Fated

Summary: Jessie finds herself in exile, forced into captivity with a mysterious stranger. With nowhere to go and seemingly no hope of escape, they share the stories behind their miserable fates. Hers is filled with questions. His is filled with answers.

Chapter 32: Double Trouble Time

Come stop your crying, it will be alright
Just take my hand, hold it tight.
I will protect you from all around you.
I will be here, don't you cry.

For one so small, you seem so strong.
My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm.
This bond between us can't be broken.
I will be here, don't you cry.

'Cause you'll be in my heart.
Yes, you'll be in my heart.
From this day on, now and forever more.
You'll be in my heart, no matter what they say.
You'll be in my heart,
Always.
…Phil Collins – You'll Be In My Heart

"I became a mother on January 1, 2006," Jessie stated, smiling, "At 11:05 pm."

"A new year for new life," Jack sighed, "Appropriate."

My eyes got real big as I stared at the now wet floor. Shit.

"Jess?" a familiar voice called from outside the bathroom door. Never have I ever been so happy to hear Meowth's voice.

"Meowth, get James!" I called, "I think I'm in labour!"

I heard a crash from outside followed by an abrupt halt to the bridal march. Then Meowth's shout, "James, Jess is havin' da babies!"

I cringed. I had hoped that Meowth could be subtle, but I had forgotten that Meowth was about as subtle as a stampeding tauros herd. Then I heard a loud thud and a rushing of feet.

Three…two…one…

"Jessie! Are you alright? What can I do? Does it hurt? What do I do? What do I do?" James burst into the room babbling like an idiot. I grabbed a bar of soap and chucked it at him, my aim impeccable even while beginning labour. The knock to his head snapped him into silence. Then carefully, I maneuvered my way to him, grabbing his tie.

"You can act like a calm, rational man during this process or I am going to be a single- ARGH!" I cried, gripping tighter to him as another contraction shot through me.

"I've got you," James soothed, holding me tighter to keep me upright as I fought back the pain.

"James-I'm-sorry-don't-leave-me-hurts!" I gasped in one breath. I could feel my eyes tearing up, but the pain slowly went away before those tears could fall. I looked at James and he was sheet-white.

"Jessie! Jessie, are you alright?" the bride suddenly burst into the bathroom, "How far are the contractions? Are you ready-"

The bride kept babbling and I gripped James's tie tighter, "She is not going to deliver either of my babies!" I hissed in his ear, "Get me to a bloody hospital!"

"Yes, dear," James whimpered.

"Can I help? It would be such a new experience deliver twins-"

"'Livia?" Brock asked, appearing at the door way, "The wedding-"

"James?" I whimpered. He looked like he was about to pass out.

"Olivia, you and Brock should go back," Delia said gently as she entered the room, "I called an ambulance. They should be here shortly. Jessie, James and I should wait outside," she suggested.

"But-"

"Jessie and James will be fine. Go get married," Delia repeated. Together, she and James helped me out of the church, where the ceremony was proceeding. I was forever in her debt. I caught the concerned gazes from Misty and Tracey before we got outside, where Teddy and Meowth were waiting.

"J-Jessie?" Teddy squeaked, looking just as freaked out as his brother.

"I'm fine, Teddy," I assured him, though I'm sure I wasn't too convincing.

"Fine," James squeaked in an echo.

"I can watch him and Meowth while you and James are at the hospital," Delia offered.

"Thank-"

"No!" Teddy protested, "I wanna go with you!"

"Yeah! Youse can't forget Meowth!"

"You both need to stay with Delia-" James tried.

"But-"

"Youse dunderheads need Meowth!"

"You're both staying!" I snapped, "You," I said, pointing to the cat, "need to stay here and look after Teddy or else I will strangle you! And you," I looked at Teddy, "do not need to see me like this, nor do you need to watch me murder your brother."

"But if something happens…"

"Teddy, it will be okay," I told him as I caught sight of the ambulance, "Just stay where I know you're safe."

"Please Buddy?" James begged. Finally he nodded and gave both of us a hug. Meowth rolled his eyes.

"Alright," the cat relented as the ambulance pulled up, "but if you name da boy Waldo, I will make youse two very sorry."

We didn't have names ready. Or a nursery. Or diapers. We did have some clothes, thanks to Misty and Delia. But we didn't own cribs. Or car-seats.

