A/N: Carlie and Livvie – xoxoxoxoxox - G

Chapter Forty-four

The next few days seemed to go by in a blur. In a quiet ceremony, all the people who'd loved Lilly gathered to say goodbye. All except for Lia.

She knew she should go. She wanted nothing more than to comfort Lynnie and Ethan but she didn't think that it would work – not when she herself was pregnant with two babies and her sister had nothing.

She thought she had an idea but she knew Danny wouldn't agree. She had mentioned it and he would not even discuss the possibility. True to form, whenever that happened, Lia made plans to force him to.

Danny walked into the apartment, completely and totally exhausted. He'd hated to leave Lia, she was so close to delivering and so upset about Lynnie. But half the staff at the hospital had one strain of the flu or other and he'd had to work double shifts nearly all this week.

As the door closed behind him he heard the sound of a teakettle. She shouldn't be getting up. He grumbled as he reached the kitchen and turned the stove off. Still fuming and ready to strangle her for getting out of bed, he quickly made her a cup of tea.

"Lia?" He called out as he walked towards the bedroom; shocked at what he found when he got there. "Oh my God. LIA!"

"Hi…" She panted back at him. "I'm...mmm." She winced and held a hand to her stomach. "I'm so glad you're home."

Danny heart raced as he put the mug down quickly and moved to her side. "Are you out of your mind! You're in LABOR? Why didn't you call me?"

"I'm having the babies here." She replied calmly - just before she screamed.

He looked at the bed, which she had stripped down to the bottom sheet. Piles of pillows were stacked against the headboard. There were heaps of towels and blankets at the other end.

"LIA." Danny looked at her in disbelief. "You ARE out of your mind. I can't deliver the babies."

"Well honey if that's true then you certainly wasted a lot of money on medical school." She snapped back at him. She cringed again and his face lost all color.

"Lia." He gulped as he watched her. "You know what I mean. It's safer for you to be in the hospital…" There was so much more he wanted to say but there didn't seem to be much time. Lia's knees gave out and he caught her.

"Jesus, Julia." Danny sighed as he helped her settle on the bed. "How long has this been going on?"

"Since…." She took a deep breath before she could go on. "Ummmm. Last night."

"LAST NIGHT?" Danny's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Please remind me, after I'm sure you and the babies are safe and OK that I'm going to KILL YOU."

"It's OK." She nodded. "It'll be fine. Really, Danny I got everything ready. I looked it up online."

"Oh how resourceful of you." He sighed.

Undeterred, Lia went on. "See? I have your medical bag, I have blankets and I put clean sheets on the bed and I even boiled some water…"

He started to laugh in spite of it all. "Yeah I noticed. And here I was thinking you wanted some tea." He stared into her eyes. "Lia it's not 1825. I won't need boiled water."

"It just seemed like the right thing to do. I was trying…" She winced at another contraction. "To figure out…" She panted a bit before she could finish. "Why you would need it…"

"Well. To sterilize instruments for one." Danny began explaining and then got a hold of himself. "Lia. I want to take you to the hospital." He stopped short when he started to examine her. "Jesus, Julia." He whispered again.

"What's the matter?" She asked her voice rising in panic.

"The baby's crowning." He replied. "Well – one of them at least."

"Oh my God." She gasped.

"Yeah. Oh my God." Danny replied, wondering why he was surprised. Life with Julia was never boring that was for sure. He should have known better. "OK. I need you to push."

"OK…" She nodded, looking like a deer in headlights. Her mind raced. Why had she thought this would be a better idea? After what had happened with Lynnie, Lia just didn't think she could stand going back to the hospital. Not that she didn't trust Michelle – but she felt so safe knowing Danny was the one treating her.

Still even with that, nerves got the best of her and she began to shake uncontrollably. Danny desperately tried to remember all he had learned years ago when he actually worked in the Maternity Ward.

"Look at me, Lia." He said softly. He waited until she met his eyes. "It won't take to long now. Just push."

As she did Danny's thoughts shifted to how on earth he'd be able to take care of the first baby while delivering the other. He looked at his wife, his heart aching as he watched her struggle with the next contraction. "Lia. Honey. Why didn't you call your mother?" He'd do it himself but he was afraid to leave her for even a few minutes.

"She'll be here…" Lia panted. "…soon. I'm sure she sees what's going on…"

As if on cue, suddenly Danny could hear the sound of the front door opening and footsteps running towards them.

