July 30th, 2014

One thing Rufus Bennett had re-learned about Miranda since they had been brought back together again was how very difficult it was to restrain the woman when she set her mind to something. Quite how he had managed to keep her feet firmly on the ground for the last twenty-four hours was beyond even him to guess at - she'd been attempting to wheedle him into going to Earth ever since Jason had called them with the news that Bethany had gone into labor. At 31 weeks, the twins were premature, but not so much that there was any significant risk to them.

Rather than allow Jason to be overwhelmed with people wanting to pace with him and offer advice that probably had no bearing on his situation, Rufus had somehow managed to keep Miranda in Rhy'Din for an entire day and night, but he could hold her back no longer. At least by now Beth and Jason would have had the chance to get some sleep and prepare themselves for visiting hours.

It was true - Miranda had been on pins and needles ever since they'd gotten the call letting them know Bethany had gone into labor. Though it wasn't unusual for a woman carrying twins to go into premature labor, that fact didn't help Miranda's nerves any. She had been pestering Rufus for well over a day, even going so far as to threaten that if he wouldn't go with her, she'd go alone, until at last he agreed. She had both their bags packed almost instantly, as if she had already prepared for this inevitability months ago - which, in fact, she had. By the time Rufus was ready to go, Miranda was practically crawling the walls with excitement and anxiety. Her baby was having a baby of her own, and she needed her mother - at least, that's how Miranda saw it.

Of course, it didn't help that the portal they eventually went through brought them out virtually on the other side of the city to the hospital where Bethany was staying. Once safely in the taxi, however, Rufus attempted one last time to try and calm his wife down - it wasn't that he wasn't concerned for their daughter, but he had faith that if anything had happened that was to be concerned about, Jason would have informed them. "Angel, please try not to crawl the walls," he said gently, capturing her hand as the taxi maneuvered its way through the streets. "I am sure that everything is perfectly fine. They would have told us if anything had gone wrong, and all we've had was a single phone call this morning to assure us that we are grandparents."

She made no comment about the wall-climbing, too worried about their daughter to point out that, technically, there were no walls in the taxi. She let him take her hand, finding comfort in his touch, though she looked no less anxious. "I've always been there for her. I should have been there, Rufus," she explained for the hundredth time, her forehead crinkling with worry.

Now was not the time, Rufus thought, to remind his worried wife that their daughter had quite firmly put her foot down and demanded that no one but Jason was coming to the hospital with her. "You have to let her go at some point, love," he said softly, curling an arm about her shoulders to draw her to him. "She'll always need you, in some capacity. You are her mother; that is a relationship that cannot be broken. But she is a wife now, and a mother herself." He smiled in his wry manner. "Not that those facts are going to stop us from staying here for at least a month, just to see them settled in."

"Why do I have to let her go?" she asked, looking to him with tear-filled eyes, despite the happy circumstances that had led them to this conversation. "She's my daughter. Your daughter! I know she has Jason now, but....There are things that only a mother can do for her child."

"And you will continue to do them for her and with her for many years to come," he promised his suddenly distraught wife, squeezing her gently. "But you do need to step back a little, love. If you had been here overnight, what do you think would have happened" Would Jason have been thrown out of the birth of his own children" Or would you and Anna have come to blows" Don't forget, we were not the only ones asked not to come in. Anna, too, has been waiting all night."

"Don't be silly, Rufus. I would never have had Jason thrown out. I have never tried to come between them. I know how much he means to Bethany. I'm just..." She frowned a little, wondering if she really needed to explain all this to him or if he already knew. "For years, Bethany was all I had. She was all I had left of you. I don't love her any less now that I have you back and she has Jason. I'm her mother, Rufus. I am just worried, that's all."

"I know, angel," he assured him, tenderly stroking her hair back out of her face. "But you will never forgive yourself if you go into that hospital room looking as though you've kept yourself up all night worrying. We are minutes away from seeing them for ourselves. Try to ease your mind. I hate seeing you so distressed and with no way to help."

She frowned at him, lifting a hand to touch her fingers against his cheek. "I'm sorry, darling. I don't mean to upset you. You do help, just by being here. You are the voice of reason in my life." She sighed, turning to lean her head against his shoulder. "I suppose I am worrying for nothing. If anything was wrong, Jason would have called to let us know."

