Chapter 32

Unlike the first time, when Marlize was alone and finding out about her pregnancy with the twins, she wasn't this time around. The five pregnancy test sticks were lying on the bathroom counter while she stood there, rinsing her mouth out after vomiting up her lunch. It started a little over a month after they returned from their amazing honeymoon. Linda and Vince weren't at all surprised when she put her resignation into the company, knowing she wanted to stay home with the children and Marlize immediately enrolled them into public school. The kids were excited and ecstatic to be able to attend regular school again and Aven made it clear he would be joining the basketball team as soon as registration opened. Maren wanted to go into dancing and both Mark and Marlize were completely fine with it.

As long as their children were happy, that was all that mattered. It was now two weeks before Christmas and the house was decorated beautifully for the holiday season, having two huge Christmas trees up and Marlize had done it all, with the help of the twins. Mark was constantly on the road, so he only got a few days home every week to spend with them, unless he had to go overseas for tours and whatnot. It was never lonely, though, and he called Marlize every day and night to check in, making sure everything was fine. Tonight, Mark was coming home and she decided to put the pregnancy sticks in a bouquet of sorts to hand him once they were in bed together that night.

They were about to expand their loving family.

Mark spent his evening catching up on everything he had missed. Granted, he spoke to them every night, but it wasn't the same as hearing the stories directly from the sources. He had missed seeing the twins' animated faces, especially when they each wildly gestured as they told their Daddy about everything that had happened while he was away. It was bittersweet because he loved his job, but he also liked coming home week after week, aware they had built up stuff to tell him, again, this time in person. By the time they finally fell asleep, he had lost track of the time and his wife had disappeared, after giving the twins their nightly kisses. That had been long before he had tucked them in.

Yawning, he made his way to their bedroom, fully expecting to be properly woken up. He halted when he seen her and her beautiful smiling face, making him cock a brow. "What's that you got there, darlin'?" She was holding something and her smile broadened. Mark almost felt nervous, peeling his shirt off over his head, muscles rippling with each movement.

"Ohhh, just a little early Christmas present for you." Marlize had placed gift wrap around them to make it look like an actual bouquet, grinning from ear to ear at the skeptical expression on his face. "Oh, come on, Mark, when have I ever given you something you didn't enjoy?" He snorted at that and she extended the gift to him, waiting for him to look inside to see what it was all about.

Or at least unwrap it since there was a lot of gift wrapping. Finally, Mark had pulled out the five pregnancy test sticks that were glued to branches she'd found outside, thanks to Maren's help. It was a miracle the twins hadn't blabbed the secret to Daddy, but leave it to her kids to surprise her once again with keeping their mouths shut.

Marlize watched the realization slowly dawn on Mark's face, not sure if he was happy or not about the news, probably more in shock than anything. "I am six weeks along and I heard the heartbeat today while the kids were in school." Christmas break was next week and her OBGYN appointment had been earlier that morning in the city. "I know it's really fast and we haven't been married that long, but…" Her hand landed on her hardened stomach, tears welling in her eyes. Please be happy about this, Mark. This could be our second chance to do things right with this baby.

Shit, she was already crying…well, almost crying. Mark legitimately had no idea what to do, wondering why she would go hear the heartbeat without him if she suspected she was pregnant. Obviously, she had suspected it since she had pissed on five sticks and then given him her…peed on tests.

Mark set them aside, trying not to wipe his hands off on his jeans. "You already heard the heartbeat." He echoed, unsure if she had gone and had a confirmation appointment or something.

Mark had missed out on all that the first time around. It seemed like he was already missing out this time around and he ran both hands through his hair, trying to wrap his head around the fact that she was already pregnant. They hadn't even been together, married, that long.

He began smiling and shook his head, hands dropping to his sides. "Darlin', I know we talked about it on our honeymoon. I just didn't think it'd happen so fast." That would teach him, now wouldn't it? He walked over to kiss away her tears. "Don't cry, Marlize." At least it wasn't twins, right?

"I'm sorry! I should've waited for you and I honestly was just going to confirm it, but then they said I needed to do an ultrasound and…before I knew what was happening, I…was hearing the heartbeat." So far, it was just one, but that had happened with Aven and Maren, so Marlize was not ruling anything out yet. It wasn't until she went for her second ultrasound, in her second trimester, that they discovered the irregular heartbeat and found out that she was having twins. I fucked up again! I should've waited for him, but I had no idea when he'd be home! His damn schedule is constantly changing and I wanted to make sure I was pregnant before telling him! Marlize didn't want him missing out on anything with this pregnancy, sniffling while burying her face in his warm chest, happy that he was home. "Are you happy about this, Mark?" He nodded, passionately kissing her to let her know with actions that he was and she started to kiss him back, but morning sickness struck. Bolting away from him to the bathroom, he heard retching sounds moments later that told him she was vomiting again.

They would find out sure enough, at her second ultrasound, which Mark was there for, that she was indeed carrying twins again.

It was also at that appointment that Mark scheduled himself to get a vasectomy because while Marlize said she was all right with as many children as it took to make a basketball team, he was not. Not really. Two sets of twins? One of them had some seriously messed-up genes and he knew it wasn't on his side; he was pretty sure there were no twins. He wasn't a twin, that was for damn sure.

Also, Marlize was doing a lot of this solo and that wasn't fair, nor was it fair to expect her to put all that wear and tear on her body when he was gone about 70% of the time. Mark made the appointment on the side, figuring they'd talk about it at another time…when they weren't both flabbergasted by the twins news. He just stared down at the ultrasound pictures the technician had given them while Marlize shimmied back into her clothes, eyeballing the circled spots they had done, which was helpful.

