The Warbucks' were beyond excited to welcome a little bundle of joy to their family, but Grace's pregnancy did not go as smoothly as any of them would have preferred. Her morning sickness and cramps were unbearable during the first trimester and going into the second, she swelled so much - abnormally so, according to the doctor. Doctor McIntosh made house calls every week from the time Grace was twenty-four weeks gestation, until she was at thirty weeks.

That was when things began to get alarming.

Grace waas retaining so much water in her ankles it was painful not only to walk, but all the time. The doctor ordered her to have complete bed rest, but she was still in excruciating pain.

It had become quite traumatizing for Annie and Oliver, as well as all of the staff. Everyone cared for Grace and they were all so looking forward to meeting the baby, but so distressed at seeing the woman in such agony.

Hearing her wails for quite long enough, the doctor told Grace that she was to come to the hospital that evening for a proper examination and to be kept under observation for at least a few nights.

As fate would have it, she didn't have to be observed for very long at all - that night, her water broke.

"It's too early", she sobbed fearfully as the doctors and nurses all crowded around her in preparation for delivery.

"Well, the little one is in a mighty big hurry to meet you", Dr. McIntosh told Grace kindly. "Don't worry, Mrs. Warbucks, you're going to be alright, you and your baby."

He was, of course, trying to keep her calm by reassuring her, though all the signs of difficulty during her pregnancy, especially of late, suggested that something wasn't right.

Oliver, who was waiting in the corridor with Annie, was absolutely losing his marbles, terribly worried for his wife and for his unborn child. He was glad Mrs. Pugh had come with them to keep Annie occupied. He was a nervous wreck and not a very calming presence for his daughter who was already very worried about her Mom.

"She'll be alright, dear girl", Mrs. Pugh comforted Annie.

"What about my brother or sister?" Annie asked with fear in her eyes.

Mrs. Pugh drew in a shaky breath, not confident in giving the same optimistic prognosis for the baby. "Let's pray", she advised gently, taking the girl by the hand and bowing her head.

Oliver glanced their way and felt his emotion bubble up inside of him. He wasn't usually one for crying, but this was an exceptional situation. He wept quietly against the cold wall of the hospital corridor as he listened to Mrs. Pugh reciting The Lord's Prayer.

Meanwhile, in the delivery room, Grace was saying prayers herself, asking the lord for help as she did what the doctors has instructed her to and pushed with all her might.

The pain was like nothing she had ever felt before, but it was thankfully short lived as soon a little whimpering cry filled the room and one nurse exclaimed. "It's a boy!"

Grace collapsed back, exhausted but incredibly excited to meet her son. The nurse wiped him down and weighed him.

"Five pounds exactly, he's perfect Mrs. Warbucks", Dr. McIntosh assured her, knowing how understandably concerned she'd been.

Grace reached out for her son with a relieved smile, but then a very painful and uncomfortable pressure overtook her once more.

"Uh, Doctor…", one of the nurses beckoned and Dr. McIntosh returned to the foot of the bed. The doctor's eyes lit up in surprise. "Well, Mrs. Warbucks, I'm going to have to ask you to do that all over again because you've got another baby coming."

"What?!" Grace shrieked. Her head span at the thought - twins! It had taken her and Oliver long enough to prepare for one baby. Now they'd be going home with two!

She felt a sense of relief at the same time as the nervousness though. At least this would account for her baby's…babies' early arrival. (She'd read a lot of books about babies and birth in the past few months.)

"OK, Mrs. Warbucks, get ready to push again…now!"

Grace squeezed her eyes shut tight, gritting her teeth, her head pounding, not to mention the throbbing in other parts of her body!

She screamed loudly and pushed again, the delivery of her second child even more excruciating than the first yet somehow easier.

A wail filled the room as the baby made its entrance into the world and the medical staff all laughed and cooed, making Grace cry with happiness that her second child was clearly also good and healthy.

"Congratulations Mrs. Warbucks, your son has a twin brother!" Dr. McIntosh grinned and Grace cried even harder.

Before she could start to celebrate or even have the chance to hold her sons again, the other Doctor present exclaimed, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not start this birthday celebration just yet. I think we have another guest of honor."

The reaction of the Doctors and Nurses was quite different from the discovery that there were two babies. Triplets were a much rarer occurrence, and that also meant further uncertainty and therefore greater risk.

"Mrs. Warbucks…"

"Oh no, no please. I can't push again!" Grace sobbed.