"Julia! For God's sake." Abby sighed as she rushed into the bedroom.

"Hey Mom." Lia replied with a half smile. She needed to push again.

"Thank God you're here." Danny said gratefully. "That's right. Again, Lia."

"Wouldn't miss it." Abby replied as she grabbed a hold of her daughter's hand, wincing a bit as Lia squeezed her's so hard she thought it might break. "Can't ever do anything the easy way can you Julia?"

"Sure I could but what fun would that be?" Lia replied. She fell back onto the pillows. "Mom." She whispered with tears in her eyes. "Why am I so tired?"

"Oh I don't know, honey. Maybe because you're busy having twins?" Abby said softly.

"One more Lia, c'mon." Danny called out.

Nodding she bore down and pushed again. "I know. I'll have two and Lynnie..." Her voice choked on a sob. "Lynnie has none. I'm trying to get Danny to agree. I want Lynnie and Ethan to raise one of the twins…"

The thought was sweet, but completely outrageous. "Oh Lia sweetheart…" Abby's heart ached, knowing Lia's intentions were nothing but good. "You can't do that."

"I know." Lia nodded. She knew it was an insane idea but she was so desperate to help Lynnie it was the only thing she could think of. It was why she decided to have the babies at home. It was a crazy plan but in her desperation to help Lynnie it had seemed like a good one.

"Mom…" She sighed. "I just want to help her."

So did Abby. She knew exactly how Lia felt, completely and totally helpless.

"I know that you do honey but as hard as it is, we need to let Lynnie and Ethan just work through this. You giving up one of your babies is not the answer." She whispered as she wiped Lia's brow. She smiled as she continued. "And just wait till you see them. You'll know for a fact that you'd never be able to."

She pushed again and Danny's face lit up as he caught their son in his arms. "OK, little guy." He whispered as he quickly moved to clear the baby's airway.

A loud cry filled the air and tears spilled from Lia's eyes. "He's OK?" She whispered.

"He's perfect." Danny replied with a huge smile as he cleaned him up the best he could and wrapped him up in a blanket. "Abby? Can you?" He asked as he held the baby out to her.

"Sure." She nodded, tears flooding her own eyes.

Abby turned and brought the baby over to her daughter and in an instant she knew. It was clear the minute she saw him that Lia's offer was officially off the table.

"Hey there mister." Lia whispered as she ran a finger over his cheek. She took one look at the baby's face and declared. "Danny. Look. He's Sean."

They had fought over names for months. Lia was hell bent on naming one of the babies Sean, while Danny argued to skip the Irish and just name him John. It would save the kid the trouble of people calling him "Seen" his whole life. But it didn't matter at all now. All of the sudden he couldn't care less what she named him.

"OK. Fine." Danny was too wrapped in what was to come for her words to really register.

He turned his attention back to the task at hand. "OK. One down, one to go." He muttered to himself, his body running on an adrenalin high. In all the years he'd studied and practiced medicine, nothing had prepared him for something like this.

He looked up at his wife and asked,"Ready to go again?"

Lia nodded, still looking frightened.

"Listen to me, Julia." Danny instructed. "Repeat after me. The next time we do this we're going to the hospital."

"There isn't…" Lia panted. "Going to be...a next time."

"Famous last words." Abby commented with a watery laugh. "That's exactly what I said to your father when I had you. And look what happened."

Danny was going to insist she promise, but there wasn't enough time. Seems someone was anxious to meet them. Another push and there he was, looking exactly like his brother.

"Here we go." Danny's hands shook as he lifted his second son up so Lia could see. After his cry sounded and melded with Sean's Danny bundled the baby up and brought him to her.

"He's Liam." He whispered as he placed the baby in her arms. Abby quietly handed Sean back to Danny and slipped away, wanting to call an ambulance to finally take Lia and the twins to the hospital. Danny hadn't asked but she knew that would be what he wanted.

Once they were alone, Lia smiled up at him. "Where did that come from? We never even talked about Liam."

"I know." He nodded. "I just thought of it. I think it's perfect, Lia. Since it's close to what we call you." Danny smiled back as he moved to kiss her.

It never ceased to amaze her, how very much she loved him. "Oh Danny…" She sobbed.

"Well it's only fitting. Seeing as you did all this work." He laughed as he kissed her again.

"So did you." She replied.

"Yeah." Danny looked at her sternly but his voice was full of love. "You made sure of that didn't you?"