A/n: Wow. So this has been a while. Well I'll apologize for how long it took me to update this. I really am sorry. Hopefully I'll get more consistent in my updating schedule. Also a big hand to lizardwriter for beta-ing this for me. She predicts that you all will 'lose your minds over the adorableness'. I hope so, because I tried to make it extra adorable to make up for all the extra time it took to write.

Disclaimer: Nope.

"Okay, so everything should be fine. If you have any problems call your mum. Or my mum. Someone's mum should be able to help." Emily glanced around their master bedroom, a half-open overnight bag in one hand and the other threaded through her hair. She bit her lip. "And I should be back around five tomorrow."

Naomi rolled her eyes and gently took the bag from Emily's hand. She set it down on the floor and tugged on Emily's wrist until her wife moved close enough that she could wrap her arms around her.

"Emily, sweetheart, love of my life," she said slightly mockingly. She rested her forehead against Emily's and couldn't stop her smirk. "You're bringing Mia to a dance recital, not traveling to the other end of the country."

Emily smiled ruefully. "I'm being a bit ridiculous, aren't I?"

"A bit," Naomi agreed. She kissed Emily very quickly and grinned when she pulled away. "It's kind of cute."

Emily wriggled out of her arms. "Don't you start with me, Campbell. That's how we got three kids in the first place."

"Pretty sure that wasn't completely my fault."

"Please stop flirting so we can go," a plaintive voice interrupted from the hall. Emily laughed and Mia grinned, looking inordinately proud of herself.

Mia was two months away from eight and had hit a growth spurt that added an inch and made her a little lanky. Her dirty blonde hair was long and pulled back in a ponytail. She had one hand on her hip. Gina said she looked like Naomi did at that age, which was biologically impossible but made all of them smile anyway, and she'd just gotten into dance. She'd taken her nickname to heart, flying across the dance floor and often making up her own dances outside of class. She had a captive audience for the impromptu performances she put on in the form of the twins, who weren't quite one and hadn't gotten the hang of the whole walking thing yet.

"Who taught you what the word flirting means?" Naomi challenged.

"I'm almost eight," Mia said, as if that explained everything. It probably did, in some weird way.

Emily's face scrunched up as she gave that some thought. "Well, you better not be doing any. Until you're at least fifteen."

"Or thirty," Naomi corrected.

"Or thirty."
"Ew," Mia's face scrunched up in just the same way Emily's had. "Boys are gross. I don't want to flirt with them." She looked between her parents and her frown deepened. "I don't want to flirt with girls either."

Naomi had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. "Okay. Thank you for covering all your bases on that one. Now will you please go? You're going to be late." She picked the bag Emily had packed off the floor and shepherded the two of them out of the room before her. Mia bounded down the stairs two at a time and landed with a flourish at the end of the steps. She only wobbled a little.

Emily laughed and ruffled her hair when they reached the bottom. Mia ducked her head away and pouted.

"I give it a five out of ten." Naomi said mock-seriously. "You didn't quite stick the landing."

"Mama," Mia whined. "Mum is being mean to me."

"Naomi, don't be mean to Mia," Emily called from the living room where she was saying goodbye to the napping babies.

"She started it."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

"Honestly," Emily sighed as she walked into the foyer and crossed her arms. She shook her head at them. "How many children do I have in this house?"

"Three children and one very adult wife, who promises that nothing will be on fire or broken when you get home. The twins will be perfectly okay and there might even be dinner in the oven if I'm feeling adventurous." Naomi grinned and kissed Emily lightly. "Cross my heart, pinky-promise that everything will be okay. Which you don't seem to believe since I know you've asked Katie to spy on me."

Emily's grin widened and she cupped Naomi's face and stood on her tiptoes so she could kiss her more firmly. "I know you'll be fine. I'm just nervous being so far away."

Naomi looped her arms around Emily's waist and pulled her closer. "You're suffering from separation anxiety worse than they are."

That was the current problem that they were having with the twins. They'd just realized, in their developing little brains, that they were separate people from Emily and Naomi. This was exciting to them at first. Sian alone spent half an hour in front of the mirror in Mia's room just touching the cool glass and cooing at herself. They then seemed to realize, however, that being separate meant that Mama or Mummy could leave. This caused them a great amount of distress, especially since, though they had realized their parents could leave them alone, they hadn't yet figured out that they would always come back.

