by Honor James
Lina put the tray on the line and leaned in to hug her father. “And I love you, Daddy. I love you so very much. I’m happy that I’m your little girl, but between you and Aiden I’m about to kill someone. He even carries me when he thinks that I’ve ‘walked too much,’ and it’s driving me batty. Women have been having babies since time began, so why is he acting as he is?”
Hugging her tightly, he nodded against her hair. “Baby, I hate to ask this with witnesses around. But you do realize that you are more than likely carrying twins, right? Allister and Aiden are twins, their father was a twin, their father’s father was a twin, and so forth. It’s extremely likely you will be carrying twins, which is why he’s pampering you more than you can seemingly stand.”
If a person’s head could have spun around on their shoulders, hers would have. “What?” she screamed. She hadn’t meant to scream. Really looking back she hadn’t thought of it, but shock disengaged her brain. “I could be carrying twins? Are you kidding? Where the ever-fucking-well hell is he?” She was going to brain him, beat him bloody, kill him.
Talon blinked at her and noted about a half dozen people digging out phones to send off texts. He had a feeling they were either telling Aiden to run or to get his ass over to the cafeteria. “It’s a genetic probability and quite high at that,” he told her honestly. “I would have thought he’d had this discussion with you already, love. You are pregnant after all.”
“Discussion hell!” She placed one hand on her forehead and the other on his arm. “I’m so going to beat the hell out of him.” She began to waver, blinking her eyes nearly constantly and appeared unable to focus. “If I pass out, you get to beat on him, Daddy,” she whispered only half a second before fainting dead away.
Catching her up, Talon sighed. “Tell Aiden to meet us in medical,” he told those frantically texting a mile a minute. Carrying her out of the cafeteria, he shook his head. “Aiden will blow a gasket, you know that, right, baby?” he murmured to his daughter as he carried her easily through the halls.
When Lina finally woke up, she was in her father’s arms. “I need food, Daddy,” she whispered with a low moan. “My blood sugar is too low.”
“And I was about to tell you that the exact opposite, Talina,” Dr. Heidi Mahon said as she walked in with Lina’s chart. “Your blood sugar levels are far too high, dear. I have now diagnosed you with pregnancy diabetes. I hate to be the one to tell you that, but there it is.” She took a seat and looked up at Talon with an arched brow. “How long until Aiden gets here? I need to go over her diet with all three of you.”
“Given when the marathon texting started and where he was, he should be barreling in any moment now,” Talon said, looking to the doctor. Stroking Talina’s hair back lightly, he smiled at her. “How are you feeling, love?”
“Like crap. Like I should have shared that I was borderline diabetic before today.” She closed her eyes again and sighed. “Twins, really?” She felt panic once more. Goodness, she was already scared to death about having one baby, but two? She wasn’t certain that she would be a good mom, and to think that she might screw up two lives instead of one had her nearly in a panic attack.
“More than likely, sweetheart,” he told her softly, continuing to stroke her hair. “But it’s not all bad. You have your bond-mate who will be attentive and with you as much as you need, or as little. You just need to let him know if he’s driving you insane, Talina.” Talon grinned. “Changers tend to get a mite overprotective when their bond-mates are with child.”
“Talina!” Aiden yelled. “Baby, answer me.”
Lina grinned and looked up at her father. “You mind stepping out and letting my yelling mate know that I’m in here before he hurts someone?” At her father’s look she snickered and then called out louder, “In here, Aiden. Don’t know what room.” Lina watched as the doctor stepped back, out of the way and, funnily enough, behind Talon. Smart woman.
Aiden burst into the room, the door slamming against the wall and sticking, the handle buried in the plaster. Rushing to the bedside, he leaned in and kissed her. “Are you all right?” he breathed out, softly running his hands over her arms, neck, and face. Breathing her in, he paused and inhaled slowly. “What is wrong with your scent?” he growled, the Dragon coming to the surface as he looked at the doctor hiding out.
