A/N: mentions of blood loss near end of chapter

One week left.

Dracula could hardly believe it, staring at his wife and her swollen belly. Ericka could hardly believe it, that the bump inside her would soon be a little child in her arms that she would feed and dress and love forever to death. Everything in their chambers had been set up to help welcome the little newcomer, from the rocking chair in the far corner of the room to the changing table in the center and the small mobile that hung above the crib. Small sets of clothing were being organized into drawers that consisted of both girl and boy onesies, as the two were still waiting to see which they would be blessed with. The pair were currently in their suite parlor that night, discussing their strategy for when she would begin to go into labor.

"I don't know Ericka, is it really necessary to rehearse?" Drac asked.

Ericka nodded. "Your friends have told me that you were a mess when Mavis was born. I'd like you to be in a calmer mindset for when it happens this time."

Dracula waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry, sweetfangs, I will have it all under control. I can be as calm as a sleeping wolf pup when I need to be." He gave her a reassuring smile and she raised an eyebrow. Then, an idea came to her mind.

"Drac?"

He glanced at her. "Yes, my love?"

"It's time."

Dracula froze. "It's time?... It's time! IT'S TIME!" He jumped about a foot in the air and began to frantically pace around with widened eyes. "Oh my goodness, holy rabies! We have to get going! I don't have a moment to lose!" he shouted, nearly tripping over his own feet trying to make his way towards the door.

"Whoa, easy there, big guy," she said, holding onto his shoulders to keep him from colliding with anything in the room. "Take a breath."

"No, no, no! We are running out of time!" His eyes looked manic as they darted around the room like he was searching for something. "We don't have time to lose, my darling! Now come on!" He pulled her along with him, and in wheeling around he miscalculated his distance from the door and instead slammed straight against the wall with a hard bang. Drac yelped and clutched at his nose with both hands as he crumpled to the floor.

"Drac!" she exclaimed, coming up to him. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh... I think I broke it," he said nasally while he rose back up.

Ericka shook her head. "This is exactly what I was talking about. We do need to rehearse this a little better so that you know how to behave!"

He blinked at her. "Wait a minute… so you're not having the baby right now?"

"No!" she said. "I was just testing your reaction. And, as I suspected, you didn't react as well as I had hoped." She stared at him pointedly as he gave a sheepish smile.

"So sorry, my love. I will try harder to keep calm. Gee, you really had me worried there for a second - "

"Aaggh!" Ericka suddenly exclaimed, knees buckling some and hands grabbing at her belly.

Dracula however wagged a finger at her. "Oh, no, no, no! I'm not falling for it two times in a row! You might think - "

"Drac!" she cut him off, grabbing his arm desperately. "This is not a joke! It's really, really time! NOW!" He stared at her wide-eyed as she grimaced, holding a hand to her swollen stomach. He blinked quickly, snapping back to the situation at hand.

"Oh..! OH! Yes. Of course it is! UH…. uh…here..! Let me help you!" he stammered, quickly rushing to her aid. He easily swooped her into his arms bridal style and kicked the door open with a big BANG.

"HEY!" The shrunken head out on the knob called out irate. "Do ya mind? It's hard enough being stuck on a door without everyone knocking about all the time! What are you in such a big hurry for anyway?"

"EXPLAIN TIME NO BABIES IS TO ERICKA THE NOW HAVING!" Dracula garbled incoherently and whooshed from the hallway to the medical bay using his trusty vampire-speed.

Those who saw them zoom by and realized what was happening quickly spread the word, and soon the entire hotel was abuzz with excited guests awaiting the newborns baby's arrival.

Outside of the infirmary delivery room, Johnny and Mavis patiently sat along with Dennis.

Inside of the delivery room, Ericka's clothing had been switched into a more comfortable hospital attire and she was now laid atop one of the beds. Her legs were spread widely apart on either side of her with Dracula behind her head. The doctor stood at the end with a couple of nurses at his side.

