July 20

"Eli, let's go! Hurry, I want to get to the doctor's office soon." Clare was urging Eli to finish his lunch, so they could leave for her appointment early.

He finished chewing and responded in the nicest way possible to her rushing voice. "One: they're probably on lunch break right now, so we'd have to wait anyway and two: why are you in such a hurry today?" Before the first appointment Clare had been a bundle of nerves in a bad way, and now he thought she might try pulling his chair out from under if it had a chance at making him speed up.

Clare was smiling from ear to ear. "I was looking online, and I found out that I'm far enough along to hear their heart beats." Clare couldn't hide her glowing excitement at knowing that.

Eli smiled at how happy Clare looked in that moment and wished he had a camera to take a picture. "Well why didn't you say so? All done, ready to go?" Eli had been messing with her by eating so slowly, but he also wanted to hear the heart beats so gave up on the pretense

Clare would have sprinted to the hearse but didn't want to risk tripping, so she forced herself to meet Eli's slow, relaxed pace all the way to Morty. Eli opened the door for her and let her get settled in before running to his side of the car and getting in as well. Clare checked his speed the whole way to the Dr. Lein's office. Normally, she checked to be sure he was going the speed limit, because he liked speeding, but that day she was trying to show him that she wouldn't mind breaking just a few speeding laws. Eli laughed at her lightly when she decidedly stared down the speedometer, but she only huffed at his consistent speed.

Clare didn't wait for the car to stop completely before opening the door when they reached their destination. Eli was glad she didn't risk running, because if she hadn't been pregnant, he was sure she would have been running full speed to the front doors. They walked to the front desk and checked in with the woman there. Then Eli convinced Clare that the wait wouldn't be any shorter simply because she was standing, so she sat down in the chair beside him. A few women in the waiting room gave Clare pretentious looks and made comets about how young she was. Clare gave a sad look to one girl who looked younger than herself and was crying nearby. "Are you okay?", she asked the girl kindly.

The girl looked at her with sad, guilty eyes. "I'm only fourteen. I can't raise a baby when I'm still a kid, this is the right decision. Right? The people outside called me a slut and a monster, because I'm pregnant and getting an abortion."

Clare was confused, because she and Eli hadn't seen anyone. But the girl had come in nearly half an hour after them. "How would they know you're getting an abortion anyway?" The doctor's office they were at doubled as an abortion clinic, but no one could have just known the girl was there for an abortion

"When my boy friend dropped me off he yelled out the window to call him when I get rid of it. I c- can't be a mom, and th- those people aren't helping anyone by yelling those horrible things like that."

Clare realized she must mean by "people" anti-abortionists protesting outside. "I'm having twins, and I'm going to raise them. At first I was terrified, but having people support you helps. Do you have anyone who might help you? I'm only asking because you don't look like you want an abortion. There's always adoption, you could give the baby to a couple who can't have kids."

The girl didn't seem offended, but she didn't look comforted either. Eli wished he had an unlimited supply of money and a bigger house, so he could offer this girl some help too. "I don't want to, but my mom said she won't deal with a baby, and my boy friend said if it's possible to get ride of it then I should, s- so we don't have to deal with it. I don't know if my mom would let me do adoption, she didn't even want me. Her abortion failed, but she wished me luck before I left the house." The bitterness in the girl's voice couldn't be missed, and Eli felt even worse for her.

Clare moved to sit by the girl and pulled her into a hug. The girl sobbed into Clare's shoulder and clung to her shirt. "Talk to your mom about adoption before you do something you can't change." Clare's voice was so compassionate and sweet that Eli was sure the girl would agree right away. Clare dug through her purse and pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen. "My name's Clare. Here's my number. I can't help you financially or with living situations, but you can call me anytime to talk, because I've seen how far support and kind words can go."

The girl wiped her tears from her face and smiled at Clare. "I'm Tori. Thank you so much, Clare." Tori rose from her seat and walked quickly out the door after giving Clare another hug.

Clare returned to her seat beside Eli with a small smile on her face. "That was pretty awesome of you.", Eli said to her in and admiring tone.

