I Will Never Let You Go (A Maxcer Fanfic)

That's All I Feel.

Even though her labor had been difficult, Max was feeling quite good. She was still sore, but she ended up getting the unmedicated birth experience that she wanted; and as a result, she got a beautiful, healthy baby girl.
Spencer had stayed with Willow as the nurses weighed and measured her. She was a decent size, weighing around seven pounds two ounces and measured twenty inches long. The nurses put a diaper on her and wrapped her up, then handed her to Spencer. Willow blinked up at him a couple times as he spoke softly to her.
"Hi Willow, remember my voice? I'm your dad."
Soon she started to display that she was hungry, so a nurse assisted Max in breastfeeding her. She figured it out with zero issues, which allowed Max to sit with her for thirty minutes, doing nothing but bonding with her baby. Michelle had left to go tell everyone the news while Spencer sat quietly in a chair next to the bed. He noticed Willow's little feet hanging out beneath the blankets, and he tickled the bottom of her foot. She pulled it away immediately, but Spencer still smiled.
Only a few hours after Willow was born did the team pile into the recovery room to meet the new member of the family. They passed her around to everyone, including Henry and Sammy, allowing everyone a turn to hold her. To anyone that wasn't holding the baby, Spencer and Max were giving out hugs, chatting quietly with their family. Everyone had left an hour later, allowing the new parents some privacy.
"I can't believe we made this." Max said, stroking Willow's back as she lay asleep on her chest.
"You can take all my credit." Spencer joked.
"Haven't you heard the phrase "It takes two to tango?"
"Yes, but after watching you grow a human inside your body and then go through seventeen hours of labor unmedicated, I'd say I had an insignificant part in this. I mean, yes of course my sper--"
"Alright, we don't need to rehash it." Max interrupted, laughing uncomfortably. Spencer laughed too, but even as his laughter died down, his smile remained.
"I'm very proud of you." He said softly. Max moved her eyes from Spencer down to Willow's face, her grin widening. She didn't respond, and she didn't need to. Letting her head lean into the pillow more, Max finally shut her eyes and fell asleep.

Don and Lilith came to visit the next morning, peeking into the doorway before walking in. As soon as Lilith caught sight of Spencer with Willow in his arms, she smiled widely, looking at her daughter who was finishing up eating her breakfast. Her mom sat on the edge of the bed and hugged Max, not a word spoken between them. After pulling away, Lilith put a hand on Max's cheek. "I'm so proud of you honey." Max smiled and placed a hand over her mother's. Standing up from his chair, Spencer placed Willow in her grandfather's arms. She had her eyes open again; this time her blink rate wasn't as fast. Don chuckled at the faces Willow made, which seemed to set her off. She wailed in his arms, causing him to rock her slowly in his arms. She calmed down again, falling back into a deep sleep. "She looks like you Max." Don said to his daughter. After a couple more minutes, Don handed Willow to Lilith, who took her nervously.
"Hi Willow." She said softly.
"This is one of your grandmas." Max continued, stroking the baby's head. Lilith looked up at Max; they seemed to come to an understanding, even though no words were spoken between the two of them. Max hadn't entirely forgiven her mother yet, but she was starting to move on from the hurt.
After Max's parents had left, Max finally got up and went to the bathroom. She took a shower and changed her clothes, feeling cleaner from having been sweaty most of the day before. When she got out, Spencer was changing Willow's diaper for the upteeth time in the past couple hours. Max envisioned that he'd be nervous about doing it, but she was surprised to see that he handled it very calmly. He did talk to himself through it the first couple times, which Max thought was adorable. He put her in an outfit that they had brought, saying that they'd be discharged in just an hour or two.

