Propped on his elbow, he covertly studied his wife who was lying next to him in their bed on her back.  Pretending to read, he looked under his eyelashes as she struggled to get comfortable in the last days of her pregnancy.  Her back had been bothering her all day; she hadn’t been able to find much rest today.  JC had tried massaging and rubbing her back but nothing helped.  She had at long last settled on her back gaining a small measure of relief.  He watched her tired profile as he thought.  Finally giving up all pretenses, he asked the question he had been wondering about for a while, before he lost his nerve.  

“Are you going to tell me when you go into labor?” 

She blinked, thinking she hadn’t heard the question right.  “What?”  Placing the book down by her side, she turned her head to face her husband.

He simply looked at her without speaking.

“JC, where is this coming from?”  She was truly puzzled at his question.

“I’m just remembering how we met…”  He said chewing on his bottom lip. 

Laura could see how much this was bothering him so she reached a hand to grasp his comfortingly.  “Baby, that was completely different, I didn’t know you from Adam.  And the broken arm wasn’t something that you caused.  This…this”  She motioned to her distended stomach.  “you caused, if I’m not mistaken.  Believe me, you will know when I go into labor.” 

Laura searched his eyes for a moment, trying to discern what was truly bothering him, but then a more urgent need emerged. 

“Help me up, I need to pee again.  I’ll be so glad when the twins are here and I have my body back again.”  JC tugged her up to a sitting position and placed a supporting hand on her back as she stood. 

“Now what brought this on all of a sudden?”  She waddled into the bathroom, leaving the door open to hear his response. 

He flopped back down to the bed as he thought about it.  “I don’t know, I guess I’m just nervous.  You know that I didn’t even know you existed even three years ago.”

“Are you blaming this all on me?”  Laura asked jokingly from the bathroom.

He sighed deeply as he paused to think.  “Well you know just think of the changes since you charged into my life… you break your arm and stay with me, then I stay with you… we adopt an orphan…”

“Um, Jace?”

“Then we got married and adopted another little girl...”

“JC?”

“And now the twins will be here any day now …”

“Josh?”  Laura’s voice was strained, but JC was rambling. 

“If someone had told me even three years ago, that I would be married and have a teenaged son who’s almost ready to get his driver’s license and a 8 year old daughter and twins on the way, I – ” 

Laura came to the bathroom door and interrupted his rant, “Joshua Scott!” 

“What?”  He lifted just his head up off the bed to look at her.  His eyes widened at her appearance and he leapt off the bed in one motion.  Her pajama pants were soaking wet. 

“My water just broke.”  The two just stared at each other for a moment before Laura started giggling nervously.  “Does this answer your question about knowing when I go into labor?  You timed that question just right, didn’t you?” 

He brought a hand up to scrub at his face, almost as if he wasn’t sure this was actually happening.  “Wow, I didn’t expect this to happen tonight, are we ready?”

“Jace, I don’t think we have much choice now, do you?  I think you had better go wake up Brandon so he knows we’re leaving, Katie’s is coming, and that he needs to get Sophie up for school tomorrow.  You can call Katie on our way.” 

“Alright,” JC said as he began to head towards Brandon’s room. 

In short order, he was back and in two strides was in front of Laura, who had moved to grab some clothes out of the dresser.  Her hands were tightly gripping the edge of the dresser as she breathed through a contraction.  With one hand, he cupped her cheek, with the other her placed it tenderly on his children, waiting for the pain to pass.  “I wouldn’t want to go through this with anyone else.  Just remember I love you and am so grateful that you are in my life.”

Laura simply nodded and let out a deep breath, her face pale.  “I think you need to get ready; things are moving pretty fast, you know how my back has been hurting so much today?”  She paused as he nodded.  “I think I’ve been having back labor most of the day.”

Brandon had now made his way into the bedroom, just in time to see JC scrambling to get dressed.  Brandon was excited about having two new siblings, but was wondering just how much his and Sophie’s lives would change when Laura and JC had two new babies of their own, not adopted.  Brandon thought it was inevitable that he and Sophie would be pushed aside for their real kids now.

It was with mixed feelings that he waved as JC and Laura sped out of the driveway on their way to the hospital.  Things were certainly about to change around here. 

*** 

Brandon took a deep breath as he jogged down the hall to Sophie’s room.  There were butterflies riding a rollercoaster in his stomach, but he didn’t want to give Sophie any reason to be upset. 

He poked his head into her room, rolling his eyes when he saw her dancing around to one of her cd’s.  “Hey shorty, let’s go.  Dad just called and said they’re almost here.”

Sophie immediately ran and shut off the music before bounding into the hall and grabbing Brandon’s hand.  She tried to yank him down the stairs, pulling with all of her might. 

