We got settled on the couch and continued discussing things that were long overdue. "So will you live here with me and the babies?" I asked curiously.
"I would hope to," he said with a smile. "If not I was planning on finding a living arrangement close by. I know the first months are the hardest and I definitely would like to be there."
I smiled. "That would help a lot. We'll also have Cassie here too and I'm sure the Grandparents will be around often too," I said amusingly.
"Did you want to find out the genders before they arrive?" he asked.
"If you want to that's fine," I said rubbing his cheek. "However, we have gone this long without knowing and have done just fine. What's a few more weeks?"
"Do we have anything? Clothes? Diapers? Bottles?" he inquired, "Other things baby oriented?"
I laughed, "No, unfortunately, but I'm sure we'll get the bulky of what we need from the baby shower. Dad also offered to pay for the furniture as a baby Christmas gift. We just need to go pick everything out. Have you thought about names?"
"I have," he said with a small smile. "But some of them may not fit well by…land standards."
"Well, you never know," I said with a shrug. "Give me what you have."
"Alena, for a girl," he said with a certain enthusiasm that made me smile wider. "It is Greek but I—"
"Love it," I said, "For a girl. But we still need another in case there are two girls and we need middle names."
"What are your names?"
I hesitated, "How would you feel if we have a daughter naming after my mother?"
"I would expect nothing less."
I smiled, "Then our second name will be Talisie or Johanna. Now how about boys?"
"Talbot?" he suggested. I made a face, "Never mind, Salomon?"
I shrugged, "Salomon is alright, what about Tanner?"
"It is alright, Manos?" he said repeating my words.
"How about Manuel? It's the English version," I suggest.
He smiled, "I like it."
"Alexander?" I suggest again.
He smiles, "I approve."
I smile, "Now what are their last names going to be….since you don't have one?" I ask curiously.
He looked puzzled, "I forget that I'll probably have to take up and identity to live on land."
I sighed and gave him a sad smile, "Only for legal purposes, but in our friends and families' eyes you will always be known as Kaldur or Kaldur'ahm."
He nodded and gave me a small kiss. "Let's get you to bed, today has been a long day for you."
I began protesting but was cut off mid-sentence to my own yawn. I laughed, "Fine, I guess I am a tad bit tired."
As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out like a light. I woke up that next morning to the sounds of laughter and several different smells coming from the kitchen. I walked down the stairs to see Kaldur and Cassie cooking while laughing at something.
"Morning," I said with a smile. They both turned to look at me both with smiles on their face.
"Morning, Sis," Cassie said cheerfully, "I hope you and the womb monsters are hungry."
It is as if they knew the word already because they began kicking up a storm in my stomach. I giggled, "Yeah, I'd say they are hungry." I sat on the bar stool chair and watched them finish cooking. Kaldur poured me a glass of milk and gave it to me with a kiss. I smiled widely and began to sip at it until they finished and we ate together.
The days went by so quickly. Kaldur and I had gone to pick out the furniture a nice dark wood. I put it on Oliver's card and they said it would be delivered in a few days. The next day, we painted the room a soft blue. We had decided the room was going to be sea themed, their own piece of Atlantis. I was painting the window frame taking little breaks in between to watch him. He worked so diligently, making sure everything stroke was perfect. He paused for a moment and turned to look at me with a smile. I approached him and cuddled into his side as best as I could. "It looks great," I said encouragingly.
"Thank you," he said kissing the top of my head. "I want it to look great for them."
I smiled. "They'll love it regardless because you did it," I said. "Can I ask you something?"
"Always."
"Do you really want to wait and found out the genders?" I ask as I turned to look up at him. "I saw how you looked at the clothes at the store and I thought about it…I don't want to wait."
"Good," he said somewhat relieved. "The wait is figuratively murdering me."
"I have my next appointment tomorrow," I said with a smile. "We'll find out then."
The next morning, the both of us were so anxious it bothered Cassie. "Is everything alright? What's wrong?"
I laughed. "Nothing is wrong. I just have an appointment today."
"Is it an ultrasound one?" she asked curiously.
"Yes."
"You're finding out the genders today aren't you?" she said vibrating with excitement.
I smiled. "Yes, we are. We are going to tell family tonight at dinner. So head to mom's place after training." I had already called ahead and told mom she was having dinner tonight catered since she and Oliver both had sifts at the watchtower.
"Will do!" she excitedly yelled as she went out the front door to make her way to school.
While we ate breakfast a thought occurred to me. "Kal, who do you want to be the godparents?"
"Godparents?"
"If something were to happen to us…if we died…the godparents are the ones who take care of them after we pass," I said. "But they mostly just spoil them and are ready baby sitters."
"Roy, would be someone to think about," he said after a couple of moments. "He is my best friend and your brother he'd do great. Though he isn't the greatest of places right now with his new daughter."
"I thought about him and Jackson, along with Artemis, Cassie, Wally, and M'gann. But I thought about ruling out my siblings."
"Why?" he asked seriously. "And what about Richard?"
"Because Cassie, Jackson, and Connor they'll have a connection to them regardless. They'll be their aunt and uncles. But our friends who have become family they'll just be honorary. I don't want them to think that just because we consider them family the babies aren't. And I'm thinking they'll actually know how much we care about them and how much they mean to us if we make them important figures in their lives too." I paused, "And I didn't say Richard because I'm still a little pissed at him….however, he is still one of your best friends and he is still a dear friend to me too so if you want him to be a part of it, I agree. But I'd also like to include Zatanna in the running also to make it even."
