A/N: Thank you so much for all the reads and reviews and everything, hope you enjoy this chapter, and reviews would be super great if you could. :)

"What do you hope for your kids?"

"Wow, that's pretty crazy, um, to be happy," Chris said with a nod, looking to Stephanie as if for approval. "I mean, I think that's what every parent really wants. They just want their kid to be happy, to have a great life and childhood. That's all I really want for them. I just want them to be happy."

"I agree, but I also want them to find whatever they love and are passionate about, like Chris and I did, I want that for them too," Stephanie added. "But all in all, as long as they can look at their lives and say they're happy, everything else will fall into place."

"I'm not really in that much discomfort," Stephanie said, adjusting herself in the hospital bed. Chris rushed behind her and fluffed her pillows up for her as she moved to sit up a little bit more. It jostled one of the wires coming from her stomach and she shifted so that it would get back into place.

"That's good, I guess," he said, staring down at her stomach. "I mean, we don't want you to be in a lot of pain."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want that," she said, biting her lip a little bit. She sighed and looked at Chris. "The doctor said that the c-section is the best thing since it's twins and because labor hasn't really started in the sense that it stalled out, I've stalled out. The recovery time is a little bit slower, so that's something of a con. If it were just one, they said they would induce, but since it's not…"

"I get it," he nodded. Stephanie wasn't really having any contractions, but because her water broke, they didn't want to keep the babies in there for too long, so c-section seemed to be the way to go. It wasn't in their plan to go this route, but what other choice did they have? They could induce, but it could be long and difficult. He also wasn't looking forward to seeing her in pain.

"So I guess we do it this way then," she shrugged.

"I guess we have no choice," he agreed, "just think, in a couple hours, we're going to be parents to twins, two kids are going to rely on us. I really can't wait to hold them both, it's going to be pretty surreal."

"I've felt them around in there for months now, but it's going to be so strange to feel them and hold them," she started to tear up. "It's going to be so…weird."

He chuckled and gave a slight nod of the head, "I know, we don't know how they're going to be, and how long they'll have to stay here, but I'm going to go buy those car seats tomorrow. I can't believe we held off this long."

"We were supposed to go shopping tomorrow," she reminded him. "So you'll still go, it's just they'll hopefully get used sooner."

"Did the doctor say anything about what might happen afterwards with them?" Chris asked, knowing that they could have to go to the NICU because it was four weeks before Stephanie's due date.

"Well, she said that their lungs might need a little more time, but that we'll have to see when they're born because it's a little difficult to tell right now. They're probably be small, they would have been anyways, but she said if their breathing is alright, and they're able to eat, they probably would only have to stay a few days."

"Let's hope for that then."

"I mean, we both knew that this was a strong possibility, that twins aren't really often carried to term, I just expected them a couple weeks early, not almost four," she bit her lip again, "Chris?"

"Hmm," he said distractedly as he'd been studying the machine monitoring the babies, trying to decipher what was going on with them, but having no medical knowledge to be able to accurately do so.

"What if…" He turned his head at the sound of her voice. It was more trepid than he'd ever heard it before. He knew something was wrong now because that tone of voice was one he'd never actually heard before. "What if something happens to me? I just…I want you to know—"

"Don't even start with that kind of talk," he grabbed her hand. "Nothing is going to happen to you."

"Tons of things can happen to me though, and just in case," she just needed to let him know some things in case. She knew that most likely, things would be fine, but this was still surgery, she was still about to be cut open and her babies were going to be taken from her.

"Steph, it's going to be fine, nothing will happen to you, nothing will happen to them, got it?" Chris didn't want to hear her talk this way. There was no chance he was going to lose her. He just wasn't going to allow it to happen. He and Stephanie were going to go home with their babies, that was the plan, and it was only plan he would consider.

"I just worry is all, I mean, I've done this before any surgery I had, I get morbid and weird, I'm sorry," she explained to him. "Don't mind me, just over-thinking things like usual. I know it'll be okay."

"Of course it will," he leaned up and kissed her on the forehead.

"Did you call my parents?" Stephanie asked.

"Where do you think I was while you were being examined?" he asked sardonically, tilting his head slightly as if her question was so dumb she should have reneged it immediately. "They know, and they know the situation so that's why they're not immediately rushing down here, they know that after the procedure you'll probably be out of it so they're going to come tomorrow."

"And your dad?"

"He and my stepmom are going to give us a couple weeks before visiting, let us settle in."

"I love our families," she said as a nurse walked in.

"Okay, Stephanie, so what's going to happen in a few minutes is we're going to have the anesthesiologist come in and he's going to administer the spinal block. Basically, it's an injection into your back, and it's going to numb you from the waist down. After that, we'll put the catheter in, which you won't feel, and we'll shave your stomach and do an antiseptic wash."

"And what do I do?" Chris asked.

