By Crazy4Cocopuffs
Chapter 10: Welcome Home, Baby …..!
Three Months Later
"HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY RINI AND DANNY!" Serena said as she walked into the crowded living room, carrying a large cake. Made by Lita, who was currently sitting on the couch with Nathan holding baby Julie, the cake was chocolate with white icing. On the top of the cake was six silver candles (three for each twin) and the words 'Happy 3rd Birthday Danny and Rini' written in blue icing with blue stars around it.
Danny and Rini were seated behind the coffee table, surrounded by gifts and people. Everyone was at the twins' birthday party. Amy and Zack got the day off of work at the hospital and were sitting in the love seat with baby Charlie. Mina, Kevin, and little Michael were sitting on the floor in front of the couch, next to Raye and Jason, who was holding baby Kaitlyn, who had been nicknamed Katie.
Serena, who was now around five months pregnant and starting to show, set the cake onto the coffee table then turned around and shouted down the hallway, "DARIEN! Hurry up!"
"Hold on, Sere! I'll be there in a sec!" Darien's voice came from behind their closed bedroom door.
Serena sighed and sat down next to Rini on the floor, giving the birthday girl and boy a quick kiss on the forehead. A second later, Darien made his was into the living room and sat down next to Danny.
"About time, Cape Boy," Raye commented.
"Why does she call you cape boy, Daddy?" Rini asked.
Darien blushed and muttered, "Never you mind." Taking a lighter out of his pocket, he lit the candles on the cake and ruffled Danny's hair as the group started to sing.
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Danny and Rini! Happy birthday to you!"
Rini giggled as they finished and Danny closed his eyes for a second. Then, as one, Rini and Danny looked at each other, then turned to the cake and blew the candles out.
"Why did you close your eyes, Danny?" Serena asked as Darien began to cut the cake and hand sliced to everyone.
"Making a wish, Mommy. Daddy said if you make a wish on your birthday, it'll come true. I want it to come true." Danny looked seriously at his mother and, taking her hand, led her out of the room and into the twins' bedroom. Serena followed silently, ignoring the questioning glances from her husband and friends. Closing the behind them, Danny sat on his bed and said, "Mommy, I'll tell you my wish if you want."
"Of course I want to hear your wish, baby. If you're sure you want to tell me?" Serena sat down on Rini's bed, directly across from Danny's.
"Okay, well…I wished that the baby would be here soon. When we went to the park yesterday, there was this kid, John, and he told me that when your mommy has a new baby, you get to be a big brother and that's a really important job. Is it for real?"
Serena smiled. "Yep, when I have the baby, you're going to be it's big brother and Rini'll be a big sister. It's a very important job. You have to keep the baby safe and love it and teach it how to do things."
"I have to do all that?" He questioned., surprised. "That's a lot. But I can do it."
"I know you can."
As they stood to leave, Danny stopped Serena. "Oh, and Mommy?"
"Yes, sweetie?"
"When is the baby going to be here? And is it a boy or a girl? And what is it's name?"
Laughing lightly, she answered, "About four months, I'll tell you later, and your Daddy and I were going to talk to you guys about a name later. Is that everything?"
"Yeah. Now is it time for presents?"
"Yep."
"Yeah!" Danny ran out of the room, followed by Serena. After settling Danny and Rini in the center of the presents, About five minutes later, she and Darien were clearing away dozens of scraps of wrapping paper and ribbons while the twins played with their toys and the girls and their families got their stuff together to leave.
"Okay, before you guys go, Sere has something she wants to tell us." Darien announced as he finished closing the trash bag of wrapping paper.
Serena stood up in front of everyone. She had decided after her talk with Danny to tell everyone what she had found out the day before. "Well, as most of you know, I went to a doctor yesterday. I just went for a quick check up, but I found out about the sex of the baby."
"And…?" Raye prompted, anxious to find out.
"And it's a girl!"
BOOM!
Down went Darien again. (That man needs to get checked. He shouldn't faint this much. It's mnot healthy, but it sure is funny!) Serena just stood there laughing as the twins tried to wake Darien up. Even the girls were giggling as they watched Rini gently hit Darien on the face while Danny poked him in the stomach.
Mina and Serena looked at each other and chorused "Pass the cake!" The other girls laughed harder and Lita handed over the requested slices of cake.
Ami just shook her head. "No matter what happens," she said. "Those two will never ever change."
Four Months Later
"Hurry up Darien! We REALLY don't have time for this right now!" Serena shouted at her husband as he searched the living room for something. And she had a point. It was four in the morning and just an hour before, Serena had woken the whole house up when she felt contractions start. As soon as her water broke, Darien had gone into a panic and was rushing through the house, locking doors and turning off lights while Serena got the twins ready to go.