"We're not ready," I whispered as I clutched James's hand in the ambulance.

"All parents say that," one of the paramedics chuckled, "You'd be surprised."

But he didn't understand at all.

"We'll be fine," James tried to assure me, but his voice squeaked horribly. He was still pale and wide-eyed.

"Alright, what is your problem?" I snapped.

"N-nothing!" James cowered. I rolled my eyes, but before I could say a word, another contraction came. I gripped James's hand hard, so hard that he had to stifle a whimper, which I heard anyways.

"You do not get to complain!" I snapped, wrenching my hand away.

"I-I wasn't. I-I didn't-"

"You poor bastard," the paramedic chuckled.

"No, YOU POOR BASTARD!" I screeched at the paramedic, "When I get my hands on you-"

My rant was cut short when the ambulance stopped and the paramedic fell over himself to get out the door.

The other two paramedics learned from their friend to keep their mouths shut and silently pushed me down the halls of the hospital to a maternity room.

"Good luck," one muttered, but I think it was more to James.

"Is there anything I can do, Jess?" James asked again, wincing as though he expected a good thrashing.

"Help me change?" I asked. He dutifully hopped to it.

"Anything else, Jessie?" he asked once I was back in bed.

"Do this for me?" I winced hopefully.

"I wish I could, but I can't. I know you'll do great, Darling-"

"What have I said about THAT name?" I growled, yanking him to me by the tie. I saw James's Adam's Apple bob as he swallowed nervously.

"Ah, good to see we're all getting along in here," Dr. Turpin observed, making a note on his clipboard. I liked Turpin. He had a dry sense of humour that I appreciated. He seemed to know that I wouldn't tolerate stupid jokes. James, however, didn't like him on account that I may have commented that Turpin was good-looking. I released James and looked at the doctor, who was probably in his late twenties with brown hair and hazel eyes.

"We're fine," James said, quickly standing a little straighter.

"Great," Turpin said, "Now before we do anything, we need to check to see what kind of position your twins are in. Hopefully they've moved around a bit.

I gulped and hoped like hell that the twins had cooperated during the bed-rest while Turpin did a quick ultrasound.

"Let's see…" Turpin muttered, gliding the end over my stomach. He didn't say much, but James and I watched the monitor as it showed our babies.

"Well? Everything okay?" James asked, his tone far from the petulant one that he normally used around Turpin.

"The good news is that twin number one…would you like to know which it is?" he asked in an afterthought.

"Let's be surprised," I said at the same time as James said, "Which is it?"

Turpin chuckled, "Regardless, twin one is in perfect position. Should be the easy one," he said, which was music to my ears, though he looked a bit more serious now, "Twin two is going to be a handful. It is still in a difficult position. We can try for a normal birth, but there is the possibility that we might have to deliver that one by caesarean."

I'm pretty sure the blood drained from my face just as another contraction shot through me. I griped James's arm and screamed, nowhere near as calm as I had been before.

"Calm?" Jack snorted.

"Hey, all things considered, I was pretty good."

"So what's going to happen?" James asked as he gently rubbed my shoulder.

"We'll deliver the first baby normally. We'll have a little time between births to determine if we can turn the second baby or if we have to do a caesarean. As a result, we're going to hook you up to IV's just in case," Turpin explained calmly, "The thing we have going for us is that both twins look like they're a good size, so it's unlikely we'll need to rely on neonatal care."

"And everybody will be okay?" James asked, worriedly.

"Yes," Turpin said, "Now, we have to see how far along you are, so if you're comfortable in the room, Dad, you can stay. If not, there's a pop machine outside."

James opted to stay in the room, but he looked like he swallowed a lemon the entire time.

"Good news is we've only got five more centimeters to go," Turpin said, "That should help us out. I'll be back in an hour to check on you."

"I don't like this," James muttered, chewing on his lower lip.

"You don't like this?" I snorted, "I'm the one who has to push a kid out and possibly get cut open!"

"Maybe it will go well," James said, sitting down on the chair. I noticed his knee bouncing.

"And if not? What if I have to get cut open?" I hissed.

"We'll manage," James said, offering me a shaky smile.

"You'll have to take care of them," I said, "and I will be in even more pain and…THE SCAR!" I screeched. James winced.

