Again, please bear in mind that although I had 4 babies they were all scheduled C-Sections (I wouldn't do it any differently even if I could) & I have no experience with labor pains or natural births. This and the next chapter is from my Google research. If you consider anything wrong by your own experiences, please forgive me. Thank you, as always, for reading my story.

Worst Case Scenario

"I told you they would send us home. But did you listen? Noooooo. Mr. Big Britches always has to be right." Olivia made her way into the house and yawned loudly. Fitz locked the door behind them and set her hospital bag down.

The emergency room had kept them waiting for a couple of hours before they had brought Olivia back to get checked. A fetal monitor was hooked up to her belly while they kept an eye on the twins and her pains. Once she was checked over, it was announced by the very young looking doctor on duty that she hadn't dilated at all and that the pains she was experiencing were indeed Braxton Hicks. Fitz told the baby doctor that he wanted a second opinion on the matter but was informed that he was the only one on duty at the moment.

"Yea. Well. Doogie Howser was an asshole. He acted like a know it all and that pissed me off."

"Maybe because you demanded a second opinion at the emergency room? Who does that?"

"I do when it comes to my wife!"

"The poor guy was running ragged, taking care of God knows how many people, answering phone calls, and updating families. You're just mad that he called you out on your bullshit."

"I'm going to murder both of you if Lincoln gets woken up by this stupid conversation!" Abby hissed. Fitz and Olivia looked into the living room and saw her holding a sleeping Lincoln in her arms. "Shut the hell up!" She loudly whispered.

Fitz went to the redhead and took his son out of her arms. He wiggled in his sleep as Fitz moved him. Lincoln's arms came around his dad's neck and his head fell on his shoulder. Fitz patted his back and took him upstairs to put him to bed.

"Why didn't you just put him in his crib when he fell asleep?" Olivia asked.

"What do you care?" The redhead asked, making a face. "What did they say?"

"Braxton Hicks, just like I thought. One day that stubborn man will listen to me. How was Lincoln?"

"I wouldn't count on him listening to you any time soon. He's a man." The two women grinned in the dimly lit room. "Lincoln was great. That boy can eat!"

Olivia chuckled. "I know! We were just talking about how expensive it's going to be when he's older."

"After he finished eating his dinner I gave him a bath and let him play in there for as long as he wanted."

"He does love a bath." Olivia smiled.

"And after I got him out and put his pajamas on, he smelled so good. I couldn't stop cuddling him. So, we read some books and he crashed in my arms right here. I couldn't put him down. I sat here and held him and smelled his hair. He probably doesn't have any of that really good after bath smell left on him." Abby said grinning.

"It would have happened sooner or later. Now that he's walking, he's into everything. I caught him throwing his toys in the toilet yesterday. He looked so much like Fitz when I caught him. I almost started laughing. But, you know, he would have done it again, thinking it was a game. He makes it hard to keep a straight face sometimes."

"He's gonna be just like his dad, isn't he?" Abby asked. She already knew the answer to the question, but still found it comical. "And just think, there will be another one just like them coming soon. You're gonna have your hands full, Liv."

"My only hope is to sway this little girl to love me more than her daddy."

"Good luck with that plan." Abby chuckled. She stood up and asked, "Are you sure you're okay? I can stay if you want? You know. Just in case."

"Go! Even you are on his side." Olivia started walking her best friend to the door.

Fitz clomped down the stairs and met the two of them at the door.

"What can I say? I've been team Fitz since day one."

He grinned at both of them, while Olivia rolled her eyes. "Can you just pretend to be on my side?"

"Don't you need to go lay down?" Fitz asked his wife with raised eyebrows.

"I hate you." She replied sassily. Hugging Abby, Olivia told her, "I'll call you tomorrow. And thank you for coming over to stay with Lincoln." Fitz grabbed his coat and keys and told Olivia he'd be back as soon as he took Abby home. She put up a fuss saying she could walk across the street, but Fitz wouldn't hear of it, saying she was pregnant and it was freezing outside – and that he didn't want to walk in the cold.