"The actual fuck…"

"I probably should've mentioned that there are twins on my side of the family." That made his head snap up and she shrugged while finishing getting dressed, looking at her own pictures with pure adoration in her eyes. "My Aunt Linda's sister was a twin. And I believe a cousin on her side is also a twin. I can't really remember, but I do know we have strong twin genes in our family."

Honestly, they were still getting to know each other and were only five, almost six, months into their marriage. Mark had married a woman he barely knew anything about, all because he wanted to make sure she didn't run away from him with his children she had kept from him for six years. Of course, he didn't throw that in her face anymore, but Marlize was always awaiting the day it happened.

"We'll have to rearrange some things at home and start buying for them." They also found out at this appointment that they were having one boy and one girl for the genders, just like Aven and Maren. "Gotta start coming up with names too…"

"No, you fuckin' stop right there!"

This was going a bit too fast. They had LITERALLY just found out about the twins; they weren't even out of the doctor's room and she was already talking about names. Mark had NO idea how her first pregnancy had gone since he hadn't been there for it, thanks to so many issues, but he was here now and his head was SPINNING.

"Stop." Mark even did the time-out gesture, needing her to take a breather. "That was information I needed when I brought up birth control on our honeymoon." He very explicitly remembered that conversation, at the time, when she had said another life, he had been thinking SINGLE because twins weren't really all that common, right? Not TWO sets of them. "We don't have to do ANYTHING yet besides breathe." Mostly himself, because TWINS? AGAIN? He sank down in the chair she had previously occupied, more than determined to get his boys clipped now. WHY hadn't she mentioned that twins were a serious thing in her family until now? "Darlin'…I know you said a basketball team, but I didn't think you'd need to pop them out two at a time."

Marlize couldn't help laughing softly at him, not minding a bit that they were having a second set of twins again. "Mark, you should've known this was a possibility, especially since my first pregnancy was twins. It's more common than you think and you're right, I should've told you. It honestly didn't cross my mind because I really didn't think this was going to happen so soon."

He really wasn't happy about this and she had no idea he was planning on getting a vasectomy behind her back. There would be no talking about it, Mark planned on doing it without discussing it with her because he refused to get her knocked up with a third set of twins. Four kids was more than enough for him and the fact that she'd be home by herself with four kids, even though Aven and Maren could mostly fend for themselves, was still overwhelming. Hopefully, the twins could help their mother out with the newborns and Mark groaned, knowing that wasn't fair to them at all.

"We'll figure it all out, handsome. I promise, you'll see."

"Why can't you see that your body is starting to break down, Mark? I get that you love what you do for a living, but there's more to life than wrestling! There's US!" Marlize shouted, not believing how selfish he was being and frowned at the dark look he shot her, making her eyes immediately lower to the bed.

It was the year 2012.

Mason and Davan were three, going on four, in May since she'd had them in May of 2008, at seven months prematurely, which was common for twins, and it was currently the beginning of March. WrestleMania season was upon them and Mark had been training like a madman for his match against Triple H. They were going balls to the wall with this match, which would include a lot of chair shots and intense physicality.

He was in the middle of a four-year story that was being written and told on television and it was currently the best work Mark had ever done in his career. This would be the culmination of that four-year story, it would come to an end in an End of an Era, Hell In A Cell match. Marlize didn't care about his career, honestly, she was more concerned about his health because Mark was deteriorating and he wouldn't admit it to himself. Not to mention, he planned on CUTTING his beautiful hair off in video montages to set up WrestleMania with Triple H!

All Marlize and Mark did was fight whenever he was home from the road these days. Their nanny, Shelly, was currently downstairs with the children while Mom and Dad were 'talking' in their bedroom, or rather yelling at each other for the umpteenth time. Ever since the twins were born, the sex had dwindled drastically between Mark and Marlize, to the point where they no longer did it or had any desire for it.

Marlize didn't think Mark desired her anymore and he didn't show any kind of interest whatsoever due to how much pain he was constantly in. Surgeries had taken place during the past year to repair some injuries and that was why he'd been home the entire year with the family. Instead of reconnecting and bonding, strengthening their marriage, Mark had simply paid attention to his children and ignored her, only talking to Marlize when he needed to.

Also, he STILL had not told her he loved her – not one single time.

"Why can't you see that I'm just trying to look out for you? I just wish you would THINK about the possibility of retiring after this match! You'll be 20-0 at WrestleMania and you've already done everything you can do in the business! We need you here and this past year has shown me that! Why can't you just put us first for ONCE and think about your family?!" They were also no longer living in Dallas; they were in Orlando, living on the ocean, just the way Marlize wanted. "I don't want to see my husband in a goddamn wheelchair, Mark!"

Mark gnashed his teeth, wondering if she was serious. This storyline had been building over FOUR years, FOUR years of his life, and she wanted him to just walk away from all that buildup, all that hard work. There was NO explaining it to her either because Marlize wouldn't get it. If one didn't have wrestling in their blood, as an actual performer, they'd never understand just how it got under one's skin, crept into their life, defined every waking moment…maybe that was what separated the greats from those who would burn out almost as quickly as they had skyrocketed. A footnote in wrestling immortality.

"You think I don't think about you? LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE!" Mark didn't mean to bellow, but it had come out that way in his rage.

He had come home, hoping to enjoy some downtime, some relaxation, and instead, he got to deal with a nagging wife. If she had WARNED him that twins ran in her family, Marlize wouldn't be running ragged now, even with the extra pair of hands he had hired to help her out to give her some free time. Mark had moved them to Florida, wanting her and the kids to be happy, and he made sure they lacked for NOTHING, but he didn't think of them?!

"I am ALWAYS thinking of you. Don't you realize how important this is to me? It's my fucking LEGACY! It's my blood, I have given my BLOOD, for this moment and this story we're telling!"