Chapter 130

Over the next two weeks, Emily watched a lot of tv and read a lot of books. She was really into reading the Twilight Saga and when she was thinking about AJ's opposition to having Randy as their doctor, she had an epiphany.

“Ah-Ha!” she said.

“What?” he asked as he sat next to her, reading a book of his own.

“You're just like Edward!”

“What?”

“From Twilight!”

AJ rolled his eyes.

“No really!”

“How so?”

“Well, see, Bella loves Edward. But during a period when Edward left her because he thought she'd be better off without him, she sort of fell in love with Jacob.”

“Let me guess...Randy is Jacob?”

“Exactly! But she always really loved Edward more but she was never really able to let go of Jacob either and they all had to work out how to be around each other. And it even works out in the very end when Bella asks Jacob to take care of her daughter should something happen to them in this big vampire war they're about to get in because Jacob loves her daughter.”

AJ had to admit there was a pretty good parallel there. “So I'm the vampire, huh?” he said, taking her book from her and leaning over to kiss her neck and give it a gentle nip.

“Uh-huh.” she said, closing her eyes and relaxing as she felt his warm lips on her skin.

“You know this pelvic rest thing is torture, don't you?” he whispered.

“Well maybe there's something I can do to alleviate things for you a little bit.” she whispered as she reached down and stroked him through his boxers.

AJ let out a low groan. “I hate it that I can't pleasure you back!”

“You can make it up to me later.”

“Oh I will, I promise!”

That weekend was Emily's big, fancy baby shower. She had to admit that she was feeling nervous to be the center of attention around a bunch of people she didn't know all that well. In fact it seemed more like it should have been a shower for AJ since a lot of the women invited were connections through him that Leighanne insisted had to be invited.

She overheard AJ giving Leighanne very strict instructions when she arrived to pick Emily up.

“Make sure she sits in that chair. Don't let her walk around and mingle and don't let her lift anything heavy. If she starts to look too tired, speed things up so she can get back home.”

Leighanne touched his arm. “I promise, I'll take good care of her.” she assured him.

“I'm ready!” Emily announced.

“You look beautiful.” he said, giving her a soft kiss and planting his hand on her stomach.

“Thanks.” Emily said. She was wearing a black sun-dress hoping to slim her look just a little.

AJ helped her into Leighanne's car and waved as they drove off.

“Are you excited?” Leighanne asked.

“Actually yes, I am! It's nice to get out and I'm really excited to get stuff for these babies!”

When they arrived, Emily felt herself get teary eyed as she looked at all her friends had done for her. She suspected Leighanne had needed to rework a lot of things with Emily needing to remain seated so to accommodate her, she'd somehow come up with a very comfortable looking rocking chair up front by the gifts. There were flowers everywhere and the room looked very classy and feminine.

“You guys this looks great!” Emily said as she hugged Leighanne and Kristin.

“Well you deserve it!” Kristin said. “We know this has been tough on you even if you'll never admit to it.”

Emily smiled sheepishly. “I'm trying to have a positive attitude.”

When all was said and done, the shower went off without a hitch. Leighanne encouraged everyone to walk over to Emily and greet her as they arrived as sort of a receiving line. She and Kristin helped her with the larger gifts and even produced a stool to prop her feet up on as she ate her lunch. A few hours later when AJ arrived to escort his wife and all her loot home, he made the rounds himself and then went to give his wife a kiss.

“How are you?”

“Pretty decent. Just look at all this stuff! I'll be writing thank you notes for months to come!”

“From the looks of things I'd say you just might be right about that.” he said as he surveyed all of the gifts.

“Now don't worry about getting all of this home!” Leighanne said. “We'll help you get it back to your house and unloaded so you guys can go through it all and then I'll come over in a few days and pack it into boxes so it can be shipped back to Atlanta.”

“You don't have to do that for us, Leigh. You've already done so much!” Emily said.

“I just want to help. Trust me, you're going to need to learn how to accept it!”

Once Emily was back at home on the couch and Leighanne, Brian, Kevin and Kristin had dropped off all the gifts and left, Emily began to grow very anxious.

“Babe, what's wrong?” AJ asked when he heard her sniff.

Emily bit her lip in an effort not to cry. “It's just...look at all this stuff!”

“Yeah?”

“I mean look at it! There's so much of it and we have to make exchanges and we have to put it all away and organize it and wash things and we don't even live on this side of the country! There's so much do to before these babies come and I can't get ready from here! I want to go home!” she wailed.

AJ had to admit he'd been feeling somewhat of the same feelings as seeing all the blankets and clothes and toys really made him realize that they were running out of time and really needed to be getting ready. Because ready or not, the babies would come whenever they decided to.

“I know.” he said, kissing her on top of the head and holding her in his arms. “We'll go home in a few days, ok?”

Emily nodded. “What about your album and everything?”

“We've been preparing for this.” he assured her. “Everything will be ok. How about we fly home on your birthday Friday?” he suggested.

Emily smiled. “That would be great.”

The next morning, AJ went to the studio and confirmed that this was going to be his last week in LA, to no one's surprise. The group really seemed to re-energize with the news that they only had a week left to work. It was both a blessing and a curse. It made them stress more to work quickly but it also made them stress less because after a week, they'd get a break from the chaos.

