"Are you excited?" Bex asked as she brushed a fan brush over my cheek.
"I guess. I just don't know what to expect," I said, careful not to move my face too much.
"It will be great," Jade said placing a hand on my shoulder and tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
Andi slide to a stop, almost slamming her face into the door jamb. "Jonah and Cyrus have your outfit picked out."
"Okay, go on now. And don't smudge your makeup!" Bex said patting my head.
The struggle to stand up was real, only taking two people to help hoist me on to my feet that had disappeared underneath my swollen stomach. I waddled to my room where Cyrus was standing next to a floor length dress. It was long sleeves with a blue top that changed to a blue and white pattern right above the bump and continued down the skirt.
Once I was safely down stairs and settled into a bar stool I heard a knock on the back door. I flopped off the stool and tried my best to walk to the door. I swung it open not really checking to see who it was, which made the surprise even greater when I heard my cousin, Allison's, voice.
"Oh my god! What are you guys doing here?" I asked gesturing to her and her girlfriend and their own twin daughters. I was so shocked that I was getting a little dizzy.
"Your sister invited us for your baby shower and we'll probably stay until the twins make their grand entrance," she said with a smile. Her round face was framed with hair that was much shorter than I remember.
"Who is it Amber?" Buffy asked as she walked up next to me. "Oh, it's Allison and her family. Come in you guys, we'll be heading off any minute."
I nodded in agreeance and stepped to the side.
/||\\/||\\/||\\
"Well that was fun," I said to no one in particular as Allison, Emily, Bex, Andi, Jade and I cleaned up from the shower.
"Yeah. You made out like a bandit," Emily said, jabbing her thumb towards the incredibly large pile of gifts for the twins and I.
"You know what, it's getting stuffy in here. Who wants to go on a walk with me?" I asked, using all my arm strength to push off the booth where I was sitting.
"I'll go." Allison, Emily and Buffy said in varying ways all dropping their tasks.
/||\\/||\\/||\\
I stopped to catch my breath a few minutes into the walk. I closed my eyes and tried to just focus on pushing the breath into and out of my lungs, like the ER doctor had taught me to.
"Are you okay?" Allison asked me, doubling back and resting a hand on the small of my back.
"Yeah. catching my breath is like a sport these days and it's like Braxton Hicks all the time," I said, straightening up and taking a few steps forward.
/||\\/||\\/||\\
"Buffy, I'm telling you that many diapers will not fit in that little container," I said, looking over shoulder at Buffy putter her entire body weight trying to get a container filled of diapers to close.
"It will," she grunted out trying to fasten the clasps. "Now go back to your folding."
I rolled my eyes and looked back down at the increasingly large piles or boy and girl onesies I was folding.
"Did you pack your hospital bag yet? You're due any day now," Buffy said absentmindedly, having moved on from stuffing diapers into bins to hanging up little shirts and dresses.
"I have five more weeks relax," I said, starting to put all the folded onesies into drawers.
"Any day now," Buffy said warningly and just like that I felt my stomach and lower back go tight and pressure increase on my pelvis.
"Wow, that was a really bad Braxton Hicks. Can you go get me a glass of water?" I asked walking to the rocker to wee if that would help.
A few minutes later Buffy still wasn't back and my stomach got tight again, the pressure in my pelvis almost doubling. I tried breathing deep and lifting and lowering my legs but nothing was working. Sweat was beginning to bead on my forehead and down my back. I tied my hair up as Buffy came back in.
"You look terrible, are you okay?" Buffy asked me still standing in the doorway.
I knotted my brow together trying to resist screaming out at the pain that was getting worse and worse. I stood up and a rush of fluid leaked down my legs. "Shoot, I just peed a bit. Hand me that water, though," I said sticking a hand out towards Buffy.
"Should we call Bex? I know she just left but you look like you need a doctor," Buffy said calmly, but her eyes were dancing in a panicked frenzy.
"No, no, I'll be fine until they get back from the grocery store," I assured her, walking backwards in small steps towards the rocker that I promptly sunk back into.
"Are you sure?" she asked me pointedly.
I nodded and tried to paste a smile onto my face. She sighed and handed me the glass of water she had brought up for me.
Thirty-five minutes later
"I'm not going to be okay, we need nine-one-one or a doctor or SOMETHING," I screamed as another wave of pain geared up. I was gripping the handles on the rocker so hard my already pale knuckles were visibly pale. I was drenched in sweat and very, very close to breaking down in tears.
"We should get you down stairs and then I'll call Bex," Buffy said walking over to me and yanking me onto my feet.
"No. no. NO! This hurts, Buffy," I groaned as she tossed one of my arm over her shoulders and started leading me towards the stairs.
"I know, I know, but you have to get down the stairs. You can do this, I know you can," she whispered into my ear and helped me take small steps down the hallway. "Okay this is the first step, ready?"
