Twice the Love

Chapter 15

The weekend passed quickly, and before the newlyweds knew it, it was time for Calleigh's first appointment with her new doctor.

"I hope she's like Ruthie, I've gotten spoiled having a doctor who's also my sister."

"Ruthie hand picked her to take care of the three of you, so I'm sure she's a very good doctor."

"I know, I just wish Ruthie could be here."

"I know you do. Ready to go? Annie is meeting us, and I'd like to get there before she does."

"Yep, all ready. You still takin' me out for cinnamon rolls?"

"If they're still serving them by the time we get there."

Calleigh grabbed her purse and they were out the door, heading for the medical center. Horatio found a parking space close to the elevators so Calleigh didn't have to walk too far. Once inside, they found a wheelchair for to use while she was there. When they got to the waiting room, they found Annie waiting for them. "Good morning! How was your weekend?"

"Nice and quiet. We got a lot of work done, and my sweet husband still had time to spoil me."

Horatio pushed Calleigh closer to Annie so they could talk. "I'll go sign you in, I'm sure there's a bunch of papers to fill out as a new patient."

"Oh, I've got them right here. You'll just need a clip board to write on."

"Do they want my whole life history? Look at these papers, Horatio!"

He handed her the clipboard. "Then you need to get started." He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair.

Calleigh had just finished filling out all the forms when she was called into the office. "Here we go." She handed the nurse the paperwork as they passed her, and they directed her to the doctor's office.

"You'll meet with the doctor, go over any questions or concerns, and then we'll move you into an exam room."

"Thank you." Horatio pushed her into the office and held the chair out for Annie before seating himself.

It didn't take long for the doctor to appear. "Good morning, I'm Audrey Evans. I hope you don't mind meeting like this first. I've found with new patients it puts them a bit more at ease. Now, I've spoken to your sister, and she faxed me your chart from Louisiana. Sounds like you had quite a scare. Any more cramping or spotting?"

"No, nothing. Ruthie told me to limit my stress and to let my body heal slowly, so we hired Annie to be my home nurse for when Horatio's at work. She cooks, cleans, takes care of me. She's been great."

"When do you see your orthopedic surgeon about your shoulder?"

"Tomorrow. Ruthie said I should refuse any x-rays and MRIs, is that right?"

"Studies are inconclusive for an MRI while pregnant, but I'd err on the side of caution and say no to any imaging studies, just to be safe. Other than the shoulder, how are you feeling?"

"Still a bit stiff and sore, Horatio gives me massages daily. What about a bath, or do I have to limit my bathing to the shower?"

"A bath is fine, as long as it's under 100 degrees, anything hotter can put stress on your babies."

"She likes bath salts, will those be a problem?"

"Not at all. A little aromatherapy while your soothing those sore muscles is a good thing."

"Doctor Evans, is there any special foods she should avoid? I'm sure Annie knows, but I don't want to cause a problem when she's not there."

"No raw seafood, that's sushi, raw oysters, no undercooked meat or eggs, no unpasteurized foods. If you have to eat lunchmeat or hotdogs, make sure they are fully cooked until steaming."

"None of that sounds too bad. I love sushi, but I can live without it for a while."

"There are plenty of cooked choices for sushi, Calleigh. If you do want some, just choose the cooked ones, like tempura rolls, or the cooked crab rolls."

"Please tell me I can have spicy foods?"

"As long as they don't cause too much heartburn."

"Good, because these twins love tacos."

The doctor laughed. "That shouldn't be a problem. Now are you ready for your ultrasound?"

"Absolutely. I can't wait to see how big they've gotten since my last one."

The doctor called for the nurse, who took Calleigh, Horatio and Annie into an exam room. Dr. Evans came in pushing the portable ultrasound machine. "Is everyone staying?" Calleigh nodded. "All right, lay back for me." She pulled Calleigh's sweats down a bit and squirted the warmed gel on her abdomen. "There they are. Very strong heartbeats, would you like to hear them?" Both Calleigh and Horatio nodded and the doctor flipped a switch. The room filled with the sound of the twin heartbeats, and Calleigh's eyes filled with tears.

"Listen to them, Horatio."

He took out his handkerchief and wiped her eyes. "I hear them, Sweetheart. How do they look, doctor?"

