Hey!
4 more to go...
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Jerome jerked awake when Mara gripped his arm tightly, breathing heavily. "J...," she huffed, shaking his arm a little. "Jerome, wake up, my water just broke."
Jerome shot up off the bed. "Damn it. It's always three o'clock in the morning. Every kid."
"Jerome!"
"I know, I know, hold on, darling." He ran out of the bedroom, pulling on a pair of trousers. He knocked on Michael's door and swung it open. "Mike, wake up, I'm taking Mara to the hospital."
"Is she okay?" Michael demanded, forcing himself awake and out of his bed.
"She's having the babies. Watch the kids while we're gone."
"You got it," his son nodded, "Calm down, though."
"You have nine kids and tell me how you felt every time each of them were born." Jerome snapped.
Michael rolled his eyes, grabbing his mother's pre-packed overnight bag and taking it down to the minibus.
Jerome took Mara's hand and helped her out of the bed slowly. "Are you nervous?" she breathed with a small smile, putting her free hand on her stomach.
"It never gets easier." Jerome chuckled, pressing his lips to the back of her hand and leading her out of the house.
"Call us when we can come down to the hospital." Michael said, pecking Mara's cheek before she got into the vehicle.
"You got it," Jerome replied, rushing around to the other side of the van.
When Michael walked back into the house, Josh was sitting in the common room. He looked up as he came into the room. "Everything okay?"
"He's taking her to the hospital. Everything should be okay. What are you doing up?"
"I heard you and dad arguing about how it feels to have nine kids." Josh said, slipping a hand through his blond hair.
Michael left the room to get his laptop so he could revise for the year's finals and Josh stretched out on the sofa and turned his cell phone on. He texted Alex, letting him know what was going on, even if Alex wouldn't see it until he woke up, but he surprised Josh by replying almost instantly.
Alex: SERIOUSLY? keep me posted!
Josh: Why are you up so early?
Alex: I was waiting for you to text me
Josh: No seriously
Alex: I woke up a couple minutes ago because I fell asleep on the couch
Alex: hey you want some nudes?
Josh: NO
Josh could picture Alex laughing hysterically. He rolled his eyes.
Alex: is you mom going to be ok?
Josh: Yea, she'll be fine
Alex: can I see the babies when they're born? visit them or come over or you can send me a picture? I love babies
Josh: Sure baby
Josh looked up from his phone when Alice came into the room and sat on the sofa across from him.
"What're you doing?" She asked tiredly, resting her cheek against her hand as she crisscrossed her legs.
"Texting the boyfriend," he replied, holding up his phone.
"Is Mum going to be okay, Mickey?" Alice asked, looking over Josh to Michael sitting at the dining room table.
"Yeah, of course," he nodded.
Josh: Baby does Juliet have a song called let it ride or something like that?
Alex: yeah that's one of my favorite songs from AutoLove why?
Josh: I've got it stuck in my head
Alex: you love her music don't you Corazón?
Josh smiled a little as he replied, yes.
Alex: you want to borrow my cds?
Though his reply was calm, Josh knew he must be grinning like a complete idiot. Probably feeling proud of himself for successfully converting Josh from no music to his favorite music.
Josh: Only long enough to download the songs
Alex: you got it, sexy ;)
Alex: but a couple of things are downloads so I'll send them to your email
Josh: Have I heard all these songs?
Alex: I'm pretty sure you have
Gracie suddenly poked her head between Josh and his cell phone and he jerked back in surprise. She giggled. "Hi, Joshy."
"Hey, kiddo," he smirked.
"What are you doing?"
"Texting Alex, what are you doing?"
"Waiting for when we can go to see Mummy." She sighed heavily, laying her head on his stomach. And then she jumped up with a big smile. "Can we send Alexy a picture?"
"Of what?"
"You and me?" She bounced excitedly. "Once me and Aly sent Mummy a picture of us when she was at work."
Josh took a deep breath and then nodded. "Yeah, sure."