She loved her newborn children already but she'd be damned if she was prepared to push out another one

"I'm afraid you have to, Mrs. Warbucks. This little one is counting on you. You're a Mama now, you can do anything!" Dr. McIntosh encouraged her and Grace felt the great big ball of fear in her chest get pushed aside by one of courage and fortitude. The doctor was right. She could, and would do anything for her children.

With every ounce of strength she had, she pushed.

"Wait!" A nurse's panicked cry echoed around the small room. "Doctor…", she turned to Dr. McIntosh whose face fell.

"Stop pushing, Mrs. Warbucks!"

"Arghhh. What? Why?!" Grace cried.

"The baby's in a flexed position", the nurse murmured to Dr. McIntosh.

"Mrs. Warbucks, your little one is breech. We need to try and turn the baby if we can."

"O-OK", Grace stammered.

"This may be a little more painful, I apologize", the doctor told her seriously and Grace merely nodded with tears in her eyes, she was honestly unable to fathom anything could be more painful than what she'd already endured that night. Actually there was one thing she knew would be irrevocably more painful - not doing everything she possibly could and something happening to her baby because of it.

One kind nurse grabbed hold of her hand and the doctor used his forceps to attempt to turn the baby.

Grace let out a blood-curdling scream. It was deafening to the team around her and distressing to her husband and daughter and friend who were waiting outside the room.

All the color drained from Oliver's face when he heard the sound of his wife's anguish. Without a moment of thought, he rushed toward the door of the delivery room and barreled through it.

"Grace!" He cried out in distress and worry for his wife.

A nurse approached him. "Mr. Warbucks, please, we need you to wait outside…"

"What's happening to my wife? What's wrong with our baby?!"

It was only then that he noticed the two little bundles fussing in bassinets to the side of the room. His brow furrowed in surprise and confusion but before he could ask any questions, he was being pushed out of the room.

He stood, blinking at the door that had just been slammed in his face.

"Daddy, what's wrong with Mommy?" Annie asked him in panic.

"What's happening to her, Sir?" Mrs. Pugh asked him.

"I-I'm not sure. I couldn't tell…" His mind was reeling quickly. He was trying to put the pieces together.

It was then that the three of them had noticed Grace's screams had ceased.

Back in the room, the exhausted new Mother was whimpering softly from the gurney. It wasn't the pain that was upsetting her, it was the lack of any sound from the child the doctor had just pulled out of her.

"W-what's wrong? Is something the matter?"

"Mrs. Warbucks, we just need to take your daughter for some tests. You'll be able to see her soon", Dr. McIntosh explained before at least half of the medical team dashed out of the room with her youngest child on a trolley.

"Here are your two strong, handsome little boys", the kind nurse smiled as she and her colleague brought Grace's boys to her. She was too weak yet to hold them, and too preoccupied with thoughts of her other child who had been taken out of the room.

"Where are they taking my little girl? Is she alright? She wasn't crying."

"Try not to worry, Mrs. Warbucks. You've been through an awful lot in the past twenty minutes. Delivering triplets is no easy feat. You must try to relax and rest now as much as possible."

Of course Grace knew she had an obligation to her sons and she did everything she could to remain calm and collected as the nurses wheeled them and her to a nearby room where very shortly after, Annie and Mrs. Pugh came bounding in to see her.

"Mommy!"

Despite being very weak and still in a huge amount of pain, Grace reached for her eldest daughter instantly, desperate to hold at least one of her girls.

"My dear, what happened? I-Oh…" Mrs Pugh stopped short when she noticed the two boys in their cots next to Grace's bed.

"Twins? Oh Grace!"

"No Mrs. Pugh. Triplets! They've taken my little girl, I don't know where she is." Fresh tears spilled down Grace's cheeks.

"Leapin' lizards! I have two brothers and a sister?!" Annie exclaimed in awe.

Grace nodded, happy for her daughter's excitement but in deep distress about the condition of her other daughter. Still, she tried to put on a brave face and when the nurse helped her up in the bed so she could hold see her sons properly, she felt a wave of instant love and protection wash over her.

She cried yet again, for a whole new reason, or perhaps a combination of reasons.

"Come meet your brothers, Annie", she invited the girl over to see the grizzling baby boys.

"What are their names Mommy?"

"I don't know yet. I wasn't expecting to have to come up with more than one name. I shall have to discuss it with your Father. Where is he?" She asked Mrs. Pugh.

"They took him in with the little girl. It…it sounded like they had some things to discuss with him", Mrs. Pugh said delicately.

"She was around the wrong way. They had to turn her around inside of me. She…she was stuck for some time. What if she couldn't breathe?" Grace wept.

