The next day at work, Nicole went about her usual business. She knew she would have to speak to someone about Charlie's pregnancy and figure out how much time she would get off once the twins arrived. One thing was for sure, she was NOT talking to General Clarke about it. She knocked on the door to Michael's office, "General Holden sir."
Michael looked up and stood as they both saluted each other, "Captain Galassini. I'm guessing you'd like to discuss your personal situations."
Nicole looked at him confusingly, "How did you know sir? And how much do you know?"
Michael chuckled and said, "Colonel Burton informed me that Charlie is pregnant. Congratulations Captain."
"Thank you sir. And yes that is what I wanted to talk about," said Nicole.
"Have a seat Captain," gestured Michael as they both sat down, "I'm sure you're excited and nervous all at once."
Nicole laughed lightly, "That's an understatement sir."
"Yeah those two words don't even begin to describe how you feel when your spouse is expecting," said Michael knowingly.
"I don't think you understand sir," said Nicole pulling out the sonogram, "Mrs. Holden had only ever had one baby at a time right?"
"Yes," said Michael, "Why do you ask?" Nicole handed him the sonogram. Michael stared at it for a few moments, "I'm sorry Captain. I'm a father of two and I never was good at reading these things."
"Neither am I sir, but I do know this," Nicole pointed to the two blobs, "Means twins."
"Twins wow," said Michael.
"That's exactly the way Charlie and I are," laughed Nicole.
"How far along?"
"Ten weeks."
"Well I'm guessing you're saying you'll need more time off once the babies arrive," said Michael.
"If it's not too much to ask sir?" asked Nicole apprehensively.
"I'm sure something can be arranged," said Michael, "But we have plenty of time to work that out."
"Thank you sir," said Nicole as she stood up and saluted him again.
"Have a good day Captain," he said saluting her back.
Holden House…
The tribe was gathered at the Holden house for afternoon tea and Charlie was with them for the first time after Claudia Joy and Roland invited her to share the news. Even Roland didn't know all of the news. Charlie knocked on the door to the Holden house. Her stomach started to churn and she hoped it was from nerves and not another bout of morning sickness.
Claudia Joy opened the door, "It's Charlie right?"
"Mrs. Holden," said Charlie shaking her hand politely.
"Claudia Joy please," said Claudia Joy.
"Okay then," she said as she followed her into the living room.
"Charlie, this is Roxy, Denise, Jackie, Gloria, and you already know Roland," Claudia Joy said.
"So you're Nicole's wife?" asked Denise.
"Yes I am," Charlie nodded nervously.
"Charlie it's okay. They're all cool with it," said Roland.
Charlie nodded once and sat down next to him, more out of familiarity than anything else.
"So Roland says you have some news?" asked Roxy curiously.
"Big news actually," Charlie chuckled lightly and cleared her throat before announcing, "I'm pregnant!"
"Aw congratulations Charlie. I'm sure you and Nicole are very excited," said Denise happily.
"That's one way to put it," said Charlie, "Nicole is having a talk with your husband today," she said nodding towards Claudia Joy.
"Aw about the time off?" asked Claudia Joy.
"Yeah and the fact that she'll need extra time off. Because I'm having twins," Charlie threw out causally.
This time, everyone including Roland sat there silent, "You didn't mention that when you told us," said Roland when he gained the ability to speak.
"That's because we didn't know until we received, um, visual confirmation yesterday," said Charlie pulling out the sonogram.
Everyone looked at it, memories invading Claudia Joy's, Denise's, Roxy's, and Jackie's minds of their pregnancies. It was scary enough being pregnant with one baby, let alone two.
"Well if you need anything, we're here for you," said Claudia Joy.
Later That Night…
"Charlie, I'm home!" shouted Nicole as she entered their house.
"Upstairs Niki!" shouted Charlie. Nicole ran upstairs expecting the worst but instead found her wife reading peacefully, "So how was the talk with General Holden?"
"It went well," said Nicole curling up beside Charlie and resting her hand on her abdomen, "How was it with the girls and Roland?"
"They were shocked," laughed Charlie.
"Weren't we all," Nicole laughed with her. Charlie bit her lip, "What?"
"Now that we've told everyone here, we need to tell our parents," said Charlie.
Nicole sat up and started shaking her head, "Your parents yes, my Mom no!"
"Niki, she deserves to know. It is her grandchild," said Charlie.
"You don't understand Charlie! It took long enough for Mom to get used to the fact that her daughter's a lesbian. And now her grandchild was conceived through a sperm donor!" shouted Nicole as she started to pace around the room again, her nervous habit.
"Well we couldn't exactly conceive this baby ourselves," said Charlie, "Come on Niki it'll be okay."
"Well we're not telling her right now," said Nicole as she got dressed in her pajamas and crawled into bed back facing Charlie.