Babies

A/N: So sorry for the wait in update! Life has just been a little crazy with the festive period and now back at university. I promise to update whenever I can. Appreciate the love as always! Enjoy.

"Where is April? I brought her some flowers." Nico said, wandering into Punk and AJ's house after letting herself in. In the few weeks they'd been staying at their new home, they'd grown accustomed to everyone walking into the house like it belonged to all of them.

"She's coming down the stairs." Punk said, "She should get down in about twenty minutes." He nodded.

"I heard that!" AJ yelled, halfway down the spiral staircase.

"Oh, mija. I don't like these stairs one bit." Nico said, making her way over to the staircase and watching AJ come down them, "They are no good for your condition."

"I don't have a condition, tia." AJ scoffed.

"You know what I mean." Nico said, "What happens if you fell and Phil is not here? Hmm?" Nico said, reaching her hand out to give AJ some support for the last few stairs.

"I take my time. I won't fall." AJ said, "And lucky for me, Phil has attached himself to my hip."

"He should. You're very big now." Nico said.

"Thanks." AJ nodded, groaning a little as she placed her hands on her large bump, waddling her way to the open plan kitchen where Punk was clearing up from their breakfast.

"Are you still having the contractions?" Nico asked, following behind AJ with caution.

"They're not contractions. They're… fake contractions." AJ said.

A few nights ago, she'd woken up with what she thought was contractions but was told by her doctor that it was Braxton hicks. Essentially, fake contractions. Which meant she was still pregnant and starting to feel completely exhausted, not to mention excruciating pain in her back from carrying around the babies.

"But they can become real." Nico said as AJ sat down at the kitchen table.

"You want some tea?" Punk asked her, caressing the back of her head as he walked by the table.

He felt pretty helpless at this point. He hated seeing how uncomfortable she was becoming. How painful her back was. How little she was sleeping. He wished he could have taken some of the discomfort from her. It felt completely unfair.

"Yes, please." AJ nodded to him.

"Tea?" Punk asked Nico who nodded, sitting down at the table with AJ.

"I brought you some flowers to cheer you up." Nico said.

"I'm not sad." AJ said, "I'm just… sore. And tired." AJ said, "They're beautiful." She smiled, looking at the bouquet of flowers her aunt had brought her.

"Just like you." Nico smiled.

"How is my coffee shop doing? Are the girls ok? Are we busy?" AJ asked.

She'd been away from work at the coffee shop for almost a month now as she got closer to her due date, and it was the strangest feeling not getting up every morning and heading into her coffee shop. She didn't know what to do with herself.

"Everything is fine. Don't worry so much." Nico said, "Shiv is back home this weekend. She's going to do some shifts."

"Yeah, she said on the group chat." AJ nodded.

"Why am I not on the group chat?" Nico scoffed as AJ just smiled, "You trust your boys to run your shop by themselves?" She asked Punk who was making tea and sitting out some cakes for them to have which AJ had baked earlier. Despite being eight months pregnant, she was still baking.

"Yeah. They're good kids. And the shop is two minutes away. If they need me, they know where I am." Punk said.

The closer it got to AJ's due date, and with the ever-growing discomfort his fiancé seemed to be in, he thought it was best to be around for her as much as he could. He trusted Daryl and Finn to keep things afloat at his coffee shop. Daryl was an excellent managerial figure, and Finn worked just as hard behind the scenes in the kitchen. He knew he could count on them.

"How are you going to manage carrying the babies down those stairs?" Nico looked over, still unhappy about the set up.

"Oh, enough about the stairs." AJ huffed unhappily as Punk brought the tea over.

"It's best not to poke her right now." Punk nodded to Nico whilst AJ glared at him.

"I can see that." Nico said.

"How are you liking living at our old apartment?" AJ asked Nico, taking a sip of the herbal tea she'd been drinking since she'd limited her coffee intake.

"It's very good. Everything I need." Nico nodded, "I can come stay here once you've had the babies. To help you. It will be a handful and I want to make sure you're ok."

"Thank you but… we'll be fine." AJ said, "We're hoping they're going to be good sleepers. Apparently, twins are, because they have each other's company, and they still think they're in the womb for the first few days."

"Are you making that up?" Punk wondered, "Manifesting?"

"No. I saw it on a mom blog." AJ shrugged.

"Very scientific." Punk nodded as AJ rolled her eyes at him, "Since Shiv is back this weekend, maybe her and Daryl will finally out themselves." He wondered.

"I doubt it." AJ said, "And you should leave them alone. Stop interfering."

"I'm not interfering. We all know it's happening." Punk shrugged, "We better get an invite to their wedding." He added as AJ just shook her head with a smile.

"Let's focus on our wedding first." AJ suggested.

