9

Spencer clambered through the front door, her hair a mess, one shoe on and the other trailing along the floor it was only staying attached by the thin strap still clasped together with the buckle. She could barely see through her natural curls covering her eyes, she tripped over the ledge of the doorway but she saved herself from falling flat on her face.

Emily armed herself with a vase because she believed that the commotion was an intruder trying to make their way in. Alison was already awake in bed but Emily told her to 'wait there'. Em made her way downstairs, trying to remain quiet to ensure she didn't startle them. She had gotten to the bottom of the staircase and peered around the wall to catch a glimpse of whoever it was that made their way in.

A sleek, slim body frame and long limbs were bent over trying to remove the shoe that was scraping across the wooden floor. Emily recognised the bodily structure, the medium length brown hair dangling in front of the figure. "Spencer?", Emily called out in confusion.

"What, Em?" Spencer replied with a loud voice to elaborate her annoyance.

"Shhh, the girls are asleep! Why are you only just coming back now, I thought you was spending the day at Aria's?

"I did, then I left. Toby invited me out on a date…we ended up drinking, a lot"

"Why come back at 4:30am, couldn't you have waited till morning?

"It is morning Emily" she spoke as she finally unbuckled her shoes and chucked them in the corner, she continued to walk over to the couch and lay down. Spencer didn't bother to walk a couple of extra paces down the hall to her room.

Emily walked over to the fridge and picked out a bottle of cold-water and shuffled over to where Spencer was laying. "You know what I mean, don't be pedantic". Emily sat down on the same couch as Spencer, she leaned forward and picked up her legs and placed them over her lap. "So, you and Toby…again? How did it go?"

Spencer was speaking in a slurred tone but she was alert, "Really good, I've missed him. I think this will be good, to go back to how it was".

"Not to be a pessimist, but don't get too caught up in all this. Things may not go back to how they were. It has been 18 months since Yvonne died, he is still freshly a widow. I don't want you to be disappointed".

I am aware of that fact Emily, I'm just trying to test the waters" Spencer started to seem annoyed with the insinuation Emily was putting forward.

Emily took the hint and got a pillow and quilt out of Spencer's room. She returned and placed the pillow under a drunk spencer and tucked in the quilt behind her back. Emily realised that a bucket may be in need so she grabbed the mop bucket out of the kitchen cupboard and placed it next to the couch.

*5:10am*

Grace and Lily are screaming at the top of their lungs. They were ten minutes overdue for their first feed of the day. Alison is trying to overcome the post-natal depression, so she was already in the girls' room and picked up Lily to feed her. 30 seconds later Em had made her way to the top of the bedroom and started to feed Grace. Emily had a pink and a white muslin cloth hanging on her shoulders and gave one of them to Alison for when she burped Lily. Emily was sitting in the bay-window. "I;m still not adjusted to these early mornings"

"I don't think we ever will be, but it will be worth it…for our girls". Ali speaks as she looks down at Lily, slowly using her right hand to stroke over the small head of fawn peach fuzz hair.

*After the 20 minute feeding session*

Alison was the first to crawl back to bed, she had to be up again at 8am for the girls' second feeding and then to get herself ready for the baby workout class she had signed up for. Emily was quick to follow right behind her, but she surprised Alison, Emily reached out for Alison and pulled her hips back, flush with her own body and held her close. She moved Alison's gold strands from around her ear and whispered "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are in the mornings? When you're natural. Your hair a wavy chaos that still falls perfectly framing you face, your light brown freckles over the bridge of your nose, which I hardly get to see because you put foundation on. Plus, you look damn good with my over-sized band tee on". Ali could feel Emily's teeth on her ear because Em started to smile when she said, "Oh yeah, and you might want to put some pants on…I can see your ass, just slightly exposed from the hem of the tee". Emily swiftly pulled away and dived onto the bed and turned to face the window that had curtains draped over it, it was retaining the sun from glaring in and blinding her. Alison was flustered, she had expected Emily to at least kiss her or have a steamy make-out session but she just left.

Alison marched into the bedroom after the tanned brunette, "Emily-Catherine DiLaurentis Fields, what the actual fuck was that. You can't just leave a girl hanging"

"Yes, I can and I did…*yawns* goodnight"

Alison stood in the doorway with her arm against the door frame and stared at the woman she adored curled up in a foetus position as she tried to sleep. She felt a slight undertone of confusion, she wasn't used to the idea of Emily being cheeky. She had become a tease. Alison pretended not to love Em's new found confidence…she found it completely irresistible. Alison wandered into the room and flopped onto the bed and huffed at the idea that she had to be up and willing to get ready in 2hrs and 26 minutes. She continued to shuffle down into the bed and wrapped the comforter around herself but then she felt the tug of the blanket from behind her. Emily started a tug-of-war, Alison played along for 1 minute or so but gave up as she was the one who had to get up at the crack of dawn.

