AN: Worst updater award goes to me. I'm sorry guys, I've got my final recital on Wednesday and I've been freaking out about that and getting my class work finished. No more school ever on Friday. Eeek. I'll be starting a new job Monday, but I'll have the night time. I'm also going back and reformatting this story. Again? I hear you cry. I know. I'm sorry again. Does anyone actually read these? Pineapple. Here's an unscheduled update to apologise for being such a terrible person.
They really didn't have much at all. Murphy had thought that he and Conner's apartment was sparse, but this one had no furniture at all. As he passed the children's bedroom, he could see their sleeping bags all rolled out. They had a light in there now, plugged into the power socket. She must have brought it that afternoon. He could see her sleeping bag rolled up by the window, and knew she'd be unrolling it after he had gone and going to bed on the hard linoleum floor.
She'd placed a red checked picnic blanket on the floor and four plastic plates with match knives and forks lay on top of it. At the head of each plate sat a plastic cup. A pot, a plate piled high with garlic bread and a bottle of store bought water sat in the middle of the blanket.
"It was Alice's idea to have a picnic." Grace said, moving towards the blanket in the middle of the floor. "Jack, go and wash your hands." Jack started to fuss, but Murphy simply placed his hand on the boy's head.
"Gotta wash up myself." He said simply, steering him towards the bathroom. Jack went without so much a word. Hugging herself tightly, Grace couldn't believe this was the same boy who had been taking his anger out on her front door earlier. Murphy and Connor had already been such a big help in reigning in her son so far. The thought made her feel somewhat insecure as a parent.
Once Jack and Murphy had washed up, the four sat down on the blanket. Alice and Jack had both wanted to sit beside their new neighbour, so the Irishman sat in the middle of the two. She had no idea how things would have worked out it Connor had been there also. Grace would have most likely been left to stand at the kitchen counter and eat her dinner while the two sets of twins at and had a picnic. As usual, Grace took her time sitting down on the ground. Murphy had moved to help her, but she had waved him away. Getting down was hard, but it was a lot harder getting back up. They both ate in silence, happy to let the twins talked excitedly about their day and chime in occasionally when asked something by one of the twins.
When it came time to get ready for bed, it was Alice's turn to kick up a fuss. She wanted Murphy to put her to bed and no one else. Of course, Jack only agreed to the idea and off they went, leading a slightly terrified grown man off to the bathroom for bath time.
"Don't worry, mostly they know how to take care of themselves." Grace called after them. "Alice can't rinse the shampoo from her hair, they'll tell you what to do." The panicked look he sent her only made her giggle more. As she cleaned up she made a plate for Connor and listened to them talk. It was all fairly silly stuff, the twins playing in the bath water and the occasional deeper tones from Murphy, innocent stuff.
"Mister MacManus?" She head Alice ask, and the splashing quieten down. "Are you going to be our new daddy?"
Grace's heart ached at the innocence and confusion in her daughter's voice. Murphy must've been just as stunned.
"Yeah." Jack echoed, cutting her deeper. "Our old dad…" Jack trailed off so Alice continued.
"We're not supposed to talk about it, but he wasn't very nice to momma…" Grace's breath caught in her throat. What was she supposed to do? Call out or pretend she'd heard nothing.
"It'd be real nice if you were, Mister Connor could be our uncle. We've never had an uncle before." Jack continued, feeling more confident. Grace clattered around the kitchen, forcing herself to hum as if she wasn't listening.
"When y'all are done in there, show Mister MacManus where your pyjamas are kept and don't forget to brush your teeth. Jack, your hair needs brushing too. I'm just going to take this food over to Connor, alright? Behave." She called out, picking up the plate with shaky hands and leaving the apartment, locking Murphy and her children in behind her.
Leaning against the door, she let out a sigh. Grace had known it would be hard on the children and that they were aware that things weren't so perfect in their old home, but she hadn't known that they were that aware. What must Murphy think? Rubbing her forehead with her free hand, Grace made her way down the hall to check on Connor.
