Braxton hicks are a bitch. I've been awake for almost two hours walking the length of my bedroom so I could get comfortable but they don't stop. Every time I think it's the last one, another starts. My back kills and my mates are snoring like buffalos. They haven't slept in a couple nights or days since they're, of course, vampires so they don't sleep often. But they haven't slept in almost a week, so now here I am waddling along trying not to wake them.

As soon as night hit both Alaric and Karter was ready to call it a night so we went to bed early. It's now nearing my due date, we're three and a half months in so it wouldn't surprise me if these twins came in the next few weeks. My bump is so big I can't see my toes even if I lean forward. Unless I have my leg over a pillow or one of their dads they won't stop moving.

"Ah fuck." I groaned out as a powerful braxton hick came at me full force. My hands squeezing the bottom of the bed post so I had something to hold on to. My eyes squeezed shut as I took deep breaths.

Of course my pain didn't go unheard as Karter and Alaric looked up at me sleepily. Both got up and helped me sit on the bed letting me squeeze their hands. Karter letting me hold his hands while Alaric rubbed my back soothing the pain.

"Braxton hicks again." I breathed out when the pain finally stopped.

"Are you okay? How long have you been up?" Alaric asked moving to stand in front of me with Karter, letting me take one of his hands as well.

"A couple hours. I'm okay, the walking helps a lot. So does you rubbing my back." I replied closing my eyes and leaving against them.

"Come on, let's go back to bed. Get some sleep so you have enough energy for the scan tomorrow." Karter said and started gently pushing me back towards the bed to lay down.

"Okay. Let me pee first." I huffed before using my mates to pull myself off of the bed. Once I got up, I waddled to the bathroom and closed the door. Once I was done, I got up and flushed before going to the sink and washing my hands.

As soon as I turned the tap off, I felt a gush of liquid pour down my legs wetting the underwear I had on. My heart sank not knowing what was happening. After freaking out for a few minutes, another pain filled my body making me groan and hold on to the sink. Once the pain settled, I called my mates in.

"I think we need to call Cara." I breathed out. Alaric nodded before rushing out of the bathroom and grabbing his phone to call Cara. Karter took one of my hands in his, placing the other around my back and helping me to the bedroom. We said we'd have a home birth so we just needed to wait for Cara to get here.

Karter changed my clothes into a clean T-shirt keeping nothing on under it so Cara could check me when she got here. Thankfully she explained what we should do when my water breaks. She told me to go bare but have something on, it was so she could check me when she needed to and not worry about anything getting in the way.

"How are you feeling, Nova?" Cara asked as she walked in.

"Okay. Painful, but I'm okay." I replied taking a deep breath.

"Right, Alaric told me you've been up for a couple hours with pains, I'm going to check how much you've dilated, okay." She stated. I nodded.

"Where should I go?" I asked.

"Anywhere you're comfortable, hun. Stay standing, lay down, go on all fours. As long as you're comfortable." Cara told me putting on latex gloves. I nodded and stayed standing where she kneeled behind me. Karter still holding my hands and Alaric stood next to me, ready to rub my back when I felt the braxton hicks.

"We'll you're almost four centimetres dilated so what you felt when you woke up was actually contractions. I'd give it until about 6:00am before you're almost ready to push." Cara said as she stood up taking off her rubber gloves. It was nearing 2:00am so it was still a few more hours yet.

"Do you want anyone else here? I can call your dads, or any other family member." Cara asked me softly.

"Can you call my dads please?" I asked her. She nodded and went to the door where her bag was to call my dads.

A contraction made me close my eyes and tighten my grip on Karters hands. Alaric stood behind me rubbing my back. "This fucking hurts." I breathed out through the contraction. "Why didn't we wait?"

Karter and Alaric chuckled at my question. "Sorry doll. Couldn't keep our hands off you." Karter chuckled.

"I'm not having anymore after this. You two can get what grandpa kolby and Elias had. No more pups." I shook my head breathing out as the pain eased.

"A vasectomy is reversible so if you did change your mind, you could still do it." Cara said.

"We'll think about it okay. Right now just think about your breathing and the pups." Alaric said. I nodded and pulled one of my hands from Karters and taking hold of Alarics hand.

"Help me walk. It helps." I muttered. Both held a hand of mine while they both put their other hands on my back to balance me. I took deep breaths to help me relax while closing my eyes knowing my mates would change direction when we reached the end of the bedroom.