The wait in the waiting room was unbearable. I could not keep still for anything and it amused Kaldur the entire time. When they finally called my name I jumped out of my seat and practically ran to the check-up room and waited on the scale. The nurse laughed and began to take everything she needed. My weight, blood pressure, and a urine sample. Then she set me up in a room and told me to strip from the bottom down so the doctor could check my cervix. Dr. Sullivan came in with a smile. "It's good to see you again, Carter," she said. "You look a lot better, more rested." She turned to look at Kaldur and held out her hand. "You must be the father, Dr. Sheila Sullivan. It's nice to meet you—"
"Calvin, Calvin Durham," he answered smoothly. "It is nice to meet you as well."
They shook hands and she turned to her assistant who had come in with the tray of tools she would need. She washed her hands and donned her gloves before she began working ….down there.
She took off her gloves and threw them away. "Everything looks perfect. No signs of early labor, cervix is still the same. Hopefully, it is a sign that they are waiting. Knock on wood," she did the action in the wooden cabinet. "Well get dressed and a nurse will come get you in five minutes and take you to an ultrasound room." I got dressed quickly with Kaldur's aid and the nurse brought us to a darken room.
"Sit on the bed dear and unbutton your pants for me, Dear," she told me as she put on gloves. I did as she asked and she tucked paper into my pants to get stop the gel from getting on my pants. As she finished Dr. Sullivan came in and sat down getting the machine ready. I pulled my shirt up to show my stomach. She put the gel on and began moving the wand around. After a couple of moments the babies appeared. They looked more like humans with every ultrasound. Not they had faces, fingers, and toes, they had all their limbs and even had hair. I turned from the screen to look at Kaldur. This was his first ultrasound. The sight made me tear up. He stared at the screen with a complete look of love. Several tears had made their way down his cheeks. I reached my hand out and grabbed his cause him to look at me. "They are beautiful."
"They sure are," I agreed and turned back to the screen.
"They are coming right along, both are about the same size and weight," Dr. Sullivan said. "Though Baby A is a tad bit bigger." The picture showed Baby A playing with his hands.
"Dr. Sullivan, we changed our minds," I said without looking away from the screen with was filled with Baby A. "We want to know the genders."
"Very well then," She said with a smile evident in her tone. "Baby A if you can see right here is a healthy baby boy."
I let out a gasp. "A son," I said in amazement. "We have a son, Kal."
"He'll be strong and intelligent just like his mother," Kaldur said confidently as he leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
Dr. Sullivan took pictures to print of our son before moving to the left to look at Baby B. "Now we believe we know the gender of Baby B but I would love to show you and just to have a second opinion to be sure." She maneuvered around until finally she stopped and took pictures. "Perfect, she is being cooperative today. If you see this right her," she pointed to the screen. "This shows that Baby B is a healthy baby girl." She moved the wand around and showed us her face. She was sucking her hand while her other hand played with her hair. When she finished taking pictures she printed several of them out and handed them to me. As she cleaned up the gel and the tissue paper she looked at us and smiled. "I'll give the both of you a moment. Head to the front desk when you are ready. And we'll set up your next appointment for a next week." She closed the door behind her.
I pulled my shirt down and sat up. I turned and looked at Kaldur. "A boy and a girl."
"We have a son and daughter," he said with a huge smile. He cradled my face in this hands. "You are so beautiful."
"I am crying," I said with a smile. "How can I be beautiful with my eyes all puffy and red."
"You are always beautiful," he said before giving me a breath taking kiss.
The mood was amazing and nothing could break it. The bitchy cashier at the baby clothes store where we got several sets of onesies in shades of blue and pink. We figured we would present two to everyone that would be there tonight. My siblings Dinah, Oliver, both Roys. We were also making a trip to Atlantis to tell his parents, King Orin, his wife, and Garth as well as tell his Father. That trip would be tomorrow.
When we arrived at my mom's everyone was jumpy with excitement. We sat down and ate dinner and once everybody was basically done, Cassie got right down to it. "So the genders?"
Everyone laughed. "Cassie, calm down, it's coming. We have to wait until everyone is finished and Jackson has to call."
As is he had heard me, the laptop that was on the counter began to sound that someone was attempting to video chat. Cassie bounded up from the chair and immediately answered it. "Finally, we have been waiting on you," she said exasperated.
I rolled my eyes, "I hasn't been long, Jackson, don't let her fool you."
"I won't," he said, his voice coming from the speaker. She turned the computer to where if faced everyone. Kaldur had gotten up and got the bag. He brought it over and handed out the boxes.
"Okay on the count of three, everyone open the boxes," I said smiling. "Three."
Everyone hurriedly opened the boxes and I watched Dinah mostly. She opened her box and starred down into the box. I know what she was seeing two onesies, one blue, one pink, that had the words 'My Grandma is cooler than yours' along with a small picture frame that held a copy of their ultra sound pictures.
She looked up from her box and looked at me with tears welling in her eyes. "I am proud to call you my daughter, and I will be damn proud to call these kids my grandson and granddaughter."
I smiled widely. "Good, because you didn't have a choice."
"Yes!" I turned to Cassie to see her holding up the onesies. "Wally can suck it! I win!"
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah we'll you have to split the winnings Barry won too."
"Oh no, it is still going on," she said, "the pool only got smaller, now we are focusing on when you go into labor. So if you could go into labor in three weeks, you'd make me the happiest aunt ever!"
