Hi

Here's the next chapter. Read, enjoy and vote. I make no excuses or apologies for this chapter. I hope to have the next chapter up as quickly as this one.

Gypsy

*****

Micah

I watch Rosy pacing back and forth across the room restlessly. Every now and then she would pause for a few moments, one hand on her side as she closed her eyes and visibly breathed deeply. As she resumes pacing I look away from her to the bed she has stripped bare and the table by the wall covered in soft blankets while a wrapped tray sits on one end.

"You sure you wouldn't be better laying down?" I ask nervously. Rosy pauses to glower at me before rolling her eyes as she looks away and resumes pacing.

"Rosy ..." I venture more firmly but this time she growls as she looks towards me without pacing.

"What is happening is perfectly natural," Rosy says on a growl. She stops moving and I can hear her breath hissing between clenched teeth as she glares at me, her gaze focused somewhere on my chest. I am just about to speak again when she resumes her movements.

"My body knows what it has to do," Rosy tells me levelly with a glance my way. She turns and heads away from me before saying more, "I just have to go with it and not fight what is happening."

I clamp my jaw to keep my words in. I can't get the memories of the aftermath of Kali's birth out of my head. I can still see Rosy's pale lifeless body as others had worked on her to bring her back from the brink of death. A cold sweat breaks out on my brow eliciting a growl from Rosy as she pauses in her pacing, a hand against the wall as her breath hisses between her teeth. I can only watch uselessly when Rosy resumes her pacing. It feels like hours before I hear Steven making his way up towards the room, I take one step backwards so I can see if he is alone.

"Doc is on his way and Chris will be over from Jazzy's in a few minutes," Steven says quietly. "Kia was off on a run somewhere and someone has been sent out after her. Malcolm is with Sasha,"

I give a distracted nod before looking back to check on Rosy, she is still pacing the room and doesn't seem to be worried about our presence. Every time she pauses, her hand on her side or braced on the wall as if to keep her balance I grit my teeth and find myself breathing deeply along with her.

"How is she doing?" Chris' quietly voiced question startles me and I turn towards him with a softly muttered curse.

"Who is it!" Rosy demands on a tight, slightly breathless note. "I don't want whoever it is here!"

"It's okay Blondie," Steven says stepping into the doorway on the other side of me where Rosy would be able to see him. "I was just checking how your old man is holding up!"

Rosy makes a sound that sounds like it is part annoyance, part disbelief and part disinterest before she resumes pacing. Time passes and I can't tell if it is going fast or slow. I see the tiredness in Rosy's face, the way her hair now clings damply around the edges of her face and still she paces. Nightmarish thoughts try to run through my mind and I try to push them aside so I can remain strong for Rosy. I keep my attention on Rosy, the way she paces, but I am aware when Steven heads back to the other end of the building. He smells of coffee when he returns and hands me a warm mug, I take it and sip distractedly. I am nearly finished when I push it towards Steven without looking his way. Something about the way Rosy stands, body braced stiffly, one hand on the wall and one had on the side of her belly as she lowers her head with closed eyes and her teeth exposed in a grimace.

"Rosy, Rosy," I murmur softly as I approach her. Rosy lifts her head slowly, her eyes are glassy, sweat beads on her upper lip and forehead.

"I'm here darling, I'm here," I murmur as I carefully enfold her rigid body in my arms. She is stiff and unyielding in my arms for a bit before slowly melting against my body. Her forehead rests against my chest for a few moments and I could almost swear I feel her lips pressed to my chest before she turns her head and rests her cheek against my chest over my heart.

"Please ..." Rosy's voice is faint and slightly papery. " ...I need to be in the shower ..."

Her voice trails off and her body goes rigid against mine. I find myself rubbing the small of her back while I can feel the hard ball that is her stomach press against my front. Her breath hitches against the t-shirt between my chest and her cheek. I can only hold her helplessly as she rides out the contraction.

"The heat ...the shower, on my back," I can hear the tiredness in her voice.

I am not sure having a shower in the middle of having the kitts is a good idea but seeing what she has gone through so far without complaint I am not about to deny her what she wants. I help her make her way to the shower room, while I am adjusting the temperature of the shower I watch helplessly as she braces both hands on the wall and breathes through another contraction.

"Where the hell is Doc?" I hiss at Steven who is watching from just outside the doorway. I can see the concern on his face as he shakes his head.

"He's coming," Steven says quietly.

