Frank went into labor a month and a half early, while he was at work. Angelo was kind enough to take him to the hospital and I met them there, frazzled and exhausted. Frank had been tossing and turning all night and had kept me up, so I certainty wasn't at my best.

I found the right room eventually and slipped inside, smiling at Angelo. Frank was laying on his side, his eyes closed. Ange nodded to me. “He's not feeling too bad yet, the contractions are still fairly far apart.”
I thanked him softly and walked over to my husband’s bed, crouching down. “Frankie? I'm here, baby..”
He put a hand on the left side of my chest, over my brand new tattoo. “Gee..”
I put my hand over his and sighed as he tended up, groaning. “I'm here, Frankie. It's gonna be easier this time. I bet you won't even notice.”
He giggled and leaned forward, kissing me clumsily. I heard the door click shut as Angelo left the room, but didn't look up.
“My beautiful baby..” I dabbed sweat off his forehead with my sleeve. Frank sniffed, trembling and tensing up again.
“Are they getting closer together?” I murmured, stroking his hair slowly. He nodded shakily and I rubbed his side. “I'm here. Your Geebear is here. And I love you so so much. We forgot to do baby names..”
Frank managed another small laugh, gritting his teeth against the pain. “It's a bit late..”
I grinned and held his hand, lacing our fingers together. “What about Jasmine?”
“Ugh..”
I kissed him, humming softly. “Okay. Francesca?” I teased. Frank smacked my chest and gave me a death glare.
“Louise? Linda? Donna? Bandit? I'm bad at this, aren't I?”
He giggled and squeezed my hand a little too tightly. “Luna?”
“I like that one. Put it on the list.”
Frank smiled and closed his eyes tightly against another wave of pain.
“Sarah. Jackie. Um. Crap, I’m running out of ideas. And you're no help.”
He grinned and relaxed slightly. “Molly?”
“Molly James Way..”
Frank smacked my arm again gently. “Stop being silly.”
I leaned over and kissed the side of his head. “What about Hannah? Or Zela? Mia?”
He shifted and let out a long sigh. “I like Hayley.”
I smiled and ran my fingers through his hair. “Okay. I really like that too, how about we keep that as a tentative one and we wait until she's here?”
Frank nodded and took a breath sharply. “Mm. My water broke..” He mumbled, slapping the button for a nurse. I panicked for a second, inside my head, then took a deep breath and got out of the way for the nurse to slip a towel under Frank’s lower body.
She hurried off to get the doctor and I went back to the bedside, holding Frank's hand tightly.
“Breathe, Frankie, baby. I'm right here and you're gonna do this.”
He groaned louder and shifted onto his back. “I feel like I should be pushing.”
I leaned over him and stroked his hair, then his bare chest. “Do whatever you think you should.”
Frank grunted and his grip on my hand tightened until it was painful. I sat there, rubbing his arm and watching helplessly as he panted and sobbed and groaned.
The doctor finally ran in and over to him, talking to him quietly and helping him calmly. I rubbed Frank's shoulders and tried to keep him calm myself, but it wasn't really working.

The labor, once Frank's water broke, was incredibly fast, and took about forty minutes total. By the end of it, he was flat out exhausted, panting loudly and trembling all over. I watched the nurse wipe him down and helped her change the sheets, then pulled the blanket over Frank's naked body. The doctor was cleaning off our little baby in the room, so I stayed by my husband, talking to him softly and stroking his cheeks. “You did so well,” I murmured, pressing soft kisses to his face. “I'm so proud of you. You're so strong and amazing and beautiful..”
Frank smiled slightly and I heard the little girl cry again. He tensed up immediately and I smiled, helping him sit up against the raised back of the bed. “That's our baby girl,” I murmured, pointing across the room to where the nurse was wrapping her up. The doctor walked over and handed me a baby bottle, which I quickly gave over to Frank. The baby was placed in my arms and I stared down at her green eyes, blinking slowly. “Holy crap. You're a very cute baby, aren't you?”
Frank leaned over to try and see and I quickly handed her over to him, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching silently. Frank was crying already, rocking her in his arms and caressing her cheeks ever so gently. The doctor pulled up a chair and sat down, touching Frank's leg gently.
“Your baby girl is very healthy and robust for a preemie, but we do have some bad news.”
I saw Frank's grip tighten and I stroked his hair quickly.
“She's blind.”

---

Frank leaned his head on my shoulder, smiling down at the sleeping baby in his hands. “I still wanna name her Luna..”
I smiled and touched her nose lightly. “Go for it. I think it suits her, don't you?”
He nodded and looked at me sadly. “Is there something wrong with me?”
I frowned and brushed his hair out of his face. “What do you mean?”
“I can't seem to produce a healthy baby..”
I smiled sadly and kissed the side of his head. “Don't be silly. There's nothing wrong with you, and we can deal with this. Our baby daughter is gonna grow up in a loving and supportive household, no matter what, and that's what's important, really.”

---

I lowered little baby Luna into the new crib, smiling down at her. She burbled quietly and I chuckled. “Yes. It's Daddy, baby girl. Aren't the blankets so soft? I'll go get Dad..”
I helped Frank into the nursery and he grinned, leaning into me. “It's perfect. I think she likes it..”
He shuffled to the crib and reached in, letting Luna wrap her tiny fingers around one of his. “That's it, sweetie. It's Dad...I love you, little one. Dad loves you so so much..”
I kissed Frank's cheek. “She looks sleepy, baby, and so do you. You need to go get some rest, yeah? Go on. Do you need help?”
He shook his head and wandered off down the hall glumly.
I sighed softly and scooped Luna out of the crib again, holding her against my chest. I knew Frank was still in a lot of pain, so I cut him some slack and started on dinner, keeping a very close eye on Luna as she babbled to herself in her portable crib on the table.

---

Frank slept most of the day and all night, muttering to himself a lot. I stayed with him, holding him when I got to sleep, and sitting in the bed with him when I fed Luna.

When he finally woke up late in the morning, I was sitting next to him, Luna asleep in my lap. I was starting to doze myself, exhausted from the first long night. Frank sat up and hugged me quickly, kissing me softly. “Mh. I'm taking the night shift tonight, okay? I'm the one with paternity leave, you have to go to work tomorrow.”
I sighed and rubbed the inside of his thigh. “But you're sore and I'm not.”
“It's not too bad,” Frank lied, gently scooping Luna out of my lap and kissing her nose. “We’ll be okay, won't we, Luna? Huh?”
She smiled and he grinned, holding her close to his chest. “You are too cute..”
I leaned over and kissed Frank softly. “I love you, Frankie..”
He leaned into my side and smiled. “Love you too, Geebear. I think you need to get ready for work..”

---

It took us about a week to get into the swing of it. Frank and I would take turns getting up in the night, and we both got the same amount of sleep. At weekends, we both slept in a considerable amount. Angelo came over to see Luna a few times, always bringing something for her or Frank.
It could get a little frustrating, however. Every time Frank and I managed to carve out a little time for ourselves, it seemed as if Luna started crying immediately.
We got out of baths, stopped in the middle of sex, and even got up halfway through a few at-home dinner dates.
Ultimately, though, we didn't mind. We had a beautiful baby daughter and that mattered more than anything else. We talked to her as often as we could, trying to keep her occupied and get her to recognize us by our voices. It seemed to be working, but we weren’t entirely sure. She smiled when she heard us and reached out toward us, but she wasn’t anywhere near speaking age yet.

Notes

So I'm going to put chapter ten up tomorrow. I'm not sure how much longer this story is going to go on, I'm starting to run out of ideas, beyond the couple I'm writing out now.