Previously :
"Oh Calvin, sweetheart, come here..." At that precise moment, Amanda is stroke by a pain that sharper than anything contraction she's experienced before and a warm liquid streaming between her legs. Determined to allow Calvin to express his frustration and guilt, Amanda clenches her jaws and fists around the sheets below her hoping it won't be long before Calvin is calm down and able to grab the phone and dial 911 because God knows she couldn't move her little finger even if she tries.
Chapter 55 :
Finally :
"Amanda, what's that on the floor? Did you spill some juice?" Wiping his nose with his sleeve, Calvin suddenly notices the small pool on the floor between Amanda's legs.
"No, my water broke a few minutes ago." After several minutes of clenching her teeth through the pain while holding Calvin in her arms, Amanda is finally able to let a deep cry slip through her lips.
"Oh my God, why didn't you say something?" His eyes wide open, Calvin's first reflex to bounce out of bed and stay a few step away from Amanda.
"You needed to express your pain, so I held mine for a few minutes but it's okay, I'm fine. Would you please call Liv and 911? The contractions are getting closer." Her legs wide open, Amanda tightens the grip she has on the bed spread hoping Liv won't miss the birth of their twins.
"Yes, no, damn it! Liv and your mother are driving to the airport to pick up your sister so they won't be back for another hour, I'll call 911 first. Are you okay?" Pulling himself together, Calvin immediately kneels in front Amanda and grabs her hand while reaching for his phone in his pocket.
"Yes, I'll be fine...So, that's the surprise she told me about? Well everyone I love will be here for the birth I guess." Breathing through another contraction Amanda is amazed by how focus and calm Calvin him and as she listens to him making that 911 call she realizes that he's definitely make a very good, loving, caring big brother and she's grateful for having him by her side.
"They should be here in 10 minutes, just breath and don't push. I'm gonna call Liv now." Squeezing Amanda's hand, Calvin dials Olivia's number, confident that help would be here before labour starts and that if not, he would be able to handle it and calm Amanda down.
"She's gonna be so mad at me for not recognizing Braxton's contractions from real contractions..."
"How could you have known? You never had real contractions before. Liv, it's me, no everything is okay, it's just...Amanda's water just broke, yes, I called 911, they should be here in the next ten minutes. Can you drive directly to the hospital? Yes, I'll tell her." Even though Calvin's research explained out the differences between real labour and Braxton's contractions, differences he knew Amanda must be well aware off, the young man knows that pointing this out to her would only upset her , so he chooses to focus on keeping Amand calm.
"You're sweet...Oh, God, remind me why I let Liv convinced me to carry our children?" Feeling yet another powerful contraction striking from her lower back all the way to her abdomen, Amanda slowly slips from the bed onto the floor.
"Because Olivia is too old to carry children herself and because you knew adoption wouldn't have been the same kind of experience and that it was important for Olivia to be able to feel them growing inside you. Now please, just lie down, here." Helping Amanda to lay down on the floor, Calvin quickly reaches for a pillow and places it under her head to make her more comfortable.
"You're right. It was painful but it was an incredible experience and Olivia was really supportive and she already bounded with them. Oh God..." Arching her back as another contraction violently hits her, Amanda squeezes Calvin's hand.
"Olivia is great with children of all ages, she's gonna be a great mom, just breath and do not push. Help should be here soon." Looking at his watch, Calvin takes a deep breath and crosses her fingers, hoping the ambulance will be here soon because frankly, as much as he learned about child birth online, it didn't prepare him to deliver a baby, let alone two.
"Oh, I think I hear the paramedics. Can you get them please? Liv probably locked the front door when she left." Finally, after ten minutes that seemed like hours, help is here and Amanda couldn't be more relieved.
"Yes, I'll be right back." Kissing Amanda's hand before storming out of the room, Calvin is also relieved to know that he won't have to help Amanda give birth to these twins right there, on the floor and his only wish now is that Olivia doesn't arrive too late.
About an hour later, after skipping all the red lights Olivia, Dorothy and Adele finally arrive at the hospital both out of breath and overwhelmed.
