Hannah
I couldn’t believe Brian and Michelle were going to miss seeing their child for the first time.

Michelle had a one-time only meeting with someone who wanted to buy some of her designs from her, and Brian had a meeting
with Larry that he and the rest of the band couldn’t get out of – I hadn’t cared enough to ask what the meeting was about because I
was too pissed off over the fact that they weren’t going to make it today. Today was the first ultrasound, the first time we would see
the baby and hear its heartbeat and they were going to miss it. I hadn’t wanted to go alone, so I’d asked Erin to come with me.

Erin and I were sitting in the waiting room at Doctor Ferguson’s OB-GYN practice. Erin was minding her own business, playing
around on her phone but my nerves were getting the better of me. My right leg was bouncing rapidly, my hands were wringing
together in my lap, I was chewing my bottom lip and looking around the waiting room at all of the other women.

Some of them seemed to be in their early stages of pregnancy, some of them were a lot further on than I was and some of the
women were already mothers who were cradling tiny, sleeping babies in their arms.

“Hey,” Erin spoke, placing her hand on my bouncing leg to still it. I looked at her with wide, questioning eyes but didn’t say anything
“Relax,” She smiled softly “Everything is going to be fine, you’re going to get cute little pictures of the baby to give to Brian and
Michelle tonight at the party,”

“You’re right,” I sighed “You’re totally right, but I can’t help but think that we’re going to go in here and find out that something is
horribly wrong,” I ran a hand over my face and groaned quietly “Everything has been fine up until this point, I just have a horrible
feeling that we’re about to be thrown a curve-ball here,”

Before Erin could say anything else, my name was called from the nurse in the doorway.

~~~~

I was on the bed, wearing only my panties, socks and a sheet to keep my dignity somewhat intact. Doctor Ferguson had already
squirted the cold gel onto my swollen abdomen and started to spread it around with the transducer and he was clicking some
buttons on the machine but he hadn’t said anything yet.

Erin was sort of leaned over me, using her right hand to play with my hair and using her left hand to hold my hand reassuringly
while she whispered calming things to me to try and keep me calm. The silence from Doctor Ferguson was more unnerving than I
could have ever imagined.

“Could we hurry this up?” I asked through clenched teeth “I really have to pee,” I informed Erin and Doctor Ferguson when they
both gave me confused looks. It should have been obvious that I wanted to get this over and done with already; they really do
make you drink an awful lot of water before you come in here.

The doctor moved the transducer around a little bit more before he smiled suddenly, pressed a couple of buttons on the screen,
typed something in on the keyboard and then grabbed the Doppler and pressed it against my abdomen, also. Suddenly, the sound
of the baby’s heartbeat filled the room.

“Is that the heartbeat?” Erin asked, a smile spreading across her face.

“That’s it.” Doctor Ferguson confirmed.

“Oh my God!” I whispered excitedly, a smile of my own breaking out over my face.

“Wow!” Erin chuckled “This is so cool.”

He moved the Doppler the slightest touch and the heartbeat changed. Doctor Ferguson frowned and looked back to the screen.

“Have we talked about the possibility of multiple births?” He asked.

“Why don’t we take care of this one, and should I get pregnant again, I’ll hold onto your card, okay?”

“No,” He chuckled “I’m getting three separate heartbeats.”

“Three?” I asked, shocked “You were worried that I wouldn’t even have one!”

“We doctors are wrong all the time,” He laughed.

“Apparently,”

“Well,” Erin cleared her throat “So, are-are you sure that there are three?!”

“Definitely,” He nodded, turning the screen around and pointing to three separate heads on the screen.

“Oh my God…” I groaned “Oh my God, oh my God!” I almost yelled “So I-I mean – so – in a few months I’m going to have three full
grown babies inside of me?!” I looked frantically from Doctor Ferguson to Erin “It’s going to be like one of those log rides where
they just come shooting out!”

“Actually,” Ferguson started “Giving birth to three babies isn’t all that different from giving birth to one.”

~~~~

Third Person

After the appointment, Hannah seemed to slip into a state of shock which meant that Erin had to drive the two of them home.

Erin was driving the car a little bit too fast, but she was shocked herself. She could only imagine what was going through Hannah’s
head right now. While she drove, she gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles were starting to turn white. Hannah
was sitting in the passenger seat, her right hand held one of the copies of the sonogram picture of the triplets, and her left hand
was draped almost protectively over her new, week-old baby bump.

Neither of them had said anything since they left the hospital. Hannah had too much that she could possibly say but couldn’t bring
herself to actually say anything, and Erin didn’t know what she could possibly to say to make this situation any better.



