"I think that-" Sungmin was only half listening to whatever Ryeowook was thinking. He yawned and rolled over onto his back on the bed where they had been staring at bridal magazines for over 2 hours. 

"Well what about this one? You like the colors, right?" Zhoumi leaned over and offered him still another magazine. 

"Forget it, Mimi." Ryeowook sighed shaking his head. "Hyung isn't paying attention anymore."

"I'm just tired," Sungmin growled. "Besides I want to know what is happening with Donghae."

Zhoumi frowned nervously and Sungmin immediately felt guilty for worrying him. 

"Guys, I'm sure that our fishy is doing just fine." Heechul said matter of factly. 

Ryeowook nodded. "Me too, he was fine at lunch time. So, can we get back to your wedding now, hyung?" 

Sungmin growled. "We've been at this for days! And why do we really need a big ceremony anyway?"

"You're getting married to the love of your life," Heechul said from his other side. Without turning around Sungmin could hear him grinning. "Your family and friends just want to celebrate it with you."

Sungmin fell silent after a growl. "Fine. What were we looking at again?"

"The invitations," Zhoumi sighed in exasperation. "But I think if you want to go with white, silver and sapphire pearl blue for a theme then this set of invitations would be perfect. Look, the card is white, border is silver but the lettering is our balloon color. And look, these even have their own matching placement cards for the seating arrangements."

Sungmin snatched the magazine and grinned. "Perfect."

He turned and handed the magazine to Ryeowook who had somehow become his secretary a few days ago. "I want that one."

Ryeowook nodded and began writing down the order information.

"But we still don't know what you are going to wear," Heechul prodded.

"Yes we do. I'm wearing a white suit."

"Come on, what's the fun in that?"

Sungmin shrugged. "My parents don't need any further embarrasment."

"Your parents are happy and proud of you." Ryeowook grinned, "I can't believe that the City of New York actually granted you a special licence to get married. Anyway lets talk about the food!" 

"What you don't want to do all the cooking?" Zhoumi teased. 

"Nope. I want to enjoy the party!"

"How about shrimp and chicken?"

"Shrimp is super expensive. But chicken is ok."

"When they gave us this information I didn't think there would be so much to choose from." Sungmin sighed. The stack of pamphlets for caterers was at least ten inches high and that was just getting started.

"Well what kind of food do you want?"

"Something traditional."

Ryeowook smiled and brushed a large pile of the leaflets to the side. "Cool. That was easy. Now you have three choices. We can narrow it down from there when we go see their selections in person."

"And what about the wedding cake?" Heechul asked.

"I still think chocolate cake sounds fine."

"Well yeah, but this is special- really special. Thousands of people in New York City invited you to get married here, so why not have a special New York style cheesecake?" Zhoumi suggested.

"Fine. But the cake shops are just as numerous as the caterers... How do I pick one?" Sungmin growled, but was intrigued in spite of himself. As men, he and Kangin wouldn't be able to get married at home in South Korea. And as soon as their American fans heard that, they lobbied with the mayor of NYC to get them a special licence. 

The mayor had seemed happy to do it, but that was also why they were in such a rush to plan the ceremony. The government of South Korea wasn't particularly happy that two such prominent citizens were getting married to each other in the first place- much less that it would happen in America. Luckily for the two of them, the whole situation had been so bizzarre from the outset that the government had no choice but to allow it. 

It appeared that taking their pregnancies into the public eye had been the right descision from the very beginning. The public support that they were getting both here and abroad was overwhelming. 

There was a knock at the door and Sungmin smiled as a nurse came in holding Rose. 

His precious baby daughter now weighed 15 ounces and had opened her eyes for the first time two weeks ago. Rose looked at him with her huge lavender eyes. She didn't hold still as she was set down onto the bed with her blanket either. She hopped right up onto Sungmin's chest and settled down for a nap.

Heechul watched Rose sleeping and smiled sadly. Sungmin smiled sympathetically, knowing that his hyung was the only member who didn't already have one out yet. Although on the bright side, Heechul was definitely getting close, he had a feeling that he wouldn't have to wait much longer.

