Begin!
~Quinten's POV
The due date was March 31st. I was nervous as hell when Karrie went into labor. On one of our past check-ups, a doctor had recommended a c-section if we wanted to go that route, but Karrie was under the impression that she could handle it. In her own words, "I've been through worse, doing it the hard way won't kill me." That didn't make me any less worried, but I had to admire her strength. We were at the headquarters when she went into labor, so rather than be in a real hospital we had to go to our medical ward. Not that this was a problem, aside from Bea and Bertrand having to commute here from their house; but they got here as fast as they could.
"Is she alright," Bea asked.
"Yes, she's not ready yet though; they said it could take a while," I replied. "And Bea, come in there with me, Karrie wants to ask you something."
Bea nodded and left Bertrand to watch Violet while he waited. (She was about to turn one in just over a week.) I took Bea into the room Karrie was waiting in.
"Hi Bea," Karrie said smiling.
"Hey, Karrie, how do you feel?"
"Not the best, but I've been through worse. They said I'm close to being ready. I wanted to ask you a favor though…"
"Of course, what do you need?"
"...Would you be my midwife for this?"
Since we weren't in a real hospital it was more possible for this to be done, as Bea had more of a higher status than other volunteers. Karrie and I had already asked about this with the other doctor who was assisting us, and they had said it was doable as long as we were careful.
"I'd be happy to, for my friend." Bea replied. "Let me just tell Bertie what's happening first and then I'll get ready."
She left the room and I took a seat beside the bed. "I can't believe this is happening…"
"I know right," Karrie said. "I felt like I waited an eternity for this day."
"Yeah and it's gonna feel like it's been an eternity once it's over," I joked.
She giggled. "At least I have you to help me feel better…"
Once Bea returned, she had put on some protective doctor's clothes and had brought the other doctors with her. Upon checking, turns out it was time. We're about to be parents…
"Are they ok? There's nothing wrong with them right?" Karrie asked tiredly.
"Yes, Karrie they're all perfectly healthy, and we color-coded the blankets to tell them apart. They're almost completely identical," Bea said. "The boys came first; they're all five minutes apart. I'm sure it's gonna make for some interesting arguments about who's older."
One of the doctors handed over our first baby in a cyan blanket. "This one came first, I'll need his name so I can make a certificate. And we can keep these medical tags to help out with that. So what's his name?"
"Duncan Ryan Quagmire," Karrie replied.
Bea wrote this onto a small bracelet tag and wrapped it around Duncan's wrist. We repeated this process with Quigley and finally with Isadora. Quigley was wrapped in a red blanket and Isadora's was pink. I adjusted Karrie's position so she could sit up and have them all on her lap easier. We barely heard Bea and the other doctors mention they'd give us some privacy as we looked at our children.
When Bea said they were mostly identical she wasn't kidding. Duncan and Quigley were virtually indistinguishable. I suppose we'll have to wait until they can decide on their own appearances for that to change. They all had the same mixture of facial features between us, and they all had a small amount of black hair. The only distinction between Isadora and her brothers, aside from gender, was that her eyes were brown like Karrie's; while Duncan and Quigley had my green eyes. I smiled gently as I watched Karrie cry tears of joy.
"These are mine… These are my babies…" She said softly.
"And they're perfect, Kare-bear…" I added, feeling a bit misty-eyed myself. I even gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"This is the best day of our life."
I agreed with her wholeheartedly. There was nothing better to me than looking at our three beautiful children with my wife who looked as though she was determined to protect these babies at all costs.
"Well, which one do you want to hold first," Karrie asked.
I chuckled and gently picked up Isadora. "Hi Isadora," I said, knowing she couldn't understand me.
"You know we could call her Izzie for short," Karrie commented as she picked up both our boys in each arm.
"Yeah we could," I replied, but honestly I was too focused on my adorable daughter to really pay attention. I silently vowed to never let anything harm her. And I made a mental note to someday teach Duncan and Quigley to always look after their sister.
We decided to let everyone else come visit once we had each had a turn to hold each baby ourselves first.
