Donella chuckled quietly to herself as she watched her twin brother Donessa humming happily while arranging stuff in the nursery room. She offered to help carry the heavier stuff or move the bulkier furniture, but other than that, Donessa seemed determined to do things himself rather than have her helping him.
Donella, who was 3 minutes older, and Donessa were a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of twins where not only they were identical, they were also of different race: Donella an Earthian and Donessa a Neo. When they were younger, if Donella and Donessa both donned a Earthian boy’s or a Neo-girl’s attire or vice versa, no one could really tell them apart as they have both the same curly red hair and striking silver-blue eyes. The only way to tell them apart is if they looked closer and see Donessa’s tiny star-shaped birthmark just right behind his right earlobe, and that is if you have to brush the bangs away from his ear.
The twins were as thick as thieves, and enjoyed doing things together, but once they both hit puberty, they realized that it was time to behave as individuals. Donella was more of a city girl and slightly more outgoing and adventurous, so she moved out once she got into college. Donessa was slightly more reserved and prefer the peaceful life of the country, so after their parents died in an accident when they were in their 20’s, Donessa inherited the family farm and settled well with ranch life.
Though it didn’t stop them from visiting once a month and go on their silly young doppleganger get-up adventures.
It was one of those adventures that got them introduced to Earthian boy Raven and Neo-girl Maddie. The twins loved cosplaying the most, and that has yet to change even when they started living their own lives. There was a cosplaying event one day at the city where Donella lived and Donessa would not miss a chance to dress up like they used to when they were kids. Dressed as French maids, they attended the cosplay and met Raven and Maddie who were cosplaying as the main characters of Black Butler. Raven and Maddie were cousins, Raven being the elder of the two, and surprisingly, they were the first and only ones who were able to tell the twins apart despite their mirror image get-up.
Needless to say, the twins and the cousins struck a rather odd relationship: Donella being what you’d call a tsundere after being annoyed and flushed at how easy it was for the cousins to tell them apart, and Donessa being just plain admirable and awed at their ability. They’ve tried many occasions to dress up to try and fool the cousins again, but the cousins would always find something that gave them away. Both twins slowly developed feelings for the cousins—Donessa felt it faster than Donella, since the older twin refused to admit it—and it was almost two years before they finally tied the knot.
Raven, unlike his cousin Maddie who was a bit aloof and brooding, was a nice and happy-go-lucky man who didn’t mind moving into the country to help with the family farm as he was a writer and worked at home anyway. Married life was swell between them, and despite the occasional disputes and small fights between them, they were inseparable, and it wasn’t long (about a year or so) before Donessa announced to his sister on the phone that they will have to put dress up on hold because he was pregnant.
Donella, on the other hand, had a bit of a rocky married life with Maddie, mainly because Donella wasn’t ready to have children. The thought of settling and bogged down with the responsibility of parenthood, not to mention carrying a child inside her for 9 months straight, sent a shiver down her spine. Maddie had tried to convince her that having kids wasn’t so bad, but with her career in mind, it was clear that Donella didn’t want to have anything to do with that subject. She was happy for Donessa when she got his call about him being pregnant (and with twins, in fact), but this unknown fear of this heavy responsibility would not go away, and it was nauseating. She didn’t hate kids; she just didn’t know why she couldn’t stomach the thought of having them.
When she told Maddie about her brother, Maddie thought it was Donella’s way of saying that she was ready to have a child. Without using protection, she made wild, passionate love to Donella and it was after the deed that Maddie realized she had totally misread the situation and received the short end of the stick when Donella blew up at her for coming inside her without protection (she didn’t want to take birth control pills for fear of the fattening side effects). Their rocky relationship got even rockier after that, and to cool off, Donella decided to take a break from work and stay with Donessa until things cleared up while, at the same time, help Donessa as he was progressively close to due date.
“How do you do it?”
“Huh?” Donessa turned to his twin sister who suddenly broke the ice, seemingly looking a little down after thinking about that last fight with Maddie.
“How do you do it?” Donella repeated. “How are you able to accept the decision to have a child so easily? You and Raven are barely even two years into the marriage, and here you are carrying two bundles of joy like nobody’s business. Some people wait for at least 5 years before deciding…”
“Are we sulking about Maddie again?” Donessa sighed good-naturedly, grinning at Donella who pouted back at him.
