Begin!

~Karen's POV

When I put the microphone back into its stand I stepped down from the stage, feeling like all the blood had rushed to my cheeks given how many cheers and hollars I got from that announcement. I walked up to Quinten who was staring dumbfounded at me.

"Well? Aren't you gonna say something?"

Quinten blinked out of his trance. "I… you… we're having a kid?"

"Yes!" I replied grinning widely.

Next thing I knew, Quinten picked me up and kissed me full on the mouth in front of everyone; who were all still watching. It didn't help my embarrassment, but I kissed him back happily. We opted to ignore the sounds of everyone else around us.

Once he finally put me down, he went into full on protective mode; mainly ensuring I hadn't had anything to drink earlier, which I obviously didn't. I dragged him over to where Bea and Bertrand were sitting with Violet. We sat down with them and Bea gave me the picture she took of Quinten's reaction. I'll be sure to frame it when we get home! For the rest of the party people would come over to us to congratulate our happy news. (Even Lemony and Moxie were here, and clearly Lemony had to have informed Moxie about why this was particularly special for us since she hadn't known. But she was happy for us too.)

"Honey, you don't have to worry about baby-proofing the house right away…"

"But if I wait too long I might forget!"

I pinched my nose in frustration. He was freaking out the whole way home. I suppose it's good that he was excited, but he needed to calm down.

"Quinten everything is going to be fine! You can relax, we won't even know what we're having for a while."

This seemed to give him an idea. "Ok um, how about we talk about what we might want to name it? I mean this is something you've wanted for a long time so you must have some names picked out too…"

I smiled. "Well, it's a little embarrassing, but yes I have some ideas. I've always admired Isadora Duncan, she's my favorite dancer… So if we have a girl we could name her Isadora, and if it's a boy then we'll name him Duncan."

Quinten grinned widely, "That would be perfect!"

"You don't mind that? I know it's a little random."

"Karrie, I don't mind. I think those choices are perfect and anyone who says otherwise is just being difficult."

"Heh, well if you like them too then we'll use them."

We agreed to think about middle names later, right now I needed to make an appointment to get a sonogram. I wanted to see that everything was ok before anything else happened.

~Several weeks later…

The first doctor visit scared me to say the least. I think part of me worried that I wasn't pregnant after all and should have taken a third test to prove it. But this was relieved immediately since I was really pregnant. This was real, I was truly going to have a baby! I was so happy thinking about it I almost cried again.

Around the 11th week of the pregnancy, it was time for my first ultrasound, in the hopes that we'd see what we're having. Unlike Bea and Bertrand, who didn't get to find out until they had Violet, Quinten and I very much wanted to know what we were expecting so we could prepare accordingly. But since Quinten had to work with Bertrand on V.F.D. business, Bea came with me to the medical ward instead for support.

"Are you nervous," Bea asked, as we waited for the doctor to come back for the procedure.

"Anxious would probably be the better term…" I replied shakily.

"I know you've always wanted a daughter, but Bertie told me to tell you if you do have a boy, you're to keep him away from Violet," Bea said, giggling as she tried to mimic her husband's voice, "I told him to shut up."

That made me laugh too, which helped my nerves. "What a goof."

"I know right? As if I'd ever not let our children be friends, regardless of whatever gender they identify as."

The doctor came back in at this point. "Alright Mrs. Quagmire, we can get started now…"

Several minutes in, I was finally given a view of my baby on a monitor… Only something looked off…

"Uh, ma'am, is there something wrong with the monitor," I asked. "It, um, doesn't look quite right to me…"

"No, it's working perfectly. I'm happy to tell you, you're going to have three beautiful babies. See where they separate there?" She replied pointing this out for me with her free hand. "Congratulations!"

Bea was smirking beside me while I was staring in awe. Triplets. One… two… three… and they were mine. They were my babies. We're having miracle triplets. I couldn't help crying a little. And now that I knew it was triplets, I had a better understanding of why I felt… er, bigger than I thought I'd be at this point. I'm sure that feeling won't go away anytime soon.

"So have you told Quinten about that Denouement curse yet," Bea asked teasingly.

"...No…" I replied sheepishly. "I didn't want him to freak out… And it doesn't always happen..."