"Everything looks wonderful. The children are the right size, no sign of placenta abruption, which is what your sister was worried about."

"She never mentioned that to me."

"She told me she didn't tell you because it would cause added stress to an already stressful situation."

"Yeah, things were pretty stressful. I guess I won't have to kill her, then." She laughed.

"I'll need to do a quick pelvic check, and then we're through."

"I'll step outside for that, if you don't mind. I'm sure you'll want your own nurse in here."

"Thanks, Annie. Can you send Julie in, please?"

"Y'all know Annie?"

"She's one of the best home health nurses in the state. You were lucky she was available." Once the nurse was in the room, the doctor performed the pelvic exam, and Calleigh and the twins were pronounced perfectly healthy. "If you have any problems at all, call the office and I'll work you in. Otherwise, I'll see you in two weeks."

"I do have one more question. What about sex? Ruthie told her it was all right as long as we're careful."

"I agree, as long as you're careful there shouldn't be a problem, but if you are in pain, or start to spot, stop and page me immediately."

"Thank you, Dr. Evans."

Once they had made their appointment, Calleigh reminded her husband of his promise of breakfast.

"Let's see if Annie would like to join us."

Annie followed them to the bakery and watched Calleigh wolf down three rolls like she hadn't eaten in weeks. Calleigh was allowed her one cup of regular coffee, which she savored in between bites of her sweet treats.

"I think I'm ready to go home and take a nap."

"Are you hurting?"

"No, just tired. I think the sugar and caffeine are the only things keeping me awake at this point."

"Well, then, let's get you home and back into bed for a while. I know you're full now, but what do you think you might want for lunch?"

"Can we fix the rest of the chicken and make chicken salad sandwiches?"

"Yes, we can. I'll take care of that while you're sleeping."

"You're not going back to work?"

"I took today and tomorrow off. If they need me, they can call."

"Do you want to come in and nap with me?"

"I might join you after I get the chicken ready."

"I sleep better when you're next to me."

"Then it's a good thing I'll be doing just that for the rest of our lives." He pulled into the driveway, with Annie right behind him. "All right, Mrs. Caine, time for your nap."

She yawned. "I'm definitely ready for one."

He took her inside and into the bedroom, where he helped her with her shoes and socks. "Do you want to sleep in your sweats and tank?"

"No, not the sweats. I might get too hot."

He removed her sweats and folded them, placing them on the chair, and then helped her into bed. "I love you. Sweet dreams."

"I love you, too."

He closed the door before returning to the living room, where he found Annie dusting. "Didn't you do that yesterday?"

"Yes, but I want to keep the rooms she spends most of her time in extra clean."

"Dr. Evans said you were in high demand, and that we were lucky to get you, now I see why."

"I love all my patients, it's hard to move on after they deliver. I start to think of the women as my own daughters."

"Well, Calleigh's mother lives in Louisiana, so I'm sure she'll love having you as a surrogate mom. If you don't need me in here, I'll be in the kitchen cooking the rest of the chicken. Calleigh wants chicken salad sandwiches for lunch."

"Would you like me to make them?"

"No, I make them a special way that she loves. I made the mistake of bringing one to work once. I was on a long call out, and she was hungry and couldn't leave the lab. When I got back to the lab, she'd eaten my entire lunch and just left a note."

"So you had to go out for lunch?"

"There wasn't time, we got another call out. I took her out to dinner that night, though. I told that I wished chicken salad was on the menu, because I left my lunch at home. She turned about three shades of red."

"Did she tell you that she was the one that ate it?"

"She did. She almost cried over it. I told her that the next time I made the salad, I'd make extra and bring her some. Well, I'd better get to cooking the chicken, or it won't be chilled enough to eat. I thought I'd make her spaghetti for dinner. She loves my sauce. I puree different vegetables into the tomato sauce and let the flavors simmer If I don't stop talking and get into the kitchen, I'm going to have an upset pregnant woman yelling at me." He laughed as he went into the kitchen. He took the ground beef out of the freezer to that, and then started to saute the chicken breasts. While the chicken was cooking, he got the ingredients for the pasta sauce organized. Once the chicken was done, he put it into the refrigerator to cool, and started cooking the ground beef, and began to puree the vegetables. With that done, he mixed the pureed vegetables with some tomato sauce, tomato paste, and herbs, and started the pot to simmer. Next, he went back to the refrigerator and pulled out celery, onions, an apple and some pecans. When he was done prepping for the chicken salad, he pulled the chicken out of the refrigerator and began chopping it into small bites, and then tossed them into the bowl with the fruit, veggies and nuts, adding a bit of salt and pepper, and some mayonnaise. He wrapped the bowl in plastic and put it back in the refrigerator.

