I'm so, so sorry that it's been a month between updates. And Michelle, Happy Birthday! I hope this is a good present from me to you. Uhm, this song makes me cry, so I suggest you listen to it if you've never heard it before. It's simply beautiful. Sorry it's so short, this is mostly just a filler.

-X-

Looks like we made it
Look how far we've come my baby

She's sitting in the rocking chair, the same one that she painstakingly spent hours searching for. Their daughter's room is now finished, and she just can't summon herself out of it.

The fully furnished crib sits inches away from her, and she can't stop herself from glancing longingly at it.

Soon there will be a little life safely nestled inside. A little life that belongs to her. A little life that she'll love unconditionally. A little life that just shows how much it's parents love each other.

Willing herself back to the latest baby book, she sighs with anticipation.

It's a little past twelve and her husband is still out.

She's not worried about him doing something, really. She just wants him to be home with her.

Pretty soon they'll have a screaming, tiring child to look after, so it's only natural that she crave to spend these last quite moments with him.

But she also understands that pretty soon he won't have the freedom to go out with his friends, so she doesn't really blame him for wanting to have one last true guy's night out.

She thinks about all the things that are in her future, smile spread across her tired face.

It really is true, she thinks, things get bad before they can get better.

And she prays to whatever God that's out there, that all the things they've been through are all the bad they'll have to endure for a long while.

The last nine months have not been easy on the petite brunette, but she wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.

Well, maybe she'd trade the few necessary pounds that she's gained, but other than that she really is grateful.

"Baby, when are you going to come out?" she whispers to her very large belly, her fingers tracing lucid patterns onto her clothed skin.

Her hand tenses suddenly though, a sharp pain coursing through her stomach and burning every nerve that controls her being.

Grabbing the crib that lays beside her, Sophia staggers up from the chair. She doesn't make any noise as another wave of unbelievable pain runs it's way through her, but she thinks that she can taste the blood that she's drawn from her bottom lip.

We might have took the long way
We knew we'd get there someday

His hand is pressed against the clear glass that separates him from his daughter.

Though her small, hospital crib is a few rows back, he can tell that she's beautiful.

She's perfect, and small – so, so small. His heart almost breaks for her, because from what the doctors told him, they almost lost her.

And it's exactly that, the doctors telling him, that hurts the most. He wasn't there for her birth, and he thinks that even after all the bad he's done in his life, that's his greatest regret.

"Would you like to hold her?" a nurse that he had not noticed asks him.

He wants to, but he's so incredibly scared that he almost says no. Almost, because before he can really think about the question, he's nodding his head yes.

The nurse smiles, swiftly walking away from him and into the room where his precious baby is.

It feels almost surreal when the nurse picks up the sleeping bundle, who shows no interest in waking up from her deep slumber.

And before he can take it all in, the nurse is in front of him now, holding a little girl that quite literally glows.

"Congratulations," she says once the baby is safely placed on her father's arms.

She's so beautiful, and he swears that he's not saying this only because he's her father. She's the epitome of her mother, from her light brown hair to those delicate heart shaped lips.

He wants to tell her that he's her daddy, and that he's glad to finally meet her, but he's too consumed by emotions that up until this moment he rendered impossible for any human being to have.

"Your mommy dreamed about you her whole life," he whispers to the rosy infant.

And in that moment he wants nothing more than to be with his wife and child, together.

But he knows they can't be. He doesn't know the details, because he honestly didn't think he could handle the pain of knowing, but he does know that she'd lost a lot of blood.

"She's sleeping right now," the doctor had explained when he'd begged to see his wife. "She'll wake up in a little while – why don't you go see your baby?"

And that's exactly what he had done, but now it's been a little while, and their daughter is beginning to wake up and her lips are starting to pucker, and he doesn't think he can handle Sophia not being here when their baby's eyes open.

I'm glad we didn't listen
Look at what we would be missing

It was heavily raining outside, but Sophia ordered that they still go home despite the weather. "I want her to be home," she had explained with such gentleness in her voice as she gazed at the sleeping bundle, even though Chad knew that she was feeling nothing short of anger towards him.

So now the three of them are home.

He's alone though, sitting on the couch in the same position he'd been thirty minutes ago.

The nursery door is slightly open, and every once in a while he'll hear a quite gurgle which is always followed by soothing words from Sophia.

After a few more minutes of deliberation, he gets up from his sitting position. He quietly walks toward the room that holds the two most important girls in his life.

Sophia does not notice his presence, as if she's completely mesmerized by the perfection that is her daughter.

"Sophia," he says, after he, himself has spent an acceptable amount of time consumed by the precious baby.

He doesn't think she has heard him, but then her tired eyes close, then open to make contact with his.

"I think we should talk," he says with such precision, that she wonders how many times he's practiced saying the simple words.

Her eyes linger on him for a few more moments, before making their way back to her baby's face. She watches the gentle rising of her the little chest, not wanting to set her down, but knowing that this talk is inevitable and as much as she's hurting inside, it's not fair to shut Chad out.