Emily spent her day talking on the phone to Leighanne and Kristin, reviewing the shower, gossip and gifts. She began writing thank-you notes while she watched The Proposal, one of the many DVDs she'd ordered.

AJ was in a great mood when he came home. He'd picked up some Chinese on his way home and arranged everything on a tray and carried it to Emily.

“How is my lovely lady?” he asked as he helped her sit up more so she could eat. He set the tray next to her. Her stomach had long since grown too big to hold a bed tray on her lap.

“I'm decent. Got my thank-you notes started, I talked to the girls on the phone for awhile too. How was your day ?”

“Great!” he said as he dished up some foot. “I told them this was our last week and we got a lot of great work done. I think we just needed to refocus a little. Me leaving soon seems to have done that.”

“Good! Kristin is sad that Leigh and I are leaving her soon. She needs to make some friends that actually live here I think. She's seemed a bit lonely since she had Mason.”

“Well,” AJ started, wanting to reassure his wife that she would not always feel the same way Kristin felt. “You have to remember that her lifestyle was a lot different before she had Mason. She was used to the party scene, late nights, fancy dinners, travel, that sort of thing. So being at home with a baby, while she loves it I'm sure, has also been a very big change for her.”

Emily agreed with him on that. She was used to being home with kids, but she wasn't used to being home with kids 24/7.

They were in the middle of debating on whether or not to keep the diaper genie they'd gotten when the doorbell rang.

AJ knew who it was as soon as he opened the door.

“You Alex?” the young girl asked.

“Yeah. You must be Jennifer.” he said, standing aside to let her in.

“How did you know?”

“Family resemblance.” AJ said. “Does your dad know you're here?”

Jennifer shook her head. “I overheard him telling my mom that he decided not to let me meet you after all, that you guys had some kind of fight or something? Anyway, I decided I didn't think it should be up to him if we meet or not so I snuck onto his laptop and found your address. I hope you don't mind....” she trailed off, realizing maybe her brother didn't really want to meet her.

“No, I don't mind at all!” AJ said, and he truly didn't. “Come on in. Are you hungry?”

“No thanks, I ate before I came here.”

“How did you get here?”

“Bus, mostly. And some walking.”

“You should have stolen my cell number from him, I would have picked you up.”

Jennifer blushed. “I was afraid you wouldn't want me to come and I thought you'd have a harder time turning me away if I was on your door step.”

“Well....I wish we had met years ago.” he admitted. “But I only just found out about you. Hey why don't you have a seat while I go get my wife, Emily.”

“I'm not like, interrupting anything am I?” she asked.

“Not at all, we were just finishing up dinner.” He went to the bedroom trying to conceal his excitement. He wanted to be cool.

“Who was at the door?” Emily asked. “Oh...and sorry...I finished your egg roll. You left it unattended for too long...”

“My sister is here!”

“Your sister? Jennifer? She's here?”

“Yeah! She snuck out and took the bus here. She said she just wanted to meet me and heard my dad saying he wasn't going to let her.”

“Wow! Well help me up, I want to meet her!”

“Ok but you can only sit on the couch ok?”

“Got it. Pull me up!” Emily said, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She followed him out to the living room.

“Jennifer, I'd like you to meet my wife, Emily.” he said, introducing her.

Emily went over and gave Jennifer a hug. “It's good to meet you!”

“Yeah...you too!” Jennifer said, surprised at Emily's warm greeting. “Wow! I didn't know you guys were having a baby!”

Emily chuckled. “We're not.” AJ said. “We're having two babies!”

“Oh cool!! I love twins!” Jennifer said. “ I guess..I mean...technically I'd be like, their aunt!”

AJ smiled at how excited his sister had become. “Yeah I guess you would be!”

“So when are they due?”

“December tenth.” Emily said. “But we expect them to come a few weeks early. That's why we're going home in a few days.”

“Oh...you guys don't live here?”

“No, we actually live in Atlanta. I've just been here working on an album.”

“Bummer, I was hoping to get to know you more!”

“Well we can still talk and e-mail and I'll be back out after the New Year to get back to work.”

He helped Emily down on the couch. “She's supposed to be on bed rest.” he explained.

“Oh that sucks, I'm sorry!”

“It's not so bad. I can hardly move anymore anyways so it's not like I'm missing out on much.” Emily laughed. “As you can tell by the large quantity of baby stuff, my shower was yesterday.” Emily indicated their stash over in the dining room.

“Wow! That must have been some huge shower!”

“So tell us about yourself!” Emily said. “You're just about to turn 16, is that right?”

“Yeah! Two more months! I'm a junior in high school and I can't wait to finish and go to college. I'm so tired of the high school scene.”

“Your dad mentioned you were doing very well in school.” Emily said, carefully, not wanting to get into the whole private school tuition thing.

“Yeah, I get good grades. I'm always on the honor roll. Not like it's hard or anything though.”

“Well it's something to be proud of!” AJ said.

“What else do you like to do?”

“I'm really into art, like painting and drawing. And photography. I'm trying to save up to buy myself a really nice digital camera.”

“Emily takes zillions of pictures!” AJ said.

“Well it's the only way to get the really goods ones!” Emily defended, laughing.

