Chapter 3 – Naming the babies

A/N 1: Woah, can't quite believe it's been two months since I updated this and for that I am sincerely sorry. I'm probably one of the worst writers when it comes to updating but sadly I can't see myself getting any better… After a couple of more recent reviews I felt bad for neglecting this and so on Sunday I started writing this chapter on my phone. I hope its okay as I don't even know where I'm going with this story and it may only be a few more chapters. I've got more ideas in my head – as usual – but I need time to write and it's just not there at the moment (you can blame exams for that). Anyway, just so you know, if any information I've put in here is incorrect please send me a PM letting me know but please also be aware that I'm clueless about giving birth to twins (I am ONLY 15!) and some other stuff in here I just did a little research but nothing in-depth. This chapter hasn't been beta'd I've just re-read it since I wrote it on my phone. Just to let you know, Jo is 38 now but when she was just 37 when they started dating (yeah, I know she's older but I want it to be more realistic, as for Mac I suppose I'll say early 40s. Unless I need to be specific later on just presume!) I own nothing; as usual please R&R as reviews make all of this worth trying to write something half-decent!

"We believe that the scans may not have picked everything up. We think that there's another baby. Its twins… We need you to push again Jo, we've only got a few minutes before we result to a C-section…"

Neither mac nor Jo had enough time for the information to sink in as another contraction hit Jo; following the doctor's orders she pushed whilst squeezing mac's hands. She knew she had to keep pushing and that she didn't have long until the chances of losing the baby were increased.

Encouraged by Mac and their first baby's screams she kept pushing. She was exhausted but she kept on going.

"Mac... Hurts... So much..." She panted heavily between pushes.

"You can do this, baby, I know you can..." Mac's words were cut off by the doctor announcing that he could see the baby's head.

Pushing with all of her strength Jo screamed out in agony and clutched onto macs hands like they were holding her on this earth. It was taking more pushes than before but soon another child's wail filled the delivery room.

Breathing a sigh of relief Jo slumped back into Mac's arms, feeling safer than ever before. His smile was huge as he placed a loving kiss on her temple.

"I believe you may want to meet these two? You've got a gorgeous boy at 5lb 14oz and a beautiful girl at exactly 4lb." The doctor paused as two nurses who'd cleaned them up passed the boy, wrapped in blue, to Jo, and the girl, wrapped in pink, to Mac.

"They're both doing well but we'd like to keep both of them and mom in for a few days for observation and to ensure there aren't any complications. We're also going to look into why we hadn't picked up two babies on the scans." Mac and Jo barely acknowledged the doctor's words as they were too busy taking in their two new-borns.

After having a couple of minutes with them they handed them back to the nurses so that Jo could get moved into a private room with enough space for her and the twins.

Finally, although it was only twenty minutes later, they were all settled in their private family room. Mac was holding their son and Jo was holding their daughter.

Although she was utterly exhausted she was too excited to sleep yet. She'd been shown how to pump milk for the twins, meaning both could be fed by bottle but with her milk, and as a result there were two bottles ready for whenever the twins woke up.

"You should try to get some sleep; it's only just 7am so you've got a while before the team'll show up." Mac spoke softly from where he was stood rocking his son.

"I know... Have you texted anyone yet?" Mac could hear the exhaustion in her voice and could see her eyelids drooping.

As he replied, he walked over to one of the cots and gently placed his son down before going to take their daughter from Jo, "Not yet but I will once you've gone to sleep. I'll ring both our moms and just send the team a text for now. I'll get them to come over around lunch so we've got enough time to get some sleep and possibly name the twins..." Jo budged over to let Mac slide in next to her. He'd changed into a pair of sweats he'd brought and a white muscle tee, and Jo was out of a hospital gown and wearing a pair of Mac's sweats and one of his old marine tees.

"I forgot they needed names..." Jo answered with a yawn as she snuggled into the crook of Mac's shoulder and breathed in his scent. "Aren't the team gonna be at work...?"

"It's Sunday... Danny and Lindsay are on-call, same for Adam. Don and Sid have got the day off, and I suppose Hawkes can take an early lunch. But now, if you don't mind, I've got a couple of calls to make and then I'll be your pillow for as long as you want."