Naomi smiled. "It's four hours by train. I could take Mia if you want?"

"No, you took her last time." She buried her face in the crook of Naomi's neck and nuzzled the skin there. "Be good. Don't destroy the house."

"I will try my sincere hardest not to do both. I mean. To do the first and not the second. Um, I promise you will come home to a standing house?"

Emily giggled into her shoulder. "Don't get hurt. And don't let the kids get hurt. I don't really care about the house." She lifted herself up to steal one more kiss. "I love you."

"Love you too. Married you because of it. Or something. Might have had some kids along the way. Not sure, since I don't seem to see any around."

"Ugh, parents kissing. Gross." Mia skipped back in and grabbed at Emily's hand. "You can kiss her all you want later, we have to go!"

Naomi laughed as Mia dragged Emily out of the house and waved from the front door as they both piled into the car. Mia blew a kiss to her and she blew one back. She watched until the car had turned the corner and was out of sight, before she closed the door and turned around to lean against it.

There was a small moment when she had time to enjoy the silence of the household around her. It lasted about two seconds before one of the babies started crying.

She kicked off her shoes and shuffled very quickly into the living room to make the least amount of noise possible. It was something she'd learned about sleeping babies early on. Make the least amount of noise, move slowly, and don't show any fear. Basically, you treated a sleeping baby the same way you treated a bomb you didn't want to go off.

Actually, that was probably a horrible thing to compare her children to.

The twins were asleep in the playpen in the living room. Well, Sian was asleep. Jason had his face scrunched up in a little red ball of anger. His fists were clenched and he was waving them around like smacking the air could make whatever was wrong go away. She bent down and scooped him expertly into her arms and moved away from the playpen. Miraculously, he hadn't woken his sister, and she wanted to keep it that way.

She bounced him gently up and down and rubbed his back. "Shhhhh," she murmured. His tears quieted but didn't go away completely.

"C'mon, little man, be a good boy for Mummy," she begged him. She reached up and brushed back a piece of his light brown hair. Emily had been so disappointed the twins weren't immediately blonde, and had only quieted when she'd been assured that hair could lighten over time. It could darken too, though, and Naomi kind of liked their brown hair. It was Emily's genes that made it so. They also had her chin, and the shape of her eyes. Sian had her nose. Jason had her ears.

He quieted down to snuffles and leaned back in her arms so he could look at her face. Clear blue eyes not unlike her own looked up at her with absolute trust.

It was a big thing to realize that you were the center of someone's world. Not just the way that Emily was the center of her world, but in the way that this little person, this tiny human being that was a part of her the same way that her heart was, was dependent on her for everything. Sometimes she got scared thinking about the fact that she was responsible for raising these children. She was partly responsible for what they grew up to become, and partly to blame for mistakes that they made. Then she remembered that Emily was, too. That they were partners in this. That made it better; made it easier to handle.

And really, anything that was a part of Emily Fitch could never turn out less than perfect.

"Hi," she said to him. "Can you say hi to me?" She kind of mumbled it, actually, since he'd reached up and grabbed at her bottom lip. "Mu," he said to her. She leaned forward and nuzzled the soft skin of his cheek with her own. "Close enough."

She puffed her cheeks out and he giggled. He patted her cheeks with his tiny hands and his giggles turned into a stream of laughter when she blew a gust of wind in his face. She rocked him gently back and forth in her arms as she walked back to the living room. Leaving Sian alone for any amount of time, even sleeping, made her nervous.

"We're going to be fine," she said to him. Every other word bounced along with the child in her arms.

Her mothering instincts were proven correct when she walked into the room and Sian was awake. She was standing in the playpen and peeking out over the top with curious blue eyes, but she wasn't crying yet. Naomi took that as a good sign.

Sian lifted her arms up and cooed. Jason protested loudly about being put down, however, so Naomi had to bend over and pick her up with one arm. She wobbled a bit and almost fell before she righted herself triumphantly.

She looked down at the babies in her arms and grinned. "We got this."

When Cook showed up three hours later there was baby food all over Sian's shirt, in Jason's hair, and on Naomi's jeans, but the house hadn't burned down. That could only be seen as a plus. Naomi waved him into the kitchen with one hand and made airplane noises for the spoonful of applesauce in her other one.

Multi-tasking, man. She was a pro.

"I'm bloody impressed," he said as he jumped up to sit on the table.

