Chapter 53

Previously: Sam, Freddie and Melanie were at the doctor's office, hoping to get a better look at their collective baby. There was mention of the word twins and Freddie gasped.

"Yes, definitely twins. And they are both very healthy for all appearances. Now it's a bit too soon to tell gender unless we'd do a blood test on them. Given that Sam and Melanie are identical twins there's a good chance that these babies will be too, so they'll both be the same gender. Hopefully we'll be able to tell at your next appointment."

"Holy chiz." Sam exclaimed.

"Yeah. Holy chiz is right." Melanie nodded. "Am I going to be OK carrying two?" For some reason this thought never occurred to her.

The doctor reassured her that everything would be fine. "Yes, you're a healthy young woman and with proper care you should have no complications. We will want to bring you in a little more often for checkups than a singular pregnancy, just to make sure you and the babies are in perfect condition."

Sam was speechless and Freddie was beginning to breathe heavy. They had bought a crib, a changing table, and a stroller. Now they would need 2 of most things.

"So what about, um, the breast feeding thing?" Sam suddenly asked, changing the subject. "I mean, Mel and I did some research online. Is there any way I can help with this? You know, since there's going to be 2 kids now."

"Well, it is possible for a woman who hasn't actually given birth to successfully nurse and even produce a modest amount of milk but it would certainly be unusual for you to be able to produce enough to satisfy two. Especially given your hormone replacement therapy. I would think your best bet would be to have Melanie express with the use of a pump and then you'd be able to supplement whatever you produce with that using a bottle. I think we need to get you ladies a referral to a lactation specialist if you want to explore this further?"

The sisters both nodded and Freddie continued to look like he was in another world. The doctor gave Melanie some instructions, and soon left the room to see another patient with instructions for her to come back in a few weeks.

"Hey, Fredlumps, you alive here?" Sam shook him as Melanie dried off her belly and put herself together. "I guess we have to tell Carly about all this. She's gonna flip."

"Right. And since she's all wound up about some fancy hooplah of a gender reveal party, I suppose we could let her come along next time so she can find out." Melanie added. "Even though I really don't know how necessary any of that is. I mean, why aren't plain old baby showers good enough any more?"

"I don't see the point in any of it, Mels?" Sam cracked. "We can wait a few more months. Won't it be cool to all find out together the day they're born?"

"What about Carly?" He finally squeaked. "She was hoping to know today. In fact, I'm supposed to text her as soon as we find out."

"Well, since Carly isn't the one with the stretch marks, morning sickness, sore boobs, and the eternally full bladder with two human beings sitting on it, I'd say she doesn't have any say in the matter. It's up to us." Melanie smirked. "Sammy and I will figure all this out and then you can tell her, alright?"

"M-me?" He stammered.

"Well, you're the one who's all worried about what she wants, Frednubs." Sam smirked to her husband.

"And right now, all I want is to go get some waffles." Melanie grinned. "I've been craving waffles for days and I spotted a Waffle Hut on the way in, just a few blocks over."

"Ooh, I wonder if they still have the bacon loaded waffles they did the last time we went there?" Sam added.

"And lots of nice thick, maple syrup to go with them." Melanie said with an eye roll. "Oh, I could deal with about a gallon of maple syrup right about now. Just bring me a straw."

Freddie looked slightly scared that Melanie's pregnancy cravings were so similar to Sam's normal cravings.

Thirty minutes later, the trio was in the restaurant, sipping drinks with their food ordered.

"So, um, Mels?" Sam began. "There's something Fredward and I talked about and now that we know about this twin thing, maybe now would be a good time to bring it up but we were sort of thinking that maybe you should move in with us."

"Well I know we talked about that after the baby, er well, babies come because of feedings and all but isn't it a bit soon?" Melanie fussed. "I mean, we're barely at the end of the first trimester. That'll be another six months of pregnancy plus however long we choose to breast feed at night. I love you guys, but won't you get sick of me? And it's further from your place to my job than Mom's."

