PREVIOUSLY-
I heard my bedroom door open and I braced for what was to come next. I held my stomach tightly, worried more about my children than myself.
I'd locked the bathroom door, but the doorknob was ripped right out of the door as it was forced open.
I closed my eyes as I waited.
"Bella, Bella, it's me. It's okay." I opened my eyes and I felt the most relief I'd ever felt in my life.
It was Jared.
I felt another contraction rip through me again and I cried out.
"Babies. Are. Coming." I told him between labored breaths.
"We know, babe, it's okay." He said as he lifted me out of the bathtub and carried me back to the bed, laying a sheet down overtop of me.
"Is everyone okay?" I asked as my contraction lifted.
"Embry has a broken arm, Quil got a nasty cut down his back, and Sam..." He stopped. Why did he stop?
"What happened to Sam, Jared?" I begged.
"He got a few bad scratches across the face, Bella. They'll heal, but he'll have scars." He told me.
"He'll live and that's all that matters. You know I don't care about scars, I'll love him no matter what." I told him honestly.
"I know, babe, and he knows too. Other than that, everyone's okay. Even Leah." He reassured me.
"Did she phase?" I asked him as he situated me.
"Yes, babe, but it's okay. She's okay with it. Embry's okay with it too." He promised me.
"It was my fault… I asked her to come help when it got bad." I told him before feeling another contraction.
"Breathe, babe. You gotta breathe." He told me as he pushed the hair out of my face. I hadn't even realized I'd been holding my breath.
"Where's—Sam—and—Paul?" I asked him through my breaths.
"They're coming, I promise." He told me.
"It hurts…" I muttered to him. "I think it's getting close."
"Do you want me to, uh, see?" He asked and I nodded. I opened my legs and his eyes widened.
"What is it?" I asked him quickly.
"It's, uh, definitely close. I can see a head, Bella." He said nervously. "Where the fuck are they?"
"We're here." I heard Sam say as both him and Paul rushed in the door.
"Good timing." Jared told them before I felt another contraction.
I felt the need to push. Now.
I pushed hard and screamed out as I was doing so. It felt like my insides were ripping open and on fire as I squeezed Sam's and Paul's hands.
Just one push, then I felt an almost immediate relief. I looked down to see Jared holding our first child.
"It's a girl." He said proudly. "I'll have to tie the cord myself, we don't have the supplies here."
Paul rushed over to help him, holding both sides of the cord closed while Jared carefully tore it apart. He tied one end while Paul tied the other.
I heard our tiny little girl begin to cry and I sagged in relief. Jared stood up and grabbed another towel to wrap her in and Sam took his place as I felt another contraction.
I screamed out again, feeling the same intense pain and need to bear down as before.
"Come on, honey, you can do it. I can see his head already. Just keep pushing." Sam told me as Jared came back holding our daughter, all wrapped up.
I was so tired. So exhausted. But I needed to do this. I could do it.
"Just a couple more pushes, Bella. You're almost there." Paul told me as he sat near Sam, watching our son being born.
Two more pushes and Sam was holding our little baby boy. Paul helped him again with the cord and Jared handed him a towel as our son began to cry as well.
They were both so tiny, but they were crying. The best sign.
Paul helped me with both of the afterbirths and got me cleaned up while Sam and Jared held our two newborn babies.
"Sue is on her way." Jared said as he sat down next to me and carefully handed me our daughter.
She was beautiful. She looked so tiny with a head full of black hair and her little fingers wrapped around my fingertip as I cried, looking down at her.
"Welcome to the world, Tala." I whispered to her, kissing her gently on the forehead before holding her out for Paul to take. He held her and looked down at her and I could see the moisture gathering in his eyes as well.
Tala meant wolf, so I thought it was very fitting for our daughter.
"Would you like to meet our son, Bella?" Sam asked me and I held out my arms to take him.
"Happy birthday, Levi." I whispered to my son. He had a small tuft of black hair as well and was just as small as his sister. Levi was Sam's middle name, as well as his grandfather's name and the first member of the last pack.
I couldn't believe that my babies were finally here.
Sue came in moments later and checked both of them immediately before clipping off their cords properly.
"It must be the wolf blood in them, Bella, because they're both perfectly healthy, even for being only 34 weeks gestation. Their lungs are fully developed, which we don't see hardly ever this early. They are a bit small, though bigger than normal 34 week babies, but I'm sure they'll grow pretty fast." Sue told us as Sam and Paul took the babies back into their arms.
Jared just smiled at me and told me how proud he was of me.
After Sue checked me out and determined everything was doing well and instructed the boys on how to help me for a little while, she left and said she'd bring back some supplies that I'd need later.
Tala started crying in Paul's arms and he looked up at me. "I think she's hungry, mama."
I reached out to grab her and Jared pulled down the sheet I had covering myself. I held her to my breast as they all watched. It took her a couple tries but she latched on and started suckling.
I didn't realize just how painful a first-time feeding would be, but it almost felt like background noise as I held her. Jared was still sitting next to me and ran his finger down her cheek carefully.
After a few minutes, I looked up at Sam, taking the time to look at the new injuries to his face. There were four scratch like marks running slanted down over his left eye from his forehead to his cheek. Luckily his eye was spared.
"Doesn't look very pretty, does it?" He asked as he saw me appraising.
