The end is here people. Okay, so I'm calling this a chepilogue because I treated it more like a chapter than an epilogue. It is ridiculously long, so in theory, it couldn't possibly be an epilogue. I don't know if I'll write more, so at least I got certain ideas out of my head. I hope you enjoy!
Epilogue
Saying those first few weeks were hard would be a big understatement. Yes, it is amazing and I still can't believe they're here. Yes, becoming a parent has changed me in ways I could've never imagined. Yes, when I see them and hold them I feel nothing but pure and unadulterated love. But man, the loss of sleep, the loss of Owen time, the loss of Owen and Claire time, and the fact that we've been eating take out for the last month, hit us like a ton of bricks. We knew it would happen, but we were obviously not prepared for it.
There were nights were Nicholas would start crying, and we couldn't figure out what was wrong, and then Mia would start crying, and they would keep each other in a vicious circle and we didn't know what to do! We were so exhausted, sometimes we couldn't figure out who had which twin. Mia and Nicholas look exactly the same, especially when Claire and I had 4 hours of sleep the night before.
But one glorious day, though. Oh, that glorious day 5 months later. I wake up because I feel Claire moving. I open my eyes and see her sitting on the bed looking around confused.
"You okay?" I ask stretching out my muscles.
She turns her confused gaze to me. "We just woke up."
I sit up and rub my head. "Yeah."
"We just woke up." She tells me again.
I frown. "Yeah, we just wok- They slept through the night." Could today be the day they start sleeping like normal human beings? "They slept through the night!"
Claire and I start laughing.
"I can't believe they slept all night long! I thought it would never happen!" Claire tells me.
"Maybe now we can function without 2 litres of caffeine a day. You know what this calls for, right?" I ask Claire.
She turns towards me. "What?" She says raising her eyebrow.
I lean forward, encircle her waist with my right arm and pull her towards me. "When was the last time we had enough energy to… you know, celebrate?"
"2 weeks, 6 days and 11 hours. But who is counting?" She says rubbing circles on the back of my neck.
I shake my head. "We can't have that."
Claire inhales deeply. "No, we can't."
"Well, then…"
We both lean forward at the same time. We kiss like 2 feral animals, like 2 desperate feral animals. I lay her on her back and start running my hands through the length of her torso. I start kissing her neck, and I feel her hands on my t-shirt trying to get rid of it. I sit up and I'm halfway through taking it off and like a bomb, the crying starts.
I groan and sit on my heels. "I can't believe my own kids are cock blocking me."
For no apparent reason, Claire starts laughing hysterically.
"Oh, you think this is funny?"
She nods, cause that's the only thing she can do. There are tears coming down her cheeks. She stands up and starts walking out of the room. Still laughing, by the way. I groan once again and follow her to the twins' room.
Claire opens the door to Nicholas and Mia's room, and the moment she steps in, they both stop crying.
"Oh, come on!" I say.
Claire continues laughing. Since they stopped crying, we don't pick them up. I hover over Mia's crib and Claire over Nicholas'.
"You guys are killing me. You're lucky you're cute." I rub Mia's tummy.
"You two just wanted to let us know you were awake, didn't you?" Claire looks up at the clock on the wall. "I should probably feed you before you realize you're hungry and start crying, huh? What do you think?"
Nicholas starts cooing and Claire picks him up. "Good morning, sweetheart." She gives him a kiss on the cheek.
"Are you hungry, Mia? Just you wait until you have teeth, I'm so going to enjoy taking you and your brother to eat a greasy, very unhealthy, but delicious burger with a side of fries." Mia reaches for me and I pick her up.
"Excuse me. Do you want our children to be addicted to junk food?" Claire tells me sitting on the rocking chair with Nicholas.
I walk closer to her and lean against the wall beside her with Mia in my arms. "No, but every kid needs a little junk food. Don't worry, we won't eat any of it in front of you. You know what they say, what the eye doesn't see…"
"Don't make me hire lawyers, honey, 'cause you'll lose…" She tells me with a smirk.
"Yeah, right. Like you could live without me." I look down at Mia. "She can't. Mummy can't live without me."
"I think it's the other way around. You obviously can't live without me. Don't let daddy fool you guys, he's become co-dependant." She caresses Nicholas' face and rubs Mia's foot.
