The birth has arrived!

The nights seemed the longest just waiting for the due date to get closer. Brooklyn was stuck in bed until it was time for the surgery to get the babies out of him.

Fox still tried to help with Lamaze breathing, and she brought Alex in to see Brooklyn too. There wasn't much that he could do to play with the little boy right now. But Brook tried to put on his happiest face for the kid. Alex had grown fond of him over the pregnancy.

"When you have babies?" Alex asked curiously. His talking was really good for a three-year-old.

"It's still going to be a while yet, Alex. But they'll be here soon." Brook replied.

"Play with me?"

"I wish I could, but I can't. I'm bound to the bed, little guy." Brook smiled at him. "Just till the babies come."

"Where's Uncle Lex?"

"He's out on patrol right now I imagine if not in his special lab making something." Brook replied.

"Well, Brooklyn, I think I've done all I can with you for Lamaze. Just remember these exercises and it should help ease your breathing more when they kick into your lungs or elsewhere." Fox declared.

"Thank you for helping me out the best you could. Yeah, I needed these exercises. They do help me." Brook replied to her.

"Good. I'll be around but still wish you good luck when it is time for your twins to be born." Fox said.

"Thanks."

"Well, Alex, it's time for your magic lesson with Uncle Puck." Fox stated to her son as she carried him out of the room.

"Yay! Magic lesson!" Alex cheered on the way out.

"At least I'll be glad my kids aren't magical beings." Brook admitted. "Magic is overrated."

….

Goliath was starting to assign shorter patrols for the other clan members while Brooklyn was still pregnant. He just had concerns with leaving his Second alone for too long. If something went wrong, then he would need them there to get him to the infirmary.

Dr. Sato had taken a few weeks leave off work as a vacation to be on standby for when it was time for Brooklyn to have his babies. He knew the red gargoyle was more than ready for the twins to be born but they weren't ready yet.

One night, Brooklyn was so bored and restless being in bed he couldn't take it anymore! He got off his bed slowly. Holding his back and wincing from the pressure of the twins in his stomach, he snuck out and down to the paradise part of the castle. He hadn't done the advisement of swimming all during the pregnancy, but he wanted to do it now. He wanted the pressure off his middle.

Brooklyn took his loincloth off, and he waded into the water. It was cold at first, making him shiver a little bit, but he got warmed up. His hair touched the water and it spread out behind him. But he also noticed immediately how the water was taking the pressure off his feet and back.

He began to swim around in the water just to have some fun moving about again. It might have been more fun if his brothers or clan was there to enjoy it too, but they were busy.

Formula was now bought and ready to go for when the babies arrived and needing their first feeding. Some colostrum was also there. They would be fed from bottles. Brooklyn had no intention of breastfeeding. That was what females did in his opinion. But the ingredients from Japan would also be used to mix them together.

Brooklyn swam for a while until he felt he was getting tired. He yawned. He had placed his loincloth close to the water entrance so he could get it as he climbed out. It was otherwise impossible for him to pick it up by himself otherwise.

He got out of the water going up the steps. He picked up the loincloth too. His tail grasped onto the railing to balance himself as he got his loincloth on his lower waist again. The belt had to be fastened beneath the baby bump. The swimming had been good for Brook. Now it was time to head back to his room.

When he arrived back up in the castle area, there was a scurrying about, and the clan was desperately searching for him.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Brooklyn, where were you?!" Angela scolded him. Then she noticed his wet hair.

"I was swimming down in the paradise area. Fox said I could use it." Brook replied to her.

"Brooklyn, at this far along, you shouldn't be out of bed." Lex argued.

"Well, I'm sorry I worried you, but I was bored senseless in bed!" Brooklyn snapped. "I was hurting and had to relieve that pain! The swimming helped me. Now if you'll let me through, I'm going back to bed." He pushed his way through them angrily.

"Brooklyn, you could have put the twins in danger by being out of bed for how long you were out of bed." Broadway proclaimed.

The red one turned back. "They're fine, you guys. I was careful in how I moved. I was never in a fight or anything." Brooklyn declared.

Then Goliath and Hudson came onto the scene with Bronx. "What's going on here?" Goliath asked in concern.

"Brooklyn was down swimming when he can't be out of bed." Lex stated.

"Is that true, lad?" Hudson asked. Then he saw the red male's wet white hair.

"Yes, it is, but I was so bored and restless, Goliath. I had to do something, or I was going to go nuts!" Brook explained. "I was careful and didn't make sudden moves. I would tear my back out of place if I did, being this heavy. I'm trying to get back to my room."

"Alright, but don't let this happen again, Brooklyn. You are under doctor's orders to stay in bed, save for walking in your room and standing at sunrise." Goliath ordered.