"Scar?"

I ignored him and looked down at my stomach, "Alright! Whichever one of you is making things difficult for Mommy, listen up! Mommy cannot have a scar. It's bad enough that she's going to have stretch marks. So what I want you to do is to be a nice, cooperative baby and come out normally. Got it?"

"You better do what she says, Kid," James commented wearily. It was probably the only helpful thing he said through the whole process.

"Did you escape unscathed?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"No woman escapes labour unscathed," Jessie replied.

James seemed to intuitively know that I would not tolerate pacing, however, this did not stop him from developing a couple new bad habits: bouncing his leg and chewing his nails.

"James, why don't you go get the doctor before you bite your thumb off?" I suggested, irritated. He jumped and removed his left thumb from his mouth, taking a good chunk of nail with him. Bleh! At this point, I felt like I deserved a medal. I only threatened him four times and smacked him twice upside the head.

"Yes, medal-worthy," Jack chuckled.

"Why? Is something wrong? Can you feel something? Is it time?" he fired at me, his eyes getting bigger with each question.

"No! You're just driving me nuts with the fingernail thing!" I snapped. He glanced down at his hands, which had gone from normal hands to a mangled mess in a matter of hours.

"Sorry," he mumbled in a small voice.

"James, what the hell- SON-OF-A-BITCH!" I yelped as another contraction shot through me, the most painful yet. I fell back into the pillows, gasping. Through my closed eyes, I saw James gripping the bedrail so hard that his knuckles were white.

"James, whatever you're deal is, man up and find me some drugs!" I ordered between breaths.

"Drugs?" James asked numbly.

"Epidural, morphine, I don't care, just get me some damn drugs!" I snapped. James seemed to jolt to attention and tripped over himself as he ran for the door. I lay back into the pillows and tried to catch my breath. That one had hurt a lot…and had come sooner than I had expected. It was starting to calm when James brought Turpin back into the room. James dutifully returned to the side of the head as Turpin quietly observed the machine hooked to my stomach. I didn't like the look on his face.

"Jessie, I'm going to check to see how far along you are and then do a quick ultrasound," he informed me. I nodded and closed my eyes, still trying and not quite getting my breath back.

"Everything okay?" James asked as he watched the doctor get the ultrasound ready.

"Jessie is moving faster than I expected," Turpin said, "Quite uncommon for first-time mothers and mothers of twins."

"Is that bad?" James questioned. I bit my lower lip as the pain began to edge its way back and managed to squeeze an eye opened.

"Not at all. I'm thinking that you two will be meeting your first child in the next half-hour," Turpin said, causing my heart to jump up in my throat.

"What?" I gasped.

"We're going to prep you for delivery," Turpin explained, "Twin one is ready to go. Twin two is still being a little difficult, but we'll cross that road when we get there."

"I'm not ready for this," I repeated what I had said before, "I can't. I can't!"

"If anyone can, you can, Jessie," James whispered, bending over to kiss my forehead as I gripped his wrist, "You can…we can…"

"Don't freak out! Don't…you can't make me do this by myself!" I freaked out, gripping him tighter.

"I won't," he choked out, "Never."

I was prepped and given an IV. James had changed into doctor's clothes, which he had done in about ten seconds. Suddenly I was very thankful to the days of quick-change disguises. I don't know what I would have done if I had to do it alone. It hurt so much. There wasn't time for an epidural or even time to really think on it. It was pain and fear and so many things.

"It's unreal just how scary it is," Jack agreed, "Even with just one, it was terrifying. I can't even imagine having two."

"I was bawling," Jessie admitted, a little unsure why she was admitting to weakness, but then, maybe she wanted Jack to know everything. Maybe she wanted him to know how she became stronger and how his grandchildren entered the world.

"You? Bawling?" Jack asked, incredulous.

"It was a very trying experience, pushing two human beings out of there," Jessie protested.

"Alright. It is time to start pushing," Turpin said from somewhere down by my feet. I gasped from the pain as tears streamed down my face. James was beside me, still as pale as a sheet, holding my hand that didn't have the IV in it. Then it started.

"Push!" Turpin ordered.

"Dammit!" I gasped as the most intense pain shot through me.

"Another one, Jessie, I see the head," Turpin called, "Dad, you wanna see?"

