ONE MONTH LATER

Sarah stuck her head out of Gwen and Jenny's stall, meeting the eyes of Gail who was looking, in surprise, out of Monica and Jill's. The retching sound from farther down the row of stalls was repeated. "Who's doing that?"

Clarissa called out, "It's not us. That's Sally or Sandy."

"Shit." Gail hurried to the end of the barn, Sarah close behind her.

She stopped abruptly at the sight of one of the S girls, facing away from them, very pale, her forelegs and hind legs spread, spitting the last bit of her breakfast into the litter box. "Sally? Sandy?"

The girl at the litter box responded dully, "One of those, yeah. I think."

"You okay?" Gail swore to herself she had searched her brain for something less stupid to say and come up empty.

"Splendid. Why do you ask?"

Gail came farther into the stall, tentatively, as the girlcow wiped her lips on her shoulder. Her stall-partner was lying on her side on the sleeping mat, looking a little pale herself, watching with concern but little energy. As the girl at the litter box turned her head, Gail could now see the pink ribbon on her collar Wendy had tied there as an aid to telling the girls apart -- Sally's was blue. Somehow it hadn't been as hard telling Karen from Kirsten: Kirsten's muscles had developed in subtly different ways from Karen's, a result of interests in different activities, and Karen often had a serious expression rarely seen on Kirstie. Of course, the butterfly tattoo hadn't hurt. With Sandy and Sally, there was just Sally's scar, and that was hard to see from more than a few feet away.

"Can I do anything for you, Sandy?" She wasn't familiar with newly-converted girlcows, but it didn't seem likely this was a normal side-effect of conversion. That had happened a month ago, and both girls had been fine until now.

Sandy wandered vaguely over to the sleeping mat and sank onto it next to Sally. "I just need a little drink to clear some of this taste out of my mouth." At a nudge from Sandy, Sally twisted just enough to bring one of her nipples in range. Sandy sucked down just a couple of swallows and lay back, her eyes closed.

Her eyes still on Sandy, Gail put her hand on Sarah's shoulder. "Sweety, could you run in the house and..." She hesitated, remembering what had happened the last time one of the cows had been sick. "Ask Miss Wendy if she'd call Doctor Follett."

"Okay." Looking worried, Sarah took off. Gail turned her head momentarily to watch Sarah running out of the barn -- she had such a cute butt, and Gail couldn't understand why she'd always wanted to cover it with clothes before -- then turned back to Sandy. "We're getting the vet."

Sandy looked up at her, and Gail was glad to see a little of the color coming back into Sandy's face. "I don't need the doctor. I'll be okay if I just rest a minute."

Gail came over to the mat and sat down next to Sandy, feeling her forehead, then stroking her hair. "Yeah, well, tell Miss Wendy that. I don't get to make those kinds of decisions."

From the next stall, Natalie said, "Gail, is Sandy okay?"

"She looks a little better. We'll find out when the doctor gets here."

"Is it like Kirstie?"

Gail looked down at Sandy. "Do your boobs hurt? Either one?"

Sandy shook her head weakly. "Just felt kind of pukey."

Gail called over the wall, "This isn't anything like Kirstie, Nat."

About thirty minutes later, Sarah, finishing up milking Jill, looked up in astonishment. "Sasha! What are you doing here?"

"I was over at Jamesons' with Doctor Follett when Wendy called him. They've got a lame horse he's looking at. He's going to be here as soon as he gets finished over there, but he told me I could come over now." Sasha was spending her summer as Follett's unpaid but eager assistant, soaking up whatever practical experience he could pass along to her before starting college in the fall.

"How'd you get here by yourself?"

"It's not that far. Couple miles."

Monica squinted at Sasha, thinking about the short time the trip had taken. "You ran here from Jamesons'?" Sasha's face had a sheen of moisture, but she didn't seem to be breathing hard.

"No big deal. Is Sandy in her stall?"

"Yeah, Gail's with her. Wendy came out for awhile, but she went back to watch the babies. They were in the middle of breakfast."

Sasha turned towards Sandy's and Sally's stall, then looked back, grinning. "Hey, Sarah, getting used to life without clothes?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I guess. Why didn't you want mine?"

