The Unexpected III

Title: The Unexpected III
Chapter 19 - Birth Day
Word Count: 4774
Rating: R
Fandom: FAKE
Pairings: Ryo/Dee
Warnings: Yaoi, Male/male, MPREG, AU If you don't like, don't read! Cursing, mature themes, graphic insinuations of violent death, torture and violence.
Disclaimer: FAKE is not mine. We have Sanami Matoh for giving us Dee, Ryo and the rest of the 27th precinct characters and for respecting her characters unlike certain TV writers. Any OCs appearing in this fic are mine.
Summary: What's wrong with Dee?

Notes: So I'm evil. LOL! I'm glad everyone thinks so. It means I've done my job. Now onto what's going on. Um yeah… hope ya'll enjoy this roller coaster ride.

Beta by: the beautiful and amazing Grace Musica (who also did lots in helping me plot out the evilness).

OoOoOoO

Ryo looked from Dee to Vince helplessly. "W-what's wrong?" he asked.

Vince looked up at Ryo, then at Dee. He gave them both an apologetic smile. "You're fine, Dee. Ryo, please." He indicated with his hand for Ryo to come closer. "I need this baby cut loose."

As the snips were placed in Ryo's hand, Vince's eyes met Ryo's, then looked down. Ryo's eyes followed Vince's as he went to cut the cord.

"Nurse, you can take little Koko here to get ready to say hello to her brother and grandma?" Vince asked. "Now Dee, I need you to stay perfectly still for a few more minutes."

Ryo continued to look down. Having seen gorier crime scenes, he did not even flinch as he stared down at the incision. His eyes went wide at what he saw.

"Oh my," he remarked in amazement. He glanced back at Dee, his eyes wide with surprise.

Dee watched some of the color return to Ryo's face. The man staring in amazement at him did not appear to have the look of someone about to lose his husband in childbirth.

"What?" Dee asked.

"Relax, Dee," Ryo assured him. He noticed the main reason for Vince's concern and understood why Dee needed to stay still.

"There's another one," Vince stated what Ryo already knew.

"W-wha?" Dee asked as Ryo rushed over to keep Dee from jerking up. "A-another what?"

"Baby," Ryo replied. "Dee, Koko is a twin." Ryo smiled lovingly at Dee. "Now stay still so Vince can get our little surprise out."

Dee's eyes went impossibly wide. "W-wha?" He knew suddenly what felt wrong. He felt when his daughter was born, but in those few scant minutes after, he still felt pregnant.

Dee felt more this time than he did with Koko as Vince tried to coax the second baby gently out. "C'mon little one… easy there," the doctor said, attempting to keep his tone even.

Dee's eyes caught the nurses in the corner, who were cleaning Koko, smiling and talking to her. He reached his hand out toward his baby. He wanted to be the one giving her all that attention so early in her life, not some strange nurses.

Ryo took the outstretched hand in his, along with Dee's other hand. "Calm down, love. Stay still."

It was taking too long. Dee knew it. The other baby should have been out and crying already. He tensed up in panic. Not more than three minutes ago, he did not know there was another, but now that he did, he felt fear for his second baby's life.

Dee's panic was noticeable. One of the residents came over, noting the change from the monitors hooked up to Dee.

"Hang on a bit, you two," Vince remarked, still trying to remove the second baby. He knew Ryo had seen the reason why he did not take this one out as easily as the first one. He had just finished removing the cord from Koko, hoping to make it easier. To his chagrin, the second baby's cord was wrapped around the tiny neck. He was trying to keep the little one from squirming and get its head out in just the right angle to be able to remove it without it tightening.

Dee strained frantically, trying to see what was happening, but Ryo's hands kept him from moving.

"Shhh. Just look at me, Dee," Ryo insisted. He smiled down at his frightened husband. "I love you so very much."

"L-love you, too," Dee replied. "Something's wrong, isn't there?"

Ryo shook his head. "No, gorgeous. Everything's fine."

Koko chose that moment to start crying again. Dee's head turned as an instinctive urge made him want to hold her and stop her crying. "I wanna hold her… please," he said weakly.

