Simone was laying in their bed trying to remain calm as possible. Lewis was freaking out every two seconds. He could feel the contractions with her. “Xeik, give her something for the fucking pain already!”

Angela waved her hand at him and produced a potion for Simone to take, “Here, Lewis should be awake for this. If you cut the resonance it could be bad for the babies so we can’t… So let’s do this with the resonance intact.”

The labor started and it was a grueling ten hours with Lewis feeling everything that Simone did. He held her hand as she let the screams loose. Everyone was outside their door even Llywellyn and Llonan. This was exciting.

The first set of lungs filled the air and Angela moved the babe over to Lewis, “Here, take…”

“His name is Remy,” Simone said through sweat and almost tears. “That one is Remy.”

Xeik rolled his eyes at the dramatic motions of Lewis. Sure, the assassin was likely in some of the worst pain he had ever felt before, but it was something that should have had a profound impact on the way Lewis saw the world. That, and Xeik was a little happy to finally have a bit of ‘fun’ revenge against his friend.

After all, it wasn’t very often that you could more or less make your ‘best friend’ experience some of the worst pain imaginable.

“One down, Simone,” Xeik said Angela handed Remy off to Lewis. Despite the pain, the ex-assassin took a hold of the baby. “You can do this, Mone.”

“Don’t fucking talk to her like that,” Lewis said, wincing as pain shot through his body. “She knows what the fuck she’s doing.”

“So testy,” Xeik replied with an eye roll. “Just keep breathing. Simone’s doing just fine. It’s you who’s forgetting the basics.”

“Shove it,” the ex-assassin replied with a glare and a hiss. Still, he turned his attention to Remy, and ignored the pain that was like a white hot iron to his insides. “Remy…welcome…”

Mone took a look at Remy and held out her arms for him. However, his brother wanted to quickly make his entry into the world, unlike Remy who took forever. “I’m fine,” she said in a scream as Lewis held Remy with one arm and Mone’s hand with the other. Even with the painkiller in her system, Lewis’s eye was twitching.

Once Damond was there and being taken care of Mone’s head hit the pillow. “Gods that never gets easier…”

“I would imagine not… You’ve had a new body each time you’ve done it,” Angela smirked a bit and helped clean up the boys. “They are very healthy and loud.”

Remy was handed to Simone who had enough energy to hold one of them. “A belated hello~” She gave a tired smile down to the squirming newborn. They had full heads of black hair and they were identical in every way.

“I can’t even tell them apart without reading their life energy,” Angela chuckled a bit. “They are going to be trouble…”

“They are perfect,” Mone was looking in between Lewis and Damond now. “Hello Damond,” she tickled his feet. Both of the babes were calming down now as they were in the arms of their parents. Angela finished up healing Simone.

“Lewis, she stays in bed for the next three days with limited movement for two. Get Xeik if she starts bleeding.” Angela warned and she gave little blessings to the new babies. “I’ll see them soon~” She had to leave to attend to family matters of her own. It left them with Xeik.

“You can let everyone in now Xeik… As long as they don’t startle them.”

Dala was busily pacing back in forth while in the waiting room as the screams of Simone, and surprisingly Lewis, could be heard. What if something went wrong? What if whatever the magic stuff Angela was talking about went wrong? If this was a normal pregnancy Dala would have very little to worry about since Simone was experienced in giving birth and the literal goddess of life was in the room. But this was them doing the impossible. This had magic stuff, that Dala understood very little despite all the long explanations from Angela. Anything could happen? What if the babies came out wrong? What if they were cursed? What if the weird magic stuff turned them into geese or something?

"Stop pacing Dala." Fiori said calmly as she finished a little embroidery on the newborn's future clothes, "You're starting to act like a worried ninny. Mama is experienced and papa… well… I'm sure Angela and Xeix will make sure nothing goes wrong. Papa's kinda useless in this situation." 

"I know I know I just-"

Suddenly, things began to calm down and the screams of both Lewis and Simone quieted. Soon people were allowed into the room, one at a time, in an orderly fashion. Dala calmed herself down and stood there for a while, not knowing if she wanted to see what was going to happen. What if they were dead? Suddenly she felt a little shove behind her and saw Fiori, who had put down her sewing kit. 

"Enough with your emotional inconsistency. Mama needs us." Fiori declared. 

They both calmly entered the room and Dala calmly walked to Simone to see if she was alright. Then she saw the two beautiful newborns in their parents arms. 

"Oh they're amazing." Dala said quietly. 

This was the first time she got an up and close look at a little newborn. She had seen plenty of babies before but they were something quiet different. They looked so small and fragile, and both were so similar to Simone. They were identical in every way and Dala immediately wondered about what kind of trouble both the twins would get up to. Dala gave the babies a little wave. 

"Hello Remy. Hello Damon." She said quietly. 

"Can we hold one of them?" Fiori asked, deciding that Dala needed to hold one too. 

Despite being overwhelmed by it all, Lewis was actually a little happy once Xeik started to let the kids and Dala in. The first were the older kids, with Rex, Hazel, Lucas, and Ezili coming in to see the new babies. Surprisingly, Rex was quite well behave; probably due to having dealt with his own little ones recently and knowing how that felt. Lucas and Ezili were quite excited as well, with Ezili smiling and cooing over the babies.

Next was Dala and Fiori. Fiori was a lot like Lewis with her no-nonsense language, but Simone’s influence was well accounted for with her manipulation of the situation. Dala wasn’t asking to hold the babies fast enough. Simone barely hesitated and passed Remy to Dala and smiled.

It was Lewis who watched her like a hawk. He was ready to move at a moment’s notice if something went wrong. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Dala. In fact, if there was anyone who wasn’t family that he did trust (other than Xeik, of course), it was Dala. No, he trusted her. It was just his overwhelming desire to protect his children.

