Sig sat in the living room watching Victoria fold baby clothes from a reclined position on the couch. He couldn't believe that he was Victoria-sitting twice in one week. Of course this time it wasn't really by choice, he'd lost rock paper scissors to Edgar. He suspected Edgar had cheated, which shouldn't really be surprising. He'd offered to help Victoria fold the laundry but when she went on some hormone induced rant about no one folding things the right way he retreated to a chair across the room. Victoria had just set the last of the onsies in a pile when she sneezed.

"Fuck" said Victoria struggling to get up.

Sig got up from his seat and helped to hoist Victoria off the couch. She got up and headed towards the stairs.

"Tired already?" asked Sig.

"No, I have to change clothes" said Victoria disgustedly.

"You look fine" said Sig.

"I sneezed and peed a little. I'm changing my pants" said Victoria grumpily.

"That was way too much information" said Sig.

Victoria didn't even bother to respond. Sig watched her slow progress up the stairs and when she made it to the top he breathed a sigh of relief. She was gone an awfully long time and Sig started to get a little worried. He walked briskly up the stairs praying that she was just taking a nap. He was relieved when he reached the bedroom and heard the shower running. She's taking a shower, probably got pee all over herself and is just cleaning up thought Sig. He heard the shower stop and hastened back downstairs. He was sitting casually on the couch when Victoria reappeared downstairs.

"Everything ok?" asked Sig.

"I think my water broke" said Victoria.

Sig's eyes widened in alarm as he tried to recall all the instructions Norman had given him before he left the house. Victoria walked into the kitchen Sig following in her wake. She picked up the phone and dialed Norman's number, when she got the voice mail she hung up without leaving a message. Next she dialed Edgar's number.

"Hello" he answered.

"Edgar, it's Victoria. Is Norman still with you?" asked Victoria.

"Yeah, right here. Do you need us to pick up something on the way home?" asked Edgar.

"Nope, can you just tell Norman I broke my water" said Victoria her voice completely calm.

"What? Are you serious?" said Edgar his voice raising to an almost comical volume.

"Yes, how far away are you guys?" asked Victoria.

"Probably about an hour away" said Edgar.

"Ok, you'll just have him meet me at the hospital. I'll have Sig drive me" said Victoria.

"Oh my God, I can't believe this is happening" said Edgar.

"I'll see you at the hospital" said Victoria then hung up.

"Alright Sig, they are a ways away so you are going to have to drive me" said Victoria.

Sig helped Victoria into the truck taking care not to jostle her. Victoria for her part was calm, it was kind of how she imagined going into labor. According to the books she read the birth of a first child was usually long and arduous so she wasn't really that concerned about having the babies suddenly born en-route to the hospital.

"Sig, can you go through the in and out drive thru?" asked Victoria.

"What? You don't have time to eat. Besides Norman said not to feed you if you went into labor" said Sig.

"I just broke my water, probably not even technically in labor. Besides I heard from June and Louise that I should eat something because chances are I won't be allowed to eat for a long time" said Victoria.

"Victoria, I don't want you popping out those kids in this car" said Sig.

"Sig, when I asked it was really more of a command" said Victoria.

"Fine. God I hope you only have these two kids, you are a huge pain in the ass when you're pregnant" grumbled Sig.

"Did you just call me fat?" said Victoria.

"NO!" yelled Sig.

Pulling into the drive thru Sig repeated the order Victoria had given him.

"And can you put a rush on it, I've got a sister in law in labor" said Sig.

"Sure" said the speaker.

At the window every employee was standing there staring at the idiot who was in a drive through line with a woman in labor. Victoria waved to the employees and accepted their gift of a paper hat with a smile. She also told them it was her request to stop not his which seemed to endear Sig to the whole restaurant. As they pulled away from the restaurant Sig's cell rang.

"Hello" he answered.

"Sig, where are you?" asked Norman.

"Just heading to the hospital. Elf wanted to stop for burgers" said Sig.