"Now would be a good time to mention it."

"Well, Mrs. Quagmire, we'll get you a shot of this, and it's been put onto a tape for later playback."

"Yes please, I appreciate that, and ma'am when can we tell what they're gonna be?" I asked.

"Come back for another ultrasound after the 16th or perhaps the 20th week to be safe. That'll be the best time to find out."

I thanked her. Once I had gotten dressed again Bea and I left the ward with my gifts in my purse; a picture of the monitor and a recording of the process. (I'll swing by the hotel later and show them off to my family.) I just had to tell Quinten first… I wonder how he'll take this bit of startling information."

We found the boys in the headquarters' dining hall waiting for us since they had finished their work on time. I saw most of our other volunteer associates were in here too, meaning that however he reacted everyone was going to see.

"Well, how did it go? Is the baby ok," Quinten asked standing up to greet me as we walked over to their table.

"Yes everything went fine," I said smiling.

Bea was trying not to laugh beside me I could tell. Well I should probably be honest about the situation… otherwise it'll be a nightmare later if he doesn't learn now.

"Actually, Quinten, there's a um… surprise. We're having triplets." I said anxiously, hoping he wouldn't be upset.

There was a pause before I, and everyone else in the room watched as Quinten Michael Quagmire fainted and fell into Bertrand's arms.

"Quinten?!"

I heard a few dozen people crack up with laughter from seeing this happen. Bertrand was close to crying from laughing as he helped him into a chair.

"Karrie, I think you killed him!"

Quinten was actually excited about having triplets. And my family was happy for me too which was understandable. Once the half-way point of my pregnancy rolled around we were finally able to see what we were having. (Which is good because we had to know first to get a name for the third baby.)

Turns out we were having two boys and a girl!

"And they're all perfectly healthy, Mrs. Quagmire. You can head out whenever you're ready."

"Thank you so much," I replied as our doctor left the room.

Quinten looked so happy. "Two boys and a girl? That's just perfect, Kare-bear!"

"I know!" I said patting my stomach, "I couldn't be happier."

"Well now we just have to think of another name… and we don't know which one will come first…" Quinten said thoughtfully. "Are you still set on the names Isadora and Duncan?"

"Yes, let's see… Oh I know what we'll do, we'll keep those names and whichever boy comes first that's who will be Duncan. How does that sound?" I asked while he helped me get dressed. (It was harder to bend down now, obviously.)

"Yeah that'll work fine," He replied. "And Isadora gets to keep her name no matter what. But we still need another name for the second boy."

I thought about it as I picked up my purse from the bedside table. I saw inside the book I had been reading before we got here. It was a fantasy novel called Another Fine Myth, by Robert Asprin. It was a fun book, and I had been rather attached to a charming character within named Quigley, who was an incompetent demon hunter that manages to trick the villain into draining himself of his own powers, allowing the other characters to save the day.

"What about Quigley, after the character in my book? And since it starts with the same letter he'd be named after you too in a way."

Quinten smiled at that. "I like that, it'd be perfect. Duncan, Isadora, and Quigley; our children."

"Though it probably won't be in that order when they get here."

"What about their middle names?"

I already had an answer for that the moment I saw we were having two boys. It took no time at all for me to see that there were no better choices.

"Duncan's middle name can be Ryan. And Quigley's can be Mason."

Quinten could tell from my immediate response and from knowing me this long that my choices had been very personal. Our sons would be named after their deceased uncles on my side. My brothers were probably happy to have that respect.

"And if Quigley's got Mason as his middle name, then he has the same initials as you too," I added a bit more cheerfully.

He gave me a kiss. "I think those sound wonderful. But what about Isadora?"

I thought about it. "Hm… do you have a suggestion?"

He racked his brain for a moment. "What about Elizabeth?"

"Elizabeth… I like it, any particular reason why?"

"After Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, so she'd be named after a book character too. If you're ok with that?"

"Yeah, I like how it sounds. It fits perfectly." I grabbed his arm, "Now that we got that out of the way, let's go tell everyone so they know what to send us later. I've been getting asked about it constantly!"

~End of Chapter!

This was fun to write. :)