"I know, baby. You need to wait just a little longer though."

Dee realized he felt that same sensation as when he knew Koko was born. It had happened again and the second baby was out. At the same time, he heard Vince swear under his breath. The baby had squirmed too much on his way out and the cord had tightened. Having the baby in his hold, he worked on removing the cord, then held the baby for the aide with the suction to clean the mucus from the little throat and nose.

Hearing that sound, Dee and Ryo waited, holding their breaths, expecting to hear a cry, but none came. Instead were the hushed sounds of doctors hoping to save a tiny life.

Ryo frowned, fighting to keep a grip on himself and not break down. He could not allow himself to. Dee needed him. He found himself reaching for the same center of calm when he would go into sharpshooter mode. He'd pay for it later, he knew, but that did not matter. Keeping Dee from starting to hyperventilate mattered most.

Dee whimpered, wanting to say hello to their unexpected little surprise, not goodbye.

Ryo glanced at the activity with such a tiny thing the center of it all. Tiny, but so very precious. He understood Dee's pain. It was his too. They just got to know this little one and he feared they were never going to hear the wonderful sweet sound of the baby's cries.

With an apologetic look, Vince cut the cord and the baby was whisked to another corner where the staff was able to work on reviving the little one.

"Dee…Ryo… it's a boy," Vince announced flatly. While those more suited to handle the crisis worked on the baby, Vince was left to take care of his primary concern – Dee. He prepared to start the clean up of removing the afterbirth, placenta and in the Carrier's case, the remains of the now ruptured and deteriorating uterine lining. Then he could close up the incision.

"Hey baby," Ryo softly said to Dee. "Koko is a twin."

Dee was frowning. "What about her twin? Why isn't he crying?" he demanded.

"Dee, you have to calm down," Vince insisted, a bit sharply.

Dee glared at the doctor who had become a friend over the months of his pregnancy. "How can I?" he snapped. "I don't hear my baby crying!"

Ryo smiled at Dee, noting the relief coming from the corner with their second child. There were still no cries yet, but the urgency was gone. Grim looks had changed to ones of hope. "Because he's still getting cleaned up, silly," he tried to reassure his frantic husband. He looked over to Vince anxiously.

Dee shook his head. "No." Tears started to leak from Dee's eyes. Tears that were not the same as when Koko was born. "No."

At that moment a tiny cry came from the baby boy. With relieved smiles, a nurse quickly cleaned and wrapped the tiny baby. One of the doctors came over to Vince, whispering something to him.

"Dee, Ryo, we're going to let you get a closer look of your son. But just for a minute or two," Vince announced, his voice low. He took a deep breath. "Guys, I'm so sorry. I honestly had no idea there were two of them. In fact, this is the first time I've ever encountered twins, even in my training."

"What's wrong with him?" Dee demanded, still looking distraught. His eyes were fixed to the corner, trying to catch a glimpse of his newborn son.

"Dee, he's the reason you went into labor tonight," Vince explained.

Dee clenched Ryo's hand. "W-why? What happened? He's alive, right?"

"He should be all right now," Vince replied. "We just need to monitor him overnight."

"He's fine," Ryo assured Dee, stroking his cheek lightly. "I can hear him whimpering."

Vince nodded. "Yeah. He gave us a scare there for a bit, but he's breathing now." The doctor looked at Ryo. He was more subdued than they had ever seen the usually cheerful and at times boisterous doctor. "He had a run in with the cords. Which is why I needed Dee to stay still." He shrugged as Ryo nodded, having seen that much. "If I was able to knock Dee out in an instant, I would have." He looked at Dee, then to the monitors with a frown. "I still might. I can't go back in there to finish cleaning until you calm down. And I can't have you get more excited while you're still open. Catch 22, Dee. So help me out and start taking deep breaths and relax. That local will be wearing off soon too, you realize. I'm sure you want me to be finished by then."

The nurse who held the second baby came over and handed him to Vince.

