Calum's PoV

It had felt like the longest day of my life. Following Poppy's message to let me know it was all kicking off, I'd been on tenterhooks every moment. Every time someone's phone buzzed my head shot in that direction, any time one of the guys left the room I asked if they'd spoken to anyone when they came back. It had been crazy.  We'd done the gig and for a few hours, I'd managed to take a moment away from my whizzing mind to play our songs. I felt free for a moment of the heavy baggage that weighed on my mind of worry and stress. Once the last strums of my bass played and the crowd went wild, the adrenaline began to wear off and suddenly the thoughts were back. As we went offstage and hung out in the back, my phone began to buzz and I saw Poppy's name and photo lighting up my screen. I shoved past all the guys and dived into the sofa, grabbing my phone from the arm and answering it. It was a video call, which stirred some nerves within me. Was this going to be good or bad?

"It's Poppy!" I whispered to the guys as I swiped. Suddenly they were all around me, ready for the news. Poppy's face finally appeared on my screen and I couldn't help but burst into the hugest smile, taking in her features despite her looking tired.

"Baby!" I said excitedly. "How are you? Is everything okay?" I could hear Sierra's excited squeak in the background and knew this was going to be the good news we were finally due.

"It's more than okay." She said softly, sounding slightly exhausted, her voice hoarse and quiet. "Are the guys there?" I moved the screen around and they all waved at her greeting her and sending her love. Wasting no time, the screen was back at me so I could take her in. It was only a few days until I'd finally be able to see her properly but every day felt like a lifetime at the moment. "So, I have a surprise for you... and me." She let out a giggle as she tucked some hair behind her ear. My eyes grew as I stared at the screen and watched as she moved the phone to show her and a little bundle within a towel. Moving the towel sightly more, the beautiful face of our little baby came into view. I gasped and put my hand over my mouth as I took in this little baby without knowing how to feel. I was overjoyed, excited, sad that I'd missed it, but most of all proud.

"Oh my God!" I said, the shock stopping me from saying many words. The little baby had dark brown eyes and a full head of thick black hair. They looked so adorable as their big eyes blinked up at the phone, making it looked like they were looking straight at me. I quickly called the guys over to look at the screen and their faces too were so shocked and happy as they took in my baby.

"I waited to find out the gender until you were on the call. I asked Stella, my midwife, to do their checks without telling me." Poppy smiled over as she finally looked down at the baby and moved the towel quickly. She let out a happy mix between a laugh and a sob as she looked back at me with tears eyes. "We have a little boy, Calum." My eyes welled with tears as I bit my lips together, emotions overflowing as I took in my wife and our new little baby boy.

"Oh Poppy I'm so proud of you. And I'm so happy. Unbelievably happy. I'm over the moon right now!" I still couldn't put words together. From worrying all day, my first contact with Poppy was her showing me our absolutely gorgeous little man. She looked great too, so happy and content as if nothing bad was happening in her life. "I love you both so much."

"We love you too, Cal." She beamed. "Can't wait to see you soon!"

"Me either!" I gushed. "Are Sam and Si still around?"

"Of course. Sam wanted to speak with you anyway." She said, passing the phone over to Si who waved and said hi to everyone and then over to Sam who took the phone and headed out of the room.

"Hey Sam. Thanks again for everything you've done. It's made me feel so much better knowing you and Si were there to help her." Sam nodded and smiled.

"It was my pleasure. She did fantastically. We can meet up and talk properly about it when you're back, if you want to." I nodded happily. "But I just wanted to let you know I've got to fly out for an emergency consultation. Your sister is here now and she'll stay with Pops whilst Sierra and I head away. The doctors will be in soon to take some tests to check how the cancer is doing and if the baby is fine and healthy, they can head back until treatment starts." As soon as that was mentioned, my smile dropped. For a few moments I'd forgotten she even had cancer. Looking back, was the tiredness and the hoarse voice due to the labour or the cancer? I hadn't even seen her with her worsened symptoms, was I so stupid as to not notice them?

"Right. Of course." My happiness was replaced with glumness.

"It's quite likely her treatment will start within the next day or two. It may not make much difference but equally it could knock her quite severely - just so you're prepared when you get back." Sam rambled on, not even realising just how much he was ruining a perfect moment in my life. I wanted to be mad at him but equally I knew I needed this information before I came back and hit all this on head on. "She's not allowed to breastfeed either, which she was gutted about, but it's for the safety of the baby whilst the chemo/radio takes place."

"That's okay, we'll work something out and she'll soon forget about the little things." I said, hinting that I wanted him to shut up. He was such a great friend to us but right now he was just ruining it all. "Can I speak to Poppy again?"

"Right. Sure. It was good to chat Calum. Best of luck when you get back!" Sam said as he quickly waved bye and handed he phone back to Poppy. Just seeing her and the baby caused my smile to return and we began to catch up, her filling me in on the labour and what had gone on. It felt natural, happy and content. I prayed it would continue like this for as long as physically possible. Nothing had made me happier than this.
I was the dad of a baby boy.