Dr. Mahon waved her fingers and said, “I can answer that.” At the growl from the man, she stepped behind Talon again. She had learned the lesson a long time ago that you didn’t poke a bear, shifter, wolf, whatever where his mate was concerned. She had the scars to prove it, too. “Your mate has gestational diabetes that stems from her borderline diabetic condition prior to the pregnancy. I’m ordering bed rest for her with very minimal movement. She can do her yoga classes, but only if she eats beforehand and has either you or her father there with her. I will want her entire diet to change and will submit that to food services as well so that they can stock your fridge and freezers for you.” She told the man, “And I want her sugar to be checked every two hours from now on, or if you scent a scent like this one on her again, bring her straight here. She will also need insulin for the duration of the pregnancy to keep the levels down where they should be. I’ll arrange for several ampules, needles, and instructions to be delivered to your house.”
Petting Lina’s hair gently, Aiden sat on the edge of the bed. “I can do that,” he said softly as he watched his mate. He would never let anything happen to his little angel. The woman had saved his life and he could do no less for her. Leaning in, he pressed a kiss to Talina’s lips. “I will ensure she rests as she should and does everything required of her.”
“Oh God,” Lina murmured. “You are going to become even more protective, aren’t you?” she asked with a smile and looked up at him. “I love you, honey. I will do whatever is necessary to ensure that our child is healthy.” She hesitated and then narrowed her eyes. “And when were you going to tell me that we might be having two babies?”
“Yes,” Talon said softly, “just when were you going to mention to her that twins run in your family with scary regularity?”
Clearing his throat, Aiden shot his King a nasty look. “I was sort of hoping I could slide until the day of the delivery. I figured if you were going to be screaming and bitching me out anyway may as well really make it worth it,” he muttered under his breath.
Rolling her eyes, Lina shook her head. “Never, ever hold anything like that from me again, mister man,” she grumbled. “I love you, honey, but when Daddy told me that, I swear that was what sent me over the edge and had me passing out,” she admitted. “I love you, darling, so please don’t ever do that to me again.”
“I won’t, I promise,” he murmured, stroking her cheek gently while staring down into her eyes. “I love you, Talina. I never meant to hurt you, baby,” he whispered. Brushing a kiss to her lips again, Aiden lifted his head and pinned the doctor with a look. “Can I take her home?” he asked in a way that sort of said he really wasn’t asking.
“Of course, just keep track of her scent and let the food services people in when they bring the meals to your place. They will be pre-cooked. All you will have to do is heat them up.” Dr. Mahon looked to Lina and added, “Come back in two weeks and we will see if there is one or two Dragons in there, my friend.”
“It’s two,” both Aiden and Talon said, looking to her. Grinning slightly, Aiden helped Talina sit up. “Come on, baby, let’s get you home so you can rest in peace and quiet.” And then he was going to feed her and ensure she was kept fed so he never had the panicked feeling ever again.
“How about we stop by food services instead so that I can actually eat something doctor recommended this time?” Lina asked and looked to her father, then her mate. “Twins? Oh lordy.” She gulped, literally. “I’m so not sure that I’m ready to be momma to twins, but by the time that they make it into the world I will be.” One way or another.
“You will be great, baby girl,” Talon told her honestly.
“I will catch up with you two later. I have an incident report to file.” Dropping a kiss on his daughter’s cheek, he left them alone.
Scooping her up into his arms, Aiden nodded toward the doctor and carried Lina out of the room and into the hall. “I think T-Rex is right, darling. You are going to be an amazing mother. You have a huge, giving heart, sweetheart,” he said gently.
“I really hope that you are right, Aiden.” Lina laid her head on his shoulder as he carried her out of medical and toward food services. “I worry. You know how that is. I worry that I won’t be able to be a good mother to one baby, let alone two. I really hope that you are right though. I want to be a good mom. I need to be able to be a good mom.”
