October

"Max?"

Max sighed and snuggled under the covers. She was too tired. There was no way she'd had enough sleep.

"Max?"

"What?" she muttered. "Too early."

She heard Alec chuckle. "It's past noon, Sleeping Beauty. You planning on getting up today?"

Max forced her eyes open. They felt gritty like she hadn't slept in years and she was still exhausted. She pushed herself up in the bed and rubbed her eyes. She scratched at her belly, then her bladder let her know she'd waited too long. It felt like the twins had plunked themselves right on top of it.

Max struggled to the side of the bed, and Alec was there to help her stand. She was getting huge which was to be expected since she was carrying two instead of one. They were aiming for February as a due date now, but that didn't help when she already felt like she was the size of a barn.

"I'll fix you something to eat," Alec called as she shuffled to the bathroom.

She wasn't really hungry. Mostly, she was just tired. It didn't matter though. Alec would fuss at her until she ate.

Max used the bathroom and then stood at the sink. She looked in the mirror and sighed. Her eyes were sunken and instead of the weight most women gained, Max's face was gaunt. Her hair was thinning and dull. The twins were demanding more and more from her body. She was spending even more time than she had in the infirmary while they tried to keep her and the babies on an even keel.

"Max?" There was a knock at the door. "You ok in there?"

"Yeah." Max quickly washed her hands, and opened the door. Alec was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, waiting for her. He was looking as handsome as ever, in his normal jeans and t-shirt, and it didn't help her mood.

"Come on," he said, and nodded toward the kitchen. He had a plate waiting for her with a variety of food: a breakfast sandwich she could pull apart if she wanted, some pasta, some fruit, some leftover chicken casserole that she'd decided to make in the middle of the night, etc. Her tastes had been all over the place, and Alec had quickly learned to offer her lots of different types of food and let her pick and choose. Any weird requests were treated like emergency missions. Alec's team was scrambled and they went out ASAP to retrieve whatever was needed.

Alec sat with her at their scarred kitchen table. He set out the pills Dr. Gupta had sent up for the day beside a glass of water. Most were the same vitamins she took every day, but there were always a few changes depending on her blood work.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. It was nonchalant, but she knew he was worried.

"Fat. Tired." Baby Two kicked her in retaliation for her foul mood. She jumped and placed her hand over the spot. She grabbed Alec's hand and set it there. They never seemed to tire of feeling the babies move. After losing Baby Three, they wouldn't dare take the tiny moment of their remaining babies' lives for granted.

Alec knelt beside her and smiled, delighted, when Baby Two kicked her again. "Definitely your kid, Maxie. She likes kicking everybody."

Baby One was a boy. Baby Two was a girl. Josh had invited them for a celebratory dinner of mac and cheese with little sausages, made especially for the occasion, when they'd found out.

Knowing they had a little girl and a little boy had made it even more real. It was still wonderful and unbelievable, but more real. In a few months they were going to have a girl and boy, two very real, tiny little people depending on them.

There was a knock at the door and Alec stood. "I'll get it. You eat."

Max grabbed the casserole and took a bite. It definitely wasn't doing it for her anymore and she set it back down. The pasta looked pretty good so she went with that. She pulled the sausage out of the breakfast sandwich, tore it up to add to the pasta, and took a bite. It wasn't too bad, so she stuck with that.

"Boo, you a hot mess."

Max turned around, spaghetti hanging half-in, half-out of her mouth to see O.C. taking off her jacket and heading toward her.

Max gulped down the bite of pasta, and set the dish down. She felt herself starting to tear up for absolutely no reason whatsoever. She held out her arms, and after a moment of shock, O.C. came toward her and gave her a hug.

"I miss you," Max said.

"Yeah, well, I got a call you could use some girl time, and I'm always gonna be there for my girl."

"Someone called you?"

"Yeah. The no-good man who knocked you up."

That just made her want to cry again. Alec had called in reinforcements to try to cheer her up. She was just so tired. She felt worn thin, which was weird since she was so huge.

