Epilogue

The country was well on its way to being what it used to be.  Any and all Utopian document was destroyed.  President Richardson was elected to office for a full term as President of the United States.  The American people knew of the hard work she’d put into ending the war in the short time she was the Director of the Agency.  She’d received heat over asking David to serve as her Vice- President, but she and David both made very public statements stating that he was not only uninterested, but he was focusing on raising his family and writing music.  “Though the band and I understand that we owe everything that we are to the people, our fans, at this time, I feel that it’s more important for me to focus on being a father first and a rock star second.  I don’t have the time or the desire to run the nation.  I did what I could during the Utopian regime to give the people of this nation hope that the Utopians would fall, and they did.  Now that the war is over, I need to be with me wife and children.  My wife and I are expecting two more children within the next couple of weeks for a total of ten; five boys and five girls.  My focus needs to be there instead of on what the state of the Union is...” David said at a press conference.  The President offered the same explanation as to why David was NOT her vice- president.  “David Draiman has far more important things on his plate then helping me run the new incarnation of the Untied States of America.  He has eight children and two on the way.  The last thing he needs to worry about is running the country.”

The last couple months of the pregnancy, Karyn was having a rough time of it.  She’d gone into Braxton- Hicks several times over the last couple weeks.  Finally, during the last massage Brie gave her before she delivered, Brie made sure that she hit a few of the points that she had been cautioned to stay away from unless it was the last month of the pregnancy.

That afternoon after the massage, David and Brie sat and looked through a book of baby names and trying to secede if they should stick with the naming convention that they already had.  “I don’t see the harm in it, David”, Brie said.  “There are plenty of boy names that being with ‘M’ and girl names that begin with ‘J’ left.”

He laughed.  “Ok, you’ve convinced me.  ‘Patrick’ didn’t feel right anyway.”  He looked at the names girl names that were in the book that sat in his wife’s lap.  “How about Jessica?” he said.

“I like it, but I don’t want to spell it conventionally.”

“How would you spell it then?”

“J-E-S-S-Y-K-A-H.”

“And the poor girl is going to be spelling it for everyone but us for the rest of her life, but I like it.  Jessykah Danyelle spelled D-A-N-Y-E-L-L-E”.

She smiled.  “Perfect!  Now, to name our son.”  She flipped to the ‘M’ section of the book.

David stopped her on the first page.  “Marc.  His name is going to be Marc. M-A-R-C.”

“Marc what, David?”

“Marc Christopher.”

Brie laughed.  “I had a cousin named Christopher on my dad’s side.  He died as a teenager, but he was a good guy.  I think you and he would have gotten along.”

He chuckled.  “Is there a member of your family that I wouldn’t get along with?”

She smiled.  “No, not really.  Most of my family is a lot like me.”

“Kinda like Jordan is a LOT like you?”

“Yeah, pretty much”, she said with a laugh.

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That night as they lay sleeping with Brie spooned against the front of David’s body, there was a loud cry coming from outside the house.  “Hold on, Karyn, I’m going to go get David and Brie”, Morbus said.

David’s eyes popped open.  “Brie, baby, I think Karyn’s in labor”, he said sleepily.

Brie stretched and climbed slowly out of bed.  “Well, let’s get up and get her ready to go to the hospital.”   She pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms and slipped her house shoes on.

Morbus knocked on the door.  “David, Brie, Karyn’s in labor.”

“We know, Morbus.  Just get her in the house and well take care of it”, David called after he pulled on a pair of shorts and grabbed a shirt.  “Baby, I’ll get the car.  You go down and time the contractions”, he said to Brie as he grabbed the keys to one of the new SUV’s that he’d just purchased.

She grabbed her watch off the bedside table and headed for the door with David on her heels.  When they got downstairs, he went out the front door and she went to the couch where Morbus sat with Karyn holding her hand and gently brushing her hair out of her face.  Brie knelt in front of her.  “Karyn, focus on me and breathe.  When the next contraction hits, let me know and I’ll time it.  Let me know when it stops so that I can get the time between.  Ok?”

Karyn nodded.  “Yeah”, she said breathlessly.  “Where’d David go?”

“He went to go move one of the vehicle’s around to the front so that we can get you loaded up and to the hospital.  Once you’re having contractions that are about a minute long and about five minutes apart, you go in the back seat of the SUV and you, David and I go to the hospital.  Morbus, David and I need you to stay here and keep an eye on the kids.  If we’re not here when the kids get up, tell Malachai to make breakfast.”

Morbus nodded and kissed Karyn’s forehead.  “It’s going to be okay.  I know that David and Brie will take care of you”, he whispered to her.

She nodded and looked at Brie.  “A contraction just started”, she groaned in pain.

Brie made note of it on a scratch sheet of paper with a crayon that Jeremiah had left out.  Not too long later, Karyn’s breathing normalized and Brie noted it.  David came in just then.  “What’s going on?” he asked.

“I don’t have the time between contractions yet, but they’re about a minute long”, she said looking up at him.

“OWW!” Karyn groaned. 

Brie made another note.  “After this contraction we need to get her into the car and to the hospital.  Contractions are about a minute long with about five minutes in between.”

“You got it, honey.  I’ve got the truck sitting out front”, David said.  After Karyn’s contraction was over, they helped her to her feet and got her out to the truck.  They helped the young woman into the back seat where Brie climbed in with her to give her a hand to hold while David drove them to the hospital.  Morbus made sure that they had all of the necessary to check her into the hospital and David took off to witness the miracle his new son and daughter.

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When the doctor made his appearance, Karyn was 10cm dilated and fully effaced.  She was ready to push.  David and Brie were both in the room and were asked to help in the delivery and did so gladly.  They held her feet when she pushed and Brie counted to ten as she pushed.  It took three pushes for the first baby, little Marc, to come into the world and four more for little Jessykah.  The babes were handed to Karyn just after birth so that she could see the two little miracles she’d been carrying for nine months.  She couldn’t have been happier.

After they were cleaned, weighed and measured, David and Brie finally got to hold the newest additions to their family.  “This is a miracle that never ceases to amaze me”, David said with a smile as he walked around the room holding his new daughter.

Brie laughed.  “Just wait until Malachai tells us, ‘Mom, Dad, I got my girlfriend/ wife pregnant.  You’re going to be grandparents.’  What are you going to do when that happens?” she asked as she sat in the rocking chair and rocked Marc.

“I’ll pat him on the back, give him a cigar and a glass of whiskey and tell him what fatherhood is like.”

“What about when Jordan comes to us and says, ‘Mom, Dad, I’m pregnant.’?”

“If she’s not in a stable, serious relationship, I’ll hunt the little son of a bitch down and cut his nuts off.”

She laughed.  “Dear God, David.  Are you going to be like that with all of our girls?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I’m going to be like that with all of the girls from Jordan down to little Jessykah here.”

“And what if our boys disrespect a woman?”

“Then they’d better be big enough to whip my ass because I’m going to beat the hell out of them, and I mean that for all of the boys from Malachai to Marc.”

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Three days later, the twins and Karyn were allowed to come home.  David had received packages from Dan with disks of new riffs and drum beats for him to write to.  He called Dan and told him that he wasn’t working until the twins were sleeping through the night.  Dan understood, and let the newlyweds enjoy their new children.

And enjoy them they did.  

The end!