It had been a long week since finding out he was going to have twins. He was excited to be a father, and he was very much looking forward to all the joys and even some of the trials of raising kids, but there were plenty of worries on his mind. They were worries he had assured Emily he could take care of. She was carrying his children for nine months and she would be giving birth to them. He wanted her to focus on taking care of herself and the twins, and unlike the last time, he didn't want her to be stressed out. Though Serrator and the Nighlok were to blame for their last miscarriage, Mike knew the stress Emily suffered did nothing to help the baby stay strong. This time, especially with two little lives growing inside of her, Mike wanted his wife at ease.

Like all mothers, though, Emily couldn't help but worry. She would fret over whether she would be a good mother, or whether she and Mike would be able to put a solid, loving roof over their children's head. She worried about the cost of raising twins, she worried about living near a good school even with a low income, and she worried about everything there was to worry about, even the trivial things. Mike knew he was going to have to show he that everything was going to be okay.

This was why he lay awake at this hour of the morning. He hadn't been able to do much for Emily because he had been spending a lot of time at the school working his butt off to secure a job and possibly get a quick raise but it was Saturday and Mike would have the day off.

Very carefully he climbed out of bed. Emily was fast asleep and Mike wouldn't do anything to wake her. Her morning sickness (which occurred at all hours of the day) was the worst case Mike had ever seen. Emily was also constantly exhausted; she had powerful aversions and cravings, and was always complaining about some part of her body being sore. Sleep was the only time she got any peace. Mike hoped the second trimester would be a little smoother for both of their sakes.

He left the room quietly and walked down the stairs to the front door. He slipped on his boots and his jacket. He and Emily were strapped for money. They had some saved up, but not enough to afford their own life, and with twins on the way the money wouldn't stretch as far. Mike was going to have to find savings wherever he could and he knew one way to cut down on baby expenses.

But first, he needed his Samuraizer. Ji didn't want the Samurai relying on their Symbol Power, but Mike had never been one to follow all the rules.

-Samurai-

Saturday was Kevin's day to sleep in. He had no classes to teach at the city pool and Saturdays were the mornings where Mia got up with Riley. His turn was on Sundays.

Except for this Saturday, where he was pulled from his sleep by something crawling into his bed. The weight wasn't enough for Mia so Kevin groaned. It was his mistake. The groan was Riley's signal that Kevin was awake so she jumped on him, pulling him from his sleep.

"I want a party!"

"It's not nine o'clock yet, Riley. Go bug Mia."

Riley rolled her eyes and tapped her father's cheek, "Kevin, the hearts are coming out! It's almost my birthday! I want a party! A Samurai Princess Party. With cake!"

"Go tell Mia and have her make a list," Kevin rolled away from Riley, "I'm sleeping."

"But Kevin! This is my super special birthday! I'm going to be five!"

"I know how old you're going to be," Kevin grumbled, "Ten more years, and I'll be waking you up on Saturdays."

"Please, Kevin! You and my Mia are getting married on my birthday, so Mia says I can have a party. We need to have a party! Get up!"

Riley started to jump on the bed, making it impossible for Kevin to fall back to sleep. He grumbled as he slowly got out of bed and took Riley in his arms, holding her upside down. Riley giggled playfully as she tried to get her father to drop her. Kevin grumbled the whole way down the stairs.

"Emily's looking pretty good right now," he dropped Riley on the couch and went to the kitchen to get himself some coffee. He saw Mia at the table with a notebook in his hand and grumbled, "It's Saturday."

"I'm sorry," Mia looked to Kevin apologetically, "I just feel really bad. She's excited for the party and it's going to be her special day. We should get to work on planning it so our families have enough notice."

"What do you have right now?" Kevin took a seat and glanced at Mia's notes, "Pink?"

"Her suggestion was that everything be pink. She wants a Pink…"

"Samurai Princess Party. She told me," Kevin sighed, "Alright, so if it's just our families, maybe the pink Ranger can make an appearance. We can ask Serena or Lauren or Emily to dress up as a princess, get some pink decorations, which shouldn't be too hard to find, make a cake and there – party's planned."

"It's our daughter's first birthday, Kev. I want to put a little more effort into it than that."

"I just planned a five year old's birthday party before having my coffee," Kevin gestured to his mug, "Do you know how much effort that takes?"

"Well, if you can do all that before coffee, let's see what you can do after coffee," Mia got up from her chair. She gave Kevin a kiss on the cheek, "I'm going to shower. Watch the kid."

"It's Saturday morning!"

