color; georgenotfound ✓

twelve; a push in the right direction

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"and here are your visitor name tags. the room is the first one on the right past those doors. i'll buzz you in." the very helpful hospital employee told them as she handed them their ID stickers to wear.

"thank you." george said, in a very tired voice.

jocelyn could tell he was sleepy. as soon as they got off of their train, they took a cab to andrew and mia's home to grab a few things they had forgot in the rush of labor, and to drop off their own overnight bags, and then immediately turned around to get to the hospital. it was now nearly 2 am and while jocelyn got a few hours of sleep, george had stayed awake the whole time.

outside of the door, the white board read "welcome baby wiley". jocelyn knocked and immediately heard her brother yell for them to come in. the two tip toed in, not sure exactly what proper etiquette is in this situation.

"hey guys," mia said looking up with tired eyes and a tired smile. "come say hi."

george's hand rested on the small of jocelyn's back as they stepped next to the bed. in mia's arms was the tiniest baby either had ever seen. the baby girl was swaddled in one of the hospital's blankets and you could see a few blonde curls peaking out from her hat.

"she is so perfect," jocelyn sounded genuinely blown away. "did you two finalize a name?"

andrew nodded and picked up his daughter before walking over to george and jocelyn.

"do you want to hold her?" jocelyn eagerly nodded, causing george to laugh.

if jocelyn's lack of friends and family relations didn't make it clear enough, she had never held a baby. she wasn't sure how. it freaked her out a bit, but not as much as the reality of her brother being an actual father. he carefully held the baby's back and head as he placed her into his sister's arms.

"i would like to introduce you guys to," he looked between george and jocelyn. "poppy jo wiley."

"poppy jo?" jocelyn immediately felt her eyes well up with tears.

as kids, jocelyn and andrew were best friends. they never had an age period where they didn't get along. both could genuinely say that the other was their best friend. they did everything together. it was just drew and jo against the world. (drew and jo being the nicknames they gave each other)

"hi little poppy jo," george said, admiring the baby and letting her wrap her hand around his index finger. "happy birthday."

the next hour was spent passing around the baby and catching up with each other. jocelyn had to stop herself from staring when she noticed how gentle george was with poppy. when he held her he was careful not to move a bone, scared he would hurt the delicate baby. everyone seemed to be unaware that it was now very early in the morning, mostly because they were having such a good time. that was all interrupted with a knock on the door.

"come in." andrew yelled.

"i am so sorry it took us so long to get here, the traffic was horrendous." a lady said, entering with her husband following suit. george didn't immediately recognize them, but quickly pieced together that they were jocelyn and andrew's parents.

they walked past george and jocelyn, without even a glance, and immediately over to mia who was holding poppy.

"hi mum, hi dad." andrew said giving them both a hug.

"hi sweetie, i'm ready to see my granddaughter." their mother said, reaching down to grab poppy.

they both gushed over her still acting as though jocelyn and george were not present. he reached over and squeezed her hand, which was clenched in a fist at her side.

"i would love it if my daughter would introduce me to her boyfriend." her father said, barely cutting his eyes up at the two on the couch.

"they're just friends." mia whispered, trying to ease the tension.

"hi i'm george." george stood to shake both of their hands. they shortly introduced themselves as james and ann.

"i think i'm ready to go." jocelyn said quietly. george quickly agreed and grabbed her bag for her. she hugged her sister in law and brother goodbye and let them know they would be back in the afternoon to help bring poppy home.

the cab ride to andrew and mia's home was quiet. george kept asking jocelyn if she was okay, only for her to nod. when they got inside, both started to sort through their items and get ready to go to sleep.

"at least i got meeting the parents out of the way." george said, trying to lighten the mood.

"i'm really sorry about them. its so embarrassing." jocelyn dropped her head, not wanting to take any ownership of her parents.

"it's okay, i'm sure it was awkward for them also, you know, ignoring one of their two children," sarcasm laced his voice, getting a laugh out of jocelyn. "but seriously, i'm sorry you have to put up with that josie."

he sat on the edge of the guest room bed before grabbing her hand. he pulled her to stand between his legs and he gave her a hug. she wanted to take in every second of it, not wanting to think about any of the negative floating around. they were interrupted, however, by jocelyn receiving a call.

incoming call: sapnap(nick)

after george introduced jocelyn to his friend, they insisted on having her number. they originally explained it as an emergency way to get in touch with george if he wasn't answering, but the reality was sending jocelyn embarrassing details about their friend.

george checked his phone, thinking he may have a missed call from sapnap, but it wasn't there.

"put him on speaker." he said confused.

"hello?" jocelyn answered.

"JOCELYN!" sapnap yelled.

"what? are you okay?" jocelyn and george were both extremely confused at this point.

"GEORGE REALLY LIKES YOU AND WANTS YOU TO BE HIS GIRLFRIEND BUT HE IS NERVOUS AND DOESN'T KNOW HOW." before anyone could get another word in, he hung up.

leaving jocelyn and george in a deathly quiet room.