I felt as though I was very prepared as a father. After all, I already was one. I realized after a while that it was just a pregnant wife that I wasn't prepared for. It wasn't really common for Ava to cry, until she got pregnant and then I'd come home every day and my wife was weeping over the chicken taking too long to get crispy, or the ceiling being too bright or the carpets not being fluffy enough.

I could handle it though, I was dealing with it.

I tried my hardest not to make Ava feel bad or anything, I just wanted this pregnancy to go as smoothly as possible, and the only thing that Ava seemed to need was some extra care and love. She was sensitive, not angry and that was a very, very good thing. I wanted my wife to be on good terms with me, that was all I wanted.

Another thing was the pregnancy cravings. She was patient with me when she had them because most of them were very random and extremely questionable things. Like hot pickle juice with honey in it, or peanut butter sandwiches, but instead of bread she wanted lettuce. I was extremely horrified every time she ate one of those things, but at least some of them were kind of normal, like candy apples, only I had to make them because I didn't know where on earth I could get them from.

Lily was a great help. She'd help me make the lettuce sandwiches and sometimes the pickle juice tea that Ava wanted. But most of all, she did well at taking care of James more often and keeping me updated about her mother while I was at work. She learned about pregnancies and hormones and stuff, and she also learned a lot from some of the stories her mother was telling her.

Both Lily and I were ready for this baby to be born. Lily was impatient and she really wanted to know if she was getting a brother or a sister. Ava insisted that we didn't reveal the gender until the baby was born. I was honestly just ready to stop making pickle juice tea, peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches and candy apples, I would be happy with a boy or a girl.

Mabel was also around a lot and so was Theo. Mabel was much stronger through her pregnancy, she never cried, in fact she had only two moods, happy and grumpy. When she was grumpy, it was completely understandable because her pregnancy was a very difficult one. I didn't envy Theo at all, because Mabel was a whole other story. Her belly was huge, she couldn't sleep, her back really hurt, so did her legs and feet. She had some complications and had countless hospital visits. At the end, she was so exhausted that Theo just started carrying her everywhere.

Poor thing, she'd been through a lot, but despite all of it, she was very happy. It had been a struggle for her and Theo and now that she was pregnant she was very calm and pleased. Theo was afraid for her. He wasn't sure how she was going to handle the birth, it would definitely be a difficult one and she was expecting it to be a premature delivery and a c-section. They were afraid of losing another child. After the miscarriage and the failed IVF they really needed this to work out. And Ava was making sure that everything was perfect with Ava's pregnancy.

One night, we'd had a particularly good night. Ava only wanted a candy apple, and I gave her the last one from the last batch I'd made. She ate it, and enjoyed it. Then we had some snacks and watched a movie with Lily. Lily went to bed and then Ava and I went to our room. Ava was feeling very needy, and asked me to show her some love, so we had our fun before bed. Ava fell asleep almost immediately and then I woke up two hours later with Lily shaking me vigorously.

"Daddy! Daddy, you better wake up or I'll dump water all over your face! Get up! Get up! Get up!" Lily screeched.

"Woah... w-w-what?! Baby, what're you doing here, go back to bed." I said.

"Mommy is in pain! Come on, we have to go to the hospital! Hurry!" Lily said, still shaking me.

"What?! Mommy?! Ava! A-Ava! What's... what?! Baby, are you... what do I do?" I asked, jumping up off the bed and throwing on some pants.

"Just... I have to get to the hospital!" Ava exclaimed urgently, groaning in pain and squeezing the sheets she was laying on.

"Alright... Lily, get Mommy's hospital bag. Remember the one that we prepared together last week?" I asked.

"Yeah." Lily nodded, lifting the bag which she'd already gotten. "Hurry up, Daddy! You're thinking too slow. Just get Mommy to the car and drive us to the hospital!"

I nodded, following my daughters instructions.

"Daddy! You forgot to lock the front door!" Lily groaned.

"Right... right. Sorry." I said, running back to the door to lock it.

"Daddy!" Lily screeched.

"What, baby? What did I forget this time?!" I asked her.