"Exactly." Rufus nodded, kissing her temple as she settled against his shoulder. "All he had to say when he called at five was that mother and babies had come through hale and healthy, and to tell us when the visiting hours are. I'm sure if there had been anything else to say, he would have managed it, even through the yawning."

She heard all that, knew all that, understood all that. That wasn't the problem really, at least, not completely. There was something else bothering her, something she was having trouble putting into words, and though Rufus was right - Bethany was an adult now with a husband and children and life of her own - she was having trouble reconciling it in her heart and her mind. "She doesn't need me anymore, Rufus," Miranda told her husband quietly, her face half buried against his chest. "Our little girl has grown up and doesn't need us anymore."

"Oh, my darling." He wrapped his arms around her, kisses gently dropped into her hair as he held her safe against that realization. "Bethany will always need you. No one could ever replace you. Who is it she calls when she has a worry' Who is it she calls just to hear her voice? She's grown up, yes, but a part of her will always be the little girl you taught and sheltered."

She said nothing, only nodded against his chest, letting his voice and his embrace comfort her. She knew he was right, and yet, there were times when she felt she had lost her little girl for good. She had grown up far too fast, in Miranda's estimation, and though she was proud of the woman Bethany had become, there were times when she missed the little girl.

Miranda wasted no time in greeting her daughter, bypassing her son-in-law and new grandchildren to first greet the love of her life. To her credit, she didn't shriek in excitement or burst into tears, but only wrapped her daughter in a hug so tight one might think it had been years since they'd last seen each other.

There wasn't any need for words between mother and daughter. Beth just about managed to twist enough to make room for Miranda on the bed before they were wrapped up in each other's arms, holding on tight to the only person in the room who might possibly understand at the very deepest level what she'd just been through.

Rufus smiled, letting the door fall to quietly behind him, and put down the bags out of the way, looking over to Jason. "You look like you could do with a stiff drink or a few days of sleep," he informed his son-in-law, reaching out to shake his hand in greeting. "How was it?"

Tired though he might be, Jason offered his father-in-law a smile and a clasp of his hand. "Probably both," he replied with a chuckle, though he knew Bethany had done most, if not all, of the work. "That's really a question for your daughter, I think," he replied, though he had been there to witness and to help as much as he could. "It was long," he admitted, though didn't say much more than that. He glanced over at Beth to find Miranda was gently breaking away from her daughter to get a look at her new grand-babies.

"Oh, Bethany," she whispered, leaning close to the crib to get a good look at the newborn twins. "They're beautiful!" she declared in a hushed voice, tears threatening again, but for a very different reason this time.

"I've been where you are," Rufus reminded him gently, though thankfully Jason would not now have to leave the plane of existence his wife and children were dwelling in just to keep them safe. "Did you at least get some sleep?"

"Not really," Jason replied with a chuckle. Bethany had made him go home at one point, but he'd been far too excited to sleep.

By the crib, Beth was grinning at her mother's beautifully over-emotional response to seeing her grandchildren for the first time. "Aren't they?" she said proudly, leaning over to identify the babies for Miranda. "This is Evelyn Anna, and the little dude with green nail polish on his hand is Brody Daniel. They've only just come down from the N.I.C.U., but they're doing great, apparently."

Miranda didn't dwell on the names. It would occur to her later that both twins had been named for Jason's parents, but it didn't really matter. She'd understand without asking why, and it was none of her business, anyway. Besides, they were simply adorable. "They're so tiny," she said, clearly taken with the twins. She hadn't seen newborns this small since Gabi had her own sets of twins.

"You can touch them, you know," Beth teased her mother gently. "They're real." Tiny they might be, but Evelyn and Brody were both healthy little things, and providing there was no dire event, would be going home with their mother in a few days' time.

Rufus chuckled along with Jason, remembering his own failed attempts to sleep during Miranda's labor, but the sound faded as his sharp ears caught the names of his grandchildren. Anna and Daniel, yes, for Jason's parents, Brody presumably because they liked the sound of it, but Evelyn ....He looked at Jason, grateful tears shining in his eyes. "Evy," he said softly. His sister, Taylor's mother, many years lost to them. "How did you know?"

