To Philly With Care

***Max's POV***

So much had happened in the last 9 months that I could not believe it. Jass is _the_ best thing in my life other than my job. After we had helped Tanger move his son in, and met Kalista, life got even better. "Babe are you _sure_ you want to go with me?"

She just sighed as she pulled her top on. "Max I already told you I want to see them again, it's been weeks. Plus it will help keep my mind off of waiting for this phone call." As much as she needed to know the results of that call, I didn't want her to potentially hurt herself. See, we had a bet going. She'd been complaining of something that could either be an illness, as she thought, or the first signs of pregnancy, what my mother thought. My money was on the second, mom should know right?

Jass had come in the previous evening from her monthly board meeting. As much as I hated to have her leave for the few days she was gone, I also knew she had negotiated this so that she could spend the summer with me. I watched as she buckled her platform sandals and joined me by the door. I loved how tiny she was, she fit against me perfectly no matter the position. "Ok, just be careful and for god sakes if you and Vero start talking about getting them together, leave me out of it."

Her trill of laughter made me shake my head as we walked into the garage. "Oh Max, the sparks I saw I won't act on unless no one else is. You know me, always more of a supporting person than someone to plot and plan." I kissed the back of her hand as I helped her into the car. She was right, she always was someone to support things instead of making them happen.

The drive over to Tanger's condo was an easy one for once. Of course that might be because it was Monday and everyone else was at work. The plan was, the girls spend the day together unloading the little stuff and then after our workouts we guys joined them to get what they hadn't yet. Then something hit me. "You know, he could have hired this out. Do you think he's got something planned?"

Another tinkle of laughter met my ears. "Maxime, if Kris had something planned would he _really_ have you guys help unload a moving trailer? Is that really his style." I glanced over and saw that she was lit up with laughter about the situation.

"No I guess not." I was going to say more but her phone rang.

"Hello? Yes this is she. Hello Doctor Sykes. Um… I'm in the car, but I'm not driving." She listened for a while to her OB/GYN. "Are you positive? So what now? I can't do that I'm in Montreal. We aren't due back for 3 weeks, about Labor Day. So what else can I do? No I hadn't yet, ok we'll start there. If it comes back the way you say it should, what then?" Ok I was getting concerned now. Fortunately I had just pulled up in front of Tanger's building. "Ok I'll start that this afternoon then. Yes, after Labor Day. That sounds good, we'll see you then. Thank you Doctor Sykes. Um, not unwelcome just surprising. Bye."

I waited until she was done before looking at her anxiously. "Well?" She leaned over and placed a whisper of a kiss on my lips.

"You'll find out _after_ your workout. I have some things I have to double check first." She then slid out of the car and flounced into the building. I was left facing a workout before I could wring the information out of her.

***Jass's POV***

I got out of the car and headed inside to Tanger's place and tried to not freak out on the ride up to his place. I was pregnant, holy hell. I got up to Tanger's place and was able to get in his door and say hi/bye to Kris before I began falling apart. I started shaking which made Vero move and help me sit down. "W'at is wrong?"

I looked at her and the panic and fear overwhelmed me. "I'm pregnant." I saw the joy lit up her face and then the confusion come behind it. She sat down next to me confused by why I was freaking out.

Kalista came over and sat on my other side. "Not planned I take it." I shook my head. "How can we help?" She might be new to the gang of girls, but she understood well.

I laughed, cause it was that or break down into tears. "Help me figure out a way to tell Max? My doc in Philly wants me to take a home test and get some prenatal vitamins in addition to the rest I'm taking. I have no idea where to find any of that." I was on my way to full blown panic.

Vero and Kalista looked at each other. "I don' know w'ere to get a test 'ere." V said. My heart sank.

"I'll be right back." Kallie said and walked out of the living room. When she came back a few minutes later she had a pair of home tests in her hands. Vero gasped but she waved it off. "What you think I haven't had a scare or two myself? Come on Vero, currently celibate is _not_ the same as being a virgin, which I _most_ certainly am _not_." She sat down next to me again. "Here. I do know they are different brands but that was always my safety reason. Go take one now and in an hour we'll do the other one and go from there."

