Chapter 21 - Arrivals part 2

"A boy?" Valka gasped, Harry's announcement taking his mother and the others in the room by surprise. Harry just nodded and beckoned for them to follow him to meet the twins.

They all walked down the corridors in silence, all anxiously awaiting to see the babies they had been excited to meet for months.

Harry turned around a final corner and came to a stop outside a door. "Apparently, they only allow three people in at a time." He said, turning around to face everyone.

"Valka should definitely be one of the first to meet them." Astrid said, looking at Harry's mother, who looked like she was about to burst with shear excitement.

"Yeah, let Hic's parents in first. They are after all the twins grandparents." Theon spoke up from beside Astrid.

Harry opened the door and allowed his parents to step inside the room. Almost instantly sounds of pure delight could be heard coming from Valka, which made everyone outside chuckle.

Before going into the room, Harry walked over to Jack and hugged him. "Thank you for coming." He whispered in his boyfriends ear as he wrapped his arms around Jack's neck.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Jack said, leaning his forehead on Harry's shoulder.

"Jack, I'm a dad." Harry said in disbelief.

Jack could only laugh slightly in reply. He was so over the moon for Harry but deep down he could feel a tugging on a gut, which always happened when he thought about Harry being a father and he didn't quite know what it was.

After releasing Jack, Harry made his way back into the room where his parents were still cooing and cuddling the twins. He'd never seen such awe on their faces.

"How are you feeling, Kay?" He asked a very tired looking and warn out Kayleigh, who was lying on her side in the hospital bed.

"Very, very exhausted." She managed to say. Sleep clearly trying to consume her.

"You've been in labour for nine hours, dear, with twins. If you weren't shattered then there'd be something wrong." Valka said, smiling down at Kayleigh who managed a small smile back. "Try and get some sleep. You'll need plenty of it to take care of these two beautiful babies." She cooed at the baby girl in her arms.

"I suppose I could have five minutes." Kayleigh said and closed her eyes. Within seconds her breathing evened out, signalling she's fallen asleep.

"So, do these gorgeous little munchkins have names?" Valka asked her son.

"Obviously, we weren't planning for a boy, so he's currently Boy of Kayleigh Lewis. But, this little girl is Elizabeth Jordan Lewis-Haddock." Harry smiled and smoothed his finger across the tiny hand and fingers of his daughter.

"Well, hello, Elizabeth. It's very nice to meet you. I'm your grandmother, Valka and this is your grandad, Stoick." Valka beamed down at the bundle in her arms and Elizabeth just gurgled in reply.

"Yeah, she doesn't say much." Harry grinned.

"Yet." Valka smiled at her son.

Valka stood there, with a smile on her face, never once looking up from the tiny baby in her arms. Stoick gentle picked up the other baby. It was already quite small in size, but looked considerably smaller in the large hands of Harry's father. Harry looked at his father's face as he held the baby close to his chest and Harry swore he saw the older mans eyes glisten ever so slightly.

"He's as small as you were when you were born." Stoick said, never taking his gaze from the baby boy in his arms. His voice cracked as he spoke. Harry had never seen his father like this, never had the older male shown such emotions around his son. To Harry, Stoick had always been such a strong man, not really showing much of an emotional range. He'd seen him smile a few times, but that was it. Until now. Stoick showed multiple emotions all at once and frankly Harry didn't know he was capable of smiling and having tears fill his eyes. It made his heart swell at the shear sight.

-ooo-

-ooo-

"Jack, is something wrong?" Alisha asked the white haired male to the left of her. They were all still waiting outside Kayleigh's room.

Jack turned his head to face his friend and smile slightly down at her. "Yeah, of course. I'm just feeling a little tired. I've been awake since five this morning, Lish."

Alisha glared at Jack. She'd known him for far too long to know when he wasn't right and when he was lying. She took a hold of his wrist and pulled him down the corridor to talk privately.

She turned back to face him, her eyebrow cocked and her arms placed on her hips. "Come on, out with it, Nightlight." She demanded.

Jack let out a deep sign and ran his fingers through his messy hair. "I don't know, Lish. I just, there's this feeling of jealousy I seem to get every time Hic says he's a dad." He mumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb.

Alisha seemed to ponder her reply for a few seconds and looked intently at her friend. She'd had a feeling Jack might've felt this way but wasn't too sure as he'd never voiced it until now. "Jack, to be honest, that's kind of normal. Your boyfriend has just become a father, you're bound to feel some sort of negative emotion to that." She said and rubbed her hand up and down Jack's arm to soothe him.