"Annie, could you please check on the tomato sauce on the stove? Calleigh wanted me to rest with her."

"Of course, Horatio. It sure smells delicious."

"Calleigh loves it. It's on simmer, so it shouldn't boil over, but sometimes it gets clumpy in the middle, and needs to be stirred or whisked around."

"Where would I find the whisk?"

Horatio laughed. "On the counter next to the stove. Thanks, Annie."

"My pleasure. You want to come to my place and teach my husband to cook?"

"Unfortunately, I just don't have the time. I'm taking time off work for Calleigh, and I spend my time off with her."

"She's a lucky lady."

"No, I'm the lucky one. I'd better get in there with her. We'll see you in an hour or so."

"Have a good rest."

Horatio stopped in the doorway and took in the beautiful sight in front of him. Calleigh looked so peaceful he hated to wake her by getting into bed with her. He quietly shed his clothes, and set the alarm so they'd be awake for lunch. When he climbed into bed, Calleigh rolled over and snuggled next to him, mumbling in her sleep. He hoped she'd be well-rested by lunch time.

When the alarm went off, Horatio turned it off quickly, but he felt Calleigh start to stir. "Do you have to go to work today?"

"It's just lunch time, Sweetheart. I was going to let you sleep while I made the sandwiches."

"It's still Monday? I must have been more tired than I thought." She sat up and let her legs dangle over the side of the bed.

"Don't try to get up, let me get dressed, and then I'll come over and dress you."

"When did you come to bed?"

"Not long after you did."

"Do I smell spaghetti sauce?"

"You do. I put it on to simmer while I napped. Annie's been watching it for me."

"Did you make your special sauce, or is it from a jar?"

"It's the one I always make for you. It's extra healthy for the babies, and you love the flavor. I've also got some French bread to put in the oven."

"You made homemade bread?"

"No, I cheated there. It's the kind in a tube, but it's pretty good. I would've made it homemade, but my beautiful bride wanted me to nap with her."

"The tube kind is fine. Just don't tell my mother I let you get away with that. She'd love your recipe for red gravy, though."

"Red gravy?"

"In Louisiana, tomato sauce is called red gravy. There's white gravy, the kind you make biscuits and gravy with, brown gravy, the kind that goes over most meats, and red gravy, the kind you pour over pasta."

"All right then, we're having pasta with red gravy for dinner."

"Yum, I can't wait!"

"Let's get some lunch in you, first. Do you want to wear the same thing you had on this morning?"

"Yeah, I just need help putting my sweats back on. I hope I get to lose this tape tomorrow."

"I do, too. The sooner you're in a sling, the sooner you can start physical therapy."

"And the sooner I can go back to work. Oh, don't look at me like that, I'm not going to anything crazy once I get back. I'm going to sit in my little office and do paperwork, walk slowly around the lab checking everyone's progress, monitor my lab, and make sure it stays in proper order, and not once am I going to ask you to let me go on call outs."

"Good girl. Now, ready to eat?"

"Yes, I'm starving!"

When they got to the dining room, they found lunch ready for them. "I heard your alarm go off and figured you'd be ready by the time I got everything together."

"You made fruit salad? That's so sweet."

"With the breakfast you had this morning, I thought I'd add some nutrients to your lunch. Horatio's already got your dinner planned."

"I know, he told me."

"Tell her what she's been stirring, Calleigh."

"Red gravy."

"I've never heard it called that."

"People in Louisiana have a language all their own. I had a heck of a time keeping up with them while I was there. You should've heard some of the crazy nicknames they have for each other."

"Horatio Caine, don't you dare!"

"No worries, Sweetheart, I'll never tell yours. I was thinking about little Cahoui. Her given name is Caroline."

"And what does Cahoui mean?"

