Hanging On

All previous disclaimers apply.

“You’re asleep on your feet, babe,” Chad smiled as he turned to Ryan, who was leaning against a wall, and ran a hand over his smooth blonde hair, for once without a hat to cover it because he was holding it in his hands. He pressed a kiss gently to the back of Ryan’s neck and chuckled lightly when Ryan just made a sound not unlike a purr from the back of his throat.

“It is almost four o’clock in the morning,” Ryan pointed out without opening his eyes, but leaning into Chad when he moved so that he could take Ryan in his arms. He sighed into Chad’s strong embrace and laid his head against Chad’s chest, wrapping his arms around his slim waist.

“I can take you home if you want,” Chad offered, closing his own eyes, “Then I can come back, call you when the main event is over.”

“Are you kidding?” Ryan sighed again, more asleep than awake, “You couldn’t pry me away.”

“Are you kidding?” Chad laughed out loud this time, “A stiff wind could blow you over right now, dance boy. Not that it can’t normally.”

“Are we getting into my weight again?” Ryan giggled, “I thought we agreed, on penalty of no sex, not to talk about it anymore.”

“No, we’re not getting into your weight,” Chad argued with Ryan good-naturedly.

They’d been at the hospital for close to eight hours already, having gotten there just after they received the text that Emily had gone into labor. They had quickly realized that labor, having babies, waiting for them to be born, was not at all like the movies. It took a long time and it was kind of a relief that when they had gotten there the contractions had hurt, but not so bad that Emily was screaming or cursing or hitting like they had been fearing for the past couple of weeks. It was even more of a relief to both of them when they learned that they weren’t expected to be in the delivery room. Only Darrick and Ayana would be there for that. Until things started to get intense they only had one assignment, make sure Emily was calm and happy and keep her mind off of the pain. They took turns with Carmen, Ayana, Darrick, and Paul walking with her up and down the hallways when she felt like walking and went to buy flowers to make the bright, airy, already comfortable birthing room feel better for Emily when she insisted that she needed something living in the room with her. Chad had braided her hair, inexpertly, but it was a worthy effort, when she had asked him to do so while Ayana and Carmen massaged her feet. They played music, a couple of CDs Ryan had put together for her, and she had laughed, making them all sigh in relief, when Ryan had forced Darrick into an impromptu waltz around the room that carried into the hallway, getting more silly each time they passed the door. The waltz had continued until a nurse had scolded them good naturedly about a hospital not being a dance hall. Emily had laughed even harder when her husband and her little brother’s boyfriend had come back into the room, looking completely unrepentant. It had carried on like that for nearly six hours before things had started to get really intense and the cursing and the hitting had started. They’d both been surprised to see sweet, even tempered Emily taking swings at Darrick and cursing at him in at least three different languages. It was at that point that Ayana had gently shooed them, and Paul, out of the room, with promises that Carmen would be out when Emily was moved into the delivery room. More importantly, though she didn’t tell them, they would be out of the way.

As they were walking to the waiting room the elevator had opened to reveal Jamal and Hazel. After quick greetings and explanations Hazel had run into the room pulling Jamal behind her. Just a few minutes after Jamal had come back out of the room and joined them in the waiting room, pulling out a deck of cards and asking the three of them if they wanted to play poker. After a couple of hands the game had devolved into tossing the deck into Ryan’s hat one by one from across the waiting room. That had gotten old much more quickly than poker and, to keep themselves from being too nervous, Ryan and Chad had gone to raid the twenty-four hour cafeteria for all of them.

Now, almost two hours of waiting room coffee and surprisingly decent sandwiches, card games and catnaps later they were still waiting, but excited. They were having a baby tonight! Or this morning. It didn’t really matter. It was very much like it had been when Carmen had gone into labor. For them, babies were a family celebration and none of them would have missed it for the world. Chad knew that Ryan meant it when he said that he wouldn’t have been pried away and it made him feel so good knowing that Ryan had really begun to think of himself as a member of the family. They all already considered him a member of their clan, but Ryan’s family was much more reserved than his own. He had worried, for a time, that Ryan wouldn’t be able to get used to the level of physical affection and nosiness his family brought to every single aspect of their lives. But, he realized now that he needn’t have worried at all. Ryan had acclimated to them as if he had always been with them. And they had acclimated to him as well. They loved him almost as much as Chad loved him.

“Where are Bri and Jackson again?” Ryan murmured, referring to Carmen and Paul’s kids.

“They’re with Car and Paul’s neighbors,” Chad murmured into his hair, feeling so calm just holding Ryan. He had been worried that being at the hospital again would bring back bad memories for both of them, but so far the joy of new life had eclipsed anything dark from their minds, “They’ll be here tomorrow after school lets out, I’m sure.”

“School,” Ryan moaned, burying his face in Chad’s neck.

“I’m sure our parents will excuse us,” Chad assured him, “Want to spend the day with me? We can watch a movie, nap on the couch, do…other things.”

“Sounds great,” Ryan whispered, “Sleep sounds great.”

Chad picked Ryan up gently and walked over to the chairs, sitting in one and cradeling Ryan to him, allowing himself a little bit of a catnap at the same time. It might have been ten seconds or ten minutes later when he came back to full wakefulness to see Hazel crouching down in front of them.

“You guys are so sweet it’s sick,” She rolled her eyes at him. He stuck out his tongue at her and grinned when she snapped her teeth at him.

