[This post is from Neve’s point of view.]
“They’re so tiny.”
Neve had to smile at the wonder in Cameron’s voice as he cradled their daughter, staring down at her with a broad smile and tired eyes. For her part, she’d slept after it was all over, after feeding and cuddling their newborn twins, but she wasn’t sure if he had. “You knew they would be,” she murmured, her voice still a little hoarse from the strain of the previous day. Cameron glanced up to meet her eye, flushing.
“I did, but it’s—it’s different, somehow. It’s not quite what I expected it to be like.”
“It never is,” she admitted, then smiled again. Artorius was nestled against her breast, still fast asleep, though he’d wake soon enough. His sister had already eaten her fill. Her younger twin would wake soon enough to do the same. “It’s different when it’s yours. That’s what I’ve heard time and again.”
“I guess they’re right.” Cameron’s gaze drifted back to the dark-haired bundle in his arms. Both had inherited her dark hair, though Anne had her father’s eyes. Cameron was already besotted; she could tell that much.
That’s the way it should be, really. “They’ll grow up before you know it,” she said softly. “Think about how quickly Lin’s been growing, and he’s not much older at all.”
“A few weeks,” Cameron murmured, drifting over to sit down on the edge of the bed. He shifted Anne to one arm, then reached for Neve’s hand. “This is our family, Neve,” he breathed. “This is us.”
She nodded, squeezing his fingers before she reached up to ruffle his hair. “It’s the family that came from the two of us, but there’s more to our family than just what’s right here, isn’t there?”
“Well—I mean—of course there is.” Cameron blushed looking away for a moment. “But this—you and me and these two babies, this is us. It’s—it’s the core of our family.”
Neve rested her hand against his cheek and smiled weakly. “It’s what you’ll fight for.”
“The hardest,” Cameron admitted, looking back at her. “And it’s what I’ll always come home for. I swear it.”
“Always?”
He nodded firmly. “Always.”
This is very nice. Loving but not sappy.