"I feel so guilty for feeling jealous. It's just crazy. I'm so happy for him, but he has his own little family to look after and with me being away a lot with my degree. It just seems like it's going to be difficult." He sighed again.

Alisha nodded. "Relationships aren't easy. But yours will be more difficult than the likes of Astrid and Theon's. You're both just going to have to work hard at it. You love each other so much, you can work through it. Tell him how you feel." She said softly.

"Oh no, I'm not telling him right now. I'd rather not be the one to rip him out of his current happiness. I'll mention it eventually, if the moment presents itself."

Alisha didn't seem too convinced. She knew Jack would be able to keep this bottled up for years, until everything became too much and he'd burst, which wouldn't be pretty for anyone involved. She just gave Jack a half smile in return and hugged him tightly. Jack leaned down to hide his face in the crook of her neck, trying to cover the fact tears had started to gather, but Alisha knew as she felt her neck becoming wet.

"Hey, what's this? Why the tears?" She asked and pulled back to look at his face.

Jack shook his head but kept his eyes trained on the floor, knowing if he looked up and saw his friends sympathetic look the tears would flow freely.

"Jack, talk to him, okay? You can't go on like this for years like you've done before. You need to learn to talk to him." She reassured him.

He slowly nodded, but still refused to look up. So, Alisha took his chin and lifted his head up. She took a tissue out of her pocket and wiped his eyes dry. "I hope you haven't been blowing your nose with this." Jack chuckled.

"Oh, hang on, there's a boogey on your cheek." She teased. Jack's face scrunched up in disgust for a few seconds before breaking out in a grin. "There you go." She continued. "Like brand new. Hiccup won't suspect a thing, but please talk to him. If not now, soon."

"I will, Lish. I promise. Come on, let's get back to the others before they start to suspect anything."

"Theon probably hasn't even realised we're not there." She snorted in reply. "The boys oblivious."

"I don't know how Astrid puts up with him." Jack commented. Sure, Theon was his best friend but Jack was quiet happy not seeing the other male for a number of weeks. He truly was a handful to be around, but honestly lacked intelligence sometimes.

-ooo-

-ooo-

"Where have you two been?" Astrid asked as she saw Jack and Alisha walking towards them.

"Went for a little chat." Alisha replied. To which Astrid cocked an eyebrow at. She sensed something was up, but would rather not start anything tonight, so she didn't question either of them.

"Mate," Theon turned to Jack. "I need to go outside for some fresh air, you coming?" He asked his best friend. Jack nodded and followed the other male down the corridor after telling the girls to message him if Harry comes out.

The boys descended the stairs to the ground floor and made their way to the main entrance of the hospital in silence. Once they were both outside, Theon took out a packet of cigarettes that were stuffed in his pocket and offered one to Jack, who gladly picked one out and lit it up, inhaling deeply and letting the smoke out in a long, slow breath.

"You sounded like you needed that." Theon chuckled, exhaling his own smoke.

"You know me too well." Jack smirked.

"Astrid wants me to quit. Man, I haven't got the will power right now." He snorted and took another puff.

"I should quit to set my patients a good example, but to be honest with you, the stress of the job is just too much." Jack replied.

"How're you holding up?" The blonde asked him.

Jack shrugged, he didn't feel comfortable just spilling his inner feelings to Theon. "I'm fine." He said simply.

"So you're able to tell my sister but not me? Mate, that's fucked up."

"What makes you think I said anything to Alisha?" Jack demanded.

"Mate, I've known you for twenty years, I'd be a shit best friend if I didn't know when something was seriously bothering you." He stated.

"Well, you've never pried before." Jack commented.

"That's because I know when to just leave you think things over. Things normally pass and you're right again, but this time is different. Harry's kids won't just disappear one day." Theon reasoned.

Jack stood there, wide eyed at his best friend. He had no idea Theon was so observant and if he knew Jack wasn't completely okay with this whole situation, was it that obvious? Did Harry know? "I love him." Jack whispered.

"I know you do, anyone could clearly see that. But I'm not worried about whether you love him, I'm worried about whether you can live with him being a father." He told Jack.

Jack bowed his head, keeping his gaze upon the black pavement below his feet. "I'm sure I'll come around to it." In all honesty, Jack didn't know if he believed himself when he said it. He just assumed he'd wake up one morning being totally okay with it all.

"I'm here for you." Theon said and placed his hand on Jack's shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze and said nothing more on the topic of Harry now being a father. "How's work been?" He asked, quickly changing the subject and he saw Jack visibly relax.