Once Fitz was back home, the two of them climbed into bed and immediately drifted off to sleep. Olivia was woken up a few times during the night, experiencing more of the Braxton Hicks. She didn't wake Fitz up over it because she knew he'd over react and try to drag her right back to the ER. She had no intention of getting out of her warm bed to go to the hospital in January. It wasn't happening! Besides, in Olivia's mind, Braxton Hicks were just another fun part of the joys of pregnancy.

Her little family sat around the table eating breakfast the next morning. Lincoln chatted away happily between bites of his scrambled eggs. Olivia was answering work related emails. And Fitz kept one eye on his wife as he ate in silence. It was all very normal.

And then it wasn't.

Olivia felt another one of the damned pains. She never said a word but started rubbing her tightened belly with both hands as she read the email on her iPad and looked at Fitz from under her lashes. Dammit, he was watching her. She smiled and started humming something, in hopes that it appeared that she was having a bonding moment with the babies. Naturally, he wasn't buying it.

"More Braxton Hicks?" He asked mildly.

He wasn't fooling her with his nonchalant words. Olivia knew that man better than that. He was watching her like a hawk. She stopped humming. "Hmmm?" Olivia asked absentmindedly.

"Don't play dumb, Liv. Your knuckles are white, so I know you're in pain over there. How bad is it? And don't lie to me."

She glanced up at him. "Fine! I'm having another one. It's no big deal. False labor is annoying, but it's nothing I can't..." She sucked in a breath and held onto the edge of the table.

Fitz squatted down in front of me. "It's okay. You're fine. Breathe, babe." He ran his hands up and down the top of her thighs. "Liv! Look at me!"

When she stopped freaking out about the pain, Olivia looked up at him. He was calmly breathing in and out and after a minute, she copied him. "There ya go. Just breathe. Is it easing off some now?"

Olivia nodded and dropped her head onto his shoulder. His arms came around her instantly. He held her close and she clung to him. "You still think those are Braxton Hicks?"

"I don't know. They were much stronger than the ones I had yesterday. They were more like the ones I had in the middle of the night." Shit. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Lincoln began to cry.

Olivia stood up to get him, but Fitz pinned her with a look and pointed at the chair. He went to get Lincoln and before she could sit down a puddle began to slowly form at her feet. Olivia froze. "No, no, no, no." She chanted.

Fitz turned around with Lincoln in his arms and was about to lecture her about getting off her feet, when he noticed the panicked look on her face and then the wet floor. His eyes bulged, and he froze in place. He shook his head a few times and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I think it's safe to say that those aren't Braxton Hicks anymore."

"I think you're right."

"Do you want to admit to me now that Doogie Howser is an asshole? Or later?" He ran to the counter to retrieve his phone and started touching the screen furiously with Lincoln on his hip.

"Doogie Howser is a complete asshole!" She had both hands on her belly and squealed, "Ohmygod I forgot how much it hurts!"

"Uhhhh, mom!"

"Hello, dear. How are you?" Emma asked.

"I'm fine."

"How is my favorite boy?"

"Lincoln is fine too." Fitz said impatiently.

"And how about Olivia?"

"Mom!" He yelled.

"Do not shout at me, Fitzgerald Grant!" She threatened.

"Yes ma'am. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Olivia giggled and Fitz shot her daggers.

"What's so important that you feel the need to be rude to your own mother?"

Fitz took a deep breath. " Olivia's water just broke."

"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" She demanded.

"Nan" Lincoln said, as he tried to reach for the phone.

He held his phone out and rolled his eyes at it. "I tried to tell you. Can you and dad come over here and watch Lincoln, so I can take her to the hospital please?"

"Of course we can. It's gonna take us at least thirty minutes to get there though. You can't wait around, Fitzgerald."

