Mmmmm so much Hetalia I might die~ lol

I bought new paints ^_^ And I saw Brave :D such a good movie~

Oh, on a side note, if you like GerIta, please do me a favor and go read 'Lost and Found'. it's a cute and drama filled story that branches off of a PruCan story and will also have a SpaMano story coming soon~ I beta this work and both me and the author feel sad that there's not so much love for this one since the first (prucan) one did SO well! You guys would make my heart-a yay! anyway ... enough advertising XD on with Kismet~!

Kismet

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Answer Me

About two weeks passed and Lovino wouldn't allow both Antonio and Daan in the same room as him, because it was too stressful to keep them from fighting.

It was just passed noon and he was finishing his lunch. His stomach was bothering him, flaring up in pain and going away again. He shrugged it off and wrote in his journal.

February 28

It's getting closer. About three more weeks until Ray and Lukas say I'm due to have them. I'm still worried about becoming a parent and that perhaps it would be better to just stay pregnant instead, but mama keeps telling me it'll be okay.

The only problem I have with staying pregnant is the back pain, the feet in my ribs and the urination. I actually wet the bed for the first time in god knows how long, last night. Femke was forced to clean up my sheets for me and I honestly could not have been more humiliated to have anyone see me like that. She then had to clean me up and help me change clothes so I wouldn't be soaked anymore. I wanted to curl up in a ball and die. This is getting ridiculous.

She told me it was okay and she didn't think it was anything to be ashamed of, but I think I scarred my best friend for life.

Mama says she's going to be helping me get the hang of things, and has actually been giving me tips all week.

I learned from Tino how to hold the babies. He told me their necks are too small and weak to hold their own heads up, so it's up to me to make sure they don't get hurt. It's scary! What if I mess up? He showed me how to hold them using his son, since his children can already support their heads. Tino said I was a natural.

Both of them have been helpful, but it's starting to get on my nerves now.

Ariana has become twice as protective of me and attacked Antonio again this morning. I was lying awake again and he rolled over, bumping into my arm. She immediately began attacking him. I laughed, but he has a pretty nasty cut on his arm. She's sleeping now. I know I can count on her to protect my babies.

Ugh, the pain is back. I'm really hating these false alarms. Lukas said those are just preparing my body to give birth, but they aren't necessary because the babies are going to have to be cut out.

That scared me more than anything, but Tino showed me his scar, which isn't really visible anyway, and told me it'll be fine. I asked why he had a scar and he told me it was because the healing potion could only heal so much while the green potion is in effect. The green potion will be reverting my body to its original form, dissolving the new parts, but because it's doing that, the healing potion will only seal he wound together and heal it up a little.

The scar will barely be visible and more like a silvery line across my underbelly. I'm also told some of these weird purple lines on my belly will stay, too, but will fade out. I both hate that and am glad. I like knowing that I'll have some sort of mark letting me always remember these past several months. Proof that I did carry my children in my own belly.

Lovino tossed the journal to the bedside table and pushed himself out of bed. His feet hit the floor and he groaned, hating this frequent urinating thing more than ever since it was near impossible to move around anywhere. After hobbling around the room for a moment, he was forced to sit down at his desk.

Ariana watched him carefully, her muscles tensed, ready to go find help if he needed it. He smiled at her and felt sweat running down his back. The pain was still bothering him. He sighed, feeling a sudden urge to visit Antonio.

He carefully pushed himself out of the chair and walked barefoot, in only a long shirt and short pants, down the hall, his guard following behind.

"Your majesty, I know it's not my place to speak, but it is my place to keep you safe." the man spoke, "Should you really be walking around the castle? Especially like this?" he pointed to Lovino's bare feet and large belly.

Lovino rolled his eyes, "I'll be fine … I'm not some lady who can't care for herself. I'm a man who is perfectly capable of walking down a hallway."

"But not able to put on shoes?"

The queen shot him a dirty look, "Shut up! They don't fit my feet anymore anyways …"

The guard fell silent, but at least offered himself as support for Lovino to lean on as he walked. Ariana perched on his shoulder and made sure the guard kept his distance while helping the queen.

