"Phil? What are you doing? Be productive!" Paul exclaimed whilst walking into Punks office where Punk appeared to be sitting quite comfortably on his chair, feet up on the desk whilst scrolling through his phone.
"It's April." Punk said, "She's sending me pictures of all the baby clothes she's just gone out and bought." He told his boss.
"You should have said. I would have gave you the day off to go join her." Paul told Punk as he loaded some paper work into his files.
"I told her to just go on ahead. Shopping isn't my type of thing anyway. She knew what she was looking for anyway." He shrugged, "And plus, this place is dead right now." He explained, putting his phone on the desk and placing his hands behind his head with a relaxed sigh.
"I know, but something will come along. Just because I made you a Lieutenant, doesn't mean you can slack off and eat doughnuts all day." Paul said, "That's my job." He joked as Punk laughed.
"I'm not. I really have nothing to do." Punk said honestly.
"Then go home and be with your pregnant girlfriend then instead of sitting here doing nothing. I can always call you if something comes up." He said as Punk nodded. He supposed that all this useless time he was spending doing nothing deserved to be put to use where his attention was needed, aka with AJ. He knew she was struggling around the house on her own. Sometimes she'd need an extra shove up the stairs, or even just help getting up from the couch. If he wasn't busy, he really should have been at home helping her.
"You're lucky I don't tell AJ you sit here staring into space doing nothing every day." He joked as he grabbed his coat.
"She'd kick my ass." Punk laughed as he headed out of his office, hearing Paul chuckle to himself as he left the station.
He got home to what could only be described as a baby clothes bomb site. She obviously had to buy two sets of everything, and of course everything was pretty lowkey since they didn't know what the sex of the babies were. They'd buy all the colourful clothing and appropriate clothing to gender when the twins were born. For now they were stocking up on diapers, baby grows, vests and similar things like that.
"Hey, why are you home so early?" AJ asked as he made his way into the kitchen where she was sipping on a glass of water.
"Paul let me come home. There was nothing for me to do." He told her as she nodded.
"That was nice of him." She admitted, screwing her eyes up as she felt the pain that had been niggling her all day in her stomach. She was convincing herself it was just indigestion, but it had been going on since this morning, which couldn't be right.
"You ok?" He asked, noticing she seemed to be feeling some sort of unconformity.
"Yeah." She insisted, waving her hand, "I think I've just ate something." She admitted, "Did you see what I got?" She asked, changing the subject, hoping he'd seen the bags of clothing when he came through the living room.
"Yeah." Punk laughed, "You didn't hold back, did you?" He smiled.
"I did not." She smiled, "You gonna help me put it all away in the drawers. I was thinking the drawers in the far left can be for baby number one, and the other set can be for baby number two." She said, sitting her finished glass of water in the sink as he laughed, watching her turn round.
"You gotta stop calling them that." He told her as she smiled.
"I'm sorry." She admitted, "For either Hayden and Caleb. Harleen and Paisley. Or Caleb and Harleen." She corrected herself at the names they had decided for either possibilities.
"Much better." He nodded with a smile.
"Ok." She nodded, "Now come help me. And I don't mean with putting the clothes away, I mean with getting up the stairs." She said as he laughed, tagging behind her as he helped her take the bags upstairs, and proceeded to help her up the stairs and into the babies room to put the bought clothes away.
It was completely silent in the house. AJ had been finding herself in deep sleeps whilst pregnant, and although her snoring made it hard for Punk to deal with, he knew it couldn't be helped, and had actually fallen asleep before her tonight, to get a head start.
The room was deadly silent. Not a thing could be heard besides the whispered breathing of both of them. AJ lay curled into Punk, lying on her side, the covers kicked off of her from being too warm, her bump resting in between them as he lay on his back, in a blissful sleep. Nothing but the worry of being a father on his mind, that he knew he could control within reason.
AJ shifted around in bed often, especially whilst being pregnant, but she began shifting an awful lot, wakening up from suddenly feeling discomfort around her tummy, sitting up and looking around the dark room.
"C'mon guys." She sighed, leaning one hand on the mattress to hold herself up, placing the other one on her tummy, rubbing it softly, "Mommy is tired." She said with a sigh, looking down at Punk who was perfectly comfortable fast asleep. She envied him at times like these. If anything it was him who should be awake and feeling uncomfortable.
She was about to attempt to lie back down and chance her luck with falling back asleep, when suddenly she felt a sharp pain up her abdomen. A pain she'd never felt in her entire life.
"Oh..." She winced, "Phil." She tapped Punk, "Phil, wake up." She told him quickly as he opened his eyes slowly, looking at his surroundings and noticing AJ up and caressing her stomach.
"What? What's wrong?" He asked her quickly, sitting up as she shook her head, not having an answer for him.
"I don't know." He admitted. "My stomach is really sore." She gasped, "Do you think there's something wrong?" She asked with worry, the room dark, but still visualising their faces to one another.
Punk leaned over and turned the lamp on at his bedside table, turning back around to her, "Let's get up, get ready, we'll go to the hospital just to make sure everything is ok. I'm sure everything is fine." He told her. He could see there was fear lying beneath her eyes. She was obviously terrified of the pain she was feeling. They knew that twins tended to come a month early, but she wasn't eight months yet. She was around seven and a half. She didn't think it was time for the babies to come yet.
They drove to the hospital anyway and were seen to right away in the maternity ward. To their realisation and dreaded speculation, AJ was indeed showing symptoms of early labour, and was taken into a room to be hooked up to the monitors.
