15 years ago, on the third floor of Queens' General Hospital, Dr. Venice Gordon stepped out of the delivery room, a huge smile on his face. He had done another successful deliver, a pair of beautiful twin boys. Another doctor, Dr. Samuel Xavier came up to him putting a hand on his shoulder congratulating him.

"Congrats Gordon! Another great delivery! So what is it this time?" Dr. Xavier asked

"Twin boys." Gordon replied.

"Twins. Hah! I know that'll be exciting for the parents." Xavier chuckled amused while feeling sorry for the parents considering he too has twins to deal with. Twins who are only a year old, a boy and girl who just love to cause trouble not to mention keeping their parents up most of the night.

"Those two still keeping you up at night?" Dr. Gordon asked though it wasn't really much of a question since he already knew the answer.

"Yep. Henry and Violet are so full of energy it's nearly impossible to get them to bed." Xavier replied as he lead the way down the hall to the staff lunchroom talking aimlessly with Gordon.

Two hours later

Gordon had another delivery, a little girl. He stepped out of the patient's room as the nurse he had assigned for her arrived. He handed her the patient's chart and told her in about 30 mins to take the infant to the nursery.

"Unfortunately we will have to take her to the nursery on the next floor given that this one is now full." The nurse simply replied looking over the chart as she stepped away not noticing the surprised look Dr. Gordon had given her.

"The nursery is full?" He asked himself replaying what the nurse told him as he made his way to said nursery to see for himself.

The nurse was right every single crib in the small room held an even smaller bundle within them. Standing in front of the glass window Dr. Gordon scanned the entire room pointing out each child he had delivered. As he searched the room he noticed something peculiar. Looking back and forth a few more time he could not seem to find the twin boys he had delivered earlier. He caught the attention of one of the nurses chatting at the desk across from him. A young blond trotted over to him, her hair done up in a low ponytail.

"Yes doctor. What can I do for you?" She asked a soft smile on her face.

"Can you tell where are the Parker twins that were brought here about two hours ago? I'm assuming they were the last one's to be entered before all the cribs had been filled." Dr. Gordon asked as he continued searching for the two.

He was surprised when the nurse started giggling loudly as did the one remaining at the desk. He straightened up giving her an unamused look not fazing the young nurse in the slightest. She quieted her laughter a bit as she step up to the glass window pointing to the back of the room where a much larger crib sat. Said crib was meant for the very rare occasion when a doctor delivered conjoined twins.

Peter and Bryan Parker are not conjoined twins? So what are they doing in that crib and not in their own separate ones? Dr. Gordon thought confused.

He leaned forward putting one hand on the glass as he took a better look inside the larger crib and as he did he saw them. The two boys, the two "separate" boys lying peacefully asleep in the large crib. Turning back to the young nurse he now looked more annoyed than unamused.

"And why are they in there instead of their own separate cribs like they are suppose to be?"

Again the nurse giggled louder as Dr. Gordon raised an eyebrow at her, his annoyance about to reach its peak.

"And what exactly is so funny Miss Lynd?!" Dr. Gordon asked his voice slightly raised. Still unfazed by the doctor's tone, Lynd wiped away a small tear as she slowed her giggling to a complete stop. A smile still on her face as she turned back to glass pointing again at the larger crib that held the Parker twins.

"I'm sorry Dr. Gordon. But it's just a really cute story you see-" Dr. Gordon interrupted her, his patients having reached its limit now.

"No I don't see. Get to the point now." Trying his best to keep his voice calm and this time Lynd was a bit taken back but she continued.

"Um...yes sorry. Well me and Annie had originally planned to put them in separate cribs. But as soon as we did they both began to cry. Assuming that they were a little scared being without their mother for the first time so we picked them back up to calm them down so that they would not wake the others. Take note that Annie and I were standing right next to each other. But as we attempted to set them back down once more their crying started up again. We weren't sure what was wrong until Annie noticed that they were both trying to reach each other. And since they were still crying we had to think fast before they woke up the entire nursery and a couple of the babies were already starting to get upset. Thinking I led Annie to the back where the larger crib was and when we set them down inside they didn't cry." She giggled once again "And as soon as we let go the two of them held each other's hand and fell right asleep." She finished and stared up at the doctor to see a smile on his face as he watched the sleeping infants finally noticing that their hands were intertwined.

Oh my God. Did that really happen?

Dr. Gordon chuckled feeling as though he could die from the seer cuteness of it all. He turned back to the nurse straightening his tie.

"Alright then. Good thinking Miss Lynd." As he began to walk away Lynd thanked him and headed back to the desk to continue her conversation with Annie.

But as Dr. Gordon began to think this day could not go wrong...It. Went. Horribly wrong.

...

An hour later the worst thing that could ever happen in a hospital...happened.

Dr. Gordon sat at his desk his glasses off and face buried in his hands unable to believe what had just happened actually happened. He took a deep breath pulling his face out of his hands and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was stressed, trying to comprehend everything, so many thoughts running through his mind...they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Um...Venice? You ok in here?" Samuel peaked in through the door. Gordon turned to his friend, his stress written clear on his face.

"Huh?...Oh yeah I'm here Sam. What is it you need?"

"The detectives need to speak with you...I can tell them you're not up for it right now." Samuel's concern showed clear as day.

"No...no I'm fine send them in."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm fine really." Gordon sat up straight in his chair.

"Alright." Samuel left and the detective stepped in taking a seat on the opposite side of the desk. He gave Dr. Gordon a moment to relax before he started.

"Alright Dr. Gordon I am Detective Ryder of the New York City Police Department. Now tell me exactly what happened, start from the beginning and I want every detail."

"Well...it happened about an hour after I'd gone to check on the infants, after one nurse had informed me that the nursery was then full. I wanted to see for myself and when I arrived I saw that she was correct. Every crib had been filled and after talking with another nurse, concerning two of my patients I left to fill out some paperwork." Gordon paused for a minute

"And what was it that had you concerned about?" Detective Ryder asked writing down every word.

"It was nothing too bad, just that a pair of twins I had delivered earlier were put in a crib meant for conjoined twins, which they were not. The nurse I was speaking with had told me that the twins did not appreciate being put in separate cribs and that their crying would have awoken the other infants. So they had put them in that crib so that they would not disrupt the others." Gordon explained.

"Ok and what happened next?" Detective Ryder's expression was blank. Gordon continued

"Well, while I was working on the paperwork, at once all of the lights had suddenly gone off for about ten maybe fifthteen minutes. And when they came back on the alarm sounded right after. When I had gone out to see what was wrong one of the nurses was screaming that the babies were gone. So acting on instinct I ran straight to the nursery and when I got there a majority of the cribs were empty and one of twins I had delivered was gone as well. And that's pretty much it the rest of the time I spent trying to calm down the nurse at the desk. You guys arrived and told us to wait to be questioned."

"And you're certain that's all that happened? Did you see or hear anything?" Detective Ryder asked

"No. I'm sorry detective that's all I know." Gordon apologize

"Very well then. Thank you for your time. I'll be contacting you if I'm in need of any more information." And Detective Ryder left leaving Dr. Gordon alone in his office.

  References:
Detective Ryder is Detective Sam Ryder from one of my favorite cozy mystery book series "A Dog Walker Mystery by Judi McCoy"