Raj meets us in the waiting room. His expression is somewhere between exhaustion and elation, his dark curls standing up at comical angles.

“Fam!” he says happily, throwing open his arms. Aiden, Ripley, and I crowd into them, and Raj gives us a tight squeeze. “Oh, man, I can’t wait for you guys to meet her.”

“When do you get to take her home, dude?” Aiden asks.

“Probably tonight.” Raj sets off down the hallway, and we all fall into step after him. His shoulders are slumped and tired, but his footsteps are bouncing. “If everything goes alright today, that is. We haven’t had any issues so far, though.”

“God, you must be dying for your own bed,” I tell him. “I bet it sounds like paradise, right now.”

“I’m already in paradise, brother.” Raj slaps my shoulder, a grin taking over his tired face. “Got a healthy baby, my girl came through it just fine, Noah is here, now you’re all here, too - what more could I ask for?” His volume is dropping steadily as we get closer to the hospital room. We stop outside of the door, and Raj pauses. “Everyone keep quiet, okay? In case she’s still sleeping.”

“Nikita, or Melanie?” Ripley asks.

“Either. Both.”

We all nod, and Raj opens the door.

Melanie is curled up on the hospital bed, deeply asleep, her mouth slightly open, her braid a wild mess. There’s a blanket over her, and she has it pulled all the way up to her chin.

Noah is standing by the window, with what looks like a bundle of blankets in his arms. He turns around, and the combined force of his smile and Raj’s seems to make the whole room light up.

“Hey,” he whispers.

“Is she up?” Raj whispers back, and Noah nods.

We all come over to see her. Noah turns slightly, so we can get a better look.

Nikita is so completely bundled up that all we can see is her face, and one tiny fist, escaped from the blanket, curled up by her cheek. Her eyes are open, gazing up at us. Like most newborns, all of her features are soft, yet undefined - but she already has Raj’s perfectly straight nose.

What immediately grabs my attention, though, is that she looks hilariously, adorably, extremely pissed off.

“Oh my god,” I whisper, looking up at Noah. “She looks so mad.”

Raj and Noah break into huge, matching grins.

“We know,” Noah says quietly, biting back a laugh. “She’s looked this grouchy literally nonstop since she got here. It’s so damn funny. She’s big mad.”

“Do the face again, Noah,” Raj whispers.

Noah furrows his eyebrows and drops them low. He pulls on an indignant, pouty frown, then starts blinking slowly.

Raj presses his hands over his mouth. He and Noah both dissolve into soft, half-suppressed laughter, tipping their heads together over the baby.

Melanie stirs in the bed, then suddenly sits up.

Raj and Noah both struggle not to laugh again as she makes the exact same grumpy face as Nikita.

“Hey, Mellie,” Aiden says tentatively, and she turns slowly to look at him. “How are you feeling?”

“She’s, um, a little…” Raj stops mid-sentence, biting the inside of his cheek.

Melanie stares blearily at him, then reaches for her disastrous braid.

“What happened?” she mumbles, feeling it with her fingers.

“I tried to braid it for you,” Noah explains, wincing. “It seemed like it was annoying you, sleeping with it down. But it turns out it’s way more difficult than I thought, and I kind of fucked it up. And then Raj tried to fix it, and he, um-”

“Made it worse,” Raj admits. “It’s okay, man, you can say it. I'm sorry, M.”

Melanie pulls out the elastic and starts undoing the awful braid, cringing as her fingers catch on tangles.

“Someone get my hairbrush, please? It’s in the bag.”

Noah is still holding Nikita, so Raj goes to the duffel bag and finds the brush. He passes it up to Ripley, who hands it over to Aiden, who is closest to the bed.

Melanie takes it from him and starts working through the mess, her expression still very much like Nikita’s.

“You all can’t even manage a braid,” she mutters to herself, “And yet, I’m expected to do this.” She makes a sweeping gesture at the hospital room. “Unbelievable. And I can’t believe that people used to do this without drugs. I can’t believe it.” She scowls at us. “Anyone who ever got a woman pregnant before there was such a thing as an epidural needs to apologize for their behavior. In fact, you - all of you guys!” She uses the hairbrush to point at us. “Apologize on their behalf!”

“Okay, well, I’m not apologizing,” I inform her, “Because there is zero chance that I will ever get someone pregnant.”

“Yo, me too,” Ripley says brightly.

“Oh, yeah! Right on!” I lean around behind Aiden’s back, and Ripley and I bump fists.

Melanie is still frowning. “Fine. But all the rest of you. Let’s hear it.”

“We’re sorry,” Aiden, Noah, and Raj answer in unison.

Melanie glares at all of us for a second, then starts brushing her hair again. “Good.”

“This is like, the fourth time she’s made us apologize,” Raj whispers to Aiden, who lets out a low chuckle.