Naomi fed Jason the sauce and put the spoon down on the tray in front of him before she turned around and punched Cook in the leg. Cook winced and rubbed at the spot.

"What was that for?" he complained.

"Swearing in front of my kids or implying that I can't take care of them. Choose one."

He scowled at her and then laughed when Jason picked up the spoon and threw it at her. It hit her in the shoulder. Jason looked simply delighted.

"No." Naomi grabbed his hand gently but firmly and pointed it towards the spoon on the floor. "We don't throw things. Bad."

Cook used Sian's bib to wipe some excess sauce off of her chin. He was still laughing. Naomi pointed Jason's finger at Cook instead. "And we don't laugh at that, Uncle Cook."

"Right, sorry." Cook schooled his face into seriousness. "It's not funny at all." The corners of his mouth twitched with the effort it took for him to keep a straight face.

"Prick," Naomi said under her breath.

"Don't swear in front of the kiddos, Naomikins."

"What are you even doing here?" she asked.

"Could've been Katie. Pick yer poison."

Naomi picked the spoon up off the floor, checked to make sure the children were looking in another direction, and threw it at Cook. It hit him in the ear. Naomi was not impressed; she'd been aiming for his forehead. He scowled at her and used the spoon as a middle finger to flip her off.

Sian giggled and slapped her hands down on the tray so that applesauce splattered in different directions. Obviously she was pleased with this reaction because she did it again. Jason looked at the applesauce on his hand with great curiosity, like he was wondering if his would do the same thing.

"Okay! That's enough of that!" Naomi jumped up and quickly worked at the clasps that held Sian into her highchair. It took two tries because it was coated with sticky juice but eventually she got her daughter up into her arms. Sian looked forlornly down at the tray and then back up at Naomi like, Mummy, why did you take me away from the fun squishy stuff?

"Naomikins, these kids need baths," Cook said. He'd picked up Jason for her and he winced when the toddler pulled on his ear and giggled. Naomi snorted and shook her head as she led them both to the upstairs bathroom.

"No, really? I was just going to throw them into bed and let them marinate in that."

"I'm telling Katie you said that."

She pushed Sian into his arms and started up the bath. The sounds of him fumbling behind her made her smile, because she knew he'd fall before he dropped her children. She couldn't help but laugh when she turned around and saw that Jason was still pulling on his ear and Sian was bopping him in the nose with a tiny fist.

"Quit laughing and help me!" he yelped.

Naomi carefully pried Sian out of his arms and sat her down on the counter. "Uncle Cook is just a big grumpy-pants today, isn't he?" she asked quietly. Sian giggled and rocked backwards. Naomi quickly put her hand behind her daughter's head to keep her from hitting the wall. She peeled the sticky clothes off of her toddler and deposited her into her bath seat. Sian immediately grabbed a toy duck and hit it against the wall.

"That kid is gonna destroy the world," Cook said as he handed her a similarly unclothed Jason. He picked up the clothes covered in applesauce, made a face, and deposited them into the sink.

Naomi carefully pried the duck away from Sian when she started throwing it at her brother. Mellow little Jason was completely unfazed by all of this, and just smiled up at her when she lathered soap onto a loofa and began to clean him off.

"I bet this is what our girls were like as toddlers," she grumbled.

Cook heaved himself up onto the counter and laughed. "Probably. Katie's still kind of like that. Remember the Love Ball?"

"How could I forget? I still have the scar."

"She didn't scar you," Cook snorted.

"You can't see psychological scars, mate."

Cook laughed again and Sian did too. He made a face at her and she giggled and splashed water towards her Uncle Cook. It only hit the side of the tub and she looked disappointed.

"Yeah, well, you got over it. Enough to marry her sister."

Naomi laughed under her breath. "It would have taken a lot more than Katie Fitch's right hook to stop me from marrying Emily." She looked over her shoulder to see him fiddling with his phone. "Telling Katie I'm trying to drown her niece and nephew?" she quipped.

"Nah, that was earlier." He laughed when she discreetly flipped him off behind her back. "JJ's keepin' me updated on his big date tonight. Think he's gonna pop the question to Lara."

"Whoo!" Naomi raised both of Jason's hands in a celebratory gesture. He blew bubbles at her. "Go Uncle Jay!"

