Alternate Beginning- Grimmjow Doesn't Remember

This one is a simple enough premise, this is what may have happened if I set up my world just a little differently. One, Ichigo doesn't have to stay human here, and two Grimmjow completely forgets that the babies could be his. The concept has been dogging me and I needed a distraction so here it is.

I'm aware that I'm playing fast and loose with even my own story canon, but really these Alternate Beginnings are exactly that. Me messing around with the set up because one thing I am proud of is my world building -I may or may not have been solely world building a book series since roughly 2006 including several new species and two languages- so call it practice if you want, but it's fun breaking your own rules sometimes.

Fair warning this chapter is a collaboration between myself and bourbon, written while I was depressed. My father died last week from a brain tumor and I needed to escape from reality. So while I've had several years of writing practice between the first chapter and this one, I can't guarantee the quality will be as good as I can make it. For anyone concerned I am well above the legal drinking age (nearly 29) and I'm keeping myself safe.

A-B

Grimmjow was out hunting. He was restless and irritated tonight so was loping along much farther from Las Noches than he would normally travel, almost into the menos forest at this point.

The sand was gritty under his paws, the air barren of anything but moonlight and rock. He'd brought out Pantera just because it had been far too long since he was himself. It was freeing, but at the same time anything that might have been prey fled from his presence, leaving the moonlit land deserted.

Scratch that, only mostly deserted. The air currents brought a wave of intensely powerful spirit pressure to his senses. It was vaguely familiar, but ever since Aizen stuck his Zanpakuto into things it felt like his memories had gone into a blender. He couldn't place it, but he did follow it out of pure whim. Whoever was out there was on par with Starrk and it was rare enough stumbling over a Vasto Lorde to be worth checking out.

He felt justified in his snooping when the closer he got the more obvious it was that whoever was out there was under a huge amount of strain. They felt downright panicked. It didn't help that as he ran he began to feel other threads of power hidden beneath the injured Vasto Lorde.

Very few things out in this desert could kill a Vasto Lorde, mostly it was another Vasto Lorde, and due to their incredible strength they all tended to avoid each other until they wanted a mate. It was an unspoken agreement among the ultra-powerful to steer away from potentially world shattering conflicts.

Grimmjow only felt one Vasto Lorde out there, so either the other was dead in a mating battle gone wrong or there was another reason for this one's terror.

There was one more thing that could make a Vasto Lorde vulnerable enough to challenge. Just one. And the realization had Grimmjow pushing his body even faster across the sand. If that strain wasn't fallout from a bad mating it was the opposite, a Beta in labor.

He knew he was close when he spotted a veritable hoard of Hollows following the same trail he was. His claws met flesh in a vicious tirade, cries of death and challenges distracting the hoard from their prey as he cut a path to the laboring Beta.

He spotted him at the center of the group, and he was eye-catching indeed. Pristine white armor decorated with smooth black lines, two deadly horns, and a long fall of orange hair. The color alone was enough to slice into Grimmjow's fractured memories, he should know this Beta, but it was so fuzzy and indistinct the full memory wouldn't come.

He didn't have time to try and remember more. He had assumed he would find a pregnant Beta here, and he hadn't been wrong. The white armor of the Vasto Lorde's abdomen stretched round and firm around his litter, his belly big enough there almost had to be more than one, visibly breathing in heavy pants. The Beta stood oddly, his legs widely spread to straddle across the sand and looking to Grimmjow like he was actively trying to deliver the first one.

The Alpha was proven right when he howled out a challenge in a rumbling roar directed at the still circling Hollows. The Beta almost instantly called out in a pain, the scream strained with effort, and the scent of amniotic fluid hit his sensitive nose. He knew that combination of sound and smell well, he was right, the beta was giving birth. Now.

XXXXXXXX Ichigo's Perspective XXXXXXXXXX

His labor had been long and painful. After nearly twenty-four hours of increasingly relentless pain Ichigo could not hide his power any longer. It burst out of him in a bright flare during the harshest contraction yet, his voice joining the surge with a quickly stifled cry of pain.

No matter what he tried after that his spirit pressure rose and fell with each pain, sending up a giant signpost that there was a vulnerable Beta here, easy pickings. Ichigo was just glad that Shiro and him had mutually decided to stay in Vasto Lorde form for the birth, their conjoined body much stronger than either of their forms alone.

