Terri's Peep Hut ~~ Fiction Archive

Comments: Sit down. Make yourself comfortable. Because this could be the longest thank you section ever. Thanks to Amy Beth for factoids and baby name suggestions. Thanks to Christina for pointing out that baby cries might be ouchy to Logan's sensitive ears. Thanks to Caroline, for offering to help in the delivery and for character suggestions for Ann and Evan. Thanks to Ai for baby name suggestions, and for the idea of the middle names. But most of all, BIG thanks to Susan K for sharing lots of pregnancy, labor, and delivery facts and experiences-I definitely couldn't have written this without you :) And another big thanks to my beta Keli, even if she has been big on the fic revenge lately ;)

Of all the goddamn times for Magneto to pull some shit. Don't he realize that I could use Jeannie's services here? Inconsiderate fuckin' bastard. And the midwife's not even here-she called from her cell phone, somethin' about her car breakin' down on the mountain. I wasn't payin' too much attention since Marie was in pain.

"Ow!" Must be another contraction. They're gettin' worse and closer together. I'm a little worried 'cause she's not due yet-she's eighteen days early. But both Jeannie and the midwife said that this happens a lot with twins.

"Just hang on honey, somebody's gonna get here soon." And I'll tell ya, they damn well better or I'm gonna hafta deliver these kids. Which wouldn't be a bad thing, except if somethin' does go wrong, I won't know what the hell to do. Can't take that kinda risk with Marie.

"OK" She's gettin' exhausted. It's been almost fifteen hours since it got goin' real good. Her water broke a little while ago and I think we're gettin' close here.

"You wanna walk around a little?" The midwife said to just try to keep her calm and to call her on the cell if Marie's heart rate or the babies' got funny. She said to call if the contractions started comin' less than a couple minutes apart. She said to let Marie walk around if she wants to and to try to keep her as comfortable as possible-just let her sit, stand, lay however she wanted.

"No. Too tired." She's just covered in sweat. She's been a helluva trooper through the whole pregnancy thing, but especially now. I can smell how much it's hurtin' her, but she ain't cussin' or swearin' or bitchin' me out for knockin' her up or nothin'.

"Yeah. Thanks." Smilin' just nice as you please. I think she's tryin' so hard not to flip out or show how much it's hurtin' her so that I won't panic. She knows I got a tendency to do that when she's hurtin'. "Any word from Jean?"

"OK. I feel nauseous." The midwife said that was normal, just to let her puke it out. She said that there's so much internal pressure-on the bladder, all the guts-that there might be all kindsa bodily fluids comin' my way.

"That's OK, honey, don't worry about it. Throw up if you gotta." Marie's noddin' and tryin' to smile again. OK, she's reachin' out for me. She wants me to come over and hold her a little. Sometimes she wants that, sometimes she's actually pushed me back away from her, usually when the pain hits.

"Logan, talk to me." Yeah, she does want me to hold her. Which is a little trickier now that she's kinda huge with the babies, but I still get the job done pretty good.

"We still need to pick names." Shit, we haven't been able to settle on a name in all this time. It's not that we can't agree, it's just that we can't seem to come up with anythin' either one of us likes for a name. You know, the kid's gotta have the same name for it's whole life, so it's gotta be a good name. Plus, we dunno what exactly we got in there. Could be boys or girls or one of each-which is kinda what Marie and me both think-but we asked Jeannie not to tell us after the ultrasounds.

"Well, why not? It's a pretty name. It's simple, too." Neither one of us like any real fancy shit. And nothin' weird. It's gotta be an actual name and not, like, from a place or a book or a song. It's gotta be a name that other people are gonna have too 'cause these kinds are gonna have enough that's unusual.

"Owwww!" Whoa-that was the worst one yet. "Umph." Still goin'-shit. Where the hell is that damn midwife? "Grrr." Did she actually growl there? Damn.