Jennifer agreed. “I just keep taking them knowing there will be a few great ones in there that are just what I'm looking for!”

Emily realized Jennifer was either quite the chatterbox or she was just really excited to finally meet her brother as she filled them in on all the things a good teenage girl did for fun around LA. She wondered how long it would take for her to bring up the fact that her brother was a Backstreet Boy. It in fact took her over an hour to work up the courage.

“So you're like...famous I guess, aren't you?”

Emily held back a laugh. “Yeah, something like that.” he answered.

“I googled you. I have to admit, I wasn't all that familiar with your group. I mean I'd heard fo you guys but...”

“They were kind of more before your time.” Emily finished for her.

AJ laughed. “Yeah, I guess we would have been. Shit, I can't believe it's been so long!”

“So...were you really in rehab?” she asked, cautiously.

“Yes. I was.” he said, very matter-of-factly. “Twice, actually.”

“That sucks!” she said, in true teenage fashion.

“Yeah, it really did suck. That's why it's so important for you to stay completely away from that stuff.”

Jennifer nodded. “I've never tried so much as a cigarette.”

“Keep it that way!” AJ said, very sternly. He was turning out to be quite the big brother! “I mean it. When I started, I thought I was strong enough, smart enough, to stay in control. Just for fun, I'd tell myself. I could stop whenever I wanted, I said. But none of that's true. Not for anyone. It's just not worth messing with.”

“I promise, I'll stay away.” Jennifer agreed. “It's been bad enough watching Mom and Dad pass out drunk every weekend.”

AJ rolled his eyes but he couldn't figure out what to say in response. Whatever he thought of, he was at least able to realize it was something he shouldn't say. They were still her parents and she probably still loved them both and he didn't want to trash them to her.

Emily sensed the tension and quickly changed subjects.

Jennifer ended up staying for about three hours before she claimed she needed to get home before she got in big trouble. AJ refused to let her take a cab and insisted on driving her home. Jennifer agreed as long as he promised to drop her off at the end of the street so her parents wouldn't see who she'd been with. Before she got out of the car, he gave her his cell number and e-mail.

“I'm glad you came over tonight.” he said. “Really glad. To be honest, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to get to know you....just because of our dad. He and I don't have a good relationship. But I'm honestly glad to know you now. I want you to call me if you need anything, ok? Let's stay in touch!”

Jennifer smiled. “Ok. I'm glad I came over, too.” she said as she gave him her own cell and e-mail info. “I think it might be kind of cool having a big brother.”

AJ was smiling when he got back home that night. Emily was still on the couch, now lying down watching tv.

“So....” she said. “What do you think?”

“I think I have an amazing little sister! I hope we are able to stay in touch.”

“I do too.” Emily said. “She seems like a good girl.”

“I thought you'd be in bed by now.”

Emily smiled sheepishly. “It seemed easier to just lay here than to actually get myself up. But now that you're here, I really could use your help because I have to pee!”

AJ laughed and helped his hugely pregnant wife up off the couch. While she was in the bathroom, he put some clean sheets on the bed for her and fluffed all her pillows.

“Can you believe how close we're getting to these babies coming?” he said.

Emily shook her head. “I don't like to think about it. I don't feel ready.”

“I'm not sure we'll ever feel completely ready.” he admitted.

“No, probably not. I think I'll feel better when we get home and get everything organized.”

He helped her in bed and pulled the blankets up for her before taking off his clothes and climbing in next to her. “Are they awake?”

“Yeah, they're moving around a little.”

AJ lifted up her shirt and put his hands on her stomach. He always liked to talk to them at night.

“Hi little babies!! I hope you're being nice to your mommy today. You must be, she's in a good mood. I can't wait to meet you guys! I hope you 're as beautiful as Mommy is. And when you're here, I'm going to spend a lot of time holding you, ok?” He talked for a few more minutes and then sang them to sleep.

“I love the way they react to your voice.” she said, sleepily. “They always get kind of hyper when you start talking to them but as soon as you sing, they get totally quiet. It's amazing!”

“Let's just hope I can still sing them to sleep after they're born.” he said.

“I'm sure you will.”

Chapter 131

The next morning, over breakfast in bed, Emily brought up loaning Jennifer the money.

“So I was up last night thinking.” she started.

“You couldn't sleep again? Why didn't you wake me?”

“Because there's no point in exhausting you! And that's beside the point. I think we should loan Jennifer the money. Or rather give it to her.”

AJ froze in mid coffee-sip. “No.” he said, immediately as he set down his mug.

“Why? We saw for ourselves how great she is! Think of how much she could benefit from this!”

“Because we just met her! I don't want her to think that's the kind of relationship we'll have. I know it sounds harsh but I don't want to just be her bank! I want to be her big brother.”

“But as her big brother, wouldn't you want to help her when she needs it?”

“Well...sure...eventually after our relationship is established. I'm just afraid she'll think I'm trying to buy her off or something, like I want her to think I'm cool so I give her lots of money.”

“I can see your point, but this isn't like you're giving her spending money, you're sending her to a better school for a better opportunity!”

“Emily, I really don't want to discuss this with you anymore. She's my sister, and I'm saying no. Case closed.”

Emily's mouth dropped open as if there was something else she wanted to say but she found she was speechless. Finally she said, “Whatever you say, dear.”