"I'm Detective Olivia Benson, my wife Amanda Benson was brought here about an hour ago, she's in labour." Out of breath after taking the stairs all the way up to the obstetric floor, Olivia finally reaches the nurses desk.
"Yes, don't worry you haven't missed the birth of your twins, please follow me, I'll bring you to her." The nurse replies as she stands up and invites Olivia to follow her.
"We'll be right here waiting." As close as both Dorothy and Adele are to Amanda and as involved as they have been in this pregnancy so far, they both know that only Olivia's presence is legitimate and that they'd have to wait until the twins are born and to finally meet them and hold Amanda in their arms.
"Yes, I...Yes." Following the nurses towards the delivery suite, Olivia is lacking words to express how anxious and yet happy she is and even though she's been preparing herself for the past nine months, she knows that once she enters that room, anything can happen, that she won't be in control and that the only thing she'll be able to do is hold Amanda's hand and try to help her breath hoping her presence will ease the pain and give her the strength to work through it.
"Olivia, you're here!" Calvin hollers as he runs into the brunette's arms, relieved to see that she's finally here, just in time to witness the birth of the twins.
"Yes, I am. Did I miss anything?" Her arms tightened around Calvin, Olivia immediately reaches out to her wife and is surprised to see that she seems relatively relaxed and quiet.
"No, the Doctor gave me the epidural when I arrived, so I feel much better now." Amanda is lying on her back, her knees are lifted up and while Dr Coburn is examining her, she feels no pain, what so ever.
"You're just in time Olivia. Amanda, you're ten centimeters and fully effaced and I can see the head of baby number 1." Dr Coburn says, she's sitting at the end of the table between Amanda's legs.
"Good. Calvin, how about you go wait with Dorothy and Adele? I promise I'll get you once the twins are born."
"No, I want him to stay!" Although Amanda is relieved that Olivia is finally by her side, she's not willing to let Calvin go regardless of how young he is.
"I don't think that's such a great idea babe, he's only fifteen." Olivia replies, kissing Amanda's forehead thinking that the line between helping Amanda and exposing him to something that wasn't appropriate has to be drawn now.
"If I may give you my opinion, he might only be fifteen but he's the one who called 911 and stayed with Amanda until the ambulance arrived and he's been helping me calming her down for the past hour, and I might need him to continue to do just that." Even if allowing a fifteen year old teenager to stay during delivery is against protocole, Dr Coburn is smart enough to see how soothing Calvin's words are to Amanda and knows that his ability to calm her down might come handy later on.
"Yes, Liv, I can help. Come on, I know I can handle it!" Calvin is at this age when he's not a child anymore but not an adult yet and this is the perfect opportunity for him to prove he deserves to be considered as such.
"Alright, you can stay but if things get too intense I'll ask you to leave, okay?" Even if this isn't what she and Amanda had in mind when they tried to involve Calvin in this pregnancy so he wouldn't feel left appart, denying him the opportunity to participate would probably make him feel like an outcast and that's the last thing Olivia wants.
"Yes, thank you!" Calvin replies as rushes in Olivia's arms before settling at the other side of the bed where he's able to hold Amanda's left hand.
"Alright Amanda, it's time, I want you to push during the next contraction okay?" Dr Coburn instructs as she positions herself closer to Amanda, her hands ready to welcome baby number one's head.
For the next hour or so, Amanda will have to go through the hardest challenge of her entire life. Even she's been shot once, broke a few bones, nothing could not compare to the excruciating and yet fulfilling experience that giving birth was. Although the epidural proved very effective, pushing those babies out of her required much more strength than she ever anticipated. Thankfully, every time she felt she couldn't continue, that she didn't have it in her to do this, both Calvin and Olivia were there there to encourage her, to hold her hand through the pain and give her the strength she needed.
"I don't think they really look alike..." After five long hours of standing next to Amanda, holding her hand, Calvin is finally able to hold one of the twins in his arm and that is well worth going through hearing the blonde scream at the top of her lungs for that long.
"That's because they're fraternal twins, they came from two different eggs." Finally holding their daughter in her arms, Olivia is sitting on Amanda's bed thinking that feeling that little bundle of joy against her is well worth the past nine months she spent worrying, picturing the worse that could happen.
