Chapter 18

T hey did a swab, and the nurse nodded at the results before glancing back over to them. "It was definitely amniotic fluid, if it wasn't a lot it's possible it's just leaking or just coming out slowly. The doctor will check as soon as she's in."

And she did, giving them a grin letting her know, "You're about six centimeters now and it's obvious this baby wants to come out because her head is right there. That crummy feeling this morning was probably from beginning contractions getting her down and you dilating more."

"Anything to help get her here faster because it's definitely getting uncomfortable," Justine asked pushing up as laying back made the pressure a bit too much.

"Walking can help, so can a birthing ball. With her this low already, it won't take much once you're fully dilated I'm sure. I'll get you on a monitor and we'll want regular checks on your blood pressure and to monitor your kidney function, but we can do both of those while you're up."

"Sounds good," she said and a bit later, they let everyone rotate in and out as the hours slipped past, bringing them closer to their baby being there.

She asked the twins to get her mom and the nurse, as the pressure increased to a point she could barely move. Her mom was there just before the nurse was calling for Dr. Shane.

Tyler helped her sit up at the end of the bed, the position easier to handle than the thought of laying down, her mom on her other side just behind the nurse, holding her hand as she pushed. The little cry was the sweetest sound on earth and the tears hit hard as their baby girl was handed over, the look on Tyler's face the sweetest combination of how he looked at the twins and her, and she smiled as he gave her the biggest kiss making her laugh around the tears as their little girl was rubbed down.

"Alright now, let mama breathe," the nurse teased.

"She's perfect, babydoll. Worth every minute I spent missing you," Tyler said, cupping her cheek gently with another sweet kiss before his eyes returned to their little girl. "Happy birthday, sweet girl. No matter who says what, we adore you, and always wanted you."

"A little girl for my baby girl…it's perfect," her mom said, and she nodded, letting her head out to tell everyone else the baby was here, while getting her promise she wouldn't spill the beans about it being a girl until the others could come meet her.

They were resting in a room when the door opened, and Justine grinned as their moms, sisters, her brothers and Olivia came into the space looking expectantly at them. "Come in and meet our sweet little Natasha June."

"Oh my gosh, she's so sweet…perfection," the twins gushed reaching them first, peering over at the little girl snuggled against her chest asleep for now.

"June when she's born in July?" Madison teased and a little hint of color hit her cheeks when her eyes met Tyler's, heat smoldering in his.

"June's our favorite month, always has been," Tyler said, pulling a grunt from her brothers which just made her flush more, laughing a bit as she let her mom take Natasha to love on, wanting her to have as much of it as possible.

"You doing okay?" Tyler asked her a bit later, his attention fully on her, as everyone continued to gush over their sweet girl.

"Never better, honey-bae," she promised, resting her head on his chest as he held her, feeling his cheek against her temple. Their girl was safe with the others, letting her indulge in the love between her and Tyler.

A voice near the door cleared, pulling her eyes open and she was shocked to find her father there. He'd refused to come to their house, see her if she was with Tyler, so him being there was a total surprise. "Dad…"

"Your mom sent me a picture…I couldn't stay away," he said, coming over to her first, making her heart swell as he gave her a hug as Tyler took a step back from her. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. I love you, even if I don't always agree with your choices. Although from what I just saw, I can't say this one is entirely wrong."

"Thank you," Justine whispered around the lump in her throat, leaning back against Tyler again when her dad took a step back from the bed, his eyes going to the baby.

"Want to hold her?" Madison asked, coming over to them and gently handed the sleeping baby over.

Justine smiled seeing the tears sparkle in his eyes. Her little girl was already winning over the feud which made her extremely happy. "Say hi to your grandpa, Natasha."

"Natasha?" her dad said, and she nodded.

"Natasha June…Crawford-Anderson," she added making his eyes widen a hint in surprise.

"We want our daughter, and any other potential kids we might have to know they never have to choose sides. They're part of both and we love all of them no matter what," Tyler said, pulling a hint of a smile from her father, and Justine knew there just might be a bit of hope still. Or maybe it was just the magic of babies. Hopefully it would work on his father as well.

∞∞∞

"My girls ready?" Tyler asked, coming into the bedroom as Justine finished nursing Natasha. He couldn't stop smiling when he saw them. His two favorite girls in the entire world. He loved the twins, but it was nothing to the way he loved and adored his girls.

"We are as soon as someone gets a new diaper so she's a happy girl and not so fussy," she said, kissing Natasha's little feet making her chortle. Her little arms flailing happily, and Tyler couldn't adore them more. It was hard to believe she was three months old already. It seemed like he'd blinked and the tiny little girl they brought home from the hospital was replaced by this little angel that'd completely stolen his heart.