"OK, OK, I'll just call-" Wait a minute, wait a minute-there's somebody comin'. Don't smell like the blackbird, though. It had damn well better the fuckin'-

"Oh, never mind him, honey. Now you must be Marie." Marie's noddin' and the woman's lookin' her over. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you in person, Marie."

"Nice to meet you too Caroline." I don't like how she's still grittin' out those words. So enough with the introductions. Come on, put those gloves on and get to it. My wife's in pain. "And these very nice people are Ann and Evan-they gave me a ride up." Whoa-I didn't even notice the other people. And what the hell are they doin' in here lookin' at my wife's naked parts?

"Logan!" Marie's tryin' to sit up a little and she probably wants to cover herself and-"I'm sorry. He's like that. Thanks for-ow!-giving Caroline a ride. Please come in."

"No problem." The guy's got a real clipped accent-British, I think. "I'll just wait outside." Fine, get out. No men in here when my wife has naked parts showin'.

"But I'll stick around. Evan's a real sweetheart, he understands what yer man's goin' through, don't you worry. And, sugar, I have plenty of experience birthin' babies. Honey, back in my day, we didn't even have drugs most of the time." And I can believe that-she's got all white hair. Well, I guess a little extra female help wouldn't be bad since we ain't got Jeannie. "Nice to meet you, child."

"And it's always especially nice to meet a fellow southerner. Don't you fret none, we're gonna take good care of you, and everything's gonna be just fine."

"Well, it looks good from down here, Marie." There's somethin' just wrong about somebody else's head down in between my wife's legs. Even if it is the midwife. "You're fully dilated and starting to crown. I bet you want to push right about now." Marie's noddin' like a maniac at that. "Well, we got here just in time, then. What do you say we get these babies born?"

"Ann, would you grab my bag over there? Get the sterile packs out. And remember what I said about Marie's skin, all right?" She musta told 'em we're mutants. They don't seem phased by it though, and I don't have time to worry 'bout it if they are. Stuff's happenin'.

"What do I do? What do I do?" 'Cause I wanna help out too. They're my babies. All of a sudden, all the women just kinda invaded. I'm the one who's been gettin' her through this so far.

"Logan, why don't you come on over here next to Marie. You can hold on to her or help her sit up a little if she needs to. You have a plastic sheet on this bed, right?"

"It's not helping!" That Lamaze shit-I'm thinkin' we shoulda just given her drugs 'cause I can't stand seein' her hurt like this, even if I know it's to have the babies.

"Try it, honey, it can't hurt, right?" I think Marie likes Ann. "The Lord is watchin' over you and those babies, so you haven't got a thing to worry about, now."

"I'm-I'm not really religious." Neither one of us are. I wonder-we never really talked about what to tell the kids about God and all that. I dunno. I dunno what we should teach 'em.

"Oh, child! I've been born again for goin' on twelve years now, and let me tell you, if I've learned one thing, it's that Jesus loves you whether you love 'im back or not. And he for sure loves those little babies." I've always found those 'born again' people to be weird and more than a little scary, but she actually kinda seems OK. At least she's not tryin' to preach to Marie or convert her on the spot. You know, I don't even know what religion Marie was raised. Maybe she told me, but I don't remember.

"These babies want out." Oh-it ain't a bad surprise. "Hang on. Marie-I want you to push when I say, all right? Just push as hard as you can." Marie's as exhausted as I've ever seen her. But everythin' still sounds OK-the heartbeats are all good. And she looks OK-not pale or clammy or anythin'. She's got good color. Come on, Marie, hang on, baby, you're doin' good. "All right, Marie, let's give it a go-push."

"Hang on, we're suctioning out the nose and mouth..there-go on-go ahead, Marie." She musta done this a lot-she looks like she knows what she's doin' with the baby there.

"I know, Marie, just hang on. Here-Logan-let-let Marie lean back against you. Why don't you hold on to your son?" Oh my God, he's so tiny. Look at 'em. He's so tiny. He's got ten fingers and ten toes. And he smells OK-he's all-he's pretty much still kinda covered in goo, but he looks just perfect. My perfect *son*.

