After four more hours of yelling at Jason, doctors and random midwives, it was happening. I was fully dilated and I was on the brink of passing out. The gas and air was not an effective pain relief, and after two hours of trying it, I threw the damn mask at Jason's face.

"You're doing great, Lily," the midwife told me as she stared in between my legs. "Another push."

I wanted to hit her, I wanted to hurt her, I wanted to slam my legs into her head, just because she was so calm and had an annoying, squeaky voice that went straight through me. 

I dug my fingernails so hard into Jason's hand that it paralyzed him. "This is your fault!" I screamed as I followed natural instincts and gave another torturous push. "You should be in prison for this!"

"Love you too, baby." Jason whispered. "We'll discuss that in the morning, okay?"

"I hate you!" I cried, while I carried on screaming. "I hate your voice, your face, your penis. I really hate your penis."

"You love my penis."

The midwife looked up at us with a grin. "I see the head, you're nearly there."

"Just get this baby out of me," I told her in a low, threatening voice. "Before I smash his head into the wall."

"Like you'd prize your fingernails of death away from my hand to do that." Jason mumbled.

"Shut up," I ordered. "Seriously, you're annoying. . . me. . . ah!"

I gave out one more push, going along with what my body wanted me to do. I felt a bizarre sensation, like pushing out the longest poo of my life. But it wasn't a poo, for one, it cried. And for another, it was white with a set of dark hair and covered in slimy patches of blood.

The midwife cut the chord immediately and we held our breaths as she passed the baby over. She placed the baby on my chest and I replaced her hands with mine, turning the baby over. We both glanced down, and my eyes lit up.

"A girl," I said, smiling up at Jason. "We have a girl."

He smiled down with me, and I wrapped her up in the white sheet. Her eyes were closed but I could tell right away that she was beautiful. She was perfect. Jason placed his finger inside her tiny, wrinkled hand and she slightly squeezed it.

"Welcome to the world." I said to her. 

I glanced up to see Jason's eyes filled with tears. And he set me off too, I choked out a cry of happiness, of love. I had so much love bursting out of me for this little life that when the midwife spoke, it spooked me.

"I'm going to take her to the incubator," she said, taking my baby from my arms. 

I straightened up the bed, shocked and angry. "No, bring her back."

"Lily." Jason whispered.

"What? She can't just take her from me!" I demanded. 

"You do remember that you're having twins, right?"

"Oh my god," I gasped. "I forgot about that."

I was still getting the sharp, contraction-type pains but I assumed they were just after-pains. 

The midwife laughed as she wandered back over. "It's completely normal. Plenty of women forget once the first baby has arrived."

She took another glance under my gown, and took off her see-through gloves, replacing them with a new pair. I heard my daughter cry from across the room and it was so hard to focus on giving birth when she was right there, calling out for me. 

A few more minutes passed, and the agonizing pain crept back in again. "I have to do this again?" I cried, gripping Jason's hand. "I can't!"

"You can," he said. "You can do anything."

"Shut up!" I screamed. "You're not helping!"

The second time was worse, if it that was even possible. I was literally on the brink of passing out, I had no energy except to grab the collar of Jason's shirt and pull him into me as I squealed. He just went along with it, as I barked in his face. 

"I really hate you!" I said as I clung onto his throat.

"Lily, I'm a little scared of you right now."

"One more push," the midwife said. "You're doing so well, Lily. It's nearly over."

"I can't!"

"You can! One more push, a big push."

I don't know where the hell I got the energy from, but I did it. The poo sensation occurred again, and I felt the baby slide out of me like a catapult. The midwife caught it and she did the exact same procedure as with the first baby, but this time was different, the baby didn't cry.

I snapped myself out of my tiredness to glare at her. "What's wrong?"

The midwife pumped something that looked like a balloon into the baby's tiny mouth, and a few seconds later, it cried. "Nothing," she said. "You have another beautiful baby girl."

She passed her over to me and I brought her to my chest. Another little life. Another thing that made me burst into happy tears. 

"Another girl," he whispered. "Do you think they're identical?"

"No," I said immediately, glaring at the perfect life in my arms and remembering the other perfect life just feet away. "They aren't."

"A mother's instinct," the midwife smiled. "They're incredibly lucky."

I glanced at Jason with a smile. "No, we're the lucky ones."

He took a breath. "We are."

+ + +

I didn't want to sleep. I couldn't. I was exhausted, drained, half-dead, still sweaty and my heart was still thumping, but I didn't want to take my eyes from them. We dressed them in the cutest white baby grows with little hats, and they were both fast sleep next to each other in the incubator beside my bed. 

I was so lost in my little moment of adoration that I hadn't heard the door open. "I've called your family," Jason told me. "They're visiting in the late morning. They can't wait to see them."

"Okay," I smiled. "And your parents?"

"Later in the afternoon. Best not to have too many here at once."

I nodded. My eyes went back down naturally, watching them sleep was now my most favorite thing to do, ever. It was at the top of every to-do list I had yet to create. And it wiped every list I had ever created from my mind. 

"You need to sleep," he told me. "They'll still be there when you wake up."

"What if I sleep for too long and they need feeding?"

"The midwives have already said they're going to do the over-night feed. To give us some rest."

I frowned. "I know, but, I'm still paranoid. What if they forget or-"

"Lily," he sighed, dropping onto the bed next to my shoulder. "Neither of us are any use to them while we're sleep-deprived. They know what they're doing, okay? You need to trust them."

"Okay," I said, finally prizing myself from their gorgeous faces to meet his hazel eyes. "Can you believe we made them? We actually made them."

"We did." he laughed, running his hand over my hair. 

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

He narrowed his eyes. "What for?"

"You're not the only love of my life anymore."

He smiled, wiping sweat from my forehead. "But you are and will always be, the only love of mine."

I widened my eyes and a single tear ran down my face. His finger brushed across my cheek, effortlessly wiping it away in an instant. 

"Marry me," he whispered.

"What?" I laughed. 

"Marry me," he repeated.

I blinked. "Did I suffer a concussion during labor?"

"I'm serious," he said. "I want you. For the rest of my life, however long or short it is. And I want to do that as your husband."

"You already are my husband," I smiled. "In every way possible. We don't need to put on a show to change that."

He sighed. "So you're saying no?"

"I'm saying yes!" I grinned. "Didn't you get that?"

"What? But-"

"Just kiss me."

"Yes, ma'am."

He brought his lips down, but before he had the chance to suffocate me with them, I let out one last sentence.

"I love you, fiance."

"I love you, fiance," he said. 

My body shook with excitement and he had to hold me still as he kissed me. We were finally complete. Finally. We had our family, we had our engagement, we had our lives ahead of us.

We had. . . everything.

Except time.