Jo, too tired to give a proper reply, just nodded her head slightly and allowed Mac to move from the bed and head outside to make the calls and texts.

His calls were fairly short; Millie was about to board her flight to New York, desperate to see her first ever grandchildren. Eleanor couldn't get a flight out until a week later so he spent a bit more time talking to her; however there weren't masses to tell. There weren't any names, just the basics and the added surprise of two lots of details. Both grandmothers were ecstatic about the twins, much like both himself and Jo.

He sent a text to the team letting them know how long the labour had lasted but decided not to mention that they'd had twins; just that they were all tired but doing well, and to come and visit them at around 1pm.

Finally he sent texts to Tyler and Ellie. It was similar to the teams except he told Tyler to pick Ellie up from Danny and Lindsay's, take her home for a bit then come to the hospital at 12pm. He knew Jo would like to see them before they saw the team and so would he.

He quickly walked back up to their room, calculating how long he had until his mom would arrive. She'd assured him that she didn't need picking up from the airport and that she was capable of getting a taxi to a hotel then to the hospital by herself. He figured he could get a couple hours of rest as she'd come mid-morning to see them.

Returning to the room a smile lit up his face. Jo was fast asleep looking peaceful and as gorgeous as ever. She still had a bit of weight that would take a while to loose but her face was like an angel in his eyes. Before climbing into bed he checked on the twins. Both were still sleeping peacefully.

Mac&Jo

Millie Taylor sat in the back of a cab watching New York City go by. She was a petite woman, standing at 5ft 2". Her hair was a light blonde, almost white, pinned back slightly from her face. It was naturally curly and flowed just past her shoulders. Bright green eyes shone out, dancing with excitement. She wore light brown smart trousers with flats and a light pink blouse with a few basic pieces of jewellery. She had a cardigan that completed the outfit with her favourite brown leather handbag. She also had several gift bags at her side full of baby clothes, soft toys and two cards.

A happy smile had become permanent on her face. She felt bubbly and content. She remembered her only child's phone call 8 months ago. She'd heard the smile in his voice when he announced that Jo was pregnant. They only told her and Eleanor until Jo had gotten past her third trimester. Now, here she was, on her way to the hospital to go and meet her first grandchildren. She loved Ellie like a grandchild to her and was happy to have her, as after 9/11 she'd given up the hope of having any at all. When Mac and Jo started dating she doubted they'd have children of their own. After all Tyler was 18 and Jo was 37. She knew women were having kids later but she hadn't gotten her hopes up. Now, though, she was beaming with pride.

Arriving at the hospital she paid the cabbie and followed the signs to the maternity ward, excitement bubbling inside her.

Mac&Jo

A loud, piercing scream echoed off the walls, announcing one of the twins hunger. Jo only stirred whereas it woke Mac. He got up and went over to the cribs, picking up his screaming son and rocked him whilst he got one of the bottles prepared for him.

30 seconds later the little boy had the nipple in his mouth and was sucking away greedily. His tiny hand made a fist that rested against Mac's hand that was holding the bottle. Not long into the feed he opened his eyes. Neither Mac nor Jo had seen either twin with their eyes open as they'd fallen asleep before they'd got a chance to hold them.

Tears came to Mac's eyes as he gazed into his own eyes. The little boy had sparkling, ocean blue irises tinged with a little green, just like Mac's. He had tiny tufts of brown hair, with curls. Mac shook his head, it seemed as if he had a 'mini me'. He'd been a mini me of his father and he was proud that his son was carrying it on.

A quiet voice from the doorway brought him out of his thoughts, "You've got it mastered already, I see." Turning around he saw his mother smiling at him and his grin got even larger.

"Suit me?" He asked jokingly.

"Very much, son, very much." Millie came into the room and walked over to the other crib whilst Mac finished feeding his son the bottle.

"She's beautiful... Have you got any names yet?"

"Not yet... I've got some ideas but I want to see what Jo thinks..." Mac was cut short as his son let out a very large burp.

