Oliver could feel the topmost bag teetering precariously on the pile he was trying desperately to keep in his arms and not all over the floor. He was all for being green but there was something to be said about the convent handles provided with plastic bags over paper. He steadied it as best he could with his chin, felling very much like the fat little mouse in Cinderella trying to hold all those corn kernels (and failing). He used his free hand to very carefully and quietly close the door. Somehow the handle slipped through his fingers though and the door slammed shut with a very loud clang. Immediately he froze, and turned to the side, breathing as quietly as he could.
He stared at the sleeping forms of his newborn son and daughter and once he was assured that he hadn't woken them up, he took a minute to just stare at them in awe. They were only five hours old and he was positive he'd never get tired of just looking at them. They seemed to have this strangely magical relaxing effect on him and his shoulders sagged. He found himself drifting into a calm Zen like state and forgot about the bundle in his arms, almost dropping the bags to the ground. He clenched arms tightly and just managed to catch them. He let out another deep breath and the top bag that had been giving him trouble before tilted forward and something fell out before Olive had a chance to stop it. But it never hit the ground. When he looked down he saw his wife standing there with an amused smile on her face holding a package of Jell-O cups in her hands.
"Quick reflexes." Oliver smiled as she set the package back on the top of his pile, then he frowned. "Why aren't you asleep? What are you doing out of bed?" Immediately he dumped all the bags in the closest chair, lifted Chloe up and carried her back to the bed, dropping her in the middle of it and sparing her a very annoyed, slightly disappointed look. "You should be sleeping."
"I was." Chloe smiled at him endearingly as he gently tucked the covers around her. "I woke up for the 2 am feeding and you were gone."
"I missed a feeding?" Oliver whined in a very undignified manor and for a moment Chloe had a hard time picturing him as the no nonsense head of a multibillion dollar corporation, it was especially hard to picture him as the menacing Green Arrow.
"Don't worry they'll be another one in three hours." Chloe laughed at him and he relaxed a little. "Where did you go?"
"Oh you and Lois were talking so much about stupid Jell-O, that I sort of got a craving." Oliver looked over to the pile of Jell-O cups that he'd dropped in the chair by the door. "But the cafeteria was closed so I had to go to the store and then I couldn't decide on what flavor."
"You could have told me." Chloe scolded him.
"The doctor said you needed to get as much sleep as you can, I didn't want to wake you." Oliver defended himself.
"Always wake me for Jell-O." Chloe looked excitedly at the pile of bags in the chair. "What flavors do you have?" Oliver hesitated a minute, the Doctor had been worried about her blood sugar earlier and he wasn't sure that five or six cups of Jell-O was going to be good for her, (because with Chloe it would always be five or six cups and not just one, pregnant or not). "The Doctor said-"
"The Doctor said that you should give me whatever I wanted after the babies were born." Chloe reminded him.
"I don't think this is what he meant." Oliver protested.
"They checked my blood sugar at ten, it's back to normal, I'm good to go." Chloe assured him and he nodded and grabbed the first bag as Chloe rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
**************
"Just breathe." Lois said smoothing back the hair that had fallen in Chloe's face then wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Come on breathe."
"Lois." Chloe looked up at her cousin panting, a murderous glare in her eyes. "I'm breathing, I haven't stopped breathing, it's sort of a gut reaction to being alive, there's no way I could stop breathing so I swear to God if you tell me to breathe one more time, I'm going to suffocate you."
"Ok, I'm out." Lois stepped back and dangled the washcloth in between her fingers.
"What?" Bart looked up from his phone where he was playing a game.
"I'm tapping out, you're in." She held the washcloth out to Bart and he stared at her confused.
"You're her birthing coach." Bart stood up. "You can't just tap out."
"It was cute before, she was just a tiny little cute pregnant lady." Lois turned and looked at Chloe who was glaring daggers at the nurse who was trying to put in her IV line. "But now, she's kind of scary." Lois stage whispered.
"She's always scary." Bart scoffed as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I swear to God are you planning on getting that in one of my actual veins?" Chloe asked the woman whose hands were now shaking. "Did no one ever teach you how to do this? Are you just closing your eyes and poking in a random spot hoping to hit pay dirt?"
"No ma'am." The nurse took a deep breath as if stealing herself so that she didn't cry.
"You get one more try, then I'm doing it myself." Chloe warned the woman.
"Ok, that's a little more scary than usual." Bart agreed with Lois.
"I'm not going over there." AC said as Bart looked at him. "No way no how."
"I'm not going back over there." Lois stepped back.
"I don't care who it is but the little monitor says I'm about to have another contraction so someone better get over here now." Chloe's face screwed up in pain again and Lois turned to Bart who ran to her side as quickly as he could grabbing her hand so she could squeeze his.
"Lois is taking a break, I'll be your birthing partner for the duration of your labor." Bart smiled but Chloe didn't find anything about it amusing. She looked over Bart's shoulder at Lois' sheepish face and shook her head.
"Wuss." Chloe mumbled under her breath. "What makes you qualified to be my birthing partner?"
