Chapter Twelve
Waiting on the doorstep of their house, Greg anxiously clutched the mail in his hands, while he watched the street. He was desperately waiting for his husband to return from his run, clutching the first letter they had received from the hospital in the four weeks that they had been back in Las Vegas. His father was still hanging on by a thread at the hospital, but they had their own worries to worry about with Nick's test results in the palm of his hand.
"Papa, I finished." Colt called out to him from the kitchen.
"Okay, go upstairs and get dressed, bud. I'll be up in a minute. And don't wake up, Jacks. He's poorly." Greg warned him, turning his attention back to the street as he saw his gorgeous Texan jogging towards their house. The sweat soaked god slowed to a walk at their driveway, tugging the headphone buds from his ears as he saw the younger man stood in the doorway waiting for him. "Hi."
"Hi, whatsup?" He panted, leaning through the doorway to seal a kiss to his partner's lips. Greg raised the letter from the hospital to him, wanting him to open it right now. Nick handed him the bottle of water from his hand, trading it for the letter. He inhaled a deep breath, looking up to Greg's eyes, before he struggled to open the envelope. He ripped straight through it, quickly unfolding the single sheet of paper that was inside. "It's a... just an appointment for another consultation." He handed it over to Greg, stepping by him into the house. "I'm gonna go shower. Jackson alright?"
"I gave him some cough syrup. He had a waffle. He's gone back to sleep now." Greg pushed the front door shut, ditching the rest of the mail, while he read through the opened letter in his hands. "You'd think that they would at least tell you to prepare for good or bad news in these letters. They're obviously not that worried about it if they're making you wait another two weeks for a consultation." He set the letter down on the island in the kitchen, watching Nick grabbing himself something to eat from the fridge. "Do you feel okay? In general I mean."
Nick nodded, plating the sandwich he had put together. "Make sure Colt's ready. I'll take him in when I head into work."
"Okay." Greg took a seat at the island, wishing hospitals could just send letters that either said 'All Clear' or 'You're in for another rough ride'. At least then he would know what to expect in the coming months. He was nearly twenty five weeks pregnant with twins after all, he deserved to know if he was about to go through it all alone. Trying to support two children, two newborns and a sick husband wasn't exactly what he wanted in life.
When he was picturing his life ten years ago, this wasn't exactly what he had in mind.
"Baby!" Nick called down the stairs to him. "Can you iron my shirt? Thank you, I love you."
Greg glanced towards the stairs, watching a white shirt flying down them. He shuffled across the hall to fetch it, taking it towards the laundry room. He hated ironing, which was why the iron was covered with a thick layer of dust. He never felt the need to iron anything that was washed in their house. He put things through the dryer, neatly folded them straight away and never got any complaints.
He dusted off the iron, before he got started on ironing out the creases in his husband's shirt. He wished that ironing out the creases in his life were that easy. None of it had exactly been smooth sailing so far. He had given up his own hopes and dreams, about to lose the opportunity to finally become an official lab supervisor too as he was about to take maternity leave around the same time they would be considering new candidates for the new supervisor of the swing shift.
While he smoothed out a crease in the sleeve of his husband's shirt, he thought back to when their relationship and children didn't take up all of his time. After the scent of Nick invaded his nostrils though, all he could think about was the first time that he figured out that he loved this adorable man.
It wasn't like it was in the movies. It wasn't an ah ha moment either. It wasn't even that amazing.
After getting slightly drunk with their friends, Greg decided to grab a taxi to his boyfriend's bachelor pad. Nick didn't go out with them, because he wasn't in the mood to socialise and drink after the day they just had.
Fortunately, Nick had already given Greg a spare key, so he managed to let himself in without waking his boyfriend. He found Nick passed out on the sofa with the sports on TV, a bucket of southern fried chicken tucked under his arm and nothing but his tighty whiteys on. As he removed Nick's sticky hand from the bucket of chicken and heard the man's stomach groan from all the food he had ingested, a flutter tingled his heart, giving him his first real soppy Hollywood feeling of love for another human being.
