An aging overweight man who plays too much online gaming receives a gift from Freya, the
goddess of love, lust, beauty, sorcery, fertility, gold, war and death.

Freya's Gift

Chapter 41: Lauren's and Jolene's Time

The last two weeks have been so amazing for me and my family, and now things were going to get even better. Though Lauren
showed no signs as of yet, her time was very close, and we were all happy for her. For me, I had plenty of help with the
twins, always someone would volunteer to change a diaper or give them a bath. And as much as I wanted to do it all, I
knew they wanted to get close to them too.

Even with all of the breast feedings, I suffered no pains at all. And thanks to mom's gift, I was quickly back in pre-
pregnancy shape, and feeling great. The twins had been the best little ones all the time. They would be hungry at the
same time and very rarely cried, and only for the most obvious reasons.

They slept well, and after that first day, they even would sleep through the night. Even by the second week, they had
very unique personalities. Kira with green eyes seemed to relish being held more than Eddie did, though at times it
seemed otherwise. Eddie with his bright blue eyes always seemed to be reaching for things. The oddest thing was, that on
a few different times, it seemed their eye colors would change to the others, but when you double checked, you just
thought the light was playing a trick on you.

Then they would smile and gurgle at you and you'd forget all about it.

******************************

Thursday 5 May Ascension Day (Easter)

It was the middle of the afternoon when Lauren's water broke, while she was at Victoria's Secret working. Almost
immediately she had her first contraction. And like Freya's, it sent little tingles of pleasure through her body. She
thought to herself, 'Oh goddess, Freya was right, I could really like this.'

Heading for the door to go across to Jimmy's work, she told her staff to take care of things as she was in labor and
going home to the family. They told her Good Luck and wished her well. The walk to the iStore was short, but she did stop
a few times to talk to people, after all, there was no rush, right? Well, you'd be wrong.

Jimmy watched as she entered the store, glad for any break to be with a woman he loved. When he noticed her twinge, and
grab her tummy, face flushing slightly. Knowing that look from when Freya was in labor, he rushed to her side. He asked,
"How long ago did it start?"

Lauren smiles weakly, "Um, 15 minutes ago, I think."

Jimmy laughs, "I guess Annie and Tommy are in a big hurry then. We better get you home right now. As soon as I get the
word out, all hands on deck." Jimmy had prepared for this with a ready text for everyone, to be at the house ASAP and
prep for near imminent birth.

Telling his uncle what was happening first, he leads Lauren to the storeroom and then the back hallway, where they could
tele-port from. Even though most people knew about our 'double' life, we still tried to be as normal as possible around
people.

Arriving at home, everyone is already getting things in order, this time I take charge and give the instructions. The
boys are scrubbing the pool clean and about ready to start filling again. Gloria and Katie hold the twins, rocking them
gently after their last feeding. Darla keeps an eye on them.

Lauren has another contraction, her face flushing, looking radiant. Now I knew what she had meant before, it was just so
cute. My heart filled with love for this special woman in my life. I asked, "How far apart?"

Jimmy says, "First, fifteen. Now, ten minutes. These two are in a big rush to join the others." Mom appears, knowing that
time is getting near.

Mom asks, "Is the pool ready?" Jimmy nods. "Then prepare her." Being almost an exact repeat of my birthing experience,
only Lauren's and my places reversed.

We quickly have her at ease in the water, rubbing her tummy, and speaking words of love and encouragement. Lauren grabs
at us, as her contraction hits. Less than 4 minutes apart now.

Mom moves to be ready, and Lauren has another one, less than a minute since the last one. A look of pure bliss on her
face. Mom says, "Listen child, when the pain hits, you need to push, push hard. Ok dear?" Lauren nods, just as the pain
strikes.

She pushes, and in the shortest of time, we are rewarded with a faint cry. Mom raises him up, "Welcome to the world
Thomas! Here are your parents." Handing him to Bruce, kissing him first and then holding toward Jo for a kiss. Bruce
hands Tommy to Jimmy for a kiss and then me, kissing him as I lay him in Lauren's arms.

As she kisses his head, another pain hits and she pushes again, harder than the first time. This time it seems to go on
for ever, pushing and pushing with all of her might. Finally, a high pitched cry breaks the realative quiet. Mom again
raises the new little one, "Welcome Annika! Meet your family, Seven of Ten." Everyone looks momentarily shocked at mom's
joke. "What? Can't I be a Star Trek fan too?" After passing her around, Lauren holds the both of them to her breasts,
almost immediately they begin to feed.

Almost as one, we begin laughing, then I say, "But mom, you got that wrong, you know that right? You meant Seven of
Nine."

Mom smiles, "No, I got it right. You just need to recount." We all look confused by her statement. To clarify what she
meant, she says, "You forget, Michael is one, Katie is two, and Bunny is number three. That makes Kira and Eddie, four
and five. Now, Tommy is six, making Annie seven. Then after Jo has her triplets, that makes ten. So, seven of ten!"