"Eh, I lived with you for how many years when I was sick of you when we were kids. And we had to share a room until we were six." Sam shrugged. "Besides, sooner or later you're going to have to start your maternity leave. And with twins, it might be sooner than you'd like."

"And if you end up on bed rest or something, we'll need to be close to take care of you." Freddie added. "We just want this to be easy for you."

"I guess we wouldn't want to count on Mom for any nurse like care." Melanie agreed. "Are you guys sure about this?"

"We have an extra room downstairs. Plus the whole basement is unfinished." Sam told her. "We have plenty of space."

"I thought that's where you were going to put the home theater, Freddie."

"That can wait, Mels." Sam told her. "We can get things all set up for you next weekend. It might not be fancy, but we can set it up like your own apartment. Then if you need us, we'll be close but we'll all still have our own space."

"Now we need to discuss how we're going to tell . . ." Sam began and Freddie suddenly cut her off.

"Alex!" He shouted loud enough for others in the restaurant to hear and look at him and the waitress to simply raise an eyebrow as she approached their table with their food.

"I was gonna say our mothers, but yeah we need to talk to Alex about this twin deal, too." Sam replied dryly.

"No, it's almost time for school to let out. We have to go get her NOW." He fussed. "Chiz! With finding out about the twin thing and then you two starving to death I totally forgot. Aw man, I am the worst dad ever."

"Chill, Fredward. It's handled." Sam smirked.

"I text messaged Spencer on the way here from the doctor's office." Melanie replied. "He's going to pick her up for us."

"You did? Sam? Did you know about this?" He looked at Sam.

"Uh, yeah. Twins, remember?" She motioned between her and Mel.

"You two freak me out sometimes, you know that?" He shook his head as he calmed himself and the waitress sat their food down. "I'm honestly surprised you're not having morning sickness, too."

"Oh, I am. I just hide it better." Sam smirked.

The blondes dug into their meals and Freddie brought up the subject of their kid.

"So, did we want to plan how we're going to tell Alex about the twins? And Carly."

"They were both ready to see a picture of the baby, we just show them to both of them." Sam shrugged.

Melanie was not so lax about the idea. "Don't you think we should explain to Alex what all this means?"

"It means there's two babies instead of one." Sam replied and kept eating. "She's jazzed up about having a baby brother or sister. Why complicate things?"

Freddie agreed. "I'm afraid Melanie might be right, Sam. Sure, she was OK with one baby but this is twice the amount of attention she's going to be sacrificing. She's been an only child for a long time. And with Melanie moving in, don't you think we need to do more than just brush this off?"

Sam sighed. "I guess you're right. This is kind of a game changer but she'll be totally psyched about her mom being under the same roof."

"And you're sure you're OK with me being under the same roof?"

"Mel. You are carrying my kids. Sure, I might have moments that I want to just throw you down and slap the chiz out of you but we all need to pull together on this. And I promise to try to be as patient as possible when you start to annoy the living hell out of me." Sam grinned.

"And I promise to not purposely do anything to annoy you."

"OK, that's great. Wait, are you admitting to doing chiz like that when we were kids?" Sam looked at Mel funny who only grinned innocently herself. "So what about Carly?"

"And the whole gender reveal thing?" Freddie added.

"Well, since it's too soon to find out, I'd say we have some time before we have to worry about that." Melanie replied.

The three returned to Bushwell and stopped at Spencer's to pick up Alex first thing. It had been decided on the way home to get everyone together to tell them about the fact that there were going to be two babies in a short while. They walked through the door at Spencer's to find Marissa sitting on the couch, playing a game with Alex and Spencer in the kitchen.

The child ran toward her parents and aunt for hugs. "Come, sit down Melanie." Marissa ordered.

"Don't mind if I do." She replied and sat beside her former mother in law.

