Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Quiet Lives ❯ Little Star ( Chapter 1 )

Never forget how to dream.

Butterfly.

Never forget where you come from.

From love.

--Madonna/Rick Nowels

"Congratulations! It's a girl...." the nurse grinned, holding the baby up for the new mother to see. Julia's eyes searched blearily, lighting on the tiny pink form held in front of her. She reached out her hand, a weak smile on her tired face.

"Can I hold her?"

"In a moment..... She needs to be cleaned and given a check up. Then she's all yours...."

The nurse cradled the infant in her arms, turning around to a small table surrounded by the attending doctors and nurses. Julia could hear the baby give a cry as they cleaned her up. Clearing her tiny nostrils and ears, washing off the afterbirth, to make her ready for her mother and the world. The wailing soon stopped and Julia felt she could close her eyes for just one moment. The doctors would be gentle, Julia trusted them to do their jobs. A sense of peace enveloped the new mother, perhaps it was the joy of being able to give life. Or maybe it's the drugs.....she smiled softly, hearing the nurses come closer. She opened her eyes as her daughter was brought to her, wrapped in a light pink flannel blanket. She's so tiny.....The nurse handed the child over, letting the mother gently encircle it with her own arms. Her daughter. She was holding her daughter. Julia looked in at the little being that peered from out of the blanket. Big wide blue eyes, little tiny fists that curled so easily around her own finger.

"Hey you...." Julia whispered softly, gently stroking her daughters face.

The baby cooed, looking up at Julia lazily with eyes wide and full of wonder. Both sat there quietly regarding each other, mother and daughter. What the future held seemed of no consequence, it was this moment that mattered and nothing else. Julia pulled the blanket down so she could see better. A soft layer of dark hair covered the baby's head. Julia smoothed it over, her heart beating fast and slow. There was a part of her that couldn't believe this tiny little thing was hers, that the love between husband and wife could produce something so perfect and alive. The baby stirred, making little grunts and fussy noises that signaled discomfort of some kind. Julia rocked the baby back and forth, singing quietly to her.

A shuffle came from across the room that made Julia look up suddenly. Her husband stood there, looking around nervously as if he expected to be kicked out at any moment. He looked so much like a little boy that it made Julia giggle. So unlike the professional man she had known and still loved.

"Come here and say hello to your daughter.....silly...."

Caraway gave her a goofy smile, slowly walking over to the bed. He felt as if he'd interrupted an important moment between his girls. Though it didn't seem that Julia minded, she beamed at him as she held his daughter in her arms. He sat down next to his wife, and looked down at the tiny girl wrapped in all that fabric. He was nervous.....what new father wasn't?

The labor had been long and painful. Ten full hours of it, and there were times when both of them felt like they couldn't go on. She was delirious with pain and it became obvious that there were problems with the birth. X-rays had been ordered and all manner of tests had been given. It pained him to watch his beloved in such agony. There was nothing he could do but hold her hand, and even that wasn't enough. The doctors were worried as more time went on, though they tried not to show it. Not much anyone could hide from a military man like himself, he was trained to observe. The tests came back, the baby had come later than expected and Julia's birth canal was too small. They'd have to do a caesarean. That was at six o'clock in the morning.....They told him they'd have to wait at least six hours before they could go to surgery.....to make sure her stomach was empty.

By this time both his mother and hers had arrived, giving him time to rest a little. They gave Julia ice chips to suck on, and drugs to relax her and dull the pain. Her eyes fluttered as the pain killers took affect and eventually she closed them, falling into a light sleep. He'd gone out for a little while, coming back with breakfast for everyone except poor Julia. She complained groggily.

At ten to twelve they prepped her for surgery, covering her short dark hair with a hair net, pressing IV tubes into her arm....and wheeling her out into the corridor to take her to the operating room. She waved weakly as she left, and he waved back, a nervous smile on his face. They weren't allowing anyone into the O.R. with her, and it tore him up inside. All he could do was sit in the waiting room, unable to read or even watch television. He just stared into empty space, praying that his wife and his child would be alright. The doctors list of what ifs echoing in his head. They finally called him....he nearly fell off his chair. Now here he was, looking into the face of his first born. His little girl. She was so beautiful. He held out a finger and she grabbed it, her hand looked miniscule in comparison with his. How was a blundering oaf like himself supposed to take care of something so fragile? The bundle with blue eyes only gazed at him, as if to say, it's okay Dad....you'll do alright. He hoped that he would.

