Two Hearts Beat As One: Chapter 6
It was autumn and the leaves on the trees were starting to change their color, a sign that winter would soon come. Winter may mean the end of the year, but for the Schuesters, the ending of the year will mark a new beginning in their lives. The new year promised to bring them new additions to their family.
It had been raining in Lima for a couple of days, but on this particular morning, the sun decided to show up. Emma chose to crank open the casement windows of the second floor nursery of their three-bedroom home, letting the breeze waft around the room, bringing in the sounds and smells of autumn. The sunlight set her fiery hair ablaze as she peered over an open window whilst sitting on the love seat by it, her hair blending with the warm oranges and reds of the season.
Without her knowing it, she was being watched. Will had gone out for an early morning run, trying to clear his head of unpleasant thoughts. Emma was nearing her sixth month of pregnancy, and thoughts of a premature delivery were slowly eating away at his sanity. Standing on the doorway of the nursery, toweling his damp curls, he tried to focus on the image before him. His wife and their babies were fine. He shook his head, trying to shake away his fears at the same time.
As if a pull from an invisible thread made her aware of him, she turned around to face Will. She caught the melancholy look in his eyes before he tried to cover it with her favorite crooked grin.
"What's wrong, honey?" she asked, reaching him on the doorway in a few strides, a look of worry on her face.
"Nothing," he tried to mask his true feelings. "Let's have some breakfast, you must be starving."
"You can't hide anything from me, Will, I know something's bothering you. Just spill it," she said, stroking his cheek with her hand, intent to find out the truth.
"Fine," he surrendered, "but let's talk about it over breakfast. I'll make it and bring it up here, you just stay put, okay?" He kissed her cheek before he left for the kitchen.
She didn't argue with him because she completely understood that he needed a few moments to be alone with his thoughts, so she plopped down on the love seat on one wall of the nursery, perpendicular to where the two cribs of their twins were situated. I wonder what's on his mind? He had always been so happy about the pregnancy.
Looking at the two cribs by the wall to her left, she remembered the time when he assembled the cribs himself and painted the nursery a cheerful citron yellow almost singlehandedly. He had been so proud of his accomplishments, smiling for days on end. Now, she caught moments where he would zone out and have a really serious, almost troubled look on his face.
Minutes later, she heard his footsteps in the hallway, and after a moment, Will appeared with a tray loaded with toast, scrambled eggs, green grapes, and some orange juice, which he placed on the ottoman just in front of the love seat.
"Here you go, sweetie, breakfast of champions! Eat up!" he said.
"Thank you, darling!" Emma replied, giving him a kiss on the lips.
They settled themselves comfortably on the love seat, silent as they ate. When the food was gone, Emma looked at Will earnestly and said, "Are you ready to talk now? I'm here for you, always." She gave his hand a squeeze.
"I don't even know where to begin," Will admitted, immediately tearing up a bit, absentmindedly stroking her abdomen.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, just let it out," Emma said soothingly, running a hand through his curls.
Will started to sob, clinging to Emma for comfort.
"It's okay, sweetie, I'm here," she said, although she didn't have any idea why he was crying.
"I'm such a mess right now. You're the one's who's pregnant, but suddenly, I'm the one bawling like a baby."
"It's okay, Will, you're going through this, too. They are also your children. Just tell me what's making you feel sad."
"I'm not really sad, Em. I'm more scared than sad," he confessed.
"Scared of what?"
"The same thing you were scared of before, losing the babies." He continued crying after that, this time silently. "I don't even know why I keep thinking it. I guess it's because I heard a majority of twins are delivered prematurely. That scares the crap out of me, Em. I don't want that to happen to our babies . . . I'm scared I'll lose you, too."
Emma was silent for a while, trying to take in everything Will just said. She busied herself with wiping the tears from his cheeks, thinking of the right words to say. Finally, she kissed him softly.
"I guess it's okay to be scared, Will, God knows I still am. But what you said to me before, and you being with me all this time, it gives me strength not to give in to my fears. Do you remember what you told me when I had that meltdown months ago?"
Will shook his head.
"You told me that we should take everything one day at a time. And you told me there's no point in freaking out if there's nothing to freak out about. Yeah, something like that," she smiled at him, "And you know what? Right now, there's nothing to freak out about. Plus, there are a lot of twins who are born healthy and happy. Even most born prematurely turn out to be just fine. So, cheer up! The babies are doing really well, and so am I."
"Em, you always know what to say to make me feel better," Will said, the corners of his mouth twitching until his lips formed a small smile.
