[Backdated to August 2025. Catching up with things that are currently canon but brain wouldn’t let me write.]

It was too early. Two months too early. Idri didn’t understand, they had done everything the doctors had told them in order to keep Noa and the twins safe during her pregnancy. But early this morning, Noa had started getting contractions. The more optimistic of the two, Noa had told him it was probably just Braxton-Hicks contractions. Idri had eventually agreed, but still talked her into going to the hospital just in case something else was going on.

And now he was glad he had. Once they had realized she was having actual contractions and the babies were coming early, they had kicked him out of the room. He hadn’t wanted to go, but one of the older nurses had said his panic would make Noa’s panic worse and they didn’t want that. Reluctantly he had nodded and stepped back.

But it had been hours since then. Ainsley had already called him half a dozen times asking for updates he didn’t have yet. He was currently sitting in the waiting room, elbows on his knees and hands shoved into his hair. He even had texts from Noa’s best friends asking how she was. He promised to let everyone know as soon as he got an update himself.

He was trying not to think about what it was like waiting in his mom’s hospital room when she was dying. Noa was not dying. Neither were either of the babies. They were all going to go home and everything was going to be as perfect as life could be with two newborns at once.

Another hour later and he was pacing the length of the waiting room, probably wearing out a path in the carpet. His nails were chewed down to the quick, and his nerves were shot. His mind was coming up with the worst case scenarios, and he wasn’t sure how he would fare after any of them. He didn’t know how he would tell anyone.

It had been eight hours since they’d arrived at the hospital, and Idri was starting to piss off the nurses at the desk asking for updates. Finally, the nurse who had kicked him out earlier approached him. “You’re Ms. Sugimoto’s boyfriend, right?” she asked gently. Idri’s jaw clenched at her tone, fearing the worst as he nodded his confirmation.

“I understand that you both knew this pregnancy would be hard on her, right?” He nodded again. “She’s doing okay, but she’s still in labor. With her being so small and having twins their size…” The nurse shook her head a bit. “It’s hard for her body to accommodate the babies, but we’re doing everything we can, I promise you that.” Idri relaxed slightly, but he knew that all three of them were still at risk.

“How much longer?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

“It depends. If everything goes well, you could officially be a father in the next couple of hours,” the nurse said with a slight smile. “But it’s more likely that her labor will take longer while we work with her body to birth the babies. You should probably go home and get some sleep, update your friends and family.”

Idri nodded tightly as if he agreed with her, but he wasn’t going anywhere. Not until he could take them home. “Thank you,” he said to her. She patted his arm lightly and gave him an encouraging smile before walking away. After a long moment, Idri put his hands on his knees and leaned over, taking a deep breath and trying to stay calm.

Noa was okay. The babies were okay. So far.

Once his heart had stopped beating in his throat, Idri stood again and pulled his phone out. He sent out a text to everyone with what the nurse had told him though he tried to frame it positively.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thirty hours after that conversation with the nurse, Idri was staring at his twins in clear incubators. They both looked so tiny, especially hooked up to all those tubes and machines. His heart hurt to look at them, but he couldn’t look away. He was a father. He had twins, a boy and a girl. Hajime and Gabriella. He wanted more than anything to hold them in his arms but the nurses only allowed him to touch them through gloves attached to the inside of the incubators.

“It’s gonna be okay, mis bebes…” he murmured to them. “Your mami is going to be fine, and we’re all going to go home.” His voice cracked on the last word and he cleared his throat, blinking away the liquid in his eyes.

“Excuse me, Mr. Caine?” a voice asked from behind him.

“Yes?”

“You can see Ms. Sugimoto now if you want,” the young nurse smiled and squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll take good care of your babies while you’re gone.”

Idri nodded and turned to look at them one more time before he got up and went to the room they put Noa in. She was sleeping, and she looked so frail. She had been through thirty eight hours of labor for their babies, and came out the other side in one piece. He knew they were far from the end, anything could go wrong even now. But the worst was over, hopefully,

As he came closer to her bed, he could see she was hooked up to almost as many tubes and wires as the twins were. God, he hated hospitals, but he wouldn’t be anywhere else at that moment. He moved to stand next to her bed and curved his fingers around hers, noting not for the first time the difference in size between his hand and hers. He perched on the edge of the chair next to her bed and leaned on the edge, pressing her hand against his cheek.

He wanted her to wake up, but at the same time, she deserved every second of rest she could get. She had worked hard to bring their babies into the world. He could wait to talk to her a little while longer while she rested.