Laurie knelt over the toilet, gagging, wondering why the hell she had been excited to go through this again.

“Babe, you need some help in there?”

“Nuh-no,” she told him, then retched again. “Ugh, this is all your fault.”

Cable grinned. “Maybe, but you sure seemed to enjoy it.”

She let loose a stream of invectives that were interrupted by her throwing up again.

When she came out of the bathroom, she found a large mug of chicken broth and wheat crackers. A note read, Had to go out. Hope this alleviates. Love you. Cell is on. Girls are off to school, hot tub when I get back?

She smiled tiredly and settled back into the bed, running her fingers over her stomach. Barely showing anything more than a bump, she still felt as if she were enormous. She hadn't slept much the night before and Cable had suggested she stay in bed most of the day. Laurie had found herself agreeing.

When she awoke a few hours later, she found Cable had been home as the crumb filled plate and empty mug had been removed from the room. She pulled on her favorite robe over the tartish nightie she had worn to bed, then went to find him.

Laurie found him in his office, headphones on and lying on the couch he often ended up sleeping on when working on a deadline.

She smiled and sat down on his thighs.

Cable opened his eyes and smiled. “Hey.”

“Come to bed.”

“Hmmm?”

“I want you.”

He grinned and followed her to their bedroom.

“It's Sundae Waffle Sunday, daddy.” He used a thin layer of batter, then ice cream, fruit, and toppings to fill the pancakes. They did it every three months as a special Sunday breakfast.

“Ah.” He yawned again, them murmured. “Where's your mom?” Poli had begun calling her 'mother' while Katie had begun calling him 'dad' occasionally. The two girls had decided that while the other might not be their real parent, they loved them the same.

“She's taking a bubble bath. We're hungry, Daddy,” Katie told him.

“All right, all right. Out. I'll be there in a few seconds.”

When they were gone, he found his underwear and pulled them on then went to the bathroom.

Inside, he used the separate toilet and was about to leave when Laurie called his name.

“Morning, sexy,” he said as he walked into the bathroom proper. She was in the large jacuzzi tub, large enough that their girls liked to put on swimsuits and stage naval battles in it occasionally, soaking the whole room for the most part.

She grabbed his boxers and yanked them down. “Get in here, mister.” Her sex drive had become almost insatiable since she had gotten pregnant. Cable had said he planned to keep her pregnant and she had ended up laughing until she cried.

Poli scowled. “He went back to sleep.”

Katie pouted and nodded. “Let's go play soccer.”

“All right.”

The two girls kicked the soccer ball back and forth, pretending they were playing for their favorite football teams until Cable walked out to the backyard and scratched Stabbity's head as he watched the girls, his long tongue lolling. He licked the sugar off of Cable's hand, then barked. The girls looked over and their father called out, “Food's ready.”

Inside, they found Laurie sitting at the table, breathing in deeply the scent of her orange-ginger tea.

“Morning, Mommy.”

“Morning, Mom,” Poli said.

“Yeah, morning, mommy,” Cable echoed.

She narrowed her eyes at her husband, then smiled. “Where're Ship and Meara?”

“Right here,” Ship said as the two walked into the room. “We already ate. Who wants to play Monopoly later?”

The two girls said they would, then dug in to their plated breakfasts as Cable and Laurie played footsies under the table.

“Well, you are,” she replied.

Laurie resisted the urge to slap her sister. “I'll remember that for when you're pregnant.”

Amy laughed then the two continued looking at maternity clothes.

They heard a phone chime, then Laurie realized it was hers and fumbled in her purse. She had just relented to getting one and often forgot about it. “Hello? Hi, sweetie. No, I haven't talked to him since breakfast. Did you try calling him? Well, I'll try him in a second.” She ended the call. “Poli can't reach her dad.” She dialed his number and waited. Then she heard, “Lemme alone, love you.” Cable hung up.

She narrowed her eyes then dialed the house. “He answered the phone honey, but hung up on me. I'm sure he's just busy drawing something somewhere.” Cable had said he needed to get some reference shots and sketches and had taken off to climb some fire escapes and hit the docks in Seattle.

When the two were done looking at clothing, they stopped for lunch, then decided to see a movie.

“Let's see Jackass 2.”

“Ugg, why?” Laurie asked.

“Point. Lots of people I know liked it.”

“Counterpoint. Lots of people you know are idiots.”

They both laughed, then decided to just do some more shopping and hanging out instead of a movie.

Laurie pulled her new limitless platinum card from her purse to pay for the two new blouses and nursing bra, then sighed. “When he married me, my credit ranking tanked his.”

“Really?”

