Chapter Text
The silence that followed Laurie's question was tense, but then Sally let out a very theatrical, very obnoxious laugh. “What kind of question is that?” she asked. “I mean, I called him when Dan called me, and he gave me a ride. Obviously!”
Her voice was painfully unconvincing, but her gigantic horselaugh did not help matters in the slightest.
~X~
The name they had settled on for the little girl was Bella, after one of Laurie's aunts, and she took Laurie's middle name. A last name was more complicated, considering the three of them all had different last names, so they kept it Juspeczyk for the time being. Despite her being all of their daughter, the entirety of her name was taken from something to do with Laurie, who found all of that absolutely hilarious.
She was absolutely exhausted from labor, so she couldn't say she minded too much when they had to take Bella to the nursery. Her maternal instincts, which had kicked in quite suddenly, didn't want her to let the baby go, but her need to sleep made a good argument and she was soon out like a light. As soon as she was asleep, Walter made his excuses and left the room; when Dan wanted to find him later, he found him exactly where he expected to, staring into the nursery window.
And then Dan found that he couldn't leave either and simply stood next to Walter, looking in at their daughter. At some point, the two linked hands, but he wasn't sure who had initiated or when it had really happened. Even when Bella was only sleeping, they didn't want to go anywhere and didn't mind watching her, as if she were the only thing in the world.
~X~
When Laurie woke up, it was only Sally in the room. “Where's the guys?” she asked, groggy.
“They were gone when I got back here,” replied Sally with a shrug. “Probably looking at the baby. Now that you're awake they might let her come back in here with you.”
Laurie didn't realize how much she wanted that until it was said. Before that day, holding her own child hadn't been a possibility, but now she felt like it was something she absolutely needed to do. It was funny how quickly things changed. “Are all three of them down there?” she asked. “Did Eddie go with them?”
“Hm?” There was that guilty face again. “No, he went out for a bit, to pick some stuff up. No one's eaten much today, so...and he didn't want to be in the way.”
“I know you're fucking him, you know.” Sally's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but did not say anything. Laurie continued, “I appreciate the fact that you think you're being secretive, but it wasn't hard to figure it out.”
“Laurie...I wasn't...I wasn't trying to keep it a secret from you for no reason,” she said. “I was going to tell you sooner, but Eddie was afraid...you two were just starting to get along, and he thought a relationship between the two of us might be too much to take in on top of everything else.”
“I wouldn't get mad at you for it, I don't think,” replied Laurie. “I understand why you didn't want to tell me, but you're both adults. It's always been hard for me to understand why you went back to him the first time, but it was your choice then and it's your choice now. I know you don't understand why I need both Dan and Walter, but I can't even imagine not being with them. And as much as I hate to admit it, Eddie's not...that bad. If he's who you want, then he's who you want.”
It was barely a stamp of approval and Laurie didn't think Sally would need her approval anyway, but she still looked relieved to hear it. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for giving him a chance and thank you for understanding about all of this.”
They were quiet after that, until a nurse came in and offered to bring the baby back to Laurie, and when she did, Walter and Dan followed behind. Eddie returned with food not long after that, but Sally ushered him into the hallway to give the parents some time alone.
~X~
When they left the hospital that night, they went back to Sally's home together- Eddie had been staying there a lot recently. “Laurie knows about us,” she said. “She figured us out.”
“And?” He tried to look like he wasn't concerned, but he failed.
“She's not upset about it. She says she understands.” Sally smirked at him. “She even said you weren't that bad.”
“Did she?” He chuckled, but there was a pleased look in his eyes. “Well, I'd say that's a pretty high compliment coming from her.”
“Our entire family situation is pretty fucked up,” she said. “When you think about how we got together, and what she's living in. But it isn't bad at all, is it?”
“No, I don't think it is.”
~X~
It wasn't long before Laurie and Bella were allowed to go home for good. Bella was not very fussy for a newborn, and seemed to have no issues adjusting to her new home. The four were all happy to be home together, and though Laurie was still exhausted, she was less keen on sleeping than she had been in the hospital, wanting to spend as much time with the baby as she could.
Dan made a fuss over everything and hurriedly finished the small tasks that had remained to be done in the baby's room, interrupted by her going into labor. He was constantly back and forth between working on that and cooing over his daughter, not able to focus on just one for long, knowing that he had to get the work done but never wanting to stay away from Bella for long.
Walter had yet to hold her, though. Things had been busy in the hospital and Laurie had hardly noticed, but now that they were home, it became very apparent to her that, while she sat with the baby and Dan came along every now and then for a few minutes with her before getting back to work, Walter only sat and watched. He rarely left their side, but he never so much as asked if he could hold her- not that he needed to ask, but he seemed like the type to ask to hold his own child.
Finally, Laurie got fed up with wondering what his deal was and said, “Are you gonna hold her or not?”
He looked up at her, looking almost afraid and she resisted the urge to laugh. “I don't know,” he said.
“What do you mean, you don't know?” she asked. “Why would you not want to?”
Walter shook his head. “Not that. I don't know how to...don't want to hurt her.”
She opened her mouth to ask him how he didn't know how to hold a baby, but she stopped herself. Of course he didn't; she knew things had been difficult for him, she knew that there had been things he went through that she still didn't know and couldn't understand. It was not so hard to believe that he hadn't had baby cousins to hold growing up, that he hadn't learned the specific way to hold a newborn's neck to give them support, hadn't learned to avoid their soft spot, hadn't learned to keep them close because they couldn't recognize you from a certain distance.
“Then let me show you,” she replied, and though he tried to protest, she wouldn't have it. “This is your daughter,” she said, and she meant it in the way that they said she was all of their daughter, but there was something in her voice that she hoped communicated to him that, in terms of appearance, no one would think twice about who the father was, that this was his flesh and blood.
He nodded, and he took Bella just the way Laurie showed him, and he held her like she was the most fragile and precious thing in the world.
~X~
When Dan came back again, he saw them like that, their heads together while Walter held Bella. They looked like the perfect picture of a family, the baby a balance of both of their features, the two of them looking like proud parents. The three of them could have been a family all on their own; they could have been there without Dan at all, and he could have felt a pang of jealously looking at them.
But he didn't, because he knew that they couldn't. Biologically, yes, but emotionally, their family was not complete without him. He had brought the two of them together and held them together, and he loved the both of them and they loved him just as much as they had come to love each other. If three was a crowd, then he was happy to be a part of that crowd and he was more than happy to bring a fourth in, and rather than watching them from afar, he went to join his family on the couch.