He wasn't without defenses, and he killed dozens of Hollows with his Cero alone, enough that they become cautious in their approach. Not enough he felt any sense of safety, for good reason. He was getting increasingly distracted by labor, his children were being stubborn and just wouldn't come, hour after hour of pain and still no baby.

He was out on open ground and had been trying to move as much as he could to make it harder to track him, but now the babies had sunk low in his sore belly and there was a solid heavy weight growing more prominent between his legs. Contractions came and went with overwhelming force, and finally the urge to bear down with them was strong enough he stopped his meager attempts at running. Only it wasn't hard to guess the scavengers were waiting for him to drop to the ground, thinking in the middle of delivery would be the best time to attack and he would have to give up sometime. He would not give them the satisfaction, he was determined to deliver while standing up ready to defend the babies as they came.

He stood his ground, spreading his legs and planting his feet firmly, flexing his thighs and bending his knees out, straddling the sand as much as he could while staying upright. The pressure between his legs grew when his first baby descended with the aid of extra room and a powerful contraction. He couldn't resist a little cry of triumph at the feeling of any kind of progress.

It was all he could do to fend off scavenging Hollows when he started pushing, finally feeling like it might do something. He harbored an insane hope the Hollows around them would get bored or kill each other off and leave him alone to give birth.

His efforts were dauntingly difficult, especially with the necessary distraction of watching for attackers instead of having all his attention focused on delivering. The baby was getting closer now, but he still had so little to show for his efforts he was getting afraid that the gathering Hollows would overwhelm him before he could get the baby out.

The growing number of Hollows waiting for an opportunity to get to him served as the driving force behind his fear, which only rose exponentially when his attention -focusing more and more inward as the baby fought him- was abruptly pulled away. A deep thundering roar shattered the still air, challenge and aggressiveness bleeding through the distinctly Alpha tone.

Ichigo's Beta instincts were heightened with the baby this close and with the first teasing brush of pure Alpha reaching his senses after months of hiding away from anyone who could provide it there was an immediate reaction from his laboring body. His muscles clenched tight in a huge heaving shove, his water breaking and the baby's head crowning in an agonizing burst. Ichigo's breath pulled from him in a strangled scream with the shock and burning pain of the head stretching him.

The force of it all and continued presence of the Alpha triggered a contraction so strong he hadn't even imagined they could be that way. He curled protectively around his heavy belly and bore down strongly, reaching down with one arm to pull his leg back instinctually giving the steadily emerging head more room. He was helpless to do anything but keep pushing, even breathing was secondary to finally giving birth.

The contraction seemed to last forever with his racing thoughts and fear of the powerful Alpha so close to him and his vulnerable children. The contraction left him in a state of frantic panting and fear, and he felt the baby's head as a painful wet bulge between his thighs that he was much too nervous to touch. He didn't need his hands to confirm what he already knew, there was several inches of his baby exposed and there was nothing he could do about it but hope.

The wait between contractions was almost worse than the pain, not knowing if he was about to die or have his baby made catching his breath an even more difficult task. He needed every bit of air too when the next contraction clamped onto him like a vice urging him into pushing again. He could feel the head sliding out eagerly but was still too scared to touch it.

That's when he spotted an incarnation of death approaching through blurry eyes. Pantera stood not two paces away, flecks of blood from his violent entrance speckled on his armor, but the Alpha swimming in left over adrenaline and visceral pride did nothing but stare at him, watching intently as Ichigo struggled and strained with the demanding need to give birth.

Ichigo was shaking when the contraction ended. He didn't know what might provoke the former Espada but the feel of his baby's head protruding from him now awkward and heavy, nearly born. "Stop there!" He ordered before deciding to appeal to the sense of honor he'd seen from Grimmjow before. "Let me have my baby, please, it's coming out." That was all he could say before a contraction overwhelmed him, stealing words and breath, the baby proving his words and slipping out further not caring that they weren't safe.

"I don't kill children, they're safe. It can come." Grimmjow assured from where he was staying back out of the way, but didn't stop watching him with interest. The Beta's spread position with hands now clamped onto either leg to pull them back even wider let the Alpha clearly see the baby's dark head steadily emerging starkly contrasted between white armored thighs, and his gut clenched with the need to mark the unclaimed Beta and arriving litter.

