She knew that Grace was already super tired and very stressed, she could see it on her lover's face as they packed up the bags they had brought with them to the hospital but still, she looked beautiful. That was something Hannah knew would never change. Grace grabbed all the dirty clothes from their three day stay and loaded them all into one of the overnight bags. Grace only tended to clean and tidy when there were things she wanted to avoid, this time it was her thoughts.
"Here, let me get that," Hannah offered taking the hold all from Grace, as Grace scoffed at her in reply. "Hannah, I'm not disabled you know."
Hannah folded some of the blankets and toiletries into the bag as she let Grace potter on with whatever she was up to. I was going to be difficult – going home and having no help from the professionals. Hannah was incredibly proud of her wife for everything – proud of her for doing the very thing she was most afraid of them.
Hannah smiled at the brunette who was now sitting on the hospital bed as she pulled her navy-blue hoodie over her head, wincing in pain as she did so.
"How are you feeling?" The blonde asked coming to stand between Grace's legs when she had finished gathering their bags.
"Just a little tender," Grace replied as Hannah helped dress her before she ran a hand through her moderately dirty hair. Grace melted into her touch, much like she normally did with Hannah. She knew Hannah wasn't just talking about how she was doing physically but mentally and emotionally as well. And Hannah knew Grace wasn't quite ready to face such questions so she let it go.
"I'm just ready to go home," she told her as she kissed Hannah's palm which was now cupping her face. Hannah leaned into Grace pecking her dry, chapped lips – something that came with Grace's bouts of worry. Grace sighed at how familiar this was, it's something she would never grow sick of – feeling Hannah's love for her.
"I'll take these down to the car. Do you think can you manage on your own to get the little one ready?" Hannah asked carefully.
Grace replied with an unsteady nod. Looking towards the plastic crib that was adjacent to the hospital bed she had spent the last 36 hours in. "I'll try my best," she squeaked, now a little nervous at the prospect of being left to care for the newborn alone. She knew Hannah had been careful to ease her into it and this was the first time she had been left alone with the baby. Come on Grace, you can do this. Her eyes flickered to the black infant car seat that sat in the corner of the room. She picked up and placed on the floor next to the bed. Next, she eyed the pink bundle in the crib, her feet closely following in the direction of her eyes and she found herself watching the sleeping baby girl. "Just pick her up, I promise that you won't break her." Hannah's gentle words from yesterday when Grace was left to pick up a fussing baby cursed through Grace's brain as she did just that and took the child from the crib, placing her on her pink blanket which was spread across the bed. As Grace swaddled the little one she began to stir before waking up and muffling a few cries too.
Grace picked the infant up cradling her in her arms finding that somehow she suddenly knew what she needed to do, "hey there, it's okay. Please don't cry, Hannah will be back soon and she's much better at this stuff than me." Grace chuckled to herself.
The baby started to hush as Grace looked down and cooed at the little person in her arms. As she stared into the baby's eyes, which were an exact match to her biological mother's, she couldn't help but feel the connection. She took in the newborn in her arms. She traced the outline of her little cheeks with her finger, trailing her hand around to the baby's ears and back around to her cute little button nose, something which Grace found an adorable addition to the small face which was almost the exact spit of Hannah.
Unbeknown to Grace, Hannah had been stood silently in the doorway watching Grace interact and fall in love with the baby girl that the pair of them had brought into the world, her heart growing with love, every second that passed. The baby slept as Grace placed her in her car seat and strapped her in.
"Hey," Hannah breathed as she came into the room finally announcing her presence. She looked at the child who was safely secured in the car seat. Hannah gently pulled her pink blanket up to her chin. "You've done a great job baby," Hannah told Grace. She was so proud of her, it amazed Hannah how Grace continued to grow even when she was outside of her comfort zone. Grace dropped her head and smiled at the compliment. Hannah's arm made its way around her shoulders giving her a squeeze. She was beginning to feel the worry and stress ease a little bit, perhaps this wasn't going to be so scary with Hannah by her side.
"Ready to go?" Hannah asked. Grace nodded quickly.
They finished filling in the discharge papers at the reception and said goodbye to the midwives that took care of the three of them during their time in the maternity unit. "Hey, do you want me to take that?" Hannah asked, gesturing to the baby's packed changing bag that Grace had thrown over her shoulder.
"Hannah, I can manage," Grace assured before smiling as she watched Hannah lift the car seat with their little bundle of joy. Maybe I can get used to this a lot quicker than I though. The sight made Grace so happy – it was clear that Hannah was besotted with their new addition and if Grace was being honest she was relieved that she was following not too far behind.
They made their way to their car and Grace put the changing bag in the trunk before slowly sliding into the backseat beside the baby seat and strapping herself in. "Hannah, wait. It's not secured properly," Grace panicked, unfastening the car seat at her side and slotting it into the fixture properly. "There we go," she said, relieved everything was secured safely.
Hannah's smile could have been seen from miles off. It was the little things like that, that showed how good Grace was going to be at this. Grace had never expected herself to be a maternal person but Hannah had always been adamant that she would be great. And maybe, just maybe, Grace was beginning to believe it too.