“What am I supposed to do?” Hannah muttered, almost to herself, but Erin sighed with relief and looked away from the road and
over to her for a moment.

“You’re going to go home and do as much research on being pregnant, and birthing triplets as you possibly can before your brain
melts, then we’re going to eat dinner, clean up and get ready to go to your parents party tonight,”

“I can’t do that,” She insisted immediately “Brian and Michelle are going to be there, and they’re going to want to know how it went
today,”

“They’re the parents!” Erin laughed, a little louder than she meant to “They need to know how it went today, and you’re going to tell
them tonight at the party,”

“Why?” Hannah whined “Why do I have to do it at the party?”

“Because,” E sighed “It’s the perfect opportunity, and it’s the earliest you’re going to see them,”

~~~~

Erin had some errands to run before it was time to eat dinner and get ready for the party, so she dropped Hannah off at home,
grabbed her own car keys and headed out for a few hours.

While Erin was out, Hannah set herself up in the living room with her laptop, pregnancy books and pamphlets that she had been
given at the end of her appointment. She was going to take Erin’s advice and use the few hours of spare time that she had today to
research as much as she possibly could.

A week ago, when Hannah woke up in the morning and suddenly it was very obvious that she was pregnant, she couldn’t help but
worry that she was much larger than other pregnant women. Luckily, though, the more she researched – she realised that she
wasn’t all that large for only being twelve weeks, considering that she was carrying three babies instead of one. From what she
could see, being pregnant with triplets wasn’t all that different from being pregnant with just the one baby. Sure, she would be
carrying around more weight and she would most likely have to eat a lot more to compensate for the extra kiddies, but it didn’t look
like it was going to be much more difficult.

Hannah’s fingers nervously hovered over the keys of her laptop, ready to type something else into the search bar. She wasn’t
sure if it was such a good idea to be doing this, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep her mind as at ease as it was now
without knowing some of the risks.

She dropped her head backwards and looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh before turning her attention back to the laptop and
tying into the search bar; Risks of being pregnant with triplets.

Hundreds of results showed up, but on instinct she clicked on the first link and was taken to BabyCenter – a webpage that she
had visited more than once already today. Now, though, she was on a page titled; ‘Pregnant with Multiples: Potential
Complications’

“Are multiple pregnancies riskier than single pregnancies?” Hannah read aloud from the page, her voice low and mumbling “While
the great majority of multiple pregnancies result in healthy babies, any pregnancy with twins or ore is considered a high risk.” She
continued to read, snapping her eyes shut and inhaling sharply at the sentence that she just read “The more babies you’re
carrying, the higher your risk of complications. The greatest risk is that you’ll deliver the babies prematurely, which increases their
chances of health problems… fuck.”

As she continued to read, she discovered that ninety-percent of triplets are born before the thirty-seventh week. The average
triplet pregnancy only reaches thirty-three weeks.

“What are other potential complications of having multiples?” She read aloud again “Twins and triplets often don’t have a chance to
reach a healthy weight before they’re born. While the average single baby weighs seven pounds at birth, the average twin weight
five-point-five pounds. Triplets typically weigh four pounds each. Babies born at under five-point-five pounds are considered to
have a low birth weight.” She sighed heavily and rubbed her temples with her fingertips, but continued to read on “Babies with low
birth weights are likely to have health problems even if they weren’t born prematurely. Low-birth-weight-babies often have trouble
breathing on their own. They may not be fully prepared to fight infections, control their body temperature or out on weight.”

For these reasons, apparently, almost all low-birth-weight-babies would have to spend time in a neonatal intensive care unit before
going home.

She kept reading about how she herself could wind up with preeclampsia – which was dangerous to her and the babies.
Gestational diabetes was also more common in women carrying more than one baby, but as soon as she read the words
‘Placental abruption’ she slammed the laptop closed and shoved it off of her lap and onto the sofa next to her.

“This isn’t happening,” She muttered, covering her face with both of her hands.

Her stomach suddenly churned violently and she found herself sprinting from the living room, through the apartment and into the
bathroom. She dropped to her knees in front of the toilet and empties the contents of her stomach into the porcelain bowl. She
didn’t know if her sudden vomiting was from the pregnancy, or from what she had just read – maybe it was a mixture of both.

~~~~

Erin returned from running her errands and struggled through the door with her shopping bags and the bag of fast food weighing
her down.

As she walked into the kitchen and dumped everything on the kitchen island, she realised that there was no noise coming from
anywhere inside the apartment and she quickly felt her stomach clench.

“Hannah?” She called out, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room.

