Chapter 12 Carrying Twins

"Are you alright?" Hunter called through the door after Aria had mysteriously fled in the middle of eating breakfast. 

Aria almost groaned, wiping her mouth that now tasted distinctively of grape pancakes. 

"This all your fault," she told him, walking out the door again.

 "How?" Hunter asked her confused.

 Aria glared at him, "You got me pregnant, the one time we don't use protection and this is the result," she grumbled. 

Hunter just smiled as she took a seat, he knew that even though Aria was pretending it was a bad thing she was ecstatic. Maybe twenty was a little too young, but neither of the Zions would change their decision for the world. 

"We have a doctor's appointment soon and then you have lunch with Alicia," Hunter told her, staring disapprovingly at her still dressed in her night clothes. 

"Don't mention her name," Aria grumbled. As soon as she had found out about the pregnancy Alicia had been so excited, claiming that she would be the best great auntie ever. Aria hadn't worked out anyway to get her out of her child's life. They were due for their scan it was fifteen weeks and they were hoping to find out the gender this time, they had another at ten weeks but it was to early. 

"I'm really happy at the moment," Hunter told Aria, giving her a kiss. 

This was enough to make Aria smile, "Me too," she agreed.  

Aria hated ultrasounds they seemed to do a lot without actually telling you what they were doing.

 "Just excuse me a minute," the nurse told them not explaining why. 

Aria reached out to grab Hunter's hand, "It'll be fine," he promised his eyes on the screen that showed their child. A doctor came in to have a look, leaving Aria more worried than before.

 "You're expecting twins," he announced quite suddenly and both Aria and Hunter looked at each other in shock. 

"Now they're identical and they share a placenta," he said after a few moments giving them time to recover. 

"Is that bad?" Hunter asked. 

"No it just means they run the risk of developing twin to twin transfusion, which is an unequal flow of blood to each twin, which affects growth," the doctor explained to them, "but don't worry it only happens to one out of ten. You'll just need to have scans every two weeks from 16 weeks to 24 weeks. Its also normal in all identical twins that one won't grow to the same size which I'm already seeing so you're probably going to be looking at an early birth before 37 weeks as your smaller twin may stop growing." Aria nodded, looking down at her stomach for the first time afraid for the life in side. Hunter gently squeezed her hand, trying to reassure her it would be okay.

 "So would you like to know the gender?" the doctor questioned them. Both Hunter and Aria nodded eagerly the seriousness of their condition forgotten in their excitement. 

"Looks like a girl," he informed them.  

Hunter and Aria were scared at first at the thought of having twins, all they responsibility heaped onto them but they quickly decided it was a blessing. The first thing they focused on doing was setting up the nursery meaning Aria's salon station had to gone.

 Which was fine since Hunter C had just lost his job at the bistro after they had to make cutbacks, so he quickly agreed to take over Aria's business until she was ready to come back. 

They could easily afford to live off the fashion designs Aria was selling and Hunter's book royalties. 

"What do you think about Cameron?" Aria asked one night. 

Hunter made a sound, "You can't turn down every name," Aria snapped. 

"I'm not," Hunter protested. 

Aria just gave him a look, studying the name book again, "How about we name one each," she proposed. 

Hunter considered if for a second, "Alright," he agreed. 

Every name that the other one came up with they hated, so finding two names they both liked would be a mission. Aria decided on Cameron, Hunter on Violet. Neither really liked the name the other chose and while Aria was very vocal about it, Hunter was careful not to be. The hormones were getting to Aria and the fact the twins had developed early signs of TTTS which meant weekly ultrasounds. She had had just about had enough of Alicia and the family and was prepared to stamp on her phone. She didn't want them near her children, and Hunter was the only one stopping her from telling them. 

They finally finished the nursery and looked at their handy work with pride, two cots stood waiting to be filled. 

Aria's specialist had carried out a procedure that would hopefully help the second twin, but he wasn't happy at how small it was looking. By 34 weeks it had all but stopped growing, they wanted to see if they could hold out a little bit in the hopes it would continue its growth but no such luck. Aria was booked in to be induced at 35 weeks, lucky for them everything was prepared. 

"Call as soon as their born," Constance, Hunter C and Buck demanded. All of them were already parents so they knew how it went. Aria was at least glad her babies would have mates to play with. 

"It's going to be okay, isn't it?" Aria asked Hunter, before they left. Hunter pulled her into a kiss, "Of course, their confident." 

Aria hesitated she loved her unborn children more than she thought possible she couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she would feel if she lost one of them.