Also timelines will jump around a fair bit. The start of each chapter is roughly in chronological order but the chapters themselves might span weeks or months and overlap with other chapters. Each chapter of this “baby boom” arc is going to focus on a couple instead of touching on everyone in the Care Bear Family.
Chapter 25: Baby Boom, Champ and Cheer
“And done,” Get Well Bear held up the two birth certificates to Champ Bear: one for a yellow girl bear named Showbiz Bear and a rose-gold boy bear named Nimble Bear.
“Thanks, Get Well.” Champ took the certificates, “I gotta get back to Cheer. Tenderheart should be done with their tummy symbols now.”
Champ arrived in the maternity room just as Tenderheart had bestowed the new tummy symbols on his cubs: two hearts one with a happy face and the other with a sad face (like the drama masks) for Showbiz Bear and a star on a balance beam for Nimble Bear.
Cheer law back, breathing softly and smiling as her now untidy and sweaty hair spread out behind her head. “Thank you, Tenderheart.”
“No problem,” Tenderheart hastily made his exit right past Champ.
“Certificates filled out,” Champ held up the cards, “How do you feel Cheer?”
“Tired, but not hurt at least.” Cheer smiled. “Thanks to that stuff Take Care gave me.”
“You mean the brew from Big Mama Tantan?” Champ asked. Cheer just nodded. “Well from what everyone else tells me, the real challenge starts after we get home. Just get some sleep, Cheer, I’ll get things ready.”
“Mmmkay,” Cheer muttered as she finally let herself fall asleep.
Champ watched his wife sleep for a moment then walked over to where his twin children were sleeping. “Don’t worry, sports fans, we’re gonna be the best parents ever.”
OoOoO
A couple days later, Champ and Cheer found out just how hard it was to look after babies. It was the sort of thing that you were never fully prepared for no matter how much you learned or practised. Once the kids were in your hands you had to be responsible for them and ‘on-call’ 24-7. It was only their incredible stamina from athletics that let the two of them keep up with the demand without collapsing. Champ took the responsibility of grocery shopping because Cheer needed to be on hand to nurse them whenever they got hungry.
It was on one of those days that Champ stumbled home, bags full of groceries, to the sound of crying.
“Champ! Nimble needs a change!” Cheer shouted.
“On it!” Champ left the grocery bags on the counter and hurried to the twins’ room. He grimaced at the smell as he picked up his rose-gold son and hurried to the changing table. He didn’t question why Cheer couldn’t do it, he figured she was busy with Showbiz.
And he was right, Cheer had just finished feeding their daughter and was burping her over her shoulder. At least the feeding seemed to have calmed the bear down as she spit up over Cheer’s shoulder. Fortunately, she had learned since the first time and had an old towel over her shoulder to catch the goo, which she tossed in the laundry the first chance she got.
As soon as Champ finished with Nimble, he brought him over to his mother, “You holding up alright?”
“I am. Just tired,” Cheer admitted.
“Me too. Here, I’ll put the groceries away,” Champ offered their son to her.
“Nuh-uh, I need to get up and stretch my legs before they cramp, Champ.” Cheer easily passed Showbiz to Champ, “You sit down and entertain them while I put stuff away.” She scooted around Champ and into the kitchen, leaving Champ with the twins in his arms.
Champ sighed and sat down, letting out a deep breath. Truthfully, he was glad to be off his feet.
The Care-a-Lot Department Store had been around for years but mostly went unused as the Care Bears usually just ate in the Hall of Hearts, grew their own food, or bought stuff from stores on Earth directly, however the recent threat from Mental Heart forced them to re-open it and stock it regularly with huge deliveries from earth just to give them place to go without putting themselves in danger or dragging the few Magi down to Earth whenever they needed to go shopping, especially now that a lot of them were eating at home. It wasn’t a ‘store’ in the conventional sense of the word since all the stock was paid for on Earth and just given to those who went to “shop” there. The register was still manned by someone every day but more to keep track of inventory so they knew when they were running low on something without having to scour the shelves ever single day. It didn’t have everything, and some shopping trips to Earth were still needed every so often; they couldn’t anticipate every single need and want the Care Bears would have.