Calleigh giggled. "Raccoon. She has freckles across her nose, and she looks like a little raccoon."

"Doesn't she hate that?"

"No, she hates being called Caroline. She's going through a phase where she'll only respond to her nickname. Well, until her daddy middle names her, then she knows she's in trouble."

"All Calleigh's nieces and nephews are amazing. I can't wait to introduce them to their new cousins."

"Be careful what you wish for, they might all show up for the delivery. I'm the baby and the only girl. Mama will want to come, and that'll make the boys want to come, and if they come, wives and kids come."

"We'll have to get Ruthie on board with having them wait a bit."

"Are you kidding? She'll be leading the charge. She'll want to be IN the delivery room."

"So the two of us, Ruthie, your mother, your four sisters."

"No, wait right there. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to hurt Ruthie's feelings. The only family in that room will be you. No one comes in until I'm cleaned up, the twins are checked out, and then they can come in a few at a time. You know the whole team is going to show up, don't you?"

"Let's save this argument until it's close to delivery time, shall we?"

"That was an argument? You two must've missed the 'how to argue' memo." Annie laughed. "If you're done eating, let me clear this away and wash these dishes."

"Just put them in the dishwasher, Annie, I'll finish filling it after dinner and run it then." Once the table was cleared, Horatio grabbed another stack of files. "Ready to work a little, or are you still tired?"

"Work sounds great. We're really putting a dent into this backlog."

"I'd rather do it here at home than wait until you get back to work and pile it up on you then."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll still have plenty to do. I still need to plan the Ballistics seminar, too. I was thinking, what do you think about having Natalia doing some double duty. She'd be great in Ballistics, and she could do that and still work in DNA as well. I know she'd never let it get like Eric left it."

"She would be perfect. You know, she helped Eric put the lab back together. I think part of it was to help him out, but mainly I think it was so you'd never see it."

"You know, another thing I thought Nat might be good at? Godmother to our angels."

"Actually I thought the same thing, unless you wanted to pick a family member."

"No, no way. I remember all the fights with my brothers' kids. No family. I was also thinking about Frank Tripp."

"As godfather?"

"He's one of your best friends, he's great with kids, I think he'd be perfect. Or did you want to ask Eric. He is your brother in law."

"Not the way he's been acting lately. If he was that irresponsible in the lab, imagine how he'd be if he had to raise our children. Frank is a better choice."

"I don't want to say anything to anyone yet, let's wait until I'm almost due."

"There's one person we need to go see, because if she hears about this from anyone else, she'll give us both a big tongue lashing."

"Alexx." Horatio nodded. "Can we leave this work for a bit and go see her now? We can pick up my phone while we're out."

"Annie, do you mind staying here and keeping an eye on the sauce so we can go to the hospital and see a friend of ours?"

"No, not at all. It'll give me a chance to clean and make some noise while you're gone."

"Thank you. You want to go dressed like that?"

"I'm more comfortable like this. I'm not even sure if my jeans will fit around this little bump."

"All right, then. We'll see you in an hour or so, Annie."

"Take your time, and enjoy your time with your friend."

When the Hummer pulled up in front of the hospital, Horatio scanned the doctor's lot. Alexx's car was there, so he headed to the patient parking area. "We're taking the wheelchair in, Sweetheart."

"Well that will be a sure tip off to her that something's wrong."

"Stop worrying so much." He helped her out of the car and into her wheelchair. "At least the wires and tubes are gone."

"If I still had those I'd never leave the house."

He wheeled her through the sliding glass doors, and was met immediately by Alexx Woods. "What on earth happened? Why are you in a wheelchair, baby?"

"You want the long or the short version?"

"Oh, I want ALL the details, let me clock out for lunch." She entered the nurses' station and put her card into the machine. "Ok, let's find a private room where we can talk." She found an empty exam room and let the other doctor on duty know she was going to be using it.

"All the details. Where should I start, Horatio?"

"Well, it was her day off, and I had to call her in because the night shift hadn't completed any of the ballistics work from the night before. When I called her, I thought she sounded off, but she told me that she was fine. She was pretty angry at the mess they left her, and then asked if she could take a few days off once it was cleaned up."

