Chapter One
Keirsten Reid was hustling in the kitchen to get breakfast ready for her family, as well as try and put together two school lunches. The aroma of fresh biscuits filled the Reid house hold. She was trying hard to make sure that everything ran smoothly for her children's first day of kindergarten.
"Adalynn, why don't you go get Louis and Lorelei out of their room," Keirsten said looking at a pit bull that was laying in the middle of the kitchen floor.
Adalynn looked up, slightly unamused for a moment. She slowly got to her feet, before her tail started to wag rapidly behind her and she took off running out of the kitchen.
Keirsten stepped out of the kitchen for a moment. "Spencer, breakfast is almost ready," she claimed as she watched her husband looking around the sofa. "What are you looking for?"
"My glasses... I can't find them," Spencer replied looking up.
"You left them on the table in the kitchen," Keirsten said. She smiled some before she walked back into the kitchen. She made her way to the refrigerator and opened it just long enough to grab out a carton of coconut milk. When their children where two years old, they had discovered that their son Louis was highly allergic to dairy. Ever since then, nothing with milk was aloud in their house.
Spencer walked into the kitchen and picked his glasses up off the table. "I still can't believe that the twins are starting kindergarten this morning," Spencer stated. He walked over to his wife, and gently wrapped his arms around her waist.
Keirsten turned around slowly. "Think I can? Time is going by way too fast. I wish that we could just keep them here, stuck at five years old."
Spencer smiled before taking a kiss from his wife. "Sorry Keirst, no can do..."
"Mommy, when we finish eating breakfast, would you braid my hair?" a little girl with long, brown hair, hazel eyes, and freckles covering her face asked as she ran into the kitchen.
"Lorelei... what have we told you about running in the house?" Spencer questioned looking at his daughter.
"Sorry Daddy," Lorelei replied softly.
"That does not answer my question."
"You told me not to run in the house."
"That's better. Now, if you finish eating in time, yes I will braid your hair. Do you want me to braid a ribbon into it?" Keirsten asked.
"Yes, the red one please."
A young boy with messy red hair and brown eyes came into the kitchen. "Mommy, does we has to goes to school?" he asked.
Lorelei looked at her twin and put her hands on her hips. "You didn't say that right. It's do we have to go to school," she corrected with emphasis.
"Young lady, stop correcting your brother. Yes Louis, you both need to go to school. Make sure you get Daddy to help comb out your hair before we leave," Keirsten claimed.
"Daddy hairs not combed," Louis argued.
Lorelei opened her mouth to correct her brother once again, but she closed it when she saw the look her father gave her.
Spencer was proud of the two children that stood in front of him. His son was his look a like from when he was a child, other than the fact that he had inherited his mother's red hair. His daughter had inherited his own brown hair, and her mother's looks. The two of them could not be more different from each other. Louis was soft spoken, and it normally took him awhile to catch onto things. Lorelei however, was not afraid to speak up, and was already showing signs that she was a genius like her father.
"Louis, Daddy is going to be taking care of his hair after we get you guys to school, now sit down and eat, your breakfast is getting cold. Lorelei, I do not want to hear that you have been correcting your classmates, do I make myself clear?" Keirsten asked.
"Yes Mommy," Lorelei responded as she took a drink of her milk.
"Louis, stop trying to put your grapes up your nose," Keirsten instructed as she reached across the table and pulled her son's hand away from his nose.
Spencer laughed lightly under his breath. Sometimes watching his wife with Louis made him think of the days when Keirsten was still a full time kindergarten teacher instead of a substitute. Whenever he would go to visit, it would seem like one of her students always wanted to eat something they should not.
Breakfast continued in silence, other than the sound of Adalynn eating happily from the bowl of gravy she had been given.
After breakfast had ended, everything was chaotic. From braiding hair, to trying to find Spencer's work badge so he could get into the FBI building.
"Okay you two, I won't be home when you get out of school, now, just because you're going to school now, does not mean the drill changes when I go out of town. You still listen to your mother, and be on your best behavior," Spencer instructed as he put his badge on.
"You'll call us before bed, right Daddy?" Lorelei asked.
"If I'm able to yes. Now then, go grab your bags, your lunches and lets get you two off to school. The walk should not take too long," Spencer claimed.
Lorelei and Louis walked over to the door and grabbed their white book bags off the chair next to it. Their mother's friend Zak Edmunds had given the bags to them for their birthday back in March, each had a unique cartoon drawn by hand. Once they had everything ready, they stood beside the door ready to go.
