A/N: I know, I know. It's short and it's late. I'm a bad, bad girl.
But this is what I got. And I promise there'll be another (longer) post very, very soon. Maybe even tomorrow- provided there are enough reviews. (No, that was not supposed to be funny. I want reviews, and dammit I want them now!)
Here ya go! Enjoy!
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It was Saturday, which meant no school for the munchkins, which meant they had stayed with Nancy while we were at the doctor's office. Now we were in her foyer, waiting for the girls to get there stuff together. We had just finished telling her the big news.
"Twins? Twins?!" My sister stared at me incredulously.
Sara and I just beamed. "Yep."
"You're kidding me."
Sara turned sideways and held her shirt tight against her stomach. Nancy gaped. I just kept on beaming. "Nope."
"That's crazy."
I kissed Sara's cheek. "It's fantastic."
Nancy ran a hand through her hair. "Well, congratulations." She smiled and held out her arms to us both. "Congratulations."
"Thanks."
"When are you going to tell the girls?"
"As soon as we get home. Thanks for watching them, Nance."
"Hey, no problem. What are sisters for? Granted, when there are five of them, I'm going to start charging."
At that moment, there was a thunder of clattering feet on the stairs and our girls appeared.
"Hey, kiddos." I smiled as Ayla hugged me. I rested a hand on her head; she was getting so tall.
"Got all your stuff?" Sara asked, shouldering Maggie's Dora the Explorer backpack.
"Uh-huh." Lindsey's hair was in two very messy braids and she was sporting some very bright pink lipstick. Obviously someone had been playing beauty shop. "I'm hungry. What's for lunch?"
I waved to Nancy and we all started towards the truck. "Well…what would you like?"
"Happy Meals!"
"Yeah, Happy Meals!"
I looked at Sara. She was glowing. Neither of us could stop smiling. Twins. I just couldn't wrap my head around it.
"Okay," Sara grinned, "Happy Meals it is."
Lindsey stopped in her tracks. "Seriously?"
"Yeah, seriously." Sara unlocked the truck. "How about we go to the McDonald's near the house, the one with the big playground?"
Lindsey gave me a look, but then she shrugged and slid into the backseat. "Fine by me."
"Maggie! Move! I don't want to sit in the middle."
"No! My seat. Here first."
"That's not fair! Catherine, make her move. I'm bigger than her and I should get the window seat."
I sighed. Maggie had just grown out of her car-seat about a week earlier. Before, seating had never been an issue. Maggie's car-seat had to go on a window seat, and Lindsey was the oldest, so she got the other window seat. Ayla always got the middle. Now though, Ayla had realized that she didn't have to sit in the middle anymore, and felt entitled, as one of the older girls, to a window seat. This didn't sit well with Maggie who felt, as a big girl who did not have to ride in a car-seat or possibly because it was always where she sat before, that she did not have to give up her spot. So, now every time we got in the car, it was an issue.
"Maggie," I tried to reason, "don't you want to sit next to Lindsey? And then you can look out the big front window and talk with me and Sara."
Maggie seemed to think about this, while Ayla was now clearly having second thoughts about her decision. "Okay." Maggie decided.
"No, I want to sit in the middle."
"Ayla, you can't just change your mind like that. You made your choice."
"But…I want to sit next to Lindsey and have the big window. I want to be in the middle."
Sara squatted down between the two girls, something I realized she would not be able to do for much longer. "Now, who was in the middle on the way over this morning?"
Ayla's smiled triumphantly. "Maggie."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yuh-huh."
"Yes, you were Maggie."
"Oh."
"So, that means that Ayla gets to ride in the middle on the way to McDonald's, and Maggie gets a her turn on the way home. Sound fair?"
Ayla jumped into the truck. "Sounds fair!"
It took Maggie a second to realize she'd lost. When she did she scowled, but climbed into the truck anyway. "Fair."
I closed their door and turned around, "That was very well done, Ms. Sidle. No blood, no tears, and we're in the car in under five minutes."
She put her hands on my hips. "Thank you. Uh, thank you very much."
I beamed at her and tucked some hair behind her ear.
"What's that look for?"
I put a hand on her stomach and shook my head. "Just happy."
She kissed me softly. "Me, too." She kissed me again. And again.
We kissed until we heard the window rolled down and a chorus of 'Eww!'s
"Mom, seriously? You're in the middle of the sidewalk in broad daylight. Casey Miller lives just down the street!"
I looked over my shoulder. "Oh! I didn't know Casey Miller lived down the street! I would hate to get caught and embarrass my daughter." I rolled my eyes.