"As the first time giving natural birth, I have to warn you that this may feel a little uncomfortable," Dr. Jeckle explained. "However, you will be fine, I promise you that, miss Van Dracula."

"She'd better be or you'll have me to deal with!" Dracula growled, making sure to bare his fangs.

The doctor swallowed nervously and cleared his throat. "Count, I have helped pregnant women accomplish this procedure many times… including your own daughter."

Dracula took a closer look at the monster and soon recognized him from the day that Mavis had Dennis. There had been no complications then, so he trusted that there wouldn't be any now. He didn't say anything else for the time being, as the attention was brought back to his wife.

"So, what do I do?" Ericka asked shakily. "Should I start pushing?"

"Not quite yet," the doctor said. "Your cervix has only reached a dilation of five centimeters so far. You will need to wait until it reaches ten."

"How long will that be?"

"Roughly twenty to thirty minutes at the pace you're currently going," the doctor replied.

Ericka let out an involuntary whimper, and Dracula felt a wave of sympathy wash over him. He knew she was probably terrified that this was all happening so fast and that she didn't know what to expect. He offered soothing words of comfort during the duration of dilation until the doctor deemed her ready.

"Ten centimeters ma'am. It's time. Now bear down for me and give a nice big push, okay?"

Ericka nodded, taking a deep breath and forcing her muscles to contract. She clutched desperately to Drac's hand and bore down hard, a strangled cry ripping from her throat. The pain was like nothing she had ever experienced before, as though she were being ripped from the inside out. Dracula was devastated at the sight of his love in such a state of agony, but he kept a strong face for her sake.

"Good first try," the doctor said, "now, please get back into the same position and push again."

Ericka obeyed, and the second time felt even more pain-wracking than the first. Tears pricked in her eyes as the contraction came again and then again a third time, her breathing coming out in ragged gasps and her body growing tired. Finally, after another painful throe, she felt a release of pressure from her body.

A shrill cry pierced the air, and a small baby, writhing and wiggling with life, was held up from Ericka's womb.

"Congratulations," said the doctor with a brilliant smile. "It's a girl!"

Ericka smiled and looked up at Dracula who was also beaming. "Martha!" she exclaimed.

"Yes," Dracula agreed, staring at the little black-haired infant who was still crying. "Martha."

"Wonderful. Now get yourself back in position, Mrs. Van Dracula, and prepare to give a push again, okay?"

Ericka stared, confused for a moment at the doctor. "W-w-what?" she exclaimed.

"You have another child, ma'am, coming right now!"

Dracula was grinning widely, ecstatic to hear the surprising news, but Ericka didn't share in the same excitement right away. The strain of labor that she had just experienced had to be repeated again? She shook her head and began to feel faint. Drac took immediate notice and became alert.

"Ericka, honeybat it's okay, calm down. I'm right here to help you. We're almost there, sweetie, It's just one more time, sweetheart, you can do it. I know you can."

Ericka would have answered, but another fierce contraction seized hold of her body, making her cry out in pain and nearly pass out from the shock. When finally the pain subsided enough for her to breathe normally once more, her eyes slowly opened.

"Ericka," Dracula whispered. "My beautiful darling, look at me," he pleaded. "You've got this."

"Your husband is right, you're almost there," the doctor spoke up. "We are just going to need one more big push to get the shoulders out. Are you ready?"

Ericka nodded weakly and held out her hand to the man beside her. Dracula gently grasped it and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Then, with a deep breath, she pushed as hard as she could, grunting with the effort and gritting her teeth. After what felt like an eternity, they heard the sound of another baby's wail echo throughout the room.

"Congratulations, it's a boy!"

Dracula laughed as he saw the little white-haired boy with straight locks. "Bram," he said with a knowing. The baby was covered in placenta and Ericka's blood , but otherwise looked completely fine as his sister moments ago had. He was quickly cleaned and wrapped with a blanket by the doctor, who had done the same with Martha. The twins were then placed in the Count's arms and he gently kissed each on their delicate little foreheads.

