24 – Pt. 1

This is the first time in my life I've woken up petrified by nerves. Not even in my days in the navy, knowing that it could potentially be my last, did I feel as nervous and anxious as I feel right now. I move my eyes to the window and see that it has started to snow.

We moved to Philadelphia 11 months ago. We've built a beautiful life for us here. We have even made a few good friends who we are close to.

As soon as Claire's ribs were healed up, we packed our bags and jumped on a plane. We talked to Jason about a month before moving to Philadelphia, he told us no serious offers had been made yet. So I took a quick flight there to see the apartment. We were a month away from moving, we needed a place to stay. I Skyped Claire and we were astonished at what we saw. The pictures didn't make any justice to this beautiful place. Claire agreed. We fell in love with it; so we bought the apartment as fast as we could pull out our checkbooks.

It took me about 3 weeks to find a job. Turns out having appeared on tv had its perks. Every single company I left my resume to called me for an interview immediately. At the end, I chose a job at the Philadelphia zoo. They have an amazing program for protecting endangered species and their habitats; it was a no brainer. My job there is to analyse and compare the behaviour of animals that were bread in captivity versus animals that were rescued from abusive owners. (Who the hell has a tiger as a pet?!)

Claire was completely in love with her new job. She had actually made an effort to change her workplace persona. She didn't want to be the same operations senior manager she was in Jurassic World. She's actually quite loved in the company. There was a cocktail party not too long ago and everyone was approaching her and talking to her. She smiled the whole evening. It was when we came home that evening and we had a glass of wine before we went to bed, that I knew what I wanted the next step to be.

A month later, as I lie down in bed next to Claire waiting for her to wake up, I go through all of the things we've been through together and how we've survived the bad and enjoyed the good. I remember nonna's advice, 'exploit every second you have with her.' As Claire starts to wake up, all the nervousness and anxiety float away.

I keep my left hand under the pillow and with my right one I grab a piece of her hair and tickle her cheek with it. It's longer now too, right past her shoulders.

"Mm."

"Are you awake?", I ask.

"I am now." She opens her eyes; two beautiful green orbs looking right at me. The light coming through the window enhancing the colour of her irises perfectly.

The words flow easily from my mouth. "You know? This is my favourite part of the day. Waking up besides you. And I realised about a month ago, that you're the first person I want to see when I wake up for the rest of my life."

Claire's eyes start to widen, realisation dawning on her. "What are you doing?"

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Claire-" I bring my left hand from under the pillow and with it, a small box. I open it to reveal an engagement ring. She gasps and sits up. She holds the bed sheets against her body to cover herself. (We had fun last night.)

I sit up as well.

"What are you doing?" she asks again.

"Will you marry me?"

"Oh my God." She covers her mouth. She looks down at the ring for a moment and then up at me. "You had to do this now?! I just woke up! You have the worst timing!"

I smile. "Is that a yes?"

I few tears run down her cheeks and she rolls her eyes. "Yes. Yes. Of course I'll marry you."

I pull the ring out of the box and put the box aside. I hold her left hand and slide the ring onto her finger. She raises her hand in front of her face and looks at the ring. "I can't believe we just did this." She looks at me and a smile starts creeping onto her face. "I love you."

"And I love you."

She launches herself on top of me and kisses me passionately. She straddles me with her legs, my hands resting on her hips. When we pull apart, we laugh and I sigh in relief. "It would've been really embarrassing for me, if you had said no."

"I think you knew there was no way I would say no."

I shrug. "Yeah, but still." There's a bit of silence and I flip us over, so Claire is now under me. Good thing we were already naked.

The next day we called all of our loved ones to let them know. My whole family was ecstatic. Mum was crying, dad was trying not to and Isabella wouldn't stop saying: 'Oh my God. You guys are getting married!' When we called nonna, she laughed when we told her the news and said she knew, from the moment I spoke Claire's name, that she was the one for me. I couldn't agree more.

Finally, we call Karen and the kids. Karen screamed when Claire showed her the ring. The kids were grinning from ear to ear.

"So you're officially uncle Owen, then?" Gray asked.

I looked at Claire and then back at them. "I guess I am, kid."

