Crutchie and Jennie's first week as parents was interesting, to say the least.

Faith was a relatively easy baby, but like all babies, she still needed a great deal of care. Add to that the constant stream of family and friends who wanted to see her, and Crutchie and Jennie were soon absolutely exhausted. But despite all this, they were the happiest they'd ever been. They had Faith, who was absolutely perfect in every way, and they wouldn't trade that for anything.

-Break-

About a week and a half after Faith was born Jack, Katherine, and Eddie visited. Jack and Katherine had sent a bouquet of flowers a few days after the birth, but as Jack had explained to Crutchie as he prepared to go back home the morning following Faith's birth "We'se just gonna give ya some space, let you find your footing. I bet there's loads of folks who want to see that little angel, an' you'll be busy. 'Sides, Kath's just gettin' over a cold an' Faith don't need to be exposed to that."

As much as Crutchie admittedly missed his surrogate brother during that week (especially since Jack was already a somewhat experienced parent) he was indeed very busy. So busy, in fact, that he nearly forgot Jack and Katherine were going to visit until Jennie reminded him.

"You might want to change your shirt before Jack and Katherine come over. That one has spit-up on it."

"Oh. Yeah, that's right, Jack an' Katherine are visitin'. I, well. I better make myself more presentable."

"Yes, darling. I think that's a good idea. Although I don't think Jack and Katherine care too much about that kind of thing, in all honesty."

"That's definitely true."

-Break-

"Hello! Oh, it's so good to see both of you!" Jennie exclaimed from the parlor as Crutchie let Jack and Katherine in. Katherine was holding Eddie in her arms, but when she saw Jennie and Faith she handed him off to Jack and hurried over to greet them.

"How are ya, kid?" Jack asked Crutchie, shifting Eddie in his arms as he began to fuss slightly.

"Good, good. Faith don't do much besides eat, sleep, an' cry, but we always seem to be takin' care of her," Crutchie replied.

"Oh yeah. For the record, that never changes." Jack smiled at Eddie and bounced him slightly. "Right, Ed?"

Eddie squirmed more and babbled in response, so Jack carefully set him down on the floor and watched him begin to crawl over to where Katherine and Jennie were chatting.

"You'se a complete natural, Jack," Crutchie remarked as they slowly followed after Eddie, ensuring he didn't hurt himself. "I'll be happy if I can be half the pa you are."

"You'se already that, an' much more besides," Jack said, fixing Crutchie with a stern look. "So don't go gettin' any other ideas, okay?"

"Okay." Crutchie smiled and nodded. Then he turned back towards the scene in front of them. "Eddie seems to be havin' a good time." He gestured towards the eight-month-old, who was currently sitting on Katherine's lap with one of his hands in his mouth and the other pointing at Faith excitedly.

Jack chuckled, shaking his head fondly. "He's a funny kid, my Ed."

"Ya named him after your Pa, right?" Crutchie asked. "I think I remember you tellin' me that right after he was born."

Jack nodded. "Yeah. It was my idea, I just thought it would be a nice thing to do. 'Course, that made Katherine get all sentimental an' insist on making his middle name John, after me." Jack frowned slightly. "It's a little odd havin' a kid named after you, even if it ain't his first name."

"It's odd havin' a kid," Crutchie interjected. "But a good type of odd."

"Yeah," Jack agreed. He nodded towards Eddie and Faith again. "Think they'se gonna grow up to be best friends like us?"

"Maybe." A smile spread across Crutchie's face. "They certainly are gonna see a lot of each other. That'll either make 'em hate or love each other."

Jack laughed. "Love each other, huh?"

Crutchie turned red as he realized what he'd just said. "That… I wasn't… shut up, Kelly!"

Jack clapped Crutchie on the shoulder, his eyes twinkling. "I'm just kiddin', kid. Our kids'll grow up however they grow up, an' that don't matter all that much. All that does is that we love 'em just as they are."

"Yeah." Crutchie gazed at Faith, sleeping soundly in Jennie's lap. "That's all that matters. That we love 'em."

A/N: Eddie is about 8 months old at this point in time. 8-month-old babies are typically capable of crawling and babbling (among other things such as understanding object permanence) and walking and saying their first words usually aren't that far off.

Next in this series is a Oneshot about Crutchie, Jennie, and Faith and after that there will be another multi-chapter story about them! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, please let me know what you thought of this one.