"I told you not to let her eat" said Norman.

"You take it up with her" said Sig.

"I will as soon as you get her here" said Norman. "Just drop her off at the front, Edgar and I are waiting."

Sig arrived at the hospital and successfully passed Victoria into the grateful hands of her husband.

The check in process was quick and painless for Norman. Victoria could agree with the quick part, but not the painless part. The pelvic exam had been excruciating and she was still hurting even as she sat in the private birthing room. The contraction monitor was humming away and Norman anxiously watched the printout. Edgar had gone home to pick up Louise and Sig had gone home to get June. Norman hovered over Victoria constantly offering her ice chips or back rubs.

"How are you feeling?" asked Norman for the 10th time in the past 10 minutes.

"Still doing fine" said Victoria.

"Good. I can't believe how calm you are" said Norman.

"Well I've had a good seven months to think about this moment" said Victoria simply.

Edgar barged into the room with Sig, Louise and June in his wake.

"Elf, did you pop out those kids yet?" asked Edgar.

"Nope, still in there" said Victoria.

"Bummer, we were all hoping for an early dinner" said Edgar.

"I'll do my best to hurry the process along" said Victoria.

"How are you feeling Victoria?" asked June.

"I'm ok, no really terrible pain yet" said Victoria.

"That's good because it's only going to get worse" said Louise.

"Have you been practicing your kegles?" asked June.

"Yep. Hopefully it won't be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway when this is all over" said Victoria.

"Wow, that is a mental image that will never go away" said Sig.

The doctor walked into the room and everyone gave Victoria a little privacy as she was examined.

"Well Victoria you are progressing well, but I'm a little worried that one of the babies is turned a little more than I'd like. I hope the baby will sort itself out but if not there is a chance that we may have to do a c-section" said the doctor.

"I suppose that's fine" said Victoria.

"Good. We will wait and see how it goes" said the doctor.

The guys returned to Victoria's bedside once the doctor left. Edgar sat next to the contraction monitor giving the room a play by play of the action. Victoria for her part was starting to feel more and more pressure and pain. A few hours later Edgar was trying to distract Victoria from the pain by telling her stories of Norman's antics as his older brother.

"So of course I wanted to borrow Norman's car for prom but he wouldn't let me because I didn't have a license. I thought that was a bullshit reason so I took the car anyway. So, we are in the middle of the prom and in busts Norman looking like he had murder in his heart. He hauls me outside and proceeds to beat the crap out of me before taking the keys and telling me he'll pick up my date when the dance is over but that I'm going to have to walk home. It's like 10 minutes to midnight and Norman pulls up and my date gets into the car with him and he just drives off leaving me at the dance. It turns out he totally got lucky with my date before he dropped her off at home. The next week at school my date talked to everyone about how amazing my brother was. I never lived it down" said Edgar finishing the story.

Edgar watched as the contraction waves seemed to get higher and higher. Victoria had completely stopped talking and was starting to look more than a little pale. Norman was sitting next to Victoria holding her hand. He grimaced every time she squeezed it during a particularly hard contraction.

"Norman, I think I'm going to need some drugs" said Victoria in a quiet voice.

The doctor returned at Norman's request and once again checked Victoria.

"I have some good news and some other news" began the doctor.

"Do either of the pieces of news involve drugs?" asked Victoria her voice horribly strained.

"As a matter of fact one does" said the doctor.

"Then skip the news and give me the drugs" said Victoria through gritted teeth.

The doctor signaled the nurse to call the anesthesiologist before turning back to Victoria.

"Well one of the babies is definitely turned, you aren't going to be able to deliver vaginally. We are going to take you for c-section as soon as you're all numbed up" said the doctor.

Victoria just nodded dumbly a few tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

"Victoria, what's wrong?" asked Norman.

"I feel like a failure" said Victoria.

"Why?" asked Norman.

"Because I can't even have these babies the right way" said Victoria her voice teary.

