A/N: I am putting trigger warnings on this chapter. I would say it's more angst than anything but on the off chance that anything written in this chapter could possibly upset or trigger someone, I wanted to put warnings on it.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: ANGST, PREMATURE LABOR/BIRTH, FEAR, AND TALK OF THE TWINS NOT SURVIVING. (IF THIS BOTHERS YOU, PLEASE PLEASE SKIP THIS CHAPTER.)
(I am a mother so please do NOT think I am making light of those that can't have kids, those that have had miscarriages, or those that have had stillborn children. Multiples are almost ALWAYS premature and can have complications {I researched before writing this} that is why the twins are being born at 33 weeks, not the normal 40 weeks.)
I researched as best I could so if anything is medically incorrect I do apologize. There is only so much you can find online.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
None of them let what happened affect them or ruin their plans for their first Christmas together. Charity, Lyssah, and Imogen did all of the shopping for the meal they were going to cook. Everyone took this time to finish shopping for gifts as well. BTS had to work on Christmas Day. They were performing on one of the end of the year shows which aired that day so everyone had decided that they would take the Saturday before that off and have a Christmas celebration at Lyssah's house.
Alex and Felicity had put the tree up together after they bought it on the sixteenth and they had decorated it with everyone, including BTS. The guys even had their own ornaments, picked out for them by Lyssah and her friends and ordered online, to put on the tree. The sixteenth was spent decorating the tree while listening to Christmas music, baking Christmas cookies for the BigHit staff, and then watching a couple of Christmas movies.
On Friday, after practice, BTS went back to their dorm to wrap gifts before going to Lyssah's house to spend the night. The house had enough extra bedrooms considering TaeKook would sleep with her, Hoseok would sleep with Imogen, and Jimin would sleep with Charity. The extra rooms were for when the boys stayed when Lyssah's friends came back to visit, or when she flew family over to spend time with them. Charity and she were the only ones staying there permanently. The rest of their friends would be flying back to the U.S after the new year. And Lyssah had family coming to stay with her around Valentine's Day since the twins were due February 6th.
For Lyssah and her friends, Friday was spent prepping the food to be cooked the following day, cooking things they could cook that day like the pies and cookies (which they let the kids help decorate), wrapping gifts, and decorating the house. It made the day go faster for them while they waited for BTS to show up.
They had just finished putting clean bedding on all of the beds when they heard the lock on the door beep. Aside from them, only Sejin and the members knew the code for the lock so they knew who it was.
The boys were laughing and joking around when they walked in, stopping to take their shoes off and hang up their jackets before walking in to say hello to everyone. Then the boys took their overnight bags to their rooms.
When they came back out, they played some video games with the kids, then watched a Christmas movie before putting the kids to bed for the night. Once all the kids were in bed, Kia brought out some beer and soju for those that could drink and non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider for Lyssah. They spent the evening drinking a little and talking about their favorite memory of Christmas. All of their favorite memories were with their families, which made it bittersweet for Jeongguk and Taehyung who wouldn't be talking to their families this year. But they weren't going to let that bother them or let it ruin their first Christmas with Lyssah.
It was around midnight when they all decided to call it a night. The boys were tired from practice and Lyssah and the girls were tired as well from cooking, cleaning, and decorating. Lyssah took a quick shower with her lovers before climbing into bed and cuddling with them. Taehyung and Jeongguk took turns singing softly to the twins then kissed her softly and they all went to sleep.
The morning of their Christmas celebration, Jin and Kia were the first ones awake, followed soon by Charity and Jimin. The four of them made breakfast together for everyone. By the time they had finished cooking, everyone else was awake. Once everyone had finished eating, the kids ran off to play while the adults started setting things up for dinner.
Hoseok and Yoongi set up the extra tables and chairs as well as putting tablecloths on each table. Taehyung and Namjoon brought out all the gifts from BTS and put them under the tree as well as turning on the lights on the tree. Knowing how sensitive Jeongguk's nose is, Lyssah had forgone Christmas candles this year and just went with decorative lights for each of the tables. Jeongguk got to play DJ and chose random Christmas songs to play while helping when he was needed. Lyssah, Jin, Jimin, and Charity were in charge of most of the cooking. The other girls were wrapping gifts in their rooms or helping where they were needed.
They could tell she was tired still, so Taehyung and Jeongguk made Lyssah take a nap. She had refused at first but when everyone else had insisted as well she gave in. She slept fitfully for an hour and a half before getting back up to join the others. Charity made her some peppermint tea and had her sit on the couch with her lovers while dinner finished cooking.
Dinner was done soon after so Alex and Felicity set the tables and helped Audrey and Jacob get their food while getting their own. Once all the kids had their plates, the adults got theirs and sat down. There was minimal chatter while they ate other than someone saying how good the food was.