Soon enough, papa and dada knocked on the door and came in. I gave them both a small smile before groaning in pain from a contraction. "How are you going my baby." Papa asked me, taking my hands from my mates.

"I'm okay papa. Just a bit painful." I just about got out.

"Is there anything we can do? Get food, make drinks?" Dada looked at my mates for an answer.

"We're good for now. Thank you though." Alaric answered.

After a couple hours, the sun started to come up. Cara told me to try and have a nap but when I laid down, I became very uncomfortable so I opted for staying awake and resting on Alaric or Karters chest. At some point I did fall asleep standing up laying on dadas chest, while my mates and papa napped.

Cara had set an alarm to check me at around half past five, to which I was only eight centimetres dilated. Karter, Alaric and papa still napped while dada kept me stood up. I held his hands, squeezing every couple minutes when a contraction hit. As I was close to delivering, Cara stayed awake, seeing as she had enough energy anyway.

"Have you for outfits picked out for them?" Dada asked me. His cheek resting on top of my head as I leaned most of my weight on to his chest.

"Mhmm. I got a white vest and baby grow for baby number one, and a cream one for baby number two. If they're identical it'll be easy to tell them apart if we have set colours for each pup." I told him. "I picked all the clothes since Karter and Alaric complained the whole shopping trip that we could have cute girl or boy clothes if we knew the genders."

"It's okay. They'll get over it once them pups are here." Dada chuckled a little. "What names have you got?"

"We picked two girl names and two boys incase of same sex twins. And if there's one of each we picked out favourite boy and girl names." I replied.

"What are they?" Cara asked coming to stand in my eye line.

"The boy names, atlas and Archie. And the girls names are Anna and Aria. We wanted A names so they'd match no matter the genders since I liked Atlas so much. Alaric chose Aria and Karter decided he loved both." I told them.

"What are the two favourites?" Dada smiled.

"It's a surprise." I looked up at him. "We want it to be a surprise like our babies."

"We can live with that." Cara laughed lightly. "I can't wait to meet them."

"Neither. I'm ready for them to just come out now." I smiled. "Just want to meet my pups."

"Not long now." Dada gave me a soft smile.

While breathing through a contraction, I held on to dadas hands. Karter and Alaric woke up along with papa, but I didn't want to let go of my dad. I felt a large sense of comfort from him while he let me lean on him. It had been an hour and Cara was just about to check me before I got a contraction, so she's kneeling behind me waiting for the pain to stop.

"I feel like I need to push." I cried out, pushing.

"No, nova don't push. Let me see how much you've dilated so we can see if we can start." Cara told me. I nodded and leaned my forehead on dadas chest while taking deep breaths. "Okay, ten now. Nova when I tell you to push, push. When I say take a breather, I need you to breath and not push. Make sure you try your hardest not to push when I tell you not to."

As I was stood up, I could feel the pup move down with each push. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I squeezed dadas hands harder than I did before. Whenever Cara told me to push, I pushed. When she told me to take deep breaths, I took deep breaths. I followed her every instruction while dada kept me distracted by helping me breath when I wanted to push but couldn't.

"I can see a head. You're doing to good Nova, a little more now." Cara told me. Alaric and Karter kneeled next to Cara watching as our pup came into the world. Papa sat on the bed with a reassuring smile.

"Heads out hun, one more okay." Cara said. I nodded and pushed as much as I could. I heaved out a breath as I felt the baby come out and a strong cry fill the room. "Baby number one is a boy, nova. Congratulations."

"Atlas." I cried looking over my shoulder seeing Cara wiping my pups face with a towel he was wrapped up in. "We have an Atlas." I smiled.

"We have our Atlas." Karter smiled up at me with Alaric who both had tears in their eyes. Cara let Alaric take Atlas.

"One more time Nova. You can do this." She encouraged me. Once again I did as she said to deliver my second pup. I'm sure dadas hands now broken from how hard I was holding them. His T-shirt wet from my sweat and how much I had been lounging on him.

"There's the head doll. Almost there baby, so close." Karter told me. I pushed until I couldn't anymore. Another cry filled the room again making me smile and cry.

"A girl, Nova. We have a girl." Karter smiled.

"Aria." I whispered slumping against dada for a little longer.

"All done now baby girl. You did do good." Dada pushed my hair from my face.

"I did it." I smiled widely lifting my head to see both my mates standing near me with both our pups wrapped in towels. "They're so chunky." I laughed, tears rolling down my cheeks as I stared at the sleeping pups in my mates arms. "They're beautiful."

