Chapter 4

"Picked out your son's name yet? He's due any minute, right?" Gavin asked as Garrett entered the room.

Garrett shrugged. "We decided to wait before giving the baby a name." He lied, not wanting to tell them that they were having yet another girl.

"You still haven't figured out how to do it properly yet, have you?" Gavin asked, a slightly teasing look on his face. "You and Cassidy are having another little girl."

"Shut up." Garrett muttered darkly.

Nathan knew it was awful, hoped it wouldn't hurt his son, but maybe a little bit of ribbing amongst the men of the family would close a few of the gaps Holly had caused. "Garrett, do you need lessons?"

Garrett looked from his brother to his father incredulously. "I don't think *those* are the lessons you can teach...or the ones Cassidy would enjoy..."

Nathan liked the return of spirit, though he didn't mention it of course.

"Now why are we here? Cassidy's about ready to go into labor any day now..."

"Callahan's training a new protégé," Nathan told the boys.

"Do we know who it is?"

"Yes." Nathan paused. "Dylan Kincaide."

"No, it's not, he's dead!" Gavin said firmly.

"What? Where did you hear he's dead?" Garrett asked.

"Callahan killed him... when Grace came to us..."

"No, he didn't," Nathan said. "Because he's just announced that within 5 years the IMF will be in Kincaide's hands."

"We've got to stop it then."

"Clearly. I want to get together at some point very, very soon and plan a way to eliminate this kid before he becomes a bigger threat."

Garrett opened his mouth to make a suggestion but his cell phone rang. "Spencer." He answered automatically.

"Cassidy's having the baby. Now," Grace's voice came over the line.

"I'll be right there." He said into the phone. "Cassidy's having the baby." He told his father and brother. "I have to go."

"*We* have to go," Gavin replied, and the group took off for the hospital.

It had been the longest and most painful labor Cassidy had ever endured, and she collapsed back on the bed as the doctors cleaned up the new baby. She was suddenly glad that she had agreed to only have one more.

The nurse wrapped the baby in the blue blanket. "Would you like to hold your son now, Mrs. Spencer?"

"My... my what?" Cassidy looked up, confused. It must be the pain... it still hurt, she had decided not to have any drugs when she had the baby.

Garrett kissed Cassidy's forehead. "Did she just say son?"

"I was about to ask you..."

"I'm sorry, there must be some mistake." Garrett turned to the wide eyed nurse. "We had a girl."

"It's a private room, sir," The nurse told them looking bemused. "You've got a little boy."

"A boy?" Garrett repeated. "Cass...we have a baby boy. A son."

"A little boy..." Cassidy reached out to take the baby from the nurse. "We've got a son, Garrett..." She carefully counted fingers and toes.

"We do. What should we name him? I mean...we can't really name him Victoria."

"Garrett. I want him to be a baby Garrett."

"I think we can manage that. Garrett Jr."

Cassidy held their child close, kissing the baby's forehead. "Garrett, he's perfect..."

The doctor had gone to the waiting room. "It's a boy," he told the gathered family.

Garrett beamed at the little boy in Cassidy's arms. He had done it - they had done it. They had finally had a boy. "You're perfect."

Gavin immediately looked to his parents to see the reactions.

"Mother and baby both healthy?" Nathan asked the doctor, smiling widely.

"Perfectly healthy," the doctor assured them.

Holly was elated. Her son had finally fulfilled his duty. Holly was the first to burst into the room. "Congratulations! You two must be so happy. You have a son. He's so adorable, Cassidy."

"Me? I didn't do anything, I just had him. And he caused mommy a lot of trouble being born, didn't he?" She said, still staring at the baby.

The baby looked up with wide blue eyes, reaching for his mother's hair.

Grace smiled. "He's beautiful, Cassidy."

"Thank you... Garrett, come hold him," Cassidy said to her husband.

Garrett reclaimed his spot on the edge of the bed and took him from Cassidy. "This is Garrett Jr." He said proudly, holding the baby close.

Nathan smiled at the boy. "Ella will be pleased," he commented.

"Now she won't be asking you to turn Kayla into a boy." Grace said.

Cassidy laughed, still watching her husband and their son. "He's going to be a blonde... he looks like you, Garrett."

Garrett smiled. "He's going to be handsome."

“Of course he is, didn’t I just say he looks like you?”

Gavin clapped his brother on the shoulder. "Congrats, big brother."

"Thanks." Garrett beamed.

Nathan kissed his daughter-in-law's cheek. "Congratulations, Cass."

"Thanks, Dad." Cassidy replied, feeling suddenly very tired.

The baby started to cry. Garrett tried to calm the baby down.

"Give him here, he's probably hungry," Cassidy suggested.

Holly shooed everyone but Garrett out so Cassidy could feed the baby.

Garrett gave Cassidy the baby.

Cassidy cuddled their son close while she fed him. "Thank you, Garrett... he's perfect."

"I should be thanking you."

"What for? You made him too." She kissed her husband.

"Still...this was your only duty as my wife." He teased, mimicking his mother.

"About time you sired a son," she retorted in the same tone.

Garrett kissed her softly.

~*~*~*~

There were others, of course, not quite so pleased at the joyous news. "Nathan Spencer'll be handing over the paperwork soon," Bryce Callahan said darkly, crumpling up the report. "His son's wife just gave birth to a boy. How... *precious.*"

"What does that mean for us?" A seventeen year old Dylan Kincaide asked.

"It means, my boy, that there are now three generations of Spencers to worry about. Old Nathan's got his ducks all lined up in a row."

"So when he's ready to retire, he'll hand it over to his son who had the boy." Dylan clued himself in. "But where does that leave us in the situation?"

"That leaves us in a pickle, because that son of Nathan's is very, very qualified to be running the organization... and he'll teach that boy to be just the same."

"So how do we get rid of them?"

"Well… it's really quite simple. I've announced that you'll be taking over... they're going to come. They want you dead. I have every reason to believe Nathan's spawn will come themselves."

"So when they come, we're waiting."

"Exactly. You'd better acquaint yourself with their files... we have to make sure we take them out this time."

"We won't fail you." Dylan promised. "I'll make sure there are no Spencer survivors from this mission."

"Good boy. Get to work."

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