After the frog incident, D’Arcy and I became even closer.  I didn’t think things could be any better.  We continued to date.  Even though he was busy at the hospital doing his research, D’Arcy still made time to spend with me.

Sometimes he met me at the park after he got off of work but before I went on stage.  We often ate there.  On one such date, D’Arcy challenged me to a grill-off.

“You really think you can grill better than I can?” I asked, laughing.

“I know I can,” he said confidently.  “I make the best hotdogs in town.”

“I prefer hamburgers.”

D’Arcy stuck out his tongue.  “No you don’t.  You like those fake burgers made with paste and sawdust and mashed together with rotten vegetables.”

“Ew.  And that’s not fair.  My veggie burgers are delicious!”

“Hotdogs for the win!”

“Yuck.  Processed meat in a tube.”

So we each grilled our own thing and then swapped to see whose was better.  It was a toss up.  I like hotdogs, but I love veggie burgers.  D’Arcy voted for his hotdogs, but I think he was just be contrary.  In the end it was a draw.

I know that D’Arcy had his own apartment in town, but he rarely stayed there once things became more serious between us.  He often told me that he’d waited so long to be with me, that he didn’t want to spend even a minute away from me.

“I like going to bed with you and waking up next to you,” he said.  I laughed and said that the excellent sex might have something to do with it, too.  “There is that,” he agreed.

I was so happy now that D’Arcy and I were together, I needed to tell my family about it.  The only problem was that I wasn’t sure how I would explain that he was a Fae Toy.

“Why should you tell them?” he asked me.  “It’s not like anyone besides you know.  People can’t tell.  Even fairies and witches can’t tell now that I have become more real.”

“But what if they see you switch?” I asked.  “You said it happens when you are stressed or tired?  Maybe my brother and sister will stress you out and then poof.  How will we explain that?”

“Don’t worry about it.  I’m not going to ‘poof’ as you say.”

I did worry about it, but in the end it didn’t matter.  I went to Twinbrook for a magic tour and sat my brother and sister down to let them know about my new happiness.

“You’re seeing someone?  That’s so great!” Sarah exclaimed.  I knew she’d be happy for me.

“Who is he?” Chris began interrogating me.

“I’ve known him for a long time,” I said.  “We went to college together.  He’s a scientist.”

“It isn’t that Alesondro, is it?”

“No.  His name is Dare.”

“I don’t like it,” Chris said.

“Stop teasing her, Chris,” Sarah stood up and smacked his head.  “It’s great that she found someone.”

“You’ll like him,” I said.  “I know you will.”

---

Unfortunately, Chris and Sarah didn’t get to meet D’Arcy until we got married.  And we ended up getting married rather quickly.

I hadn’t been feeling very well.  I was queasy a lot and extremely tired.  I thought I was getting the flu.  D’Arcy was great.  He stayed with me and made me soup and took care of me.  I started to feel better.

But then one day I came home after doing a show at the Karaoke Hut, I got dizzy and fainted.  I’d been fighting the dizziness during my show, but it stopped as I drove home.  When I came into the house, however, it returned.  This time I couldn’t fight it.

I came to to find D’Arcy standing over me.  “Wh…what happened?”

“You fainted,” he said.  He didn’t seem too concerned about it.  I sat up, feeling a bit fogged still.

“Am I sick?”

“I don’t think so,” he said.

“You don’t?”  I was confused.  Wasn’t a boyfriend supposed to get upset when his girlfriend fainted in front of him?  Shouldn’t he have poofed into his toy form?  Shouldn’t he be panicked and wanting to rush me to the hospital?

“Do I need a doctor?” I asked.  I put my hand to my head to see if I had a fever.  Then I took D’Arcy’s hand and he pulled me up.

“I am a doctor,” he said.  “And I think you’re just fine.  But maybe there’s something you haven’t told me?”  He looked at me expectantly.

“Huh?  You knew I had the flu.  You made soup.”

“No, silly.  I don’t think you had the flu.  Think about it Nat.  When was the last time you menstruated?”