Sungmin was excited to see his other babies too, but he was still very ready for the whole pregnancy thing to be over with. He was back in the hospital- with the film crew still in tow because two of his babies were ready to be born anytime. 

Tanya had told him that the lop eared babies were going to be next. Leaving only the largest of his babies, which was steadily growing and taking on the thick, powerful limbs of something much bigger than a domestic housecat.

As if they sensed he was thinking of them, Sungmin's belly tightened impossibly and he put on his call light. "Looks like we'll have to do the rest later."

"What?" Ryeowook frowned, and then nodded after noting that Sungmin was clearly in pain. "Oh, shall I take Rose?"

"Ok."

Sungmin had been tempted to say no, but he remembered too clearly that the pain was only going to get worse. Luckily the nurse was quick to answer his light. "Hello Sungmin, how can I help you?"

"I'm in labor."

The woman smiled. "Alright, I'll go get Dr. Brooks then! Ryeowook, shall I take Rose?"

He grinned impishly and shook his head. "We're fine, she is half mine after all."

The nurse looked a little confused for a second, and then hurried off giggling. 

"Thanks, Ryeonggu..." Sungmin pouted. But his scowl was ruined by another painful- and pointless contraction in his belly.

"But she likes her daddy."

"That isn't what I meant and you know it."

Ryeowook sighed and nodded. "Okay, I'm sorry, hyung. That was pretty awful timing. But you know as well as I do that she is ours."

Sungmin nodded, from the moment he first saw her he knew that Rose was his and Ryeowook's. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone outside of their group guessed, but the timing was still seemed particularly awful...

And where the hell were the nurses and the doctor? The pain was so bad that it hurt just to breathe now. When he felt another contraction he gasped, clutching his stomach. Praying that the bandages would hold. He could already feel blood seeping through and prayed that his babies were safe in there.

Heechul nodded at Zhoumi, "Come on. Let's go look for help. The contractions are getting worse much faster than before."

Ryeowook bit his lip nervously and grasped Sungmin's hand. "They'll be here soon, hyung."

Sungmin nodded, but couldn't answer. The pain was more severe than when Rose was born.

"Sungmin!" A nurse said, bringing a wheelchair to his bedside. " Sorry that took so long. But I am going to take you straight into surgery, ok?"

The nurse and Ryeowook helped him into the wheelchair and he was quickly taken into another surgical room. But he had to be helped onto the table. The anesthesiologist put a mask on him and told him to try and relax. Sungmin would have liked to tell him to shut up but his contractions were making that impossible.

It was dark outside when he woke up, and Kangin was beside him. He was holding his hand in his sleep. Sungmin smiled quietly to himself and settled back against the pillows watching him sleep. He looked tired, and Sungmin doubted he was getting much rest in that chair.

There was still pain in his belly but now it was no worse than the dull pain he had experienced after Rose's birth. 

"Hey," It was Tanya. The pretty veterinarian smiled as she knocked softly on the doorframe. 

"Hi. Is everything ok?"

She nodded. "You have two beautiful new babies- but one is a boy this time. The remaining baby in there is also doing fine. She really needed the extra room to grow so hopefully things settle down again."

"When can I see them?" 

"Kangin was holding them earlier, but you weren't ready to wake up yet. Right now they are sleeping but if you will be awake for a while I can have the nurses bring them to you after their next feeding."

"Okay," Sungmin nodded. "Thank you."

"Anytime. I'm going to go back to the hotel and try to sleep, but I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

Sungmin bowed to her and smiled. "Sleep well and thank you for everything."

Kangin stirred in the chair as she left and Sungmin squeezed his hand. 

Kangin sat up quickly, "Hey, you're awake!"

Sungmin nodded and smiled. "Yep, how long was I out?"

"Six hours."

Sungmin was shocked. 

"At least you are finally getting caught up on your sleep," Kangin smiled, knowing that he hadn't been sleeping well at the hotel. "Did Dr. Brooks stop by?"

"Not since I've been awake, but I just talked to Tanya. She says everything looks good for our last baby. But she didn't tell me anything about the other two and I can't see them until after their next feeding."