“What’s up?” He asked.

“They’re going to move Emily into a delivery room in a couple of minutes so it shouldn’t be long now. You might want to wake Ryan up and take him for a short walk outside or something. You know he’ll never forgive you if he’s half asleep the first time he sees the baby.”

“How is Emily?” Chad asked as he stretched as best he could.

“She’s a Spartan,” Hazel grinned, “She’s good.”

“Carmen waking Paul up?”

“Yeah. I gotta go wake up Jamal now. Wake up your boyfriend, little brother.”

“Yeah yeah.”

When Hazel left Chad began the task of waking up Ryan, not easy on a normal day. He shook him a little, called his name, and when that didn’t work, began to kiss him. When he felt Ryan beginning to stir he deepened the kiss, moaning from the back of his throat when Ryan buried his fingers in his hair and tugged gently.

“Hi,” Ryan whispered when Chad pulled back and set his forehead to Chad’s.

“Hi,” Chad whispered back, “Want to walk? Wake up a little? Won’t be long now.”

“Yeah.”

When Chad and Ryan came back ten minutes later Carmen could only roll her eyes at their flushed cheeks and mussed clothes and hair from her position tucked into Paul’s arms. It was obvious what the walk Hazel had suggested they go on had entailed. She couldn’t help but smile though, even as she was rolling her eyes, at the way they stood so close, almost linked at the hip and the way their fingers were entwined. Maybe she was just a little sentimental because they were just waiting to see a new life to the world and she was carrying her third in her womb herself- something she hadn’t yet revealed to anyone else- but it brought a tear to her eye to see her little brother so in love with a boy who complimented him so well. They were so different, but she could already tell that Chad had given away his heart for life. It was wonderful to see and she couldn’t help but feel weepy. She wondered how it made their mother feel, but decided she’d have to ask later when Ayana walked down the hall, wiping tears from her eyes. But, she was smiling, so they didn’t worry. It was a little akin to a stampede as the six of them ran to her.

“How are they, Mama?” Carmen asked.

“What’s the name?” Chad asked at the same time.

“How’s Darrick?” Jamal wanted to know.

“Is the baby healthy?” Ryan questioned.

“It’s a girl, isn’t it?” Hazel asked.

“Is it a boy?” Paul asked, earning a glare from Hazel.

“Calm down,” Ayana laughed at them, then, with a practiced ease from having four children, answered all of the questions in quick succession, “They’re all wonderful. Darrick and Emily have decided to name the baby Sage. Darrick’s doing just fine. The baby is perfect, Ryan. No, Hazel, you have a nephew and yes, Paul, it’s a boy. And you’ll all get to meet him right now. Come into the room and kiss Emily, Darrick, and our new baby goodnight. We’ll see them more tomorrow.”

Ryan held onto Chad’s arm tight as they walked into the room and fought not to squeal at the cute picture the new family made on the hospital bed. He didn’t understand how Emily could look so wonderful after having just given birth. She must have scrubbed her face and brushed her hair because her cheeks were pleasantly pink and not a strand of her dark hair was out place in the braid she wore it in. Darrick was sitting next to her on the bed, looking more exhausted that her, his arms around her helping her to support their new baby. At first all they could see was a shock of dark hair.

“Ten fingers, ten toes,” Emily said quietly as they approached, “His father’s hair.”

“And his mother’s nose,” Darrick finished, “His name is Sage.”

Chad and Ryan quietly waited their turn to say goodnight. After Chad had kissed Emily, hugged his brother and cupped the new baby’s head gently he went to say goodnight to his mother, leaving Ryan to say goodnight to the new family.

“His name is Sage Evan Danforth, Ryan,” Emily said quietly.

“I…” Ryan felt himself tearing up and tried to speak around the lump of emotion in his throat, “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything, buddy,” Darrick squeezed his shoulder gently, “We just wanted you to know how much we appreciate you bringing Chad to life, and how much this family loves you. You’re a member of the Danforth clan now, whether you like it or not. Even if something should happen between you and Chad…”

“Not that we think it will,” Emily put in.

“You’re still part of our family. We love you, bud.”

“I love you, too.”

“Now go get some sleep,” Emily murmured, setting a hand to his cheek, “You look about as tired as I feel.”

“Yeah, okay. I really do love you guys.”

“We know, Ryan,” Darrick smiled and pulled him into a one armed hug, “Thanks for being here tonight.”

Ryan fell asleep in Chad’s truck on the way to the house, and didn’t wake until Chad was climbing into the bed behind him to hold him close.

“Where are we?” Ryan mumbled.

“My place. We’ll sleep for a bit and go to school later if we feel up to it.”

“Couldn’t we just stay home and watch a movie or something?” Ryan moaned, “Sage, the most perfect baby in the world, was born last night. Let’s celebrate by letting ourselves be lazy.”

“No dance classes today?” Ryan could almost feel Chad’s eyebrow raise. He rolled over in Chad’s strong embrace and kissed his neck sensually, making him moan.

“Not today.” He knew his voice was husky with both sleep and desire and could only sigh in happiness when Chad rolled on top of him.

“If we start it can you finish it, babe?” Chad asked.

“I believe, Mr. Danforth, that I should take that as a challenge.”

And Chad laughed, “I believe, Mr. Evans, that you should.”

A/N: Please, PLEASE leave a review if you have a moment. I would really appreciate it.