Sasha called back over her shoulder, as she trotted down towards Sandy's stall, "It wasn't that I didn't want them. Your stuff doesn't fit me." Sasha found Sarah's tops too tight in the shoulders, too loose in the front. The pants were too tight on her thighs, and she had no use for skirts. And all of it was... not exactly frilly, but a little too dressy for her tastes. Working with the doctor, she was about as dressed up as she ever got: a striped button-up blouse tucked into her denim shorts, the shorts themselves a few inches longer than those she usually wore; new, unscuffed tennis shoes with white socks that seemed too thin to her, but which everybody assured her looked nice with the shoes. Even in that outfit she felt uncomfortably formal. At least she felt at home in the sports bra under the blouse. No matter how she was dressed, she did too much bouncing around to want anything less firm holding her breasts.

She entered Sandy's and Sally's stall, walking behind Gail and going down on one knee beside Sandy's head. Sitting on her heel, her left forearm resting on her other knee, she reached down and felt Sandy's forehead. Since the girls' conversion, Sasha had dropped by a few times, and seemed more solicitous of Sandy than Sally, nearly to the point of being possessive. She'd eagerly accepted Tom's offer to let her help with the conversion, watching closely as he used the laser knife on Sally, then herself cutting off Sandy's arms and legs, and grafting on the hooves, as Tom supervised closely. "How you feeling now, sis?"

"Better. Really, it's not a big deal."

"Yeah, right, you just hurl every day. When did it start?"

"A little bit after I ate. Sally and me were going to play a little before milking, and I just started feeling kind of whoopsey."

"Sally, how about you? You okay?"

Sally grimaced. "I dunno, kind of light-headed. Not like I'm going to ralph, though. I think."

Sasha looked up, calling out loudly, "Everybody else feel all right?"

"Yeah." "We're okay." "Fine over here."

Sasha looked at the grain trough. Gail shook her head. "I don't think it's the food. Everybody's comes from the same place."

"Got girlmeat mixed in?"

"Some, but that all comes from the same package too."

Sasha looked down at Sandy again. "This all just started today?"

"Wellll..." Sandy looked away. "I kind of felt weird yesterday morning too. It went away after awhile, so I didn't think about it."

Sasha's eyes widened suddenly, and she looked back and forth between Sandy and Sally. She sat up, muttering "What's today? ..." and looked as if she were doing a mental calculation.

She jumped to her feet, startling Gail, and shouted over her shoulder, "I'll be back in just a sec," as she shot past Sarah, who was just entering the stall, and out of the barn.

Gail stared wide-eyed at Sarah. "What's that about?"

Sarah shook her head. "Been sitting still too long, I guess. She's always been like that."

Sandy tapped Gail's leg with her hoof. "I think I can get up now. My head's telling me to eat something, but my stomach's saying 'not so fast.' I think I'll feel better if I walk around a little."

"Need help?"

"Let me do it myself." She still was a little awkward at getting herself up -- it would be several more months before she could do it as smoothly as the veteran cows. Eventually she staggered up onto her hooves, and shook her head slowly back and forth as if she might throw the queasy feeling out of it. She poked at Sally. "You want to get up, hon?"

"Yeah, I guess. I feel like I could eat something." As she was rising, they could hear Sasha trotting back into the barn.

Sasha appeared moments later at the stall gate, holding two white plastic sticks. "Oh, you're up, good. I need you like that." She waved the sticks. "I knew Wendy would have some. Got one for each of you." She stood by the girls' litter box. "C'mere, Sandy. I need you to pee on this."

Sandy gawked at her, looked at Sally and back at Sasha. "What?" Suddenly, she recognized the stick and its purpose. Her jaw dropped still farther. "Oh, Sasha, you have got to be kidding."

Listening to the cows clamoring in the stalls for Gail to let them out, Sasha waited impatiently by the barn door as Doctor Follett made his way across the yard. He smiled as he saw her. "Ah, Miss Martin. Wendy tells me you tried a little experiment..."

He stopped as she wordlessly held up the two sticks, one in each hand, their displays turned towards him. He squinted and looked closely. "Oh, my."