Sara smiled. "Should we kiss one more time? Just because we can?"
"Hey, I'm not gonna turn it down."
Awhile later, we found ourselves outside at the McDonald's playground, Sara had to leave the table twice to throw up, she couldn't stand the smell of all that meat. But she was a good sport about it, and even puking her guts out couldn't take away our good mood. After the fries and nuggets had disappeared, Maggie and Ayla went off to play on the playground.
"Linds, don't you want to go play too?"
She rolled her eyes at me. "Mom, I'm eleven. I'm practically taller than the slide and my butt doesn't fit in the swings. Plus, Ronald McDonald kinda scares the crap out of me."
"Language!" Sara admonished before I could say it.
"Sorry." Lindsey folded her hands on top of the table. "So, which one of you wants to tell me what's going on."
I blinked. "What are you talking about?"
My daughter rolled her eyes again. "Oh, come on, Mom. I'm not blind. Do you know when the last time I went to McDonald's was, Sara?"
Sara shook her head.
"Mom?"
I shook my head.
"I didn't think so. That is because the last time I went was with Daddy."
I tensed. The word daddy didn't get used very often in our house. And Lindsey hadn't mentioned Eddie in a long time.
"It was?" Sara asked cautiously.
But Lindsey didn't seem upset at all. "It was. But since Sara, the health freak, has been around, we don't go to McDonald's. Or Chili's. Or IHOP. Ever. But today, I ask for Happy Meals and you just say okay. What's up with that?"
"Uh…"
"Umm…"
"Plus you guys were getting all mushy at Aunt Nancy's. And you're like super happy. So, what happened? Does it have anything to do with us getting a little brother or sister?"
Sara and I exchanged glances.
"Oh, my god!" Lindsey's eyes lit up. "It does, doesn't it?" She was practically shrieking.
"Linds, hush!" I looked over my shoulder to make sure the younger girls hadn't heard, then I looked to Sara to see what she wanted to do.
She sighed. "Yes, Linds, it does have to do with that."
"I knew it!" Lindsey bounced in her seat.
"We were going to talk to all of you together when we got home. Do you think that you can keep quiet for another half an hour?"
"Hum. Yeah. I can. Maybe."
"Lindsey…"
"Okay, I can. I will." She checked her watch. "Thirty minutes and counting."
Lindsey was completely silent the entire drive to the house. When we got home, she kept looking at Sara and me as if she were about to explode. I watched her jump a foot in the air when Sara finally ushered everyone into the living room.
"Okay guys, everybody come sit on the couch. Catherine and I have a surprise for you."
Lindsey hopped up on the sofa and pulled Maggie up onto her lap. Ayla climbed up after them. "What's the surprise?"
Sara and I sat together in the big arm chair next to the couch. I held Sara's hand. "Well," she began, "remember how we talked about having another baby in the house?"
All three girls nodded.
"Well, we just went to the doctor a few weeks ago, and found out that I was pregnant."
"So, you're going to have a baby?" Ayla asked.
"Actually," I smiled, "we went to the doctor again today, and she told us that we were going to have…twins."
There was a brief silence, before, "Twins?! Oh, my god! Like two? Like two babies?"
"So we're going to have two brothers or sisters? But where will they go? We have no room for two babies."
Maggie hopped of the sofa and over to us. She pointed to Sara's stomach. "In here?"
I smiled and lifted her onto my lap. "That's right. Two babies in there." Gently I took her hand and rested it on Sara's belly.
She giggled. "Hello, babies!"
By this time, the two older girls were thoroughly jealous. They came over and soon everyone was rubbing Sara's stomach. She looked over at me. "This is feels so weird."
I smiled. "I think you're going to have to get used to it."
"So, when are the babies coming?" Lindsey asked.
"Not until November."
"What? But I'll be in sixth grade by then."
"I'll be in fourth grade."
"What about me?"
"You'll be in kindergarten, Maggie May."
"Oh."
"November is like a million years away."
"Well, that's how long we have to wait if we want the babies to come out nice and healthy."
Lindsey sighed dramatically, "Fine."
"How big are the babies now?"
"About two inches long."
"That's really small."
"What are we going to call them?"
"I don't know. I think for now we'll call them baby one and baby two. It's still early to start talking about names."
The questions went on and on until we managed to distract them with a movie. Later, before we were going to leave for shift, Maggie came up to Sara and lifted her shirt. Then she kissed her belly and said, "Goodnight babies." And Sara, in the midst of an oncoming hormonal attack, started to cry. If she was going to cry every time Maggie did something cute, this was going be a long six months.
