Work Text:
Andy had been waiting for Ephram to get home so he could talk to him about Madison. As more time went by, however, the more nerve he lost. Finally, Ephram walked in. "Hey can I talk to you?" he called out before his son could disappear upstairs.
"Can it wait?"
"Are you busy?"
"No, I'm wallowing. It's taken up a surprising amount of time." Ephram admitted lying on the couch.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing? You just went fetal."
"I'm just not sure about this New York for eight weeks thing anymore."
"I thought you couldn't wait to get out of here. I was just getting used to the backflips."
"It's just Amy and I are finally together. It's everything I've wanted since I got here. But going to New York could change my playing."
"Then the answer's obvious isn't?"
"But what if she's not here when I come back? I wish you could just tell me what to do. Seriously one time offer micromanage, over parent."
"You know what's best for you. You showed me that by yelling at me. I'm sure whatever choice you make will be the right one."
"At what age does it stop being acceptable to hide under the bed?"
"Forty-eight minimum." Andy joked.
"Then you know where I'll be." Ephram announced turning to leave. Then he remembered something. "Hey what did you want?"
"Huh?"
"You said you needed to talk about something." Andy wanted to tell him about Madison's pregnancy, but something stopped him. Looking at him, Andy realized just how young Ephram still was. It made him think about the day Ephram was born.
After hearing that Julia had gone into labor a month early Andy left work and rushed to Manhattan Women's Hospital. Deciding that trying to take a cab during rush hour was a bad move and not wanting to risk the subway breaking down, he ran. By the time he arrived he was out of breath. Taking a second to catch his breath he approached the receptionist. "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Julia Brown's room."
"Brown." the receptionist repeated to herself typing in the name on her computer. "Room 234." she added to Andy.
"Thank you." he thanked before heading upstairs. Hurrying down the hall he finally found himself Infront of room 234. Opening the door, he walked in on a surprising sight.
Sitting up in bed was Julia with a baby in her arms. He had missed it. He had missed the birth of his first child. "Hey come meet your son." Julia greeted as he approached the bed.
"It's a boy?" he asked surprised as Julia passed the baby to him. "Hi Buddy I'm your Daddy." Andy greeted rocking the baby before turning his attention to Julia. "I'm sorry I got here as fast as I could."
"It's not your fault. Ephram here was in quite the hurry to join us."
"Ephram?"
"Yeah, I was thinking of Ephram Mathew. My first choice and your first choice. What do you think?"
"Ephram Mathew Brown, I like it. What do you think? Do you like the name Ephram?" Andy asked the baby getting a happy gurgle in return.
"I'll take that as a yes." Julia chuckled as Ephram started to whine. "He's probably hungry. Here give him to me and I'll feed him." passing Ephram to Julia he paused to kiss her.
"Thank you for giving me a beautiful son. I love you."
"I love you too." Julia replied leaning forward to kiss him back.
"Dad?" Ephram's voice called breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Sorry, what were you saying?"
"You wanted to talk about something?"
"Oh no, it's nothing you should concern yourself with." as Ephram headed upstairs he decided that he needed to protect his childhood at all costs. That meant one thing Ephram could not know Madison was pregnant.