Karen bombarded us with questions. When is it going to be? Where is it going to be? You need a dress. You need a band. You need food. Oh my God! Every single question that could possibly be asked, Karen asked.

The next month or so was a bit like a honeymoon stage for us. Claire and I were all up on each other. We would text each other while we were at work, we would even skype sometimes. It was unreal.

Until Claire suddenly stopped smiling as much.

One day, I just asked her. "Claire, are you okay? This last week you've been… I don't know. Somewhere else."

She sits on our bed. "I don't know. I feel weird. I'm tired all the time."

I sit next to her. "Is something worrying you at work?"

She shakes her head, confused. "No. Things are going perfectly. I haven't been sleeping very well, that's all. It'll pass. Don't worry."

I frown and search her face. I can't help but think that maybe the ring it's the thing that's causing this. "Are you having second thoughts…"

I see her follow my gaze to her ring. "No. No. There are a lot of things that could be causing me to feel this way. But this…" She points to her ring. "… is definitely not one of those things. I just have to figure out what it is. Okay?"

I take her hand. "Okay."

I never in my life wanted to feel again what I felt when Karen called me to tell me Claire had been in an accident. The sense that I was falling, not knowing where to hold on to. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

A week after our short conversation, Claire came home earlier than she would on a Tuesday afternoon. At first I didn't notice, but as Claire started walking towards me, I realised how very pale she was.

I stood up immediately and walked towards her. "Claire?"

She closes her eyes and shakes her head. "Owen, I don't feel, I don't feel very go-" Her hand stretches forward as if trying to hold onto something. Everything slows down as I see Claire's knees give out from under her. I catch her before she hits the ground.

"Claire!" I lay her down on the floor trying to wake her up. When I don't succeed, I pick her up and move her to the couch. I run to the bathroom to bring alcohol and a piece of cotton. I run back to the living room and kneel down next to her. I put a hand on her forehead and hold the piece of cotton drenched in alcohol beneath her nose. At first nothing happens; panic starts creeping into my body, then I feel Claire move slightly under my hand.

"Claire? Claire, wake up. Come on, babe. Open your eyes."

She starts moving her head from side to side very slowly. I keep calling her name until she opens her eyes.

She finds my eyes and frowns. "Owen? What happened?"

I exhale in relief. "You passed out. What do you remember?"

She closes her eyes and puts a hand on her forehead. "I started feeling dizzy at work and I felt like my stomach was being flipped over. I decided to come home. I remember opening the door of the apartment, and that's it. I don't remember more."

I shake my head. "You scared the crap out of me. How are you feeling now?"

"Still a little dizzy."

"As soon as you feel a little better, we're going to the hospital. This is not normal."

She shakes her head. "That's not necessary. I just need to rest."

"No. That's what you said a week ago. We're going to the hospital. Today."

"Okay."

And that's how I know that Claire really isn't feeling well. She would've never accepted surrender so easily. The moment Claire can sit up without feeling like the whole room is spinning, we go to the hospital. We go through the ER and she's taken in immediately. I think the nurse could tell Claire might collapse if she had to stand up for one more second.

I go in with her. A nurse comes in and takes some blood. When she leaves, another nurse comes in and hooks Claire up to an IV. She's lying down on a bed, eyes closed. I sit next to her and say nothing. I just hold her hand.

About 40 minutes later, there's a knock on the door and a female doctor comes in with a chart.

"Good afternoon, I'm Dr Sánchez. I heard you lost consciousness today, Claire. How are you feeling?"

Claire raises herself up a bit. "I'm still somewhat dizzy and very tired."

She nods and looks down at the chart. "Well, there are 3 things we need to discuss here. One, you are dehydrated. That's the reason why you're dizzy and hooked to an IV. Two, your glucose levels are low. Which is the other reason you're dizzy and feel like you have no energy. You haven't been eating properly, have you?"

She shakes her head. "No, I haven't. My stomach has felt weird."

She nods again. "We'll have you feeling better soon. You won't leave here until your glucose levels go up to where they're supposed to be. And another IV bag will be coming after that one." She says pointing to the bag that's hanging from the hook.

"What's the third thing we had to discuss?", I ask.