For BTS it was nice to be able to celebrate Christmas since it was something they rarely got to do because they were always busy with practice and performing at the end of the year shows. Sure they celebrated it together but they were usually so exhausted that it was just a quick gift exchange and nothing more.
After dinner, they all went into the living room to open gifts. The kids opened theirs first. Each of them had a gift from each member of BTS as well as from their mothers' friends and their mothers. They opened them one gift at a time in order from youngest to oldest. There were clothes, toys, games, as well as a couple of gift cards. Knowing Alex's love for drawing, Yoongi had gifted him a really nice drawing tablet. Jimin had bought Jacob a lego set he had been wanting.
Lyssah got up to help throw out the wrapping paper since she had to grab something from her bathroom. It was the worried yell for Jeongguk and Taehyung that came a few minutes later that had everyone on their feet following the maknaes to their bathroom.
"Baby what's wrong?" Jeongguk asked as he rushed in.
"Princess, are you okay?" Taehyung asked coming in right after.
Lyssah stood there eyes wide looking down at the floor. Jeongguk and Taehyung following her eyes and looking confused. Charity was the next one in the room.
"Lys, what....oh shit!" She said when she noticed where everyone was looking. "Your water broke?!" She asked just to be sure.
"WHAT?!" Taehyung and Jeongguk both said in shock.
Lyssah nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "It's too early..."
Charity gently pushed past TaeKook and pulled Lyssah into a hug. "Honey, calm down. They'll be fine. We'll get you to the hospital and the doctors will take care of everything. Let's get you changed and pack a few things to take with you."
Lyssah nodded, wiping her tears. She knew that her freaking out wasn't going to help. If anything it was making her lovers worry more. Charity ushered everyone aside from Jeongguk and Taehyung out of the room. She told them what to pack, while she helped Lyssah change into dry clothes. Yoongi went to tell Alex and Felicity what was going on since they would be watching the younger kids while everyone went to the hospital.
They were headed out the door and to their cars ten minutes later, a very nervous and scared Taehyung and Jeongguk on each side of Lyssah holding her hands. She kept reassuring them that she was fine, that the contractions weren't that bad yet. She also called her doctor during the ride to the hospital. The doctor said she was on her way and would meet them there.
Luckily it was still early enough that they could walk in the front door instead of going to the Emergency Room. They went straight up to the maternity floor where Lyssah was quickly put into a private room. Only Jeongguk, Taehyung, and Charity went with her at first, not wanting to draw attention with everyone coming in with her at once. The rest followed once they knew she was in a room and the nurses and doctors on the floor had been notified that they would be there as well as reminded about the need for confidentiality and the repercussions if they should say anything. They were given another private room to use as a waiting room just for them so other patients and visitors didn't see them and say anything.
Once Lyssah was in a hospital gown and situated in the hospital bed, Charity went to the other room to talk to the others and let them know the doctor was on her way. Namjoon had already called Sejin and Hitman Bang so they knew Taehyung and Jeongguk wouldn't be coming into practice the following day. Both had been very understanding of course and asked to be updated on Lyssah and the twins.
Taehyung and Jeongguk held Lyssah's hands and did their best to talk her through her contractions when they started getting worse. As terrified as they both were they knew they had to be there for her. Jeongguk had quickly learned to watch the monitor that showed her contractions so he knew when one was starting. Charity was very proud of how well both of them were handling it so far.
It was just after 1 in the morning when Lyssah was ready to deliver her babies, with Taehyung to her left and Jeongguk to her right, each holding her hands. It took a few minutes of pushing and some reassuring "you're doing good, baby" before they heard a cry pierce the air and the doctor says "It's a boy". Taehyung teared up and kissed Lyssah's forehead.
Lyssah smiled at him and said. "Go see your son, Tae. I'm fine."
He hesitated for a moment before kissing her again and going over to see his son for the first time.
The nurses were cleaning him up and checking his APGAR score. His score was low and he was having some trouble breathing so they immediately took him out of the room to the NICU.
Not long after, Lyssah was pushing again, Jeongguk coaching her through it as best he could. It wasn't long before the doctor said "It's a girl" But the silence in the room was deafening. There was no crying. Not a sound. Jeongguk felt like his heart stopped as he waited. He had tears running down his cheeks, his forehead leaned against Lyssah's temple, mumbling "Please, please." It took a minute but then they heard it. It was weak but the sound of his daughter crying made Jeongguk lift his head to look over at her. He blinked away his tears before turning to kiss Lyssah's temple.
"Go, bun. She needs her daddy more than I do." She told him.