Looking back and forth between the two sticks, he smiled and nodded. "I think I would have run through quite a lot of other tests before I'd thought of that one. Did it twice, did you?"

Sasha shook her head. "No, sir. Not on Sandy, I mean." She wiggled the stick in her right hand. "This one's Sandy..." And she wiggled the one in her left. "...and this one's Sally."

He looked back and forth between the sticks again, only able to repeat, "Oh, my!"

He blinked and smiled at her, shaking his head. "You've got good instincts, Miss Martin. Don't ever let anybody tell you that's less important than book-learning."

Sasha beamed with pride. "Thank you, sir." She bit her lip. "I did have a little advantage. I know what they were doing six weeks ago."

He patted her on the shoulder as she turned and followed him into the barn. "Still, that was good work. Let's see go see our patient. Ahh... patients."

Sarah had finished freeing Gwen and Jenny, and was unlocking Monica and Jill's stall. She said over her shoulder as Sasha and the vet passed by, "I think they might be a little freaked."

Sasha gave her a tiny shrug. "Welcome to Biology 101."

In their stall, Sally and Sandy were both pacing back and forth, Gail walking beside them patting each one's shoulder periodically. Gwen and Jenny were in the front corner of the stall, trying to stay out of the way. Sandy looked up wide-eyed as the vet entered. "I can't be pregnant! I'm a girlcow!"

Follett set down his bag, fighting down a smile. "We don't know for a fact yet that you are pregnant. I'll need to run another test or two."

Sasha sighed. "Sandy, you know you've only been a girlcow for a month. Nothing was stopping you from getting pregnant before that."

Follett was kneeling beside his bag, searching inside it. "I assume you were both sexually active before your conversion."

Sally reddened. "With boys?"

Follett chuckled. "With boys, yes."

She looked uncomfortably at Sandy. "J-Just a couple of times."

"Only takes one, dear." He shifted his gaze to Sandy, who had pressed up closer against her twin. "And you?"

"Well, ummm..." She looked at Sally. "Yeah."

Sarah, standing behind Natalie and Clarissa at the entrance to the stall, caught Gail's eye. "Should I go get Miss Wendy?" Wendy and Tom had gradually become accustomed to the honorifics Sarah had attached to their names as soon as she'd put on her slave collar, a pretty one matching Gail's. Tom had winced at first with saying anything, feeling a suspicion that Sarah was having a little subtle fun with him -- none of his other sisters had ever called him "Master Tom" -- but she always did it perfectly earnestly, and Wendy had suggested she was probably doing it because Gail was.

Gail bit her lip, her hands on her hips. "I better go. She'll probably need me to stay with the babies. And you should be here." Gail weaved around the girlcows standing in the entrance, put her hand on Sarah's hip and gave her a quick kiss before hurrying out of the barn towards the house.

Follett had at last located satisfactory instruments in his bag, and waggled his finger at Sandy. "Come over here, dear. Let's see what we've got."

Sasha had given Sally and Sandy each a warm hug before following Dr. Follett out to his car. Both girlcows now stood, side by side, their shoulders and hips rubbing against each other as each tried to draw strength from the other's touch. At last, her lower lip quivering, Sandy looked up at Wendy. "W-What are we supposed to do? We're girlcows! We can't take care of babies!"

Wendy sat on the floor in front of them and put an arm around each one's shoulder. "That's nothing to worry about. Babies are my middle name. I'd enjoy having another couple of little tinies, and I wouldn't have to do it by myself. Even Tom knows how to change diapers." She smiled at them.

Sally's eyes widened. "You'd... raise them? Like your own kids?"

Wendy grinned and rubbed Sally's cheek with her own. "We're all the same family, right?" She suddenly frowned. "Speaking of that, do you want me to call... what was his name, Zach? He has to be the father, right?"

Sandy looked at Sally, seeing the same uncertainty in her eyes. "I don't know. I don't know what to do, I don't know what to tell you. This is all happening too fast."

The other girls, standing in a knot at the front of the stall, broke in. "You've got to tell him, Sandy..." "You can't tell him, he'd..." "He could help..." "Are you kidding, he'd never..." They stopped at an emphatic gesture from Wendy.