"It'll make him smile." She told him.
Josh snapped a picture of them together, him smirking and Gracie grinning with her arms spread wide. When he sent it to Alex, he got a reply a few seconds later.
Alex: Gracie you're adorable and Joshua you are too cute x
"He gave you a kiss, Joshy." Gracie pointed at the screen as he stood up.
"I think he gave you the kiss." He retorted, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her off the ground, kissing her cheek as she squealed happily.
"You guys want breakfast?" Michael asked.
"Yeah!" Gracie cheered, running after him into the kitchen.
"Are we going to the hospital soon?"
"Dad's going to come pick us up in a few minutes while the doctor is examining Mum. But he needs to get back as soon as possible, so we need to be ready to go when he gets here."
Josh: We're going to head to the hospital in a few minutes. I'll keep you updated x
He had thought twice about sending Alex the kiss but felt like he deserved it in some way.
Alex: thanks
Alex: oh and I didn't want to say this before in case Gracie was looking at the screen but you're so fucking sexy in the morning ;)
Jerome breathed in deeply left Mara's side so he could look down at one of the triplets. "Let's name the girl first." He said, tracing his finger down her small nose. "She's got your nose, love."
"We couldn't choose between Juliette and Rebecca." Mara reminded him, holding one of the boys.
"She looks like a Rebecca. Rebecca Ann." He said, and the nurse that was waiting to record the names wrote it down quickly. He turned to his wife. "You can take this one, I guess."
Mara lifted him gently so she could look at him better. "I think he looks like a Tyler Benjamin."
Jerome nodded once and took the third baby from another nurse. "And…?"
"Anthony."
"Anthony Lawrence."
"Perfect," Mara smiled.
Jerome leaned down and kissed her. "I love you."
"I love you too," she breathed, laying her head back on her pillow.
He directed his attention to one of the nurses. "Can we bring in our other kids?"
"Just for a few minutes," she conceded. "I'll go get them for you." She stepped out of the room and into the hallway. "Clarke?" She called gently when she was standing in waiting room.
The Clarke kids stood up instantly and she looked surprised for a moment before motioning for them to follow her. They walked into the room quietly.
"Oh my, God, they're so cute!" Louisa gushed.
"What are their names?" Alice questioned, looking down at her baby sister when she opened her wide brown eyes.
"Rebecca, Tyler, and Anthony," Mara replied.
"Can I hold one of them, Mummy?" Gracie pleaded excitedly.
"M-me too?" Matty grinned.
"Of course, darlings," Mara smiled lovingly.
"Go sit on the sofa, guys." Jerome instructed.
Gracie was the first to hop onto the stiff cushions and Jerome gently placed Anthony in her lap.
"Support his head, sweetheart," He told her, adjusting her arms to keep his head up and Michael moved closer to the couch to supervise her while Jerome picked up Rebecca and set her in Matty's lap. He instantly lifted his arm to support the infant's head like Jerome had said and he could see Mara doing.
"Mum, would you like me to make you pancakes when you come home?" Josh grinned.
"Would you really?" Mara cooed, squeezing his chin when he leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Do you want to hold him?"
"I've got plenty of time to hold him." Josh declined.
"Nuh-uh, before you know it, they'll be going to university." Jerome cut in and Michael rolled his eyes knowingly but didn't comment.
"However, I think LouLou is going to burst if she doesn't get to hold a baby." Josh chuckled.
"They're just…they're babies! Who can't love them?" She squealed, rushing up to her mother's bedside.
Pretty sucky ending to that chapter, but Jara babies *0*
"The writing's on the wall, your crimson touch is going nowhere. And I'll hang on every word you say and sink my teeth into this nightmare. (Whoa...) I'm screaming out, can you hear me? I'll bleed for you, forever I will lie away. I would die for you. I see the truth, I've given you my heart to break. I would die for you." -Die For You, Black Veil Brides
-Rachel