Those were our weekends. Claire and I had to go to work, obviously. At first, we were both very anxious to leave them with a nanny, but we new we had to go. Finding a nanny though, that was a nightmare. Or, I should say, Claire was the nightmare. I love her, but Jesus, no nanny was suitable enough, even though they came with excellent references.
It took us 2 weeks to find a nanny. It was the end of the day, we were both exhausted, and the babies were calm on their rocking cradles by some miracle. The doorbell rung, and a young woman who couldn't have been more than 25 years old was standing at the door with the friendliest smile you could imagine. We talked to her for 30 minutes, but on the first 5, Claire and I looked at each other and new we had finally, found the one.
Her name is Jane, she just graduated from college, she has a psychology degree and she has twin brothers. She told us she was planning to take a year off before starting to study for her master's degree. That sealed the deal. Psychology degree, twin brothers and master's degree are words Claire recognizes and approves of.
Time starts passing by and we are lucky enough to witness all of the twins' first. The first time they start crawling, we are in the living room having tummy time, and by 'we', I mean Nicholas, Mia and I. Claire is sitting on the floor with her back against the couch responding to emails like crazy, apparently there had been some kind of crisis that required her attention on a Saturday morning, but she refused to go to the office.
"I can't believe I have to be doing this on a Saturday morning." She says typing furiously on her laptop.
I look up at her. "What happened exactly?"
"A half a million dollar transaction was made 2 weeks ago for a new piece of lab machinery, but something went wrong with the wiring of the money and now, the shipping of the order has been stopped, and the ship with the container that's supposed to bring that piece of machinery to Philadelphia, is leaving Finland today in the afternoon."
I whistle. Damn. "That sounds very serious. Are you sure you don't want to go to the office? I can hold the fort for a few hours."
She shakes her head. "No. The bank manager assured me there were not going to be any problems. It's not my responsibility to fix that part, at least. Right now I'm emailing the sales rep from the company that sold us the piece of machinery in Finland. I have to call the Maersk Group to see if we can maybe get another container on another ship, but that's not going to be cheap."
She stops typing and groans. "I really don't want to do this right now."
I stand up and sit in front of Claire. "One step at the time, alright? Plus, you always figure things out. Do all you have to do, and then we'll have a glass of wine. How does that sound?"
She smiles. "That sounds lovely. I could have one right now. The only thing stopping is the fact that it's 10am."
We laugh. "Go on, then. See the glass of wine at the end of the tunnel."
She shakes her head. "You're making me sound like an alcoholic."
I shrug. "We're all secretly alcoholics." I give her a peck and stand up to lie down with the twins again. When I turn around, I see only Nicholas on the blanket we had laid down on the living room floor.
"Where's Mia?" I ask turning left and right.
I hear the sound of typing stop. "What?"
I move so Claire can see the blanket. "We're missing a baby."
"What?! Mia! Mia!" She puts her laptop aside and stands up. We start looking everywhere for her, and then we hear a squeal. We walk towards the kitchen and there she is, crawling with a big, toothless smile on her face.
"Oh my God! She's crawling!" Claire moves in front of Mia and kneels down. "Come on, Mia. Come to mummy. Come on."
Mia stops and stares at Claire, and then a huge grin overtakes her face and she starts crawling towards her. At first it's a slow crawl, but when Claire starts talking to her, she starts moving as fast as her little arms and legs will allow her. When she reaches Claire, Claire picks her up and Mia squeals in delight.
"You crawled, Mia! You're getting so big! I'm so proud of you." Claire starts kissing her cheeks and Mia continues to squeal, delighted at all the attention she's getting from her mummy.
I'm smiling at them, shaking my head. I feel something bump me on the ankle. I look down confused, and I see Nicholas looking up at me with those big, green eyes.
"Nick! You crawled too, buddy! You wanted to join the party, didn't you?" I pick him up and give him a kiss on the cheek. Claire walks towards me, Mia still in her arms.
"You crawled too, sweetheart? I'm so proud of you too! Come here." Claire says. We switch babies and after a proper dosage of hugs and kisses, we put them down on the floor again. They start moving around, discovering what being mobile is.
At some point, we place them on one side of the living room and we walk opposite them and kneel down. We start calling them, and they're both still, not moving and then Nicholas moves his little arm forward, and that's all Mia needs. She starts moving forward furiously and Nicholas tries to catch up.