"You guys gonna be ok?" Alec asked. "I thought I'd leave you guys to talk or do each others' nails or… whatever you two do."

Cindy shot him a look, but also nodded. "I got this, pretty boy. Go away."

Alec smirked and gave her a little salute before heading for the door. "Call me if you need me," he said over his shoulder. It was flippant, but Max also knew it was an order.

"Ok, Boo, why don't you finish eating while O.C. tells you all about what's going on at Jam Pony."

Max grinned and picked up her pasta. It was a little cold, but she didn't care.

"You 'member that snooty girl named Kiki?"

Max nodded. "Yeah. She called me low-class. All I did was flip her off."

"Well, Miss Snooty-Tooty Kiki got her a little thing goin' on with Trucker John."

"No way!" Max said. Trucker John was a guy who'd been a long distance truck driver 'til he lost his license for drunk driving. "He hasn't taken a bath in… ever!"

"You don't have to tell me that. I'm the one who complained 'til Normal moved that nasty boy's locker to the other side."

Cindy continued to catch her up on all the gossip. Normal was still yelling. Sketchy was still getting himself in trouble. Packages were still getting lost or broken. Tips were still awful. It was almost… comforting to know that some things didn't change.

As soon as the last bite of food was in her mouth, O.C. stood up, as if she'd timed her gossip session to the second. "Come on, Boo. Let's get you cleaned up."

"But…"

"Ah ah. Don't argue with me. I am here to treat you like a queen and I'm gonna do it right. You need a day off from being boss of this dump, and from having doctors poking at you. Gonna be a day like the old days where we just chill."

Max smiled. It sounded wonderful.

"You find you some clean clothes, while O.C. gets a bath ready."

Max looked down at herself. She was wearing a particularly ratty nightgown that was almost all she had left that fit. Alec had brought her some new clothes a few days earlier, but she hadn't had the energy to go through them yet. She knew she had a few shirts that still fit, though. "On it."

By the time she came back, the bathroom was already beginning to steam up. O.C. helped her out of the nightgown and into the tub. It was anything but graceful, and Max just frowned at herself in disapproval.

"None o' that now. Boo, I ain't ever wanted kids, but looking at you…" She smiled, and it was an honest, kind smile, rare for her and all the more precious. "You beautiful, Boo. Always have been, but like this… It's just a beautiful thing."

"Thanks, Cin," Max said, and meant it. She could always count on O.C. to make her feel better, and to tell her the honest truth.

"Now let's get you cleaned up! You grubby enough, even I can tell you need a bath."

"You try getting' in and outta the tub when you feel like a beached whale."

"Whateva', Suga'. We gonna take care of it."

While Max washed with soap, Cindy worked a peppermint smelling shampoo through her hair. It was almost like a massage, and it made Max want to lean back and fall asleep. O.C. used a cup and poured it over her head to rinse it out and then used a conditioner and repeated the process.

"Scrub 'til you squeaky," Cindy ordered. All the while she separated Max's hair into two clumps and then separated it again to braid it for her, tying them off with a couple of bands.

Once she was clean, Max had to lever herself up from the bottom of the tub. She caught O.C. smirking, and had to laugh. "I know. Impressive. I'm a nimble, deadly weapon, right?"

She shook her head, still laughing. "You somethin' all right."

Cindy helped her get dressed, and she had to admit, she did feel better now that she was clean and in a fresh set of clothes.

"Come on." O.C. nodded toward the living room. "Phase two."

"What's phase two?"

"Phase two is where we get all girlied up and talk about what's goin' on with you. O.C. wants to hear everything. Every last little bit."

Max had called O.C. after Baby Three died. She'd called and O.C. had come running and they'd sat and cried together. Since then though, they'd called and all, but they both had lives, and just couldn't talk as easily as when they were both working and living together.

They did their nails, and O.C. did Max's toenails, laughing when Max could only see them when she held her foot way out. They did some kind of weird face mask thing. They went through all of her old clothes, and the new ones Alec had brought. He had included a couple of replacement nightgowns that were embroidered, and beautiful, and had to have cost a fortune, but she knew he'd done it to make her feel better.

