CHAPTER SIX

Just then, I felt a sudden rush of water between my legs, and heard a whooshing noise. I gasped, and fell forward. Quil caught me and I groaned. "Ow…" I said. I took in a deep breath and winced. I felt the tears on my cheeks and I slowly stood myself back up.

"Hey," Quil said, looking at my eyes. He wiped away the tears. "You're doing so good."

I looked around and I could tell that a few other people's water had just broken as well. I gasped as the next contraction hit me, and I almost fell. Quil held me up, and I held onto him for all I was worth as the contraction rocked me. "Oh my gosh," I said. I was panting, trying to get a deep breath in, but it hurt more than I could've imagined.

"Breathe Claire," I heard Edward say. "Come on now, stick with us."

I pulled air through my lungs, and the contraction slowly released. "Good girl," Edward said.

"Let's check you guys again," Carlisle said. "And you are going this time," he said, giving Abbey an evil smile.

She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed.

All eighteen of us were sitting on the couch this time. "Let's do this," Abbey said. She was sitting in the middle. This time, Bella, Edward, and Carlisle all checked us. It went much faster like this. Carlisle came to me and said hello. "Hi," I said.

"Let's see how far you are," Carlisle said, and I spread my legs. Quil held onto me tightly, and I did my best to get one breath in after the other. His cold hands were actually a little less painful than Abbey's had been, and he was a least twice as fast as she was.

"Wow," Carlisle said. "I've got nine," he said.

"Me too," Edward said.

"I'm with you," Bella concurred.

I sat still as they finished checking everyone else, and then the next contraction hit me. I moaned and fell onto Quil's shoulder. It rose to a peak, and I bit my lip to keep from screaming. After nearly a minute, it died slowly.

I let out all of my air, and felt a little light headed. "Keep breathing Claire," Carlisle said. "You need to get air to those babies."

I sucked in as much air as I could, and Quil rubbed my arms. "Good job," Quil said. He kissed my forehead.

"Alright girls," Carlisle said. "We're going to need you guys to spread out a little bit and then just hang tight until we're ready for you to start pushing. It won't be much longer."

"This couch reclines," Bella said. "Three of you can stay here."

"Stay here Claire," Carlisle said. "This is in the middle of room. That way I'm close to everyone else if there's an emergency."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I scooted to the middle of the wrap-around couch and Quil reclined it for me. I was much more relaxed lying down, but that still didn't stop me from tensing as the next contraction rolled through me. "Easy Claire," Quil said. "Let it come sweetheart." He ran his hand through my long hair, pulling it off my face and neck. "You're so close honey…" He gave me his hand, and I squeezed it as the contraction peaked and died. I took in a large breath and blew it out slowly.

"I feel like I need to push," I said quietly. I could feel the baby's head sitting almost at my legs.

Carlisle looked in between my legs quickly. "Okay," he said. "On the next contraction, I want you to push as hard as you can." He looked at Quil. "Get behind her," he said.

I looked around, and realized that the other girls were all reclined in similar positions to me. Brooke was on the left side of the couch, and Kaylie was on the right. I looked up at Quil, who was now behind me with his long legs straddling me from behind.

"I love you," I told him, wiping the tears out of my eyes.

He laughed. "I love you too."

I took his hands in mine, and tried to prepare myself for what I was about to do. I wondered who it was I could feel right now, my little boy or my little girl? Quil and I had decided on names a few weeks ago. The names didn't have any particular inspiration. They were going to be Jason Phillip and Jayna Kay. I just wanted to hold them…

I felt the next contraction coming before it actually hit me, and Carlisle could see it. "Okay," he said. "Give me all you've got Claire."

I took a deep breath in and when I blew out I bore down hard. I knew one of the babies was very close to being out, because I could feel it stretching my cervix almost immediately. I ran out of air quickly, and took another in. "Go again," Carlisle said. "That a girl."

I bore down, and Quil leaned forward so my head was pushed onto my chest. "Keep going Claire," I heard him say. "You can do this. They're almost here baby."

I threw my head back and moaned as the first baby's head slipped out. "Stop pushing," I heard Carlisle say. "Try to pant," he told me. "Jenny," he called calmly.