The fact they weren't already claimed raised the question of why such a powerful Beta was abandoned with a litter on the way and hadn't found anyone to shelter him since. "How long has your mate been gone?" He mused, not expecting an answer right away, but the Beta surprised him.

"Months," Ichigo was able to force out between heaving pushes. Realizing but too busy to care that the questions Grimmjow was asking made it sound an awful lot like he didn't recognize him.

"Hard enough having a litter with one, that's way too long to go without. No wonder you reacted to me." Grimmjow realized, tensing in concern when the laboring Beta let out a sudden shriek, but a good look at the baby told him what caused the abrupt yell. "You alright?" He questioned reflexively.

Ichigo's answer surprised him, "Something happened, I don't know what." He admitted hesitantly through heavy breaths.

Grimmjow's head cocked in confusion, not knowing why the Beta couldn't tell, before realizing a possibility. "Is this your first baby?" He received a reluctant nod from Ichigo. "That was its head coming out." He was able to inform before Ichigo was tensing up to push again, "Get ready to catch it, they're usually born quickly once the shoulders are out." He advised.

Ichigo reached down to get his hands positioned carefully around his baby, the need to push making the act difficult but he was rewarded by the feel of its head warm and heavy in his hands; a jolt of pure affection and pride traveled through him, something that didn't go away even as he strained to pass the baby's shoulders. It was agony, they seemed just as stubborn to get out as the baby had been before Grimmjow even showed up. He struggled and pushed, and it was coming but so slowly he cried out in sheer frustration at the end of a particularly rough contraction.

That's when Grimmjow reached out to him. A touch, nothing more than a reassuring brush of fingertips on his thigh, Grimmjow's hand firm and familiar on his over-heated skin. His mere presence had been enough to spur on the baby at the start, now that smallest bit of contact with his Alpha was enough to send Ichigo over the edge, all his muscles clamping down in a powerful push that had the baby steadily pressing out until the shoulders at least came free in a burst of pressure, Ichigo calling out in agonized triumph accompanied the baby slipping out in a painful rush right into his hands. The baby crying before he even had it fully in his arms.

Ichigo immediately brought the loudly wailing infant up to his armored chest, breathing hard, and sinking to the sand with one hip on the ground and the other leg raised and flexed, knee turned out and foot planted in the sand to keep himself spread open in an unspoken show of trust the cocky Alpha gazing on didn't miss.

There were several moments where Ichigo's entire focus was rightly on his newborn, whispering in the baby's ear and inspecting the tiny body all over. Only coming out of the blissful state when the baby had mostly settled down from the birth. He took in the watching Alpha and informed him very cautiously, because the last time Ichigo had seen Grimmjow was when they mated and he left the Alpha bleeding in the sand not sure if he would live. "It's a boy."

Grimmjow didn't respond right away, his piercing gaze locked onto the baby, seeing features intimately familiar to him that he had noticed but thought might have been his imagination tricking him while the Beta gave birth. He shook his head roughly back and forth trying to physically jog his fractured memories, but the unprompted and almost manic movement had Ichigo instinctively curling around his son and trying to scramble together enough power for a cero.

When Grimmjow felt the panicking Vasto Lorde attempting that, he immediately broke himself out of his frustrated attempts to remember and refocused on the present. "Easy, I didn't mean to scare you. It's just I feel like I should know you, but my memory is a mess. A Shinigami was here a while ago that liked fucking with people's heads."

Ichigo wasn't sure how to handle this until he took another long look at his baby, the Alpha staring at the infant in confusion, and knew he couldn't hide this from him. His son was a tiny version of his father, something all the more apparent with the Alpha showing up as Pantera. "You do know me, when you were with Aizen we fought a couple times. The last time didn't exactly end like the others." He worked through the stilted confession slowly, each word carefully considered but he still wasn't convinced he was saying the right thing.

Grimmjow crept a little closer, the confusion still showing on his face, but his forehead furrowed in thought as he took in Beta and baby. The shards of his memory sharp and painful, but the shock of orange hair streaming down the Beta's back added to his voice and determination, coming to poke at the pieces and rail at him for forgetting.

And the baby. That beautiful strong fucking perfect baby cradled protectively by the Beta was the breaking point, because damn it the newborn looked just like him. He swallowed heavily before reaching out a hand and brushing a single fingertip along blue hair still wet from birth, the Beta tensing up but allowing it, "He's mine, isn't he?" Grimmjow more stated than asked before slowly adding on "Ichigo."