Jeongguk walked over to look at his daughter. He didn't get long though because they had to rush her to the NICU since she needed more help breathing than her twin. He stepped into the doorway where Taehyung stood. His eyes started to tear up again so Taehyung pulled him in for a hug.
"It's okay, Guk. Let it out." He whispered.
That was all it took for Jeongguk to break down. He sobbed against his hyung's shoulder. The fear of not knowing whether or not his daughter was going to make it was crippling. Once he had calmed down, they both went back into the room to be with Lyssah. She looked up when they walked in, her own eyes red-rimmed from crying. They were at her side and hugging her in an instant. Truth be told, with both twins struggling to breathe on their own they all needed reassurance from each other. They took a few minutes just the three of them before they decided to tell the others to come to the room so they could tell them what was going on.
Taehyung texted Namjoon and let him know that everyone could come to see Lyssah and that they needed to tell them all something. Everyone could feel the somber atmosphere as soon as they entered the room. They explained everything to them. The worst part for them is not knowing what the morning will bring. All of them give the three words of encouragement as well as hugs before leaving so that Lyssah can get some rest.
The nurses had brought in reclining chairs for Taehyung and Jeongguk to sleep on so they could stay with her. They sat and cuddled her until she fell asleep before moving to sleep in their chairs. None of the three of them slept very well, even as exhausted as Lyssah was. There were a few times that either Jeongguk or Taehyung would wake up and hear Lyssah sniffling so they would get up and crawl into bed with her until she calmed down and fell back to sleep. By morning, Jeongguk had ended up in bed with her wrapped around her protectively even in his sleep.
When the morning nurse came in she just shook her head and chuckled softly. She had been told by one of the night nurses to expect one of the guys to end up in bed next to her because she had been crying off and on all night. She gently woke them up and asked Jeongguk to move so she could check Lyssah's vitals. Once she was done she told Lyssah that her breakfast would be coming soon and the doctor would be in to see her after then she could go to the NICU to see the twins. She quietly thanked the nurse so as not to wake Taehyung.
Once the nurse left, Jeongguk came over and sat on the ned next to Lyssah, kissing her forehead.
"How are you feeling, angel?" He asked.
"Still tired and a little sore." She replied. "How are you, bun?" she asked.
"I'm okay...anxious to talk to the doctor about the twins." He answered.
"I know. Me too. Soon hopefully." She said.
Lyssah's breakfast came a few minutes later. Even though she was too worried to be hungry she still managed to eat some of it. The doctor came in soon after she finished eating and checked her over. He told her that she was doing well and that she could get out of bed to visit the twins. He said that their doctor would be in the NICU to talk to them soon. Taehyung was awake by then and they helped Lyssah put on some comfy clothes for the walk to the NICU. She also texted Charity to let her know that she was okay and that they were on their way to see the twins. She told her she'd call her with an update on the twins once she had talked to the doctor.
Taehyung and Jeongguk each took a moment to change their clothes before putting on their masks, making sure Lyssah had hers on, and walking with her to the NICU to meet the doctor and see their babies.
They arrived at the NICU at the same time that the doctor did. He leads them to a room where he could sit down and talk to them. He explained that Minah couldn't breathe on her own so they had to put her on a machine to help her breathe. And that Jaehyun was struggling to breathe as well but only really needed a nasal cannula (A/N: the tube with the pieces that went into the nose to supply him with oxygen. Had to research this because I forgot the name of it). He also explained that both babies were having trouble regulating their body temperatures so they were in incubators. And that they were both fairly small. Jaehyun weighing 4.5 lbs (2.0kg) and Minah weighed 4 lbs (1.8kg). Neither had developed the suck-swallow-breathe reflex so they wouldn't be able to be bottle or breastfed therefore they both had feeding tubes. He didn't want it to surprise them when they saw their babies with various tubes connected to them. Once he had gone over a few more things concerning the twins he showed the three of them to the front desk so they could show their ID bracelets to the women there in order to be allowed inside the NICU.
Once inside they were greeted by the twins' nurses who lead them over to the private room that had been selected for the twins. The entire NICU staff had already been informed about who Jeongguk and Taehyung were and the rules of confidentiality of course. Before going into the room, Lyssah took both of her lovers' hands. Taking a deep breath, they walked into the room together. It was a bit scary seeing their babies with all those tubes but knowing that they were alive because of them helped some. Jeongguk went over to Minah's incubator and Taehyung went to Jaehyun's. Lyssah stood in between so she could look at both her babies. They couldn't touch them but they did talk to them. Letting them know that their mommy and daddies were there and that they loved them very much.
They spent all morning in the NICU, talking to the different doctors, nurses, and staff taking care of the twins. They got a lot of information and it was a little overwhelming but it was better to know than not know. They went back to Lyssah's room to eat lunch and call Charity and Namjoon to update them.