A/N: Here's the next chapter!! Chapter 12 is already in progress, so hopefully i'll be able to post it before too long. I hope you enjoy this chapter; i really enjoyed writing it. Not sure how many chapters are left, but the next chapter skips ahead about a year, so the story's kind of wrapping up. For all of you Emergency fans, I plan on starting on the sequel to No Greater Love once I finish this story.
It had been just over a week since Kevin's funeral, and things were finally starting to get back to normal at the Kinkirk house, or at least as normal as they could be without Kevin. Patty Mary and Karen had returned to New York a couple of days after Kevin's funeral, and after they had left Ben had moved back into his own house after assuring Lucy he was only a phone call away and making her promise to call him if she needed anything. So far he had dropped by every day to check on Lucy and the girls and to see if they needed anything.
Lucy sighed as she sat down on the couch. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Savannah and Erin were finally down for their naps. Today had been a rough day. Her back had been bothering her all day, and it seemed like every time she turned around the girls had found some new mischief to get into. She tensed and took in a deep breath as a sharp pain shot through her back. "Ouch," she whispered, surprised. She glanced at the clock, and then closed her eyes again. A few minutes later, she felt another pain. She opened her eyes again to check the time. It had only been three minutes since the last one. She leaned back again, but this time kept her eyes on the clock. A little over four minutes later, another pain hit, this one lasting longer than the ones before it.
Once the pain had passes, Lucy picked up the phone and dialed Ben's cell phone number. It rang for a few minutes and then went to his voicemail. She hung up and then tried again, once again with no answer. She tried a third time with the same results. "Ben, why aren't you answering?" she asked, frustrated. She picked up the phone to try one more time.
"Luce? Is everything okay?" Ben asked, sounding breathless when he answered. "I just saw all your missed calls. What is it?"
"I think I need to go to the hospital," Lucy said, very matter-of-factly.
"What? Is it the babies? Are the babies coming?" Ben asked worriedly.
"Yes." Lucy paused for a moment as yet another pain hit, this one the sharpest and longest yet. "And Ben?"
"Yes?"
"I think you'd better hurry."
"I'm on my way, Luce. Hang on, okay? I'll be there as soon as I can."
Lucy hung up the phone, and then slowly made her way to her bedroom to get her bag that she had packed for the hospital. She then called Rose.
"Hello?" Rose answered.
"Rose? This is Lucy. Do you think you could come over and watch the girls for me?"
"Is it time?" Rose asked excitedly.
"Yes. Ben's on his way over now to take me to the hospital."
"Simon and I will be right over," Rose said. She then hung up the phone.
Lucy had to laugh. Rose had acquired the Camden trait of hanging up without saying goodbye.
Ten minutes later Ben arrived. He knocked on the door, and, when he didn't get an answer, he used his key to let himself in. "Lucy?"
"In here," Lucy called out. Her water had broken almost right after she'd gotten off the phone with Rose, and her labor was progressing very quickly.
Ben entered the living room and found Lucy laying on the couch, grimacing in pain. "How are you doing, Luce?"
Luce stated to answer, but instead worked on not yelling as the next contraction hit. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists. Ben dropped down on his knees beside the couch and Lucy immediately grabbed his hand and began squeezing. When the contraction was over, Lucy said, "Call Matt. I'm not going to make it to the hospital."
Ben grabbed his cell phone and dialed Matt's number.
"Hello?"
"Matt, it's Ben. I'm with Lucy. She's in labor, and she says she's not going to make it to the hospital."
"I'm on my way. Let me talk to her." Matt commanded as he rushed out of his office.
"Matt?"
"Yeah, it's me, Luce. How are you doing?"
"Hurry, Matt, these babies are in a hurry to be born."
"I'm on my way, Luce. I need you to hang on for me, okay? I'll be there soon." Matt heard voices in the background, then Kevin got back on the phone.
"Lucy called Rose and Simon to watch the girls while I took her to the hospital and they just got here. They're going to take the girls over to the Camden house."
"Good," Matt said. "It will be better to have them out of the way. How's she doing?"
"The contractions are coming about every two minutes or so. She says they're pretty strong. These babies are really in a hurry to get here."
"Where is she?"
"She's on the couch."
"Do you thing she could make it to the bedroom?"
"Would it be easier for you?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll get her there."
"Okay. I'm about five minutes away now. I'm going to get off here and call Sarah and have her meet me there."
After Ben got off the phone with Matt, he turned his attention back to Lucy. "Luce? Do you think you can walk to the bedroom?"