Natalie spoke up softly. "Miss Wendy, they've got a lot to think about, and they need some time. And they probably don't need all of us yelling at them. What if you took them behind the barn? A little quiet, a little privacy." She looked at both girls, her eyebrows arched questioningly.

Wendy turned back to look at the twins, who were both nodding. Sally asked, "Could we do that? This is just a really big thing. And we just haven't had a chance to talk about it, or even think about it."

Wendy looked from one girl to the other, and nodded. "Right now?"

"Yeah." This came from both.

Both girls watched Wendy as she walked away and disappeared around the corner of the barn. They hadn't been alone to this extent since their conversion, and they looked around nervously. The chains securing their collars to the water pipe did help them feel a bit safer, but it was awhile before either could speak. Finally Sandy cleared her throat. "So?"

"What do we talk about first?"

"That last thing about telling Zach, I guess."

Sally shook her head. "First we need to decide if we're even going to keep the babies."

Sandy gasped. Abortions, though legal, were frowned on -- since most babies were girls, terminating a pregnancy was equivalent to throwing away part of the next generation's food supply.

Sally shook her head. "I didn't mean what you're thinking. But we could put them up for adoption. Or donate them to one of the breeder farms. They say those always have great schools, and the girls who grow up there don't have to stay on and be breeders, though most of them do."

"That's because nearly all their moms are breeders."

"Well, sure, but the point is, they know everything about raising kids, and they treat them really well."

Sandy bit her lip. "Yeah, I guess that'd be okay. But you heard Wendy. She could raise them herself, and maybe it'd be better than a breeding farm. I mean, she's almost got her own breeding farm here -- I know that's not exactly the idea, but it's kind of like that. And she's a really good mother."

"Would she treat them like they were her own kids? Or would they end up feeling like they didn't belong?"

Sandy looked down the back of the barn towards the fields visible in the distance. "They'd still be part of the family. That seems to be a really special thing here. I'm kind of catching on to what the other girls mean when they talk about that. It's funny, the girls who are here, I don't remember them all being especially close when we were growing up. I don't really even remember feeling there was anything special about being sisters -- except with you, of course," she smiled at her twin. "But here... it's weird, they're the same girls I remember from home, but I feel like I'm getting to know them all so much better than I did then..."

She stopped as Sally suddenly gasped, her eyes flying open wide. "What?"

"Sandy! Our girls! They'd be sisters!"

Sandy shook her head. "Cousins, sweety."

"No! I mean, that too, but they'd really be sisters! They've got the same father!"

Sandy's jaw dropped open. "You're right!"

"I was just thinking, I know exactly what you mean, what you were saying a minute ago, about sisters being something special. And that's what they'd be! We can't let them go off to a breeding farm! Those people wouldn't understand there. What if they separated them?"

"So Wendy can raise... but..." Sandy bit her lip. "They wouldn't be sisters of Wendy's kids, though. And... I think they'd kind of know Wendy wasn't really their mom. I don't think she'd treat them differently on purpose, but... somehow they'd know."

Sally was bouncing on her hooves. "That doesn't matter! They'd have moms! You and me!"

"But we can't be their moms, I mean, not so they know it! We can't hold them in our arms! We don't even have arms!"

Sally's face was glowing. "Sandy, what does a baby do all day? They eat, poop, and sleep. And if there's one thing we can do for sure, we can feed babies! And Tom could make little cradles where we could rock them and sing them to sleep. And Sarah and Gail could help with diapers and baths and stuff like that. Anything we can't do, we've got family to help."

"Yes! Mom-and-baby bonding, we can do that! And they'd have Wendy's kids to play with, and Wendy can do a lot of things for them, but they'd always think of us as Mommy. They'd be sisters and have two mothers!"

Sally narrowed her eyes. "We're not telling Zach, are we?"

"No! He might want to take them away from us! Assuming he even wanted anything to do with them. That jackass. No, our girls have everything they need right here!"

"Exactly!" She kissed Sandy happily, then turned and pounded on the wall of the barn with her hoof. "Sarah! Can you hear me? We're ready. Go get Wendy, okay?"