Cook shook his head. "Just more proof we're too domesticated now, Naomikins. You've got kids, Jaykins is settling down, I want to ask Katie to marry me, Karen has a job at a bank."

Naomi stopped trying to give Jason a mohawk with the shampoo and turned to face Cook. There was something suspicious slipped into the sentence. One of those things was not like the other.

"You want to ask Katie to marry you?" she asked.

Cook actually looked a little sheepish as he scratched at the back of his head. "Well, I mean...yeah. We've been together for a while and, I dunno, she's always wanted like the whole deal, yah know? Two kids and a big house and a dog. And I..."

"Want to give it to her?"

"Yeah. I really do." He threw a towel at her. "Stop fucking smirking at me, Campbell!"

Naomi twisted herself around so she could lift her leg and kick him in the shin. "Language! If one of them drops the f-bomb when Emily comes home I'm blaming you."

Cook jumped off the counter and kissed his fingertips before he pressed them against Sian's ears. "Sorry, mini-Naoms."

Sian didn't seem bothered by it. She threw soap in his hair.

Naomi finished rinsing the soap off of Jason and moved onto her daughter, who was much more aggravated about it than her brother. She tried to bat Naomi's hands away and started crying when Naomi gently but firmly washed the soap out of her hair.

"So," Naomi said above the wails. "You want to propose to Katie?"

"Yeah," she could hear Cook shuffling around behind her. "Any tips?"

"I really don't have the best track record of dealing with Katie, except maybe now my ducking reflexes are way better."

Cook snorted. "Yeah, got those covered. How'd you propose to Emilio?"

"I asked her to stay with me forever."

"That's sweet."

"In French."

"F-ow-racking he-ow-eck, Naomi! How am I supposed to match up to that. Bl-ow-imey - STOP KICKING ME!"

Naomi finished rinsing the last bit of shampoo out of Sian's hair and lifted her out of the bathtub. The little girl whined and complained until she was wrapped up in the towel that Cook held out. Jason chewed quietly on his toy boat as Naomi picked him up and wrapped him up as well, then she carried them out of the bathroom with a child in each arm. Cook held the doors open for her.

She handed Sian off to Cook, who sat down in the rocking chair in the corner of the twins' room, and toweled Jason dry. She ruffled his fluffy hair and he giggled and reached up to try to do the same to her. She leaned over so he could reach and immediately regretted the decision when he grabbed a handful of hair and tugged instead. Naomi winched and carefully pried his little fist open.

"I don't really have any advice for you," she said as she pulled Jason's dinosaur footsie pyjama's on and buttoned them up. Cook was quiet in the corner, probably still steaming over being kicked so many times. "You'd be better off talking to Emily."

She put Jason down in the corner next to his crib to play and held her arms out for Sian. Cook handed her over quickly, before she could continue pulling at his fingernails.

"I can't ask Red to keep something like that from her sister," Cook said seriously. "I've got an idea I just...want it to be nice for Katie."

Naomi bit her lip as she struggled to get Sian's arms into her pyjamas. The little girl kept pulling them out so she could play with the bottles lining the changing table. This was not an unusual occurrence. Naomi was very adept at wrangling her daughter's wandering arms.

"Your idea is probably perfect," she told him. "But why don't you run it by me after the monsters go to sleep and I'll tell you what -"

"Naomikins, I think you're about to miss something important over here."

Naomi whipped her head around. One of Jason's toys was on a shelf above his head a few feet away and he had grabbed onto the bottom of his crib to pull himself up. He was eyeing the toy and his feet with equal curiosity, like he was putting two and two together. He swayed forward a little and almost let go of the crib.

She finished buttoning Sian up at lightning speed and put her down on the floor. "No no no no no," she said, holding out her hands. Jason looked at her. "Do not, I repeat, do not walk when your Mama isn't here, okay baby boy?" He blinked at her. "If your Mama found out she missed your first steps she'd kill Mummy, so just...don't. Okay? Okay. Good talk."

He blinked at her again and obediently fell back onto his butt and pointed towards the toy. He garbled a bit of nonsense but she heard the word 'want' in there so she got it for him. It was a stuffed elephant. She handed it to him.

Jason was the first to get tucked into bed. Being the mellower child meant that he was less likely to attempt to escape while she was putting his sister down. Sian was surprisingly docile when Naomi tucked her in. Naomi shooed Cook out of the room as she settled a blanket around the two of them. They'd have to break this habit of sleeping together eventually, but not tonight.

