PART V

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Rachel mumbled as she snuggled deeper into the warm confines of her bed and Nick's arms.

"Yes, morning," Lance said impatiently. "Come on Rachel. How can you sleep?" Today was the day. The two week waiting period after the embryo transfer was over. After the transfer there had been nothing to do but simply wait. Waiting wasn't at the top of the list of things Lance was good out. The past fourteen days had been pure torture. Last night was the worst since he knew in the morning - now - Rachel would test to see if she was pregnant or not.

"Easy. I lay down beneath the covers. I snuggle Nick, close my eyes..."

"Rachel..."

Rachel opened her eyes, blinking her eyes against the sleep. Lance and JC were standing next to her bed staring down at her expectantly. Just like that, the sleepiness wore off and she remembered what today was. Her stomach twisted in knots and she felt sick.

"Are okay?" Nick asked seeing the look on Rachel's face.

"My head just caught up reminding my stomach I'm supposed to be insanely nervous," she groaned and curled up in a ball. "I feel like throwing up."

"Throwing up? That's good right?" JC spoke. He should be tired. He had been up most of night unable to sleep. He kept thinking about the moment when Rachel took the pregnancy test. After everything they've been through in the last month it all boiled down to a simple two minute test. At the end of two minutes he would either be completely ecstatic or pushed back to the beginning of the process to start all over. That would certainly kill him. From the moment of the transplant he'd been a nervous wreck, more spastic and flighty than usual. What kept Lance from killing him while he slept - when he was able to sleep - was the shear fact that Lance was just as nervous.

"Come on," Nick laid a hand on Rachel's arm as he sat up. "The faster you do this, the faster we'll know. And the faster they'll leave our room and we can go back to sleep. At least until Olivia wakes."

Rachel didn't have the heart to tell him she probably wouldn't be able to go back to sleep if the test turned out negative. She pushed the covers back and slid her feet to the floor as she sat up. She looked at JC and Lance, sending them each a smile before walking toward the bathroom where the testing box was waiting. She stopped in the door way and whirled around. "I don't need help on this part." She smiled and shut the door on three faces.

"I don't think she trusts us," Nick commented hearing the click of the lock. He leaned his hip against his wife's dresser and yawned.

"These two minutes are going to be worse than the last two weeks," Lance rubbed his face. JC stood behind him, wrapping his arms around Lance's chest, pulling him back to his body. He sank against JC laying his hands on JC's arms.

"We never talked about what happens if this doesn't work," JC said lowly as if speaking the words out loud would make them real, would somehow jinx the results.

"I don't even want to think if this doesn't work," Lance shook his head. From the moment everything started he thought in terms of after one IVF session, Rachel would be pregnant. He never let himself think about that not happening. He didn't want to deal with the disappointment.

"Me neither," JC said truthfully. "Asking Rachel to do this again would make me feel selfish."

"It's not selfish wanting your own child," Nick said. "If for some reason Rachel isn't pregnant this time, then we'll do it again. But you two seriously owe me for keeping me from having sex with my wife."

"That wasn't what we agreed upon," Lance smirked, a teasing glint in his eyes. "I strictly recall you only saying JC couldn't sleep with her. I heard no mention of having to repay you for your lack of sex."

"How are you going to repay him Lance?"

"Is it time already?" Lance asked straightening his body. He had relaxed against JC during their conversation with Nick, allowing the brunette to hold some of his weight.

Rachel nodded. She looked at Nick who was poised ready to either console or congratulate her before turning her head to her brother and JC. She knew how anxious they were about the results and couldn't find it in her to keep them in suspense any longer. A smile slowly grew on her face.

Lance's breath caught. Rachel was now smiling wide and nodding. He could see the tears making their way down her cheeks and his soon followed. Pregnant. Rachel was pregnant. She was going to have a baby. Their baby. His and JC's. He turned in JC's arms staring at his boyfriend. JC's blue eyes were shining with unshed tears; his lips parted.