Miranda smiled softly as she looked down on the tiny infants nestled close together in their sleep, as if it was physically painful for them to be too far apart. "Oh, Beth, they're adorable," she whispered as she reached out to touch teeny tiny fingers. They weren't the first newborns she'd ever seen, and yet, each time a child was born, she was filled with awe and wonder at the miracle of birth. It hadn't occurred to Miranda that one twin had been named in part for Rufus' late sister, until Rufus mentioned it, but at the moment, she was too enamored with the twins to pull her eyes away from them to comment on the choice of names.

Jason flushed a little at the question. He and Bethany had discussed names, but he knew it had really been Miranda who'd made the suggestion. "I can't take any credit for that. It was Beth's idea."

With that peculiar expression on his face denoting an internal struggle with particularly strong emotion, Rufus turned his eyes to Beth, who was watching her father uncertainly. "You ....you don't mind, do you, Dad?" she asked, not wanting to upset him.

Rufus swallowed, shaking his head. "Oh, my little darling," he managed finally, moving to embrace his daughter. "How could I possibly mind" She would be ecstatic to give her name to your daughter." He smiled down at his own daughter, kissing her forehead gently as they shared a silence of that peculiar quality that is only shared between fathers and their daughters.

Beth sniffled a little, but grinned back at him, squeezing one last time before looking over at the others. "Would you like to hold her, Dad?" she asked, knowing that as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Miranda would have at least one of the twins in their first granny hug.

It was taking every ounce of self-control for Miranda not to dive in and scoop up at least one twin into her arms. While she adored Gabi's twins, these two were even more special to her. She had only been blessed with one daughter herself, which only made the births that much more precious to her, whatever names they carried. There were tears in her eyes once again, as each twin wrapped a tiny hand around each index fingers.

Jason came up beside her, allowing Rufus and Bethany to have their father-daughter moment in private. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked her quietly.

"Mind what? That your daughter is named for your mother and Rufus' sister?" Miranda asked, with a soft smile. But then she understood the reasoning behind the naming and had even encouraged Bethany to choose those names, knowing how much it would mean to both Jason and Rufus. "No, of course not," she replied with that reassuring smile of hers. "I'm quite pleased actually. You and Bethany make lovely babies."

"We don't need to a photo to see that, darling. You are nearly that now," Miranda pointed out with a teasing wink at Bethany and Jason. She was almost enjoying her husband's happiness more than their daughter's. Almost.

Jason chuckled at the verbal banter between the married couple, realizing not for the first or last time that they were as meant to be together as he and Beth. Miranda would never have been happy with anyone else; that much was clear.

"They were very manly tears, I'll have you know," Rufus made an attempt to defend his honor, though his declaration of manliness was somewhat undermined by the gentle hands cradling his granddaughter.

"Give it up, Dad, you're a softie," Beth laughed, curling herself up against Jason's side comfortably, glad Anna had been to see them this morning and had her own time with the twins. All three grandparents and only two babies could have caused a few awkward moments. "Besides, Mom's the one sniffling now."

"I am not sniffling!" Miranda argued, though she could hardly deny there were tears in her eyes. "And if by a while, you mean a few days, yes." She glanced over at Bethany and Jason with a small frown, as if she was unsure if that was all right. They hadn't checked with them ahead of time, but it wasn't everyday you became grandparents. "If that's all right," she added, uncertainly, not wanting to step on any toes or wear out their welcome.

Beth smiled, glancing at Jason ruefully. They'd discussed the possibility of their respective parents wanting to be close by for the first couple of weeks at least, and to be honest, any help while they were getting some much needed sleep was very much welcomed, in their practical view. "Only a few days?" she asked innocently. "I was pretty sure you'd want to stick around for a month." A warm grin crossed her face. "I made up one of the spare rooms last week, Mom."

"Oh, well..." Miranda shrugged, doing her best to hide the sly smirk from her face, but unable to hide the twinkle from her eyes. "What do you say, Rufio' Will Rhy'Din survive without you for a month or so?" she asked, glancing over at her husband, knowing full and well that they had already planned ahead to stay for a month or so anyway.

"Only if you desist from calling me that in public for at least a week," he informed Miranda with a smirk of his own, gently jostling Evy, who was making signs that she wanted to wake up for a little while.

