Wearing something other than hospital attire for the first time in a week Hecate finds herself growing somewhat leery of the task at hand. In true Hardbroom fashion she is clad in black from head to toe. Instead of her typically traditional form-fitting attire she is clothed in dignity, strength, and stretchy poly-blend material. A simple navy long sleeved shirt is paired with a pair of stretchy pants of the same color. Her glance temporarily falls to the leopard print flats affixed to her feet.
"Embrace the chaos. It is the only way you will survive," Julie suggests.
"I do not own a pair of leopard printed flats. Where are my shoes?"
"Your nurse took one look at your shoes, and banished them back into the recesses of your luggage."
"I have been wearing non-skid slippers for eight days. Certainly even prisoners earn their own footwear back in that time frame."
Julie rolls her eyes, "You are not a prisoner. Patient is the word you are looking for."
Hecate waves the packet of paper, which she has lifted from the surface of the bed, in the air.
"We have successfully served our sentence, and are being released into the wild."
"The wild? That seems a bit exaggerated, don't you think?"
Hecate's eyes dark from one basinet to the next, "Two small howling creatures will be accompanying me back to the location where the wild things are."
"Are you nearly ready? The car is waiting for us out front."
"The accommodations here have made me long for Miss Tapioca's cuisine. I yearn for my own bed, and the ability to sleep without the assistance of a blood pressure cuff restricting my movement."
Julie carefully secures baby "A" into her car seat. She furrows her brow as she clicks the five-point restraint into place.
"Did you ever land on names? I am not trying to apply any pressure. I am happy to keep referring to them as baby "A", and baby "B". Just curious, I guess."
Hecate glances at the tiny pink baby that has just been restrained in a black infant car seat, "Her name was chosen before she evacuated the womb."
"I thought you didn't know the gender."
"I narrowed the selection down to a single male, and a single female name."
"Are you ever going to share?"
Hecate grins as she hands Julie a grey blanket monogramed with initials. "Adelaide Vespera."
Julie lifts the second little girl from the safety of the basinet. Her bright eyes stare up at Julie. Her face begins to pucker in disgust. Hecate carefully vacates her seat on the bed, and swoops in just in time to prevent a wicked wail.
"All is well," Hecate reassures her as she stiffly secures the eight day old infant into a car seat.
"And sweet, unanticipated little baby "B"?"
"Avye Calypso."
"You realize that they will quickly be referred to as Ada, and Ava, right? I seem to recall a set of twins with double AA names, one of which who didn't fare as well as the other."
"Do I sense a hint of a suggestion enveloped in thinly veiled disdain?"
"You could consider reversing the order for one of the names. They certainly do not know the difference at this point."
"Calypso Avye?"
"They are individuals. I doubt that they will appreciate the alliteration later in their existence."
Hecate scowls, "When did you become the voice of reason?"
"Motherhood is one subject that I have more experience in than you."
By the time they manage to retire to the tiny nursery within Cackles Hecate feels as if she has been slain in battle. She sinks into a wooden rocking chair padded with pastel cushions. Each inhalation offers her the sensation of a dagger carefully sandwiched between her intercostal spaces. She watches helplessly as Julie removes her tiny innocent babies from their mobile prisons. Julie carefully secures the two newborns into their crib together, as per their preference.
It is beyond Hecate's capability to mask her pained facial expression as Julie approaches. The elder Hubble places an opened bottle of water in her hand. She gently squeezes the potion's mistress' hand.
"Drink up," she offers subtle insistence.
Hecate's eyes meet her former colleagues. The ridges of her forehead are especially prominent as she tries to bury the cascade of emotions that she is feeling. Without a single word Julie squats down next to the chair.
"Bringing new life into the world is the most transformative thing anyone can do, and you've brought forth two new lives. It is natural to feel utterly overwhelmed."
The salty moisturizer pours from previously dormant facial ducts before her will power can provide prevention. Her heart rate rises, as does her sense of panic as she gazes across the room at two helpless babies whom she is incapable of caring for on her own.
"I fear I fall short for this task," she gasps.
Julie embraces her in the way only a mother can. "That is the furthest thing from the truth."
Hecate's attempts to wipe her tears away with a handkerchief prove futile, "I am not even supposed to lift the total combined weight of them at the same time."
"You simply cannot do it on your own. Their entrance was traumatic for you as well as them. You have not yet healed."
"I cannot walk more than five steps without becoming short of breath. My bed is twenty feet in the other direction. There is no nursing staff here to fetch them for me."
"Arrangements have been made."
Hecate furrows her brow, "What arrangements? I've consented to nothing."
"I will be remaining at the academy for a few weeks to lend my support. I had already made the commitment to Miss Cackles to be here until the end of the school year. It seems as if my services are needed in a different capacity, but not any less urgently. It is by no means necessary for you to attend to them solo."
Her respiratory pattern begins to approach normal again as she processes what is being said.
"I've never been so relieved to hear that a Hubble will be residing at Cackles, even if only on a temporary basis."