No matter how she felt about Melanie and Freddie's failed marriage, this young woman was carrying her grandchild and she wanted to make sure she was healthy and taking care of herself.

"How are you feeling. Any new ultrasound pictures?" The nurse queried the mom to be.

Freddie leaned over the back of the couch to show his mother the images on his phone screen. This was a mistake that he soon realized.

Of course a nurse could read an ultrasound. "Twins!" Marissa screeched, just as Carly was coming in the door herself.

Sam rolled her eyes, Melanie flushed and Freddie mentally beat himself up for showing her the picture in the first place.

"What did you say?" Carly exclaimed and rushed toward the expectant mother. Spencer himself approached.

"Well, we were going to wait and tell everyone at dinner." Sam smirked. "But one cat, free from its bag."


Months later, the babies were due any day and Sam was not letting Melanie get more than a few feet from her for fear she'd go into labor. Her twin had moved in at the beginning of the second trimester and much to everyone's surprise, even after six months, the sisters were not at each other's throats. In fact, Sam was usually the one annoying Melanie and insisting she not exert herself or eat anything unhealthy. When she got too overbearing, Melanie would simply call her Mrs. Benson and Sam knew she was acting slightly like her mother in law and would try to calm down a little.

Carly stopped in after work to see how things were going. Sam was in the kitchen preparing their dinner and Alex was in her room doing homework. As usual, Melanie was on the couch because Sam insisted she stay off her feet.

"Hey, Melanie. How are you feeling today?" Carly greeting with a hug.

"So hungry I could eat a horse." Mel sighed. "Did you get it?" She whispered.

"Yes. But you don't know where this came from." Carly replied quietly and pulled a pack of Fat Cakes out of her bag.

"Oh thank God." Melanie sighed and hugged the box.

"I thought I heard you come in." Sam said from the doorway as Melanie stashed the snack cakes under the couch .

"Just stopped by to, uh, see how Melanie is holding up."

"Oh, never mind your best friend since second grade." Sam huffed in jest, hands on hips. "I see how it is."

"Stop. Of course I care about you too. It's just you don't have a pair of tiny humans growing in your belly and Melanie could go into labor at any second." How right the dark haired woman was.

"Not until I get something to eat." Melanie griped. "I refuse."

"Were you this ravenous last time you were pregnant? Because you've been eating more than me the last couple of weeks." Sam replied with a smirk.

"Well, if I could get anything decent to eat, it wouldn't be so bad. It's like you don't want me to have anything with flavor."

"I make you anything you want."

Of course, Melanie had to argue. "Right, as long as I want something that Marissa would approve of. For Pete's sake Sam, I didn't have you watching everything I ate last time I was pregnant and Alex is just fine. Sure, she had a little problem to start off but that was genetic, it had nothing to do with the fact that I ate bacon twice a day when I was carrying her."

"Alright, alright. But . . . " She reached under the edge of the couch and pulled out the fat cakes. "You only get one of these."

"One box?" Melanie reached for it as Sam held it above her head.

"No!" Sam shot back as Carly shook her head.

"One pack?" Melanie proposed. "Please."

"One cake. No more until you give birth."

"Why do you get to eat like a lumberjack and I get to starve?"

"Because I am not pregnant with your kids." Sam replied. "Now, instead of all the fat cakes, how about a nice sensible portion of fro-yo and a carrot?"

Melanie agreed and Sam went to the kitchen, taking the fat cakes with her.

"How did she know?" Carly asked.

"Twin-tuition is a cruel mistress." Melanie snickered, as she suddenly gripped herself. "Aw, chiz."

"Here, let me help you up if you have to go pee." Carly offered.

"I, um, think I already did." She replied. "Aw, man. I'm glad Sam's been insisting I sit on this pad."

"It's OK, Mel. Let me help you to the bathroom, you should get some dry clothes."

"Wait, I don't think this is urine." Melanie held herself.