"Well you know me, I love my food." He said as we followed the doctor down the halls.

"Right, go in this door and wash your hands and arms, there is a nurse in there waiting for you and she will take you in to see your babies." The doctor said.

We thanked him and he disappeared off down the halls before we walked in through the door he had told us to. Like he said, there was a nurse in the room waiting for us and she made sure we washed our hands properly before she lead us through another set of doors into the room where our babies were.

"One of your friends made a pretty hefty donation so that your babies could be in their own room." The nurse explained as we walked in.

"Tony." Clint and I sighed at the same time.

In the room were more machines than I had ever seen, all attached to two little incubators in the middle where each of the twins laid. Tears stung my eyes when I saw them, they were so tiny and they had all these different things attached to them, it just broke my heart looking at them like that. I glanced up at Clint just as he wiped a stray tear from his cheek and he gulped down the lump in his throat as we followed the nurse over to the incubators.

"Have you got any names yet?" The nurse asked as she checked the clipboards hanging at the end of each incubator.

"Abi, you had a few ideas didn't you?" Clint asked, looking down at me.

"I uh... I was thinking Axel Roman Barton for our little boy and Madison Barton for our little girl, but I don't know what middle name to give her." I said with a small smile.

"Axel Roman Barton is perfect, and for Madison could we maybe give her my mother's name as a middle name?" Clint asked sheepishly.

"I'd love that, Madison Edith Barton." I said with a smile, it fit perfectly.

"Is that a final decision?" The nurse asked.

"Yes." Clint and I said at the same time.

The nurse scribbled their names down on the clipboards at the end of the incubators before beckoning us over to them.

"You can put your hands in through these holes, unfortunately you can't hold them just yet because they aren't strong enough to be taken out of here yet. But talk to them, they will get familiar with your voices and be able to recognise you as they grow." The nurse explained.

I stood next to Madison's incubator and put my hands in the holes on the side like the nurse had shown us, she gripped my baby finger lightly and I used my free hand to stroke her forehead gently. I was worried, I didn't want to hurt her or anything but she was just so tiny so I was scared I was going to break her. I glanced over at Clint to see he was doing the same thing as me in Axel's incubator.

"Hey little lady, it's your momma here and I just want you to know that I love you and your brother more than anything in the world. You gave us all a bit of a scare making an arrival so early, eager to please Uncle Tony it seems; I know he said he couldn't wait to meet you guys, I mean we all couldn't, but it didn't mean you had to come this early." I said with a small chuckle.

I looked over to see Clint talking to Axel, he was crouched right over so his face was a few millimetres away from the glass, his breath making it fog up he was so close.

"What's up little dude? I'm your dad... god that sounds crazy saying it out loud, but that title is better than anything else I've been called. You and your sister are a pair of little fighters, just like your mom, but you gave us a real scare little man; the suspense you left us all in when you arrived stressed us all out. But you're gonna be trouble and I already know it, just wait till you get older, I'm gonna teach you all my tricks and pranks then you can help me finally prank your mom." He said with a chuckle, making me laugh too.

Clint looked over at me and smiled, making my heart race and my stomach flip, so I returned the smile before turning my attention back to Madison. I peered in at her through the glass and I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face but I also couldn't figure out who she, or Axel, looked more like; me or Clint. Everyone says you can instantly see who the baby looks more like, but with the babies being so small it was a struggle, and I just hoped they ended up being lucky and looking more like Clint. He has piercing blue eyes, amazing hair and... well he's just perfect whereas my blue eyes are a dull blue, my hair is a boring brown and don't even get me started on anything else.

"When can our friends come and see the babies?" Clint asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"They can come now, but they can only come in pairs as I'm guessing the two of you would like to be in here with them, and we request that no more than 4 people in with the babies at a time." The nurse explained.

"I'll go get everyone and bring them back here." I volunteered.

"Okay, but when you return you need to wash your hands again Miss Gilbert." The nurse told me.

"I'll be back in a minute." I said to Clint quickly before heading off to find the others.

I made my way back towards the room I was in and found the others gathered in the hall outside, when they saw me they quickly rushed towards me and bombarded me with questions.

"You guys can come and see them now, but you need to pair up and you have to wash your hands and arms before we can go in." I explained.

We made our way back down to the NICU and I stopped them outside before I took the first two inside.

"Don't be too loud when we go inside, it'll scare the babies, but talk to them so they can start to recognise your voices. Oh, and Tony, thanks for paying for a separate room." I said with a small smile.

"Nothing but the best for the two newest editions to the family." He said with a grin.

I lead Tony and Pepper in, we washed our hands before we went in and as soon as we did, Pepper started gushing over them.

"Oh my god Tony look at them." She said quietly.

"Hey princess, it's Uncle Tony here, your favourite uncle. I can't wait for the two of you to get out of here so we can spoil you rotten, you're going to love it." He said with a grin, making me chuckle.

Whilst Pepper and Tony were fussing over Madison I joined Clint at Axel's incubator and stood opposite him, putting my hands in the holes on the other side. I watched Axel moving his little fingers and twitching his toes, it wasn't much but it meant he was strong and that made me happy. My hand brushed across Clint's and I looked up to find him already staring at me, making my cheeks flush red in a matter of seconds. I wanted to stay mad at him but I didn't know how long it was going to last, especially if he kept making me feel this kind of way.

"He's even smaller than Madison." I said sadly.

"But he's a little fighter, our little fighter." Clint said, grasping my hand and squeezing it reassuringly.

"That's right." I said as I stroked Axel's forehead.

"Abi can we maybe talk later? Tony has booked us a hotel room right next door to the hospital so that we don't have to drive an hour to get here, we are practically on the doorstep. It has two separate beds of course." Clint started rambling.

"I think that's a good idea." I said with a small smile.

I needed to talk everything through with him, but at the same time I really wasn't looking forward to it; how do you talk to the love of your life about them cheating on you?

SavedWhere stories live. Discover now