I could have kissed her. I took the boxes into the bathroom with me. After following the directions I came out and sighed. "Ok the first one is working. Now what?"

Kallie smiled. "Now we forget about it for an hour. The kids have been fed but have either of you?" I shook my head, food hadn't sounded good this morning. I wasn't alone; Vero also shook her head no. "Oh good, I'll make us an uber breakfast that's awesome for all flavors of mom." She began pulling things out of the fridge.

Vero tucked herself next to me. "Do you 'ave any idea how you wan' to tell Maxime?" So much for not thinking about it.

"No idea. He knows that something is up, but I just couldn't tell him when he was leaving. How did you tell Marc-Andre?" Maybe she would give me an idea. I knew Max would be thrilled, excited and worried all at the same time.

"V, come help me so we can _all_ brain storm at once." We moved over to the island and Vero started chopping veggies. Kallie turned as she was beating some eggs. "I think the way to figure this out is to think about it from Max's Point of view. Is this good news or life ruining news?" Now _that_ I could work with.

"It's good news. Completely unplanned but not unwelcome. Our friends all say we are the best thing to ever happen to each other." That got me thinking. "You know maybe instead of telling him alone, telling him with friends around for support would be the way to go." As I thought about that, it felt right. "Yes, I want to tell him with friends around so tonight would be perfect."

I got smiles from both of them. Kallie had dropped the eggs into a pan and was scrambling them now. "Ok, so after the work is done or else it won't _get_ done. Have you had anything odd happen with food lately?"

Now that she mentioned it, I remembered. "Yeah I think I have. I have been wanting red meat a lot more than usual in the last 2 months. Like as in, chicken has no appeal but beef in any mode sounds and tastes incredible." The more I thought about it, the more I found little things that I had been discounting. "Damn, Max is going to win the bet." I said as I firmly came to that conclusion. Both of them looked at me, I sighed and explained. "We made a bet before I left for my last monthly meeting. I would go to the doc and find out if this was an illness or pregnancy. If it's an illness I pick where we end up living, if I'm pregnant Max does." They both looked at me oddly. "We're moving in together this season, we can't decide where to live though. So we came up with a way that both of us could live with." I loved my 20-minute commute and felt it slipping away from me.

Kallie got it before Vero did. She laughed a little bit. "Ah, I think I get it. You don't want to live too far outside of Philly but he does. I get it; remember I'm moving _twice_ to stay with Kris. What would be so bad about living outside of Philly?"

"I'll miss my 20 minute or less commute. I run the city's oldest charity foundation, The Richard Foundation and right now I can run to Bastion any time they might need me." Kallie smiled but I saw the sadness around her eyes. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Not wrong, exactly. You say that you and Max are the best things to happen to each other right?" I nodded, unsure of where she was going. "Well, if you really are going to be a family, is there really something wrong with pulling back a little bit and giving yourself a chance to _be_ a family?"

I thought about what she was saying. I thought about Max's family and how warmly they had welcomed me into their festivities this past Christmas when my own had made me so angry that I walked out. His mom had taken me and let me cry on her shoulder about how different my family was when compared to anyone else's. "No, I guess I see what you're saying. This past Christmas my family made me so angry and upset that I left our celebration to run to Max. His mom didn't even blink when I showed up. I had forgotten they were in town and that I hadn’t actually met them yet. After Max introduced me, his mom took me into the kitchen to have a good cry." I wiped away a tear. "The only person that has done something similar is my Grandmother. She just welcomed me and made me feel like I wasn’t intruding but was an expected and welcome guest."

Kallie was smiling now. Vero sighed. “You an’ Max are a good couple, you balance each ot’er very well. Marc-Andre was _so_ surprised t’e first time ‘e met you. You were no’ w’at ‘e expected in someone Max was dating. You made t’e playboy grow up and find real love. For t’at alone, know t’at we would do anyt’ing to help you two.”

