A/N: Well, as I just found the baby pictures in my cupboard, I remembered, that I wanted to show you the original clamp from my daughter's umbilical cord, as well as the last bit of that chord, which just dried out and fell off after a couple of days.
That's the clamp
And that's the stump of the umbilical chord.
First real smile as reaction to my voice
First bath, after the umbilical cord fell off!
Back to the story:
"But....", the doctor now hesitated.
"You're starting to scare me, doctor, so please spill!", Nathalie now hissed angrily, then turned to Gabriel and repeated her question from before, "have I been that snappy, when I was pregnant with Hélène?"
She was close to tears now and the concerned man quickly pecked her cheek and muttered:
"No, my love, you were not!" Then he squeezed her hand encouragingly and smiled at her lovingly. Gazing at the gynaecologist, he demanded impatiently: "But now tell us, please, what's wrong, doctor!"
The physician now shook his head and answered:
"I wouldn't say wrong, but....look here and.....well.....here. Can you see....there are..."
"Two!", Gabriel finished his sentence.
"Say what? Nathalie blurted out, staring at the screen close to just having a panic attack. "Are you trying to tell us, that we're having....twins?"
Nodding the doctor explained:
"Identical twins even, see...."
And then he zoomed in on the two little, sea monkey formed figures, so they could see, what he was talking about.
Nathalie was pressing Gabriel's hand so firmly now, that she was almost hurting him.
He leaned his head against hers and then let go of her hand to just place Hélène on her chest. Feeling her little daughter nuzzle her little face into her, while grabbing her shirt firmly and start babbling in all her cute little baby noises, calmed the young mother immediately down. Though she was really crying now, Nathalie just bent her head and pecked her child's head softly, before she told her:
"Did you see that, precious? You're going to have two little brothers or sisters very soon. Would you like that?"
Hélène lifted her head, to look up to her, then grinned mischievously and opened her mouth to bite into the skin on her chest with just her gums.
The doctor watched them with a beaming smile.
"She'll soon get her first teeth, that you can be certain about. And for you, Mrs Agreste, this time you really need to take a couple of steps back, alright? There's nothing, you have to worry about right now, except you're own well being. There's everything okay with those babies, so, just relax, enjoy the time with your daughter and don't do anything that would take too much of your energy!"
Now they both blurted out:
"Say what?"
The doctor chuckled and shook his head.
"I just said, take a couple of steps back, not stop moving at all", he mused, "but seriously, take it slow, alright? I won't tell you to not have any sexual intercourse, but", he bent over to Nathalie and said quietly, with a gesture of his head towards Gabriel, "let your husband spoil you a little!"
Though she was still crying a little bit, the young woman giggled to that.
"Okay!", she whispered back, looking at Gabriel afterwards, who smirked at her.
"Well", the gynaecologist now stated, "I'll leave you for a moment until you got dressed and then we can talk about everything else, okay?"
The couple just nodded.
"Can you hold her for a moment, please?", she asked Gabriel now, "I can't get down from this chair otherwise!"
The caring father nodded with a smile and held out his hands for his daughter, cooing:
"Would you like to come to your daddy again, my little princess?"
Hélène squealed and really held out her arms for him too grab her too.
Of course that made the in an emotional turmoil captured, young mother cry even more. But Gabriel could tell, that those were happy tears.
"Oh come here, love, let me hug you! And you my little princess, give mummy a big, wet kiss. No, don't bite, kiss. Look, like that!"
And then he kissed his wife very tenderly.
"See", he whispered, "like that. Do you want one too?"
He softly pecked his daughters lips, barely managing to dodge her next biting attack.
"You really are a little vampire. Come here my monster!"
Lifting Hélène up and playing the 'I let you fall' game, forgetting, that his wife was watching, he laughed about her happy screams. Then he looked at Nathalie and grinned sheepishly.
"I didn't mean to let you see that, I know, you don't like it, love!"
"Yeah, just ignore my fears. Just let her fall!", she hissed and turned her head.
"Nath, I wasn't planning on...hey...would you please look at me?"
She did, tears brimming her eyes.
"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to be so....so...."
"Hormonal?", he suggested carefully, earning an angry glance, but then she thought for a moment and nodded.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I..."
Now she was sobbing again.
Gabriel just held out his hand and helped her down from the chair, then pecked her lips again, before he gave her a soft clap on her butt, telling her:
"Go get dressed, woman. I want to take you home and 'spoil' you!", he hummed with a laszive look at her buttocks. "God, I love that arse, Nath!"
She tried to give him an angry look, but felt way too flustered and giggly, to make it believable. So she just grunted and slapped his shoulder with her hand, before she really went to get dressed.
