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toxic_cornTitle: Where I Want to Be
Authors: toxic_corn and nutmeg610
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: Daybreak belongs to ABC and the Babysitter's Club belongs to Scholastic books and Ann M. Martin. Totally not ours.
Summary: Follows the events of the AU 'verse from Chapter Sixteen of Kristy and The Doctor. Re-read that chapter just for the Chad/Mary Anne bits to understand this one.
Notes: Written to fulfill![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fluties_flake's request she made months ago. :\ Sorry it took so long getting to it!
Where I Want To Be
Forfluties_flake
Chad Shelten stood on the front porch of the little yellow house and took a deep breath. Three months ago, he’d said goodbye to his soul mate after knowing her a mere three days. Since then, he’d thought of no one but her.
His divorce had been finalized; he was a free man. The divorce had been amicable; both sides wanting it and neither demanded anything of the other. The judge had been a little surprised at that but overall relieved by the relaxed dealings.
Now, here he was moments from seeing Mary Anne again. He knocked on the door and fidgeted a little as he waited.
Familiar pounding footsteps made him grin and the door was thrown open by Mary Anne’s blonde, six year old daughter. “Hi, Sergeant Shelten!”
“Hi, Alma!” Chad grinned. “Can I see your mommy?”
“Sure!” The child trotted off bellowing “Moooooooommy!” and leaving the door hanging open.
A moment later, there stood Mary Anne in a loose, sleeveless top and a brown skirt that flirted with the tops of her knees. Her eyes went wide at the sight of him.
“Chad?” she said, shakily.
Unable to hold himself back, Chad enveloped her in his arms and held her tightly. It was so wonderful to see her and… her belly was hard. He went still, the gears turning over in his head. Was she pregnant? They’d been together just the one time but one time was all it took as his mother was fond of saying all through his teen years.
"Mary Anne... is it...?" Chad drew back to look into her face but she ducked her head.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
Chad nodded, swallowing hard. "Because it could be..." He lowered his tone, "his?"
The fact that he’d made love to Mary Anne shortly after her husband was killed should’ve made him feel ashamed. In a way, it did. But the way they had connected in such a short amount of time and the love he’d already started feeling drove that shame away. They were meant for each other, he could feel that in his bones. And maybe they had created a life together.
But at that moment Mary Anne looked like she was feeling that shame, tears sliding silently down her cheeks as she nodded in answer to his query.
Chad hugged her again gently and stroked her hair, trying to soothe her. "Can they test yet? You know, DNA?"
"D-do you want that?" she asked, sounding sad.
He gave her a look of surprise. “Of course.”
“Right.” She hung her head, voice shaking. “ B-because you'd want to make sure they were yours before staying with me. I can understand that."
"No I didn't mean like tha-- Wait, they? It's twins?" He smiled, trying to get her to look him in the eye.
She smiled too but still avoided his gaze. "Yeah. A little boy and a little girl.” Pressing a hand to her belly, her smile widened with pride.
"That's great,” he said softly. Speaking mostly to himself, he added, "We're having twins..."
Mary Anne must have heard him because she finally lifted her head and met his gaze. “We?” she repeated hopefully.
"Well yeah, you told me I could come to you when I was free to, and here I am, just where I want to be." Chad smoothed a hand up and down her arm, needing to touch her after so long apart.
"E-even if they aren't yours?" she asked.
“Even if.” He shrugged. "It's just beneficial for the future to know who's the father. If they're mine biologically, well, there's heart disease in my family and it's good to know and is a thing to watch out for. But if they're not mine biologically, they're still mine, if you want them to be."
For a moment she didn’t speak. Finally, she took a long deep breath and said in a wondering tone, “You’re an amazing man.”
A grin slowly spread across his face. "I have my moments."
"I've missed you,” she admitted. Reaching out, she took his hand and rested it on her tummy. “We’ve missed you. All of us.”
Chad’s grin grew wider. "I've missed you back." He rubbed a gentle circle on her belly, amazed by the lives that were growing within.