"See? If I had gone to the office I would've missed this. I don't want to miss their first anything. I couldn't forgive myself." Claire says picking Nicholas up once he gets to her.
During the first six months, we've realised that Mia is more attached to Claire and Nicholas is more attached to me. Is there a name for that? She's a momma's girl and he's a daddy's boy? I don't know. But when Mia starts crying, usually Claire is the one to go to her because she has a higher chance of calming her down faster, and the same is for myself with Nicholas.
But there's the occasional time I am betrayed by both my children. Claire and I came up with this game, where we put Mia and Nicholas together on the floor and Claire walks to one side and I to the opposite side, and we start calling their names. It's hilarious to see them look between the 2 of us, trying to decide which parent to crawl to. Usually, Nicholas crawls to me and Mia to Claire; but sometimes, they both crawl to Claire and I am left babyless. Claire hugs the both of them while laughing, and then they start laughing, and I sit with my arms crossed.
"Traitors." I tell them.
The first time they walk, we both almost missed it. Claire and I went to a fundraiser at the zoo, and we had left the twins with Jane. We had a wonderful time, by the way. It was done at lunchtime, so all the potential contributors could see all the animals, because some of the animals have very specific schedules, so the event couldn't have been made at night without half of the animals missing. When we go back home, we see Jane holding both Nicholas and Mia by their hands. They are both standing up, which they have never done, and they're trying to steady themselves. They're both looking down at their feet.
We both stop dead in our tracks when we seem them standing up. 10 months ago they were these little, squishy things and now, they're about to start walking.
"Guys, come help them stay up. You should be doing this, not me." As soon as Jane tells us that, we're back online and we both kneel down and hold their little hands. Claire with Mia, and I with Nicholas. We tell them encouraging words and when we both feel sure enough that they can stand on their own, we let go of their hands. They wobble a little bit, we both have our hands hovering behind their backs just in case they fall, but soon, they are attempting to move forward. We hold their hands again, and they start moving their little legs in that weird angle babies do. They walk 4 steps before they land on their butts. We pick them up and let them know they did an excellent job.
"And I just sent you guys the video to your emails." Jane tells us putting her phone away.
We watch the video before going to bed and forward it to our family.
The first time they climb, Nicholas scared the bejesus out of us. It was the middle of the night, Claire and I were asleep, and we were woken up by the most awful cry you could imagine. Claire and I bolted out of bed to see what had made Nicholas cry like that (at that point we could identify each twin by their cries). Obviously, he must've startled Mia too, and she also started crying. When we open their bedroom door, I turn on the light and we see Nicholas sitting on the floor, his little hand on his forehead, crying his eyes out.
Claire picks him up and starts bouncing him up and down trying to calm him down. She looks at his forehead and sees a small cut and a little blood. This is his first injury. He's probably never felt this kind of pain before. Nothing serious. But enough to scare him. (and us)
I pick Mia up and try to calm her down too. Her eyes are a little wide and she's looking straight at Nicholas.
"Did you climb out of your crib, sweetheart? Don't worry, nothing a band-aid can't cure." Nicholas' cries turn into hiccupping and he rests his head on Claire's shoulder. "I know, I know. But you're climbing now, huh?"
Mia stops crying the moment Nicholas does. I give her a kiss on the forehead and lie her back down on her crib. Claire takes Nicholas to the bathroom to clean his cut and put the band-aid on. I stay with Mia.
"Was your brother impatient to start climbing?" I tell her. She just looks at me. "Boys are like that, a little more reckless. You were waiting until the morning to climb, weren't you? Try not to hit your head on the crib though."
Claire comes in with Nicholas, a Mickey Mouse band-aid on his forehead and his eyes already closing.
I walk over to them. "You okay, buddy?" I rub his back and he looks at me for half a second before his eyes close. I kiss his forehead and Claire lies him back down on his crib.
The next morning, we go to their room again, and we find they are both out of their cribs and sitting on the floor, playing with each other's pacifiers. Later that day, Claire and I bought padding for the cribs and put a rug to cushion any future falls.