In the throne room, Antonio was busy dealing with an Illonian man, whom was trying to buy land that wasn't for sale. Antonio made the decision to over rule the request and that if the land wasn't for sale he couldn't force the owner to give any up.

They left and Antonio leaned back in his throne. Lovino waddled further into the room, slowly, making just enough noise to get his king's attention.

"Lovi~! What are you doing in here?" the man jumped from his seat to his queen's side. Lovino let go of the guard and clutched onto Antonio's arm, tears welling up in his eyes.

"I missed you, bastard!" he cried out, burying his face into Antonio's sleeve and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Antonio was thoroughly confused and tried to comfort him, but the queen just hit him really hard in the arm.

"Ouch, Lovi~ that hurt …" he whimpered, wondering what was wrong with his husband. Seeing the tears running down his love's face made his heart skip a beat painfully.

"I don't care, bastard! How could you leave me alone in that room all day? I'll kick your ass!" he hit him again, but lost balance and Antonio caught him by the arm and pulled him steady, "Watch out, love … what do you mean I left you all day? You know I have my duties to uphold … if you wanted me to stay, then you should have just said something~! Do you want me to stay the rest of the day with you?" he caressed his Lovino's cheek.

Lovino glared, the tears dried up, "Fuck you! I just wanted to tell you you're a bastard."

Antonio laughed lightly and kissed Lovino softly. The queen couldn't help but remark about how Antonio's kisses were heavenly and wrapped his arms around the king's neck, deepening the kiss.

Antonio, however, was beyond confused. His Lovi came in crying, got angry and was now kissing him passionately. He wondered to himself if Lovi was just under emotional stress or if these were just very frightening mood swings.

"Lovi, my sweet, you should be getting back to the room … you're putting too much stress on your body."

Lovi had tears in his eyes again that moment, "Don't you love me anymore? You really want me gone?"

Shaking his head, Antonio kissed his tears away, "I still love you more than anything, which is why I'm worried about you disobeying Ray and Lukas's orders about getting out of bed. You need to be resting."

Lovino nodded and kissed Antonio, "Fine, bastard. I'll go." the king smiled and kissed Lovino and the babies goodbye. The halls were quiet, with the occasional maid running by to get somewhere. The sun was bright and the clouds were perfect.

Peace filled Lovino and he smiled, until another rip of pain shot through him. He gasped and Ariana made a noise of worry. Lovino shook off the pain and used his guard as support the rest of the way to his room.

Tessa came in a short time later to make sure he was able to get up to relieve himself okay, which only furthered his embarrassment from earlier because Femke must have told Tessa.

She left him with a new book to read, but he couldn't focus for very long. The pain seemed to be getting worse and he was having trouble sitting still, hoping the pain would stop like it had before. When the wave would finish it felt like it would start up immediately after.

He finally managed a small nap in between, but was awoken by Antonio coming in earlier than usual.

"Lovi~? You awake?"

Lovino looked up at him and smiled, "Hey."

"How is my lovely Lovi doing?"

"I'm okay … just … dealing with another false alarm." Antonio frowned, "I see, anything I can do to help?" he began massaging Lovino's stomach. The babies wiggled and he smiled.

The queen shook his head, "Not really …" he groaned as another wave of pain rushed through his abdomen. Sweat broke out on his forehead and he clenched his fists.

Antonio grabbed one of his fists, "Lovi~?"

"I'm okay, bastard … just another bit of pain … I'm hoping they'll go away so-" he was cut off by another. They were so close together now, he couldn't even finish a sentence. The pain subsided and he felt tears running down his face.

"I don't think you're okay … you're pale and look! You're trembling! I'm calling Lukas and Ray up …"

"I'm fine, bas-AH!" he cried out in pain and clutched the side of his stomach. The pain had never been this powerful before. He began sobbing as soon as the pain faded. Antonio watched as Ariana took off through the door he'd barely opened and he trusted she would find one of the two.

He walked back to Lovino's side just in time for him to suffer another painful attack. His heart beat faster, wishing he could help ease Lovino's pain.

Antonio grabbed Lovino's hand, but almost instantly regretted his decision. Lovino was going through more pain and was transferring it to Antonio through his hand. He yelped, but didn't let go, hoping it was helping Lovino some to be able to squeeze his hand or something. The king just hoped his hand wouldn't end up broken.