"Agreed." Brooklyn sighed reluctantly and continued on the way to his room. But on the way, there was a pressure building in his right side. He wasn't too far from his room when he suddenly let out a painful scream and tripped.

The clan heard him, and all came running. Brooklyn was found on his hands and knees. He had prevented himself from landing on his stomach, but he was panting hard.

"Brooklyn, what's wrong?" Angela exclaimed.

"Tripped. Oh, something inside me… hurts!" Brook rasped out. One hand held his belly.

"This is why you shouldn't be out of bed, lad. Let's get you up." Hudson advised and Goliath and him pulled the pregnant male to his feet.

Brook cried out again as he felt the pain inside him feel like it was even more painful. He wanted to go down again. "No, Brooklyn, you need to keep walking. It should help." Hudson said.

They helped the red male to slowly walk back to the bedroom. They helped him get into his bed. It hurt to move. Brook winced as he felt the incredible pain in his side. He had to lay on his left side.

"Maybe… call… Sato…" Brooklyn gasped, holding his sore stomach.

"It might be a good idea since he's in pain." Lex declared.

"Yes, it sounds like a good idea." Goliath agreed.

Lex ran off to go get on the phone to alert the doctor. Sato said he would be right there soon.

Brooklyn was using the Lamaze breathing to try to stay calm, but the pain was worsening. He didn't think he would go into labor. At least hoping it wasn't the case.

Sato soon arrived and he examined Brooklyn first by feeling where the pain was. Brook cried out in pain when Sato felt the area, even gently.

"Goliath, can you carry him to the infirmary? I feel there's something going on and I won't know until I do an ultrasound on him." Sato directed.

"Of course." Goliath replied and he had to move his Second out of his bed. Brooklyn cried out in pain again. Something was seriously wrong. He carried him bridal style to the medical ward.

The Xanatos' were notified of something going on too.

Goliath laid Brooklyn gently on the exam bed. Sato them prepped him for an ultrasound. The clan were all worried. They hoped he was okay along with the twins.

It hurt Brooklyn to lay on his back, so he had to move onto his left side. Sato carried on from there. He still hurt but not as bad.

Sato looked carefully. He was looking at the one baby on the right side and it still looked fine inside its sac, but there was something else wrong; there was a hole in what Sato could make out as the artificial womb. This was bad.

"Bad news. The artificial womb has ruptured. We are going to have to operate and get the twins out now, Brooklyn." Sato said in a really concerned tone of voice.

"Is the baby alright?" Brook asked sadly.

"It seems that way so far, but we can't take any more chances. They have to be born now." Sato declared.

Brooklyn had no idea this would happen. "Alright. Do what you have to do." He said. He was nervous and he might face a lecture later.

"See, Brooklyn. You were told to stay in bed." Broadway scolded his brother.

"Lecture me later. Ngh! Ow!" Brooklyn winced. He felt the baby kick him.

David and Owen appeared on the scene and were ready to help with the birth. Lex would be allowed to stay with Brooklyn. Sato wanted him awake through the surgery. He didn't want the babies to be sedated through such a procedure.

An epidural was prepared and a muscle relaxer. Brooklyn was hesitant about the needle, but he let Sato give the needle in the spine to numb his middle and legs. Soon, Brooklyn couldn't feel his lower body and he couldn't feel the pain anymore. He was laid on his back. The clan was shooed out all but Lex. He was to keep his brother calm.

Elisa was called and she hurried to the delivery. She wasn't going to miss it.

Brooklyn was at his 36th week so it was okay for the twins to be born now. With the rupture of the womb inside him, the twins had to be born now. His belly was sterilized for the surgery before it began.

Brooklyn was nervous that something could be wrong since the womb was ruptured. It had thinned as the babies had been outgrowing it. But then, maybe swimming had done him a favor; to help get the twins out of his body sooner.

The clan was worried outside of the surgical room. Elisa soon arrived in the anticipation. "How is he?" she asked. She was trying to stay calm but was worried.

"He was in pain prior to the exam and the doctor found the womb ruptured." Goliath replied.

"That's bad." Elisa said.

"He had gone swimming prior to it and maybe he injured himself too." Angela explained.

"It's possible. He shouldn't have been doing that on doctor's orders." Elisa stated.

"But he did it because he was restless and bored." Broadway said.

"It's still no excuse. We'll talk to him after he's out of surgery." Elisa proclaimed.

…

In surgery, the belly was opened up and all the humans had on surgical garb. Lex had some on too for caution. Brooklyn couldn't feel anything.

"Just stay calm and think about the twins, how far you've come with them." Lex said encouragingly.

"Thanks." Brook looked up at his brother.

Shortly after that, there was a cry heard. "Look over here, Brooklyn." David said with a smile.

