[open - baby meeting!]

[just_another]

Dane has been home for exactly thirty-seven hours and a few minutes, give or take, when Joel looks at the clock on the wall as he paces the length of the library, the baby in his arms. He's been fussing today, more than he has yet, and he and Spencer have been taking turns walking with him around the house once they've established that he doesn't need to be changed and he isn't hungry. They've been given their space after the initial invasion, his parents choosing to stay at a hotel for the duration of their time here rather than taking over the house. As much as he loves having his parents here, as much as he's loved seeing them with their grandson, he's also extremely grateful for it.

Ellie, though, had called that afternoon and suggested Joel try flipping Dane over onto his stomach. She'd said something about colic, told him that holding the baby on his stomach might help, and since then Joel has been carrying a peaceful Dane around the house, his little cheek resting against Joel's wrist. He's fast asleep for the time being and Joel can't imagine putting him down. He's a warm, comforting weight on Joel's arm and although he's tired, although he knows there's still a lot of adjusting to be done, he's also never been this happy.

Spencer is napping. At least he hopes he is. Joel had all but forced him to go upstairs and lie down. They sleep when Dane sleeps, that's the way their lives are meant to go now, and now that Dane actually is sleeping, Joel is debating heading upstairs and joining Spencer. The thought of crawling into bed with his husband, settling Dane comfortably on his chest and just lying there for a little while is somehow even more appealing than actually getting to sleep.

If he sleeps, he's bound to miss something, and Joel doesn't want to miss a moment of this.

That's exactly what Spencer is thinking as he lies wide awake in their bedroom. He'd tried more than once to close his eyes and keep them shut, force himself into a sleep that just won't come, but for once he's not being kept awake because of the nightmares he fears might plague him; it's because he knows that just downstairs are the two people he loves more than anything else in this world.

It's only been a day and a half since they've been allowed to bring Dane home, since they'd been overly careful in placing their baby, their tiny, beautiful baby, into his car seat for the drive home while Erin and her husband tried to hide their laughter behind their hands as they'd watched.

"Definitely brand new parents," her husband had commented, and it hadn't been with any ill intent. Spencer had only smiled and shrugged, as if there was nothing that could be done about it and really, there can't be. He's a father now, he's partly responsible for someone's life for the rest of his own, and as daunting as that may be, Spencer has never been happier. The only comparison he could possibly make would be to the day he and Joel had gotten married, and it's with that thought that he finally gives up and rolls out of bed to join his family.

They'd texted friends earlier in the day to mention when a good time would be to drop by to meet the baby. It's getting to be just after noon now, and he's absolutely exhausted, but the promise of getting to see Dane again gives him a burst of happy adrenaline. He'd be happy to stay this way for the rest of his life, at home with just his husband and their child; but he supposes having company over wouldn't be so bad.

After all, there's something appealing about being able to say that today, he and Joel are going to be introducing their son.

[Time to meet the baby. Tag Joel or Spencer or BOTH, but just indicate in your tag what you'd prefer. If both, the order will be your pup, Joel, Spencer.]

Comments

[coopdetat]

"Dude, you should get right on it," Coop answers, and he means to be teasing but his tone just barely comes across that way because he's too busy grinning down at the baby to care if his message is getting across the way he'd like. "Takes forever to have a baby, right? Or nine months-ish, same thing, if you're already wanting another one now, think of how much you'll want one then."

It's not real advice, Coop has absolutely no experience with babies behind what he's seen of extended family, and he sure as hell is in no position to be telling Joel to tell their surrogate to pop another one out as soon as possible. Really, it's his way of saying that he's not surprised, not even a little bit, that Joel and Spencer already know they want another baby because these two come prepared for fucking everything. They hadn't planned for each other, fair enough, but that doesn't mean they haven't planned for their future.

Hell, from what he's gathered over the past few months, Spencer probably has clothes for Dane ready to be used over the course of the next five years. Baby store owners everywhere wept tears of real joy when Spencer had left with his purchases, Coop's sure of it.

"Anyway, I don't know that I'll be the one to blame," he continues, finally tearing his gaze from the baby to look up at Joel. "The one to thank, more like. Can you imagine Spencer giving the birds-and-bees talk? You'd have to save him from going into cardiac arrest."

[just_another]

Spencer is a lot more capable of saying things most people wouldn't expect than he thinks anyone realizes, but that's just fine by Joel. He's more than happy to keep that little bit of information to himself and not share it with anyone, so he only nods when Coop says it's best he be the one giving the birds and the bees talk, trying not to grin too widely in response. That's going to happen one day, they're going to have to tell their son -- their children, more likely -- about all the details of how babies are born. They're going to have to explain to them where they've come from, how Erin helped them, and for someone who seems to stumble over his words at the best of times, Joel can't say he's too worried about it.

They're prepared for this. The two of them together, they can do it. With Coop's help, apparently, since he's pretty sure they'll be getting that whether they are for it or not.

"Spencer probably already has books and diagrams," Joel says with a soft laugh. And he remembers the way he grew up, with both his parents referring to body parts as what they are rather than cute little names, which at the time he hadn't given much thought to. Now he appreciates it, though. He's not sure he likes the idea of their child not knowing the proper names for anything. He's always been very interested in science, always felt it's very important, and he certainly doesn't feel any different when it comes to their child.