*8:30am*

While Alison was occupying the ensuite, Emily burped, changed and dressed Lily and Grace. She had the girls in a dress, tights and a cardigan. Lily was in white and purple then Grace was put in pink and white. This was the only way anyone could tell who was who…they were still waiting for a physical characteristic to show itself so they wouldn't have to rely on colours to tell their daughters apart. A freckle, birthmark…something, anything. Emily finished off their look with a white bowed headband, placed just to the side of their head, it looked as if Emily had finished wrapping presents, she just added the finishing touches. Grace's was tilted to the right and Lily's was on the left.

Emily picked up Lily first and carried her downstairs and put her in the black car seat, accompanied with a purple butterfly blanket. Emily gave Lily her pacifier in hope that she would fall asleep so she could successfully bring Grace downstairs. Emily ushered Spencer out of the living room and guided her to her bed. Spencer was still drunk from her adventure with Toby in the early hours of the morning, she was slurring and was barely able to keep her eyes open. Em came out of Spencer's room, closed to her door, passed through the living room and leaned over the couch to make sure Lily was okay. She then proceeded to get Grace and put her in an identical car seat, this time Emily placed a pink blanket over Grace's feet and gave her, her pacifier. Grace fell asleep almost immediately.

Alison called out from where she was sitting on her bed, drying her freshly washed tresses to remove the rain smell from the day before, "Em, are the girls ready? I have to be out of the house in 10!"

Emily turned on the TV on a low volume to make sure she wouldn't disturb Spencer or wake the twins, and sat down on the couch eating an apple. "Yeah, yeah…Lily in purple and Grace in pink. The pushchair is in the trunk, diaper bag is packed, there is 2 extra paci's in the zipped pocket".

*10 minutes later*

Alison ran down the stairs with her hair in a messy bun, workout gear on and her plum fitbit on her right wrist. She sifted through the pile of shoes in the corner and picked up her trainers, "So Spencer is back? That was the noise this morning?"

"Oh yeah, she's piss…I mean completely drunk. She was out with Toby".

"Urgh, I hope she doesn't get hurt. Uhhm, formula and bottles, are they in the bag".

"That's what I said, it was a touchy subject with her. And yes, they are covered over with the wipes".

"Thank-you, you're a life-saver".

"Can you get Lily and I'll get Grace, to help you put them in the car".

Alison grabbed her keys and Lily and went out the front door to secure the car seat in the back of the white Audi Q7 SE. Emily followed in tow with Grace and settled her into the passenger side of the back-seat. Both car doors closed to, almost simultaneously. Ali got into the driving seat and turned on the ignition and wound down her window, Emily poked her head through and gave Alison a kiss.

"I love you!"

"I love you more", Emily responded as Alison started to back out of the driveway, waving at her fiancée.

13:00pm

Emily spent most of her alone time catching up on the sleep she had missed out on the last 4 weeks since the girls had arrived. Alison had already phoned 2hours ago that she was going to see Hanna and Caleb because they hadn't seen her since she left for the honeymoon in Hawaii plus, she thought it would be a good idea for the couple to gain some experience with babies if they were going to have one of their own. It was also a sneaky way to see who bonded with who because Emily and Alison were trying to choice who was going to be god-parents to Grace and Lily. So far they knew that they wanted all the boys (including Toby) and the girls involved but they wasn't sure who they were going to put with who.

A voice piped up and was seeming to get closer, "Good morning!"

"1) It is the afternoon, 2) You sound chirpy and not hungover, 3) Can you get me a coffee, even though I have had a power nap I need something to boost my energy.

"1) Your point is?, 2) You gave me hella amounts of water in my room…thank-you babe, 3) Sure". Spencer continued as her feet slapped against the wooden floor and then onto the cold kitchen tiles, "Where's the rest of the family at?"

Emily turns her head to follow Spencer moving around the room, "Ali's gone with the girls to a work-out class to help with the post-natal depression but she has made a detour to Han's for the next few hours, she should be back at about 17:00pm"

Spencer let the fridge door slam to and seal, she passed Emily her water and whipped out her phone to text…

"You texting Toby?"

"Geez, Em. Observant, aren't you?"

"I need to be, now more than ever. Soon enough Lily and Grace will be crawling, then walking and bringing boys, or girls home".

"So, I see protective Em is coming out too" Spencer jokes as she rolls her eyes at Emily' statement.

"You avoided my question. But yes, protective Emily is here to stay".

"I am texting Toby, being with him last night made me realise that I missed him and his company. Oh, can he come over tonight?"

Emily has a slight grin from Spencer's confirmation of what she was doing, "Yeah, this is your house as much as ours. Just make sure you keep it down because the girls are put down at 8pm."

"No problem, I was hoping to have like a double date with you and Ali. You know just with a movie and popcorn"

"I go back to work tomorrow Spence, so I'll call it a night at 10pm".

Emily and Spencer binged a few hours of Netflix and waited for Ali's arrival back home with the girls.