I saw James glance up out of the corner of my eye. I gripped his hand tighter, "You stay with me!" I barked.

"Sure, Jess," James squeaked, "Keep going, Hon…Jessie!"

"OWWW!" I cried.

"There's the shoulders. One more, Jessie!" Turpin called. It was not one more. I still had another baby to give birth to…but then I heard my first baby cry.

"Is it okay? Is it-"

"It's a girl," Turpin said, cutting James off and holding our daughter up for us to see. She kept crying as the cord was cut and as she was wrapped in a blanket and passed to me.

"Oh my god," I gasped as I stared down at her.

"You did it," James breathed, kissing the side of my head, "She's perfect."

And she was. She stopped crying and stared up at us. She had my eyes, bright blue and shinning. The little hair she had was darker than both mine and James's. It looked almost purple. She had James's nose and his ears.

"Beautiful," I whispered. I could stare at her forever.

"Jessie, we need to get her cleaned up and figure out what we're going to do about your son," Turpin said gently after a moment. Right. There was another baby.

"Right…where will she…will she be alright?" I questioned, my eyes not leaving my baby girl as a nurse took her from my arms.

"She will be fine," Turpin assured me, "I'm going to do another quick ultrasound to figure out if we can deliver the other baby naturally."

"It'll be okay," James said, looking considerably calmer, "We can do it. We can actually do it. I mean, you delivered our baby girl so easily-"

"Easy?" I questioned, not sure if I heard that right. From around my stomach, I heard Dr. Turpin give a low whistle.

"Well, it was pretty fast and-"

I grabbed him by his shirt, "If you want to see your children grow up, I suggest you stop talking!" I growled.

"So good news," Turpin said, saving James from any further threats, "Your son can be delivered naturally, but he is going to be in a more difficult position."

"Ummm, let's do this?" James questioned nervously.

"Yeah, before I really decide to hurt you," I muttered.

"Okay, Jessie, you're going to have to push hard," Turpin ordered. I obeyed, feeling the same pain as before, only more intense.

"Oh Dammit!" I cried, gripping James's hand hard.

"Harder, Jessie, nothing's happening!" Turpin called.

"Jess, you can do it!" James encouraged.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" I yelped, glaring at James, "I am going to kill you!" I gasped.

"You can do it, Darl-"

I'm not proud of it, but I hit him. Hard.

"Argh! Hey, Jess, stop!" he protested backing away, as I swiped for him.

"Jessie, push!" Turpin barked.

"Fuuuck!" I screamed, gripping the bedrails. James didn't know whether or not to come back within striking distance, but it didn't matter.

"Here we go, he's coming! One more really big push, Jessie!"

"ARRRRGGHHH!" I cried. Through my watery eyes, I saw James stumble back to watch the birth of our son. His eyes were the size of dinner plates and his mouth was gaping open.

"WHHAAAAHHH!"

"And here he is!" Turpin laughed, holding up a gooey baby boy for me to see. The baby seemed to scowl away from the light as he cried, shielding his eyes with his little hands.

"He's beautiful," I gasped.

"Handsome lil' devil," Turpin agreed, "Dad, you wanna cut the cord?" he asked. James blinked, took a baby step forward, and then fell to the floor.

"Oh, God! James? Are you alright?" I gasped, trying to look over at him.

"He'll be fine," Turpin said, almost as if he had been expecting James to faint. He cut the cord and handed the baby to me, "We'll get him up and around in no time. Congratulations."

I looked down at my son, who was squinting up at me with one eye closed. His open eye was green, just like his daddy's. He had my nose and mouth. His reddish hair was a complete mess on his head, sticking up, as he moved his little arms over his head and face.

"Look at you, little boy," I whispered, gently smoothing his hair to his small head, "You look like Daddy."

He continued to cry as I cradled him. I wasn't even the least bit frustrated with his cries. To me, they were evidence that I had succeeded. Both of my babies arrived in the world healthy and strong. Then his cries became whimpers and he opened his big, green eyes to stare up at me. He had James and Teddy's eyes. Perfect.

"Someone would like to reunite with her brother," a nurse interrupted, presenting my daughter. I smiled, shifting a little. Then I was holding them both, finally, after wondering for so long who they were. I was a mom. Things had changed.

