Inspired by Katelyn on my tomodachi life suddenly hating everyone after having a kid:
Katelyn who never wanted to be a mother.
The girls are an accident, and not a happy one either. The kind that has Aaron saying he knew he should have gotten a vasectomy and Katelyn blaming herself for not letting him just in case. Because she always thought "maybe later, when we're older," but it's happening now instead. Which is fine: there's a solution to that problem.
Except she can't.
She can't go through with it. She doesn't want this pregnancy, not right now, and honestly with the panic and stress this is causing her maybe not ever, but she can't force herself to abort it. They caught it early and she still has time left to work herself up to it, but she knows. She's having this kid even though she doesn't want it. Something is telling her she has to and that she'll never have another chance. It's not Aaron, because he's the one trying to help her make the choice she thought she'd make. It's not her family, who despite always asking when she'll have kids are suddenly far less excited when she announces her pregnancy like she's announcing she has terminal cancer. Just... something. Something she can't ignore. It's a terrible idea to keep it; she doesn't want it, but it's one kid, and they both have family who will help. It won't ruin her career. Maybe it won't be so bad.
And then it's twins.
Two girls. It's supposed to be a miracle, but it might be a death sentence. She was never meant to have kids, it seems, because her body is reacting terribly to the pregnancy and there's a high likelihood that someone isn't surviving, be it her or one of the girls or both. The doctors say the risk is high enough that they can still terminate it, but again, she refuses. Aaron threatens to quit his job just to follow her around and dote on her 24/7, and the thought makes her so sick she moves in with her sister for a couple weeks.
Aaron finally gets that vasectomy. He doesn't tell her until it's done.
She keeps working as long as she can, but she has to give up before she's even hit six months. The rest of the pregnancy passes slower than she could have ever imagined. Pain and worry and sitting there doing nothing because these two little parasites are sapping her life out of her. She hates them, and they're not even alive yet.
Aaron, once, brings up the idea of putting the girls up for adoption. He's green as he says it, and she isn't imagining the relief in his eyes as she shuts him down.
Then they're born. She did it, she survived and so did they. It was a close call. The girls were rushed to the NICU and Aaron held Katelyn's hand so tight she thought she would lose it as doctors rushed into her room because she wouldn't stop bleeding. But they all lived. Her, and Josephine and Michaela - Aaron named them, because Katelyn didn't care enough to.
Still, the worst is over, or so she thinks.
Everything gets worse.
It almost gets better, just a little, when she's able to go home but the girls aren't. She focuses on recovering her body. That's the easy part. Her parents move in to help out, because Aaron is still working. She's not sure her mental state will ever recover; the therapist she was forced to start seeing months ago assures her that it will. Eventually.
She refuses meds outright.
Aaron visits the girls every chance he gets, which isn't as much as he would like. He was enamored the moment they were born. Wasn't that supposed to happen to Katelyn? Weren't the endorphins supposed to have her suddenly so happy to be a mother? She doesn't want them to come home. She wants Aaron to be as indifferent as she is. He focuses on her more than anything else, but she can see it, that longing to have his daughters with him. The longing to bring Katelyn with him when he goes and visits them. She just wants to pretend they don't exist a little while longer.
All too soon, there are babies in her house.
Katelyn's parents and Aaron do most of the work, because Katelyn refuses to touch the girls. She's miserable; they cry and then she cries and why the hell did she do this to herself? Katelyn's sister comes over to help more and more often, and even her brother comes once (he's not much help at all, but it's the thought that counts). Aaron's family doesn't come. His cousin is on the other side of the planet and Katelyn banned his brother from the house the day they got the keys.
She only lasts a week before she books herself a hotel room. No one is allowed to visit her; she won't even tell them what hotel she's at. The only one who knows is that fucking therapist who she still calls just because if she gets even worse, someone might take the girls away from Aaron. As much as she hates them, she could never do that to him.
It's her own fault they exist, anyway. She might as well let him keep them.
Finally, Katelyn starts feeling better. She needed to be alone, she needed the quiet. She's not in pain anymore, mostly, and she's sleeping well for the first time in who knows how long. More than anything, though, she's restless. She misses her job, having a purpose. She wants her life back. The thought of going home paralyzes her, but she knows she needs to. Eventually.
She's at the hotel for over a month in the end. But she mostly feels like a person again, and her rational thought has returned. She can't get her old life back. She made the choice to go through with this, and now she needs to accept it: she has daughters, and she's failing them. She's failing Aaron. It's a wonder he isn't falling apart with memories of his own shitty mother with Katelyn acting like this. Maybe he is. She wouldn't know; she's not home to see it.
Her therapist warns her that this resolve may not last when she gets home. She knows. She has to try anyway.
Except when she gets home, no one is there. A call to her mother tells her that the girls are supposed to be with Aaron, but he's not here.
Katelyn has an idea where he is.
The drive is close to an hour, one long hour for her to think real hard about what she's done, and what she's going to do. Aaron deserves better than this. The girls she's still not sure she cares about, but Aaron doesn't deserve a family as broken as the one he grew up in. Maybe Katelyn was never meant to be a mother, but she owes it to him to try. She's never going to be as close to normal as she can until she tries.
Knocking takes her a few attempts. Neil opens the door, and when he sees her his eyes narrow. Is it Aaron he's suddenly so protective of, or his nieces? She's not sure it matters. Regardless, he lets her in, but holds a finger to his lips as he leads her into the bedroom.
The girls are lying asleep in their cribs - she doesn't know when these two even bought cribs - and Aaron is sobbing quietly in his brother's arms. Andrew spots Katelyn immediately, and the look he gives her is so disgusted she's thrown right back to PSU, being threatened against a bookshelf. He makes no move to attack her, though. He makes no move at all, unwilling to disturb Aaron. She's pretty sure he wants her to leave, but she came here for a reason. He didn't stop her before, and he won't stop her now.
She leaves Aaron to his brother and walks over to the cribs. She doesn't know which is which - the girls are identical, blonde like their dad and freckled like Katelyn, but she doesn't know if their eyes are hazel or green. They're bigger than when she last saw them, of course, and look more like humans than weird alien creatures. They're cute. She still doesn't feel much of a motherly pull, but maybe that will come with time. Maybe it won't.
Andrew and Neil are watching her like hawks. She can't blame them. She makes the wise choice to not attempt to touch the girls and instead moves to stand as close to Aaron as she feels safe doing, which is far enough to be out of Andrew's reach. She doesn't know what to say now. She doesn't know how to apologize.
It's Neil who finally breaks the silence, clearing his throat with a pointed glare. Aaron twists around in confusion, and when he sees Katelyn he can't seem to decide between hope and fear. Maybe he thinks she's come to divorce him like she vaguely remembers threatening during a breakdown. Maybe he's the one who wants to divorce now. Maybe she's too late. Maybe she can't fix anything.
Andrew is visibly reluctant to let go, but Aaron stumbles out of his brother's arms and into Katelyn's, and she nearly collapses in relief. Somehow she's going to fix this. Even if she never loves those girls, she's going to fix this.