Jenny came over quickly. "I'm going to need you to hold the first baby and clear his nose and mouth while Claire delivers the second baby. They're going to be born very close together."

Jenny knelt down then. "Alright Claire," Carlisle said. "On the next contraction, give me one big push, and the first baby will be out."

I gasped as the next contraction hit me, and I pushed. I heard myself yelp just a little as the baby slipped out. I heard that first precious cry, and looked down as Carlisle cut the cord and handed the baby to Jenny. "It's a boy," Carlisle said. "A very healthy little boy."

His cry was so quiet, but it was as loud as he could go. My little Jason was finally here. I heard other baby's cries around me, but I was distracted very quickly. "Oh!" I said as the next contraction hit me.

I groaned as I pushed again, not even waiting for Carlisle's instructions. I only had to push twice before I felt her head slip out. "Keep panting," Carlisle told me.

I tried to pant, but I felt like the baby wasn't stopping. She wanted out.

"Push," Carlisle said suddenly, and I had no problem doing that. I cried out as the baby left my body, and soon heard her precious cry as well.

Carlisle handed our squirming baby girl off to Edward who had just come over. "Bella," Edward immediately called. "We need your help."

"What's wrong with her?" I asked, expecting the worse.

"Your babies are perfect," Carlisle told me as I saw him dig something out of his bag. "You had a little tear though…"

I tried to remain calm by listening to the sound of my babies crying. Jenny was trying to soothe Jason quietly, but he wasn't having it. They were finally here.

I felt the stitches going in, and I did my best not to cry out. I felt lightheaded, and I my head flopped back onto Quil's shoulder. I was going limp in his arms. "Stay with us Claire," Edward said. He put his cold hand on my face. "Your babies need you," he said.

"I need you," Quil said.

I forced my eyes open. "Blood loss is slightly above traumatic," Carlisle said, and I felt him finishing up. "I need vitals on her."

I heard Edward rattling off numbers to Carlisle as he put his hand on my neck, and put his ear near my chest as he listened to me breathe. Carlisle held my feet above my head and told me to keep breathing. I did my best to do this, and soon I was feeling less light headed.

"I want to see them," I said quietly.

Bella held up my now quiet little Jayna and showed her to me. She was swaddled in a pink blanket, and looked warm and peaceful. I cried when I realized she looked just like me, and Bella brought her close so I could kiss her. Jenny showed me a similarly wrapped Jason in a blue blanket, and he looked just like his sister. They were beautiful. I kissed him as well, and waited for Carlisle to slowly let my feet down.

Quil helped push the reclined couch up, and Jenny and Bella brought me my babies. Bella laid a sleeping Jason on my knees, and placed Jayna in my arms.

"Oh," I cooed at her. I put my other hand on Jason's belly, and gently passed Jayna to Quil. He kissed her on the head, and I thought I saw the faintest trace of tears in his eyes. I held Jason close to me, and he sighed contentedly.

"They're beautiful," Quil said, and the content silence that filled the room was priceless. Quil kissed me on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you."

"Well done Claire," Carlisle said.

I looked around then, and saw that there were several other newly formed families sitting just like Quil and I were. Quil gave me a squeeze with his free arm and scooted out from behind me. I felt exhausted, but I was doing my best to keep myself as alert as possible. I didn't want to miss one minute I got to spend with these precious babies.

I handed Quil Jason, and he held onto both of his babies tightly. They looked warm and cozy curled up against their father, and I wiped my eyes again.

Carlisle was now going around making sure that everyone was totally okay, and Edward and Bella were making birth certificates. Quil gave me Jayna back, and I held my little princess close. I felt so spoiled, having two tiny babies to love so much. I leaned against Quil, and he kissed my head again.

Leah checked her watch. "It's just a little after one am," she said. "Do you want to wake everyone up now or wait until morning?"

I laughed to myself. "I'm good either way, but I think they would appreciate it more in the morning."

Leah laughed. "Good point." She sighed. "If you guys are good, I think I'll start a phone chain telling everyone to come over around nine o'clock tomorrow?"