She called out her name again when she saw the books, pamphlets and laptop abandoned on the couch, and without a second
thought she opened the laptop and it flickered to life again, immediately showing the last page Hannah had been on. Erin’s eyes
roamed across the page, taking in bits and pieces of the information that had no doubt terrified Hannah to her core. She clicked
‘Next’ and was taken to a second page of information that she instantly hoped Hannah hadn’t seen. It was about the chances of
losing one or more of the babies and how before ultrasounds existed most of these losses would go unnoticed and they were
sometimes referred to as ‘The Disappearing Twin’. Erin felt sick to her stomach and slowly closed the laptop with a sigh, hoping,
praying to something that Hannah hadn’t read too much into the risks of multiple pregnancies.

Suddenly, there was a strained, high-pitched and somewhat desperate sounding ‘FUCK!’ squealed from Hannah’s bedroom. Upon
hearing the noise, Erin called out to Hannah again and threw herself off of the sofa and rushed towards Hannah’s bedroom, only
stopping herself when she reached the door and could hear the sounds of gentle struggle.

“Hannah?” Erin asked softly, easing the door open a little so that she could see inside.

She watched at Hannah tossed her dress for the party tonight onto her bed and groaned angrily while running both of her hands
through her wet hair.

“Come on in,” Hannah sighed, grabbing her silk robe off of the bed and wrapping it around herself.

Erin let herself into the bedroom, but Hannah had her back to her and was rubbing her hands up and down her face, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.

“Han…” Erin trailed off gently, reaching out and touching Hannah’s shoulder “What’s going on?” She asked.

That was all it took.

Hannah turned to Erin and looked at her with wide, pleading eyes that were filled with tears while her bottom lip trembled while she
tried to hold back her tears.

“Come here,” Erin whispered, opening her arms for Hannah to come in for a hug, and as a sob tore from the bottom of Hannah’s
chest, she dropped herself into the arms of her best friend and let her hold her while she cried.

Erin didn’t say anything. She didn’t ask any questions, she didn’t push Hannah to say anything. Instead, she just cradled her best
friend against her chest, played with her hair and swayed softly from side to side while she cried. Erin knew that she was crying
because she was scared, and she was right. Hannah was scared about everything. She was scared about telling Brian and
Michelle that they were having triplets tonight at the party, she was worried about the rest of the pregnancy and the things that
could happen to her or the babies, but she was also worried about the possibility of losing one or more of the babies and tearing
precious life away from her brother and sister-in-law.

Eventually, the sobs subsided but Hannah remained cradled against Erin’s chest, listening to her heart beating and her steady
breathing and tried to match herself up with her and calm down.

“I’m so scared,” She murmured into Erin’s t-shirt.

“I know,” Erin whispered, nodding.

“What if something goes horribly wrong?” Hannah asked, looking up at Erin’s face to get a reading on her “What if something
happens to the babies or me?”

“Hannah,” Erin smiled softly “I’ve known you forever, and you’re the strongest woman that I know and some of the things I have
seen you battle through just proves to me that you can get through anything, so whatever happens during the next six months –
you’re going to be fine, you and those babies. You’re all Haner’s and there isn’t anything you can’t do.”

A smile tugged at Hannah’s lips and she stood up straight so that she was finally eye-level with Erin, and slowly she leaned in and
pressed her lips against hers in a tender kiss. It only lasted a second before she pulled away and hugged herself back around
Erin. Erin smiled widely and rested her cheek on the top of Hannah’s head.

“It’s been a while since you did that,” Erin pointed out, swaying from side to side again.

“I know,” Hannah chuckled.

“Why now?” Erin asked.

“Because,” Hannah shrugged “It’s been a while since I did that,”

~~~~

The girls ate the takeout that Erin had brought home with her, while they watched TV and then it was time to get ready for the
party.

Hannah had showered while Erin was still out earlier on, so Erin took her time in the shower and then made her way to her
bedroom to style her hair, apply her makeup and put on her outfit for the party.

Hannah had been in her bedroom since Erin took her shower, she was getting herself ready for the party, but once Erin had
emerged from her own bedroom and was moving around the apartment and turning everything off before they went out – Hannah
still hadn’t come out.

“Hannah!” Erin called out happily “Come on, we gotta go!” She said “The car will be here in a minute!”

“Can you come in here and help me with this?!” Hannah called from her bedroom.

Erin dropped her purse onto the couch and hurried into Hannah’s bedroom where she found her struggling with the zip on the back
of her dress.

“I don’t know if this is going to go up,” Hannah muttered “I think I might be too big for my dress now,”

Hannah would be heartbroken if she couldn’t wear her dress tonight. She had bought it months ago – before she agreed to be a
surrogate – and she had fallen in love with her outfit, but now she didn’t know if she would actually be able to wear it to the party.

“Alright,” Erin chuckled, making her way over to Hannah and moving them both over to the wall “Brace yourself against the wall,
suck in a breath, pull in the bump and I’m going to haul the zipper up, alright?”

“Alright,” Hannah nodded with a laugh, and did as Erin told her.

Immediately, the zip was all the way up and Erin was secured into her dress.

“Fuck,” Hannah breathed, turning around to face Erin “It’s pretty snug in here,” She moved over to the mirror and looked at herself
from every angle.

Her bump was secure but obvious, her breasts were bulging out the top of the dress and her ass was bigger than she ever could
have imagined.

“My ass!” She exclaimed “Look at the size of my ass!”

“I’m looking at the size of your ass!” Erin laughed “And your tits, hold shit, look at them!”

“Oh my God!” Hannah groaned, embarrassed as she covered her face with her hands “It’s a good thing I’m coming home with you
tonight,”

“Damn right it is, babe,” Erin winked at her.

Before either of them could say anything else, the buzzer sounded through the apartment.

“That’ll be our ride!” Erin yelped, rushing back out of the room “Come on, we’re going to be late!”