"Ok, April… I've checked your files." The midwife came through the room. Since their midwife they were used to dealing with wasn't on call at this present moment at 3:30am, they were getting the next one in a line, a middle aged, pleasant woman, "It seems like Doctor Jacobs got your dates wrong. You're actually right on time, for twins anyway. You appear to be a week past eight months." She smiled, "So there's nothing to worry about. We'll get this show on the road. You're doing great." She praised as AJ rolled her head back, turning around to Punk who gulped whilst the midwife left the room.
"That's probably why you're bigger than expected." Punk smiled, stroking her hair out of her face as she sighed with trembled fear quaking in her breath.
"I don't think I'm ready for this." She admitted. She was absolutely terrified. She thought she was cut out for all of this. She thought she had been waiting her entire life for this moment. But she was really, really terrified of everything. Of being a mother. She'd spent the months convincing Punk that he'd be a wonderful father, that she hadn't considered the fact she was going to be a mother.
"Of course you are." He sighed, "There's no other woman I can think of that is more cut out for this. You're gonna be a wonderful mother." He smiled as she sighed.
"This is so painful." She cried, "Can't you do this part?" She sighed as he laughed lightly.
"I would if I could, baby." He pressed a kiss on her head. He would take over this part for her if only he could. Any pain she ever felt, he would take it all, just to make her feel better, but he just couldn't in this case. He truly believed she was stronger than him anyway. He wouldn't admit it. But he thought it. He knew it, "You can do this." He told her bluntly, "I know you can."
"One more push, April. One more." The midwife encouraged as AJ was in the midst of giving birth to baby number one. One hand was gripping Punks whilst the other was pressing into the mattress below her to support her. There was no escaping the pain. Unless she pushed.
"That's it, April." The midwife encouraged whilst AJ shuddered, giving everything she could just to stop all the pain, collapsing down against the bed as Punk caught her slightly, making sure she didn't hurt herself, an uproar of screaming coming from the corner.
"Hey… you did it. You did it, baby." Punk chuckled in awe, pressing a ton of kisses on his girlfriends head, so proud, and not only as a boyfriend, but as a father.
AJ smiled to herself, closed eyes, breathing harsh and restless whilst she tried to take these next few minutes with gratitude, before the next baby came along. The sound of squealing and crying had never sounded more beautiful to her. She opened her eyes and looked over to the corner, peachy little skin, ten fingers and toes, soft little strands of hair, and a warm pink blanket wrapping around the wriggling little bundle.
"Congratulations." The midwife made her way towards them, "It's a girl." She placed the baby in AJ's arms, the baby, who as expected was tiny from sharing a home with her twin. She and Punk had never seen anything so beautiful before in their entire life. She was just an adorable little bundle of love and happiness to them.
"She's beautiful." Punk gasped, never feeling this type of way before, his heart literally felt like it was swelling inside, "She's beautiful." He repeated in a whisper, pressing a kiss on AJ's lips as she held the now quiet baby girl. A daughter. He had a beautiful, healthy, happy daughter. He couldn't wait to raise her and love her with all his heart. He was absolutely thrilled, and on cloud nine.
"Hi, baby girl." AJ gasped with a lump in her throat, a tear rolling down her cheek as she held the baby girl close, watching her eyes open and close, forest green eyes to be precise, just like her father. She was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her entire life. She'd never felt instant love like it.
Unfortunately, she hadn't forgotten that she had another baby to come and join their beautiful baby girl, and a firm pain started to occur in her again. The baby girl was taken over to the small bassinet in the corner as AJ began to get restless again, painful sobs escaping her mouth as Punk kissed her head and whispered encouraging words to her.
"C'mon, baby you can do it. Just a few more pushes and it's all over." He smiled, "I know you can." He kissed her head as she shifted her tired frame up, sitting up and gripping Punks hand again.
It felt like forever, but she finally got to the last remaining minutes of the birth of their second child, trying her best not to pass out with the pain or her exhaustion level, pushing one final push as their second child was born, collapsing back against the bed again with a loud sigh.
However, this time there was no crying, nor screaming. There was silence, and it only sunk into AJ that there was silence after a few minutes where more nurses and midwives flooded into the room. Their baby girl lay in her bassinet, her toes wriggling and her hands curling in, perfectly well and fine, all the while a blue blanket was wrapped around the baby who seemed to be voiceless.
"What… what's going on?" She looked up at Punk, shaking his hand that she was gripping, "What… what are they doing?" She asked with exhaustion as Punk looked over helplessly, not sure what was going on.
"I don't know." He told her truthfully, "It's ok, I'm sure it'll be fine." He told her with hope himself, suddenly watching as the baby was taken out of the room, to which he could see was covered in a blue blanket, a shifting smile appearing on his face. A son.
"No… where are you taking him?" AJ sat up with what little strength she had left, "I want to see him." She demanded.
"April, it's a boy. He's struggling to breathe. He's much smaller than what your daughter is. Sometimes it can happen with twins. She could have been taking all the nutrients and goodness, and he may have not been getting enough." She explained as AJ just shook her head.
"I want to hold him." She cried.
"We have to make sure he's ok first. He's in good hands. I promise." She nodded whilst leaving the room, letting the other midwives check AJ over and help her from the aftermath of the birth whilst she sat on edge, terrified of what was going on, looking up at Punk who looked just as frightened.
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