He squeezed her hand one more time before slipping out of the room with the promise to return momentarily. Stepping into the hallway, he rubbed his aching forehead and leaned against the wall. A shuffling noise moved his from his thoughts and he cracked one eye open long enough to watch his youngest son walk steadily into his uncle’s waiting arms.

Tyler lifted the toddler up and crossed the hall to look at his friend. “How’s she doing?” he asked, running a hand over his nephew’s soft hair.

JC sighed. “She’s fine. Nothing major just yet. I’m not looking forward to this one…she nearly broke my hand last time.” He wrung one hand within the other at the memory.

His brother smirked. “Yeah man…but she was pissed at you last time too.”

One of JC’s eyebrows arched. “She’s gonna be pissed at me when those babies start coming.”

The younger man laughed and hitched the boy up higher on his hip. “He’s been whining for you for a while so we took a walk to see if we could find ya.”

JC smiled and pulled the two-year-old from Tyler’s arms. “Hey buddy,” he whispered, nuzzling noses with his son.

“Momma,” the boy whined, looking over his father’s shoulder to where he could clearly see his mother.

“Whining for me, huh?” JC challenged, lifting the child up high above his head and making a face at his elevated form. “You don’t wanna see me, you brat.” He chuckled and brought his son back down into his arms, hugging him close and smothering the giggling boy with kisses. He laughed and walked with his brother down the hallway toward the waiting room where everyone else was…waiting.

He plopped down into a chair between his parents and sighed, cuddling his son closer. Braeden looked up from where he had been playing with Justin’s brother and walked over to his father. “Dad?”

JC opened his resting eyes and smiled at his oldest child. “Yeah, pal…you okay?”

Braeden nodded and rubbed his tired eyes. “Yeah. Just kinda tired. Is Mommy okay?”

His father’s smile grew and he leaned forward, reaching one arm out to pull the boy close for a hug. “She’s fine. But we may be here for a while.”

The boy nodded again and made his way back over to Jonathan and their Sorry! game. JC turned his attention to the older people in the room. “I’m just taking a breather. She just got over another contraction and I told her I’d get her something to drink and cool down a bit.” He leaned over and rested his head on his father’s shoulder. “How did you do this three times, Dad?”

Roy chuckled and patted his son’s knee. “Son, I’ve got the feeling that this won’t be the last time you do this.”

JC’s head rose from the man’s shoulder and he stared into the older eyes. “Dad! I think we’re done now. Seriously…we don’t want anymore.”

“Sure son…sure.”

JC shook his head and handed the now calm Chance to his mother. “I’m going to go get that juice for Abs. I’ll come back in when I can.”

He got two cans of juice out of one of the vending machines and made his way back down to Abby’s room. Slipping quietly through the door so as not to disturb her if she were actually getting any rest, he made his way over to her bedside and set the cans on the table. He sat down next to her bed and leaned his elbows on the soft mattress.

Abby turned her head slowly and smiled at her husband. “Thanks, babe,” she whispered. Her eyes closed and she leaned her head into the comfort of the pillow. A soft sigh escaped her lips and she held a hand open for him to take.

JC slid his hand into hers, squeezing her fingers tight. Leaning forward on the bed again, he placed a gentle, loving kiss to her forehead and nuzzled her neck gently. “How are you feeling?” he asked, his lips still brushing against her skin.

Her eyes opened long enough to see the love and worry in his eyes. “I’ll be okay. I’m just tired and sore and…and so ready for these two to make their entrance.”

He chuckled as she leaned back into the pillow again. Reaching up, he stroked her hair affectionately and hummed softly. “Rest then, baby…just rest and keep breathing.”

~*~

He was beaming. He was ecstatic. He was rapturous. He was euphoric.

JC was overjoyed.

He stepped into the waiting room with a bundle in each arm…both wrapped in pink blankets. The family members and friends crowded around to see the new members to the Chasez/*N Sync family and were delighted at the wiggling, screaming princesses that their eyes beheld.

