I Need You, but You Needed Me More

"Wasn't that one of your song lyrics?"

"Yes, and it was completely your fault." Hope said rolling her eyes.

"You can't say I don't leave a lasting impression." Sam said jokingly.

"You are such a dork!" Hope said exasperated as Sam sucked out of the door just in time to evade a pillow hurtling for her head. Hope sat back in the bed listening to the beeping of the various monitors in the otherwise silent room.

******************

"Oh, my God. Ohhhhh, my God." Hope said between heavy, panting breaths as Nurses were pushing her along towards the Delivery Room. Over and over she said it, "Oh, my God."

.

Sam laughed at Hope's antics, they were absolutely adorable despite the obvious pain her wife was in.

"Shut up, Sam!" Hope barked, wincing her eyes shut in pain after a particularly brutal contraction.

"I love it when you dominate me." Sam retorted jokingly. A couple of the nurses laughed as well.

"Oh, so you're all- Aieeeee! - ganging up on me, huh? Can't you push this thing faster, or did you forget how to walk?" Hope asked. The nurses merely rolled their eyes and snickered again.

"You know, I am never getting pregnant again. Screw this. The next time, it is going to be YOU in this bed!" Hope said, annoyed, as she poked a finger at Sam's chest.

"Hey, don't look at me. I don't want to go through it at all after seeing what you've gone through."

Just then, they went through a set of double doors and into the Delivery Room where the Doctor and a team were already waiting for them. Hope was hooked up to various monitors as the contractions seemed to be getting worse. She had never felt such an intense physical pain before in her life. She screamed aloud just as the Doctor was asking if she was ready to deliver.

"I guess that means yes." The Doctor said jokingly causing the nurses to laugh, Sam as well.

"Oh great, I am going into labor in a hospital- Aaaaaah! - hoping for professional care and - OHMYGOD! - all I get are a bunch of comedians!" Hope said angrily through her contractions.

Sam was led to one side of the bed next to Hope where she could lend moral support. She regretted it almost instantly. It was that moment that the Doctor began to urge Hope to start pushing. If her hand would work normally ever again, Sam would never take it for granted, ever. She was sure she would be in a cast for months. In the middle of Hope's screams, the Doctor announced the baby was crowning. Sam chanced a look to see her newborn baby for the first time, and the world went black.

******************

"She ...? You mean... actually fainted?" a voice pierced through the darkness. It was distant, yet familiar.

Mark.

"Yeah, she totally flopped out all over the floor. Looked like a duck that got shot and was falling from the sky." Hope laughed.

"Thanks a lot..." Sam managed to mumble as her sight began to come into focus. Before she knew it, there was a weight in her arms, and her eyes were still groggy.

"Careful!" Mark and Hope hissed at the same time.

"Peaches, love? Meet your new daughter, Constance. Right now, I'm holding little Cheyenne."

"Wait, what?" Sam asked, incredulously as she gained her full senses back.

"Twins!" Hope said in a whisper-excited voice.

Sam looked at Hope and the little girl she named Cheyenne, and at little Constance in her own arms. Sam fell completely in love with the little girls. They were so beautiful, so small and delicate. She knew in her heart that there was nothing she would not do for these little girls. They were hers, they were her family. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes as she stood up carefully and made her way to Hope and the little bundle of joy she held in her arms.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Hope asked, her voice completely in awe at the sight of the two little girls she had carried inside of her for nine months of her life. She had always wondered what they would look like, and now that she saw them, they were the most adorable little things she had ever seen in her life. She felt such awe, such love for these two little girls she had known only by the kicks to her womb only thirty minutes before. It had come as a shock when the contractions did not stop. She was already frantic over Sam's sudden blackout. She was panicking about something going horribly wrong with her body when the Doctor instructed her to push again. Not that she needed it.

It was actually far easier to get the second baby out of her womb than the first. She had barely even felt little Constance coming out. Cheyenne, however, was another matter entirely. Her mother, when she was alive, had always told her that you would know the personality of your babies by how they come out of the womb. If that was true, Cheyenne would certainly be a challenge. She was up for it.

