Chapter 235 - EPILOGUE 2 (VOLUME 2)
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Trinity
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It had been a week since Reece's party, and since Juniper told me she was pregnant. I had nothing but babies on the brain right now. What with my pregnancy, Juniper's pregnancy, and Nikki ready to pop any day now. It was nothing but babies for me.
I wanted to start shopping, to start buying things for the babies right away. But Reece forbade it. He said it was too soon. I know he was right, but dammit, I was excited, and there was so much going on last time that I didn't get the chance to buy anything besides the announcement gifts. What else was I supposed to do?
Well, I knew what I could do. I could go crazy buying a super special baby gift for Nikki. She was my sister in-law of sorts and I was going to be the baby's aunty.
Nikki didn't have any sisters, just four brothers, two older and two younger. Her two older brothers were married and had started families of their own, one of her younger brothers was recently mated but wasn't married yet. The youngest brother was younger than me and still in highschool, so he still had a little while.
Nikki got along with her sister in-laws and soon to be sister in-law, but she seemed to gravitate more towards me, she always had. So, it was no surprise that she was including me in everything to do with the baby.
As the days passed since the party and my baby fever was reaching its peak I was out shopping for baby stuff almost every day. My guards took turns going with me at first, but Vincent was the only baby expert among them so eventually they just left the job up to him. He gave me lots of advice on how to take care of my babies, though he had never had to deal with twins. And he told me what we really needed and what was just superfluous and we could get only if we really wanted to. I had a feeling I was going to buy everything, even if I didn't need it.
Day in and day out he took me to different stores in the city. From big box stores and chains that carried everything under the sun to small little baby boutiques. I just fell in love with everything and I couldn't help myself, I bought too much stuff for my little nephew that was due anytime now. Oh well, who was going to reprimand me for buying so much? That's right, no one. I was the Luna Queen, I could do what I wanted.
I was in my room, sorting the massive amount of baby stuff I had bought for Nikki, and putting it all into a neat little arrangement for a gift, when my phone rang. It was Reece calling me in the middle of his work day.
"Hey Bruiser, what's up? I joked with him, another dog name coming to me easily as I spoke to him.
"Hahhh." He sighed when he heard the dog name but continued immediately like I hadn't said anything."
"Hey Little Bunny, just wanted to let you know, Noah just rushed out of work in full on panic mode." I could hear a hint of laughter in his voice.
"Why? What happened?" I asked him absentmindedly as I continued creating my wonderful masterpiece.
"Oh, nothing too much really. Just Nikki going into labor."
"Oh, glad it's nothing too seri-." I stopped mid sentence when I fully processed what he said. "Wait, what did you just say?" He laughed at me like he thought my delay and outburst were hilarious.
"I said Nikki is in labor."
"Oh my Goddess!" I squealed. "My little nephew is almost here?" I felt my excitement reach new heights that I wasn't even sure was possible before now. "Oh, I need to hurry and get this gift ready then I need to hurry to the clinic. They are going to the clinic right? Or are they going to the hospital? Or is Griffin going to their house? I don't even know where to go Reece. Help me."
"Calm down sweetheart." His voice still held a note of his laughter as he tried to calm me. "I'm on my way home to get you. We will go to the hospital together."
"Really? Thank you so much Reece. Ahh, I'm so excited. I get to see my little nephew today. Yay!" I couldn't contain my bubbly excitement as I squealed into the phone.
"Just finish what you're doing and get ready, I will be there soon." He hung up the phone, I could hear his laughter as he chuckled at me even as he ended the call. He must think that I'm going insane, but I couldn't help it, I was happy.
I finished arranging the giant gift for Nikki. It basically looked a lot like those diaper cakes I had seen pictures of online but it had so much more and it was way bigger and more elaborate. There were diapers in there too of course. But there were also bottles, wash clothes, onesies, cute adorable outfits, toys, stuffed animals, lotions, soaps, blankets. There was a lot more too. It was all arranged on a stack of boxes for other little odds and ends.
They might have a bunch of the stuff already, but they would need more than one of these things. One set to leave at home with mom and dad for when they watched the baby, one set for my house for when I kidnapped my sweet little boy and brought him home to get lots of practice for my own baby and to give Nikki and Noah a night off to relax. A set to leave with Nikki's parents so they were properly prepared to babysit. You could never have enough with all the people who could potentially watch the baby. I wasn't going overboard at all, really. I swear I wasn't.
Reece arrived a few minutes after I was done putting together my massive gift. He hadn't actually seen everything that I had gotten for them and his eyes just about popped out of his head when he saw the massive thing sitting in front of me.
"What the hell did you do? Buy everything in the whole damned store?" He asked with a grimace on his face.
"Oh shut up. I actually restrained myself a little bit."
"Restrained? Restrained with what?" He sounded incredulous, like he couldn't believe what I had just said.
"I didn't buy any of the really big stuff." I informed him.
"Big stuff? Like what?"
"Car seat, stroller, crib, dresser, you know, the big big stuff." I listed them off.
"This thing looks massive, if I wasn't as strong as I am I would need a damn forklift to carry it."
"Don't be so melodramatic Droopy."
"I'm not kidding, this thing is massive."
"Well it doesn't matter, I don't need you to carry it anyway." I huffed at him as I made my way toward the giant gift. But I didn't even get halfway there before he ran in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders.
