Simone looked pleasantly happy as their week-long vacation came to a close. She had a nice tan from fun on the beach, where ever it was that Lewis decided to take her. She looked utterly relaxed as she sat there kicking her feet lightly. Lewis absolutely demanded nothing strenuous. Happiness made making babies easier. That meant her favorite tea, her favorite books, and her favorite bath oils. Lewis was utterly spoiling her.

She was in a tropical dress since they had just strolled back in, literally not even a few moments ago, from their vacation. Lewis was rummaging through Xeik’s potions trying to figure out what they were. He looked more tired than usual. He was making a mess of Xeik’s office while they waited.

“Hey Xeik,” Raine came to where he was working and knocked. “Lewis and Simone are back from their baby-making vacation! They are in your office for a check-up… I heard the clacking of glass so I don’t know what Lewis is doing… Simone was sitting the last time I saw her.”

Xeik was busy re-organizing some of the books in the library when Raine came to get him. At the mention of Lewis rummaging through his potions, the healer sighed, and thanked Raine for her report. With a quick wave of his hand, he created a small gate and walked into his office, clearing his throat as he noticed that Lewis was still rummaging.

“And what exactly are you doing?” Xeik asked.

“Energy. Whatever that potion Angela gave me last time. Pretty sure I can identify it by smell.”

The Divine Mender rolled his eyes. “I don’t have any. It’s usually made as a special order and doesn’t keep well.” That wasn’t entirely true, but it at least got the ex-assassin out of his potion stash. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Lewis had an entire month to get Simone pregnant. It had only been a week, but the woman already looked as though she were a pampered princess.

Which, to be fair, was exactly what she was.

“Well…Simone was worried about Dala, and we thought it wouldn’t hurt to do a quick check up after our…vacation.” Lewis yawned as he spoke, trying to keep focused on the task at hand. It was obvious, though, that the two had not gotten much sleep. Despite Simone’s pampering. It was pretty easy to tell that she was fairly exhausted as well. Exhausted and happy.

“Dala is doing fine,” Xeik responded as he walked up to Simone. He took a quick look at her life energy, and cocked his head to the side. “…hmm.” He thought for a moment, and walked back to his table. “I’ll be right back.” With that, he left the room, leaving a confused Simone and Lewis to stare at the gateway he had created.

The two of them were going to go home and get a good night’s rest after snuggling with their twins for a bit. That was the plan they had settled on. Well the twins and Glynn. “That’s good I’m glad,” Simone gave a yawn as she stretched and got a look from Lewis. “What? I’m not overdoing anything.” He was already on her about lots of things. They couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong with their one chance.

Xeik was quick to look them both over without getting close before leaving the room. Simone tilted her head. “Was it something we did?” The potion rummaging maybe?

Angela stepped back through with Xeik and walked up to Simone. “Hmm…” Angela bent over and looked right at her tummy. “Yeah, she’s pregnant alright.”

“REALLY?!” Simone got all excited and she looked at Lewis with happiness.

“Yup,” Angela put her finger on her chin as she looked closer to it. “Judging from the life energy… How it’s swirling… Xeik you see how part of it is going counterclockwise right there? Simone is carrying twins. It’s early yet though and sometimes twins have a habit of eating the other.”

The color left Simone’s face, “Wait, I could lose one of them?”

“It’s possible Simone. This is a normal pregnancy. As long as you aren’t high risk… or stressed… You should be fine. With constant monitoring from Xeik and myself, I’m sure that we can get both of them through the whole pregnancy.”

Simone sat still as she could, “… What’re the chances of losing one of them?”

“Very slim. It happens though. Normally mothers don’t even realize they were carrying twins,” Angela educated her softly.

Lewis was worried. It was rare for XXeik to just leave like that, and when Angela popped in, he was even more worried. However, the news was nothing but great. Simone was pregnant already. The week long vacation had done what it was intended to do, and that meant that Simone and Lewis were going to be parents! …again.

That excitement though, turned to worry for Simone as she wondered about the twins that were now forming in her womb. Lewis ignored her worry, though, and filled their resonance with nothing but absolute giddy and happy thoughts. Which, of course, was barely displayed on his face.

“So we’re having twins then?” he asked Angela and Xeik.

Xeik shrugged, “More than likely. Angela is really the expert on all of this. I tend not to deal with pregnancies like this early on. And, of course, we have absolutely no idea how the resonance will work.” That was the biggest concern for Xeik, but he also had confidence that he could handle what problems might arise.

“Twins..” He smiled and looked at Simone. “Another set of twins, Mone.” He paused. “Oh…another set of tyrants…”

Simone’s worry seemed to vanish as she looked over at Lewis and smiled at him. “Lewis already doing a good job at what husbands are supposed to do. Support the wife and make sure there are no worries,” Angela commented softly as soon as she realized why Simone’s mood changed so easily. “Keep up the good work. I have… lets see.” She went back into the portal and came out with a book on pregnancy for first-time parents and handed it to Lewis. “It’s been a while for Simone and this could help you too. I personally recommend it to my daughters. Helps them out a lot.”