"Well, they are raccoons with bunny ears. Both of them are mostly pink but the boy has black stripes and the girl has grey stripes."

Sungmin blushed wondering if all of his babies were going to be pink. It seemed too strange to be true.

"Relax, they are beautiful. Just like you."

"I love you, huyng." Sungmin told him.

"I love you, too. Hey- did you know right before I fell asleep Teuki hyung was brought in? I guess he had one tonight too."

"No Tanya didn't say anything but she certainly looked tired when she left. I hope everything is okay."

"I'm sure he and the baby are fine, so just relax, okay?"

Sungmin was about to nod when something moved at the foot of his bed. They both looked down and saw Sky and Glimmer- Donghae and Zhoumi's babies floating silently above the footboard. 

"Come on," Sungmin called softly. These were definitely the most exotic babies of the whole bunch. They looked like fish- betas specifically. But in addition to their long graceful fins, each also had colorful butterfly wings. Each wing was easily twice as long and far wider than the babies' entire body.

Sungmin loved to watch them swim effortlessly through the air. Out of all the babies Sky and Glimmer had definitely grown the most. Each one was now almost four inches long but looked quite a bit bigger than that thanks to their expansive fins and wings.

Sky came closer first, then waited for his sister to catch up. When they were almost to him they paused again. Sungmin didn't reach out his hand, letting the babies decide for themselves. "Come on, it's okay!"

After a moment, the pair came closer. Sky was a darker blue than his sister and most of his long fins and tail were a rich, deep purple. He had tiny pink spots on his wings. 

Glimmer was a lighter shade of blue but her clownfish like white stripes were wider and more pronounced than her brother's. Her wings were almost entirely pink with dark blue spots. Down the middle of each wing, she had a zigzagging bright blue band and each of her fins were a bright pink that darkened gradually into deep purple.

Glimmer swam up to his hand and Sungmin smiled as he petted the spine of her back gently. She arched her back happily, and then swam up onto his chest where she curled up in a ball. 

Sky meanwhile was more interested in Kangin. The two of them seemed to be playing a game of tag. Kangin would move his finger across the bed covers toward the baby and then dart away just as Sky moved to bite him.

Sungmin smirked watching them. "So which one of you is winning?"

"I am." Kangin grinned. "So how goes the wedding planning?"

Sungmin scowled. "I don't know, it just seems stupidly complicated. I didn't want to worry about color coodinated invitations and seating charts. Don't laugh or you will be picking out the cake and believe me, there are hundreds of cake shops to choose from never mind the type of cake."

"I'm sure you're doing fine."

"Heechul-hyung keeps nagging at me to pick out a dress."

Kangin chuckled. "Are you going to?"

"No."

"Then don't worry about it. For now Siwon is still too afraid to tell his parents, but once he asks Heechul-hyung to marry him. You can give him about it."

Sungmin rolled his eyes. 

A nurse came in with a bastinet. "Oh good, you're awake! Tanya asked me to bring them in when they were fed. Here you go! Aha!" She said looking at Sky and Glimmer. "So, this is where you have been. Shall I take them?"

Sungmin shook his head, "They can stay. We don't mind."

"Okay." The nurse said, moving toward the door.

"Wait! How is Donghae doing?"

The nurse paused, looking away. "I know you guys are all very close but I am not allowed to say anything because of our privacy laws... I'm sorry. But the best I can do is have Dr. Brooks speak with you when he is available." 

Sungmin nodded. "Thank you."

She smiled sadly, motioning to the bastinet. "Anyway, enjoy your visit, okay?"

The two raccoons were cuddled up together in a big ball of fluff. Kangin picked the boy up first and placed him on Sungmin's lap before settling down with the girl. 

Sky puffed himself up and they both laughed as he tried nipping the baby's long, fuzzy pink ear. Their daughter didn't even twitch in her sleep. 

Glimmer woke up from her nap to get a look at the new arrivals too. The little fish didn't look terribly impressed but she didn't try to chase him off either. 

"They're beautiful," Kangin said proudly. "I really think we ought to have a few more."

