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“Mama, head hurts.”
The whine in the toddler's voice makes Emily ache, and she turns her head to kiss Lucas’s head, breathing in the smell of his strawberry-scented shampoo.
“I know,” she says, tucking him as close to her side as she can. She presses another kiss against his hairline, hoping it soothes him like it used to when he was a tiny baby curled up on her chest. She tries to smother a cough, but fails, and she sighs as she pulls back.“I know, baby.”
Lucas had picked up a cold from daycare, a bug that had swept through the children, and now their house, like wildfire. Emily knew it was inevitable she’d catch it. The two-year-old had been all about her since the second he was born, but Lucas was even more all about her when he was sick. He’d desperately burrow into her side in a way that Aaron always joked was him trying to climb back inside of her, seeking out the love and comfort she always had waiting for him, for all of her Hotchner boys.
“I not baby,” he says, frowning as he pulls back to look at her, and she has to press her lips together to stop herself from smiling too widely. He was exactly like Aaron, a carbon copy of his father, right down to his dimples and his frown, and she loved it. She loved seeing her husband’s smile flit across her son’s face, a version of the smile she loved so dearly unburdened by trauma and pain, innocence pressed into the very corners of it that she’d burn the world down to protect. Lucas places his hand on her belly, his frown breaking into the smile she loved so much as a foot kicks against his tiny hand, “They the babies.”
Twins. Twin girls, no less.
She and Aaron had decided they wanted another baby when Lucas turned one. Time hadn’t necessarily been on their side, and it had taken a long time for her to get pregnant with Lucas. This time around, it took less time, but still long enough to make her worry it never would. When she finally found herself looking at a positive pregnancy test, the mix of shock and happiness had made her burst into tears in their bathroom. Aaron had rushed in, ready to comfort her like he did every month, but she’d smiled at him and he knew.
She’d convinced herself pregnancy would be easier this time around, that because she’d done it once before, there would be fewer surprises this time around, that she’d be more prepared. Then the doctor had told her she was looking at two babies on the ultrasound scan, and all of that confidence disappeared.
With Lucas, they hadn’t found out what they were having. Emily had been resolute, determined that it would be a surprise when the baby was born, and Aaron was - as ever - happy to support her in whatever she wanted. The moment she found out, the moment Lucas was passed to her and she was told they had another son, it was everything she’d ever wanted it to be, everything she’d waited for through every difficult moment, worth it the second she felt her little boy’s skin pressed against hers. With the twins, she wanted to find out as soon as possible, quipping to Aaron that finding out there was more than one baby growing inside of her was surprise enough for one pregnancy.
She was 7 months along now and exhausted, but excited for this next stage in their life and, she thought, it would be nice if at least one of the girls looked like her. The doctors had told her to stay as relaxed as possible and Aaron took the order seriously, it’s why he was in the kitchen with Jack making dinner and she was curled up on the couch with their youngest - their youngest for now, letting him snuggled against her as she tried to make him feel better.
“Sorry, sweet boy,” she says, kissing his temple again, hiding a smile in his hair. “You’re right,” she pulls back to cough, groaning when she feels her whole body shudder with it. She coughs again, barely recovering from the first one, and a sharp pain spreads through her side, making her breath catch in her chest as she places a hand over the place where it hurts. “What the fu…” she trails off, just about present enough to stop herself from cursing in front of her two-year-old. For a second, she thinks it’s faded, that the pain was a weird quirk of having one of her daughters pressed right up against her lungs, but then she breathes in and it happens again. She presses her lips together, desperate not to freak out her little boy, and she runs her fingers through his hair, “Why don’t we go see what Daddy and Jack are up to?”
He nods enthusiastically and jumps up off the couch, already running towards the kitchen before she's even up off the couch. The pain is sharp as she straightens out, and she places her hand on her side, rubbing against it in an attempt to soothe the pain to no avail. She’s about to call out for Aaron, not wanting to worry either Lucas or Jack, but then he’s there, walking into the living room with a smile on his face.
“Lucas seems to be feeling a little better at least…” he drifts off when he sees her, his smile melting into a frown as he walks over, his hand on her elbow, “Sweetheart, are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” she says, wincing as the intake of breath to speak makes the pain briefly worse, “This pain came out of nowhere.”
“Is it contractions?” He asks, and she loves him for being calm so she doesn’t have to be, her port in a storm as the waves started to lap at her ankles.
She shakes her head, “No, I don’t think so. It’s…too high up?” She tries to explain, tries to place the pain that feels familiar but she can’t name, her eyes wide as she looks at him, “I have no idea what it is.”
He nods and squeezes her elbow, leaning forward to stamp a kiss against her forehead, an attempt to sooth her just like she’d been doing for Lucas for days, “Okay, I’ll call Jess and see if she can come sit with the boys, and then we’ll go to the hospital to get you and the Mini Prentiss’ looked at.”
She smiles despite her growing concern, and her lower lip trembles, “Mini Hotchners,” she corrects, and he winks at her.
“I don’t know, causing trouble before they are even born seems like Prentiss behaviour to me.”
___
Her anxiety is made a little better when an initial exam in the emergency room lets them know the twins are okay, and that Emily isn’t in labour.