"Difficult. So many patients, with so many things wrong with them. But I like the challenge of trying to find out what's wrong with them, if it's not completely obvious to begin with. I also love learning how to know what's going on when I'm looking at the different scans, what's normal and abnormal." Jack chirped away, clearly excited with explaining how his training was going.

"Glad you're enjoying it, buddy. I don't know how you handle the long days if I'm honest with you. Your hours are crazy stupid. I'd take my hat off to you, if I wore one." Theon chuckled.

Jack smiled slightly at his friends comment. Some days he'd get in, dog tired and then in a matter of hours, he'd have to wake up and do it all over again. He hated being so far away from home sometimes, but knew he only had a month left in Birmingham and then he'd be back home for a few weeks in Cardiff.

"Maybe we should go back up now. They'll be wondering where we've swanned off to." Theon suggested as he put the butt of his cigarette out in an ashtray situated on top of a rubbish bin.

Jack silently agreed and followed his friend back into the brightly lit hospital. They caught the elevator back up to the floor they had come from because neither of them could be bothered to scale the stairs. Once the lift binged open onto the floor they needed to get off at, they walked out of the lift and turned down the corridor that led to the maternity ward.

It didn't take them long to find the room Kayleigh was in and found Alisha and Astrid stood outside, talking away about something neither of them understood. The two girls turned to face the two boys as they heard their footfalls coming closer.

"Took your time. You've been gone for half an hour." Alisha said, cocking her eyebrow.

"Men stuff." Theon shrugged and the two girls just rolled their eyes.

"Bro-manacing." Astrid sniggered.

Alisha was about to open her mouth to say something when the door to Kayleigh's room opened and Harry's parenting walked out, closely followed by Harry himself.

"Astrid, you coming in?" Harry asked her.

She nodded enthusiastically and walked into the room.

Harry turned to Jack and motioned with his head to come in as well. Jack hesitated for a moment, not really knowing if he wanted to go in. It could all get a bit too much for him in there, it would all be too real for him once he saw the twins. He took a deep breath and slowly walks into the room and Harry shut the door behind him.

He saw Astrid standing by Kayleigh's bedside, with her back turned to them but Jack could hear her quietly cooing to the bundle in her arms. His eyes flickered over to Kayleigh, who was still sound asleep. He thanked his lucky stars that she was sleeping, not wanting everyone to see him clearly freak out.

Harry nudged him slightly over to one of the cots by the bedside and Jack gulped, trying to mentally prepare himself. He felt slightly dizzy but completely ready to scarper from the room at a seconds notice.

As he got closer to the cot, he craned his neck so he was able to see inside. His eyes landed on a tiny baby, wrapped in a fluffy pink blanket. Her eyes were closed and her tiny fingers were scrunched up into fists. Jack stood be the side of the baby and he could feel his nerves eating away at his insides.

"You can pick her up, she won't bite." Harry chuckled in a whisper.

Jack was torn between doing as Harry said or fleeing from the room. Before he had time to register anything, he saw his hands slowly reach down into the cot and place themselves ever so gently behind the little girls back, with his thumbs under her arms and his fingers supporting her tiny neck and head. He pulled her towards him, taking deep, slow breaths as he did so and cradled her in his arms. He looked down at her and felt the corner of his lips pull into a soft smile. Jack began to run his finger slowly down her chubby cheek, not quite believing how soft the baby's skin was. He looked up at Harry who was looking at him lovingly. His attention was brought back to the baby when he felt a tiny hand wrap around his finger and his heart swelled instantly. How could he have even thought about bolting from the room? Why had he been so afraid of wanting to come in here?

"She's so tiny." Jack whispered, afraid he'd startle the little girl.

Jack felt strong arms wrap around his waist and Harry lean his chin on his shoulder. "She was born just a few hours ago, give her a chance." Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"If she's anything like you, Hic. She'll be small for a while, they both will." Jack smirked and Harry swatted his side for his comment.

"I was afraid you'd think this was all too much and leave. Heck, I was kind of surprised when you actually showed up here." Harry said sounding relieved.

"I thought the same but how could I run away from these little cuties? I've only known them for a few minutes and I already love them to pieces." Jack cooed at the baby.

"Everyone loves babies, Jack." Harry snorted.

"No, I only love these ones." Jack replied, still not taking his eyes off Elizabeth.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Because they're part of you. I love you and everything to do with you, including these gorgeous babies you co-created." Jack smiled up at him.

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, liked and favourited the last chapter. I'm so glad people are enjoying this story :) and I'm sorry I took so long to update. I have every intention on finishing this story, it's just the updates may be few and far between and I apologise for that.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter :) Don't forget to leave a review ;)