Clare looked up at him and smiled again."That could have been me." She had never told Eli that while she sat in the drama room crying, abortion had looked like a better idea than when he was there telling her everything would work out.

"No you wouldn't. You love those babies.", he said in a confident reply.

Clare looked down as she realized Eli had much more faith in her than he should have. "I really would have, Eli. Before you walked in the drama room and made everything less dark, I was considering it. I knew my mom wouldn't be happy, and Parker had just walked out. Without you this might have turned out differently, and I wanted to make her realize what I realized before it was too late."

A nurse walked into the room and called Clare's name before Eli could respond. He had never thought that he was the reason Clare had kept the babies, but it made him happy and a little proud that he had been able to help her through that.

They were led to another exam room and told that the doctor would see them shortly after the nurse checked Clare's blood pressure and took a urine sample. They didn't wait long before Dr. Lein entered the room with a smile on his face. "Hello again, Clare. It's good to see you, how have you been feeling lately?", he asked.

Clare thought back to the last few weeks before answering. "My morning sickness is nearly gone, but I still use the bathroom twenty times an hour. I've also been getting heartburn a lot."

The doctor nodded and made some notes in Clare's chart. "All of those things are completely normal. I recommend tums for the heartburn, and your blood work came back normal, so everything looks good so far. Now if you'll lie down and pull your shirt up over your stomach, we're going to measure you and do an ultrasound.", he said before leaving the room to call another nurse. He returned to the room and pulled measuring tape from his coat pocket. "By measuring your abdomen, we can tell whether or not the babies are growing at a normal rate." He proceeded to stretch the tape across Clare's belly while Eli held her hand. "Good.", he said as he jotted down a few more notes.

Mindy the nurse from their last appointment entered the room and sat down to the ultrasound machine. She gave Clare and Eli the previous greeting and caution about the cold gel before squeezing the gel onto Clare's belly. She moved a device around over where the babies were, and they all watched the babies appear on the screen. "They've grown so much since last time.", Eli said in awe.

Clare watched the picture with loving eyes and thought to herself how happy she was that she had two beautiful babies growing inside her. Mindy adjusted the machine and swooshing sounds filled the room. Clare couldn't have described how wonderful that sound was to her ears if her life had depended on it. "What is that?", she asked in a quiet voice. She was worried if she spoke too loudly the sound would stop.

The doctor smiled at her and answered. "Those are your babies' heartbeats." Eli saw tears of joy spring to Clare's eyes and knew how she was feeling in that moment. He wasn't the father, but Eli had started thinking of the babies as his or theirs.

"It's beautiful. They're beautiful.", he whispered to Clare, still holding her hand tightly.

"Would you like to take pictures home, since the babies are identifiable now?", the nurse asked when she turned the monitor off.

"Yes, could we get five?", Clare asked right away. She had been thinking about who she should give a picture of the ultrasounds to, and she had decided.

Eli gave her a questioning look but said nothing. He was hoping he was going to get one and trusted that Clare would want him to have one. They scheduled another appointment for the next month and made their way back to the hearse. When they were in the car and driving down the road, Eli couldn't hold the question back any longer. "Who all are you giving pictures to?"

Clare smiled at him. "Of course you and I each get one. I'm giving Cece and Bullfrog one, Alli, and my mom. I know we haven't been completely civil, but I want her to have one." Clare was sure her mom would be hurt if she didn't have a receive a picture, although she might not say anything.

Eli had been wondering something else for a while. "Were you okay the last week of school? I mean you were the talk of the school again after Jake told everyone about you having twins, and I never asked if you were okay." He had wanted to but didn't want to upset Clare if it was annoying her.

She laughed a little at the timing of the question but knew Eli would worry until she finally gave him an answer. "It didn't really bother me. Like you said, they already knew I was pregnant. I just added one to the mix." Eli was relieved to hear that Clare had taken it all in stride and was glad she had two months away from Degrassi.

