Chapter Fifteen

"Hey, you."

"Hey, me?" The young lab tech turned to look at the man who was calling him, softly biting his bottom lip as he saw the gorgeous man behind him. "Hey me has a name you know." He changed his tune, returning to his new desk across the room.

"Whatever, you've had my swabs from my case for over three hours now." The man made his way over to his desk, looking into his eyes. "I need those results now."

"Let me guess, Nick Stokes." He grabbed one of the files of the desk.

"How'd you know my..."

"That tall, dark and handsome guy... eh... Warrick," He tried to remember his name. "He asked me to rush his results earlier and he said a hot headed Texan would probably swing by at one point and have a go at me. I've just got one more swab to run, if you're willing to wait around for it."

Nick folded his arms across his chest, taking a step away from the new lab tech's desk. "I guess I don't have much of a choice." He watched him running the last swab for him, wondering how old he was. He looked as though he was barely out of Highschool, making him wonder if he even knew what he was doing. "What's your name anyway?"

"I thought southern boys were meant to be all manners."

Nick responded with a scowl in his direction. "You know my name."

"Sanders." He grabbed the freshly printed sheet of paper, slotting it into the file, before he handed it over to the angry Texan. "But you can call me Greg. Nice to meet you, Nicky."

"Don't call me Nicky, only my Mama calls me Nicky." He snatched the file off his hands, taking a look through his results. "Not a match. Is that the best you can do? How old are you?"

"Old enough." Greg folded his arms across his chest, watching the old man skim reading through the rest of his test results for his case. He eventually turned and walked away, leaving his lab door swinging behind him. "You're welcome!" He called after him. "Ungrateful git."

"I see you met, Nick." Warrick chuckled, stepping through the opposite door to the lab. "He's not always like that. One thing you'll learn about Nicky is that he takes everything to heart. He's working a tough case at the moment and he's trying to beat me to get to a level three CSI. He'll warm up to you eventually."

"Are you sure?" Greg dropped to the chair behind his desk. "He doesn't seem like the kinda guy I want to spend the rest of my working career with. Maybe I shoulda picked San Francisco, rather than Las Vegas. I know my mother woulda been pleased with that decision."

Warrick smiled at him, assuring him, "He'll warm up. Nick's a big softie once you get to know him."

Present day...

Anxiously shaking his leg as he watched the double doors in front of him, Nick felt a cold sweat shivering down his spine as he sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair. There was no room in the waiting area outside, so one of the nurses got him a seat to sit beside their station. He didn't mind though as he had a perfect view of the surgery doors, so he could see Greg as soon as he was out. He could also see doctors and nurses going in and out, which was only making him feel more tense.

His twins had already been taken away to the neonatal intensive care unit, enclosed in portable incubators, so he couldn't even get a proper look at them before they were whisked away. He had been told a few things about them, like the fact that they both needed assistance with their breathing. The steroid shot Greg was given helped them out a little, but their lungs were still a little undeveloped. He had no idea how long they'd need assistance to breathe, but he felt as though he wasn't in control of anything at the moment.

"Daddy, we got water." Jackson hurried towards him, carrying a plastic cup full of water.

"I got it." Colt protested, making sure his brother didn't spill it. "I pushed the button, Daddy."

"I'm sure you did." Nick took the cup off his son's hands, before he lifted the four year old onto his lap. "Thank you." He pressed a kiss to his youngest son's forehead, realising he wasn't actually the youngest anymore.

"Daddy, there's a man in the waiting room that has half his leg cut off." Colt reported, resting his hands on his father's knees. "He was walking on crutches and he had his trouser leg all scrunched up."

"In the maternity waitin' room or outside with Sara?"

"In the pregnant bit. Where all the fat ladies are." His son gave it his own name, getting a slight smile from his father. "He was there with his wife. She's pregnant, but not as big as Papa was. I don't think she has two baby's." He jumped up and down with his hands still on his father's knees, disturbing his brother on his lap.

Jackson swatted his hand out to him, just missing his brother's head.

"Aye." Nick gave Colt a gentle push as he tried to retaliate. "Don't hit him." He warned him.

"He tried to hit me." The child protested, leaning against the wall beside his father. "I heard a woman say she was expecting triplets. How many is that?"

"How many do you think it is?" Nick returned the question.

"Six."

"No, that's sextuplets."

"Can you really have six baby's inside you at once? How do they even live inside peoples tummies? Wouldn't they rip open all your guts?" He rambled, making his way over to the nurses desk as he heard voices. He watched them rearranging their files and things, before they made their way to different rooms down the hall. "Is everybody in this place having a baby?" He asked, returning to his father. "Does that mean they all have the same birthdays?"