Dee's eyes fixed on the still little bundle in Vince's arms.

Ryo was stroking Dee's hair. "Easy. See?" Ryo said tenderly. "Everyone's okay."

Vince lowered the bundle so both men could better see their newborn son. "Meet your little boy. Congratulations. Twins."

Dee's wide eyes were fixed on the tiny bundle, the baby's eyes shut tightly.

"He's more than a bit exhausted from his rather abrupt and dramatic entrance," the other doctor explained. "So he's already asleep. It's good for him right now."

Dee continued to start at his son in awe and shock for a moment before his eyes shifted to look at Koko, who was squirming and cooing in a nurse's arms.

Ryo smiled and reached out to gently stroke the baby boy's head. "They're beautiful," he sighed.

A nurse holding Koko stood next to the one with their son, so they were treated to the overwhelming realization that Dee had given birth to a girl and a boy. While Koko had a softy downy covering of brown hair, the little boy had a shock of black hair.

"Y-yeah, they are," Dee agreed, his voice rough and shaky with pent-up emotions. His eyes went to Ryo. "Holy shit! We have two…" His voice cracked and he squeezed his eyes closed.

Ryo smiled at Dee, still in shock himself. He continued to stroke Dee's hair soothingly.

The nurse with the baby boy placed the infant on Dee's chest, allowing Dee to hold him.

Dee's breath caught. "He's so… he's a beautiful wonderful surprise." He smiled at the sleeping baby on his chest, running a finger lightly down his back. "It's okay, little one. We love you, too." He looked over at Koko, who was still being held close to him. Ryo was softly holding her tiny hand, a sweet loving smile on his face.

Vince smiled at the two new daddies. "So what is Koko's full name?" he wanted to finally know.

Ryo looked at Dee. Dee grinned. "Ryoko Marie Laytner-MacLean."

Vince laughed happily. "Ryoko, huh? So you went for Japanese first name, huh?"

Ryo laughed. "Dee did. He's the one who gave our baby girl her first name. I gave her Marie."

Dee kissed the forehead of the baby still sleeping on his chest. "You know what, Ryo. We can't keep calling this boy chibi he."

Ryo laughed. "Then we call him Boy Chibi." He winked at Dee, lightly touching the baby's dark hair."

The nurse smiled gently as she started to take the baby away. "We have to take him for a while now," she said.

"Can I hold him for a moment please?" Ryo asked, having the need to do just that. Despite the calm of the happy moment, he still felt the fear that he hoped Dee was not feeling.

"Just for a minute. He seems to be doing fine now, but we want to put him in an incubator for a while just in case. It's only a precaution," the nurse explained.

Ryo nodded and carefully took the baby from her. "Hey there, little surprise," he said softly. He gently stroked the baby's cheek and gave him a soft kiss on his head.

The nurse holding Koko smiled at Dee. "I think we can allow you to hold your beautiful little girl for a moment before Dr. Siworski finishes up this procedure." She settled the baby on Dee's chest.

Dee rested his hand lightly on Koko's tiny back, looking over at Ryo holding their son. "Hey sweetheart," he said, kissing her head.

The nurse motioned to Ryo that she had to take the baby. Ryo reluctantly gave him up, giving the infant one last kiss. The nurse smiled at him. "You can look in on him in a little bit once we get your husband settled."

Ryo nodded. He watched as the nurse took their son away, leaving the room.

Dee's eyes were also on the nurse and then the closed door. Gently holding his daughter to his chest, he softly said, "God, please let him be okay."

Ryo came over to Dee, bending over to kiss Dee's forehead. "He'll be fine. It's just a precaution. Like staying overnight after a gunshot in the leg." He winked at Dee. "You did a wonderful thing here. Damn, Dee. Twins." He lightly kissed Dee's mouth. "I love you."

"Love you too."

Ryo caressed Dee's cheek. "Here, let me hold our daughter for a bit while Vince finishes his work on you. Okay gorgeous?"

"Sure." Dee smiled as he watched Ryo lift the baby and hold her in his arms.

