⋆◦★◦⋆

later that day, lydia was in the nicu with her sister, checking up on the baby they delivered yesterday.

"what's yours in for?" bailey asked from the opposite side of the room.

"delivered her yesterday." lydia told the woman.

"stroked out ten weeks premature." arizona explained to bailey.

"yours?" lydia asked.

"born with its insides on the outsides. two days post-op. resilient little guy." bailey said.

alex walked up to the two sisters as lydia started talking to him. "more bleeding overnight."

"should we try f.f.p.?" alex asked.

"at this point, we should try anything. get me a repeat m.r.i and page me if she becomes bradycardic or starts having apnea spells. i'll be on rounds." arizona said walking away. she turned around. "oh lydia, come with me."

they made their way to wallace's room in no time to see the little boy in his bed with his eyes closed.

"is he still sleeping?" arizona asked quietly.

"no." the boy answered.

"he had a bad night." his mom told the doctors, getting up from her spot in a chair next to her son's bed.

"i can still go on rounds. i feel better. just give me a second." he said weakly, trying to get up.

his mother looked up at the doctors in front of her and shook her head no, signaling she didn't want her son going on rounds.

"you know what? how about if you just take a rest for now and then you can join me for evening rounds instead?" lydia told wallace.

"okay." he sighed sadly.

lydia felt bad for wallace but knew that he needed rest in order to feel better.

"he listens to you two more than he does to me." mrs. anderson said.

"well, yeah. they're doctors, mom. and you're just... well, a mom." wallace told his mother.

"hey, wallace, i'm a doctor, and a mom." lydia told the boy, putting a hand on his arm.

he smiled up at her.

"well, how about you close your eyes and you let me do what moms do, okay?" mrs. anderson told her son. "bad dreams, bad dreams, go away. good dreams, good dreams, here to stay. bad dreams, bad dreams, go away. good dreams, good dreams, here to stay."

charles walked into the room and stood next to arizona and lydia, causing mrs. anderson to pause her speech.

"you have to do it three times for it to work." wallace said with his eyes closed.

"oops. one more."

arizona pulled charles and lydia to the side to talk about wallace.

"i want you to repeat his chemistries and get an abdominal series. he's had bad nights before, but i want to make sure that we're not missing anything." arizona told charles.

suddenly lydia's and arizona's pagers went off and the two sisters saw that it was for the baby they delivered yesterday. they rushed to the nicu as fast as they could. lydia quickly put on a gown and checked the baby.

"she's bradying down and she lost access." lydia told alex as the man rushed up to the two.

"i'll start." alex said.

"dr. robbins." charles said, rushing up to arizona.

"not right now." she told him.

"i think you're gonna want to see this." charles said urgently. "it's the x-rays on wallace anderson."

"all right, show me." arizona said.

lydia and alex were still assessing the baby while arizona and charles were looking at the x-rays.

"see? he has dilated loops of bowel."

"all right, flip." arizona told him. he did what she asked and she stared it down. she told him to flip it again. "damn it. damn it. he has another bowel obstruction, and he's not compensating. okay-."

"i've got this. go." arizona said. "lydia, stay with alex and find me later."

lydia nodded as arizona left to go see wallace's parents. alex picked up the baby. lydia always loved seeing him with kids, especially babies. he definitely had a soft spot for them, it made her smile.

"cap refill is five seconds." alex said.

"push one of epi." lydia told the nurse that was helping them.

"it's not working. heart rate's down to the sixties. starting compressions." alex told her.

"could i help?" reed asked, coming over to where lydia and alex were working.

"doubt it. at this rate, this kid's not gonna last more than an hour." alex told the ex mercy wester.

"she's only thirty weeks. pretty young to survive." lydia spoke up, looking down at the young baby.

"so what, you're just gonna stand there and watch her die?" reed asked the two doctors.

"mm, pretty much." alex told her.

"i want to do everything i can to make sure she lives." lydia said, comforting the girl.

"that sucks."

"it is what it is. it's protocol." alex said.

"it's a stupid protocol, that's what it is and you know that." lydia told alex.

alex unstrapped a tube from the little baby and the monitor started beeping loudly.

"beeping drives me nuts." alex said, turning off the beeping.

"look, i mean-" reed started but alex cut her off.