"Now, now, you just focus on these two lovely lads for now. The wee lass is in good hands. I'm sure Mr. Warbucks and the doctor will be in soon with some news", Mrs. Pugh tried to console Grace.

It was at least another half an hour before Oliver finally showed up with Doctor McIntosh trailing behind.

"Oliver!" Grace wailed and he rushed to her side immediately.

"Oh Grace, my dearest. Are you alright?" He hugged her steadfastly, wanting to hold her tightly but careful not to hurt her any further.

"I'm alright, but what about our little girl? Oliver, what's going on? Please, tell me."

Dr. McIntosh glanced at Annie. "Mr. and Mrs. Warbucks, do you wish for the child to hear this?"

Oliver nodded firmly. "Annie's her sister. She should hear this too."

"Mrs. Warbucks, Annie, your wee girl is alive and conscious but she did spend longer without air than we would have liked. We're unsure what this could mean for her brain and functionality at this stage, but we will need to keep her under observation in an incubator for at least a few days."

"What's an incubator?" Annie asked the doctor.

Dr. McIntosh smiled patiently at Annie. "It's a little container we keep the baby in to help her stay healthy and stop her from becoming more unwell."

"More unwell? So she is sick?" Grace cut over him, distress in her voice.

"With multiples, there's often at least one child who is born with some kind of health issue. Your daughter is much smaller than her brothers and she isn't yet responding in a way that we would usually expect to see in a healthy baby."

Stoically, Grace asked him, "What are her chances, Doctor?"

The Doctor was smart, compassionate and experienced enough to know that it was best to be upfront about these things. "We will do everything we can for your daughter, Mrs. Warbucks, but with the fragile condition she is in already and all the further complications that can occur for a baby of her term…I think it's only prudent that I advise you to prepare yourself for the worst."

"Daddy! Is my sister going to die?" The twelve year old girl clung to her Father, crying violently.

"I don't know, Annie. I-I don't know", Oliver cried too.

Grace was too shocked and dismayed to speak.

Mrs. Pugh walked over to Grace and squeezed her shoulder for comfort.

The new Mother's bottom lip trembled. This was supposed to be such a happy day. She looked over at the cots where her sons were sleeping and knew she still had so much to celebrate, though bittersweet the celebrations would to be.

"I'd like to hold my sons, Doctor", she informed Dr. McIntosh and the Doctor nodded his head. "Of course."

He lifted one of the boys carefully out of the cot and encouraged Oliver to pick up the other one.

"Hold his head, Mr. Warbucks", the Doctor instructed the uncertain Father.

Grace reached out to take the child from the Doctor. Oliver kissed the boy he was holding on his tiny little forehead before placing him in Grace's arms.

"Hello", Grace smiled tearfully at each of her sons.

"Have you discussed any names?" The Doctor asked the new parents.

"We hadn't been expecting to have to name so many children", Oliver gave the same answer to the doctor that Grace had given to Annie, and Dr. McIntosh nodded in understanding.

Grace inhaled deeply, her eyes shifting from her precious boys to her beloved husband. "I think…Stephen Michael after your Father and Sean Patrick after mine."

Oliver smiled softly in approval at his wife's suggestions.

"And the little girl?"

Grace blinked at the doctor who stared back at her sympathetically, and almost apologetically.

"Perhaps you'd like to wait to give her a name until after you've had the chance to meet her properly", he suggested and Grace pressed her lips into a tight smile. "Yes, I think so."

"Alright, well, I'll let you and your boys become acquainted. Nurse will be in shortly to uh, run through breast feeding and what not. I'll be close by to monitor your little girl's progress and I'll be back later with an update."

"Thank you Doctor", Oliver shook Dr. McIntosh's hand before the tired looking man left the family to bond with the newborn boys.

"Come Annie, come and meet your brothers", Oliver encouraged his eldest child. Annie blinked away the tears she had been crying and put on a brave face which brightened up immediately once she got a close look at her baby brothers.

"Which one's which?" She asked her Mother.

"I don't know…which one do you think should be Stephen and which one is Sean?"

"Hmm…Stephen?" Annie whispered to the twins and the little boy on the left with the slightly sharper chin made a little chirping sound. "Sean?" Annie whispered again with a chuckle and to everyone's amusement the boy on the left responded in the same way his brother had.

"Well, it looks like they know their names already", Grace smiled warmly.

Now that she'd had a moment to recover and now that she had her husband and eldest daughter with her, Grace was able to really focus on her boys and she felt an enormity of love consume her of a kind she had never experienced before. Her eyes welled up with tears again, but not ones of sadness, ones of complete and utter joy and fulfillment, protection and pride for these God-given gifts she was holding in her arms. Hers and Oliver's perfect creations.