"You want to hold him, mom?" Millie nodded and mac carefully handed him over then went to collect his little girl from her crib. She was whimpering slightly but not quite awake yet.

"I think you're about ready for your bottle, hey princess?" Mac spoke softly as he held his little girl.

As Mac started feeding her, he looked across at Jo who'd just woken up.

"Good sleep?"

"Mmm-hmmm. That look's good for you, Taylor." Jo winked playfully at him then turned to greet Millie.

"You wanna hold your son?" Millie asked.

"If you wouldn't mind," Jo took him out of her arms and a smile lit up her features. "He's all you, Mac. We gotta name yet?"

"Ideas. I want to know what you think... I guess I'd like to name him after my father but..."

Jo cut him off, "…that's perfect, Mac. We need a middle name though unless you want Boyd...?"

"He can still be a third with a different middle name, right?" He glanced at his mom and she nodded. "Originally, if it was a boy, I thought Alexander... After your dad, Jo. I know he meant a lot to you so..." Mac let the idea hang in the air as he saw Jo's eyes tear up as she glanced at the tiny boy, staring up in complete trust at her.

Striking his cheek she slowly said, "McCanna Alexander Taylor... It's perfect."

"It is," Mac smiled in agreement. "Now, how about this little princess?"

"We had quite a few names floating around... I just want it to be special, y'know? He's named after our fathers..."

"I know... Ellie is after your mom, you said that Jo was a no-go..."

"What about Ivy? As in Claire's middle name... I know we said that you didn't want Claire but Ivy is really pretty, a little unique but a part of your past."

"Really...?" Mac was tearing up again; he'd wanted to suggest the name god knows how many times but never dared suggest it. Jo nodded in approval and Mac announced their daughter's name, "Ivy Charlotte Taylor."

Millie's head popped up, "Charlotte...?"

"Yeah, it's special to both you and your mom, so... We decided early on that if we were to have a girl her middle name would be the same as yours."

"Thank you, both of you. I'm really touched." Her eyes began to fill as Mac passed her Ivy.

Millie looked down at her grand-daughter, taking everything in, more than before. She way small but had slightly chubby cheeks. Her lips looked like Jo's but her hair wasn't at all. Instead of brown, locks of white-blonde hair covered her small scalp. Like her twin brother, her hair was curly. Smiling, Millie remembered that Jo's father had been blonde and she herself was too, so it must have skipped a generation only to reappear on who she could only describe as her little angel.

After about five minutes Ivy seemed to almost sense that she was in her grandmother's arms as her little eyes opened for the first time since birth. "Have you... Seen her eyes?" Millie carefully asked.

"No, why?" Jo questioned, an undertone of worry lacing her voice.

"She's got... Different eye colours."

"What... You mean she's got heterochromia?" Mac asked in disbelief. 'Why hadn't the nurses said anything?'

"If that's two different eye colours then yes." Millie stood up and walked over to the bed where Mac was sat behind Jo, his arms around her and his son.

Ivy looked up at her parents. Her eyes were beautiful, big and gorgeous. Her right one was exactly like Jo's beautiful brown eyes and she had a small circle of deep blue around the pupil. Her left was the same deep blue but with a green circle around the pupil.

"It suits her... It really suits her, Mac." Jo whispered.

"It does. So much." Mac gently agreed.

Mac&Jo

A/N 2: This is just about the babies' names & an idea for chapter 4… Thank you to CamilaSVUCD for recommending the names Alex and Charlotte and also the idea of twins. I love the name Charlotte (it's actually my own middle name) and the nick-name Charley, but recently I just seemed to think of the name Ivy and I love it, so Charlotte fitted nicely for her middle name. As for McCanna Alexander Taylor III, I will be calling him Ally or Alex as McCanna's too long all the time and two Macs in the same house? Too confusing… I sort of liked the mini-me thing of Mac so having his son be a third I thought would be nice.

Next chapter I'll probably do Tyler and Ellie and then the team visiting. Not sure after that so if there's anything you want me to write about then let me know! Remember please leave a review! And I apologise beforehand for the long wait until chapter 4! Beth xx