"Victoria, there is no right way or wrong way to have a baby. If God wanted us to have them in fields with no drugs he wouldn't have invented hospitals" said Louise.

Victoria gave her a watery smile before laying her head back on the pillows. Norman winced as once again Victoria squeezed his hand through a brutal contraction. She noticed him tense and looked down at his red and abused fingers. When the next contraction hit she released his hand and grasped her own digging her fingernails into the skin creating bloody half moons.

"Don't do that" said Edgar grabbing her hands.

"I can't help it, it hurts" said Victoria.

"Squeeze our hands, that's why we are here. To make it easier on you" explained Edgar.

"You've never made anything easy for me since the day I met you" quipped Victoria.

"Well, it's nice to know that despite the pain you are still a huge smart ass" said Edgar.

"Did you just call my ass fat?" asked Victoria her voice dropping to just a whisper.

Edgar looked mortified and shook his head.

"Oh my God, it's great to see someone else on the other end of that comment. She's been doing that to me since we got back" said Sig.

"Oh shit, I think she just made my heart stop a little" said Edgar his hand clutched dramatically to his chest.

The anesthesiologist appeared with a tray full of needles. Victoria was drugged up and soon sitting back peacefully flipping through the TV channels waiting to be taken away for the c-section.

Norman kept leaning over the blue curtain separating Victoria's top and bottom halves. The doctor once again told him that his wife probably did not want pictures of her cut open stomach as memories of the birth of her babies. Norman however refused to listen, he'd just snapped a picture of a foot pushing out of the incision. He watched as the baby was pulled out by a leg then quickly wrapped in a blanket and toweled off and shown to Victoria.

"It's a baby boy" announced the doctor.

"He's beautiful" said Norman as the nurse handed the baby to him. "My son."

Norman moved the baby so Victoria could kiss him. The fingers of her hand not strapped to the table came up and caressed the soft baby cheek.

"Here's baby number 2 and it's a girl" said the doctor.

"She's tiny" said Norman immediately noticing the disparity in sizes between the twins.

Once again he presented the baby for Victoria to kiss. Victoria smiled tiredly and told Norman to go with the babies, to not let them out of his sight. Norman followed the team of pediatricians and nurses to the nursery to watch the babies get their first baths. Victoria remained where she being carefully sewn up by a medical student.

"Wow, that's pretty good for your first time" said the supervising doctor.

"Hey, I can still hear you and it's not something I wanted to hear" said Victoria from her side of the curtain.

"Your scar will be tiny, he did a fantastic job" said the doctor.

Victoria was wheeled into recovery and immediately Edgar and Sig entered the room.

"Hi Elf, we chose you over the babies" said Edgar.

"Did you see them?" asked Victoria.

"Yep, they look like trouble makers. Mom said the boy looks just like Sig when he was a born so look out" said Edgar.

"Norman wouldn't tell us the names yet" said Sig.

"Oh really, well I suppose he must have a reason" said Victoria mysteriously.

Victoria began to shiver violently and Sig and Edgar both grabbed warmed blankets from the nurse and covered her up.

"The nurse said it's just from the anesthesia" said Edgar. "It will go away soon."

Victoria just nodded and gave Sig a questioning look.

"The babies are fine, Norman and mom are with them in the nursery" said Sig.

"Your mom is here?" asked Victoria.

"Of course, she wouldn't miss this for the world. In fact I'm sure she will all but move in to help you take care of the babies" said Edgar.

Victoria's eyes widened at the suggestion. She was saved by having to explain the look on her face by the entrance of the babies and their entourage. Victoria was propped up in bed and the babies were handed to her one at a time so she could hold them.

"Ok mommy, these little ones are hungry" said the nurse.

The next few minutes were spent trying to get the babies to latch on while trying to keep her nipples out of everyone's line of sight. Eventually both babies were fed and asleep.

"Well, now that we are all here what are their names" asked Edgar.

