Two days in the hospital.
But they say they're going to let you out today.
You don't really mind.
You're getting to know Bradley and Shadow.
You look down at the baby smiling, "I like this baby."
Bradley has his fathers eyes. Big brown doe eyes. You're going to have a lot of trouble saying no to these eyes.
"I am never doing that again, so I hope you like the idea of two kids. Never gonna happen. Excruciating pain. I'm not gonna lie. I didn't love it." You tell Thomas, but when you talk you look at the baby and speak in a higher pitched voice than usual.
He grins, "You might change your mind."
"Trust me, I won't." You say, smiling at Bradley.
Thomas holds Shadow in his arms. He's taken a liking to the little reddish blonde girl. He's been singing them to sleep. And keeping you comfortable. He's actually been really sweet.
Just then Sidney and Will walk back in the room from getting lunch. Sidney is laughing, but when she sees Thomas with Shadow she holds her arms out, "My turn."
Thomas smirks and holds out the baby. Sidney smiles at her as she takes her, "Hey, Shad. How ya doing? Am I your favorite? Yyyyes."
Will chuckles, looking at the baby over his shoulder.
All of a sudden the baby let's loose a cry.
Sidney looks distressed, "I didn't do anything! I swear!"
Thomas laughs, "She's a baby. Babies have the tendency to cry."
"Someone take it!" She says, as Shadows crying gets louder.
Of course, now Dylan and Ki pick an opportune moment to walk in.
"Sidney, what did you do to the baby?" Dylan says, in a scolding tone.
"Goodness, Sid!" Ki shakes his head.
Sidney glares at them, "Here, you take her then."
You start to protest, "Umm-"
"Okay, I will." Dylan nods.
Ki speaks up, "No, stupid. You're not Will. That's Will." He points to Will.
You look over at Thomas worried. He just shrugs it off.
Um, excuse me, sir.
You just pushed this thing out of you and you don't want to break it right away.
Dylan takes the crying baby and cradles her. He shushes her and soothes her, "Shhhh. It's okay. I took you away from the evil lady. What's that? Oh, yeah. I know she's funny looking. But I have you now."
She stops crying at least.
Sidney scowls at him and whacks his arm.
You look at him amazed, "You made it stop!"
Dylan nods, "Her NAME is SHADOW. And yes, I did. All the ladies love me!"
Sidney scoffs, "Whatever."
Dylan dances around the room singing to the tune of All the Single Ladies, but he changed the words up a bit.
"ALL THE LITTLE BABIES. ALL THE LITTLE BABIES. ALL THE LITTLE BABIES. ALL THE LITTLE BABIES."
He steps over to you and sings, "NOW GET YOUR MAMA!"
He lays Shadow down in your arms. Shadow looks up at you, her little mouth in an O shape.
You laugh, "Yeah. Oooo. That was a funny man, huh? Yeah."
Dylan shakes his finger at you, "Hey, she likes that funny man. I made her stop crying."
Sidney sits next to you, "He's never going to let you live that down."
You sigh, "I know."
In your other arm, Bradley starts fidgeting.
You grunt, "Here, someone come take Brad."
Thomas gets up and shakes his finger at you, "We are NOT calling him BRAD. That name is like a death sentence. We agreed on Bradley."
He scoops up Bradley and sit down with him.
"How did you guys names them?" Will asks.
You speak, "Well, I picked out Bradleys name. Thomas likes Bradley, but not Brad. Which is going to be problematic in life. People are going to end up calling him Brad, babe."
"And I am going to end up stabbing them in the eye." Thomas says, smiling at Bradley.
"Okay, thanks PETER. How about you don't go all Divergent on me, yes? Anyway, he named Shadow. Really, we just suggested the names we were thinking of and told each other to give each other the okay." You say.
Will looks at Sidney, "What will we do if WE have twins?"
Sidney groans, "Cry for a really long time."
You shake your head, "What does everyone have against twins?"
Sidney pauses, "We don't have anything against the twin part. It's just the idea of squeezing TWO people out of your vagina."
All four men look over at Sidney like she just admitted she killed a man.
Sidney rolls her eyes and leans forward, "Yeah, I said VAGINA. Man up. You know we have em'."
Dylan grins, mischievously, "Well, yeah. We know you have them. We just usually point out the fact that you have them in a different way."
You jump in, "Dylan, stop talking."
Ki, Thomas and Will laugh.
Dylan smirks, "Okay, MOM."
Ki shakes his head, "Our girl is a momma!"
Dylan starts fake crying, "And our boy is a daddy!"
"It's just so emotional!" Ki starts "sobbing".
You share a look with Sidney, " My gosh. My children are going to grow up around retards."
- - - -
"MY GOSH, I LOVE HER!" Juliette screams.
She sits on your black leather couch holding Shadow. All the girls are over.
You smile, "Don't scare her."
Too late.
Shadow starts crying.
You click your tounge and take her, "Come here, Shad."
"Shad?" Willa asks.
"Nickname." You mutter, trying to calm Shadow down.
"I'm never letting my husband name my children." Willa says, "Your husband did kinda a terrible job."
Vanessa elbows Willa, "Willa!"
You look over at her, slightly offended, "Thanks, Willa."
"I like he name!" Thalia says.
You smile at her and nod, "Thanks Thalia."
"Are you guys going to have any more children?" Vanessa asks.
You laugh, "No. I'm not doing that again."
Thalia shakes her head, "You're kinda lucky. You got two in one. We're only having a little boy. And we want more than one child, you know? So I've got to do this all over again."
"You know, for those of us who haven't had children, and sort of want them, you're making pregnancy sound REALLY awesome." Juliette says, sarcastically.
You shrug unsurely, "Well, it's worth it?"
Juliette rolls her eyes, "Thanks, Iris."
"I'm having children." Sidney says, "I don't care how painful it is."
"You will in labor." You mutter.
"Was it really bad?" Thalia asks.
"It was the most pain I've ever felt in my life." You say, "Really, it was unfathomable. I didn't realize anyone could feel that much pain."
Thalia cringes and looks at her stomach.
"But after it's nice to know that you're able to endure it. It makes you realize how strong you are. Which is comforting." You add.
"I think I'll live in weakness." Willa nods.
"Yeah...." Juliette mutters.
You smile, "You'll change your mind."
"No, I won't." Willa shakes her head.
"How do you know?" Juli says.
You look down at Shadow, "Eh, these kids grown on you."
"In you actually." Thalia jokes.
You all laugh.
And you suddenly realize that you've started a whole new life. And your friends and family will be starting one with you soon too.
Author:
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY! WOO HOO!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I haven't even opened anything yet. I got up like fifteen minutes ago.
Anyway, I'm thinking that there'll be two more chapters of this book. But i'm also going to go back and do a few scenes of before Iris met Thomas, just to give you a better idea of her past.
AND THE SEQUEL IS CALLED YESTERDAY.
Oh, and I got an Instagram. So you guys should go follow me. :-)
Anyway, I'm going to go enjoy Christmas.
I LOVE YOU GUYS!
-Sunny