"No," I almost howled but just nodded and reached my foot down.
Halfway down the stairs we were on our knees, kindo falling kindo of falling down the stairs. I was pushing all my weight against Buffy but she never seemed to even blink just keep leading me down the stairs. We were almost down when Andi swung the front door open and Bex walked up besides her.
"Oh my god!" "What's going on here?" they said in unison.
I threw my head back and wailed-groaned-screamed in pain. I was crying now, everything hurt so much, I just wanted it to stop.
"We're trying to get down the stairs. I think she's in labor," Buffy said, still calm. I sobbed and groaned again. "No, she's definitely in labor."
"Quick Mom, call the hospital," Andi said all of a sudden waving around a phone that I still don't know where she got it from.
/||\\/||\\/||\\
I was laying on the hospital bed a few minutes after I was admitted, wincing in pain and muttering under my breath.
"She's nine and a half centimeters dilated but not crowning yet, we can still get her an epidural if we hurry," I heard a doctor say around me.
A few seconds later the doctor spoke again, maybe it was a nurse. "Don't inject her Baby A is crowning, she has to deliver now."
It's a little, okay very, blurry from there. The doctor told me how and when to push and then I did and a few pushes later Hudson was born. And the Lucille went into distress and I vaguely remember something about a c-section being said and then I woke up two hours later both of them wrapped in warm blankets, laying on my chest.
"Was it worth the pain?" Buffy asked me.
Quite frankly, she scared me, I hadn't seen her tucked away in the corner. But, I was very glad she was here.
"Yes, so many times yes. But never again. I have enough baby for forever," I said, giving each baby a kiss on the head.
"Yeah," she said distractedly. She stood up and walked towards my general direction. She ended up sitting on the bed near my hip and looking at me with her eyes that were never emotionless. She gave the half-smile of someone who's about to do something they'll regret, lips quirking up at one time, eyes screaming for help. She leaned forward and kissed the center of my forehead.
I felt my breathing go erratic and my pulse quicken. Her hands touched my cheeks and her lips brushed against mine, like asking for permission. I leaned forward - as much as I could without disturbing my babies - and pressed my lips against hers.
I heard heels clicking in the doorway and lightly pushed Buffy off and looked over. Mum, Emily and Allison were standing there.
"Amber Olivia Reversi," she said ina huffed out, angry breath.
I rolled my eyes, raised my eyebrows a little and gave her a sarcastic smile. "What are you doing here?"
"Came to see the grandbabies since I wasn't told when you went into labor," she snipped.
I rolled my eyes again and pointed past her to the door. "Out, you're not welcome here," I said coolly but firmly.
She shook her head like she was confused.
"Out," I reiterated.
She sighed in her usual disapproving way but turned in left.
Allison waited until she was definitely gone before stepping fully inside with Emily and closing the door behind her.
"That was tense," Emily offered as an ice breaker.
"It's been like that for the last what, six and a half months," I said, wiggling into an all the way upright seated position.
"By the way…" Allison said, looking out of the sides of her eyes at Emily. "Someone owes me twenty buckaroos."
I expected Emily to just roll her eyes and say no but she pulled a twenty out of her purse and slapped it into Allison's hand.
"Why do I continue to put up with your gambling tendencies," Emily remarked out loud but to herself. "Lily and Grace are going to end up with gambling addictions. And then I'm blaming you."
"Now, now," Allison said, but she was looking so fondly at Emily.
"What were you betting on?" Buffy asked, uprighting herself to and looking at the two grown women.
"You two," Emily said bluntly.
Buffy's mouth opened and closed like a fishes but I shook my head like I'd been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.
"How did I know?" I said.
"Because it's meant to be?" Allison said sardonically, but the flutter in my heart told me she may not have been completely lying.
/||\\/||\\/||\\
"So, I've been thinking," I said, wringing a towel in my hands as I sat next to Buffy on the porch swing. I looked at the toddlers in the grass with my sister.
"About what," Buffy answered, not showing any emotion. Which was very nerve wracking at a time like this.
"I think we shouldn't date, because if it doesn't work out I don't want it to affect the twins," I blurted, turning my head to look at her.
She turned her entire body to face me, tears bubbling into her eyes, I could see them very clearly but she was trying, really trying not to cry. She took a few shaky deep breaths and rolled her head in a circle before looking at me again. "I think that's best too," she choked out. The fifteen-year-old with kinky, brown curls in a high ponytail put a slender hand under my chin and lifted it up. She looked into my eyes, dead on and brushed her lips across mine one more time before jumping up and running off.
A/N: Just to recap, after the loss of Amanda, Amber decided to name the twins Lucille and Hudson instead of Marilyn and Jasper. Also, this will be the last chapter before the epilogue so thank you for reading, reviewing, following, etc. etc. I'll an update if I decide to make a sequel.