Biting back the tears that had already fallen, JC swallowed the lump in his throat and made their first introduction. “Everyone, I’d like you all to meet Delia Rose and Emma Marie Chasez.”

Justin leaned forward and pulled one blanket back with a long finger to look at the little girl’s features. “Dude, which one is which?” he asked, clearly in awe of the miracles before him.

JC raised his right arm slightly. “Emma…” and then his left. “Delia.”

Karen ran her hand over her son’s hair and then smoothed his smock in that obsessive motherly manner. “Baby, they are beautiful. Now get them back to their mother before Abby pulls herself out of that hospital bed and whips you.”

He laughed and kissed her cheek before retreating out of the room. Sliding back through the door where his wife was still recovering from the long labor, he placed one little girl in each of her arms. “Your angels, my love,” he whispered, leaning over her body to kiss her sweaty forehead a couple times.

Abby smiled and looked at him. “This is it, right?” she asked softly, cuddling the two calming newborns close to her chest.

JC leaned forward on the bed and stared at the three of them in wonderment. “Whatever you want, sweetie,” he whispered back, tracing her arm with his fingertips.

The couple looked up as two nurses came into the room, informing the parents that their children had to be taken back to the nursery. Abby was obviously hesitant to give her babies up so quickly, but did so with a smile as the nurses calmly reminded her that they would bring them back in the next morning. Handing Emma to the second nurse, she watched them leave the room with a heavy sigh. “I’m ready to go home,” she said, staring after her daughters.

“I’m ready to take you home,” he replied, reaching a hand up to brush her hair from her face. “Girls,” he whispered with a sigh.

Abby giggled slightly and turned her gaze toward her husband. “You okay with two girls?” she asked, winking as she reached a hand up to caress his cheek.

Leaning into her hand, he nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m more than okay with this. I mean…how much more perfect could our family get now? Two boys, two girls.”

“Are you going to spoil them and be overprotective?” she asked.

JC smiled. “Why of course…it’s a father’s job. They’re going to be heartbreakers, those two. Prom queen and Homecoming queen, right there.”

Another giggle escaped her mouth. “You’ve got high hopes.”

He took her hand within his and placed her palm flat against his lips, mouthing loving words against the sensitive skin. She bit back one more chuckle at the tickle his mouth produced, pulling her hand away and placing it on his cheek. She turned his face until he stared into her eyes. “What did you just say, baby?” she asked, her eyes expressing so much love for her husband.

JC smiled and leaned forward to brush his lips across hers softly. “You are my heart,” he whispered.

~*~

He smirked as she walked into the room. “Are they in bed?” he asked, turning the page in his book before adjusting his reading glasses where they were perched on his nose.

She nodded and closed the door to their bedroom. “All four of them.”

Looking back down at his book, he grinned. “That’s good.”

“You’re wonderful, you know that?” she said, walking into their walk-in closet to change into her pajamas.

Turning his gaze to her again, he watched her pull one of his t-shirts over her head before walking back out into their bedroom again. “Well thank you,” he said with a grin, sticking his finger in the book and closing it as he awaited her reasoning.

She shrugged. “No real reason sweetie…you’re just wonderful. You know…just for all that you do…for your family and for others.”

Placing the bookmark into his book, JC situated it on the table beside their bed. Holding his arms open to her, he licked his lips and smiled as she moved closer into his arms. “I love you,” he whispered against the top of her head, kissing her hair. He pulled her as close into his arms as he could get her, indulging in the feeling of her body against his.

Abby giggled and moved her body over his, putting her hands on his chest as her lips found her husband’s. “It’s been a while,” she whispered against them, moving her hands down under his shirt.”

JC moved slightly under her to get them more comfortable and he was pleasantly shocked when his action of spreading his legs slightly produced her counteraction of situating her lower body down between them. He let out a soft groan at the pressure and moved his hands down her back to pull her back up to his lips. “Too long,” he replied, moving his lips down her neck.

She pulled away slightly to look into his eyes, halting his traveling lips with her fingers. “You do realize that we’re not going to be able to-”

“I know,” he interrupted, moving his fingers into her hair. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy this, does it?” He touched his lips gently to the base of her neck where her collarbone met in the middle.

