Solitude

Bonus #3

A cry fills the air.

Instantly, my pain and moans are forgotten about. All that matters is that little cry. The first cry and I fell in love for the second time.

My tears fall on automatic and my hand goes limp in Alex's, stopping the torturous grip I previously had on his hand.

"Oak..." Alex whispers.

I don't glance at him. My entire focus is on the wiggling and crying baby in the midwifes hands. "I know."

"Does mummy want the first hold of baby girl?" The middle aged woman asks, smiling while she cleans her.

"Baby girl..." I whisper adoringly.

I swallow and look at Alex, asking him if it's okay. His smile and sweet kiss on the lips reassures me. "You pushed her out of you baby. I think you have first rights."

A mixture of a strangled sob and a breathless chuckle escapes me and I hold my hands out for my baby girl. As soon as her warm body is in my arms I fall in love all over again.

"Oak we have a daughter." Alex whispers, resting his chin on my head while we both gaze at the new addition to our family.

My daughter. Our daughter.

"I know." I sniff, glancing at him quickly and he wipes my cheeks, pecking my lips again and again, smothering my entire face with kisses and repeating the phrase 'I love you'. "Are we still naming her what we said we would if we were to have a girl?"

He stares at our daughter for a moment, mouthing the name we picked out and then nods. "Yea. I like it."

"Same."

Our little Aurora Sophie Marie King, her two middle names named after her grandmothers.

"Hi Aurora." I coo, stroking her chubby cheek. Her eyes open and her cries lessen. Her eyes, the exact replica of her dad's and a thin layer of dark brown hair covering her tiny head. "Alex... she's gorgeous."

"She's definitely your daughter then." He whispers, replacing my finger and stroking her cheek. Little Aurora's fingers curl around her dad's pointer finger. "Oak! Look!"

My vision blurs with tears. "She knows her daddy."

It's silent as we stare at our baby. I didn't realise I had so much love in me and I definitely didn't realise that my life had this in store for it.

Love was a strange concept and I didn't really love anyone for so long, only Loki. I cared so deeply for Morgan but I didn't realise I loved her for a long time. There was no hope with me for romantic love, I truly thought I'd be alone for the rest of my life.

It's all thanks to Alex. It's thanks to Alex that I found someone to spend the rest of my life with and I found someone to create a life with. I found someone to create and expand my family with.

And it was the same for him.

We were alone before; I was a solitudinarian and he was a workaholic. We slowly pulled each other out of our lonely lives, bringing our two separate lives of the hermit and the CEO together to live in our own version of solitude.

But truly, I think it's all thanks to Loki and Zeus for befriending each other so quickly and forcing us together. They were the cause of our love.

We have a daughter. Our precious little miracle.

"Are you sure she's mine?" His question breaks the silence, motioning down to her light skin.

I glare at Alex and his teasing grin, my eyes softening when I look back down to my baby. "They'll bring her birth certificate soon and I won't let you sign it."