The first time they talk. Oh, the day they said their first words I remember with great pride and a general sense of victory. It happened on a Wednesday afternoon, I had just arrived from work and I relieved Jane of her babysitting duties. The twins were having their afternoon nap, so I made myself a sandwich that would've made Phillip jealous, and sat down to watch some TV. About an hour later, Claire came home overly giddy. I relish in her happiness obviously, so I asked her what had caused her beautiful mood. And she told me she closed a deal that day that everyone had assured her was a dead cause. Claire, being as stubborn and competitive as she is, refused to settle and fought with nail and tooth, but she closed a multi-million dollar deal all by herself.
"Claire 1, Corporate executives 0." She tells me pulling a bottle of wine from the fridge. "The twins?" She asks me serving herself and I a glass of wine.
"Still napping. Should be up any minute now." I tell her standing up and walking to the kitchen. "So I was thinking. Nicholas and Mia are almost a year old…"
"Yes." She says dragging out the word.
"I think they're old enough to leave them for a little bit, and have that honeymoon in Switzerland? We can celebrate being married a year and a half there. What do you think?" I take my glass of wine and take a sip.
She takes her glass and swirls the wine around gently. "You know I wouldn't like anything else. But I don't know if they're ready for us to leave for, what? A week?"
I nod. "Yeah, I was thinking a week."
"I don't know." She takes a sip of wine.
I nod slowly. "Let me ask you this: do you not think they're ready for us to leave? Or are you not ready to leave them?
She looks at me sideways. "Both?"
I raise an eyebrow and give her my best 'really?' face.
"Ugh, fine! I don't know, I've just – everyday for almost a year now we've been with them. The thought of waking up and not having to take care of them, even if it's just for a week, makes me…" she taps her hand on her chest.
"Anxious?" I give her the word she's looking for.
"Yes. Anxious." She exhales.
I put the glass of wine down, walk around the island and hold her hand. "Come over here." I pull her forward and guide her to the couch. "What did we promise each other the first time we laid Nicholas and Mia down on their cribs?"
She tilts her head to the side. "That we would do everything in our power to make sure we raised the best little people."
I nod. "Exactly. Part of it is making sure they're not spoilt. And we have been doing a great job at that. But they also have to learn that we're not always going to be there 24/7. Physically, of course. They need to learn their parents are people too, with lives."
"I know. But whom are we even going to leave them with? I don't think Jane can put her life on hold for a week to take care of Mia and Nicholas."
I smile at her. "That's why I talked to my parents, and they are more than willing to arrange things so they can work from their laptops, that way they can come to Philadelphia and bond with their grandchildren."
She smiles and shakes her head. "You thought of everything, didn't you?"
"Yep. I knew how you would feel, cause I feel the same way. Plus, think about it, we haven't really been alone since we got married. The twins have always been there one way or the other."
She raises her eyebrows a bit. "That's true. I was huge when we got married."
"So? Is that a yes?" I ask getting closer to her.
She taps her finger on her lip. "Let me think…"
I grab her finger and pull it away from her lips so I can kiss her. I can feel her smiling. I am too.
"Look at that. We didn't have to wait until they were 18." I tell Claire.
She laughs. "Thank God!"
We hear the babies babbling through the baby monitor. We smile and I pick it up. They are both standing up on their cribs, little hands on the railing and they are pointing and babbling to each other. They are obviously having a conversation we can't understand.
"Are you recording this?" Claire asks me.
"Oh, yeah. This is too good." I smile as they both start bouncing on their places and keep pointing at each other.
We stop watching them through the monitor and go to their room, because they look like they're about to climb out of the crib and beat each other up.
I pick up Nicholas and Claire picks up Mia. "Why are you two fighting, huh?" I rub my cheek against Nicholas'. He doesn't like it when I do that. I don't think he likes the feel of my scruff on his cheek. He leans backwards when I do, but he sees it as a game, if the big smile on his face is anything to go by.
"What? You don't like this, Nick?" I do it again and again. At one point, I put my hand behind his back and press him against me so he has no escape.
He squeals and puts his hands on my chest trying to push himself away from me. And then he says it.
"Daa-daa."
I stop to look at him and then I look at Claire. "Did he just…?"
She's looking at him, nothing but pride in her eyes. "I think he did."
I start laughing. "Can you say it again, buddy? Who am I?" I rub my cheek against his one more time, and he squeals in delight once again. Then he points a chubby finger at me and says, "Daa-daa."
I start doing a happy dance and stick my tongue out to Claire. "His first word was dada."
As expected, she gives me a deadpan look. "Really? You're going to turn this into a competition?"