"Yeah, I guess so." His father nodded, ushering him out of the way as a patient was wheeled through the hall past them. "Colt, stay this end." He stopped his son from wondering off. "There's doctors and nurses goin' through there, stay out of their way, okay?"

"I just wonna stand here." He picked a spot on the opposite wall from his father, keeping still for only a moment, before he started to walk around again.

"Has Nana been givin' you sugar again?" Nick assumed, knowing the usual signs. Jackson stayed pretty mellow no matter what he ate, but Colt was like Greg, bouncing off the walls as soon as anything remotely sugary touched his lips. "Colt... this side." He gave him a stern warning, waiting for his son to return to his side. "Stay here so you're out of the way of the wheelchairs and things goin' through or they'll kick us out."

"I am." Colt put his back to the wall, still fidgeting.

"Dada, when we see Papa?" Jackson asked him, tilting his head back against his father's chest.

"Soon I hope." He hugged him tightly against his chest, turning his eyes towards Colt across the room.

He was now scanning the notice board against the nurses station, looking for something to entertain himself while they waited for what felt like an eternity. He didn't know what was going on yet, but he couldn't wait to go home again, especially as he was still dressed in his pyjamas and the hospital was boring.

"Hey, where's Nana Jean?" Nick finally realised she wasn't with them.

"With granddad outside." Colt returned to his father's side, fiddling with the watch around his father's wrist. "Can we tell Nana yet?" He asked him, looking up into the man's eyes. He didn't know what the twins were, but he knew that his Nana had no idea that they were even having twins. "It might make her happier. She's really worried about Papa."

"She doesn't need to be, because he's gonna be fine." Nick spoke softly, giving his son a reassuring smile. "Where's Auntie Sara?" He didn't want the boys around if there was bad news, but he hadn't seen any of them in a while. "Did she go home yet?"

Jackson shook his head from side to side, adjusting himself on his father's lap. "I'm hungry, Dada."

"I'm hungry too. We'll get somethin' in a few minutes, okay?" Nick promised him, reaching his arm out to Colt. He pulled his son close against his side, realising from the look in his eyes that he was starting to worry. His seven year old was a lot smarter than he gave him credit for. "Shh, shh," He pressed a kiss to the side of his child's head, wishing he could tell him that it was all going to be okay. "We'll tell Nana as soon as she comes back. We might be able to see them by then."

"What are they for?" Colt reached out for his father's other wrist, looking at the hospital wrist bands he was wearing. "Baby boy Stokes. And baby girl Stokes?" He smiled widely as he looked up at his father. "Did we get a little sister?"

"You sure did. You got a new baby brother too." Hearing his mother in law's voice, Nick quickly put his finger to his lips, stopping his son from saying anything about them. "You want my seat?" He offered Jean, guessing she had been crying as her makeup was a little smudged.

"No, no, you keep it." She smiled at him, leaning against the wall beside his chair. "I sent Daniel back to yours to get some clothes for the boys. They didn't want to leave without you, so I'll take them if you need to go anywhere. I sent Sara home, she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore."

"Thanks." Nick smiled at her, gently resting his chin against Jackson's head as his child hugged him. tightly. He remembered feeling happier when they were in the hospital for Jackson's birth as it was the first time he had seen his own flesh and blood being born. He thought twins meant he would feel double that happiness, but instead his head was filled with double the worries.

Spotting Doctor Jordan making his way out of the double doors, Nick quickly lifted Jackson onto the floor, making his way over to the man alone. "He's okay." He tried to stop Nick from worrying. " He lost a lot more blood than we would like with this type of operation. We thought we were going to have to give him a complete hysterectomy to stop the blood loss, but we managed to stop the bleeding before that happened. He lost six units of blood during the operation though, so he's being transferred to the hospital's intensive care unit now. He's on a blood transfusion, but he'll be out for a while. He probably won't wake up until later tomorrow, so you should probably head home and get some sleep."

"Intensive care?" Greg's mother overheard.

"Yes, your son lost six units of blood and his blood pressure is very low. We've got him on some transfusions and they're going to keep a close eye on him. You can stop by and see him if you want." He waited for Nick's mother in law to tend to the children, before he whispered, "I think the twins are all set up in the NICU now. You should be able to have a hold of each of them now."

"Thank you." Nick felt tempted to hug the man, but he settled for shaking his hand. "Can we see him now?"

"All of you?" Doctor Jordan gave him a nod. "Just a quick visit. They like to keep the room clear."