"That's all you. I don't know anything about that stuff." Punk said, "You do whatever you want."

"I'd like your input on some things." AJ said, "Or am I just supposed to tell you the date for you to show up?"

"Fine by me." Punk shrugged, leaning over and kissing her cheek sweetly as AJ just smiled, jumping back suddenly and placing her hands on her stomach, "What?" Punk said worriedly, "What's wrong?"

"Just… feels weird." AJ admitted.

"Weird like they're kicking or weird like… contractions?" Punk asked her whilst Nico stood up.

"It's not kicking." AJ shook her head, wincing a little at the sharp pain going up her abdomen, "Definitely not kicking."

"Ok… ok." Punk stood up, backing into his chair and stumbling a little.

"Why don't you freak out a little more?" AJ nodded to him sarcastically.

"Have you got everything you need? In the car?" Nico asked.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "Yeah… the bag is there, the carriers." Punk nodded to himself whilst AJ stood up, leaning her hands on the table to do so.

"This might be it, mija." Nico smiled excitedly, holding AJ's arm and guiding her to the front door of the house.

"Those little rascals didn't even let me eat the cake I baked." AJ shook her head unhappily.

"I will let the girls at the shop know." Nico said.

"It might be nothing." AJ shook her head, moaning in pain as she stopped by the car, placing her hand on the window to steady herself.

"I don't think it's nothing." Nico said, "Phil!" She yelled.

"I'm coming." Punk nodded, locking the door and heading over to AJ.

"You ok?" He asked, placing his hand at the bottom of her back.

"Oh, never better." AJ nodded with a shaky voice, "I think they're actually coming." She turned to him with fear as Punk nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat before helping her into the car.

"You sure about this?" Punk asked, holding a cup of ice chips whilst sitting by the bed AJ was lying on in the hospital room, gowned up and in active labour.

"Doctors know best, right?" AJ said tiredly, "I kinda figured I'd have a C-section. It's common with twins. And baby girl's head isn't facing the right way so…"

"Trust it be the girl to mess things up." Punk scoffed.

"Watch it." AJ warned with a smile.

"I'm just saying. She's already giving us trouble." Punk said as AJ smiled, rolling her back on the pillow and sighing, "You ok?" He asked.

"I'm scared." AJ admitted as Punk nodded, "I don't… I don't like the idea of them cutting me open and me being awake. I know I won't feel it but… I'll know it's happening. Somehow that seems scarier than pushing them out." She said.

"I'll be right there with you the whole time." He said, sitting the ice chips on the table and taking her hand, "All you gotta do is keep your eyes on me. It'll be over quick. You heard the doctor. Sometimes they can do it in three seconds."

"That doesn't make me feel better." AJ scoffed.

"Everything will be fine." He nodded, "I promise."

"I can't believe it's actually happening." She admitted, "I won't know what to do with myself without this big belly. I'm not saying I'll miss it but… it's going to be so weird seeing them and not having them in here anymore." She admitted, placing her hand on stomach.

"You've made a good home for them." Punk smiled, placing his hand on her large bump, taking it in for perhaps the last time.

"Yeah, with all my cakes and pastries. They're gonna come out addicted to sugar." She said.

"Just like their mom." Punk smiled.

"Has my aunt told the girls I'm in labour?" AJ asked, shifting around a little with discomfort.

"Yeah, she called them. All I could hear was cat like screaming." He nodded as AJ smiled, "I dropped Daryl a text, too. He sent me a thumbs up like he's an eighty-year-old man."

"That's your favourite emoji." AJ scoffed, "He's learned that from you."

"Maybe." Punk admitted, "These kids are gonna be lucky. Having all these people around them who love them. I sure as hell didn't have that. I know you didn't. How lucky that they've already got people fighting over who gets to babysit them first." He said as AJ smiled.

"We're not… we're not letting Daryl or Finn babysit them on their own, right?" AJ wondered with concern.

"You doubt their capabilities?" He scoffed.

"No but they're… they're kids." AJ said, "Maybe if Shiv is with them." She negotiated as Punk nodded.

"Deal." He said, "I could say the same thing to you about Becca."

"Becca can be responsible when she needs to be. Patrick has really tamed her." She said.

"Really?" Punk scoffed, "I don't think so." He shook his head, watching AJ as she sat up, wincing in pain again like she had been for the past three hours of contractions, "I got you." He stood up, squeezing her hand as she closed her eyes tightly and took quick breaths.

"Motherfucker." AJ cursed, clenching her teeth and crushing Punk's hand in hers.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Daryl smiled with surprise, watching Shiv walk into the coffee shop which he was proudly running on behalf of Punk.

"I finished class early and took the bus." Shiv smiled.

"I was going to pick you up." Daryl said, "Don't you have lots of bags?"

