"Uncle A-Aaron?"

The shock in my voice was evident, and all Max was doing was smirking so wide, she looked like she had a fresh Chelsea grin.

"There's my little Glowy Chloe!" He yelled. Uncle Aaron has always been the life of the party, lighting up the whole room with his smile. Between his charms and my dad's 'punny' ways, it was always impossible to be a wallflower around them. Just ask Max.

He opened his arms wide and I immediately jumped at him as if I were still a kid. I always loved when Uncle Aaron came over, his presence was soothing. After Dad died, we sort of lost touch. He didn't come to visit, and I didn't visit him. That was on me, though. Seeing him, my father's twin brother, was just too painful.

"I missed you so much!" I sobbed.

"Well, miss me no more, thanks to your lovely wife." He smiled at Max.

Max smiled back at him, saying, "it was really nothing. Joyce had a role to play as well. In fact, Chloe, you're the only one here who wasn't in on this."

"Seriously?" I turned back to her in disbelief. Traitors. All of them. "Nobody thought to tell me?"

"Oh, don't worry," Max leaned in, whispering in my ear, "He has no idea about Cymba."

An evil grin spread across me face at her words. I invited Aaron into the kitchen, where he sat at the dining room table, where he eyed me up and down. "My, you have grown. William would be proud. How far along are you?"

"Uh, eight months, actually. Twins." I rubbed the back of my neck. Any mention of William being proud of me makes me feel a bit awkward.

His eyes grew wide. "Wow, twins? Boys? Girls? Boy and girl?"

"Boys."

"Oh, you'll have your hands full if they're anything like you." He chuckled.

"You ready for your surprise, Aaron?" Max called from behind the wall.

"Lay it on me!"

Max came around the corner, coaxing Cymba into the dining room. Poor girl got her mom's shyness.

Aaron's smile got wider. "Oh, my God, a mini Max!"

Cymba smiled at that. She loved being compared to her mothers. To her, we were the best people on this whole planet.

"Hi," said Cymba, hiding behind Max's leg. She was so cute when she got shy. Like a little bunny too shy to grab the offered treat.

"Aww, no need to be shy, honey. We're family. It's okay." Aaron was still smiling. "She looks so much like you." He said to Max.

"Got Chloe's attitude somehow." Max muttered. She crouched down to Cymba's height and whispered, "it's okay, hun. That's Momma's uncle. He's super nice." Max gave her a comforting smile.

"I also have some super candy." Aaron chuckled. He produced a Tootsie Pop from his pocket. "I'm not gonna force you to come to me, though. You'll warm up to me eventually." He handed me the lollipop to give to her.

Max rounded on him instantly. "I'm sorry? Excuse you? Did you just tell her you weren't gonna do to her exactly what you and William did to me?"

Aaron was doing everything he could to avoid Max's eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I distinctly remember getting scared by the coin behind the ear trick, the plastic spider in my cereal, and let's not forget the April Fool's prank you pulled on me!"

"You came out of that shy little shell and got you revenge, though, didn't you?"

I smirk, remember all of those instances. The first time Max met Aaron, she was 6 years old. That was when he scared her by pulling the coin from her ear. She screamed. Then, just the next morning, she made a bowl of cereal, and when she can back from grabbing her cup of juice, boom. Spider. But the funniest one was the April Fool's prank. Max was 10. She was planning on doing the dishes for Joyce and didn't even know Aaron was there. A cooler than usual day + not yet heated water + rubber band on the sprayer = one cold, pissed off Max. Max's revenge was stealing Aaron's keys and placing them all in concrete and spreading them throughout the house.

"I kind of feel bad about it still, though." Max looked down.

Aaron smiled. "Max, all's fair in love and pranks."

The evening was wonderful. We all grubbed out and talked and reminisced and just enjoyed each other's company. Max and I were cleaning up, with help from our parents and Aaron, when he decided to ask, "what are the names?"

It took me a minute to realize what he meant. "Oh! Alexander Sterling and Jagger Maxwell."

"Well, I know where the name Alexander comes from, but where did you come up with Jagger Maxwell?"

"Well, we talked about it and Max wanted them to have meaningful names. Cymba is named after both of her great-grandmothers, so we wanted something kind of like that. Max chose Jagger. She has a whole philosophical reason behind it, and I chose Maxwell because, well, Max." I grinned.

"Ahh, so every child's name is meaningful to the family. That's nice. I like that." He smiled.

Bending over to pick up a chip bag, I got a shooting pain in my abdomen. "Max, something's wrong." I say as I sink to the floor right in front of the couch.

"What is it?" Max asked as she rushed toward me.

"I don't know, but I feel like I can't- MOVE." I grunted as pain hits me.

"Let's get you to the hospital now!" Max asserted. "Aaron, can you help us?"

"Absolutely." Aaron came over to me and lifted me up off the floor. "I gotcha, Glowy."

He got me into his car and we're soon rushing to the hospital, Max in the backseat with me. "Honey, what kind of pain is it?" She asked me, concerned.

"Almost like a fucking belt that's TOO TIGHT." Pain hit me again.

Max got a worried look on her face. Oh no.

"What's wrong? What is it?" I asked her in a hurry.

She looked me dead in the eye.

"The babies are coming."

A/N: Cliffhangers, gotta love them! Sorry for not getting around to this sooner. I was in a bad place mentally there for a while. My apologies! I may write another chapter later on tonight. Not sure, though. Also, I am using Alexander Sterling as the name that William would've wanted to call Chloe had she been born a boy. And Jagger would be after Chloe, for all those jagged edges. Lol. So, sorry for the late update and I'll try to be better.