"It's earth-changing, isn't it?" Jack asked, smiling at the look of wonderment that still crept onto Jessie's face, even after almost four years.

"I can't even begin to describe it," she admitted.

"What'd I miss?" James whispered a couple moments later, crawling into a chair by the bed. He looked over at our babies and smiled as colour returned to his pale face.

"Cord cutting, mother-son bonding, twins reuniting, and some other gross stuff I don't want to think about," I listed, smiling at the two different, yet similar faces. James reached out and gently touched our daughter's hand. She surprised us both when she griped his index finger.

"Strong," James whispered. Our son chose that moment to protest, whimpering as he closed one of his eyes and squinted at us.

"He did that when he came out," I explained, "Like a little pirate."

"Pirate?" James laughed, softly running his other hand over the red hair of our son, "Captain Morgan?"

"Henry," I whispered, "Henry Morgan."

"Please tell me you're not really going to name our son after a bottle of –"

"Henry James Theodore," I cut him off, "I'm naming him after his father and uncle. And I think it fits."

"Henry," James sighed, and to my surprise, little Henry reacted to his father's voice, maybe recognizing it from all the times James talked to the twins when they were inside me, "Okay. What about her?"

I looked into my daughter's bright, blue eyes. She still had a hold on her dad's finger. She was going to be daddy's girl and I already knew it, "I think we should reconsider your grandmother's name."

"Rose?" James said, his smile becoming more pronounced. Before, I had refuted the name saying it was too old-fashioned, but now I could see it was the right choice for her. She was ours…just like the flower James always carried with him.

Ours. They were ours.

"Rose."

"Henry and Rose," Jack said, "Nice names. Better than Waldo."

Jessie laughed, "Meowth thought so too."

"So Henry an' Rose," Meowth said, standing on the bedside table the next morning, "Not da worst names in the world."

"How sweet," I deadpanned, cradling Henry.

"I think they're great names," Delia said kindly, passing Rose to James.

"We named Rose for you," I told her, "I owed you one after you got me out of that church."

"Anytime," Delia laughed. The only quiet one was Teddy, who hovered unsurely by the foot of the bed.

"Ted, come here," I called, "Why don't you come hold your nephew?" I asked. Teddy jumped and looked at the baby.

"Uh, really?"

"Sure. Come on over," I said. He moved onto the bed and Delia helped get him ready. I gently placed my son in his arms.

"His eyes are like mine," Teddy said suddenly. James and I exchanged smiles.

"You want to know his full name, Teddy?" James asked, "It's Henry James Theodore Morgan."

"Like mine?" Teddy questioned.

"Of course," I smiled, "You're his uncle and we love you. We probably would have thrown Meowth's name in too, but it would have looked strange, seeing as how he's a pokemon."

"So I get no recognition whatsoever?" Meowth asked indignantly.

"Meowth, we wouldn't be here with them if it wasn't for you," James said, "Remember? When we all sat together in the Sinnoh hospital after Jessie and I fell from the cliff, you told us it was time to grow up. So we did, and look at us. The family that was you, me, and Jessie is so much bigger and better now, because of what you said to us that day."

"It wasn't dat big a deal," Meowth blushed.

"Sure it was," I confirmed, "Because of you, our family is the way it's supposed to be. Better than I could have imagined."

And it was true. I always had James and Meowth.

Then I had Teddy, my brother-in-law/son.

And now, I had two beautiful babies.

For the first time, I had a real family.

"And I love them so, so much," Jessie said.

"Well, Jessie, I hope you can make it back to them," Jack replied sincerely.

"Maybe a Christmas miracle, huh?" Jessie chuckled dryly.

"Stranger things have happened," Jack shrugged, sipping a cup of tea.

TBC

AN: And there is the birth of Jessie and James' kids. I always had Rose in the back of my mind for their daughter, as cliche as it is. Originally, I thought she should have blue-hair for James, but then I thought she should resemble her maternal grandmother. As for Henry, I kind of like the name, plus I thought the Captain Morgan thing was neat.

Drop me a review to let me know what you think!

Songs the inspired this chapter:
-You'll be in My Heart by Phil Collins. How can you not love this song?
-You're Gonna Be by Reba McEntire. It's so sweet how much she loves her baby in the song.
-I'll Always Be Right There by Bryan Adams. I love the song about creating a family, which is what Jessie and James did.