Aaron watched Idina as she slept. He had been doing that a lot recently as she had fallen asleep in his arms countless times in the past few days. It felt odd that she was suddenly a few feet away from him, just her hand in his.

She was muttering in her sleep, her eyes fluttering and her lips quivering, but she seemed peaceful. He could not quite make out what she was saying, but he smiled anyway.

A nurse brought him a book and took Idina's readings without disturbing her.

"Everything's stable," the nurse informed him. "Let me know when she wakes up, there are a few more tests I need to de before I can discharge her."

"Okay," replied Aaron, "thank-you."

The nurse smiled and left.

Aaron stroked his wife's cheek. Her lips curled upwards at his touch, making him smile. He kissed his hand and pressed it on her forehead; he did not want to disturb her too much. She was growing two people for starters and she was going to be in a lot of pain when she woke up. He would let her have this time.

He picked up the book with his free hand and skimmed it to pass the time until he felt a tug on his hand. He looked up to see that Idina was stirring.

Aaron got up off the chair and kneeled by her bedside.

"Hey there Chickadee," he said as her eyes fluttered open.

"Aaron?" she asked, her voice a bit hoarse.

"Yeah sweet, I'm here," he said, giving her hand an encouraging squeeze and stroking her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"It hurts," she whimpered.

"I know it does. They can give you something if you want, something safe."

"No," she replied, "don't let them give me anything, please Aaron? Even if I ask you too. It's a bad idea."

"Okay Dee, whatever you want." He hated seeing her like this, with tears welling up in her eyes and her jaw set to put on a brave face, but he would do as she wished.

"Like it really hurts though," she said. "It hurts to talk; I didn't think it would hurt to talk." She ended her sentence with a small sob.

"Shh, shhh," he soothed, stroking her dark brown hair, "don't talk then."

She shook her head. "It is ugly?" she asked.

"Is what ugly?"

"The scar? Do you think it will scar?"

"Oh Dee, I don't care about that."

"But it's proof that I'm broken, and they had to fix me," she said, " I don't want that on me for the rest of my life."

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "But Idina, baby, you're not broken okay? They did not fix you. You were never broken."

"Can you look?" she asked.

He sighed. "Only for you," he replied. He pulled the cover down and pulled up her shirt. "Good news, Dee," he said. Her skin was tender, red, and raw, but the surgery mark was barely visible. There was a thing line, a hair width, vertically across her abdomen held together with minutes stitched he had to squint at to see. "It's not going to scar," he told her.

"Can I see? Take a picture please," she begged.

"You don't trust me?"

"I just want to know what to expect," she said.

He complied and reached for his phone. Then he remembered he did not have it. "I don't have my phone, we gave it to the officers, remember? But I promise you it is not bad. It's barely visible now."

"Can you trace it for me? I want to know where it is." She tried to get into a sitting position but quickly fell back down in a gasp of pain.

"Don't sit up, you need to stay laying down," he said quickly, at her side in a second's notice.

"Can you trace the outline for me?" she asked again, looking deep into his eyes. "I just want to know what to expect when I see myself in the mirror."

"Okay," he said, standing up. "It's barely visible, but it starts up here," he gently brushed his pinkie finger over the start of the mark, just under her bellybutton. She whimpered in response. "I'm sorry," he said, pulling his hand away.

"No, continue," she begged through gritted teeth. "You're not hurting me."

"Dee, I don't think-"

"Just do it, Aaron," she said curtly. He flinched. "Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"Hormones?" he guessed.

"No," she replied. "I think I'm just-"

"Hormonal?"

"Will you stop? I am just annoyed, I think. Can you trace the stupid outline or not?"

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You're not, please just do it. I know you do not understand. It is not just about it will look; it is about them. The twins. Please?"

He sighed and complied. He did not know what it was like to carry a human being. There were going to be many things in these coming months that Idina would experience that he would not be able to understand. Maybe this was one of them. He had to help her best he could.

He brushed his pinkie along the thin line as lightly as he could. Idina bit down on her lip to stop from crying out. Then her free hand rose to her stomach and she poked at the tender area surrounding the incision. Her face contorted in pain as she ran a finger along the bumps left by the stitches.

"It's so weird, they cut me open and fixed everything, and sewed me back up and if I were on morphine I wouldn't even know if no one told me," she rationalized through short, taxing breaths.

"Dee, you're in pain," he said moving back to the head of the bed, "please take something when the nurse comes back." He pleaded with her even though he knew it was futile.