"I will not tell you to breathe and you can squeeze my hand as hard as you want and I promise not to scream like a little girl." Chloe raised her eyebrows as if to show doubt to that last statement. Then a particularly painful contraction hit and she diverted all her energy in trying to grind Bart's bones into a fine powder. He gasped and bit his lip but he did not scream like a little girl.
"Ok." Chloe panted as the contraction subsided. "You're hired." Bart smirked at Lois and Chloe slipped her hand from his to grab at the collar of his shirt. "You stay up here you understand." She was staring him right in the face. "Above the waist at all times, comprende?"
"Totally." Bart nodded enthusiastically. "No way do I want to see any of that." He assured her. "It'll ruin the magic." He winked and Chloe laughed, relaxing for the first time since she got there.
"Ok, get me some ice chips." Chloe let his shirt go and leaned back against the mattress. As Bart slipped out the door another man slipped into the room. "Doctor Wyman." Chloe breathed out. "Is it time for the epidural yet?"
"That's what we're here to see." He smiled and slipped a pair of gloves onto his hands. "Where's Oliver?"
"He's running some errands." Chloe grunted as the Doctor checked to see how much she was dilated. "The babies came a little sooner than we anticipated, so he's out getting a few things, like another crib and car seat."
"Ah, so you finally decided to tell him." Doctor Wyman smiled up at her and pulled his gloves off. "Better late than never I suppose." He grabbed her chart and wrote something down. "We're gonna go ahead and give you the epidural so you might want to call Oliver and tell him it won't be too much longer now."
"Great." Chloe, Lois and all the nurses seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at his words and the Doctor resisted the urge to chuckle.
"So everything going ok?" He asked as the anesthesiologist got everything ready. "No complaints?"
"Just one." Chloe said as they pulled her forward to administer the epidural. "I was told there would be Jell-O." Chloe told the Doctor.
"Oh we've got Jell-O, it's actually really good Jell-O." He frowned at her. "Unfortunately you're not going to be able to have any until after the babies come, and maybe not until tomorrow. You're blood sugar was a little high when you came in."
"No Jell-O?" Chloe asked with a whimper as the nurse slid the needle into her back and for the first time since her contractions started she actually shed a tear.
Fifteen minutes later when Oliver walked through the door Chloe was a completely different person. "Hey!" She turned her head in his direction, a goofy smile on her face.
"Hey." Oliver said cautiously walking further in the room. "She seems to be doing better than the last time I called."
"Everything's ok now." Chloe laughed. She held out her hand and wiggled her fingers and Oliver slid his hand in hers and allowed her to pull him closer. "You see that." Chloe pointed to a line on the monitor next to her bed. "That says I'm having a contraction…but I don't feel a thing. Go ahead, poke my legs, I can't feel anything." She laughed again.
"Ah." Oliver squeezed Chloe's hand. "She got the epidural."
"Yes she did." Chloe closed her eyes and sighed in relief. "So I think I'm good to go as soon as I get my Jell-O."
"I can do that." Oliver offered, eager to be of some use.
"No." Everyone screamed at him.
"I haven't really had a chance to do much, I've been pretty useless but I know I can go get Jell-O." Oliver admitted.
"She's not allowed any Jell-O." Lois explained to Oliver. "The drugs make her forget so she keeps asking. We've just been telling her that it's on its way."
"Why can't she have any Jell-O?" Oliver frowned.
"She can't eat anything until the babies comes." Bart said. "Plus the Doc said something about her blood sugar being a little high, so even if she could eat, Jell-O's probably not on the menu."
"But she's ok?" Oliver furrowed his brow.
"You are a great nurse." Chloe grabbed the arm of the nurse who just minutes before she was screaming at about her IV. "You are in fact the best nurse I've ever had, I'm going to call the mayor. I know the mayor you know, went to his house for dinner last month. The potatoes were a little bland but the crème brulee was excellent. I love crème brulee, it's very creamy isn't it?" Chloe paused to think about the creaminess of crème brulee. "Anyway I'll call the mayor and tell him you're the best nurse in Star City and then he'll give you a medal, or no wait, the key to city, wouldn't you like a key to the city…you could get into anyplace, even if it was closed…cause you have the key."
"Yeah, I think she's fine." Bart laughed.
****************
Three hours later she delivered two very healthy babies, five hours after that found her sitting on her hospital bed, Oliver sitting opposite her while their daughter and son slept on peacefully. They were surrounded by a sea of empty Jell-O cups as they debated about which flavor was the best. "How can you possibly think that Black Cherry even remotely holds a candle to Green Apple?" Oliver asked.
"You only like it because it's green." Chloe protested.
"I like it because it's sweet with a little bit of tart thrown in." Oliver protested and Chloe offered him her patented, I'm-your-wife-and-there's-no-way-you-can-even-try-to-lie-to-me-look. "And because it's green." He admitted.
"Ha." Chloe reached into the bag and pulled out another container. She opened a cup and took a large spoonful then spit it right back out as Oliver laughed at her. "Margarita, not a successful Jell-O flavor."
Oliver's laughter was interrupted by a very loud cry from Ava. He immediately shut up and moved to grab her and Chloe held out her hand. "Just give it a second." She smiled and sure enough Ava stopped crying and fell right back to sleep.