Not that it was any surprise that their baby had him wrapped around her finger. Not when she was half Justine, and even more than that in looks. She had her eyes and nose, her hair was the same color as Justine's already, and while there wasn't much, it was adorable to see a little bow or headband in it.

He scooped their little girl up, taking her to the changing table and quickly dealt with the wet diaper while Justine got the bag ready. She'd been back at work part-time for a couple weeks, working mostly from home while one of their moms looked after their girl if he had to be out at the same time. It was the only thing that calmed him knowing eyes other than his or Justine's were on their little girl.

More than ever, he understood why Justine couldn't quit her job. Even with what happened to Isabelle he hadn't quite understood, but the idea of someone trying to lure their little girl away, hurt her in any way made him see red. He wanted every sick bastard out there gone before their baby girl was old enough to interact with the world. Might not be possible, but if they lived anywhere in their area, Justine would find them.

They got to the church for the service, and he laughed into Justine's hair when her dad came over, stealing their girl with a kiss to Justine's cheek. He wouldn't say he'd ever be buddies with Richard Crawford, but at least the man had stopped acting like he was scum to scrape off the bottom of his boat. He wished he could say the same about his father, but the man refused to budge, to acknowledge their baby girl, and it was his loss entirely.

And if he wasn't careful, he might just end up losing his wife because his mom was beyond done with it and his attempts to keep her away from her grandbaby.

"Uhh, where's our niece?" Hailey asked drawing their attention towards the two as they came into the room, making Justine grin fully. The girls were down to celebrate at their birthday get together. A little late but they hadn't planned to do one at all this year until their moms pushed for it so one day Natasha could see that not everyone despised each other, were there to support them.

"Dad has her," Justine told them, and they nodded a bit disappointed, but they'd get their turn.

"Hailey, Isabelle, how's school going?" Sheriff Davies asked coming up the aisle behind them to grab a seat.

"Good, we're only down for the day to see our sweet niece and have belated birthday celebrations for these two," Isabelle answered for them. "It'll be a good day."

"You won't be celebrating anything if you want me to continue to pay for your schooling," Grant said, bringing the group around to stare at him in shock. "I've told you, you aren't allowed over there."

"Dad, we're eighteen, almost nineteen years old. We can make our own choices as to who we want to spend time with, and we're going to spend time with our brother, his wife , and our niece!" Isabelle retorted angrily as their mom came up the aisle quickly to reach them.

"Not as long as I'm financially responsible for you, you won't be. I'm damn tired of you associating with the likes of her and that baby is nothing to us and she doesn't deserve any mention," his dad stated, and Tyler's jaw grounded together hard enough to break teeth as he forced a deep breath in through his nose, his hands tightening into fists until Justine's hand settled on his chest, calming him a hint.

" Doesn't …doesn't deserve any mention?" Hailey questioned, her voice breaking as it rose higher in pitch. "Are you freaking kidding me? If it wasn't for Justine, Isabelle might not even be here right now. I wouldn't be here right now without her!" she added pulling a gasp from Justine and his eyes widened as he tried to stop her. "No, I'm so sick of him and his certainty that he's right," she said their way, moving up next to them, taking Justine's hand into hers before facing their father.

"Honey, we know, if something had happened to Isabelle," their mom said, trying to calm things down but Hailey cut her off with a little snort. "Hailey?"

"You really think that Justine just left town so he wouldn't ban Tyler from our lives if it'd come out back then that they were together?" Hailey asked her nodding at their father, her brow rising a bit their mom's way. "Do you really think she'd leave it at that? That she'd walk away knowing it entirely possible for him to still lose me?"

"Hailey," Justine said softly, shaking her head at her.

"No, by now they could have put it together if they'd really thought about it," Hailey said looking back at their parents. "That night at the hospital, when we were there to get Isabelle, the other agent mentioned the doctor was keeping her to monitor her kidney function, making sure nothing was wrong. Her pregnancy was high risk…why? Because she only has one kidney! Because she gave me her other instead of just walking away! That's how much she loved Tyler. She didn't even think about herself, her future. Didn't second guess it. She gave me her kidney so Tyler wouldn't risk losing me, even though it meant she had to stay away, or you'd figure it out. Figure out that this whole time…eleven years now…the thing keeping me alive came from a Crawford, Dad. So don't you dare stand there and say anything negative about her or my niece, because I swear if you do, you will lose me."

"And me with her," Isabelle added, slipping her arm through Hailey's.

"Justine? Is that true?" her mother asked, as his mom stood staring at them all in muted shock.