Of course he didn't tell Nick for another few weeks, but he still felt as though those few weeks were the best moments of their relationship. He wished that he could have that back. It wasn't that he loved him any less, it was just that his worries for him outweighed everything else at the moment.
He took his husband's shirt upstairs to him, finding him in the bathroom brushing his teeth. He hung the shirt up, before he made his way over to Nick. "You wonna come with me to the doctors?"
"What times the appointment?" Nick leant over the sink, rinsing his mouth out.
"Two."
"I'll see if I can take my lunch break around then." He sealed his minty lips to his husband's for a quick kiss, before he got himself ready to shower. "You back on tomorrow?" He asked, turning the tap in the shower to warm up the water.
"Yeah, Catherine's out again, so I'm acting shift supervisor." Greg put his back to the sink counter, struggling to pull himself onto it. His husband saw his struggle, giving him a smile, before he slid his hands beneath his arms, helping him onto the counter behind him. "You know, I love being pregnant with your babies and all, but I'm huge. Yesterday at the store, I farted in three aisles, knocked over a display of cans and couldn't fit through the revolving doors. I feel ridiculous."
"You look gorgeous." Nick leant up on the tip of his toes, sealing another kiss to his partner's unbelievably soft lips. He had noticed a lot of changes with Greg lately, the most amazing was his softer skin and gorgeous thick hair. By the end of the day he'd have stubble growing out of his chin, so Nick took a moment to playfully nip multiple kisses to the younger man's jaw line. "I love you and your ever expandin' waistline." He teased him, getting a smile out of him. "Shower with me."
"Oh no, I can't support this weight in a slippery shower. I can't even fit through the sliding glass door anymore. It's strictly bathtubs and sponge downs in the sink from here until the end."
"I can't believe you're so big already." He placed his hands on the younger man's back, slowly sliding them around his large bump. "Should you really be workin' at this size?"
"It's because there's two babies in there. It's double everything." He defended himself again. "It's my last week in the field anyway. Not even a week, it's just three days."
"I thought you'd love to take some time off." Nick pressed a kiss to his partner's cheek, barely noticing the bruise to his face anymore. It had faded into a yellowish stripe that didn't even look like a bruise now. "Colt ready yet?"
"I'll go check on him." He placed his hands on his husband's shoulder, getting some assistance to get off the counter again. "You think Colt will be alright, having another two babies around?"
"No, I think he'll love it. He loves bein' the big brother to Jacks." Nick assured him, ditching his t-shirt and boxers, so he could climb into the shower.
Greg straightened out the oversized t-shirt he had been wearing as a pyjama top, wishing his waist was as slim as Nick's right now. He couldn't wait for these baby's to come out, but he wasn't looking forward to trying to get his figure back again.
He made his way across the hall to the boys room, picking up Colt's pyjamas off the floor, before he stepped into their bathroom. Colt was stood on his stool by the sink, brushing his teeth while he looked in the mirror in front of him. Greg quickly grabbed the wash cloth as he stepped up behind him, wiping away the spilled toothpaste from his son's chin.
"I can't do that." Colt pointed towards the belt he had looped through his jeans.
Greg turned him slightly on the stool, re-looping the loops his son had missed, before he fastened it in place for him. "Daddy's gonna drive you into school today. Remind him to hand that form in at the front desk or you won't get your place in the karate class. You sure you still wonna do it?"
Colt eagerly nodded his head, even though he only wanted to do it because his best friend, Max was doing it. He had given up every other club he tried out, because he didn't enjoy them as much as he thought.
Colt leant over the sink to spit out the toothpaste, ditching his toothbrush, before his father gave his chin another wipe. "Do we have to have another baby, Papa? I want a dog."
There went Nick's theory of him loving the idea of having a new sibling.
"You'd rather have a dog than a new little brother or sister?"
"Yeah." Colt jumped down from the stool, leading Greg out of the room by his hand. "He can sleep in my bed and I can teach him tricks."
"You know, you'd have to walk him. Clean up his poop, feed him and give him water." Greg knew he wouldn't like any of that as he didn't even like picking up his toys after he finished playing with them. "Besides, your baby brother or sister is already growing. They're almost ready to come out." He led him down the stairs, sitting his son on the bottom step to put his sneakers on for him. "You wonna know a secret that no one else knows?"