"You should take her to Italy, Dad, let her get it out of her system," Beth suggested, though she visibly winced at the sound of Evy beginning to fuss. Apparently breast-feeding wasn't on the cards for the twins.

"I happen to like Rufio," Miranda said, a little indignantly. "You're just afraid Lei is going to overhear me using it one day and laugh," she continued, patting her grandson's bottom as she cradled him close, glancing over at "Rufio" to find their granddaughter was starting to get a little fussy. "Italy?" she echoed, upon hearing Beth. "Get what out of my system, Beth dear" Rufio is not Italian."

"It sounds Italian to me," the new mother shrugged, sighing as Evy's fussing began to grow louder. Thankfully, there were a pair of little bottles on the table, ready to be used - the hospital was prepared for newborns and their feeding habits.

"If Lei ever calls me Rufio, I will be forced to stop pretending she's better than I am and break her nose for it," Rufus pointed out. He glanced hesitantly at the bottles on the table, raising an eyebrow in query to Jason.

Jason arched a brow at Rufus, pointing to the bottle questioningly, unsure if the man wanted the bottle or wanted to be relieved of his burden.

"I borrowed it from Hook," Miranda went on to explain the origins of her husband's nickname, which was a character from a movie based on Peter Pan, in which Rufio was one of the Lost Boys. Unfortunately, Rufio did not survive the movie, but she had borrowed the nickname once and it had just stuck, at least, as far as she was concerned.

"Oh God, that's where I know it from," Beth chuckled, glancing back and forth between her husband and her father, wondering why they weren't using words to work out who was going to feed little miss fussy.

Rufus did, however, eventually speak up. "Would you like her back?" he asked Jason, a little reluctant, but far from confident when it came to doing anything but cuddling his grandchild.

It was Miranda who answered for Jason, rescuing both men from a possibly awkward situation. "No, he wouldn't," she answered for him. "You need the practice." Though it could be argued that both men could use the practice where babies were concerned, she wasn't going to let her husband chicken out on this one.

Jason chuckled at her remark and got up to hand Rufus the bottle. "I think I've been replaced," he teased.

"If she chokes, blame your mother-in-law," was Rufus' resigned answer as he rearranged Evy in his arms and took the bottle from Jason, shaking it out of habit before breaking the seal and attaching the nipple. In his arms, the tiny girl had started to really fuss now, mouthing at his shirt impatiently. "Yes, yes, all right," he informed the newborn, rolling his eyes. "You won't find anything there - even if I was capable, it would all have dried up years ago." As Beth burst into merry giggles at this little commentary, Rufus inserted the teat into Evy's mouth, and breathed a sigh of relief as the noise stopped.

"She won't choke," Miranda said with a smirk, knowing Rufus was more than capable, even if her handsome husband didn't know it himself. "It never ceases to amaze me how you aren't afraid of..." She broke off, unsure if she should mention the word vampires in a place where they were believed to be the stuff of fiction. "You know what, and yet, you are terrified of babies when the worst they can do is spit up." Of course, that wasn't quite true, but this was the World According to Miranda.

"Correction, I am terrified of drowning my granddaughter in her own milk," Rufus countered mildly, most of his attention focus on not letting that happen. One tiny hand managed to wriggle free of the blanket to grip his finger as he carefully adjusted the teat in Evy's mouth, and any hope of coherent conversation from the grandfather was over for the time being.

Miranda rolled her eyes at his suggestion. "Not with or without a lisp, incorrigible man." While all this was very entertaining, Jason was exhausted as was evidenced by the fact that he had finally given in and fallen asleep in the chair beside Bethany. Miranda smiled when she noticed. "I think we put him to sleep."

"Good," Rufus smiled with her. "He looked ready to drop when we came in." He turned to look down at Miranda, letting a little of his concern show through. "Are they supposed to spit a mouthful down your back when they burp?"

"If you let her drink too much before you try burping her, yes," she replied. "Why?" she asked with a suspiciously-arched and perfectly plucked brow.

He sighed, and reluctantly turned around to show his wife the dribble of milky spit soaking into his sweater. "Don't laugh too loudly, you'll wake up the happy family."

She couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of baby spit on the back of his sweater. "It's going to sour if you don't rinse it out," she warned, biting back her laughter so we wouldn't wake the two sleepyheads.