Fitz contemplated ending the call, but he knew she would hunt him down and murder him. Even if he was in the hospital with his pregnant wife. "I'm going to call Abby to come over until you get here. She was here with Lincoln last night while I took Liv to the emergency room with Braxton Hicks." He spat the last two words out bitterly.

"There's no such thing as Braxton Hicks. Everyone knows that is just early labor. I'll bet the doctor looked twelve years old?"

"Mom? I absolutely adore you for that."

"As well you should. Now hang up the phone so we can get moving."

"Be careful getting over here."

"Are you telling me what to do?"

He huffed loudly. "I wouldn't dream of it." He ended the call and then placed another one. "Stephen? It's Fitz. Look, is there any way that one or both of you could come over and watch Lincoln just until my parents get here? Liv's water just broke."

"Holy shit, mate! That's...a bit early isn't it?" He asked in a concerned voice. "Sorry. We'll be right over."

Fitz threw his phone on the counter and went back to Olivia. Lincoln leaned towards his mother, wanting to be held by her, but Fitz held him firmly. "Sorry, buddy. You can't sit with mommy right now."

Lincoln began to whine, reaching his arms pitifully towards his mother.

"Give him something to eat."

"Liv, he just ate!"

"I know my son. He's a disposal. Give him a piece of toast and he'll be fine."

Fitz handed his son the toast. "He's just gonna throw it across the..." He watched Lincoln proceed to shove a corner of the toast into his mouth happily. "He just ate!"

Olivia giggled. "I know my boy. I'm going to go upstairs and get changed."

"You're not going upstairs by yourself."

Olivia crinkled her nose at him. "Do you think these babies are just going to fall out of my vagina because I'm walking up the stairs?"

"No, smartass. I was thinking what if you get another" air quotes "Braxton Hicks and you fall."

"Good point. You and the boy can follow me. If I fall, I land on you, NOT him. Got it?" She threatened.

He snapped his fingers twice. "Let's go."

"When we come back downstairs, I'm going to mop the kitchen floor."

"Have you lost your damned mind? You're not mopping the floor. You're in labor!"

She turned to look at him from two steps above him and pointed a finger in his face. "I am not bringing home babies to a dirty house. And I am definitely NOT having your mother come over here and seeing it. I feel fine and I am mopping the floor. Deal with it!" She turned around to continue up the steps

Lincoln looked at his dad. Fitz looked at his son. Neither one of them spoke a word, and both of them were a little scared.

Twenty minutes later, after Abby's insistence that she would mop the damn floor and to go already, and Olivia's defiant NO, Olivia and Fitz left the house. Luckily, the hospital bag that Fitz had left by the front door earlier that morning hadn't been moved, and it was grabbed on their way out. They passed his parents on the road and got a chipper thumbs up from Emma, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

Olivia called her parents, now that they were on their way to the hospital. "Daddy?" Fitz said nothing but found it humorous that his wife was still a daddy's girl and yet couldn't understand why he was over the moon about having a daughter. "Fitz and I are on the way to the hospital. My water broke about a half hour ago. We should be there in about twenty minutes or so, depending on traffic." She listened for a minute and then said, "Of course I want you both there. I just feel terrible that Thomas and Emma are staying behind with Lincoln and can't come." She listened a little more and said, "I'll let you know my room number when I get one. I love you too, daddy."

"Your parents are going to come to the hospital?" Fitz asked with his eyes on the road. His right hand was suddenly in immense pain and he glanced over at his wife. Her face was the picture of pain. "Another one? Already?" When she nodded silently, with her eyes closed tightly, he stepped on the gas a little more.

The two of them walked into the hospital and were met by the same nurse they had seen there the night before. She smiled up at them and then quickly dropped it. "Did you come back to offer more unnecessary background history?"

Fitz narrowed his eyes at her. "Not today. That child doctor that we saw last night said that she was having Braxton Hicks. But, oddly enough, her water broke less than an hour ago." He leaned his elbow on the counter and propped his smiling face onto it. "Is that usually how Braxton Hicks work?"