Mary Anne held the door open for him, smiling softly. "Come in. Alma and I are just about to take some cookies out of the oven."
"Ooo, cookies?" He hurried in eagerly, making her laugh as she led him to the kitchen, where Alma was sitting at the table staring intently at an egg timer.
Alma looked up and beamed when she saw Chad. “Are you going to come live with us?" she asked bluntly.
“Uh…” Chad looked to Mary Anne, unsure of how to respond. Did she want him to move in? Or should they live separately for awhile before they got used to each other?
Mary Anne blushed. “Alma, sweetie, you shouldn't ask-"
"But Aunt Kristy said he was going to come back some day,” Alma said matter of factly.
Chad cleared his throat. "Well, I'm here now. All those grown up issues are going to have to wait until after we've had some cookies, alright?"
As if in agreement, the eggtimer went off and Alma squealed excitedly and started kicking her legs in a crazy fashion. Laughing, Mary Anne took the cookies out of the oven and Chad took a seat, ready for the rest of his life to start.
~*~
"Do you have the green?"
Alma had the crayon clutched in her hand, finishing up the grass and the stalk of a large sunflower. Her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated but as soon as she was finished, she handed the crayon over to Chad. “Here ya go.”
“Thank you.” Since moving in with Mary Anne, Coloring With Alma had become an every day activity. He’d never admit to anyone that he liked it. Coloring in a watering can, Chad broached the topic he’d been contemplating the last two months. "Alma... I have a very important question to ask you."
“No,” she said firmly.
Could she already know what he was going to ask? “No?”
"Is it about the paint in the garage?" she asked cautiously.
"What? No. What paint?"
“Nothing!” she said quickly and grabbed a yellow crayon, coloring in the sunflower a little messily. "What's your important question, Sarge?"
Chad raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior but let it go for now. However, he made a mental note to check the garage later. "I wanted to know if it was alright with you if your mom and I got married?"
She stopped coloring and looked up at him with her big blue eyes. “Married?”
"Yeah. Is-- Are you okay with that?"
"Would that mean... you'd be my new daddy?"
He knew he had to tread carefully here. As well as he and Alma got along, she still woke up in the night crying for her father, remembering the invasion all too well. "I'll only be that if that's what you want. I'm not going to try and replace your daddy, okay?"
Alma nodded and appeared to be thinking the matter over. "Cecily Freemont has a step-daddy. He's mean and yells at her a lot. Are you going to be like that?"
Chad gave her his patented Are you for real?! look. "Definitely not."
"And you'll be nice to Mommy and the babies and take care of them forever and ever and ever?"
"Yes, I sure will."
“Pinky swear?” She held up her pinky, face entirely serious.
“Pinky swear.” They hooked pinkies and shook them once.
"Okay." Alma dropped her hand and then quivered like an over-excited puppy, sliding out of her chair and coming around the table to leap into Chad’s arms, squealing. Chad hugged her back, laughing and glad of this reaction rather than the tearful one he’d been dreading.
She tried to wriggle out of his arms. "I'm gonna go call Mommy and ask if I can get a new dress for the wedding!"
“Whoa, wait!” He held onto her. "I need to buy your mommy a ring first and then I'll ask her, so until I do that, can we keep this a secret between just us?"
Wide-eyed Alma whispered, “It’s a secret?”
He nodded seriously. "A very special super secret. Promise you won't tell anyone?"
"I promise." She nodded back just as seriously.
"Great!" Grinning, he hugged her again.
After a moment, she said in a shy, little voice unlike her usual confident tone, “Sarge?”
“Yeah?”
"I still love Daddy but... I love you, too."
"I'm glad to hear it." He smoothed her hair down gently. "I love you and your mommy."
She pulled back to glare at him accusingly. “And the babies!”
Chad nodded quickly, looking put in his place. "Well of course! I thought that went without saying."
Alma cupped his face in his hands. "You're silly,” she said with absurd solemnity.
"What a thing to say! I'm a very serious guy."
“Nuh uh!” she giggled.
