“Do we tell the babies that Daddy Alex is crazy now or do we let them find that out for themselves later?”
“At least they’ll know he loves them.” Desmond takes another mouthful of food. “We’re not gonna be long. I’ll just finish breakfast, drag Alex out of the nursery and we’ll come over. I think we’re gonna stop…”
“Oh, my God- are you stopping for cookies?”
“Well, we weren’t going to, but we could do, if you want some. We’ve got loads of cookies here, though, if you can wait until you get home.”
“Oh… uh… Okay, then I’ll wait, but they better be really good cookies.”
“Your mom made them.”
“Bring them with you.”
“I can do that. See you soon.”
***
Desmond has barely pushed open the door to Neal’s hospital room before Neal is rushing over and grabbing the box of cookies out of his hands.
“Nice to see you, too.”
Neal doesn’t even hear what Desmond is saying- he’s far too busy breaking open the box of cookies and picking one out. He sits back on the bed and starts eating the cookie.
“Grandma sent cookies, Matty,” Neal waves the half-eaten cookie towards Matthew, “and your Grandma makes the best cookies. All your Grandmas make good cookies, but these cookies are the best. When you’re big enough to eat things that aren’t milk, you can find out for yourself because I know Grandma will make lots of cookies for you and for Libby, too, but these cookies are just for me. You can have some extra of your milk later if you want.”
“Did you really almost just wake him up with a monologue about cookies?”
Neal looks at Desmond and narrows his gaze slightly.
“Matty is awake already. Libby is still sleeping- I’ll teach her about cookies later.”
Desmond rolls his eyes. He walks over and sits next to Neal on the bed. He smiles softly and kisses Neal’s cheek. He frowns heavily when he looks down at Matthew and Elizabeth, who are in their pushchair.
“Neal?”
“What?”
“Are they dressed in their travelling clothes?”
“Yes.”
“It’s still early.”
“We’re going home today.”
“But…”
“We are going home today.”
“Okay.” Desmond wraps an arm around Neal’s shoulders. He waves down at Matthew, who blinks and reaches out.
“You should find the doctors, Alex.”
“But why?” Alex looks up at Neal (he’d just knelt down on the floor in front of Elizabeth and Matthew and was going to pick Matthew up).
Neal just gives Alex a pointed look, which Alex completely misses right up until Neal’s sideways glance at Desmond.
“Oh.” Alex nods and stands up. “I’ll… Yes, I’ll do that.”
“You should ask them when I can get out of here and I know you’ll find a thousand questions to ask about that. You can take the babies for a walk too, if you want.”
“Yes. Okay.” Alex props open the door and maneuvers the pushchair out into the hallway. He gets a few steps forward before remembering that he has to close the door.
***
“Now, are you going to be a good girl and go to sleep so we can get you home right away?”
Elizabeth blinks at Neal a few times before screwing up her face and starting to cry.
“That’s a ‘no’ then?” Neal gently rocks Elizabeth and coos softly and after a few minutes Elizabeth eventually calms down. “We should get her in her car seat now while she’s calm so driving will be easier.” He steps towards the car and smiles at Desmond, who’s holding the door open for him. He puts Elizabeth down in her car seat (the pinkest, girliest thing they could find), but she starts fussing again so he picks her back up. He rocks Elizabeth for another minute until she calms down again. He tries to put her back in the car seat, but she just starts wailing. “Stop crying, baby, please.” He sighs heavily when Elizabeth continues to cry. “This isn’t working.”
“Maybe she just needs to cry it out.” Desmond rests a hand on Neal’s lower back.
“I don’t want her to cry. I don’t…” Neal takes a deep breath. “She doesn’t like being on her own. Maybe we can walk with her until she’s sleeping and then… then it will be easier, okay? I just don’t want her to cry.”
“Okay.” Desmond gently rubs Neal’s back. “She probably just doesn’t like all the change. I think a walk could be a good thing. Right, Alex?” He frowns slightly and glances back over his shoulder and rolls his eyes when he sees Alex holding Matthew against his chest. “Alex?”