"I can try," Lucy replied. She stood up, and with Ben's help, was able to take a couple of steps before the next contraction doubled her over.
Ben waited until the contraction had passed, then he picked Lucy up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom, with her protesting the whole way.
"Ben, I'm too heavy for you! Put me down!"
"I will, when we get to the bedroom," Ben calmly replied. When he reached the bedroom, he pushed the door open with his shoulder and gently set her down on the bed. By this time, Lucy was in the midst of another contraction, so she had stopped complaining. "Breathe, Luce. Come on, you can make it through this," Ben coached her.
When that contraction finally passed, Lucy asked, "When's Matt going to get here? I don't think these babies are going to wait much longer!"
Ben got a panicked look on his face. "They have to wait until Matt gets here! I don't want to deliver my niece and nephew!"
"I don't think they really care!" Lucy managed to get out through gritted teeth. Another contraction had hit. They were coming less than a minute apart now.
"Com on, Matt, where are you?" Ben asked under his breath. He glanced towards the doorway, hoping to see Matt walk through it.
"Ahh!" Lucy groaned, turning Ben's attention quickly back to her. Her face was white and her teeth were clenched tightly. "I need to push!" she gritted out.
"You can't push yet, Luce. You need to wait. You can hang on until Matt gets here, Luce, I know you can." Ben hoped that what he was saying was true, for both his sake and for Lucy's sake.
The contraction passed, and Lucy said, "These babies aren't going to wait any longer, Ben. I don't know where Matt is, but unless he gets here in the next couple of seconds, you're going to have to deliver these babies."
"What?! What do I do?" Ben asked, resigning himself to the fact that he was going to be delivering his niece and nephew.
"Get some towels to wrap the babies in once they're born. Also, get some…ahh!" Lucy groaned as another contraction hit.
Ben ran to the linen closet and threw open the door. He quickly grabbed two towels off of the shelf and then ran back to the bed., where Lucy was still fighting the contraction. "It's okay, Luce, just breathe. Scream if you have to. Go ahead and push if you think you need to," he said as he dialed Matt on his cell phone.
"Ben, I'm stuck in traffic! There was an accident, and there's no way for me to get around it. I couldn't get a hold of Sarah. How's Lucy?"
"Lucy's having the babies now!" Ben yelled into the phone. "She says she has to push. The contractions are coming less than a minute apart. These babies aren't going to wait any longer, Matt."
"Okay, Ben, you need to stay calm. It's not going to help Lucy or the babies if you panic. Get some clean towels or blankets. I'll talk you through everything," Matt said, much calmer than he felt.
Fifteen minutes later, Matt pulled into the Kinkirk's driveway and jumped out of his car without even turning it off. He ran up the front steps and into the house. When he reached the bedroom, he found Lucy lying on the bed with two tiny newborn babies wrapped in towels lying on top of her. Ben was standing next to the bed.
"Hi, Matt" Lucy said. "You're a little late."
"I can see that," Matt replied. "How's everyone doing? Is the squad on the way?"
"We're all doing just fine," Lucy replied.
"The squad should be here any minute now," added Kevin. "I called them as soon as I got off the phone with you."
Two hours later, both babies and Lucy were settled in the hospital. All of the Camden clan was gathered in Lucy's room.
"So, what are you going to name them?" asked Ruthie.
"Well, I was thinking that I would name the boy Eric Kevin, after his grandpa and his dad, and the girl I'm going to name Allison Michelle. It's the name that Kevin and I had picked out for her," Lucy answered.
Annie had tears in her eyes. "Eric Kevin? Oh, Luce, your dad and Kevin would both be so proud."
"Kevin and I had already planned on naming him Eric, but his middle name was going to be Michael, after Kevin's dad. I just thought it would only be right to name him after Kevin after everything that's happened," Lucy said, struggling to hold back the tears.
There were a few moments of awkward silence as everyone just stood there, not exactly sure of what to say. Finally, Matt spoke up. "Luce, Sarah and I have got to get going. I'm sure that the twins are driving the babysitter nuts by now. I'm on call tonight, so if I get called in I'll be sure to stop by and see you. Call me if you need anything." He leaned down and gave Lucy a hug.
"Thanks, Matt, Sarah. Give Keller and Liam hugs for me," Lucy said.
"We will," replied Sarah. "Now you get some rest, you hear? Soon enough you'll be home and these two will keep you awake all night."
"We should probably get going, too," Mary said after Matt and Sarah had left. "I'll be sure to stop by tomorrow to visit you and the twins."
"Okay, bye, Mary," Lucy said, giving her a hug. "Bring Charlie with you; I know how much he loves babies."