"Yeah huh." He tweaked her nose, making her rear her head back, still giggling.
"Then how come you read me Green Eggs and Ham in the funny voice?"
"Well it wouldn't have the same effect if I read it in my normal voice, now would it?"
For no reason he could fathom, the little girl puffed her cheeks out and blew a raspberry that got spittle all over his shirt front and chin.
"Heeeey! What was that for, missy?" He wiped the back of his hand over his chin and only got a giggle in response. "What's so funny?" He reached out and gripped one of her golden ringlets, giving it an affectionate tug.
“You.” She tossed her hair like she saw the ponies in one of her videos do.
“If you say so, peanut.” Chad rolled his eyes.
"I wanna finish my picture. It's for Mommy when she comes home from the doctor's." Again, she tried to wiggle and wriggle her way out of his arms.
Chad let her go. "Okay, you go ahead, and remember: no letting your mommy in on our secret."
"I wooooooon't."
Chuckling, Chad watched her circle back around the table to her place and finish the drawing that would soon be presented to his wife-to-be. If he was as lucky as he felt, that was.
~*~
Mary Anne stirred awake when she heard the bedroom door open. Getting up onto her elbow groggily, she saw Chad and Alma tiptoeing in with a tray of toast, eggs, orange juice, and a little vase with a single red rose in it.
“Morning,” Chad and Alma said together, smiling.
"Awww, you guys are so sweet." Mary Anne sat up with just a bit of difficulty and reached out for a slice of toast, taking a big bite out of it. Cold, soggy toast was gross, so she liked to eat toast first when it was still warm.
She was so occupied with her breakfast that she missed Chad gesturing Alma to get out of the room.
"I'm gonna go and get the syrup!" Alma announced.
"Oh, mommy doesn't need the syrup, sweetpea, but thank you."
Alma’s eyes went wide. "Um... well, I'm gonna goooooooo..... uh, find a.... donkey." With that, she hustled out of the room.
Mary Anne laughed in disbelief, looking to Chad. “What?”
"You heard her; she needs to find a donkey." He sat down next to the tray and looked at her plate intently for a moment.
"She's got such an imagination. While you were at work yesterday, she spent the whole afternoon pretending to be a goldfish." She took a sip of her orange juice.
Chad laughed. "She's the greatest kid I know. Not that I know many... but still."
"Well, you'll know two more in a few more months..." They gazed at one another adoringly, both excited for the big day.
“Sure will.” Chad looked back down at her plate. "Better keep them well fed. Eat up your toast."
"I can only eat so much at a time, Chad!" She laughingly picked up the second piece even though she hadn’t finished her first. "What, should I shove this into my mouth and-" She glanced down at her plate and gasped.
There, just where her toast had been, rested a diamond ring. Chad picked it up, looking at her earnestly.
"Mary Anne, you know how much I love you. And I love Alma and these little ones in there too. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
Happy tears sprang to her eyes. “Yes!”
"Yes?" Grinning, Chad took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. She felt a shadow of grief thinking of Logan doing this same thing years ago but the feeling quickly went away. Excitement for Chad becoming her husband took over and she stared at the ring in wonder.
"Oh Chad, it's beautiful. I-I was hoping you'd do this! I was already planning on asking you myself but..." She laughed tearfully. "I was working up my nerve..."
"Were you gonna get me a diamond ring?" He waggled his eyebrows playfully.
"If I had, it'd be nowhere near as lovely as this one."
He leaned forward for kisses, which she gave him gladly. "You're lovelier,” he said in a soft growl.
"No, you are,” she countered, stroking his face.
That made him chuckle. "We both are." Giving her a wink, he laid back and called out, "Did you find that donkey yet?"
Alma stuck her head into the room, looking pouty. "Howdja know I was there?"
"I have a sixth sense about these things,” Chad said dryly.
“Come see my ring, Alma!” Mary Anne said, hoping to curtail any more pouting.
Alma came to the bedside and snuggled close to Mary Anne. “It’s prettiful.”
