Reid just sat there for a minute as Chris and Bob came over to them. "Have you had any contractions?" Chris asked.
"No, not yet," Luke said as Reid blinked.
"Okay," Reid said as he got up. "No contractions yet. We still have plenty of time. Sorry everyone, but the party's over."
He turned to Luke and held his hand out. "We better get going."
"What about my bag?" Luke asked as Reid helped him up.
"It's already in the car."
"We'll take care of everything here," Katie said as Luke and Reid headed for the door.
"Thanks Katie," Luke said.
They had just reached the car when Luke had his first contraction. Reid coached him through it then got him in the car. Chris promised to call the doctor for them so Reid didn't have to worry about that as he drove. Reid managed to get them there in one piece even though Luke's contractions were starting to pick up. It was like his body figured that since his water had broken it was past time to get the show on the road.
They arrived at the hospital and Dr. Kane was waiting for them. He took them straight to the maternity ward. After a brief examination, he looked up at the couple. "Okay, you're at 4 already. Were you experiencing any type of back pain or anything that you might not have thought was a contraction before your water broke?"
Luke thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, my back's been bothering me for most of the day. But I just thought that was the weight of the babies. It didn't feel any different from the back pain I've felt before."
"Yeah, but Luke, the back pain hasn't been all day before," Reid mentioned. "I would imagine you've been experiencing back labor."
"Sounds about right to me," Dr. Kane said as he stood up. "I don't think it will be a long wait until the first baby arrives from the way you're progressing. I'll be back to check on you. In the meantime, how ever you feel like going through the labor is up to you."
Luke nodded as a contraction started. Reid coached him through it. When it was over, Reid kept his hand on Luke's back. "Do you want an epidural?"
Luke shook his head. "I don't want to mess with anything near my spine. I told you about when I was paralyzed."
"Are you sure? You're going to be in a lot of pain before all is said and done."
"I'm sure," Luke said as he looked up at Dr. Kane. "Is it all right if I walk around a bit?"
"As long as you feel up to it, it should be fine," the doctor said as he headed out of the room. "Either I or the nurse will be in to check on you soon."
"Thanks," Luke said as he sat up. "Help me up."
Reid helped him out of the bed and they walked around the room. After about an hour, Luke was tired of walking and his family had arrived. Luke agreed to see them but didn't want them in the room for very long. Holden and Lily came in to check on their son before they joined the rest of the family in the waiting room.
By the time they had been there four hours, Luke was beginning to reconsider his aversion to the epidural. He was also beginning to feel like he had to push. "Reid, page the doctor."
"What's wrong?" Reid asked as he held Luke's hand.
"I need to push."
Reid grabbed the call button for the nurse and practically ripped it out of the wall. The nurse came in and he told her they needed the doctor. She paged the doctor and checked Luke's progress. The doctor came in and gave Luke a quick exam. "Okay, Luke, it looks like the first baby is ready to make his or her appearance. Whenever you're ready, you can push."
Luke started to push and managed to curse Reid's name a few times as he did so. After about 30 minutes of pushing, the baby's head appeared. "Okay, Luke, give me a nice big push and your first baby will be here."
Luke screamed as he pushed. He felt the baby slip from his body as he sagged against Reid. "Gentlemen, meet your son," Dr. Kane said as he held the baby up and placed him on Luke's stomach. "Dr. Oliver, would you like to cut the cord?"
"Yeah sure," Reid said as he moved away from Luke. He couldn't take his eyes off the baby until he got to where the doctor was holding the scissors. He cut the cord and rejoined Luke and their son.
"Reid, he's perfect," Luke grinned.
"Yeah he is," Reid said in awe. He couldn't believe that he and Luke had made this little person. And there was still a baby girl waiting to be born.
As if she knew her father was thinking about her, Luke let out a gasp as he felt a contraction indicating their daughter was tired of waiting her turn. The nurse took the baby from Luke as Reid coached Luke through the contraction. Dr. Kane let two more contractions pass before he instructed Luke to push again.