AJ sighed. “Look, maybe you just don't get it because you don't have a....” and then he froze. He'd been about to say something really, really stupid.

Emily's face flushed with anger. “What? Because I don't have a brother? That's low, AJ. Really low.”

“Em...” he started.

“Don't.” she cut him off. “Could you please just get out? I'd like to storm out myself but since I'm stuck here growing your children, I can't. So leave.”

AJ bit his lip, realizing there was no talking himself out of this one. He took his breakfast into the kitchen.

“Jesus, McLean.” he muttered to himself. He hadn't meant it the way she thought he had. He'd actually managed to forget for a minute that she'd had an older brother who'd been killed overseas. He completely understood her anger.

He called Brian to let him know he would be just a little late to work that day, his last day.

“Is everything ok?” Brian asked, immediately alarmed.

“Oh yeah...I just got myself in the dog house pretty bad and I don't want to leave her pissed at me all day.”

Once Brian was done laughing his ass off, he said, “That's probably a good idea. Since she's stuck in bed, she'll probably spend all day thinking about what an ass you are.”

“Thanks a lot, Bri” AJ grumbled and hung up on him. Brian was still laughing.

AJ took a deep breath and went back into the bedroom.

“Before you say anything, please let me speak.” he said.

Emily just raised her eyebrows at him and waited for him to continue.

“I know how what I said came across and I honestly did not mean it that way. I know I'm an ass but for that minute, I totally forgot all about your brother. I'm so sorry I said that. I can't believe I forgot. Please don't be so mad at me, I'm so sorry!”

Emily sighed. He looked so pathetic she had no choice but to believe him. “Thank you. And it's ok. To be honest, sometimes I forget too. I spend a lot of time not thinking about my mess of a family situation.”

AJ sat down next to her. “I'm sorry.”

She snuggled up against him. “Just try not to be so stupid again, ok?”

He chuckled and gave her a kiss. “I promise.”

“Aren't you going to be late?”

“Yeah. But it's ok.”

“Pelvic rest really, really sucks.” she sighed.

“Believe me, I know it does. We're missing out on make-up sex!”

“We can still make out a little....” she suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” he said, and he leaned down and kissed her like a husband who hadn't been able to make love to his wife in weeks.

After AJ left, Emily couldn't stop thinking about Jennifer. She really felt strongly that AJ was wrong about this. And maybe if the money came from Emily and not AJ, it wouldn't impact their new relationship. It was the perfect solution! She decided to wait until Jennifer would be home from school and called a cab to pick her up. She figured she'd be sitting in the cab and wouldn't have to walk much to deliver a check so it shouldn't really impact her bed rest. But if AJ found it, he'd flip a gasket. She found the address on the internet and made sure to map it out in case the cab driver didn't know where he was going.

She knew AJ was going to be mad when she told him, but she decided she wouldn't tell him until they were home in Atlanta so there wouldn't really be anything he could do about it. On second thought, maybe she would tell him after the check had been cashed so he couldn't cancel it. And if need be, she would play the pregnant with twins card to keep him from going totally ballistic on her. She might as well get something good out of all her suffering!

The last day in the studio was not all that productive for the guys. They decided against starting any recording projects so they spent the day doing some minor touch-ups and planning for when they returned in January. He was feeling pretty jittery when he came home. For some reason, the last day of recording before the babies really made him realize it wasn't going to be long before he was a father. He was a combination of excited and terrified.

“Emily, I'm home!!” he called as he walked in the house. When he didn't hear her answer, he assumed she was taking what was probably her tenth nap of the day. He grew very worried when he found that she was not in the bed. He hurried through the house looking for her but she wasn't anywhere to be found. He whipped out his cell phone sure he must have missed an urgent call from her but he had no missed calls, no new texts and no new voice mails. He immediately called her cell but he got no answer. He sat down on the couch trying not to panic and was just about to call Leighanne when he looked up and saw her laptop on the coffee table.

Foolish Emily had left Mapquest open on the screen and AJ cursed as soon as he'd realized where she'd gone. Why couldn't she have just for once listened to him? He dug his keys out of his pocket and sped off to the valley to find his wife before she managed to interfere too much with his so-called family.

Emily paid the cab driver and asked if he'd be willing to wait ten or so minutes. When he looked down at his tip, he was more than willing.

Emily knocked on the door and Bob answered the door.

“What do you want?” he asked, his emotion a mix of contempt and curiosity.

“Is Jennifer home?”

“Yeah. What do you want with her?”

“I want to talk to you both. Are you going to let me in or not?”

Bob sighed and held the door open for her.

“Emily what are you doing here?” Jennifer asked.

“You two know each other?” Bob asked.

Jennifer froze, realizing she'd been caught.

“Yeah...I....went over to their house last night.”

“I thought you were at Maria's doing Biology?”

“Well Dad it wasn't like I could tell you the truth, you'd never have let me go and you have no right to keep me from meeting my brother!”

“How did you get there?”

“I took a cab. AJ drove me home a few hours later.”

“Look can you two discuss this later, I don't have a lot of time.” Emily interrupted.

Bob and Jennifer turned to look at her, expectantly.

Emily pulled the check out of her purse and handed it to Bob who immediately because a whole lot more friendly looking.

