First Steps

Douglas:

Elaine was sitting on the floor of Douglas and TJ's room of the Governor's Mansion watching as her two sons played. Bud was busy working and she was enjoying spending time with her ten month old twins.

The two boys were crawling around the pile of foam blocks they were playing with. Douglas picked one up and threw it in the air, watching as it bounced away. Douglas stared at it for a moment before looking confused at his mother.

"Now what are you going to do?" Elaine laughed and Douglas made an indignant noise. Elaine laughed again and was about to get up and retrieve the block when something stopped her.

Douglas was sitting up on his hands and knees and began pushing his hands against the ground. Elaine crouched down again and watched as Douglas pushed himself up. He wobbled for a moment before putting one foot ahead.

"Come on sweetheart," Elaine encouraged, watching as the baby took a few more shaky steps before he fell.

"Good boy Dougie!" Elaine cried happily, standing and reaching over to scoop her son into her arms. The little boy clapped delightedly at the attention and Elaine walked over to where TJ was sitting and watching his mother and brother.

"Did you see that Tommy? Your brother walked!" Elaine said and TJ shrieked happily as Elaine lifted him into her arms too.

"Now what is going on in here?" a voice asked behind them and Elaine turned to see Bud standing in the doorway.

"Dougie walked!" she exclaimed.

"What?" he said in shock, walking over to his family.

"Yeah, he just stood and took a few steps! All on his own!" Elaine said happily as Bud lifted Douglas into his arms.

"Did you walk?" he said, "Good boy Dougie!"

"I'll make sure to record it next time if you're not here," Elaine said, "Speaking of, I thought you had a lot of work to do?"

"I did," Bud nodded, "But the benefit of being in the governor's mansion is having an entire group of people who can take care of things for one night. So, barring any major, end of the world things, I am free for the rest of the evening. And right on time too, by the sounds of it." Elaine smiled widely at him and then looked at the boys.

"Well then we should celebrate now that one of them is walking," Elaine said, kissing TJ's cheek. Both boys gurgled happily and Elaine and Bud laughed as they walked out of the room.

TJ:

They say when you have twins that when one does something the other will soon follow. However, that was apparently not the case for the Hammond boys. It had been almost two months since Douglas had taken his first steps and he had only been getting better. But TJ had yet to take his first steps.

"Thanks for watching them today," Elaine said breathlessly, setting the boys down on the floor of her mother's house.

"It's not a problem," Margaret said, "The boys and I are going to have a great time, aren't we you two?"

"Alright," Elaine smiled at the boys who were staring up at her, "I should be back by eight, assuming this thing doesn't take all night."

"If you're not here by nine I'll assume it is going to take all night and the boys can just spend the night here," Margaret said, "Now go on. Get going before the boys start to miss you too much." Elaine left and Margaret turned back to her grandsons.

"Now that she's gone, what sort of trouble should we get up to?" she said. Douglas gripped the couch and pulled himself up while TJ just rocked back and forth on his hands and knees.

"Still not walking huh?" Margaret sat on the couch next to where Douglas was standing and she lifted TJ onto her lap, "You can't crawl around for the rest of your life. Though I suppose if your dad becomes the president he could just hire people to carry you." The boys stared up at her blankly and she laughed.

"Alright, you two play in here," she placed TJ in the playpen and then lifted Douglas in next to him. "I'm going to get you boys some juice, don't climb out of there while I'm gone." She walked out of the room and into the kitchen, pouring a small amount of watered down juice into two bottles. She walked back into the room where Douglas was standing in the playpen, holding onto the side.

Margaret smiled at the sight. Ever since Douglas had taken those first steps he took every opportunity to stand up and move around. She handed him his bottle and then went to do the same with TJ who was sitting next to his brother. However, before she could hand it to him, TJ decided to take matter into his own hands. Margaret watched in amazement as TJ rocked on his hands and knees for a moment before leaning his hands against the side of the playpen. He slowly pushed himself up until he was holding onto the side. Margaret stared in shock for a moment, totally forgetting the reason he had stood until TJ made an indignant noise and reached for the bottle.

"Oh! Right!" She handed it to him and as soon as he had it in his hands he flopped back and sat on the floor of the playpen.

"Well alright then," Margaret said, "So apparently all it took to get you standing was taking too long to give you juice." She shook her head in amusement as TJ just stared at her while he drank from her bottle.

Several hours later, at six o'clock, there was a knock on the door. It opened and Elaine and Bud stood on the other side.

"You're back early," Margaret said, "We weren't expecting you for at least another couple hours."

"Things were boring from the moment we got there," Bud said, "This was the earliest we could sneak out."

"And how was your day?" Elaine asked, "The boys weren't too much trouble?"

"Actually..." Margaret said, stepping aside so Elaine and Bud could fully see the room. Douglas was sitting on the ground in his pyjamas playing while TJ sat next to him. When he saw his parents, Douglas stood and stumbled over to them. Bud smiled and leaned down to pick him up while TJ stared at them for a moment. He slowly pushed himself up and took a few tentative steps forward.

"When did that happen?" Elaine asked, watching in amazement as her almost-one-year-old son took another few steps.

"He stood up in the playpen just after you left and then later on he started trying to walk," Margaret said. Elaine bent down and TJ stumbled into her arms.

"Knew you could do it son," Bud said, smiling proudly, "Of course, now it'll be even harder to keep an eye on them." The three adults laughed while TJ and Douglas stared up at her, neither of them knowing what had their parents and grandmother so happy.

Hope you enjoyed part two! If you have any suggestions for things you would like to see let me know! Thanks for reading and let me know what you thought!