“What?!”  I thought about it…had it been a month?  No wait, two months? Oh shit!

“You think I’m pregnant?”  D’Arcy nodded and his smile got huge.  “We’re going to have a baby?”

“I think so.  I’ve been suspicious since you were sick last week.  You were nauseous mostly in the morning.  You were fatigued and sore in your joints and breasts.  You had no fever.  Fainting sometimes happens when you are pregnant, too.”

“Oh my Sims!” I started feeling faint again.

“Is this ok?” D’Arcy asked, concerned.  “Do you want a baby?”

“I never thought about it,” I said.  “Do you want a baby?”

His smile got even bigger and his beautiful lavender eyes sparkled.   He put his hand over my still-flat stomach.  “I love babies and I love you.  There’s only one thing I want more than to have children with you.”

His smile and look of joy was infectious.  “What’s that?” I smiled, too.

“Natasha Fields, will you marry me?”

I stood there shocked as he got down on one knee and held my hand.  “I got this awhile ago,” he told me, pulling a small pouch out of his pocket.  He fumbled it open and then pulled out a simple ring with a shining diamond on it.

He slipped it on my finger.  “What do you think?  Will you marry me and make me the happiest guy in the entire Sim Universe?”

I said yes, of course.  Then I admit that I jumped around and squealed like a little girl.  Finally, I threw my arms around him and whispered yes again into his ear.  As we hugged, I felt more loved than I ever had before.

“I can’t believe we’re going to get married,”  I said once he released me.

“And we’re going to have a baby, too,” he said.

We were married in a private ceremony with just my family present.  Chris and Sarah wondered why D’Arcy didn’t have anyone present, but he told them that his parents had died when he was young.  “Natasha is my only family,”  he told them.  This seemed to please them both.

“Well you’ll have a large family now,” Sarah said.  Chris nodded.  “Large families run in our family,” he agreed.  “Look at me.  I’m the father of five!”

“I always thought it would be me,” Sarah said.  “But Shayla and I stopped at two.  The boys were more than enough for the two of us.”

“Let’s take this one baby at a time,” I said.  “And I need to get married first, so that this baby isn’t born out of wedlock!”

As a wedding gift to me, and to make it more baby friendly, D’Arcy arranged to have my ugly little house remodeled.  He added a second floor and enlarged the lower level to accommodate an extra room.

“I know you love living here,” he told me.  “You’ve worked hard on your garden and like being off the beaten path.”

“I like being a short walk from the beach, too,” I said, remembering our time together fishing and swimming in the water.

“Well, this way we can stay in the house you love, but it will be more suitable for our growing family.”

I loved the new additions to the house.  When it was finished, it was no longer ugly.  I thought it was absolutely perfect.

The best part was the front porch.  D’Arcy had found two old rocking chairs which he placed there.  I loved sitting together with him out on the porch.  We’d just rock and look at the stars and talk.

“I love you,” I told him as we sat there after our wedding.

“I love you more,” he said.

---

I would be lying if I said I didn’t have concerns about being pregnant with D’Arcy’s child.  I tried not to let them show around my husband, but I couldn’t help but wonder if his being a Fae Toy would affect the baby.

D’Arcy told me I was perfectly healthy and he assured me that everything was progressing as normal, but since he was a researcher and not really a medical doctor, I had to go to the hospital to be absolutely certain.

I think my doctors there thought I was a hypochondriac because every little thing set me off and had me driving over for an impromptu check up.  And then one of my concerns actually became a problem.

“Hmmm,” the doctor said as he ran the little wand over my expanded belly.  This one the device that let you hear the heartbeats.

“What?” I asked, panicking.  “What is it.”

“Listen to this,” he said, and turned up the monitor.  I heard the heart beating fast and loud.  It sounded like a small drum chorus.

“Is that bad?” I asked.

“No.  But I think we better do an ultrasound.”

“Ok,” I agreed.  I tried to breathe easy to stop myself from hyperventilating.  I had no idea what had concerned the doctor.