"You can do it, sugar, you just take a deep breath and then push." Weird. I've never heard anybody but Marie say 'sugar.' Must be a southern thing. I wonder if-I wonder if this Ann reminds Marie of her mom or grandma or somethin'. If she does, maybe it ain't so bad that she got to be around for this.

"Yeah, he's pretty good lookin' huh? We got ourselves a good one." That got a smile outta her. "I got him. Don't worry 'bout him, you just do your thing."

"Rrrrrr!" That was more like a growl, and I can tell Marie's gettin' to the end of her strength. It's just amazin' how she's doin' all this-carryin' the babies around, havin' to push 'em out, all the changes in her body. Just amazin'.

"There! There! I've got the head!" She's doin' the suction thing again. "We're almost done, Marie, almost home, just one more big push and we'll have the shoulders out. Come on, Marie, you can do it."

"There-there! Got her!" Her? Heh. We were right. It was a boy and a girl. I knew it. Instincts don't lie. "Great job, Marie, great job. You just relax a minute." Cleanin' my little daughter up some and wrappin' her in a blanket just like this one here. Two little kids. Who'd have ever thought that I'd be a daddy to two little kids? "Here we go. Say hello to your daughter."

"Oh.." She's exhausted, totally, but, hey, we got both babies out now. She can just rest. "Logan, look at her. She's so beautiful. They both are. They're just so." Tears comin' out now and not from the pain.

"Marie, I'm going to just ask you to push a little more, just a few more times. We need to get the afterbirth out of you, all right? Just a few more pushes."

"No, sugar, she's gotta get that out. Don't fret. It ain't as hard as pushin' the babies out, that's for sure." That got a smile from Marie. You know, I'm her husband and all, and part of me don't like anybody else near her, period. But havin' some women around who know what they're doin' or have been through this is helpin' out.

"There. There we go. Good job. Good job. And it's whole-no fragments, no tears, so we know we've got it all. Good job, Marie. That was just a perfect delivery. Everything went perfectly."

"Wait-my skin-the babies-we don't know.." Shit. Forgot all about that. Forgot for a second that it ain't all just like other people havin' babies.

"Let me-let me hold 'em while you touch 'em. I'll pull 'em away immediately if somethin's wrong." Jeannie said that the chances of Marie's skin bein' dangerous to the babies were low. But there's still a chance. They were pretty covered in goo comin' outta her and they still kinda are. They weren't touchin' her at all while I was holdin' 'em. So we gotta try it and find out for sure. We gotta try it with both.

"Don't worry, baby, everythin's gonna be just fine. Here we go." My son first. Just a light, quick touch with her finger on his face. It's the only place not covered in goo. There. Nothin'. I knew it. "See, honey? You can touch him just fine. Uh, can I trade you there?" Caroline's got my daughter, and she cleaned her up a little. She's pretty goo-free and she's stickin' her little arm outta the blanket, so let's try there. "Nothin'. Nothin' at all, Marie. You can touch 'em both, no problems." More tears. She don't even really have the energy for 'em, but they're leakin' out anyhow.

"So let's try nursing a while. Let me just open your shirt a little. There. Ready?" Marie noddin' at Caroline a little and it looks like my son's gonna go first. I guess just one at a time with how tired Marie is. Maybe she'll do 'em both together later on. Not to be crude, but she's got two breasts. And I think it'd be kinda neat for them to do that together.

"It might hurt for a while, until you really get used to it. It'll take a few weeks to get the hang of it, don't worry, that's natural. How is your uterus feeling? Any cramps? Any pain?"

"The nursing will help those settle down. And Logan-you can also massage her stomach like this to help soothe the pain." Finally, somethin' I can do to help Marie out with the pain.

"Got it. Hey-gimme my daughter, OK? I wanna hold her." I don't want her to have any confusion 'bout who her family is. I'm the daddy, and she should get to know me right away.