Luke was visibly tired, but he was also determined. Soon enough his efforts were rewarded and they heard their daughter cry for the first time. Dr. Kane placed her on Luke's stomach and Reid once again cut the cord. They marveled at their daughter before the nurse took her to be examined and cleaned as she had done for the baby's brother.
"Dr. Oliver, why don't you tell the crowd gathered in the waiting room that the twins have arrived?" Dr. Kane suggested. "We'll get Luke cleaned up and settled into bed."
Reid looked at Luke. "Do you want me to go?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Luke smiled. "Tell everyone who will listen that you're a daddy."
Reid grinned as he leaned down and kissed Luke. "I'll be right back."
He headed to the waiting room and saw the same people he had left at the baby shower. "It's a boy, and a girl," he grinned. "Luke's fine. He's exhausted, which is to be expected. They're getting the babies cleaned up and checked out. I don't think there are any problems, but they are a couple of weeks early."
"Yeah, but that's to be expected with twins," Chris said. "As their pediatrician, I should follow you back to make sure everything's okay."
"Thanks Doogie," Reid said as Chris joined him. "I'll come get you as soon as Luke's ready for visitors."
"Reid, what are the babies' names?" Lily asked.
"Oh no," he said as he held his hands up. "I'm not spilling that information. Luke would kill me. When you see him, then you'll know the names of your grandchildren. Come on Chris."
Reid left Chris with the nurse and the babies as he resumed his place at Luke's side. "Chris is giving his seal of approval on the twins."
"Good," Luke said as he yawned a little. "Who knew having two babies would be so exhausting."
"Yeah, well, get some sleep while you can. Your family is chomping at the bit to get back here and see you and our babies. Oh, and your mother asked me what their names were. I told her you would tell them because I wasn't facing the punishment for spilling the beans."'
"Good," Luke laughed a little. "How's your hand?"
"It's fine," Reid said as he flexed it a little. "It's a good thing I don't have any surgeries scheduled for a couple of days though."
Luke nodded as he drifted off to sleep. The nurse and Chris came in with the babies. Reid looked up at his former rival. "How are they?"
"They're perfect," Chris smiled. "Never thought you could produce anything so cute."
"That's all Luke's doing. I don't do cute and you know it."
Chris laughed and headed for the door. "I'll keep the crowd at bay while Luke gets some sleep."
Reid just nodded and watched him leave. Then he pulled the two bassinets over to his chair. He smiled as he saw the two babies lying there, one in a blue blanket, the other in a pink blanket. "Like we wouldn't have been able to tell there was one of each without color coded blankets."
He reached out and touched both babies. "Wonder what good old Angus would say if he could see me now. No failure here. Okay you two, time for introductions. I'm your dad. That guy over there asleep in the bed, he's your other dad. But since he's the one who gave birth to you, he wants you to call him Poppy. I guess I can live with that. And let me tell you something about your Poppy. He loves us. You two I can understand. You're his kids. He carried you for nearly nine months and he's done everything he can to make sure you got here safe and healthy. Me? Well, I never have figured out why he loves me. I'm not the easiest guy to like, let alone love. But I guess he found something in me to love or you two wouldn't be here. And I for one am glad you are here. I never thought I would be a dad. Heā¦Heck, I never thought I'd fall in love with someone then I met your Poppy. He changed me and I'll let you in on a little secret, I'm glad he did. We're going to ask Chris and Katie to be your godparents. They don't know that yet. There's something I haven't told your Poppy, but I'll tell you guys. Katie is like a sister to me and I would do anything for her. That's why I went and fought with a stupid doctor to get a heart for Chris. I couldn't stand to see her heart broken. I'm going to make you two a promise. I may turn out to be a terrible dad, I don't know. I'm devoted to my job. I love to save lives and I have no problem letting people know how brilliant I am. But I promise you this, I will do the best I can not to be a terrible dad. I will listen to you guys and let you follow your dreams, no matter what they are. I will love you with everything I have in me, just like I do your Poppy. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that your hearts don't get broken by anything I do."
