Sorry for the delay, guys. I won't get into all the issues I'm having again. I'll just thank everyone for sticking with me. Hope you all enjoy this final chapter!

When Ralph was born, Paige had been in labor for nearly thirty – three hours. Despite the statistics that suggested that subsequent labors would be shorter, here she was, again approaching the thirty – three hour mark.

"You're doing great," Walter said, placing his hand on her forehead and running it back through her hair.

"Mmm hmm," Paige said, shifting her weight.

Walter felt a pang in his heart. He knew this was normal. He knew babies were born every day. But he hated seeing her so exhausted. He hated seeing her in pain.

He leaned over her, taking her hand. "It's almost over," he said encouragingly. "She's almost here. Almost over, sweetheart. You're doing so good. So good."

"Walter," she said, tipping her head toward him and whimpering. "Walter, it hurts so bad."

"I know," he said, knowing that was the proper response even though he didn't actually know. He couldn't imagine. He thought a kidney stone was bad. But he supposed the sentiment was just that he knew that she was telling the truth, that he completely believed what she was saying to him. "I know it hurts, Paige." He kissed their laced knuckles. "It's almost over. You're almost there. And you're incredible, do you hear me? You're the most incredible person I have ever met."

Paige moaned loudly and tipped her head back against the headrest. She'd wanted to be in a reclined position rather than laying down, flat on her back with her feet in stirrups. Walter was pleased about that decision. It made pushing much more efficient, and they were nearing that point. She had been in transition for what felt like forever, and Walter knew no matter how long or short the labor, transition was the shortest phase.

"You're doing great," he repeated. She didn't have any more hair to brush back, but he repeated the motion anyway, hoping it would be comforting.

"Can I push?" Paige asked, looking down at where the midwife, Magdalene Lopez, was bent over, doing an examination.

"You're at ten centimeters," Magdalene announced, motioning toward her assistant, a much younger woman named Summer. "You can start pushing with the next contraction if you feel like it. Go nice and easy first, okay?"

Paige nodded, biting her lip. There were tears in her eyes. Walter didn't know if they were from pain or exhaustion. "It's almost over," he said again. "She's going to be here so soon. You're so incredible. So incredible." He squeezed her hand. "Hang on to me. You're okay. You're amazing, you hear me?"

Paige closed her eyes and grunted, her hand tightening around Walter's. "Good, Paige," Summer said, handing something to Magdalene. "Very good."

"Very good," Walter repeated, his lips near her ear. "Very good, very good."

Her head tipped toward his. He kissed her forehead. She relaxed slightly, her breath coming fast and hard. "Breathe," he said gently. "In, one, two, three. Out, four, five, six. There you go."

"Paige, if you can shift your right foot to the right just a tiny little bit…there, good, excellent," Magdalene said. "Give me another push, okay?"

"I'm so tired," Paige said, and Walter couldn't tell if she was whispering or if her voice was just hoarse. "Walter, I'm so tired. I'm so tired."

"You're almost done," he reminded her, kissing their knuckles again. "You can do this, Lovely, push with this next one, okay?"

Paige bit her lip. For all his reminding her to breathe, Walter swore he didn't breathe for the next three or four contractions. The breath rushed out of his lungs when Summer said "oh!" and Magdalene's quiet, soothing voice said. "The head is almost here. Give us another, Paige…good! Good! Summer."

Magdalene's tone changed on the last word, going to something more businesslike, and Walter could tell from his peripheral vision that the assistant was handing Magdalene something else. He couldn't tell what. He wasn't looking away from Paige.

"Paige, honey," Magdalene said, "the head is out. You're doing great. Do you want to touch her? She's got a lot of hair."

Paige reached with her free hand, around her stomach and between her thighs. Walter wanted to look, wanted to lean over and see his daughter, but he couldn't bring himself to move away from where he stood at Paige's side, even for a moment.

"There she is," Summer said encouragingly. "She's real and she's almost here."

Paige smiled, looking up at Walter, and bringing the hand she'd touched their daughter with up to cover her eyes. "See?" He said fondly, squeezing her hand again. "You're doing such an exceptional job."

"Are you ready to give another one?" Magdalene asked. "I know it's hard, but the sooner this is over the sooner you can hold your baby, okay?"

Paige nodded.

"Remember to breathe," Summer said.

Walter kept up his chant, telling her how great she was doing, how incredible she was, how unbelievably proud he was of her. Five, six, seven, eight more pushes, then Paige gasped and Magdalene ah – ha'd. "And we have two shoulders!"

"Shoulders," Walter joked to Paige. "We were hoping there would be shoulders."

"She'd expect that kind of joke from Toby, not you," Summer said. "She told me to say that if you made any lame jokes," she added when Walter looked at the assistant in surprise.

"Okay, now Paige," Magdalene said, "just give me a tiny one now. You aren't tearing and we want to keep things that way, okay? Just a tiny one – good!" She smiled encouragingly. "She's just about here."

Paige cringed, and Walter nearly did too at how tightly she was gripping his hand.

"Okay Paige," Magdalene said with a smile. "Reach down and pull her to you."

This was one reason that Walter and Paige had chosen her. She always let the mother's hands be the hands that brought their child into the world. Walter let go of Paige's hand.

"There you go," Magdalene said, still smiling, helping Paige position her hands properly. From where he was, Walter couldn't see much over Paige's belly. But then, suddenly, the baby was visible, accompanied from a gasp and whimper from Paige as she pulled her to her chest and started to cry.

