Hey people! It's me again, here with the last chapter before the epilogue, so all I can say is enjoy!

Chapter XII--Tears

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The walk to the hospital was the longest walk I had ever taken, every step only brought more pain in my side, but that was the last thing on my mind, as we neared the hospital, it hit home, my baby sister was dead, and the blind tears that had been rolling down my cheeks were replaced by tears of pure sadness

We walked into the hospital, through Ward 5, the whole time I was almost expecting Leanna to jump out from behind the door and tell me that she was fine, and show me my new nieces, but I realized that wasn't going to happen as Evelyn lead me and Rafe into a dark room lit only by the light coming from two incubators in the middle, it seemed that even the room was somber as it held the miracle twins

"We, um, we borrowed the incubators from the civilian hospital in the city, since we don't have any of our own" Evelyn explained, I didn't blame her, the eerie silence surrounding the room was to much

Suddenly, I wasn't sure if I could take another step, seeing the babies would mean that Leanna was really dead, and I just wasn't ready to accept that, I stopped dead in my tracks, choking back a sob which caused Evelyn, who was out in front, and Rafe, who was only a step or two ahead of me, to look at me, Evelyn's gaze softened

"Are you sure you want to see them now?" she asked

I nodded, it was all I could manage, my feet felt like bricks as I took another step forward, catching up beside Rafe, and we walked side-by-side until we were standing at the end of the incubators, I looked inside each, seeing the forms of two premature baby girls, both with pink bonnets and wrapped in pink blankets, the first thing I noticed was how small they were, they were so tiny that I was scared to touch them for fear of hurting them, I looked down at a little piece of paper taped to one of the incubators, 'Walker B', her birth weight was only 3 pounds 3 ounces, the other, 'Walker A', was 3 pounds 1 ounce, next I noticed their eyes, both shared their mother's fiery green eyes, then one had brunette curls and the other blonde curls

"Do you want to hold them?" Evelyn asked

I looked from Evelyn to Rafe, then back to Evelyn

"Sure"

Evelyn very carefully opened the top of the incubator of the smaller brunette and gently lifted the baby, who began moving her arms and gave a soft coo, then walked over to me

"Hold her close, but don't squeeze" she said, shifting the baby from her arms to mine

The baby felt awkward in my arms and I instantly gasped when she locked eyes with me and opened her toothless mouth in a wail, I looked up at Evelyn, scared that I had somehow hurt her, Evelyn smiled, turning to a small half refrigerator and pulling out a small bottle of milk with a tiny nipple

"Here, sit down" she said, looking to a rocking chair sitting to the side

I gently backed up, being careful not to fall, and sitting down in the chair

"Hold this" she handed me the bottle, "And she feeds very well, so just hold it still and she'll do the rest"

I held the bottle down close to her mouth, she opened her mouth and accepted the bottle slurping nosily on it, I smiled, looking down at my niece and beginning to rock back and forth gently, I wasn't a very good singer, but I began to softly sing Leanna's favorite song, the song I would sing her to sleep with when we were younger, even though I swore I couldn't sing

"You're a sweet little baby,

You're a sweet little baby,

Honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop,

Gonna bring a bottle to the baby"

By the time I stopped singing, the baby brunette girl had closed her eyes and was quietly suckling on her bottle, I smiled again, she looked exactly like I remembered Leanna as a baby

"She's so beautiful" I whispered to Rafe, who had joined me beside the rocking chair and was looking down at the sleeping baby

"She looks just like Beautiful" Rafe whispered

"She's so tiny, it's a miracle she's alive"

"What should we should name them?" Rafe suggested

"Grace" I said, still smiling at the sleeping baby, "Gabrielle Grace"

"I like it" Rafe said, "But what about the blonde?"

I looked over into the incubator at the little baby with the white-blonde hair, she was the bigger of the two, but still, so fragile, like a flower...a lily, Leanna's favorite

"Lilian" I said simply

Rafe thought for a moment and then smiled, "Lillian Mercedes"

I nodded

"Lily and Grace Walker" Rafe said

"Our girls" I said

"When can we go back to Tennessee?" Rafe asked, now looking at Evelyn

"The girls need to stay here at least another week, then they should be ok" she said

"You hear that, Grace? We're going home very soon" I cooed to the small baby now sleeping in my arms

And suddenly, I realized that Leanna knew all along

She knew she was going to die, and that's why she never told me not to go on that mission

She knew that if I was here when she died, I would be even more devastated

She knew that I needed to be strong so I could raise her girls

She was so strong, so smart...and so stubborn

A final tear ran down my cheek and dripped onto Grace's velvet head, no, not the last, the tears would come later

A soft breeze seemed to blow through the room, even though there were no windows or any source of wind, and I could almost hear a soft whispered voice

"Danny, take care of my girls for me"

Yes, the tears would wait

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A/N: Okay, next is the epilogue! How exciting! I got a nice review rate for the last chapter, so let's try to maybe keep that going, maybe please? Hehe, I hope you've liked this! And to MWPP, I can just say ::girlish squeal:: I think we might be twins. I'm such a Marauder's girl. Ok, that's all of the randomness, the next and final chapter will be up soon, so PLEASE PLEASE P.L.E.A.S.E. Review!!!!

Preview for Chapter 23: 4 years into the future; a look at Evelyn, Rafe, Danny, and, of course, Lily and Grace