"That sounds perfect," Carlisle said. "That'll give us time to clean up and get a little bit more organized I suppose."

Emily laughed. "That was only a little bit chaotic."

Andrea laughed. "I only freaked out a little bit."

Ashley chuckled to herself. "I only freaked out a lot."

I shifted a little in my seat and winced as I felt where the stitched were. "Wow," I said. "That's a little sore."

"It's going to be a lot sore as soon as the shock wears off," Carlisle said. "In fact, I have some pain medication that I want you to be taking for the next forty-eight hours."

"Awesome," I said. I rocked Jayna as she stirred in my arms, and I realized how much smaller I felt without my two little babies in my stomach. I felt just the slightest bit empty, but mostly just more comfortable. I felt myself drifting on Quil's shoulder, and barely noticed when Leah, Sue, Jenny, Emily, Kim, Rachel, Nessie, and Andrea left. They were going home to be with their families I was sure.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of a baby crying, and I woke up a little disoriented. I was lying on top of Quil, still on the couch where I had just given birth in the hours previous. The sun was up behind the cloudy drizzle that always seemed to hang over Forks. Our babies were sleeping soundlessly on a blanket on the floor next to us. I looked around for the source of the quiet crying, and realized that Wyatt was calmly trying to shush his little girl, Mackenzie I think. I realized soon that he and I were the only ones awake. Everyone else was either asleep on couches, chairs, or floors.

I slowly sat up off of Quil, noticing how sore I was, but also trying not to wake him. I slowly climbed off of him, and stood up just as slowly. I was really sore. The stitches didn't hurt too badly, but I could still feel them. They were just a little uncomfortable. I picked up my little Jayna off the floor and went to sit next to Wyatt.

"Hey," I whispered.

"Hi," he said. I listened closely and I could hear pots and pans rattling upstairs. I could make out Edward saying something, but I don't know what it was. "How are you?" Wyatt asked me.

"I'm okay," I said. "Pretty sore though."

Wyatt chuckled. "I'm sure you are. That was pretty scary last night."

"Yeah," I said. "I was scared."

He looked at Ashley, and then back at Mackenzie. "She looks just like Ashley," he said.

I looked, and saw the resemblance. "She does," I agreed.

He looked down at Jayna in my arms. "You've got a little look-a-like there," he said.

I smiled. "I've got two," I said, nodding over to where Jason was sleeping next to Quil. "They look about as similar as a boy and girl could I think."

Wyatt agreed. "They look more alike than any of the other twins we have, that's for sure."

With the birth of our twins, there were now four sets of fraternal twins in this generation. Brooke and Embry had Madi and Marc, Abbey and Seth had Elizabeth and Evan, Lyssie and Michael had Jon and Jayde, and now we had Jason and Jayna. Add Kaylie and Lauren to that mix and we had a whole group of multiples.

Other people were waking up now. Jason started to whimper, and Quil stirred. Lyssie and Michael were already up with their little boy Noah. They had found a spot on the day bed across the room from us. Nathan and Kaitlyn were both on the floor by the big windows, with their little Aidan sleeping soundly in between them. Nathan was helping Kaitlyn up as I watched. Seth and Abbey were curled up together in one of the large chairs in the living room, not far from Quil and I. They had their little Aubrey all snug in between them, but I could see that they were up talking already. Kaylie and Collin were just now sitting up on the couch with Collin holding onto their little Mitchell. Brooke and Embry were at the other end of the couch with their very tiny Bridgette in between them. She was awake, but not crying. Lauren and Brady were off on the floor by the staircase, with Brady cuddling Sydney to him. Kyle and Nicole were behind the couch, and were sitting up leaning against it while they both held their Logan.

Quil sat up and looked around for a second, confused until he saw me talking to Wyatt, and then bent down to pick up Jason. He cradled Jason to him, and Jason fell back asleep almost immediately as Quil's warm body pressed against him. Quil stood up and came over to sit by me.

"Claire," he said. "We have kids."

I laughed at his simplicity. "Yes," I said. "We do."

Ashley sat up and stretched, wincing. "How are you doing?" she asked me.

"Well," I said. "I got up and walked over here. And as soon as I sat down I made the executive decision that I would not be getting back up until someone makes me."