"Me? Who was the one being all cocky when they both went running to you and left me crouching there like an idiot?!" I tell her.
She smirks. "Yeah, that was a good day. Fine. Whatever. You can have this one."
"Oh, you're giving me this one?" I ask her.
She nods. "You are going to say mama first, aren't you Mia?"
"So that's your plan? Take our daughter's free will and make her say mama, even though she is probably going to say dada first?"
"Who says she's going to say dada, first?" she asks raising her eyebrow.
"Who says she isn't?" I fight back.
Suffice to say, she said dada first later that day. Claire was bitter, but secretly proud and as happy as ever.
We decided not too long ago, that it wouldn't be a bad idea for each of us to have some time alone by ourselves with one twin. So basically, every Saturday Claire will spend time with one twin, and I with the other and we would alternate. Today is my day with Nicholas, and I decide to take him to the park today. Babies have a lot of energy, period. But baby boys are basically vibrating the whole time. And I've seen him. Sometimes he's trying to climb onto the couch or a chair, while Mia is sitting on the floor playing with blocks. I want him to release all that cooped up energy he has.
"What are you planning to do with Mia today?" I ask Claire as we start picking up the dishes after breakfast.
"I was thinking it would be nice to take her to the Archaeology & Anthropology museum." She starts loading the dishwasher.
"What?" I frown.
She smiles. "I'm kidding. She seems to enjoy the water, so I'm going to take her on a ferry ride."
I breathe a sigh of relief. "Oh. You scared me for a second there."
"Really? Were you honestly expecting me to take an 11 month old to the Archaeology & Anthropology museum?" She says closing the dishwasher.
I shrug. "Well, it's you…"
She puts a hand on her hip. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Oh, shit. "You know, you're so…" I'm trying to look for the right word here!
"So what?" Like I said before, if she would've been Darth Vader, I would be dead already.
"So… intelligent, educated and there's nothing I can't talk to you about, because you know everything. And you're so sexy. Behati Prinsloo, Gigi Hadid and all of those Victoria Secret models have nothing on you." I say all that in one breath and finish it with a smile.
"How would you know what Behati Prinsloo and Gigi Hadid look like?" she asks with that soft, yet menacing tone.
"I, uh, I haven- You know… twitter?" I think I feel a little sweat in my ass crack.
She walks over to me and whispers in my ear. "Don't worry. I look at hot models every once in a while too." She giggles and starts picking up the stray pieces of cereal the twins managed to get everywhere.
"What? Which models?" Claire is clearly unperturbed that I've been looking for a few more seconds than necessary at Victoria Secret models; but why do I feel so, so…
"Are you jealous?" she asks throwing the pieces of cereal in the trash. She's clearly amused.
"Me? Please. Jealous?! Me? Huh!" I start puffing.
"Good. I mean, there's this model, he has his V muscle very much defined. It's almost like an arrow pointing to his… soul. You know?" She's having way too much fun with this.
"Yeah, well, he's what? 20 years old? It's kinda hard working those muscles when you're a certain age." V muscle, my ass.
"Actually, he's your exact same age. He's 36. His name is David Gandy, by the way. If you wanna look him up." She mouths the words 'so sexy'.
She starts walking past me, but I grab her by the waist. "I'll show you sexy."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." I confirm.
"Gandy sexy?" She asks me, hands on my chest.
I shake my head slowly. "Grady sexy."
"I look forward to you shaming David Gandy." She starts drawing circles on my chest with her finger.
"You should." I close the small space between us and kiss her. My hand goes to the small of her back and I bring her closer to me. I feel her arms loop around my neck.
"Maa-maa." We hear Mia call from the living room.
I pull back and look at Claire. "Duty calls."
"I guess it does. We'll continue this talk at night, I hope?" She asks, her arms still looped around my neck.
"I don't know. They do say actions speak louder than words, so…"
She smiles a wicked smile and gives me a peck before walking to the living room where we left the twins, well in our line of sight.
We dress Mia and Nicholas and we each head out for our day of bonding.
I put Nicholas in his car sit and make sure everything is well strapped and secure. I close the door and sit in front of the wheel. I turn around to look at him and he's hugging his teddy.
"Are you ready to have fun, Nick?" I ask him.
"Daa-daa."
"Well, let's go then!" I start the car, pull out from my assigned spot and head to the park.
