“Chocolate,” Izzy announced proudly, making his lips twitch even as he wondered if he was going to have to make another run into town to get her takeout from the diner tonight.

“You really should be in the infirmary,” Caine said, eying the game controller in Izzy’s hands.

“And get stuck lying on an uncomfortable stretcher for the next twenty hours with nothing to do?” Izzy asked, shaking her head. “Not going to happen. Not again.”

“Hey, who’s that?” Marc suddenly asked, popping more popcorn in his mouth as he leaned over to look at the drawing pad on Christofer’s lap.

“She’s beautiful,” Izzy murmured, leaning over him to study the picture.

“Is that one of your jobs?” Caine asked, carefully leaning over Izzy to get a look as he-

“My game!” Izzy snarled, slapping Caine’s hands away.

“I was playing first,” Caine grumbled as he sat back, pouting.

“And now you’re not,” Izzy said, her focus still on the drawing. “Who is she?”

“Jessica,” he said, smiling fondly down at the beautiful woman that the little girl that liked to steal his nose would one day turn into.

“My Jessica?” Izzy asked with a watery smile.

“Yes,” Christofer said, carefully removing the paper from the pad and handed it over to her.

“She’s beautiful,” she said, carefully tracing the picture with her fingers.

“That’s my baby girl?” Chris asked as he walked into the room and leaned over the couch to get a better look just as a contraction tore through Izzy, one that she had no hopes of hiding.

“Uh oh,” Marc said, his hand pausing mid-grab as he reached for another handful of popcorn. His eyes darted from Izzy, who was even now trying to pretend nothing was wrong. She blindly reached out and grabbed Christofer and Caine’s hands as she attempted to give Chris one of her sweet smiles.

Unfortunately for her, the bloodcurdling scream that escaped her lips ruined it for her. In an instant, Chris’ adoring expression for the image of what his precious baby girl would one day turn into was gone and in its place was a stone cold killer who sensed his mate’s distress. He considered saying something, but he knew that if he opened his mouth right now that he’d embarrass himself with a pained moan or a whimper.

For such a small little thing, Izzy had one hell of a grip!

“Tell me,” Chris said coolly, “that you’re not in labor.”

Izzy opened her mouth, no doubt to lie her adorable little ass off to buy herself more time out of the infirmary, but instead she ended up crying, “Daddy!”

Within seconds, Ephraim was there, kneeling in front of Izzy as Christofer was forced to grind his jaw shut as another contraction tore through Izzy’s small body.

“So soon, baby girl?” Ephraim asked, reaching up and gently cupping Izzy’s face as she nodded with a broken sob.

“Is there anything that I can do?” Marc asked, falling back into his old role as Izzy’s protector.

“Go get Cloe,” his father said, getting him out of the room, which was for the best since it probably wouldn’t do for the boy to see two grown men cry.

Holy shit, she had a strong grip!

“What the hell is going on here?” Kale demanded, dropping his backpack to floor as he walked over and knelt beside Ephraim and took Izzy’s hand away from Caine.

Caine sighed heavily as pulled his hand away, and fell back against the couch, hugging his abused hand to his chest while Christofer was forced to sit there and suffer through another contraction. When he felt the first bone in his hand snap, he held his breath, forcing himself to take it as Izzy screamed her way through another contraction. He couldn’t help but sag in relief when Chris suddenly reached over and scooped Izzy up. He carried her out of the room with Ephraim and Kale hot on his heels.

“She break your hand?” Caine asked, shaking his hand to work out the pain.

“Yeah,” he said, wincing as he felt his bones in his hand snap back in place with an audible crack.

“She’s a violent little thing,” Caine said with a fond smile as he continued to shake out his hand.

“That she is,” Christofer agreed, nodding slowly as he turned his head to study the Pyte. After a moment, he decided that it was time to end this game and get to the point.

“What do you want?”

*-*-*-*

“That’s my precious baby girl!”

“She’s my godchild!” Kale snarled, his eyes shifting silver as he leaned down, keeping his eyes locked on Chris as he planted baby kisses on the newborn’s forehead.

Eyes narrowing to slits, Chris snuggled his newborn son in his arms. “Fine, but you’re not holding my precious baby boy.”

“Oh,” Kale said, pausing to press another kiss to the sleeping baby’s head, “I’ll be holding him next. You can count on that.”

“We’ll see,” Chris said, making a show of kissing his son’s head.

“Yes,” another kiss to the baby girl’s forehead, “we will.”

“Can I hold one of the babies?” Izzy asked, sounding exhausted with a hopeful smile only to end up dropping her arms by her sides, muttering about the “big babies” and curling up onto her side as both men snapped, “No!”

Cloe bit back a smile as she stepped past the men caught up in a glaring match and checked on Izzy who’d already fallen asleep almost instantly. Poor thing, she thought, pulling the blanket up and tucking Izzy in as she shot Ephraim a smile. “How’s the hand?”

“Healing,” he said with a wince, cradling his hand against his chest as he stood up. “Since I’m probably not going to get a chance to hold one of my new grandchildren until later,” he said, sounding amused as he got to his feet, “I think I’ll go help Madison with the children.”

Cloe glanced at the clock and noted the late hour. It had taken Izzy ten hours to deliver the twins and now Cloe was exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to stumble her way to her room and fall asleep in Christofer’s arms, but she had to check on Danni first.

She hadn’t seen Danni all day, hadn’t had the chance to check up on her to make sure that she was okay. In the last of couple weeks she’d watched as the woman slowly wasted away and knew that it was only a matter of time until she slipped into a coma. It was a process that she was too familiar with and one that she didn’t want to see Danni fall victim to, especially since there would be no escape for her.

She wished there was more that she could do for her, but there wasn’t. Medicine was like poison to them, blood transfusions seemed to make her sicker. They couldn’t use normal cancer treatments to treat her. Cloe couldn’t help but wonder if-

“Get her off of me!” she heard Christofer’s pain filled roar as she climbed the steps to the living quarters.

“Stop moving and I will!” Caine shouted.

“Grab her before she-fucking hell!”

She was up the stairs and down the hall before she realized that she was running. She skidded to a halt in front of Caine and Danni’s room. She raised her fist to knock, but then shook her head, calling herself an idiot as the sounds of a struggle became louder. She grabbed the knob and threw the door open and then….