What was Murphy supposed to say to that? The two of them were looking at him so innocently, he was afraid to say the wrong thing and hurt them. And just how much had Grace heard? He seemed to have gone deaf and dumb when Alice had asked him that question, so it hadn't been until she'd started banging things around in the kitchen that he'd been aware of her presence. Their father hadn't been nice to her. Had he cheated? Of course if he'd been knocking her around, that would explain the marks over her body. Though, even for domestic abuse, those marks were extreme.
"Well…" He began, trying to choose his words carefully. "What makes a da?" Alice and Jack looked at him and both thought about it.
"Someone who plays with me." Said Alice and Jack nodded in agreement.
"Someone who will pick us up from school with momma."
"Someone who will have dinner with us, as a family."
"Someone who will read stories to us and put us to bed."
"Someone who loves us and loves our momma." With each statement, Murphy's heart ached like a dagger to his heart. Though it was Jack's final word that twisted that dagger.
"Our father never really did any of those things. He was too busy with his friends and work."
"Would that be the same for an uncle?" He asked, scuffing up Jack's wet hair.
"Hmmm, I guess so, but an uncle wouldn't love our momma the same way a dad should." Jack said, swatting Murphy's hand away and giggling.
"I have work too," He began, watching the twin's faces fall. "But I can work something out with your mam and see if I can't come pick ya both up from school sometimes, and when I'm not workin' late, I'll come and help your mam with bed time." That seemed to be a good enough compromise for the two of them, for now. However Alice had one more thing to add.
"It would be really nice if you could sleep here with momma." She told him, looking up at him through thick lashes. "I think momma would feel a lot more safer with you here. She looks at you funny. I don't think I ever even saw her look at our daddy like that."
All thoughts of just how their mother looked at him aside, Murphy couldn't help but notice that Jack referred to their mysterious father as father, and yet Alice called him daddy. Surely the later was more like how a child would call their father?
"Con and I are just down the hall." Murphy said seriously. "If anything ever happens in here 'n' ya don' feel safe, scream real loud for me 'n' Con 'n' me'll come running. If ya can get away at all, run as fast as ye can and don't stop screamin' or bangin' on our door until one of us answers, alrigh'?" Both twins nodded. "Now we best get ye in bed b'fore ya get all wrinkled."
Connor didn't seem all that sick to Grace, but she didn't want to return to her apartment just yet. Though she wasn't sure why, she trusted her children with the MacManus boys. Besides, she'd locked the door on her way out. They would be fine. Instead, she focused on talking to Connor, listening to him tell stories about their life and family in Ireland. The country sounded so magical, she found herself aching to get away from the States and go there. Patrick had regularly taken her and the children out of the country, but it was always to places like Paris, Fiji and London, places with social standing and bragging rights. Some little town in the middle of country Ireland would never have been a place on Patrick's bucket list.
Connor had kept looking at her strangely, probably wondering what she was doing there in the first place, but he never questioned her, just let her ask her questions as if it were stress relief. Eventually, she had to leave as she assumed Murphy would want to get back to his unwell brother – even if he didn't seem to be sick. He seemed just as bright as he'd been earlier when they met in the elevator, sitting up in bed and chatting happily away. He'd wolfed down the food she'd brought also, with a beer she'd brought him from his fridge.
"Thanks fer the company, rabbit, those kids of yers would be gettin' mighty sleepy round about now, wouldn't they?" Connor asked as he watched her tidy up the apartment. He couldn't wait for Murphy to get back. Something had happened over dinner to spook the lass out.
"They wanted Murphy." Grace said absentmindedly. "He was bathing them when I left to check on you." She was so busy cleaning, that she didn't notice the way Connor's eyebrows shot up to his hair line. Murphy MacManus was playing da. He'd never let his brother hear the end of it. With all the jokes he and Rocco had said, Murphy always brushed it off and yet here he was bathing them.