I sat on the bar stool and chuckled. “Do you know where to get Petite Maternity clothes? It took me an hour to find something today that I could be comfortable in and that would hide what I now know to be my baby bump.” Seriously an hour, I needed to get some maternity clothes that would help me look good while doing this work.

Kallie laughed as she turned around. “Tell you what, Let’s eat and then V and I can go get the dollies from the janitor that he promised us and after the boxes are in from my car, we can load up and go looking. Thanks to Kris I know where the baby stores are.” She handed me her laptop. “So if you look up maternity clothes we’ll be set for some shopping time.”

By the time we we’re having breakfast, both Alex and Estelle were awake and wanting to be fed. As I watched Vero and Kallie feed them I could easily see myself doing the same. “You guys are so good at this, I can see myself with kids but I’m so scared right now.”

Vero turned, annoying Estelle, and spoke to me. “Don’t you t’ink that I wasn’ scared eit’er. I ‘ad a grea’ support system and you will too. Once t’e girls find out, t’e ones who matter, t’e ones who had been t’ere and done t’is, t’ey will be asking ‘ow t’ey can ‘elp. Wit’ t’em as teachers, you can learn ‘ow to be t’e best ‘ockey mom you can be. Max won’ be around all t’e time but when ‘e is t’ere count on ‘im too.” Estelle didn’t like that her server wasn’t pay attention and banged on the tray to get her mother’s attention. That seemed to job her memory. “Oh yes an’ wit’ you and Max speaking English and French, you will ‘ave a bi-lingual baby too.”

That made me smile. I loved having 4 languages under my command. “Um, actually I speak 4 languages and plan on using them all. You should see the looks I get when I curse in Italian or Gaelic some days.” Both ladies laughed. “I’ve spent my summer vacation in Italy before but I really want to go Scotland one year. My grandmother’s family is from there so to keep her own grasp on the language, she taught me. I’d love to go find my cousins.”

The kids were done eating, as were we, so Kallie called the building super and asked if she could come get those dollies. She and Vero were soon on their way towards the door. “We’ll be back as fast as we can. We should only need 2 trips with the dollies. I can sort everything out later. Can you keep track of the kids while we do this?”

I smiled and smoothed my gray and purple tunic. “Better to have the practice of doing two things at once now. I’ll do the dishes and watch them.” They were out the door and I was now “alone” with the kids. They were contentedly playing in the living room so I went to start the dishes. I got them loaded into the dishwasher and got it running but as I came back into the living room, mind you Tanger’s place has an open floor plan; I couldn’t find Alex. I began looking under the furniture and when _that_ didn’t produce him, I looked down the hall in the bedrooms.

The front door opened and I tried hard not to panic. “I can’t find Alex.” Kallie and Vero looked at each other and then at me. They closed the door behind them and put the dollies down. “I did the dishes and when I came back he was gone.”

Kallie came over and put a hand on my shoulder. “Relax, this is his newest game. Hide and seek. Knowing him he made a beeline for either the powder room or the utility room. Come on I’ll show you.” She went over and pushed open the powder room door, no Alex. Kallie then sunk to all fours and crawled to the archway next to the powder room. “Alex.” She called in a sing-song manner, there was a giggle. “Alexander.” She kept crawling. As she turned into the utility room she cried out with. “Boo!” Alex crawled to her with a big grin and giggling. She scooped him up and stood. “He figured this out while we were at my folks’ place. He had so much fun yesterday finding a hiding spot after his baptism.”

After that heart attack, the girls made the second trip with the dollies. We then bundled the kids into their car seats and were on our way. I was in the back with the kids, not that I minded, they were babbling back and forth with each other. I didn’t notice where we were until the car stopped ad we all began getting out. “Why are we here?” I was a bit confused as we stood outside 40 Semaines.

Vero grinned at me. “You will love what we get ‘ere. I had t’is while I was pregnant wit’ Estelle and I loved it.” She pushed open the door and I found myself in the oddest maternity wear shop I’d ever seen. Everywhere the clothes were black. I began looking around while Vero went and spoke to the shop keep. I was soon standing there and being measured. I had missed what Vero had told them so I didn’t know what I was getting. Then the shop keep spoke to me.