"Adalynn we love you. When we get home we can try and convince Mommy to take you for a walk," Lorelei called out as her mother opened the door and she walked outside.
"Bye Adalynn!" Louis shouted as he ran out the door to catch up with his older sister.
Adalynn huffed lightly as she watched her family walk out the door. She tilted her head, before turning to head upstairs. She knew she would not be home alone for very long.
Keirsten was holding onto Louis's hand, and Spencer had Lorelei seated on his shoulders as they all stood outside the school building.
"Are you two ready to meet your teachers?" Keirsten asked looking from Louis to Lorelei.
"Why will we has different teachers?" Louis asked as he looked up to his mother.
"They want you to make friends with other children your age," Spencer replied.
Lorelei looked down at her brother. "If I knew I wouldn't get in trouble Louis Hammelton Reid, I would be correcting your question so badly."
"Stop usings my full name Lorelei Dianna Reid," Louis retorted with a scowl up at his sister.
Spencer sighed as he lowered Lorelei to the ground. "You can both stop it or you'll be grounded."
"Yes Daddy," both children replied as the looked down at the ground.
The family of four walked into the doors of the school. The twins eyes widened when the looked around the large building.
"Mommy, you used to teach here?" Louis asked as he started to walk down to where the kindergarten classrooms were.
"I sure did, in fact Lorelei's teacher Mister Cullough is in my old room, and Louis, I used to work with your teacher Missus Heart. She is the one who let Daddy know when you guys were ready to be born."
"One of the greatest, yet also the scariest days of my life," Spencer claimed looking at Keirsten.
"Why scaries?" Louis asked.
"We shall save that story for when you two are older. Here are your classrooms," Keirsten claimed. "I can't figure out why your teacher's name sounds familiar Lorelei."
Lorelei looked at the name plates above the room numbers. "Mine is on the right, Louis, you're on the left."
"Lorelei, we'll take you in first, then Louis," Spencer claimed.
All of them walked into the classroom. The teacher was a man who looked as though he was a little younger than Keirsten, with black hair, green eyes, and tanned skin.
"Well no wonder, Jeremiah Cullough I had no idea you took my place here," Keirsten claimed.
"Mommy, how do you already know my teacher?" Lorelei asked.
"I went to Virginia Tech and graduated with him. Now not only is he teaching in my old classroom, he's going to be teaching my daughter."
"They told me that the teacher here before me left after having a baby five years ago. I had no idea it was you," Jeremiah said folding his arms.
"Yup, I have a full time job taking care of these two, so now I'm just a substitute," Keirsten replied.
Louis was fidgeting as he stood there, feeling bored out of his young mind."Mommy, can we goes to my class now?"
"It's go, not goes... gosh Louis you can be annoying," Lorelei said quickly.
"Young lady, let your teachers correct Louis. Fair warning now Jeremiah, she loves to correct anybody, about anything she can," Spencer claimed.
"She can't be too bad can she?" Jeremiah asked.
"Oh you'd be surprised, I've been corrected by her," Keirsten stated.
"Mommy, let's go," Louis whined as he pulled on his mother's arm.
Spencer looked at his son then to Keirsten. "Go ahead and take him to his class. I want to talk to Lorelei real quick and then I'll be right on over."
Keirsten nodded before she got down to her daughter's level and gave her a hug. "You be good, and remember not to correct your teacher or your classmates, understood?"
"Yes Mommy, I understand," Lorelei replied. She returned the hug before her mother and twin left to go to the room next door. She looked at her father curiously as she held onto her lunch bag and the strap of her school bag. "What did you want to tell me Daddy?"
Spencer looked at his child with pride. "Listen, school might not be as easy as you think. When I was your age, nobody had realized how smart I was. Your grandmother didn't realize it until I was in the second grade really. Anyways, being a genius has it's up points, but there are down sides to it as well."
"Like what Daddy?" Lorelei asked tilting her head.
"Not everybody will be accepting of it. I was bullied in school because I was smarter than the others in my grade. But you should not put up with the bullies, stand up for yourself, and if they don't listen to you, talk to Mister Cullough or another teacher about it."
Lorelei had to think a moment before she nodded. "I can do that Daddy," she claimed. She walked closer, and hugged at her father's legs. "I love you Daddy."
Spencer smiled before getting to Lorelei's level and wrapping his arms around her in a gentle hug. "I love you too Princess. Now, behave, learn a lot, and have fun at ballet practice tomorrow night."