“Isn’t it?” She stroked Alma’s hair and kissed her temple. When she looked up to say something to Chad, she was brought up short by the loving, protective look in his eyes as he watched the two of them.
Instead, she simply smiled.
~*~
Chad didn’t think he could handle much more. He felt lightheaded, dizzy, frustrated, frightened… And if he was feeling this way, he knew Mary Anne must feel ten times worse. Her grip on his hand felt weak, her face pale and sweaty as she breathed shallowly, eyes closed.
“What’s the hold up here?” Chad growled at the doctor. “We’ve been in labor for twelve hours!”
The doctor looked tired as well but Chad didn’t have much sympathy. His wife wasn’t in excruciating pain. “Mr. Shelten, the twins have gotten themselves into an impossible position. There’s no way your wife can give birth to them vaginally. So we’re going to have to perform a caesarean section.”
“Impossible position?” Chad repeated, worried. He’d heard about things like this before; sometimes a baby ended up getting choked by the umbilical cord wrapping around its little neck.
“Yes. Both of them have their heads blocking the pelvis bone they’re supposed to travel through. They’re fine, but we need to get them out now.”
Chad swallowed and nodded, squeezing Mary Anne’s hand. “Sweetheart? You’re going to have a-”
“I heard.” She opened her eyes and nodded at the doctor. “Let’s do it.”
~*~
The door opened and everyone in the hallway leaped to their feet anxiously.
“Well? Can we see them?” Mary Anne’s stepsister, Dawn, asked. She held Alma by the hand, who was looking uncharacteristically shy and nervous.
“Yeah, come on in.” He held the door open, letting in Alma, Dawn, Dawn’s husband Kevin, Mary Anne’s father, Mary Anne’s best friend Kristy, and Kristy’s fiancé David.
Everyone cooed over the babies that they had named Daisy and Joshua. Mary Anne looked on with pride as everyone declared that Daisy looked just like her mother. She saw that Alma hung back, chewing her thumbnail.
“Alma, sweetie,” Mary Anne called to her. “Would you like to hold your little brother and sister?”
The group quieted as Alma nodded, still looking nervous. She was set onto the bed next to Mary Anne and had Daisy placed in her arms, Joshua dozing on Mary Anne’s breast.
“Daisy, Joshy, meet your big sister, Alma,” Mary Anne said softly.
“They’re so little,” Alma said in a hushed whisper.
“Yes. They’re going to need us to take special care of them. Will you help me?”
Alma stared into Daisy’s face with sweet wonder. “Yes, I will. And Daddy will help, too.”
It took Mary Anne a moment to realize that Alma meant Chad and she looked up at him to see him jolt as he came to that same realization. Tears filled her eyes.
“Yeah,” she said and sniffed. “Daddy will help, too.”
~*~
Mary Anne and the twins had come home from the hospital two days ago and Chad still couldn’t take his eyes off of them. He stood over their cribs, gazing down at their still, napping forms. Daisy and Joshua Shelten. She’d put his name on the birth certificate and nothing in the world made him happier. Except maybe for that day they’d stood in front of the justice of the peace and pledged their lives to each other.
“They’re yours, you know,” Mary Anne’s voice drifted to him from the doorway.
He didn’t look up from the children as he smiled. “Yeah, I know.”
“No, I mean… they’re really yours.” She came to his side and handed him a few papers. “I had a paternity test done when we were still at the hospital. You’re their father.”
Hugging Mary Anne to his side, Chad kissed the top of her head fervently. “Just when I thought I couldn’t be any happier…” He thought a moment. “If I hadn’t been the father, would you have told me?”
She shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t have mattered; you’d still be a father to them.” She lightly slapped his chest. “Now about this heart disease…”
He chuckled. “Gotta nip that in the bud.”
“That’s right. No more red meat for you.”
“But-!”
“Our children are going to need a father, Chad. We can’t have you collapsing from a heart attack. No red meat. I mean it.”
He grumbled, but just for show. Giving up hamburgers and steak was worth it if it meant getting to watch these two grow up with this woman at his side.
Unaware of what their father was sacrificing, the twins slept on peacefully.