"Oh. Let me check the chart one more time to make sure I read it correctly." She reads through it very fast. She raises her head and closes the chart. "Yep. Congratulations, Claire. You're pregnant."

I freeze and stare at the doctor. What did she just say?

"I'm sorry. What?" Did she really say what I think she just said?!

She smiles and looks between Claire and I. "She is pregnant. Her lack of sleep, feeling nauseous all the time? Those are symptoms of pregnancy. You two are going to be parents. You'll need to make an appointment with an ob/gyn; make sure everything is okay. I'll be coming back in about an hour to check up on you."

With that, she turns around and leaves the room. I look at the door for a few seconds and then turn slowly towards Claire. The look of utter terror in her face is something that I never expected to see on her. Not even crouching by the Jeep with the Indominus' mouth next to us, did I see that look.

"Claire?" I ask tentatively; trying to gauge her reaction.

Nothing. She doesn't move, she doesn't speak. I try again.

"Claire? Talk to me."

Her eyes move slowly from the wall she was staring at, to me. "Did she say that I'm, that I am… pregnant?"

I nod slowly. "Yeah, that's what she said."

Her chin starts trembling and her eyes start widening. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!"

I feel the sting on the back of my shoulder from where she smacked me. "Ow! What the fu..? What was that for?!" I say holding my shoulder. Wasn't she feeling weak or something?

She starts breathing hard. "I'm pregnant! You did this to me! What the hell?! Oh my God. I'm pregnant!" She covers her face with her hands and starts sobbing.

I stand up and hug her, making sure to be careful with the IV. I start rubbing her back. She presses her forehead against my chest. "What are we going to do, Owen?"

I think about this for a minute. I never really asked Claire if she ever wanted to have kids. She absolutely adores Zach and Gray, but other than them, I've never seen her look fondly at any kid or baby.

I make sure she knows it's her choice.

I swallow. "What do you want to do? Whatever you want, that's what we'll do."

She pulls away and looks at me. She doesn't wipe the tears away. "I never wanted kids."

I feel a pain that I wasn't expecting, but I control my face. This is not about me; this is about her.

She starts crying again. "Until I met you."

"What?" Does she mean…?

"Of course I want this baby, Owen. It's your baby. Our baby."

At first I don't move. Our baby. She wants it. She wants it! I start grinning like a mad man. "We're having a baby? We're having a baby?!"

She starts smiling. She nods. "We're having a baby."

"Oh my God!" I put my hands behind my head. I look at Claire with utter adoration. I lean forward and kiss her. I pull away and look at her again. "We're going to be parents. Holy shit!"

Claire is smiling, crying and shaking her head. "Why do we always have to do things so fast?"

I laugh. "I don't know. But they've turned out pretty good thus far, right?"

"Yeah, I guess they have."

We stay in the ER until Claire has been given another IV bag and some food. We go make the appointment with the ob/gyn for the following day and we go home.

We wake up the next day not knowing if yesterday was a dream or not.

"It was real, right? It wasn't a very vivid dream?" I ask Claire.

"Unless we have some weird telepathic connection and we both had the same dream, then no. It was very real. I'm pregnant." She turns her face to look at me, her eyes a little wide. "That's something I never thought I'd say."

A grin overtakes my face. I pull the covers down and raise Claire's t-shirt so her stomach is bare. The scar of the surgery has faded a lot. It's a thick pink scar on her right side. It has only been 11 months since the accident; so there's still some healing to be done. But right now, I focus my attention on her stomach and the fact that our baby is in there.

"Hello, baby. This is your daddy here. I just wanted to let you know that even though we weren't expecting you, we already love you so much." I feel Claire's hand on my head. "Your mummy here reacted a little aggressively when she found out; she hit me." She pulls my hair a little. I wince lightly. "See? Once you're here, you better behave, because she'll lay down the law. No doubt about it."

"Is that going to be your plan? Making sure our child knows I'm the strict one and you the fun one?"

I look up at her. "I think those are our natural roles."

"Excuse me, I can be fun. You'll see."

"Can't wait." I kiss her stomach and we get ready to go to our appointment.

On our way there, Claire gets nervous. She says that what happened yesterday could've really screwed things up.

