The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate Chapter 150

Tristan

The drive back to Orion's house was filled with excited chatter about the property and wedding plans.

Sarah and Athena were already discussing color schemes and guest lists while Lily bounced in her seat talking about being a flower girl.

I couldn't stop smiling, couldn't stop looking at Athena with the ring I'd put on her finger catching the light every time she moved her hand, she was mine, really mine, and soon everyone would know it.

We were about ten minutes from Orion's place when I noticed Athena go completely still beside me, her hand went to her stomach and her whole body tensed in a way that immediately set off alarm bells in my head.

My heart skipped. Was she right when she said it was all too good?

No, we deserve all the happiness we were experiencing.

"Athena?" I said, turning to look at her more closely.

"I'm fine," she said but her voice was tight and I could see the strain around her eyes.

"You're not fine," my voice came out strained, my heart pounding against my chest. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

God please, it shouldn't be the baby.

"I just felt something," she said, her hand still pressed against her stomach. "It's probably nothing."

"What kind of something?" I demanded, panic rising in my chest.

"Just a twinge," she tried to smile but I could see past that smile, could see she didn't want to make me worry.

"Really Tristan, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

But I was already worrying, already thinking about all the things that could go wrong, about how she'd been in a fight just over a week ago, about how she'd taken hits to her ribs even if she'd protected her stomach.

We needed to visit the hospital, I needed to be sure.

I could see Orion trying to grasp what we were saying, could see the worry in his eyes too.

"Orion," I said, my voice sharp. "We need to go to the hospital."

"What?" Athena said. "Tristan, that's not necessary, I feel fine now."

Is she kidding me? Not necessary? We won't leave the hospital until a full body scan is done.

"I don't care," I said. "You felt something and we're getting it checked out, I'm not taking any chances with you or the baby."

"Tristan, you're overreacting," Athena tried again but I saw the fear in her eyes that told me she was worried too even if she didn't want to admit it.

"Hospital," I repeated to Orion. "Now."

Orion didn't argue, just changed direction and headed toward the nearest hospital, I saw him glancing in the rearview mirror every few seconds, his jaw tight with worry.

I was greatful he didn't try to talk me out of it, even if he did, I'm not sure I'd listen to him on this one.

Serah was glancing at Athena, worry evident on her face too.

"Sarah, can you call ahead?" Orion asked. "Let them know we're coming with a pregnant woman experiencing pain?"

"On it," Sarah answered, already pulling out her phone.

"I'm fine," Athena said again but her voice was shaking now. "Really, I don't think we need to do this."

"Let me decide that," I took her hands and squeezed it. "Please baby, just let me make sure you're both okay."

She looked at me and must have seen the terror I was barely holding back because she nodded. "Okay," I was glad she wasn't fighting about it.

The drive to the hospital took fifteen minutes but it felt like hours, every second that passed I kept imagining worst case scenarios, kept thinking about what we'd do if something was wrong with the baby.

Sarah had called ahead so when we pulled up to the emergency entrance there was already a nurse waiting with a wheelchair, I helped Athena into it despite her protests that she could walk.

"I'm taking no chances," I said firmly.

They wheeled her into an examination room and I stayed right beside her, holding her hand while Orion and Sarah waited outside with the kids.

A doctor came in within minutes, a woman in her forties with kind eyes and calm demeanor.

"I'm Dr. Sammy," she said. "I understand you're pregnant and experiencing some pain?"

"It was just a twinge," Athena answered. "Really, I think my fiancé is overreacting." My head and heart swelled when I heard her words.

She referred to me as her fiance, I think that was a very big mistake. Because right now all I want is to hear her call me her husband.

"Better to overreact than to ignore something important," the doctor voice brought me out from my thoughts. "How far along are you?"

"About three weeks," Athena said.

"And where exactly did you feel the pain?" the doctor asked.

Athena pointed to her lower abdomen. "Right here, it only lasted a few seconds."

"Any bleeding?" Dr. Sammy asked again.

"No," Athena said.

"Cramping?"

"No."

"Any other symptoms? Dizziness, nausea, anything unusual?"

"No, nothing," Athena responded carefully.

The Dr nodded and made some notes on her tablet. "Alright, I'd like to do an ultrasound just to make sure everything looks good, given that you're still very early in the pregnancy and you mentioned you were in a physical altercation recently."

"How did you know about that?" Athena asked.

"Your chart notes from your regular doctor," Yeap, we already forwarded everything to them. Can't take any chances. "It's important we keep track of any trauma during pregnancy."

A nurse came in and helped Athena lie back on the examination table, pulling up her shirt to expose her stomach.

I stood beside her, holding her hand and trying not to let her see how terrified I was.

Because I was fucking terrified and I know she was too.

The nurse squirted gel on Athena's stomach and Dr. Sammy picked up the ultrasound wand, pressing it against Athena's skin and moving it around while watching a screen that I couldn't see from my angle.

The room was quiet except for the sound of the ultrasound machine and I felt like I couldn't breathe, just waiting for the doctor to say something, anything.

After what felt like an eternity, Dr. Martinez smiled. "There we go," she said. "Strong heartbeat."

