Cat and Mouse
Chapter 19
Epilogue: Double, Double
…
The First
She is wonderful, like a rainbow after a stormy sky.
She is beautiful, like a picture caught in time.
She is gentle, like the beat of butterfly wings that flutters by.
She is loving, like the sun to a blooming flower.
She is mine.
She was the one thing I never expected. But once she was here, I cherished her like a gift from up above.
She will learn from me, what is right and wrong.
She'll grow up and everyone will see, the wonderful girl that she is to me.
When I've lived my life, when I'm ready to leave, the one thing that I'll always remember for the rest of my soul's wondering days.
Is the child I gave birth too, the baby I hold in my arms, the little piece of me that will continue on.
She is Me, like children often are. Even if I have others, it still won't be the same.
For this baby, this girl, is my first born.
EyeCandy ©2003
Aka
SerenityGlory
Permission granted by the author to use this poem here
A mother's children are portraits of herself. Unknown
Later that evening
Adam, Clara and Sarah placed the additional furniture in the nursery for Emma's twins, including an additional set of color-coded clothing. Emma slept the rest of the day and almost the entire night after Shal's delivery.
Shalimar woke to breast-feed and bond with her two at two and six a.m. Clara helped with Emma's that night, as she was so deeply sleeping that nobody wanted to disturb her just yet. Adam also set up a second refrigerator to they could keep formula ready for the two sets of twins who had been dubbed "Double Trouble!" by Jesse and Brennan when they carried them back to the Den. In the meantime, Adam readied the birth certificates sans the four names for the lawyer to file in a few days.
The next morning
Emma awoke finally about 7:30 a.m., still incredulous that she had had twins the day before. She crept out of bed into the nursery, nodding at Sarah, who was dozing on the day bed and studied her babies, who were lying side by side in one bassinet. Both of them had tufts of red hair all over. She picked one up and placed it on the bed, followed closely by her second child. Their little fingers and toes, much like any new mother, amazed her. She never had the chance to do this with Jori and Chessy, so she fully enjoyed this. She sniffed each one in turn, memorizing their individual scents. Both of them wrapped their hands around a finger much to her amazement and delight. The both gurgled and cooed at her, when they opened their eyelids to reveal light and dark violet eyes.
Shal awoke at the cooing, and Emma's gasp of wonder. "Hey, little Mama!" she whispered, not wanting to disturb Emma too much. She knew what Emma was going through, as she had done similar tactics with her two much earlier in the morning. "Feeling better?"
"Much. Aren't they so cute? And look they both have violet eyes, like Jori does!" She smiled at Shal.
"Have you feed them yet?"
Emma looked aghast, like she had forgotten a very important subject. She pulled her shirt aside and picked one baby up to try to feed it. Shalimar slipped out of bed to get her twins to show them to Emma, and she picked up the burp cloths for them.
After settling herself next to Emma, Shal asked, "So, have you decided on their names yet?" Emma at first looked perplexed. She had completely forgotten about naming them in the excitement of the past 24 hours. "Wow! I do get to do that!" Shal giggled.
Emma thought a few minutes. "This one is Katarina Pansy," pointing at the one with the darker eyes, "and this one is Amethyst Peony. Katya and Amy. What about yours?"
Shal proudly showed off her two. "This one with the doe-brown eyes is Tegan Ophira, and this little rascal is Tamarine Aurelie." They finished burping Katya and Tegan and handed them off to Sarah who had wordlessly been waiting, then they feed the other two.
About the time they were done, Clara was there with their own breakfast trays. Two pairs of eyes were waiting in the hallway for them. "Mama, can we see our sisters now?" Emma nodded and they ran into the nursery.
"What's their names?"
"Oooh, they've both got violet eyes like yours."
Sipping her milk, Emma walked over to show Jori and Chessy her two. "Katarina Pansy and Amethyst Peony. Shal in turn paraded her twins to them: "Tamarine Aurelie and Tegan Ophira. Now it's time to let them sleep for few hours. Let us get dressed and we'll meet you out in the common room in a little while."
"Alright, mommy!" Jori reluctantly pulled herself away from the cribs.
"Don't take too long!"
They ran off skipping and giggling. Emma pulled Shalimar into the bathroom, locking both doors for privacy. Watching Shal nurse her twins reminded her of her own needs. She started the shower and slowly undressed Shal, as Shal pulled her own shirt off in return. They kissed each other hungrily and stepped into the shower together.
Shal laid a trail of kisses down Emma's neck, causing her to tremble, and ended up across her dark and full nipples, tasting the sweet milk that beaded up under her tongue. She noted how much flatter Emma's stomach was, amazed that those two little ones had been inside there just yesterday. They changed positions and soon Shal was gripping Emma's head tightly. She pulled Emma up on her feet and they hugged tightly, crying a little together as the shower flowed over their heads.
"It's been much too long, Shal."
"Yes, it has."
Emma looked down. "Hey, look, Shal! I have my ankles back!" Emma giggled.