"Is that a smile I see?" she said, after which, she gave him another kiss.
He smiled even wider into their kiss, and when they pulled apart, he said, "Thank you for being such an amazing person, Em."
"You're amazing, too, you know. You've helped me so much, with my OCD and all my issues, and now, you've given me my babies, the greatest gifts I could have ever asked for." Her eyes were welling up now, but for a different reason.
"Why are you crying? I'm sorry for . . . "
"Will, shut up and kiss me!" Emma interrupted him, then silenced him with yet another kiss, which he returned enthusiastically. When their lips parted, their foreheads remained touching, and they stayed that way for a while, relishing in their closeness.
"So, are you okay now?" Emma asked.
"I'm more than okay," he smiled widely.
"Promise me you'll tell me right away if you feel troubled by anything, okay?" Emma pleaded.
"I promise. I want you to do the same."
"I promise to do the same," she smiled at him.
"And now, we have to kiss on it, to make it official," Will grinned wickedly. The next thing he knew, Emma was attacking his lips with her own, leaving him breathless.
xxxxx
On Monday, just before last period started, Will Schuester walked the halls of McKinley in a wonderfully jovial mood. It was quite the opposite of how he felt on Saturday morning. He kept whistling and smiling to himself and at the students still loitering in the halls, high fiving a couple of the Glee kids he met.
"You look happy, Mr. Schue! What's up?" said Neville, a tall and lanky jock who reminded him so much of Finn Hudson.
"The wife and I are going to the doctor's, Nev. I got a feeling today is the day we find out the sex of the babies," Will said excitedly.
"That's cool, Mr. Schue! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you have at least one boy in there. Say hello to Mrs. Schue for me!" he said, waving goodbye to his Glee Club director and Spanish teacher.
"Will do! See you at Glee Club practice tomorrow."
He turned the corner and headed in the direction of Emma's office. She caught his eye right away and smiled a beautiful smile, her eyes wide and full of joy. The way her eyes sparkled when she looked at him melted his heart, and he couldn't help but give her his dorky crooked grin which she loved so much.
Before reaching the door, the plaque beside it registered on his mind. Emma Schuester . . . . Up to now, seeing her name with his own still gave him goosebumps. Years before, that plaque had her name with a hyphen, and it used to give him heartache. But that seemed ages ago, buried in the past. He had been so happy when she decided to take his surname as her own when they got married, minus the hyphen. He always thought Emma Schuester had a nice ring to it.
"Hi!" he said quietly after sitting down on one of the seats opposite her own.
"Hi!" she replied brightly.
He leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She returned the kiss sweetly.
"I love how I can just lean over and kiss you when I want to, and I always want to," he gave her his goofy smile again, repeating the words he said to her before, only this time, her reaction was totally different and to his liking.
She just stared at him with her wide brown eyes, remembering the moment as well.
"You ready to go, Emma Schuester?"
"Yes!" she said eagerly.
"Then let's!" he said, going over to her side of the desk and taking her hand as he led her outside the office. "Oh, Neville says hello, and he's crossing his fingers for at least one boy."
"Haha! I hope the babies cooperate this time, Will. I'm dying to find out their sex so we can start buying pink or periwinkle things for them." In the previous ultrasounds they had, it had been unfortunate that they never found out the sex of the babies.
"I really got a feeling we'll find out today, Em," he gave her hand a squeeze as they walked towards their car.
xxxxx
Their appointment with the OB-GYN seemed to go by in a blur, and before they knew it, it was time to have another ultrasound. They waited with bated breath, tightly gripping each other's hands, as anticipation took hold of them.
"Hmm, the babies are doing really well, they have strong heartbeats. You're doing a really good job with them, Emma," Dr. Anderberry announced as she moved the probe over Emma's abdomen. "They are similar in size, too, that's a good thing. It seems that your babies know how to share early on," she added with a smile at her own joke.
"Oh, thank God!" said Will.
"I told you there's no need to freak out, Will," Emma beamed at him.
"I love how it turned out you're the one so calm about the pregnancy, Em. Who would have thought that I would be a mess?" He gave her a smile and a kiss on the tip of her nose.
They focused their attention back to the screen, and were once again mesmerized. The babies really looked like babies now, and it filled them with longing to meet them on the outside.
"This is Twin A. Say hello, Mommy and Daddy!" Dr. Anderberry jolted their thoughts.
"Hello, baby!" Will and Emma said together, smiling.
