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Story Notes:
Hello all! I've been kicking around this idea for a very long time--since about February or so. The song lyrics in the summary are from the song "Someday We'll Know" by Mandy Moore and Jonathan from Switchfoot. It's the inspiration for this story, and I hope you enjoy the story!
The sun was shining, the leaves on the trees were slowly unfurling, and the air was warmer with the onset of spring.  Winter was finally moving on, and children were already piling into the playgrounds and skateboarding down the sidewalks.  None of it, though, affected the way Nick Carter felt at the moment.

Inside the waiting room of the Nashville, Tennessee hospital, he was a mess.  He paced from one end of the room to the other and back again.  He’d gone through countless cups of coffee and had, for a brief moment, considered smoking again.  Anything it would take to ease his nerves and calm him down.

His first child was about to be brought into the world.

Nick had been waiting for the past several hours, harrassing the nurses for information, begging to find out what was going on.  All he’d been told was that the labor had progressed smoothly, and it was only a matter of time before his child was born.

He was still more nervous than he’d ever been in his entire life.  And he’d been nervous and worried quite a few times in his crazy career.

“Mr. Carter?”

Nick’s head whipped around to the doorway where a nurse stood.  He was by her side in an instant.  “What’s going on? Is there any news?”

The nurse smiled.  “Congratulations, Mr. Carter.  You have a beautiful baby girl.  Mother and daughter are doing well, and, as soon as we’ve moved them into a recovery room, you’ll be able to see them.”

A girl. Nick was speechless as the nurse walked away.  He was a father now to a little girl.  Even knowing for nine months that he was going to be a father hadn’t prepared him for the moment that his little girl was brought into the world.  He wanted to jump up and down and shout for joy.  He wanted to take out an ad in the newspaper announcing his daughter’s birth.  Today, he thought, was a beautiful day.

March fourteenth was a day he’d never forget.

***

His heart was pounding as he followed a nurse down the hallway to the room where his little girl was sleeping in her mother’s arms.  He couldn’t wait to see her, hold her, and welcome her to the world.  The smile on his face was so wide that he was surprised his cheeks hadn’t fallen off yet.

The smile didn’t diminish a bit when he walked into the room and saw the mother of his child.  No matter what was between them, he reminded himself, he was here for his daughter first and foremost.

He practically tiptoed across the room to where Spencer Wilde lay on the hospital bed, their daughter cradled carefully in her arms.  Spencer looked up when he approached and managed a small smile.  He didn’t return it for his eyes were on the tiny baby.

Spencer didn’t bother to say anything to him, knowing there was no point.  Instead, she held out her arms.  “Would you like to hold her?”

Nick glanced at her then.  He noticed the pallor of her skin, the way her gray eyes were weary.  Her dark red hair had been pulled back from her face in a bun, but scraggly curls escaped from it and brushed her neck and cheeks.  Whatever he thought of her, he couldn’t deny the fact that she’d given him the greatest gift in the world.

“Yeah, thanks,” he murmured.  There was an awkward moment as he and Spencer tried to figure out how to pass the baby off carefully.  Once they’d managed it and he stood looking into the face of his daughter, he was stunned.  Here she was.  All six pounds eleven ounces of her.  She had dark hair, and he wondered if it would lighten up or stay the deep rich color of her mother’s hair.  He drank in the sight of her greedily, the tiny fingers, the cute little nose, the way her lips were scrunched together into the shape of a rosebud.  “She’s beautiful,” he whispered reverently.

“Yes, she is.” Spencer had to admit that the look of awe on his face was beautiful, too.  She’d never seen him like this, and she’d seen him in a variety of different moods.  “She got a ten on the Apgar scale.  It means she was perfect when she was born.  Everything worked properly, she was the right color, and was breathing properly.”

“She’s perfect.” Nick cautiously brushed his lips over his daughter’s forehead, inhaling the soft scent of baby.  “What do we name her?”

Spencer shrugged, a little surprised.  She’d expected Nick to have baby names picked out by now.  After all, he’d taken care of every other detail that pertained to their daughter’s life.  “Do you have any ideas?”

Nick looked up and met her eyes.  “A few.  You?”

“I like Sydney,” she answered then bit her lip.  “But we don’t have to name her that if you don’t want.”