“Savez-vous si c'est un garçon ou une fille encore? (Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?)” I shook my head, hell I hadn’t even been to a doctor yet. “Je suppose que cela n'a pas d'importance tant qu'il est en bonne santé correct? (I guess it does not matter as long as it is healthy right?)” I chuckled.

“Je ne savais même pas que j'étais enceinte jusqu'à aujourd'hui. Mon petit ami seront ravis. Mon médecin m'a dit que je suis probablement le long de quatre mois. (I did not even know I was pregnant until today. My boyfriend will be delighted. My doctor told me that I'm probably the long four months.)” She gasped. “Je suis Américain, je devais donc voir mon médecin à Philadelphie. Je ne sais pas où aller même à trouver un médecin pour les quelques semaines, nous serons encore ici. (I am American, so I had to see my doctor in Philadelphia. I do not even know where to go to find a doctor for a few weeks, we'll be here.)” That made her nod in understanding.

As she looked for the right size for me, I sighed. I didn’t think any of this was petite but if it worked I didn’t really care. She handed me size Mediums and told me to try them on. I went into the dressing room and put on the skirt and the camisole. These were normally the hardest things to fit my frame. The camisole was a little long but it was soft and comfy. The skirt hit me _just_ below my knees. I changed into the pants and long sleeve shirt and was thrilled. Yes they were a little bit long but I’d put up with it to be comfortable. Coming out in the last outfit, everyone smiled at me. “Vous devriez faire ces en petite, vous voulez faire un massacre. Il est difficile de trouver de bons vêtements pour les mamans menues de l'être. Ceci est tellement à l'aise. (You should do this in petite, you would make a killing. It is difficult to find good clothing for petite moms to be. This is so comfortable.)”

The woman smiled. “Nous avons une ligne petite des mêmes choses, mais nous n'avons pas eu à quiconque de les essayer dans le monde réel encore. Voulez-vous essayer ceux à la place? (We have a petite line of the same things, but we did not have anyone to try it in the real world yet. Want to try those instead?)” I quickly nodded and she laughed and went to the back. She brought back some still packaged clothing. “Je suis désolé qu'ils sont encore dans le plastique, si vous voulez changer dans vos vêtements encore, je vais sonner ces up. (I'm sorry they are still in the plastic, if you want to change in your clothes again, I'll ring up these.)”

I went and changed into my clothes again and came out to see both Vero and Kallie staring at the amount on the screen. $145 Canadian for those 4 pieces; not the worst prices I’d ever seen. “This isn’t as bad as I’ve seen for so few pieces, you should see what my mother spends and doesn’t blink.” We got back in the car after I paid with both of the girls kind of shell-shocked. “Did you not know that Max is actually the poor one in our relationship?” Vero shook her head vigorously as I laughed. “I run the charitable arm of the Richard Family in Philly. My family is one of the oldest in the city and one of the wealthiest as well. I’ve owned 6 buildings in the city since I was 18. I make sure they are well maintained and managed.”

We hit a few other shops and rounded out my new wardrobe a little bit. Then we pulled up in front of a baby shop named Calins et Popotin, this was after trying Junior Baby and finding out it was closed. “Let’s see if we can find you a diaper bag that Maxime won’t mind toting around too.” Vero said as we got out.