"I found it!" Darien rushed into the entry way, shoving something into his pocket. "Let's go!"
"About time! So did you call the girls?" She asked as they headed out the door, locking it behind them. The twins were asleep in their car seats in the car.
"Yes, ten minutes ago."
"Call the hospital?"
"Yep, Ami knows we're coming. She's not on call tonight, but Zack is."
Strapping herself in, she watched Darien do the same and then start the car and back out of the driveway. "And are you ready to become a daddy again?"
He looked over at Serena, who was dressed in a loose sundress and sporting messily tied hair, and grinned. "I can't wait. And what about you? Are you ready for this?"
Serena grinned back. "I've been ready for this baby for nine months. I just can't believe that today is the day she makes her appearance. I'm so excited! But…"
"But what?" Darien asked as he pulled onto the highway.
"We haven't picked a name yet. We've discussed it for the last few months but nothing seems to fit. What if we can't come up with a good name for her?"
"Don't worry. We'll come up with something. We didn't have names ready for the twins and they turned out just fine. Let's wait until we meet her to name her. Something'll fit."
"Well, how did your mother come up with YOUR name?"
Darien blushed. "I was named after someone my mother knew. He helped her out and bam! I was given the name Darien."
Serena looked at him questioningly. "What did he do?"
"He…well, promise not to laugh?"
With a relatively straight face, Serena nodded. "Promise."
"Okay, see, my mom's friend Darien ran a deli close to our house. During the whole time she was pregnant, my mom craved bologna and pickles. So, she'd walk the two blocks to Darien's deli and buy bologna and he would give her a dozen pickles for free. Every day. In my family, that makes you eligible for sainthood. So that's where the Darien came from."
"With this baby I craved sundeas. And Andrew always hooked me up. Maybe we should name the baby after him?" Serena suggested as they turned off the exit to the hospital.
"Don't you think that naming our daughter 'Andrew' might cause some problems? Or emotional damage?"
Serena giggled. "No, silly! Not 'Andrew'! More like 'Andrea' or something."
"Oh. Well I guess that would be okay. But let's wait until she's born to name her. She might not be very much of a 'Andrea'." Darien suggested as he pulled the car into the hospital parking lot.
"Okay." She agreed. Unhooking the seatbelt, Serena stretched her legs and stepped out of the car, using the roof-handle (also known as the 'oh-shit handle' ) for leverage.
As she and Darien were unbuckling the twins, Darien's cell phone rang.
"Hello?" Darien answered, lifting Danny out of his car seat and balancing the sleepy toddler on his hip.
"Dare? It's Ami. Are you two at the hospital yet? I've got Sere's room ready."
"We're just heading inside right now, Ami. What floor are you on?" Nodding toward the door, he began to lead Serena, who was carrying Rini, toward the entrance of the hospital.
"Three. Head on up. Did you bring the twins?"
"Yeah. They're pretty much asleep on their feet. I doubt we'll have to worry about them for a while. Are the girls here yet?"
"Almost all of us are. We're just waiting on you guys and Raye. Our guys are staying home with the babies so we can be with Sere."
Before Darien could respond, a loud voice from behind shouted, "SERE! DARE! WAIT!" Raye came running up stand beside Serena. "Serena, you shouldn't be carrying Rini when you're on your way to have a baby! Here, hand her to me."
As Raye took Rini from Serena, Darien remembered his call and spoke to Ami. "We've found Raye. We'll all be up soon. What's the room number?"
"340. It's maybe three doors away from the south elevator."
"Okay, thanks. See you soon."
"Bye."
Hanging up the phone, Darien walked through the hospital doors and straight to the south elevator, ignoring the receptionist who asked if she could help them. As soon as Raye and Serena stepped into the elevator, he hit the button to close the doors then the button marked '3' for the third floor.
"Ami has a room ready on the third floor." Darien replied to the questioning looks from both Serena and Raye. "And even though she's not screaming yet, I know we don't have much time to get Serena ready. This baby is coming fast."
Raye gasped. "Is that true, Serena?"
Serena avoided her gaze. "Well, the contractions are a few minutes apart but I still think we have some time. By the way, how did you know, Darien?"
"Whenever a contraction hit, you would wince. So I knew they were getting faster and stronger." He looked her in the eye as the elevator doors opened. "You should have told me."
"I know. Let's just get me to bed. These things are really starting to hurt and I remember how great the drugs were last time. I didn't feel a thing." Serena stepped out and started to walk down the hallway.
"It's room 340!" Darien shouted as he and Raye followed behind her with the twins.
Serena turned into the designated room and came face to face with Ami and Zack. They had been setting up the equipment that would be needed.
