Two hours and three centimetres later, Meredeth and Esposito had Ryan bringing Tessi in for a kiss good-bye. Even in her sleepy confusion, she heard the words 'babies coming soon' and was as excited as everyone else.

'See you soon, Mami,' she told them. 'See babies soon, too. Love you.'

'We all love you so much too, Tessi-boo.'

Ryan took the little girl out and a few minutes later Andrea and another orderly came to move Meredeth into the delivery room across the sky-walk.

'Hey Mere,' Esposito asked her as he sat down beside his wife, 'why do you call that little thing the sky-walk?'

'When I was a kid, my mother took me to this restaurant called Skyways Barbecue, but it had an elevated foot-bridge so you if you were on the southbound side of the highway, you could park in a lot and then walk on this bridge to get to the restaurant. Since it was Skyways Barbecue, I said we were taking the sky-walk to Skyways.'

'And now any elevated footbridge like that is a sky-walk?'

'Exactly. Oh, ouch. Owie, owie, fuck fuck fuck.'

'Okay, Javi's here, not to worry.' Esposito held her hand which she squeezed so tightly he had a mental cartoon image of his fingertips bursting like balloons. He modeled the breathing for her and shook his head with pride as she followed it. 'There's my girl, come on, just a little more...there. That's it.'

'How far apart now?'

'About...two and a half minutes, baby, not long,' he said after a glance at his watch. Five-twenty-two in the morning. She'd been in labour a lot less time than with Tessi, probably because there was so much less room inside with two babies. Surprisingly for himself, Esposito felt so much more calm about this birthing process than the first one, probably because Tessi had been the first one and she'd been so much longer in making her appearance. These little guys would be here inside of twelve hours, including the hour and a half of contractions Meredeth had been having before her water broke.

He drew her hand up to his lips. 'So, we are decided on those names?'

'Oh yeah. I've been calling them by their nicknames already when I'm alone. Keep telling that girl of ours to stop kicking her brother.'

'She'll be on ladies' night of UFC, or a Rockette.'

'And what about our boy?'

'Video game designer. He's absorbing how his sister is kicking him and getting ideas.'

Esposito laughed. 'You are minutes away from giving birth and still telling stories. I love you.'

'I love you too, Javi...oh...oh damn, damn, damn.' Meredeth puffed and sweated her way through another contraction. 'How long was that one?'

'About thirty seconds. You're almost there, my love.'

Harvey and Daniel entered the room then, both in their scrubs and passing a pair to Esposito. 'Time to check if the turkeys are ready to come out of the oven. Javier, you need to suit up this time around, as we are going into a delivery room from here.'

'Isn't this a delivery room?'

'It is, but we're going to an operation room so that if we do need to perform an emergency C-section to get the second baby out. A precaution only, like we talked about before,' Harvey reassured them both.

Meredeth looked at her husband, excitement flashing through her as another contraction hit. 'Javi, go get changed, baby, like now.'

He did so in record speed and was back holding his wife's hand before they'd left the room to move her across the hallway, where Esposito watched them move Meredeth onto the delivery bed. Daniel, in preparation for Esposito's position as Meredeth's support, removed the epidural catheter from her back and inserted a fresh one in her outer thigh so she would still have her medication during the pushing phase. while Andrea arranged the stirrups for Meredeth's feet to rest and placed the drop-sheets in the appropriate place in the eventuality that Meredeth's intestines evacuated themselves while she pushed. Other nurses and attendants got the scales and warming lamps ready for the babies to be weighed, measured and kept warm.

'Javier, you can get in behind Meredeth now,' Andrea instructed him, tying on her mask.

Esposito toed off his shoes once more and climbed in behind Meredeth, helping her sit up as she put her heels against the stirrups and taking her hands so they were palm-to-palm. 'Just like last, time, Meredeth,' he whispered to her, and was relieved when he heard her laugh, strained as it was.

'Well, not quite the same,' she replied, ending on a pained gasp. 'Javi, I think the epidural is wearing off.'

'It's not wearing off, Meredeth, the dose has been lowered to keep your blood pressure in check,' Daniel reassured her, looking at her monitors. 'We're good to go Harvey,' he told the doctor as he stepped in from the scrubbed room, and Andrea put fresh gloves on Harvey's hands.

Harvey nodded, moved over to take a seat at Meredeth's feet where he saw his patient was ready. 'Okay, Meredeth, time to bring your little boy into the world, you ready?'

'Yes.'

'Okay, you're going to push for thirty seconds on three, ready? One, two, three.'

Meredeth bore down and pushed as hard as she could, focusing her energy into her lower body and letting out a thin cry as she did. The drugs weren't as strong this time and she was feeling a hell of a lot more.

'Three, two, one, and rest, Meredeth, rest,' Harvey instructed her.

'You're doing great baby, just great,' Esposito encouraged her. 'Nice deep breath.'

'It hurts, Javi,' Meredeth whimpered. 'I...it hurts.'

'It's okay Mere, just breathe right now.'

Harvey flicked his glance up at Meredeth. 'Okay, another big push Mere, just like the one before, thirty seconds on three. One, two, three.'

Squeezing her eyes shut, Meredeth pushed again, and this time let out a full yell for the entire thirty seconds; her hands clenched her husband's tightly, her back rounded out against his chest. Esposito gave her the resistance she needed as her heels dug into the stirrups while he marveled at her strength.

