What's Next?

First Kicks

Rory was 5 months, 4 in till she she would have the twins. The twins. Rory couldn't believe it. Two more little girls. 3 children.

"Jess." She looked him straight in the eyes. "We're having twins."

Jess grinned. "I'm aware."

"How are we going to do it?" Rory was excited, she was thrilled to add to their family, but it was so much so soon. One child takes a lot of work, but three?

"Rory, we're going to do it and come out strong. These girls will be loved more than any babies ever have." Jess reassured.

*****

Rory sat back on the couch with Haeven right next to her. They were watching one of Haeven's new favorites, Mulan. They'd probably watched it over 100 times by now, the one year old absolutely adored it. She'd laugh and cheer along with the music.

"Sweetie, you really like this don't you?" Rory adjusted the bow on her daughter's head that seemed to fall askew as she danced around.

"Dance!" One of the new words she'd learned. She was catching on quick.

"Yes, Haeven. Dance!" Rory got up and moved her arms up and down to dance with Haeven.

"Momma!" The child cheered.

Rory heard the door open and saw Jess coming in from work.

"Hey, sweetheart." He greeted her as he walked in. "Mulan again? Isn't she tired of it yet?"

"Nope. She loves it every time we watch." Rory grinned at her dancing daughter.

"Well, it is adorable." Jess grabbed her up. "Have a fun day with mommy?"

Rory loved when Jess referred to her as 'Mommy' or 'Momma'. The word fluttered in her heart.

"I'm going to take a shower and get cleaned up. Should we make dinner or eat out?" Jess asked.

"I was thinking order Chinese? I don't really want to get my mom to babysit. She's done it a lot lately."

"Alright." Jess went upstairs.

****

Rory sat and put her feet up on the ottoman. Haeven had a cup of Cheerios in her cup and she kept throwing them onto the ground.

"Haeven, stop." She pulled her arm gently away  from the cup.

"No." The little girl continued to throw them, but now with more force.

"Haeven." Rory couldn't even believe her ears. Haeven was going to be two in 4 months. How was she already talking back? Rory grabbed the cup away and began picking up the cereal off the floor. This provoked a scream from the angered child and a fit of kicking and flailing arms. The cup was flown out of her tiny hands and hit Rory in the head.

"Hey!" Rory's temper grew as Haeven's fit was testing her limits. She picked her up and took her to her room. As she stomped up the stairs, Haeven's anger flared as well. She screamed and yelled, "Down!".

"What's going on here?" Jess was just finishing up in the bathroom and was heading downstairs.

"Our daughter decided to throw her very first temper tantrum. During the wonderful preoperational stage." Her sarcastic tone was extremely evident and Rory pushed past. "She's taking her nap early."

"It's alr-" Jess began.

"I got this, Jess." Rory kicked open the door to the bedroom and attempted changing Haeven into something more comfortable. This was not retrieved with acceptance or likeness. Haeven resisted with every member of her being. "Shh. Go to sleep." Rory placed her in the crib and grabbed the baby monitor. She stayed in for a while, but all Haeven did was wail. Rory decided to leave, but that made situations worse. Rory felt herself about to hit breaking point. She slammed the door behind her and bit her lip to stop tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. She took in a long breath as she continued to hear the crying coming from behind the door.

"Rory." Jess knew Rory was doing so much lately. So much. She took care of Haeven, she made dinner, she went to work and still had two weeks left in till maternity leave. "Stop. For one second stop."

"What?" Rory knew exactly what Jess meant. She needed to stop doing so much. She wanted to take care of everything, all by herself. She didn't want to feel like she was useless and needed help from everyone. Rory wanted to be in control.

"Rory..." Jess pulled her to his chest.

She didn't want to cry. She was beyond tired of it. For someone who wanted to be control, she sure felt pitiful. It seemed as if she cried whenever things got slightly off kilter. A lot was quite understandable, she was pregnant after all and hormones go crazy during that time. Her efforts to keep in the tears succeeded for a bit, she kept her sanity and cool for a couple moments in till the flood gates eventually opened. "Oh, Jess! How am I gonna do this with two more kids? It's crazy! Haeven's not even two yet!" Rory felt herself short of breath. "Jess. I ca...can't"

He pulled back and his eyes diverted to hers. "Rory?"

"Breathe...I can't." All the commotion made it worse and she felt herself heaving.

"Calm down, shh. Breathe, breathe." Jess recognized this as a panic attack, this same thing happened around 15 years ago. Rory was stressing about school and she had come to him in a time of need. She had called him, came to his apartment at the time at began rambling on and on about everything. Eventually she stopped, and her breathing startled and began heaving sporadically. He'd stayed calm with her, rubbed her back and made sure her breathing grew to a steady pace. This is what Jess did now in till Rory was okay. Luckily, Haeven had stopped crying and they could just sit outside the door in silence. That's when Rory broke it.

"Jess!" Rory's eyes widened and she grabbed her stomach. "She kicked!"

"What?" Jess went to his knees.

"One of the girls kicked, I felt it. Oh! I felt it again. Jess, feel!" She grabbed his hand and placed it on hers.

Jess waited for a moment in till he felt it. "Oh my gosh, Rory. They're going to be soccer players."

"Little Mia Hamms!" Rory chirped. "This is a milestone."

Jess hugged her. "I can't wait for these babies."

"I'm starting to think it won't be that bad."

"We're going to raise them together. They're our babies. Three wonderful girls, of our own. It could be tough sometimes, it's going to. But we're going to fight through it, we'll be strong. It can be wonderful when we love each other as much as we do."

****