"You know, in a way, they look very... you." I told him with a smile. "Very rugged, proof of winning a battle, and very alpha-like. I bet it looks pretty bad-ass as a wolf."
"I have to hand it to you, honey, you do have a way with words that always makes me feel better." He told me with a smile, leaning down to kiss me.
"Now that I'm not in the middle of childbirth, tell me what happened?" I asked him.
"Paul, take Levi." Sam told him and he was more than eager. He then sat down next to me to explain.
"We met the Cullens there in the clearing. They'd laid the trap for the newborns with your scent. There were four of them, just as the pixie said, but you were right. They were strong. Groups of us were taking on each one of them, but they kept getting out of our reach. We finally got one down. The second one took a long time too, but it was easier with more of us concentrating on it. The girl vamps took out his legs while Jake took his head off."
He paused before continuing on.
"The third one was erratic. He tried to get his arms around any of us that he could but didn't manage it. The major made sure he didn't, he broke off one of the leeches' arms. While the majority of us were focused on that one, Riley threw me off, cutting my face, broke Embry's arm, and slashed Quil pretty bad, then took off in this direction. Jared and the big one took off after him and warned Seth that he was coming straight for you."
"That's when Leah phased." I muttered. He nodded.
"Seth and Leah took him down by themselves, even though Leah had only just phased. Her thoughts were erratic, but apparently Jared managed to pick up that you were in full labor. Paul and I had just finished up with the others and we knew that the leech had been taken down, so we had phased back to start the fires while Jared checked on you. The Cullens left as soon as it was over, like you asked, to prevent more phasing. We started feeling that you were in horrible pain all of a sudden. We suspected, but Paul and I didn't know for sure until we phased back that you were in labor. We rushed back as soon as we could." Sam explained.
I took it all in. I was grateful to the Cullens who had helped, knowing their contribution had actually helped, but I was glad they were gone again. I was even more happy that we didn't end up having more serious injuries to the pack than we did.
"Now it's your turn, princess. You tell us what happened, and how Seth and us didn't know about it until Leah phased." Paul asked me as I handed our daughter to Sam and took Levi to nurse him as well.
"I had the back pain all night, but I just thought it was being uncomfortable like I have been. When you guys left, it got worse quickly. I realized it was actual contractions, but it was still only my back hurting. I tried taking a bath, but it didn't help, they just got closer together. I was so focused on not wanting you guys to know so that you wouldn't be distracted… I don't know if maybe I subconsciously closed off the feeling part of our bond for a little while?" I muttered, wondering myself.
I took a deep breath before continuing on.
"I knew if I made any sounds or told Seth that you'd know immediately. When it got much worse, I texted Leah. I don't know how exactly she made it past Seth, but she climbed in the window and we used the paper to talk so that we didn't make any sound. She checked me and I was already half-way. We heard Seth howl and she ran to the window to see and yelled at me to run into the bathroom. I could see her shaking and I knew she was going to phase. I knew she knew it too. My water broke when that happened and I locked myself in the bathroom, sitting in the tub as the contractions got worse, not knowing what was happening. All I could hear was growling, then it all stopped. I was still in the bathroom when Jared found me." I told them.
"You must've blocked the pain part of it off somehow to us because we could still feel you during the fight, but we couldn't feel that you were in labor. Not until Jared got to you, then it hit us like a ton of bricks." Sam said as he studied our daughter's face. I nodded in acknowledgment. None of us knew how I'd managed to block it, but I was grateful I had.
"Sam, can you call Charlie?" I asked him and he smiled and nodded before handing Tala to Jared.
"From newborns to newborns. This has been one hell of a day." Paul laughed as he came and sat on the other side of me to watch Levi nurse.
"I just can't believe they're finally here. Of course they'd decide to make their grand entrance today, but I'm glad they waited until all of their parents were here to finally say hello. Can you believe that the four of us just birthed twins ourselves?" I asked them.
"You did the birthing, babe, we just played catch." Jared laughed as he rocked our daughter back and forth.
"You knew exactly what to do. All of you did." I yawned. "Gosh, I guess giving birth makes you really tired."
"That and being up all night. Hand me Levi and you try to rest. We'll wake you up if one of them needs anything, alright?" Paul suggested and I was too tired to say no, so I handed him our tiny son and closed my eyes, finally able to relax.
A/N- What do you think of the names? I did a lot of research and I know the name Tala originated from a different tribe, as well as their middle names (that you'll learn soon enough), but there isn't anything on the internet about Quileute names, so I used what I could. Can you believe the boys delivered the babies themselves? The reason she didn't call Sue was because Sue didn't text and if she called her, Seth would know. Sue also wouldn't be able to make it in incognito like Leah did as well.
I will tell you that the labor part of it was written from my own birthing experiences, both very similar. I had the back pain all the way through. I didn't even know they were actually contractions and that I was in active labor until I timed them (2.5 mins apart) as I was a mile down a trail, walking, then I had to make it another mile back to the car with my husband and rush to the hospital, hoping I didn't give birth on the way. The real pain didn't start until after my water broke, then it went so fast that I barely had time to react. Both of my children were born premature. Not by too much though (36 and 35 weeks).
The moral of my personal story here is to explain that it's a very real and logical labor experience that I wrote to those who haven't had children of their own and don't believe that it could possibly happen like that. It can and it does.
