Sitting here beside her bed, waiting for her to squeeze my hand to show signs of awakening has been the most agonising thing the past few days. What hurts most is that it's the only thing I can do. I can hold her and I hold her hand like the little hope I'm holding onto.

My sons are too fragile to be held and their mother hasn't even woken up.

I feel like screaming and crying at the same time but I'm too scared to let go of the last bit of control I have.

"Mr Princely..." I look up at the nurse standing by the door and I already know what she's about to say. It's what she's been telling me for the past two days since we they ended up in this place. "Just...I just need a bit more time...please," the last word fades as a sigh the moment it leaves my lips.

The nurse looks at me with sympathy before nodding and leaving to stand outside the door.

I turn back to Harley. Seeing her like this is killing me. She seems so lifeless and absent but I talk to her anyway. I talk to her with the hope that she hears me and might even respond.

"Harley...just...Please wake up or something. I'm loosing it and I need you because you are like my pillar. You keep me from breaking down and without you, I'm falling hard," I kiss her knuckles.

My heart squeezes a little at the thought of feeling her hand weakly squeeze my hand.

She squeezes again and the feeling of joy chokes me with a lump in my throat. "Harley? Baby, squeeze my hand again if you can hear me," the joy and excitement of her waking up brightens everything that was grey.

She squeezes my hand again with a bit more strength though still weak.

"Harley, baby!" Tears flood my eyes as my smile broadens. "Nurse!" I call out and comes rushing in with wide eyes.

"She squeezed my hand," I triumphantly announce. "What? Okay that's great! Let me go get the doctor," she rushes back out to the halls and later returns with the doctor.

"Mr Princely, I know you're excited but don't get your hopes up too high. We need to check if she really is waking up or if it could be something else and we're gonna have to ask you to step out," the doctor says as he leads me out of the room and closes the door.

I walk to the waiting room and take a seat there with a slightly happier heart than earlier.

My mother walks in just on time to catch me sitting there. "Ready to go home?" She asks and I look up at her. "She waking up," I announced and she seemed shocked at first before smiling and hugging me tightly. "That's fantastic Valentino!"

"I know. I can't explain the joy I feel right now. It's overwhelming but good," I let out a heavy sigh.

We sit in the waiting room for what feels like half an hour until a nurse approaches us with a beaming smile on her face. "She's awake," she says and I let out a heavy breath I wasn't even aware I was holding in.

"Can we see her?" I ask. "Yeah but only one person at a time for now," she says and I give my mother an apologetic look and she shakes her head, "go, I'll see her when she's stronger," she says.

We walk up to Harley's room and enter. Seeing her, eyes open and blinking with a soft smile on her face when she sees me feels like heaven.

She reaches her hand out to me though slightly shaky. I take it and kiss her knuckles before kissing her forehead.

"You look like crap, Valentine," she announces in a groggy voice.

I can't help the bubble of laughter that leaves my throat. "I love you, Hurley," I say and she smiles. "Gosh, you nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought..." I cut myself off as the tears well up.

"I wasn't going anywhere, Tino. Remember... I'm your pillar, without me, you'll topple over to the ground," she squeezes my hand for reassurance.

—-x

"When can we take them back home?" Harley asked the doctor with teary eyes as she put Giovanni back into the incubator from breastfeeding him.

"We're not exactly sure yet but if they keep up this speedy recovery without any events and they pass their car seat test, I'd say we can discharge them in about five to seven days," the doctor responds. Harley nods her head biting her bottom lip to prevent it from quivering.

I wrap my around around her shoulders and bring her close to me to comfort her.

"I know it's difficult to grasp but this to make sure they don't encounter any life threatening encounters."

After bidding our babies goodbye we head home where my mother shortly arrives in time to find us entering the house.

"You've been discharged," my mother says and Harley nods timidly. "Where...where are the babies?" She asks and I shake my head to cut her off but she ignores me.

"We couldn't be discharged at the same time. They still need to be monitored a little longer," she coldly explained.

"Let's get inside, it's cold out here," I say.

When we enter, I head to the kitchen to make Harley some tea and pain killers to help with her caesarean pain.

"Harley, dear. I had twins once and like you, I had a caesarean. If there's one thing I know it's that you won't be able to manage recovery while nursing your babies all alone. Trust me, I've tried and it doesn't end well," I over heard my mother talking as I approached the living room with a glass of water an pain killers.

"Normally it's advisable to ask your mother to help in your nursing period but seeing that your mother is no longer with us, I'd be more than happy to help you in such a difficult time of motherhood," my mother sweetly offered.

I offered Harley her pills but she declined as she tried to sit up straight wincing.

"I don't trust you. You made my pregnancy a nightmare and now you wanna play all nice and amazing mother-in-law..."

"–Harley," I tried to calm her down.

"No, Tino, no. I am hurting. Physically, emotionally and mentally but I'd rather die before I jeopardise my kids' lives by accepting her so-called help. Thank you for the poisonous offer but fuck no," she said facing my mother. "I assume you know where the door is since it is how you entered this house," she said before grabbing her pills and downing them with the whole glass of water.

"Tino..." my mother looked at me expectantly. "Mom, I can't go against her wishes. I can't pressure her to do something she doesn't want. She's their mother and she's doing what she feels is best."

"You too, feel like I'm a danger to your children? Your own mother," she said and stood up before I could say anything else.

Harley stood up and left for the room downstairs without another word.

——x

"Smile," I said before taking a picture of Harley sitting in the backseat with the boys.

The boys gained enough strength and weight for us to be to take them home. Harley's caesarean is recovering quite slow because she still experiences a lot of pain but she does everything she can t prevent getting an infection. The past week we'd been visiting the boys everyday hoping to take them back home with us.

Finally today we get to take them home which is a dream come true for us.

Initially everyone wanted to throw them a small welcome home party but no one is ready to face the rest of our friends and family after all the pain we went through. It's just something we prefer to leave for later.

My mother offered to help Harley with the babies but Harley firmly and not-so-kindly rejected. I asked Harley if she preferred to at least hire a help but even that she rejected. I'm scared it's going to become too much for her to handle especially now that I need to return to work in a week.

My brother Vincent took over for me temporarily but he's got too but on his plate and now I have to return to my chair. Not to mention that I have to work as acting chairman for Harley's business until we can find someone to fill in as CEO.

The drive home was peaceful. The boys were asleep the entire ride home and taking them into the house was a good trip.

Within a second, Harley was asleep on the couch and just as I was about to join her the gate buzzer alerted. I went to check who was at the gate and buzzed them in when I saw that it was the police.

"Officers," I greeted as I opened the door.

"Mr Princely. I'm Officer Wray and this is Officer Jones. We're here to ask a few questions concerning your wife's previous gynaecologist Dr Smith."

❤️