"How did you know?" Oliver turned to Chloe.
"I just…I don't know." She shrugged a little confused herself.
"Is it like a mom thing?" He frowned. "That's going to happen a lot isn't it, you just knowing things?"
"Probably." Chloe chuckled at him.
"Meanwhile I get fumble through like Barney Fife." Oliver pointed out.
"There's going to be lots of things that you know better than me." Chloe pointed out. "Like how to shoot a bow and arrow, or that thing you do with the thermostat where you somehow manage to make it just the exact perfect temperature without even bothering to look."
"It is a particular talent I have." Oliver nods. "It's just…you're the Mom you know, you are going to be the most important person in their lives for pretty much forever."
"You're their dad Oliver. You're going to be pretty important yourself." Chloe put a hand on his and squeezed. "Look at them." Oliver and Chloe turned to look at their sleeping children and smiled. "Right now they are these perfect little people and they have their whole lives ahead of them and if we have anything to say about it, it'll be one hell of a life." Oliver smiled and nodded. "They've got so much to look forward to; everything they do from this moment on will be a completely new to them. There's going to be momentous wins and devastating heartbreaks, first loves and second chances and we get to be there for the whole thing. We get to help guide them and dry their tears and cheer them on and there are two of them in case you didn't notice. So they're definitely going to need you. I'm going to need you."
"Right." Oliver nodded. He got up and walked over to the two bassinets and just stared for a while. "You know I spent the better part of the day running around town killing myself to make sure that you guys had everything you needed. I spent, more money than I'll ever tell your mom and probably bought you things that you'll never even use. And then I get here and you guys come and you've got these hats." Oliver reached down and gently adjusted Robbie's hat. "I didn't get you these hats, I don't know where they came from, I guess you just come with hats. The thing is, as you grow up you're going to need a lot of things, not just material things either. Sometimes I'm not going to always know what you need or what you want and as much money as I have I'm not going to always be able to give you what you need or want but I'll spend my whole life trying." Robbie reached out and grabbed Oliver's finger and pulled a bit and he had to swallow hard so he didn't start crying. "I'll tell you something else, you guys have got a family out there who would and could literally move the moon just to see you smile, so I think we're gonna be ok. But for right now, you've got your hats, so you're good."
Oliver leaned down and kissed Robbie, reluctantly pulled his finger away, kissed Ava and then took a deep breath. Chloe wasn't able to control her emotions as well as him and when he turned he saw tears rolling down her face. "Oh honey." He pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back.
"Will you stay here tonight?" Chloe sobbed into his shoulder.
"Wild horses couldn't drag me away." He assured her, kissing her forehead. "Just let me go ask the nurse for one of those cots."
"Just..share the bed." Chloe scooted over and pulled him down.
"I don't think this is allowed." Oliver pointed out as he curled himself around her.
"I don't care." Chloe said truthfully.
"I just don't want to get into trouble." Oliver countered pulling her tight against him.
"If they say anything, remind them that your last very generous donation basically built the new Cardiac wing." She tilted her head to look at him. "I'm surprised they didn't name the thing after you actually."
"They tried to." Oliver smiled. "You normally don't like it when I throw my weight around like that."
"Yeah well I normally don't spend a day pushing out two babies the size of watermelons through a hole the size of a cheerio." She mumbled. "I'm exhausted and I want my husband here and that's all there is to it."
"What the lady wants…" Oliver assured her. He felt as Chloe's breathing slow down and regulate. "We should probably start thinking about colleges."
Chloe sighed and rolled over. "They're six hours old Oliver."
"I know but they say it's never too early to think about things like that." Oliver shrugged sheepishly.
"I think now is too early." Chloe kissed him softly. "Besides, what's to think about, obviously they'll go to Met U."
"Obviously?" Oliver pulled back.
"We have at least fifteen years to argue about this can we possibly start tomorrow?" Chloe yawned.
"Sure." Oliver pulled her close and she laid her head on his chest. Her eyes were just starting to close when Oliver realized something. "Chloe what did you do with the empty Jell-O cups?" She stilled against his chest but didn't say anything and Oliver closed his eyes. "Are they under the bed? Please tell me you didn't put them under the bed."
"Ok, I won't tell you." She smiled against his chest.
"Chloe, seriously?" Oliver laughed.
"I'll wake up before anyone comes in tomorrow morning and get them out." Chloe said. "I swear."
"Chloe." Oliver nudged her.
"I heard the nurses talking earlier." Chloe ignored him and changed the subject. "They said that breakfast comes with Tapioca."
Oliver paused. "Really?" He looked down at her. "I like Tapioca."
"I know, I ordered two." Chloe said.
"And that is why I married you." Oliver kissed her and closed his eyes.
***************
Author's Note:
The thing about babies having hats is an homage to a West Wing episode "25" where Toby expounds on the fact that he didn't know babies come with hats. I think it's one of the most touching scenes of a new father talking to his children for the first time and I hope that I managed to do it justice.
I also fully admit to somewhat plagiarizing myself as part of Chloe's speech was taken from the post I made a few days ago on my LJ about becoming an Aunt.