“Hey, Mel,” Noah says, stepping forward. “Look who’s up.”

Melanie stops brushing and stares at Noah, the bundle in his arms. Her scowl collapses into a smile.

“Oh, is she?” Melanie drops the hairbrush and reaches out with both hands. Noah comes over and carefully puts Nikita into her arms. Melanie hooks two fingers into the blanket, gazing down at her tiny face.

Nikita blinks up at her, and Melanie’s smile spreads, her eyes lighting up.

“Hey, you,” she says gently, touching a fingertip to Nikita’s nose. Nikita closes her eyes, her face scrunching up in a tiny yawn, her one free fist curling into an even tighter little ball. Melanie makes a helpless noise, then bends to kiss her forehead. “Oh, my god. She’s gonna kill me. And this face! What is this expression, why is she still so mad?”

Melanie looks up and makes the face at Noah and Raj, who both do it back at her.

All three of them laugh softly, but Melanie’s ends in a wince.

“Ow,” she groans. “Sore. Sore sore sore. Sore everywhere. Can someone please-?”

“I’ve got her!” Raj steps forward and scoops up Nikita. “We want to do the thing with Aiden, anyways, we’ve been waiting all night.”

Aiden's head jerks back as both Raj and Noah turn to him, grinning.

“Sorry, what?” A flutter of alarm moves through his blue eyes. “I have no idea what we’re talking about.”

“We figured it would be hilarious to see you hold Nik,” Noah explains, “Because she’s so tiny, and you’re - Aiden.”

Aiden stares at him, then laughs. 

“Seriously?” He glances over at Melanie, who is painstakingly working through her tangled hair. “Mellie? You’re not gonna put a stop to this?”

“Honestly, I want to see it, too,” she giggles. “Go on, Aiden, you can hold her. Just support the back of her head.”

Aiden opens his mouth to argue, then seems to give up. He holds out his hands for Nikita.

“Yes!” Raj’s grin widens, and he gently hands her over. “Here we go. Wait, let me take the blanket, it makes her look bigger, we’ll just leave her in her little outfit-” Raj steps back, absorbing the sight, and his mouth drops open. “Oh, my god.”

Nikita is already tiny, but in Aiden’s gigantic hands, cuddled against his broad chest, she looks so ridiculously small. Her little round cheek smushes against him, her eyes closing. And he looks down at her, a lock of chestnut hair tumbling into his face.

“Big man magic,” Raj cackles.

“Jesus!” Ripley presses his fingers over his mouth. “You could hold that baby in one hand and have room to spare, Aiden!”

“Holy shit, I have got to take a picture,” Noah laughs. “Where’s my phone? Aiden, don’t move. Or wait, you should take it, Jamie! You take way better photos than - oh, shit. You alright, dude?”

Everyone turns to look at me.

“I’m fine,” I stammer, my eyes still glued to Aiden and the baby in his arms. I can feel my face burning hotter and hotter, so I tear my gaze away and look down, fumbling to get my phone out of my pocket. “I’m fine.”

“Aw,” Melanie laughs. “Jamie’s having a moment.”

“No, it’s just cute!” I protest, trying not to sound as flustered as I am. My heart is racing, and it takes me a few tries to get the camera open on my phone. “Okay, hang on-”

I aim the camera, and see Aiden on my phone screen.

My galloping heart suddenly stands still, seeing the way that he’s looking at me right now.

My finger moves to snap the picture automatically, mechanically. Otherwise, I’m frozen. There’s something so soft in Aiden's eyes, so warm and intimate about his smile. Like it’s just for me, and me only.

I press my lips together, lower my phone, and quickly look down at the screen, mostly to hide my face.

“So cute,” I say, in what I hope is at least a vaguely normal-sounding voice. “I’ll send it to the group chat!”

Nikita opens her eyes again, then gets busy trying to stuff her fingers into her mouth. Aiden looks over at Noah and Raj, quirking an eyebrow.

“Satisfied?” he asks, and they both laugh again.

“Definitely, yes.” Noah steps forward, gently gathers Nikita out of Aiden’s arms. “Hey, Nik. Welcome back. You still look absolutely furious.”

Nikita sneezes. It’s the littlest sneeze I’ve ever heard in my life, but it seems to startle her. Her eyes widen, and her face screws up precariously.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Noah breathes out a soft laugh. “Just a sneeze. No need to panic.”

The hospital lights catch on the piercings in his face as he speaks, and Nikita pauses, staring up at him with obvious interest. Noah frees up one hand, touches a finger to her chin, gives her a tickle.

He freezes as she wraps one of her hands around his finger, and smiles at him.

“Oh-” Noah draws in a sharp breath. “She smiled. Raj, she smiled. Mel?”

Melanie gasps. “What?”

She tumbles out of the bed and rushes over, while Raj quickly moves to stand by Noah’s side.

