Chapter 25

The Delivery

A few months later Amanda and Mac were busily painting the nursery the baby pink and soft yellow brought the room a certain amount of joy and peace.

"What colour was your room?" Amanda asked Mac as she dragged a brush in one hand and held her stomach with the other.

"Well, you have to understand, that my mom didn't know if I was a boy or girl when she was pregnant…so she picked a pretty…feminine colour." Mac said as he stroked his brush along the wall beside Amanda. Amanda giggled and re-dipped her brush in the pink as Mac dipped his sponge in the yellow.

"You were a pink baby!" She said incredulously as she brought the paintbrush down and up.

"Not necessarily pink I would say…light purple." He blushed and looked over at her. Her face was sweaty, and she dropped the paintbrush back in the can. "Ams? Amanda, what's wrong?" He dropped his own brush and supported Amanda. She looked down at her pants and he followed her gaze. "Oh shit!" He said, Amanda clutched her stomach and Mac and her waddled out of the room.

"I...think it's time." She whispered as she noticed the wetness of her pants. He sat her down and ran up down the hall into her room. He threw open the door and grabbed the overnight bag in the closet and bolted back where she was.

"Okay I got the bag, let's go." He took her by the hand and made the journey downstairs.

"But what about H?" She said worried as they jogged through the front door. Amanda looked back from the car. Mac had belted her up and was about to get in the car himself. "Mac! The door!" She yelled, and smiled weakly. He raced over to the opened door at the house and slammed it shut, almost forgetting to lock it. He bolted for the car when he heard her scream.

"Hang tight Amanda." He said and jumped into her Tacoma and floored the gas, leaving tire treads behind them.

Mac, while at the same time keeping his eyes on the road and flooring the truck at 100km/ph he fished his cell out of its holder. As he dialled he looked over at Amanda.

"Don't forget to breathe…no panicking." He lightly told her. She whipped her head around and glared at him.

"NO PANICKING! I'M ABOUT TO HAVE MY CHILDREN IN A GOSH DAMN TRUCK!" He recoiled at her tone, he knew this was coming. He put his attention back on the phone. H picked up on the second ring.

"Caine." He said thinking it was Calleigh or someone he worked with.

"H, I think you'd be wanting to get your sorry ass at the hospital ASAP." Mac whirled the truck around a corner hard.

"YOU TRYING TO KILL US TAYLOR!" Amanda yelled gripping both her stomach and the handle bar on the door.

Horatio heard the sudden screech of tires and the outburst of the woman beside him.

"Okay I'm on my way…please try not to kill them."

"Haha this isn't you or her driving remember!" Mac exclaimed as he flipped his phone shut and tossed it on the dashboard. Amanda's hair was plastered to her head in sweat; she was breathing hard, and sometimes biting her lower lip in pain.

"Maybe it's something you ate?" Mac said worried, as he parked the car and grabbed the bag from the back and opened his door and ran to the other side sliding on the hood to get there faster.

"Funny; I don't remember eating a BABY!" Amanda managed a little smile. He opened the door and helped her out.

"I've been waiting to do that." He winked and they slowly jogged/waddled into the emergency ward.

The doors opened automatically. A nurse ran over from the desk and took Amanda's hand and led her to a stretchy. Amanda laid down carefully and started to yell in pain.

"IF THAT MAN DOESN'T COME IN FIVE MINUTES I'M GOING TO-" She stopped when she was hit with another contraction. She doubled over and screamed in pain as the nurse and a doctor wheeled her away down the hall. Mac went to sit down to fill in her personal form and to wait for Horatio to come.

Horatio came running in followed by Calleigh, Eric, Valera and Speed closed behind him. Mac got up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He gave Horatio the clipboard and sat back down.

"How is she?" Eric asked as he looked down the hall to see if he could notice any nurses that would have taken care of his little sister. Mac smiled and patted Eric on the shoulder, it was his way in saying she was fine. They all eased a great amount of tension off their shoulders. Horatio looked back down on the clipboard full confusion. There were things he knew he never even knew about written there. He pulled Calleigh aside.

"Do me a favour Cal?"

"Ya sure H what's up?"

"You wouldn't mind filling this form out would you…I don't understand half of it." He chuckled at the surprised expression on her face.

"Yah no problem H." She gladly took the pad and pen and began scribbling answers concerning Amanda on the paper. Horatio headed to the front desk and asked the nurse in what room Amanda resided in. The red-headed nurse scrolled down the long scroll and paused at her name.

"She's in room 101a" Third floor, the 7th door on the right." Horatio nodded and he and his friends headed for the elevator. Horatio held the door open for Calleigh who finished her sentence and ran it over to the nurse's station and hurried over to the elevator.

Amanda stared out of the window as the nurses took her blood pressure and jotted down her contractions on a scale that the male nurse placed on the front pouch of her door, she held onto her stomach a sudden contraction hit her with brutal force.

"Feckin' contractions!" She gritted through her teeth. Calleigh poked her head through the door and smiled.

"Hey mother-to-be how you feeling?" She smiled weakly as all her friends entered the room. Eric carrying a bouquet of lilies slid in front of Calleigh and kissed Amanda on the forehead and gave her the bouquet.

"Ahh thanks Eric, they're-" She stopped and bit her lower lip. Eric held onto her hand and gently thumbed her knuckles. She turned angrily at Horatio.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT CAINE…I SWEAR, WHEN I'M OUT OF HERE I'M GOING TO-"She winced as they came back again, not being able to finish her sentence. Horatio walked over to her and held on to her hand and kissed her on the lips gently.

"Do you need anything?" He asked lamely ready for the easiest way to die.