“You are going to be a great mom, a terrific mom, an amazing and wonderful mom,” he told her as he walked. “Baby, you are going to be all those things because you are worrying. It’s the women that think they know what they are doing and are closed off to any sort of advice or help that turn into the psychopathic maniacs on the ten o’clock news that terrorize the neighborhood boys for even looking in their baby girl’s direction.”
“Well I can’t say that I won’t do that,” Lina teased with a grin. “And don’t even try to tell me that you wouldn’t. If we had a baby girl I can already see you stocking up on weapons just so that you can clean them when boys come over to remind them that you could pick them off at any moment in time.”
“We are having boys, only boys. Girls are terrifying and hard,” he said, shaking his head. “Boys are easy. They take tumbles, get back up, and figure out a better way to do things. Girls are…Well, girls are…Damn it, Talina, girls are bloody well scary, and I’d have to kill any boy that even looked at a daughter of mine.”
Lina couldn’t help but snicker and noted that she wasn’t the only one who was snickering. “Well, darling, what if we do have girls? Or better yet—” She paused before adding dramatically, “Twin girls. Wouldn’t that be a load of fun?” Terrifying, insane, maddening more like it, but she loved to tease her Aiden.
“You are truly so pissed that you are going to give me twin girls?” he asked in horror. “Good Gods, woman, that is so mean I don’t even have a word for it all. No, any girls and they become nuns, plain and fucking simple. Not a boy in their lives,” Aiden declared flat out.
That had her grinning and she shook her head. “No, honey, I won’t do anything like that, sweetheart. Hopefully we won’t have twin girls, but if we do we will just deal with it.” Lina hugged him closer and sighed. “Still should have told me, mister man.” And the fact that he was a twin himself should have given her a clue.
“I was worried that you’d be upset, so I delayed in the beginning. I didn’t want to lose the chance of having a child. Then we got busy and I figured I’d tell you as soon as I had a minute. Then one thing on top of another and I didn’t get around to it,” he said softly. “I’m sorry, baby. I did mean to tell you, but I honestly just forgot,” Aiden said.
“Honey, it’s really okay. I think I was more shocked and freaked than I should have been. I think somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that we could have twins, darling. I really did know that there was the chance because of you being a twin and all that. I think that between the high blood sugar and the shock of knowing I was going to have two babies, well, it was too much.” And she passed out.
“That isn’t going to happen again. We are going to watch your sugar and keep you and our twins healthy,” he said softly. Looking at her, Aiden kissed the end of her nose. “You mean so much to me, Talina. I would never survive if anything happened to you, angel.”
“And you mean so very much to me as well, Aiden,” Lina whispered softly to him. “You are my everything. We won’t let anything like that happen again. I promise. Now you know my issues, and now I know how serious that it is, we will make sure that we keep an eye on everything, my love.” They would do anything that they had to in order to ensure that they had a very, very long life together.
“Agreed,” he murmured softly. Carrying her into the cafeteria, he settled her in a chair, “What do you want to eat? And, when I ask that, I mean what did the doctor say you could eat that I can get for you?” He smiled slightly at her look.
“I would love a nice thick steak, baked potato loaded with everything, and a nice plump roll. Oh, and a couple bottles of water please. I just need food right now, love. I know that it’s not lunchtime, but I don’t care. Food Services always has a bit of everything ready for everyone and they will tell you if I can or can’t have something when you let them know it’s for me. I’m sure the doctor has already called down to them and even now someone is filling our freezer and fridge with foods I need and can eat.” It just was the way that the place seemed to work.
“Very likely,” he agreed, shaking his head at her. Dropping a kiss to her lips, Aiden rubbed his nose lightly to hers. “I won’t be long,” he promised softly. Moving toward the kitchens to see what the word was since he hadn’t actually gotten a list of foods, he spoke to the head chef. Grinning at what he learned, he asked the man to prepare her meal as was laid out from the doctor. He had a funny feeling his mate would go gnarly on him.
When he came back, Lina frowned. “You better have a steak hiding somewhere there for me, Aiden, or I’m going to march right over there and get me one myself.”