She slowly gets up from the chair, placing the sleeping infant on the carefully chosen bedding.

"Let's talk," Sophia murmurs to the man that patiently waits from the door. He holds no annoyance towards her, because he knows that if Sophia would let him hold the baby, he would not want to set her down either.

They make their way out of the nursery, the new mother following him into their bedroom. The bed calls to both of them like salvation, but they know that sleep can not yet come.

She silently watches him have an inner battle on what he should say. She says nothing, because it's not her turn to talk – not yet.

"I'm sorry," he finally says, and if his eyes are any indication of how he feels, she definitely knows that he means the apology.

"I know that you are."

"I wish that I'd been there for you."

"And why weren't you?" she asks, accusation ever present in her voice.

She'd called him, nine time to be exact, and every time she'd been greeted with the same voice mail.

"I left my phone in my jacket, and I was playing poker with the guys and just didn't hear it," he explains sadly. He knows that it's no excuse, but it's the simple truth.

"You knew that I was due any day," she says through a clenched jaw, because she's trying desperately not to cry.

"I know, baby, I know," he whispers, now stepping towards her because it hurts too much to see her so sad.

"I was so scared," she manages to say before a sob escapes her rosy lips. He's pulling her into his chest now, his arms automatically hugging her body against his.

Almost as if he's trying to protect her from the big bad world, but he knows that all of this is his fault.

"Don't ever do that to us again," she orders through the tears that are falling down her face.

She loves him too much and doesn't think that she can ever go through that feeling again.

"I'll always be there," he promises into her lavender smelling hair, but even more, he promises to himself.

But just look at us holding on
We're still together, still going strong

Fin, as they have now began to call her, is a week old. With each passing day, she looks more and more like her mother and even though he swears that she can't get more beautiful, the little girl still manages to prove him wrong.

"She's beautiful," Sophia whispers.

He means to agree with her, but then their daughter lets out a small grunt that causes both of her parents to go into a long chain of coos and words that keep her from crying.

"I think she's hungry," Sophia states, positioning her pointer finger against her baby's lips and watching her gently suck on it.

He comes back into their room a few minutes later with a warm bottle of formula and she smiles at him in gratitude.

She was right, Finley wasted no time in starting the bottle. And he thinks she's never looked so adorable as she tries to keep her blue eyes from closing.

The baby blue eyes land on the hazel ones of her mother, and Sophia can't help but smile at her tired daughter. "Are you gonna go to sleep?" she coos to the little infant, her nose scrunching as she smiles that big smile when their baby looks away and begins to yet again fight off sleep.

"Object permanence," Chad almost whispers as he too can't help but smile at his daughter's strong battle to fight off sleep.

Sophia takes her eyes away from the infant, expression quizzical as she now looks at him.

"In their first months, babies don't realize that even though they can't see you, you're still there," Chad says, causing Sophia to turn her gaze back to the baby as he continues to explain. "When she closes her eyes, she doesn't see us, so she thinks that we don't exist anymore."

"You read the baby books," she says, a fixed smile across her face.

"I guess you didn't get to that one," he chuckles.

"Uh, uh," she says agreeing, raising their baby up to her lips as she whispers, "close your eyes, sweet girl, we'll be here with you the whole time."

You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of

"You should get some sleep," he says from the doorway, as she folds the last of the freshly done laundry into the drawers in Finley's room.

"You should get some sleep," she quips back, smiling slightly at the memory of last night. Chad had spent the better half of the night trying to get Finley to fall asleep, ushering Sophia back to bed every time she offered to help.

"I'll go to bed if you come to bed," he challenges, suggestive smile in place when she turns to look at him.

"Oh, how can I ever resist that smile?" she says in mock sarcasm, throwing a pair of boxers at him that somehow made their way into the baby's basket.

"You can't," he says, not bothering to hide his cockiness.

"You know, that's not a very good quality," she murmurs, her lips now inches away from his.

"Yet you still seem to love me," he murmurs back, pressing his roughly onto hers, because it seems that now a days they hardly have time for kissing.

After a few moments, she pulls away breathlessly. "Not in the baby's room," she sighs, pressing her forehead against his.

He nods knowingly, leading her through the hallway and into their bedroom.

They're too tired to have sex, and even if they weren't, they still can't for another four weeks. They've come close a few times, because her hormones still seem to get the better part of her, but he's too afraid of hurting her, even if it means going another night without being able to make love to her.

As hard as it is, he knows that he's gone longer with out her. And when he thinks of those years, he feels that familiar sadness creep inside, but he pushes it aside. Their life is perfect now, and even though all they've gone through, they're still together and going strong.

You're still the one I kiss good night

-X-

Yes, I know this update was basically completely centered around the baby, but I thought it needed to be considering all they've gone through.

If you guys fill my in-box with tons of reviews like with the last chapter, I'll update again this week, so press that button and tell me what you thought/want next. And if you still feel like reading after you finish this, go check the new stories I've added. Thank youuuuu.