"Dee, I'm almost done with clean up but with all the extra time we spent in drama, I'm afraid I'm going to have to put you under before the local wears off. If I don't, then you'll really know what pain is," Vince explained.

Dee looked like he was ready to protest. Ryo spared a hand to take Dee's. "Dee, be reasonable. You look like you're about to drop off for some sleep anyway. You just gave birth to two babies and had quite a bit of a scare there. You'll be fine. When you wake up, you'll be in your room, and I'll be there too. Then we'll have the rest of our lives to gaze at our two little miracles."

Dee took a deep breath. "Okay. Sure."

Vince let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Dee."

A nurse already went for an IV sac and attached it to the drip in Dee's arm.

"Now, before I turn on the juice and put you under," Vince said, "I have just one question for you."

"What's that?" Dee asked cautiously.

"Last chance here – sure you don't want a zipper for next time?" Vince asked with a wink.

Dee paled more than he was. "Uh… twins," he stammered. "Two kids, Vince. Close it up. Please." He laughed weakly.

Ryo smiled at the banter, Ryoko still in his arms. He kissed the top of his daughter's head. "Hey there, other chibi." He looked back to Dee. "And I believe you forgot your third kid."

Dee's eyes were on Ryo and Ryoko. He could not help smiling at tender scene of Ryo holding his newborn daughter with a tender look of bliss on his face. "Well, Bikky's a given. Like you said, we had him the easy way." He smiled at Ryo. His eyelids started to flutter as the IV started to take effect. He found himself fighting to keep them open, wanting to gaze at his daughter, nestled so contently in his wonderful husband's arm. "She's beautiful," he whispered.

Ryo started to stroke Dee's hair again. "Sleep now, love. You'll need your energy to sit up and hold your babies."

"Yeah." Dee smiled, his eyes finally closing.

Vince paused from his work to check on Dee, satisfied that as he fell deeper under, his vital signs started to settle too.

Ryo smiled and kissed Dee. "Sleep well, sweetheart. I love you so much."

Ryo sat down in the chair next to the bed which was placed near Dee's head. He shifted the baby in his arms so they both would be comfortable. He looked down at the tiny little face as his daughter yawned. "Aw, sweetie," he cooed. "I guess you're tired too." He smiled at the baby.

He determined that he was going to stay there, watching over Dee as long as he was able, while holding his newborn daughter as long as they allowed him to. He felt someone standing next to him and looked up to find a nurse, holding out a baby bottle.

"Would you like to see if she wants to eat yet?" the nurse asked Ryo.

Ryo smiled up at the kindly nurse. He knew this was Ryoko's first feeding. He was glad for the chance to be the one to do so, rather than some strange nurse, no matter how nice the staff seemed to be. Dee was probably hoping to have first honors, but he was certain Dee would prefer it to be Ryo and not a nurse if the choice was there. Since the choice was offered to him, there was no way anyone would be able to stop him.

He took the offered bottle from the nurse. "I'd love to," he said with a warm smile.

"She might not get it at first," the nurse said with an amused smile when Koko did not take the bottle at first. "But when she gets hungry enough, she'll figure things out."

Ryo chuckled when after a few attempts, Koko's little mouth latched onto the nipple on the bottle for her first feeding. "That's Papa's girl!" he exclaimed happily, watching the baby eat. It was a satisfying moment to share this moment with his daughter. He feared once Dee was awake, he would lose out on such opportunities, despite both Dee and Vince's reassurances that he'd still be able to feed Koko. That was when they believed there was only a baby girl, but they had two newborns now. He wondered if that changed things for Dee.

The nurse left him to feed his daughter as he stood his guard over his sleeping husband while Vince closed Dee up.

For a few seconds the room was silent except for the monitoring equipment and the baby's suckling on the bottle.

"Ryo," Vince's voice broke the silence as he continued his work. "I am so sorry. But you know that twins are most times hard to detect in a Carrier. And they're so rare."