“I’m serious, Essa,” Donella called him by his nickname. “I’m not saying that your ranch life is any easier than I am, but it’s not easy either for me to juggle parenthood and my career on the line. I don’t get why Maddie can’t understand that I’m not ready, and I don’t get why with such a big ranch to run, you are willing to carry such a heavy burden like this.”
“Do you hate kids that much?” Donessa asked as he sat down in front of Donella.
“No! Of course not! I like kids! Just not…not…”
“Not the responsibility of having one?”
Donella nodded.
“Well, to be honest, I wasn’t really ready either,” Donessa admitted, grinning at Donella’s surprised look. “Yeah, I know, right? Carefree, happy-go-lucky, go-with-the-flow Donessa not ready for anything, huh? But that was how it is. In fact, when I found out I was pregnant, I cried, and they weren’t tears of joy.”
“What do you mean?”
“To tell you the truth, this ranch is failing. We’re barely making money as it is no thanks to our rival farms the Swenson family and the Freight Bros. They both monopolized the market and I’m barely holding it in as it is,” Donessa chuckled sadly. “We might even have to sell the ranch and move to Raven’s home.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this? I would’ve helped…”
“With the money you’re making at the moment while you’re still climbing the career ladder? No, Ella, I didn’t want to burden you with that. I chose the ranch life, and it didn’t work out for me, and it’s my responsibility. So when I found out I was pregnant, the first thing that crossed my mind was ‘Will I have enough money to feed my baby?’.”
“What about Raven? Isn’t his writing working out?”
“It is, but he’s helping me out most of the time that he’s almost beyond deadline. It’s a miracle his editor gave him more time to finish his work, because his publisher was ready to throw in the towel due to his delays. I felt bad for him to do all this for me when he should be working, and I felt even worse when I got pregnant.”
“Then how did you do it? How did you get through this when you’re not ready?”
“Raven. Raven got me through this. To be honest, we’ll never know when will be the right time to have children. We will never know when we will be ready to have children. We just do. When we get pregnant, that’s our body’s way of telling us we’re ready, is all. Well, that’s what Raven says anyways,” Donessa blushed at that, his face radiating with pregnancy glow. “I couldn’t have worded that better myself. He told me to just let nature take its course and enjoy the pregnancy and run the ranch as usual, and whatever happens to it and whatever fate has in store for us, we’ll weather it out.”
“Well…I guess I could see it that way, but…” Donella saw some sense in her brother’s words, but still felt a little nauseous about the thought, so much that she actually feel like puking and her hand flew to her mouth to hold it in.
“You alright, Ella?”
“Yeah…Been extra nauseous lately. I dunno, parenthood must really scare me since…”
“Wait, when have you started feeling like that?”
“Umm…Dunno, since I came over here, I guess.”
“Have you been late?”
“W…What are you getting at…?” Donella looked a little pale at what her brother was insinuating.
“Oh my god, you could be—Nnghh…!!” Donessa’s words were caught in his throat when his face suddenly bunched up real hard.
“Essa, you OK?” Donella rushed to him, her question forgotten.
“I…I dunno…Been feeling like this for a while, but never this hard…Nnnghh…!!”
Donella looked down to see Donessa starting to wet himself, and it definitely did not look like pee.
“Uumm…I think…I think you’re…”
“Hey, guys, I’m home. I hope I got the ice-cream flavor right, coz Essa really craves it so much these few days…”
“Hey, Raven!! Issat you?!” Donella called out as she helped support Donessa against her shoulder. “Get here quick! I think Essa’s in labour!!”
“What?!”
Raven was up in the nursery in a flash and his fight or flight response kicked in the moment he saw Donessa whimpering and reaching for him.
“R…Raven…It…It hurts…!!”
“I’m right here, baby. I’m right here,” Raven was by his side in a split second.
“Take him to the bedroom. I’ll go call the midwife,” Donella passed Donessa to Raven before she took out her cell phone and called the family midwife to come over. Raven wasted no time in carrying Donessa to the bedroom—working the ranch seemed to have given him extra stamina and strength somehow—and got the basic things ready like warm water and towels.
“Oow~” Donessa whimpered as another contraction—a rather big one—came crashing down on him.
“Remember the lessons, baby,” Raven said as he tried to massage Donessa’s back to give him some relief. “Breathe in, breathe out. Concentrate on that.”
“The midwife will be here in 5 minutes,” Donella said as she came into the room. “You gonna be OK, Essa?”
“I…I’m trying…!!” Donessa whined as he tried to breathe through the contractions, but couldn’t resist pushing down a little.
