He was definitely glad she had, the song was good, the melody beautiful. The voice comforting to him. Some day he should play with her, if just for fun. Sure he knew he wasn't as good as she was but he was a fair hand with a fiddle and it'd be an experience to play with some like that. "I'm glad you did, it's an amazing piece Xavia." And it would always be theirs. Something between the two of them he could always remember.

"I know, it's just new to me. Or old, very old." He'd not been afraid since he was a kid. "Since my accident I've not had the luxury to be scared. I'd forgotten how bad it was." It wasn't something he liked to think about, liked to revisit. Childhood had pretty much been denied to him, something he knew Xavia understood and even then it was hard to talk about. Some things just refused to let him discuss them. "I know though, that I want to give this a proper try, I want to be happy. I'm just glad you've let me do that with you." Happiness was also pretty new to the Scot, a refreshing change from the usual grey his life was normally.

The kiss, the embrace, it was perfect. The kids she was carrying certainly agreed too, from the feel of it. It was good, no it was amazing. Somehow more intense than the kisses they'd shared at his apartment, while being so gentle and caring. If he stayed like this much longer he lose himself in the experience and yet, that didn't seem like a bad thing.

Breaking his lips away from her reluctantly, he stared into her eyes. Yep, no where he wanted to be more right now. She had him in the palm of her hand. "Remember the first time you asked me to sleep next to you. Just that and no funny business? I think I have my answer now." He could do with the sleep, she could probably too frankly. "I could do with a nap lass you want to snuggle up and just nap with me?" 

Xavia continued to just... be there for him the way he had been there for her. She understood his pain even if she had not experienced it, and she wouldn't easily scare away... Nono, not after all that had happened. Her eyes met his when the kiss ended, and she gave the kind of smile that was reassuring. “I understand, Artair.” That was directed at the words he expressed about being frightened.

And then he asked her about just sleeping with him... It seemed now he understood why she had asked him because he asked her back. She nodded softly. “You can sleep next to me... You don't have to ask...” She took his hand and let her fingers do the thing his sometimes did to hers that inadvertently got her gears going, though her intention wasn't to seduce him, but rather comfort.

She led him up to the third floor again after turning off the tape, and right into her room, though it was clear that climbing so many stairs was starting to affect her. She was tired.

She lay down under the filmy looking canopy and patted the mattress behind her. Her room was comfortable looking, more home style than luxury. She preferred to live country style than city, it seemed, and that was reflected throughout her old home. Assuming he lay down with her, she snuggled back against him and sighed.

More cramps gripped at her and she didn't say anything about them, though he might notice the change in her breathing pattern as she worked through the pain. It looked like she might need to take time off all work for a while the way things were going. Still, she tried just to relax as they lay together.

“Artair?” she said, sounding sleepy.

Good, he needed sleep right now, proper sleep. Not the kind gotten from the bottle of a bottle or some over the counter meds. Artair had been running himself into the ground for too long, the pain and exhaustion was catching up with him. God he should know better, even if he'd been angry he'd undone a couple of moths of work strengthening his heart in a few nights. At this rate a heart attack wasn't just a possibility, it was a certainty.

"Thanks, some sound sleep is just what the doctor ordered," his voice light as she lead him to her bedroom. It, was nice he guessed. Familiar, almost like the homes back on his little island, comfortable and lived in. Mostly his eyes just focused on the bed. The woman on it too but mostly just the bed.

Reclining on it with Xavia cuddling in beside him, he was drifting off almost straight away. Comfy, warm and dangerously soft. Everything a good bed needed to be. By the time she said anything he was half asleep, the words took a little time to drag him back into something resembling consciousness.

"Hmm yes, something the matter?" Couldn't be too serious could it? The babies weren't due for another few months and the worst of her health woes had been dealt with by Doc. "Havin' trouble sleeping?" Chances are she was just wanting to talk, now that they were cozy.

"..." she didn't answer, her eyes popped open. That... was no cramp.

Okay, no need to panic, she thought... This could happen to anyone in her situation. She didn't dare move right then. "Rest well," she murmured, not wanting to bother just yet. No sense in freaking him out if it was just Braxton Hicks or something, right?

Xavia decided to continue to rest, dozing off and on. About three hours later, she was pretty sure she was going into actual labor. The contractions were coming like clockwork every fifteen minutes or so at first, then started to get closer together. She finally moved off the bed when the pain started to intensify. "Oh god, Artair," she ground out and worked on breathing, not really in panic mode... Not yet... It could be stopped, right? Right??? That thought fled the moment her water broke. "Artair..." she repeated again, knowing he was probably half asleep and trying to wake someone up in a calm manner didn't always work the first time. And if he still didn't wake up? She yelled, "ARTAIR!"

Oh god, but it was early! Almost three months early. That was normal for twins, right? They usually came early... She didn't know, but it hurt and she couldn't stop it from happening.

Startling awake at the shout, it was pretty obvious why she'd woken him. Well, seems like the bairns were eager to get out an see the world, the were what three moths early? This would be a rough delivery, twins were bad enough with them being premature. Doctor mode kicked in before he could freak out, "Right, I'll have a car here soon, just breathe and try to stay sitting."

One short phone call later and he was leading her slowly downstairs to the waiting car that would be there soon. "You're gonna be fine lass, the nearest hospital has a great neo-natal unit, one of the best in the state, your little'uns will be fine." Hopefully. With kids born this early it was always a hedged bet whether they'd survive with a normal pregnancy. Twins just added extra layers of issues. Like them being even smaller than average and having overall weaker systems to deal with a complicated pregnancy.

