A few months had passed since the two had learned of the upcoming addition to their family. Charlie had first gone to the doctor to confirm her pregnancy before she told Maxwell, and now it was time for her second one. Maxwell had insisted he walk with her to the hospital before they'd be forced to part ways.
"You sure you don't mind going yourself?"
"I'll be fine Maxy, it's just a check-up." She placed a hand on the small swell of her stomach as they walked along the sidewalk. "You know, just to make sure the baby's doing alright."
They stopped once they reached the outside of the hospital, and she turned to face her husband. "I'll come right over to the theater as soon as I get out. Promise."
He smiled at her. "Alright then, I'll be waiting for you."
She stood up on her toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek before heading in for her appointment. Not much later, she found herself in a sterilized room, sitting on the examination table, one hand tapping at her side and the other absentmindedly cradling her bump.
A few moments later, a nurse entered the room with a clipboard in her hand. She glanced at it before giving Charlie a warm smile. "Wonderful to see you again Mrs. Carter."
"Great to see you too." Charlie grinned back.
She took out a pen and sat down in a chair facing Charlie. "I take it your husband took the news well?"
She chuckled. "Yes, he did. A bit shocked at first, but he was happy."
"Good to hear. Now, let's begin." She clicked her pen. "How have you been feeling since your last visit?"
"Great. Way better now that the morning sickness has passed."
She jotted down a few notes. "And have you felt any movement lately?"
She smiled and glanced at her stomach. "Just some little fluttery ones every so often."
"Mm-hm. Those should become more frequent and noticeable as the baby develops. As of right now, it's not uncommon to feel some one movement one day and then nothing the next."
After answering some more questions, the nurse had Charlie stand so she could examine her belly and take a few measurements. Afterward, the nurse furrowed her brow slightly. "You said you were fourteen weeks along, correct?"
"Yes," she replied, slightly concerned, "what about it?"
"Hm," the nurse glanced back at her clipboard, "you seem to be just a little large for only being at fourteen weeks." She stood back up.
Charlie sat back down on the table. "Well, it's likely we could've gotten the conception date wrong."
"Perhaps." She picked up a stethoscope and came back over to her. "However, there's one thing I'd like to make sure of first before we settle with that conclusion." She put the buds of the stethoscope in her ears and placed the opposite end of it on Charlie's belly. A few silent moments passed as she moved the device around, then a small grin broke out on her face. "Ah, now I understand. Here." She gave the earbuds to Charlie.
She put them on and listened carefully. The nurse adjusted the stethoscope, and then she heard it: the pattering of a tiny heartbeat. She gasped softly at it. It was so quick, yet steady. The nurse moved the stethoscope to a different part of her stomach, and the heartbeat became fainter. Then, another heartbeat joined the first one, just as steady and rapid. Now it was Charlie's turn to furrow her brow. Another heartbeat? But that could only mean—
Her eyes widened as the realization hit her. "Oh my gosh…"
The nurse's smile grew as she stood back up. "Congratulations Mrs. Carter, it seems that you are expecting twins."
"Twins…" Still in a state of shock, she looked back down at her stomach and put a hand on it. "You're really sure?"
"There were definitely two heartbeats heard there." The nurse wrote a few more notes on her clipboard. "And don't worry, if there were the possibility of triplets we would have known by now."
Charlie breathed, and remained silent.
"I understand this may take some getting used to," the nurse continued, "but it's much better to find out now than during the delivery, right?"
"Yeah… I guess so…"
"So, now that we've established that, I suggest that you schedule a few more appointments along with the ones you already have. Pregnancies with multiples are usually monitored a bit more closely than a single one, just to assure the health of both you and the children."
She nodded, her head still swimming a bit.
"Additionally, I strongly recommend taking prenatal vitamins along with the healthy diet. Overall, the pregnancy will take a bit more work than we originally thought, but by judging how well you've been doing so far, that shouldn't be a problem."
She exited the hospital later that day, a bottle of vitamins in her hand. She glanced back at the building, then looked forward, and grinned. "Oh boy Maxy, you are in for the biggest surprise." She half walked-half jogged towards the theater, hardly able to contain her excitement.
Maxwell was on the stage going over his routine for what felt like umpteenth time when Charlie entered from the back of the theater. He grinned and wave to her as she trotted down the middle aisle. He smiled again as she came up onto the stage. "Hey dear— oof!" He was cut short when she suddenly tackled him in a big hug. He wrapped his arms around her. "Heh, you seem to be in a rather good mood."
She laughed into his shirt, then looked up at him. "I definitely am." She let go of him and took a small step back. "Maxy, there's something I need to tell you." She bounced up and down, practically bubbling with excitement.
He blinked at her antics, genuinely curious. "Well alright then, fire away."
She made a delighted squeak. "There were two!"
"What?"
"Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself." She inhaled deeply, then exhaled. "So we listened for a heartbeat at the doctor's to see how the baby was doing, and instead of just one heartbeat, we heard two. Two!"
"Two heartbea—" His eyes widened. "Oh good Lord. Twins?"
She smiled widely and nodded, her eyes getting misty. "Twins. We've got twins on the way!" She bear-hugged him again.
He took a step back to catch her, then wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, the two of them laughing like a pair of love-struck fools. Any stagehands close-by had long since decided to occupy themselves with something in the back of the theater to let the couple have their moment together.
Charlie sat up in bed reading a book while Maxwell laid on his back next to her, staring up at the ceiling. "I still can't believe it," he spoke softly. "Twins..."
She chuckled softly. "Yeah, I had some trouble grasping it too." She set the book down and leaned back slightly. "The only reason the possibility came up was because she said I looked a bit large for how far along I am."
Maxwell sat up and placed a slender hand on her bump. "And yet you still look as radiant as ever." He leaned over and kissed her neck tenderly.
She blushed and pushed him away playfully. "Oh Maxy, ever the charmer."
"Simply stating what is true, my dear."
She laughed again and placed her hand on top of his on her belly. "Boy, I can't wait to tell Lottie. She is going to flip."
"I could imagine, if last time we spoke with her was any indication." He recalled the moment when they'd told Charlie's sister they were expecting. "I've never seen someone so elated in my life." He looked back towards her. "Except for us today."
"She was just excited, silly." She shifted to face him. "Come to think of it, don't you have a certain brother to tell?"
He sighed and laid back down on the bed, resuming his gaze on the ceiling. "Jack is never going to believe me."
"Can't say I blame him." She laid down next to him. "I mean, two brothers who both end up fathering twins? What are the odds?"
"Probably very low, no doubt." He sighed again. "I am definitely going to be asking for his advice in the future." The idea of parenting was already a foreign-enough concept to him. He looked over to her. "Do you think we're ready for this?"
He heard her breathe softly. "I don't know yet, Maxy. I'll admit, I'm nervous too." She rolled over to face him, and put her hands on her bump. "But at the same time, I've never been so excited for something in my life. I mean, the chances of twins are rare as it is, and I would have never thought it'd happen to us one day." She smiled. "Call me silly, but I truly think that we've been lucky, somehow."
He thought for a moment, then smiled. "You're right," he leaned down and kissed her belly, "we are very lucky." He held her close in his arms, and they stayed like that for the rest of the night.