"Yes," Justine answered, and his arms wrapped around her fully, drawing her back against his chest, his face dipping down to hers, calming himself more as he breathed her in. "I went to Seattle when I left, checked with her doctor who ran the tests, and I came back a perfect match. I knew they'd never agree to it, so I made them say it was an anonymous donor, that if they asked, it was someone that'd died in a car accident."

"You did all of that and then just walked away? While recovering from major surgery, and heartbroken from breaking up with Tyler instead of marrying him?" Madison asked her and he felt her head nod as his mom and Caroline both let out soft little gasps.

"That's why in one night you completely forgave her for leaving. It wasn't just because she didn't risk you not being around if things hadn't worked out," Caroline said to him pulling his attention over to her and their mom.

"Yes, I'd never stopped loving her and learning why she'd really left…about everything she risked for herself with no thought about if something happened to her in the future…nothing was going to keep me from her. Not then, not now, and definitely not with our baby girl now here. She's the love of my life and I will always choose her. She knew that eleven years ago which is why she didn't ask me for my opinion. Now, I will do anything I have to to keep her safe. End anyone that tries to speak badly of her. She's never said an unkind word about you in her life. She risked hers not only to save Isabelle last year, but to save Hailey eleven years ago. I wasn't joking when I told you I would ruin you if you keep this crap up, Dad," he warned his father drawing another gasp from his mother and sister. "I will make the feud with the Crawfords look like child's play if you go after my wife. After the woman that's never done anything but love and do what was best for me, no matter what it did to her own heart, and I will not let you repay that by hurting her for another moment. Do you understand me?" he added on a dark, almost growl.

"And he'll have help if it comes to it," Richard stated, moving up next to him with Natasha in his arms, handing her back to Justine before he gave her a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. "I'd suggest you leave before I forget we're in a church, Grant."

"We're going home," his dad said furiously towards his mom, but she shook her head no at him, moving over to them and wrapped her arms around both Hailey and Justine, holding the back of their heads for a long moment.

"I'm staying with my family. You'll be lucky to remain part of it," his mom replied, and Tyler let out a hint of a smile as his dad stormed out leaving them in peace for the moment as the rest of the family just stared on at them in total disbelief. "Thank you for helping my girls and loving my boy so much his heart mattered more to you than yours."

"It's always been hers, but thankfully, hers has always been mine and love always wins, doesn't it, babydoll?" he said, lifting her chin his way, wiping away the tears on her cheeks.

"Always," she said with a little smile his way.

"You never said a word about it. I don't understand it," Valerie said, pulling their attention over to her and Justine sniffed a bit, leaning into his hand before answering her.

"I knew you or at least Dad would argue my decision if you knew beforehand. You'd have made sure they found out and I was positive Grant would refuse. I'd heard him and Barb talking about how necessary the transplant was, that it needed to happen soon, and I didn't want to fight about it with anyone. Afterwards, I was too raw emotionally. The pain from the surgery didn't hurt nearly as much as being away from Tyler, but I couldn't tell any of that to you without you learning about us, and then they'd learn about where the kidney came from, and I didn't know what Grant would do. If I'd come back after my first year in college, nothing would have kept me from Tyler, and it all would have come tumbling out, so I stayed away. Kept the secret until I just couldn't live a fake life anymore. Undercover work was easy because I wasn't me without him, nothing mattered. Not until I was finally back where I've always belonged…with him," she said, turning towards him and he settled her and Natasha tighter against him, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"You can't fault her logic, can you?" he asked their parents still there.

"No," Richard agreed. "I wouldn't have let you do the surgery, and if you'd still insisted, I'd have told Grant the kidney they needed belonged to you back then."

"And Grant would have never allowed it," his mom said as she hugged Hailey to her side. "I'd have said yes in a heartbeat, but…"

"Stubborn pride," Isabelle stated pulling chuckles from the others nearby.

"Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I could use some celebrating right about now. What do you say we head back to your house a little early?" her mom suggested, and the group agreed with ease, letting him relax once they were home, Justine wrapped up against his chest while Natasha napped with her belly full once more.

"I love you so much, honey-bae," Justine said, soothing the last edges of his heart, and he rested his face against hers, pressing kisses everywhere he could reach.

"I love you more, babydoll," he countered, and she lifted her face, her brow rising a hint, and he grinned, stealing her lips entirely in a long, slow kiss.

"Do not," she teased pulling back a bit making him grunt.

"Do too," he said, kissing his way down her neck, until he reached the edge of her top and he made his way back up the other side.

"Do not," she sighed as he whispered his lips over hers.

"How about we love each other the same then? I'm just a bit more selfish with my love than you are, never wanting to have to give it up," he added making her smile.

"That's okay because I've decided to be selfish with mine too, and it's all yours honey-bae. Yours and our baby girl's," she stated and that was something he'd never argue. Not in a million years.