When they arrived back at the mansion, it was already past noon. After getting specific instructions from the doctor, according to things, Nathalie should do or not do, like breastfeeding for example. As long, as she felt good, there wasn't a problem, though it could become one, because of her being pregnant with twins. But she didn't even want to think about that right now. Even if the doctor had told her, it could impact the morning sickness and make it worse. She wanted her daughter to be able to feel that bonding as long as possible.
So they had agreed on continuing for now, hoping, everything would be good. Then they had said goodbye to the doctor until the next appointment in two weeks, due too the higher risk, and thanked him for making time for them, especially on a Friday, right before noon.
Now they were entering the mansion and surprised, that Adrien and Marinette were already there, as school usually would end much later in the afternoon.
"What are you already doing here?", Gabriel asked suspiciously.
"Last day before summer break!", the teenagers shouted in unison. Then Marinette took a close look at Nathalie's red and swollen eyes and the small red stains on her cheeks and asked, while she stepped closer and laid a hand on her arm:
"Nath, have you been crying? Is something wrong?"
Nathalie just shook her head and smiled awkwardly.
"It's just....well....it's almost a little pathetic......but.....the two of you", she looked from Adrien to Hélène now, "are going to have 'two' more siblings soon!"
The young couple gasped. It was Marinette, who blurted out:
"Say what?", and made Nathalie and Gabriel giggle, because it was the third time that day, someone yelled that.
"But why would that be pathetic?", wondered Adrien now.
That made his girlfriend laugh.
"I can very well imagine, why!", she exclaimed, "it's because, they are the adults, who should be considerate and responsible. And, well, they screwed up twice, while 'we' the careless and way too young, according to my dad, teenagers, didn't, because we were better prepared and 'did' use the prepared thingys! And yes, there was the accident, but we were lucky and well, it literally 'was' an accident!"
Nathalie nodded.
"That's what I was talking about", she sighed, "just this time, we were aware of the consequences from the very start. Even though it kinda began with an accident too, because we were both halfway sleeping!", she admitted sheepishly.
Adrien looked pensive for a while, then he began to speak:
"You both look, as if you could use a little time for yourself, what would you say, if we take care of my little sis for the rest of the day, so you could talk all of this through?", he suggested.
Even though the young mother was about to object, her husband was faster and said:
"Actually, that would be very sweet of you, because the doctor told Natalie, to take several steps back this time and not do anything too exhausting. And", he spoke to his eye rolling wife now, "as you already fell asleep on the nursery floor, this morning, I think, a little rest would be good, don't you?"
She gave in and nodded.
"Yeah, maybe you're right. But, let me feed her first, okay? You know, she doesn't like the bottle and if the doctor was right, she's going to get used to it way too early anyway!", Nathalie demanded.
"I could come and get her, when you're finished", Marinette suggested, "if you're okay with it, we could take her for a walk through the park and then stop at my place. My mum's been asking to see her like a thousand times already."
Gabriel was already about to say no, when Nathalie said, with a glimpse at him, knowing, that he was too scared to just let them do that:
"If the gorilla would follow them, so he could react if it's necessary, would you feel better then?", she proposed.
He agreed reluctantly.
"I wouldn't feel good still, but better and I know I can't put Adrien or Hélène into a golden cage, but I have always been scared, that someone would try to kidnap him to get some money out of me. And despite thew things, that the people think of me, it never was the money, I cared about!"
"We all know that, honey! But now come. I bet our little monster is already hungry again!"
Gabriel simply chuckled at his wife's description of their child and pecked her cheek to then lay an arm around her and nudge her into their bedroom. There the scared man, so he tried to not show it to Nathalie, just ordered:
"You, sit or lie down, take your time, just try to relax. I will leave you two alone and get you a little snack, alright?"
That seemed to lighten her mood a little bit.
"You remember the difference between a snack and, well, bunny food, right?", she asked threateningly.
He chuckled and nodded.
"Believe me, I will never forget the difference again, my love. But....I insist on a little bit of healthy food, alright?", Gabriel said sternly.
"Fine", the young mother whined, "what about you, baby. Healthy or tasty?"
The young child looked at her mother with her incredible blue eyes and blinked.
"See, she wants something tasty too. Let me think......mh....just don't even consider the vegetables. I don't mind the fruits, as you know, how about a delicious portion of strawberry or lemon ice cream? I would even take a sorbet, if you insist on real fruits!"
She now gave him an innocent, pleading look, that he just couldn't resist.
"You are fully aware, that you're cheating again right now, Nath, right? But maybe I can go for a compromise. I'll just go and see, what the chef can do for you, yeah? And now, sit! Put your feet up.!"
"Yes, Sir, I'll do that right away!", she said mockingly.