Ichigo was distracted by a fresh pain, panting lightly through it, and just nodded at Grimmjow. When the contraction was over, he elaborated, "Yes and he waited for you. I was trying to get him out but he just wouldn't come. Then I felt you. He crowned on the spot."

Grimmjow's face split open with a wide grin at the confirmation and he laid his hand gently on Ichigo's still swollen belly, a shiver of possessive pride racing through his system when he discovered his earlier observation was right, "There's another baby, isn't there?"

Ichigo took one hand away from his son to put it over the Alpha's keeping it in place, the touch grounding and warm against sore flesh. "Two more." He might have said more, but another contraction washed over him, and he went back to trying to keep his breathing steady through it.

Grimmjow felt the muscles clench under his hand and he tightened his grip on the swell a bit more in physical reassurance. The Beta gasping in surprise but not protesting his support.

When the contraction was over Ichigo was left carefully supporting his son, tucking him into the crook of his arm securely, while gripping at and messaging his lower belly with his free hand. "They really really like you." He confessed, "I can feel the next one, it's getting close." He didn't try to push Grimmjow away, the Alpha resting a hand higher up on his stomach, and settled the other on the inner thigh of his raised leg nudging it further out of the way.

"You said it's been months earlier, but exactly how long have you been alone? Grimmjow worried, stroking a hand down the baby this time for good measure, not taking his other hand away from Ichigo's abdomen. Patiently waiting for his answer while the Beta endured another pain, the contractions closer and stronger than he expected between children, but this litter was apparently starved for Alpha attention and were determined to get at it.

"Five months, before that I had Visoreds with me. They helped, but none of them were you." This admission was quiet and hesitant. Ichigo reflexively cradling his son a little tighter.

"I'm here now, I'd apologize but that doesn't really cut it. If I could go kill Aizen a second time I would." Grimmjow knew no apology would cover this glaring failure and lingering on it would take time they didn't have, shown by the barely minute break between contractions even now.

It was hearing Ichigo letting out a strained groan with a contraction, body bearing down possibly without him even realizing it, that signaled to Grimmjow they had to act fast. "Ichigo, you're pushing, try to hang on a little longer if you can. We need to get the first one taken care of."

The Beta choked out words while his body warred between his need to push and instinct to obey his Alpha. "Take him, I can't." He shakily held out his son, putting all his trust in the Alpha because before he got himself stopped the feel of his newest baby coming down was stalling out, almost like something was in the way and it scared him.

Grimmjow gathered up the offered infant carefully, one slice of a power infused claw had the cord cut and neatly cauterized in the same motion. In his resurrection Grimmjow did not wear clothing, but much like the Shinigami, his uniform was an extension of his power and he could manifest it whenever he wished. He wrapped the baby up in clean white cloth, having no time for more than a cursory few swipes to get off the worst of the mess.

He settled the baby gently on the sand in front of Ichigo's sideways form, keeping him far enough back to be safe but close enough for the Beta's peace of mind.

By then Ichigo had managed to breathe and pant his way without pushing through a contraction, but the pressure between his legs was growing, the blockage moving a bit faster and staying in front of his second baby. He was afraid of what he would find, but questioning fingertips encountered a weird fleshy mass and as soon as he realized his son was safe he was calling out to Grimmjow, "Help me, something's blocking the baby."

The Alpha moved down to get a better look at what was happening, already having a good idea, and saw he was right. "You're okay, it's the remnants from our son. Push it out and the baby will come."

The directions came while Ichigo was fighting the urge to push, afraid of what was happening, but Grimmjow's calm advice had him giving in. He delivered the after birth with one solid steady effort, the release of pressure only temporary as the baby moved to immediately replace it, if anything even more eager than its brother to crown if that was even possible.

Grimmjow hurriedly buried the mess under the sand, thinking the endless desert was good for one thing at least. He focused back on Ichigo when he bore down in a strong heaving push, the baby's head sliding quickly into view, liquid wetting the sand under the delivering Beta. It kept coming and coming, a bright orange splash against trembling white thighs.

Grimmjow's hand came to rest on Ichigo's belly again, the other instinctively reaching out to support the rapidly emerging baby, Ichigo's hands fisted in the sand as he pushed.

