Ever The Same

Epilogue - Ours

Seems like there's always someone who disapproves
They'll judge it like they know about me and you
And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do
The jury's out but my choice is you
So don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard
The stakes are high, the water's rough
But this love is ours
——Ours, Taylor Swift

May 2, 2022

The tweet from the Memphis Grizzlies caught Wendell Carter wholly off guard.  He was supposed to know about this before it happened. 

He gazed at the photo of the two little babies, wrapped in blankets and wearing little knitted bear hats, and felt himself tearing up.  Babies.  Cap and Mama's babies. 

But his expression turned to a frown.  Why was he hearing about this from Twitter? That wasn't supposed to be the way it worked.  Where the hell was J-Rob?

*****

"Make sure you support his head and neck," Cait said nervously. 

Connor had brought Emma to the hospital after school to see the twins.  And she was nervously holding Cameron, her eyes wide. 

"Oh, uh, how, um, how are you feeling, Mrs. Allen?" she asked.

Grayson wasn't in the room, so Cait answered honestly.  "Like someone tore me in half," Cait told her.  "I hurt pretty much everywhere right now.  Not fun when you're taking care of two newborn babies." She wasn't about to sugar coat it or romanticize childbirth for a sixteen year old girl.

Connor hid his smirk.  His sister had totally, albeit unwittingly, come through for him here. 

He'd realized the day before that there was no possible way that he was ready to take any chance of being a parent.  Didn't mean he was going to wait until marriage.  But he was only sixteen.  He wasn't in a hurry.  And he wasn't grown up enough for what he'd seen his brother-in-law go through the day before.

"Oh," Emma gasped a little.  "I'm sorry."

"I'll recover," Cait told her.  "But don't let anyone tell you that it's a picnic, Emma.  Although I do have to admit that the reward is just incredible," Cait cooed at Jackson.

Dr. Jacobs appeared in the doorway, talking with Grayson.  Connor saw them.  "We should probably go, Em," he said gently. 

Emma nodded and Connor took the baby from her and handed him to Grayson.  "We'll get out of the way," he said.  But he crossed the room to kiss his sister gently.

"Love you," Cait smiled at him.  "Enjoy the game tonight."

"Love you too, sis," Connor smiled. 

*****

"Time to get you out of bed," Dr. Jacobs told Cait.  "It's probably not going to be a ton of fun."

"Been here before," Cait sighed, remembering what it was like after her knee and leg surgeries.  "But let's do this, because my husband has a game to get to."

"And I'm not leaving for that game until I see that you're okay," he told her.  The doctor had explained to him that it was important to determine whether the sutures were going to hold when Cait moved around. If she started bleeding again, things would get a lot more serious.