He got up and leaned over his daughter's bassinet and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Then he repeated the gesture with his son. He glanced over at Luke's bed. "How long have you been awake?"
Luke smiled. "Long enough. And I'll tell you something right now, you're going to be a great dad. Have you held them yet?"
"I was waiting for you to wake up," Reid said as he picked up their son. "He's the picture of health according to Chris. And so's his sister."
He handed the baby to Luke then picked up their daughter. "You know this is going to be weird for me."
"Why?"
"I didn't change a diaper until I moved in with Katie. And I don't know if you noticed this or not but Jacob's a boy."
Luke laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess that would make a difference. To tell you the truth, I've never changed a baby girl's diaper either. I helped Dad out when Ethan was born because Mom was in a coma. This will be a new experience for both of us."
Reid nodded. Then he placed their daughter in Luke's other arm. "I think I should let in the horde."
"They're not that bad."
Reid gave him a look and left to go to the waiting room. He told everyone to follow him and they made their way back to Luke's room. As soon as Lily and Katie entered the room, they went straight to Luke and the babies. "Oh, Luke, they're so beautiful," Lily gushed.
"They are adorable," Katie said as she gazed at the babies. "What are their names?"
Reid caught the look that Luke gave him and picked up their daughter and handed her to Lily. Luke handed Holden their son, then he smiled. "Reid and I thought about names for a long time. Almost from the moment we found out I was pregnant. When we found out that we were having one of each, we knew what the perfect names would be for our children. We would like for you to meet Matthew Holden Snyder-Oliver and Elizabeth Lily Snyder-Oliver."
"Just for the record, my parents' names were Matthew and Elizabeth," Reid said as Lily felt tears come to her eyes.
"Well, I know that Holden and I are honored to have our grandchildren named after us," she said as she smiled at Reid. "Just as I'm sure your parents would be."
Reid just nodded as he sat on the bed beside Luke and the twins were passed around. Eventually everyone finished gushing over the babies. Holden and Lily had already been told that Reid and Luke were going to ask Chris and Katie to be the babies' godparents. They also knew that the couple wanted to do it privately so after the babies were handed back to their parents, they ushered their family out. Before he left the room, Holden turned back to his son. "The Hughes' said they would stop by later. They didn't want you to be overwhelmed with visitors right away. Casey and Allison wanted to make sure you knew they were coming by before they had to go back to Carbondale."
Luke nodded as his father left the room. Then he turned to their friends. Katie and Chris had come to mean a lot to Luke in the last year. He hadn't really hung out with Katie while Brad had been alive. He still remembered that there was a time she tried to steal Holden away from Lily. But they had talked about it and agreed that they had both grown up since then. And there had been part of him that had blamed Chris for the breakup of Aaron and Allison's marriage. But he realized that Allison and Casey had been meant for each other, just like Chris and Katie and him and Reid. He also knew that Aaron was planning a trip to Montega to try and see if there was still anything between him and Lucy.
Now Katie, Chris, Reid and Luke were the best of friends. It was hard to believe, but it was true. Luke smiled at Reid. "You ask them."
Reid gave him a look. He turned to the couple in front of them. "Luke and I were wondering if you two would do us the honor of being the twins' godparents."
Chris looked at Katie then back at the two men in front of them. "You're serious?"
"Very," Reid said as he looked Chris straight in the eye. The two doctors were becoming closer but there was still a bit of a rivalry between them. Bob likened it to the friendship that had formed between him and John Dixon over the years.
Katie grinned. "We would be honored."
Later that night, Luke and the babies were sleeping and Reid had gone up to his office to grab some patient files he needed to go over. While he was gone, Noah slipped into Luke's room. He saw that his former boyfriend was asleep and walked over and softly kissed his forehead. Then he went over and looked at the babies. He thought about what could have been and realized that he had blown it with Luke. If he hadn't pushed Luke away, they might still be together. Then again, maybe Luke was right and he wasn't ready for this kind of commitment.