"While we get her into the operating room, we'll have someone go over the protocol in the operating room, and you'll put on your scrubs. You can be with her the entire time. We'll block off her lower half, but Chris, you're free to look if you want to."

"Okay," he nodded.

"Now, after the spinal block, you will have to stay on your back for about eight hours afterwards, but I have a feeling you'll be too tired to really want to move, and you'll still be able to see your babies and everything."

"Thank you," Stephanie said. It didn't make her feel any better, but at least she knew what was going on now. The anesthesiologist came in about ten minutes later with a huge needle that looked intimidating, but Stephanie dutifully lied on her side and felt the needle go in, wincing as she received the spinal block.

It took about ten minutes to kick in, and by then, everything below her waist ceased to exist. She watched the nurse shave her belly and get it ready for delivery, but she couldn't feel it so it was strange having so little control over her body. Chris left her soon thereafter, getting ready himself, and they met back up in the operating room. He sat by her head and held her hand.

"How do I look?" he asked, modeling off his new scrubs look, complete with a surgical cap on his head.

"Good," she told him, gripping his hand as hard as she could.

"You look good too."

"I look like a freak," she told him, sighing, "Chris, I know you said it was all going to be okay, but if something happens, I love you, alright, just know that I'm so happy I'm with you and that I'm having your babies."

He leaned forward and kissed her, "I love you too, and it will be fine, I promise. They said the actual birth will take like ten minutes from start to finish, and then they'll stitch you up, and you'll be good as new."

"I'm ready for it," she told him, "are you ready for it?"

"I have to be, I think."

The surgery began, and even though he really wanted to see what was going on, he knew that Stephanie needed him by her even more. She was scared and nervous that something would go wrong. Before he knew it, he heard one cry and then the other. He glanced to Stephanie in awe, and she was looking at him with tears in her eyes.

"Hey guys, quick peek before the NICU," a couple of the nurses came around and showed them their children. They were covered in goo and screaming their heads off, but they were right there in front of them, but before they could blink, they were being taken away and to the NICU for observation.

"Chris, we just had two babies," Stephanie said, "and I haven't gotten to hold them."

"Don't worry, you will."

"Go make sure they're okay," she told him, "please, for me."

"Yeah, of course."

Chris kissed her forehead, whispered that he loved her and went off in search of his children. They allowed him to go see them once they were cleaned and tested. They were each in an incubator, and they'd settled down. He went to Brant first, looking down at his son. His eyes were closed and he looked to be asleep so he went to Amelia. She was wide awake, staring up at him it seemed, her eyes were bright blue, and she was clenching and unclenching her fist like she was angry.

These were his children, and they were here, and he was looking at the both of them. They looked so tiny, even tinier because they were premature, but beautiful nonetheless. He'd never seen anything more beautiful, and he couldn't wait to hold them. He could not wait to feel how they felt in his arms, how they would cuddle into him.

Stephanie opened her eyes. It felt like she'd been asleep for days, but it couldn't have been, could it? Chris was right there, and she smiled slightly. He nodded to the side, and there was bassinet right next to him. "What?"

Chris stood up and picked up the tiny pink bundle. "Miss Amelia."

"Lia," she said as Chris laid the baby girl next to her on the bed. Stephanie cradled one arm around Amelia as she tried to soak in every detail of her daughter. "Where's Brant?"

"He's in the NICU, he's on oxygen, the doctor said that he's doing well, but that he might have to stay for about a week because he's a little jaundiced, and he needs to be on oxygen. He's doing well otherwise, and they said that within the week, he should be good, so we're trying not to worry. He's five pounds two ounces of handsomeness.

"And Amelia?" Stephanie asked.

"Is perfect, like her mother," Chris told her. "She'll be ready to go home when we do. You'll be here a few days with the surgery and everything, but they said Amelia is doing awesome. She's healthy, no jaundice, her breathing is really good. They'll keep her in the NICU because she's premature and so they can monitor her, but they said she's great, and you were great too."

"This is my daughter," Stephanie said, "and I have a son, can I see him?"

"Yeah, they said they would bring him in when you woke up, we'll see him soon."

"Now," Stephanie told him.

"Okay, now," he laughed and left the room, leaving Stephanie with her daughter. Amelia was grasping onto her finger, and her little legs were kicking out and loosening up the blanket she'd been wrapped in.

"So I get the feeling it was you all along that was doing the kicking, huh, Lia?" Stephanie asked, causing Lia to look up at her with squinted eyes. "Yeah, don't try to play innocent, and it would figure you would be the bully in there, taking after me."

Stephanie just took her in before Brant was wheeled in by a nurse. He had to stay in his incubator, but they were all there, all four of them, a new family, cemented twice over by their children. Chris just smiled at her, words failing him right now. She reached out her free hand to him and he took it. This was what they wanted all along.

They were a family now.