"You tell them" said Victoria to Norman.

"This is our little girl Kjeristie Riaan Hansen and this is our little boy Matias Norvic Hansen" said Norman with a huge grin.

"What's up to the middle names" said Sig.

"They were Jake's idea, you know parts of our names combined to make a new name" said Victoria.

"Wow, he will be so happy that you used his idea" said Edgar. "In fact I'm calling him now."

Edgar dialed Jake's number and delivered the good news about the birth of the twins and their middle names.

The new family arrived at home 3 days later. They spent the next few days getting use to having two infants squalling at all hours of the day. Victoria was attempting to recover from her c-section so the majority of the lifting and carrying fell to Norman. He loved being a dad, he carried the little ones everywhere, cooing their names and cuddling them when they cried. As promised Sver visited everyday proving herself invaluable to the new parents. Most evenings found Norman and Victoria half asleep on the couch each holding a baby in their arms. The summer was coming up fast, Norman and Edgar would head up to tender salmon leaving Victoria alone with the babies.

Sig and Edgar sat in the kitchen with Norman quietly discussing the upcoming season. Norman was hesitant to leave Victoria on her own, but needed go in order to stay financially sound.

"I'll check on her Norman, so will Louise, June and mom. She'll be fine" said Sig.

"I know, the babies are just so young" said Norman worriedly.

"How are the babies doing with sleeping and eating?" asked Edgar.

"Good, they are sleeping almost 5 hours in a row at night. Victoria's still nursing them and also pumping. So if she gets too tired I can feed them with a bottle" said Norman.

"Well that's good. I'm sure she'll be fine" said Edgar.

"Yeah, she has them on a schedule" said Norman with a smile.

"Sounds like Elf has everything well in hand" said Sig.

Victoria walked into the kitchen and said hello to the guys before going to the fridge and pulling out food for lunch.

"Where are the babies?" asked Edgar.

"They are in the pack and play. Why do you want to hold one?" asked Victoria.

"Yeah. Come on Sig, lets go get them" said Edgar.

Sig and Edgar walked out of the room and returned a moment later holding the twins. Edgar was holding Kjeristie while Sig held Matias.

"I can't believe how big they are getting" said Sig.

"I think Kjeristie looks like Norman" said Edgar.

"Well I suppose that could be good or bad" said Sig.

Norman walked over to Victoria and helped her to make a quick lunch for everyone. Victoria set down the plates and quickly ate before taking Matty from Sig. Victoria walked around in aimless circles with Matty cooing in her arms. Edgar easily ate with one hand while holding Kjeristie in the other while Norman looked on nervously.

"I won't drop her Norm, I've done this many times before" said Edgar.

"Please, just be careful with her" said Norman.

"Come on, even if I dropped her you have a spare" said Edgar with a smile.

"They both have names, try to use them" said Victoria.

"Whatever you say Elf" replied Edgar.

Weeks later Edgar and Norman said goodbye to their families and headed out for salmon tendering season. Sig was true to his word and came to visit Victoria almost everyday. Today he walked into the house to the smell of fresh baked cookies. Victoria seemed to be baking for an army lately. In fact June had come home with 2 dozen snickerdoodles the day before.

"Victoria, how's it going?" called Sig.

He heard the sound of Matty crying and hurried upstairs to see if everything was ok. He walked into the nursery and saw Victoria asleep in the rocking chair, Kjeristie asleep in her lap her breast out and dripping milk. Sig took Kjeristie out of her arms and laid her down in her crib. Picking up Matias he attempted to maneuver the baby under Victoria's breast. Matty did his best to move himself into position but seemed to be failing miserably. Sig took a deep breath picked up Victoria's breast and positioned it into the baby's mouth. Matty latched on and was sucking away happily when Victoria's eyes fluttered open.

"Hi Elf" said Sig quietly.

"Hi Sig. Did you switch them out? Because I thought I was feeding Kjeritie" asked Victoria sleepily.

