Epilogue

"Jaime, get back in bed – please? Rudy'll have my head!" Right now, the independent (stubborn) streak that was part of why Steve loved her so much was driving him crazy. "You need your rest!"

"I need to see our babies, Steve!"

"First thing in the morning, when the doctors okay it -"

"I'm going now," Jaime insisted.

"I can ask the nurses to take a picture for you," Steve offered. "You just need to rest a little longer..."

Jaime looked up at the clock above the door. "It is fifteen minutes 'til midnight. Now, I'm gonna see our daughters on the day they were born!"

"At least let me get a wheelchair," Steve sighed. He knew arguing with Jaime was useless. "So...what do you think we should call them?" he asked after he'd hijacked a chair and was wheeling her toward the ICU.

"Well, I have to meet them first."

"Oh – I talked to Mom tonight, and she asked us to please not name one Helen."

"Why?" Jaime wondered. That had been one of the names she'd had in mind.

"She doesn't wanna hear either one of us yelling the name 'Helen' when we're angry, so -"

Jaime nodded. "Good point....I guess." They'd reached the front of the ICU and, as the nurses looked up in surprise, Steve wheeled Jaime to sit directly between the incubators. She was awed by the sight. Without waiting for instructions, Jaime inserted one hand in each gloved hole and ran a feather-light fingertip across each girl's cheek. "Hi, babies," she whispered. "I'm....your Mama."

Steve choked back his own tears of pride and placed his hands on Jaime's shoulders. "They're almost as beautiful as their Mama," he told Jaime softly.

"Mom's middle name is Rose....right?" Jaime asked, her eyes never leaving her daughters' faces.

"I like that," Steve agreed.

"Okay, then." Jaime touched the smaller baby's shoulder. "Rose, it is." She turned to the second child. "And...." she glanced up at Steve, who read her easily and nodded. "Ann. Welcome to the world, Rose and Ann."

"My girls," Steve said, chuckling to himself. "I am definitely outnumbered – and I'll never get another word in edgewise!" He knew, at that moment, that he wouldn't want it any other way.

END OF EPISODE NINE