“What's that for?” Jennifer asked.

“We've decided to give you the money for the tuition to the private school you want to go to.”

“What private school?”

“Your dad said you wanted to go to a private school for a better opportunity but you couldn't afford it!” Emily said, beginning to feel confused and noticing how Bob was starting to edge out of the room.

Jennifer just laughed. “My dad told you that? It isn't true.” she said, shaking her head. “He probable needs the money to pay off that bookie of his that's been calling here all the time.”

Emily turned and glared at Bob. She should have listened to AJ's instincts instead of butting in.

“Is that true?” she asked.

“Hey...believe whatever helps you sleep better at night!” Bob said.

Emily reached to snatch the check from his hand but Bob was faster than she was and yanked his hand out of her reach.

“That money was to help Jennifer, not you, you bastard! Give it back!” she said, reaching for it again.

Bob had never been above hurting a woman, especially when he was drunk like he was now. He shoved Emily back, not really meaning for her to fall but he'd shoved her hard enough that with her balance already being off, she stumbled and fell.

Unfortunately for Bob, he did this just as AJ let himself in the door. AJ was lost in a rage like he'd never felt before. He had his father pinned against the wall by his neck before Bob even had a chance to register AJ was there.

When AJ had gotten there, he'd heard Emily's raised voice through the door and quickly walked in just in time to see his father pushing his wife. In time to witness his wife, who was very pregnant with twins and who was supposed to be at home in bed, fall and land on her side, hitting her head on the leg of a chair. As he held his father against the wall, he almost couldn't see, he was so enraged. He now understood the mind of a killer. To totally lose control to your anger like that.

Bob was gasping for air and Jennifer was checking on Emily, who was slowly sitting herself up.

“You son-of-a-bitch!” AJ growled. “How dare you hurt my wife!”

“AJ...let him go!” Emily called.

AJ barely even heard her. “You'd better pray that neither she or the babies is hurt or I swear to God, I'll pound the booze-loving shit right out of you, you hear me?” he said, giving him an extra shove before letting him go.

“You'll make one hell of a father.” Bob said.

AJ turned back to him and said in the most cold voice Emily had ever heard him speak in, “What the hell would you know about being a father?”

He went over and helped Emily up. “Are you alright?” he asked.

Emily could only nod. She was pretty sure she was fine.

“Let's go.” he said, walking towards the door.

Emily glared over at Bob who was still trying to get his breath back from nearly being strangled by his son. She started towards the door but took a step over to Bob and snatched her check right out of his hands and then followed AJ to the car.

He was kind enough to help her in the car and then go pay off her cab driver. He slammed the door when he climbed in the driver's seat and sped off.

“AJ....” she started.

“Don't!” he interrupted her in a voice much harsher than he'd intended. “Now is not the time for you to talk.”

Emily closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. She knew she was in some pretty hot water as she took in his clenched jaw and the way his hands were tightly wrapped around the steering wheel.

“Where are we going?” she asked finally when he passed the exit to get to their house.

“You're going to the hospital. I want to make sure the babies are ok. Don't you dare even try and argue with me about this.”

Emily nodded.

They didn't speak as he wheeled her up to labor and delivery.

He left her to do the explaining to the nurse.

“I just want to make sure everything is ok...I'm pregnant with twins and I tripped over a chair and fell.”

The nurse took her back to an exam room and hooked her up to the fetal monitor.

“Both babies have good, strong heartbeats so that's a great sign! Let me call your doctor and see what she wants. Did you land on your stomach?”

Emily shook her head. “No, on my side.”

“It's so easy to lose your balance when you're big, isn't it?” the nurse chuckled.

“You have no idea.” Emily muttered.

AJ sat in the chair across from the bed with his arms crossed. He was trying really hard not to look at her but Emily could see from the corner of her eye that every so often he would stare at her with a look that was a combination of anger and concern. She could tell he was battling with himself over being so pissed. He knew he was royally pissed at her but he also knew that he couldn't yell at her like he really wanted to. And honestly, she was kind of glad for that at the moment.

The nurse came back in about twenty minutes later. “Ok I just spoke with your doctor. She's going to come over in a few minutes and just take a quick peek with the ultrasound and she wants to check your cervix to make sure everything looks ok...she says you're flying home soon?”

Emily couldn't help but smile at the thought of being home. “Yeah, day after tomorrow.”

“Good. Well we want to make sure you're all set to travel. You have a short time frame to be allowed to fly left!”

“I know. I've been paranoid I'm not going to make it either because I'll be here too long to be allowed on a plane or because I'll start having contractions again and I really need to get home!”

The nurse laughed as she walked out.

They sat in their awkward and tense silence again until Dr. Gill came in.

“I hear you had a little fall!” she said.

“Yeah, it was nothing. AJ was just worried.”

“Rightfully so, good job, Dad! Any contractions, Emily?”

“No, none at all today.”

“That's great! So the heartbeats are fine, let's do the ultrasound.”

Dr. Gill squirted the cold jelly on Emily's enormous belly and quickly found the babies.

“Look, they're face to face right now!&” Dr. Gill said. “Looks like they are either trying to hug each other or punch each other, take your pick!”

Emily and AJ laughed. “Probably both.” AJ said.