"Hey." She's awake. Thought she might sleep a lot more, with what all she's been through. Kids have been wakin' her up on and off for food too. I just bring 'em over to her every couple hours and she closes her eyes while they nurse. She looks so beautiful doin' that. But she's only been out an hour since the last time, and the kids are still sleepin'. I wanted her to have a chance to get some rest. Jeannie called a few hours ago, apologizin' for getting' into some kinda epic battle with Magneto and wantin' to come up right away. I told her not to come until late afternoon tomorrow to be sure Marie had enough sleep. "How's our kids?"

"Beautiful." I put 'em in the cribs I made right away. Turns out that Ann's husband Evan is a carpenter and furniture maker. He was sayin' how much he liked the cribs and all and would I make some for his store. I might do that once things settle down a little.

"Uh-huh." I've been sneakin' in little touches while Marie's been sleepin', just to make sure I still can touch her and all. So far, so good. "You wanna get some more rest?"

"You know what I'd really like? A shower." Caroline said to wait a while, to let her body recover some and to clean her all up when she felt up to it.

"We can get one if you wanna-Caroline's gettin' ready to head out in a little while, so now might be a good time." It's been about a whole day since she had the babies. I think she's feelin' up to it. "I'll just get her and ask her to keep an eye on the little ones."

"You know-we've got to name them pretty soon." I've been puttin' that off, waitin' for Marie to be a little more with it. But I've been lookin' at 'em and tryin' to think up names that fit what they look like. They both got some things in common. They both got their momma's brown eyes-which is the feature I wanted them to get from her the most-and her mouth. I think they got my hair-they both got a little bit of it already and what they do have looks pretty much like mine-dark, unruly, a little pointy. My son looks strong, like me, but he's got his momma's long fingers and toes. And my daughter-well, I can already tell I'll be beatin' the boys off with a stick.

"I thought our girl should get your name-now, hear me out. It can be her middle name. Marie's a good name, and I think she should have it. Besides, she's got your eyes and she's gonna be drop-dead gorgeous just like you, I can already tell." She's frownin' a little, but just for playin', so I think she'll agree to that. "And I wanna give our boy my name for a middle name. I know that might be egotistical or whatever, but I wanna pass on my name. We picked Laughlin, and I like it. It's a good last name for us. But it's not really *mine,* you know? I wanna give him somethin' that's mine."

"Sounds good." She's still pretty weak if that's the best she can do squeezin' my hand. I'm gonna hafta help her out a lot in the shower. Which ain't a bad thing at all. Caroline said no sex for a while, but that don't necessarily mean no naked Marie. "So we're settled on the middle names, but we still need first names."

"Aw, you pick 'em darlin'. Whatever you want. You're the one who did all the work in this." That thing I said about makin' her pregnant all the time-I might be takin' that back, 'cause I dunno how many times I could see her goin' through pain like that. And we got lucky here-had a perfect delivery and birth. I can't imagine how much I'd hate havin' to see her go through even a little bit of complications or somethin' like that.

"Sure, darlin'." She's movin' real slow-still sore all over. Those muscles got a work out. And she's still bleedin' some. Caroline said it was normal, that she's bleed for a month or so and not to let her overdo anythin' or she could hemorrhage inside. We're past the hard part, but we still gotta be careful.

"Yeah. I always wanted a name with a little air of mystery to it instead of boring old 'Marie.' Natasha has that. And we can call her Nat or Tasha for short. And I could yell out 'Natasha Marie!' if she does something bad"

"He looks sturdy. I say maybe Samuel. He looks kind of like a 'Sam' to me. That's a nice, sturdy name." Yeah, I like that too. "You know, I think they're going to get your hair."

"We're really parents now. They're really here." I feel like that too. There's a lotta 'whoa' in there with the happiness and stuff. But we'll do OK, I think. The baby cries are gonna be hell on my hearin' and neither one of us is gonna get a good night's sleep for a helluva long time, but they're worth it.

"Can do, darlin'." I got a family now. A whole family, with a wife and kids and a house and everythin'. Who'd have ever thought that's what I'd have? Not me, that's for damn sure. But now that I got it, I ain't ever gonna let it go.