The nurse looked at Fitz wearily. This guy had been a pain in the ass the night before, and it seemed that wasn't going to change today either. It had been a busy night in the emergency room, but she remembered him because of his nervous chatter when they had arrived. She smiled right back at him and said, "Not usually. But every pregnancy is different. And since your wife is expecting..."

"I really wouldn't finish that statement," He peered at her name tag. "Rebecca." He pointed at Olivia, who was shaking her head back and forth at the absurdity of the conversation she was hearing. "This one, really hates to be reminded of her medical condition."

They were wasting time. Olivia slammed her hand down on the counter, causing both the nurse and Fitz to jump. "Look! My water broke recently. I think that is the important thing here." She gestured wildly with her hands. "Not whatever the hell this is! I need a wheelchair, a room, and an obstetrician who has delivered more babies than his age, and I need it NOW!"

Fitz smiled politely at Rebecca. "Did I mention that she's a lawyer? A very good one too." He winked at her smugly.

"Fitz! That's not helping!" She gripped the edge of the counter, dropped her head to her chest, and began to make whining sounds.

He snapped his head to his wife's direction and began rubbing her back. "Again?"

But the nurse was faster. She brought a wheelchair behind Olivia and helped ease her into it. Rebecca folded down the foot rests and put Olivia's feet onto them and proceeded to tell another nurse that she would be back soon. The three of them were headed down a hall and Fitz was holding his wife's hand. When they reached the end of it, the nurse turned the wheelchair abruptly to the right, and ran over Fitz's feet. While he was biting his tongue in half to keep from swearing and hopping on one foot in obvious pain, Rebecca grinned to herself and kept going.

Olivia was put in a room where she was put into a hospital gown, hooked up to all kinds of wires and bands, while nurses asked rapid fire questions. Fitz sat in a chair by her side and quietly experienced déjà vu from a little over a year ago when Lincoln was born. The more he watched Olivia experience the ever growing labor pains, the more he felt happy with their decision to not have more babies. Three babies were more than he had hoped to have with her. He smiled to himself as he thought back to their first conversation about how many kids they wanted to have together. It was the day they moved in together.

***FLASHBACK***

"Will you still be walking around the house naked and throwing sexual innuendos at me in ten years?" Olivia had asked him.

"That depends." He had said.

"On what exactly? Olivia had asked him.

"On how many kids are running around. No one wants to see their dad naked. It would be creepy." And then he asked her the burning question he had wanted to know the answer to for quite some time. "Do you want kids, Liv?"

"Eventually. Right now, I am content with the way things are. With us. With my career. How many kids do you want to have?" She had asked him.

He had joked and said six, which had caused Olivia to freak out and then relax. Then Fitz had told her exactly what his feelings were. "I wouldn't mind two or three, but definitely more than one." He had gone on to tease her saying that only children were spoiled and always wanted their own way. It was a good memory. One that caused Fitz to smile whenever it popped up into his mind.

***END FLASHBACK***

Here was his wife, and wasn't that amazing in itself - that he had been able to talk this amazing woman into being his wife in the first place? And she was about to give birth to babies number two and three in a matter of hours. Life was about to get a whole lot busier, but Fitz couldn't see himself doing any of it with anyone else. She had his whole heart from the beginning, and he was so thankful.

He was brought back to the present by Olivia's regular obstetrician's words. "You are in labor now. You've dilated to a six and are progressing very quickly. Apparently, these babies aren't interested in being on the inside any longer." He turned around to throw away the glove he had just taken off.

Fitz smiled at the similarities his children already had. "Just like Link. He was in a hurry to get here too."

"But it's too early. I've been reading a lot about births of twins. And even though they are usually born early, this is earlier than that. Are they going to be okay once they get here?" Olivia was feeling panic rise up inside of her, and while she hated the words she was saying, at the same time, she needed answers.

