Saving Cardverse: The Diamond Baby

Oh God.

Oh God oh God oh God.

What if something happened? Was Rochelle okay? And what about-?

"Calm down, big brother," Emma said. "You've already fainted once. There's a reason you're out here and not in there."

Now, Bram knew what his sister was saying: Get it together, bro. You are the freaking Ace of Diamonds. You arrest and interrogate criminals without breaking a sweat, and now you're freaking out? And Emma would probably also curse her brave big brother for being such a pansy, but Bram didn't care. He just wanted to charge back in there and make sure his wife was okay. The doctors in the hallways of this hospital unit were already so annoyed with him, because even though he knew he had purposely selected a doctor and nurse that he trusted, he was still worried! He couldn't help it though. Because what if something-?

The hospital room door flung open, and Bram shot up. The Ukrainian nurse came bounding out, a huge smile on her face.

"It's a boy!" Nurse Katya exclaimed. Her husband, Dr. Eduard von Bock, poked his head out of the room, an equally large smile on his face.

"7 pounds and 19 inches! A healthy young man," the good Estonian doctor said. He sighed gently, looking at his wife. "It seems like just yesterday that our little Dimitri was that young…" Katya smiled back at him. The von Bocks' own son was two now, a shy but happy playmate Roderich and Elizabeta's little Béla. Goodness, how time flies by…

"Ah, yes," Katya sighed happily. "And now little Dima might have a new playmate in a few years. Especially since Natalya's taking her sweet time with that Romanian, rejecting him all the time…

"But enough of that, now. Come, Bram! It's time you've met your son."

Now Bram wasn't really sure what he was expecting when he walked into the room, but it certainly wasn't his wife looking to be so caught up in a small blue bundle.

"Rochelle!" he called, scurrying over. "Rochelle, are you oka-?"

Bram stopped himself. Because he had finally caught sight of his new son. Bram didn't even notice his wife, tired but proud, smiling up at him. Bram sank into the chair next to the bed, his knees unable to hold him up.

The baby was so small: asleep peacefully bundled in a soft blue blanket in his mother's arms, a small knit cap on his tiny head. He had his mother's nose; Bram could tell.

"He has your frown," Rochelle giggled. Bram scowled at that, but then he looked at his son. Huh. He was frowning.

He was perfect.

"...we did a good job, didn't we, bun?" Bram whispered.

Rochelle smiled at the old pet name. No one ever thought Bram could ever give a person as much love and attention as he did his pet bunny. If the frowning Ace could love anything at all.

"We did do good," she replied.

"And he'll have the perfect mother, too," he said.

"His father won't be all that bad either," she replied, watching as blood rushed to her husband's ears. Rochelle knew that Bram wasn't the best with declarations of love, so he did it with small comments like that. And so she made comments back, and that was how Bram, who was also bad at receiving such declarations, knew she loved him back.

"Would you like to hold him?" she asked suddenly.

Bram quickly snapped out of it. "But-!" he spluttered. "But what if I drop him?!"

Rochelle somehow had the energy to roll her eyes. "You won't. Now here, and remember to support his head." And before he knew it, Bram was holding his newborn son. At that point, the baby yawned, shifted slightly in his father's arms, and went right back to sleep.

Bram stared. "But… he's so small…"

Rochelle simply smiled at the precious sight. It was almost surreal, really. Her husband and soulmate, holding their newborn son, absolutely enraptured with this tiny bundle of life… Bram had his worries underneath his normally scowling face, but she knew, in that moment, that he'd be just fine as a father.

"Come to think of it," he said suddenly. "We never decided on a name."

Rochelle blinked. No, they hadn't really talked about names. Mostly because Bram had been too busy being overprotective… She didn't mind though. It was actually kind of funny just how much Bram worried about her.

"How about Etienne?" Bram said again. At that point, the baby smiled in his sleep. "See? He likes it." Bram had a rare smile on his face, and it was just for his son. Rochelle's breath caught. She had always loved Bram's smile.

"But why Etienne?" Rochelle asked shakily, before she got caught staring. "Don't get me wrong; I love the name, but…"

"Well…your family speaks French," Bram began. And there he was: the romantically awkward college graduate she married. Ah, that was the happiest day of her life…

"Yeah?" Rochelle prompted. She had long since grown too used to his awkwardness to be truly annoyed with the obvious answers. "I mean, Cousin Francis refuses to speak English. He's nicknamed the French King for a reason. But why Etienne?"

"Well, remember I had an uncle from Luxembourg that supported Emma and me through the Academy? His name was Stephen. And since Etienne is the French form of Stephen…"

"Etienne… Middle name, Rupert."

"Rupert?"

"Well, if he's named after someone from Luxembourg, one of the other official languages besides French is German. Rupert is the the German form of Robert."

"Etienne Rupert Van Dijk," Bram said. "He's perfect."

Rochelle decided to be cheesy. "You're perfect."

And for once, Bram was cheesy right back. "Our family together is perfect."

And Rochelle couldn't agree more.

A/N: So. This one is small oneshot is something I wrote for #aphrarepairweek

It responds to the prompts:

Day 1: The first…

Day 3: Any AU

This is Netherlands and Seychelles in a Cardverse AU that one of my longer fics takes place in, but I wrote this so it can be read as a oneshot. (Also, technically, this is a Soulmate AU, but that's more in my longer project than it is in this snippet.) This is about NedSey's first child, so prepare yourselves for a proud new mama Sey and a nervous wreck of a new dad in Ned.

By the by, Dimitri (Estonia and Ukraine's son Dima) is Nyo!Ukraine.

And Austria and Hungary's Béla is Kugelmugel.