She had never expected them to be so small.
Iris felt the tears start to well up, unbidden, but she didn't think anyone would be able to blame her.
They were so beautiful.
"What's wrong, my love?" comes the soft voice from behind, the gentle palm on her shoulder. He's holding the other baby, her small body nestled into the crook of his elbow, perfectly curled up in her father's arm.
She can't stop the next tear from sliding down, but he catches it before it can hit the child in her own arms.
Twins. She'd known that they were coming, but this was the part she hadn't been prepared for. After ages of fatigue and discomfort, her stomach growing and her feet aching and her diet being slowly restricted to protect the little ones, they were finally out…
She felt a bit empty.
But in the same breath?
She has to lean back in her seat, leaning down to press her forehead to the baby's. Mephisto had tried to explain ephedian naming customs to her, but she still wants to name them herself. She still wants to feel that swell in her chest, that moment of "these are, without a doubt, mine."
Not that she'd so easily forget.
She presses her nose to the little girl's forehead, breathing in the soft, and strangely new scent. It was… weird. Iris had asked other women back on earth what their favorite part of their babies were, and usually it was the smell. New baby smell. And why was it so enticing to smell the tiny person who'd been inside of you? She'd never understood it.
But the little girl in her arms, wisps of hair already curling on her head just a little bit, she changed everything.
"Would you like to trade?" Mephisto whispers, brushing her hair out of her face. She giggles and pulls back.
Two of them! She had two babies. Two little ones to hold and to cuddle.
And she was the queen.
They'd won.
She nods slowly, loosening her hold to allow him to pull the baby into his hold, and then to press the other one, slightly smaller and slightly more bald, into her hold.
"I want to name them."
"Iris…"
She pouted at him, petting a finger over this baby's cheek. "Please?"
He studies her face, his hair messed up from the strenuous day they'd just had. She'd gone into labor early in the morning the day before, when she'd gotten up to use the restroom, and neither of them had gotten any sleep since.
He must have been just as exhausted as she was.
"There'll be talk." He looks down at the baby in his arms, his baby too.
Iris kissed their daughter's forehead. "People will always talk, so we should do it anyways."
"You're the queen, darling." He leaned a bit closer. "They'll always talk about you. I wasn't trying to discourage it. I just meant…"
He looks back up at her.
"What did you have in mind?"
She bit her lip. "I'm… not sure yet."
He scooches a bit closer, shifting to hold the baby to his chest and soothingly rub her back for a moment. "How do the humans do it?"
Iris is about to answer when a knock on the door interrupts, causing the baby in her arms to shift. She frowns.
"Who is it?"
The door opens regardless, and the two people she wanted to see most come in.
"Nathaniel?" Iris' smile grows, and Mephisto grins at the sight of his sister.
"First of all," Nathaniel comes in, grinning from ear to ear. "When Xina told me that she was from an alien planet, and you too, I didn't expect this place to look just like Flash Gordon."
Iris tipped her head back, groaning at his terrible joke. "You know I never watched that one, Nate!"
"I still don't approve of your nickname for my sister, smoothie human." Mephisto pouts, but he's already offered his daughter to his sister.
"Who's a beautiful little princess?" Praxina coos, leaning forward to press a big kiss to the girl's nose before pulling her close. "And more importantly, who's ignoring her little brother talk shit?"
"No cussing around my babies, what are you, a fucking monster?" Iris giggled, but she was already beckoning Nathaniel closer.
Things were good.
Written to satisfy my own baby fever- so many cute babies at work! But take a cute fic about the otp having kids :)