"Wonderful, Paige," Magdalene said, still working between the woman's thighs. "We're getting you cleaned up a bit here, and Summer is going to look at your baby, but you can still hold her, okay? We're not taking her away from you. You just hold her and Summer will look at her vitals. But you hear her fussing a bit? She's perfectly fine."

Magdalene's comment had been spot on. The baby did have a lot of hair. It was dark and thick and plastered to her head with the exception of one spot where it was sticking up – probably where Paige had touched earlier. Walter couldn't see much else; Paige's hands were splayed out all over the tiny body, holding her close. But perhaps that was a good thing. He was feeling so overwhelmed and shaky that he thought he might pass out if he could see his daughter well.

He knew that women had babies every day. And he had known from the moment they found out about her existence that she was his and Paige's child. But it still felt like a miracle. It still felt almost surreal.

Cavemen did it. Arsonists do it all the time.

A tiny, niggling feeling of distress wormed its way into Walter's consciousness.

"Mom."

The voice belonged to one of the few that could cause Paige to willingly look away from the tiny person sleeping against her chest. Her son stood right in front of Walter in the doorway, both of them smiling. "Hey, Ralphie."

"I've told you at least seventy times," the boy said, "I'm fifteen. No more Ralphie."

"I just had your sister. I can call you whatever I want."

Her tone was playful, and so was his. Ralph smiled as he approached the bed. "She's cute."

"Yeah, she is," Paige said. "She's the exact size you were when you were born. Six pounds, seven ounces, and nineteen and three quarters inches long. Exactly like you were."

"The odds of that are not very high," Ralph commented. He gave a smirk. "You're consistent with the baby making, Mom. Same length of time, too."

"You were a week overdue and she was a few days early," Paige said, "but other than that, yep. Same labor duration, same size baby."

She was glad that Ralph seemed interested in his sister beyond the numbers she'd prepared for him. She had figured he would be – he seemed as excited as anyone about the new addition to their family. But there were still things about her son that she couldn't understand, and she'd been a little bit worried that perhaps his interest would be largely statistical.

"Can I hold her?"

"Absolutely," Paige said, shifting her hold on the baby. "Now remember, Ralph, if she cries, she's just fussing at being woken up. It doesn't mean she doesn't like you. Just talk to her. She'll know your voice."

Carefully, Ralph curled his arms around his sister and drew her against him, straightening up. Apart from an "eh" sound, the newborn didn't fuss, keeping her eyes closed and nestling against Ralph as if she didn't care where she slept, as long as she wasn't asked to go through the frightening birth process again. Walter walked up behind Ralph, keeping a hand out, ready, just in case.

"I knew she'd be little," Ralph said in a low voice. "But she's really little!"

"She'll be as tall as you are, one day," Walter said.

"No duh."

"Ralph."

Ralph cleared his throat, tipping his head down toward his sister and swaying back and forth slowly. "I wish I didn't have an exam today," he said regretfully. He addressed the baby in his arms. "You were due on a weekend, you know."

"She will forgive you for taking your test," Walter said, putting his arm around the boy's shoulders. "Right now all she cares about is being warm and clean and fed."

"Are you still going to name her Madeline?"

Walter and Paige nodded in unison. "Mimi for short," Paige said.

Ralph reluctantly handed the baby back, and Paige was glad to feel her daughter's warmth against her again. "Try to have a good day at school, baby," she said. "We may be home when you get out."

"I'll make dinner."

"You can't cook."

"Says who?" Ralph asked. "Cooking is a science. Plus we all like toast and I have the Darth Vader toaster."

Paige tilted her cheek so Ralph could kiss it, and her heart swelled when he leaned over and gently kissed the baby's head. She looked up at Walter when Ralph left, feeling yet another rush of emotion.

Walter leaned down and she tipped her head up, their lips locking. She felt one of his hands resting on where hers was on Mimi's back.

"I love you," she said, pressing her nose against his bottom lip. She was getting choked up again, at the closeness of Walter and their daughter. She pressed her nose more firmly against him, her voice laden with emotion. "I love you."

"I love you," Walter said, kissing her again. His voice sounded just as emotional as Paige knew hers sounded. "Thank you for her."

"Thank you," she said, reaching up and placing one of her hands on the back of his neck.

"Paige?"

"Mmm hmm?"

Walter sat down on the edge of the bed. "I need to apologize."

Paige blinked. He looked absolutely guilt ridden. "Wait, why?"

Walter bit his lip. "I know I messed up."

Paige reached out and grabbed his hand. "Walter, I'm confused."

"I was doing it again. R – rambling. Saying things in front of people and not b – being quiet. And when you were going through this, h – having our daughter…and it's like the fire on the island…but it still seemed so incred…I just…"

Paige was exhausted and almost couldn't think straight, and it took her a moment to realize what he was so sorry for. Her eyes widened. "Walter, no."

He stopped talking. "What?"

"Oh gosh, Love..." She placed her hand on the side of his face. "Walter, you were wonderful."

He cocked his head slightly. "I don't understand."

Paige shifted her weight, sitting up some, giving a gentle shhh to Mimi when she gave a tiny cry. "Walter, women give birth all the time. And I've done it before today. But…it's still difficult. And discouraging. And draining." She shook her head slowly. "You were great." She smiled, feeling her eyes start to well up again. She'd forgotten just how emotional everything was when she'd just had a baby. "You were absolutely everything I needed."

She saw the happiness on his face. "Really?"

"Really." She smiled. "You were perfect."