"I will," Lorelei said as she let go of her father and went to try and mingle with her fellow classmates.
Spencer watched for a moment, and with a smile on his face he headed next door to Louis's classroom.
"Doctor Reid, good morning. It's nice to see you again, and under better circumstances," a woman with dark wavy hair claimed. "Louis already took off to play in the centers with the other children."
Spencer looked over in a corner. "That's a good thing. We can't even get him to play with the kids in the neighborhood, or his karate class."
"Kara, it is very important that Louis does not trade lunches with anybody but his sister," Keirsten claimed.
"Why would that be?" Kara Heart asked.
"He has a very bad dairy allergy. Nearly every preprocessed food item in our house is vegan because of it. Minus the meat, and even then, that's starting to make it's way out of the house. The way Keirsten's friend talks to them about the meat industry, we've eliminated all but chicken from our house. We don't even have eggs..." Spencer claimed.
Kara laughed lightly. "That can't be easy."
"Well, seeming I'm allergic to fish, and dairy is already out of the question, it has not been too difficult. I have a strong feeling by the end of the year the Reid house hold is going to be fully vegan," Keirsten claimed.
"You don't get the best end of the bargain, do you Doctor Reid?"
Spencer could only shrug. "So long as everybody is healthy and happy, I've got no problem going vegan. The Rabbit's Corner already has us provided with a lot of vegan products."
Keirsten took a glance at her watch. "I hate to cut this short, but Spencer, if you're going to make it to work on time, we need to start heading back to the house."
"Louis, we're leaving now," Spencer called to his son.
The little boy looked up from the stack of blocks in front of him, and got up from the ground. He walked over and hugged his parents. "See yous later," he said softly. He let go, and ran back to where he had been playing before his parents could hug him.
Keirsten sighed softly as Louis ran away from her. She slid her hand into Spencer's, and followed him out of the building.
"Keirst, are you going to be okay staying home alone for most of the day?" Spencer asked when they were a good distance away from the school.
"I'll be fine. It won't be for long, and I won't be fully alone, Adalynn will be with me."
Spencer gently pulled Keirsten closer to him, and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Are you sure you will be okay? You haven't been alone in the house without another human since the day we found out about your nightly panic attacks."
"Spencer, I'll be just fine. I just... still can't believe that our babies are starting kindergarten. What they say is true, seems the older you get, the faster time seems to go."
"I know, it seems like just yesterday we were changing diapers, and going nights on end with little to no sleep. They couldn't stay babies forever though."
Keirsten sighed softly. "I miss having a baby in the house. But then again, Louis and Lorelei are a handful."
"One of each is plenty. Not to mention I've noticed your anxiety problems have been a little out of control lately. That would be unfair to not just you, but to another baby as well."
Keirsten looked up and placed a kiss on Spencer's jaw line. "I know, I was just saying."
"I'm curious, I know next week for your birthday, you would much rather do something together with the twins, but how about next weekend, you and I go off alone for two nights?"
"Who would watch the twins and Adalynn for the weekend while we're gone?"
"Let me think... there's Zak, Hotch, Garcia, Morgan, J.J, need I keep going?"
"Fair enough. Just what do you have in mind?"
"Ah, that is a surprise, so I shall not be telling you."
"Spencer, you know I hate surprises."
Spencer shrugged placing a kiss on top of Keirsten's head. "I know, but trust me, you will like this one."
"Fine, I'll talk to Zak I guess, everybody else has been getting to watch the twins, and Zak wants to take them for a walk along the nature trail. I think after next week, we can fully kiss any and all meat good bye."
Spencer laughed as they walked up their walk way, and into the house. "Good, I think. Now, I need to get going or I'll be late. Are you sure..."
"Spencer, I've said it a few times now, I will be okay. Now go before you're late, and you better come back home safely."
Spencer smirked before he placed a kiss on Keirsten's lips. "I love you. I'll see you in a week."
"I love you too," Keirsten said smiling before Spencer headed out the door and she closed it behind him. "Come on Adalynn, time to find something to do for the rest of the morning."
Adalynn looked up from the sofa, before she jumped down and ran to greet her favorite human.
"Shall we go outside for a bit to play, then when it gets closer to three we can go drive to the school to get our babies and head for a visit with Wahya, Nemo, Foxy, and Cricket?"
Adalynn's tail started to wag. The only words she could really understand were outside, and something about her tiny humans. With a low bark, she turned around in a couple of circles, before running out of her dog door.