He quietly walked out of the room and shut the door. He was just about to walk down the hall to leave when he saw Reid standing there. "Mr. Mayer."
"Dr. Oliver," Noah said as he gave Reid a look. "Shouldn't you be in there?"
"I just had to pick up some files that needed to be signed off for the morning," Reid said as he held up the files. "Not that I need to explain myself to you."
"No, I suppose you don't," Noah agreed.
"So what are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to see the babies before I left."
"So you waited until Luke was asleep?"
Noah sighed. "I thought it would be easier that way. I don't want to hurt him any more than I have already. I know now that I pushed him away, you didn't have to work too hard to win his heart."
"That's where you're wrong Mr. Mayer," Reid said as he moved closer to Noah. "You broke his heart. You were his first love and you blew it. All you had to do was let him help you, but you couldn't even do that. I made a promise a few hours ago to do everything in my power to make sure he is never hurt again. I made that same promise to our children. I hope you find happiness someday."
Noah nodded and started to walk away. "You're a lucky man, Dr. Oliver. Don't ever forget it."
"I don't plan to," Reid said as he watched Noah walk away. He went back into Luke's room and sat down in the chair by the bed. He started working on the files. He had only finished one file when the events of the day distracted him again. He was a father. And not to just one baby, but to two. When he thought about that fact, it scared him. He wasn't sure that he would be able to be the kind of father Luke expected him to be. Hell, he wasn't sure he could be the kind of father that he expected himself to be. But as he gazed at his sleeping babies, he knew he had to do his best. He couldn't fail them or Luke.
Elizabeth started to cry and he put down his files and picked her up. "Hey, what's all the noise for? Your Poppy and your brother are trying to sleep."
"She's probably hungry," Luke's tired voice came from the bed. "Bring her here. Then you better get Matthew. He'll be awake sooner rather than later."
Reid nodded and handed Luke their daughter. By the time he picked up Matthew, Luke was already feeding Elizabeth. Reid waited until both babies had been fed before he spoke. "I've been thinking about something for a while now."
"What's that?" Luke asked as they got the babies ready to go back to sleep.
"Commitment."
Luke laughed. "Reid, I think it's pretty obvious that we're committed to each other. I mean, I did just give birth to your children."
"I know that. But I was thinking about something more."
"Like what?" Luke asked as he sat up a little.
"Like marriage."
"Marriage? Are you serious?"
"Very serious."
"How long have you been thinking about it?"
"Since I got back from Bay City with Chris's new heart. I just didn't have the nerve to ask you before. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew that I want to marry you. I want to be more than just your partner, I want to be your husband."
"And this isn't just because I got pregnant?" Luke asked skeptically.
"No, it's not," Reid promised. "Like I said, I've been thinking about it for a long time. Even before you got pregnant. So what do you say, Mr. Snyder? Will you marry me?"
Luke grinned. "I would be honored Dr. Oliver."
Reid leaned over and kissed him. He sat back down in his chair and looked at Luke. "You should get some sleep."
"What about you?" Luke said as he yawned. "You need some sleep too. We're not going to get much sleep once we get those two home."
"I'm a doctor, I'm used to not getting much sleep," Reid grinned. "I'll be okay, Luke. I'll just finish working on these files then I'll sleep in this chair."
"You could always climb in the bed with me."
"No, I don't think so."
"Why not?"
"Cause a nurse could come in and catch us. I have a reputation to uphold as a hard ass. The two babies in the room aren't helping much, but if they caught me in bed with you, that's end game."
Luke just laughed. "I think the doors already shut on the hard ass part of your reputation when you stated dating me."
Reid gave him a hard look. "You've corrupted me Mr. Snyder."
"And you love me for it, Dr. Oliver," Luke said as he drifted off to sleep.
Reid just sat there and smiled. "Yeah, yeah I do."