"I need to have this baby now!" She gritted her teeth against the pain as Mac made his way on her right side and they both held a hand. Calleigh went off to fetch a nurse and Eric sat at the foot of the bed slowly massaging her feet. He remembered when his mom gave birth to Maria she liked it when he gave her a foot massage.

"You can't just order when you're going to have the baby Ams." Speedle said as he came in followed closely by Calleigh and the nurse.

"Watch me!" She yelled in both frustration and pain. As another contraction hit she tightened the grip on both her fiancé's and Mac's hand.

Both men twisted their arm in pain and gave out a little yelp of pain.

"And here people fear these two and they can't even take a little squeeze." Amanda managed to say as her breathing came harder and beads of sweat glided down her already moistened face.

"Amanda I need you to push." The doctor said as he looked down at the progress.

Amanda's face turned a deep red as she pushed with all her might.

"If I push any harder I'm going to turn myself inside out!" She managed to say in harsh tones. Both Horatio and Mac stood by her side feeding her encouraging words.

"Come on honey one push you can do this." Horatio said his tall 6ft figure was clad in green scrubs as well as Mac.

"You wanna switch Horatio because by all means do. If not shut up!" Horatio laughed a bit at his fiancée's behavior; he was well used to it. All her mood swings she'd had in the past were a pout compared to what she was dishing to him now.

"One more Amanda…take a big breath and push." The doctor said as he slowly held on to the baby's head.

Amanda took a big breath and pushed. She then collapsed a second later when she heard the screams of her baby girl. She noticed the nurses take it over to the other side of the room to clean it up and cut the umbilical cord.

Once again Amanda got up on both elbows and got ready for another round.

An hour later Mac and Stella both looked through the window to Amanda's room to see Amanda tired body sleep.

Horatio laid down beside Amanda on the bed her leaning on his shoulder. He looked down at her and smiled when he noticed her small smile playing on her lips as she slept. He slid his arms under her neck to bring her closer and nestled her head below his chin as he posed a kiss on her forehead and closed his eyes to sleep as well with now one of the three most important things in his life; his soon to be wife and his two gorgeous and healthy daughters.

Calleigh and Speed stood there in front of the nursery and peeked through the window looking at all the little blue and pink bundles of joy.

"Can you believe it that we're their aunt and uncle?" Calleigh said putting a hand on the glass as she looked in only looking lovingly at her two nieces.

"Yah it's hard to believe…look that one looks just like Horatio." Speedle pointed to the little girl in the left crib with 'Keira Jade Caine' on the border. Calleigh smiled at her.

"You're right the little dear looks just like her daddy." Calleigh said as she took in Keira's features. Below the cute pink bonnet you could see little red hairs sprouting from her little head. Keira was curled in a ball on her side facing her twin sister.

"And Caitlyn just like her mommy." Speed said as he took the other baby's attributes, although Caitlyn's hair was a lighter shade of red she had her mother's chin and high cheek bones as Keira had her father distinctive nose and serious forehead.

Speed looked over at Calleigh where she was hugging herself completely falling in love with both her nieces all over again. He leaned down to her ear and whispered in a soft and flirtatious tone.

"Want one?" Calleigh's head snapped up and her face was one of surprise.

"Yah." She simply said not finding the right words to display her current feelings,

Eric stood behind them and he said loud enough to make them both jump.

"I doubt H and Ams are gonna tolerate you plotting to kidnap Keira or Caitlyn." He said rocking back and forth from his heels to his toes.

Calleigh swatted his arm for scaring her and Speed merely held his chest from the fright. Eric looked at his Godchildren with the pride of a father and made a silent prayer for them to live happy and healthy lives. He looked once more at the two catching their breaths and laughed as he walked towards Amanda's room.

Speed finally catching his breath looked back down at Calleigh.

"I was being serious." He said as his voice filled with earning and lust.

Calleigh's green eyes turned to a darker greener shade as a devious smile took over her delicate lips and her southern accent came out thick and slow.

"I was and am too." She said as she slowly propped up on her tippy toes and brought a hand up to his newly-grown stubble.

Tim smiled and met her half way bringing her into his arms for a deep and passionate kiss.

Back in the room a while later Caitlyn and Keira were both taken to their mother and father, and their parents with all the loving characteristics accepted one each with open arms gazing in to what looked liked flawless angels. Amanda was propped with pillows as she sat up holding on to Keira and gazing lovingly in to her daughter's bright blue eyes.

"You know the pain was well worth it." She said fondly holding on to her daughter's hand and kissing her on the forehead wrapping the multicoloured blanket around the tiny angel a little snugger. She looked over and Horatio who stood by the window as he too gazed down at his daughter.

"It sure was." He said softly not wanting to wake up the sleeping Caitlyn in his arms. He walked over to his fiancée and sat down beside her. Amanda leaned her head against his shoulder and whispered.

"Every waking minute I'm afraid that this is all just a dream and when I wake up I'm back in Chicago. And all this bliss will turn out to be someone else's life." She said closing her eyes as she buried herself deeper in Horatio's chest.

Horatio kissed Amanda's head and spread the blanket over all of them and lowered himself on the bed and snuggled closer to put Keira and Caitlyn between them.

"Me too Amanda, but if this is a dream I hope never to wake up. I love you Ams, more then any dream boundary will allow." He closed his eyes and before being met with slumber he heard Amanda's faint yet soothing voice.

"I love you too Handsome, more then reality itself." They both fell into a deep slumber once more with both their daughters loved and cherished between them.

END

A/N: Hey guys, sooo sorry I never posted this sooner I guess I just forgot about this story, but tis is the last chapter of this, Hope you enjoyed it all, we enjoyed writing it. Please drop a review and tell us what you thought. Any of our other stories can be found at 99CDN (Brit) and CalleighRox (Milly) Hope you liked this, luv Milly and Brit xx