Say Something

Chapter Thirty-five ~ A visit

About an hour after the baby girl was born, Elliott showed up with Theo and Tommo in tow. Caitlin was sleeping, for the double birth had drained all the energy she had out of her, and I was sat in a chair beside the bed with the baby boy in my arms while the girl also slept.

"How is she?" Elliott asked.

"She's absolutely knackered, mate! But she did it." I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

"Which one have you got there?" asked Tommo, seeing the baby in my arms.

"The boy." I told her. "The girl is asleep in one of the little cribs beside the bed."

"He's very blonde." Theo said.

"So is the girl." I smiled. "You can hold him if you like, he's wide awake. "

I placed my son, I guess I could call him that, in the arms of my young nephew. He held him gently, and couldn't stop staring at him. Neither could Tommo and Elliott.

"He's beautiful. " said Tommo after a while.

"So is the little girl." I said, and I looked up to see Elliott walking over to where my daughter lay in her hospital crib.

"He's right, they're both beautiful. " he said.

I watched as he reached down and stroked the sleeping baby's cheek, and I could hear her squeak.

"Do they have names yet?" said Tommo.

"The boy does, Caitlin wanted to call him Liam." The name was quite fitting for him. "We have no idea what to call his sister, though."

Baby Liam sneezed, and I was scared that Theo would drop him, but he didn't.

"Bless you." Theo said to him.

I was rather surprised that Elliott was still there, as usually he would only be around for a few minutes. I guessed he wanted to be there when Caitlin and her daughter woke up.

Caitlin woke up a couple of hours later, and by this time the girl baby had been awake for about an hour and little Liam had fallen asleep in Theo's arms. The little girl had been picked up by Tommo as soon as she had woken up, and was cradled in her arms, staring at her.

Caitlin yawned before opening her eyes and saying:

"Oh my god, I did it. I'm a mum!"

"You certainly are." Said Tommo as she stroked the wee girl's cheek and the little one grabbed hold of her finger and held on tight, smiling.

"Little Liam is sleeping." I said, pointing to where my nephew sat in a chair with the baby in his arms.

"Well, at least one of them is. I don't think I'd be able to handle it if they were both awake and screaming at the same time." Said Caitlin, sounding very tired indeed. "I bet she's hungry, Toms. You'd better give her to me."

Tommo obediently passed Caitlin her newborn daughter, and soon Caitlin was feeding her, watching in adoration as she looked up at her with big blue eyes.

"What are we going to call you, little one? Your brother has a name, but what about you, huh?" Caitlin whispered to the tiny baby.

"What do you think of the name Imogen?" Elliott said, the first time I'd heard him speak since he first saw the girl baby.

"Imogen. I think that's a perfect name for her, don't you, Niall?" Said Caitlin.

"It is perfect." I said. "And look, she's smiling, that means she likes it!"

"Liam and Imogen. Imogen and Liam. I love it." Caitlin said as she finished feeding Imogen and lifted her up so that she could burp her.