Posting a note up here as a warning: this chapter is the labor and delivery for the twins and I don't know if I would necessary call it graphic but for any reader who might be uncomfortable reading about that sort of thing, just skip down to the last six paragraphs and you won't have to read any of it. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Alec clutched his hands tightly, crying out as the pain hit again. His labor, despite having been told by Molly as being 'quick', had been going on for four hours, with the contractions coming faster and faster, and with more concentrated pain. His breathing came in short, forced pants, and his eyes were clenched tightly shut. Tessa's hand, holding a cool towel, kept swiping gently across his forehead, wiping the sheen of sweat away as it appeared.
"Almost there Alec, just hold on." Molly's voice, soft, patient, and encouraging wafted up as the pain took a reprieve and he opened his eyes blearily, panting. Molly's face appeared between his outstretched knees and she smiled brightly. Alec sort of wanted to smack her, just a little. It hurt, damn it. His eyes clenched shut and he hissed as another contraction went through him. If he ever saw Magnus again, he was going to kill him. Slowly, and with needles. Magnus hated needles.
"All right Alec; you're dilated far enough now. We are reaching the part where you are going to have to start pushing. You're body will tell you when – if you feel the need to push, do it, okay? But don't forget to breath out, nice and even, while you are doing it. Keep it controlled, sweetheart, you're in the homestretch." Alec nodded; eyes still clenched shut as the pain faded temporarily, and concentrated on slowing his breathing. They had practiced this, the breathing and the pushing, but nothing could have prepared him for the pain.
He had to concentrate hard to keep his breathing regular as the next wave of contractions started. This one was different; it was accompanied by the need to push. So he did, pushing down with his abdomen, gasping and crying out as he did so, his torso lifting up to get more leverage.
"There you go Alec!" Molly called out encouragingly as Tessa wiped his sweaty face again. "You're doing great; just keep breathing, in and out, just like that." Alec felt tears track down his face and Tessa wiping them away, as the contractions hit again and the feeling returned. He pushed again, hard. He just wanted it over.
"Almost there, Alec! I promise sweetheart, just keep doing it!" Alec tried to breathe evenly, as Tessa wiped his face again.
"You're doing great Alec, so much better than I did. I nearly broke my husband's hand, when I was giving birth." Tessa whispered into his ear, smiling as she wiped his face. If Alec wasn't busy concentrating on his breathing and too tense to speak, he would have told her he would have killed Magnus if he was there. But before he could, the urge hit again, and Alec hissed out his breath as he pushed again.
"Good job, I see a baby! Just keep your breathing steady now, Alec, and wait a minute before you push. Baby here needs to move gradually down, or the tissue will tear. Just breath, you're almost there, just think of holding these pretty little babies and I'll tell you when to push again, okay?" Alec nodded and focused on breathing, fighting the urge to push with his whole will. It stung now, as if something was pressing his insides past the breaking point, and all he wanted to do was be done. But he knew, or at least had some idea, of how bad it could be if he messed up now, so he forced himself not to push and to keep his breathing in even, quick pants.
"Baby's crowning now, almost there! Doing good sweetheart! Just keep breathing! Tessa, get the bulb syringe from the counter and get down here. I'll need you to suction the mucus out of the nose and mouth when the baby's face emerges. And you'll need to be here to cut the cord and clean the baby all up before the other one starts coming." Alec groaned softly, as Tessa's comforting presence left his side, and went down to where Molly sat between his legs. The contractions came again, and he cried out as he resisted the urge to push, tears falling down his face again.
"Head's out! Tessa, now please!" Alec closed his eyes, panting heavily, as Tessa ducked between his legs with the bulb syringe and made quick work of cleaning the infant's mouth and nose. He could feel Molly's hands against his body, checking the neck of the baby, as well as the baby shifting slightly, moving, he knew, into the final position for the delivery.
"Next contraction, Alec, I need a big push, okay? You're almost there, keep it up, okay? One big push." Alec nodded, face clenched, and pushed when the contractions hit, gasping as the pain intensified. "One more! Just one more and it's over! One more push!" Alec cried out as he pushed again, with all his energy, and was rewarded with the thick, lusty cry of a newborn infant. Quickly, he opened his eyes for the first glimpse of the child and was rewarded with the sight of a reddened, bloody, and screaming babe, held tight in the arms of Tessa as it cried. It was the most beautiful sight Alec had ever seen.