THE END
Authors: toxic_corn and nutmeg610
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: Daybreak belongs to ABC and the Babysitter's Club belongs to Scholastic books and Ann M. Martin. Totally not ours.
Summary: Follows the events of the AU 'verse from Chapter Sixteen of Kristy and The Doctor. Re-read that chapter just for the Chad/Mary Anne bits to understand this one.
Notes: Written to fulfill
fluties_flake's request she made months ago. :\ Sorry it took so long getting to it!Where I Want To Be
For
fluties_flakeChad Shelten stood on the front porch of the little yellow house and took a deep breath. Three months ago, he’d said goodbye to his soul mate after knowing her a mere three days. Since then, he’d thought of no one but her.
His divorce had been finalized; he was a free man. The divorce had been amicable; both sides wanting it and neither demanded anything of the other. The judge had been a little surprised at that but overall relieved by the relaxed dealings.
Now, here he was moments from seeing Mary Anne again. He knocked on the door and fidgeted a little as he waited.
Familiar pounding footsteps made him grin and the door was thrown open by Mary Anne’s blonde, six year old daughter. “Hi, Sergeant Shelten!”
“Hi, Alma!” Chad grinned. “Can I see your mommy?”
“Sure!” The child trotted off bellowing “Moooooooommy!” and leaving the door hanging open.
A moment later, there stood Mary Anne in a loose, sleeveless top and a brown skirt that flirted with the tops of her knees. Her eyes went wide at the sight of him.
“Chad?” she said, shakily.
Unable to hold himself back, Chad enveloped her in his arms and held her tightly. It was so wonderful to see her and… her belly was hard. He went still, the gears turning over in his head. Was she pregnant? They’d been together just the one time but one time was all it took as his mother was fond of saying all through his teen years.
"Mary Anne... is it...?" Chad drew back to look into her face but she ducked her head.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
Chad nodded, swallowing hard. "Because it could be..." He lowered his tone, "his?"
The fact that he’d made love to Mary Anne shortly after her husband was killed should’ve made him feel ashamed. In a way, it did. But the way they had connected in such a short amount of time and the love he’d already started feeling drove that shame away. They were meant for each other, he could feel that in his bones. And maybe they had created a life together.
But at that moment Mary Anne looked like she was feeling that shame, tears sliding silently down her cheeks as she nodded in answer to his query.
Chad hugged her again gently and stroked her hair, trying to soothe her. "Can they test yet? You know, DNA?"
"D-do you want that?" she asked, sounding sad.
He gave her a look of surprise. “Of course.”
“Right.” She hung her head, voice shaking. “ B-because you'd want to make sure they were yours before staying with me. I can understand that."
"No I didn't mean like tha-- Wait, they? It's twins?" He smiled, trying to get her to look him in the eye.
She smiled too but still avoided his gaze. "Yeah. A little boy and a little girl.” Pressing a hand to her belly, her smile widened with pride.
"That's great,” he said softly. Speaking mostly to himself, he added, "We're having twins..."
Mary Anne must have heard him because she finally lifted her head and met his gaze. “We?” she repeated hopefully.
"Well yeah, you told me I could come to you when I was free to, and here I am, just where I want to be." Chad smoothed a hand up and down her arm, needing to touch her after so long apart.
"E-even if they aren't yours?" she asked.
“Even if.” He shrugged. "It's just beneficial for the future to know who's the father. If they're mine biologically, well, there's heart disease in my family and it's good to know and is a thing to watch out for. But if they're not mine biologically, they're still mine, if you want them to be."
For a moment she didn’t speak. Finally, she took a long deep breath and said in a wondering tone, “You’re an amazing man.”
A grin slowly spread across his face. "I have my moments."
"I've missed you,” she admitted. Reaching out, she took his hand and rested it on her tummy. “We’ve missed you. All of us.”
Chad’s grin grew wider. "I've missed you back." He rubbed a gentle circle on her belly, amazed by the lives that were growing within.
Mary Anne held the door open for him, smiling softly. "Come in. Alma and I are just about to take some cookies out of the oven."