~~~~

Hannah

Erin and I had been at the party for a little over an hour. We had turned up in plenty of time because my parents sent a car for us
just to make sure that we weren’t late – late arrivals were something we were well known for in the Avenged family.

When we arrived, the only other people at our table were Arin and Kimberley. They had both only been part of the family for a few
years, but they fit right in and they had both been accepted right away, and the way we all acted around one another you would
have thought we had known them our whole lives. It was also nice to have a couple in the same age group as Erin and I because
the rest of the band was all older than the two of us.

The next people to arrive, were Johnny and Lacey and they immediately livened the whole party up even more than it already was.
Next, Zack and Meghan arrived and I was starting to get antsy because everyone was asking about the sonogram today but Brian
and Michelle weren’t here yet so I couldn’t give away any details, plus, the longer my brother and his lovely wife took to get here,
the more sick I started to feel.

I was in the middle of typing out a text to Brian when two large hands covered my eyes, making me jump and squeal a little.

“Guess who,” A rough voice whispered in my ear.

Matt.

A huge smile broke out across my face as I grasped his hands and removed them from my face so that I could hug him.

“Damn, you’re getting big and pregnant,”

I smacked his arm and stepped closer to him.

“Mattie!” I greeted, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing myself against him while he wrapped his strong arms around
my much-smaller-than-him frame and hugged me tightly “Where’s your date?” I asked.

“I’m holding her,” He smirked.

“Oh no!” I laughed “I came here with E,”

“Well, sweetheart,” He laughed, turning me in the direction of the bar where Erin was in a passionate lip-lock with Dale “Looks like
your original date ditched you for someone with a penis,”

“Damn her,” I pouted sarcastically “Looks like you get to have me for the rest of the night,”

He stiffened slightly against me, before relaxing again and I deemed it safe enough for me to remove myself from him and sit back
down at the table – pretending that I didn’t notice the way he reacted when my last words slipped from my mouth wrongly. Matt
took his seat beside me, greeted everyone else who were still sitting at the table and not getting drinks or dancing, and then he
turned to face me while I typed out the rest of my message to Brian asking him where the hell they were.

“You look nervous,” Matt pointed out “Did something happen today?” He asked “At your appointment?”

“No,” I answered a little too quickly “How did the meeting with Larry and the band go?” I asked.

“Fine,” He shrugged “But you have to stop lying to me, Hannah,” He warned carefully “Something happened and I can tell that it’s
stressing you out,” I sighed “The stress isn’t good for the baby, so you can tell me and practice telling Brian and Michelle before
they get here,”

I sighed, and realised that he had a point. I hadn’t actually said the words aloud yet and I realised that I was probably going to
choke on my words when I tried to tell Brian and Michelle.

“Babies,” I corrected Matt “The stress isn’t good for the babies,”

“W-what?” He stuttered, a shocked smile tugging at his lips.

I leaned in close so that my mouth was right by his ear and I wouldn’t have to yell over the music and risk anyone else at the table
hearing me.

“There are three babies,” I told him “Triplets, Michelle and Brian are going to have three kids,”

Notes

Hi guys! I'm so sorry that this has taken me fifteen days to update this story, but I've had a bit of writer block again. I SEEM TO BE FINALLY OVER IT, THOUGH!

I shall be updating this story again within the next few days hopefully, because this chapter was supposed to be longer but I decided to do it in two parts like the last time!

The triplets are still in the story!
More to come!
Enjoy!!

Erin's outfit : here
Hannah's outfit: here
~ LMV