"Yeah."
Greg wasn't sure if he should tell him at first, but he always liked knowing things that no else knew. "It's twins. You're gonna have twin younger brothers or sisters." He waited for a reaction on his son's face, but the seven year old just stared at him blankly for a moment. "We could have two baby brothers or two baby sisters. Or one baby brother and a baby sister. We won't know until they're born."
"When?" Colt took an interest, raising his other foot to his father's knee in front of him for his next sneaker.
"In about ten weeks, maybe a little more or a little less. You never know with baby's. They decide when they wonna come out. I had your c-section all booked up, then you decided you wanted to come about a week early. Then your brother's section was arranged, but he decided that he wanted to be born a little earlier too. Only these two know when they'll be born."
"Can I help pick their names?"
"Sure you can." Greg smiled at him. "Just don't tell Nana Jean yet. We'll make it a big surprise for her. Yeah?"
"Yeah." Colt jumped to his feet, quickly hugging his father. "Where will they sleep?"
"We're gonna put them in the guest bedroom, as soon as we've got it all ready. But while they're still little, they'll sleep in mine and Daddy's room. Daddy's gonna get Jackson's old crib out of the attic soon. You wonna help him put it together again. You made it with him for Jackson."
"Did I?"
"Yeah, you were a little bit younger than Jackson when you built it." Greg pulled back from him, gently combing his fingers through his son's tousled hair. He couldn't believe how big he was already. It wasn't too long ago that he fit the length of his forearm, now he needed both arms to hug him. "Where's Daddy?" He quickly pushed himself to his feet, before he started to cry again. "Go get the hair gel from my dresser. We'll have to cut your hair this weekend. It's getting really thick."
Colt turned towards the stairs, scrambling up the first few on his hands and feet, before he started running. He made his way into his parents' bedroom, grabbing the pot of hair gel off the dresser, before he turned towards the door. "Daddy." He caught his father stepping out of the bathroom, running a towel through his wet hair. "Papa said we can build the cribs for the new babies. Can we do it when I get home from school?"
"We could do. We still need to buy another one though."
"Babies are really little though." His son argued, watching his father grabbing himself some clothes from his wardrobe. "We can put them in the same one."
"If they're anythin' like you and your brother, they'll be rollin' on top of each other all the time. They need their own beds, just like you and Jackson have your own beds." Nick tossed his jeans onto the bed, before he knelt down to press a kiss to his son's forehead. "I'll tell you what, after school, we'll go and pick up another crib, then we can put them both together at the same time. Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Okay then, you better take that to Papa." He tapped the pot of gel in his son's hand. "I'll be done in a minute. Getcha bag and lunch box ready."
"Okay." Colt hurried out of the room, taking the pot of gel to the kitchen. He jumped up onto one of the stools around the island, letting his father gel his hair up for school. "Daddy said we can buy another crib after school today, so we can put them both together for the babies."
"Really? It's a shame Daddy never consults me before he makes these plans." Greg had been strictly against buying anything new for the twins, just in case it jinxed them. He had already lost two babies, he wasn't prepared to lose anymore. "There, perfect." He arranged the last spike of his son's hair, pecking a kiss to his cheek. "Make sure you listen to your teachers today and don't pay any attention to that nasty Gabriella girl. Okay?"
Colt nodded his head, sliding off the stool. "She's mean to Brittany too."
"Next door, Brittany?" Greg gritted his teeth together as Evelyn would have her head if she knew that, but he didn't want to be the one to tell her. "Okay, go play with some toys. I'll go hurry Daddy along. He's gonna be late himself at this rate." He rubbed his painful pregnant sides, making his way upstairs to their bedroom. "Nick, you shoulda left five minutes ago."
"I know." He continued buttoning his shirt down his chest, looking at himself in the full length mirror in their wardrobe. "Greg, if this is..."
"Don't." Greg dropped onto the bed, not wanting to hear the end speech. "If it's back, we just have to go through the same treatment as before. Last time you weren't going to the gym every week, running every morning and you didn't have me from the beginning. This time will be different." He assured the man. "But we don't even know if it is back, so you're worrying yourself over nothing."