While Max sat on the bed, O.C. held up each piece one by one and they gave it a yea or nay. They bagged up the maternity clothes that were too small now to pass on to someone else in TC who might need them. They trashed the ratty nightgown she'd been wearing, and some other things that O.C. declared "no self-respecting pregnant woman" should wear. O.C. folded everything that had passed muster and put it away in the dresser, then dragged the reject bags to the front door for Alec to take care of later.

The whole time, they talked. They talked and talked and laughed, and it was like the old days, and yet it wasn't, and it was wonderful. She would have to give Alec a kiss for calling in backup.

After a couple of hours though, Max could barely keep her eyes open.

"Come on, Mama. Let's get you to bed. Looks like you need a nap."

"Yeah. Tired all the time," she muttered. "S'annoying. Got things to do."

"Well, not today."

O.C. helped her into one of the beautiful new nightgowns. The silky fabric slid over her and she sighed in contentment.

"I'll say one thing for yo' boy. He got decent taste. And he good to you."

"He knows you'd kill him if he weren't."

"Ain't that the truth."

Max stretched out on the bed. At some point while she wasn't looking, O.C. had changed the sheets too. "You're a good friend."

"No lie there. But just returnin' the favor, Boo. You been a good friend to me."

Max smiled, and O.C. pulled the covers up over her. "Sleep tight, Mama."

Max heard the front door open and O.C. walked back into the living room. "How is she?" she heard Alec say.

"Sleepin'. We had a good time though. Maybe cheered her up."

"Good. Thanks for coming, Cin."

"You call me earlier next time, you hear me? You don't let my boo get in such a state."

Alec must have nodded, because she didn't hear a response.

"How you doin'?" Cindy asked more kindly.

"I'm all right. Max is the one you should be worried about."

"Oh, I'm plenty worried. She look like death on toast. Don't mean you ain't runnin' yoself ragged, too."

And he was. Since Max wasn't up to working as much, Alec was doing the work for both of them, all the while running back and forth with her to appointments and treatments and getting everything the doctors asked for, as well as anything that he even remotely thought would help or would make her smile.

"I don't matter right now," he said stubbornly. "The twins are…" Alec cleared his throat. "Transgenic children are always hard on the mother. Back in the day, a lot of the surrogates died. They just couldn't handle the demands of the fetus. Max is a transgenic, so she's stronger, but she's carrying twins. They're… Max's hanging on, but…"

"Docs doin' everything they can?" O.C. asked.

"Yeah."

"You and Max doin' everything you can?"

"Of course," he said, clearly affronted.

"Then don't beat yourself up, honey," she said quietly. "Just take it one day at a time."

Alec let out a slow breath. "Yeah, I know." Max could practically see him running a hand through his hair like he did when he was tired, or frustrated.

"Something goes wrong, we'll deal, ok?"

"Yeah, ok," he sighed.

"Now why don't you get in there and snuggle up with yo' girl."

"It's not even dark yet."

"Do I look like I care?" she shot back. "Yo' girl is sleeping and she need some TLC. You look like you ain't slept in days either. Get in there and take a cat nap, or whatever you want to call it."

Max rolled her eyes, and guessed Alec was doing the same. "Fine, fine," he said.

"I'm out. Call me if you need me. Sooner than later," she ordered. "I mean it."

Max heard the front door close behind O.C. A moment later, Alec came into the bedroom. He toed off his shoes and climbed into the bed behind her. It wasn't as easy for him to wrap his arm around her anymore. He slid his hand so it was resting against her belly, and sighed in contentment.

Max closed her eyes.

"Night, babies," she heard him whisper. "Let your mom have a night off, ok? She needs it."

Daddy, too, Max mentally added.

Barely a few seconds later, Alec's breathing evened out in sleep. Max nestled more comfortably against him, and let sleep take her.

More tomorrow…