"What if I hurt it? It hasn't been a thing of a couple of days, Owen. I've been feeling horrible for more than a week. I haven't been eating properly. I was dehydrated for God's sake!"

"Wow! Calm down. I'm sure the baby's okay. Babies are strong. I'm sure it's okay. Calm down. Don't get stressed over things you don't even know. Okay?"

She nods. "Okay." The nervousness doesn't leave her expression.

We don't have to wait for too long before Claire's name is being called. We go into the doctor's office. Her name is Silvia Moretuzzo.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Dr Moretuzzo." She shakes our hands. "I read your history, Claire. It said you were admitted yesterday to the ER because of low glucose levels and dehydration. Is that correct?"

Claire nods. "Yeah. I had been feeling horrible for the past week and yesterday I apparently reached my limit. I didn't know I was pregnant."

"Oh. So this is your first appointment?" Dr Moretuzzo asks.

"Yes, it is. I just want to know that everything is okay. I want to know if the baby is okay."

Dr Moretuzzo smiles. "Well, let's find out." She stands up and motions for Claire to follow her.

"Can I come too?" I ask.

"Of course. You're the father."

I smile. Yeah, I'm the father!

Claire lies down. "Raise your shirt, please." Claire does as the doctor tells her.

She pours the gel on her stomach, puts the probe against it and turns on the screen. "Okay." She starts moving it around Claire's stomach and starts pressing buttons.

"Do you see that?" she says pointing to the screen. I squint and look a little harder.

"I know I'm seeing something, but I'm not quite sure what that is. Right now it just looks like a weather system to me."

The doctor laughs. Claire doesn't. I think she just wants to know the baby is okay.

"Well, that right there; that's your baby. Just let me turns this up…" She turns a nod and the whole room becomes engulfed by this thumping sound.

"Is that…" Claire trails off.

"That's your baby's heartbeat. Your baby's doing great, Claire. It's the right size, blood pressure's good, heartbeat's good. You have nothing to worry about. You both have nothing to worry about."

I'm not sure at what moment I held Claire's hand. But that's the only thing I'm aware of as I am transfixed by our baby's heartbeat. I squeeze Claire's hand and look down at her. "I told you there was nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, I guess you were right." Her eyes are glued to the screen.

"I believe you are 7 weeks pregnant, Claire. Does that sound about right?" Dr Moretuzzo asks her.

Claire looks at her and stays quiet. Thinking. "Yeah, that sounds about right. How did I even miss that?"

"It happens. Normally that's the last thing you would think about. Well Claire, I want to see you in a month." She grabs a prescription pad and writes something down. "I want you to take this and make sure you're eating well and staying well hydrated. Keep doing your life just as before, there's no reason for you to change anything. Unless it involves something like horse back riding, of course."

She laughs. "That's not a problem. Thank you, doctor." We shake hands with her and go to the hospital's pharmacy to buy the prenatal vitamins she sent Claire.

"That was amazing. Owen – " She touches my arm lightly. We stop in the middle of the corridor. "We just heard our baby's heartbeat."

I lay my hands on her shoulders. "Yeah, we just did. I can't believe we're having a baby!"

We start jumping up and down like 2 kids who've been told they're going to the concert of their favourite band.

"Okay, let's start walking because people are looking at us weird." Claire says.

3 weeks later, it's Claire birthday. And we had invited all the family to come to Philadelphia to celebrate Claire's 35th birthday. Obviously we planned the whole thing out to also break the news to them.

"Okay, so have you decided? Are we going straight to the news or do we want to be a little more dramatic?"

"I think we should go with dramatic. Scare them a little." She puts her comb down and turns around to look at me.

"You're evil when you're pregnant."

She walks up to me. "And I like it." She starts walking past me but I hold her by the arm and pull her towards me. I kiss her and she reciprocates.

"You look beautiful."

"Am I glowing?" she asks teasingly.

"Yes, you are. You really are."

We hear the doorbell ring and we smile at each other. "Let the show begin."

We walk out of our bedroom and walk past the living room. I open the door to see mum, dad, Isabella and nonna. "Hey guys! Long time no see!"