It had been a week that they'd been home with Willow, and they were still getting the hang of things. Max was working out her nursing schedule during the night, which so far hadn't woken Spencer much. When she wasn't nursing Willow, Spencer would have his bonding time with her. Before he met Max, he was starting to think he'd never be a dad; now he didn't know who he'd be without either of them.
Being the overprotective first time dad that he was, he wouldn't stop looking in the rear view mirror at Willow, who had fallen asleep right as they pulled out of the driveway. Her carseat was backwards, but opposite her was a mirror that attached to the headrest of the backseat. Max noticed him look up many times, and she put a hand on his knee as he drove. "She's asleep babe. She's not going anywhere." She said tenderly. Spencer kept his eyes on the road, but put a hand over hers and squeezed it. He finally pulled up to the Brookfield Assisted Living Center, where his mother had been staying for the past few years.
Spencer led the way inside, opening the door for Max as she held the car seat with their sleeping baby. He glanced around for a moment and quickly spotted his mother's physician.
"Hi Addy, sorry to show up unannounced." He said as she walked up to them.
"Oh don't be silly. You and Max are always a pleasure to have around. Besides Diana did mention that she was now a grandma, so I had a feeling you would come visit soon. How have things been?"
"Pretty smooth. She's been eating good; other than that she mainly just sleeps." Max answered, letting Addy peak into the carrier. "How's my mom?" Spencer asked.
"You came on one of her good days. Now as you know, going in there at first she can be hard to reach, so just be patient."
She led them into the day room, where Diana was sitting alone in a comfy chair with her notebook on her lap and a pen in her hand. Spencer walked up to her and sat on the edge of a nearby chair.
"Hi mom." He said, grabbing her attention. She looked up at him confused. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."
"I'm Spencer. Your son." When she didn't recognize the name, he showed her his wrist, which bore a scar he had gotten when he was little. More often than not, that was what made her remember. After a few seconds, she looked back up at him with realization in her eyes.
"Oh Spencer." She said, standing up and wrapping her arms around him. Max smiled at the two of them from where she stood. Letting go of his mother, Spencer put a hand on Max's lower back, inching her forward. Diana looked Max up and down, that confused look returning to her face. After a couple more seconds, it dawned on her who stood before her. "Oh Max, my beautiful daughter in law. How are you darling?"
"I'm feeling really good Diana. How are you?"
"Even better now that you both are here." Diana's eyes finally drifted down to the carrier in Max's arms, where Willow was just starting to blink her eyes open.
"Spencer, who's baby is that?" She asked bluntly. He smiled and sat Diana down. "That's mine and Max's daughter. Her name is Willow Diana Reid; we gave her that middle name after you. I told you months ago that Max was pregnant and I called you a couple days ago to tell you that she was finally here." Diana listened to him carefully, then playfully hit his shoulder and said "I knew that."
Spencer slowly placed Willow into Diana's arms. Her eyes were open and she was looking up at Diana's face. Diana smiled down at the small child, not quite believing that this was her own flesh and blood. When Willow started to fuss, Spencer and Max watched as she expertly rocked the baby, humming softly. It seemed to lull her back to sleep, and Diana kissed her lightly on the forehead.

Spencer made a nice dinner for him and Max once they returned home from visiting his mom. He had really enjoyed watching his mother interact with his daughter. Part of him wished that they could have meetings like that more often, but they tended to get really busy and Diana wasn't always feeling up to having visitors. It worried Spencer how much longer she had, but they would make sure that every moment counted while she was still with them.
After Max was finished eating, it was time for her to nurse Willow. She stayed on the couch with her for about twenty minutes while Spencer did some cleaning. Michelle had cleaned a lot of the bottles and pacifiers one last time while they were still at the hospital. She also cleaned their sheets and vacuumed, but in the one week that they'd been home the place was already starting to get messy. It wasn't terrible, but it was definitely not up to Spencer's standards. Once he was finished, he took Willow from Max so she could take a shower. He changed her diaper and her clothes, then laid on their bed with her on his chest. She was still awake, but her eyes were starting to droop in the dim lighting. Spencer began to hum, stroking his daughter's back, which seemed to knock her out again. He smoothed over her light brown hair, which seemed to be naturally straight. Her eyes were still a dark grey, but he had to guess that they'd turn out some shade of brown, since Max's were darker brown compared to his more hazel ones.
A little toot noise came out of Willow, making Spencer laugh. Max walked into their room, looking at him with her head tilted. He looked up at her and answered her unspoken question.
"She passed some gas in her sleep."
That response only made Max look at him more weird as she laid down next to him without shaking the bed too much. "Unless you're talking about them in a more logical sense, usually bodily functions seem off putting to you; and now I've just witnessed you laughing hysterically at your daughter farting on you."
"It wasn't hysterical."
"Dr Reid, did you not just hear yourself?"
Spencer chuckled and admitted defeat. "In any other circumstance I would probably react differently. I guess because she's my daughter and she's asleep and it made a cute noise is why I found it funny."
"And now you're describing farts as cute, are you feeling alright?" Max exclaimed, placing a hand to his forehead.
"I didn't say that, I said the noise it made was."
Max shook her head with a smile on her face, watching as her husband looked intently at their daughter's face. "You look so in love." She murmured warmly. He smiled, placing his index finger into Willow's open hand, encouraging her to grab it. Not looking away, he said "That's all I feel at the moment. I got to see my mom have a good day and now I get to snuggle with my two favorite girls." He finally turned to look at her, and he leaned towards her to place a kiss on her lips. Max snuggled into his side, as they stayed up for another hour just caressing their sleeping little girl.