"Oh, will you look at that," exclaimed the doctor. Will and Emma concentrated very hard on the screen.
"Doctor, is that . . . is Twin A . . . a boy?" Will said slowly, almost inaudibly.
Emma gasped as she heard Will's words, her grip on his hand tightening more than ever.
"Yes, yes, you're right! He's your little baby boy," the doctor confirmed happily.
Emma looked up at Will and saw that silent tears were running down his cheeks though he had a huge smile on his face.
"Will, you're crying and smiling at the same time!" Emma said.
"Oh, Em!" He finally was able to speak. "I'm just so happy. We're going to have a boy! I love you so much! Thank you!" He couldn't resist giving her a big kiss even with the doctor around. When they pulled apart, he added, "Honey, don't you realize you're doing the same thing. You're crying and smiling as well!"
"Congratulations! Now let's see whether we can coax this other little one to reveal to us if he or she is another boy or a girl. Say hello to Twin B, Mommy and Daddy."
"Hello, baby!" both said again.
The doctor maneuvered the probe several times, trying to find the best position.
"Oh, this one's a little tricky," said the doctor.
They spent almost 15 minutes looking at nothing particularly conclusive, and mostly, what they saw were a jumble of arms and legs.
"Uh oh, time's almost up with this appointment, and Mr. and Mrs. Lupin are waiting their turn, so we're not going to have time to extend it," the doctor said while glancing at the clock.
"I guess it's okay if we don't find out the sex of Twin B today, doctor, right Will? At least we know that Twin A is a boy," Emma said, giving up, while Will nodded.
"Yeah, we can't really control these things," said Will, but he was a little disappointed.
"Better luck next time then," said Dr. Anderberry. She was about to remove the probe when the baby clearly shifted. She moved the probe ever so slightly again. Will and Emma waited, holding their breaths.
"Well, well! You finally showed yourself, huh?" the doctor chuckled. "Talk about a grand entrance!"
Will and Emma again focused on the screen, but they were not able to tell for themselves this time. The tears of happiness they shed earlier have clouded their vision.
"Just tell us, Dr. Anderberry," Emma said excitedly, and a little impatiently. "Please!" she added.
"Very well, I'm proud to present to you your little baby girl, Mommy and Daddy!"
This time, Will let out a sob. His hand was shaking slightly as it continued to grip Emma's. They looked at each other, communicating with their eyes alone, and yet, they completely understood what each was thinking at that point. Will shared another kiss with Emma, which was wetter this time, owing to the fact that the tears were running from their eyes endlessly. When they pulled apart, their foreheads remained together, their breaths mingling.
"Will, you're finally going to have a daughter," Emma said softly to him.
"I can't believe it, Em," he choked. "I'm having a daughter and a son with YOU!" The way he said the last word made her heart swell with love and pride.
"I'll let you finish up in here, but you'll have to excuse me, my next appointment is waiting. Congratulations again for your boy and girl!" Dr. Anderberry interrupted. "My assistant will give you the photos and video we took of the twins before you leave," she said with a smile and a wave.
"Thank you so much, doctor," both of them said as she left.
Turning to each other, they shared wide smiles, wiping the traces of tears on their cheeks. They were so happy and so in love. They brushed their lips together sweetly before Will helped Emma wipe the gel off her abdomen. She got dressed and they claimed the photos and video from the doctor's assistant.
"Let's go home and celebrate, honey. I still can't believe our luck. A boy and a girl!" Will said, smiling as they walked out of the hospital holding hands.
"I can't believe it either! We have to tell everyone the good news, too, " Emma responded with an equally huge grin on her face.
"I guess we'll have to tell them," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "C'mon, we're going to have a very busy couple of hours, I reckon, " he said.
When they reached, the car, he whipped her around to face him, brought his arms around her waist, and kissed her passionately. When they broke apart, he whispered in her ear, "I love you so much, Em. Thank you for carrying my babies. "
"I love you, too, so much. Thanks for giving me a boy and girl," she said sweetly to him.
They drove home, their hearts happy and light. They were silent, but their love for each other and their little ones spoke volumes, making words unnecessary.
AN: Thank you to everyone who continues to read this story, and for those who review, you get an extra big hug from me. X
I would like to give a shoutout to wemmafanfrompgh for helping me with the sonography part of this chapter. It is so convenient to get help from someone experiencing all this in real life, so I guess I'm lucky. Thanks Jessie, and congratulations again on your twin boy and girl! :)
P.S. Potterheads may notice things from Harry Potter in this chapter! ;)