"Positive?" JC whispered finally able to speak.

"Positive," Rachel nodded, grinning. "I'm pregnant."

JC met Lance's eyes. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times unable to get any words past; not knowing what even to say. Instead of trying to think of something, JC closed his mouth over Lance's lips. His arms tightened their grasp on his boyfriend, pulling him against his body, as his lips opened and closed with Lance's. The kiss was salty and sweet; their tears mixing.

Rachel looked at Nick, her own tears steaming down her face. When he held his arms open, she buried herself against him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her hands into his back. Her tears dampened the t-shirt he wore to sleep in. Nick's own breathing was ragged, alerting her that he was either crying like she was or trying very hard not to. Raising her head, meeting his blue gaze she confirmed the latter. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty damn happy," Nick grinned. "I'll be able to make love to you again."

Rachel laughed out loud as she moved her arms to wrap around Nick's neck. "As soon as the doctor says it's okay I'm all yours."

"You're mine anyway," Nick leaned down capturing her lips with his as he tightened his arms around her.

"We're going to have a baby," Lance whispered when the kiss broke. His forehead pressed against JC's. His eyes never left JC's blue ones. He reached up thumbing a tear away from JC's cheek. He then buried that hand in JC's curls.

"A baby," JC whispered. He caressed Lance's back through the t-shirt he wore. "Our baby. It's impossible for me to love you more than I do right now.

"I haven't done anything really."

"You love me."

Lance's smile softened. "I do."

"That's all I need you to do."

*~*

"You think there's an occupancy limit in this room?" Nick asked as he stood in front of his wife, who sat on an examination table with a sheet draped over her legs. One of her feet, clad in a pair of socks she had left on when stripping from the waist down, rubbed the back of his knee through the denim of his jeans.

"No needles involved in this right?" JC asked from his perch on the left side of the examination table. He stood next to Lance clasping his hand.

"Right," the ultrasound technician smiled reassuringly at JC. If she was freaked out about having three big pop stars in her room, she didn't show it. She moved the cart that carried the equipment closer to the wall, providing more room on the right side of the bed. "Nick, you can move back here on this side of the table."

"The most people you've had in here?" Lance asked as Nick got situated between the table and the cart. On the wall in the corner was a television that was going to show the ultrasound so they all could see.

"Yes," Kelly nodded. She finished prepping and spun on her stool to face the two couples in the room. "I'm going to explain how this works and then we'll get started, okay?" When four heads nodded she continued. "The ultrasound we're doing today is called a transvaginal ultrasound. We use this in the first trimester because not only is the baby so small, but the uterus is also closer to the vagina than the abdomen. We'll have a clear picture of the baby and the heartbeat. I'll take measurements and find out exactly how far along you are. I'll be able to check the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes to make sure everything is how it's supposed to be. This will be the only time this type of ultrasound is used." Never had Kelly had men rapt attention as she did JC and Lance. They were sucking up everything she had to say. From the patient file and the news, she knew this was Rachel's second pregnancy so her and Nick already had this speech. "The next ultrasound will be after the 18th week. That will be an abdominal and that's when you'll find out the sex. So don't ask that today. I won't be able to tell you. Alright Rachel, you know the drill."

"These rooms where women end up in this position should have pictures on the ceilings," Rachel said as she placed her feet in the stir-ups. When she scooted as far forward as she could, she lay back on the bed. Kelly made sure the sheet didn't slip.

"Women in this room don't spend a lot of time looking at the ceiling," Kelly said with a smile. "But I do see your point and I agree. I think about that every time I'm at the doctor for those visits." She opened a condom, rolling it down the wand before squirting lube on the tip. "We try to keep it at room temperature, but it might be cool," she told Rachel. "You're gonna feel my fingers on the inside of your right leg..."

"This won't hurt the baby will it?"

"No JC," Rachel said looking at him. She moved her hand from her side to take his free hand. His left was wrapped up in Lance's hand. "The baby is perfectly safe." Her right hand soon found its way entwined with Nick's.