“I didn’t want him to cry either. He always cries when Elizabeth does.”
“Okay. Okay.” Desmond holds a hand up. “I’ll put the pushchair away seeing as we don’t seem to be using it and then we’ll go for a walk. I think we could all use something to calm us down.”
***
“Is she sleeping yet?”
“I don’t think so.” Desmond leans over slightly and shakes his head- Elizabeth is still awake. “Neal is, though.” He smiles softly and rests a hand on Neal’s shoulder.
Neal shudders slightly and jolts awake. He frowns slightly because he can’t quite remember falling asleep or what he was doing, but then it all comes rushing back. His eyes spring open and he looks down at Elizabeth. He sighs lightly when he sees that she’s still awake.
“Oh, baby girl- please, go to sleep. Sleeping is good. You’ll like sleeping.”
Desmond smiles fondly and leans in towards Neal.
“She’ll drop off eventually, won’t you Libby?” Desmond touches a finger to Elizabeth’s cheek.
“But Matty is sleeping and they always do the same thing.”
“They’re different, Neal- she just likes to be awake more.” Desmond kisses Neal’s cheek. “I can take her if…”
“No, I want to keep her.” Neal leans back slightly. He closes his eyes and lets out a long breath. He turns his head to the side and looks at Desmond. “Is it too late to take them back?”
“Yeah. About nine months too late and we’ve got another eighteen years of this to go, but we can handle it.”
“It’s just… It’s hard and I’m all… emotional.”
“You’ve still got all those hormones running around- you’re allowed to be emotional and find things hard, but you can do this. We can all do this.” Desmond smiles and rests his chin on Neal’s shoulder. “One of our kids was never going to be easy and we’ve got two right now, but we can do this.”
“I know. I just wish she wasn’t crying so much.”
“Let’s see what I can do about that.” Desmond sits back and points down at Elizabeth. “Elizabeth Gayle, you stop crying right now. Be a good girl and don’t make any of your daddies sad and let them get lots of rest and we will always love you, okay?”
Elizabeth blinks a few times before yawning and closing her eyes.
“How do you do that?”
“Magic,” Desmond mutters. He kisses Neal’s cheek again. “You listen to me, sometimes, even Alex does- I took a shot that it might work on our children too.”
“Thank God we have you around.”
***
“And this is where you sleep.” Neal steps into the nursery- he would have carried the babies himself, or one of them at least, but apparently he’s not supposed to carry things and as much as he pouted and insisted he could carry the babies, especially seeing as he did that for nine months before they were actually born, there was no way he could refuse the combined power of Desmond’s serious look and Alex’s terrified look so he’s dragging Desmond and Alex, who are carrying a baby each, around the whole house so he can show the babies where everything is. He stands in the middle of the room, with his hands on his hips.
“What is it?”
Neal frowns for a few seconds before turning back towards Desmond.
“Should we move the cribs?” Neal turns back around. He looks between the two cribs they’ve got se
t up- one on each side of the window- and thinks carefully.
“Move them?” Alex walks over and stands next to Neal. “I just finished getting the room sorted this morning.” He narrows his gaze slightly when he hears Desmond laughing from the doorway, but he doesn’t address it any further than that.
“I know.” Neal smiles softly and rests a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “I’m really glad for that. I was just thinking about the babies.” He looks down at Elizabeth, who’s very much settled in Alex’s arm. “They don’t like being apart. They spent nine months cramped up together inside of me so it’s really understandable. I think we should put the cribs together so Matty and Libby aren’t far apart- they would cry too much and I don’t want that.” He gently strokes Elizabeth’s cheek. “We could even put them in the same crib. That’s okay, isn’t it?” He looks back over his shoulder at Desmond. “We could do that.”
“I guess. Alex probably read something about it in one of his books, though, so what do you say, Alex?”