Brandon had opted not to go visit Laura and the twins in the hospital, deciding instead to meet them with Sophie, who was too young to go to visiting hours.  He wanted the illusion of still having a family as long as he could.  Katie had stayed with Brandon and Sophie the past two nights, but she had left earlier when JC had requested that the new family have some privacy. 

Together the two adopted members of the family stood in silence in the kitchen, hearing the car pull into the garage and doors open and close.  There was a murmuring of voices coming closer to the door.  Sophie clung tighter to Brandon’s hand, almost disappearing behind him as the door slowly opened. 

The first thing they saw was Laura’s tired but smiling face in the open door.  She held the door for JC who was carrying two car seats very carefully.  As soon as JC was inside, she knelt down with open arms for Sophie to run into.  When Sophie saw that, she released Brandon’s hand and darted into Laura’s arms. 

“Hmmm…I missed you so much, Sophie.”  Laura looked over Sophie’s shoulder to see that Brandon hadn’t moved.  He was watching the baby carriers very closely and Laura could see his thoughts all over his face.  As soon as JC had placed the carriers on the counter, he walked over to Brandon, bending his head down to look into Brandon’s eyes.  Laura couldn’t hear what JC said, but Brandon nodded before giving JC a hug. 

Laura let go of Sophie, who immediately ran to JC to be picked up.  “Brandon?”  Laura questioned and he turned his attention from the carriers to her, making his way to her to give her a hug.  “I’ve missed you, Brandon.”  He simply nodded. 

JC was tickling Sophie, who was squealing in delight as Laura wrapped an arm around Brandon’s waist and moved over to the laughing pair.  “Are you two ready to meet your new brother and sister?  They have heard so much about you.  You guys are going to be the best big brother and sister anyone could ever have.” 

A mewling sound had Laura removing her arm from Brandon’s waist to check on Jacob before he could wake up Rose. 

“Can I hold one?”  Sophie whispered her request in JC’s ear. 

“Can you hold one?”  JC flashed a quick grin at Laura.  “I don’t know, are you a big sister cause only big sisters and big brothers can hold them right now.”

“Yeah,” Sophie said shyly. 

“Well then, let’s get you settled so you can hold Rose.  Brandon?  How about you?  Want to hold your little brother?”  JC carried Sophie over to the couch and got her situated with a pillow. 

Brandon shrugged, not bothering to respond until a raised brow and a stern look from JC had him murmur his agreement. 

Laura held Jacob gently against her chest, trying to sooth his soft whimpers.  “Go ahead and sit down, Brandon.  Now both of you need to support their heads, alright?  And be very gentle – they are really little.”  She carefully handed Jacob over to Brandon, tucking the soft blanket in more tightly around the baby.  She sat down on the coffee table in front of the pair. 

JC had picked up Rose and brought her over to Sophie.  He sat down next to Sophie on the couch before moving Rose into Sophie’s arms.  His hands never ventured very far, ready to assist if needed.   

The new family sat there for a moment in the silence, until Rose started screaming.  Laura jerked her attention from Brandon to her new daughter, reaching out for her baby just as JC scooped Rose into his arms. 

“She just needs changed, then I think it’s time to eat again.  I’ll get her changed if you want to head up and get settled to feed them.”  Laura lifted Jacob up as she nodded her agreement.  The parents headed up the stairs, not saying another word to the two left on the couch. 

This just reaffirmed Brandon’s thoughts that everything would change now that the twins were here.  He and Sophie were being pushed aside and left out.   

***

Groaning he pulled a pillow over his head as the twins crying woke him yet again.  A quick look at the clock showed that it was 3:00 a.m.  Brandon hadn’t gotten much sleep since the twins had come home a week ago.  The crying got louder all of a sudden as a light shone over his bed.  The light was quickly extinguished and the crying lowered again as he felt his bed shift.  Sophie was crawling up and trying to get under the covers. 

“Are they ever going to be quiet?”  She whispered in the darkness. 

“I hope so, you have school tomorrow so you’d better try and get to sleep.”  Brandon suggested as he handed over an extra pillow.  “Here put this over your ears and I’ll turn the radio on, maybe it’ll drown them out.”  He reached over for the remote to his radio, quickly flipping it on.  While the music didn’t completely drown the crying out, it did help somewhat. 

Brandon wasn’t sure how much time had elapsed when he was startled from his light sleep.  His door had been thrown open and he rubbed his eyes, trying to bring them into focus.  Laura was framed in the doorway, one of the twins finally asleep on her shoulder.  JC stood with the other one cradled in his arms right behind her. 

“Brandon, Sophie’s not in her bed, do you know where she is?”  Laura asked urgently. 

His voice croaked from sleepiness, “She’s here, she couldn’t sleep with the crying so she came in here.”

Laura sighed in relief as she rocked back and forth.  “Oh thank you.  I’m sorry, Brandon, we’re trying to get the twins on a schedule.  It’ll get better someday.”  She sounded near tears. 

