Disclaimer: The Millennium trilogy does not belong to me.
Chapter 30
"I want these babies out now!" it seemed like her offspring hated her. It wasn't enough that she had to suffer through the hottest summer, pregnant with twins. It was already November 9th and they babies were still inside of her.
She remembered when Dr. Holm said that they were having identical twins, she was surprised, and Mikael was beaming with happiness. He argued that it would be more work but they could handle it.
"They'll share the nursery and when they are old enough we will redecorate and give each child his or her own room."
"No more children Mikael, I mean it. You are going to cut back hours at Millennium, I am not doing this alone. We are going to have three children needing us both for most of the day."
Mikael nodded, he was happy to do whatever she wanted. The doctor asked if they wanted to know the sex of the babies but Lisbeth refused. In part she was afraid the babies were going to be girls. Lisbeth needed time to adjust to the fact that she was having two kids.
"Mikael I mean it take me to the hospital now. I am tired of this shit." Mikael humored her.
"Love, I will take you but the doctor will say the same thing he said two days ago." The journalist sighed.
Once they were in the hospital Mikael expected the doctor to tell them that she had to wait for her scheduled visit.
"Lisbeth we are going to induce you tonight. There is no more room for the babies and I am a little worried about any complications that might arise."
She nodded, "I told you Mikael." She glared at her husband and relaxed against the bed.
Four hours later, in what was one of the most excruciating days in Mikael's life Lisbeth gave birth to two healthy baby girls.
"How are they? Mikael are they fine?" Lisbeth asked after delivering the after birth.
"They are beautiful Lisbeth. They are going to have your eyes and your hair." Mikael had tears in his eyes.
Lisbeth smiled, the nurse gave her one girl while Mikael placed the other girl on her chest. "Mikael, I want to name them." Lisbeth was in awe, her daughters were beautiful, and they were quiet and were sleeping. Very unlike Aaron who cried with all his might when he was born.
"Love, you can do whatever you want. I love you Lisbeth." He kissed her and caressed his baby girls. He was so very happy; he couldn't wait to tell their friends who were outside waiting for news.
"I want this baby to be Eileen and this one to be Lily." Mikael nodded. The nurse let him out while they cleaned Lisbeth and examined the baby girls.
He blew Lisbeth a kiss; he went to the waiting room. Nilla, Palmgren, Annika and Mimi were waiting for him.
"I have two more beautiful daughters: Eileen and Lily." Mikael's face broke into a huge grin. Nilla and Annika hugged him, Mimi and Palmgren smiled and asked about Lisbeth's condition.
"She is great, we are going home the day after tomorrow and the girls are in excellent condition."
Mikael left them and went into his wife's room. She was breastfeeding one of the girls. "This is Eileen, Lily just ate her meal. Mikael I love you, thank you for putting up with us."
Mikael smiled and kissed her temple. "Thank you for loving me and giving me three beautiful children. I have two beautiful daughters, who look just like the love of my life."
Lisbeth smiled and dozed off; Mikael removed Eileen from her mother's side. He looked at his two babies; it was amazing how precious they were.
He was besotted with them; he could not understand how Zalachenko could not love two babies who just remotely resembled his beautiful daughters.
He stayed there looking at them until the nurse took the babies to the nursery. The next two days went in the same pattern, Lisbeth recovering and Mikael being besotted with his wife and his girls.
Aaron was anxiously waiting for his mother and sisters to come home, he was afraid that mommy wouldn't love him anymore but daddy reassured him that because the babies were smaller and needed people to take care of them. Aaron was a big boy; he was already going to school. Mimi was babysitting him.
"Baby could you stop running." Mimi was getting annoyed.
"No Mimi, I can't I want mommy and my sisters to be here" he yelled the word here.
Finally after fifteen minutes of running they heard the door opening. Aaron saw daddy carrying one baby and mommy carrying another. "Mommy you are here!"
Aaron rushed past Lisbeth and hugged his mommy's legs. "These the babies, what are their names? Are they sleeping? May I hold them?"
"They are awake son, no you may not. You are too small and the girls are too delicate." Mikael said, he smiled at Mimi and guided Lisbeth to the nursery. The parents left the babies on their cribs.
Aaron pouted but he forgot to complaint when he saw the babies. "They are very small daddy." He said in awe, Aaron then talked to the girls, he immediately recognized who was Eileen and who was Lily.
"Aaron how did you know who was who?" Lisbeth asked,
"Silly mommy, Lee looks like an Eileen and Lils looks like a Lily." Lisbeth could actually hear the duh in her mind.
Mikael and her were just barely able to recognize the twins and their son already knew how to separate them form each other.
Aaron chattered away to his sisters, Lisbeth took a nap while Mikael watched the children. It was surreal; Lisbeth Salander had three children; if only her mother could see her now.
The next couple of months were hard, the girls were not as demanding as Aaron had been but since there were two babies everything was multiplied. Lisbeth actually took some time off from her research; Mikael only went to Millennium twice a week. Lee and Lils as Aaron called them were six months old, they babbled: mama, dada and arr. Aaron took his older brother responsibilities to heart and tried to take care of them.