When the pain finally relented Grimmjow was supporting most of its head and Ichigo was a panting mess of pain and shock. "Steady Ichigo, catch your breath," He encouraged calmly, "Told you it would come. I know it's fast and it hurts, but you're both okay, just let it out."

Ichigo did his best to let the Alpha's words soothe him, trying to slow his breathing to deep heavy pants, the baby so eager even the force of that without a contraction was enough to nudge it further out and he groaned in surprised pain, off guard when the next contraction slammed into him turning the groan into a scream. His body now well practiced in clenching down in full body pushes practically involuntarily, this being no exception.

There was nothing Grimmjow could do to soothe the Beta with the baby coming so quickly, it bloomed out of Ichigo, head turning smoothly and shoulders coming free so fast even expecting it Grimmjow was barely able to get both hands down to it in time for the slippery little body to land wetly in his arms, crying in disgruntled rage at the indignity of birth.

He held the baby to his own chest checking the infant over until Ichigo had pulled himself together enough to reach for it then immediately placing the newborn in his arms. "This one's a girl." He informed with a grin.

Their daughter's wails woke up their son, and his voice joined hers in protest, Grimmjow scooping him back up for a soothing cuddle. Ichigo bonding with their second just as he had done with his first, whispering and inspecting her all over, noting how much this one took after himself.

He took a moment to relax with her, not speaking just yet, but when he did it was in admonishment, "Your children are difficult."

It made the Alpha laugh, "I won't say sorry, look at what you've done, they're fucking perfect. First litters are always tricky while you figure everything out."

"Still fucking hurts," Ichigo countered, hand coming up to cup his daughter's head as she nuzzled into his chest. "They are pretty perfect though." He agreed.

"And determined, we shouldn't wait to get her ready. Let's not make that mistake twice." Grimmjow advised.

"I saw you cut his cord, can you do that for her?" Ichigo requested, shifting a little more upright so the Alpha could reach him easier and still keep a good hold on their boy. Grimmjow using the same delicate precision as for their son.

He couldn't manifest more clothing, that's not how it worked, so he settled for laying their boy down again and wrapping her up with him, they would keep each other calm and warm. "There, safe and warm, they'll be okay while we concentrate on the last one."

Ichigo was inspecting his abdomen with his hands, continuing contractions and his sore flesh making it difficult, but the baby felt low and ready; the weight in his pelvis agreeing with that assessment. "I don't think it's going to wait long." He guessed when the newest contraction passed, feeling pressure building.

Ichigo was still sitting mostly upright, leaning heavily on one side with legs spread wide when Grimmjow came up between his thighs, manually pushing them further apart than he could get by himself. He watched Ichigo's muscles clenching down again and got an idea. "Go ahead and push Ichigo, that'll get the remnants out of the baby's way."

Ichigo nodded and obeyed, shuddering at the truly weird feeling of getting rid of the aftermath. Once again Grimmjow hurriedly buried the evidence, coming back to his spot and putting his hand back over the much smaller but still firm swell, "How do you feel?"

Ichigo shot him an incredulous glare, too busy dealing with a contraction to dignify that with a response until it was over. "How the fuck do you think I feel? Your baby's trying to escape."

Grimmjow noted that as gruff as Ichigo sounded, he hadn't moved the Alpha's hand away, and was arching his back minutely into the touch, craving it. He rubbed soothing circles into the tender skin feeling the next contraction gripping the muscle, "I'll take that credit, this one's gonna be just as perfect as the others." He praised, hearing the faint moan emitting from Ichigo.

Ichigo suddenly flung his head back, rocking from side to side, his water breaking had him crying out in more fear than pain. Grimmjow still had his hand over Ichigo's belly and could feel him pushing but something was scaring him out of his mind. "Breathe Ichigo!" He snapped with authority, the Beta freezing in his panicked motions, trying to gasp in a breath while his body road out a series of short heaves, urge to push too strong to fight completely. "There you go, easy, calm down." Grimmjow kept encouraging until the pain passed and Ichigo was clutching at his belly frantically. "What's wrong?"

"I can feel it, something's not right." He burst out with his gasping breaths.

"Don't panic," Grimmjow warned, voice steady. "When you pushed did you feel it coming down at all?" Getting stuck and being in a bad position were two different problems, sometimes happening together, but one was much easier to deal with than the other.

