Title: Soft Landings
Pairing: Paige Bueckers x Reader x Azzi Fudd
Fandom: UConn Women’s Basketball
Summary: After giving birth to baby Skylar, you returns home with Paige and Azzi for their first day as a family of four.
🏷️: @paigeshirleytemple , @unknowgirlypop , @yailtsv , @nicebellee , @sitawita , @thatonesuschix , @vamptizm , @elalfywhore , @starfulani , @authentic-girl03 , @paige05bby , @paxaz535 , @azziswrld , @jadasogay , @paigeluvvr , @melpthatsme , @lessi-lover , @courtsidewithlani , @shikaizer
There’s something about hospital mornings. They’re too bright and too slow. And everything smells like disinfectant and banana pudding that’s been sitting out too long.
I was already propped up in the bed, Skylar sleeping in her bassinet, when the nurse came in with our discharge paperwork. Paige was up and stretching like she hadn’t just spent the last two nights sleeping in a half-chair, half-human-pretzel formation. Azzi was brushing her teeth with a travel-sized brush and one sock on. She’d been crying quietly again this morning—happy tears, she said.
I felt like I’d been run over by several buses. But Skylar was here. Healthy. Perfect. And we were finally going home.
“Alright,” the nurse smiled. “Ready to go meet the world, Skylar?”
Azzi gasped and immediately scooped her up. “Nope! The world can wait. We’re on private access only for at least 24 hours.”
I laughed softly. My body still ached in strange places. My boobs felt like overinflated water balloons. I was sweating even though the room was cold. But my heart?
It had never been fuller.
Packing up was chaotic in the sweetest way. Paige had a whole system.
“Okay, baby bag, double-checked. Swaddle blanket. Car seat installed last week. You did watch the video I sent, right, Az?”
“I helped install it, Paige.”
“Yeah, but did you watch the video?”
“I was the video!”
I grinned from the bed, watching them buzz around like two over-caffeinated bees. Azzi was checking Skylar’s cap, adjusting it like she was preparing her for a photo shoot. Paige was busy making sure my water bottle, nipple pads, snacks, and every single form the hospital had given us were packed away in the overstuffed duffle.
“Alright,” Paige said, finally exhaling. “You ready, mama?”
The nurse returned with a wheelchair.
“I can walk,” I said immediately.
“Nope,” Azzi grinned, already helping me swing my legs to the edge of the bed. “Hospital policy.”
“But I feel fine—”
“Wheelchair.” Paige pointed. “Sit down, superwoman.”
I scowled, but I sat. The moment I did, I exhaled with relief. My body was not ready to be walking around like I didn’t just push a baby out 72 hours ago.
Paige picked up Skylar, who was strapped into her newborn car seat like a little burrito. Her head lolled slightly and her pouty lips parted in her sleep.
And then Paige did it.
The dad walk.
She held that car seat like it was the most precious, breakable object on Earth—elbows locked, eyes wide, moving like someone carrying nitroglycerin through a war zone. Azzi and I both burst into laughter.
“Stop laughing,” Paige said, turning slowly. “If I tilt her even slightly wrong, she’ll wake up. This is serious. I trained for this.”
Azzi leaned down and kissed my cheek before grabbing the wheelchair handles. “Alright, mama. Let’s get you and Miss Skylar home.”
The ride home was quiet, with only a few occasional whimpers from Skylar in the back seat. Paige drove like she was hauling royal cargo, glaring at every pothole and going 5 under the speed limit.
Azzi held my hand the entire way home.
I don’t know why I teared up when we pulled up to the apartment. Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe it was hormones. Maybe it was the fact that the “Welcome Baby Skylar” banner Kayla taped to the front door was crooked and adorable and spelled ‘Skylaur’ before she crossed out the ‘u’ in Sharpie.
“I love you guys,” I sniffled.
Paige turned off the car and looked back. “We love you more.”
Once we got inside, I barely made it to the couch before Skylar started to fuss. Azzi unbuckled her and brought her over, already cooing.