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

Lying on her side, her bulging tummy rubbing against Sandy's, eyes half closed, Sally waved her foreleg ineffectually at Sarah. "Go 'way. Let me rest."

Sarah sighed. "It's time to go out to the field."

Sandy gasped suddenly and giggled. "Ow! Was that yours or mine?"

Sally laughed. "Sasha would love it. Our babies can play basketball from inside the ball." She watched as Sandy's tummy dimpled from another internal kick. "Now that was yours."

"I know." Sandy rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with her shoulder. "Come on, Sarah. Tom's crops aren't going to die without our poop."

Sarah bent and wriggled her hand underneath Sally's waist, trying to lift her. "You know that isn't the point. Sasha did all that work in the university library, looking up everything they had on girlcow pregnancies. And she said the most important thing is to keep exercising."

Sally grimaced and tried to kick Sarah away with her hind leg. "That's Sasha's answer to everything. I think she made that part up."

"I did not."

The three girls gasped, their heads turning towards the stall gate. Sandy, her eyes round with wonder, burst out, "Sash, what're you doing here??"

"I heard you talking about me."

"Yeah, right, and ran here from the City. Why aren't you in school?"

Sasha grinned. "It's Spring Break. I was going to tell you I was coming, but I wanted to surprise you." She came further into the stall. "Wow, you guys are huge."

Sally rolled her eyes. "Thanks, love hearing that. What'd you think we'd look like?"

"Well, I just haven't seen you for a few months."

Sarah was looking Sasha up and down admiringly. "That's really a cute outfit. Where'd you get it?" Sasha seemed to have discarded her denim, with shorts and a matching halter-top in some soft, stretchy material, trimmed in school colors, the fabric hugging her curves tightly enough that the outline of her panties was visible underneath. The top seemed to have enough elastic and tension in the right places around Sasha's breasts that she was able to wear it without a bra.

Sasha blinked and looked down at her clothes. "University bookstore. They sell stuff besides books."

Sarah laughed. "Should have known you'd do your shopping in a bookstore."

Sandy looked around as if trying to see through the walls. "Why's it so quiet?"

Sarah grunted, still trying to lift Sally. "Gail already took the other girls out to the field. Now you're not going to see where they dropped their loads, so don't blame me if you step in stuff. Sally, come on, help me out!" She gritted her teeth, both hands on Sally's waist. She shook her head in exasperation. "Sasha, see if you can get Sandy up."

"Sure." Sasha squatted beside Sandy and, one hand under her waist and the other flattened on her butt to steady her, raised Sandy up onto her hooves in one quick motion. Sandy winced and spread her front and rear legs for better balance, her stomach nearly scraping the floor.

Sally goggled at the muscle definition evident in Sasha's arms as she'd casually lifted Sandy. "Sasha, you been working out or something?"

"Huh? Oh." Sasha examined her biceps critically. "I got into weightlifting in the school gym. It kind of clears my mind before I start studying."

"You lifted weights in high school too. I don't remember your arms looking like that."

"That was mostly for leg strength, for basketball. I'm working on some other muscle groups now."

Sarah gave up on Sally. "Could you get her up too?"

Sally giggled. "Make Sarah do it, Sash."

Sasha grinned. "Come on, Sal, you guys need to get going. Quit holding Sarah up, she's got other stuff to do." With barely a grunt, Sasha squatted again, her back straight, and picked up Sally's hindquarters. Sally scrambled to get her forelegs under her and stood, glaring at Sasha, then sighed. "Okay, fine, I can take hints." She twisted her neck to let Sarah clip on her leash, looking, as Sarah moved on to Sandy, at the tiny cradle standing in the corner of the stall. Tom had put it together, and it looked so cute, and so out of place in a girlcow stall. Tom had planned to make two smaller ones, but the girls wanted their daughters together right from the start. In probably a week, maybe less, there would be two babies nestled in the fluffy blankets.

Sarah slowly led the twins as they waddled behind her. As they reached the barn door, Sasha patted Sarah lightly on her butt and said, "I'm going to go catch up with the others. See you later." Sarah started to reply, but Sasha was already trotting across the yard.

