This was bad. Very bad.

Kevin paced back and forth. How could this have happened? The doctor told them there would only be one baby. Now there are two? Kevin stopped and looked at the two sleeping babies wrapped in identical blue blankets.

Kevin snorted. Identical. That's what they were. Identical twins. What was he supposed to do? Gwendolyn had been suffering from severe emotional stress and hysterical breakdowns a few weeks prior to the boys' birth. Kevin turned to his sleeping wife lying in her hospital bed. What could he do? She kept crying about what a horrible mother she'd make. How would she handle two babies instead of the one they had prepared for?

Kevin heard the door open behind him and he turned to see Ben. He had a sheepish grin on his face, as if he had done something wrong.

"Sorry I'm late. I just had to see Kai off because she won't be back for God knows how long…" Ben stopped. "Are you alright?"

Kevin motioned Ben over toward him. Ben approached with caution, for he knew something was wrong with his friend. Ben followed Kevin's gaze and saw the two sleeping babies huddled together. Ben laughed and clapped his pal on the back.

"Hey congrats! Though it's a bit unexpected huh?" Ben turned and saw the look on his cousin-in-law's face and slowly retracted his hand from his shoulder.

"Yes, it is unexpected," Kevin said in a grave tone. After a few moments he continued: "What are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean-what are we going to do? You've heard her cry about 'what a horrible mother I'll be' and 'what will I do when he's here'. How do you think she'll handle two children instead of the one we were told we'd have?"

Ben pursed his lips and thought for a moment. After a while: "What are we going to do?" Kevin started to pace again and Ben glanced over at his unconscious cousin. "Does she know?"

"I doubt it. She passed out right after they were born."

Ben sighed and watched Kevin pace back and forth across the room. After five minutes he stopped.

"We'll give one of them away."


Kevin turned to Ben. "We'll give a baby away."

"Kevin! How can you say such a thing? They're your sons! And you want to give one away to a stranger?"

"Not a stranger; a friend."

"Oh yeah? Which one?"

Kevin paused in thought. "I know; we'll give one to Esther."

"Esther! Are you crazy? She just left her abusive husband and is having two of her own!"

"She's got her mother to help her. We both know what LouLou's like. With her around we know Esther can make it."

Ben sighed. "She'll be pissed beyond belief when she finds out."

"Who, Esther?"

"No idiot, your wife."

"She doesn't know," snapped Kevin. "She passed out right after they were born. She'll think it was a dream."

He turned to look at the babies who were still sound asleep. But which one? he thought