"You are one day short of being thirty-five weeks pregnant with these twins. I know that you are worried about what the baby books say, but...babies don't know how to read." He smiled at her. "Don't worry, Olivia. Everything that should be monitored, is being watched very carefully. From their heart rates, to your blood pressure and temperature. You are in labor, which is better than having your water break and not being in labor."

"How is this better?" Olivia asked.

"Because things happening this way means your babies will be here soon. If your water had broke but you didn't go into labor, you would be prone to infection. And the babies would too. You'd spend more time in the hospital being watched, taking antibiotics, and waiting until labor decided to start. Or we started it for you. This way is natural, without interference. Besides, the babies are at a good size, judging from your last OB visit and your ultrasound."

"What's the worst case scenario?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Liv." Fitz really didn't want her to worry about any of that right now. Whatever the case was when the twins were born, they would handle it together.

Olivia looked at her husband. "I really want to know. As a lawyer, I need to know all possible outcomes of a case before I go into the courtroom. This is much more important than that. So, I want to know. Before it surprises me."

"Babies born at thirty-six weeks, especially twins, happens more often than you might think. I delivered a set of twins last week who were only thirty-four weeks. They had very little complications and went home with their parents just weeks later."

"But?" Olivia asked wearily.

"But, all babies are different. Your babies might need to stay in the NICU for a few days or a few weeks, depending on several things." He patiently explained.

"What things?" Fitz asked. Somehow, he had gotten sucked into the bubble of fear and he didn't like it. Didn't like the idea of leaving the hospital with his wife and leaving the babies behind.

"Well, they could have jaundice, or they might not be able to eat on their own, or their temperature doesn't stay where it needs to be, and they have to be kept under a warmer. Those are the most common issues early babies endure. And you need to be mindful of those things, and prepared for them, in case they happen. But..."

"But all babies are different." Olivia finished.

"Exactly. Besides, it's not good for you to worry right now. You've got work to do, and you need to rest up for it as best you can. I'll be back to check on you shortly."

"I want the epidural this time." Olivia stated.

"Excuse me?" the OB doc asked.

"I missed the window of opportunity to have one with my son and I'm not about to go through double all of that without an epidural."

"I'll order you one now."

After he left the room, Fitz held Olivia's hand and asked if she needed anything. She scooted closer to one side of the bed and said, "Come lay beside me." Fitz looked at the size of the bed and the small available space, seeing an impossible situation. But he got on his side and tried to accommodate her.

He was rubbing her belly with the hindrance of the monitor in the way when Olivia asked, "Do you remember when Ella was born?"

"Of course I do. That was a crazy night. I had to wake you up from your sleep coma at Cy's insistence." Fitz chuckled.

Olivia laughed too. "That was the first time we talked about having our own babies one day."

Fitz propped his head on his palm and said, "That's so weird that you were thinking about that. You're wrong, but it's weird."

"I'm not wrong." She declared in a defensive voice. "But why is that weird?"

"You are most definitely wrong. Because that was not the first time we discussed having our own babies. It's weird, because I was thinking the exact same thing earlier."

"Okay smartass. When was the first time we talked about having babies?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

"The first time was the day we moved in together and I told you that I wanted six kids and you freaked out." He saw her searching her mind for the memory and the smile that came to her lips when she found it. "Remember now?"

"You were really thinking about that earlier?" She looked on the verge of tears.

Fitz leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "As someone very wise once told me, in a different place altogether, this is a cry free zone. Don't start breaking the rules now."

"I'm so glad you're here." Olivia said as she rubbed his stubbled cheek. "I would be a mess without you."

"You're kind of in a mess of my doing already." He played with a strand of her hair. "No matter what happens once the twins get here, we'll get through it together, and we'll deal with it together."

Olivia shrugged lightly at his words and then smiled at him before closing her eyes. "That's right. Because we're Grants. And Grants are pretty damned great."

"Bet your ass, babe. Now get some rest."