Chapter 14

Late that evening, Lee sat beside Amanda on the bed, each of them holding one of the twins. "They're perfect," Amanda sighed happily as she studied their little faces.

"Just like their mother," Lee whispered before he leaned closer and kissed her cheek.

Amanda shook her head, "Lee, I'm far from perfect. I just try my hardest and hope for the best most of the time." She glanced down at the sleeping infant in her arms. "I can't believe they're finally here."

Lee chuckled as he asked, "I guess the real fun begins now, right?"

Amanda furrowed her brow as she tried to interpret his comment. "I don't understand," she admitted.

Lee shrugged his shoulders and readjusted the baby in his arms as he explained, "You know, getting to know them… figuring out their personalities… seeing who's going to be more like you or me… the real fun. I was reading in one of those books that by the time they are four months old, their personalities really start to shine through. Until then-"

"Until then, we're going to be trying to figure out how to do everything times two," Amanda interrupted him with a laugh. She shifted uncomfortably on the bed and stated, "And I think that's going to start now. Sweetheart, can you take her so I can go use the powder room?"

Lee looked down at the baby in his arms then over at Amanda. "Um… yeah, I think I can handle that," he stuttered.

"It's just like holding a couple of footballs," Amanda teased. She carefully laid the sleeping baby into the crook of Lee's arm, and gingerly climbed off the edge of the bed. She winced loudly as she tried to straighten herself fully.

Lee flinched, "Amanda… do you need to call the nurse or something?"

Amanda shook her head, "No, I'll be fine. I'm just going to go slow." Hunching over slightly, she shuffled her feet along and disappeared into the bathroom.

Lee exhaled and muttered to himself, "I can do this… this isn't so hard." No sooner had the words left his lips when he watched Lily's face scrunch up, and he heard a small, rumbling sound. "Amanda? Something's happening with one of them," he called out nervously. Lily's face scrunched up a little more before a rosy red blush swept across her face. "Amanda?" he called again.

"What's going on, Lee?" Amanda called back.

"Um… how do I put this… I think this is one of those diapers I wasn't qualified for with Charlie," he announced as he felt a shift in pressure in his hand. Lily slowly blinked open her eyes and whimpered. "Amanda?" he called again.

From the bathroom, Amanda exhaled loudly as she stated, "Well, you're going to have to figure this one out. I'm going to be a minute."

Lee puffed up his cheeks before he exhaled, "Are you sure?" He looked down at his daughter, who was now staring up at him. She squirmed in his arms and whimpered again. In his other arm, DJ began to scrunch up her face. Lee shook his head, "Oh, no. Not you, too?" He shifted his left arm first to lift Lily a little higher, so he could wiggle toward the edge of the bed.

"Okay," he sighed. "I can do this. I'll just put them both on the bed and then I can get what I need. That's all… I'll just put them on the bed," Lee narrated. He leaned to the side and gently released Lily onto the spot of the bed he just vacated. Using both hands, he shifted DJ to his left side and placed her beside her sister. "Good," he applauded himself. "Now… diapers and wipes. Diapers and wipes," he repeated as he scanned the shelves under the bassinet. He located two tiny diapers but was unable to find anything that resembled wipes. All he could come up with was a thicker, cotton cloth. "Amanda, I don't see any packages of wipes," he called.

"They don't use those in the hospital. There should be something there, though. You'll probably need to wet a cloth," she called back.

Lee held up the soft, white rectangle. "This must be it." Using the small sink in the corner of the room, he filled the small pink basin partway with warm water and wet two cloths before he took everything back to the bed where the infants were squirming side by side. "Lily first," he decided. He carefully tugged the pink, white, and blue receiving blanket from around her legs and noticed the yellow-colored band around her ankle. "Sorry, DJ," he apologized as he realized he already made a mistake. With her legs free, she awkwardly pulled her knees up closer to her belly and began to cry. Lee tugged at the blanket around Lily's legs. She also curled her legs up, and she started to cry as well.

"Okay, okay. We're going to do this as fast as we can," he assured them. He began to loosen the tabs of Lily's diaper when he heard Amanda call from behind the closed door, "Is everything all right out there?"

Lee peeled the diaper back slowly, and he couldn't stop his response, "Amanda? What the hell is this? What's wrong with our daughter?!" Shocked, he tapped the tabs back into place and proceeded to check DJ's diaper only to find the same black, tarry substance as well. "Both of them? Amanda?!" he called out.

Amanda laughed loudly as she asked, "Does it look like tar?"

"I guess you could say that," Lee replied, confused.

"That's perfectly normal. Just keep going. I'll be done in a minute," she assured him.

Lee stared at the two sets of hazy grey eyes staring back at him and asked, "Can't I just wait for you?"

Amanda called back in the sternest voice she could muster, "Be a man, Scarecrow, and change your daughters' diapers."

Lee narrowed his eyes at the closed door and muttered, "Be a man! Yeah, I'll use that line next time you get hurt in the line of duty… or when Francine needs your help, and you don't want to do it. I'll show you how to be a man…" He trailed off his quiet tirade and exhaled loudly once more.

"Okay, girls, this is how we're going to do this. Just don't cry, and we'll all be happier in a jiffy," he instructed. Lee released the small tabs again and held his breath as he wiped the sticky substance off. He used both cloths on just Lily, and after he got the clean diaper on her, he reached over and grabbed several more dry cloths, immediately dunking them into the warm water. He was just finishing fastening DJ's diaper when Amanda emerged from the bathroom. "You okay? I was beginning to get worried," he admitted.

Amanda gave him a weak smile, "Better now. I forgot all the icky parts of having babies." She glanced at the two small bundled diapers, "But from the looks of things, you just survived your own first crash course in something else just as yucky." She reached down and readjusted the tabs a little tighter across each infant's belly. "There." She pushed up onto her toes and brushed her lips across Lee's. "One diaper change down… about a million more to go," she laughed.

"As long as none of them look like that ever again, I think I might be able to handle it," Lee admitted.

Amanda leaned down and tightly swaddled DJ. She scooped her up and handed her off to Lee before turning her attention back to Lily. "I think you're safe for the next few months," she declared with a smile.