They all fall silent, looking down at Nikita, who continues clinging tightly to Noah’s finger.

She stays smiling long enough for all of them to see it. Long enough for me to snap a picture. I’m so glad that I didn’t put my phone away.

I get all of them in it. Melanie’s hair is only half-brushed, and Noah and Raj both look like they’ve gotten no sleep, but - I can tell that the picture is going to be a keeper. You can even see Nikita’s smile.

She makes a soft, squeaky noise, and clumsily tries to put Noah’s tattooed finger in her mouth. Noah bites his lip, holding very still.

“First smile,” Raj finally says.

“First of many, I expect,” Aiden answers, watching the little group.

Nikita yawns deeply, and when she’s done, her face is very much back to grouchy.

The swift change in her expression makes Raj, Noah, and Mel laugh, then all start hushing each other immediately.

“We need to not laugh so much.” Melanie crosses to the far corner of the room, where she opens the duffel bag and extracts some clothes. “We’re gonna be waking up Nik all the time, if we go on like this.”

“Doesn't seem like the worst problem to have,” Ripley comments.

Melanie smiles at him, coasting past to grab her hairbrush from the bed. “Yeah, that’s true.”

She disappears into the bathroom.

Noah is still looking down at Nikita. It takes him a moment to come back to the present.

“I can’t believe that they’re really just gonna let us leave the hospital with her,” he tells Raj. “Like - shouldn’t we have to pass a test, or something?”

“I know. It’s crazy. But I’m so excited to get her home. First thing when we get there: house tour.” Raj elbows Noah’s arm, his smile shining right through his exhaustion. “Can’t wait to show Nik everything that you and I built for her.”

The look in Noah’s grey eyes right now is - complicated.

Raj turns away to retrieve Nikita’s blanket. Noah seems like he’s about to say something to him, but he stops, shaking his head.

He murmurs something to himself in French, far too softly for anyone to hear. Anyone except Nikita, that is, but she's not listening.

She’s passed right out, snuggled up in Noah’s arms.

~~~~

When we're headed out, Noah follows us into the hallway, and snags my arm. I fall back, let Ripley and Aiden go ahead.

Noah glances into the hospital room at Melanie, Raj, and Nikita, then closes the door.

“Hey,” he says, folding his arms over his chest. There are fingerprint bruises scattered among his tattoos, presumably from where Melanie was holding onto him yesterday. “So, you said it was chill for me to come over? What time?”

I hesitate, surprised. “What - tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“But - it’s the first night home with the baby.”

“Exactly, I…” Noah fades off, then shrugs. “I don’t want to - you know. Step on that moment. Their first night home as a family, and all that. They probably want to do at least one part of this without me involved, right?”

No, not right at all, I almost answer, and catch myself just in time.

It’s clear that Noah doesn’t want to come over to talk, he just wants to give Raj and Melanie more space.

But I happen to know that they would both be pretty upset if Noah just up and took off tonight.

I chew my lip, quickly thinking through my options.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t talk to Noah about all this until he comes to me with it. But I can still nudge him in the right direction, can’t I? Here and there?

“Actually dude, I really think that you should stay home tonight. Like, stay with Raj, Mel, and Nik.”

Noah blinks his pewter eyes at me, surprised. “What? Why?”

“Just - because-” I scramble around for a reason, any reason besides the actual one. “My mom told me that in the first two days of having me home, she got a grand total of like, five hours of sleep. But if you’re around, I bet you could help out Raj and Mel, and they could get way more sleep than that. Let’s be honest, they both need it.”

“Oh.” Noah frowns thoughtfully. “Well, yeah… but, I mean. I don’t know, man. Isn’t it weird, for me to just…?”

He fades off again. I don’t know what he was going to say, but I shake my head.

“No, I don’t think it’s weird at all. I think that Raj and Mel would probably really appreciate the help. Besides, I can see how tired you are, too. You’re gonna come over and instantly fall asleep on my couch. I’m not particularly interested in listening to you snore all night, if I'm being honest.”

“Shut up,” Noah laughs. He fidgets with his lip piercing, thinking it over. “I guess… I’ll ask them if it’s cool for me to stay? Give them the option?”

I beam at him, victorious. “Yes! Do that.”

“But if they say no, can I come over?”

“Absolutely, yeah.”

Noah matches my smile, then slaps my back. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem.”

He disappears back into the hospital room, and I walk to join Aiden, who is waiting a few feet away.

“You have any plans tonight, Keane?” he asks, winding an arm around my shoulders. “Love to take you on a date, if not.”

I fold my arm around his waist as we set off down the hallway. “No. I have no plans.”

“You sure?" Aiden glances down at me. "I'm not making you cancel something else, am I? Thought I heard Noah mention that he might be coming over.”

I smile to myself, turning my face away so that Aiden doesn’t see it.

“Nope,” I answer firmly. “He most definitely is not coming over.”