Brooklyn and Lex looked over. There was a pale red baby boy in the man's hands. He had Brooklyn's looks for sure. He was not happy being out in the cold air. Brook had a look of absolute love on his face at seeing his firstborn.

"That's your son, Brooklyn." David said joyfully.

"Kenji." Brooklyn smiled. "My son."

"You named him Kenji?" Lex asked in surprise.

"Yes."

David took Kenji away to get him cleaned up. Owen then moved in to help with the second delivery. Sato pulled the second one out shortly after. There was another cry in the room. Brooklyn looked again.

"This is your daughter." Sato grinned.

"Sienna." Brooklyn said happily in tears.

"Those sound like pretty names for the both of them." Sato stated. Then it was up to Owen to take her and clean her up while Sato finished attending to Brooklyn.

Sienna was a brighter red than her brother but had the same beak, horns, and wing type.

Brooklyn was more than ready to hold his twins. He had waited so long to meet them. And to think that swimming or something had ruptured the womb they had been growing in. Or the baby had on the right side.

"What was going on, Doc?" Brooklyn asked. "Why was it hurting me? Was I in labor?"

"No. The baby boy had ruptured the wall of the womb and he had kicked into your side. It was an emergency to get them out right away. His sac was ready to break open too. It wasn't yet open, but it was close. And that vein that can't be laid on was also being pressed on why it hurt you. You'll be okay now." Sato explained.

There was a huge relief on Brooklyn's shoulders now. His stomach was no longer holding the babies and it had gone down after the surgery, but it would still hold a bump for a while. Dr. Sato also proceeded to remove the hormone implant in Brooklyn's left arm now that he didn't need it anymore.

When he had been moved into a recovery room, the twins were brought in for him to hold and bond with him. Shortly after that, Lex went out and told the clan the good news. They were excited and anxious to meet their two new clan members.

David and Owen were glad to have helped. They went on with their business after but were also happy for the new father. They walked on by as the clan and Elisa filed back to the room to meet the new babies and see how Brooklyn was doing.

Brooklyn couldn't get over how small his babies were. They were smaller than average gargoyle hatchlings. These two hadn't been hatched so they technically weren't hatchlings. But they would still be called that by their kind. Live birth was unheard of among their kind. They were always born from eggs, aside from how the clones were created too. The clones had just been aged rapidly. These two were officially babies.

The door opened up. "Feel up for some visitors?" Elisa asked.

Brook looked over. "Sure."

The clan came in. Angela and the two brothers immediately said, "Awwww!"

"Everyone, meet Kenji and Sienna." Brooklyn grinned proudly, announcing their names.

"Those are wonderful names, lad." Hudson smiled. "It's been so long since we had such young ones in the clan. They will be wonderful additions."

"I can't believe I'm a father already." Brooklyn declared. "I thought they were never going to get here. Those were the longest months of my life, and the scariest whenever someone kept on wanting to harm me for them."

"It would have been easy for them to be seen as experiments by power hungry scientists." Lex proclaimed. "And because they're part human."

"I won't let anyone get their hands on them. They'll have to deal with me first." Brooklyn growled.

"We will all protect your young, Brooklyn. That I can promise you." Goliath decreed.

"It hurt so long ago that you were all thinking about me getting an abortion though. You see now that they're perfect." Brooklyn declared.

"Yes, and we are truly sorry for that, but we were concerned something bad would happen. And there were quite a few incidents that did happen while you carried them, Brooklyn. That's why we were so concerned." Goliath explained. "And something like what happened tonight that caused something to rupture inside of you. Your body was never meant to carry children."

"I know that, but I wouldn't give up on my children either way." Brooklyn declared. "And I didn't."

"You stood up for loving them that much when you ran away to protect them." Angela stated.

"You are definitely to be commended on your proud path to fatherhood, after all that you went through to have them this night." Elisa smiled at him, touching Sienna's face. "They are both beautiful."

"Thanks."

The twins had been born on October 13, 1998.

"Can we hold them?" Angela asked.

"I really want to spend time bonding with them tonight." Brook replied. "Tomorrow."

"Alright. We respect your wishes." Goliath said.

"It's vital that he spend some time bonding with them. There will be plenty of time for you all to hold them later." Elisa declared. "We should leave them be. We'll be here if you need anything."

"Thank you." Brooklyn replied and the others were herded out of the room. It left the red male to hold and kiss his babies. He didn't want to let go of them.

But when it came close to sunrise, Sato came in and he advised putting the babies into their bassinets. Kenji and Sienna were happy being in their father's arms. They started getting fussy when the doc took them out of his arms.

"It's okay, kids. I'm right here close to you." Brooklyn talked softly to them. They calmed down at the sound of his voice. That pleased him to know that they seemed to know his voice already.