"Rabbit, ya need to get over there 'n' give me photographic proof somehow." He grinned, sitting up even straighter.
"Hmm?" Grace asked, her own mind going about a mile a second. Noticing how out of it she was, Connor simply chuckled.
"Go home, lass, you're exhausted. While I appreciate yer cleanin' skills – and our place has ne'er looked so clean, ya need ta get some sleep. Ya can't've had much last night."
Nodding, Grace moved to take his rubbish.
"Go. I've got it."
The apartment was quiet when she returned. Unlocking the door she stepped in to see Murphy heating something up in one of the pans she had brought at the store earlier that day. He'd rolled her sleeping bag out, she noticed as she glanced around the room. She'd left the picnic blanket out, but he'd tidied that up too.
"They're asleep." Murphy told her, pouring what looked to be warm milk from the pan to a plastic cup. "Cm'ere and drink this. I'll rub yer back." Grace hesitated, so he continued. "Ain't gonna bite, love."
Her eyes were locked with his as she stepped toward him. Once she was standing in the little kitchen, he pulled her so her back was leaning against his front and placed the milk in her hands. It was pleasantly warm, enough to warm her hands and her insides as she sipped. His big, rough hands slowly kneaded out the knots in her neck and shoulders, causing a soft moan to slip from her lips. He stiffened behind her, but continued to work the knots away.
"Tomorrow, Con 'n' I don' have work." He told her, his breath against the back of her head. "What time d'ya start?"
"Eleven." She whispered, feeling enchanted by him and not wanting to break the spell just yet.
"Let us take the kiddies to school. Ya deserve a lie in." She began to turn around to protest, but he held her in place, his hands still massaging her shoulders. "I don' know what made ya leave yer old home, but yer not alone now, Grace. I- We're happy ta help. Leave yer keys with me tonight. I'll lock up behind me 'n' Con 'n' I will come by 'n' get the kids ready in the mornin'."
How could she sleep knowing that someone else had the keys to her place and that she hadn't deadlocked the door? Somehow, however, she found herself nodding.
"Good." Murphy said and for a moment, Grace could have sworn that he'd ghosted his lips over the top of her head. "Now, I'll turn around, ya get inta bed and I'll sit by you 'til you fall asleep. Where are yer keys, so I'm not looking around for them in the dark?" Grace handed him the keys and moved to undress for bed. There was something exhilarating about getting naked and into bed while a man was in the room. It was something she hadn't felt since she had first married Patrick.
Once she was in bed, she called out to Murphy and he moved to sit beside her. Reaching out, he began to stroke her hair, startling her at first.
"Alice liked it, so I just thought…" He trailed off, moving to pull his hand away.
"No," She whispered, covering his hand with her own. "I like it, I'm just… I'm just jumpy. I'll get used to it." She yawned, the combination of the warm milk, massage and his warm hand through her hair, putting her to sleep quickly. "I… I can't live like this anymore."
Murphy waited to see if she'd continued, feeling like she'd opened up to him so much more, but she had fallen asleep. This was bad. He was falling for her and he didn't know how to stop. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to.
Sighing, he pulled himself up onto his knees and leaned over her to press his lips to her forehead.
"Night, Grace." He told her softly before checking on the kids and letting himself out of the apartment. Murphy made sure that the door was locked, not only for her sake but his, and for a moment he considered going right back in there and sleeping on the floor beside her to keep the three of them safe. However, he knew Connor would worry. Besides, man was probably waiting around for him to get back and bring gossip.
Hopefully this isn't too rushed/makes sense. It's late, but I wanted to get an update up for you all. Would anyone mind terribly if I started writing the Twin's voice properly and y'all just imagined their Irish accent? It's hard to write, haha. Well, goodnight! I'll try to update more frequently. Check out my new story if you haven't! It's called Daddy's Girl.
