Jeremy paces back and forth in front of the nursery window at the hospital. He wasn’t allowed in the delivery room; after all, as far as the world knows, he’s not the father. Raine was in there instead, something that neither of them wanted. Chantal’s pregnancy had been difficult toward the end and Jeremy is worried that something might go wrong with the delivery. So he keeps pacing and waiting for Raine to come out and let him know that everything is okay or for his child to appear in the nursery, whichever happens first.

“It’s a boy.”

Raine’s voice is quiet and Jeremy barely hears him. He spins around to face Raine and grabs his hands without thinking.

“Is he okay? Is Chantal okay?”

“Yeah,” Raine answers as he pulls his hands away from Jeremy.

Jeremy stares at Raine for a second. “Thanks, Michael.”

Raine looks away. “Whatever.”

Sighing a little, Jeremy reaches out and brushes his fingers against Raine’s inner forearm. “Michael…”

“Don’t,” Raine snaps as he steps back out of Jeremy’s reach.

Jeremy flinches a little and looks away toward the nursery. He sees a baby wrapped in a blue blanket being brought into the room and he glances back toward Raine before walking to the window. The nurse sets the baby down in a basinet toward the front of the room with a label that says “Maida.” Jeremy stares down at the baby in wonder. That’s his son. Everything else seems to just fade into the background. That tiny baby is his son and he has to take care of him. Nothing else matters.

“That’s my son,” Jeremy says quietly, almost to himself, with awe in his voice. “He’s beautiful.”

“Yeah.”

Jeremy reluctantly turns his head toward Raine. Raine’s expression would be unreadable to anyone else, but Jeremy knows him too well not to see past the mask. It’s obvious to Jeremy that Raine is torn between something and anger. What the other emotion is, Jeremy can’t guess, so he says nothing and turns back toward the basinet. When he hears Raine walking away, he doesn’t even bother to hold back a sigh.