London

58 - "It has always been you."

"Well, Sage is married, not much to gain there."

"No, not anymore. But your father won that one. I was sure it would be you, especially when you moved that fast with James, but I guess your father had a plan with that whole Palas thing. I'm pretty sure it was just to mess up our bet, because by then our lovely Sage was still fooling around. I did bet that Sage would get a child first although I believed it would be by accident. I only never got to collect my fee on that one."

"My father was never one to pay his debts," I joke and it makes Theo laugh which soon ends up in a cough. 

"I think he even for saw that, the bastard."

We smile to each other for a second and then both turn our attention to Nick who is hurrying down the hall, a big smile on his face that can only mean one thing. No C-section needed, the baby must be here.

"He's here, Calum is here!" He yells, and it wakes my aunt right up from her snooze. 

"What?" She mumbles, but my uncle and I are already up.

"Can we go see them?" I ask. "Or is it too soon, does she want to rest a bit?"

"She send me here. She went straight over to you after she peed on the stick, so she's not going to wait now."

We all hurry after Nick as he leads us to her delivery room. There we find the new mother in bed with her baby boy Calum resting in her arms. She looks tired, her hair is a mess and her eyes are red from crying, but she still looks like the happiest person on earth. And I'm so happy for her that she won that bet. That she's a mother first, and a very, happy and beautiful one too, of an even more beautiful son.

****

After holding the baby for the first time, and making sure that Sage is alright, I'm confident that I can leave the new parents alone. My uncle drives me to my flat and we blab away about Calum and especially his second name. 

"It could have been something to do with your father or myself," Theo says. 

"Or Nick's parents," Marie adds. "But I think it is nice. She is the god mother. Usually you name the child after the god parents."

"Yeah, but Alex, that's a girl's name."

"It's not actually," I tell him, smiling. "Alex is unisex and I really like the sound of Calum Alex Scott."

"It would have been better if it was Lee," Theo says and Marie laughs out loud. 

"God, Theo, she's married to a Scott so it isn't going to be a Lee and you should get over your ego and accept that the boys name has nothing to do with either one of you."

Theo parks the car and looks over his seat towards me. "I guess it is just another bet lost. I was sure she'd call the boy after me or Bob."

"Thank God she didn't," Marie says and I laugh with her. 

After thanking them for the ride home and food they bought me today, I wish them a good night and get out of the car. The prospect of an early night and sleeping in tomorrow is nice, but now that I'm alone, I also feel a little bit empty. No matter the circumstances, it is always nice to spent time with my family. 

As I walk up the stairs I watch the photos that are being shared in our family group app and smile as I pick one to send to Harry. He'll understand why I was distant this day when he sees the picture, but to my surprise I hear the receiving sound of my message being send and look up to find him sitting on the ground next to my front door. 

"Harry, what the hell are you doing here?" I ask him, but he looks at his phone, his expression blank. 

"Waiting for you," he says a bit dumbfounded. "Who is this?"