“He said he didn't care, though. Anyway, he's been encouraging me to go back to school. Get my degree in classical music like I planned to.”

“Do it. Hey, is that doctorate of his real?”

“Honorary. I do call him doctor sometimes, though.” Laurie grinned naughtily.

“Eww, gross.” They both laughed as they walked to Amy's rental.

Cable dropped from the fire escape, then grinned. It had been so long since he had been graffing, he had almost forgotten the rush from swinging off a fire escape to catch a hold of a bridge. He wished he had had his can-pack.

Heading for his car, he froze when a cop car whipped around the corner and flew past, lights and siren off. Instinctively, he caught the plate and car number with his camera. He hoped it would be in focus, then looked and dashed across the street. Reckless driving from those who are there to protect was intolerable. In the car park, he found his Aston Martin, then slid in and set his camera in its padded case.

He paid for the three hour parking, then headed off to check and see if his comics were in at the Comic Stop in Lynnwood.

At the store, he walked in, half-ignoring the crowds for an in-store signing, then turned when someone said his name. A copy of his latest comic was shoved at him in a mylar sleeve and he was almost instantly surrounded. Wizard's writeup, he cursed. He had been recognized before, but Wizard's writeup and written blowjob had made him a lot better known.

“I'm a big fan,” one person said when it was finally clearing out around him and he looked up from the comic he was signing then froze.

“You.”

“Uh...” the man said, looking nervous.

“I fucking love Penny Arcade. I mean, sure, you lambasted my strip once, but fuck, it was funny.”

Mike smiled as Cable reached out to shake his hand.

“Is Jerry around?”

“Yea, over there signing stuff with Scott Kurtz. You didn't know were were here?”

“Dude, my second wife is pregnant. I barely even have time to work on my comics, much less pay attention to news posts on sites anymore. Up for a sketch trade?”

“Definitely.”

Cable joined them at the table, borrowed a pencil and a sharpener, then went to work.

Two hours later, he had finished inking a one-page comic of Cardboard Tube Samurai facing one of his own creations, Bad Monkey Ninja University Post-Grad. He bought a set of ink pens, then began coloring accents like he did on his own webcomic.

When he was done, he shook hands with them all, then headed back out to his car and scowled. A bird had shat on it. He went back into the store, bought a bottle of water, then came back out and pulled his tee off. He used it and the water to carefully clean it off, then dropped the shirt in the bag from the water and headed home.

“Ah, I felt him,” Poli exclaimed. They had yet to tell the two girls it was twins, a boy and a girl, so they thought it was just one child and had decided they wanted a little brother.

“Me too.”

Laurie smiled and pushed them away. “Alright, now, can we watch House?”

The two girls snuggled up to her and dipped their hands into the buttery popcorn on Laurie's lap.

The front door swung open and Cable ducked in, pushing it shut, then shucking off his soaked trench coat, he asked, “Babe, you in the sitting room?”

“We all are.”

He stepped over Stabbity and kissed all three women, then asked, “How was school?”

The girls stood on the couch to hug him, then dropped back down as he ran his fingers down Laurie's bare arm and they said it had been fine.

“How was New York?”

“Hell. The next time I get invited to be on television, remind me to break something.”

Ship and Meara laughed as he headed to his room to change and unpack.

Laurie hesitated, then followed.

A few moments later, her stepmother and father came out the front door and Cable helped Laurie in to the truck. Katie came along a few minutes later, carrying a duffel bag.

He turned to the girls. “All right, Cam is on his way. Less than an hour away. Keep the door locked. Remember the code word?” Both girls nodded. Stabbity stood at the door, his head cocked as he studied the tableau. He could tell his masters were worried.

“Back inside.”

Cable pulled himself into the truck, then backed up and stopped to watch the girls close the door. “How do you feel?”

“Just peachy,” she snapped.

He bit back the smile and pushed his foot down hard. “Uh, can you try not to get amniotic fluid on the leather?”

She looked at him incredulously, then laughed and groaned. “Don't make me laugh,” she moaned.

“Ah, Mary Jane begged me to keep making jokes.” She had in fact done so as she lay dying, the paramedic trying his damnedest to do his job.

He held her hand, then let go once the traffic got worse. When they arrived, her doctor and a nurse were waiting with a wheelchair. Cable had called ahead when the contractions had begun and her water broke. He had been surprised to see it happen. All the women he had known said it had never happened to them until well into the childbirth at the hospital.

In her private room, her doctor smiled at her. “Five centimeters already. That was fast. I'll be back in just a moment.”

“Uh, you know, I just thought of something. How did you feed Poli?” she asked, trying to distract herself.

“Breastmilk bank. Concentrate. Breathe.”