Nick leaned over, positioning himself near Rachel's head as he held her hand in his. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head as they all watched the grainy black and white photo come to life on the television screen. "I love you," he whispered quietly in her ear.

Squeezing Nick's hand, she turned her head to kiss him softly. "I love you too," she allowed her eyes to close as she leaned her head against his.

"Well now..." Kelly said as she taped a few keys on the ultrasound machine. "What do we have here..." she said to herself more so than the other occupants in the room.

"What? What's wrong?" Lance asked quickly. He tightened his hold on JC's hand as he look back and forth between the technician and the television screen. He needed help with the screen because right now he had yet to see something that remotely resembled a baby. He paled. What if she wasn't pregnant? What if they went through the last few weeks believing Rachel was pregnant when she wasn't? What if the home pregnancy test and the blood test were wrong?

"Just a moment," Kelly said and moved the wand inside Rachel. She tapped another key then smiled facing the group.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked worriedly. She held Nick's hand tight; could feel JC's death grip on her other hand. She could just imagine how tight he was holding onto Lance's. She tried not to let her fears run considering Kelly was smiling at them. People in the medical profession didn't smile this happily if it was bad news.

"Nothing is wrong," Kelly said, "I just had to confirm something."

"Confirm what?" JC asked.

"Look at the screen," Kelly said with a smile. She positioned the wand to give the best view and watched everyone look at the screen. She saw recognition hit Rachel's face first.

"Oh..." Rachel gasped.

"What?" Lance asked looking at Rachel's face then back at the screen. He narrowed his eyes, searching, but he had no idea. He still wasn't sure if he was looking at it correctly.

"Would you like to tell them?" Kelly asked Rachel.

"Twins," Rachel said softly. "I'm carrying twins."

Lance felt the blood rush from his face and he swayed slightly.

"Are you okay Lance?" Rachel asked. "You're not gonna faint are you?"

JC let go of Rachel's hand so he could steady his boyfriend. He wrapped his arm around Lance's waist. Funny, he would have thought he would be the one ready to faint, not Lance. "Are you okay?"

Lance nodded. "I'm okay. Twins? Ar-are you sure?"

Kelly smiled. "Yes. Rachel is carrying twins."

"Wow..." JC breathed. He pressed his hand harder into Lance's waist. Twins. Rachel was pregnant with twins. In eight months, he and Lance wouldn't be bringing one baby home; they would be bringing two. It was his turn to pale at the thought. They were going to be bringing two babies home from the hospital. They were going to be responsible for two tiny little babies at once. Two instead of one.

"Oh jeez," Nick chuckled seeing JC pale. "They are ready to hit the floor during the ultrasound. No way they'll make it through delivery."

"They will be fine," Kelly chided lightly. "I've had people pass out in here before when they found out they were having multiples instead of one. It's a huge discovery. Changes everything about a pregnancy they'd been expecting.

"You're telling me," Lance said. "I wasn't expecting twins."

"You should have. I'm sure they explained the percentage of multiple births when using IVF. Not to mention there's a higher percentage when there's a genetic history of multiples," Kelly explained. "Most times we find that multiples skip a generation."

"Not the case here," Rachel grinned.

"No. Not the case here," Kelly smiled. "Let me show you," she turned toward her computer and the mouse appeared on the television screen. "Here is Baby A," she moved the mouse around the black peanut shape on the screen. "And this is Baby B."

Once Kelly pointed both the babies out, Lance could clearly see what he had been missing originally. As he looked, he wondered how he could have missed it. There were clearly two babies on the screen. His babies. "Wow," he gripped JC's hand at his waist.

"We're having twins Lance," JC grinned leaning his head against Lance's as they stared at their children. "Two for one."

"Yeah," Lance laughed, wrapping his free arm around JC's waist. His other hand still held fast at his waist, his fingers tangled with JC's. "These are definitely Chasez babies. Two for one. That's right up your alley."