Mia and Nicholas are almost a year old, so they've started full on babbling now. They can say 'mama' and 'dada', but that's about it. Claire and I are sure they understand the words 'no' and 'bye-bye', but it's still a guessing game when something hurts or they're bothered by something.
Nicholas and I have a fantastic day at the park. The kid was ecstatic when he saw the playground games, the sand and the vast amounts of green. We try not to pick them up too much, and let them walk as much as they can. As soon as I got him out of his car sit and his little feet touched the floor, he started running. And I let him. I didn't hold his hand or anything. I just made sure there weren't any potential hazards in his immediate surroundings and let him be free.
Although, maybe I should've thought that one a little bit more through. He started running on the direction of the playground, and when his feet landed on the sand, he fell to his knees and started playing with it. But then he decided to taste it. I run the few steps to him and picked him up from the sand. There was a water fountain close by, so I managed to wash his mouth there.
"Crunchy?" I asked him.
He stuck his tongue out and I laughed. I washed the remaining grains of sand out of his tongue. When I dried his mouth, he went back to the sandpit, but he didn't try to eat it again.
After he got bored with playing with the buckets and trucks, I held his hand and guided him to the big open park, away from the playground. I let go of him and we started playing with a ball I brought from home. He started kicking it, and he laughed particularly hard when his kicks were a little too strong and I had to go for it. He did that a million times. A good workout for me, I guess. Then, it turned into a chasing game. He squealed like I've never heard him squeal before. Every time I caught him, I tickled him. He loved it.
For lunchtime, I opened the trunk of the car and sat there with Nicholas. We had a delicious lunch of apple juice, macaroni and a blueberry muffin. After that, he asked to be picked up and I did. I think he was almost out of energy by then. I walked to the small lake where 3 or 4 ducks lived and we sat on a bench watching them until Nicholas fell asleep. When I felt him go slump in my arms, I stood up and walked back to the car. I put him in his car seat, careful not to wake him and gave him a kiss on the side of his head.
*Heading home. Nick's passed out. * I text Claire.
She answers almost immediately. *Just got home. Mia's still awake, shouldn't be long before she falls asleep too. *
*Okay. See you in a bit. *
I drive home without a glitch. I'm riding the elevator up to the apartment and I suddenly feel drained. No wonder he's passed out. At least he released all that energy. I open the door to the apartment, and I walk to twins' room to lie Nicholas down on his crib. When I open the door, I see Claire reading out loud something from work, not sure what it is, but she is carrying Mia, her head on Claire breast bone, pacifier on her mouth.
"Hey." I whisper to Claire and walk up to her.
"Hey. Did you two have fun?" She asks caressing Nicholas' head.
"Yeah, I took some pictures. I'll show you in a bit. How about you two?"
"She loved it. She kept pointing at the seagulls and wanted to be close to the railing the whole time. There were picnic tables at the harbour and we ate our lunch there. Didn't we, Mia?"
Mia looks up at Claire and points to the file she's holding.
I point at her hand. "What are you reading to her?"
"I wasn't reading to her. I want to get a head start on the development of the annual audit, so I'm reading the quarterly assessments and long-range forecasts, and I thought I could kill two birds with one stone, and was hoping that if I read it in a soothing enough tone, maybe she would fall asleep. But so far, if anything, she's more awake than before. And every time I put the papers down, she starts complaining."
I raise my eyebrows and look at Mia. "Do you want to be a senior assets manager, Mia?"
Obviously she doesn't understand what a senior operations manager is, but she nods nonetheless. Claire smiles and gives her a kiss.
I walk to Nicholas' crib and lie him down. Claire keeps reading her quarterly assessments to Mia.
"The company's forecasted spending for 2016–17 is expected to be $30.6 million, a decrease of $2 million (7.1 percent) from 2015–16 actual spending. This is mainly attributable to an anticipated $1.9-million decrease in anticipated cost-recoverable activities…"
Look at that. Mia is Claire's mini-me.
The twins' first birthday comes, and I can't believe they've been with us for a year. Claire and I are throwing them a birthday party at the zoo. We've taken them there a couple of times and they went absolutely crazy when they saw all the animals. Nicholas was in love with the tigers and Mia with the alligators. So we thought, 'why not?'. Plus, me working there, I can pull some strings and make it particularly awesome for them today.