Hope looked at Sam looking back at her and the tears welled up in her eyes. She finally had the one thing she had been dreaming of since she was a little girl. She had two wonderful baby girls, and the perfect woman to share them with as family. She had her own family. She was overfilled with the joy that thought brought to her mind as the two infants slept soundly in the arms of their mothers.

Mark sat in the corner, having promised to do everything he could to help with the girls. He knew he would always be the odd person out, but he also knew his efforts would not go unappreciated. It just wasn't in the personality of either Hope or Sam to be unappreciative, so he knew he could slide into the role of supporting figure easily enough. What was important to him at this moment was looking at the two beautiful women holding the two beautiful girls and realizing that he had finally driven the nail into the coffin of their insecurities, borne of Sam's hasty decision years ago. He smiled as he watched the loving scene before him, and knew his worries for the two women were finally over. His worries over two beautiful young babies was now only just beginning, and neither of the infants had cried even once. But the small sounds they made as they slept let everyone know they were just fine. A perfect family, he mused as he watched Hope and Sam look at their daughters and then each other with absolute, undying love.

******************

"Momma! Mommy! Come look at this!" Cheyenne shouted, running into the house from the beach.

Hope heard the frantic pitter-patter of two pairs of six-year-old feet as they searched around the house for their mothers. Sam looked up at Hope from her back, the lust in her eyes fading as the role of being a parent quickly took over. They both dressed hurriedly, just in time for the door to open and Cheyenne to plop a big, clear blob of goo on the bed. Cheyenne looked at Sam as though she had just picked up the most interesting thing in the world.

"She takes after you." Hope said.

"I didn't give birth to her." Sam retorted, sticking out her tongue.

"You're the one always giving her these crazy ideas. Now she has gone and picked up a jellyfish."

"Swimming with the Jellies!" Sam said in her best imitation of a California surfer boy accent. Her southern accent got in the way, however, and it came out horribly mangled.

"I'll show you swimming with the jellies!" Hope said, pushing Sam out the door. Sam screamed and started running down the stairs and through the open door.

"Cheyenne! Constance! Help me!" Hope shouted.

Two pairs of excited six-year-old feet sounded through the house as they plodded heavily down the stairs. Both girls were excited to help Hope take up the pursuit of Sam out and onto the sands of the beach. The four ladies ran up and down the beach unfazed by the curious stares of passers-by or the clicking of the ever-present cameras. Shrieking with laughter, Sam led the other three on a merry chase until she could no longer continue and wound up on her back in the surf. Two six-year old's and a thirty-six-year-old who might as well be six fell on top of her in a heap just in time for Sam to see a a wave come roaring for her head. She couldn't get up in time because she was being held down by the others. She held her breath as the water rushed over her. After the wave receded she was allowed to sit up.

"I am so going to get you for that, Hope." Sam said with a glazed-over look in her eye.

"Save it for tonight." Hope whispered into her ear.

"That's fine." Sam said whispering back, before picking up her voice loud enough for the girls to hear. "However, I think I have two girls that are about to get thrown in the deep water if they don't make into the house in time for supper."

Constance and Cheyenne looked at each other wide-eyed and bolted back down the beach toward the house. Hope laughed as she helped Sam onto her feet. She looked into Sam's eyes, those wonderful blue orbs that drew her in eighteen years ago. She smiled.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"Oh, nothing wrong." Hope said pulling Sam in for a deep kiss. They broke apart and Sam caressed her face gently, Hope melting into the gesture that was uniquely theirs. Hope opened her eyes and looked toward the still-retreating figures of their two wonderful children, Mark on the porch beckoning everyone inside for dinner. "I was just thinking of how perfect everything turned out to be in the end."

"It's not over, yet baby girl. You're going to have to be a lot more gentle with me from now on." Sam replied, a strange look in her eyes.

"Why, what's going on?" Hope asked before noticing Sam had a hand on her belly, her face was flushed.

"Oh, my God!!" Hope exclaimed in excitement, hugging Sam closely. They broke apart and began walking toward the house with the setting sun at their backs. The fading warmth of day felt wonderful as they walked in the their daughters' footsteps towards yet another raucous family meal. Both women were smiling, walking hand in hand as they both knew family meals were about to get a whole lot louder once again.