The door burst open and Lukas walked up, followed by Tino. The elven man looked at Lovino, "You should have said something sooner to someone." he pressed his fingers lightly into Lovino's stomach when Lovino began going through more pain.

"Wh-what do you m-mean?" Lovino huffed in agony.

"Is it …?" Tino looked at Lukas.

Lukas nodded, "Yes, Lovino is in labor … from the looks of it, he's been in labor all day and either didn't realize it or did one hell of a job ignoring it."

Lovino felt his blood run cold, "I can't … but … three more weeks … they can't come early!"

Lukas frowned, "That's for full term single pregnancies. Yours are twins … they are a week early going by those standards, but that's it." he said, making sure Tino gathered the things they were going to need. He also got Ray and Tessa in the room.

The queen felt more tears running down his face from the pain and shock. Tessa moved beside Antonio and smiled lightly, "It's time now, Lovino …" Ray prepped his supplies for Lukas and Tino got the after potions ready.

Tessa grabbed Antonio's arm, "I'm afraid you can't stay in here."

His look grew dark, "But … they're my children … my Lovi is in pain … I need to be by his side!"

The woman's face also grew dark, "You can't stay in here. 1) you'll be in Lukas' way and 2) I'm afraid you might go a little crazy seeing Lovino's blood. Just stay out here and we'll let you back in as soon as we can. Then you can spend all night with Lovino and your children."

Antonio stared at her, his look not fading, but she shut the door in his face and made sure it was locked. She really was afraid he was going to hurt someone once they started cutting into Lovino.

Lovino felt his head swimming with shock, surprise, excitement and pain. He didn't know what to think that he'd potentially endangered his and the babies' lives by not going to Ray this one time, all because he thought it was a false alarm.

Tessa came back to his side and he realized Antonio was no longer there, "Where … where is he?" his heart rate sped up and he felt someone removing his pants and underwear and replacing them with a thin sheet. His shirt was pulled up and away from his entire midsection. Tino grabbed thick blankets and began tucking them under Lovino's sides.

"We're about to cut you open and we feared Antonio's reaction … he'll be right back inside as soon as your closed back up, okay?" Tessa rubbed his arm lovingly.

He calmed down from his panicking and closed his eyes, trying to focus his breathing to make sure he stayed calm.

Lukas grabbed one of the jars on the table they had set up and rubbed the salve over Lovino's stomach.

"Wh-what that for?" Lovino asked, feeling the icy sting it left behind. He hissed as more pain filled his body from the contractions.

"Just a numbing solution to keep you from feeling the blade."

Lovino's heart sped back up. It was time. Any moment now, they were going to pull the babies from him and he would be able to hold them and see them for the first time. Tears continued flowing and he bit his lip nervously and fearfully.

"Making the first cut now …" Lukas said softly, taking the blade and pressing it into Lovino's abdomen. Lovino hissed, only being able to feel a light sting. He figured it was better than the full force of what he could have been feeling.

Time seemed to slow down for him and Tessa smiled down at him, "You're doing great, Lovino … just hang in there. They're almost there."

He nodded and closed his eyes again.

Lovino felt a tugging that was almost like they were pulling his heart out instead and Tino made a strangled noise.

"Hurry up!" someone shouted. It sounded like Lukas, but he wasn't sure.

Lovino felt his heart fall and his heart race. What was going on? Why was everyone sounding so urgent. He felt another tug and instantly a baby's cry filled the room. It made him happy, but if the tugging was what he thought it was … why didn't he hear two babies?

He began sobbing, "Where's the other baby? Why isn't the other one crying, too?" Tessa squeezed his hand, but didn't answer him.

"Answer me, god damn it!" he yelled, wishing he could jump up, "What happened to my other baby? Tell me! Tell me, god damn it!" Lovino couldn't stop the torrent of tears falling down his face. He was fearing the worst for his child. Tessa squeezed his hand again and grabbed a green potion and a healing potion from somewhere he couldn't see.

"Drink these." he did as he was told and continued crying, wondering what was going on.

TBC

~Lady Pyrien