“Don’t push, baby, you’re not fully dilated yet. You’ll end up straining yourself,” Raven coaxed as he continued massaging his back.
“I…I can’t help it…!! It really hurts…!!”
“Just breathe, Essa, breathe,” Donella took her brother’s hand, doing it as well in order to get him to copy her. After a bit of whimpering protests, Donessa slowly copied his sister, breathing in and out like she did.
As estimated, the midwife came 5 minutes later with her assistant and laid out all the necessary tools she needed to assist the birth. To Donella’s surprise, she was one of those new-age midwives despite being in the countryside that encourages as much pleasure foreplay as possible to ease the labour transition. After checking how far Donessa was dilated, which was still 7cm, she requested Raven to stimulate his wife a little with some nipple play. Donessa felt a little awkward being there and quietly took her leave, but she couldn’t help occasionally peeking in to see Raven cupping and massaging one of her twin brother’s slightly swollen breasts—all ripe and ready for the upcoming breastfeeding—while licking and suckling the other, trying to get him to concentrate more on the pleasure to keep his mind off the contractions.
Before she could stop herself, Donella couldn’t help imagining how it would feel if she were in Donessa’s shoes, experiencing both pain and pleasure at the same time, and that sent a huge blush across her face.
“One more cm to go, boy,” the midwife announced. “Maybe if you could help it along a little with your fingers there, young man.”
Donella peeked in again and saw Raven had his hand on Donessa’s pussy, rubbing and massaging his clit as he continued to kiss and suckle at Donessa’s breasts, occasionally kissing him on the lips. She could’ve sworn she saw Donessa actually climaxing a little there from Raven’s ministration and she had to cross her legs to keep herself from getting wet. She could only imagine how it would feel if it were her in Donessa’s place. She had to admit, it’s been almost forever since she and Maddie had been that intimate.
“Nnggh…I really need to push now…” Donessa’s whine could be heard.
“Wait a moment, just breathe,” the midwife said as she felt him up. “Yup, I can feel the head descending. You’re good to go.”
“Ella…I want Ella…”
Donella was surprised. Donessa wanted her? A moment where he should be sharing with his husband and he wanted her?
“Ella?” Raven’s voice came. “Ella, you still out there? Come here, Essa needs you.”
“Umm…You sure…?” Donella asked, poking her head tentatively through the door.
“Ella…please…” Donessa begged. “I want you with me too…Please…”
“Umm…OK…” Donella replied awkwardly as she re-entered the room to be by her twin brother’s side. Donessa had a towel across his lower half to give him some decency, but his top was still bare from the stimulation foreplay just now, not that anyone really cared now that the baby was on the way.
“Oh God…Oh God…I’m gonna push…” Donessa moaned as another contraction came in, and before the midwife gave him the green light, his chin was already against his chest, pushing down as hard as he could.
“That’s good, that’s very good, boy. Keep it up,” the midwife coached, then looked up at Raven and Donella, “Both of you take one thigh each, hold them up and press them towards Essa as much as you can, and keep him sit up.”
Donella nodded and did so along with Raven as Donessa continued to push along with the contractions. After about 15 minutes, Donessa suddenly let out a whine of pain and the midwife had an expectant smile.
“I can see the baby’s head!” she announced. “It’s crowning beautifully. Alright, take it easy, boy. Go slow on this one, just pant if you can. Don’t want you to tear.”
Donessa nodded and tried to pant through his next contraction as long as possible before he gave in to the pushing as gently as he could until finally the head popped out fully, earning a short yelp of relief from him.
“That’s good. You can continue pushing as normal now, boy,” the midwife said as she patted encouragingly on Donessa’s inner thigh. “You’re doing great.”
“H-How does t-the head l-look…? Is i-it OK…? I-Is it n-normal…?” Donessa whimpered worriedly.
“It’s fine. A full set of hair, baby,” Raven said happily. “Isn’t it right?”
“Yeah…Wow…It’s surreal…” Donella breathed as she watched the baby inched out more when Donessa gave in to another push. She couldn’t understand it. Wasn’t she supposed to be disgusted by all the blood and mass that was coming out of her brother’s chute? Why wasn’t she looking away? Why did she feel so fascinated about this?
“Here, boy, you can feel it if you want,” the midwife said as she took Donessa’s hand to touch the baby’s head, earning a gasp.
“Oh…you’re right…So much hair…Aagghh…! Gotta push, gotta push…!!”
