Five Months Later

"They're here, they're here."

With little regard for the cold December weather, Matthew ran out of the main castle door towards the car containing his family.

His family, it still felt so good to say that and know that it was forever. And just under a week ago that family had gotten even bigger, he was now a big brother and was dying to really get stuck into his new role.

"Hey Matty." Imogen was waiting outside the car with her arms outstretched.

"Hi Ima, All the girls are waiting to see the babies. I've been telling them how cute they are but they really need to see them, but I need to see them again first." With that he hopped into the car and waved at the two bundles in the back seat. "Hi, it's me your big brother Matt, remember? Well we're going to live together all the time now- it's going to be great."

Constance, who was sat in the back with the twins felt herself beaming at the declaration and what it meant. They were home. Her pregnancy had not been without its challenges, especially in the third trimester when the doctors had been worried that the babies would arrive a bit too early. This had resulted in six weeks of bedrest which had seemed to do the trick as the twins had made an appearance at an acceptable thirty five weeks. Thankfully they had been perfectly healthy but had spent a few days under observation to ensure that their body temperatures were regulated.

That morning they had received the happy news that it was time to go home. Imogen and Matthew had been over the moon when they had heard. Although Imogen had stayed at the hospital for a couple of nights and there had been plenty of visits, they also had Matthew to consider and even sleepover's at Jake's had not made up for not having both of his mothers with him. And the babies of course.

Rather than go straight to their home where they would be spending the majority of their maternity leave, they had opted to stop at the castle so the students could see the twins. Amelia had gone with Imogen to pick up the new arrivals and after helping Constance out of the car had gone to make sure the girls were all assembled.

"Ready sweetie?", Imogen asked as she handed one baby bundle to her wife.

"I think so.", Constance murmured adjusting the two white hats.

"I'm ready anyway." Matthew announced with a big grin. "Come on, let's say hi."

Sure enough as they walked into the castle, every student was waiting for them. Some were lined along the corridor while the others stood on the stairs craning their necks to get a look.

"On behalf of all of us, we'd like to say congratulations.", Amelia announced as the family walked through the corridor. "We have some gifts for you in the staffroom but for now would you like to make the introductions?"

Imogen shifted slightly so everyone could see the tiny baby in her arms. "This is Ella.", she announced proudly.

"And that's Joey.", Mathew added, pointing to the baby his Mam was holding.

"Eleanor and Joseph you mean.", Constance rolled her eyes but in a playful way. She had known as soon as they selected the names that they would be shortened.

She loved that their daughter had been named after her beloved mother but agreed that Eleanor may be a bit of mouthful for a little girl. Ella was also a nickname that her father had used for his wife so it felt doubly special to use it now. As for Joseph, it was a name that she and Imogen had both loved and felt would be perfect for their second son. Although they had opted not to find out the genders both had assumed they would have two girls. However, experience had taught them to be ready for the unexpected so there had been a boy's name ready for when Joseph arrived fifteen minutes after his sister.

"I told you so.", Davina pointed out to Amelia for the umpteenth time since the twins had arrived. "I told you they'd buck the trend and have a boy."

"Well they had a girl too.", Amelia retorted. There was nothing more annoying that Davina when she was right. At least when she was wrong she'd disappear into a cupboard for a while, now she was just gloating. It was a minor irritation though and nothing could take away from her happiness what had happened in the past year. When Matthew had come along she had reflected that Constance with a son was something she could not have imagined. Now she and Imogen had two sons and a daughter and nothing could have seemed more perfect.

After spending some more time with the students and promising Amelia and Davina that they could visit whenever they wanted, Imogen drove her family back to their house where Anna and John had prepared dinner for them.

Carrie and Jake were also there of course and very excited to see the babies, having only seen pictures up to this point.

"Wow, a brother and a sister at the same time, you're so lucky."

Matthew's entire body glowed at Carrie's comment. For so long he had always thought that other kids were lucky, never him. Now truly he felt that he was the lucky one and he was loving that feeling. The babies didn't do much apart from sleeping, crying, feeding and doing smelly nappies but he knew that's what babies did. Once they got older they would do lots more and he knew they were going to be great friends.

In the past couple of months his magic had become dormant and would remain so until he was older. That didn't mean he couldn't start learning about his powers though and one of the activities that had gotten Constance through bedrest was spending time with her son, teaching him about magic. Matthew had already told his Mam that he would make sure the twins knew what to do if they had magical flare ups like him, considering it to be a major part of his big brother duties.