"That's fine." He lifted his son, Jackson from the floor, taking Colt's hand to follow Doctor Jordan to see Greg. They took an elevator up to another floor, being led through the intensive care ward, towards a room just past the nurses' station.

"Don't be alarmed." Doctor Jordan led them to the glass door of the younger man's room. "They've put him on a ventilator to give his body some time to recover. We're keeping him hydrated and topping up his blood levels, so they should be able to take him off it sometime tomorrow. He's in the best possible hands right now." He assured them all, giving them a smile before he stepped away.

"Okay," Nick lowered his son to the floor, kneeling down in front of them both. "We're just gonna go in for a second to kiss Papa goodnight, okay? He's sleepin' for the moment, so he won't be able to hug you right now, okay?"

Colt gave his father a nod, while his brother was still a little confused. He took his younger brother's hand into his own, waiting for Nick to open the door, before he followed him inside. He immediately saw his father sleeping on the bed with a tube down his throat, looking completely lifeless and vacant. Releasing his brother's hand, he stayed beside the door, watching his Nana and father getting a little closer to see him up close.

After a moment, Nick lifted his son, Jackson into his arms again, letting his son press a kiss to his father's sleeping forehead. He didn't seem at all fazed by his father's state, more concerned about when he was going to get fed then when his father would wake up. Nick lowered him to the floor, turning towards Colt, noticing the look on his face for the first time.

"C'mere sweetheart," Nick slid his hands beneath his child's arms, lifting him onto his hip. He hugged him tightly against his chest, wishing Greg could wake up for just a moment to cheer them all up. "Papa's just sleepin'." He took him over to the bed, gently smoothing his hand up and down his son's back. He could feel his little chest hitching with his tears, starting to bring on some tears of his own.

He couldn't even function without Greg in their lives for a minute, he had no idea what they would do if he lost him for good. He'd probably end up moving in with Jean and letting her take care of his four kids, while he wasted away into nothing.

Jean stepped up beside him a moment later, taking his free hand into her own. She gave him a smile, trying to keep it together herself as she looked at her son lying helplessly in front of them. "Nicky, what aren't you telling me? Where's my grandchild?" She thought he hadn't said anything about them because something terrible had happened to the baby too.

"Neonatal intensive care." He spoke softly, watching his husband's chest rising and falling as the machine breathed for him. "Come back to me, baby. We need you." He whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of his husband's head.

They stayed with Greg for a few more minutes, before one of the nurses came by to make some checks. She politely asked them to leave while they checked his stitching, making sure that the younger man wasn't losing anymore blood.

"You wonna come see the babies with us?"

"Babies?" Nick's mother in law gave him a curious look, noticing the extra hospital band around his wrist. "That sneaky little..." She couldn't think of an appropriate name for her son, so she decided not to say anything at all. "I'm a grandmother to twins? Girls or Boys?"

"You'll have to come with us and find out." He smiled at her, letting her take Jackson, while he carried Colt to the neonatal intensive care unit.

Nick got them buzzed through to the unit, following the nurse past the multiple incubators with baby's in them, before she stopped at one towards the end of the room. She washed her hands with the antibacterial bottle beside it, before she handed it over to the family members to do the same.

"This is your little boy, the first one out." She explained to them.

Lowering his eldest to the floor, Nick took a look inside the incubator, seeing his tiny pale little boy insaide. He had a hat on his head, white booties covering his tiny little feet and scratch mittens restricting his hands at his sides. One of his little arms looked as though it had a foam cast around it, where various tubes and wires were attached.

He didn't have a mask over his face, but he had tubes going up his nose. He moved his head ever so slightly, keeping his eyelids tightly sealed as he made a sucking movement with his mouth. The simple action alone brought tears to his mother in law's eyes.

"Daddy." Jackson reached his arms out to his father, waiting for him to pick him up. He looked in at the crib once he was in his father's arms, taking a look at his new baby brother inside.

Nick passed him over to his mother in law after a moment, not wanting to waste the chance to touch his baby. He patiently watched the nurse opening the side door, giving him a moment to caress his fingertips across his baby boy's arm. His skin felt so delicate that Nick was afraid he might break him.

The nurse talked them through what they had done since he was born, before she turned them around to the second incubator. "And this is your daughter." She motioned towards the much smaller baby, covered with a lot more wires and tubes than her brother.

Nick lifted his son Jackson from the floor again as they stepped closer, letting him get a good look at his new baby sister. Her head was turned away from them with a tube running down her throat, but they could still watch her tiny chest moving up and down, her little fingers flexing and her feet moving beneath her little booties.

"Daddy, I can't see." Colt complained, waiting for his father to lower Jackson to the floor, before he got a look at his sister.