Thank god Haven town cars were always on hand then, they were soon bundling into one and racing towards their destination, him trying to keep her comfortable while her waves of pain came and went. Not an easy task for anyone, harder still for a man who wasn't exactly the most emotional person ever.

"Not long till we get there, you're doing fine. Hey, after tonight you're little family will have grown a wee bit more." Not to mention how excited he imagined Delilah would be with finding out she was a big sister. That'd be a treat. "Just hold out a wee longer."

She was in rough shape, she wanted to push before they even made it to delivery but she couldn't. Both of the wee ones were breech, there were plenty of complications that were going on, but she delivered two mostly healthy little girls in a short amount of time without being able to get epidural or anything. They wanted out. The babies were identical, though one was slightly bigger than the other, and they were tiny little things that needed to be incubated and under observation, but it looked like they didn't have too many issues.

Xavia wasn't well afterwards, and it most certainly happened from the stress that had happened. By the end of it all, the two black haired babies were safe and sound, and all she wanted to do was see them for herself. She was too tired to say much for a time, in a lot of pain, and running a little bit of a fever.

"We gotta stop meeting like t'is," she joked tiredly at one point, looking pretty well done. Then they finally gave her something that would actually work for her, painkiller wise.

They were named Alanna Rose and Alisha Rue, and the father was intentionally left off of their birth certificates with a lie about not knowing their father. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with him and didn't want him near her babies. Ever. They were hers. End of story.

---

At some point, they let her see the babies, and she didn't even care how they had come to be, there was the fiercest look of love in her eyes toward each of her daughters and she murmured vows to protect them always. She glanced over to Artair and gave a tired smile from the wheelchair she sat in, her fingers lightly caressing a tiny little hand. "I owe you... You're literally my hero, you know t'at right?"

"Please don't call me that lass, I'm not a hero." Hero's didn't let anger control them, or kill people in cold blood. Hero's weren't fundamentally broken and they always got the girl. Artair knew he wasn't any of those things. Christ he knew he wasn't even a good person by most accounts and too many people were looking at him as if he were.

"Let's be fair Xavia, out of the two of us, you're the most heroic. The proofs sitting right there in your hands." A difficult birth following a difficult pregnancy wasn't uncommon but the two bairns were healthy, if tiny, girls. Not a bad ending to the whole messed up ballad, it could have been much worse. Weird to have a happy ending in his life for once, they were few and far between for him. "Congrats, you're family just got that little bit bigger."

Looking over her and the children, he was glad he'd been able to share in something so, good. Way to much pain and violence lately. "Derek's going to freak that he wasn't her for the delivery, poor lad." He was very excited about the coming kids and not being able to be present for the moment of truth was going to suck for him.

Now it was just a barrage of tests, checks and procedures to make sure the kids were OK. Tough way to come into the world but they were mostly non invasive nowadays and frankly, a wee bit of discomfort now to ensure they were fit to take home was hardly the biggest sacrifice. 

"You are to me," she said softly. "You keep rescuing me somehow, and I keep giving you trouble." She turned her gaze to him. "T'ere are women having babies all t'e time... But t'ere aren't always guys who make a woman feel better when she hurts and sticks around even t'ough she is pregnant with someone else's baby, or in my case,
babies. You could have brushed me off, but you didn't. You wouldn't let me die and you certainly helped me wit' getting t'ese two born even if indirectly. I'd say you don't give yourself enough credit." She gave a tired smile and then turned her attention back to the two.

She whispered to them both, "I am sorry you had to come to us like t'is, sweet babies. But you're alright. I'm here..." Her lips pressed together, she was understandably emotional at the moment. She also looked scared... "I'll understand if t'is is too much for you."

And then she reluctantly let go of the tiny head and caressed the soft hair of one, then the other. She definitely didn't care who sired the two pretty little ones, she was in love with the pair just as much as she was her eldest. She looked at him and said, "I don't want to leave t'em but I am tired and a little hungry. Wanna help me back to my room?"

"Gotta be a pretty poor excuse for a man who'd let ya die lass. I'm just doing what's right, that's all. Doesn't make me heroic or good, just moral." One thing he was proud of was his ability to stick to his guns, stand by his moral compass come hell or high water. Only issue is his moral compass didn't exactly line up with most of societies. "But I get what you're saying, I'll keep it in mind."

Freaked out? A little, that evil little voice in his head was finally back, whispering it's poison. Strange that after everything, the worrying the life threatening fights and the stalker incident, it was seeing the bairns that did it. "It's tough lass, I honestly don't know how I feel. I do care about you, and them for that matter, but you need more than just that." Deserved more than that too, no doubt or misgivings for the future. "I'll need to do some soul searching, get my head in order and then we'll talk about it OK?"

"Now that I can do." Simple tasks were good right now, took away his mind from more pressing issues and made him focus. Plus, food. Food was good.

Offering a hand, it didn't take them long to get her comfily back in her room. "I know hospital food is hardly a treat, trust me but try to eat as much as you can. You'll need to energy." With hard birth's eating was usually the last thing a new mother wanted to do but it was the best way to build up strength again. That and sleep, plenty of it and as often as you could.

The fact that he actually needed to think about it still stung even if she understood. She didn't say anything else, she tried not to even wince at his words. She had brought it up, not him, she had given him the out. Would he really just let it all go, though? Xavia didn't know and she hoped to god not, he was more important in her life than he knew, better than he thought he was. It was all just overwhelming, wasn't it? She gave the babies both one last, loving caress on their soft hair, then she reluctantly pulled away to let him wheel her back to her room to try and eat....