The little kids, playing in the fenced area by the house, apparently noticed Sasha for the first time -- Sarah decided Sasha must have come to the barn by way of the other side of the yard -- and squealed excitedly, several of them piping "Hi, Aun' Sassa!" Bonnie, her face beaming out from between two pickets, shouted "Can you pway wiv us, Aun' Sassa?" Sasha veered off from her path to the field, ran up to the fence, reached over it and scooped Bonnie up, tossing her high in the air as Bonnie squealed and giggled in delight.

Sarah shook her head and muttered, "Great, the kids can wear her out."

Behind her, Sandy, sounding slightly winded already, snorted. "Don't bet on it."

Halfway back to the barn, Sarah stopped as she felt the tension in the leashes and heard a soft choking sound from one of the twins. Turning, she saw Sally standing still, her face red, grunting in pain. "Sally? What's wrong?"

Sally took several deep breaths as the pain passed. Sweating, she looked up uncertainly at Sarah. "Sorry, just... the baby's really moving a lot. Like she's..." She suddenly gasped in astonishment. "Sarah, I think maybe this is it!"

"Oh, shit!" Sarah looked around for Tom. He wasn't in sight just now. Spinning on her feet she looked towards the house, where Sasha was giving Bret a ride on her shoulders. She waved her arms at her. "Sasha!!"

Sasha came at a dead run. "What??"

"We've got to get Sally back to the barn, fast. She thinks she might be in labor."

Sasha knelt in front of Sally. "Where's it hurt?"

Sally did her best to point vaguely with her stubby foreleg. "She just suddenly started moving a lot, and it's like she wants to get owwwwwwww!!" Her face contorted in pain again.

Without a word, Sasha scooped Sally into her arms and started running for the barn. As Sarah watched, from behind her Sandy said hoarsely, "What about me??"

Still watching Sasha as she disappeared into the barn, Sarah replied, "You're not in labor."

"Like hell." Her gasp made Sarah turn, to see Sandy's reddened face go through a spasm of pain.

Sarah spun wildly, finally spotting Tom in a distant field. "MASTER TOM!!!" She waved her arms frantically. As he came running, she muttered, "This can't be happening, this can't be happening..."

Doctor Follett stood with his hands on his hips, looking around the stall, momentarily ignoring the two panting girlcows. "Yes, this should be okay." He turned to regard the crowd bunched together at the entrance to the stall. Only Wendy was missing -- she had the children to watch, and explained to Tom that she was all too familiar with labor and not eager to see it just now. He knelt in front of the twins, who were side by side, facing the back of the stall. "Do you want everybody watching?"

Both girls, their eyes squeezed shut as they recovered from the latest contraction, shook their heads.

"Do you want anyone at all in here, besides myself and Sasha? I'm willing to let two other people in, if you want."

Between gritted teeth, their faces shiny with sweat, both girls said, "Clary and Natalie."

The vet blinked in surprise. "I was going to let each of you choose one person, but I guess you're in synch on this." He looked up. "I'd like you all to move away, out of sight." He smiled slightly. "If anything important happens, I'll be sure and let you know. The girls said they want Clarissa and Natalie in here with them."

Reluctantly, all looking at each other, none wanting to be the first to move, the rest of the girls, with Tom, shuffled off towards the front of the barn. Natalie and Clarissa remained at the gate, shuffling uncertainly.

Wendy came over from the play yard as she saw her cows gather in a knot by the barn door. She put her arm around Tom's waist, leaning against him, keeping part of her attention on the kids, across the yard behind her.

Sasha was kneeling in front of Sandy, using a soft towel to wipe some of the moisture from her face, her other hand gently massaging the back of Sandy's neck. She picked up another towel and made a soft pass over Sally's face with it. There were plenty of towels and blankets -- Sarah and Gail had emptied the entire linen closet in the house. Sandy, her voice husky, asked, "Shouldn't we be laying down?"

Sasha shook her head. "Girlcows deliver standing up. It's easier pushing that way." Massaging Sally's neck now, Sasha looked over at Follett. "Doctor, how can they both go into labor at the same time? Isn't that a little weird?"