"I'll do that at the house," he sighed, glancing down to find Evy fast asleep once again. "Would it be awfully out of order to put these two down and escape before they need their rear ends seen to?"

"Yes," she replied without hesitation. "We didn't just come here to visit. We came here to help. Really, Rufus. Taking care of babies isn't that difficult, but it is tiring, and they can use all the help they can get. Are you going to wuss out on me now?" she practically dared him, as she settled Brody back in her arms to let him finish his bottle.

"It is hardly wussing out," he defended himself. "I would simply rather not hand back ill or dying children, through my own incompetence." He lifted Evy away from his shoulder to fix her with a comical eye. "Are you dying" Hmm?"

Miranda chuckled at his ridiculousness. "Don't be silly, Rufus. Here..." she said, tugging the bottle out of the infant boy's mouth with only a minor whimper of protest. "You finish feeding Brody, and I'll diaper Evelyn, since you are such a chicken."

"Cluck, cluck," was his dry response, followed by a slightly worried expression as he considered the logistics of swapping babies with her. That, however, was solved by putting Evy down on the changing mat, and turning to take Brody from Miranda, all with a triumphant smile for solving the problem without asking for help. "Besides, is it a bad thing to want to watch my wife making changing a diaper sexy?"

"There is nothing sexy about diapers, silly man," she retorted as she rose from the chair and stepped over to the changing table to swap babies with him, privately wondering if she should have worn something a little more practical for the task at hand.

"On the contrary, there is something incredibly sexy about a woman handling a newborn child with confidence and ease," Rufus informed her, sitting down with Brody in one arm. The boy was slightly smaller than his sister, and apparently less fussy, quite content to finish his bottle with his grandfather while his sister wriggled under Miranda's hands. "If Jason was awake, I feel sure he would agree with me."

"There is something equally sexy about a man who is comfortable enough with his own masculinity to take care of a baby," she countered, sighing a little as she turned away from him to tend to Evy's diaper. She often wished they had not been robbed of such simple things in their youth, but at least, they had these moments together now.

Rufus watched her for a long moment, a faint frown on his face for the soft sigh that had escaped her. They had missed out on a lot, but he was determined to regain a little of that with this new generation. Rising to his feet, he propped Brody onto his shoulder - what was another round of spit up when he had already been christened with it' - and moved to kiss his wife's neck tenderly. "I'm willing to learn, love."

Diapering a baby was like riding a bicycle - you never really forgot how to do it or lost the ability - and for a moment, Miranda remembered what it had been like to take care of a newborn all on her own. She tried not to shudder at the way his lips felt against her neck, frowning sadly. "I know you are, darling. It's not that. I just sometimes wish things could have been different, but there's no use dwelling on the past."

"I'm here now," he reminded her softly, gently resting his temple against hers as she diapered their wriggling granddaughter. "The past is the past. We have a long future ahead of us. I promise, angel."

"I am going to hold you to that promise, Rufus, or I will personally hunt you down myself," she warned as she finished diapering the wriggling newborn and picked her up to rest her against her shoulder, smart enough to slip a burp cloth beneath the baby's cheek first to catch any accidents.

"I expect nothing less," he promised her, grinning as he moved to take her place. He was a quick study, she could give him that. Brody was stripped from the waist down with surprising efficiency as Rufus attempted to replicate what he had just watched his wife doing. "We should warn Taylor that his new cousin is named after his mother."

Miranda arched a brow as Rufus seemed to eagerly swap places with her, wondering if he actually thought diapering a boy would be easier than a girl. If so, he was about to find out how wrong he was. Though Brody was less wiggly than his sister, it was a spraying from the hose that Rufus had to watch out for. "How do you think he'll take it?" she asked, regarding the newborn's name.

Unlike Miranda, however, Rufus did have an intimate understanding of how that end worked, even in a newborn. He paused, holding a wipe over the offending article as he considered his nephew for a moment. "I am uncertain," he admitted finally, wiping Brody clean once he was done, and turning his attention to slathering a vast amount of cream onto the tiny boy. "He will be pleased, I think, but he may be a little uncomfortable with it for a while. Who knows? Now he is finally relaxing into life with Kaylee, he might even have thought of having a little girl of his own someday."