"Oh my god, are you serious?" MJ asked, laughing, as Heath pushed her wheelchair to the elevator. She was holding both babies and was finally going home.

"MJ, five hundred people saw you go into labor," Heath responded. "They applauded when your water broke, of course they know, it was all over the internet that night! The hospital's received so many flowers and gifts for you, it's been ridiculous."

They entered the elevator and descended toward the ground floor, and the main exit. "There must be close to that many people waiting outside the hospital right now, hoping to catch a glimpse of you and the girls."

MJ shook her head. "That's insane, it's not like we're members of the royal family or anything."

Lucy, the nurse who was attending them, laughed. Since Heath was pushing the wheelchair, and MJ was holding both babies, she wasn't really needed, but hospital policy required her presence, just like it required that MJ sit in a wheelchair. Lucy was being useful by carrying MJ's personal belongings bag, and thanking her lucky stars that she got this job. She wondered if it would be forward for her to ask for a photo with them.

"I know," Heath replied, laughing again.

MJ could tell that Heath was higher than a kite. He was enjoying all of it, even the crowd outside.

"Would you like to stop for a second so they can take some pictures?" she offered.

"Would you mind? That way the paps won't have anything to sell, you know?" he responded. "It might be nice, and we could grab a nice one off someone's Instagram for ourselves, of all of us leaving the hospital? Maybe get Pappoús waving out the driver's side window as well? It's the kind of shot we could never get on our own."

"I guess we should, since you have it all planned out and everything," MJ replied, and Heath was so happy her very mild sarcasm sailed far over his head.

"Sounds ace!"

They were in the main corridor of the first floor now, and many people had stopped what they were doing to watch them leave.

Wow, Heath had been right.

"Yeah, ace," MJ said, looking down at her two babies.

Lulu was wearing a white, footed onesie with lavender flowers on it, and Kiki was wearing one with yellow butterflies. Both had matching hats, and were wrapped in knitted blankets. There was pretty trim on everything, and both girls were sleeping, tiny faces framed in lace.

"Oh my god, MJ, I can believe how perfect they look," Heath murmured, bending down so he could talk into her ear as he pushed her. "I'm honestly so dead chuffed I feel like I'm melting every time I look at them. Is this normal?"

MJ leaned her head into his because her hands were otherwise engaged, holding her girls, and it was all she could do. "Yeah, I think so," she said softly, nodding.

The hospital doors came into view, and they could see security waiting for them. Beyond the automatic double doors, Tasos sat in their brand-new, light blue minivan, which idled at the curb. MJ hadn't even seen it yet. They'd bought it in anticipation of Archie's arrival, after which they'd need a vehicle which could seat four adults and the two babies.

"There's Pappoús, girls," Heath said, as if his sleeping daughters could hear him. He waved at Tasos, who returned it with enthusiasm.

MJ smiled and shook her head. She could see the people around the doors and many, many more, along the circular drive and the sidewalk along the street.

Wow.

The the security guards smiled and stepped outside in front of them, making sure nothing was amiss.

A happy gasp went up from the crowd as MJ and Heath came into view, and iPhones of every color were held up to get photos and video of the new family going home. Heath let go of MJ's wheel chair and helped her rise, then took one of the babies from her, while Lucy put the bag in the van and left.

MJ waved at the crowd with her free hand, then held her finger up to her mouth in a shushing gesture, signaling everyone to be quiet.

"They're sleeping, she mouthed at the crowd, exaggerating her speech.

There was a huge susurration of "Awwww," from the crowd as they got quiet.

Heath put his free arm around MJ and just stood, smiling out at the crowd.

"Do you have names?" a brave soul called out.

"This one's Lulu, and she's holding Kiki," Heath stage-whispered," pointing at each baby.

As if on cue, Lulu stretched, reaching a tiny fist out of her blanket.

Again, a happy gasp went up from the crowd.

"Do you think they got a good one for us?" MJ murmured to Heath.

"Yeah, especially after I do this," he replied. He bent and kissed Lulu, then leaned and kissed Kiki, then MJ, all on the forehead.

"Let's go home," he said with a smile.

So they carefully buckled the sleeping infants into their car seats (Tasos, who had practiced this with a doll, helped), then got in and drove away, waving to the crowd. MJ couldn't believe how far down the road they had stretched.