“Too slow!” a voice said as the twins popped out behind Lewis from what he assumed was a gate. “Wanted to see baby brothers!” Janus and Lila approached Simone, who was now holding Damon. “Welcome to the world!” They were far too excited.

These twins were special. Her whole pregnancy had been Lewis being overprotective. This was going to be her only pregnancy, or what they thought would be. Lewis didn’t know what to expect so he had gone above and beyond how he normally did. When Simone passed off Remy with hesitation to Dala. For a moment, Simone had sadness as she realized she was going to get passed up for holding Damond second.

“Simone is getting Damond next,” Lewis warned as he passed off their younger twin to his mother. Simone’s face lit up as she took him and cuddled him close.

“Hello handsome,” Simone’s voice was so gentle as she kissed him. The twins startled her and she started to laugh, “You two are insatiable. Just like your daddy. Come here.” The twins got up with her and they were snuggled up to her looking at Damond.

“Which one is he?”

“This is Damond. Remy is in Dala’s hand. Damond is the younger brother and Remy is the older.” Simone was gentle as she spoke to their five-year-old hellions.

“They looked like us!” The twins were excited as they got involved with trying to make Simone comfortable.

“Yeah, they would look like you two. A lot.” Simone gave a smirk and looked at Lewis.

“We like them already!” The twins said.

Glynn opened the door and stuck his black head of hair in looking up at Lewis with his grey eyes. “Daddy? I come too?”

Ignoring his own pain, Lewis scooped up Glynn into his arms and carried him over to Dala and Fiori. “Of course, Glynn. This here is your new baby brother, Remy. And with Mommy,” he carried Glynn over to Simone and the twin hellions. “Is Damon.”

Glynn stared with with wide eyes and a big smile. His new baby brothers were so cute. “Play?” he asked Lewis with a curious look. He had learned from Janus and Lila, but he was nowhere near as destructive or chaotic as they were. His “play” was usually genuine.

Lewis smirked, “No Glynn. They’re very tired and need rest and Mommy time, just like you did when you were born.”

The baby boy nodded and smiled, “Kay!” He seemed more than content with that answer.

The rest of the children filtered; Mira was excited and said she would be excited to teach them to swim, while Llynette seemed more than happy to offer her babysitting services. Jules and Corrine were in awe; they had never seen newborn babies like this before.

Soon, Alshaya and Everett barrelled in, practically fighting over who would get to see the babies first. That earned them both a time out from Xeik, and prompted them to get sent out of the room while they calmed down.

“Mommy?” The twins went to shake Simone and Lewis was quick to grab two sets of hands as he shook his head.

“Let her rest,” Lewis passed Glynn off to Lucas before he went to get Damond from his mother. Simone yanked her arms while she slept away from Lewis. “Or not…” He had a silly smile on his face as he listened to Simone’s dreams. “As long as she doesn’t drop him… she’s fine.”

Eventually, Simone let Damond go and Alshaya and Everett were let in. The family decided to have dinner upstairs to spend it with Simone once she was awake. She got the twins fed after struggling with them for a moment. Once the boys realized there was food they went to town. Lewis had a look on his face as his eye twitched. “It’s just for a bit…” Simone chuckled.

“Yeah…” He got Simone’s plate and brought it over to her. They made sure she ate well and had things to do as the twins brought her a whole stack of her favorite books.

“Thank you, my babies. You are so thoughtful.” Simone kissed both Janus and Simone.

Glynn came over, “I got gift too.”

“What did you bring?” Simone looked at her little boy and he grinned up at her.

“ME!”

Simone laughed and tickled him as she took him into her arms and kissed his head. “You are one of the best gifts.”

“How are they doing, Lewis?” She looked over to a little bassinet that had been set up. “Are they okay? Are they hungry?” It looked like they were sleeping. “My poor babies are exhausted…”

Lewis smiled as Simone asked after their babies. “They’re fine. Xeik told me that they’re quite healthy.” If anything, Xeik was impressed that nothing went wrong. He had stepped away to help in the kitchen with Silva and Henry, making sure that Simone was getting the right nutrients she needed.

“You’re eating for once,” Lewis said with a smirk. “Good. We can-”

The door opened and Rhenakos and Osiria popped in. For once, the brute of a hunter was being quiet. “Well there’s my favorite night phoenix!” he said as he walked up. “How are you doing?” Osiria was looking around, trying to find the babies.

“They’re sleeping over there,” Lewis said as walked over to the cradle. “Damond and Remy.” He smiled. They were sleeping peacefully. “They’re quite tuckered out from it all.”

Rhenakos walked over and looked down at them from behind Osiria. “Awww. They look just like you, Lewis.”

Simone turned her face towards the door as their friends burst in. “I’m tired but surprisingly not much else… Maybe hungry…” She rolled her eyes a bit before laughing.

Osiria was looking down at them with a smile, “Good job they are beautiful. They do look like Lewis.” She wasn’t overly shocked but when she looked back over at Simone… The mother phoenix was leaning towards the cradle looking at them.

“…They do look an awful lot like Lewis. Did they only get my hair?” Simone sounded a bit disappointed.

Osiria being a mother knew right where this was going, “Don’t be so upset. They could get more of your features as they get older. Besides their nose looks a little like yours right now. I think they even have your ears.”

Simone looked a bit more relaxed as she nestled into bed as Xeik brought in her food. “Thanks.”

Vela peeked her head into the room. It was actually rare for the treasure huntress to show her face on the island. “I heard they were here.” She looked awkward not slamming the door open as her voice was also meek. Thankfully they had a very large bedroom.

Behind her was Drake as she made her way in. “Look at them Drakey~ They look like Lewis.”