Ashley laughed. "Yeah…" she said. She looked at Mackenzie in Wyatt's arms and cooed at her.

"She is precious," Quil said.

"They are all precious," Embry said from across the room.

Several people agreed, coming out of their own little worlds. Bella came down the stairs then and looked around for a second before saying anything. "Wow," she said. "There are a lot of babies here."

We all laughed together, and I felt a sudden sense of rightness in the world. The craziness and worry from a few hours ago was diminishing as I looked at the sleeping faces of my two little angels.

"Okay," Bella said. "We made breakfast, and I think that there are going to be quite a few visitors here in about a half an hour. So, if you would like to grab your children and come on up stairs, we've got a ton of food with your names on it."

Lyssie pulled herself gently and gracefully up, and I noticed that she didn't wince at all. I guess having two babies just a couple of years ago made this a little easier. Lauren, Kaylie, and Abbey all got a hand up from their husbands, but were soon making their way up the stairs to the smell of something delicious. The rest of us looked at each other.

"Well," I said. "I'm starving," I slowly shifted Jason into Quil's other arm, and braced myself for standing up. I took a deep breath and pushed up, trying to use my legs more than my stomach to push myself up. "Wo-ow…" I said as I pulled myself up. "Yeah," I said, trying not to fall over on myself as I felt my sore muscles straining to support my torso. "That was uh… interesting."

A few people laughed, including Quil as he stood up easily, one baby in each arm. He gave me Jayna, and I kissed her head before I slowly started making my way up the stairs. "Good lord," I said as I worked my way up the stairs. "This is ridiculous."

Quil put one of his hands on my lower back, steadying me. "You can do it," he said.

"Ha," I said. "Easy for you to say."

Soon though I was sitting on one of the tall barstools in the kitchen, one baby in my arms and the other on my legs, while Quil got a plate for me and for himself. Bella laid out a blanket at one end of the kitchen, and after setting our plates down, Quil took the babies and laid them next to their cousins. I have to admit, it was pretty funny seeing ten tiny little bundles lying all right next to each other. They were precious. Bella took a picture of it, and I thought about how cool it would be if we did this every year on the kid's birthdays. They would like it when they were… oh, about my age. In my head I willed that time to pass slowly, and I hoped to enjoy every minute of it.

The breakfast was delicious, and the babies slept through the whole thing. As we were finishing up our breakfast, I could hear the first cars on the driveway. I was still moving very gingerly, but I slowly made my way downstairs with Jason. He fit perfectly in the crook of my arm. I took a seat on the couch about where I had given birth, and Quil sat next to me. In fact, all eighteen of us, plus our brand new babies were squeezed onto the couch, similarly how we had been last night. Quil kissed me on the head, and then Edward opened the door.

"Welcome to your house," Edward said as Dan came in.

"Ha," Dan said. "Funny."

"You don't want to know what went down here a few hours ago," Edward said.

"Eh," Dan said. "I'm just not asking."

"Good plan."

Slowly, everyone filed into the room. Madi and Marc immediately went over to Brooke and Embry, and Brooke held up Bridgette for them to see. Embry pulled Madi onto his lap, and Marc took a seat on the floor. Elizabeth and Evan were going over to Seth and Abbey, and Seth showed his five-year-olds their new, fragile little sister. Anna climbed off of Bryce's back and ran to Collin, who scooped her into his arms. Kaylie showed Anna her brother Mitchell, and she looked amazed. Tyler ran away from Bryce's hand, and straight to Brady. He picked him up and plopped him on his lap as Lauren demonstrated Sydney to him. Jon and Jayde, the littlest of those who just got a new brother or sister, timidly walked over to Michael and Lyssie. Lyssie showed them Noah, and I could hear them both start babbling in their almost-four-year-old voices. It was adorable. Everyone was kind of standing around staring at all of these babies, and I was overwhelmed by the amount of love in the room.

Cade was slowly creeping over to me and Quil and peeking at the bundles in our arms. "Hey buddy," Quil said to him. We both glanced at each other and then held out our babies for him to see.