"Amore, how are you? I've missed you!" She hugs me. "Where's the birthday girl?"

"I'm right here, Fran." Claire says walking up behind me.

"Happy birthday, darling." She hugs Claire and when she pulls back, she looks at her for a minute. "You look different."

I turn my head to Claire. Her eyes have widened a little but nothing she can't control. I should've known nonna would see something.

"I parted my hair to the side. I usually have it split by the middle." Claire recuperates fast. Everyone else buys her excuse, but nonna's still looking at her.

"Are you sure that's it?"

"I can't think of anything else." Claire replies.

"You look hot, sister! Happy birthday!" Isabella says hugging Claire. Nonna looks at Claire one more time and sits down on the couch.

"Thanks, Isa. I thought Alexander was coming."

"He was, but he was called last minute at work. He asked me to tell you happy birthday and that he was going to call you later today."

"I'll be waiting then."

"Here's my present, I put a lot of thought into it. I hope you like it." Claire laughs and takes her present.

"Thank you, Isa."

"Happy birthday, Red." Dad hugs Claire. He started calling her Red when he found out that Claire's favourite colour was red. He said it was an appropriate nickname. "How old are you now? 25?"

Claire laughs. "Try 35. But I appreciate that, Ben."

"Either way you've never looked better, Claire. Happy birthday." Mum says and hugs her.

Karen and the kids arrive about 15 minutes later. We're all in the living room talking and catching up. The last time we were together like this was that time Karen and the kids went home before Claire and I moved here. We've seen them separately a couple of times before.

Claire stands up to go to the kitchen and bring more crackers, and I follow her. I look over my shoulder to make sure their attention is not on us and then I whisper to Claire, "Now?"

She smiles. "Okay. Remember, we're being dramatic."

"Yep." I grab the box of crackers and head back to the living room, Claire right behind me.

"You know Claire was in the ER 3 weeks ago?" I open the box of crackers and fill the bowl again.

"What?! What happened?" Karen asks.

We have everyone's attention now. "Yeah." Says Claire sitting down on the arm of the couch. "I had been feeling bad for about a week. I was exhausted. I couldn't sleep properly. I had these headaches and I couldn't eat food without it feeling like it was going to come right back up." She takes a cracker and eats it. As if to show them she's okay now. "So after a week of that, I was in the office and I started feeling really dizzy and that made me feel very nauseous. So I grabbed my things and drove home, which now looking back at it, it was very irresponsible."

I nod. "I had come home a little earlier because I had had a meeting, which finished a little earlier than expected. I was sitting right here in the living room, when I hear Claire come in, and at first I didn't noticed, but when she took a few steps closer to me, I saw that she was extremely pale. I stood up and she told me she wasn't feeling very well, actually she didn't even finish that sentence because she passed out in the middle of it."

Everyone gasps. "Oh my God!"

"I don't remember that at all. The only thing I remember is opening the door to the apartment and then waking up on the couch."

"Yeah, she scared the living crap out of me. Thank God I reacted fast enough and caught her before she hit the ground."

Claire looks at me. "My hero."

I wink at her. "So we went to the ER and they hooked Claire to an IV and took some blood. About 40 minutes later or something like that, a doctor comes in and tells us that Claire was very dehydrated and her glucose levels were way down. So they gave her some food to bring those numbers back up and another IV bag and then we came home."

Mum looks confused at us. "They didn't tell you what caused that? I understand the dizziness was from the dehydration and the weakness, a combination of both, but the doctor didn't tell you why you didn't feel like eating or drinking in the first place?"

Claire looks at me and then back at them. "Oh no, she told me." She starts smiling. "I'm pregnant."

Everyone gasps and then they explode.

"I knew it! You lied to my face, Claire!" nonna says with mock anger.

Claire shrugs guiltily. "Sorry, Fran. We had it all planned out. You almost busted us, though!"

"You guys are having a baby?!" Isabella asks.

I walk closer to Claire and take her hand. "Yep."

Isa starts jumping up and down. "I'm going to be an aunt?! This is so cool! Guys, congratulations!" She hugs us and gives us both a kiss on the cheek.

