The hospital, the morning after...

The sun was just beginning to creep through the blinds. Lauren continued to sleep soundly, a faint smile still gracing her lips.

Micky lay next to her, scrunched on the side of the bed, one arm resting over Lauren’s stomach. His eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the light. For a moment, he didn’t remember where he was and then his eyes glanced over where his hand lay on her stomach. He smiled and shifted to see the pleasant look on Lauren’s face.

They’d gotten to the hospital relatively easily the previous night, despite the storm. Since he had done the delivery himself, the doctor wanted to keep an eye on the twins overnight and a day or two to make sure everything was okay. It also gave Lauren a chance to recuperate.

Once Lauren was settled and asleep, the others left for the pad. No one questioned Micky staying with Lauren. The doctor had even had a cot rolled in for him, which was still neatly made across the room. But after their experience, Micky didn’t even want to be across the room from Lauren. He just wanted to hold her. And he did that, all night.

"...Mick...?"

Micky smiled at the sleepy look on Lauren’s face. "Go back to sleep, babe. You need your rest."

She gave a sleepy smile. "You’re still here..."

"Of course I am," he began.

Lauren shook her head slightly and nodded toward the cot. "...Thought you’d be over there..."

Micky grinned. "No way, babe. I stayed right here the whole night."

She tried to match his grin. "...You’re gonna be stiff..." Her eyes drifted closed again and she fell back asleep almost immediately.

Micky rolled his eyes and went to move, to get up and stretch, and get something from the cafeteria that atleast resembled breakfast. He made a move to roll neatly off the bed, but instead promptly wound up butt-first on the floor. He winced at the cramp in the leg he’d been laying on all night to keep himself on the bed. He rubbed at the cramp and stood up with a little difficulty.

Micky eased his way out the door and glanced to the left and right sides of the corridor. He frowned, not remembering the directions from the night before. He sighed and headed off to the right side. There were several doors on both sides of the corridor, until he finally came to a large glass window.

He stopped, his eyes growing wide. Micky rested his hands on the window and looked in. Right at the very front he spotted two name labels proclaiming "Dolenz." One baby was wrapped in a deep pink blanket, while the other had a royal blue blanket. Both had their eyes closed at first, but the boy opened his first, then the girl. Micky grinned and waved, not noticing the nurse coming towards him in the hall.

"You must be the father," she said, causing Micky to jump, then laugh with some embarrassment. "I didn’t mean to scare you." She smiled.

"Just caught me by surprise," Micky said, then glanced in the window again and nodded. "Yeah, I’m the father."

The nurse’s eyes brightened. "You’re the ones that couldn’t make it to the hospital."

Micky nodded again. "Didn’t have time."

The nurse clapped his shoulder. "I’ve seen that happen alot. I hate to say, though, most of the time, the father doesn’t step in like you did."

"Awe..." Micky waved it off, grinning. He glanced in the window again, then back at the nurse with some apprehension. "They’re okay, aren’t they?"

She smiled again. "Yes, they’re doing just fine. I can bring them in right now if you'd like..."

He nodded again. "Ah, I was actually looking for the cafeteria and completely forgot where it is. I wasn’t really listening very well when we came in last night." He scratched the back of his head. "Lauren's still asleep and I wanna wait until she's awake to bring them in."

"I saw that you carried both babies in. Listening isn't exactly high on the list of priorities in that case." She smiled. "I need to get going. I’ll check in on you and your wife in a little bit."

"Thanks."

She turned, then turned back again. "Oh, just keep going down the hall that way and take a left, there’s an elevator right there that goes to the ground floor. The cafeteria is right there."

Micky grinned. "Thanks, again!" He glanced in the window once more as the nurse headed in the opposite direction. The twins were looking at him, so he waved again. He turned away from the window, the smile still in place, and wiped a tear from his eye. "Gotta get some breakfast..."

* * * * *

Micky returned to Lauren’s room about 30 minutes later and found her sitting up, but still looking rather sleepy.

She smiled. "I think I could guess where you disappeared to."

"If you’re gonna say the cafeteria, you’d be right." Micky grinned and crossed to the bed. "Babe, why don’t you get some more sleep, you look like you’re ready to nod off again."

Lauren shook her head, a small smile remaining. "I wanna see them, Mick."

"A nurse was out there a half an hour ago, maybe I can go find her again--"

The door opened and the nurse peeked in. She smiled. "Oh, the new mother is awake! Fantastic!" She disappeared for a moment and returned to with two baskets, one light blue and the other pink. She winked at Micky. "I saw you come back this way and figured I’d get the children ready." She set both baskets by Lauren’s feet.

Lauren sat forward. "Awwe..." She smiled, her eyes tearing up. "And I thought they were cute messy...!"

Micky merely grinned and refrained from a comment while the nurse was in the room.

"I’ll just let the family get acquainted. Call if you need anything." She smiled once more and left the room.

Micky reached into the pink basket first and picked up the little girl. "This is the most... amazing experience..." He handed her carefully to Lauren, who sniffled slightly, beaming down at the baby girl. Micky then reached into the light blue basket and picked up the baby boy. He moved to the other side of the bed and climbed up, still holding the boy in one arm. Micky settled next to Lauren and they just gazed at both babies.

After a few moments, he heard Lauren sniffle again and turned to her. She had a few tears trickling down her cheeks, but she was smiling. "Babe...?"

Lauren turned her glance and met his eyes. "This is the happiest moment of my life..." she whispered.

Micky wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and they remained that way.

* * * * *

A short time later, the babies had fallen back asleep and were placed back in the baskets, still resting on the foot of the bed.

Micky remained sitting next to Lauren on the bed. "Babe, I’ve been meaning to ask... Well, I don’t really know very much about it, but shouldn’t you have been in labor longer than you were?"

"I... was." Lauren glanced away, then turned back. "I’d been having contractions since the night before, but they were such a distance apart that it was rather easy to hide, until they finally decided to make their entrance."

Micky frowned. "And I was sulking over thinking every forgot my birthday, while you were just trying to... survive through the party."

"Mick, stop it, you didn’t know."

"Yeah... I just let my temper run away without me again." He sighed. "I’m okay."

Lauren smiled. "That’s good to hear."

"My question to you: are you okay, babe? I mean, you did deliver to babies last night..."

"I’m tired... and sore." She gave a small smile. "The doctor said that’s normal. He did suggest I stay off my feet for today atleast while my center of gravity adjusts itself back to where it was before..."

Micky smirked and ran a hand over her finally smaller stomach. "Just about back to the little paunch I know so well."

Lauren laughed. "Mick!" She swatted lightly at him.

He caught her hand and held it a moment, before kissing the back of it. "I love you, babe, and thank you for the twins."

She smiled. "I love you, too, Mick, and thank you for the twins."

With that, Micky pulled Lauren gently into a kiss... only to be interrupted by one wail followed by a second. They separated and grinned.

"And they’ve started already," Micky said.

Lauren nodded. "I’ll bet they’re hungry."

Micky’s eyebrows lowered in question. "Hungry? What--" He stopped mid-thought and watched Lauren pick up their daughter and hold her to her chest. Lauren gave him a smirk before undoing just enough of her top to feed. His eyes widened and a grin slowly appeared. "I got it."

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Could you please pick up little Micky and see if you can quiet him while I finish with Shelly. I am not feeding both at once." She winked.

Micky snapped his fingers, grinned again, and picked up their son. He smiled down at the little boy. "Mommy’s teasing daddy again. She does that alot because she loves him." He turned the smile to Lauren, who returned it.

~End~