"the kid's gonna die. deal with it or get out." alex told the girl.

with that, reed left the nicu sadly. lydia knew she wanted more for that child and the brunette felt the same way. alex picked up the little girl and held her in his arms.

"hey there, girl. i got you. yeah. it's ok. you're not alone. no, you're not. you're not alone." he whispered to her and lydia looked at him with a smile on her face.

⋆◦★◦⋆

a little while later, alex and lydia were still in the nicu. alex was holding the little girl and lydia was holding a baby boy named miles that she had helped deliver a few days prior. miles' health wasn't looking too good and it broke lydia's heart. he was suffering from similar symptoms as the baby from yesterday. the woman heard footsteps and looked up from the baby to see miranda bailey walk into the nicu.

"oh, is that the preemie?" she asked alex.

"oh, yeah. i was just, uh...i tried everything." alex said to bailey.

"and who is this?" bailey asked, walking over to lydia.

"this is miles. i helped deliver him a few nights ago and he isn't doing very well. the odds aren't very high so i thought i would give him some comfort before his time comes." lydia told bailey, rocking the newborn in her arms side to side.

"we just thought maybe somebody should hold them before, you know, they..." alex trailed off.

"kangaroo." bailey said.

"what?" alex asked, confused.

"the way you two are holding your babies, it's called a kangaroo hold. uh, there's been cases where the kangaroo has helped babies thrive. but look, karev, robbins, look at the numbers. look at this." bailey told them.

"heart rates going up." lydia pointed out.

"yeah, it is, and her temperature is normal. karev, robbins, you may have just kick-started these babies' entire system." bailey said.

"just by holding them?" lydia asked.

"both of you, take off your shirts." bailey commanded.

"what? no. take off your shirt." alex told bailey.

"yeah, um, i don't need alex to see me in a bra at work." lydia said awkwardly.

"tess, i've seen you give birth to our daughter, i've seen you breastfeed our daughter, i think you can take your shirt off to help another kid." alex told the mother of his child.

"whatever, doesn't mean i'm fully comfortable with it." lydia said to him.

"no, no, just-the kangaroo hold, it's most effective when there's skin-on-skin contact. it's usually the mom, but, you know, you're gonna have to do." bailey told her residents.

"i get it, i hold emily like this all the time at home and she really seems to enjoy it." lydia told them.

"i'm not kidding. take off your shirts." bailey commanded them.

the two residents looked at each other and sighed. they put the babies down and took off their scrub tops. they both looked at each other and alex looked her up and down before looking away and picking up the baby. lydia picked up miles and held him to her chest.

"see? it's skin-to-skin contact. the baby can feel your warmth better. sense your heartbeat better. see that?" bailey asked when the monitors showed better stats for both babies. "the baby's own heart is picking up in response."

"karev, robbins, what are you doing?" shepherd asked, walking into the room.

"they're saving a baby's life, that's what." bailey said, making alex and lydia smile.

reed walked into the nicu, clearly shocked by what she saw. "dr. bailey, i...oh, no shirts. they're wearing no shirts."

"have you started to lactate yet?" derek asked, making lydia scoff.

"bailey made us." alex told them.

"is this the room for the calendar shoot? i was told it was down stairs." mark said, rushing into the room. "hot damn lydia, are you trying to kill me?" mark's smile showed he was joking, but his eyes told a different story.

"yeah, all right. that's enough." bailey started and reed, derek, and mark started laughing. "everybody out. let karev and robbins do what they're doing in private."

"what are they doing exactly?" mark asked.

"out. out." bailey said, gesturing for them all to leave.

once they all left, lydia looked down at the small baby in her arms and cooed at the tiny human.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the woman called callie and asked if she could watch emily since lydia wasn't coming home. obviously callie said yes and lydia was able to calm down, knowing everything was under control. well, except with wallace. arizona came by and told her about the surgery and lydia was worried for the boy.

lydia found a chair late last night to sit in while she held baby miles. sometime early that morning, both her and alex fell asleep with their babies against their chests.

"karev? robbins?"

lydia heard a voice and opened her eyes to see dr. bailey looking down on the pair of young parents.

"did you stay here all night?" she asked.

"uh, yeah. i... i guess we did." alex told her.

"go home, get some rest. the nurse will take over for you." bailey told them.

"no. i'm ok." lydia told her. "callie brought in emily and she's in the daycare so we will visit her later. everything we need is right here."