I felt my knees almost give out with relief.

"The baby's okay?" Athena asked, her voice trembling.

"The baby looks perfect," she replied, then paused, moving the wand around some more. "Actually, babies."

My brain stuttered to a halt. "What?"

"Babies," Dr. Martinez repeated, turning the screen so we could see. "Plural, you're having twins."

What? How's it possible?

Twins. I couldn't believe my ears.

We are expecting twin. Athena and I are going to be parents of not one, but two children.

Wow.

A large grin appeared on my face, I was so happy. I squeezed Athena hands with a smile.

I stared at the screen where I could now see two tiny blobs, each with a little flickering light that the doctor said was their heartbeats.

"Twins?" Athena whispered, her free hand going to her mouth.

"Twins," Dr. Sammy confirmed with a warm smile. "Both looking healthy and developing normally, the pain you felt was likely just your uterus stretching to accommodate two babies instead of one, it's completely normal especially this early on."

"We're having twins," I said, still trying to process the information.

"You're having twins," the doctor agreed. "Congratulations."

I looked at Athena and saw tears streaming down her face, I couldn't tell if they were happy tears or overwhelmed tears or both.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"I don't know," she said with a watery laugh. "Twins, Tristan, we're having two babies."

"I know," I said, sitting down heavily in the chair beside the examination table because my legs wouldn't hold me anymore. "Holy shit, we're having twins."

Dr. Sammy printed out some images from the ultrasound and handed them to us. "I want you to take it easy for the next few weeks," she said to Athena.

"No strenuous activity, plenty of rest, and I want to see you back here in two weeks for a follow up, twin pregnancies require more monitoring than single pregnancies so we'll be keeping a close eye on you."

"Okay," Athena said, still staring at the ultrasound images.

"The pain you felt today is normal," Dr. Martinez continued. "But if you experience any bleeding, severe cramping, or anything else that concerns you, come back immediately, don't wait."

"We will," I promised.

After the doctor left, Athena and I just sat there for a moment, both of us staring at the ultrasound pictures of our babies.

"Two," Athena said softly. "We're going to have two babies."

"Are you happy about it?" I asked, needing to know what she was feeling.

"I'm terrified," she admitted. "But yes, I'm happy, I think, I don't know, ask me again when I'm not in shock." I leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"We can do this," I said. "We'll figure it out together."

"Two babies, Tristan," she said again like she still couldn't believe it. "Two cribs, two of everything, twice the diapers, twice the feedings."

"Twice the love," I added. "Twice the joy."

She looked at me and smiled, a real genuine smile that made my chest feel tight. "Yeah," she said. "Twice the love."

We made our way out to the waiting room where Orion and Sarah immediately stood up when they saw us, the worry on their faces was evident.

"Everything okay?" Orion asked, coming over to Athena.

"Everything's fine," Athena said, then looked at me with that smile that i love seeing on her face. "Should we tell them?"

"Tell us what?" Sarah asked, her eyes going between us.

I pulled out the ultrasound pictures and handed them to Orion. "We're having twins."

Orion stared at the images, his mouth falling open. "Twins?"

"Twins," Athena confirmed.

Sarah squealed and threw her arms around Athena, careful not to squeeze too hard. "Oh my god, twins! That's amazing!"

Orion was still staring at the ultrasound pictures, a huge grin spreading across his face. "I'm going to be an uncle to twins," he said. "This is incredible."

"Uncle times two," Lily piped up, having heard the commotion. "Does that mean two babies to play with?"

"That's exactly what it means," Sarah told her.

Lily started jumping up and down with excitement while Liam looked confused but happy that everyone else was happy.

"How are you feeling?" Orion asked Athena, his big brother protectiveness kicking in. "Are you okay? Is everything really alright?"

"I'm fine," Athena assured him. "The doctor said the pain I felt was just normal stretching, nothing to worry about."

"But you need to take it easy," I added. "Doctor's orders, no strenuous activity and lots of rest."

"I can do that," Athena said.

We headed back to Orion's house and the whole drive was filled with excited chatter about the twins.

Sarah was already planning a baby shower and talking about how we'd need twice as much of everything.

Orion was grinning like an idiot and kept saying he couldn't believe he'd have two nieces or nephews or one of each.

When we got back to the house, Sarah insisted on making a celebration dinner even though we'd just had the big thank you dinner the night before.

"This is different," she said. "We're celebrating the twins and the engagement, this calls for something special."

While she cooked, Athena and I sat on the couch, her leaning against me with my hand on her stomach where our two babies were growing.

"Are you really okay with this?" she asked quietly. "With twins, I mean, that's a lot more than we were planning for."

"I'm more than okay with it," I said honestly. "I'm thrilled, scared out of my mind but thrilled."

"Me too," she admitted. "I keep thinking about how we're going to manage two babies at once, but then I remember we're not doing it alone, we have Orion and Sarah right there, we have each other, we'll figure it out."

"We will," I agreed. "And that house has plenty of room for two nurseries if we need them, or we can put them together, whatever works best."

"I like the idea of them sharing a room," Athena said. "At least when they're little, I want them to be close, to always have each other."