I pull my clothes off and step beneath the shower with Rosy, she moves so she is leaning her shoulders against my chest with her back in the stream of warm water. I run my hands over her back trying to soothe the pain there as she tenses through another contraction. I hold her close and nuzzle against her cheek as she relaxes in my arms trying to catch her breath. I kiss the corner of her mouth and she turns her face towards me, we exchange several light kisses before she turns her face away to rest her cheek against my shoulder. Rosy makes a faint sound in the back of her throat and she begins to tense again, I grit my teeth as I breathe with her. Rosy gives a start and jerks her head back as she lifts her chin, I look down into her face to find her mouth open in a soft 'O'.

"Micah," I hear Steven's voice but tune out anything he says as I watch Rosy's face, holding my own breath until she begins breathing once again.

Rosy turns away and takes several shuffling steps towards the doorway, Steven is right there quickly wrapping a large soft towel around her as best he can before grabbing a towel off the doorknob and handing it to me. I quickly turn the flow of water off and follow Rosy and Steven as they leave the room, a scent fills my nose and tickles the back of my throat before I realise it is the smell of amniotic fluid. Rosy's waters have broken.

It seems to take forever for both Steven and I, one either side, to help Rosy back to the bedroom. She makes her way to the bed and slowly paces back and forth at the end of the bed a few times.

"Come on Rosy you need to lay down," I coaxed gently. Her reply is an angry growl and a glare my way as she bent forward slightly with one hand braced on the bottom corner of the bed. I turned away as I ran my hand through my hair pushing it back before I reached for a pair of old sweat pants that Steven was holding out towards me.

"That can't be good," Steven mutters.

I look back towards Rosy to find she had moved up the side of the bed but was now squatting as she braced one hand on the bed, one hand on the wall. She half stood up, bounced slightly then went back into the squat before repeating the movement. She moved her arms from where she had them braced on the bed and wall as she seemed to try to sit down but with her feet so wide apart she couldn't as she pushed at the inside of her knees and seemed to curl up on herself.

"Shit! First one is breech!" Chris' words made what I was seeing make sense as Rosy reached down between her own legs to try to feel where the kitt was trying to emerge. I found myself moving forward and then I was down behind Rosy murmuring soothingly to her as I rubbed the side of her back gently. When Rosy grunted and curled in on herself once again I found myself looking down where the kitt would exit her body. I reached for where I could see the second foot as Chris murmured quietly behind me, a few seconds and the second leg emerged so both legs were out to the knees. Next came the thighs and bottom with the evidence of the gender of my son, a pause and the body came out to the shoulders. Doc's repeated lectures on how a kitt was delivered ran through my mind, surely feet first was similar in some ways to head first. I tilted the little body to one side and the point of one shoulder slid free, then the other, a slight catch and finally all off the kitt slid free. I suddenly found both hands full of warm, slippery body and cradled him protectively as Steven eased past me to help Rosy crawl up onto the bed.

"Why isn't my baby crying!" Rosy demanded frantically.

"Just making sure his nose, mouth and throat are clear of fluid," Chris said as he worked a fine tube in the kitts mouth.

I placed him on the bed and watched as he blinked his eyes while Chris worked clearing his airway. His little chest was rising and falling and when Chris pulled the tube clear he reached out to pat the bottom of the tiny feet eliciting a lusty cry of complaint for several moments before he fell quiet.

"Cord has stopped pulsing," Chris said making me recall how Doc had said that close to a third of the kitts blood would still be in the cord so it was important to let it pump into the kitt. Chris quickly placed two clamps and I found myself cutting the cord to detach my son from his mother.

"Over to the table and get him wrapped up," Chris instructed and I found myself cradling the small body against me as I carried him over to the table.

"Don't let anyone else touch my baby Micah!" Rosy demanded, an almost frantic tone to her voice.

"It's okay my Rosy," I called reassuringly. "I have our son,"

I watched as Chris quickly checked the kitt, measured his length and weighed him before putting him on the diaper I had ready. I wiped him over with soft wipes then put a onsie on him and wrapped him in a warm blanket. An angry squalling jerked my head around as I kept one hand on my first-born son. Steven was holding a blood smeared kitt in his hands, its little arms and legs waving wildly as he lifted it, his entire body trembling as he looked down at the small body he held.

"Micah! Micah! Get here!" A strange note filled his voice and I could hear Rosy growling, a low threatening sound as she struggled to sit up from where she lay on her back, her feet pulled up near her bottom, her knees spread wide.

"Don't. You. Hurt. My. Baby!" Rosy snarled her threat at him.

"I won't Rosy I promise I won't hurt her," Steven vowed and I could hear the tears in his voice.