"i'm good here." alex said.

"well, you'd both be good in peds, you know that? you get invested. you have good instincts. you stick to your instincts. you'd be good in peds karev. i'd like to see you follow in your sister's footsteps, robbins. ' bailey told them.

"that's been my plan all along." lydia said with a smile.

bailey smiled at them and walked away. she thought about how they would be a good couple and how they should raise their daughter together. however, she knew alex still loved izzie and lydia had a thing for mark. but she always had a sliver of hope that they would get together one day.

⋆◦★◦⋆

arizona came by earlier so that lydia could wish her happy birthday. however, arizona told lydia that wallace had died earlier and lydia felt a wave of sadness wash over her. she held miles tight and let the baby comfort her.

"i have to admit, i'm impressed. i never would've pegged you for the babysitting type." reed said to alex, walking into the nicu. "are you heading home?"

"no, i got the baby. and for the record, i'm a dad." he told the redhead.

"oh, well, i'm sure somebody else could take a shift. do you want me to-." she started when alex cut her off.

lydia thought she was kind of annoying and obviously couldn't take a hint.

"i can't leave ok." he snapped at her.

"wow. are you really so messed up that you can't let one person be nice to you, ever?"

"you, really don't take no for an answer do you, adamson?" lydia said.

"i can't go. i can't go home. i can't get izzie to call me back. she's gone. could be dead for all i know. she left me with a two-hundred thousand dollar medical bill, and i-i i can't do anything about it...about any of it." alex said.

lydia felt really bad for him but she knew there was nothing she could do.

"but i can sit here and i can hold this baby. that i can do." alex told reed.

"then i'll sit here with you for a little while." reed said, pulling a chair closer to alex.

for some reason, lydia didn't want reed there with her and alex in the nicu. she wanted to be left alone with alex in quiet with just the babies.

"no leave. i have lydia here with me and i really don't need you ruining whatever relationship i have with her. our friendship is strong but we are just trying to figure out this parenting thing. so, if you could leave, we are figuring out how to become better parents." alex whispered to reed. he thought he was being quiet, but lydia heard everything and hid her smile away from him.

reed scoffed and walked away, kicking the chair in the process.

⋆◦★◦⋆

alex and lydia put each of their babies into their nicu beds for just a moment. lydia put her shirt back on, as did karev. alex put on a pink gown and grabbed one for lydia. she took the gown from alex and put it on. miles' mother was coming to meet her son in a few days and unfortunately lydia couldn't be there when that happened, luckily, the baby girl was meeting her mother that day.

alex had the tiny human, who was wrapped in a small pink blanket, in his arms. the mother had just been rolled into the nicu and alex walked over to her.

"time to meet your mommy." alex said, and lydia's heart leaped with joy as the new mom met her daughter.

"she's so beautiful." the mother said, holding her daughter.

alex and lydia looked at each other happily. arizona walked into the nicu to take lydia home. they walked to the daycare to pick up emily and lydia was so grateful to see her own child. they walked to the car and lydia strapped emily into her car seat. the ride home was filled with lydia and arizona sharing memories from their childhoods for arizona's birthday, like they always do.

"when are you moving out?" arizona asked, glancing at lydia.

"after new years, it just seems like a good time." she replied.

"are you sure? come on, just stay here with me and callie. we love you." arizona said to her sister.

"zona, mark and i are getting serious. that means moving in together." lydia said.

"ugh, fine. just come over all the time and i'll keep a playpen at the apartment."

"i will don't worry. i'll be right next door." lydia reassured her.

"good." she laughed.

they made it to their apartment and unlocked the door, only to find callie laying down on the couch, seeming to be asleep. they tried walking to their rooms quietly without waking callie up, but failed.

"oh! i'm awake." callie said, sitting up on the couch. "i'm aw-um see? i'm totally awake. there's hats and gifts and doughnuts and lingerie." she put on a red, sparkly hat and blew a noise maker but it didn't work.

"i love you." arizona said to her girlfriend.

"you do?" callie asked her.

"i do." arizona assured her.

lydia stood in the background with emily in her arms, looking at the couple with soft eyes, wondering if anyone would ever tell her they love her.

⋆◦★◦⋆⋆◦★◦⋆⋆◦★◦⋆
𝑖'𝑚 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑢𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑖 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒-𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠. 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦!

8/11/20