Then we all started laughing.

*****************************

For the next few weeks, we fell into a regular pattern in the house. With the babies being very regular in their
feedings, and sleeping. Lauren too, was quickly back in shape. If you hadn't seen us before with our big, very large,
pregnant bellies, you wouldn't have believed that we ever had been. But just to look at the children and us, it was
plainly clear, we were their mothers.

Also, as part of the regular pattern we fell into, we also began doing patrols, Tera wise, that is. When these rare
occasions happened, you'd think we would leave the children with someone to tend them. But to be honest, we felt we were
better suited to the job of protecting them. We had little carriers for them that allowed them to ride on Gilbert,
Margie, or Cassie's saddles along with us. And when needed, any of the other of our friends would come along.

Just, please don't judge us. You may feel that the children were put in needless danger, but that was never the case. And
since we were dedicated to only breast feeding them, there really was no other choice. Besides, they really enjoyed the
attention they got from all our non human friends. When necessary, Bunny and Kycera would come with us, if the children
were at all fussy.

The funniest thing that ever happened while out dealing with these constant low level incursions, was having to take a
break in between monsters to breast feed and burp or change a diaper. Imagine if in any of the Avenger movies, if agent
Rominoff, took a break to do the same while kicking ass in battle. Fortunately, what we had to deal with was nowhere near
as intelligent.

******************************

As time passed, and the children grew, so did Gloria's belly. Well, that wasn't the only thing that grew. She became more
confident and sure of herself, long gone, was the shy and introverted young girl I had met a year ago. Though she still
kept her hair dyed blue, and everyone loved her for being true to herself, especially Bobby.

Bobby positively beamed with pride that he was going to be a father. I think he got some of that from Jimmy, who he
seemed to look up to a lot. In no small part, because his own parents were no longer around for him. Under Darla's
teaching, Bobby became a very good chef, rivaling Darla's own talents.

One thing became very evident after the children were born, well, really after that New Years eve. And that was, that
everyone, at least locally, knew who we were and what we could do. From the monster smashing to the teleporting, and even
some of the magic we did. But thankfully, everywhere we went, we were always treated as normal people. If anything, the
fallout from letting everyone know our story was, that the whole community seemed to get a little closer.

******************************

When I finally went back on regular patrol duty, since Katie was on summer break, she became my regular partner. At home,
she was my second right hand, doing anything she could, to help me. And it was clear she would be the best partner I
could ever hope for. While on patrol, we still had Kira and Eddie with us, in car seats while driving around, and in
BabyBjorn Baby Carrier One carriers, when we had to hike it. Thanks, to our gifts, it was easy to carry them and plenty
of changing supplies with us.

The worst thing about being into high tech stuff, is that you always go beyond when looking for something out of the
ordinary. And the car seats, we found were a perfect fit for us. Evenflo Platinum SafeMax car seats were awesome. Besides
being among the safest we could find, they also looked like little F1 race car seats, plus, they came with blue
highlights for the boys and purple highlights for the girls. I absolutely loved them.

And don't even get me started on strollers. With everything out there, you would think I could find something I liked,
but that was just not the case. The wide two seat ones, were just too wide. When Darla had one for Michael and Katie, we
all just hated that thing. For me, the handle was too low, even then, forcing me to bend over too much, making my back
ache. And now, in my present female body, I am five inches taller than I had been as a man.

And yes, I know there are ones available with adjustable handles, they just didn't suit what we wanted. What we needed
and wanted was something that had a smooth ride to allow the children to sleep through almost anything. Which meant air
filled tires and some form of suspension, in the form of 16 inch wheels and tires for a BMX bike, and independent 4 wheel
suspension.

Even using magic to create our design, we still had to consult with mountain bike engineers to get the right combination
of spring and dampening to work out for us. In the end, the shocks we had developed had adjustable valves, to allow for
the kids growing, more weight and such. All accessible from the handle. The perfect sweet little ride for a trip around
the lake during a run. We ended up selling the rights to manufacture the design to a bicycle company.

******************************

Monday 4th of July

For the holiday, we had everyone over for a day of fishing, sunning, and a big BBQ party. Jimmy and Bruce doing the
honors at the grill, getting plenty of friendly advice from Stan, Bobby and Nathan. Dave and Nate's families were there
too, since the houses had been completed a month and a half ago. They had finally settled into the new homes.

The homes that Bruce's crew built were very modern style of cottage or cabin with all the amenities, and as planned, they
were used as model homes for the construction company. The homes had got a lot of attention, and Bruce had lots of work
scheduled for his company. Jo still manned the phones and ran the office, but also training Seraphina to take over when
the triplets came.