Keirsten laughed as she watched her dog, before heading outside herself. "Today will be a piece of cake."
Adalynn took off running through the vegan store, The Rabbit's Corner, the minute her leash was undone. She refused to stop until she was nose to nose with a husky collie mix.
"Well hey there little dudette, wasn't expecting to see you today," a man with long, brown hair said looking over the store counter.
"Uncle Zak!" Lorelei and Louis called out as they ran up to the front counter.
"I've told you both a million times not to run through this store," Keirsten claimed when she caught up with her children.
"Actually Mommy, you've only told us a total of... eighty-one times," Lorelei corrected.
"Leave it to you to keep count. Anyways, how have you been doing lately Zak?" Keirsten asked.
"Been pretty good. Business here is booming. If you had told me five years ago that I would be needing a bigger building, and to hire an employee, I would have said you were crazy."
"I guess that means people care more than you realize."
"Maybe so, but I wish Annette would stop trying to hit on me."
"Why does Annette hit you Uncle Zak?" Louis asked looking up.
"She does not actually hit him you dummy. Annette is trying to make Uncle Zak fall in love with her. But it won't work, because Uncle Zak does not love people in the way Annette is trying to get too," Lorelei claimed.
"Lorelei... call your brother a dummy one more time today, and you will not be making it to ballet class tomorrow," Keirsten warned.
"Yes ma'am," Lorelei replied with a frown.
Zak leaned over the counter. "So tell me, Short Stuff and Itty Bitty, how was your first day of school?"
"It was boring Uncle Zak. I already know the whole alphabet forwards and backwards, not to mention I can already count up to one hundred. Half of the class can not even count to ten," Lorelei stated.
"I can counts to ten. I had funs at school," Louis stated.
"You can count to ten because Mommy taught us how too. I asked Daddy to teach me more however, I'm almost up to a thousand."
"Well, sounds like you both had an exciting day. Now then, how about I whip you both up a milk shake made with coconut milk, and almond milk ice cream?" Zak offered.
"Yeah!" the twins exclaimed happily.
"I swear Zak Edmunds, you are spoiling my children," Keirsten said laughing.
"No he isn't Mommy. That's Aunt Penelope that spoils us," Lorelei retorted as she and her brother followed Zak over to the milk shake machine.
"This here machine is probably the best investment I've made to this store. My vegan friendly milk shakes are a big hit."
"If you think about it Zak, it makes sense. The Rabbit's Corner is the only place safe for people with dairy, meat, or egg allergies. Now those with nut allergies are out of luck."
"I do my best in that area. I just wish more people came here because they are vegan not because of some food allergies."
"We're getting there. The more you keep talking to Louis and Lorelei, the more and more meat leaves our house. The only meat we even have now is chicken, and we only have one deal of that left because the kids claim they won't eat it now."
"Smart kids. That means they are listening, and that they truly care."
"Speaking of the smart kids here, would you mind watching them and Adalynn next weekend? Spencer has got something up his sleeve for my birthday apparently, and wants the two of us to go off alone together."
"I don't see why I would be unable to watch them. So long as they don't have a problem being up here for a couple of hours so I can at least get this place open for the day."
"We likes being here Uncle Zak," Louis claimed as his shake was handed to him and he took a sip.
"Well then, it looks like next weekend you guys are hanging out with me," Zak stated.
Lorelei smiled. "Sounds like fun," she replied before she picked up the chihuahua that was standing beside her and whining. "You can be so demanding for such a little guy Foxy."
Zak handed Lorelei's shake to Keirsten. "He's been that way ever since I saved him from his days of being a stud."
Lorelei placed a kiss on top of Foxy's head. "Poor Foxy, you have so many babies, and don't even know any of them. I know my Daddy would go crazy if he did not know me or Louis."
"Boy that's the truth. That man could not wait for you two to be born. He was going crazy the minute he found out I was pregnant with you," Keirsten claimed.
"Mommy, I'm hungry," Louis said as he stomach started to growl loudly.
"Looks like we need to head home then. I have a mushroom and olive pizza in the refrigerator for dinner, it just needs to go in the oven."
"YAY! Pizza," Louis exclaimed starting to jump up and down.
"Cool it kiddo," Keirsten ordered. "We'll be back later this week Zak, good luck with Annette," she said as she put Adalynn's leash back on, and lead her family to the car.
"Take care kiddos!" Zak called out as the door shut.