At 7:46am on January 1st, Jamie and Eddie for the 1st time heard 2 beautiful identical twin girls crying. The doctor held them up over the curtain so they could see them. They were so tiny, both Jamie and Eddie cried tears of joy and fear with each other.
"They're gonna be okay." Jamie kissed her forehead. The babies were immediately taken to be cared for while Eddie was being put back together.
Jamie went over to see them, one baby needed to be intubated, they were having trouble breathing. The other baby was breathing good and the nurse suggested Jamie to do skin to skin as soon as they checked her out and got her hooked up to some of the monitors and everything.
"Let's do it, whatever it takes" he said taking his shirt off, a nurse moved the chair over beside Eddie where she was still being worked on. Jamie sat down and smiled at Eddie he couldn't wait to hold her.
"Here ya go dad. Chest to chest, and then keep this blanket above the shoulders." The nurse said when she laid the tiny little girl on him. She stopped crying almost instantly.
"Aww look how sweet she is…" Eddie was so happy Jamie got to do this but so jealous.
"She's so sweet." Jamie agreeing with her, he could see it in her eyes, she was sad she couldn't hold her and he was. He reached his hand out to hold hers.
——
Once they got to the postpartum room, Eddie was able to do skin to skin with the first baby too. She was so happy but very emotional too.
"I feel like she should be Ava." Eddie said looking at her.
"Me too." Jamie agreed.
"Here's baby number two, we are monitoring her as well, she's pretty jaundice so I'd like her on you for a little momma." The nurse said wheeling in the other baby incubator in beside them.
"Okay, can I nurse them?" Eddie asked.
"So babies don't develop the sucking reflex until about 36 weeks, in about 3 weeks I'd say we can start trying a bottle" the nurse said.
"Oh. So what do I do when my milk comes in?" Eddie wondered.
"Well pumping would be the only option really." She said. Jamie could tell Eddie was disappointed but okay with that. The nurse took Ava from Eddie and put her in her incubator and then set her up with Scarlett. It was awkward to hold such a tiny baby and then have all the cords and machines she was hooked up to. Eddie wished it wasn't like this. It was depressing her, she was glad they were alive but having to keep them in the nicu for a couple weeks is going to be hard.
"Hi sweet girl…Scarlett." Eddie said softly, gently running her thumb over her skin.
"Weird to use their names literally overnight. This was the craziest day." Jamie said out loud to whoever was in the room, but mostly to Eddie.
"You're telling me. 12 hours ago I was having an amazing filet mignon and bringing in the new year with a virgin margarita." Eddie said, she made them all laugh.
——
A couple hours later, they FaceTimed the family to see the babies and talk to them about how they were doing. Nikki and Jason were the only ones who even knew Eddie was having them. So you could imagine the surprise when they saw the twins over the phone.
——
After a long day Jamie and Eddie could finally get some rest. They would hopefully sleep good with the babies in the nicu all night, not being interrupted.
Eddie didn't get as much sleep as she'd hoped, they kept waking her up every hour and a half to pump. Trying to get her supply in and up like she wanted, plus getting keeping her up on her meds and it was just all too much. Not to mention her hormones were everywhere just giving birth and everything.
—
At 8am Jamie left to go get them some breakfast in the cafeteria, while the nurses were going to uncover Eddie's incision and help her get a shower for the first time.
10 minutes later Jamie had come back to the room. Two nurses were standing in the room outside the bathroom and one other nurse was in the bathroom talking to Eddie, she was sitting on the toilet but partly dressed yet. It didn't take Jamie more then a second to realize she was crying and seemed very upset about something.
"What happened?" He asked the nurses, setting down the tray of food, he went in to talk to his wife. When Eddie saw Jamie's face of concern she cried harder.
"What's wrong?" He knelt down beside her and held her hand, looking up at her.
"I can't. I can't do this. We can't do this." She cried.
"She's having a lot of pain undressing for the shower, I said we don't have to undress fully today, we can do a sponge bath type instead." The nurse informed Jamie of the dilemma.
"Okay, so you don't wanna do that Eddie? Or what else?" He asked.
"We can't do this." She said.
"We can't do what babe?"
"Take care of twins." She said.
"Yes we can honey, I-" he couldn't finish his sentence, Eddie cut him off.