All too soon, Darien and Raye were waiting in the hallway with the twins while Ami examined Serena. When Ami came out a few minutes later, she was smiling. "Looks like this baby is coming soon. Very soon."
"How soon?" Darien asked.
"Well, we need to get you into scrubs if you want to be in the delivery room. Like in the next half hour."
"Half hour!" He jumped up and ran toward the prep area (he's a doctor, remember?) and started to get ready.
All too soon (for him anyway), Darien was in the delivery room, holding Serena's hand as she took turns pushing and complaining about how long the birth was taking.
"You would think that it wouldn't take so long the second time around. I mean, hello? I have done this before and it seemed to go way quicker."
Finally the time came for the final push. Darien's hand was still wrapped around Serena's and he sincerely hoped that it wasn't broken from the vice grip she had on him.
Ami moved into position to deliver the baby. "Okay Sere, here we go. Push!"
Five minutes Later (I'm bored with the whole birth scene thing, so I'm skipping ahead.)
"She's so beautiful." Serena said, looking down at the little baby girl in her arms.
"Just like her mother," Darien added, planting a kiss on the top of Serena's head before doing the same to his new daughter. The baby shifted in her mother's arms and a small smile appeared on her face.
"Honey, can you go get the kids. They have someone to meet."
"Sure. I'll be right back." Darien walked out the door after a quick reassuring glance backward to find his children.
"Now it's just you and me, little one." Serena said, gently running a finger along the baby's arm. "Before Daddy gets back with your brother and sister, there are a few things I need you to know. Number one is that no matter what happens, Daddy and I will always love you and take care of you. Number two is that, I know that having an older brother and sister might get tough sometimes, it was with me and your uncle Sammy, but you have to be there for each other, no matter what. That's what family does. And last but not least, number three is that you have to at least try to be a good girl. Mommy and Daddy try very hard to take care of you three but please, I beg of you, try to not complicate things."
Serena watched as the baby girl smiled and peeked an eye open. Grinning, Serena added, "Did you get all that?"
"Get all what?" Darien asked, startling Serena as he entered with the twins behind him.
As soon as the twins noticed the tiny baby in their Mom's arms, they raced beside her, one on each side.
"Is that the baby, Mommy? Is it ours?" Rini asked.
"Am I a big brother now?" Danny asked at the exact same time.
Serena laughed. "One at a time. Yes, Danny, you're a big brother and Rini's a big sister. Yes, Rini, this is our new baby girl."
Darien decided to add his question to the mix. "Okay, you two. Did you think of anything to name your new sister?"
"Yeah! And mine's better!" They both shouted (almost) at the same time.
"What did you pick out?"
"I picked out Lily, 'cause of my favorite movie." Rini answered first.
"I picked Grace, because she should be graceful, like Mommy." Danny followed, a second behind Rini.
"Well, I like them both." Serena said. Seeing Darien nod his approval, she continued. "We'll name her Lily Grace. Do you both like that."
"Yep!" Chorused the twins.
After a few minutes of family bonding (both Danny and Rini had to have a turn holding the newly named baby Lily), the hospital room door opened and Serena's friends crowded into the room to ooh and aww.
"She's so cute!"
"Oh, look how tiny she is!"
"She's so adorable!"
"She hope she didn't get her mother's lungs or Sere and Dare'll never sleep!" (three guesses on who this was. )
"Look at all that hair!"
"She's got the bluest eyes I've ever seen!"
"She's strong. Look at that grip!"
"Aww. She's going to sleep."
Tired of being the center of attention after SUCH a long day, baby Lily settled against her mother's chest and slipped into sleep. The girls too this as their cue to leave and, after one last congratulations and a goodbye hug, they did just that.
Shortly after that, Darien left, taking the bored twins back home, and Serena was left alone. Well almost. She still had her new baby by her side.
"You know what, little one? We've got a long road ahead of us. The good and the bad, we'll have to face it all." She laid the baby in the basket that sat next to her bed. Then she got back under the covers and just before slipping off to dreamland, whispered, "I know we'll make it."
A few hours later, when Ami came to check on her latest 'patients', she had to smile at the sight before her. Serena, completely exhausted, was sound asleep and holding the hand of her baby daughter. Both blondes were laying on their stomachs and both had small smiles on their faces, either from good dreams or just knowing that someone they loved was near.
Ami quietly left the room and silently shut the door. Maybe it was time to check on her own little one….
AN: Sorry it took so long. I honestly couldn't think of what to write. Just so you know, the next chapter is the epilogue. I hope you like this chapter and the next. I promise to update sooner than I did the last time. Please review! I want to hear any ideas you have on what the future should be for Darien, Serena, Rini, Danny, and Lily. I love you all!