On the Altar

Chapter 19

POV- Mystique, age 21

When Christy passed out, I went into panic mode, but Dr. Green reassured me by saying that she was fine, but was just a little bit exhausted. That eased my worry, and it's understandable. She just pushed two human heads out of a very small hole. Not easy.

As they were cleaning up the girls, weighing them and generally just testing them for various things, I was sitting outside with my parents, grandparents, Jen and Marty. Jen had been discharged earlier in the afternoon, when Christy and I were sleeping. She wanted to have a little alone time with Marty, so they didn't tell us. But they came running like cheetahs when they heard that Christy was going into labor.

I gently nudge Christy awake because they had to change her hospital gown and wheel her into a postpartum room. She wakes up groggily and looks around. "Where are the girls, Misty?" She asks me, worried beyond her wits. "They're okay. They're being cleaned up and tested and all that. You were passed out for only twenty minutes or so." I give her a smile which she returns.

"I'm a mom." She says with happiness seeping from every syllable. "You're a mom." I repeat with a smile. The few days after the boys' birth were sort of an adjustment period, I got used to them and love them more with every second that passes. And ever since the girls were born, barely half an hour ago, I have been in love with them.

"Here they are, Christy." A couple of very friendly looking nurses come in the room, where our entire family is seated along with me and Christy, who is on the bed, and hand her her babies. One of them is wrapped in a blue cloth, while the other is wrapped in a pink one. Both of them have eyes which are wide open and speculating what is going on around them. 

They are too damn adorable to be true.

"Who came out first?" She asks the nurses and they gesture to the one in the blue cloth. "Thought of any names yet?" One of the nurses asks and Christy shoots her a smile. Our entire family has been hearing this exchange and now when it comes to the name reveal, their ears are perked up in attention and they all gather round the bed.

Christy smiles fondly at her girls in her arms and says, "The one in  blue is Annabella Madison Rosemary Mason. And the one in pink is Anastasia Paris Rosemary Mason." And as soon as she announces this, all the ladies in the room, including me and the nurses, start sniffling.

Why? I'll tell you.

Madison is Jen's middle name and Paris is mine. Rosemary is a mix of my mom's middle name, Rose, and my Grandma's name, Mary. We got middle names and we're crying because we love the girls lying on the bed so much.

Doesn't make sense to you? Who said it should? Emotions never make sense.

"You should try breastfeeding them, they were a little cranky and I think they're hungry." Dr. Green suddenly appears out of nowhere, as she usually does. Marty, my dad and Grandpa all go out of the room with lame excuses like 'the bathroom', 'the cafeteria' and Marty's was good, actually, 'The NICU.'

 Christy whips out one of her breasts, because she is confident like that, and Annabella snaps onto it happily, gurgling and making little cooing noises, while Anastasia looks very sad that her sister is getting special treatment. Christy chuckles and whips out her other breast, too, and Anastasia accepts it reluctantly.

"Christy, don't you think their names are a little on the long side for everyday use?" My mom voices the question which I was thinking. "Yeah, you're right. So, what should we call them? Anna and Ana?" She asks me, confused.

"Bella and Ana?" I suggest.

"Be a little creative, what about Anna and Stacie? Stasia, Stacie, huh?" My Grandma suggests and it's clear that we all love it, because a smile lights up our faces.

"Anna and Stacie," we all murmur our approval, and it seems like the twins like it too, as they unlatch themselves from their mother and start making happy cooing noises, showing their contentment. 

Because they're babies who haven't faced the harsh realities of the world, and we've no plan to show them those realities till they're older.