Saturday July 30

The pattern of our lives was about to change again, as Jo's delivery date was getting closer. Kira and Eddie were 14
weeks old now and Annie and Tommy just 12 weeks, the four of them were the most amazing little people you could imagine.
Kira and Eddie still do that curious eye color switching thing between them too. They love playing at grabbing the
brightly colored toys of the mobiles. I especially love it when they grab at my nipples when they're not really hungry,
but oh do their little fingernails hurt.

In the late evening, Jo-Jo started having false labor pains, very mild and far apart. They were minor twinges more than
real pains. Mom said that until her water broke, there was nothing to worry about. These continued through the weekend,
with Jo making, light of them, saying she was going to be in perpetual labor, and laughed.

On Tuesday morning, Lauren and I were already up, feeding our twins. From our rockers, we watched Jo cuddling with Bruce
and Jimmy. We both smiled at how adorable she looked, with her swollen, distended belly. When she sat up in bed with a
strange look on her face, she sees us and says, "My water just broke!"

Together, we said, "Congratulation's Momma Jo!" Bruce and Jimmy wake up wondering what's going on, then feel the wet
sheets and realize it's time for the triplets to come. Everyone was so excited. Jo twinges were now similar to those that
Lauren and I had had, the quick little thrills, and feeling of happiness. Since her contractions were so far apart for
now, we knew there was plenty of time.

We also knew that as with Lauren and I, that mother would be there when the time was right. So, we went about the morning
as normal. As the men got breakfast going, the boys cleaned the pool, in preparation for the births. The ladies sat at
the table with the babies and chatted. Jo was saying how she could scarcely believe us before about the pains being
pleasurable.

We asked, since Jo and Bruce hadn't said as much, what the names were going to be. They had refused to know the genders
beforehand, so they had been thinking boys and girls names. Jo said, "We haven't decided yet, but we'll know when we see
them."

We all called in and took the day off to be ready for Jo's time. Through the morning and into the afternoon, her
contractions stayed at about an hour apart, if only just less by late in the day. Thinking that like her false labor,
this might be drawn out as well.

Then, before dinner time, her labor started speeding up. By the time we were done eating and cleaning up, her
contractions were 30 minutes apart. Jo's face shone radiant with each contraction, positively glowing. Mother, showed up
soon after, so we knew that her time was getting much closer. By the end of the night, there should be three more little
mouths to feed in our growing home.

It wasn't long before her contractions were less than ten minutes apart and we moved her to the waiting pool. Almost as
soon as we had her in the water, she had to push, the first one was ready for the world. In no time at all Jo delivered
her first, a girl. As mom raised her, looking at Jo, Jo said, "Billie Jo."

Mom says, "Welcome, Billie Jo!" Kisses her and hands her Jimmy, me, Lauren and then Bruce. She pushes again, and the
second, is born, another girl, a twin to the first. Again, looking at Jo.

Jolene says, "Bobby Jo."

Mom raises her, "Welcome, Bobby Jo!" Handing her to me first this time, then Jimmy, Lauren and then Bruce. We are eager
to see the third child, boy or a girl, triplets? When Jo starts to push again, and the third girl is born, and identical
to her sisters. This time mom looks at Jo and says, "Let me guess, Betty Jo?"

Jo smiles, nodding her head, "I always loved Petticoat Junction."

Mom says, "Welcome, Betty Jo." Kissing her and holding her to each of us in turn for our kisses. Jo sits holding Billie
Jo and Bobby Jo, while Bruce holds Betty Jo, a smile so wide on his face, to almost split in two. We finally got her into
the rocker so she could start nursing the girls.

Jo had her hands full, juggling the three girls, as you might expect. We decided that after tonight, we could, Lauren and
I, could help her taking the third one when necessary, but to leave time for her to bond with them as much as possible.
And that's just what we did. It worked out very well, and once Jo was producing regular milk, she could also help with
the others when it was a must. A wonderful way for sister wives to bond even closer together.

******************************

Thursday 1 Sept

Our experiences were bringing us all closer together. The children grew so fast. And though it seemed at first that Jo's
girls would be hard to tell apart, from the very first, they each were quite different from one another. They each shared
their mother's beautiful blonde hair and their father's sparkling green eyes. And because one of each parent had elf
bloodlines, every one of the children had darling pointed ears.

At this time, Gloria was in her 35th week, and as our pregnancies had run for 40 weeks, she should be due around Katie
and Michaels birthday on the 10th of October. Loki's fresh start at life was only 5 weeks away. I was hoping that "Lucy"
would be a better girl than he had been a man.

Seraphina was the only one besides me that knew that Lucy was the old Loki, reborn into a new life. The others might have
had a suspicion, but never said anything. I am very certain though that Gloria had no idea. All she new was that she was
carrying a little girl, for her and Bobby to love.

My hope had been that Gloria's rage over losing her mother, and what Loki had done to her father, would be tempered by
the care and love for the baby she would soon deliver.

End of Chapter 41