The pace at their house remained pretty non-stop for days before the twins finally seemed to burn out their energy, or at least start to sleep more. After a week they were sleeping three hours a night. Champ and Cheer came to an agreement: Cheer would feed them and Champ would change them, mostly because he currently couldn’t feed them. Both decided they would have to get the twins on formula sooner than later.
Finally, after a month, Showbiz and Nimble were sleeping through the night and were calming down much more easily. Cheer had taken the day out to spent time with her friends for the first time since the twins were born.
Champ had put the twins down for a nap then decided to catch some sleep himself. The baby monitor was set up right beside his bed just in case as he fell asleep.
Champ wasn’t sure how much later it was when he felt himself shaken gently awake and opened his eyes to see a smiling Cheer standing over him. “Huh?” he sounded groggy.
“Relax, the kids are still asleep,” Cheer said. “I guess you needed the sleep.”
Champ smiled and reached up to stroke Cheer’s cheek. “Thanks. How was your day out?”
Cheer sighed then rolled over Champ into bed and helped him turn to face her, “Boring actually. We’ve all been so busy lately we didn’t talk much, just ate and complained a bit about stuff.” She rolled over to face Champ, “But I’m not tired, how about you?”
Champ propped his head up on his shoulder, “No so tired now. What were you thinking?”
Cheer leaned forwards and gave Champ a soft kiss, “Something we haven’t had time for in the last month.”
Champ chuckled and wrapped his arms around Cheer, “I love you Cheer.”
Cheer pulled him in closer, “I love you Champ.” They both kissed.
OoOoO
Once the twins were two months old (the equivalent of one year old for humans) Cheer took them to Take Care’s for another check-up. It didn’t take long for Take Care to run through the tests.
“Your cubs are healthy Cheer,” Take Care lifted Showbiz off the exam table and back into the double stroller Cheer had brought in with her cubs. “Is there anything else?”
“Actually, can I get a check-up while I’m here?” Cheer asked, “I’ve been feeling a bit off lately. I don’t want to get my kids sick.”
“OK, Cheer, I’ll make this quick.”
Cheer stood by once the tests were done as Take Care checked the results. A moment later her eyes widened for a moment before she turned to Cheer.
“What’s wrong, Take Care?” Cheer was becoming nervous.
Seeing the pink bear’s nerves start to go, Take Care just spoke the truth, “Cheer, you’re pregnant.”
Cheer’s eyes went wide and she just stared for a moment. “Wh-what? But how?”
Take Care set the report down and sighed, “I think you know how. How sexually active have you and Champ been in the last couple months?”
“Umm, a few times this last month, when the twins started sleeping through the night.” Cheer admitted. “I didn’t think it would take so soon after I had kids.”
Take Care groaned, “Cheer, you know why this happened. If you don’t want it to happen again then either stop, use protection or get an operation to stop it from happening again, otherwise: here you are.”
Cheer sighed, “Alright.” She took the stroller and pushed it out of Take Care’s office, “Let’s go tell dad the good news.”
Champ took it surprisingly well. He just stared up at Cheer having heard her say, “Champ, I’m pregnant.”
He took a moment to compose himself then said, “Are you alright?”
“I don’t know!” Cheer raised her voice and dropped on the couch next to Champ, “I mean, I thought about having more kids some day but not this soon, not while the twins are still babies!” She turned to hug Champ, “How are we going to manage three kids?”
“Hey, we’ll manage,” Champ stroked Cheer’s long hair, which she hadn’t done back in a ponytail that day. “We managed with two, what’s one more? Besides we’ll have help if we need it.”
“I know but… we just started having time for ‘us’ again,” Cheer looked up and gave him a kiss.
Champ couldn’t help but chuckle, “That’s kind of how we got into this situation isn’t it?”
Cheer glared at Champ for a moment, then sighed and leaned up against him. “Yeah, I know. I just… I feel like this is too much.”
Noise from the playpen where the twins were playing drew Champ’s attention and he gave Cheer a kiss on the forehead, “Just relax, Cheer. I’ll see what the twins want and you take some time to worry about this, ok?
“Ok…” Cheer let Champ go check on the twins and smiled, “I’m lucky to have you Champ.”