“Well, they can share a crib until they get too big- about six months- but I don’t know if we should. We got it all looking so nice and they have their own special cribs. Maybe they could share sometimes, but I don’t think they should always share.”
Neal nods slowly and looks around the room again.
“I still think we should push the cribs together, though- I think they’d like that.” Neal walks over and wraps an arm around Alex’s shoulders. “Would that be okay?”
“I think we should ask them. What do you think, Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth mewls softly and turns her head to the other side.
“I don’t think she minds.” Neal smiles brightly. “What about Matty?”
“He’s far more interested in spitting up all over me.” Desmond sighs lightly. “Come on little man- we’ll get you all cleaned up and when we get back we’ll see what your daddies decided to do with your bedroom.”
***
“Could we bring their cribs in here for the night?” Alex is standing at the end of their bed and he looks over at Desmond, who’s stood in the doorway to their bedroom.
“You want to move the cribs again?”
Alex shrugs lightly and turns back to look at Neal, who’s in bed, sleeping.
Desmond rolls his eyes. He walks over and stands next to Alex. He watches Neal for a few seconds and then gently nudges Alex.
“So?”
“I don’t want them to be too far away. It’s their first night at home and they don’t know very much, but they know us and we shouldn’t leave them.”
“Right. And this has nothing to do with the fact that you want them here so you don’t have to decide between being here, staring at Neal, or being down in the nursery, staring at the babies?”
“Uh… No?”
Desmond laughs softly and wraps his arm around Alex’s waist.
“Come on. Let’s give him some time to rest.”
“Oh, well, I should check on the babies again.”
“They’re not even a week old and you’re already this over-protective?”
“They need it.”
“You don’t have to hover so much. Neal will be sleeping in the middle tonight, like he always does, so you will be right next to him for the entire night, if anything happens, and we can put the very loud baby monitor on your side of the bed so you’ll be the first one to hear if the babies cry. Would that be good enough?”
“I don’t want to leave them.”
“You don’t need to watch them sleep. You’ll be there when they need you, but sleeping is just about the one time you can leave them to it. We’ll have the monitor and we won’t be that far away- we can take care of them.”
“Yes. Okay, but…”
“No ‘but’s.” Desmond takes hold of Alex’s hand. “You are gonna come with me right now. We’re gonna let Neal and the babies sleep so we have time alone.”
“For what?”
“Oh, a couple of fun things.”
***
“What do you guys want for…” Desmond’s sentence trails off when he walks back into the bedroom and sees Neal sat up in bed, cradling both Elizabeth and Matthew, and Alex sat on the end of the bed, just watching them. He steps forward and clears his throat to get their attention. “Dinner?” He asks when Neal and Alex look up at him.
“Oh, yes. I was just having alone-time with the babies.” Neal presses kisses to Elizabeth’s and Matthew’s foreheads.
“And Alex?”
“Wouldn’t leave me alone even though I said I was fine.” Neal gives Alex a pointed look.
“I… I just came in for a minute, but they’re so cute and I got distracted.”
“Hear that, babies- Daddy Alex thinks you’re cute.”
“He thinks Daddy Neal is cute, too.”
Neal grins.
Alex leans in slightly and…
“Okay, does anyone actually want dinner?”
“Well, Libby does.” Neal leans in and presses a brief kiss to Alex’s lips. “We’ll feed her and probably Matty too and then we can decide something for us.”
“You’re not hungry now?”
“They come first.”
***
“Come see this, Desmond.”
Desmond walks through to the living room. He puts his hands on his hips and gives Neal a pointed look when he sees what Neal is doing.
“What?” Neal looks up at Desmond and shrugs.
“They should be sleeping now.”
“They’re not tired.” Neal turns back to look down at Matthew and Elizabeth, who are led on their play mat on the floor in front of him.
“Fine, but when we have two cranky babies who haven’t slept enough, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Neal just rolls his eyes.
Desmond kneels down on the floor next to Neal.
“So what do I need to see?”
“Matty likes it when you tickle his belly.”