Ryo nodded, looking over to the doctor. "Vince, three ultrasounds," he replied. "Three sonogram pictures that show just a little girl. Who would have thought after that? I don't blame you or anyone. Except for the scare, I'm ecstatic. Okay, nervous as hell thinking about handling two babies, but totally over the moon. So cut yourself some slack. All right?" He grinned wickedly, raising an eyebrow as he continued to look at the working doctor. "Seems our little guy is trained in stealth," he chuckled.

Vince nodded. "I still feel bad about it. I shouldn't have scared you two the way I did. As far as I knew, there was no evidence to look further. So… I'll have to admit, I was startled there, and seeing the cords as they were…." The doctor shivered slightly, remembering his fear of losing the baby boy. "That explains Dee's extra weight gain. Problem was he was very well hidden. If I was able to even pick up a heartbeat, but it seems those two imps were in sync. At least the times we listened in. They're going to be very close, you know, Ryo."

"Let it go, Vince," Ryo said gently as he gazed down at Ryoko, who was still feeding. "My, you're going to be a little piggie after all. Just like your daddy." He chuckled softly.

"If Dee took the ambio test, it might have made a difference. We'd have known when the results of the test came back. If I had a parental history on Dee, chances are I'd have made him take it."

Ryo gazed at Vince in curiosity, setting the bottle on the stand next to the water basin. He settled Koko upward on his shoulder to rub her back gently. "Why do you say that?"

"You probably came across the information on Carrier multiple births. The only way a Carrier can have twins is if both his Carrier parents were twins. Without those conditions, it's rare for a Carrier to have twins. So far there have never been triplets."

Ryo's mouth dropped as he realized what Vince had told him. He did read up on it, but since it did not pertain to Dee, or so they believed, he had forgotten what he read. Until then. Remembering what he read, he realized they knew something about Dee's biological parents. Dee had two fathers who were both Carriers and twins. Ryo paled at his thoughts, his eyes resting on his peacefully sleeping husband.

Vince finished closing the incision. Taking off the surgical gloves, he studied his handiwork, making certain all was well. "Did I ever tell you I do beautiful embroidery?" he asked Ryo.

Despite his thoughts, Ryo laughed at Vince's comment. "I hope so. That's my husband's abdomen you were just embroidering on," he commented with a smirk.

"Men have an advantage over women when it comes to c-sections," Vince said, going to start cleaning himself off. "Especially men with Dee's ab definition before getting pregnant. One of the reasons I took so many measurements of his muscle definition throughout his pregnancy was to make sure I could do the incision along a natural line of his abs."

Ryo smiled. "Brilliant. Dee will thank you for that."

Vince left the clean up from the procedure to the aides and came over to stand next to Ryo. "If I saw any evidence of twins on your side, I'd have ordered the ambio, you know. So far twins have not developed from a history in one parent, but standard procedure is to check anyway, in case the DNA code mutated."

Ryo nodded, letting Vince believe that was what was on his mind. He did not yet want to voice his thoughts. It disturbed him to think Dee might have once been a twin.

"Now how about giving up your baby girl for a little while so she can get ready to make her big presentation with her brother to her family?" Vince asked.

"You're taking away my baby and kicking me out, huh?" Ryo replied.

"Well, babies are born, Dee's all closed and we stopped administering the tranquilizer. He's just sleeping off what's in his system now. So best we get him ready to take him into his room, which will be his home for the next ten to fourteen days, before he wakes up, demanding to see his babies."

Ryo glanced at Dee, smiling. "Yeah. He will too," he laughed. "I guess I should finally make an appearance myself and let everyone know the big news," he said ruefully. "We were supposed to let Mother in after Dee gave birth for a few minutes, but that's changed now. She needs to know why."

"That too," Vince laughed.

"Can I take her to the nursery?" Ryo asked.

"Your little guy is most likely in the holding room, getting a more thorough exam than little Koko there. The nurse will take you there."

"Thanks. And Vince, I know nothing was your fault. You did your best with his birth, but as well as stealthy, our little guy is slippery."

Vince smiled. "Thanks, Ryo. I'll see you in a little while when I go check in on Dee. I'm going to stick around here until he's up and coherent."