Simone got up and flung herself on Lewis giving him a hug. “Yes, but they are our tyrants!” She squealed and kissed him. “Though, now that we have it confirmed… I am exhausted.” She let out a nervous laugh.

“Plenty of rest is going to be good for her. It might be best to pull all the kids into one room and explain about keeping stress down for her in the meantime. Once we get past the dangerous stage which is about two months or so for a pregnancy like Simone’s… We can reevaluate where we are. In the meantime, Xeik can keep on top of making sure you both are healthy. There’s not much we can do for the babies right now. Just make sure Simone is happy and healthy.”

Simone nodded to Angela smiled down at Lewis. “You ready to go home and tell the deviants? Then we can get snuggles in and go to sleep.” She gave him a kiss.

“Oh, after some time has passed. I can tell you what the sexes are but we’ll wait until later for that,” Angela waved them off before disappearing back into her portal. “Take good care of them Xeik!”

The Twerrowin duo finished up their conversation with Lady Angela and Xeik, and soon found themselves back on the island. It didn’t take much effort to gather all the kids around for the news, and Roma had the staff and help gather as well. It was an important announcement, after all!

Lewis looked at them all and cleared his throat all official-like. “Simone is pregnant.” There were gasps all around from the staff and the older kids; they all knew what that meant for Simone and how much work must have been put into making that possible. It was the younger kids, though, where there seemed to be a bit of a problem.

It was Alshaya that was first. “Oooohh…so when I want to have babies, it’s all ‘No, Shaya, it’s irresponsible.’ But when you do it, it’s okay?” She huffed and put her hands and her hips. “Llonan and I are MORE than ready for chi-”

Everett walked up and put his hand over Alshya’s mouth, “Shut up. Nobody wants to hear any of that gross stuff between you and Llonan. Besides, Mom and Dad said that it’s irresponsible because you’re too young. It’s like you weren’t even listening.”

Of course, that didn’t go over well with Alshaya, and Lucas had to step in between the two to separate them before any real physical damage was done.

Llynette smiled and congratulated Simone, “I can’t wait to see my baby sisters!” She felt confident in her assessment.

Lucas and Ezili gave little claps and happy congratulations. Rex and Hazel followed, with the babies making a bit of a fuss over the noise. The others, well…

The twins were looking up at Simone and Lewis with giant smiles, “We can kinda feel them! They feel squishy.”

Lewis looked at the twins, “Behave. They are very, very delicate right now.”

“We have to protect them!”

Glynn walked up and put his hands on Simone’s tummy and looked up at her, “Babies?”

“Yeah, just like you but smaller,” Simone tapped his nose gently.

“I love them!” Glynn hugged Simone and Simone pulled him up easily resting him on her hip.

Corrine and Jules were coming up and hugging Simone and Lewis, “We’re so happy for you!” They knew that Simone had wanted this for a long time and so did Lewis. They could almost sense the happiness coming off of them.

The twins got in front of Simone and put their hands up, “It’s time for bed.” The tyrants spoke and the kids stopped and looked. “Mama has to go to bed and sleep for three.”

“But…” Simone looked down. “Snuggles.”

“Snuggles later after you rest! We can feel how tired you are! No arguing! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!” The twins shouted up at Simone and Lewis. “We’ll have dinner brought up to you. Glynn, are you going to go nap with them.”

Glynn got down and smiled up, “They need sleep!”

“You heard Glynn! Sleep!” The twins seemed to be tuning into Lewis’s protectiveness as Simone got ushered upstairs and got ready for bed. They even tucked her in and gave her kisses. “Sleep!”

When Mira heard the news, she ran at full speed. Their family would have two new babies joining! When she was with her siblings, everybody was talking at once. "When they're older, I want to teach them how to swim!" She piped up, putting her hands on her hips. Mira heard that learning things when you were little was easier, so it would be good to see what the babies were interested in after they were born. Lila and Janus were both naughty, and it was hard to keep up with them. She wondered if they would settle down when they had siblings younger than themselves. 

There was never a quiet day in their home, and she liked it that way. Sure her siblings would get into fights a lot, but Mama and Papa would always sort things out. Her fish friends were doing well too, and when the babies were born she wanted to have them see the turtles. Her fish pools already had Sir Redfins VII, the latest in the family of carp Mama had bought for her from Nisshoki. Sir Redfins the First and Goldie came when Everett and Shaya were still little, and new fish were added every year. She even named a few of the carp after her siblings based on their patterns and personalities. "I can't wait to name some fish after the new twins when they come!" As her siblings left to let their Mama rest, she waited until Lila and Janus left to wave at Simone. "Sleep well, Mama!"