"Easy for you to say," Sungmin huffed. "You aren't the one having them."

But his heart melted as the baby in his arms rolled onto its back. His tiny black paws covered his eyes and he wrapped his long ringed tail more tighty against his plump little belly. Then he gave the most adorable chirping coo that Sungmin had ever heard.

Like Rose, the fur of his son was impossibly soft and fine, that was the rabbit influence. And the colors of pink and black looked surprisingly good together on him too. The black and pink hairs often blended together to form interesting variations of rose grey. Slowly running his fingers across the baby's tail he noticed that each strand contained bands of different shades of pink and black.

A knock at the door startled them. But it was only their manager. He smiled as he came in. "The nurse told me you were worried about Donghae."

"Yeah, I-"

The manager's sigh and expression set off Sungmin's internal alarms. "Well, Donghae is out of surgery and resting."

Sungmin frowned, "But that's good isn't it?"

He shook his head. "No. We still have our Donghae but the two babies didn't make it. Tanya said they were born much too early. There was nothing anyone could do for them."

Sungmin looked down at Glimmer and shook his head sadly. The little fish was looking at him sadly. "Does he know?"

"Dr. Brooks and I thought it best to let him rest and come out of anethesia before we tell him. As for the other members you two were the last to know. Ryeowook hasn't stopped crying and Heechul has hardly spoken to anyone since they heard the news."

"What about Leeteuk?"

"He and his baby daughter are fine but he is still sleeping. All in all, I think we have been very lucky so far. It is getting late, so try to get some sleep, you two. "

Sungmin nodded, but he couldn't help thinking about the two babies that didn't make it. Who decided that someone who loved children as much as Donghae, should lose two of them?

"Hey?" Kangin wrapped his arms around him and Sungmin squeezed his eyes shut tight. "It's okay. We have each other."

"I know, it just isn't fair."

"Of course not. But we will get through this, and so will Hae. We will make sure of it, because that is what hyungs do."

Sungmin nodded, leaning his head on Kangin's shoulder. "But what if it happens to us? I mean this is crazy, Donghae was fine yesterday afternoon..."

"It won't. Our babies are going to be fine." Kangin assured him quietly. 

Sungmin scowled wondering how he could take this so lightly.

"Trust me. We will be fine."

Sungmin scowled, "You can't know that!"

"Yes I do. Security here has been doubled since you went into labor and we now have armed policemen waiting outside the door. Ryeonggu and Heechul hyung said the same thing you did- that he was fine and then suddenly horribly sick. Donghae's bloodwork revealed that they were right. It wasn't a normal misscarriage- he had been drugged. It was an extremely potent cocktail of the same chemicals and hormones in the Morning After pill, and it caused the artificial womb to break down and like he said, Tanya tried but she couldn't save the babies." 

Sungmin wanted to cry it seemed so horribly unfair. "But who would do something like that?"

"A stranger was all over the security cameras on this floor so Dr. Brooks called the police and they caught him. Apparently he used to work with Allison Davis and was fired recently. He was angry and he came after you guys to try and discredit her research."

"What? You mean this was deliberate? He killed two babies on purpose?" Sungmin was so upset that he would have climbed right out of bed if Kangin wasn't there to remind him that he was holding two babies.

"Yes, he intentionally bumped into Donghae in the hall and injected him in the arm with a tiny needle. It is just lucky that he got scared and ran off before he could poison anyone else."

Sungmin glared at him. "It wasn't lucky enough... Why couldn't that idiot have chickened out completely?"

Kangin sighed, and swung his legs into the bed beside him. "I don't know. But there is nothing we can do about it now. And we should try and get some sleep."

Sungmin was reluctant to agree, but with his head resting on Kangin's massive shoulder he felt safe. He closed his eyes, breathing in his lover's scent. He smelled like soap, sandalwood, and something was uniquely his own that he couldn't quite put his finger on. 

He smiled without looking at them when he felt their two new babies cuddle up with each other between his lap and Kangin's and let himself relax and go to sleep. Though if he had looked he would have seen Glimmer and Sky curled up with them.