"Your wife!" She screeched.

"Oh, my God!" I said in horror, looking back at Ava who was leaning against the car looking a little annoyed and in extreme amounts of pain. I immediately got out of the car and helped Ava into it, she told me I should relax because everything was under control, but my heart was beating so quickly that I didn't think any human could keep track of the heartbeats at this rate.

I was shaking and sweating and I was beyond exhausted.

When we got to the hospital, even Lily was more prepared for the delivery than me. She even insisted on being present while her Mommy gave birth. She was cheering her mom on, and kissing her forehead.

"Come on, Mommy. You're the strongest woman in the world... you can do it!" Lily said, stroking Ava's hair back.

Ava seemed confident and aware that everything was ok. She was just struggling with the pain. But she didn't have to struggle for long. Luckily, the delivery was one of the shortest this universe had ever seen. I was in there, I was panicking and then before I could reach full-scale panic mode, my baby boy was screaming. It was a beautiful moment. The room was suddenly full of joy and happiness.

My little boy was the most beautiful little boy I'd ever seen. He didn't look too puffy after his birth, we was very red though and so much smaller than I expected. The only problem was, we didn't know what to name him. After so many name options we were still drawing a blank. So, Lily the name genius helped out with picking it. In other words, she picked it without much input from us.

She climbed up and cuddled into Ava's other side, laying her head down on Ava's chest and stroking her brother's cheek.

"He's my baby brother." Lily whispered.

"Yeah." We nodded with a smile.

"He's perfect." Lily said, her eyes watering.

"Aw, I have my two perfect babies." Ava smiled, kissing both of them on their heads.

Sophie and Rico were in the background, handling everything with the doctors, and I was busy admiring my adorable family.

I got into the bed beside Ava, kissing my wife on her forehead and watching her cradle both of our precious angels close to her heart.

"But he doesn't have a name." Ava said softly, her hands shaking in exhaustion.

"Mommy, why are you shaking so badly?" Lily asked.

"I'm just so tired, Baby." Ava said softly, kissing Lily's head.

"Me and Daddy can take care of him if you want to sleep, Mommy." Lily said softly.

"Let's come up with a name and let this little guy try and get some milk first." Ava laughed.

"Alright... what do you guys think we should name him?" Lily asked.

"I kind of want something that I can call him in Arabic as well." I said softly.

"That would be nice." Ava smiled.

"Yeah... like my grandmother always used to call me Jibreel, which is just Gabriel in Arabic, and sometimes dad calls me that as well." I smiled.

"That's so cute... I love that." Ava smiled.

"What about you, Mommy?" Lily asked.

"I'd like it if it wasn't the most common name ever." Ava chuckled.

"Ok... well... I want it to sound good with my name... and me and Papa were looking at names, and I think I have the perfect one." Lily giggled, leaning over and kissing her brother on his head.

"What's the name?" I asked, pushing Lily's hair away from her face.

"Elijah... Elijah Morelli." Lily giggled. "And you can call him Ilyas in Arabic, Daddy."

"Wow. I actually love it." Ava smiled.

"It's perfect." I smiled, stroking my daughters head.

"I'm gonna help with all the baby names in the family from now on!" Lily giggled. "I like finding the perfect names."

"You're good at it too. I think Elijah is going to love his name. And we'll tell him the story of how Daddy almost forgot me and him at the house on the way to the hospital." Ava laughed. "And we'll tell him about how you picked his name so perfectly."

"He's so cute, Mommy. He's my favourite baby." Lily giggled.

"He is cute. He's gonna think Lily is the coolest big sister ever!" Ava chuckled.

"You think he'll like me? He'll come to me if he's ever scared?" Lily asked, stroking his little wisp of hair.

"Of course. You're his big sister, and you said you wanted to help take care of him, so he'll always see you as his safe big sister." I chuckled.

Lily giggled, seeming to like that and then she looked up at me.

"Daddy. I'm hungry." She said.

"Alright. Daddy's going to go get you and Mommy some food. And Nana can make sure you're all ok." I said softly. "What's your diagnosis, Doc?"