"No. I can't do the night pumping, and not even be with them, I can't be home while there here. And when we do bring them home, I can't be up all night with both of them, rocking them to sleep, and changing diapers, and feeding them. I can't even walk by myself right now! How am I supposed to take care of myself, 2 preemies and 2 other kids!" She was getting mad but crying at the same time.
"Can we have a minute?" Jamie asked nicely to the nurse.
"Of course." She was super nice about it and left closing the door behind her.
"Babe, just relax a second, you're getting yourself all worked up." Jamie tried to calm her down. She actually started to listen to him and take a couple deep breaths.
"I know it's hard, you had major stomach surgery. Recovering is intense, and I'm sure its frustrating but you have to remember, you are strong, you will heal, and you will feel better, with time. Give your body time babe." He held her hand tight. She shook her head and took another deep breath, she closed her eyes. Jamie wiped away a tear with his thumb.
"I don't want to pump." She said.
"Then don't." He replied, she looked at him, she felt confident after he said that.
"I'm not, at least not at night." She said.
"You can do whatever you want Eddie. It's your deal, I'll support it, and I'll help however I can. And I want you to know when we get to take them home, and there up in the night, I'm not gonna leave you to deal by yourself, I'm getting up too and I'll do whatever you need." He said.
"Really?" Eddie started up with the tears again.
"Of course honey." He assured watching the water works come back. Eddie gave Jamie a hug around his neck and he hugged her back gently to avoid hurting her.
——
They were successfully able to get Eddie undressed and showered. She felt a lot better and was excited Alaina and Ryan were on the way.
——
Knock knock*
Jamie opened the door, both his kids were ecstatic to see him, they gave him a big hug, Nikki was the one who dropped them off.
"Mommy!" Alaina let go of Jamie as soon as she saw Eddie.
"Hi sweetie!"
"Oh hold on Lain. Hold on." Jamie picked up Ryan and got up before Alaina like jumped on Eddie or something.
"We have to be gentle with mommy okay?" He told her and then helped her give Eddie a kiss.
"Where are babies?" She wondered.
"Well, the babies are sleeping in another room. Would you like to go see them?" Eddie asked. She shook her head yes.
So they got Eddie into a wheel chair and all went down the hall to the nicu. The kids couldn't go in so Jamie held them up and pointed at where the twins were. The nurses were nice enough to pick them up and show them too.
"Why they have that?" Alaina was confused at all the wires and chords and tubes attached to them.
"Because there so tiny yet, all those machines are helping the babies." Jamie said. Eddie thought Jamie had a really good answer but she was holding back her tears again.
——
~~6 MONTHS LATER~~
July 7th 2024
The church service was running long today. Ava and Scarlett were sitting in church with Jamie and Eddie, but they were starting to get cranky and antsy. They weren't the only ones though, Danny and Maria had kept there 5 month old daughter Isabella too. And Joe and Cassidy had Connor with them as well.
Alaina and Ryan were in children's church, So Eddie told Jamie she was gonna go outside, walk down the street to the park on the corner until the service was over. Maria joined her with Isabella and Cassidy decided to tag along with Connor as well.
"Of all days it's today he runs late." Eddie said as she buckled the babies in the double stroller outside.
"I was gonna say, I know I haven't been around too long but I don't remember it running this late ever." Maria said.
"Same here, maybe it's cause we have kids now haha" Cassidy laughed and buckled Connor in his stroller.
"It's rare trust me. Any longer, the roast for tonight's dinner is gonna have to be postponed." Eddie joked and they started walking down the sidewalk. Maria had Isabella in a carrier on the front of her.
When they got to the park, Cassidy sat on a bench to feed Connor while Eddie and Maria pushed Scarlett and Isabella in the baby swings. Ava was sleeping so she stayed in the stroller near Cassidy.
Danny and Joe headed to the park after church was over, Jamie wasn't far behind him with Alaina and Ryan. As Danny entered the park he saw a guy looking a little suspicious, slowly headed towards Cassidy. He looked across the way and saw another guy acting similar, same thing, headed towards the bench Cassidy was on.
"Joe you see this?" Danny asked him and he picked up the pace.
"I do now" He reached to pull his gun but Danny stopped him until they got closer.
