A New Beginning

Announcement Party

(Tasha's POV)

Reade and I decided to have announcement party to tell the team we're having a baby. I'm overly-excited and I want everything to be perfect. I took time off work because I wanted to tell them when I found out the gender. I spent the last 10 weeks, give or take, planning this party. The team thinks they're just coming over for dinner. Reade went to the store to pick up some last minute things while I decorated. I got boy and girl decorations and hung them all around the house. I grabbed a bag of water balloons to fill with paint. We're going to play water balloon toss to reveal the gender. Reade and I will pop our balloon first. I'll have smoke bombs in my pockets to drop as well. I customized the cake too, I really went all out. I feel it's very necessary to go overboard with this. Everything was pink and blue, I have never seen it so colorful in here. Reade came home and as soon as he opened the door he paused, taking everything in. 
"Wow." He laughed.

"Does it look okay?" I sighed. "I feel like it needs more." 
"We definitely don't need more, but it looks perfect." 
He walked in and kissed my cheek. I walked over to the counter and played with the confetti I spread out over top of it. I straightened out some of the streamers I hung. I feel like there's so much more I could be doing, I just don't know what. 
"Hey, sit down. Take a break, relax." Reade said, putting his arm around my waist. "I'll take care of anything else that needs to be done, okay?"
I groaned at the thought of doing nothing, I've been doing nothing this whole 10 weeks. Not being at work has been killing me. Reade said I had to get used to taking it easy and I couldn't fight him on that.
"I don't want to sit down and relax. I want to make this party flawless." I sounded whinier than I intended. This whole thing is probably so annoying to him. To guys even like things like this? Who knows. 
"Tash, it is flawless." He took my hand and led me to the couch. "Stop worrying and relax. I got this." He sat me down and put a pillow on the table for me to put my feet up. 
I sighed, "Okay."  
For about another hour I watched him finish up small things around the house and outside. He made me a cup of decaf coffee and sat down next to me. 
"We did it." He said with a smile.

"Yes, we did." 
I kissed him. Jane texted me saying her and Patterson were on their way and Kurt texted Reade a few minutes later. We made our to the kitchen to prepare to greet them with the first surprise, the baby. After we talk and visit for a while, we'll play water balloon toss. 
"I'm so excited!" I leaned into Reade, wrapping my arms around him. 
"I know, me too!" He laughed.
For the next couple minutes, I fiddled with the decorations. There was a knock at the door and we rushed over to answer. We both took a deep breathe and opened the door. Jane, Patterson, and Kurt were waiting outside. 
"Hey guys!" I said. I couldn't stop smiling. Reade and I backed away slowly, letting them come in.
"Hey! We mis-" Jane stopped mid-sentence when she saw the decorations. Her jaw dropped as she processed what was happening.
"Oh. My. God." Patterson said.
Kurt was smiling and laughing. He shook Reade's hand and congratulated him.

"You're pregnant!!" Jane screamed. Her and Patterson were jumping up and down with excitement. They hugged me and congratulated us.
"You're going to be a father." Patterson smiled and poked Reade.
"Yep!" He laughed. 
We all went into the kitchen and sat at the table.
"How far along are you?" Kurt asked.
"11 weeks." I put my hand on my stomach. This is real, this is really happening. I have to keep saying it to myself. It's so unbelievable, yet believable at the same time. I don't even know if that makes any sense. 
"Wow." Kurt smiled. Everyone just sat and looked around, taking it in. I don't think any of them saw this coming, especially not anytime soon. For about 30 minutes we talked about our plans for the baby and we talked about recent cases they had. 
"Who's ready for a game?" I asked. 
"I'm up for some games. What are we playing?" Patterson laughed. 
"Water balloon toss." Reade and I smiled at each other. 
"Oh boy." Jane said. 
We all laughed and made our way outside. Jane, Kurt, and Patterson threw to each other and Reade and I threw to each other. Everyone was cautious, thinking there was water inside. After about 10 tosses, Reade popped our balloon making paint fly everywhere. It got on every single one of us. Kurt dropped his balloon making it pop as well. Pink paint coated all of us. Everyone was yelling, "Oh my god!!" and "It's a girl!". I dropped the smoke bombs and pink smoke filled the air around us. This is perfect. I don't want this moment to end. I walked over to Reade and hugged him tight. He kissed the top of my head and we swayed back and forth for a minute. 
"I'm so happy for you two!" Patterson said hugging us both. 
"Do you have a name picked out?" Jane asked. 
"Grace." I looked up and Reade and smiled. 
"Awe, that's so cute!!" 
We continued throwing the water balloons back and forth, just for fun, until we ran out. We were all coated in pink paint, head to toe. I went inside and grabbed towels for everyone. After wiping off most of the paint, we went back inside to have some cake. The cake was strawberry flavored and coated in vanilla frosting. The front of it said, "It's a girl" in fancy writing. As we ate our cake everyone discussed what they were going to do with Grace when she grew up. Jane said they're going shopping all time. She'll buy her anything she wants. Patterson said she's going to teach her how to solve puzzles and play some of her favorite games. Kurt wants to take her to the shooting range. All of these things sound like great ideas. This little girl is going to be the luckiest girl alive. She's always going to be surrounded by all these great people. I really hope I'll be a good mom.