Evolved

15. The Waiting Game

I woke up to find that Tessa was gone. I shot up and zoomed around the house. I checked outside and downstairs as well. I found her in the secret room with Damon and Ian. I sighed in relief. Cadence came in behind me.

"You okay Elle?" he asked worried. I nodded.

"Yea, I was just making sure Tessa was okay," I explained. He chuckled. "I didn't even realize you were up until you dashed out of the room." He shook his head and smiled. I looked over to Tessa. Damon was holding her hand in his and smiling softly. Ian had a small smile playing on his lips as well.

"She's perfectly fine, and she'll need to come see me once every two weeks, or more if needed," Ian instructed.

~

The next few months went by pretty normally. Tessa continued school. Everyone was compassionate about her twins. They loved Tessa even more if that was even possible. Tessa would often stay the night at my house. Her parents were mad when they initially found out, but after that, they calmed down and accepted it. Tessa was all smiles. Damon stayed by her side day and night. I was kind of glad the attention was off of me. It felt good to watch someone else for a change. Around the six month mark, Tessa was comfortable with her protruding belly. The time seemed to fly by for all of us. Damon, Kylie, and Cadence were going to be graduating soon, and were also preparing for that. Caps and gowns were sitting all over my house. I was antsy, but excited. Graduation only reminded me that I wouldn't have Cadence around as much as I liked, but it was exciting to hear him talk about college. Cadence had been accepted into multiple colleges, but the closes one was an hour away. Damon was going to stay back to raise his family with Tessa. Kylie lost her spark with Aaron. Needless to say, they got to an agreement of being mutual friends. No one was on Ellie Watch anymore. Nothing had happened, and I was good at keeping a low profile, so I was let off the leash. Of course, Cadence stayed with me 24/7 anyway, but I didn't mind at all; I actually preferred it. Kylie was right; I did have a small separation issue. Everything was going so well. Tessa's pregnancy was going well. Everything was going exactly the way it was supposed to. We were all sitting in the living room at Ian's house in March. Damon was sitting by Tessa and holding her hand. I was sitting in Cadence's lap, and Kylie was sitting in the single seat. We were all watching TV when Tessa gasped. We all turned to her immediately.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked immediately. Tessa only smiled softly as her eyes water. She grabbed Damon's hand and placed it on her stomach. After a second, Damon smiled as well. "One kicked." Damon whispered. I smiled at Cadence and stood up. I went over to Tessa and kneeled by her. She took my hand and placed it over her stomach. I felt a tiny foot kick my hand. I smiled as my eyes started to water. Ian breezed into the room.

"Would you like to know the gender of the children now?" Ian asked. Tessa smiled at Damon before she nodded. I was excited to know as well. I picked her up easily and rushed her into the makeshift medical room. I set her down carefully on the bed. She giggled.

"A warning next time would be great Ellie," she shook her head at me smiled. I smiled and shrugged.

"Sorry," I mumbled. Everyone came in after me. Ian placed the cold gel on her stomach and moved a wand around her stomach. We all waited quietly while he looked at the screen. He wiped off the gel and wand. He smiled at everyone.

"One of each, a boy and a girl," he announced. Tessa and I squealed. Everyone else laughed at us.  I turned to Tessa.

"Have you thought of baby names yet?" I asked. She smiled and nodded.

"Damon and I have narrowed it down to a few but we want it to be a surprise for when their born," she smiled.

"You only have three months left now," Kylie said. The mood seemed to go gloomy as Kylie said that. In three months, this surgery would either work, or it wouldn't. I glanced over at the two incubators that were over on the side of the room. They were filled with a jelly substance that was supposed to be what was inside Tessa protecting the babies. There was a heater hooked up that would heat the substance to the proper temperature. There was also a place to put the umbilical cord so we could feed the children the way they would've been fed if they were inside Tessa. Tubes were everywhere, including tiny breathing tubes. I frowned. So many things could go wrong.

"Hey, cheer up," Tessa finally said bringing my attention back to her. "Everything's going to be fine." She smiled. I saw Damon smile sadly and kiss her hand. Tessa and Damon went to her house that night. Kylie stayed at Ian's, and Cadence and I went to my house.