"I don't know whether it is or not, Miss Martin. You've probably read those studies noting that women living together somehow synchronize their periods. I'm not aware of any literature on simultaneous labor in the same situation, but it may be a similar principle at work. I don't think there's enough data from women living together who had conception dates in close proximity. And certainly not for women spending as much time together as your sisters here." He studied his watch, noting the time as both girls shouted in pain. Now even their contractions seemed to be synchronizing.

Clarissa cleared her throat nervously. "Umm... where should we be?"

Follett gestured with his hand. "Come up here in front. They just need a friendly, encouraging voice. We'll do the rest." He moved to situate himself behind Sally, and signalled to Sasha to get behind Sandy.

Sasha, looking nervous for the first time, knelt behind her sister, her eyes glued to Follett. "What do I do?"

"Spread some towels and blankets, there, under her hind legs. Bunch them up, make the surface as soft as you can." He proceeded to do just that under Sally.

Clarissa, on Natalie's right, stood in front of Sally, with Natalie facing Sandy. Clarissa nudged Sally's shoulder to get her attention. "Sally? What do you want me to do?"

Sally squinted at her, her face pinched in pain. "Just be here, okay? I'm scared."

Clarissa nuzzled her cheek against Sally's, and kissed her shoulder by her neck. "There's nothing to be scared about. Women have babies every day."

"Not girlcows! This isn't normal!"

"Shhhh." Clarissa was trying to calm her more than quiet her. "A mommy's a mommy. Your body knows what to do."

Sandy grunted. "Does anybody else here know what to do? I know Sasha hasn't delivered any girlcow babies!"

Natalie, rubbing the side of her head against Sandy's, said, "Dr. Follett has done it before. Right, Doctor? I heard you telling Miss Wendy that."

Follett was leaning from one side to the other, intently examining between both girls' hind legs. "Hmmm? Oh, yes. Twice. Along with a number of horses, cattle, and a sheep or two."

In a strained voice, Sally muttered, "I don't remember hearing about any girlcow babies around here. Aieeee!!!!" She screamed in stereo with Sandy.

"Well, the last one was sixteen years ago."

Near the barn door, Karen, who had gravitated towards Kirsten's head, rubbed her cheek against her late stall-partner's, whispering, "Be with them, Kirstie, make them be okay, make them be okay..."

Sasha, her eyes fixed between Sandy's hind legs, reached blindly and grabbed Follett's forearm. "D-Doctor, is that the baby's head??"

Follett, looking quickly from side to side, saw the top of a head becoming visible between each girl's parted legs. "Oh, my! They're coming out together. Miss Martin, hold your hands like this. See what I'm doing? The baby might come out right away, or you might have to turn her shoulders. Okay girls, push, both of you."

Sandy dug her chin painfully into Natalie's shoulder, crying out, as Natalie, her lips pressed up against Sandy's ears, whispered, "Beautiful baby, perfect baby, beautiful baby..." Next to her, Clarissa was whispering to Sally, "Mom's inside her, Mom's inside her..."

Behind the twins, Follett shouted, "Heads are out. Like this, Miss Martin, support her head like this. I'm seeing the shoulders, looks good. Almost done, girls..."

Near the barn door, the four other girlcows stood pressed against Karen, who was still nuzzling Kirsten and whispering to her; the two slaves were beside them, the knuckles of their hands jammed in their mouths, and Tom and Wendy behind them, Wendy standing behind Tom, her arms around his waist, her head resting on his shoulder, peeking behind her occasionally to the yard where the kids were playing in the sandbox and on the slide. None of the waiting people in the barn was conscious of holding their breaths. They could all hear the two girlcows' exhausted panting, and two slaps in rapid succession, followed by the unmistakeable wails of two babies. All of the waiting girls shouted "YES!!!" together. Karen bolted for the stall gate first, the rest following close behind. They all stopped abruptly at the entrance, tears welling in their eyes at the sight of Doctor Follett, seated on the floor, holding one baby, and Sasha nearby, smiling as tears ran down her face, holding another.

Sally, resting her head tiredly on Clarissa's shoulder, said weakly, "Doctor? Could you bring her around here? I want to see her!"