“They look great, you guys. Their size is perfect, your fluid level is perfect, I couldn't ask for better!” she said as she printed out some pictures for them and handed them to AJ.

AJ had to admit that seeing his babies had softened his mood tremendously and he actually managed to crack a smile at his wife.

Dr. Gill did a quick cervix check and was pleased that Emily hadn't dilated any more than she'd already been.

“Alright! Everything is fine, you can both relax! You should be fine to travel. Take good care when you get home and don't forget to send me a picture of those babies when they're born!”

“Thank you, Dr. Gill. You took great care of us!” Emily said.

“You're welcome. Best of luck to you!” she said as she left.

AJ helped Emily put her clothes back on and helped her into the wheelchair and took her out and had the valet pull up the car. Emily decided not to speak until he indicated he was ready to talk. They rode home in silence, but it was a more relaxed silence.

He helped her out of the car when they arrived and made sure she got into bed ok. She looked at him questioningly.

“We'll talk later.” he said. “I'm really pissed at you and I'm having a hard time being pissed at you because you're...you know...I don't want to say fragile...but...”

“Delicate.” Emily finished for him.

He nodded. “Anyway...just give me some time to calm down.”

“Ok.” she agreed. The pregnancy card was definitely working in her favor.

Chapter 132

Emily fell asleep soon after AJ left the room. She was too exhausted to be able to even think about all that had happened.

AJ had stuck his head in the room to see if she needed any dinner and saw that she was sound asleep so he quietly shut the door and went back into the kitchen to eat the pizza he'd ordered. He was just about to eat his third slice when the doorbell rang. It was Jennifer.

He opened the door and could tell by her smudged mascara that she'd been crying. He did the only thing he could think of...he hugged her. Wasn't that what a big brother would have done? He felt sorry for her, being stuck living with Bob. He realized he'd never really though of how hard that must be on her, and for her to still manage to be an honor student must have taken a huge effort on her part.

“Are you ok?” he asked, finally letting her go and letting her inside.

“Yeah, I'm fine. I was just so worried about Emily. Is she ok? Can I see her?”

“She's fine. She's asleep right now. We went to the hospital to make sure the babies were ok and everything was fine. You could have just called, you know!”

“Oh...I'm sorry..I'm totally barging in on you. I can go!”

“No, no, no...I didn't mean it that way, I just meant, you know, it's ok for you to call!” he said.

Jennifer shrugged. “I guess I was so worried I wasn't thinking straight and I just wanted to see that she was really ok. I can't believe my dad did that to her.”

“I can.” AJ said.

“I mean...he's a drunk and sometimes he's mean but....I've never seen him get violent.”

“Addicts just get that way when they're desperate.” AJ said.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she said.

“Sure.”

“It was so awesome the way you roughed him up.” Jennifer said.

AJ tried not to smile. “I don't want to admit this but it felt pretty damn good. Not that I condone violence...” he quickly added.

“I know. But he had it coming.”

“Yes, he did.”

“So...you must be pretty pissed at Emily for sneaking over.”

“How do you know she snuck over?”

“I don't know...I figured if you knew about it you would have done it yourself. Especially the way you came after her.”

“We had a disagreement over the money that was supposed to be your tuition.” he admitted. “I didn't want you to think I was trying to pay you off to get you to like me.”

“Well....I don't think that. But Emily was just probably trying to do what she thought was best for us.”

AJ nodded. “Yeah, she always has good intentions.”

“So you're leaving tomorrow?”

“Day after.” he said. “Hey you want some dinner? I've got pizza!”

“Sure!”

They were in the middle of discussing Jennifer's interest in photography when he heard the toilet flush.

“I'm going to go check on Emily and see if she wants any dinner.” he said.

“Ok. Hey can I have another Coke?” she asked.

“Of course, help yourself!”

Emily had just flopped back into bed when he came in. “Hey, do you want any dinner? I ordered pizza.”

“No thanks.” Emily shook her head. “I've got killer heartburn right now.” she said, grabbing her bedside bottle of Tums.

“Is there anything else I can get you?”

“Could you just fill up my water for me? Lots of ice?”

“Sure. Look...I know you had the best intentions today and you did what you thought was best but the problem is sometimes you have to trust my judgment on what's best too. I mean, if we're going to be parents together sometimes you're going to have to trust my decisions too.”

“I know.” Emily said. “I'm really, really sorry. You were completely right.”

“Thanks.” he said. “We can talk more about it tomorrow, ok?”

She nodded. “Yeah, ok. Hey were you talking to someone?”

“Oh, yeah Jennifer's here.”

“Is she ok?”

“Yeah, I guess Bob went on a drunken rampage and she wanted to make sure you were ok so she came over.”

“Poor girl.” Emily sighed.

“Are you sure I can't get you anything else? You're not at all hungry?”

Emily shook her head. “No, maybe later.”

AJ went to get her water and joined Jennifer. They ended up watching a movie together and then talked a little more. He found he was sad that he was leaving when he was just getting to know her. He had a feeling there would be no way Bob would permit her to visit them in Atlanta. He drove her back home and waiting in the driveway for her to send him a text letting him know she got in safely.

“Dad still asleep on the couch, thanks for waiting, bro!” it said.