Nick gave him a smile, taking a seat beside him on the bed. "I'm just sayin'... if it is. I know it's not, because I'm goin' to fight this every step of the way." He assured him, taking his hand into his own. "But if it is, I don't want you and my kids to be left with nothin'. We're still not legally married. There's nothin' that really binds us, which means that if I die, you and my children won't get anythin'. It'll all be in the hands of my folks and their lawyers, just like my bachelor pad when I left you."
"So, what are you gonna do about it?"
"I want it all in your name, so you're entitled to everythin' and none of it goes to my folks."
"It's not legal for us to marry here." Greg knew the control freak wouldn't let this go, so he would just have to try and point out the flaws until he let it go.
"Well, we'll have to find a way around that. A joint checkin' account for instance. We split everythin' at the moment, we could just put our money in a joint account, so it's easier to pay for the mortgage, food and all that. Then we can have some set aside for ourselves to buy whatever we want."
"You mean like a real couple?" Greg melodramatically gasped, giving his partner a smile. "Didn't you ever think of just writing a will? My Papa Olaf left one and gave me his coin collection. Ever since I was little he had tried to teach me the importance and rarity of his coins and getting them in his will was like I still have a part of him with me. If you still had your truck, you coulda left your baby in the hands of your first baby. When he's older, of course."
Nick smiled at him, realising he had never thought of that before. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You'd have my Mom and Dad to look after you." He smirked, pulling Nick to his feet with him. "Now you've gotta go, or you're gonna be really late. I love you."
"Love you more." Nick sealed a kiss to his lips, giving him a smile, before he hurried down the stairs. "Colt, c'mon bud." He grabbed his son's bag from the bottom of the stairs, holding the door open as his son hurried through the house. "Your lunch box in here?"
"Papa put it in there already." Colt ran down the end of their driveway, waiting at the back door of his father's truck. Nick finished locking up the house, before he pulled the door open for his son. Colt quickly climbed into his booster seat, letting his father strap him in. "Where would the baby seats go, Daddy?"
There wasn't much room on the back seat with his booster seat on one side and Jackson's booster seat on the other, making him wonder how two baby seats would even fit in.
"Well, we might have to trade in Papa's car to fit more seats in it. Maybe one of those soccer Mom mini vans that Evelyn has." He suggested, never wanting to part with his truck again. He pecked a kiss to his son's forehead, seating his school bag by his feet, before he quickly hurried round to the driver's side door, realising they were going to be so late.
He couldn't stop worrying about the letter he got from the hospital all week, making him late to work every shift, late to drop his son off at school and even late for consultations to discuss the results from his recent biopsy. Another patient jumped the queue because of his lateness, so he had to wait another half hour or so, before it was his turn.
"So I decided... I'm getting a cat." Sara concluded her story, wiping her forehead with her exposed wrist. The latex gloves she was wearing felt all sticky, making her fingers feel as though they were immersed in liquid honey. She hated working during the really hot summers of Las Vegas. She could feel her foundation melting off her face. Her hair was sticking to the back of her neck and starting to run wild with curls. "Boy, you're talkative today." She remarked, handing the sealed evidence bag over to her partner on this case. "Have you had a spat with your hubby?"
"No." Greg shook his head, filling in the evidence sheet now that he had been snapped out of his thoughts. "A cat?" He frowned at her.
"Yeah, Gil thinks it'll be too painful if we get a dog after Hank passed. We've got no hope of getting pregnant and the adoption thing didn't go so well when they found out I was arrested for drunk driving."
"That never went on record."
"Yeah I know, which means that somebody told them." She finally removed the latex gloves from her hands, desperately wanting to wash her sweat soaked fingers. The tips of her fingers had practically wrinkled after being drowned in sweat for the past few hours. "Why's it so hot? I hate this weather. How can you wear that?" She motioned towards the oversized sweatshirt he was wearing. "Aren't you boiling?"
"Yeah, but I'm fat too. And I'm not wearing anything under this." He pointed out to her, peeling the front of the sweatshirt away from his sticky stomach. "If you want a baby, I've got one going spare."
