"Mum! The twins won't leave me alone! Can you please tell them, that they can't come into my room, when I'm with my friends!"
The twelve years old Hélène was desperate. Living in a house, with two eleven years old twin brothers and an eight year old, way too nosy sister, wasn't easy at all. Luckily Emma, her nine year old niece and her nephew Louis, who was almost as old as the twins, were coming over later. Like that she wouldn't have to bother about any of her younger siblings, because, if those two would be here, her half brother, who owned a huge company by now, that was producing toys, and his wife would be here too.
Marinette was her most favourite grown up and was pregnant with her second son, though Hélène still couldn't believe, that they really wanted to call the poor baby Hugo! Despite the bad taste in names, Marinette always had her back and was on her side, when it came to any arguments. And for some reason, her parents listened to her. More than they did to Adrien, or her other half siblings, Felix and Chloe. Felix was bearable, so was Chloe by now, since she had been knocked up by her boyfriend Kim and had married him. Their eldest was two years old now and their second was about half a year old.
"MUM!", she screamed again, because one of her brothers had began to play pranks on her best friend and secret crush.
Nathalie sighed and smiled knowingly at Gabriel, as she handed him their six weeks old surprise, Colette, and went down the hallway, to chase the boys out of the room.
On her way she almost crashed into Michelle, her eight years old daughter, who was complaining about the twins and their behaviour too.
The now middle aged woman sighed again deeply, as she yelled her sons' names:
"Marcel! Maurice! Get out of your sister's room and back into your own. I thought I told you both, that you were to stay in there, until you have caught up on your school work, that you told me, you did last week. If I will get another call from your teacher about that, you'll be grounded for the next two weeks. And I know, that it's spring break and I am just punishing myself with keeping you inside the house for so long!"
The boys let their heads hang low, as they walked passed their mother, both mumbling a:
"Okay, mum, sorry!"
Nathalie looked at them sternly.
"You should go and apologize to Hélène and Antoinette too. And to Michelle of course, whatever you did to her again. And please, try to cause less trouble later, when Adrien and Marinette come over. Marinette hasn't been feeling well lately and she shouldn't get stressed out too much, okay?"
"Yes, mum!", the twins said sheepishly.
The exhausted mother gave them a loving smile.
"Can I get a kiss?"
"Ew, mum, we are way too old for that!", Maurice exclaimed.
"Oh come on, just a little peck on the cheek. Or I will haunt you for the rest of the week, to kiss you both on the mouth in front of your school and all your friends!"
Now the boys gasped.
"You wouldn't do that to us, you are our mother!", Marcel tried to make her feel guilty.
"You know very well, that I would and now I want a kiss from my baby boys!"
"Mum!"
"Baby boys!", Hélène, Antoinette and Michelle shouted in unison and broke into a guffaw.
The twins were about to attack the girls, but Nathalie stopped them.
"You! Both! Back to your room and I still want that kiss! And if you all won't stop laughing, I'll demand one from each of you!", she then scolded the three girls who immediately fled into their own rooms.
Laughing she went back to her husband and youngest child.
"What did they do this time?", Gabriel asked with a grin.
Nathalie shrugged.
"I didn't even ask, I just send them back to their room. It's a miracle, that we would still decide for more children, after those two!", she said jokingly as she took her baby back into her arms.
The designer laid an arm around her.
"How are you feeling, Nath? You know, you should still be taking it slowly!"
"Yeah, right. I'm gonna get some rest, while you take care of all five children and of Louis and Emma later!", she scoffed.
"Marinette still not feeling better?", he asked worriedly.
Nathalie shook her head.
"Nope, that's why they're coming over. She eventually agreed to have a c-section tomorrow and since Tom isn't feeling any better yet after his stroke, Emma and Louis are staying with us. Good thing, that at least the twins and Michelle are calmer, when those two are here. And well, it's a school day, so....."
"So as soon as we sent the little monsters off, we'll just have to deal with our little accident!", he said jokingly.
"Gabriel!", Nathalie scolded him and slapped his shoulder with her free hand.
"Okay, okay, our little surprise! Better?", her husband corrected himself remorsefully, "you know very well, that I love her just as much as the rest of the bunch, maybe even a little more after..."
Knowing, that she didn't like to talk about the miscarriage three years earlier and the following surgery, after which she had been told, she couldn't get pregnant anymore. Colette was quite a surprise, as they didn't find out about her until Nathalie all of a sudden could feel her kick. When her period didn't come she simply had thought, this was the beginning of her menopause.
But the familiar feeling of a baby kicking, after having had another four before this one, had made her go to the doctor, who had confirmed, that she was already five months pregnant. At first, they had both been shocked, considering their age, but then, they had just felt happiness.
And ironically this pregnancy had been the one without any complications, not even the slightest bit of morning sickness.
