Chapter 106 Baby Hunter's first meeting with her family
106\. Baby Hunter's first meeting with her family
A slow wind whipped their faces as they stared at the front listening to the loud cries of a new born baby. They could hear Aura filling her lungs full of oxygen as Celine squealed in joy.
The distinct cry of a baby traveled down the hallway making them gasp. Being startled they stared at each other.
His father and Damien collapsed on the bench, unable to hold themselves. "I-is it… is it…" Mr. Hunter fumbled to complete his sentence.
Damien on the other hand bit back a cry as he smiled happily. He was about to confirm his father's doubts but the thuddings of loud footsteps caught his ears. He swirled around to find his mother running crazily towards him with tearful eyes.
"Oh Damien, oh Damien, oh Damien," His mother sang and settled on the bench next to him.
She squeezed him in a drawn hug by the neck and hollered. Her excitement was enough to convey that she was feeling on top of the world.
"It's a beautiful girl, Damien. You've fathered a lovely princess. Oh, I can't express how happy I am. I hope I don't die." Her words made everyone come out of their trances and compose themselves.
Brian hugged Oscar as they were standing beside each other. Then they ran to Madam Martha. She was in a distant corner crying to herself. They kissed her cheek and sang the same thing Damien's mother said.
My daughter? I… I have a daughter. I can't believe my ears. He pondered.
"I want to see her, mom. Can I go inside?" He desperately stared ahead of him at the door of the birthing centre.
He was sitting on the very edge, holding his heart. Just like his mother, Damien hoped he wouldn't pass out from the news. He can hear his daughter cry and it felt as if she was calling for her papa. He so wanted to go inside and hold her in his arms.
He longingly peered at his father, "Why don't you ask the nurse, dad?" His father had been motionless ever since but Damien's words made him flex his strained muscles and reply, "You are the alpha, you can ask."
He didn't really know what he was saying. The feeling of having a grandchild had blocked his abilities to think and react. Mr. Hunter was soaring between various emotions.
He was a grandfather now. A new cub in the Hunter family has taken birth. A new generation. He was as eager as Damien for the baby but his body was too numb to react. He was actually thrilled… and scared in a good way.
"I can go and ask the nurse if you want." Brian joined them with Madam Martha and Oscar.
He paced back and forth across the door of the birthing centre as if he was the father. His curiosity made a cry rip out of their throats free and combine together. Damien cackled harder as he noticed a cold sweat blanketing his face as his beta bit his teeth.
"I want to see the baby, Damien Hunter. Do something or I am storming inside that room." Brian stopped pacing, clawed his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh of restlessness.
Before any of them did anything, the door behind Brian cracked open and stepped out a masked doctor holding Damien's bundle of joy wrapped in a soft blanket.
"No one needs to do anything, beta Brian." A voice spoke and they all fixated their gazes on the owner. "Your baby is here, Alpha Damien."
The doctor referred the sobbing baby in her arms. She was still crying.
"Oh goodness," Brian snatched her from the doctor's hand and gasped.
The others quickly ran towards him and stared at the vulnerable baby weeping helplessly in his hands. She was so small. So delicate. So cute. So unreal.
Shock swept over Damien. He froze a few steps away from the others while acknowledging the resemblance his little one beheld. Her eyes were shut and that mole near her left eye made him lose his control and cry.
"She's so pretty," Oscar commented.
"She's so tiny. Look at how she fits in my hands." Brian pecked her little nose.
"Oh no," The others panicked for Brian's kiss made the baby take a long breath before she burst into big fat tears, her eyes squeezing painfully.
A tsunami of enrage washed over Damien. He glared at his flushed beta who obviously didn't intend to make the baby cry.
His golden eyes drenched him in fear like no other that Brian quickly transferred the baby in Mr. Hunter's hands and hid behind the crowd of the women.
"Errr, you are making her cry, Jacob. For god's sake," Celine gave her ex-husband a smoldering stare as if it was him who made the baby cry.
He rocked her in his arms to stop her cries but she ended up screaming louder. Damien shook in anger as he watched between her little bundled daughter and his father. He's not even seen her properly let alone touch her and they were making his poor baby cry.
She just entered the world and the tears her small eyes leaked seemed more than the water in the ocean. The Alpha Papa let out a choked heave and took his baby in his rightful custody.
"Have you ever seen a baby in your entire life?" The bridled anger in his voice amazed Brian and Mr. Hunter.
Though Brian chose to be quiet as he never held a baby before, Damien's father tilted his head with a 'You didn't born out of a rock' look. With intensifying eyes he stared at the reddening face of the baby. A smirk uplifted his mouth but he remained mute.
Give me thirty seconds, Damien Hunter, and then I will tell you how many babies I have seen all my life. He thought as he watched Damien hug his daughter to his chest.
Shock flew through everyone on realization that the baby stopped weeping in Damien's arm. He smiled at his daughter while mocking the men hoarsely, "Look, this is how you hold a baby and this is how you kiss her." He demonstrated by dropping a small kiss on her forehead.
"She's got my eyes." Everyone looked down at the tiny infant in his arms.
She was red-faced and tranquil with a shock of black hair and a mouth testing the air. Her lips like the cupid's bow. She got her eyes from her father and that habit of stuttering her lashes innocently from her mother. She was so tiny, so very fragile that she could be stared at all day long.