I laughed as we went in. “Maxime ne sera pas se soucient probablement jusqu'à ce que le bébé est là, vous avez raison cependant. Si nous commençons avec celui qui est neutre, il ne peut pas rouspéter. Si cela semble bon et s'adapte tout ce que nous aurons besoin, il ne s'occupera pas du tout. (Maxime probably will not care until the baby is here, you're right though. If we start with one that is neutral, he can not grumble. If it looks good and fits everything we need, he will not mind at all.)” As we walked through the store and looked, my phone rang. “Hello? Oh hello again Dr. Sykes. No, I’m out with friends trying to figure out how to tell my other half. I have some time, what’s up?” I was glad we were walking by the gliders as I listened; I suddenly had to sit down. “You’re positive? Um… can I ask _how_ you know? Yeah I remember you said it was a precaution.” He explained that he had a friend of his, a specialist in multiple pregnancies; take a look at the ultra sound he had taken of me last week. I had been sure it was an illness then so I hadn’t cared to watch the screen. It turns out that was a mistake. I started shaking a little bit. “Um… Thank you Dr. Sykes. No, I’m not driving. Well to be honest I’m completely bowled over. No, I think I have the perfect way to tell him now. He’ll hate the idea of me coming back without him, but I think that’s best now. Let me talk to them and I’ll make it right now.” 15 minutes later I had an appointment for a week and a half from now and a plane ticket for Sunday night.

Kallie and Vero both looked at me oddly while I worked on remaining calm during my phone conversations. When I finally hung up the phone and sighed heavily, they were waiting still. I looked up at them and let out a ragged breath. “We need more than one bag, or at least a bigger one.” They looked at me, each other and then went into a whispered conversation.

When they had made a decision, Kallie turned to me and ask. “Is that because you’re not having just one child?” I nodded. Vero squealed a little bit until Kallie stopped her. “So, now what do you want to do?”

I straightened my shoulders and looked at them. “Now we find a bag to tell Max, maybe more than one just in case we have to separate them from time to time. No overly girly patterns though.” I slowly, my hands still on the arms of the glider; stood. My knees quaked the tiniest bit as I rose but once on my feet I was solid. Vero moved the cart we had gotten to keep the kids contained over to me. “Thanks. My next question is how the heck do I choose a good bag?”

A sales associate happened to be passing as I asked that and stopped. A nice looking lady who I wasn’t sure had any kids by just looking at her. “If you don’t mind me butting in, what’s good for you might not be good for anyone else. What do you need so I can steer you in a good direction?”

Looking at Kallie and Vero I had no idea what I needed, I was at a loss for words. Vero stepped in. “She is ‘aving twins an’ needs a bag t’at can ‘old everyt’ing and that ‘er ot’er ‘alf will no’ mind being seen wit’, maybe a couple more just in case t’ey ‘ave to separate t’e babies for travel or somet’ing. T’is is ‘er first pregnancy and she is lost.” She then looked over at me and I nodded weakly. I was _so_ in over my head.

June, the sales associate, nodded and led us to the diaper bag section. “I’ll show you what we have right now in stock and if you like something and we don’t have it, we can either order it for you or you can go on their website and get it yourself.” We were now in front of the shelves and there was so much to choose from. Fortunately we had a guide. “Because you’re having twins I would ignore nearly everything for now. We only have 2 options for multiples.” She pulled down two bags. “This first one is the Skip Hop Duo Double. It’s a good bag but I wouldn’t recommend it for first time parents, it’s too easy to lose important things in the dark interior.” She handed it to me. “Take a look.”

I took the bag and began exploring it. As she said the interior was dark as well as the outside as she had picked up the block bag. “You’re right we’d lose everything inside here. What is the other one you have there?” I put this one back on the shelf as I caught her smiling.

“I won’t lie this bag here is much more expensive, it will also take much more abuse. This is by Ju Ju Be, it’s called Be Prepared. I see that one of your friends already has another Ju Ju Be bag. All of them come with light colored linings inside so that you don’t lose anything.” She unzipped the bag and began showing it to me. The inside of this particular pattern was an electric blue. “When I had my twins I got this bag and loved it. The interior pockets have color-coded tabs so that you can have things for both kids and know whose is whose. If you want your other half to also carry this I would suggest getting the black bag and the coordinating for the kids with color-coded accessories. I also heard that you didn’t want girlie colors I’m guessing that means you don’t want anything pastel or overly flowery, am I right?” I laughed and nodded. “Then look at these patterns. She showed me 4 patterns. “This first one is called Licorice Twirl and a good one to coordinate with this is Black Cherry Twirl.” She pulled that one down and showed it to me.