Of course, her heart was broken for her little girl who was not so fortunate and had a lot of challenges and struggles ahead of her, but Grace decided her focus needed to be on the thing she could control, caring for her boys and giving them all the love and attention she could.

She looked up at her husband who was standing next to the bed, peering over Annie's head at the little miracles who were created in his likeness. He too had a starry expression on his face as he gazed at his sons in complete awe.

At eight o'clock that evening, it was time for Mrs. Pugh and Oliver to take Annie home. The child was exhausted and the hospital had quite strict rules about visitors after hours. Of course, Oliver could have overridden any rules with his status but he could also see how desperately Grace needed to sleep.

"I'll be back in the morning, first thing", he promised her, bending down to kiss her lovingly. "I'm so proud of you, Grace."

The flash of pain in her eyes overshadowed the grateful smile on her face. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Can't we stay a little longer, Mommy?" Annie asked, though her eyelids were already drooping.

"No darling. We've got more babies than we bargained for. You need to rest and keep your strength up for when your siblings come home. I'm going to need your help."

Annie nodded her head in determination. "I'll help you, Mommy."

"Thank you", Grace smiled lovingly at her eldest child, kissing her on the cheek and bidding her goodnight, following suit with Mrs. Pugh.

It was only once the others had left that Grace allowed herself to quietly lose it, not wanting to disturb her peacefully sleeping sons but needing to release the agony she felt inside.

The following morning, the nurses took her in a wheelchair to see her daughter through the glass of the room she was being incubated in.

She hadn't been prepared for what she might see and after reflection, she wished she had waited until Oliver got there.

The tiny little baby had a tube almost as big as she herself was, coming out of her mouth to help the girl breathe. There were syringes which were being used to feed her miniscule amounts at a time as that was all her delicate little body could tolerate. The most glaringly obvious sign of her daughter's ill-health though, was the shape of her head. The little one's skull was depressed quite significantly in the middle. It was a ghastly sight, and terribly frightening for Grace to see in her own child.

Grace couldn't look, couldn't take the sight of her child in such a state. The thoughts of how badly the little girl might have been suffering made Grace physically sick. She covered her face with her hands and the nurse quickly wheeled her back to her room, not wanting to cause any further stress to the woman who was also in quite a delicate state herself, after having given birth to triplets.

The image of her daughter plagued her by day and haunted her in the night and Grace felt like the worst person in the world because of it. She was supposed to see her daughter as beautiful and angelic, was supposed to feel nothing but love for her, but all she felt was misery. It was a horrid thought for a Mother to have but Grace couldn't help but consider that for her daughter's sake, death might have been a merciful thing.

Of course, she couldn't bring herself to discuss this with Oliver. He seemed to be coping with everything far better than she was and was attentive and adoring towards all of their children. She didn't know where he found the strength, but she sure was envious of it.

"Baby girl Warbucks" as she became known by the hospital staff, survived the night and the following day and the next few days after that. Despite the fragile condition the Doctor warned them she was still in, the tough little girl beat a lot of the odds stacked against her, putting on weight and reaching more and more milestones as the days went on, until finally, the Doctor told them that with careful observation, they were allowed to take her home.

Grace and Oliver were in a state of almost disbelief as they returned back to the mansion together with three new residents. Everything had been arranged and put in place to accommodate the triplets while they had still been in the hospital.

Oliver was excited for his littlest daughter to bond with her brothers after such a long time in isolation. At the same time as he was excited, his heart ached for his daughter whose future was still so uncertain and whose Mother was still so distant.

While Oliver made sure to spend his time with all three of the babies, Grace chose to devote almost her sole amount of energy to their boys. The girl had to be bottle fed due to her weak muscle tone and so she wasn't as bonded to Grace in a biological sense, at least not the same as her brothers. But Oliver knew that Grace had also been deliberately keeping her distance from their youngest daughter and quite frankly, it hurt him to know that his little girl wasn't receiving the same level of care and attention from her Mother as her brothers were.

He'd always seen Grace as such a kind and compassionate person, one who warmed to and wanted to help those who needed it most. He couldn't fathom why it was then that she was being so neglectful of their daughter and her needs.

Oliver made sure to give both of their daughters extra attention as their Mother seemed to be so preoccupied with their sons. Annie was still very much favored by Grace, it was only their younger girl whom she couldn't seem to, or didn't wish to connect with.

He began to feel quite put out by it, by Grace's blatant disregard and apparent lack of feeling towards the child.

The man knew in his heart that it was his role as a Father to be an advocate for his children and to stand up for them if somebody was doing them wrong - even if that person was somebody he also loved very much.