She turned on the stars and planets mobile above their heads and listened to it chime softly for a moment. Sian followed the movement of the arms with sleepy eyes. Jason was focused on Naomi.

"Storytime for my two favorite babies?" she asked softly. She traced the outline of Jason's face with a finger and he smiled. Sian grabbed for her wrist when she went to pull it away. She didn't want to break the moment by turning away to get a book, but there was one that Mia liked to read to them and Naomi knew it by heart.

"Once there was a baby star. He lived up near the sun. And every night at bedtime that baby star wanted to have some fun. He would shine and shine, and fall and shoot and twinkle oh so bright. And he said, 'Mummy, I'll run away if you make me say good-night'. And then his mummy kissed his sparkly nose and said, 'No matter where you go, no matter where you are, no matter how big you grow and even if you stray far, I'll love you forever. Because you're always my baby star."

With both twins safely asleep and the baby monitor turned on, she kissed them both on the forehead and whispered goodnight before going downstairs. Cook was already in the kitchen with two bottles of beer in his hands. He offered one to her.

"So your advice is go with my gut instinct with Katie, and if I play my cards right I'll be doing what you just did in a few years?" he asked.

Naomi accepted the beer gratefully and popped off the top. "Pretty much."

Mia literally danced into the living room the next day. She rose up onto the ball of one foot and performed a smooth turn, using her mother as a spot, before proudly holding up her third place trophy in both hands. Naomi clapped enthusiastically. Sian let out a garbled yell and Jason fell to the side because he was concentrating so hard on clapping like his Mummy. Naomi figured that meant they were proud too.

Mia lost all of that grace a second later when she threw her arms around Naomi's neck. Naomi laughed and lifted her up off the ground. The trophy was digging into her back a little and Mia was kind of loud in her ear saying, "Mum I placed! I placed third", but it was delightful all the same. Naomi turned her mega-watt grin on Emily when she struggled through the door a moment later.

"She was great," Emily said, slightly out of breath, when she put their bags down. "The judges were really impressed."

Naomi gave Mia one last squeeze and put her down. "Well, the twins were -" Emily cleared her throat and Naomi backtracked, "Jason and Sian were fine, and they are their own people, which is why we use separate names for them."

Emily smirked and stood up on her toes to give Naomi a kiss. "You're really whipped, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know," Naomi sighed.

"You love me anyway?"

"Obviously."

Mia made a face when they kissed again and wiggled her way in between them, demanding attention. "Mum, Mama, look!"

They looked. Jason was hanging onto the side of the couch and staring at Emily. He let go with one hand and made a little 'I want' gesture towards her. Emily started to go over to him but Naomi wrapped an arm around her waist and stopped her.

She handed Mia her phone. "Here, little bird. You know how to record on this?"

"Duh," Mia scoffed.

"Of course," Naomi rolled her eyes. "Duh. How could I ever have thought otherwise."

After she was sure Mia was recording she knelt down and pulled Emily down with her. She held out her hand. "Come here, Jase. Come see Mummy."

Jason let go of the couch and wobbled. He just made grabbing motions with both hands then, and Emily almost went forward again, but Naomi tugged her back. "He can do it," she whispered.

He took one step forward and Emily made a little squeaking noise. Naomi felt heat prick at the back of her eyes and she bit her lip. He took two more and gurgled happily when Emily came forward so that he only had to take one more clumsy step before he fell into her arms. She cuddled him to her chest and rained kisses on his face.

"My wonderful, handsome little man," she cooed to him. "My brave boy. Mama loves you."

Mia had the phone pointed at the armchair now. Sian had watched her brother the entire time and now, without preamble, she stood up and started to walk. She took two steps before she tumbled. This didn't seem to deter her at all, since she was up again a second later. As soon as she was close enough she shrieked and latched onto Emily's leg. Emily opened her arms to gather Sian into the hug too. She lavished praise on both of them.

"Some homecoming," Emily choked out. The tears in her eyes made the giant smile on her face waver slightly.

Naomi leaned forward and kissed the side of her head. And then she kissed the top of Jason and Sian's heads. And then she grabbed Mia and tickled her just because she could.

Emily was home and everything was fine in her world. Actually, everything was rather perfect.

A/n: So? Was it worth the wait? Was it not very good? Tell me your favorite part! *looks wistfully at the review button*.