Looking in at his second helpless baby, Nick started to feel completely useless again. Her skin was so thin it was almost transparent. Her brother looked more like a baby in complexion, while she was literally just skin and bone. Both her arms were covered with foam casts and her head was concealed with the ventilator, so when he had the chance to touch her, he chose to gently stroke the back of her fingers. He thought it was the only place that he wouldn't damage her fragile skin, but she didn't even flinch or curl them like her brother had, bringing a tear to the man's eye.

He waited until he got home before he really let his tears out, curling up with a pillow that smelt like Greg for his moment of weakness. He got a few winks of sleep to make up for the lost sleep this morning, waking up after two or three hours with sore eyes from his dried tears. He washed his face in the bathroom, before he made his way downstairs to find his boys. He found them in the front room with their Grandpa Daniel, working on some sort of art project with paper and crayons.

"Hey," Nick dropped to the sofa, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Where's Jean?"

"She's gone to the store. You don't have anything in the house."

"Yeah, we were gonna go to the store today." Nick glanced up at the time, realising his twins were nearly five hours old now and he couldn't even remember what they looked like. He dropped his head back against the sofa cushions, listening to the soothing scribbles of crayons. He thought he'd feel on top of the world when he had four kids, but he still didn't feel as though he even had them yet.

"Hey, you alright?" Daniel moved the drawings from the sofa cushions beside Nick, so he could join him on the chair. "Jean told me it was twins. Did you know all along or did you just find out?"

"We knew all along." Nick grabbed a pillow from beside him, hugging it tightly against his chest.

"Are you still in shock that they're really here?" He asked him, trying to find out what was bothering the younger man. "I know I was when Greg was born. I felt like my whole world had spun out of control, but I couldn't run away from it, because I had this amazing new little life to take care of. Then when we adopted the kids, it was like having three new lives in our lives at once. I told Jean we weren't ready so many times, but we had to be ready, because the kids needed us. They said they didn't, but they needed us."

"I'm not gonna run." Nick assured his concerned father in law. "I just feel so helpless, like I'm completely useless. My twins are fightin' for their lives in incubators, while the love of my life has a tube down his throat with a machine breathin' for him." He tried not to choke up with tears again, not wanting to put the kids off their drawing. "Did the hospital call?"

"No, just your friend, Sara. She said she'll take the boys off your hands if you wonna spend some time up the hospital. Catherine stopped by too, she left a present." Daniel motioned out into the hall, towards the wrapped gift sitting on the hall table. "She didn't say what it was, just that you have to open it with Greg. Jean will be back soon if you're hungry." He gently tapped the man on the knee, before he rejoined his grandchildren around the coffee table.

His mother in law returned home a few minutes later, taking the grocery bags in her arms straight through to the kitchen. Nick followed her in, helping her to unpack, before she got him to work to keep him busy.

"Have you thought of any names yet?" The woman queried, setting out some plates on the island behind them. "Are you going with rhyming names? I went to school with twin girls called Camilla and Annabella once. They looked nothing alike, but people still got their names mixed up."

"I don't know, we never really discussed their names. Greg thought it was bad luck. He didn't want any more of that hangin' around when we were about to have twins. I think Greg wants to continue with the tradition of their names endin' with N. It's hard to name a baby that you don't remember though." He admitted, leaning back against the counter behind him. "A part of me doesn't even want to remember. There's nothin' I can do to help them and they looked so weak... and fragile."

"Chrissie's twins were premature." Jean informed him. "Courtney was still on oxygen when they took her home. Chrissie had to carry around her oxygen tank along with her newborn. I think Connor had a bleed on his brain and they had to operate on his heart and his bowel. You wouldn't know it looking at them now. Your twins will be fine." She gently placed her hand over his, giving it a gentle squeeze. "They've got you and Greg fighting their corner, so they have to be. Are you hungry?"

Nick responded with a shrug, giving her a smile as she handed him the first plate of her barbeque chicken burritos. He hadn't even noticed what he had been helping her make, until the food was in front of him on a plate.

"You want some salad on the side? I bought some." Jean made her way over to the fridge, grabbing the lettuce and tomatoes. "Boys, lunch is ready!" She called through the hallway, serving up some salad on Nick's plate first, noticing a smile on his face as she did. "What?"

"Nothin'." He pecked a kiss to the woman's cheek, thanking her as he made his way over to the table. He thought he was going to have to go through all of this alone with Greg in the hospital, but with Daniel and Jean around him, he felt as though his parents were here to support him every step of the way.

Thank you for reading, please review!

Have a great weekend.

~ Holly