He rolled the name over in his head a few times and tested it out.  He looked down into his sleeping daughter’s face.  “Sydney,” he murmured and watched the baby’s eyelids flicker.  “Hey, it’s a sign!” he whispered excitedly.  “She had a reaction to the name.” He grinned at Spencer and caught her off guard.  It was the first time he’d smiled at her in months.  “I think Sydney’s perfect.”

“Sydney Wilde-Carter,” Spencer completed.  “I like that.”

Nick murmured to his daughter for a few more minutes before a nurse came in.  

“Mr. Carter, Ms. Wilde.  I’m sorry, I need to take your daughter over to the nursery.” The nurse smiled at the way Nick was so enraptured with his child.  “Have you picked out a name then?”

Spencer took her eyes off Nick and looked at the nurse.  “Yes.  Sydney.  Her name is Sydney Wilde-Carter.”

“That’s very pretty,” the nurse replied with a smile.  “I’ll fill it out for you, and then you can sign her birth certificate.  Now, I really hate to do this, but I do need to take your daughter now.”

Nick reluctantly handed baby Sydney over to the nurse.  “Take care of her, okay? She’s the most important person in the world to me.”

The nurse smiled at his words as she settled Sydney into a bassinet.  “I promise, we’ll take wonderful care of her.”

When the nurse had taken Sydney away, Nick turned back to Spencer.  There was an awkward silence for a few moments before he spoke.  “I don’t know how to repay you,” he said quietly.  “You’ve given me the best and most precious gift I’ve ever received.  She’s incredible, amazing.  Spencer.” He paused and searched for the right words.  “I know that we’ve had our differences, but for this, I’ll always owe you.”

“Don’t.  Nick, she’s part yours, too.” Spencer didn’t want his gratitude.  “Whatever arguments we’ve had and however much we might dislike each other, she’s ours.  We made that beautiful little girl.”

“Yeah.” Nick stared down at his hand for a moment.  Then, clearing his throat, he looked up.  “Look, this might be the worst time to talk about this, but I just wanted to make sure that we have the schedule worked out.”

“Nick-”

He shook his head.  “You’ll have her for the first two years, but I’ll stop by as often as I can.  Sydney will never feel like she doesn’t have a father.  I want to hear her call me daddy. I’m going to be there when she takes her first steps.”

“I know.” Spencer felt tears fill her eyes but forced them back.  Tears wouldn’t work with Nick.  Not anymore.

“After she’s two, though, the custody papers say that we share joint custody.  That means, we switch her off every six months.  Until she starts school.”

“Nick, we’ll figure that out when we get there.  She was just born today!”

Nick narrowed his eyes.  “I know that. I’m just making sure that you’re clear on what’s going to happen.  I don’t want you bitching at me in two years about how not fair it is or whatever you’ll throw at me then.”

“Oh, fuck you, Nick Carter.”

“Wow, I thought lawyers were supposed to be more eloquent than that.  Is that the best you could come up with?” His temper was rising.  Spencer always managed to irritate him beyond belief.  How, he wondered, had he ever thought he could spend his life with this woman? It was a good thing they’d figured it out sooner rather than later.

Spencer was quiet for several moments before looking up at him.  “Just go, Nick.  I’ve had a long day, and I don’t want to do this now.”

Nick stared at her, the venom in his eyes clear.  “Fine.  I’ll be back to see Sydney.”

“Great.  Wonderful. Go.” She turned away from him and stared out the window.  “Pass out cigars and be proud of how amazing you are.”

He didn’t say anything.  He was sure if he opened his mouth, he would regret his words.  Not saying a word, he stormed out, just barely resisting the urge to slam the door.  If they weren’t in a hospital, he probably would have.

Spencer listened to the door shut and his receding footsteps before she squeezed her eyes shut.  She wished she could go back a year and make sure that she and Nick Carter had never met, but she couldn’t.  She wouldn’t have Sydney, and she didn’t want to wish her daughter away—no matter who her father was.

But if she were honest with herself, Spencer thought, she didn’t hate Nick.  Not even a little.  Because the worst part of the whole situation wasn’t that Nick hated her, it was that, even knowing he couldn’t stand the sight of her, she was in love with him.  Completely.  Totally.

Irrevocably.