The Party Scene Has Got the Best of Me

ERIN'S POV

The small fragile bundle in that plastic casing was my daughter. Alex held my hand as the nurse approached. 

We'd been here for three weeks now, and we saw her everyday. They let us sleep in the hospital. We had the band and crew and Alex's parents around to see her and check we were doing okay, bring clothes, stuff like that.

Today was the day we got to finally hold her. We'd been too scared to name her in case she was taken aways from us, everything was so touch and go, but they said she'd improved.

 "You've got your gloves on and masks? Good. I'm sorry about this, but I'm sure you'll agree her health is everything. I'm afraid it'll only be Erin we let hold her, she's fragile and will be more used to her mothers germs than her fathers. I'm very sorry," the nurse aimed that last part towards Alex. 

I saw the faint shine of tears threatening to spill over, but he quickly blinked them away and smiled at me. "It's okay, as long as one of us can." I smiled back at him, a little in sympathy.

The nurse opened the lid after three weeks of having it been closed, took that little bundle out, and carefully placed her in my arms. "Support the head...yeah, just like that. I'll leave you two for a while..."

I could barely register what the nurse was saying. I had her, my daughter. Finally. I was holding her. She was really mine. She was really there. She was okay. My eyes just couldn't bare to part with her face, so I just kept staring, holding her. Alex reached over me and stroked her cheek. She let out a little gurgle, and without opening her eyes, gripped Alex's little finger. I didn't have to look over to see that he was smiling. Everything was just perfect. The silence was welcomed.  Right now, in this little bubble, nothing could hurt us.

Alex eventually broke the silence, but didn't turn any of his attention away from our child. "Will you still leave?"

I thought about it for a little while, looking down at this little angel in my arms. How could I take that away from him? Or how could I leave her behind? "No." I answered. And there really wasn't anything else to say.

1 week later

ALEX'S POV

"Did you get the car seat?" Erin asked for the billionth time.

"Yes, I got the seat, it's all installed, the nursery is all decorated and I followed all the instructions for the crib. Everything is fine. It's all sorted. I promise," I said, after rolling my eyes. Geez, have some faith woman!

Erin nodded and finished filling out the forms. "Alex...we have to put her name down...what do I put?"

Oh shit, we really hadn't discussed that. "Well, what do you want to call her? You did all the hard work after all."

She looked like she was thinking about it. Then she looked up and smiled, a twinkle in her eye. "Would you object to calling her Jasey Rae?"

I rolled my eyes. "Still? You're STILL fangirling?"

Erin laughed. "Once a fangirl always a fangirl. Either that, Holly, Maria, Stella..." she trailed off. 

"Okay, fine, fine, Jasey Rae it is," I gave in. Damn. Why were fans so dedicated?

She smiled in triumph at wrote it down. I was holding the newly named Jasey, and smiled down at her. She'd started to open her eyes. She had blue eyes, which I didn't understand at first cos I was like 100% sure Erin hadn't slept with anyone else, and she had green eyes and I had brown, but apparently babies eye and hair colour change in the first few months. It was kind of exciting not really knowing what we were going to end up with. But I knew whatever it was would be amazing.

We got Jasey strapped in, and Erin took the back seat so she could keep an eye on her. I suddenly thought of something while I was driving. "Hey, I just realised something."

"What?"

"Firstly, she was born 4th of July...we missed Jack's party. But that's not really that important. Secondly, if I write a song about her, I can't call it Jasey Rae. I'll have to come up with a different title...so now I have to use my brain."

Erin laughed. "I'm sure you'll come up with something, you always do." we locked eyes in the mirror. She blushed and looked away.

I smiled to myself. That was it. We'd had our moment. That moment that everyone talks about. We had it. And now, it would be so much easier to make her mine.

It must have been less than half an hour after we'd got in, got Jasey to sleep, and the doorbell rang. Erin and I both sighed. We'd been sat just watching our baby sleep. Neither of us wanted to go, but we knew it was either our friends or my parents, so we had to go answer the door.

When I opened it, I was nearly mowed over by my mom who made a bee line straight for Erin.

She took Erin by surprise as mom wrapped her arms around her as tightly as possible. My dad breezed in, cool as a cucumber, and simply patted me on the back. I swatted his hand away and hugged him.

Sometimes you just needed a hug from your dad, even if you were a dude.

"Oh Erin dear, how are you? Do you feel better? Did I bring the right clothes up? Have you been sleeping properly?" my mother asked, in a frenzy of questions.

Erin laughed. "Yes to all of those, and I'm fine. Just a little wary you know? I'm scared she'll get ill. The doctors said we should get a dog, it's supposed to improve her health because it's good for her to be around some germs." Mom nodded, she had probably read up on this all before. "So...do you wanna go see your granddaughter outside of a plastic box?" You could just see my moms face light up. I think dad may have been getting a little emotional too...but he'd never show it. He was always the strong one in my family. The typical dad I guessed, but he still had a heart, don't get me wrong. 

We showed them to the nursery and let them have some grandparent time. "What did you name her?" my dad asked just as we were leaving the room.

Erin looked at me and let out a giggle. I shook my head in despair and said "Little miss fangirl over here wanted to name her Jasey Rae, so she had her way."

My dad chuckled, and went back to cooing over their newest grandchild.