[coopdetat]

He has to concede to that, Spencer's definitely the kind of guy who can anticipate and prepare with the best of them, which is something Coop's never really been able to do himself. Not with his personal life, at least. At work, he's totally on it, even though he tends to overload himself even when he's got help coordinating appointments and all that. The thing is, since what'd happened with Sylvie and coming home from France, he hasn't really felt like he has a reason to really keep his shit together in the same way one might typically assume is 'right' for an adult.

That's not to say that he'd necessarily call himself one big mess, but he's not in the same place that Spencer and Joel are. He's got the solid self-employment and the house, the great friends and the good times, he's got everything he needs to keep his head above water; but he knows people look at him and wonder when the hell he's going to settle down. Have kids. Stop acting like he's still a frat kid.

More specifically, his mom wonders all these things, but he figures that's just what moms do. He doesn't put that kind of pressure on himself because he'd go crazy otherwise, and he's very comfortable with that. Coop knows who he is, and he thinks that's more than good enough. Anyone who doesn't get that or isn't willing to can kiss his ass. Except his mom, obviously.

"Probably," he agrees with a laugh, his expression softening as he looks back down at the baby. He's never really had a huge desire for kids, though he can imagine what a life with Sylvie and a baby could have been like. Still, he thinks it's kind of just a general rule that holding a baby makes a person want one because it's impossible to think of all the hard work that comes with taking care of a tiny human when there's no crying or fussing or spitting up going on. Dane is quiet, sleeping, and he kind of can't believe that this is Spencer and Joel's kid.

"Never would've thought, y'know," he says, rubbing his thumb lightly over the baby's back. "The two of you, I so wouldn't have pegged you for future dads of the year before you met each other. It's been a hell of a year."

[just_another]

"Yeah," Joel says, his smile fading every so slightly at that. "It has been." It isn't that he's at all upset that Coop has brought up the past year, because it's been so terribly far from all bad, and he isn't the type to pretend the bad doesn't exist anyway. His expression is more thoughtful than anything, thinking of all the things that have changed since the day that Hydra went rampaging through their town. At the time he'd been a bookstore owner, which is still the same, but he's also spent every day and every night on his own with only his cat for company. If someone had asked if he had friends, he would have shrugged, mentioned Lara and Cosette, but that would have been the extent of it. His family had really only come to town for a visit once or twice a year and while he hadn't been happy, exactly, he hadn't been terribly depressed either. He had just existed and that had been enough. No one had known he was a witch except for a select few and he never would have imagined himself here.

But here he is. He co-owns the store now, he has a wide circle of people he would call his friends, being a witch is no longer a secret he feels he needs to hide from everyone. Charlotte lives in town, his parents are here more and more often, and there's Spencer. Spencer and Dane. The most incredible thing that could have ever happened to him has happened and he had never even known he had wanted it. Not until it was finally here.

And there are bad memories, too, but he finds even the demon fades a little into the background in the light of all this. He'll forever worry about Spencer and now Dane, he'll never want anything more than to keep them safe, but he knows the best way to do that is just to keep moving forward. Not to live in the past, not to dwell on what he can't change. Six months ago he would have weighed himself down with guilt over Spencer being taken, but he thinks he's made pretty good strides toward not blaming himself for things beyond his control.

Protecting his family is the only thing that matters now. Moving forward, being present with them, living in the moment with them, those are the important things.

"I don't know if I've ever really thanked you for... well, everything," he says, looking at Dane instead of directly at Coop. He's been there through so much over the past year, he's been a support, he's offered all the help he can, he's done more than any one friend should ever be expected, and Joel hopes he manages to return even a fraction of that. He smiles again then, and looks up at Coop. "Honestly, for everything. You've been there to help with just about every difficult thing we've faced this year."

[coopdetat]

They haven't really talked about it.

Beyond a pretty superficial exchange of words over how Spencer's doing and what Coop had seen of Davin, they've kept pretty quiet about everything else, and Coop doesn't blame Joel for that. There's nothing in that dream that wouldn't have hurt, even seeing Spencer with that baby had been kind of heartbreaking because that's where he'd gone to escape from that hell Roman had been him through. Spencer knows, he remembers, and Coop knows that because he'd gotten a text from his friend that just said 'thank you' but even that wouldn't have been necessary.

Coop hadn't done it for brownie points or to try to be a hero, he'd done it because his friends had needed help and nobody else was willing to go the extra mile to give it to them. The accusations that had been thrown Joel's way still piss Coop off, and he hopes everyone who'd made that assumption had landed their asses in some seriously hot water; but if any of this is an indication, then it's obvious the guys want to just move on with their lives.

He suspects Davin's having a harder time with that, but Coop isn't about to bring any of it up when this is supposed to be one of those days when the smiles don't stop coming. So he shrugs a shoulder, glancing up at Joel before looking back down at the baby. "You're welcome, I guess," he says simply, shrugging again because he doesn't know how else to respond. "That's what friends are for, right? Last I checked, anyway."