A/N Follows Phineas and Isabella as they raise their young twins. I was originally going to do a version of this story with Candace and Jeremy but I decided to make it a sequel of sorts. For those who have read Searching this takes place probably about a year and a half or so after the last chapter, for those who haven't it means Phineas and Isabella are 20ish.
One look at the pile of papers residing on the coffee table made my stomach hurt. I tapped my wedding band on the wooden chair anxiously. One of the babies was crying down the hall. I hoped against hope they would just fall asleep on their own. I pick up one of the papers on the table and readjusted my glasses. Even so I had to squint hard at the page. As soon as it came into focus I felt sicker. A phone bill? Who had time to be on the phone? Every one of my waking moments were either spent cleaning up after my children or working. The sobs crescendoed down the hall and into a full breakdown. I groaned. Sounded like both the twins were awake now. All hope was lost. Isabella stirred on the couch next to me.
"You going to get them? Or shall I?"
"Go back to sleep. I got it." I crumbled the bill and threw it back onto the pile.
Andrew, my son, was laying in his crib, red-faced and screaming. I grabbed a pacifier off the dresser and stuck it in his mouth. He was still wailing but ever so slightly muted. I scooped him up and walked over to were his sister, Ella, was laying. She wasn't crying anymore but her face was still wet with tears and she had given herself hiccups. She reached her arms toward me, curling and uncurling her cubby fingers, greedily.
"No, go to sleep." I commanded. She blinked and I gave in. I carried both back down the hall. They were still small enough I could carry them both without problems. But in a month or so I'm not sure the same will be true. They were growing so fast. Balancing on one foot I nudged Isabella awake with the other. "Izzy, wake up. Your sons hungry."
Isabella groaned but sat up. "Do you ever stop eating?" She questioned the infant as I settled him into her arms. Ella hiccuped. "Is she hungry too?"
I sat back down on the wooden chair. "No, Andrew just woke her up."
"Then why didn't you put her back to sleep?" Isabella questioned from the kitchen as she warmed a bottle.
"Just look at this face. I can't say no to that.." I looked down at the baby snuggled securely against my chest. She gurgled happily and closed her eyes. I ran my finger through her fuzzy orange hair and smiled. She looked exactly like Isabella, except for her hair. That was all me. Andrew was just the opposite. Everyone said he looked just like me but with Isabella's hair. I thought he had Isabella's eyes too.
"You're such a push-over." Isabella said. Andrew was sucking happily on the bottle
"There are worst things to be."
"Touche. Why don't we put these two to bed and get some sleep?"
"No, I got a lot of work to do." Isabella shrugged and started down the hall. I lay the now sleeping Ella in her crib and turned to my wife. "What do you say we go to the park tomorrow?"
"Sounds wonderful."
I made my way back down the hall and seated myself in the wooden chair, unwadded the phone bill and got to work. I woke up the next morning on the floor. My back ached and my joints cracked but the unkempt pile of bills had transformed into a neat, mostly paid stack. I struggled to my feet with a fair amount of difficulty and absolutely no dignity and made my way to the kitchen. I became vaguely aware of bacon crackling in a pan and the joyous sounds of children at play. Andrew and Ella were babbling to each other, the way only babies can, in a play crib in the corner of the kitchen.
"How're my favorite kiddies doin this morning?" I tickled their bellies and was rewarded with riotous laughter. "Isa! Where are you?"
"I'm in here. Can you check on the bacon? I think it's almost done." I turned the heat down on the burner and fished out the spatula from the cabinet. Isabella appeared behind me and relieved me of the spatula. She begin to dish the bacon out onto a plate. I stole a slice.
"We still going to the park?" Isabella asked.
"Mm-Hmm" I peered over her shoulder at the bacon now resting on a paper plate.
"Will you change Ella's diaper before we go?" Isabella asked, allowing me to take another slice.
"Do I have too?"
"Yes."
"Fine, but only because you asked so nicely."
She smirked and I kissed her cheek as I left to change my only daughter. Breakfast, another diaper change, a shower, 3 outfit swaps and a series of temper tantrums later we were on our way to the park.
"Ferb and Vanessa's wedding is in less than a week, you know." Isabella was walking beside me, pushing Ella in a stroller. I was holding Andrew, rocking him back and forth on my hip as we walked.
"I know. Has she picked out a dress yet?"
"No, we're stuck. I think she would look good in that sorta mermaid style with plenty of beads, you know, kinda looping around but she insists on the traditional design. But with this hideous black lace! Her mom is no help. She just cry's and says how pretty she looks in every one. What do you think?"
I found my wife's hand and kissed her fingertips. "Isabella, I love you but I haven't the slightest idea what your talking about."
She rolled her eyes. "That's what Candace said too."
"Oh, you've been talking to Candace? How's she doing?"
"Good, but if she complains about how fat she looks one more time I'm going to lose it."
"Ha! I'd love to see that." I laughed and Isabella glared at me. But she lightened up when I kissed her gently on the cheek.
We spent the afternoon pushing the kids in swings and playing in the sandbox. And we spent the evening getting sand out of their hair and fingernails and every other possible crevasse. It's no easy task, getting sleep 1 year olds into a bath. Ella was easy enough, the only hard part was keeping her awake. Andrew is another story. He screamed and fussed and splashed until he effectively soaked every inch of the walls and rug in the bathroom.
"Fine! Sleep in sand then! I don't care!" I wrapped the squirming baby in a towel and plopped him into Isabella's arms.
"There's no need to yell at him. He's just finicky." Isabella slipped him to the tub again, drizzling water over his head and cooing gently. He didn't cooperate but he didn't resist either. Isabella has always had a way with the kids, her natural maternal instincts were unmatched by any human before her. I rinsed Ella one last time and dried her with a towel just as Isabella finished with Andrew. She had a triumphant grin on her face.
By the time I got Ella into her pajamas she was out and Andrew wasn't far behind. I made a mental note; Going to the park equals early bedtime, just avoid the sandbox.
"They look like angels when they sleep." Isabella said, dreamily. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head gently.
"To bad they can't stay that way." I joked. She shoved me playfully. "Yeah, they're very cute. Perfect really."
She laid her head in my chest. Her eyes still watching the sleeping children "Arn't we a little young to raise twins?"
The question came as a sorta surprise. But I had been considering that very same thing though, every since they were born pretty much. I loved them more then anything in this whole world but, at times, it can all be a little hard to swallow. I looked down at the little ones laying there, drooling on their last clean pair of pajamas and an overwhelming sense of pride engulfed me. "Yes, yes we are."
A/N Last line courtesy of NevilleCanKickMattLewis'Butt.
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