At dinner that night Clare presented Cece and Bullfrog with their picture and Cece cooed while Bullfrog looked at it smiling. "They're definitely not Eli's. If they were, their heads would be huge." Everyone shared a laugh Eli's expense, but he wasn't really bothered by the joke. The night held many happy emotions that night and Clare forgot about how worried she over the talk she needed to bring up soon.

The next day Alli came by to visit Clare. "Geez, it's only been like two weeks, and you look like you're pregnant with twins." Alli ended with a laugh to tell Clare she was joking which Clare saw right away.

Clare held the picture out to Alli and pointed out each baby for her to see. Alli characteristically squealed at how cute she found the picture and talked about how much she thought the babies looked like clear already. Clare argued that there was no way to tell what the babies looked like, but Alli would have none of it. Clare gave Alli the picture for her mom and asked Alli to deliver it for her. She and her mom were on better terms, but Clare wanted to avoid any awkward meetings for a little while if possible.

About a week after that meeting Eli and Clare were preparing to go to sleep when Clare spoke into the darkness. "I wish we could go ahead and name them. I hate just saying 'them', it's almost as bad as when we had to call them 'it'."

Eli smiled when he closed in on the "we" in her sentence but didn't say anything about it. "Why can't we?", he asked, sitting up on his elbows.

Clare mirrored his actions and released an exasperated sigh. "We don't know the genders. What if we pick girl names and get boys or have a girl and a boy and get stuck with no girl name?", she asked. Clare had been wanting to name the babies for sometime but didn't want to get ahead of herself.

"You could think of two boy names and two girl names, and pick one of each if you have a boy and a girl.", Eli suggested. He was looking forward to hearing what names Clare would choose.

"I was hoping you would help me, since you're such a big part of their lives already." If the lights had been on, Eli would have seen the dark red blush that stained Clare's cheeks as she almost admitted her love to him.

He was honored that Clare would ask for his opinion on something as important as the names of the babies. "I- thanks. That means a lot. So, what have you been thinking about for names?" He wanted her opinion before adding in his own.

Clare was only sure about one name. " For a girl I like Tori. I feel inspired by how brave she was to walk back out that door knowing what she would be facing at home and with her boy friend."

"I like it. Interestingly, Tori means 'conqueror' or 'victor' in Latin. That's got to be good luck."

Clare laughed but was glad that she had chosen that name. "What about you?"

Eli had a boy's name, but he wasn't sure what Clare would think of it. "You could relate it to the Bible if you want, but I was thinking of it after a friend. I told you about being bullied when I was younger. Well there was this kid, Daniel, who stuck up for me when he was around. We became friends until he moved, but he was the only friend I had for a long time. It's okay if you don't like it though."

Clare hugged Eli close and said, "I love it. Do you know what it means in some language?"

"In Hebrew it means 'God is my judge'. That's the only one I know."

Clare smiled at her baby names. "So Daniel, Tori, and what else?"

"Would you want to name the second girl Helen after your mom?" Eli wasn't sure how Clare was feeling towards her mom at the moment, but he wanted to put it out there for her consideration.

"It's kind of old fashioned, so maybe as a middle name.", Clare said after a few minutes of thinking. "Tori Helen Edwards?", she asked Eli.

"It sounds perfect, but that means we need another girl name and another boy name still.", he reminded her. This may have been an abnormal time to have the baby name conversation, but there they were in the dark, naming the babies.

"I like Matthew for the second boy. What do you think?"

"I like it. Matthew Edwards, it has a nice ring to it. What about Jenny for the second girl?"

Clare laughed. "No, it's too close to Jenna, and I don't need to boost her ego anymore."

Eli knew Clare was joking about Jennna's ego but thought of a new name quickly. " Note to self, avoid names common to Degrassi. What about Elizabeth, or is it

too old fashioned?"

Clare knew it was an old name, but it was pretty. "No, I like it."

Okay, we can call her Lizzie to shorten it."

"I'm pretty sure you just have a thing for shortening first names, but that works. Lizzie for Elizabeth, Matt for Matthew, Danny for Daniel, and I guess we can't shorten Tori."