"So I flew to Louisiana, rented a car and drove up to see my mama. I decided that I wanted some corn on the cob for dinner, so I drove up the road to raid a farmers crop. We've been doing that for years, we all raid each others crops. Mama's Creole tomatoes are in high demand. So I'm driving down the road, looking for the corn that's ready to pick, when out of nowhere this tractor plows into me. The said my Jeep rolled several times."

"Oh, my goodness. So this is why you're all bandaged up?"

"Yeah, I messed up my shoulder, and there might be some hairline fractures in my skull and ribs."

"Might be? Didn't they take x-rays?"

"I wouldn't let them. That's more news. The morning Horatio called me into work, I'd just taken a home pregnancy test, and it was positive."

"You're having a baby? Wait, I thought you were with..." She looked up at Horatio.

"Nowhere near the time I conceived. I'm pregnant with Horatio's twins."

"Why didn't you tell me you two were together?"

"The chief told us to tell no one. Eric was always trying to have us be something more than it was. He even came over a couple of times when Horatio was there. I just had Horatio hide in the bedroom until I got rid of him. Finally, one night, I'd had it. He showed up at my door, and I had Horatio answer it. Then when IAB got wind of us, we had to split again. Like an idiot, I let Eric back into my life, but not like it was before. This time it was completely platonic, and he wasn't too happy about that."

"After Calleigh's accident, when they finally found her in the cornfield, she was asking for me. Her brother reminded her that I was still in Miami, and she told him not to call me, in case she lost the baby, well, now we know it's babies. So, her brother did what any big brother would do."

"He called you anyway."

"No, he promised Calleigh he wouldn't. He called his father. Duke came to see me and told me to go to her. I didn't hesitate."

"While he was there, he got to know my family. He stayed at the hospital with me, really scored some points with my mom. He asked my dad if he could marry me, and asked my mom how to ask me in Cajun."

"So when's the wedding?"

"We got married in Louisiana, Alexx."

"What about the rest of us? You two know I've been waiting a long time for this."

"I told you she was going to scold us."

"I'm sorry, Alexx. With the accident, almost losing the babies, we decided that we'd have the wedding at my parent's farm, and after the babies are born, we'll have a ceremony and reception here for our Miami family."

"Did your mama whip up some of that good Cajun cooking for you?"

"She brought it to the hospital, Alexx."

"Out in the middle of nowhere, how big is that hospital?"

"It's big for the area, but I'm lucky. My oldest brother's wife is the attending OB, so I got a private room, and a private bodyguard. It was a good thing, too. First I took vacation time, and after my dad told Horatio what had happened, Eric decided that following me to Louisiana was the right thing to do. He got the GPS coordinates from my phone, which is still somewhere in the cornfield, and showed up at the hospital. I wasn't supposed to have any stress at all, because I was having contractions. He came to the hospital, and then to my mom's house. She met him at the gate with a shotgun one time. He even showed up the day of our wedding. I was still in my gown."

"Let me see the ring." Calleigh held out her left hand. "Horatio, where did you find this? It's beautiful. It looks vintage."

"That's because it is. It was my grandmother's ring."

"She also wore her grandmother's dress. It was a beautiful wedding."

"Mama invited just about the entire parish to the reception. When they heard Duquesne boil, everybody showed up."

"Is Eric still giving you trouble?"

"Of course. He wouldn't be Eric if he wasn't stubborn. He had my lab in shambles, and a huge stack of files on Horatio's desk. We've got them at home working on them before we get back to work."

"Is your doctor going to let you work?"

"More good news. The lab has been restructured a bit. It will have two lieutenants, one for the field, and one administrative."

"We'll share the office, and the chief said we could bring a crib there so I can come back faster, and not have to worry about hiring a nanny."

"I am so happy for the two of you. This has been so long in coming. So do you know the sex of the babies yet?"

"One of each. Elizabeth Mariele and Horatio Jr."

"I tried to talk her out of naming our son after me, but she said she wanted to do it for my mother."

"Wasn't her name Elizabeth?"

"Yes, and Calleigh's mother is named Mariele."

"I thought it was Marie, like your middle name."

"Mariele is her given name, Marie is a nickname. I'm still not sure which I'm going to use. I guess when we see her we'll know."

Calleigh started to move around in her chair. "Do we need to go, Sweetheart?"