"Ooo, cookies?" He hurried in eagerly, making her laugh as she led him to the kitchen, where Alma was sitting at the table staring intently at an egg timer.
Alma looked up and beamed when she saw Chad. “Are you going to come live with us?" she asked bluntly.
“Uh…” Chad looked to Mary Anne, unsure of how to respond. Did she want him to move in? Or should they live separately for awhile before they got used to each other?
Mary Anne blushed. “Alma, sweetie, you shouldn't ask-"
"But Aunt Kristy said he was going to come back some day,” Alma said matter of factly.
Chad cleared his throat. "Well, I'm here now. All those grown up issues are going to have to wait until after we've had some cookies, alright?"
As if in agreement, the eggtimer went off and Alma squealed excitedly and started kicking her legs in a crazy fashion. Laughing, Mary Anne took the cookies out of the oven and Chad took a seat, ready for the rest of his life to start.
"Do you have the green?"
Alma had the crayon clutched in her hand, finishing up the grass and the stalk of a large sunflower. Her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated but as soon as she was finished, she handed the crayon over to Chad. “Here ya go.”
“Thank you.” Since moving in with Mary Anne, Coloring With Alma had become an every day activity. He’d never admit to anyone that he liked it. Coloring in a watering can, Chad broached the topic he’d been contemplating the last two months. "Alma... I have a very important question to ask you."
“No,” she said firmly.
Could she already know what he was going to ask? “No?”
"Is it about the paint in the garage?" she asked cautiously.
"What? No. What paint?"
“Nothing!” she said quickly and grabbed a yellow crayon, coloring in the sunflower a little messily. "What's your important question, Sarge?"
Chad raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior but let it go for now. However, he made a mental note to check the garage later. "I wanted to know if it was alright with you if your mom and I got married?"
She stopped coloring and looked up at him with her big blue eyes. “Married?”
"Yeah. Is-- Are you okay with that?"
"Would that mean... you'd be my new daddy?"
He knew he had to tread carefully here. As well as he and Alma got along, she still woke up in the night crying for her father, remembering the invasion all too well. "I'll only be that if that's what you want. I'm not going to try and replace your daddy, okay?"
Alma nodded and appeared to be thinking the matter over. "Cecily Freemont has a step-daddy. He's mean and yells at her a lot. Are you going to be like that?"
Chad gave her his patented Are you for real?! look. "Definitely not."
"And you'll be nice to Mommy and the babies and take care of them forever and ever and ever?"
"Yes, I sure will."
“Pinky swear?” She held up her pinky, face entirely serious.
“Pinky swear.” They hooked pinkies and shook them once.
"Okay." Alma dropped her hand and then quivered like an over-excited puppy, sliding out of her chair and coming around the table to leap into Chad’s arms, squealing. Chad hugged her back, laughing and glad of this reaction rather than the tearful one he’d been dreading.
She tried to wriggle out of his arms. "I'm gonna go call Mommy and ask if I can get a new dress for the wedding!"
“Whoa, wait!” He held onto her. "I need to buy your mommy a ring first and then I'll ask her, so until I do that, can we keep this a secret between just us?"
Wide-eyed Alma whispered, “It’s a secret?”
He nodded seriously. "A very special super secret. Promise you won't tell anyone?"
"I promise." She nodded back just as seriously.
"Great!" Grinning, he hugged her again.
After a moment, she said in a shy, little voice unlike her usual confident tone, “Sarge?”
“Yeah?”
"I still love Daddy but... I love you, too."
"I'm glad to hear it." He smoothed her hair down gently. "I love you and your mommy."
She pulled back to glare at him accusingly. “And the babies!”
Chad nodded quickly, looking put in his place. "Well of course! I thought that went without saying."
Alma cupped his face in his hands. "You're silly,” she said with absurd solemnity.
"What a thing to say! I'm a very serious guy."
“Nuh uh!” she giggled.
"Yeah huh." He tweaked her nose, making her rear her head back, still giggling.