“No problem, sis.” he sent back with a small lump in his throat. Brother. He had a little sister. He'd really enjoyed spending time with her. It felt nice to have family. He already felt this sense of protectiveness of her. He'd never known what it was like to be a big brother but he was finding that it came very naturally to him. He understood that Emily had just been trying to protect that relationship and a big part of his anger stemmed from the fact that she'd ended up putting herself in harms way in more ways than one. When he got home, he crawled into bed next to her and pulled her into his arms.

The next morning, Emily woke up surprised to find AJ watching her sleep.

“Morning.” she mumbled. “What are you doing awake?”

“Just watching you.” he said. “Emily I don't want to talk anymore about what happened. I realized last night that you thought you were helping me keep my sister and I appreciate that. Just next time, maybe think about listening to me, ok?”

She nodded. “I really am sorry. You can be mad at me a little longer if you want.”

He laughed. “It's too hard being mad at you right now.”

Emily slowly sat up and leaned back against her wall of pillows. “Your dad is an asshole.”

“Yes.”

“I kind of wish you'd have beat him up. You should have hit him!”

“Believe me, I really wanted to. But he's the kind of guy that would have done something like press charges against me. But I don't know how I managed to not hurt him.”

“Guess we won't be calling him Grandpa anytime soon. Our poor kids are getting ripped off in the grandparents department. Your dad sucks, my mom is a mess...all they have is your mom!”

“She'll make up for it, don't worry. She can't wait to come see you next week.”

Emily smiled. “I could use some lovin' from your mom. And it'll give you a break from having to take care of everything for me.”

“I don't mind taking care of you. It's the least I can do, you're doing all the real work bringing these babies into the world.”

“I know you don't really mind, but I still feel like a burden. You have to do all the cooking and cleaning and you're going to have to do all the packing today.....”

“Leighanne's coming over to help pack.” he said. “I don't want you to feel like a burden. I love you so much for everything you're going through. If I can make it a little easier for you, I'm happy to do it.”

She smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Well...then...can you get me some breakfast?”

AJ laughed and gave her a kiss. “Yes. Any requests?”

“Banana pancakes?”

“Coming right up.” he said.

AJ's cooking skills had certainly improved since Emily had been pregnant and he didn't even need to look at a recipe anymore for pancakes. His mother would be so proud!

About an hour after breakfast, while Emily was in the shower, Brian, Leighanne and Baylee arrived to help them pack up. Leighanne, bless her heart, brought a ton of packing boxes for all of their shower gifts. Emily came downstairs to the couch and felt a little helpless while she sat with Baylee and watched all of their things get packed up. AJ did laundry so they didn't pack up dirty clothes, a huge pet-peeve of Emily's. He loaded up their suitcases, cleaned out the kitchen, packed up Emily's newly acquired collection of books and movies into a few more boxes. Brian had been put in charge of carrying all the boxes to be shipped out to the porch. Leighanne had FedEx coming to pick them up that evening.

All in all, it didn't take that long and they were done just before lunch. Kristin, Kevin and Baby Mason ended up coming over to join them for dinner and AJ even let Emily sit out on the deck overlooking the ocean for their last dinner in LA, at least for this stay.

“So when do you think the babies will come?” Kristin asked.

“Hard to say. My guess is end of November.”

“Wow!! Only a month left.” Leighanne said. “I can't wait to meet them. Are you getting excited? Or nervous?”

“Both.” Emily admitted. “I'll be so glad to not be pregnant anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love being pregnant but these babies are starting to get a little big. It'll be nice to be able to move again. But I'm also terrified at the though of having two newborns. I pray every day that they are good babies.”

Meanwhile on the other side of the deck, Brian and Kevin were giving AJ tips on being a new dad. “When you're in the delivery room, don't take anything she says to you personally.” Kevin said.

“Yeah,” Brian added, “Expect totally irrational behavior in there. Just keep your mouth shut and do what she says.”

“You know you guys are supposed to be making me feel less nervous, not more.” AJ said.

“Oh relax, buddy!” Brian clapped him on the shoulder. “You'll be fine.”

“I just can't wait to have my wife back.” he admitted.

“What do you mean?” asked Kevin.

“Since she went into labor a few weeks ago, she's been on pelvic rest.”

“What is that?” Brian asked. Kevin just grinned.

“It means no loving of any kind.” Kevin answered.

“None...at all?” Brian asked.

AJ shook his head.

“No wonder you've been so edgy!”

AJ playfully swatted at them and went over to sit by Emily.

The flight home was rougher than Emily wanted to admit it was. Even in the front row of first class she still felt squished and her feet still swelled up like balloons. She had to admit it was nice riding in the wheelchair because it meant she was first on and first off the plane and the flight attendants were very polite and helpful. AJ had a car service waiting to pick them up and because she was in the wheelchair, the airline even had someone retrieve their luggage and bring it out to the car for them. She was exhausted by the time they got home.

“I'm so glad to be here, you have no idea!” she said as she sat down on the couch.

“I think I have a pretty good idea.” he said. “You just look so much more relaxed!”

“I honestly was worried for awhile we'd never make it back.”

“Well now that we are, how would you like to see your birthday present?”

At the mention of her birthday, Emily perked up. “Of course!”

“Can you make it upstairs ok?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think so.” she said. “Help me up?”