"Yeah, I'm getting sore, and we still need to go to the phone store. I wish we could stay longer, Alexx."

"We'll have your family over for dinner once Calleigh's feeling a bit better."

"That would be nice." She leaned down and gave Calleigh a hug. "I love you, baby. You take care of yourself." She turned and hugged Horatio. "And you...you take good care of her."

"Oh, I intend to. We have a wonderful home health nurse, who is already acting like a member of our family. I'm only working half days whenever possible, so I can be home with my bride."

"That's a great idea. I'll see you both soon."

Horatio wheeled her back out to the Hummer and helped her inside. "Well, that went better than expected. I thought she'd be more upset that you didn't call her before going to Louisiana. Do you feel like going to the phone store, or do you want to wait until tomorrow?"

"I'm already up and out, let's go today."

"Yes, Ma'am."

After the phone store, Calleigh was exhausted. "I think I need another nap, Horatio."

"You have time for one before dinner. We can eat a bit later than usual, if you like."

"At least I have a phone again. I didn't realize how much cheaper those family plans were. Of course, now I'll have to learn how to use this new phone."

"It's just like mine, I can show you after dinner."

Calleigh didn't answer. She'd closed her eyes and fallen asleep.

Horatio pulled into the driveway and gently woke his wife. "Let's get you inside and back to bed. I'll wake you in plenty of time for dinner."

She nodded and held on to his arm as she walked slowly into the house.

"We're going to have to put this one back to bed, Annie."

"Let me go turn down the covers for you. I made the bed after you left." She hurried down the hall and got the bed ready. "Do you want to go right to sleep, or do you want a cup of tea first?"

"No, I think I'll just sleep. I fell asleep in the car on the way home."

Horatio put her to bed and pulled up the covers. "Sleep well, I'll wake you when I put the bread in the oven."

"Ok, love you."

He leaned down and kissed her gently. "I love you, too, mon petite balle." He then went back to the dining room table to work on some of the files. A couple of hours later, it was time to put the bread in the oven and wake Calleigh. "Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty." He stroked her cheek gently.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"Around two hours. The bread's in the oven, so you've got about twenty minutes."

She yawned. "I can't believe I'm sleeping so much. Maybe splashing some cold water on my face will help me wake up."

"Good idea, I'll get you a face towel. Do you want to try to make it to the bathroom on your own?"

"Yes, but stay close to me." She took slow, careful steps until she made it to the sink. "That felt good. I can't wait until I can start getting around by myself." She splashed some water on her face with her one arm, and then blotted herself dry.

"I should have helped you with that."

"You can help me tonight before I go to bed. It's a pain cleaning and moisturizing with one hand."

"Hopefully tomorrow you'll get use of that arm back."

"Oh, I hope so, too. The sooner I start therapy, the sooner I'll be one hundred percent."

"Ready to eat?"

"I'm starving."

When they got to the dining room, Annie had made a tossed salad to go with their spaghetti and bread and set the table.

"You're not eating with us?"

"No, I need to get home, but I'll sure have leftovers tomorrow."

"Have a good night, Annie."

Horatio served dinner, and the two of them ate quickly. "This is so good, Horatio. The babies are loving it, too."

"I got you some gelato for dessert."

"Yum. It'll have to wait a bit, though. I'm stuffed right now."

Horatio cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. "Do you feel up to more files, or do you want to watch some television?"

"I want to get those files done. Wait, the pile looks smaller, did you work while I slept?"

"I did. Dinner was simmering, so I used your nap time to get some done."

"Then let's get back to work."

They worked on the files until Calleigh began yawning loudly. "Ready for bed?"

"What time is it?"

"After eleven."

"Definitely bedtime. We got a lot of work done, but the rest can wait. I have a doctor appointment in the morning."

Calleigh got up and started moving slowly toward the bedroom while Horatio moved the files back to his desk. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Bed. I figured you could catch up with me."

He came up behind her and gently grabbed her around the waist. "Yes, I can. What do you want to wear to bed?"

"Just underwear and a t shirt. Don't forget to set the alarm."

"Yes, Ma'am.

Once they were ready for bed, Horatio covered Calleigh up and climbed in his side. He pulled into his arms, and the two began to make love before falling into a restful sleep.