Only You | T.Holland

Why is naming babies so hard?

{Third Person}

Tom sat in the rocking chair, his daughter curled up in his arms sleeping. He tried his best to control his sniffling but tears still fell down his cheeks.

"It's going to be alright, mate." Harrison said calmly from the chair besides Tom, staring at the beautiful unnamed baby.

"How do you know that? It's been hours and all I know is that there were some complications." Tom mumbled, lightly stroking the soft tufts of hair on the baby's head.

Their conversation was interrupted when Chris and Lizzie walked into the room, the smiles being wiped off when they saw what was going on.

"What happened? Where is she?" Chris rushed, panic spreading across his face.

"Well, she delivered the first baby no problem." Tom mumbled, nodding towards his daughter. "Then there was a lot of blood and she fainted. They took this little one away from me and checked her over - she's perfectly healthy - and then took Carter to surgery. A doctor said there were complications but they didn't know anything yet." Tom sniffled.

"What have you been doing for hours then?" Lizzie asked softly, coming to sit next to Tom in the more uncomfortable chairs.

"Just holding her and watching her. They gave me a little bed over there-" Tom gestures to the corner of the room where the the standard baby bed was sat. "-but I just can't bring myself to put her down." Tom's tears kept falling, his gaze never leaving the baby.

"Mr Holland?"

Tom's head snapped up as the doctor walked into the room with two nurses trailing behind. They were wheeling another bed that held the soundly sleeping baby.

His eyes widened as he stood carefully, making his way over to his other daughter.

"She's beautiful." He mumbled to himself. He looked up at the doctor. "And Carter?"

"She's out of surgery and she's in the recovery wing. You can't see her for a few hours until we've ruled out any infections. But we figured, there's no reason  why this little one shouldn't get to meet her dad." She beamed, moving to the side to allow the rest of the small group to view the baby.

"Chris? Want to hold your niece?" Tom asked with a small smile. Chris simply nodded his head and took the baby from Tom's arms.

Once Tom had passed over his daughter, he picked up the other from the bassinet and looked at her in awe.

"So, what caused it?" Tom asked, looking away for just a moment to catch the doctors attention.

"Once we got into the operating room, it seemed that Carter had a lesion on the left side of her womb - we examined it and it was just scar tissue built up from a past procedures During the birth it had ruptured which caused the bleeding." She nodded sympathetically.

"But she's alright now?" Chris asked, looking at his beautifully niece in his arms.

"She's stable and we're currently weaning her off the sedatives. When we have another update, we'll come find you but until then, the best thing to do is enjoy time with your family. Congratulations."

"Thank you. So much." Tom breathed, giving he team of professionals the best version of a smile he could muster up. They nodded in reply before walking out of the room silently.

Nobody in the room spoke while they stared at the babies - in awe. Tom's heart felt like it was about to burst with all the love he was feeling, but it was bittersweet.

"Do they have names?" Lizzie asked, her pinky finger stroking the cheek of the baby in Chris' arms.

"They do. But, if you guys don't mind I'd like to wait for Carter."