Veronica and Liam sat hand in hand in the exam room, desperately praying as they awaited the results with Drake. Nerves so frayed, hearts on edge ready to fall and crack. They were holding tightly onto a frayed rope, hanging above a 100 foot drop waiting for the last strand to snap, sending their lives plummeting into the unknown future. Would anyone survive the fall, or were all their dreams about to shatter into a million tiny pieces, never to come back together again? What would their lives look like as they walked out of this room? Would they be happy, ready to celebrate the coming of their heir, or would they be condemned to a life of co-parenting?
Their minds briefly left their fears alone, trying to decipher why they would be in an exam room when they were just going over results. Wouldn’t this be able to be handled in an office? They’d already given their samples, had something happened? Is that why the testing took longer than anticipated? New concerns took over their thoughts—bouncing around with such ferocity it rivaled a pinball shooting around at top speed.
Three heads turned as they heard the door open, the doctor glanced at the chart one final time, her lips pressed tightly together in thought, “Good afternoon Your Majesties, Mr Walker.” She stated as she looked up from the chart, a look of question on her face. Their hearts plummeting as they saw the look on the doctor’s face as she entered the room. Fears consumed them, wrapping around their hearts and squeezing them tight, why would the doctor be confused?
Her eyebrow lifted slightly as she noticed positions were flipped, “Your Majesty, if you could sit on the exam table for me for a moment.” She asked, gestering to Veronica.
Veronica felt like all of the breath was squeezed out of her lungs, she felt like she was suffocating, all the oxygen sucked from the room as worry consumed her—swallowing her whole. Why did she need to sit on the exam table? She felt like she couldn’t breathe, her heart stopped in her chest, fear overtaking her completely. Her body went rigid in panic.
Liam’s arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly, “shhh love, it’s okay.” He whispered into her ear, “just breathe, focus on me, on my voice.”
Liam’s warmth invaded her body, his familiar woodsy scent engulfing her, his soothing soft whispers relaxing her as she slowly started to calm, her breaths slowly evening back out, fear still deep in her veins—soothed only by him, her husband, her love. His presence reminded her he’d be by her side no matter what—providing her a small comfort.
Liam removed his arms from her, she instantly missed his comforting touch as she stood walking to the exam table. Fear vibrating through her as she sat at the edge, is something wrong with my baby? Her body started to shake, a comforting hand took hers into his, Liam, her rock, how he was not terrified she did not know.
Liam took her hand into his, trying to keep her calm, his own fears and concerns pushed down, he needed to be there for her, he could break down later if need be. Her gaze met his, her eyes filled with tears threatening to spill. She opened her mouth to speak, his free hand brushed the hair from her face, “I know love.” He stated calmly.
Drake sat in his seat unmoving, fear building up, was something wrong? Who’s life was about to be turned upside down? Why wouldn’t the doctor explain?
“Your Majesty, your results left us with some—questions. I just wanted to do another ultrasound to double check something, okay?” The doctor stated, her voice calm and strangely soothing.
“Please call me Veronica.” She replied, her voice shaky with fear. What questions? What’s going on?Fear griping her body, her muscles shaking with worry.
“Okay Veronica, I just want to check something via a repeat ultrasound, okay? I need you to lift your top for me.” The doctor responded.
Veronica nodded as she lifted her shirt exposing exposing her slight bump, Liam squeezed her hand, all three felt like their hearts were were being squeezed in a vice grip, fear casting out every other emotion. Her breath caught in her throat, eyes glued on the screen as the doctor squirted the cold gel onto her exposed abdomen.
The doctor picked up the ultrasound wand, pressing it to Veronica’s stomach, gliding it along, pressing in slightly every so often, her lip pulled between her teeth in concentration as she continued to search—for something.
Veronica squeezed Liam’s hand harder, the fear threatened to make the tears in her eyes spill, what is going on? Why won’t she just tell us? Her heart pounding so hard she thought it might beat right out of her chest onto the floor.
“What are you looking for?” Drake asked, leaning forward in his seat looking at the screen.
The sound of the baby’s heart beat filled the room, they were surprised when she continued moving the wand. Another minute of guiding the wand a slightly faster heartbeat filled the room, “there,” she stated pointing at the screen, “this little one was hiding.”
“E—excuse me?” Veronica asked, stunned, unsure she heard her correctly.
The doctor turned around, “your test came back showing two separate sets of additional DNA, they thought it was a mistake so they double checked before running them against the father’s DNA. So I wanted to see if I could find the little guy, and he or she is tucked right by its sibling, so we missed them in your first scan.” The doctor explained.
“So you’re saying I’m having twins?” Veronica asked, her heart clenching tight in her chest. What does this mean about the paternity?
“That’s correct.”
“And the father is?” Drake asked, swallowing hard, twins, shit!
“You both are.” The doctor replied.
Three jaws dropped, not understanding how that could be possible. All staring slack jawed at the doctor. How could she act all blasé? Act like this was completely normal? Both, how was that even possible?
“Wait, what?” Drake questioned.
“How is that possible?” Liam asked, both men speaking at the same time.
“Heteropaternal Superfecundation, simply put, two ova or eggs are released and both are fertilized but by different fathers. It’s a really rare occurrence, about a 1 in 40 chance in fraternal twins that they would have different fathers.” The doctor explained.
Both, they both were going to be father’s, their heads were spinning. They thought their worst fears were that Liam wouldn’t be the father, the thought that they both might be never even occurred to them. How would this work? How would raising children with two different fathers even work? Could Veronica and Liam make it, or was their marriage forever doomed?
A/N: I avoided this path like the plague but it wouldn’t leave me alone, to the point I knew this is how the fic wanted to go. I’m sorry! I actually almost did it with the first ultrasound but said no but then every time I asked who the father was it was clear, I know this sucks! I’m sorry! (Runs back into hiding.)
I researched what I could, Heteropaternal Superfecundation can be proven inutero, however I couldn’t find a definitive answer on which method of DNA they use for the babies, so the condition is real, the DNA test is real, twins do get lost all the time in ultrasounds, I have no clue if the method of inutero paternity testing I wrote about could prove Heteropaternal Superfecundation, let’s just pretend it works.