"I might. It's hard to get out with just Charlie, though. The twins always want to go wherever Charlie goes, and there's no way I'd bring Erica and Ava here, as much as they'd love to see the babies. They'd be way too loud."
Lucy laughed. Carlos and Mary's twin girls still hadn't learned the meaning of the word quiet.
Once Carlos and Mary had left, the nurse came to get Eric and Allison, who were sound asleep in their bassinets.
"We should probably get going, too, Lucy. You need your rest," Peter said.
"Oh, I see how it is," Lucy joked. "The babies leave and so does everyone else. I'll remember that when your and Ruthie's baby is born." Peter and Ruthie had told everyone about her pregnancy a few days after Kevin's funeral.
Ruthie laughed. "Come on, Peter, we'd better get going before Lucy thinks of any other ways of getting revenge."
After Peter and Ruthie left, it was just Annie, Sam, David, Simon, and Rose left in the room. Ben had gone home shortly after Lucy got settled in a room. He had wanted to give the Camden's some time alone with Lucy.
"Mom, we have a big history test tomorrow and we really need to study," David said. "Sorry, Lucy."
Lucy smiled. "That's okay, David. I remember what that was like. I wouldn't want you and Sam to get a bad grade on your test. Go on home and study. Good luck!"
"Thanks, Lucy," Sam and David called over their shoulders as they rushed out the door.
"Well, I suppose I'd better get going before they come back in here and drag me out," Annie said. "I think that we should have let them play sports long before this. They've never been so concerned about doing well on their schoolwork as they have been since they started playing sports."
Lucy laughed. "Okay, Mom. I'll see you later. Love you."
Once Annie was gone, Rose looked at Simon. "Should we tell her?" she asked.
"Tell me what?" Lucy wanted to know.
"In about six months you're going to have another niece or nephew. Rose is pregnant!" Simon announced.
"Oh, Rose, I'm so happy for you!" Lucy squealed. "How long have you known?"
"We've known for a couple of moths now, but we wanted to wait to tell everyone, just to be sure," Rose replied. "We can't really wait much longer; I'm starting to show a little bit."
"Does anyone else know yet?"
Simon shook his head. "We were planning on telling everyone on Sunday at lunch, but we wanted to tell you tonight. We wanted you to be the first to know."
"I'm so happy for you guys! It's hard to believe that you're going to be a dad, Simon."
"Not as hard as it is to believe that Ruthie's going to be a mom," Simon reminded her.
"That's true. I still find that hard to believe."
"I know; me too. I think everyone is, actually. We've always thought of Ruthie as the baby of the family, even after Sam and David came along. It's hard to remember sometimes that she's married and is going to be a mom."
"I know what you mean. Everything's changing so quickly. Ruthie's going to be a mom; you're going to be a dad; Sam and David graduate from high school next year. Pretty soon it will just be Mom left in the house."
"No, she won't be in the house after Sam and David graduate, remember? The agreement that was made between Mom, Chandler, and the deacons was that once Sam and David graduated from high school, Chandler and Roxanne would get the house," Simon reminded her.
"That's right; I forgot about that. It's going to seem weird with someone besides Mom living in the house, even if it is Chandler and Roxanne. I guess everything can't stay the same forever." Lucy glanced at the clock. "It's getting late; you two should probably be getting home. You need your rest, Rose."
"So do you, Lucy. You've had quite an eventful day," a male voice said from the doorway.
Lucy, Simon, and Rose looked over at the door and saw Ben standing there.
"Ben! What are you doing here?" she asked.
Ben walked into the room. "I came to see you and my niece and nephew. What else would I be doing here?"
Simon cleared his throat. "Rose and I are going to go ahead and get going now. We'll see you later, Lucy."
Once Simon and Rose had left, Ben sat down in the chair next to the bed. "How are you holding up?" he asked. "I know it's hard on you not having Kevin here."
Lucy sighed. "It is hard. He's always been here before. With Savannah and Erin, he was with me for the delivery. He even helped deliver Savannah. It's so hard knowing that he'll never see or hold Eric and Allison."
Ben got up out of the chair and sat down on the bed beside Lucy as tears gathered in her eyes. "Lucy, you are strong. If anyone can get through this, you can. Eric and Allison may never meet their dad, but they'll know that he was an amazing man. I promise that they will not grow up without hearing stories about their amazing dad. Just like you and all of her aunts and uncles tell Erin about her Grandpa Camden, Eric and Allison will be told about their dad. I promise that I will not let them grow up without knowing what a great man their dad was."