"Which I can carry." Shiv said, "Riding the bus was a little horrifying, though. There was a man in front of me eating mashed potatoes on a sandwich. And a lady across from me had her hat completely over her face." She said, "It was definitely an experience." She said.

"Sounds it." Daryl chuckled, "But I'm glad you're here." He smiled sweetly, looking across at her as she smiled back.

He'd only seen her a few nights ago, but something had changed between them. It wasn't like how it was when they first started hooking up. There was more urgency to want to spend every second of the day with one another. The thrill of late-night meetings at her college was exciting. It really felt like they were the only people in the whole world when they were together.

"I'm glad I'm here too." Shiv grinned, "I should head over to the Brewberry, though. They'll stone me if they find out I came here first." She said.

"Oh, they'll just tease you. Like they tease me every single day." Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Still?" Shiv chuckled, "Maybe we should just start making out really aggressively in front of them. Shut them right up."

"What is making out aggressively?" He asked her, "I might need some practice first."

"Idiot." She scoffed as he just winked at her.

"Oh, hey Shiv." Finn came in from the back of the shop with fresh pastries.

"Hey Finn." Shiv smiled, "Gosh, they smell amazing."

"He's like the little rat chef from that movie." Daryl patted Finn on the back whilst Finn rolled his eyes and slid the pastries onto the counter.

"Ratatouille?" Finn asked.

"The rat isn't called Ratatouille." Shiv said with frustration, "The rat is called Remy. The dish he makes is Ratatouille." She explained to them as they stared at her with concern, "What? It's a good movie." She shrugged.

"Ok." Finn said with an awkward laugh.

"I wouldn't even bother going to the Brewberry, to be honest." Daryl told Shiv.

"Why?" Shiv asked with confusion.

"They'll probably close early. We will too, depending on how quick the babies come." Daryl said, checking his phone to see if Punk had sent any more updates.

"Wait, what?!" Shiv said loudly, "AJ is having the babies?" She questioned.

"Yeah, she went into labour this morning." Daryl said.

"Those bitches never told me. I mean… what's the point in us having a group chat? This is pretty group chat worthy." Shiv shook her head.

"They're probably too busy freaking out. And AJ is too busy to text or call, I suppose." Daryl said.

"Oh, that's so exciting, though." Shiv smiled happily, "I can't wait to meet them."

"Baby girl is out first." The surgeon announced, holding the screaming baby girl above the sheet partition for AJ and Punk to see.

"Hey, look at her." Punk smiled with awe and joy, keeping a hold of AJ's hand as he sat behind her head whilst her C-section was going on, providing reassuring words and the odd joke here and there.

The truth was, he was just as terrified as she was, but he couldn't show it. He knew he needed to be her rock right now. After hours of her in pain and discomfort, it was the least he could do.

"Oh my God." AJ smiled, tears immediately welling in her eyes as she looked on at the baby girl who was screaming and crying the way a perfect newborn should. It was the most joyous sight and sound, and completely unbelievable that that was one of the little cherubs she now got to call her child.

"Ok, let's get baby boy." The doctor said, passing the baby girl to a nurse so she could get cleaned up and weighed.

"You're doing so good, baby." Punk leaned down, kissing AJ's head as she cupped his cheek from behind, squeezing his hand and nodding to herself. She felt a little shaky and light-headed from the drugs she'd been given, not to mention the adrenaline of having the babies was starting to overwhelm her. It was a lot.

"And here's baby boy." The surgeon announced a few seconds later, holding up the baby boy for AJ and Punk to see.

"There he is." AJ smiled happily as Punk watched in awe at the baby boy's whaling.

"Good lungs on both of them." The surgeon smiled behind her mask, "Good job, April. We're going to get you stitched back up now, ok?"

"Ok." AJ nodded.

"Say hello to your perfect babies." Two nurses walked over to the top of the bed with the twins, passing the baby girl to Punk whilst helping AJ hold the baby boy against her chest.

"Hi, babies." AJ said with a shaky voice, completely overwhelmed as she stared between her son and daughter.

"They're perfect." Punk smiled, feeling a tear roll down his cheek as he gazed down at the little bundles of perfection. He wasn't sure there'd be any other moment in his life compared to this. He'd never thought much about having kids or becoming a father until he'd met AJ. Now he was so grateful to experience such a thing.

"Hi, Thomas." AJ smiled, stroking the baby boy's little ear, "They've got so much hair." She chuckled as Punk smiled.

"Fuzzy little things." Punk nodded as AJ smiled, "Hi, Rudy." Punk smiled, looking down at his daughter, lowering his arms so AJ could see both the twins, watching tears run down her cheeks as she finally got to see the little beans she'd carried around for eight months.