"You did so well Nova." Cara stood up. "I'm so proud of you. I'm going to lay them on the bed so Alaric and Karter can cut the cords so they can be washed and dressed."

"Okay." I nodded. "I'm just gonna stay like this for a minute." I sighed and laid my head on dadas chest again. I watched as Alaric and Karter gently placed the pups on our bed showing their bellies. Cara put a clamp type thing on their cords before letting Alaric and Karter cut each of the umbilical cords.

A pain once again shot through my belly and back making me groan and squeeze my dads hands again. "Cara, somethings happening." Dada called her. She left Alaric and Karter in the bathroom where she was just about to wash and dress Atlas and Aria.

"What's happening?" I groaned out, my body tensing as I felt the need to push like I did with my twins. So I did just that.

"Just do what your body tells you to do. I don't know what's happening." Cara kneeled behind me again, worried not knowing what was happening. Papa standing next to me as well also looking really worried. When I needed to breath, I did, and when I felt the need to push I did what my body told me to do.

"Oh my god." Cara whispered. "Eli get me another towel, fucking quickly."

Papa ran into the bathroom and gave Cara the towel. Alaric and Karter standing near the bathroom looking worried as they held our pups. Soon enough, I felt relief in my body. A quiet whine filled my ears as I looked behind me to see.

"A third?" I asked.

"Yeah. The other two must have been covering him and their strong heartbeats blocking his." Cara said as she wrapped him up.

"Him?" I asked getting a nod from Cara. I smiled and cried just like I did with the other two. As I looked more at my pup, I could see how much smaller he was from the other two and that he wasn't crying.

"Why isn't he crying?" I asked, worry filling me.

"His mouth is filled with fluid from his lungs. Nothing that can't be fixed quickly." She grabbed something from her bag and placed it into his mouth and did that until his quiet cry filled the room. Not as loud or strong as his siblings but still enough to make me relax.

After a while, Cara handed the pup to papa but stayed behind me. "Placenta is coming out so you'll be able to shower soon and wash up. Then you'll be able to hold your pups."

"Okay." I nodded. "You okay dada?"

"I'm okay darlin'. Just relax okay." He nodded and let me lean on him again. I closed my eyes letting my body slump and relax.

After a while, Cara said, "You're all good to clean up now hun. Who do you want to cut this little ones cord?"

"Papa can do it. I'll be fine in the shower, just make sure my pups are okay." I told him.

"Of course." She gave me a smile and laid the pup on the bed.

"Come on Nova, I'll help you in the bathroom and get the pup some clothes for when he's clean." Dada said. I nodded and slowly walked to the bathroom.

"Once I have the pups clothes I'll put another T-shirt and some underwear by the sink, okay." Dada told me.

"Alright. Don't forget the pads. I'm pretty sure I'll need those." I told him. He nodded and left me to shower. I pulled the curtain across so I could wash all the sweat off my body.

After a while, I got out and dressed before slowly walking back into the bedroom. Alaric held Aria while Karter held Atlas and dada had my littlest pup. We still need to think of a name for him.

Papa helped me sit on the bed comfortably. Dada held out my baby to me which I immediately took into my hands holding him to my chest. I cradled him in my arms now seeing just how small he is. He was swaddled in a blanket and a hat swamped his little head.

"He's a runt like me, isn't he?" I whispered without taking my eyes off my pup.

"Yes, but he's healthy just like Atlas and Aria. Like you, he'll be small as he grows up, whether he'll have the same mindset or be like grandpa and be like his siblings, only time will tell with that. But Nova, you have nothing to worry about." Cara explained. I nodded running my finger gently on his soft cheek.

"He's beautiful." I smiled, tears rolling down my cheeks. "Amaris." I whispered with a smile. "I want to name him Amaris."

"It's beautiful Nova. It suits him." Papa smiled down at me.

"Can I see Aria and Atlas?" I looked at my mates. They sat either side of me holding the pups out to show me their faces.

"Atlas is the spitting image of you." I looked at Alaric smiling.

"I know." He smiled back at me.

"If you were female you'd get Aria." I said to Karter. "She definitely looks like you."

"She does." He nodded.

"He looks like you." They both said to me.

"Amaris looks like his mama." Alaric muttered lowly so we wouldn't wake the sleeping pups.

"They're perfect." I whispered looking from each pup to the other. "We made these."

"We did. And I'm so glad we had them." Karter smiled widely.

"I guess it was good we didn't wait then, huh?" Alaric joked making us all laugh lightly.

This is my family now. And I wouldn't change these pups for anything.