˗ˏˋOur Differencesˊˎ˗

-46-

The birth went smoothly. Alexis squeezed my wrist the entire time, which kind of hurt, but she was definitely in way more pain than I was.

They brought the baby back into the room after cleaning him, and handed him to Alexis gently. Everything about this moment was extremely wholesome and heartwarming, especially when Dylan held him.

"What are you guys gonna name him?" I asked curiously.

Knowing Dylan, he'd probably end up naming his kid something extremely stupid. He's been talking about naming his kid Darth Vader Powell for practically his whole life, and every time me and Dad would shoot the idea down, he'd get super offended, claiming that the name was "original" and "creative."

"We're naming him Nicholas Anthony Powell." Alexis smiled proudly.

"Nick for short — he's gonna be a badass." Dylan added.

I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Dylan already has serious plans for this kid. Turning him into a soccer star was definitely phase one, and somewhere down the road he'd end up teaching Nick how to flirt with girls, which will be a nightmare. His son will 100% be a whore.

"I think that's cute." I smiled.

"Wanna hold him?"

I nodded and Dylan handed him to me. Nick's eyes were closed so tightly that you couldn't even get a remote glimpse at what his eyes looked like. His nose was almost identical to Dylan's, along with the fact that his facial features were in the same placement as his also. He looked extremely peaceful in his blanket, unbothered by everyone else in the room.

"You should call in your parents and everybody else." Alexis suggested to Dylan tiredly.

He stood up and left the room and came back a minute later with Mom and Dad, who were ecstatic about the baby.

"Where is he?" Dad was the first to grab Nick from me and he held him for almost ten minutes before letting Mom finally have a turn.

"Congratulations Alexis." Mom smiled warmly at her.

"Isn't he cute?" Dylan was grinning from ear to ear like a kid at an amusement park as more people filed into the room to look at his son.

"I think he's definitely a keeper." Mrs. Shields said softly as she held him.

Devin craned his neck over to get a better look at him. There was still tension between both of us and Dylan, but we were currently ignoring that to focus on the moment in front of us. This is way more important.

"His initials spell out N.A.P! And he's napping right now!" Brandon pointed out with a childish smile on his face.

I snickered at his lame joke and scanned the overly crowded hospital room for Alexis's parents. They weren't here, and it made me really sad for her. I've never met her parents or anything, but Dylan's told me that they're not the most involved with her life. It always reminded me of Devin's parents, who are the same way.

"You're gonna be a soccer star, Nick. There's even soccer playing on the TV." Devin said while holding him and walking around the room with him.

"If you drop my kid, I'm dropping you." Dylan muttered.

The tension was definitely pushed out of the hospital room, and you couldn't even notice that there was ever a conflict before we walked in. That's how well we were all hiding it.

"This is my first nephew! I'm Uncle Devin." Devin grinned proudly.

"You're not even related to him." Austin snapped.