“I like those, not girlie at all, I don’t even think Max would mind carrying these. What kind of accessories can we get in these patterns?” I began looking at the shelves of accessories.

“Unfortunately the only one that I know of that you can get in _both_ colors are the Paci Pods, which I recommend you get 2 of. This way you can keep the children’s pacifiers separate if they are sick or something. You can also get both of these in the Be All Bag so you can easily know whose bag is whose because you’re already used to the pattern.” June picked up the correct colors and showed them to me.

Kallie shook her head and smiled. “I know that Kris and I love this new Bag, as you said is not too girlie. We chose the Mint Chip to accessorize with as it stands out easily and looks sharp.” She showed off the Paci Pod she had above the upper handle. “We have the be neat bibs and the fuel cell as well all in the mint chip. This way we know what’s ours when we’re out and can easily carry lunch if we need to as well. It might be pricey but it’s worth it.”

When all was said and done, I got the Be Prepared bag, 2 of the Be All bags and 4 Paci Pods, the latter 6 items split between Licorice Twist and Black Cherry Twist. We climbed back into Kallie’s car and all sighed in relief. “Well that’s done. Now let’s figure out how to tell Max more subtly.”

Kallie grinned. “I have an idea. How about a meal of nothing but baby-themed foods? Baby carrots, baby potatoes, stuff like that and see if he can guess.” Vero giggled like the mad woman I had found out she was, but I liked her a lot so it didn’t matter. Kallie continued. “I already have baby back ribs marinating so all we would be doing would be fleshing out the menu with the theme.”

I thought about it for a few minutes. “I like the idea, but let’s expand on it. How about only finger types foods along the same vein. I have a fruit salad that I know Max loves and a Mini Strawberry Tart recipe that are finger foods.” We stopped at the grocery store before we got back to Tanger’s place and gathered ingredients for a baby-themed dinner.

***Max’s POV***

Tanger, Flower and I got back to Tanger’s place and found out that at least one of the girls were gone. “Kallie might ‘ave gone to t’e store. Let’s go and see if t’ey are upstairs.” We all went upstairs and found an empty apartment. “Okay, they are toget’er.”

“Tanger do you realize just w’at I’m waiting on? She got a call from her doc just before we pulled up and wouldn’ tell me w’at he said.” Flower patted me on the shoulder.

We heard women’s laughter and a set of keys jingle as the elevator doors opened. “Oh, looks like the boys are home. Let’s get in there and get this stuff going shall we?” All of them came in the door with smiles and bags. “Chérie, nous sommes à la maison. (Honey we’re home.)”

Kris went over and took some of the grocery bags. “We see t’at. W’ere else did you go to?” He then kissed Kallie gently, much to the delight of Marc-Andre and Vero.

“We hit a couple stores after we pulled stuff out of the car. Got things to feed us all and some other stuff. You’ll get a kick out of this, Alex pulled his new game on Jass while she watched them this morning.” Kris chuckled and shook his head. “We may have to get a barrier for the laundry room door.”

Jass moved over to me and put her bags down. I was curious but she smacked my hands for looking. “No peeking until it’s time.” I tried pouting at her, but not even that worked this time. “Trust me, babe. Wait for it.” She kissed me gently and then moved herself and the bags out of my reach.

After we figured out what needed to be moved upstairs and where it was going, us guys got going on that while Vero and Jass carefully moved the smaller boxes out of the way. They also were watching the kids while Kalista helped us guys move things.

What felt like days later, it was really only a couple hours, we were done. Vero moved the kids into Alex’s room so they could nap while Jass began cooking. I was sitting on the couch but as she began puttering around I moved to the island. “What ya making?”

She glanced up at me and smiled. “Dessert, after I got the main course started that is. Those need to cook for a while and this is the next longest in prep time.” She hadn’t really looked up at me from where she was mixing cream cheese, butter and flour. “So besides watching me and trying to find out what Dr. Sykes told me, what are you doing?”

I sighed, caught again. “That’s about it. When do I get to know?”