Ryo held out his hand for a handshake after moving Koko to free his hand. "I can't believe it's over. Jesus, twins!" he exclaimed.

Vince shook the offered hand.

Ryo went over to Dee and carefully bent down to lightly kiss his husband's lips. "See you in a bit, Dee. Love you," he whispered.

He then followed the nurse as she led him out of the room, still holding his newborn daughter.

Inside the holding room which was behind the nursery, Ryo had finally relinquished Ryoko to the nurses' fussing and care.

He spoke to the pediatrician who had revived his son on the pros and cons of having both babies in the same incubator for a while. They were interrupted when one of the nurses called out, while the others gathered around the incubator the baby boy was in.

Ryo thought his own heart had stopped as he watched once again the drama unfold before him as the staff worked on reviving his son.

A nurse settled Ryo in a chair, handing him a glass of water. He was still shaking when the doctor came over to him.

"We're going to put him directly on oxygen for at least the rest of the night," he explained to Ryo.

"Is he okay?"

"For now. Look, I'm not going to lie. It's a waiting game now. Hopefully on oxygen we can prevent this from happening again."

"And if you can't?" Ryo choked out.

"I don't know how many times his system can take being revived," the doctor admitted. "While your daughter just made it over into normal birth weight, if at the low end, your son is preemie weight. We're going to have to take extra precautions with him, especially now."

Ryo closed his eyes against the onslaught of tears. "And if nothing by tomorrow?"

"One step at a time, Mr. MacLean. Then if it looks good, we go back to just the incubator for a day or two. Depending on his improvement, then we try letting him breathe on his own. Under observation, of course."

Ryo nodded, gazing at his infant son back in the incubator, now with oxygen tubing taped to his face. Ryo felt tears well up in his eyes.

"We can still keep the two babies together," the doctor added. "As we discussed before, it might even make a difference by having his sister with him."

Ryo nodded. "Sure. That's fine," he agreed.

He watched as they placed Ryoko in the incubator at the doctor's signal. Ryo felt everyone almost immediately drift away from him. The doctor excused himself to make his rounds, with a couple of nurses following him. Two nurses stayed behind to keep watch, but sat in a corner, talking amongst themselves.

Ryo placed his hand in the sleeve to touch his son, thankful he had been able to hold him in his arms for a few minutes. A tiny fist grasped onto his finger. Koko's little arm moved and landed on the boy's arm. Ryo found himself smiling. Such two perfect, beautiful babies. And they were his and Dee's.

"Please, don't take him away from us," he whispered. He was not particularly a religious man, but hoped Something/Someone was listening.

He thought of Dee, anxious to watch his husband with their two babies.

He stayed for a few minutes longer, watching his children as they fell asleep. The more he watched, the more his hope grew. Until he fell asleep, the baby boy seemed to like to grasp his Papa's fingers. Ryo took that as a good sign.

"I love you both," he said to the twins. "You two sleep now while I go tell your older brother and grandma what two beautiful babies you are." He smiled at them. "Oh, before I forget." He took out his cell phone and took a few photos to send for Bikky. While inside the birthing room, he was aware that some photos were taken of each baby with the digital he had brought along with him. He planned to take more pictures later, after Dee was awake.

Ryoko's mouth dropped open a little. Ryo chuckled and took another picture. Somehow she reminded him of Dee when he slept. Especially when Dee was peaceful and content in his sleep. That included the innocence on his face that would fade away as he woke up.

He put two fingers to his mouth and then set them on the top of the incubator twice, once over each baby. "Later, chibis."

He left the room and was directed to Dee's room. He went into the room to check on his husband. Dee was still sleeping; Ryo was told he would be for a while. Ryo took advantage of the bathroom in the room to wash his face. He stopped again by Dee's bed, taking the sleeping man's hand in his.

"Love you, Dee," he murmured. "I'm looking forward to raising two beautiful infants with you. But first I need to let our other son know what's going on." He kissed the hand and Dee's mouth before leaving the room to face the rest of their family.