"I approve. I want fries and a burger please... and don't forget the brownies!" Ava said with a smile.

"I won't." I laughed. "Take care of Elijah for me, Little One."

Lily giggled and nodded, kissing me on my cheek before returning to her mother's arms to cuddle and gently rub her brother's back.

When I returned, they had done all the testing on Elijah that they needed to, and my little boy was perfectly healthy. He had a diaper on and he was ready for some Daddy time. I set the food down on the table for my girls. I bought my wife her favourite Jasmine flowers and I bought Lily some lilies, making her light up with joy. My girls enjoyed their food while I took my son for a little while.

I took my little boy from his mother's arms and held him close to my chest, there was a special feeling to holding your newborn. He slept the entire time and so did my girls. Lily fell asleep in her mother's arms and my little boy was asleep in my arms. If I hadn't been so exhausted, I would've been jumping with joy.

I had a son.

Elijah Morelli.

Lily honestly seemed more excited than any of us. She'd already asked when we could go home and show him the house about eighty times. But her mother and brother needed some time in the hospital just so we could make sure they were both perfectly alright.

After two days in the hospital, we were finally able to go home. Elijah was very fussy the whole day, but Ava set him down in his small baby swing and went to go take a nap. Lily and I were watching over him and he wouldn't stop fussing.

"Daddy... I'm really hungry." Lily complained.

"Alright, baby. Watch your brother. I'll go make some sandwiches." I said gently, watching Elijah fuss and squirm.

"Sh... it's ok, Elijah... Lily is gonna stay and make sure you're ok." Lily said, stroking his cheek and his little wisp of hair. "See, everything is ok."

Surprisingly, he stopped fussing at the sound of her soft voice. She was even able to get him to sleep just by talking to him. Her and I sat down and had some sandwiches and then she went off to her library to read and I took Elijah to his room and set him down in the crib we bought for him.

He didn't wake up, which meant all I had to do was turn the monitor on and then I could go cuddle Ava and maybe get a little bit of sleep. I told Lily to come get me immediately if she needed something. I didn't think it was the best idea to leave her alone, but I was so damn tired.

Before I could actually fall asleep though, I heard Elijah start to cry. Ava woke up to the sound and sighed.

"Ugh, I'm sorry, baby... you must be exhausted. I'll go get him." I said even though I felt like my legs might give out from beneath me at any moment.

"Hey wait... he isn't crying anymore." Ava said in shock, springing up along with me so we could go check on him.

We found Lily with him. She was standing beside his crib, stroking his cheek and smiling.

"It's ok. Your big sister is here. Nothing bad will happen. If anything bad starts to happen, I can run to Mommy and Daddy's room and get them. We're always safe at home. Mommy is here and Daddy is here... and even I'm here for you. I'll never let anything bad happen to you." She said softly. "This place is the coolest place ever, you'll see. And we're super duper lucky because we get the best parents in the world."

Elijah just looked up at her, his fingers wrapping themselves around her finger and making her giggle.

"I love you, Elijah." She said to him. "We're gonna have to much fun together when you get a little older."

Her little brother looked up at her and then started to squirm.

"What's wrong. Do you need to get changed? Or are you hungry?" She asked softly.

Ava pouted up at me and a tear fell from her eye. I opened the door and we both went into the room.

"Oh, see. Mommy and Daddy are here. Everything is ok." Lily told him when she saw us.

I smiled and picked Lily up, kissing her cheek.

"Such an amazing big sister!" I said with a smile.

"This little one looks like he's hungry." Ava smiled, picking Elijah up.

"What about his Mommy?" Lily asked, looking up at Ava.

"She could do with some food, I suppose." Ava chuckled, kissing my cheek affectionately.

"Daddy, let's go make Mommy a sandwich. I'll help!" Lily said, dragging me out of the room. She had really adjusted well to her role as a new big sister.

I had literally the perfect family. Just a few years ago, I never would've dreamed of coming this far just with Ava. She was still pushing me away back then. Now I was married to her, we had a beautiful house, two perfect angels and an adorable pet. Life just couldn't get better.