She punched him. He smirked and said, “Anger leads to the dark side, Padawan.”

“We're not naming them Luke and Leia,” she reminded him.

“I was only joking. Though I do like the name Leia.”

“No, you like the bikini. And so do I,” she admitted. He had had one made for her as a joke birthday gift but she had worn it for him that night and many others.

She held on to his hand tightly. “There's never been trouble with childbirth in your family, right?”

“None anyone's told me about.”

She nodded nervously, hoping everything continued to go well.

“Are you scared?” Poli asked.

Katie nodded, unable to pay attention to the cartoons on television.

“Don't worry,” Ship told them. “They're going to be fine.”

Meara walked into the room, holding a bag of Oreos with Ship right behind him holding two two-liters of Mountain Dew. “Cable said we could binge.” He thought if they had a sugar stomachache, they might not worry so much and Laurie had agreed.

Cable walked into the room beside Laurie on her wheeled bed, holding her hand, his peripheral vision enough to stop him from running into anything.

“Ah, Laurie, Cable; time to birth some babies. Looks like they're very eager to escape the womb. Let's get this party started.”

Cable resisted the urge to say something rude. Laurie liked her doctor but he thought the man was a half bottle away from incompetence.

“So, names?” he reminded her. They had decided to wait and see what fit best.

She hesitated a moment, then murmured, “Leia Angelina MacLeod.”

“So, Angelina for day to day then?” He knew Leia would get her teased.

She nodded. “Angel. Softer, sweet.”

“And for the slugger?”

“You choose,” she murmured sleepily. “But not Luke. Hate that name.”

“Samuel Laird MacLeod?”

She nodded and yawned. The nurses came forward to take the children to the nursery as Cable signed the papers and Laurie nodded off.

In the house, the four watched impatiently as the heavy swaddling was removed from the seats. The two girls crouched down to see their siblings better.

“This is Leia Angelina and Samuel Laird,” Cable whispered.

Poli knelt down and carefully touched her little sister's button nose. “Pretty.”

Katie nodded as Ship and Meara moved to see better. After a few moments, Laurie got antsy and told Cable to help her take them to the new nursery off of their room. Cable had had a door put in so they could get to them easier than having to go out to the hallway and then to the other room.

Inside, the girls sat on the rocking chairs, watching as their mother put the twins down for a nap as Cable left the room. He returned a few minutes later with tea for Laurie and a Guinness for himself. Laurie looked longingly at the beer, then smiled tiredly at her daughters. “Hi.”

They hesitated, then climbed onto her lap when she patted it. Hugging her, they whispered, “So glad you're back.”

When there was no reply, she sighed. The twins were almost four months old now and aside from loving kisses and him holding her, they had yet to try having sex again.

Cable rolled over and blinked sleepily. Something had woken him. He listened for the babies' cries, then heard sniffling. At first, he thought it was one of the girls and looked up at the door where light filtered into the room. Nothing. He realized it was Laurie.

She hadn't realized he was awake until his hand crossed over her body and he pressed against her. A kiss on the back of her neck, then he whispered, “Baby, you all right?”

“Um, yea, just, tired.”

He started to pull away, then decided not to. He had been told one to two months before sex again and it had been four. Cable had expected her to initiate but now wondered if the hormones during pregnancy that had made her so lascivious might have turned around.

He kissed her again and whispered, “You are so beautiful.”

His hand slowly moved down to the hem of his shirt she wore.

Laurie held her breath until she felt his hand creeping between her thighs. She rolled over to face him and kissed him hungrily.

Soon, she was on her back with him above her, slowly seeing how it would go. Laurie hurt as he tried, but didn't stop him. She needed to feel him.

She bit his shoulder, reveling in the pain/pleasure of it as he whispered into her hair how he loved her.

When they were done, she kissed his face, repeatedly whispering, “Thank you, thank you,” until one of the twins started to cry, then woke the other. Cable started to get up but she stopped him. “Sleep. When I'm back, I'll wake you up.”

Cable heard her on the monitor, softly whispering a lullaby over the sounds of a sucking mouth.

He smiled in the darkness. If things went too well, she might be with child soon enough. He decided it would be worth it.

“The sooner you can say the word 'one,' the sooner we can get a full night sleep,” Laurie whispered to the child in her arms as Cable sat up, crossing his legs.

When she returned, Cable smiled at her and asked, “Think we should use condoms for a while? Just so nothing untoward happens?”

“Do we have any left?”

“Um, no.” When she had found out she was pregnant, he had used the remainder to keep some cracked paint tubes sealed.

“Dun care. Want sex with my lovely husband.” She straddled his lap and kissed him.