The next morning arrived far too early for both Artie and Quinn, but they couldn't help but be excited.
Artie hadn't slept too much, the result of an incredibly sore neck, which meant that Quinn hadn't slept much either. He'd insisted that she should just sleep and he would leave the room, but she wouldn't have that. They'd ended up watching tv off and on, Quinn gently rubbing Artie's neck and back, trying to make him feel better.
Eventually, Avery came bouncing into the room, and Quinn groaned slightly, noticing that it was just after 5am. Artie had decided that he was going to get up, and had told her to sleep for a little while longer, but apparently that wasn't to be.
"Can we make pancakes?" Avery asked, climbing up onto the bed and lying down between them, still wary of accidentally hurting Artie. "Uncle Michael is awake and I said we should make them to surprise you but he doesn't know how."
"Yeah…Uncle Michael making pancakes probably isn't the best idea," Artie said, laughing slightly. "I'll make some."
"Daddy…I want Mommy to," Avery protested, looking at him. "Hers are better. I mean…your neck might hurt!" she added, quickly correcting herself, which caused Quinn to burst out laughing.
"Mommy needs to sleep," Artie said, shifting a little, trying to figure out if he could get out of bed by himself without hurting something. "Why don't you and I go see if we can make them? I bet Uncle Michael will help."
"I'll go get him so he can help you!" Avery announced, flying over Artie and off the bed before either he or Quinn could react, and running out of the room.
"Looks like I'm going to make pancakes," Artie said, grinning at Quinn. "Sleep for a while. We'll come bring you pancakes when they're ready."
After Avery had dragged Michael to help Artie, who wasn't entirely convinced that he even needed help, the three of them headed to the kitchen to make pancakes.
It was a group effort, but before long, there was a pan full of pancakes on the stove being supervised by Michael, since Artie was having difficulty raising his arms high enough to check to see when they were done. Once the batter was made, Avery tiptoed out of the kitchen, announcing that she wanted to go lie down with Quinn for a little while before breakfast, leaving the two brothers alone.
"Don't burn the pancakes…I always burn them, and then Avery eats them anyway even though they taste like tires," Artie said, shifting in his chair, trying to get comfortable. He couldn't wait for his new chair to be ready…his spare was less than ideal, especially when he was already in pain.
"Well, that's your fault if you serve the burned ones to her," Michael pointed out, flipping the pancakes over. "You could just throw them away, or give them to Bailey."
"She takes them before I can do anything!" Artie insisted, eyeing the pan. "I think those are done."
"Relax, I just flipped them over…I'm pretty sure I can handle making pancakes. It's not exactly rocket science," Michael said dryly. "See?" he asked, taking the pan off the heat and showing it to Artie.
"Don't take them off the burner, you're going to damage them!" Artie protested.
"Damage them? …are you high?" Michael asked, looking at Artie more closely. "Yeah…you are."
"Lies," Artie muttered, shifting again. He'd taken a pain killer a couple of hours earlier, and was definitely feeling the effects of it.
Michael had been about to say something, when Avery came into the kitchen, Quinn in tow. Despite the fact that she looked exhausted, Quinn was beaming, her expression just getting happier as Avery sat her down at the table and then proceeded to serve her two of the pancakes Michael had just taken out of the pan.
Next, she dragged Artie to the table, waiting patiently while Michael gave her some pancakes for him, which she put in front of him. She was about to say that Michael should give her some to serve to him too, but he sent her to the table with a pancake of her own.
"Uncle Michael, these pancakes are so good!" Avery said, after taking a bite. "You make better pancakes than Daddy. But Daddy makes better other things!"
"But I made the batter…" Artie trailed off, pretending to look sad and trying to choke back laughter. "Uncle Michael just cooked them."
"Oh. Well, they're good!" Avery said, stuffing more in her mouth.
After breakfast, Avery and Michael cleaned up the kitchen, while Quinn and Artie got ready to go to the baby appointment. Artie was having some difficulty getting his shirts on without help, and, while Quinn's suggestion of just going shirtless sounded tempting, he didn't think it was appropriate to accompany his wife to a medical appointment without a shirt.
They hadn't told Avery ahead of time that they were taking her with them to the appointment, but she soon found out. Ecstatic, she ran to her room, saying that she had to get changed before they left.
Once everyone was ready, the three of them headed out to the van. Michael had asked Steve to come over and help with a few house-related maintenance things, but he didn't tell Artie about it. He knew that Artie wasn't happy with the fact that there were just some things he couldn't do, and Michael planned that he and Steve would get a bunch of things done while they were at the appointment.
The drive to the doctor's office was fairly short, and before long they were in the waiting room. Avery was excited, not entirely sure what was going to happen at the appointment, even though Quinn had tried to explain it to her.
Soon, Quinn's name was called, and the three of them headed into the small exam room. Despite Quinn's protest that it might hurt his neck, Artie pulled Avery into his lap, both keeping her out of the way and relishing the fact that he could actually do that without it hurting (too much). He sat up near Quinn's head as she was prepped for the sonogram, one arm wrapped around Avery, the other reaching up to hold Quinn's hand. He wasn't exactly sure how long he could maintain that position, but he was going to try. He'd just take a painkiller when they got home.
As soon as the baby's heartbeat could be heard, Artie frowned slightly, hoping Quinn couldn't see his face. It sounded different than it had with Avery.
"Is something wrong?" Quinn asked, looking between the technician doing the scan and Artie. "What is it?"
"I just need to go get Dr. Scott," the tech said, rising from her stool. "But don't worry, everything is just fine," she added, smiling at the two of them before exiting the room.
Not wanting to upset Avery, Artie glanced up at Quinn, who just looked at him. It was impossible to read how she was feeling. The tech had said that everything was fine…that was reassuring, right? She wouldn't have said that if everything wasn't fine.
Before Quinn could say anything, the tech was back, Dr. Scott in tow. The baby's heartbeat could be heard again, as Dr. Scott listened, and then looked at the monitor.
"What's wrong?" Artie asked, unable to silence himself any longer. "What's going on?"
"Wrong? Nothing," the doctor said, smiling at the three of them. "You're having twins."
A/N: The plan from the beginning of this story was for it to be twins…sorry to burst the bubbles of everyone that said they thought it should be twins…But your requests just made me (us) feel that it was definitely the right choice!
Sorry for the short chapter…the next one will be longer! I thought it was perfect to end right there.
Co-written with GLEEful Heart, as usual.
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