Ever since the beginning of his relationship to Lilith, James' list of "happiest days of my life" had practically doubled. The months of dating and courtship, his proposal on her birthday beneath the full moon, their wedding in the lovely old cathedral near her home town, building a life together... it hardly seemed possible to him that any man could be this singularly lucky. But learning that she was pregnant, that he was to become a father? He'd cried almost as much as Lily at the wonderful revelation. To his mind, the ultrasound image of the little twins curled up within Lily's womb was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.
And yet, seeing his wife struggle through the difficulties of pregancy was perhaps one of the hardest times of his life. Always a rather slight woman, the doctors had warned that the stresses of the double pregnancy would hit her especially hard. Everyone was confident she would endure it, and she had been prescribed a number of nutritional plans and pharmaceuticals to help bolster her constitution, but it was still tough going. Through it all, James had been staunchly by her side, there to offer all the support he could, doing everything he could to be the dutiful husband.
One day, several weeks into the second trimester, saw James preparing Lily a specially prescribed salad - he'd always enjoyed cooking, and if there was one advantage to this situation it had at least allowed him to frequently indulge in the craft, though he was starting to get heartily sick of anchovies. He finished up his preparations, washed his hands, and took it out to the living room to his wife.
It may be a cliche to describe pregnant women as "radiant" - and indeed, as far as James was concerned, Lily always looked beautiful - but with his recent experience, James had to admit that it was true. Sitting at the table bathed in the noonday sun, she idly rubbed her prominent belly as she read the day's paper. James planted a kiss on her cheek as he placed her meal before her.
"Lunch is served, dear! Though I think I might have to go shopping later, we're a bit short on a few things. Wouldn't want to leave your cravings unfed, would we?"
Lily smiled and kissed James back. "Indeed we wouldn't - thanks, love." She ate a few forkfuls of salad, with obvious relish.
"Mmmm, what would I do without you and your cooking? You've been an absolute lifesaver, Jim."
James responded with modesty. "Well, it is my job - I am your husband."
"Maybe so, hun, but everything you've done for me over the last few months... well, it means the world to me."
"You're welcome, dear. It's all the least I can do."
"Trust me, you've done plenty."
"I know, but I do sometimes feel like I want to do more. I dunno... sometimes it's hard--"
Lily gave James an amused look. "Oh, YOU'VE had a hard time?"
James raised his hands defensively. "I know, I know, I'm sorry! Perhaps I could have worded that better. I just meant that I feel like I should be doing more for you."
Lily smiled fondly and took her husband's hand. "You're doing everything you possibly can, love, I know. And I really do appreciate it. I don't really see what more you could do, unless you want to carry these two for me!"
"Ha! Well, we'll see. I'm sure I'll figure something out..."

It was a nice enough day for a walk - James found himself not regretting leaving the car, even in the mid-winter cold. At this time of year, there was a pleasant atmosphere to the old high street, as the cool air blew gently between the rows of Tudor buildings. James admired them as he walked between them, shopping in hand and breath clouding in the air before him, and-- huh...
James had lived in this town for several months now, and yet he'd never seen that before. Tucked a short way into an alleyway was an unusual shopfront, its charmingly archaic design rather at odds with the rest of the street's architecture. James approached the shop and examined the curios on display. Dusty tomes, scrolls and odd little artifacts were arrayed on ornate shelves and little cushions, under a fine layer of dust.
James stepped back a bit and studied the shopfront once more. He'd read all sorts of stories where such a shop would appear at just the right moment, lead the plot in a strange and interesting direction, and have vanished whenever the buyer attempted to track it down again. Sometimes the magic these shops purveyed was beneficial, sometimes it was more of a curse, but it was always... interesting in its effects. James bit his lip and glanced back out into the street, where the few people who were about didn't seem to notice him. He looked back at the shop, mentally weighing the risks, before shrugging his shoulders and entering.
The inside of the shop was a continuation of the outside's theme - quaint decor filled to the brim with weird and wonderful things. James stood shyly just inside the entrance, glancing around for staff. He approached the counter, on which was a till that was itself an antique and one of the little bells one often finds on such a counter, which he rang.
"Er, hello?"
"Good afternoon, sir!"
James nearly leapt three feet in the air at the sudden voice as he wheeled around. Behind him was a short white-haired man, in a waistcoat and golden-rimmed spectacles, regarding him with a friendly smile.
"Sorry sir, didn't mean to startle you," the man said as he moved around behind the counter. "How are you this fine day?"
"I'm, uh... I'm fine, thank you," James answered as his heart settled down. "So, er, what sort of things do you sell here?"
"Oh, a great many things, sir!" the shopkeeper enthused, spreading a hand out to his stock. "We deal in items of every stripe - curios and relics, books and tomes, odds and ends... whatever a customer may need, I'm sure we can find something to suit their needs."
James nodded slowly. "I see. So..."
As James trailed off, the shopkeeper took up the conversational initiative. "Perhaps there's an issue in your life that needs a solution? Trying times? A missing pet? An illness in the family?"
"Something like that. Well, not an illness, really - you see, my wife is pregnant right now..."
"Oh, sir, how marvellous! My sincerest congratulations to you and the lovely lady!"
"Heh, thanks. Anyway, she's having a bit of a hard time with it, and I just want to help her out, you know? Do everything I can for her."
The shopkeeper rubbed his chin sagely. "Yes, I see. You wish to ease the troubles of your wife, take the burden off her shoulders, so to speak?" James nodded, and he continued, "I quite understand, sir. And I believe I have just the thing."
He turned to the shelf behind him and looked over the items there, before coming upon a small rolled-up scroll sealed with wax, a small brown bottle of clear liquid, and what looked like a pot of model paint. He gathered them and dropped them inside a paper bag, along with a hand-written receipt.
"These should provide your wife relief from the difficulties of her gravidity, sir. Just follow the instructions on the scroll when you return home, and it should help you bear your wife's burden."
James arched an eyebrow, but accepted the bag the shopkeeper proffered him. "Well, I'll give it a try, thank you. How much do I owe you for these?"
"No charge at all, sir! Consider it a belated wedding gift from myself to you."
"Seriously? Well, thanks! I'll be on my way then, I guess."
"Farewell then, sir! And good luck with your nascent children. I hope you find your new solution satisfactory..."