"No," she moaned in a long, laboured exhale. "I've had too many painkillers and other medications before we knew about the babies, we can't risk me poisoning them more." Her forehead was clammy and beaded with sweat. She went in and out of squeezing his hand at regular intervals. She squirmed and took sharp, quick breaths through gritted teeth.

It was getting worse the more awake she got. The more she moved, the more she aggravated her stitches and more the more squirmed and so forth. Aaron rubbed her hand to help her through it.

He lowered her shirt and pulled the blanket back up and tucked her in with the teddy bear. He wished he could do something for her, but she was being stubborn.

"I'm going to get the nurse," he told her, suddenly remembering his promise.

"No," she said, her eyes wide, "no drugs, please Aaron. I can take it. I've been through worse."

"No drugs," he told her, "but they want to run a few more tests before they release you."

"Be quick," she said.

"I will be," he kissed her hand before leaving and alerting the nurse.

She said she would be there shortly and seen him back to Idina's room.

"I'm back," he told her, pulling the chair up to her bedside. He planted a kiss on her brow. "We're going to get you out of here, 'kay baby?"

She nodded. "Mhmm." She closed her eyes and smiled as he planted another kiss on her forehead.

The nurse came in a few minutes later and took Idina's vitals, then took some more readings from the machines she was hooked up to. Lastly, she hooked a bag of clear liquid up to the IV in Idina's arm.

"No medication," Idina moaned. "None please," she pleaded as the nurse went about her job.

"It's not painkillers," she said, making Idina relax. "It's some vitamins. You are deficient in quite a few of them. They're good for the babies," she added. "On a scale of one to ten, how is your pain?"

"Nine, eight," she muttered. "Eight," she decided finally. "I'm pretty sure childbirth was worse."

"Okay," the nurse said. She asked Idina a few more questions and she wrote the results down. "I might want to keep you overnight," she cautioned, "depending on how you progress in the next few hours."

"Is something wrong?" Aaron asked.

"No," the nurse said, " not right now. There's no infection and Idina's quite healthy, however, considering her lack of nutrients we want to monitor the babies."

Neither of them wanted to leave the children alone overnight, but if it meant that the babies were alright, they would deal with it. Aaron trusted Erika. He had been watching her for the past few weeks. She was less likely to burn down the cabin while cooking than Idina was and Walker liked her enough to behave for a night. He understood that mommy was trying to get better for him, even if it took her away for a while.

"How are the babies?" Idina asked.

"Dr. Jackson forwarded her results. There's nothing concerning in her results; however, we just want to be sure." The nurse left them alone again once she was sure they had no more questions.

She left them some cream that might help with the pain, but Idina took one look at the ingredients and refused it to Aaron's disappointment. She did however let him use some of the oil to help her skin heal, even if the area was still tender and sensitive.

"It's cold," Idina said, her teeth chattering as he applied it. "It's like the ultrasound gel. But different too, a different texture." He listened to her ramble on as he rubbed the oils in as gentle as he could. "I want to sit up now," she complained.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," he said, "you've got to be careful with the stitches. Not just to one on your stomach, the ones inside too. Your body needs some time to adjust to them."

"I know, I just hate laying down. I feel so helpless."

He rand his fingers through her hair, massaging her skelp. "You are amazing, you know that?"

"So you've been telling me."

"Does breathing still hurt?"

"Yeah, but I'm getting used to it. It's more like an ache now, before it was sharp stabbing."

"Still an eight?"

"Yeah," she admitted. "I never thought my uterus was so busy every time I moved."

Aaron rolled his eyes. "It's going to be incredibly busy now babe," he said.

"Damn right it is," she said, grinning. "We're going to have twins Aaron! That's going to be a lot of diapers."

"And I'll be changing most of them," he said, "but you'll have to show me how."

"There are classes for that," she said. "I never went to any, but if you want too, we can go. I had a midwife though, for the home birth. She did some coaching, but that was it."

"I'd like to if you don't mind." He admitted. He was terrified of messing up with the only babies he might ever have. He wanted everything to be as smooth as possible.

"Then we'll go when this is over," she decided. She moaned again and swore. "I don't think it should be feeling like that," she gasped.

"Feeling like what?"

Her eyes were wide and cried out. "Aaron! Get the nurse!" Her gut felt like it was tearing itself apart from the inside.

He ran out of the room as machines started beeping.