"Get over there!" Chris hissed at me as he carefully passed me the wrapped kitt.

I moved quickly to the bedside and placed the oldest kitt on the bed beside Rosy before taking the screaming kitt from Steven, I glanced at him and saw the look of amazement on his face, the tears in his eyes before he glanced down at the kitt I now held.

"She's perfect,"

Steven's words hit me and I looked down at the kitt I held, I turned the little body slightly so the cord that was slowly pulsing moved aside and I could see the truth for myself. The little one slowed her crying and fell silent as if she recognised my touch and I found myself glancing towards Rosy. Rosy was propped up on one elbow glancing between the two newborns, slowly she gave a soft sigh and eased back down onto the bed. Soon I was cutting between the two clamps that were applied to the umbilical cord and lifting my daughter to take her to the table.

"Oh wow!," Chris exclaimed as he measured and weighed.

"Micah!" Rosy called and I could hear the exhaustion in her voice. "I want my baby back now!"

I tucked a onsie and a diaper under an arm before wrapping the baby in a blanket and taking her back to Rosy. I placed her on the bed and Rosy immediately lay back down, watching as I finished wiping most of the birth fluids and blood from our daughter before I dressed her. Rosy settled both newborns to her satisfaction and was silent as the last of the two placentas was delivered.

"Looks like I missed all the work," Doc announced from the doorway.

"Micah stay," Rosy murmured softly. I glance at her face, it is alight with wonder as she lifts the edge of one of the baby blankets and strokes tiny fingers.

"What time were they born?" Doc asks as he approaches the bed quietly.

I am loath to look away from where my wife is exploring tiny faces and fingers with the tip of one finger. She glances between the two sleeping bundles, awe and joy clearly visible on her face.

"They're perfect," I whisper to her and she glances up to meet my gaze. A soft blush fills her cheeks and she looks back at our babies almost shyly.

"Micah." Steven says softly as he grasps my shoulder firmly. I look at him with a frown but he gives a slight nod of his head towards Rosy.

"Rosy needs a clean dry change of sheet under her," Doc says firmly.

I get Rosy dressed in a nightie and urge her to sit in the large armchair so I can place a well-wrapped kitt in each of her arms. I squat beside Rosy keeping her calm while Steven quickly stripped the soiled sheet and waterproof underlay from the bed. Chris or Doc coming too close was starting to cause her stress. Steven is chatting softly to Rosy while he works but she seems to take very little notice of him. I am relieved when I can hold one of the sleeping kitts as I help Rosy settle back onto the freshly changed bed.

"Chris n I are leaving it up to you to tell everyone about, well you know," Steven murmurs whisper quiet before following the other two from the room.

I sit on the edge of the bed as I drink in the sight of Rosy's softly smiling lips. Her gaze in glued to our kitts and I enjoy the opportunity to stroke a finger over their silky soft cheeks before touching their hair.

"We need a bath," Rosy says and yawns deeply. " I'll just ... rest ... a few ...minutes,"

Her words are punctuated by wide yawns and I watch as she rubs her cheek against her pillow, eyelashes fluttering but not opening. Her breathing deepens and her eyelashes no longer move. I sit for several long minutes looking at the way she has the newborn kitts sheltered almost from view by the blankets as well as her body.

I glance at the sleeping newborns and marvel at how much they look like Wynn and their cousin Cameron, but Kali with her dark curls is the odd one out. Their fair hair looks very close to the colour of Wynn's hair as a newborn and I can see a blend of both Rosy's and my features in their little faces.

The urge to check on the older children finally motivates me into turning out the main light leaving only the glow of the bedside lamp before moving from the bedroom and out towards the other end of the building. I pause in the sleepout to needlessly tuck blankets under childish chins before glancing at Justin and Donovan who are lying down near the boys and Kali, most likely to keep them settled during all the activity. I incline my head towards the hallway and both of my brothers immediately climb silently from their resting places. Kali stirs rolling over and I squat down beside her to tuck the corner of her soft furry blanket under her cheek. Kali nuzzles against my hand for several moments before her breathing evens out and I straighten up reluctantly.

I pause in the doorway of the lounge room and slowly look around the expectant faces in the room and out into the kitchen. I take a deep breath momentarily lost for words.

"Everything okay?" Dwayne asks into the stretching silence.

"Yes," I stumble over the word as I find my voice. "Rosy and both the kitts are fine but ..." I find myself swallowing hard suddenly nervous. " There's one boy, and one girl and we don't have any girl names picked out and ... oh strewth! Kali is a handful as it is! What's it going to be like with two little She-kitts ..."