She looked up as she slowed the mixer. “If you can figure it out before the end of dinner, I will confirm. If you can’t figure it out, after dinner there’s a gift that is completely _not subtle at all. Either way we both have friends to support us.” Turning the mixer up higher again she went back to making dessert. Knowing how long I had to figure it out, whatever it was, helped. I went back to the couch and watched the tennis match the guys were watching.

Just over an hour later the other two ladies came into the kitchen and began making other things for dinner. I moved to the island again as Jass moved around it and put her feet up. Without even thinking about it I put her foot in my lap and began rubbing it. She closed her eyes and whispered. “Cela se sent si bien mon amour, je vous remercie. (That feels so good my love, thank you.)”

I continued to rub her feet until dinner was ready and the kids were up. When we sat at the table, Flower started to giggle after grace was said. That was kind of odd, but what did I know it was Flower. A few minutes later Tanger let a chuckle slip. Now I _knew_ something was up. I looked over at Jass and noticed her ears were tinted, that only happened when she was getting embarrassed. I stopped and really looked at what we were having.

There were baby back ribs, baby potatoes with bacon and rosemary, baby candied carrots, the quick and easy fruit salad Jass has had since she was a baby… I spied a theme here. I decided to take a leap that I was right. “So babe, have you decided where we’re living this year?”

Jass chuckled. “No, have you?” She was baiting me I was sure of it.

I just smiled and continued. “I still think living in Haddonfield would be good for us. Does your family still think it’s a bad idea?” I glanced up and saw most everyone else was watching us, I now knew I was on the right track.

She put her utensils down and sighed. “Do you think you’ve figured it out?” I smiled and put a hand on her belly.

“I think so, I also think I’ve won the bet which means you get to get used to living in New Jersey.” She threw me an irritated look and I was positive. “I’m right aren’t I?”

She got up and went over to the bags she had kept out of reach all night. “Yes, you get to choose where we live. There’s more than you know, however.” I heard all of the clinking around us stop as she put the bags into my lap. “Now you can look.” I dove into the bag and found… a black bag.

I pulled it out and she encouraged me to keep going, which I did. I found 2 pouches that looked like they could be attached to the bigger bag. I dug into the other bag and found 2 more bags in the same print as the pods and two more of those pods. Things fell off my lap as I gaped at her. “No…”

As I looked I could see how nervous she was. She nodded. “Twins.” Forgetting everything on my lap I stood and pulled my lady to me. I moved us away from the table a little bit and swung her around. “Max. Stop.”

That’s when I remembered that sudden violent movements normally ended badly for Jass right now. “I’m sorry babe. They’re sure?” She nodded and then explained that Dr. Sykes let a multiple specialist take a look at the sonogram that had been taken. Then she told me that she was going home sooner than she wanted to so that she could be under a doctor’s care as quickly as possible. I was unhappy and elated all at the same time. “You’ll be _very_ careful?” She nodded and I kissed her. “Do they know how far along?”

Jass’ face went blank. “Oh god, I never asked.” Everyone laughed at that. “I have a doctor’s appointment next Monday afternoon, we can have you Skype in and be as close as you can be.” That was a great idea.

We ended the night with 2 strawberry tartlets and my feeling of elation just grew. “We have to tell my folks.” Everyone else laughed. “Hey now, I was going by my mother’s idea, she has every right to know she was right.” Again everyone laughed.

“She can wait until tomorrow. Come on, I’m tired and still have bags in Kallie’s car.” We made our goodbyes and got plenty of congratulations from them.

Once we were home, and she showed me all of her new and needed clothes we cuddled in our bed. “I can’t believe we’re having twins.” I said, absolutely amazed by this.

She chuckled. “I can’t either, but I can believe that you will be the best father.” She yawned and cuddled into me. “Je t’aime Maxime.” She whispered before she fell asleep.

I lay there for a long time after. We were going to have not one baby but two. Just the thought was overwhelming. I knew she would be a great mom, I wasn’t as sure I would be a good dad. One day at a time Max, that’s how you have to take this.