Chapter Fourteen

"We have to decide, Steven," said a frustrated Lila as they ate lunch together outside the firehouse. "The appointment's in an hour." It was the day of Lila's twenty week ultrasound and Steven decided he could not miss this all important appointment. She had packed some fried chicken and potato salad, a meal that held great meaning for her mother and had a picnic with her husband in the warm sun.

"I know it is," replied Steven, "I'm still not sure what I want to do is all." They'd been having the "do we find out the sex of the babies or not" debate for the past two weeks. They agreed that they had to be united whatever the final decision, but that was as far as agreement had gotten them.

"Well, I'd like to find out just because it'll be easier to choose a nursery theme and shop for baby clothes, especially if we are getting one of each," Lila reasoned. "But if you don't want to find out, I don't want to force it on you."

"I know, baby," Steven sighed. "I understand what you're saying and I want you to be happy, I just can't help but feel like the delivery will be more special if we don't already know what we're having."

"Steven, you're talking about the birth of our first child and our second, it's going to be special regardless of if we know the sexes or not," replied Lila.

"Well, of course it is, but it'd be really amazing to hear the 'it's a boy!' or 'it's a girl!' as soon as the babies are born. I guess I've just always pictured it happening that way."

"Always?" asked Lila. "Just how long is 'always'?"

"From the moment I knew we'd spend the rest of our lives together," answered Steven. "I've been dreaming about this day for so long, Lila, about how exciting it'll be, how I'll be right beside you no matter how many hours it takes, about how exciting it'll be to find out if we have a son or a daughter…Or now sons, daughters, or a son and a daughter. I never imagined twins when I used to lie on bed and think of us having our family." Steven's words trailed off as he began to choke up.

"Oh…." said Lila, also choked up at the mental picture Steven had painted. "That's it then, we're waiting."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sure" she answered. "I want it to be just the way you've imagined it. I didn't realize it was something you'd put so much thought into for so long, and there's no way I'll let the convenience of buying the right color of sleepers and caps a few months early take that away from you - from us."

"Thanks, Lila," said Steven, a few tears still visible in his deep blue eyes. "Finish your lunch, we don't want to be late for the appointment."

"Definitely not," answered Lila, sniffling just a bit. "Even though we're not finding out the sex, it'll still be great to see the babies."

"Yeah, maybe they'll actually look like a babies this time," said Steven "I'm still waiting for that to happen!"

"They dolook like babies, Steven. You just need some practice at shadow recognition is all," said Lila as she finished the last bite of her lunch.

"Yeah, maybe so, but you've got to admit those pictures aren't easy to figure out," replied Steven.

"Come along, my dear," said Lila, choosing to avoid another discussion on ultrasound pictures and how impossible they were to make sense of. "Time to go."

"Okay, okay," said Steven with a smile, and the two of them headed for the car.

Each time Lila and Steven sat in the waiting room Lila looked more and more like she fit in. When she first came with Eddie, she was still small and had a flat stomach. Now at nearly 20 weeks, a little more than half way with twins, she had a rounder belly to rest her hands on. Lila was called very quickly today, much to her delight, usually the doctor ran behind.

"Hello Lila, Steven," said Dr. Mianni as she entered and held out her hand to each of them. "How are you both today?" asked the doctor.

"We're doing well," replied Lila "We'd been stressing over whether or not we wanted to find out the sexes of the babies, but we finally reached a resolution on that matter, so we're good."

"I see, and what did you decide?" asked Dr. Mianni.

"We don't want to find out anything about the twins. We don't want to know the sex or if they are identical or fraternal," answered Steven. "We'd rather wait until the delivery, make it an even more special day." He looked over at Lila and smiled.

"That's fine, whatever you two are comfortable with is fine with me," said the doctor. "Most folks nowadays want to know as soon as possible, but I think there's something to be said for not finding out. Like you said, it makes the delivery just a little bit more special."

"It'll be special no matter what, but yeah, we think waiting is the right thing for us," Lila replied

"Well, we don't need to wait any longer to get started here, are you ready?" asked the doctor as she reached for the bottle of ultrasound gel.

"Very," answered Lila. "Go for it." Steven stepped over next to the table and took Lila's hand as she laid back.

The doctor squeezed the warm-yet-somehow-still-cold gel onto Lila's tummy and moved the wand around until she found her place.

"Steven, could you get the lights, please?" she asked. He reached around behind himself and flipped the switch.

"Okay…let's see here….." said Dr. Mianni as she slowly moved the wand. "Let's get some measurements of a few things…." Steven and Lila watched contently, still amazed that they were seeing their babies.

"Well," said the doctor. "If you did want to know the sexes, I've got a very good idea as to what they are, but I'm not going to tell you."

"That's right, don't tell us!" said Lila. "It was too hard to come to a decision on that, and we finally did, and we're sticking to it!"

"Indeed," echoed Steven. "Don't even give us a hint of a clue of what it is, please!"

"Don't worry, I'm very good at keeping secrets" said Dr. Mianni with a smile.

She continued moving the wand around, taking measurements and pictures, and towards the end she got one that was just amazing.

"Oh, look here guys," she said pointing to the screen, which she'd frozen for a moment. Steven and Lila looked to where the doctor was pointing.

"Hey, it's a hand!" said Steven excitedly.