Sato watched as the sun came up and Brooklyn turned to stone. He was curious if the babies would too if they were part human. But from the gargoyle side, Kenji and Sienna turned to stone as well. Of course, they would since they had had to since the time of their conception. They would have died inside Brooklyn if they hadn't.

Sienna and Kenji were fascinating young gargoyles for sure. It was almost impossible to see the human side of them at all. They had mostly Brooklyn's looks. Though some skin coloring on Kenji with the paleness of his red skin told it different. Sienna had her father's full on body color.

There was hair on their heads too. It was thinner than an average hatchling's, but there were beginnings of hair forming. Kenji had brown hair while Sienna had red hair. They both must have gotten their hair colors from their anonymous mothers, unless Brooklyn had other hair colors in his family bloodlines somewhere.

It had been hard to see their eye colors since they had mostly kept their eyes closed. Also, on their hands and feet, Sienna had four fingers of a gargoyle while Kenji had five fingers. But Kenji had three toes and Sienna had four toes. They both still had the ankle claw though. There had just been a lot of mixed-up DNA with the both of them being part human.

But they both also had tails and wings. The wings were their father's type, a Pteranodon type. Their beaks on the other hand were a little different. Kenji's beak looked more like Brooklyn's. Sienna's beak was a little bit smaller than her brother's, pointier and narrower.

Kenji was definitely the bigger baby, having ruptured the womb all on his own, and his amniotic sac had been close to rupture too if the doc hadn't interfered. But Brooklyn had known something was wrong when he had been in pain from it. Chances were he had felt more pressure on that vein in the right side that made it impossible to lay on the right side at all. Now he would be able to lay on his right side again.

The blankets for the babies that they laid in were each blue and pink for boys and girls. Sato took the blankets off to just look at the babies' bodies out of scientific curiosity. They were definitely something different and new to the world. Gargoyle human crossbreeds. There had to be a made-up word for that, or one to be invented. Garmans? Hugoyles? Those were the best made up words Sato could think of.

Shortly after sunrise, Elisa also came back into the room to see the babies too. She wanted to see the little angels. But she would be happier to hold them while they were awake.

"Sure are something, aren't they, Detective?" Sato declared.

"Yes, they are. I know I'm sorry for thinking of Brooklyn needing an abortion so long ago. Despite how they were conceived, he loved them that much from when he learned of them." Elisa explained. "Brooklyn said he would never run away again after his first time, but he did when he was protecting his babies."

"You had every right to think that him carrying babies was wrong because his body wasn't made for it, but he wanted to have them either way. He made his wish very strongly to me too." Sato said.

"Well, now that they're born, they won't cause anymore discomfort to Brooklyn, and he can start the recovery process and start going out with the clan again on patrols when he's ready." Elisa stated.

"His belly might be healed tonight, but he's far from ready for patrols yet. He needs a little extra time for further bonding and training his body to get back to its normal state again." Sato recommended.

"Yeah. We'll make sure he gets the rest he needs and recovery." Elisa agreed. She still wanted to hold them both while in the flesh so much. For now, it was best to go home and get her own rest for the day while the gargoyles slept. Sato also left for the day but would return that night to examine Brooklyn and the twins again.

After they were gone, even David, Owen, and Fox came into the room to see the new additions. They were curious to see what human gargoyle crosses looked like. To them, it turned out that they were smaller than a human baby was, but it was due to the fact that Brooklyn had had limited room in his stomach to house the twins for much longer even if the bigger baby hadn't ruptured the artificial womb.

"It looks like Brooklyn did a fine job of carrying his twins all these months." Fox proclaimed, smiling. They did look a little cute.

"Even though he wasn't meant to carry them, but he managed to." Owen added on.

"Yep. Life is going to get a lot more interesting with these two around now." David declared. "I'm sure Alex will want to know that they're here now. He was looking forward to meeting them."

"He can meet them tonight when they wake up." Fox stated.

David happily went to his son's room after he had been woken up for the day to start for his breakfast first. "Guess what, Alex?" He said.

"What Dad-dy." Alex answered. His talking was still getting better.

"Your Uncle Brooklyn's babies arrived last night. I know you are excited to meet them." David announced to his son proudly.

"Yay! Want to see!" Alex got excited. He started trying to make his way to the door.

"Hold on there, young man. You can't meet the babies until later tonight when the gargoyles wake up. The babies are asleep right now." David grabbed up his son, laughing.

"Aww! Dad-dy." Alex complained. He wanted to meet the new little ones now.

"They aren't much to look at right now. Wait until they're awake first." David said. Alex still wanted to, but David wouldn't let him just yet. "Time for breakfast right now."

Then they went to the kitchen area to join Fox for breakfast. Owen had their food made. Alex quickly forgot about the babies when he started eating, for the time being.