The pain doesn’t stop, though, it’s sharp and consistent, made worse by breathing or moving too quickly. The thing that keeps her grounded is Aaron. His hand in hers and his presence a comfort she had once lived without but knew she never could again. She turns to look at him as he kisses her knuckles, one of her hands sandwiched between both of his as he sits in the chair next to her bed, and she sighs, wincing again as her chest hurts.
There’s a knock on the door, and the doctor walks in, a different one than the one who’d checked the babies were okay. Her smile is kind, and what Emily thinks is supposed to be reassuring.
“I’m Doctor King,” she says, walking over towards the bed Emily is sitting up on, “I’ve been told you have acute pain?”
“Yeah,” Emily replies, “It hurts here,” she says, placing her hand on the spot in question.
“Is it okay if I examine you?” Doctor King asks, and Emily nods. She winces when the other woman presses her fingers lightly against the source of the pain. “Does it hurt more when you breathe?”
“Yes,” Emily grits out, squeezing Aaron’s hand tightly, “And if I move,” she coughs and whimpers, a sound she can’t deny because of how much it hurts, “And when I cough.”
“Were you coughing before the pain started?” She asks, and Emily nods, making a knowing tight smile pass across the Doctor’s face, “I think you have a fractured rib,” she says, moving her hand up slightly further, nodding when Emily winces again, “Maybe two.”
Suddenly, it clicks into place. The familiarity of the pain she knew she’d felt before, a pain she’d felt countless times over the years, but it had always happened because of trauma. Because of a takedown gone wrong, or the violence of men with nothing more to lose, but she hadn’t hurt herself.
She’d been sitting on the couch with her son.
“Fractured ribs?” Aaron asks, sounding as incredulous as she felt, “How is that possible? She didn’t fall.”
Doctor King sighs and nods, “It’s rare, but it does happen in some pregnancies,” she points at Emily’s bump, “One of your babies is quite high up, and the internal pressure on your ribs means that something as simple as a cough can make them fracture.”
“My cough made me fracture two ribs?” Emily asks, choking on a laugh and then wincing, “That’s… ridiculous.”
Doctor King hums sympathetically, “Pregnancy really is the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it?” She quips, “It feels like two fractured ribs, the only way to absolutely confirm is with an X-ray, but with your pregnancy-”
“No, that’s okay,” Emily says, cutting off the offer before the doctor can finish it, “I’ve had fractured ribs before, this feels like that, now that I know it’s possible.”
“Then you’ll know how to deal with it,” she replies, “Tylenol, ice packs, breathing exercises, avoiding strenuous activities.”
Emily laughs disbelievingly, “No strenuous activities?” She asks, “I’m meant to give birth to two babies soon, and they could come anytime from six weeks from now.”
“One thing at a time, Emily,” Doctor King says, her kind smile making a return, “Ribs can heal in anything from three weeks, as long as you rest,” she flicks her gaze to Aaron, “And are maybe weighted on hand and foot.”
Emily hums, nodding as she tries to calm herself down, “He does that anyway,” she says, wiping some tears from her cheeks, “He and our boys don’t let me do anything.”
“Then you should heal up in time to have your girls the way you want to,” she replies, smiling at her one last time, “I’ll go fill out your paperwork for you, and then you’ll be good to go home.”
Emily nods, mumbling a thank you that is drowned out by Aaron’s more enthusiastic one. She huffs out a breath and clenches her teeth when it hurts.
“You were right.”
Aaron kisses her knuckles and smiles softly at her when she turns to look at him, “About what, sweetheart?”
“They aren’t even born yet and they are causing trouble,” she says, unable to fight her smile at the thought of it, “Like mother, like daughters, I guess.”
He stands up and kisses her forehead, then her cheek, and then the corner of her lips, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
___
“She’s kicking.”
Aaron smiles and turns to look at his wife, his attention immediately on her and her bump, “Which one?”
“Baby A,” she says, scrunching her nose up at the nickname the doctors had assigned the twins. They needed to come up with names, two names, soon. A book that was supposed to help was on her nightstand, post-it notes - green for her, yellow for Aaron - spread throughout it to mark out names they liked. The page with the name Lucas on it was still dog-eared from last time, a fold she would never unfold so she could remember that moment, the second she knew she’d found their son’s name. She looks at Aaron and tries to smile, “I think she can feel the cold from the icepack.”
He smiles sympathetically at her and shifts closer, careful not to jostle her as he wraps his arm around her shoulders, “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
It was a question he’d asked multiple times since they left the hospital, and it was one she didn’t know the answer to. She’d put on as brave a face as possible, had slipped back into old habits when they got home, and Jack was still awake way past his bedtime, concern painted across his features as he asked if she and the babies were okay. She’d told him yes, had hugged him, her eyes and teeth clenched tight to hold back the wince when he unintentionally pressed against her fractured ribs.
“I don’t know,” she answers honestly, shrugging ever so slightly, “I’ll let you know when I do, though.”
He smiles and nods, kissing her temple as he breathes her in, “I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
She pulls back just enough to kiss him, her hand on his cheek as she holds him in place, “You owe me for this, you know,” she quips, “Not only am I giving you two more children, but I’m literally breaking bones to do it.”
“You’re right, I owe you,” he laughs, bright and beautiful, and he nods, his forehead against hers, “ But I owe you everything anyway.”