A/N: Alright Ladies, I'm back from my wonderful weekend and am ready to post. I found out something interesting Friday night—my cousin is a PC fan also, but sadly she likes the other couple (cough cough—loser—hehehe, for any Colivia fans out there—I like them too, just not as much as Rali)). I did tell her what happens in this chapter, and she gave me a big AWWWW! (LOL!) Anyways, here you go—you girls are great. Until next time—Awww—PCGirl.
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"Where is Olivia?" asked Delia as she saw Caleb walk into the kitchen where she was washing off some lettuce for later.
"She's asleep," he said sliding onto the stool. "She can't get adjusted to the time difference as well as I can."
"Why aren't you with her? You must be tired also, and there's more to do than sit down here with an old dolt like me."
"You aren't an old dolt—I just need to get away from her and try and decide what to do next is all," he said seeing the newspaper sitting on the counter and pulling it over as he began to scan the headlines.
"What else is there to decide, Caleb?" she said finally turning around and looking at him.
"A lot—a whole lot."
"So you are going to just play mind games with Olivia until you finally get up the courage to go into that spring that hasn't been touched in so long?"
"I've got this fear—this stupid fear that I'll lose her. I can lose anything else in the world Delia, but I cannot lose that woman upstairs. We've pushed each other away so many times in our lives, and we've hurt ourselves by doing that—missing out on moments that we should have been there for each other, but we weren't. And why—because we are both stubborn asses at times. But the one thing we knew was, except for two times she thought I was truly gone, we always knew the other was there—I've never had to wonder what I'd do without her near me. I can protect her as a vampire, and she can't get sick with some disease and die on me. But as a mortal she can die at the drop of a hat—how do I put that fear away in the back of my head just long enough to jump into that spring?
"It's funny because she can't swim, but you know what she doesn't care. She's been ready to go take a flying leap into that water for months now—since she found out the truth. But me, I'm more scared of losing her than I am myself."
She sighed, "You sound like Trevor. He was scared, and you know what he did—nothing, he forbid Tara to go into that water, forbid her to even think about becoming mortal. Your destiny and Trevor's is different Caleb because you battled Myra and won. Don't let the past keep you from the future any longer Caleb Morley. You have nothing to be afraid of, trust me," she said walking over and kissing the top of his head and leaving the room. Caleb just sat there for a moment and then went back to reading the paper.
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"I can't believe we have to put these things together now, the babies won't sleep in them for months," groaned Rafe as he tried to read the instructions for the crib he was putting together. "You know, if they were actually in English or Romanian I could understand them, but this is all gibberish to me."
Jamal looked up from what he was doing and just laughed at Rafe, "You really don't know anything about assembling stuff like this, do you?"
"Nope, I can teach a person how to hit a moving target at 500 feet, but they don't teach you this in Slayer school. Just wait until Christmas when they both get bikes—I'll be up all night trying to get them put together."
"Well, if you were smart you'd bring the boxes over to their Uncle Jamal and let him assemble them—it'd be a lot less stressful."
"Ahem," said Alison as she leaned against the door in Katie's room.
"Hey—don't tell me you read all those magazines already," said Rafe as he finally figured out where the two parts he held in his hands went.
"No, it's not that," she said softly, looking down.
"Then what is it?" he said stopping and noticing Jamal had stopped too.
"I think I'm having the babies," she said looking at him and smiling.
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He stood there at the door to the bed room and watched her soundly sleeping. A slight smile came to his lips as the thought of her soon being with child—his child, and in the end they could return back to vampires. He slipped off his shoes and came around the bed to his side, moving in so the curves of his body mimicked her, his hand resting at first on her shoulder, but the moved down to her stomach.
He had seen Rafe place his hand there on Alison's stomach enough in the past seven months and had at times wondered what was so miraculous about placing your hand there. He then realized it was the ability to have the surest contact a father could have with his child. A smile appeared on his lips as he kissed her softly on the cheek and fell into a slumber of dreaming about things to come.
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"I can't believe you just left that mess in the middle of the room," said Alison as she put her head back against the seat.
"Jamal will come by later and finish putting them together, you heard what he said. Do you think we forgot anything? I mean I don't want us to get to the hospital and realize we need something. Did we get the overnight bag?" he rambled off in one long sentence.
"Rafe," she said grabbing his arm and feeling every muscle tense as if he were ready to do battle against a vampire, "Breathe," she said slowly as she did so herself.
"I thought I was the one that was supposed to say that to you," he said finally allowing himself to relax for a moment.