The couple was getting caught up in their actions and in each other when the phone rang shrilly from the bed. JC jumped and reached for it immediately, not wanting any of the children to wake up and have to be sung back to sleep. “Hello?” he mumbled into the phone as Abby rolled off his body.

Justin laughed at his friend’s heavy breathing. “DUDE! What are you two DOING?”

JC ran a hand through his hair and looked over at Abby as she settled into the pillows and pulled the blankets up over her legs. “We were getting reacquainted, man…you interrupted a beautiful thing just now.”

Abby smacked the back of his head and he heard Justin’s laughter increase. “DUDE! You shouldn’t tell me this crap. I don’t want to know about your sex life. Just because you’re the only one of us that’s getting any regularly.”

“Justin…Abby had two babies…TWO BABIES two weeks ago. Do you honestly think that we’re going to jump right back in the sack after that so soon? I’m smarter than that.”

“Whatever man.”

“Is there a purpose to this call or were you just making sure I am completely annoyed with you?” JC asked, running a hand through his hair again.

Justin stood up and walked over to the refrigerator in his kitchen. “Man seriously, I just had an lightbulb…like majorly. I’m not kidding here, dude…I was coming home and this just occurred to me…it’s like a revelation or something-”

“Would you care to share it with me so I can go to sleep?” JC interrupted with a laugh.

“Yeah okay, old man,” Justin replied with a grin. Hopping up on the counter, he kicked his feet against the cabinet doors below as he sipped at his beer. “Your family is really weird, man.”

JC’s eyes widened and he looked over his shoulder at his wife with a look of shock and annoy on his face.

“You called me up and kept me from my reintroduction to my wife’s body to tell me that my family is weird? What the hell, Justin?”

Justin laughed. “Dude, you weren’t gettin’ none tonight. You told me so anyway. Seriously man…think about it though.”

“Would you care to explain a little more before I write you out of my life for making fun of my kids?” JC said with a sigh.

“Okay man…think about this here. Abby, Braeden, Chance, Delia and Emma. From your wife to your last kid, you guys are in alphabetical order, not including yourself and Quentin. Did y’all plan that one?”

JC laughed at this revelation and lay back in the bed, reaching an arm over to brush a strand of hair from Abby’s face where she was resting with her eyes closed. She opened them when his hand touched her skin and smiled to him slightly before rolling over to face the wall. “No man, we didn’t plan that, but it’s certainly interesting.”

Justin, tracing the hemline of his jeans, grinned to himself before supplying his next observation. “You realize that you guys could easily fill the rest of the alphabet to your name?”

“No way, Justin,” JC replied. “That’s four more kids…huh uh…nope. Seriously man, we’re done.”

“You sure?” the younger man asked, hopping off the counter before making his way into the living room. It’d be good bragging rights, let me tell ya.”

JC laughed again to himself before glancing at his wife again. “Four is enough…five when Quentin is here. I’m more than happy. I’m going to bed, man. Night.”

Justin clicked his tongue at his friend before agreeing to leave him alone. “Okay man…goodnight. See ya later.”

JC shook his head as he hung up the phone and turned off the light. Settling down into the bed, he wrapped his arms around Abby and pulled her close against his chest. “Where were we?” he asked, his lips descending upon her neck.

“What did he want?” she asked, her eyes heavy with exhaustion.

He smiled at the thought of the whole thing. “He was merely pointing out that we’re really smart and didn’t even know it.”

“Huh?”

Grinning, JC traced his finger along the palm of her hand. “Abby…Braeden…Chance…Delia…Emma. Think about that one, babe.”

Abby giggled as it hit her and pinched his side. “Didn’t plan that one whatsoever.”

“That’s what I told him…but certainly interesting. Justin suggested that we go to J for me.”

“No way,” she replied.

He drew her close again and kissed her skin softly. “Imagine going to Q for Quentin. Would I be the luckiest man in the world or what?”

“You wouldn’t be my husband,” she replied, pinching him again, causing him to yelp.

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