He walked into the nursery one afternoon, a week after they had come home from the hospital. He could hear Grace singing a soothing lullaby as he walked into the room, the sound was lovely but his jaw tightened at the knowledge of who she would be singing to, and who he already knew, would be missing out.

He could hear his daughter's high-pitched squeals from the other end of the house and truthfully he was shocked that they could be ignored by her Mother who was in the same room as her.

"Grace! Our girl is crying." He all but scolded her.

"I only have two arms, Oliver. What do you expect me to be able to do with three children?!

Oliver frowned at her. "It's always the boys you tend to while your daughter is ignored."

"That's not…"

"Always!" The growl in his voice was quite menacing. She hadn't heard him use that tone with her since she'd worked for him. He wasn't finished yet, either. "Why do you push her aside, as if she's so unwanted? Why do you constantly put your focus, your attention, your love on the boys and give none to her?!"

Voice raised with frustration and distress, Grace yelled, "You think I don't want her? That I don't love her? Is that really what you think?!"

"Honestly Grace, I don't know."

Feeling defensive and devastated by his words, the truth spilled out of her like an avalanche, tears spilling down her face at the same time. "I can't bring myself to look at her because of the immense guilt I feel over the way she is! What if it's my fault that something's wrong with her? What if there's something I could have done to prevent this?"

"There is nothing, there's nothing you could have done, Grace. This isn't your fault!"

"I've failed her, I've failed my baby", she sobbed into her hands.

"The only way you could ever fail her is by not being there for her when she needs you so desperately, and she does Grace. Our little girl needs her Mother."

"The boys need me too! This is…it's too much! It wasn't supposed to be like this", she wept.

Oliver's voice became stern. "What do you think cousin Mary would do to be in your situation with her little girl? How much do you think she'd give to trade places with you?"

It was a harsh thing for him to say to her but Oliver knew he had to try to find a way to pull his wife away from her grief for their daughter who was still very much alive but would only remain so if her Mother and Father were able to be her strength and support.

Grace stared at him with her mouth open, clearly shocked by his confronting words. After several long moments, her whole body began to shake. She fell against her husband, howling loudly. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

He rubbed her back soothingly. He was still frustrated by the way she'd been acting but he now understood things from her perspective a bit more clearly and knew she needed just as much comforting and support as their daughter did.

"Life may present our girl with some challenges, but you should know from the last year with Annie that no child in the world will be better taken care of than ours. Whatever she needs in life, she will have and that includes all the love and care a kid could ever receive. Right?"

"Right. Yes, of course she will. They all will, all four of our children."

Oliver exhaled deeply. "How did we suddenly become parents to four children? Fifteen months ago we had none!"

Laughter bubbled up in Grace's chest. "Fifteen months ago I was only your secretary, darling."

"You were never only anything, dearest. You were a fantastic secretary, you've been a fantastic wife, and you are a fantastic Mother."

Grace looked at her husband shyly but full of love. Suddenly feeling compelled to hold her youngest daughter in her arms, Grace crossed the room and carefully picked her up, cradling her tenderly against her bosom.

"She'll be alright, Grace. Whatever fate has in store for her, she'll get through it."

"I know she will. If she's half as stubborn as her parents are, she won't let anything stop her."

The two of them shared a soft laugh as they gazed lovingly at the sleeping child.

"Sorcha", Grace spoke suddenly.

Oliver caught her eye, his brow furrowed inquisitively.

"That's her name. That's what I'd like to call her."

"Sorcha", Oliver said, trying the name out.

"It's Irish, meaning bright, radiant light."

Oliver smiled emotively, bending down to kiss his little girl, and then her Mother. "And she certainly is...Thank you for making me a Father, Grace."

Grace shook her head slowly. "Thank you for making me a Mother, and for asking me to be your wife. I love you so much, Oliver." She looked back down to her daughter. "And I love you, Sorcha. I love you, my baby girl. Mommy's so sorry."

"She forgives you, Grace, and her love for us is unconditional."

Grace wept against her husband's hand as he pressed her to her cheek.

"Can you forgive me?" She cried.

"There's nothing I need to forgive you for. I understand the pain you've been in now, and I'm sorry."

She placed her hand on top of his and turned her face to kiss his palm by way of accepting his apology.

He leaned carefully across his daughter to kiss his wife gently on the lips. "I love you, dearest."

...

A/N: Well, this turned into an absolute beast of a thing! Obviously, there was a lot I wanted to cover here. The next chapter will be the final one. It will include baby cuteness, family bonding and will conclude with an epilogue.