I see mum coming towards us, both of her hands covering her mouth. Dad is besides her, smiling and shaking his head. "You've known for 3 weeks and you tell us now?"

I shrug. "We wanted to tell you in person, nonna."

"Mio Dio. I guess I am a nonna now. Come here." Mum hugs me and dad walks up to Claire and hugs her too.

"You two have a very unique way of doing things, you know? You date for a month, then you decide to move in together. Now you get engaged and get pregnant."

"Tell me about it! That's what I told Owen when the doctor broke the news to us." Claire tells dad.

"I'm never having kids, Karen. Yeah, Karen. If. Do you picture me with a baby? Seriously? What else did you say, Claire? I can't remember?" Karen asks Claire teasingly.

She rolls her eyes. "Shut up."

They laugh and hug. "I'm so happy for you. You are going to be an amazing mother, Claire."

Claire tightens her hug. "Don't tell me things like that, because I'm going to start crying."

Karen pulls back and holds Claire by the shoulders. "It's the truth." Claire sniffs. "So, how far along are you?"

Claire smiles. "10 weeks."

We talked the rest of the afternoon. The happiness around us was almost tangible. During the conversation, nonna asked us if we were going to get married before or after the baby was born. We hadn't even thought about it. We know we want something simple, only our closest friends and family. We tell them we haven't decided yet.

That night, when Claire and I are lying in bed, we decide to get married before the baby is born. If what everyone tells us is true, we will barely have time to breathe once the baby is here. We might as well get married while we have time. Seeing as Claire is almost 3 months pregnant, we figure 3 months is enough time to plan things.

We are getting married in 3 months. Claire is going to be 6 months pregnant by then. And 3 months after that, we're gonna go from a family of 2, to a family of 3.

Wow.

Two weeks pass by, and Claire's 3-month appointment with the doctor arrives. We have a consistent breakfast, get changed and drive to the hospital. Claire and I have been reading a lot, and according to books, there's a chance we might find out what we're having today. A boy or a girl. We try to contain our excitement though. It's still early and Dr Moretuzzo might not be able to tell yet.

But whom are we fooling? We're basically vibrating by the time Claire's name is called.

"I see you've started to show a little bit, Claire." Dr Moretuzzo tells her as she preps the ultrasound machine.

"Yeah. That happened a couple of days ago."

I'll never forget Claire calling me into the walking closet and seeing her standing sideways in front of the mirror with her hands resting on her tiny bump. "I'm showing now."

I walked up to her, knelt and rested my hands on her bump. "This is the most amazing thing." I said.

I will never forget it.

"Well, let's see if we can figure out what you two are having." She turns on the machine and presses the probe against Claire's stomach. I see the weather system again. I wonder when I'll be able to see anything without it having to be pointed out at me.

"Okay, everything looks perfect. Heartbeat's good. The measure- Oh." Dr Moretuzzo says.

I immediately freeze. "What? Is something wrong?"

"What is it?" Claire asks, her voice a little shaky.

Dr Moretuzzo doesn't reply. Instead she moves the probe to the opposite side of Claire's stomach. She presses a button on the machine and the image freezes.

"Do you see this?" She says pointing at the screen.

I shake my head. I still can't see shit!

"It's a head. The baby's head." Claire says. Of course she can see it.

"And what do you think this is?" She says moving her finger a little more to the left.

Claire looks at the screen for a moment, eyes wide. "No." Her eyes widen even more. "No. No, no, no, no."

"What? What is it?!" Claire is clearly seeing something I'm not.

Dr Moretuzzo steps in, pointing at the screen again. "This right here. That's a head." She moves her finger to the left again. "And this right here, that's another head."

My eyes widen. "Our baby has two heads?!"

Claire groans in frustration. "Owen! There are 2 heads, because there are 2 babies! Twins! I'm pregnant with twins! Oh my God! Why do these things keep happening to me?!"

"Twins?" We are having 2 babies? 2? Holy mother of babies!

I don't know why, but I start laughing.

"Are you kidding me?! You think this is funny?!" Claire asks mortified.

I shake my head, but keep laughing. "No, I just – This is so us. Of course this happens to us!"