"Do you want to hold her?"

"......I'm afraid I'll drop her......"

Julia rolled her eyes, laughing gently, "Don't be silly, of course you won't! Here....."

She gave the baby to him, gracefully transferring the infant into his arms. He looked hopelessly confused and held her more like an antique vase than a child. This made Julia laugh even harder, smiling brightly as she showed her husband what to do. The baby cried in protest as she was moved around, quieting once he'd positioned her comfortably in his arms. The tiny family settled in, that strange sense of peace that had previously overlapped the room returning. The baby yawned; it had been a long day for all. Both parents smiled, looking from each other and then back to the face of their child. Enjoying the moment, watching their daughter do any number of simple actions. Glad that she was finally here, and theirs.

"What should we call her?" He asked, petting his daughter's fine hair just as Julia had done earlier.

"Rinoa......" She answered firmly, looking at her husband for confirmation.

He thought for a moment, taking more time than necessary to tease his wife, "Well.....I don't know......I'm not sure I like Rinoa. It's kind of unusual."

"Yes, I want our daughter to be unique."

"What about Katy?"

"No....she doesn't look like a Katy to me."

"We could call her Beatrix...."

"Beatrix? I don't think so." Julia's eyes widened, smiling a little drunkenly as she was still under the affects of the drugs they'd given her.

"Why not?"

"Sounds like a grandma name to me...either that or some kind of bizarre snack food."

He scowled at her in jest, "Hey! I resent that! My grandma's name was Beatrix!"

"No, it isn't." Julia replied, "I'm not that drugged up..."

Caraway grinned, "Had you for a moment." She gave him a dubious look, one eyebrow lifting subtly, "Seriously. Beatrix would be a great name."

"The stern and calculating one eyed general from Tantalus Tales? Again, I don't think so."

"Why not?!" he whined, "She's a strong female role model."

"With only one eye. Besides. Rinoa was my grandma's name."

"Heeeeey." Caraway said, his eyes narrowing with humor, "No fair. You said Beatrix was a grandma name and it isn't. Rinoa is an ACTUAL grandma name..."

"Yes, and it's elegant and unusual and my grandma was an ACTUAL strong female role model, rather than a made up one. Plus it has sentimental value and that trumps literary references."

"Oh, fine. You win." he grumbled, his eyes sparkling as he looked deeply into his wife's dark eyes.

"You bet your ass I do."

"Watch your language, hon. We have a baby now."

At this, Julia blushed a deep crimson, "How 'bout a compromise? Her middle name can be Beatrice. Because Beatrix just sounds too close to snack crackers for my liking."

"Snack crackers....you're obsessed." he replied, a soft smile on his face as the baby cooed in his arms. "Rinoa Beatrice Caraway. No, I don't like that."

"Told you Beatrice was too Grandma."

"Hush, you. Do we have to give her a middle name. I kinda like just Rinoa Caraway myself."

Julia shrugged, "I suppose not. Rinoa Caraway. Has kind of a ring to it."

"Yeah, welcome to the world Rinny. Mommy and Daddy love you." He said to the baby, brushing his finger over her soft cheek.

Julia stifled a laugh at the ridiculously high voice her husband was making. It was cute and at the same time inescapably goofy. She wondered what his hardened troops would think if they heard that voice come out of his mouth. Unable to hold it in, she giggled, which soon turned into a torrent of laughter. Caraway looked up at his wife with a wide-eyed smile, turning back to gaze at his daughter.

"Ut-oh. I think Mommy just went insane."

The baby scrunched up her face in response, letting out another long yawn. Julia calmed herself down long enough to relate her thoughts to her husband, who had a good-natured laugh over it. The baby fell asleep peacefully in his arms. The future flung out in front of her but for right now, there was only this moment. The new family basking in the glow of the afternoon sun, celebrating a new life full of possibilities, the room ringing with laughter and love as more family members were let in. Interrupting the stillness of the afternoon and all that remained of that moment, were the secret smiles between wife and husband, and the contented sigh of their newborn child.