"That isn't all you have back. Your belly is almost flat again!" Shal observed as she traced circles on Emma's belly.
"Are you trying for a second round, Shal?" Emma teased her.
"No. Later on I will." She giggled.
"Emma, Shalimar, I need to run scans on you and the babies. Can you bring them to the lab?" Emma sighed at Adam's inopportune interruption.
"Alright, Adam. We'll be there in about fifteen minutes."
An hour later, Adam was done with the scans. He sent the babies off with Clara and Sarah and he sat the two mothers down to talk about the results. "Emma, I've suspected for a while, but today's scan confirms it. Somehow you've acquired feral genes, about 10. And Shal, you're about 5 psionic genes now. Although, I'm hard pressed to explain how the babies are 50/50 psionic and feral."
He looked hard at Emma before he continued, "Emma, I made a mistake early on. I discounted the feral genes in setting up your gene sequencing. That's part of the reason you had so much trouble physically there at the end of the pregnancy. Your babies were fighting your body, much as O-negative fights O-positive babies." He was very apologetic.
Emma jumped up to hug him. "Don't worry about it, Adam. As long as they are healthy now."
"Yes, that they are. I've seen a drastic improvement in their scans since yesterday. Now I have to warn you both. I don't know which is going to manifest first, or if the mutancies will develop side by side. I won't know for certain until they are between 4 and 6 months. I do know the feral part can lead to a faster development overall. If you'll oblige me, I want to run daily scans for the first month to chart their progress. Emma, I want to run bi-weekly ones to recalibrate your baseline."
He picked up the birth certificates. "I need their names for these so we can get them to the lawyer in the next few days." As soon as they were filled out, he sent them off. "You two need to keep up your strength to keep up with 4 little ones. Clara and Sarah have been briefed and have volunteered to stay on here for a few weeks. Heidi and Susie will be their relief. And Mare' has asked already for visits, when you're ready, of course. Everything in your nursery here is over there. I've laid in plenty of supplies so you won't have to worry about anything but enjoying your babies." He pulled open a drawer. "I'm going to have Jesse inscribe these with their names for those of us who are not twin-literate." He chuckled lightly, and then sobered quickly.
"Listen to your bodies this week, though, and don't try to push it too much. We have plenty of hands around her to help in the mean time. I suspect you'll have Brennan diapering one of these days too."
He shooed them out of the lab. Emma steered Shal into the kitchen. "I'm hungry."
"What are you hungry for?" Shal asked cautiously.
"A juicy steak, you, and a protein milkshake."
"Let's see what there is in the fridge," Shal giggled.
Jesse was in the kitchen when they got there, eating a big platter of eggs and bacon. His eyebrows raised in concern, "Are you sure you two should be up just yet?" He pulled two chairs out with his foot for them to sit in.
"We just had babies, not returned from the dead, " Shal said as she nicked a piece of bacon. "Did you leave any of the pig?" she asked.
Emma reached into the fridge for the milk and ice to make herself a milkshake. The thought of eggs and bacon made her a little sick to her stomach. "Shal?" Shal shook her head and proceeded to eat from Jesse's plate. Jesse gave up eating his breakfast and shoved the plate under nose, mumbling about he was full anyways. He fled the kitchen. "Shal, that was mean!"
"Maybe, but I was too hungry to wait to cook anything."
"Does that mean you don't want one of my steaks?" Emma pouted.
"Yes, I do." Emma smiled and pulled two steaks out. She fixed the broiler pan and seasoned the steaks. After putting them into the oven she gratefully sat down with her milkshake to wait. Just that little bit of exertion tired her out. She wasn't ready for the two bundles of energy that soon swooped them in the kitchen.
"I thought you were going to meet us in the common room, Mama, " Chessy whispered in her ear.
"We were, but we were hungry after Grandpa's scans." Emma hugged her tight. "Want some steak?"
"Yeah!" They chorused together.
Emma cut her steak into three pieces when they were done and shared them with her daughters, the milkshake having filled her up earlier. She sent the twins ahead to pick out a video to watch together. Luckily they had picked out a short carton, as all too soon, it was time for the babies' next feeding. Both Emma and Shal were ready for a nap afterwards.
Emma smiled down at Amethyst and slyly watched Shal with Tegan. "We made some pretty babies!"
"We did."
"Now you have your kitlings and I have …"
"Mouselings!" Shal finished her thoughts.
"Mouslings and kitlings. I like that."
Emma kissed Shal. "Let's make some more some time, much later!"
The End
P.S. Does anybody want a sequal?
Shout outs
Special thanks go to Falconia, Eyecandy, and Shalgal for encouraging me and reading drafts for me as I went along with this story.
Mystic Flower Floating Thanks for jumping aboard here. Hope you like my ending.
melodie568 I've enjoyed your comments. I can't wait to read more of your stories, either by them selves or via FalconWolf's story!
wox-77 whoo-hoo! I finished it finally. Cute names you have picked out!
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Daryl thanks for sticking through the entire story!
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