-Samurai-

"You have the weirdest cravings," Serena said as she handed a plate of maple syrups and bacon tacos to Emily for breakfast, "Seriously, Emy, how did you even know this was possible?"

"Blame the babies," Emily pointed to her stomach before digging in. This morning had been sickness free and Emily was going to enjoy it. She had dreamt of the recipe for her breakfast and Serena had turned it into a reality. Fortunately, her tacos tasted as amazing as they did in her dreams.

Serena shook her head and tickled her sister's stomach. Of everyone who knew of the pregnancy, she was the most excited. The idea of her baby sister having babies did still give her an uncomfortable chill, but she was thrilled at her chance to be an auntie. It would be all of the perks of having a baby without being the mother. She loved Terran, and she loved taking care of him, but she wouldn't miss the midnight feedings, the diaper changes, and the vomit. With nieces or nephews, all those tasks could be passed on to the parents without a worry.

"I still can't believe you're having twins," James said as he cut up banana pieces for Terran, "That's two little Monsters at once. There's a little Mike and a little Emily inside little Emily."

"With twins, I won't stay little for long," Emily looked at her stomach. She had been small before the pregnancy, so it hadn't surprised her when her stomach started expanding, but with twins she could expect it to get even bigger, and she would get even bigger. "On the bright side, soon I'll be able to borrow and fit in my big sister's clothes. That just means disappearing shirts and pants for you, Serena."

"We're going maternity shopping before that can happen," Serena shook her head. "And don't forget, pregnancy doesn't change your height. You may get bigger, but not any taller."

Emily stuck her tongue out. At that very moment Mike walked came up from the basement. He had been working on a project in secret all morning and hadn't let anyone into the basement to help him. He insisted he had everything under control.

He was coated in a layer of sweat and had a couple of bandages on his fingers, his arms, his legs, and one on his forehead. He also had a couple of bruises. Sawdust stuck to the sweat on his body. Whatever he had been doing in the basement had been messy and hard work. He saw the rest of his family was out of bed and walked to the kitchen. He leaned in to give Emily a kiss, but she pushed him away.

"My sense of smell is just as good as Storm's right now. You're not getting near me until you've showered twice."

"Even after I show you what I've been working on?" Mike asked before looking down at Emily's breakfast. Without questioning it, he took a piece of her breakfast taco and ate it. Serena gagged.

Emily got up and followed Mike to the basement. James, Serena, and Terran were right behind them.

"What have you been working on?" Emily asked. Mike took her hand and led her down the stairs, making sure she didn't slip on any of the tools he left lying around. Kicking a few screws aside, he got Emily to the bottom step and then covered her eyes.

"A money saving project," he told her. "Something I'm sure you're going to love."

"A money tree?"

"No… but now I'm wondering why I didn't think of that," Mike chuckled. He guided Emily around the bottom of the stairs where he had hidden his project, "It's not quite finished yet. It needs some paint and a few mommy touches but voilà!"

Mike pulled his hands away from Emily's eyes and then watched her light up as she stared at his creation. With help from his Symbol Power as well as a strong will to get the job done, Mike hadn't spent a dime building his twins what would be their crib once they arrived.

"I did a little research. Some people think it's good for twins to share a crib for the first few months. So I built us one and maybe, by the time they need their own space, Terran will have outgrown his."

Emily's face was still bright as day, and the light from her eyes started reflecting off her tears. Mike instantly started to panic, worried the tears were a bad sign. He wrapped his arms around his wife to comfort her.

"Em, the crib's perfectly safe. I can sleep in it without worry. It'll fit two, three, even four babies no problem! And once it's painted and…"

Emily shook her head, turned around in Mike's arms and cried into his chest. Mike held her tightly as he turned around and gave Serena and James a look. They shrugged, unsure what to make of Emily's reaction.

"I love it," Emily finally told Mike as she pulled away and wiped her eyes. She was still tearing up, but she couldn't hide the smile on her face as she walked over to the crib to get a closer look.

"You… you love it? You're crying, Em. You're really crying. You can be honest with me. I can take it. If you hate it…"

"No! No, Mike, I really love it… I just…" Emily used her sleeve to wipe away more tears, "I just can't stop crying. My stupid hormones can't tell happy from sad. I love it. I really love it, Mike."

"You're not just saying that? If you love it this much, I can do a little more. I'll need to do a lot more Googling, but I might be able to build a changing table and some other things for the nursery. The more money we can save, the better."

Emily didn't say another word and instead threw herself into Mike's arms to give him a tight hug and a kiss.

"You're the most amazing husband ever!"