"Yeah, you are—but you are so tense you aren't remembering anything. The overnight bag has been in the car for the past week, remember?"
"Oh yeah," he smiled as they pulled into the ER loading dock. "Are you ready?" he said looking at her.
"Ready as I'll ever be," she said as she began to feel another contraction coming on.
~~~~~~Caleb and Livvie's Dream~~~~~~~
Caleb held the small bundle wrapped in pink in his arms looking at her—the Morley family would continue through her, and he knew it. He was tired, but he couldn't help but smiling—this little precious being in his arms was his in every sense of the word.
She was watching him, and he knew it—could feel her gaze set on him from across the room, "Olivia, I'm forever grateful to you for giving me her," he said looking over at her as she laid there in a half daze.
"Caleb," said Livvie softly from her hospital bed. "Caleb, bring her here so I can see her—you've been hogging her to yourself this whole time," she smiled as she watched him standing in the corner with their little girl. It amazed her as much as him that they finally had what they had wanted—a continuation of their family, and now that Tara was born, they didn't want to think about anything else besides basking in the serenity of life around them.
"She looks like her mom," he said softly as he ran his hands over the soft dark fuzz.
"Well, I can't tell if you don't bring her here," she said more sternly.
"Fine, I'll give her up for a few minutes," he said placing the small little baby in her arms and kissing them both. "I'll be back soon."
"Don't be gone too long, my love," she said as he left the room. "You're daddy's going to spoil you rotten," she laughed at the little girl who's eyes were open and trying to decide what this new world would bring. "But that's ok—I don't mind as long as we're together," she said as she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in," she called.
"Hey, do you mind visitors?" asked Alison as she walked in with Katie on her hip.
"No, not at all. Caleb finally gave up control of Tara and let me hold her for a bit," she smiled. "It took us long enough to have her—I'm not sure I'd want to give her up either," she said turning her attention to Katie, "And how are you doing today?"
Katie just smiled, but then leaned forward to give Tara a kiss on the head and watched as Tara gave out a little squeal of happiness, "Tara happy," smiled Katie to Alison.
"Yes, Tara is very happy," she said giving her own daughter a kiss on the forehead and playing with her blonde locks, "I think Tara would be proud to know you named your daughter after her," smiled Alison.
"That's what Caleb said the first time I told him her name. I think Tara and Elena would be proud of how the peace is going—and I have a feeling now with this little one, the peace may never end."
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"Come on sweetie," said Rafe as he kissed her head.
"Stop calling me that!" she screamed at him as she leaned forward and began to push again. She had counted to seven when she heard a small cry and fell back against the pillows. "Is that Eddie?" she said looking down and then looking at Rafe who was looking in amazement at the little human that had just come into the world. "Rafe," she said as she put her hand up to his face.
"That's our baby," he said kissing her forehead. "Can you push some more?" he asked as she shook her head. He put his arm behind her and leaned her forward as they began to count again.
"Alison, I need you to push harder," said Dr. Meadows.
"I—I don't think I can," she said leaning back as tears
began to well up in her eyes. "I can't
do it—I just don't have the energy right now."
"Alison—look at me," said Rafe. "Sweetie—we've got one of our miracles already with us, and you need to just put all your energy into getting our other one. So I want you to focus on something, focus on all the energy it took us to be together, all the energy we used to finally get to this point in our lives. Now take that energy and bring our little girl into the world, ok? If I could I would do it for you, but I can't," he said as he kissed her again and leaned her forward.
He closed his eyes and began to say a prayer, asking for help above to let her deliver the baby safely and when he finished he could see the baby crowning. "A little more," he whispered as the baby slid out and she leaned back. "We did it Alison," he said looking at her, and then seeing the nurse motioning to come and pick up Eddie.
He took his little boy, and carefully held him, "Look at you," he said smiling at him, "You are so tiny."
"Well, it is a baby, Rafe," she laughed as he came over and placed him in his arms. "Eddie, you have to excuse your father here—he seems a little awestruck, but it's ok because I am too," she said giving him a kiss. She looked up and saw Rafe holding Katie, "Who does she look like?"
"Just like her mother—gorgeous and amazing," he laughed, as he ran his hand over the light peach fuzz that covered her head.
"Well, you two have your babies now. Born just before midnight on March 29," spoke Dr. Meadows, interrupting the moment.
"Wait, what did you just say today is?" asked Alison.
"It's after midnight now, so it's the 30th."
"I know what her middle name is," smiled Alison through tears as she looked at Rafe who realized it also.
"Katrina Evelyn Kovich," he spoke softly before kissing her head. "Welcome into the world little angel."