"Is that your subtle way of telling me that you're pregnant? Because I hate to break it to you Greg, but I already knew. I was just waiting for you to tell me."
"There's something that you don't know." Greg held up two fingers, before he helped her to pack up their kits. "There's not just the one this time. There's two. Somehow my one balled husband managed to knock me up with twins." He smiled at her, letting her lift the heavier box. "What kind of cat are you gonna get?"
"Gil's taking me to a cat rescue shelter over the weekend. I guess we'll see when we get there. I'm hoping to get quite a young cat. But we'll have to wait and see. Shouldn't you buy like maternity clothes or something?" She suggested, watching a drip of sweat running down the side of the younger man's head. "It's boiling and you're wearing that huge sweater. Where'd you even get it?"
"Big and tall. It was on sale."
"You should have got some t-shirts. We live in Las Vegas and it's summer. Worst time of year to even think about buying a sweatshirt." Sara fanned herself with her hand as soon as they reached the car, wishing she could take a cold shower right about now. "When are you taking your maternity leave?"
"As of next week. Today is actually my last day in the field. Nick's forcing me to. He's not as annoyingly protective as he was last time, probably because he has other stuff on his mind, but I think he's still really excited. He's already brought the first pair of matching newborn outfits. Both white and they have 'I love my Daddy' written on the chest. He got little hats too that have a teddy bear printed on the front. I told him not to buy anymore, but he never listens to me anyway."
"Aww, I think it's good that he's excited. I couldn't get Gil excited about the prospect of adopting a child. He was more excited about the cat."
"That's because he's not a people person. You forget that he practically raised all of us. Nicky especially, he still has that father complex with him." Greg pointed out to her, climbing into the passenger seat of their car, getting burnt by the hot seats that had been absorbing the early morning sun. "Where's cold this time of year? I hate being pregnant in the sun and nowhere near a beach."
"The week we spent in Paris was pretty cold. Of course, you could try taking that sweatshirt off. You'll feel loads better and you won't be at risk of sun stroke. You don't even need the sweater. It's probably making you look bigger than you actually are."
"I'm twenty five weeks." Greg pointed out to her, adjusting his seatbelt so it was just beneath his baby bump. Sitting down, he noticed that his pregnant belly practically hid the top portion of his thighs. He found it really difficult to sit behind the wheel of a car at the moment, let alone behind a desk if he did switch to lab duties. His breathing was becoming a little more difficult, his back was killing him and he felt as though he had to pee every five minutes. "Maybe I should just take early maternity leave. I can spend the last few weeks in an ice cold bath tub."
"Sounds like a plan."
He was only working three days a week at the moment anyway, so it would be easy enough for Catherine to arrange some cover. This was actually the first time in months that their shift wasn't short staffed and things seemed to be running a lot more smoothly, so they wouldn't mind him going on maternity leave early. It would be better for everyone in the long run too. This way Nick wouldn't worry so much and he wouldn't have to leave his sick child with a babysitter.
As soon as they got back to the lab, Catherine suddenly came hurrying out of nowhere, heading straight for Greg. He prepared himself for an argument, trying to think of anything he had missed or done wrong in the past few days, but as far as his supervisor duties went, he thought he was doing pretty good.
"You need to get in there, now." The woman motioned down the hallway towards one of the layout rooms. He wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, until his husband walked by the window, angrily kicking at the chair blocking his path. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he knew that it wasn't the chairs fault.
"Are you okay to...?"
"Yeah." Sara stopped him there, taking the evidence herself, while Greg tried to find out what was wrong with Nick.
Greg made his way down the hall, easing the door to the layout room open. He immediately clicked it shut behind him, picking up the chair his partner had kicked, so he could sit down after a long elevator ride up from the parking lot. He sat and waited for a few minutes, allowing Nick some time to gather his thoughts and tell him what was wrong. Their communication lately was a lot better than it used to be, but Greg still had to learn a little patience for Nick to gain some courage before he could actually express what was on his mind.
"He's dead." Nick wiped his eyes, finally looking at Greg in the room. "My Dad. He's dead."