"We could name her Victoria and call her Tori.", Eli suggested.

"No, I want her name to be Tori. So far Tori and Daniel are the only one's who have middle names.", Clare told Eli as she started trying to make a list of possible names.

"We didn't do one for Daniel." Eli was confused, because he was sure they hadn't mentioned Daniel's middle name before then.

"I've already decided, but you have to wait to find out." Eli groaned, because he hated surprises but accepted it anyway.

"Fine. What about Marie for Elizabeth's middle name?" Eli wasn't sure why the name had appeared in his head, but he liked it.

"Aw, that will be so cute. Lizzie Marie! And Mathew Royce?" Clare had been thinking about the name and liked it better as a middle name."

"Perfect.", Eli said before settling back into the bed. "Now let's go to sleep, since you'll be up in an hour to go to the bathroom." Clare laughed and fell asleep with thoughts of her babies in her mind.

Everyone was eating dinner a week later when Clare finally had to voice the thoughts that had been mulling over in her mind. "Cece, how early should I pack before Eli leaves to go to university?", she asked as everyone was chowing down.

Three heads turned to Clare in shock and confusion. "Why do you want to leave before Eli goes off to university?", Bullfrog asked when it looked like no one was going to answer Clare's question.

"Well, I can't stay here when Eli's gone. You wouldn't even know I exist if I hadn't met Eli, and I'm not your child. I can't ask you to feed me and pay for my living expenses and the twins until I can live on my own or graduate."

Cece answered this time. "Clare, you're like a daughter to us. You an stay as long as you'd like. I thought that was clear, and Eli hasn't said anything about being bothered by you staying in his room." She looked to Eli, asking for him to help her with the conversation.

"Of course not. You can stay even when I 'm gone as long as you don't rearrange everything or hang up Justin Beiber posters." He was trying to lighten the mood, and Bullfrog ran with it.

"You're way cleaner than Eli too and not a smart ass, so that's a bonus. We can't let you go." They all laughed as Clare realized she had a family there in Eli's home.

"Thank you so much for everything you're doing." Eli was glad that was cleared up, because he was sure Jake or Helen would make some type of comment about the pregnancy if Clare were to go home then. Helen was getting better, but she was still on edge around Clare. "I guess we forgot to tell you, but the babies have names now!", Clare said excitedly

"Oh, you know what you're having already?" Cece sounded very skeptical, because she was sure Clare wouldn't be able to find out the gender of the babies for at least a couple of more months.

"No, but there's two boy names and two girl names. Either way, we're covered. I could have two more in here before running out of names." Clare adored joking and talking with Eli's parents, because they never judged. They might make jokes or voice concern, but they never judged her, even when showed up at their house knocked up.

Everyone laughed, but Cece got back to the subject. She was very interested in the babies and what their potential names were. "So, what are these names?"

"For girls, Tori Helen after my mom and Elizabeth Marie because we can call her Lizzie Marie which I think is really cute. For boys, Matthew Royce and Daniel after Eli's old friend. There's not a reason for Matthew, I just like the way the names sound." Clare admitted that she was more partial to Daniel's name, because there was a meaningful reason for that name.

"What's Daniel's middle name?", Bullfrog asked curiously.

Eli interjected at this point. "She won't even tell me, and I think that's a little unfair." He pouted at the end and looked at Clare.

Clare sighed dramatically and said, "I have my reasons for that one, but I love it. You don't need to know, since you can't change my mind." Clare stuck her tongue out at Eli childishly to prove her point.

"Well I love all of the names. They're precious, and I almost wish you were having four, so we could use them all.", Cece joked and laughed. Clare was so happy everyone wanted her to stay, because Eli's house was more enjoyable than her own had been for over a year, and she had gotten used to hearing laughter instead of fighting or annoying new family members.

I know this one was short, and I admit I rushed it a bit. I'm really excited to write the next chapter, because I have something big happening...and you won't know Daniel's middle name until the babies are born, if either one is a boy! Reviews and suggestions, please