Once the head was out, the rest was slightly easier as Donessa kept on pushing whenever his body demanded him to, with Raven and Donella giving him their support. Within 20 minutes, the baby slid out of him, and a few seconds of suction and clapping of the back, the baby’s cries rang through the room as it took its first breath.
“It’s a Neo-girl!” the midwife announced as she placed the squalling baby onto Donessa’s chest to initiate skin-on-skin contact before helping him to remove the afterbirth.
Donella watched as Donessa cried happy tears as he kissed his newborn daughter over and over again. The baby girl’s head was a little cone-shaped from being put through Donessa’s wringer, but it was still perfect nonetheless. She had a full set of hair as thick and black as Raven’s and she had Donessa’s eyes. Ten fingers and ten toes all accounted for, and when she was trying to root for Donessa’s nipple, Donella’s heart just melted.
It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
Another contraction brought everyone back to reality as the baby’s twin wanted out. While the midwife’s assistant took the baby to give her her first bath, the midwife went back to business, coaching Donessa to push the other twin out.
“I can’t do it! I can’t do it anymore~! I’m so tired~!” Donessa cried amidst his pushing, his body betraying his mind.
“Sorry, boy, a little too late for that. The baby is crowning whether you like it or not.”
“Come on, baby, you can do this,” Raven coaxed. “Our little princess needs to see her brother/sister.”
“Yeah, Essa. I’m right here,” Donella got into it too. “I’ve got you. You’re doing really good.”
“No fair~!” Donessa whimpered. “You’re all ganging up on me~!”
“No, we’re not, baby, we’re not,” Raven took Donessa’s cheek and kissed his sweaty brow, rubbing his slightly smaller, but not yet deflated, belly. “Our other baby wants out. You wanna hold this one too, don’t you?”
Donessa nodded tearfully and finally gave in to the pushing. The baby’s head slid out pretty quickly this time due to the first twin paving the way, and after letting him feel the baby’s head again, the midwife went back to helping him inch the rest of the baby out.
“Alright, you’re almost there. Take a deep breath…”
Donessa did so, sucking in as much air into his lungs as possible.
“OK, now push! Gimme a big one!”
Donessa almost couldn’t wait for the next contraction as he pushed down as hard as he could, but his body knew better. And with that final push, the baby slid out of him almost immediately, shoulders and all.
“It’s an Earth girl! You got two beautiful baby girls of each! Congratulations!”
Raven could not stop kissing Donessa all over and Donella was just as equally happy as her twin brother, especially when she was having nieces of each, just like they were. The afterbirth was soon taken care of and after a lot of cleaning, a nice warm sponge bath and a fresh nightie, Donessa was soon tuckered in with his twin girls.
“You did so good, baby,” Raven nuzzled Donessa and kissed the baby girls’ foreheads. “They’re so beautiful. I love you all so much.”
“They’re really cute, Essa,” Donella said as she admired the babies. “They like us, an Earthian and a Neo sib. Congrats.”
“Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you guys,” Donessa smiled weakly, holding the babies as they fed on either side of his nipple.
“What do you plan to name them?”
“We had a few choices,” Raven said. “But I think Evangeline and Angelica sounds the best for them, coz they both look really heavenly to me.”
“I second that,” Donessa nodded in agreement. “Though I get to choose their middle names later. God, I’m so tired.”
“You rest, Essa,” Donella said as she helped take the brunette baby who was done feeding while Raven took the other baby, who inherited Donessa’s red hair and Raven’s lavender eyes. “We’ll help you take care of the babies for now.”
“Nnnhh…Shouldn’t you be telling someone about the news?” Donessa asked, giving her a knowing smile, hinting to her about the conversation they had before he went into labour.
Donella blushed at the look before Donessa slowly drifted to sleep. She knew exactly what he meant, and after what she had went through together with her brother just now, she knew she was ready.
Going outdoors after settling the babies in their crib, she dialed her cell and called Maddie for the first time in a long time since she got here.
“Ella?” Maddie’s voice was heard after the fourth ring.
“Hey, Maddie,” Donella smiled at upon hearing her voice. It has been so long. “Essa’s given birth just now. Two girls of each.”
“That’s great. Congrats to him,” a short pause before Maddie tentatively asked, “Will…Will you be coming home soon?”
“Yeah. As soon as I make sure Essa’s sorted out, I’ll go home. And Maddie?”
“Yeah?”
Donella smiled to herself again as she put her hand on her middle before saying:
“I’m pregnant.”
Comments