The instructions on the scroll from the shop were rather odd, but seemingly innocuous. It had called upon him to first add a few drops from the brown bottle to both his and Lily's tea - luckily it hadn't affected the taste at all. The second part of the directions were a little stranger, bidding him to use the paint to inscribe a circle of what appeared to be runes on Lily's stomach as she slept. With everything she was going through, it was perhaps unsurprising that she slept so deeply nowadays, and such she barely stirred as James painted her tummy, only giving a little mumble and a shuffle as he finished off the last "Pargonne". He consulted the scroll once more and read the final step: an incantation to recite over the circle, helpfully spelled out phonetically. James leant forward over his wife and whispered the strange words.
"Proles transit ut hippocampus."
James had no idea what this might mean - if indeed it meant anything at all - but he recited them the required number of times nonetheless. All that now remained to do, the scroll claimed, was wait until morning, and the spell would be complete. He stashed his magical equipment away in his bedside table, prepared for bedtime and presently clambered into bed next to his wife. He kissed Lily on the cheek and settled down under the covers. Before long, he finally fell asleep.
Had he been awake some time later at midnight, he might have noticed the runes on Lily's tummy starting to glow softly under the covers, as the bulge of her belly started to gently deflate, and James's own belly inflate in turn...

As the light of the next morning broke, Lily stirred and finally awakened. Yawning and blinking blearily, she stood up off the bed and gave a tremendous stretch. Half-awake, she staggered into the bathroom and went through her morning routine. She shuffled back into the bedroom to see her husband... and the tremendously swollen belly he was now sporting. With a huge gasp, Lily was shocked into full awareness, and for the first time she properly noticed that her own belly was as flat as it had been before her pregnancy. She leapt forward onto the bed and began shaking her newly bloated husband.
"James, wake up!For god's sake, wake up!"
James was quickly roused by his frantic wife, and almost immediately noticed his tummy.
"Wh... Oh Jesus, what the f--" Comprehension suddenly dawned on him. "Ohh, the scroll! Of course!"
"Scroll? What are you tallking about? What the Hell is going on?!"
James struggled to sit up under the new weight. "Don't worry, Lily, this is... well, it's going to need some serious explanation..."

The explanation seemed outlandish and bizarre, and yet Lily couldn't help but believe James. He wasn't in the habit of lying or forging weird magical artifacts, and his newfound bulge had produced the telltale kicking from one of the fetuses evidently therein.
"I know I probably should have talked to you about this, but the shopkeeper didn't explain exactly what would happen," James said, finishing his elaboration. "He just said it would ease your trouble and help me shoulder your burden - apparently quite literally. How could I refuse?"
Lily was silent as she absorbed all this. She sipped her morning coffee thoughtfully and picked up the scroll. She looked over it and gave a wry grin.
"Here's your mistake: you should have paid more attention in biology at school. The word "hippocampus"? It means "seahorse"."
James rubbed his tummy. "Is that so? Well, that certainly seems about right." He looked back up to Lily. "So, what do we do, now?"
Lily considered the situation. "Well, according to the scroll, the babies will be just fine in there until the time comes for labour. 'Til then, you'll be handling everything."
"I suppose I did want to help shoulder your burden. I-- oooff!" James's grunt of discomfort came as he tried to get up, only for the weight of the babies to force him back. "God almighty, how do you deal with this?!"
Lily smiled and knelt beside him, rubbing his tummy fondly. "I guess you'll have plenty of time to find out, won't you? But I'll do everything for you that you did for me... apart from the magic, maybe. This is certainly going to be an odd four months..."