"Oh… Ericka, our children, they're… they're beautiful." He smiled and turned to see her reaction.

But Ericka had fallen silent. She had a faint smile pulling at the corners of her lips, but soon that too withered away as her eyes gained a distant, glossy look. Dracula immediately picked up on the change, and his nose was met with the scent of her blood, stronger and more sharp than before.

"Ericka? Ericka?!" The vampire leaned forward a little, trying to get her attention. "Sweetfangs, what's wrong? Can you hear me?"

But Ericka did not respond. He looked down to see that the bedding beneath her legs had begun to soak through with the crimson liquid, dark and red. Drac's eyes widened at the sight, and the babies were promptly removed from his arms by one nurse, while the other began to push him away from Ericka.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Dracula, sir, but we are going to have to ask you to leave at the moment. We have a lot of bleeding here that needs to be taken care of."

"B-b-but... but Ericka!" he stuttered in shock.

"We'll help her out and keep you updated, sir, but we need the space right now to treat the problem, okay? Okay."

He was given one last hasty shove out of the room before the door slammed shut behind him. The vampire was silent, his head swimming with questions. What had just happened? Why was there so much blood? What was going to happen to his wife? He hardly registered the presence of the others that he had left in the waiting room.

Mavis had stood up and approached him, seeing the distress on her father's face. "Dad? What happened? What's going on?"

"It's Ericka she's… she's lost a lot of blood. They told me they would take care of it, that they wanted me to wait out here. And I just… now I just don't know what's going on."

He paused, biting back a sob but unable to prevent the silent tears that began to spill over from his eyes.

"Ohh, Dad." Mavis wrapped her arms around him and allowed him to cry freely into her shoulder.

"It's my fault. Again!" he whimpered. "I should have been more careful, I should have protected myself or at least made sure she was protected before I just jumped in and bedded her!"

Johnny came up to him and rubbed a hand on his shoulder in a calming manner. "I mean, no one can really blame you, man. You haven't had any for over a hundred years," he said. Mavis shot him a look and he corrected himself. "But, uh, I wouldn't stress out about it man. Ericka's one tough chick, and she'll pull through this, easy peasy!"

"Johnny's right," Mavis agreed. "Ericka's a fighter. She's strong and resilient. I don't doubt for a minute that she'll get through this hiccup."

Dracula nodded and pulled apart from Mavis's hug so he could look her directly in the eyes. "I know, it's just… I don't… I don't…"

"You don't want to lose her the way you lost mom," Mavis finished for him with sympathy. "I get it dad. I don't want any of us to suffer her loss. I would hate to see you heartbroken."

Another tear rolled out of Dracula's eye. "I just love her so much. She's my zing, the mother to your little brother... and sister."

Mavis's eyes lit up. "She had twins?"

Dracula nodded with a little smile. "Yes. And I can't wait for you to see them. They're beautiful, Mavy. The boy looks just like her. And the girl, well, she's very similar to you when you were a baby."

Mavis grinned and Dracula sighed. "I just hope that Ericka will get a chance to see them and hold them herself," he said.

Mavis gently squeezed his hand and brought him over to sit. "Trust me, Dad. It's going to be okay. All we have to do is just wait. It's all we really can do."

Dracula looked up and met his daughter's eyes. She looked so confident in what she was saying, he couldn't help but believe in it himself. So he obeyed, and waited.

The next hour passed in a tense silence. Dennis was growing tired, and Mavis and Johnny had to excuse themselves to go back to their suite. Mavis put a reassuring hand on Drac's shoulder.

"Let me know what happens, okay?"

Dracula nodded sullenly and watched as they went. Ten more minutes of torturous silence passed before he heard the sound of the infirmary door quietly being opened up.

"Mr. Count Dracula?" a nurse called.

Dracula immediately arose from his seat in attentiveness.

"Your wife is ready to see you, sir."