Page 82 of Reclaimed (Hostage Rescue Team)

“You don’t want to do it?” he asked in surprise. He’d called his family when Summer had gone into labor and would call again soon to tell them the news. As soon as he did, his parents would undoubtedly be on the next flight up here.

“I don’t want to make them wait and I really want to clean up before I see anyone.”

“All right.” Cradling his son to his chest, Adam stepped out into the hallway. Summer’s parents and sister all jumped out of their seats, identical expressions of wonder and joy on their faces. “It’s a boy,” he told them. “This is Sam.”

Summer’s mom and sister were both crying as Adam placed the baby in his grandmother’s arms. He took pictures of them and posed for others, enjoying the obvious love everyone had for little Sam.You are one lucky little dude, he told his son silently as Summer’s dad handed him back.

“You look pretty natural, holding that baby, son,” he told Adam.

“I’ve had some practice,” he said. “One of the guys on the team just became a father a few months ago.”

“We met one of your teammates a little while ago,” Summer’s dad said. “I went into the waiting room to grab a coffee and I saw him in there. Brad Tucker.”

Adam blinked in surprise. “Tuck was here?”

“Still here,” Summer’s dad corrected. “He said he wanted to wait in there to give us all some privacy.”

Adam was touched that Tuck would come here. The team had been out on a late night training mission and would only have finished up in the last hour or so. He nodded toward the end of the hallway. “I’ll just say a quick hello and then come back. Summer said you guys can come into the room once she’s all cleaned up.”

He carried Sam to the end of the hall and pushed the door open. And stopped dead at the sight before him.

Tuck was there, all right. Along with their five other teammates and DeLuca. All of them were still dressed in their fatigues, clearly having come straight here from the training.

All the guys stood up, big smiles on their faces when they saw Adam holding the baby. “Hey, congrats, Dad,” Bauer told him, the first to break away from the group and approach him.

“Thanks. This is Sam,” he told everyone.

A chorus of cheers and congratulations went up. Sam jerked in Adam’s arms at the sudden noise, his little arms flailing for a moment, but then he went right back to sleep.

To Adam’s surprise, Bauer reached for the baby. Adam handed him over, the sight of Sam held in Bauer’s huge arms making his chest go tight. These guys weren’t his blood, but they might as well be. They’d had his back from day one, and his teammates being here right now meant the world to him.

“God, I’ve forgotten how tiny they are when they’re first born,” Bauer murmured, a big grin on his hard face as he stared down at Sam. He looked up at Adam, let out a soft chuckle. “You look like you’ve been through a war, man. How you doing? Pretty surreal, right?”

He still felt a little dazed by it all. “Yeah. It’s hard to believe he’s finally here.”

“Well, all I can say is it’s a good thing you’re no stranger to handling sleep deprivation. The first few months are fun times.”

“I’m up for the challenge.”

“How’s Summer doing?”

“Good. Great, actually, all things considered. I thought I knew what to expect through the birth, but…” He blew out a breath, shook his head. Watching her suffer like that had ripped his guts out.

Bauer nodded. “I know. It’s intense and scary as hell, watching your wife go through that. I almost fucking fainted when Zoe—” He winced, looked down at Sam in apology. “Sorry, buddy. You’re not even an hour old yet and you’ve already heard your first curse word.”

“Pretty sure it won’t be his last,” Schroder remarked dryly, and Adam couldn’t help but grin.

Bauer grunted and looked back at Adam. “Anyway, I remember how it was when Libby was being born.” He gave a mock shudder. “Never seen anything like that and not sure I want to again.”

Intense didn’t even cover it, but he knew his teammate perfectly. “Yeah. Me neither.”

Bauer glanced over at the others. “Anybody else wanna turn holding this good-looking little dude?” When nobody moved he started to hold the baby out to Schroder.

The medic held up his hands and backed up a step, shaking his head, clearly terrified to touch the baby. “Uh, no, I’m good. Thanks.” Cruzie, Vance and Evers all backed up with him, looking slightly worried, like Sam was a live grenade or something.

Bauer snorted and tucked the baby back against his chest, glowering at them. “Pussies.”

“I’ll take a turn,” DeLuca said, and all eyes turned to him in surprise. He and Briar had just gotten married a couple months before, eloping on a day off. “What?” he asked with a scowl. “I’m planning to be a dad someday, so I might as well start getting the hang of it now.” His expression melted into a smile when he took Sam from Bauer. “He’s a handsome little guy, all right,” he said to Adam. “Must take after his mama.”

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