Cade smiled at them. "They look alike," Cade said. Jake was now crouched by his son, with one arm wrapped around him.

"God Quil," Jacob said. "They're beautiful."

"I know," Quil said.

"They look just like you," Jacob said to me.

"Thanks," I said.

Eila was sitting with Bryce while he held his new niece Sydney. The Cullens were here too, and I saw Rosalie and Alice talking to Brooke and Embry. Emmett was talking to Zach about something and they both laughed.

Suddenly I saw Jenny's face shift out of the crowd of people. "There you are," I called to her. "Thanks for saving my life last night."

"Yeah Jenny," Seth said. "Doing it like a frikin' beast."

Jenny looked down and smiled shyly, and her resemblance to Emily was shocking at that moment. "I didn't even do anything," she said.

"Hey now," Carlisle said from where he was perched in the window seat. "You did enough. If it wasn't for you, I would've either been doing stitches with one hand or that baby would have been laying on the floor."

"Wait," Sam said. "Who needed stitches?"

"Me," I said. "It was awesome."

"I almost peed my pants when you were passing out," Jenny said and everyone laughed.

"I almost peed my pants," Edward said. "And I can't do that, so that's saying something."

More laughter. "I didn't realize it was that bad," I said.

"It wasn't that terrible of a tear," Carlisle said. "But you lost a lot of blood really fast. A lot faster than most people would."

"Wow," I said. "It just hurt a lot from my perspective."

Carlisle laughed. "It was an interesting delivery to say at the least."

Everyone was around us now, either with babies in their arms, or holding their own children.

"You know," Jenny said as she held Jason. "I don't think I'm ever having children."

"Oh God," Emily said. "We traumatized her."

Jenny laughed. "Well, at least not anytime in the near future."

"I would sure hope not," Sam said.

Quil held out Jayna to him and Sam took her. "Aw," he said. "I always forget how little they are when they first come out."

"Yeah," I said. "Little. Right."

Sam laughed. "Cherish it," he said. "Cause the next thing you know, she's going to be delivering babies in the middle of the night."

Quil laughed. "Okay," he said. "Let's just let her be twenty-four hours old first."

Caleb and Mikayla were each holding one of Derek's hands, and he was very fascinated with all the little babies, babbling on about who-knows-what.

Quil was now holding Jayna again, and looking at each other, we switched babies.

"Oh hey," Brian said as he sat down at my feet. Brian was one of the older eagles. He wasn't imprinted on anybody, just like all of the older eagles weren't. "So," he said. "Rumor has it that you gave birth on my favorite spot on this couch."

"You know," I said. "That rumor is probably true."

He laughed. "Well," he said. "I'm going to do my best not to think about that the next time I'm sitting here."

"Ha ha," I said. "Okay."

Pretty soon all ten of the babies were being passed around from hand to hand, and I did my best to just relax and let others hold them. Quil held my hand and Jayde sat on my lap as different babies were passed to us. She was gabbing about her new little brother, but that's about all I could understand. Eventually, everyone started leaving. One way or another I ended up with both of my warm little bundles back in my arms. The house seemed empty after everyone had gone, even though there were still over twenty people there, not including the babies. We all tried to get up and walk around a little. I was still extremely sore, and it hurt really badly to walk, but I forced myself to stand up straight and stretch out my sore muscles.

Around five o'clock that night, after Carlisle had checked my stitches and given the babies all of their shots, we got our few things together and decided to head for home. Jacob was coming over with our car to bring us home. Quil had spent a couple hours installing the car seats about a week ago. Jacob knew where our extra set of keys were, so everything would work out perfectly.

It took both Quil and I about fifteen minutes to get the kids into their car seats safely with their straps all on correctly, but Bella told us everything looked good before we left. She gave me a gentle, cool embrace and told us good luck on the first night. I laughed a little nervously, but I knew everything would be fine. I rode in the back in between the two car seats on the way home, and Quil rode up front with Jacob.

After Jacob dropped us off, we brought the kids in the house and set them in their car seats next to each other.

Quil and I looked at each other.

"Now what?" Quil asked, and we both cracked up laughing.

"Well," I said. "We should probably get some dinner or something."