AJ helped her stand up and led her slowly up the steps. He stopped at the door across from their bedroom that had a big, green bow on it.

“Is this what I think it is?” she asked, excitedly.

“Open the door and find out!” he said.

Emily slowly opened the door to what used to be their guest room and found that for her birthday, AJ had the nursery decorated for her while they were gone. The walls were painted a light sage green on three walls and on one wall was a wonderfully cute mural of cutesy jungle animals that matched their bedding. Their two cribs and changing table and dressers were all assembled and the crib bedding was already on them. The rocking chair was in place and the curtains were hung. It was absolutely perfect and everything she'd wanted.

“Do you like it?” he asked as he watched her slowly walk around and look at everything.

“I love it!” she said, a few tears in her eyes. Damn hormones made her cry at everything!

AJ felt relieved. “I'm glad! I was worried it wasn't what you wanted.”

“It's exactly what I wanted.” she said, kissing him. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

“Oh man, I feel so much better having this done! I almost feel like we're ready to bring babies home!”

He wrapped her up in a big hug. “It won't be long.” he said.

“Come on, I want you to get off your feet now. It's been a long day.”

He helped her across the hall and into her own bed. Emily loved that he was so used to living in different places. Apparently he'd had someone come in and clean and air out the house that had been empty for awhile. The kitchen was stocked, the sheets were fresh and the nursery was done! AJ brought her some water and sat down next to her on the bed.

“I love you.” she said. “Thank you for taking care of everything.”

“You're welcome. I wanted to get you something else for your birthday but it's going to have to wait.”

“What is it?”

“Well I wanted to get you a ring with the babies birthstones in it and some other stones but I have to wait to find out what month they're born in.”

Emily laughed. “Good point. It'd have been too bad if you bought December stones and we have them in November.”

“I'm sorry I didn't do much else for you. Everything I thought of...well it just wasn't useful to you right now. I do have one other thing for you tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I have a massage therapist coming to the house to give you a ninety minute prenatal massage in the morning.”

“Oh my God....I love you even more!” Emily laughed. “That sounds amazing!”

A few days later, they were more settled in at home and AJ had managed to unpack all of their suitcases and get everything put away. The doorbell rang and AJ found FedEx was there with all of their boxes. He helped the delivery man get them all inside and then he began the tedious task of carrying them all upstairs. He'd decided to take all the boxes into the nursery except for the few that were labeled as their other household stuff that he'd get to later.

“Hey Em, come in the nursery!” he said when he heard her up to go to the bathroom.

Emily walked in and laughed at the obscene amount of boxes.

“Why don't you sit in the rocker and I'll unpack and you can tell me what to do with everything.”

Emily shrugged. “Sounds like a good plan to me!”

It took a few hours to get through everything but AJ was very efficient. Emily had him set all the clothes in a laundry basket so they could clip the tags and get everything washed, agreeing to put all the clothes and blankets away the next day when they were clean and dry. They managed to get all the toys and baby supplies organized and tucked away.

“So what do we have left to do?” he asked, as he gathered up all the trash.

“We need to get the car seats installed at the fire station soon.”

“Why can't we do it ourselves?”

“Because we want to make sure we learn how to do it properly. I read that 80% of car seats are not installed or used correctly.”

“Really? Ok fine. I'll look into that and see if we can do it tomorrow or the next day. What else?”

“We need to put together the stroller and the pack and plays. And the swings. Oh and the bouncy chairs. Are they still out in the garage?”

“Yeah, they should be. That's where I unloaded them after we bought them. What about the highchairs?”

“We won't need them for awhile but I guess it wouldn't hurt to do that too so it's done.”

“Hey, have you noticed we don't have any diapers yet?”

Emily laughed. “Yeah, I know. All this stuff and no diapers! But actually, I was thinking about maybe using cloth diapers.”

“Cloth? You mean like, with diaper pins and everything?” he gave her a funny look.

“No, that's now how they work anymore. I'll show you online. They make very modern ones now, like BumGenius and Fuzzibunz. They velcro or snap on just like a disposable. Very easy to use! Mason uses them, Kristin was showing them to me.”

“Well, how do we clean them?”

“You just wash them in the washer.”

“You mean we put poop in the washer?”

Emily laughed. “Just like you would when they have poo explosions and get it on their clothes. It's very sanitary. Just promise me you'll read about it before you judge. Did you know that one baby will create one ton of garbage in diapers alone?”

“Jesus that's a lot of diapers!” he said. “Alright I'll read about it.”

“Good. Because once you're on board we'll need to order them online.”

AJ in face managed to fall in love with the idea of cloth diapers when he discovered that he could get them in skull prints with pink flames on them. He also liked the ones with the tattoo type prints on them. They spent a few hours educating themselves and ordering a variety of types.

“I think we might just be ready!” Emily said. “Although...I still have one more shower.”

“Where in the world are we going to put more gifts?” he laughed.

“Actually, Leighanne told me this shower has a theme. Gifts for the older baby. So like, sippy cups and spoons and toys.”

“That's a good idea!” he said.

“Yeah. Oh and don't I have a doctor appointment tomorrow with Dr. Paul?”

“Yes. At ten.” he said.

“You're like my personal assistant!” she laughed.