happy thanksgiving

[notsocommon]

Thanksgiving was not a holiday that Helen really celebrated outside of food and drink with close friends and this year, she'd been with just Will when the labor pains had started up in earnest. She'd ignored them for a while, considering it was common enough this late in pregnancy to have some false labor but when the pain seemed to get sharp and real and the contractions worryingly close, she and Will made the trek to the clinic and luckily found Dr. McCoy, who was happy enough to deliver a baby (for a given description of happy, anyway).

It was only after the hard part was done (and they'd both slept a handful of hours, to boot) that she felt comfortable enough sending Will out to tell everyone the baby had come and felt up to entertaining company.

[[OOC: This is timed anywhere from morning to afternoon on November 23rd in the clinic.]]

Comments

[thedevamper]

"And he wants to be an engineer, he wants to work with physics and electricity don't you Gregory?" Nikola said, looking at Gregory fairly adoringly. Not that he liked the child, of course not. Ridiculous notion. "It's strange to think of them, my parents. I left them so long ago, before Oxford, before everything."

[sunburned]

"It's kind of you," he said, leaning back in the chair a little bit, the baby against his chest. "I don't imagine that me and Laurence would have had a chance at anything back home, either. I'm glad of it."

[notsocommon]

"And now you are. And in a place that's relatively safe, Halloween notwithstanding," Helen said, smiling a bit. She finger-combed her hair, wincing when she found a knot.

"I'm trying to decide how I managed to muss my hair this badly just laying in a bed. It appears to be a talent of mine."

[notsocommon]

"I don't even remember my mother," Helen agreed. "She seems so far away, two or three lives ago. Gregory, I hope, won't have such a burden to bear. No, my darling will be completely human."

Of that, Helen was infinitely grateful.

[notsocommon]

Helen gently handed him the baby, pleased that Gregory seemed to endure the transfer without any crying or fussing. Good, sweet boy.

"Just be sure to support his head and neck?"

[genetic_deadend]

"Yeah, you know, they look tiny until you realize the size of the opening they came through." Leah winced visibly. Suddenly she wasn't quite so bummed out that she wasn't a viable baby incubator. She'd just pour her maternal feelings out on Seth and on other people's kids, like little big head here. And the nieces and nephews she'd probably have some day.

Yep, sounded like a solid plan to her.

[haolehothead]

"You know, as much as I don't want that much of an age difference between kids, I..." he trails off, clearing his throat because he doesn't know that he can talk about this with the wound in his torso still stinging so badly and Esther's presence still giving him nightmares. "I don't know, I'd do it, but it'd be hard."

[thedevamper]

"Of course he will," Nikola said in a placating tone, his lips twitching a little as he considered his godchild. Nikola had far greater plans for Gregory than mere mortality. Completely human, ha not if he had his way. "But if he were to become immortal for whatever reason then he would never forget you not even after ten lifetimes."

[not_so_smooth]

"Right, right, head and neck," Sam said, carefully cradling the baby in his arms. Fortunately, it seemed like every television show and movie that showed someone holding a baby showed at least a semi-correct way of doing it.

"Wow, he's really light, he hardly weighs anything at all."

[notsocommon]

Helen arched a brow. "Considering he's born of a human father and a mother whose immortality is rendered moot by a magical island, I don't think I'm going to be passing anything on to Gregory. Besides, Ashley was normal until they started tampering with her genetics and she was born of John and I. Gregory is going to be perfectly mundane and wonderful because of it."

[notsocommon]

"I think anyone who knows you know that you would do anything necessary, Danny. As it is, I hope it isn't an issue that comes up for you any time soon. Gregory will be glad to have an uncle, as it is."

Helen smiled, somewhat soft. "And if it makes you uncomfortable, I take no offense in you keeping your distance. You just went through a horrible thing."

[notsocommon]

Helen laughed loud enough to startle Gregory, who blinked a bit in surprise and started to fuss. Oh, lovely. Helen cooed a bit to help calm him.

"There, there. Mummy didn't mean to frighten you because she was laughing. You just have a very big head, little darling."

[notsocommon]

"It seems that way now," Helen said dryly. "Not so much a few days ago when he was still pressing against my bladder. Still, he's a good weight and a good length. I'm quite pleased with him."

She'd have been pleased no matter what but it comforted her that Gregory seemed to be the picture of health.

[sunburned]

"Halloween notwithstanding. I don't think for a second that Laurence would stand that kind of nonsense twice, either."

He looked up at her, head tilted slightly to one side. "You look beautiful to me," he said, without a trace of guile.

[thedevamper]

"Of course he will be," Nikola replied in a tone that said he entirely doubted the truth of what he said. Nikola fully intended to give his godchild the best in life and the best meant immortality. "I love how you say that like it's a good thing."

[submitwithwill]

"Perhaps you are a braver woman than I to risk such things." I would not mention it, but the... impermanence of this place gave me concern as well. I was caught between two conflicting desires, the need to return to my beloved home, to Imriel, Joscelin and Hyacinthe's freedom and yet... I had friends here. Greg, Nick, Esca, Marie, and me dearest Imriel.

[not_so_smooth]

"Yeah, he's really healthy looking," Sam said. He'd been looking up on infant care and things like that in all the medical textbooks and notes that he had. While he doubted he'd ever want to become a neonatal specialist, it was important to know on a place like the island.

"Best looking baby on the island, aren't you little guy?"

[haolehothead]

"I'm already Uncle Danny to half the island, what's one more?" he jokes softly, grateful for every time that he gets to imagine hearing that name. "Besides, I got three sisters and a brother back home. I miss hearing 'Uncle Danny', I really do."

[genetic_deadend]

Leah had to press a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing herself at Helen's maternal soothing techniques. "I can scoot, if you guys need some alone time," she assured her. "Or a nap."

[notsocommon]

"Perhaps I am. You know, when I was coming up in my own era, I wanted nothing to do with love or romance or having babies. It was only when I met John that those things seemed possible and then my heart got broken and I was hardened again. I've changed so much," Helen said, shaking her head at the incredulity of it.

"And now the island's let me start over entirely."

[notsocommon]

"Oh, Granby. You are actually perfect," Helen said, beaming at him. "You always know exactly what to say. I think your Laurence is very lucky indeed to have you and there's no need for you to be modest in that regard."

Helen tilted her head a bit, assessing him, and laughed. "Ah, but I suppose your modesty is your best quality, isn't it?"

[notsocommon]

"Because it is, Nikola," Helen said, warning creeping into her voice. "You are not experimenting on my child. I won't have it, ever, and if you think about it for more than five seconds I will have you flayed. Painfully slowly. While you're still alive."

Helen pursed her lips a bit. "Consider that, then?"

[notsocommon]

"Well, that's what Gregory shall call you," Helen said, already decided upon the matter.

"And I'm certain you and Will are going to have the time of your lives trying to teach this child baseball. Did you know Will's already picked out little baseball outfits for him to wear? Before he was born, even. It's ridiculous and adorable at the same time."

[notsocommon]

"I think we'll be all right. He seems to be a relatively calm one, as far as babies go. It's a blessing."

Then again, he'd only just been born and had slept too much to have time to be awake and get fussy. Hmm.

[notsocommon]

"I thought so, but I'm also quite biased on the matter," Helen said, smiling a bit at the compliment. He was a handsome little thing, her Gregory, and she thought she and Will had done well. Not that they'd really had much active choice in the process.

"I hope he grows up here and has a long, kind life. Life was hard on Will and I before we came to this island."