"I did. I hope you don't mind" said Sig.

"I appreciate the help" said Victoria.

"Are you paying everyone that helps with cookies?" asked Sig.

"No, why do you ask?" asked Victoria.

"Well you sent some home with June and it smells like chocolate chips cookies in here today" said Sig.

"Oh, I'm helping out Louise by baking some stuff for the church's bake sale" said Victoria.

"When do you have time to bake?" asked Sig.

"Well these kiddos do sleep occasionally" said Victoria.

As if proving her point Matty fell asleep her nipple slipping out of his mouth. Sig leaned forward and took Matty from Victoria's lap. He carefully laid him in the crib next to his sister. By the time he turned around Victoria had already attached herself to the breast pump and the eerie sound of electronic sucking filled the room.

"How's the milking going?" asked Sig.

"Please don't call it that" said Victoria giving Sig a sour look.

"Sorry, but that's what it looks like" said Sig.

Victoria picked up a stuffed animal and threw it at Sig's head. He deftly caught it and threw it back hitting Victoria in the face.

"Oh shit. I can't believe you didn't even try to block it" said Sig laughing.

"You better shut up before you wake those babies" said Victoria warningly.

Sig tried to quell his laughter but it was already too late. The babies were already awake and starting to whimper. Victoria gave Sig an I told you so look and walked out of the room.

"Good luck getting them to go back to sleep" said Victoria.

"Where are you going?" asked Sig.

"I have to put this milk away" replied Victoria.

Sig turned back to the crying babies wondering how he was going to comfort them both at the same time.

Norman and the rest of the crew of the Northwestern were greeted at the docks by their family and friends. Pulling into the dock Norman's eyes searched the crowd for Victoria and the twins. He'd been able to talk to her quite a bit during the months he'd been away but seeing and holding his family was what he was looking forward to now. He spotted Victoria talking to Louise with neither baby in her arms. Norman saw that Alexis was holding one baby and Sig was holding the other.

"Looks like everyone is safe and sound" said Nick.

"Yep, I'm so glad to be back. This was the longest trip of my life" said Norman.

Once the boat was secured the guys hopped over the rails and into the loving arms of their family members. Norman and Victoria embraced and kissed both feeling the months of longing for each other overwhelm them. Alexis cleared her throat, causing Norman and Victoria to step back from each other, then handed Matty to Norman.

"He's getting so big" said Norman with a gentle smile.

"He eats all the time" said Victoria.

"Where's my little girl?" asked Norman.

"She's with Sig. You'll probably have to wrestle her away from him, they are inseparable" explained Victoria.

"Oh yeah? When did that happen?" asked Norman.

"He and your mother took turns helping out at the house. He was there every other day and he's Kjeristie's favorite. They absolutely adore each other" said Victoria.

Taking Matty from Norman's arms she and Norman walked over to where Sig was standing with Edgar.

"Hey Elf" said Edgar. Victoria gave Edgar a one armed hug before he took Matty out of her arms.

"Sig. Can I have my daughter back?" asked Norman.

Sig reluctantly handed over Kjeristie watching almost longingly as Norman gave his daughter a hug and a kiss.

"Victoria, grab Matty and lets go home" said Norman.

They walked together to the car and got the kids strapped in and headed home.

This routine was repeated each and every season. As the children got older Norman found he missed them more and more. Victoria found life as a fisherman's wife came with its own set of challenges. She missed Norman terribly when he was gone and the time he was home seemed to go so fast. Kjeristie and Matias grew up to be great kids, full of wonder and yet completely mischievous. Victoria kept the kids well in hand and Norman was always impressed at what a great mom she was. Kjeristie remained Sig's favorite, he spoiled her more than any other family member and when she expressed an interest in learning how to run the boat he broke his rule about girls on the boat and taught her. But that's another story.

The End

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed the story. Thank you to all who read this story and to those of you who took time to post reviews, I really appreciate the feedback and encouragement.