"They might not look alike but they certainly have a lot hair...I guess they take after you Liv." Lying in bed, Amanda is slowly recuperating after giving, thinking that those two beautiful baby girls are probably the most incredible gift Liv could have given her and that they're well worth all the nauseas, weight gain or back pain she had to suffer through for nine months.
"Yes, I think they have your nose too!" Standing there gently jiggling the baby in his arms, Calvin is remarkably confident and steady, like if he already held babies dozens of times.
"I'm not sure about that. So, have you thought about how we could name them?" Looking at Calvin holding her daughter, Olivia has no doubt that he's going to make a gentle, caring older brother.
"You're asking me?"
"Yes, I don't know how we could have done this without you, so Amanda and I think it's only fair that you get to name one of them." Over the past few months, Olivia spent hours preparing every single detail to make the nursery and the house ready to welcome the twins but the one thing they never talked about was how they wanted to name the twins.
"You know Liv and I haven't decided yet because we thought it would be easier to pick names after meeting them and we really need your help." Asking Calvin to name one of the twins is Amanda's idea, as a way of getting him even more involved in this new adventure.
"How about we name this one Serena after your mom Liv?" Even though Olivia explained to him just how complicated her relationship with her mother was when she was still alive, Calvin knows better than anyone that resenting her mother for hurting her doesn't stop Olivia from loving and missing her and he's convinced that naming one of the girls after her is a nice way of paying tribute to her.
"I think that's a wonderful idea Calvin. How about we name this one here Liliane?" Smiling through grinned teeth, Olivia is forced to admit to herself that yes, she misses her mom and wishes she'd be here to see her happy, to witness how she overcame her difficult up bringing and how she didn't allowed her fear of passing on her father's genes stop her from donating her eggs to Amanda.
"After my grand mother?"
"Yes, Liliane and Serena Benson. That sounds pretty good, doesn't it?" About a month after Olivia and her got married, Amanda made a formal request to change her name and just a couple of weeks ago, her request was granted and she's now officially known as Amanda Benson.
"Speaking of name. Amanda and I talked about it and how would you feel if we adopted you?" At first, Olivia was a bit reluctant to consider adopting him, not because she doesn't love him enough, but because her intentions were never to replace his biological mother, but seeing him holding little Serena, there's in no doubt in her mind that Calvin is her son and even if she doesn't need a piece of paper to prove her love to him, making things official seems like the right thing to do.
"You want to adopt me?" Shaking her head as he takes a few steps towards Amanda's bed, Calvin is surprised and also overwhelmed and he doesn't really understand what that would imply.
"Well, first you must know that the last thing Olivia and I want is to replace your mother. She gave birth to you, she loves you as much as you love her and she will always be your mother but you, the twins, Olivia and I are a family now and we would like to make it official." Even though she's the one who suggested this to Olivia, Amanda is slightly pissed at her wife for bringing it up like this without discussing it with her first and by the look on Calvin's face, she can tell that he feels overwhelmed and that Olivia's spontaneity was definitely not the right way to go.
"Can I think about it?" There is no doubt that Calvin loves Amanda and Olivia with all his heart but part of him still wishes that his mom will come back some day and the last thing he wants is for her to think that he forgot all about her and replaced her.
"Of course, and if you don't want us to formally adopt you, it would be perfectly fine. We don't need a piece of paper or for you to share our name to be a family." Seeing how confused her "offer" is making him, Olivia immediately pulls the boy who's still holding little Serena in her arms.
"I know and I promise I'm gonna be the best big brother ever." For the first time in his life, not only Calvin feels loved and cared for but he finally feels part of that family he long craved and that is worth all the pain and suffering he faced in his young life.
This has to be the crappiest chapter I ever wrote. I have been struggling for the past week to write it and I just couldn't do better than this, I'm sorry. I hope you still enjoyed this chapter and the name I picked for the twins and the fact that I decided to get Calvin involved...
I'm going to write an epilogue to end this story and I would love for you to give me a few suggestion. What would you like this epilogue to be about?
Thank you!