Once he had set up the ultrasound and spread the goop on my belly, he turned the monitor toward me so I could see it.

“Ah.  There they are,” said the doctor.  “Just what I thought.”

“What?  What do you see?”

The doctor pointed out the head and the heart beating.  I barely saw them but nodded like I knew exactly what I was looking at.  “And there is another heart beating.”

Twins.  Oh Lord!

It figured that I’d be having multiples.  Chris had multiples and Sarah might as well have.  It explained why I was getting so big.  I’d been complaining of how much weight I was gaining to D’Arcy.  He just assured me that it was normal.  Now I knew differently.

I came home and waited for D’Arcy to get off of work.  When I told him the big news, he was excited.

“Two babies! That’s just double the excitement and love I feel for you and our children now!  Two!”

“It’s a lot of work,” I cautioned.

“Don’t worry.  We can handle anything.”

Privately, I wasn’t so sure.  When I was alone, I worried.  Finally, I called my sister.

“Sarah, can you come to Moonlight Falls?  I have something I want to tell you and I want to do it in person.  I need to see you.”

“Jeez, Nat.  You’re getting so big!” Sarah greeted me in the way that most people who hadn’t seen me in awhile did.

“I know.  I’m huge,” I agreed.

“So what’s the big news?  When you called, I detected that you were panicking about something.  Is it Dare?  Is it the baby?”

“I made burgers,” I said.  “Come and sit down and I’ll tell you everything.”

So we sat and ate and I told Sarah about the twins.  “I don’t know if I’m ready for twins,” I confided.  “I wasn’t good at helping Chris with his kids and I didn’t like helping you and Shayla with the boys.  What if I suck as a mother?”

“Natasha!  You won’t suck as a mother.  Every woman knows what to do with a baby.  It’s instinct.  When the baby comes, you’ll do just fine.”

“How will I do with two babies?”

“You’ll manage.  And Dare will be here to help you.”

“I know.  But I’m scared.”

“Everyone gets scared when they are having a baby.  It’s normal and natural.”

Sarah stayed with us for a few weeks.  I was glad she did.  It helped calm me down having her there with me.  She was still there when I went into labor early.  She recognized the signs and was very calm.

“Natasha, I think the babies are coming early,” she said.  “Do you have a bag ready?”

“No!  I had a month to pack one!  The babies can’t come now!  I’m not ready.”

“You have to be ready.  The doctors told you that this could happen.  Multiples often come early.”

“What am I going to do?  Dare’s at work.”

“It will be fine.  I’ll call him and he’ll meet us there.”

D’Arcy did meet us there.  When we drove up, he was waiting outside the hospital doors.  He helped me out of the car and steadied me as we walked toward the entrance.  Just before we went in I stopped and turned to him.

“D’Arcy?  Are you sure the babies will be ok?”

“Everything is fine,” he said.

“I don’t think I want to do this,” I whispered.  “What if they hate me?”

“Natasha!  Our children will love you.  I love you.  You’re going to be a great mother!”

Just then I was hit with a terrible contraction.  “Oh Sims!  Ow!  D’Arcy I don’t want to have these babies right now.  They need another month!”

“You don’t have a choice, my love.  Let’s go in.  The nurses will get you situated.  We’re going to be parents!”

I took a deep breath and willed myself to feel some of his excitement instead of my panic.  Everything would be fine.

And it was, as far as the labor and delivery went.  Everyone said I did great.  I was praised and petted the whole time.  D’Arcy held my hand and helped me breathe and coached me to push.  Through it all, he told me how much he loved me and was proud of me.

And when the doctor said, “Oh no!  I think you’ll have to push again Natasha,” D’Arcy smiled and said, “Isn’t this wonderful?”  His eyes were huge as he looked down where the doctor was extracting a third baby from between my legs.

“We have triplets!” D’Arcy cried out.  “Three perfect little boys!”

“Triplets?” I breathed.  “Oh.”  And then I sort of passed out.