"Great job sweetie," Molly told him, gently rubbing his foot. "One more to go and it'll all be over. Just breathe, and nod when the contractions start again. If they don't start up again soon, I'll give you a potion to kick start them up again. Don't you worry any, it'll be over soon." Alec groaned softly, and closed his eyes, breathing deeply in the brief reprieve. He wanted to be done, to hold his babies, and to rest. This was way more than he had ever expected it to be.
Alec's eyes clenched and he nodded stiffly, as the pain of another contraction started again. He knew, even though he hadn't felt it, that Tessa had quickly tied off the umbilical cord of the first baby, and that she was in the corner, quickly administering the tests for vitality, cleaning and dressing the baby in the warm blankets Molly had them prepare earlier.
"Okay, Alec. The baby's close enough down the cervix that this should be much easier this time. Just keep breathing as you are, and when the feeling comes, give me a good, hard push, okay? Just keep imagining what it's going to be like, to hold these beautiful little devils." Alec nodded, and, once the urge came onto him, pushed hard. He could hear, dimly, the quiet whimpers of his first born as Tessa held the baby, and it fueled him all the more. He wanted this to be over, so he could just see them.
"Good job! I see the head already! This is going to be very quick, I promise." Alec would have snorted derisively, if he had the breath. He had heard her say that before, and that was over four hours ago, when the contractions had first started regularly. "Alright Alec, push again when the urge hits you, big push!" Alec took several deep breaths, waiting, and as the urge hit, pushed hard, gasping and crying out as his body tensed. "Head's out!" Alec felt, once more, Molly's quick and steady head checking the neck of the baby. He also knew, as Tessa was still with the other child, that she must have cleaned the mucus from the baby's air passageways.
"Almost there, two more big pushes Alec, and it's all over!" Alec gasped and grunted, as the contractions hit and he pushed once more. His breathing hitched and he was panting again, as he waited for the contractions again. Once they hit, he pushed once more, with all his might.
The high scream of his second born hit him loudly, and it was like music to his ears, as his body relaxed onto the sheets. He was a bloody, sweaty mess, and he knew the babies weren't in much better shape but that didn't matter. He wanted them now. He opened his eyes to see Tessa's smiling face and a baby, wrapped in a fuzzy blue blanket in her arms. He stretched his arms out lazily and with a larger smile, she gently placed the infant into his arms.
"A boy," she told him as Molly came up behind them, holding another small bundle, this one swathed in a pale pink blanket.
"And a girl," Molly grinned and placed the second baby in his arms, rearranging his arms and the babies until he could hold both comfortably, "best of both worlds that, don't have to go through the whole bloody process again just to try for a different gender." Alec barely registered her words, so entranced with the two tiny, squirming forms.
Their face's were still scrunched up and reddened but Alec could see the light brown of their skin on the exposed bit of their chests and tiny fists – several shades darker than his own pale shade and several lighter than their other father's. He could also see the curve of Magnus's lips in the downturned ones of the twins and his own, straight aquiline nose. Their hair, soft tufts that stuck up this way and that on their tiny heads, was the same inky black he and Magnus shared. Their eyes were still clenched shut, so Alec didn't know whether they had inherited his own or Magnus's. There were no other signs of the mark of a Warlock, but that didn't matter. Alec wouldn't have cared if the two had been born with lizard tails or bat wings.
These were the tiny forms he had carried in his stomach for eight months, the same forms that he had lost Magnus because of, the ones that he had left his family and home for. And looking into their scrunched, reddened faces, Alec knew it was worth it. Worth the pain and the heart ache, worth the worry and the terror, worth the tears and nightmares. Worth everything he had done to get them there.
"They're beautiful," he whispered to the two women still crowded around his bed and to Jem, who had been kicked out in the beginning to start the ceremony given to all newborn shadow hunters and who had only just now returned. "Absolutely perfect," he said, looking down into the two faces of his children. And in that moment, he knew without a doubt, that he had never said such truer words.
So, no Magnus or Jace and Isabelle in this chapter, but you finally meet the twins! Baby boy and baby girl! I don't know how well I described the labor, seeing as I'm seventeen and have never been through it, but I tried to keep it as realistic as possible (I had about four different internet articles open about labor and multiples delivery) and I hoped it was true to form. I also hoped I captured Alec's emotions realistically. I wanted to be as if nothing else but the twins mattered, in that moment, and I hoped you guys enjoyed it. Next chapter, Magnus, Jace, and Isabelle, and hopefully names and the shadow hunter ceremony (if all goes to plan). I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, thank you for reading, and I will try to update again as soon as possible.