Part Eighty-Nine

“Hey Castiel,” I answered my phone.

“I’m at the hospital with Tiffany, she’s gone into labor,” he said, sounding afraid.

“I’ll be right there,” I said to him.

I grabbed my keys and tried to remember how far along Tiffany was. I couldn’t really remember but I knew it was too early. They were expecting a boy and I was silently praying that he’d be okay.

“Castiel!” I said and his head snapped towards mine as I walked into the waiting room.

“Thanks for coming,” he said and hugged me.

“Any news yet?” I asked him.

“She started bleeding right after her water broke, we got here fast but I’m worried, Kage. She’s only thirty-two weeks, Cade’s lungs aren’t fully developed yet,” he said.

“She’ll be okay. That’s all we can believe right now,” I said to him.

My phone pinged and I checked my messages. It was an image from Jared and underneath he had written: ‘I found a picture of Aunt Madison when she was fat.’

I opened the image and looked at the picture of Madison. My blood turned cold as Steve’s words suddenly chimed in my head. I didn’t have time to dwell on it though as a doctor walked into the waiting room and Castiel stood up.

“Tiffany’s doing very well,” he began because the look on Castiel’s face was one of extreme worry.

“Thank fuck,” he said and then remembered. “What about my baby?”

“He’s doing as well as can be expected. He’ll stay in the special care nursery for a few days to help him gain weight. He’s breathing on his own but he’ll need to be tube fed for the next four weeks,” he said.

“That’s mostly what I was expecting for her being preterm,” Castiel said.

“Your wife will be kept here for a few days, we had to do an emergency c-section,” he said.

“Can we see them?” Castiel asked.

“You can both see your wife, but only parents are allowed inside the special nursery,” he said.

“You can send me pictures,” I said to Castiel.

We followed the doctor out of the waiting room and to the elevator where we got off at the maternity ward and he showed us to her room. Her eyes were closed when we walked inside but she opened them when she heard our footsteps and I saw the tears in her eyes.

“He’s okay, he’s breathing on his own,” Castiel said as he reached her and kissed her gently on the forehead.

“I haven’t seen him yet, he wasn’t crying,” Tiffany said as she wiped the tears away.

“Before they let you see him I want to prepare you, he’s going to be small with a tube in his nose and he won’t be opening his eyes,” Castiel said.

“A tube? Why? What’s wrong with him?” she asked and I felt in the way, invading this private moment between them.

“He can’t drink by himself yet so they’re feeding him with a tube and he’s too small, the lights will irritate his eyes, four weeks max then he’ll be opening them a lot,” he said with a smile.

“Hi Kage,” Tiffany said and I looked up to see them both looking at me.

“Congrats Tiff, I’m sure he’s beautiful,” I said and kissed her cheek as she grabbed onto my arm.

“Thank you, Kage,” she said.

“I’m going to let you guys get settled and go see Cade, send me those pictures okay,” I said and opened the door.

“Thanks for coming, we’ll have a drink soon,” Castiel said and I left shortly after that.

I drove home as I conference called Miles, Endri and Alexander and told them that Cade Carter Hawthorne had arrived and that they were doing well. Everybody sent their well wishes and I knew that tomorrow morning Luke and Endri would be in Tiffany’s room with gifts and chocolates.

We had given our gift last week at their baby shower and of course Cade also got a miniature Ranger jersey with my number on the back. Castiel and Tiffany’s relationship had gone from sharing an apartment to mutual consideration and then to them starting to fall in love.

I had looked at Castiel when the doctor called her his wife and he hadn’t even flinched and that’s how I knew that he loved her. Life never really worked out the way we planned it, sometimes it turned out better and sometimes it didn’t.

I had almost forgotten about Jared’s text and I sat in the basement parking lot for almost an hour before going up to the condo. I wasn’t planning on saying anything but Madison picked up on my short behavior with her very quickly.

I thought I had been masking it very well, but clearly I hadn’t and I didn’t want to talk to her about it. It was almost like I was the old Kage again and I took my frustrations out on the ice as off season training started and I stayed there longer than was necessary.

“What’s up with you?” Alexei asked me on our first day back on the ice.

“Nothing,” I said.

“Kage, you’re like a bear with a sore tooth,” he said.

“I’m pretty sure you cracked Chuck’s rib with that slam,” Nicholas said.

“Chuck needs to toughen up then if he wants Justin’s spot,” I said.

“I hear you, man, we all miss Justin, but it also won’t help you pulverizing every new player,” Mason said.

“I know, I’m just frustrated as hell,” I said.

“I know things are tough with the kid gone, but soon you’ll have your hands full with that little girl on the way,” Cooper chimed in.

“Our Father that art in heaven, please save the male population of New York once Kage’s daughter turns fifteen,” Nicholas said with his eyes closed and his hands clasped in front of him.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Cooper said. “It won’t be just New York, the whole world!”

They were all laughing and I smiled at that. Maybe I should reconsider moving us to Antarctica or an island big enough for only one house. That way she’d never see boys, ever. I wasn’t a player when it came to women but I knew exactly how they thought.

“She’ll be fine as long as she doesn’t bring home a pro athlete,” Alexei said.

“Hey, we're not all man whores like you,” Cooper said.

“I’m not a man whore,” Alexei said.

“Says the guy that got herpes,” Mason said.

“One time Mase, it was one fucking time!” he said as we laughed again.

“Is she going to be an ice princess?” Cooper asked me.

“Of course, she’ll have a ring side seat with her name on it,” Nicholas said as I smiled.

“It’s too soon to think about things like that. Madison will probably stay home with her for the first few months,” I said.

“You’d better bring her by a lot, I love little girls,” Alexei said as we all stared open mouthed at him.

“Fuck off all of you, that’s not what I meant. You guys are assholes!” he yelled as we started to laugh.

“Shit Alexei,” I laughed and he shrugged.

“Yours will be special, she’s the first Ranger baby,” he said.