Now that the girls knew, and my sister knew, and my mother and everyone we had called in San Francisco knew, all that was left was to tell the boys. I was sure they'd be fine with it, that they'd smile and hug us and be happy for us. But Sara was a little worried. Namely, she was worried over the reaction of a Mr. Gil Grissom.
Over the last eight months, things had gotten better between Gil and Sara and I. Sort of. Things were nowhere near the way they had been before, nor would they ever be again. Especially not between Gil and I. Sara had persistently tried to repair the friendship she had had with our supervisor, and with some success. They talked now, about what, I have no idea. I didn't ask.
Gil and I still had our problems. I knew that he still had feelings for Sara, and he knew I knew. So we silently agreed to a truce. But things were stiff. Truthfully, I missed my friend, but I just couldn't see how things could be different. What he was going to have to say about his two female co-workers requesting maternity leave because they were about to have twins, I really had no clue. And really, I didn't care.
I couldn't help but smile madly on the way to work that evening. I had the most beautiful woman in the passenger seat and she was carrying my two children. I wondered if men felt this proud of themselves when they got someone pregnant.
"You look smug." Sara observed.
We stopped at a red light and I ran a hand through my hair, "I am."
"About what?" Sara was absentmindedly running a hand over her belly.
I grinned evilly, "I done knocked you up good, woman." I cackled.
Sara laughed at that, "Oh, yeah, you and a big bad turkey baster!"
I mock glowered at her, "Smartass," I accused as we continued driving, "No, seriously. You're having my babies. Sara, that's amazing. I'm really madly in love with you, you know that?" I reached out a hand to her.
Instead of interlacing our fingers, she pressed my palm against her abdomen, "We love you, too."
I think I just about cried.
"So let's go over this again." I said, changing the subject.
We had decided that we would tell the boys about the babies tonight, we were going to wait until Sara had officially cleared the first trimester, but if she was going to start showing more soon (which the doctor said was a good possibility) then we figured we ought to get it over with.
"Cath, you can't really rehearse the 'your two lesbian co-workers are having twins' speech. You just can't. It will come out the way it does."
"I'm just worried that you'll get nervous and blurt out something eloquent like 'I'm pregnant' and give Grissom a heart attack."
"Give me a little credit, Cath."
I smirked. "I have had experience with you and announcements, Sar. Actually, I was thinking we could just arrange for Hodges to casually overhear us talking about it. Avoid having to tell everyone, you know, save some time."
"Oh, yeah," Sar snorted as we parked out front, "And have him commiserating with Ecklie. God, they'd eat it up." We got out of the car, "'How domestic' and all that crap."
I laughed along. "Could be fun. We could time how long it took for everyone to find out."
"It might actually be faster than telling them ourselves." We walked towards the lab.
"So you really just want to wing it?"
"Yeah, we'll be fine."
"And you promise not to freeze and freak out?"
"Cath…"
"Okay." I held up my hands. "Okay."
We rounded the corner to the break room, "Okay, you ready?"
"You bet."
She kissed me quickly, "Then let's go, Mommy." She disappeared through the door.
Everyone was in except Grissom. I smelled Greg's Brazilian roast and sighed. Sara had had to give up coffee for the babies, and knowing how hard that would be for her, I volunteered to do the same. Hearing Sara's equally miserable sigh of longing, I gave her a look of understanding. I went to the fridge and produced the bottled ice teas I had put in there the week before. I took her hand, and we both leaned against the counter, watching the three boys fight over the sports section.
Grissom entered with the swiftness of professionalism, ordering me to a B&E solo, Sara and Nick to a suspicious circs, and himself, Warrick, and Greg to a double homicide. As he turned to go I protested.
"Actually, Gil, before we break up, Sara and I have something we want to tell everyone." I grabbed Sara's wrist, feeling her pale beside me.
Nick grabbed his chest. "I sense a dramatic announcement coming on."
"Seriously, man. Hey, if you're about to tell us that the two of you are together, we heard that like a year ago." Warrick seconded.
"Our hearts are still feeling the loss." Greg joked, smiling wistfully at Sara.
I gave him a stern look that softened when Sara squeezed my hand, "Well, it is something along those lines…"
"Geez," Nick exclaimed, "Are you guys getting married?"
"Uh…" I looked awkwardly at Sara. "No."
"You're moving, aren't you?" Greg asked.