"How long have they been here?" she asked, her voice quiet with awe.

"I think I first saw them yesterday morning," Heath answered. "As soon as Management announced you were probably going home soon."

"Oh my god, are they throwing flowers?"

They were.

💫🌼💫🌸💫🌺💫🌹💫🍀💫🌷💫🌻💫

MJ was amazed at how glad she was to see her house, at how much it seemed like home, even though she'd lived at the other house in Santa Monica for eighteen years, and this place for just seven short months.

Her nostrils were assailed with the smell of food as soon as she entered.

"Dad, have you been cooking?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered, turning to take Lulu from her.

"I didn't have much to do while you were in the hospital, and I knew I'd go crazy if I just stayed down there and waited for you to wake up, you know?" Tasos explained. "So Heath and I would come home every so often, take care of Wookie and Hedwig, and I'd show him how to make something."

"Heath, dad taught you how to cook?" MJ asked, looking at Heath in amazement.

Heath nodded, looking completely adorable as he blushed while holding Kiki.

"We figured having extra food is never bad with babies to take care of, right?" he asked. "And cooking's fun, MJ, I never knew."

"The fridge in the garage is nearly full," Tasos exclaimed with pride. "We have all your favorites, moussaka, lasagne, mac and cheese, shepherd's pie, meat sauce for spaghetti, you name it, bunny."

Bunny.

Her dad used to call her that all the time when she was little, but not so much any more.

MJ looked at him with affection, and opened her mouth to tell him she loved him, when Wook hurtled into her, nearly knocking her down.

"Hello, Wook, my darling, did you miss me?" MJ asked. "I'm sorry, I can't sit on the floor, not right now." She looked to Heath for help as she tried to keep the dog off her. She had been unconscious through most of the healing process of her incision site, but there was still soreness, and she was still not supposed to put stress on the area.

Heath handed Kiki to Tasos, so he was holding both babies, and came to distract the puppy, who was ecstatic to see his mother after a week and a half without her, and was not interested in Heath, whom she had seen much more recently.

Lulu began to fuss, to move around and wake up and make noise, and this did what Heath couldn't. Wook turned toward the noise, her drop puppy ears perked up as far as they could go. She walked toward Tasos, head tilted as she listened to the strange new noise that was coming from one of the blankets he held.

Tasos smiled at the puppy's attentive stance, and nodded when Heath pointed at the twin baby bassinet that sat on the floor. Tasos carefully set both girls down in the bassinet, and the three humans watched to see how Wook the puppy would respond to Lulu and Kiki the babies. Heath took out his phone to record the moment.

Wook carefully walked toward the infants, her focus on Lulu, who was still fussing a little bit. She poked her head over the edge, sniffing at the blanket. She sniffed one, then the other, and while she was considering what to do, MJ saw Hedwig enter the room and go toward Wook, curious about the fuss.

Now both the puppy and the kitten were sniffing the babies, circling the bassinet from all directions, poking their heads over and sniffing at the babies' heads, even sniffing each other, seeming to have some kind of telepathic, feline-canine conversation.

Finally, as if on some kind of signal, first Wook, then Hedwig, climbed into the bassinet, still sniffing. Wook gave Lulu a tentative lick on her tiny hand, then curled up next to her, her doggy head resting kind of on top of, but not quite all the way, on Lulu's head. She was basically in between the two babies.

Hedwig then lay down between Wook and Kiki, curving around Kiki's head, stretching her half-grown kitten body to fill the space.

Both animals closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep, and for whatever reason, possibly because of Wookie's warmth, Lulu stopped fussing, made a few smacking noises with her little mouth, and fell back asleep.

The whole interaction had taken about three minutes, and Heath had recorded the entire, adorable thing.

He stopped recording and walked over to MJ, putting an arm around her.

https://youtu.be/VYFB-Q7-Fbg

"Welcome home, MJ, and welcome home, babies," he murmured, kissing MJ's temple.

"I love you, Heath Michael Spencer," MJ answered. She kissed him back, gently, on his mouth. "Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me."

"It was destined," he replied with a smile as he watched their tiny brood sleep. "Our names, the guitar--it was written in the shooting stars, I think."

"Yeah, the shooting stars."