Devil's House

Lily and Lila

Life was amazing. That was all Chester could think as he and Mike stood side by side in the hospital room, looking down at the faces of their daughters. Lily was on the right, and Lila was on the left. They both had on little pink caps and were wrapped up in pink and white blankets as they slept. Their small, red faces looked peaceful, and Chester was thankful.

They're healthy. They're here and they're healthy, he thought with a tired, but happy sigh. The last twelve hours had been brutal. There had been a lot of screaming. A lot of moans and groans of agony. A lot of energy was spent by Talinda as she pushed and clenched and breathed her way through the sheer pain of it all before trying to rest in between contractions. There had been a lot of water and blood, and then a lot of cries from the two new humans that were suddenly in the room with them.

It was still hard to believe that these two small babies - these two small people - were once inside Talinda's belly, and now they were right here, laying in two little beds with pacifiers in their mouths and cute little beanies on their heads. They were no longer under Talinda's care, but now they belonged to Chester and Mike, and Chester knew that it was a massive responsibility. Everything in life was about to change, and Chester was hoping they were ready for it.

He looked away from where Mike was tucking Lila's blanket a little more around her, to Talinda. She was a few feet away in the recovery bed, where she would spend the next two days. Her hair was everywhere, her lips parted as she breathed and went in and out of sleep. Her lack of a voice made the room even quieter, and it prompted Chester to keep his voice at a whisper. Afterall, there were three sleeping people in the room with them now.

"I still can't believe they're actually here," he said, just as he caught movement in his peripheral vision. Talinda was looking their way, and Chester squeezed Mike's arm before he went to her. "Hey, Champ," he said with a cheeky smile as he took Talinda's hand that still had an I.V. in it. "How are you feeling?" He'd never seen Talinda look such a mess, but he couldn't blame her. Considering the fact that she'd just squeezed two people out of her, he thought she looked pretty good.

"How do you think I feel, Chester?" Talinda groaned as she squeezed his hand. She was feeling drugged up from the painkillers that had kicked in after the girls had gotten free from her womb. Now she felt worn out, and she was pretty sure she looked like it, too. "Are they okay?" she asked, looking up into Chester's honey colored eyes. He'd been there with her through the whole thing - Chester and Mike both had taken turns, coaching her through what was absolutely the most painful experience of her life. She was grateful to them both.

Chester bent down to kiss her on the forehead before carefully fluffing a few sticky strands of hair from her face. "They're fine, T. They're sleeping," he said, turning to nod towards the two bassinets where Mike was fussing over Lily's blanket now. "The doctor said they're doing good. Strong heartbeats and everything. You did good, T."

Talinda sighed in relief. "I'm happy," she mumbled as her eyes closed. "I'm sorry if I said anything bad to you during all that."

"Oh, I got an earful," Chester said with a smile as he watched Talinda go quiet, her eyes closed. "You'd think I actually was the cowboy with some of what you threw at me." He laughed, but when she didn't respond, he bent down to kiss her face. "Get some rest, T," he whispered in her ear. "We'll take care of the girls."

He gave her hand another light squeeze before gently laying it across the purple hospital blanket covering her lower half. He headed back to Mike. "She's not fully awake yet," he said, nodding back at Talinda. "And I don't blame her. If I just pushed two people out of me, I'd be exhausted, too." He smiled down at the girls. "I love them, Mike. You know that? They have no fucking clue who I am, but I love them."