Claire is looking at me, shaking her head, eyes wide. She rests her head back on the headrest and closes her eyes. "They're both doing okay, right?" Claire asks Dr Moretuzzo.

"Yes. Yes, they are. As healthy as can be. You two still want to know what you're having? Because I have a pretty good view from here." She says smiling at us.

"You still want to know?" I sit down on a stool by Claire's side and hold her hand.

"Yes, I want to know! I don't want any more surprises!"

I look at Dr Moretuzzo. "We want to know."

"Well, the baby at the front… is a girl."

A girl. "We have a daughter." Claire squeezes my hand.

"And the one who was hiding… is a boy."

Claire rolls her eyes. "Of course it's a boy! Just like his father, finding ways to annoy me!"

She starts laughing then. Now she gets what I mean. This kind of thing would only happen to us. And I couldn't be more grateful.

"I want to see you in a month, Claire. You're doing great too. Keep doing whatever it is that you're doing." Dr Moretuzzo tells her. "Congratulations."

As we drive home, I realise something. "We're going to have to move. We don't have space for 2 kids. I mean, not right now, both babies can sleep in the same room, but after, they're going to need their own space."

Claire deflates a little. "I really love our apartment. But I guess you're right. If both babies were girls, or both were boys maybe we could've made them sleep in the same room for a while."

"We don't have to worry about that now. But it's something to have in mind. Once the babies are older and we see they should both have their own space, then we'll start looking."

Claire exhales loudly. "Babies. How did that even happen? Do you have twins in your family?"

I think and shake my head slowly. "I don't think so. None I've heard of at least. I could ask mum and dad. How about you?"

"No. Neither of my parents ever mentioned having twins in the family. This was just a completely random thing, then? You had to go ahead and be an overachiever!"

"Hey, it's not my fault I have fast swimmers." I cackle.

"Ugh! You're so annoying. I swear you're never touching me again."

My eyes widen. "What? Why are you punishing me?! I have no control over my swimmers!"

"Stop saying 'swimmers'. It sounds horrible! And that's what you get for doing this to me. I'm going to have 2 human babies coming out of me! Oh my God, I'm going to get so fat!"

I stop at a red light. "You're not going to get fat. The babies are going to get bigger. Slight difference." I turn down the music. "You know? In my eyes, you're a goddess. You are making not one, but two human beings. That's unbelievable! I can only imagine how you're going to feel when you hit your third trimester, but I'm going to be there. If you want some weird, random thing to eat in the middle of the night; I'll go get it."

The light changes to green and I step off the brake.

"If you want me to massage your feet for 2 hours; I will do that. Whatever you need, I'm going to be right there."

"I know you're going to be there. It's just…" she huffs. "It's a huge surprise. I'm scared, to be honest. Before, I thought I had one tiny human who was 100% dependent of me, and know I have two. I'm scared I'm going to screw up."

I stop the car, cause I feel it's important for her to understand that the babies are healthy and safe because of her. I turn off the ignition and turn fully to her.

"I trust you 150%. I know you and I know you are going to take care of those babies and protect them fiercely. You heard the doctor, you are doing great. I see no reason why you should worry. You, Claire Dearing, are going to be the best mother. I know that. So please, don't stress over this. The only thing you should be worrying about, is getting all the stuff we're going to need to welcome these 2 babies and, actually before you start worrying about that, we should really start thinking about our wedding and how we're going to break the news to everyone."

She smiles at me. "The only reason I'm not a complete mess right now, is because of you. But you're right. If anything is going to screw things up, is me stressing over this. And I actually have some ideas for our wedding. You want to hear them out?"

I smile and nod. "Duh. Shoot." I start the car again and drive home.

Since we're definitely getting married in 3 months, we've decided to have a small engagement party in one month. There, we will deliver the news to everyone. For our actual wedding, Claire had seen in a magazine this place on the countryside of Philly, which is beautiful. It's called Chestnut Hill and it's all green and spectacular. No buildings near by, no cars nothing. Just nature. Since neither of us is religious, we don't see the point of getting married in a church.

We contacted the company that rents these states with the acres of land. And as luck would have it, they only had one available day left before it was all completely booked for the year. We booked it immediately.

We're getting married on April 7th.