Beside her, Natalie sniffled, wiping at her tears with her free shoulder, and giggled. "He can't yet, sweety. She's still attached to you. Give him a minute."

They waited as Dr. Follett cut the umbilical cord of Sally's baby, and let Sasha do the honors for Sandy.

Clarissa and Natalie backed out of the way as the vet and Sasha sat on the floor in front of the twins, each holding a crying baby. Sally, biting her lip, tears streaming down her cheeks, said to the vet, "This one's mine? Yeah, I know it is. She's so precious!

Wendy called, "Doctor?" from the gate, holding up two short strips of colored ribbon. "I brought these from the house. You could tie them around their ankles and we can tell them apart."

Clarissa said, "We'll get them," not wanting the doctor or Sasha to take one of the babies out of reach of the twins just yet. She and Natalie returned, each with a ribbon in her mouth.

Sandy looked wide-eyed back and forth between Sasha and her daughter. "Are they hungry, do you think?"

The doctor responded, "I wouldn't be surprised. They haven't eaten in their entire lives. Miss Martin, if you'll fetch some of those blankets, let's make nests under the mothers' forelegs."

In a few minutes, the babies were nestled under their mothers. Sally and Sandy grinned at each other around their tears, and let their breasts dangle over the babies' mouths.

The babies began sucking, and the twins discovered that the feelings from sharing your milk with a lover paled in comparison with taking care of the needs of your own child. They each stared downward at the precious life they had given birth to, taking from them the one physical thing they had to give.

Follett retrieved a notepad from his bag. "I'll need a little information for the Slave Birth Records. Have you decided on names?"

Sally and Sandy exchanged glances and nodded. Sandy said, "Natalya," accenting the second syllable. In the same heartbeat, Sally said, "Clarice."

Natalie and Clarissa gasped, Clarissa's jaw dropping open. In a tiny voice, Natalie said, "For real?"

Sally nodded. "We'll never forgot the way the two of you brought us back together..."

Sandy completed the thought. "...And we want our two girls to be as close to each other as you guys are."

Natalie and Sandy, Clarissa and Sally exchanged kisses, Natalie exclaiming, "That is so sweet!"

Follett waited for the exchange to end, and went on, "Fathers' names...?"

Instantly the twins shouted, "We don't know!"

Follett's eyebrows went up as he kept his eyes on his notepad. "I should put something."

Sally looked at Sandy, and back at the vet. "Can't you put 'Unknown'? That's got to happen pretty often."

"It does indeed, but as girlcows I don't think you'll want to do that. It will open up your daughters to the possibility of ownership claims later. I could put down Tom Martin as the father."

Sandy wrinkled her nose. "He's our brother!"

Follett nodded. "Also your owner. Establishing him officially as the father makes him your daughters' owner too. It would be much harder for the real father to make any claims on them. My impression is you'd prefer that it be that way." He raised one eyebrow questioningly. Both girls quickly nodded.

Follett looked at his watch and made a final notation on his pad. "I guess it's been about twenty minutes. I'll put down the time of birth as 1:25 pm for each." He began putting things away in his bag. Looking back at Tom, he said, "Give me a call if you need me."

Wendy cleared her throat. "Girls, Tom and I decided you need to stay with us in the house for awhile. There are going to be some baby-maintenance things that will be easier to do in there." She looked at Gail and Sarah. "Both of you come in with us, too. We can figure out how to split up the duties."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Sasha, do you want to stay here a night or two? I can call your dad and tell him you'll be here."

Sasha glowed. "Thank you, I'd love to!"

Karen spoke up from the murmur of the girlcows. "Wendy, we can come in and see the babies sometimes, right?"

Wendy laughed. "Of course you can come see them."

It became clear that Sally and Sandy hadn't heard any of this. For the present, they had eyes and ears only for the babies.

At the side of the stall, Natalie, watching the girls nurse their babies, nudged Clarissa. "I caught a look at Sandy's eyes just before she started delivering. I don't know what made me think this, because Sandy doesn't look much like her, but it was like Kirstie was looking out of her eyes."

Clarissa gasped. "I was thinking the same thing! I saw that in Sally!"

"Weird, huh?"