'Good, that's good Meredeth, and rest again.' Harvey held out his hand for a sterile wipe to clear away birthing fluid that was escaping as Meredeth pushed. 'Another couple of pushes and the head will be out. Daniel, Andrea, please take Meredeth's legs.'

The nurses each took their positions, easing Meredeth's feet out of the stirrups to give her resistance as she pushed on the next contraction and Esposito let go one hand to push the hair off of her forehead while she rested.

'The baby's starting to crown, Meredeth,' Harvey told her in his steady, sure tone. 'You're going to feel this one in a big way, but you can do it, I need you to give me a hard push for thirty seconds again. One two three go.'

Meredeth did as she was told and held nothing back as the waves of pain swamped her. 'Is...is the head out yet?' she panted when the contraction ended.

'Almost, Meredeth,' Andrea told her. 'The next-'

She was cut off as Meredeth let out an almost inhuman yell. 'God! Javi!'

'Right here, my love, Javi's here.'

'Push again, Meredeth.'

Harvey's encouragement was unflagging, as was Esposito's through the next two pushes, as the head worked its way out. 'Suction,' the doctor demanded, and used the bulb syringe to clear the baby's nostrils and airways. 'Another push will get the shoulders out, Meredeth.'

'Come on, Mere, that's my superhero,' Esposito told her; his eyes bugged out when Meredeth dug her nails into the flesh of his thighs as she pushed again and he was certain the scrub-pants had holes in them now. 'No name-calling this time?'

'Shut your fucking mouth, you stupid son of a bitching bastard!' she shouted, as tears of strain coursed down her face.

'There she is, that's my dirty girl.'

Harvey chuckled as Meredeth swore her way through another contraction. 'One more and you've got a son, Meredeth.'

She bore down and pushed with all her might until she heard it - their baby boy's voice boldly stating he was here.

'He's here!' Esposito laughed, kissing Meredeth's temple fiercely. 'Our boy's here!'

'And he's a handsome man like his daddy,' Harvey said with a smile, clamping the cord for Esposito to cut; the snip was done and Andrea passed him to his mother in a soft blue blanket.

'Hey, Mister Mouth, what's going on, little dude?' she laughed through her tears, rocking him gently as he wriggled like a little fish. 'Oh I know, you've got to give us a piece of your mind about sharing that space with someone else, huh?'

'Hey, mijo, it's your daddy,' Esposito added, felt his eyes spill over when he saw his son calm and search for the source of those familiar voices. 'You know us, don't you? It's Mami and Daddy, yeah you definitely know us.'

'Guys,' Daniel interjected in his surprisingly soft tone, 'I know you want to cuddle him, but Meredeth's monitors are saying we don't have much time before the next baby arrives, so we need to get him looked after so you can bring his little sister into the world.'

'Okay. Javi-'

Esposito shook his head. 'I'm staying right here with you, Meredeth.'

They both watched as Andrea took the boy twin over to the scales and heat lamps to keep him warm while they waited for the girl twin to come along. The lull in activity made Meredeth feel like she might faint or float away, she wasn't sure which.

'Meredeth you did just great for the first one,' Harvey told her, still on his chair by her feet. 'The girl baby will be a lot easier to handle, because her big brother's paved the way, as it were. Just rest for a moment, she's on her way, you'll be pushing in about five to eight minutes.'

'Javi,' she sighed, 'go check on our boy.'

'You sure?'

'Yeah.'

Esposito gave her another kiss on the temple, then climbed out to let Meredeth fall back and rest for a few minutes. In his sock feet, he went over to see his little boy, so tiny but so full of life, and swiped a hand under his eyes. 'My boy,' he murmured.

'Do you have a name picked out?' Andrea asked and Esposito nodded, told it to her so she could note it down on the birth record.

'Okay, little mister Esposito, born at five forty-six am on October seventeen, we are going to get all your info down, but right now I think Daddy's needed back over with Mami,' Andrea judged from the movement by Meredeth's bed.

Esposito hovered his hand over his son's chest, and when he grabbed the tip of his father's finger, Esposito gave the tiny knuckles the lightest of butterfly kisses. 'I'll be back in a few minutes, I gotta go make sure that your little sister gets here safely.'

He walked back over, where sure enough, Meredeth was being encouraged into the comfortable birthing position again; Esposito slipped in behind her, kissed the back of her neck. 'You've already got the big boy out, this will be cake, my love.'

'Okay Meredeth, time to push again,' Harvey told her, and wasn't surprised that with two thirty-second pushes, the baby was already crowning. 'There we go, there we go.'

'I can't, I can't, I'm sorry, Javi, I can't,' Meredeth sobbed as she felt the baby crowning yet again, and began to weep.

'Yes you can, Mere, you already did the hard part, come on, baby.' Esposito had no idea where the words of encouragement were coming from, as he didn't even know how they were both still awake.

'Meredeth, the head is already out, another one should get the shoulders out too,' Harvey told her. 'Another big thirty-second push, on three. One, two, three.'

Somewhere, deep inside, she found the strength and with a might kick at Daniel Meredeth pushed again, then suddenly felt the pressure lift and the cry of a second baby filled the delivery room.

R&R&Enjoy.