"Oh no you don't. You're not lifting that massive monster of a gift."
"Reece, I'm not a weakling, I can lift it."
"I don't doubt that, but it's as big as you are, and you're pregnant. You're not fucking touching it."
"It's not that big." I said looking at it. It was at least a good eight inches shorter than me.
"If that present was any bigger, it would walk there itself."
"You're being ridiculous." I huffed as I tried to walk around him, but he stopped me again.
"I told you, you're not lifting that thing. Just grab your purse and let's go, I'll carry that monster." I rolled my eyes at him but did as he said, grabbing my bag and walking out of the room ahead of him.
On the way down I opened all the doors for him, and then opened the hatch of the large SUV we were taking to the hospital. It was the only vehicle the gift would fit into. Ok, maybe I did over do it, but I didn't care, it was too late to take it all back now.
When we got to the hospital I found that Mom and Dad were already there waiting, as were Nikki's parents and youngest brother. I ran over to mom and hugged her.
"What have you heard?" I asked her, grinning like a crazy auntie, which I guess I was.
"Everything is fine. They just got her taken back and are getting her situated. She was waiting for you to show up cause she says you're her real birthing coach in this because we all know Noah is going to be useless when it starts happening. He's smart as hell and can keep his cool for everything except his family." Mom was laughing as she said this.
"Oh, I know." I laughed with her.
"Hello Alpha, Luna." Nikki's dad came over, a nervous look on his face. He hadn't been this nervous around me in the past when I met him, but to be honest I hadn't seen him much since Nikki and Noah got married and I was still in high school then.
"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Parker, how are you?" I smiled at them but I noticed that Mr. Parker flinched a little. It was like he was afraid of me for some reason.
"I'm good Luna, thank you for asking." He tried to smile but it became a grimace.
"Mr. Parker, I'm the same person I was when Nikki got married, you don't have to be nervous." I gave him a reassuring nod and for some reason he looked over my shoulder at Reece. "Don't worry about that giant puppy either." I joked and that got a real smile out of him.
"You really do act just the same." He seemed to be a little more at ease. "I'm glad that you and Nikki stayed close even with things changing like they did."
"I won't change the fundamentals of who I am just because my status changed. I am who I am and that's never going to change. And with the baby coming today I hope our families can be a lot closer from now on." I smile at him.
"That would be nice."
We talked for a few minutes longer until Noah came out to get me.
"Trin, Nikki is ready for you." He seemed so excited and nervous. It was like he didn't know which emotion should take control and he was just spinning like a top from one to the other. It was totally cute and I would so make fun of him for it later. But for now the attention needed to be on Nikki, not Noah.
Things seemed to be moving pretty fast once I got into the back room with Nikki. Apparently she had been in the early stages of labor since last night and didn't even realize it, she only noticed something was up when the pain of the contractions got really bad. Not five minutes after I got to the room her water broke and it was almost time for the big show.
I had to admit, seeing Nikki sweating and looking like she was in intense pain gave me pause for my own delivery. But Nikki also looked like she was the happiest person in the world right now so it seemed to be a good trade off. She was such a sweet and caring person, I just knew she was going to be a wonderful mother.
Griffin checked her again and said she was fully dilated and one hundred percent effaced, it was time for her to push.
I held her hand and coached her through the pushes and breathing like I had been practicing to do for the last couple weeks. I counted to ten for her with each push and rubbed small circles on her back to help her relax in between them. During all this Noah paced the room from the other side and looked like he was about to simultaneously wear a tread in the floor and float away from glee at the same time. He was such a nervous wreck and a happy expectant father all at the same time. He was adorable to watch.
After about fifteen minutes of some really intense and painful looking pushes I heard Griffin's excited voice.
"It's out." He said happily. "It's a boy." We already knew that it was going to be a boy, but he confirmed it for us as he clamped off the cord. "Are you going to cut the cord Noah?" He asked him.
Noah mumbled some sort of gibberish as he walked hesitantly forward. He was nervous, but he managed to do his job properly. Once the cord was cut Lana wrapped the baby in a hospital blanket and took him to be cleaned up and measured. Noah was hugging Nikki and wiping sweat off her forehead while the baby was being cleaned up, it was a heartwarming sight.
About ten minutes later, Lana brought the baby back over and handed him to Nikki. I saw the tears in Nikki's eyes as she looked down at his tiny round and pink face.
"Hi baby. Hi Elias, I'm your mommy." She cried, the tears streaming happily down her cheeks.
"Hey little man." Noah cooed at him. This was such a beautiful sight and I was happy I was here to see it.
Nikki handed the baby to Noah, who bounced him in his arms for a few minutes, staring at his adorable face. Then, Noah came over to me and handed him to me.
"Here you go buddy, meet your Aunt Trinity. She's going to be there for you a lot." Noah smiled as he slipped the baby into my arms. I nearly started to cry at his words.
"Hi Elias, I'm your Auntie Trinity. I love you so much already." I smiled down at him, my vision blurring slightly for just a moment as a tear formed in each eye and then began to streak down my cheeks. He was so adorable, and he looked just like Noah with a head full of dark brown hair. I just wanted to hold him forever, but I knew I had to give him back to Nikki soon enough. With a little kiss to his forehead I handed him back, letting him take a small piece of my heart with him.