"Houses?" Warrick wanted to know. "Or are you planning on leaving us?"
"Guys, we're not moving, we're-"
"I'm pregnant." Sara immediately shot me an apologetic look.
I just stared at her.
"Sorry. It uhh…slipped."
I shook my head, "For the record, there's a big 'I told you so' going down with this memory. And next time we tell people, we're rehearsing."
Sara nodded, blushing.
We turned back to look at our friends, and I was suddenly nervous. I was sure they would be okay with this, but all of them were slack jawed.
"What?" Sara asked them, shifting uneasily from side to side.
"You're pregnant?" Nick questioned.
Sara glowed, "Yeah. About twelve weeks."
"What…I mean…how…uhh…was this planned?" Greg was at a loss.
I snorted, "No, Greggo, we had a condom break on us." I rolled my eyes.
He blushed.
I felt an arm around my waist, "Play nice, Mommy." Sara whispered into my ear, and then to the boys, "Yeah, it was planned. We just didn't want to tell people we were trying in case it turned out we had problems."
"So, we're going to have a mini Sara running around in a few months?" Warrick smiled, "That's great! Congratulations!" He swept us both up in a tight hug.
"Actually," Sara corrected, "A mini Catherine."
"We used my eggs," I explained to the blank looks, "and actually, it's two mini Catherines," I corrected again.
Greg's eyes widened at me, "Why? Are you pregnant, too?"
I laughed, "No, Greg. That ship has sailed."
Sara beamed again, "We're having twins!"
We received another circle of shocked looks all around.
"But…you already have three." This was the first thing Gil had said since the announcement. "That makes five."
Sara snorted, "That's exactly what Catherine said at the doctor's office this morning. After she woke up from her faint."
"You fainted?" Warrick laughed.
I shot daggers at Sara with my eyes, "Traitor."
She stuck her tongue out at me. Turning back to Grissom she said, "Yeah, we know it's five. And five's a lot. But we were okay with four, so what's one more?"
I kissed my love's temple, "Five is the perfect number. I couldn't be happier."
She smiled her thanks at me.
"So, when are you due?" Nick asked.
"Well, originally, the date was set around Thanksgiving-"
"But twins rarely carry to full term-"
"So we're looking at somewhere around Halloween."
"This is so great! Babies! Maybe Uncle Greg will get a nephew?" Greg fished.
"We've actually decided to let the sexes be a surprise."
"The girls are hoping for a boy too, but I think they'd welcome a little girl just as much."
"You guys can't favor boys over girls." I pointed out.
"Like Sara won't? I bet she's just dying to paint a room a color that isn't pink or purple." Warrick laughed.
Sara argued, "I'm engineering at least one of them to like trucks and motorcycles and blue even if they're both girls."
The boys laughed.
Grissom interrupted our play with a serious face, "I assume you girls will come talk to me about maternity leave and all of that?"
We both nodded.
"Good. In that case, congratulations. Alright," He turned back to the team, "let's get to work, people. We can discuss baby- babies, after we've solved the crimes." And that was it. He just left. The boys looked between the empty doorway and Sara and I, confused. I just shrugged.
I kissed Sara briefly before heading out, "I love you." I whispered. Bending down I kissed her belly, "I love you guys, too, okay? Be good for your Mom while I'm away. If I hear you were misbehaving…"
"Cath, are you really going to reprimand our children before they're born? Don't you think you're starting the guilt tripping a little too early?"
"It's never too early to stick in some good old fashioned mother's guilt."
As we drove home from shift, Sara was frowning.
"What is it, babe?"
She scowled out the window. "Do I look like some delicate flower to you?"
Out of the blue… "Umm…no?"
"Because Nick seems to think I'm made of glass. He wouldn't let me do anything all shift."
"And you stood for that?"
She colored slightly. "No. He was really getting on my nerves, so I sort of bit his head off."
"Did you apologize?"
"Apologize? Apologize!? Me? It's him who should be apologizing. He wouldn't even let me make my own coffee! I mean, I'm pregnant, not incompetent. What the hell does he think he's doing?"
I smiled. "I'm sure he's just trying to be nice. You know, Texas gentleman and all of that."
"Yeah, well, I don't like it. I am perfectly capable of running a suspicious circs scene by myself."
I laughed. "For now."
This just brought another scowl.
Oh, boy. Six months of this was sure going to be fun.
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Review. Review. Review, review, review. You can't hear it, but I've made up a song. It goes like this; Review. Review. Review, review, review. Review! It's got sort of an Indie Rock beat to it.