As Matthew was thinking about the future and Ella and Joey were being admired there was a knock on the door.

"Kerry, come in.", Imogen invited as she saw their social worker standing on the door step.

"Thanks, don't worry, this isn't an official visit. I have a gift for the twins that I wanted to drop off- I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"Not at all, come in. Would you like to see them?"

Kerry did want to see the babies. All too often she saw children who had been born into or ended up in unhappy circumstances. It was a real pleasure to see these two little babies who had been born into a family that she knew was full of love. And for her she felt that they had moved beyond the social worker/ client relationship into a true friendship. She had learned a lot from this couple and she was grateful to them for exposing her to different aspects of life and teaching her that the unknown did not have to be a bad thing.

"They're beautiful."

"Thank you.", Constance smiled warmly. They may have gotten off to a rocky start but none of that mattered anymore, this woman had turned out to be a friend to them all and she was happy to have her in their lives.

"How's being a big brother?" Kerry happily accepted the hug from an ecstatic Matthew. She may never admit it out loud but he had been one of the most special children she had ever cared for and she was so happy that things had turned out this well for him.

"It's great thanks. I'm just so excited that they're home now."

Matthew was excited as was everyone else and excitement often led to tiredness, something their visitors were conscious of so nobody stayed too long that evening. Instead they promised to visit over the coming days and be available for anything that may be required of them in-between. Imogen was truly grateful for the support and she tried not to be too eager as she waved them off but she was so excited to get back to her family that she couldn't get the door closed quickly enough.

"Finally, it's just us.", she whispered as she came back into the living room.

Matthew watched intently while Constance placed Ella in her Moses basket next to her slumbering brother. Once she was sure they were settled for now she sat back on the couch next to Matthew and sighed.

"How are you feeling", Imogen asked. She was so proud of Constance, she hadn't complained once throughout the pregnancy, even when she'd been put on bed rest. It was the same throughout labour, she had been incredibly brave and always focused on what was best for the babies and for Matthew.

"Tired, happy, a bit sore, excited, hungry."

"I'm hungry too." Matthew added. "But I'm very happy as well."

Imogen gave them both a kiss, "We can't have you being hungry can we? The stew Anna made should be ready now, I'll get it out of the oven."

She paused on the way out of the room to look at the two sleeping babies she had helped to make against all odds. Their two miracles looked like tiny angels. Ella was slightly bigger than her brother at five pounds three ounces. Joey may have been two ounces smaller but he was more active which could be seen by how he was moving in his sleep. Both currently had the typical blue grey eyes of a newborn, a smattering of light downey hair, pale skin and were absolutely gorgeous.

"Love you both.", she whispered, giving them each a soft kiss before going to get dinner organised.

Meanwhile Matthew had wrapped his arms around Constance. They had managed while she was gone but it hadn't been the same and he was very excited to be able to give her hugs again now. He also had a question to ask her.

"Are you very happy Mam?"

Constance took a moment to think of her answer. In doing so she thought very briefly of how her life could have been, the children she may have been forced to have with someone she despised, the children who would have been taken away for her and moulded into something she couldn't even bring herself to imagine.

"Stop", she told herself, pushing the dark thoughts far away. They had no place in this happy moment.

She was married to a woman she adored and who she knew loved her in return. Together they had gone through numerous challenges and heartache but they had come out the other side with more then they could ever have dreamed of. They now had two beautiful boys and a gorgeous girl who nobody would ever take away from them. Their children would grow up surrounded by love and happiness and when it became time for them to develop their magical abilities, she would do all she could to make sure that they used their powers in a benevolent way that only brought good to the world.

Realising that Matthew was still waiting for an answer, she leaned down to give him a kiss. "I am so happy, I feel like my life is truly intact."

"Intact?"

"Yes. It's a bit like the jigsaw puzzles we do. It looks like it won't all come together but then you start slowly working with all the tiny pieces and suddenly you start to see the picture."

"And we're the pieces." What she was saying was making total sense to Matthew because it was just how he felt as well.

"Exactly. Me, Ima, you, Eleanor and Joseph, we're all the pieces that make up our family."

"And we all fit to make the picture."

"We do.", Constance held him closer and shared a smile with Imogen who had just reentered the room.

"And now we're all together the jigsaw is complete."

A/N And there we go. Thank you for reading.