"Hey! Cassidy! Watch it!" Eddie yelled as soon as she saw the one guy, she didn't see the other yet. Her mama bear instincts kicked in and she ran at him. Danny and Joe took off after him too.
"Hey! Police!" Danny yelled and tackled the guy off of Eddie.
"Stop!" Joe went after the other but he ran the other way. Joe ran after him, and Jamie couldn't do much with his two hands being held by his two oldest kids. He turned them away from all the commotion but kept a watch on it.
"Cassidy!" he yelled, she turned around and saw him. He got up quickly with Connor and the stroller to go with Jamie. Maria was stuck at the swings with Scarlett and Isabella beings Eddie went after the guy Danny tackled. Danny had it under control until he didn't.
"Damn it!" Danny yelled as the guy kneed him off of him and pushed Eddie over when he got up and ran.
"Stay with Cassidy!" Jamie told his kids and took off after the guy that got loose.
"What the hell was that!?" He yelled at Danny passing him.
"I don't have cuffs!" Danny said getting up and running with Jamie after him.
"Neither do I!" He yelled back, both of them booking it down the street.
"Are you okay!?" Maria asked Eddie.
"Mommy!" Alaina ran at her.
"Alaina!" Cassidy tried to stop her but with 3 other kids in her care it was kinda hard.
"I'm okay. Mommy's okay." She got up and took Alaina's hand tightly. She was shaking, a kidnapping almost just took place right in front of her.
"I gotta call for backup!" Maria said getting on the phone."
"Which way did Joe go?" Eddie asked Cassidy.
"I don't know, north?!" Cassidy said pointing in the direction.
"That's south!" Baez said getting on her phone too.
A couple minutes later cop cars with there lights and sirens went flying by. Eddie tried to call Jamie on the way back to their cars. Cassidy was trying to get a hold of Joe too.
"Are you okay!?" Cassidy said when he finally answered. Eddie and Maria were desperate on hearing what was going on. When she hung up she told them Joe got the guy and the police just got there so he was making his way back to the parking lot where they were.
"I don't have the keys." Maria said.
"Same." Cassidy added.
"Oh shoot. Neither do I." Eddie said rummaging through her purse. Then a phone rang, it was Maria's.
"Danny, what's going on? Did you get him?" She asked and listened to what he had to say.
"What?! Are you okay?" Maria asked, making Eddie and Cassidy even more concerned. Then they hung up.
"I guess the guy…" Maria stopped seeing Alaina and Ryan listen to her.
"They got him…10-133…and he got Danny with it ." Maria said in code, meaning guy had a knife.
"Where?" Eddie wondered.
"What does that mean?" Cassidy was the odd man out, she didn't know this jargon.
"K-n-i-f-e" Eddie spelled it.
"Ohhh…Oh!?" Cassidy said.
"He's fine." Maria told them.
———
A couple hours later, they all rolled into Franks house ready to eat.
"Hey, here they are." Frank said as they all sat down.
"Sorry." Jamie said carrying Ava and Scarlett right behind him.
"What's the hold up? Church already ran late." Henry complained.
"The kids held us up at the park was all." Danny said smiling and sitting down.
"Well the foods getting cold." Erin said.
"Well we had some business to take care of too." Joe added, putting Connor in the high chair.
"What kind of business? Work?" Henry asked.
"We'll explain later…lots of little ears…" Eddie said looking at all the kids around the table in highchairs. Everyone exchanged looks and shrugged.
"Alright well I'll say grace so we can-" Frank started to say but Alaina cut him off.
"Daddy and uncle Danny got a bad guy that mommy fighted, and uncle Joe got bad guy too. Uncle Danny got a cut on his arm. He needed big bandaid." Alaina said, Frank, Henry, and Erin's eyes all widened in confusion. Everyone who was at the park was surprised how much she picked up on at her age. It gave them a good laugh and anxious to hear the story after dinner.
———
Thank you all so much for reading!!! I had so much fun writing this story over the last 2 years! It's definitely got some length now with 100 CHAPTERS but, it is so fun and involved!!! I thought at the rate the show has been going with finales lately, involving the whole family, I had to do it here!
I know this is the end of this book but it would mean the world if you still left a comment…it may, possibly, MAYBE persuade me to I don't know…do a little sequal…? Maybe taking place a couple years later? Hmmm…let me know ;-)