Crazy In Love (Anthony Rizzo)

Like Father Like Son

Anthony

It's the bottom of the seventh inning in a game against the Braves at home. We were winning pretty handily and I was pretty excited. I wanted to get home to see if the baby was about to come since Melissa was on bed rest and couldn't come here to tell me herself is it was close to being time yet or not. So instead I have to sit in the dugout next to the spot where Timothy was forever engraved and hung out with my guys.

"Anthony" someone yells and I look around. I don't see anyone trying to get my attention so I grow confused. "Down here" the voice says and I look down. I see Maddon in the tunnel hanging up the clubhouse phone as he walks up to me.

"What's up skipper" I wonder.

"It is time for you to pack your daddy bag, the baby is on its way" he claims and my eyes go big.

"What!?! Melissa is in labor" I gasp.

"Well, yeah. I just didn't want to say it like that but yeah. Her water broke about the third inning and she's had contractions ever since so someone's helping her to the hospital now" he explains.

"Oh man, this is so exciting" I cheer.

"Well are you going to go be with her" he questions.

"Can I" I ask.

"I'm not going to be the one to tell you that you can't. Melissa would kill me" he admits. He wasn't wrong.

So I go down into the clubhouse and quickly change. I run home to grab my stuff and some things Mallory might need too before getting to the hospital. I get directed to a room with Melissa's name on it but the door was closed. The room was dark and it didn't look like anyone was in there. I look inside and see Melissa in a night gown connected to some fluids with a mask over her face helping her breathe. I feel my chest tighten as I look at her laying there completely still. She looked like she was asleep but not even Mallory was in there which concerned me. Was something going wrong?

"Don't worry son, she's okay" a doctor says as he rests his hand on my hurt shoulder and I let out a sigh.

"Why is she on oxygen" I wonder.

"The baby has something called fetal distress and it comes with the mother being in labor. It just means the babies heartbeat is faster than normal so we give the mother oxygen to help the baby get ready to be delivered without any complications. We don't expect him to be still born or have a heart defect or anything like that, we just want to make this as easy for the mother and the baby as possible" the doctor explains.

"But they're okay" I ask.

"Yeah, they'll be fine" he promises.

I finally go in and sit down next to her. She had the game on the tv but her eyes were closed.

"That number 44 guy is pretty good huh" I ask and she giggles. She opens her eyes and when she does I can see how much pain she is in.

"He's not half bad" she jokes back as she's mumbles behind her mask.

"How bad is it" I wonder.

"It's like getting hit with a hundred fastballs in the same area at once. But like... constant" she claims.

"I'm sorry. What can I do for you" I wonder.

"Get my baby out of my stomach and into my arms" she begs and I laugh.

"We're gonna need a Doctor for that. I don't know if you've noticed, but this hold pregnancy thing is not my cup of tea" I insist.

"I've noticed" she smirks.

"Speaking of your babies, where is Mallory" I wonder as she laughs at me.

"Jess had to take her away because I told her the baby was hurting me and started to throw a fit because she wanted him out so he would stop hurting me" she explains and I smile big.

"She is such a awesome little kid" I insist.

"Don't I know it?"

After a while the contractions come more often and more intense. I let her hold my hand for a while before I take my hand away because I was afraid I would be back in a sling again. So they give her something to squeeze and I keep a wet towel on her forehead and massage her shoulders so she wasn't so tense. Once Mal calms down Jess brings her back and they sit in the room with us. We watch the rest of the game which we won before I turn the tv off. I don't want my memories of my baby being born just a bunch of guys on WGN talking about the game.

Finally at 11 it comes time to start pushing. Mallory goes out into the hallway and meets up with Kris since she really didn't need to be there for this and Jess helps keep me calm as I help keep Mel calm. Just 14 minutes before midnight Melissa takes one last push before the baby comes out. And although I wanted to pass out because this was quite literally the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life, it was also quite beautiful. And while the doctors take care of Melissa and clean her up I get to cut the cord. So I do that and the nurse takes the baby to get cleaned off and measured and a clean bill of health. But the baby was crying and so was Melissa and I as I go over to comfort her. I run my fingers through her wet hair as she closes her eyes in relief. She was so strong through this all and I don't know how she did it. I would never be able to do what she just did, and I certainly wouldn't look as good as she did either.

Once the doctors stitch her up and clean up the mess they let Melissa rest. I go and see the baby before they let me hold him. He was a good height and weight and had a head full of brown hair. His little eyes are closed as he slept in my arms. Just a few minutes old and taking naps like his old man.

I take him over to Melissa who was obviously tired. But not too tired to hold her first born son.

"Wow... look at this little gift" she whispers so she doesn't wake him.

"He's perfect" I admit.

"Timothy would have been so excited" she smiles making me smile too.

"He would. And now we got Michael Timothy to keep us on our toes, just like his uncle" I admit.

He starts to stir in her arms and I swear my heart was as big as it could be without exploding. Seeing him in her arms made me feel so complete, like I was missing something my whole life and I just found it.

"He's got your hair" she says and I smile.

"He's got your nose" I notice.

"I cannot wait to watch him to grow up to be a big strong man who also knows when to be soft, just like his daddy" she says.

"Are you calling me soft" I tease.

"You were crying literally 10 minutes ago" she laughs.

"I'm sorry but I just watched the love of my life give birth to our little boy so sorry if I'm a little emotional" I insist.

"You're forgiven" she teases making me scoff.

"You're so lucky I love you" I accuse.

"Yes I am" she smirks.