“Go to bed, Laura.  The twins are asleep and you need to get there too.”  Just as JC finished his sentence, the twin that Laura held woke up and then proceeded to wake up JC’s.  Laura threw her head back in desperation.  “Try and sleep, Brandon, we’ll try and keep them quiet.”  JC closed the door, as Laura started to pace again. 

“Let’s take them downstairs, someone should be able to sleep around here, even if it’s not us.”  Laura rocked back and forth, trying to stay awake as she headed for the stairs. 

The new parents paced in circles around their first floor for hours, trying to get the twins asleep.  They were only quiet when Laura and JC were walking.  In exhaustion, the parents met in a doorway, leaning up against the wall for a brief moment of quiet. 

“How can something so small make such noise?  I bet your hearing will never be the same after this, you’re going to have to change your profession.  You won’t be able to hear if someone is in tune or not.  Little did you know that it wouldn’t be years of having music blaring and screaming girls to ruin your hearing, instead it would be two small bundles of joy that we couldn’t wait to get here.”  Laura babbled on as she tried to stay away, not even aware of what she was saying she was so tired. 

“You know it’s been years since I’ve fallen asleep standing up.  I used to be able to fall asleep anywhere, I’m wishing I were younger again.  Hey the basement is sound proof, that can be the twins room until they sleep through the night.  I’ll go move the cribs right now, how does that sound?”

“It sounds like…silence, are they actually asleep?”  The silence was so profound that their ears were ringing.  “Do you think we can get them upstairs and in their beds with them still asleep?”  Laura whispered. 

“Very quietly,” JC tiptoed up the stairs with Laura. 

The couple tucked the twins in, trying not to jostle them too much and awaken them again.  Just as Laura was climbing into bed, she happened to look over at the bright alarm clock.  She gave a half sob, half laugh and sat on the edge of the bed, collapsing her head into her hands. 

“What is it?”  JC asked almost testily from behind her. 

Laura made a motion toward the red numbers glaring at them.  “We’ve been up all night and in about five minutes it’s going to be time to get Sophie up and ready for school.  Will we ever sleep again?”  Laura twisted on the bed to look at JC.

He rolled his head on his neck and stood up, “You lay down and rest, I’ll get her up and to school, then get Brandon started on his homework.  I can fall asleep faster than you and you need to rest more than I do.  I should be used to no sleep by now.”  He continued talking to himself on his way down the hall to wake Sophie.  “How many times did I wish for the amount of sleep I’m getting today?  This would have been great back then, suck it up man….Sophie, it’s time to get up, sweetheart.”

Sophie struggled out of the covers, while JC woke Brandon.  His question had Brandon jumping from the bed.  “Brandon, if you get up do you want to drive to drop Sophie off at school?” 

“I’ll have breakfast ready when you get downstairs,” JC stumbled down the stairs.  This not sleeping was really taking its toll on him.  He was glad that Brandon would be driving them this morning.  Brandon had almost completed everything he needed to in order to get his drivers license and loved to get any practice that he could. 

After dropping Sophie off, the two men returned home and JC extracted a promise to work on his homework before leaving Brandon to study.  JC drug himself up the stairs to his bed.  He stood for a moment over the cribs, he still couldn’t believe that he and Laura had created these two beautiful babies.  He stopped himself from pressing a kiss on their heads, not wanting to wake them. 

He turned and smiled at the sight of Laura in bed, there were deep circles under her eyes, she was almost snoring, but she was still the person he couldn’t imagine his life without.  He crawled in beside her and was asleep in seconds. 

***

JC awoke when Laura inadvertently punched him as she stretched.  “Sorry,” she said as pulled her arm away. 

“S’alright,” he responded rubbing his ribs. 

“I can’t believe they slept so long, they must be hungry.  Let’s get them up so we can at least try and get them asleep tonight.”  Laura still moved a little gingerly as she got up out of bed.  JC sat for a moment on the edge of the bed, trying to wake up. 

“Jace?  Where are the twins?” 

“In their cribs, why?”

“No they’re not,” Laura responded.   

“What?”  He demanded.

Laura was already out the door and halfway down the hall when she heard a soft cry and Brandon respond with a song. 

She grabbed a hold of the doorjamb and swung around the entry.  She froze in her tracks, JC bumping into her from behind.  Brandon had claimed both twins from their beds and had them sitting in their carriers.  They were watching every move that he made. 

Brandon caught sight of his parents watching him and became defensive.  “What?  They were crying and you weren’t getting up so I got them, changed them, and fed them so you could sleep.” 

“You…”  Laura began as Brandon feared he was in trouble.  “Are an angel!”  She gave him a huge kiss on the cheek as he blushed.  “Now why don’t you drive your dad to pick up Sophie from school?”

And Brandon began to believe that the twins weren’t going to be as bad as he had thought.  Maybe there would still be a place for him and Sophie.