The Little Love

12. The Homecoming

And then it was finally time to come home.

After two days at the hospital you were finally driving back to your home with your baby Darcy. She was the definition of perfection to you and your family. Everyone came to visit you in the hospital and fawned over how beautiful she was. It was crazy how incredibly happy everyone was, including you and Harrison.

And now you were eager to get home, to settle in once again with Darcy in her nursery, and just get started on with your new roles as parents. Both sets of new grand parents have already warned you that it will be incredibly hard, but it will also be worth it.

Both of you were beyond excited when you pulled in front of your house. Both sides of family had decided on giving you time to settle in before coming to meet the baby properly, so you knew that it was only Bianca and Tom in the apartment, getting the place ready for you guys, or more like getting the place ready for Darcy. You were thankful that your family had given you a little time to be with your baby alone, you wanted to get a hang of this before you were parenting in front of veteran parents.

As the car comes to a stop, Harrison gets out first, helping you get out of the car, despite your protests against it, and then getting the baby out. You make your way to the apartment, and knock. Bianca opens the door and ushers you in, and after a little cooing over the little bundle, you get her settled in her crib before coming back down.

"How am I ever going to thank you guys for this?" you couldn't help but say it to your two best friends, who have not only cleaned out the apartment, but also made dinner. You were starving, two days of hospital food felt like too many years of nasty food, and now the smell of homemade food made you salivate.

"Come on, there's no need to thank us. We are just doing what should be done." Tom chides you. You guys make small talk about the hospital and how everything went. You had a fun time horrifying tom with extra gory details about the birth. It was fun you thought, probably the last time you are going to get some adult time before the baby storm takes over your life for at least next 7-8 years.

Tom and Bianca clean up after the dinner, and leave, making you guys to promise to call if you need anything. After they leave you and Harrison stand in front of the door for a little bit, looking out into the apartment that looks exactly the same, but also very different. There is a baby in this house now, you were both thinking, your own daughter.

Somehow both of you find yourselves in Darcy's nursery, sitting in front of the crib where she was sleeping peacefully. Harrison suddenly turns to you, "I'm scared." He whispers.

You look at him, "so am I." You both look at each other with wide eyes. "Haz, how are we going to do this? We have no clue how a baby works." You knew you were spiralling, but it was too late to stop, "I don't know anything about babies, how am i going to be a mother??"

"Please, you read all those books, you'll be perfect. But how am I going to be a father?" he was panicking too. "I mean how am I going to... I don't know, I know nothing about being a girl, how do you be a father to a daughter? How do you take care of them?"

And while this spiralling session was going on, none of you noticed Darcy was stirring in her crib until you hear her cries. It was almost as if an instinct kicked in and both of you were on your feet, Harrison picking little Darcy up, rocking her slowly, "what do you think it is? Why is she crying?"

"She's hungry." Two days in the hospital with your baby, cut off from all distractions a normal life offers, you had gotten quite familiar with her cries. Harrison hands her to you, and you settle down into the chair at the corner to feed her. He sits down on the floor in front of you, already familiar with the process. Initially he left you alone, thinking you need space and he was a little awkward when you were feeding Darcy. But you told him that it is a lonely job, to feed a baby, and he stayed with you while the feeding time rolled around. Now it was almost a routine.

"What are you thinking about?" you ask, noticing the little smile on his face. He was staring at the baby, but then he looks at you.

"I was just thinking how freaked you got about not being a good mother, when you can tell what she needs just by hearing her cries." He rubs your feet gently. You think about it a little.

"Well, all mothers can. That's what my mom told me."

Harrison only hums in response, lost in his own thought. Once Darcy is done feeding, you hand her off to him to be burped. After that's done too, you guys once again settle down in front of her crib, having already settled her in the crib.

"You know you are going to be a great dad too, right?" you nudge his shoulder with yours.

He snorts, "Yeah, how do you know?"

"Cause you are supportive." You take his hands in yours. "You are always there when I mess up, when I don't know what to do, when I need help. I always know you have my back. And that's all you need to do for our little girl." He turns to look at you, "I mean, I know there's a bit of a learning curve here, but we can do that. We can figure out the baby stuff. But what we need to do most of all is to be there for her." You face him now. "She will hate us at times when she grows up, and then she will love us. But we have to make sure that whatever happens, she knows that she can come to us, for anything and everything. I feel like that is the main thing about being a parent, to be there for the person you decided to bring into this world."

He nods in response, a little teary eyed. In all honesty you were both a little emotional. Harrison clears his voice, "let's get you to bed you must be exhausted." He pulls you to your feet before hugging you, kissing your head. Just as you leave the room, you once again hear the small cries, and he looks at you,

"yepp, it's the diaper cry." You couldn't help but laugh at his expression. He hasn't changed any diapers yet, and this will be the first time, "come on tiger, let me show you the ropes." You drag him back into the nursery where a very fussy baby was waiting for you with a dirty diaper. Both of you knew life as parents was going to be full of ups and downs, but watching your daughter slowly falling asleep in the arms of the guy you love made you realize that it does not matter, just as long as you get to love them and hold them, and have them in your life.