It was late in the afternoon; Lisbeth was dead on her feet. Taking care of with two babies and a four year old was not fun. Aaron was fussy and refused to behave, it took a very stern glare from Mikael to calm him down.
"Aaron Blomkvist, you will sit and behave now." Aaron plopped down on his seat and stuck his lip out. He tried to look at Lisbeth who was carrying a sleeping Lily. But Mikael got his attention.
"Do not think your mother will help you young man. Now, I want you to either color on draw. If you want you can take a nap."
Aaron sulked and picked up his crayons. It was a very peaceful evening, except for when either Eileen or Lily woke up. Mikael worked on his journal article for the week, Lily was asleep while Eileen played with her feet.
"ba, ba, baprrrr" Eileen chanted, at the this point the twins were able to crawl. Lily was actually faster. Lily woke up and joined her sister on the floor. They crawled and tugged one of Aaron's teddy bears. Aaron let them; it wasn't his favorite, so it did not bother him.
"Daddy, I want to eat ice cream." Mikael stood up and retrieved a cup of chocolate ice cream for hi son.
"Here you go, don't try to fed it to your sisters. They are not old enough for ice cream."
Aaron nodded and ate his treat. Lisbeth typed away in her computer, she was chatting with Trinity and Plague. These occasions were rare, between taking care of her children and her work as a researcher she did not have a lot of time to chat with citizens of the Republic.
She was grateful Mikael was here and overseeing the children, he tried to be there for them but he had to be at Millennium on a regular basis. Mikael proposed that they hired a nanny but Lisbeth refused. She could definitely use the help but every time she thought about having a stranger in her house, with access to her children her mind came up with the worst-case scenarios possible.
Aaron startled her by climbing to her lap and hugging her, Annika told her to enjoy these moments. According to her children withdrew from you once they went to school. Aaron started kindergarten last fall, so the countdown was present in her mind. She stroked her son's back and finished her conversations with her online friends. Lisbeth raised her head and saw Eileen and Lily playing with each other, they observed each other and giggled.
Lisbeth loved her daughters, they were very much alike but as their mother she could see their differences. Eileen was more easygoing; she would go along with her mother. She would be easily distracted while Lily was more determined and did not like change so much. In that aspect she was like her mother. Eileen was into exploring and discovering, Lily paid more attention and could be engrossed with some object for larger periods of time. Her daughters however were always seeking each other; they liked each other very much and did not need other sources of entertainment. When he was a baby Aaron was used to crawl and demand everyone's attention. The girls however seemed to ignore the external world in favor of each other.
Lisbeth Salander hoped her daughters maintained that relationship, as a twin herself her relationship to Camilla was rocky. Lisbeth did not remember a time in which both of them could be happy with each other; perhaps they were close as babies. Lisbeth remembered Camilla crying, she remembered the need to protect Camilla when they were small but nothing more. Lisbeth tried to remember her sister being nice but couldn't. Camilla seemed to hate her and their mother.
"I will get Lils and Lee to sleep, you have Aaron for tonight." Mikael stood up and picked the babies who were drooling and grabbing each other.
Lisbeth agreed and proceeded to change a sleepy Aaron into his pajamas. "Mommy stay with me." Aaron did not want to let go, Lisbeth settled with him in the bed and hummed until the boy fell asleep. Lisbeth kissed his forehead and went to her room.
"I am tired, these children drain the energy out of me. How did you convince me to have them in the first place?" Mikael joked; Lisbeth chuckled, turned around and said, "If I remember correctly you were most excited during the pregnancies. Not to mention the fact that you almost threw a party when the doctor told you we were having twins."
"I do recall those instances" Mikael hugged her and nuzzled her neck.
"Above all, I love the practice. Remind me how we made them."
"Perhaps tomorrow if you are a good boy." She kissed him, Mikael grinned and proceeded to teach her about the baby making art.
Mikael woke up to the sounds of Eileen and Lily crying, he went to feed them. It was early morning and he didn't want to wake Lisbeth.
"My baby girls, daddy is here." Eileen sat up first; she reached for her daddy and was comforted when he gave her the bottle. Lily fussed and also reached for her bottle.
Mikael managed to feed his daughters and took them to the living room so they could watch Sesame Street and then Dora. He had fond memories of Dora; Aaron already outgrew the show and was more interested in other shows.
Lisbeth woke up, stretched and went to the living room. Thankfully Mikael had already made coffee and breakfast. She happily drank her coffee and ate her cereal. The phone rang, it was Harriet; Henrik was dead. The old guy passed away in his sleep. Harriet wanted to invite them to the funeral.
"Of course we'll go, I am so sorry Harriet." Lisbeth could hear Mikael say over the phone.
"I assume you heard, Lisbeth I now this is hard. I don't want to go back either but I think we owe it to Henrik to go and pay our last respects."
"We will go to the funeral and that's it. We will leave the children with Annika. Mikael we will only stay maximum three hours."
Mikael agreed, the following day they left for Hedestad. Henrik Vanger's funeral was a big affair. All of the Vangers assembled, one could feel the tension in the air. True to his promise Mikael made sure they left Hedeby island way before their imposed three-hour schedule.