"Then how come you read me Green Eggs and Ham in the funny voice?"
"Well it wouldn't have the same effect if I read it in my normal voice, now would it?"
For no reason he could fathom, the little girl puffed her cheeks out and blew a raspberry that got spittle all over his shirt front and chin.
"Heeeey! What was that for, missy?" He wiped the back of his hand over his chin and only got a giggle in response. "What's so funny?" He reached out and gripped one of her golden ringlets, giving it an affectionate tug.
“You.” She tossed her hair like she saw the ponies in one of her videos do.
“If you say so, peanut.” Chad rolled his eyes.
"I wanna finish my picture. It's for Mommy when she comes home from the doctor's." Again, she tried to wiggle and wriggle her way out of his arms.
Chad let her go. "Okay, you go ahead, and remember: no letting your mommy in on our secret."
"I wooooooon't."
Chuckling, Chad watched her circle back around the table to her place and finish the drawing that would soon be presented to his wife-to-be. If he was as lucky as he felt, that was.
Mary Anne stirred awake when she heard the bedroom door open. Getting up onto her elbow groggily, she saw Chad and Alma tiptoeing in with a tray of toast, eggs, orange juice, and a little vase with a single red rose in it.
“Morning,” Chad and Alma said together, smiling.
"Awww, you guys are so sweet." Mary Anne sat up with just a bit of difficulty and reached out for a slice of toast, taking a big bite out of it. Cold, soggy toast was gross, so she liked to eat toast first when it was still warm.
She was so occupied with her breakfast that she missed Chad gesturing Alma to get out of the room.
"I'm gonna go and get the syrup!" Alma announced.
"Oh, mommy doesn't need the syrup, sweetpea, but thank you."
Alma’s eyes went wide. "Um... well, I'm gonna goooooooo..... uh, find a.... donkey." With that, she hustled out of the room.
Mary Anne laughed in disbelief, looking to Chad. “What?”
"You heard her; she needs to find a donkey." He sat down next to the tray and looked at her plate intently for a moment.
"She's got such an imagination. While you were at work yesterday, she spent the whole afternoon pretending to be a goldfish." She took a sip of her orange juice.
Chad laughed. "She's the greatest kid I know. Not that I know many... but still."
"Well, you'll know two more in a few more months..." They gazed at one another adoringly, both excited for the big day.
“Sure will.” Chad looked back down at her plate. "Better keep them well fed. Eat up your toast."
"I can only eat so much at a time, Chad!" She laughingly picked up the second piece even though she hadn’t finished her first. "What, should I shove this into my mouth and-" She glanced down at her plate and gasped.
There, just where her toast had been, rested a diamond ring. Chad picked it up, looking at her earnestly.
"Mary Anne, you know how much I love you. And I love Alma and these little ones in there too. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
Happy tears sprang to her eyes. “Yes!”
"Yes?" Grinning, Chad took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. She felt a shadow of grief thinking of Logan doing this same thing years ago but the feeling quickly went away. Excitement for Chad becoming her husband took over and she stared at the ring in wonder.
"Oh Chad, it's beautiful. I-I was hoping you'd do this! I was already planning on asking you myself but..." She laughed tearfully. "I was working up my nerve..."
"Were you gonna get me a diamond ring?" He waggled his eyebrows playfully.
"If I had, it'd be nowhere near as lovely as this one."
He leaned forward for kisses, which she gave him gladly. "You're lovelier,” he said in a soft growl.
"No, you are,” she countered, stroking his face.
That made him chuckle. "We both are." Giving her a wink, he laid back and called out, "Did you find that donkey yet?"
Alma stuck her head into the room, looking pouty. "Howdja know I was there?"
"I have a sixth sense about these things,” Chad said dryly.
“Come see my ring, Alma!” Mary Anne said, hoping to curtail any more pouting.
Alma came to the bedside and snuggled close to Mary Anne. “It’s prettiful.”
“Isn’t it?” She stroked Alma’s hair and kissed her temple. When she looked up to say something to Chad, she was brought up short by the loving, protective look in his eyes as he watched the two of them.