Actually, they were feeling bad for Marinette, because she wasn't even thirty and still it was the second child, that came with pre-eclampsia, bleedings in the first trimester and such severe nausea, that the poor girl, or by now woman, couldn't eat anything and had to be parenterally nourished for more than a month.
Her pregnancy with Louis had been very easy on her, so they had made the decision to have another very soon, but after the problems with Emma, they had decided to wait a couple of years. They had even known about Hugo, before Nathalie and Gabriel had found out about Colette. There were still four weeks left until the due date, but to not endanger mother and child any longer, the doctors had told that this c-section needed to be done or they both could die.
"Well", Gabriel stated, "at least she has finally decided to let them do the c-section. Better a planned one, than an emergency one as she had with Emma!"
Nathalie agreed.
"Yeah, that's what I've been trying to tell her for weeks. Even before it became so urgent. I am really glad, she eventually listened to me. Hélène will be devastated, if Emma and Louis are here and Marinette won't. But she's with Antoinette right now, so she probably won't take it too hard."
"Antoinette!", they both said in unison, then chuckled.
Antoinette was their daughter's (not so) secret crush since third grade. So neither of them, not even Hélène herself had a hunch, if the girl even felt something similar for her. Still their eldest was always ready to catch a bullet for that girl, a determination, that made them worry sometimes.
"Will our first born's big love stay the night too or will she leave after they did, whatever they are doing right now? I overheard them talking about a special dance, they were practicing, to then record it and participate in some challenge, so we better shouldn't interrupt them. What do you think?", the designer wondered.
His wife nodded.
"They are not only dancing, but singing too. So we should also keep all the other kids far away, or they will end up in a huge fight.And believe me, the twins might be stronger, but the little napkin knows a couple of very mean tricks!"
"And I know very well, who taught her those, my love!", Gabriel mused.
Nathalie shrugged. Then justified her action:
"When I showed her those, she was four and had to fight of two three years old boys, who were already taller than her. It was shortly before we found out about Michelle!"
Now he teased her:
"Oh, so your hormones were in full protective mode already, yeah?"
"Just shut the fuck up, honey. Let's rather go downstairs and get the dining table ready for all the people who will be eating here tonight!", she ranted and shoved him towards the door.
Colette had noticed, that her mother was a bit stressed and started to cry immediately.
"Oh my little peach, don't cry. Mummy and daddy are just worried about Marinette and your little nephew. No need for you to fuzz!"
She laid the baby on her shoulder and started to rock her gently up and down. Gabriel had gotten to his feet too and was now laying an arm around her.
"Maybe she's a little hungry too. Just take your time, I'll start with the table, though I still can't understand, why you always insist to do that on your own. But as your devoted husband, I just obey, my darling!", he suggested with a smirk.
The dark haired woman, who still had her red fringe, though right now, just as it had grown out in each of her pregnancies, it was barely visible anymore, grinned back at him and let him kiss her passionately, before she turned her attention back to her newborn.
When Adrien and Marinette arrived an hour later, they could tell, that she was feeling really bad and that she had been crying a lot.
Her feet were swollen, her face was very pale and she had trouble breathing. Nathalie hugged her very carefully and pecked her cheek.
"Oh sweetie, you should have just stayed at home and let Adrien take them here. Or we could have fetched them. You really don't look good!"
But The exhausted looking woman shook her head.
"We're on our way to the hospital, they re-scheduled the surgery for tonight, because of the latest lab results!"
Tears were running down her cheeks now.
Adrien pulled her into his chest and whispered:
"Relax, Bugaboo. You'll see, in two hours, you're holding our new baby boy and everything will be forgotten. Okay?"
She nodded but still couldn't stop crying.
"Thank you, mum, dad, for taking care of Emma and Louis. I hope I can get them from school tomorrow afternoon. If not...."
Gabriel interrupted his son:
"If not, then they'll just come back here with the other three!"
The young man nodded.
"Thank you. I'll call you later, when he's born. Bye!"
Marinette mumbled a very silent "bye" too and was then led out and back into their car by her concerned husband.
"Oh my!", Nathalie whispered into her husband's ear, so the children wouldn't be able to hear her, "I hope everything goes well!"
"Yeah, me too", he replied hoarsely.
Nathalie could tell, that he tried to hide his tears and quickly handed him Colette.
"Here, she needs to burp and she needs a fresh diaper. Take your time!"
She winked at him. letting him know, that she, as always, understood him and gave him the time and space to not cry in front of the older kids.
"He's healthy and he's crying louder than Louis and Emma combined!", Adrien shouted into his phone, "and Marinette is better already too, though....." He sighed.
"What is it, Adrien?", Nathalie asked reluctantly.
"Well, they said, it would be better, if she wouldn't get pregnant again, but everything else is absolutely fine. I'll send you pictures as soon as they are done with the examinations!"
And with that he hung up.
Gabriel grabbed his wife around the waist and lifted her up to whirl her around.
"We're grandparents again!", he exclaimed and carried her to their bed, to kiss her passionately.