Ichigo nodded frantically, wincing as pain washed over him, he could only get out a quick forced answer, "Coming now." His body was pushing in those short bursts again, trying his best to just breathe through it but he was losing the fight. Too tired from such a long labor and two previous deliveries. The baby was determined, bulging his tender skin out despite his best efforts, but it still felt just wrong.

Grimmjow's experience let him know their answer as soon as the first bit of the baby showed itself. The pain retreating in the wake of his discovery, Ichigo asking as soon as he was able, "Is it okay?"

Grimmjow tightened his hand on Ichigo's stomach to once again give reassurance, "The baby's fine for now, but I know why it feels so different. It couldn't get turned around with those two in the way."

"Backwards?" Ichigo's terror growing.

"I told you, don't panic." Grimmjow reminded, though it was pretty futile when Ichigo's body tensed up against a building contraction. "Ichigo, don't try to stop it, go on you've got to push." He coached, Ichigo obeying with a terrified cry.

The good news was this one was as eager as the others, the bad news was it was big and painful to get out. Ichigo calling out in pain with every straining effort, the baby slipping free steadily.

Grimmjow did not touch the baby, just watching the body emerging with the same smooth slide as the second baby, this one a bit slower. In the middle of a contraction, Ichigo reached out instinctively, grabbing at the Alpha's hand on his belly and clung to his arm with both hands. Pulling himself forward and closer to Grimmjow still pushing down.

Grimmjow let Ichigo use him for what he needed and added more contact when he brought his free arm around the Beta's shoulders drawing him close enough their foreheads brushed together. "There you go, let it out. You're doing great." Grimmjow's praise was both soothing and well earned.

Ichigo came out of the contraction listening to the Alpha's voice and shuddered all down his body, first tensing and then relaxing, the words rumbling through him acting like Xanax for his frazzled nerves. The baby's half born body was warm and heavy, and he could finally feel his love instead of sheer terror for the fragile baby. He loosened his grip on Grimmjow's arm, the Alpha able to now slowly and carefully slid his arm under the arriving baby giving it support without pulling or tugging, making a discovery as he did so, "We've got another boy."

Ichigo smiled at the knowledge and the next contraction had him pushing with renewed vigor, relaxed and powerful, his efforts were rewarded with the emergence of the baby's torso and chin, little arms tightly crossed against its chest. He leaned deeper into Grimmjow, careful not to jostle the arm supporting the baby, deliberately pressing them together needing the grounding feeling of him. "He's almost here."

"You want to catch it?" Grimmjow offered.

Ichigo shook his head slowly, "Don't wanna move," Was all he managed to say before falling into a groaning push his face squashed against Grimmjow's broad chest words tumbling out between clenched teeth. "Keep it safe."

Grimmjow was already shifting around, reluctantly taking his arm away from Ichigo's shoulders to bring down to the head pressing out with Ichigo's strong pushing. The feel of a tiny mouth and nose under his fingertips was a huge relief, even if he was startled at the armor also revealing itself to his exploring touch. "He has a mask like you." Grimmjow revealed, feeling the smile growing on Ichigo's face from where he was plastered against him but soon tensing up for another effort. "Go on, one good push and he'll come." Grimmjow encouraged.

Ichigo took it to heart, bearing down in a muscle clenching body sagging push using all the strength he had left. The baby's head slowly creeping free bit by bit until the very end when it came in an abrupt release of pressure and surge of pain.

Nothing but silence, the first two had screamed their heads off as soon as they came, this one was silent for the few heart-stopping moments it took for Grimmjow to quickly settle the baby against Ichigo and alternate between flicking his heel and rubbing the tiny chest, and finally it took a startled inhale and let it out in a piercing cry.

"He's okay, he's okay, he's okay…" Ichigo mumbled the mantra over and over, holding the baby tight and nuzzling into him.

"You did it Ichigo," Grimmjow praised, "And what did I tell you? He's perfect."

Ichigo wrapped his arm snuggly around his new son and took in the sight of the warm bundle containing his first and second born, the babies squirming and beginning to cry at being disturbed by their brother's dramatic entrance. "They all are." He affirmed, letting his eyes close and body relax back against the sand in exhausted bliss. He would need to deal with the final remnants of birth soon, but for now he could just be in the moment and it was one he would never forget.