“He’s not a dog, Neal.”
“I know that, but he still likes it. See.” Neal reaches out and gently tickles Matthew’s stomach. He grins when Matthew starts kicking his legs.
“Are you sure he’s not trying to tell you to stop doing that immediately because it’s getting on his nerves?”
“Nope. He loves it. You’ll see yourself when he’s old enough to smile or giggle in few weeks.”
“And Libby? Does she like it too?”
“Oh, no- she much prefers her snuggles. Here.” Neal lifts Elizabeth up and places her in Desmond’s arms. “Show Daddy Desmond how much you like your snuggles, baby.”
Desmond smiles softly when Elizabeth settles against him and closes her eyes.
“That’s very cute- both of them are- but they should still be in bed.”
“Probably, but I don’t want to put them down- I want to spend more time with them.”
“You’ve got plenty of time for that, later. Why don’t we put them to bed and then we have time together or you can sleep too? You must be pretty tired.”
“Yeah. Yes, but…”
“No ‘but’s. I think it’s time for everyone to go to sleep, okay?”
Neal sighs heavily but nods. He stares down at Matthew for a few seconds before picking him up.
Desmond leans over and kisses Neal’s cheek.
“Don’t worry- they’ll still be here in the morning.” Desmond stands up. He coos softly at Elizabeth for a few seconds to settle her and then looks down at Neal. “Where’s Alex, anyway? He won’t want to miss us putting them to bed the first time.”
“He was talking to his mom on the phone, but that was a while ago.” Neal frowns slightly. “Maybe he already fell asleep.”
“Maybe he’s just rearranging the nursery again.”
***
Desmond isn’t sure what wakes him up- the babies aren’t crying, the other children aren’t here so no one is kneeing him in the stomach as they sneak into bed with him and Neal and Alex aren’t having a conversation right next
to him. He tries to go back to sleep, but it doesn’t really work. He groans softly before opening his eyes and sitting up, which is when he notices that Alex isn’t in bed so Neal is stretched out over the rest of the space. He presses a kiss to Neal’s forehead and gets up. He walks down the hallway to the nursery because he’s sure that’s where Alex will be and he’s right- Alex is stood in front of the cribs, watching over Matthew and Elizabeth. He stands in the doorway for a few seconds before walking over and wrapping his arms around Alex’s waist.
“Hey.” Desmond kisses the top of Alex’s head and looks down at Matthew and Elizabeth. “How are they doing?”
“Good,” Alex mutters and leans back against Desmond. “Still sleeping, still breathing. I know I shouldn’t worry so much, but…”
“That’ll never stop, you know. You’ll never stop worrying about your children, no matter how old you get, no matter how old they get.”
“I know I could be in bed now, that I would wake up if anything happened or if they needed me, but I need to be here.”
“I understand, believe me- it’s so hard to just leave them, in case they need us, but we have to take care of ourselves, too.”
“Really?” Alex glances up at Desmond. “Then why are you awake and stood here too?”
“Because you weren’t in bed.” Desmond shrugs.
Alex smiles at Desmond for a few second before looking down at Matthew and Elizabeth again. He watches them for a few minutes before speaking again.
“I still can’t believe they’re real, that any of this is real. I wonder if it’s seven months ago and Neal is just crying because he’s sick or it’s nine months ago and we didn’t make babies in Paris or it’s two years ago and we’re all still fighting or it’s three years ago and Neal never came to us or it’s seven years ago and I never met you.”
“Well, it’s right here and right now and we have them. It’s all real and we’re happy.”
“Ever since we found out about them, I tried to imagine what it was going to be like to have them here and I could never do it.”
“And now?”
“Now I can’t remember what it was like without them.”
Desmond smiles brightly and tightens his arms around Alex. He’s content to just stand there, watching the babies for a few minutes. He turns his head when he hears footsteps coming down the hallway and smiles when Neal stops in the doorway.
The Unexpected: An Mpreg Romance Page 15