Instead, she simply smiled.
Chad didn’t think he could handle much more. He felt lightheaded, dizzy, frustrated, frightened… And if he was feeling this way, he knew Mary Anne must feel ten times worse. Her grip on his hand felt weak, her face pale and sweaty as she breathed shallowly, eyes closed.
“What’s the hold up here?” Chad growled at the doctor. “We’ve been in labor for twelve hours!”
The doctor looked tired as well but Chad didn’t have much sympathy. His wife wasn’t in excruciating pain. “Mr. Shelten, the twins have gotten themselves into an impossible position. There’s no way your wife can give birth to them vaginally. So we’re going to have to perform a caesarean section.”
“Impossible position?” Chad repeated, worried. He’d heard about things like this before; sometimes a baby ended up getting choked by the umbilical cord wrapping around its little neck.
“Yes. Both of them have their heads blocking the pelvis bone they’re supposed to travel through. They’re fine, but we need to get them out now.”
Chad swallowed and nodded, squeezing Mary Anne’s hand. “Sweetheart? You’re going to have a-”
“I heard.” She opened her eyes and nodded at the doctor. “Let’s do it.”
The door opened and everyone in the hallway leaped to their feet anxiously.
“Well? Can we see them?” Mary Anne’s stepsister, Dawn, asked. She held Alma by the hand, who was looking uncharacteristically shy and nervous.
“Yeah, come on in.” He held the door open, letting in Alma, Dawn, Dawn’s husband Kevin, Mary Anne’s father, Mary Anne’s best friend Kristy, and Kristy’s fiancé David.
Everyone cooed over the babies that they had named Daisy and Joshua. Mary Anne looked on with pride as everyone declared that Daisy looked just like her mother. She saw that Alma hung back, chewing her thumbnail.
“Alma, sweetie,” Mary Anne called to her. “Would you like to hold your little brother and sister?”
The group quieted as Alma nodded, still looking nervous. She was set onto the bed next to Mary Anne and had Daisy placed in her arms, Joshua dozing on Mary Anne’s breast.
“Daisy, Joshy, meet your big sister, Alma,” Mary Anne said softly.
“They’re so little,” Alma said in a hushed whisper.
“Yes. They’re going to need us to take special care of them. Will you help me?”
Alma stared into Daisy’s face with sweet wonder. “Yes, I will. And Daddy will help, too.”
It took Mary Anne a moment to realize that Alma meant Chad and she looked up at him to see him jolt as he came to that same realization. Tears filled her eyes.
“Yeah,” she said and sniffed. “Daddy will help, too.”
Mary Anne and the twins had come home from the hospital two days ago and Chad still couldn’t take his eyes off of them. He stood over their cribs, gazing down at their still, napping forms. Daisy and Joshua Shelten. She’d put his name on the birth certificate and nothing in the world made him happier. Except maybe for that day they’d stood in front of the justice of the peace and pledged their lives to each other.
“They’re yours, you know,” Mary Anne’s voice drifted to him from the doorway.
He didn’t look up from the children as he smiled. “Yeah, I know.”
“No, I mean… they’re really yours.” She came to his side and handed him a few papers. “I had a paternity test done when we were still at the hospital. You’re their father.”
Hugging Mary Anne to his side, Chad kissed the top of her head fervently. “Just when I thought I couldn’t be any happier…” He thought a moment. “If I hadn’t been the father, would you have told me?”
She shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t have mattered; you’d still be a father to them.” She lightly slapped his chest. “Now about this heart disease…”
He chuckled. “Gotta nip that in the bud.”
“That’s right. No more red meat for you.”
“But-!”
“Our children are going to need a father, Chad. We can’t have you collapsing from a heart attack. No red meat. I mean it.”
He grumbled, but just for show. Giving up hamburgers and steak was worth it if it meant getting to watch these two grow up with this woman at his side.
Unaware of what their father was sacrificing, the twins slept on peacefully.
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Date: 2007-08-18 09:50 pm (UTC)