Pride pumped Damien's chest and he began to wink at her. With a tangle of emotions inside him, he raised the baby's head near his face and touched his cheek with her soft one.
Nevertheless, the baby whirred due to his barely visible but poking stubble and then croaked with full energy, turning into a screeching mess.
"Oh my," Mr. Hunter smirked, witnessing Damien try to calm the infant down.
He walked closer to his son and returned his mockery, "Damien Hunter, did you ever hold a baby before? Look, you freaked her out. Go and learn about how to handle a baby and what are the do's and don'ts to follow!"
Her cries became louder thus distressing Damien. His brow sheened with sweat, his forehead creasing with deep lines of worry while the lips that had been beaming arrogantly pursed together in a thin line.
He knew nothing about babies but he was hopeful he would be able to handle his own flesh. But his daughter was a miracle herself. She decided to surprise him like everyone else.
"Mom," He looked after his mother for aid. "W-what do I do, mom?" He can't withstand his infant crying.
"Give her to me," She said and took her in her arms.
She finally relaxed as her grandma hummed near her ear and smiled at her. The baby was totally red now and her eyes gleamed with fresh tears, making her look more cute and lovelier.
Damien's head sagged in relief, tension drained out from his bones and the baby chose that moment to smile.
"Look, she's smiling. Awww, she's smiling." He cried joyfully. The others joined him with their cries and bright eyes.
"My turn now," Madam Martha finally broke her mute and frenziedly procured that little bundle of joy in her tremulous hands from her grandmother.
"Hey, darling," As Madam Martha started speaking with her, she squirmed happily.
"Look at that?!" Everyone was in a state of aghast observing the baby respond to Madam Martha with smiles.
Mine. Damien thought with a surge of pride. The baby and Aura. Both mine.
Her skin was so fragile and soft. Her tiny fisted hands peeked out of the towel. Madam Martha had no words to express her feelings at that moment whereas Damien watched everyone shower his baby girl with priceless grins and ebullience.
"You look so happy now. Oh, why won't you be? You are born in the biggest family in the country. Your father is an alpha. You Mama is a beauty queen. Your grandparents are known for their business. You are a lucky little princess. Oh dear, you make me want to jump out of the window and die from triumph."
"Please don't do that with the baby in your hand as I have not even seen her yet. You can first give her to me." They looked around for Ginny and Rosario as the came sprinting towards them hastily.
"Oh baby, she's going to be as sassy as me. We'll make you a model." Ginny sought to transfer the baby in her hands but before she did so, Damien's daughter whimpered.
"She doesn't like you and doesn't want to come to you." Brian stuck his tongue out at her.
She let her be in Madam Martha's arms and pouted sadly while Rosario hoped to try his luck.
"Nah, she's gonna be famous entrepreneur like her uncle. Yes, baby?" But then he let her be in the arms of her godmother as he admired the baby.
While everyone was occupied by the baby, Damien's mind drifted away to Aura. He silently divided himself from the crowd and slipped into the birthing room.
His heart sank as he found her in the bed with eyes closed. The nurses were cleaning her and preparing to shift her to another room. He gestured to them to continue with their work as he leaned across a wall and fixed his eyes with his Aura's red and sweaty semblance.
She seemed to be fast asleep, but as a nurse took her hand to put some kind of tag around her wrist her eyes fluttered open.
"Damien," Her voice was hoarse and weak, but his name on her lips was his favorite.
"Shh, don't speak." He pressed a finger on his lips, asking her to shush down.
"I want you here with me." She whispered in a low voice.
"I will be there with you soon. But first let the nurses do their job, baby." Aura was too weak to reply.
She closed her eyes again not before warning him to not leave her alone here. He was not going anywhere. He would never. Damien waited for nurses to accomplish their job and when they shifted Aurora to a comfortable vip ward from a private route other than the one he entered through, he settled in a stool whilst taking her hand.
He was careful not to knock the cannula anchoring her drop. He placed several kisses on her fingers and below the puncture on the back of her palm, making her smile amidst her closed eyes.
She was not asleep or feeling like it. It was just that her body was too worn out. She wanted to snap up this moment in her memory but her eyes could not keep up with the excitement of her heart. She was tired and as much as she hoped she could look him in the eye and communicate her raw emotions, she was vulnerable. So vulnerable that she can't even cry with an open mouth but only muffle.
"Aura, you're crying." he said. "Is it hurting somewhere? Should I call the doctors for you?"
He was about to get up but she interlaced their fingers and whispered, "I love you."
"I love you too, love." He leaned on her, hugging her weak body.
"Thank you for granting my wish, love. It's a daughter. My daughter. I can't thank you enough, Aura." Alpha Damien said.
She breathed his cologne and sighed. Aura lifted her weak hands to place them on his back. He was her powerhouse. This would not have been possible without him. Only because he had been here with her all this time, she was able to make this happen.
Aura was enjoying their silent hug but the screeching door and the disturbing cries of their daughter sent her in a fit of insecurity. "My baby," She quickly opened her eyes and observed Madam Martha carrying her little bundle in her arms with the army of nervous admirers following her closely.
Tbc…
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