Taylor Ever After?

Second Time Around

An hour later Zac walks into Fatima's room and is greeted by an anxious party. He doesn't say a word at first. He just stands there and cries. No one moves. Everyone is too stunned to speak.

Andi Speaks first "Zac what happened? Is Fatima ok?" she says walking up to his grabbing his arms

Zac continues to cry. "Oh God!" Andi cries out.

"She's perfect. Fatima is perfect and she delivered a perfect baby boy! Zac said finally able to control his emotions.

Everyone in the room let out he breaths they were holding. Phoenix smacked Zac upside his head.

Why would you scare us like that asshole? She said yelling at him. "Sorry pops" she apologized forgetting they were in the same room.

"It's ok Phee. He earned it" He said smiling. Everyone congratulated and hugged Zac.

"Ok. So listen. Fatima is being monitored right now in recovery, they just want to watch her pressure closely to make sure it doesn't fall or rise too quickly. The baby is perfectly healthy. He is 5 pounds, 7 ounces and 19 inches and looks. He has her eyes." Zac rattled off beaming with pride. "They're gonna bring him and Fatima up at the same time. Should be about an hour or so.

Everyone was overjoyed with the news. "What's my nephew's name?" asked Andi

"You have to wait on that. We haven't quite narrowed that down yet." Zac lied. He knew the baby's name. he wanted to wait for Fatima so they could do the reveal together. "I gotta get back down to the nursery but I'll be back up with them soon.

Andi and phoenix ran down to the gift shop in the lobby. Together they bought four different flower arrangements, six teddy bears, two of them were huge and a dozen balloons. When they stepped off the elevator back on the maternity floor the nurses offered to help carry the stuff as they were struggling to even make it off the elevator.

In the recovery room with Fatima the nurses are all pleased with Fatima's pressure and decide its time to reunite her with her husband and son. They roll her down the hall just in time to hear Zac inquiring about getting him circumcised as they passed the nursery.

"Hey daddy", she calls out to him wearing a tired smile.

He walks over to her and plants a kiss on her lips. "babe, I cant believe he is here. You did an amazing job."

"I did that" Fatima said giving herself props. "They're taking me back to the room and they're gonna be bringing him down too." She started talking before her nurse interjected.

"Would you like to carry him down with you? His nurse can follow behind pushing his bassinet. We're only going down the hall.

Fatima's eyes lit up like Christmas lights. It would be her first time holding him. She only got to see him briefly after he was born "Yes, I'd love that"

The nurses help situate Fatima and her son and wheeled the family down to the hall where the family waited.

Zac opened the door to Fatima's room first. "Introducing the most beautiful woman and the most perfect son to ever grace this earth!" He said dramatically as they entered the room. Everyone cheered and applauded when they noticed the baby cradled in her arms.

"Hey guys. Hi Dad. I'd like to introduce you to Zane Carter Taylor."

The family spent the rest a few hours at the hospital doting over the new addition before they decided to head out and let Fatima rest.

In the lobby, Andi and Phoenix ran into Karen and Zion.

"Hey Andi, what are you doing at the hospital? Is everything Ok?"

"Hey Karen, everything is fine. I was just visiting a friend." Andi said deciding it was not her place to tell Karen about Fatima and Zac. She bends down and says hi to Zion in his stroller. "Hi Big boy! Aunty Andi misses you."

Phoenix is standing off to the side. This is her first-time seeing Karen in person. Even though the drama has since died down, she still wanted to beat Karen's ass off principle.

"We better get going." Karen says. "He has an appointment in a few minutes."

"Ok. Well, it was good seeing you." Andi says returning to a standing position.

"Yea you too, I hope everything works out for your friend."

The ladies stand without saying a word for a moment. Usually, they'd hug, but that was before all the shit hit the fan.

Phoenix called out to Andi. "Andi, we gotta go girl."

Andi was grateful for the interruption. "Yea. OK. Well, it was good seeing you." she said as she began walking away.

They get to the parking garage and agree to meet up at Zac and Fatima's house in a few hours to prepare the house for them since Zane's arrival was earlier than expected.

Fatima and Zac were upstairs in pure bliss. He facetimed Jake to share the news with him. Jake was the only person to see the nursery aside from Zac. The pair spent a lot of time building everything from scratch and painting it exactly as Zac envisioned.

Jake and Zac continued their conversation in the hallway. While Fatima tried to get some rest. Zane had fallen asleep on Fatima's chest as she tried breastfeeding him for the first time.

Jake agreed to go over to the house and put the final touches on the nursery and they ended the call. It was time to call his parents but first, he wanted to call Fatima's mother and get that over with.

"Mrs. Wilson, hey. I was just calling to let you know that Fatima had the baby this afternoon. Yes, he came early but both of them are perfect. No. Fatima isn't up for visitors right now but when we get home, we will let everyone know when we are ready for guests. Ok, I'll tell her. Thanks. Bye.

He dialed his father next but there was no answer. And then the same with his mother's phone. He gave up and sent a text to the both of them letting them know what happened.

Lastly, he dialed Phoenix. "Hey Arizona. Can you do me a favor, please?

"You lucky I'm in a good mood. What is it?" Phoenix asked playfully rolling her eyes.

"Can you go by the house and just finish the baby's laundry? He doesn't have anything outside what we put in the diaper bag clean."

"Me and Andi already figured that out. We gonna change our clothes and go back over there. In about an hour."

"This is why I love y'all! Thank you!"

"Yuck and you're welcome." Phoenix ended the call.

Zac went back inside the room and watched from the doorway as his wife and son lay sleeping peacefully. He couldn't help but think about how his life really changed since meeting Fatima. He was living a life he could once only dream about. He wanted to freeze time in this moment. He walked over to the bed and tried to pick Zane up from Fatima's arm causing her to jump in panic.

"sh sh sh! Sorry baby. I just wanted to hold little man while you slept."

Fatima smiled and passed Zane to his father and closed her eyes again.

Zac looked down at Zane. Still in awe that he was a father. "Hey little man." He said sitting in the chair closest to the window. "I can't believe you're really here. Your mom did so good. You look just like her so I hope that means you act like me. Your mom, she's amazing. Now don't get me wrong. Ya mom is off the chain, she's as crazy as she is beautiful, but her heart is pure. It's up to us to protect it. Cuz if there's one thing ya mom don't play about it's the people she loves and now that includes you. There are so many things I can't wait to teach you. Welcome to the world son." Zac said to a sleeping Zane. His heart felt as though it would explode. Zac thought about how he felt the first time he saw Zion. Although Zac felt love, he didn't fall in love the way he did when he first saw Zane. He sat there with Zane the entire time Fatima slept.

Two days later, Zac, Fatima and Zane settling in at home for the first night. Jake, Andi, and Phoenix spent the last day and a half doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, finishing the nursery, and making sure the house was perfect. They'd even bought a 6-foot yard sign in the shape of a stork to announce the baby's arrival to the neighborhood. The time had finally come for Fatima to see their nursery for the first time.