Bea got to hold Duncan first, since she asked, and Sammie got to hold Quigley first. Which was amusing because he seemed fascinated by her glasses and attempted to grab them multiple times. Dewey and Frank, meanwhile, both got to hold Isadora before anyone else. And they were both understandably emotional, so Kit had to calm them down. After this day, there was forever a list of people that could tell Duncan and Quigley apart without being told.
Those people were Karrie, obviously, Beatrice, Bertrand, Sammie, Captain Widdershins, Fernald, Dewey, Kit, and Frank. (Admittedly, I was not the brightest, and wasn't going to be able to tell them apart on my own until they were five…) I doubt nearly one year old Violet and newly turned two year old Fiona would have such issues; when they grew up of course, they're too young to remember this anyway. I was humorously reminded by Bertrand that he didn't intend to let Duncan or Quigley get too close to Violet, in the future… I got a similar message from Fernald and John about Fiona. To which, Bea and Sammie gave their differing opinions on the subject to put us all in our places…
Once everyone had gotten to hold each kid once the babies were taken off to the nursery so Karrie could get some rest. The whole thing took a heavy toll on her, hence why they had suggested other options, but she had powered through it, and she was sure to feel better in the morning. Once most of the others had gone home after telling us how happy they were for us and giving us the presents they'd brought for our kids and us, Bea and Bertrand stayed behind to talk with us; while Violet watched curiously from her chair beside her parents.
"Well, Karrie how do you feel now," Bea asked.
"Still tired…" Karrie replied sheepishly, "But I'll survive."
"Something tells me you two will be tired a lot…" Bertrand joked.
"Haha, very funny, B," I replied dryly. Though I knew he was actually correct; but it was to be expected.
"So… um since you have your triplets now… are you going to leave V.F.D?" Bea asked.
We had thought about this question before. In fact, once word spread about us having triplets the Duchess herself sent us a message strongly advising that we retire for the sake of having more important responsibilities. But we'd made our decision.
"No. After the maternity leave is up we're gonna continue working. It's for a quiet future for our kids and we want to be a part of that help," I answered.
"We're gonna hire some extra help around the house to watch the kids once we have to go back to work," Karrie added. "Why do you ask?"
"But if you stay in the organization you could be killed then what would happen to your children," Bea blurted out as her answer.
I shared a look with Karrie. We had thought about this outcome too. And it had taken no time at all for us to come to a decision on what should happen in that event.
"Actually… we have considered that possibility and we'd like to ask you about the solution we have…" I said.
Karrie smiled. "Um, Dewey and Frank mean a lot to me as my cousins, but I've already told them that it's simply too dangerous for our children to go to their care if something happens to us. So we were, uh, wondering if we could leave them to you if needed?" Our friends looked stunned to receive such an honor and level of trust. "You wouldn't be officially adopting them or anything; we just would leave it in our will that they'd go to live with you if anything happened to us. You're the only other family we know that we'd ask to protect our children if we can't. You're the closest to us. So… what do you say?"
Bea stood from her chair and gave Karrie a tearful hug. "I'd be happy to, Karrie."
I noticed Bertrand wipe his eyes behind his glasses. "Looks like I don't have a choice in the matter then," He said chuckling lightly. "We'd do that for you, Q, without question." I gave him a bro-hug in appreciation.
Once Bea and Karrie pulled away from their hug, Karrie had something else to ask. "And Bea, you have to promise me something: never let my babies be separated; I can't handle the thought of them living without each other." Bea agreed to this promise. But we had no idea she'd never be able to keep it.
Bertrand and Bea said goodbye and left us alone together at last so they could get back home before it got too dark; they didn't want Violet staying up late, understandably so. I pulled a chair over to sit by Karrie's bed and held her hand.
"We did it; we had our kids," I said smiling.
"Yeah now comes the fun part, raising them," Karrie giggled.
"We're spies for a living, Kare-bear, how hard could raising our children be?"
She laughed again and sighed happily while relaxing into her hospital bed. "I've never seen the world feel this quiet…"
"Yeah… neither have I. I love you Karen…"
"I love you too Quinten… and I know you're gonna be a great dad."
~End of Chapter!
Yay! This one was nice to write too. :)