"Yes, it is," said the doctor. "That one is Baby A, your shy little baby. It's hiding it's face. Pretty neat, huh?"

"And you thought you'd never be able to make out anything on these ultrasounds" Lila said to Steven, herself in awe at seeing such a clear and perfect image of her child's hand on the screen.

"Well, I can make out things when they're that obvious!" said Steven with a huge smile.

"I'll print you a copy of this shot, I know you'll want it," said the doctor.

"Thanks," said Lila, "We've got a nice little collection of these already in the baby books."

"Something you'll treasure forever," said Dr. Mianni.

"We sure will," replied Steven, thrilled that he finally saw something recognizable. He thought about how wonderful it was to see that tiny little hand and to know that in another 4-and-a-half months, he'd get to hold it in his own. He couldn't wait.

Lila and Steven sat on the family sofa that night enjoying cake and coffee, or in Lila's case herbal tea, looking online at the vast amount of items there were to register for.

"It looks like most of the things for twins are just two of the same thing," Lila observed. "Do you think we can start with just the one crib and after a while…"

"I think we need to start them on two cribs," Steven replied. "They are going to be used to being with each other in the womb but we need to let them be who they are. I think we should wait until they are born to pick their bedding, if they aren't identical…"

"But if we do that their room won't be ready when we bring them home from the hospital," Lila sighed. "I know you are wanting them to have their own personalities and by the houses you are downloading online, their own rooms but…"

"Kitten, putting baby bedding together is simple. I can do that with you brother. You pick out some beddings you want and after the babies come, we'll buy the right ones and set them up. I agree with Steven, the babies have to have their own personalities."

Lila nodded and clicked on several bedding sets, emailing them to her mother so Eddie could help Jamie in purchasing them.

"From what I've read, the hardest selection for twins is their stroller, whether it's side by side or tandem…" Lila sighed. "Side by side is easier to maneuver but it's too wide for places like the grocery store or church." She sighed and put her hand on her belly.

"With your build I would definitely say a side by side is better," Eddie offered. "But you are right…the size..."

"There aren't tons of options in either model," Lila observed. "Most of them just come in different colors but I think black would work color wise."

Lila continued to click through the stroller and lit on one she really liked. "What about this…" She showed a picture of a black and grey Graco tandem stroller that would fit two of their car seats…"

Steven looked, "They include the seats too baby. But it's $900.00," he sighed. "These prices are outrageous."

"Well, hopefully my Aunt Erin and Aunt Linda will be feeling generous if not the guys at work," Lila commented as she made note of the combination stroller for when they did their registry in a few weeks. Steven pulled out his phone, "Jamie, I found a few houses Lila and I are going to look at next week but I wanted to talk about the down payment. The cheapest I can find in this area is $1.7 million, with the 20% down…"

Jamie nodded, "Don't look at anything that exceeds $2 million. I can do a down payment on a house up to two million."

Steven nodded emailing the realtor about a property that was just two blocks from the Reagan home and a subway stop from his engine company. All of a sudden everything became real to the young soon to be father. He turned white as a sheet and fidgeted with the button on his collar.

Jamie noticed the look on his son in law's face, clearing his throat.

"Hey Steven let's make some more tea for everyone." Standing up, Jamie patted Steve's shoulder, leading him into the kitchen.

As Jamie got the pot out filling it with water he watched the young man fidget out of the corner of his eye. Jamie knew it had to be hard on the kid, not having his father to give him some support and guidance.

"You okay, Steve? Are you getting nervous?"

Steve looked up somewhat surprised Jamie could tell how he felt.

"Yeah, I guess it's starting to really hit I'm going to be a father. We're going to be responsible for two lives."

Jamie smiled a soft smile understanding as he felt the same way when Eddie announced she was pregnant with Joe. "I felt the same way when Eddie told me she was pregnant with Joe. It's scary to think another human is depending on you, but trust me, when you hold them in your arms it's a totally different feeling. And remember you're not alone, we're here to help."

"I was raised that when you get married, your family is your responsibility…" '

"Yes," Jamie replied. "But Lila isn't any less my responsibility because she is grown and married, just like your children will still be just that when they are ready to branch off have families of their own. Remember, you are a Reagan now just as much as you are a Tenney. If you don't feel comfortable with the lesson of your father, you can take your lessons from mine."

Steven smiled, he felt better. "Jamie, if…If I run into trouble knowing what to do, with Lila or the kids…"

"You come to me same as Joe would," Jamie assured him. "And if you're comfortable enough with it, you've grown on me enough that you can call me Dad and of course, Eddie has wanted you to call her Mom for sometime."

Steven smiled, "I appreciate that, Dad…"

Jamie patted Steven on the back lightly, hoping that he's been able to soothe the younger man's fears as his own father should do. Jamie made a note in his phone to have Detective Meyers call Joshua Tenney and arrange a sit down, it was time this was resolved, father to father.

A/N: Yes, I am going to make everyone wait until the big day to find out about the twins. We will experience that wondrous day with Lila and Steven first hand. To all the moms out there, hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day. I hope this fluffy little chapter didn't disappoint. Special thanks to Werks for her assistance with this chapter especially surrounding the beginnings of the baby buying binge the female Reagans will no doubt be beginning.

Next update, May 10th– The Reagan women go shopping for Eddie's Policeman's Ball gown and Jamie has a few words for Joshua Tenney.