happy. "Awesome."

Abby leaned in to Thomas' ear and whispered something. Thomas replied, "You'll have to ask, Abbs."
She whispered something again. Thomas laughed. "Why not?"
More whispers from Abby, followed by Thomas' replies.
"No, I won't do it for you."
"Why would I do it?"
"It's not a stranger, Abby."
"Just ask."
"Otherwise I'll force you."
"No, Abby, you're gonna say it yourself."

"Can anyone tell me what's bloody happening?" Newt arrived by Thomas' side. Abby now whispered in his ear.

"I agree with Tommy, Abbs. Just ask."

"What do you want to ask, sweetie?" I laughed lightly. She swung her head back to Thomas, which caused her long hair to fly into Newt's face. Thomas gave her a nod of approval.

"Can I hold her?" She peeped shyly.

Again, I laughed. "Of course, you can. There's no need to be so shy about that, Abby. It's your sister too and I may hope I'm still your Mommy, so nothing's weird to ask."

Abby jumped away from her 'uncles' and sat down on the bed, patting on her lap like Jessy would just climb onto it. 

"You're gonna hold your arms like this and make sure your hair is out of the way, because she'll grab it once she gets the chance." I explained, moving her black hair behind her back. "Here you go, sweetie."

I lifted Jessy into Abby's arms, smiling proudly.
"What if she poops on Abby?" Charlie asked. "Or pukes?"

"Then that's too bad." Newt shrugged.

Abby seemed to enjoy holding her sister a lot. She smiled brightly, already talking to Jessy and playing with her.

Charlie sighed and climbed onto Minho's lap. "Am I still your favorite, Dad?" He whispered.

"Of course you are."

Minho winked at me, letting me know he still didn't have a favorite child, luckily, I think?

"So when comes the fourth?" Charlie added.

It fell silent for a moment. Minho and I shared a glance. My eyes widened, his twinkled. Shucking twinkled!

I cleared my throat again. "I don't think there will be a fourth, Char."

"Can we at least get a cousin?"

"That's not possible. I explained you that." Minho confirmed. Thomas and Newt averted their eyes, causing me to laugh slightly.

"Adoption is possible." Charlie said. "Right?"

"I enjoy having you three as my cousins already a lot, Char." Newt started. "I don't think I would want to adopt a kid."

"Damnit." He muttered.

"Me neither." Thomas agreed.

In the mean while, Abby had gave Jessy back to me. Now it was Charlie's turn to hold her. He lasted for a minute, then told— or rather, commanded— Thomas to hold her, which he did.

"Uh.." Thomas' face twitched when the baby started crying.

"Don't worry, it's not because of you." Minho assured, taking her out of his hands.

"You hope." Charlie added.

Minho didn't reply to him. "I think she's hungry."

"I'm out." Charlie immediately responded.

Offended, his father gave him a glance. "I don't like it when you act like this, Char. It's a normal thing and you did it too."

Angry Minho was kinda h- never mind, I felt bad for Charlie, even though Minho didn't even say such wrong things, or yell. "It's okay." I smiled. "You can leave if you want. It's not very lovely for me to have everyone watch either."

Thomas, Newt, and Charlie did end up leaving. Abby had shyly asked if she could stay, which we just agreed to. Then Jessy started... drinking.

"Doesn't it hurt?" Abby whispered as if she was scared Jessy would stop.

"Not the most comfortable feeling, but no, it doesn't." I answered.

"Did I really do that too?"

"Yep."

"Even Charlie?"

"Even Charlie."

Then it was silent for a while. Minho said on the chair next to the bed, watching the three of us (which he called 'my girls') carefully.

Once Jessy was done, Minho took her body and leaned her on his shoulder, patting her back in order to make her burp.

"I can't wait until she grows up and gets long hair just like me." Abby lay down on her back, her head on my stomach. "Will it be black too?"

"I have black hair, daddy has black hair, so I assume she will."

"Same eyes?"

"I hope."

She frowned. "Why would you hope that, Mommy?"

"Because it's really cute."

Minho sighed and muttered a "Here we go again".

"When you laugh it looks really cute. And when you don't laugh, I love it too. I always do."

"I agree." Abby smiled.