He had a steak for her, just not where she could see it. Setting her tray down, he kept the grin back as she eyed the boiled chicken and fresh vegetables and fruits, no potato. “Apparently steak and potatoes with all the fixings are on your banned list of items until you get your sugars under control. But look, boiled chicken,” he said, trying to sound like he was forcing excitement all while hiding his laughter. Setting his tray down, covered entirely, he gave her a forced-looking smile to throw her off.
“Oh that’s just not right.” She looked at the boiled chicken and felt herself turning slightly green, ready to hurl at just the thought of it. “Please get that away from me or I will puke.” Just the sight of it had her stomach churning. “I will go and get me something that I want to eat, not that.” She pointed. “Lord no, not that.”
Grinning at her, he did as she asked and slid the plate onto another table. Lifting the cover from his tray, he handed her a steak. “You really aren’t going to be happy when you see our fridge and freezer. Your menu seriously sucks ass,” he told her honestly as he cut his baked potato in half and gave her part of it.
“I think that I’m seriously going to have to have a chat with them then because I seriously don’t think that I will be able to stomach it.” Lina felt her stomach lurch at the thought of all of that bland food. “It won’t work. I will just have to learn how to cook for myself or something,” she grumbled.
“I can cook, you know,” Aiden said honestly. “I don’t do it because normally it’s a pain in the ass, but I can cook. Allister and I both took a cooking course. It was actually fun and we learned a lot of neat things. I ended up taking another one with him and then a third on my own. There’s one more coming up I think I’ll try to get in on, too, fancy desserts and appetizers I think.”
“I can’t cook.” Not really. “I mean I can do really easy things but anything that’s beyond a hamburger or meatloaf I couldn’t do. I’ve spent far too much time in med school, taking care of my mother before she died, and so on. I never had time for cooking classes, never had the money for even the cooking channel, so pretty much it’s been what I can do with what’s on the back of a box.”
“Well, I will teach you the basics, and if you can master that you can pretty much make anything up,” he told her, cutting into his steak and taking a bite. “The hardest parts are all the fancy-ass terms they use that they could put into normal speak and it still means the same thing. I think they do it so that their little egos feel all superior to the rest of us.”
Shrugging, she ate the potato that he had shared with her and said, “I’m sure that you are likely right. It sucks, yes, but what can a
person do, right?” She teased with a grin. “And you can share a bit more of your steak, you know. I’m the one growing the baby here and I’m starving.”
Rolling his eyes at her, he cut her another chunk and passed it over. “Good thing I asked for two more to be prepped,” he muttered. “You are so lucky that I adore you, baby, and want you happy and healthy,” he teased with a grin.
She snorted and shook her head. “You love me and you love our babies even more, so you will do anything at all that you can in order to ensure that we are all three happy and healthy. Admit it.” Lina leaned over and brushed her lips to his cheek. “I love you, too, Aiden. So do your boys.”
“No, I adore and worship you, angel,” he said, touching her hand. “I love the babies, too, of course,” he murmured quietly. “They are a part of us both, the best parts of course.” He grinned and winked.
“Good save,” Lina said with a wink. “I think that you are pretty awesome yourself. I’m just happy to have you, to know that you are mine and I’m yours. That’s all that matters in life. That we are together,” she assured him.
“Thank you.” He chuckled and shrugged. “I do try from time to time,” he murmured quietly to her with a wink. Finishing his steak, he got up and went to get the other two. Coming back, he gave her the smaller of the two. “You rat me out to the doctor and we will have words, woman.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t rat you out because I want this as well,” she muttered. “So don’t you worry, darling. I won’t say a word because I need the food and you are giving it to me.” So that was all that mattered.
“Good.” He grinned as he dug into his steak again. “And I won’t rat you out either,” he teased her quietly with a chuckle. “But you’d better eat it all up before someone else sees what you’re dining on and turns us both in for this, darling.”