“Okay, baby girl, let’s try skin-to-skin, huh?” Azzi said, slipping out of her hoodie and cradling Skylar to her chest. Within seconds, Skylar calmed, nestling right under her collarbone like she belonged there.
“She likes your heartbeat,” I whispered, watching from the couch.
“She likes her mommy,” Paige said, settling beside me and handing me a blanket. “And her mama. She knows she’s safe.”
“I thought we were gonna let people come by today,” I said, watching Skylar yawn.
Paige reached over to brush a strand of hair from my face. “We talked about it while you were sleeping. And we said no. You’re not entertaining anybody. You’re healing.”
Azzi nodded, still swaying with Skylar in her arms. “They all saw her enough at the hospital. They’ll see her soon enough. Right now, it’s just us.”
They treated me like a queen the rest of the day.
I tried to clean up after lunch? Paige took the sponge out of my hand.
I tried to fold some of Skylar’s blankets? Azzi gave me a look and pointed toward the couch like I was on a time-out.
I tried to vacuum? Paige literally unplugged the vacuum and said, “Babe. Sit. Down.”
Instead, they brought me food. My favorite food.
All the stuff I couldn’t have while pregnant—sushi, deli meat, extra espresso in my iced coffee. And they didn’t stop there. They brought out a tray full of sweet treats: brownies, sour candy, strawberry cheesecake bites.
“You’re gonna give me a sugar crash,” I groaned, halfway through my brownie.
“That’s the goal,” Azzi grinned. “Then you’ll have to nap.”
Skylar was fussy that afternoon.
Nothing crazy—just those newborn squeaks and whines that made you want to both cry and laugh at the same time. She spit up all over Paige during one diaper change, which Azzi caught in a photo and is absolutely never going to delete.
“She’s so cute,” I whispered that night, just watching her sleep in her bassinet beside our bed.
Paige was rubbing my back with one hand while scrolling through her phone with the other. “You’ve said that like thirty times today.”
“She is though.”
Azzi poked her head in from the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. “She’s gonna get a complex.”
“She’s already got one,” I muttered. “Every time we stop looking at her, she squeaks for attention.”
“Just like her mama,” Paige teased, kissing my shoulder.
“Hey,” I said. “Not wrong. But hey.”
What they didn’t prepare me for?
The breast milk thing.
I woke up at 2am sweating through my shirt and practically leaking.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, staring down at myself. “What the hell.”
Paige stirred next to me. “You okay?”
“I look like I went swimming in my own milk,” I muttered, climbing out of bed slowly. “My boobs feel like they’re gonna explode.”
Azzi helped me set up the pump, both of them whispering sleepy encouragements as I filled the freezer bags with what felt like way too much milk for someone who’d only been home for a day.
“I’m overproducing,” I said quietly, trying not to panic. “It’s too much.”
“You’re amazing,” Paige whispered. “Skylar’s lucky. We’ll make space in the freezer. Don’t worry.”
Azzi kissed my forehead as she labeled the bags. “You’re doing perfect, mama. We’ve got this.”
At 3:30am, I was still awake. Watching Skylar sleep. Her tiny hand rested near her face, lips parted, chest rising and falling in perfect rhythm. She made a soft little sound and my heart flipped all over again.
“I see you,” Paige said softly from behind me.
“I’m just watching her.”
“You’re supposed to be sleeping.”
“She’s so quiet when she sleeps. Like a little angel.”
“You’re also an angel,” she murmured, gently pulling me away. “A tired one. Back in bed, baby.”
Azzi was already fluffing pillows.
“Okay, okay,” I sighed as I climbed in. “But if she cries—”
“She won’t,” Paige whispered, kissing my forehead. “And if she does, we got her.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
That night, wrapped up between them, I felt everything hit at once—the exhaustion, the soreness, the overwhelming love. Not just for Skylar. But for Paige and Azzi. For the home we’d made. For this messy, sacred, beautiful little beginning.
Skylar stirred softly in her bassinet.
Azzi’s hand found mine in the dark.
Paige pressed her cheek against my temple.
And I whispered, “I’ve never been so happy in my life.”
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-Thank You For Reading!🩵🩶
-prettygirl-gabi🎀✨️