The same polar bear that was rescued a few days before the twins were born, got pregnant in captivity, and she gave birth 5 weeks ago. I managed to get the twins 40 minutes with the cubs. So we're going a little earlier to the zoo today.
We invited all of our family of course. We also invited Jane, some friends from work who have kids and have played with Nicholas and Mia, Claire also invited some of her friends with kids. We told Phillip with enough anticipation so he could come, and he will. Isa and Alex got here two days ago, and yesterday they watched the kids, while Claire and I bought the final supplies for the party.
We came home yesterday to find Isa, Alex and the twins dancing like they were possessed. The music was blasting through the speakers they had brought; the twins were jumping up and down and doing the occasional lap around the living room, and Isa and Alex were basically doing the same thing but with a little more rhythm.
Claire and I froze at the door, and looked at them. I recognized the singer. Her name is Laura Pausini, but I didn't recognize the song. Nicholas turned and saw us. He laughed and ran towards us. To Alex and Isabella's credit, even though the music was loud and they were obviously very into their dancing, they immediately turned their attention to Nicholas the moment he started moving. That's when they saw us and paused the music.
"Noo." Mia and Nicholas said at the same time. That's another word they've learnt to say. No.
"Hey, guys. We're doing some cardio." Alex said wiping the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve.
"I can see that." Claire said closing the apartment door.
"What song is that?" I asked them.
"Io c'ero. From Laura Pausini's new album. Nonna's orders. She said to give them a dose of Italy." Isa said a little out of breath.
"Oh, it has a different vibe."
She nodded. "Yeah, she's doesn't sing as many ballads in this album as she usually does."
"I like Laura Pausini." Claire said.
"You've heard her music?" Isabella asked.
Claire puts the bags on the kitchen. "Yeah. She sings in Spanish too. While I was studying Spanish in university, I was looking for ways to train my ear a little more, so I started buying cds, and I bought hers."
"Oh, right. I forgot she is huge in Latin America too."
"Itah." Mia walked up to Isa and tapped her leg.
"You want to keep dancing, Mia?"
Mia nodded enthusiastically.
Claire and I looked at each other. "Wow, she can say your name?" I asked Isa.
Isa looked at us. "Oh yeah. They both did like an hour ago. They can't quite get the s sound yet, but they pretty much have it down. Nico, come here." She called for Nicholas and he went obediently up to her. She sat down on the floor and guided each baby to either side of her. "What's my name?" She asked Mia.
Mia pointed to Isa's nose and said, "Itah."
"Yes, Mia! I'm Isa. How about you, Nico? Who am I?" She asked Nicholas.
Nicholas laid his hand on Isa's shoulder and started patting it in that clumsy way babies do. "Itah. Itah."
"Very good, Nico! You're both so smart!" She gave them both a kiss on the cheek.
Claire and I stared dumbly at Isa. How does she do that? The twins haven't seen her in at least 3 months. She's with them for 2 hours and they can say her name already?!
"Why are you guys looking at me like that?" Isa asked getting a bit self-conscious.
"One of three. One: they're understanding more. Two: you have mutant powers, or three: Claire and I are doing something wrong." I told Isa.
She laughed confused. "What?"
Claire walked into the living room and sat on the arm of the couch. "Every time we call them, we have to repeat it at least twice before they obey. Every time we want to teach them a new word, simple words, it takes us like a week for them to even repeat it. You are with them for 2 hours and they can already say your name? And you call them and they obeyed without even thinking about it."
"Well, then you're going to freak out when you see this. Alex do the thing." Isa told Alex.
Alex nodded, stood up from the couch and called Mia and Nicholas. "Mia. Nico. Eyes on me, please." They turned towards him immediately.
"Come on!" I said walking into the living room and standing besides Claire.
"That's not it." Isa told us.
Alex stretched his neck muscles and did the wave. The twins squealed and then laughed.
"A-eh-x." They both said.
"What?! The hell?!" I said. "We're doing something wrong." I told Claire and she nodded.
"Come on! You're not doing anything wrong. I think it's because they can tell Alex and I are just here to have fun. Maybe there something going on psychologically, I don't know."
We nodded slowly looking down at the twins. They were both very content being with their aunt.
"I guess we should ask Jane." Claire says.
"Yeah, we'll ask her on Monday."
"Oh hey. Did you know your twins love Britney Spears?" Isa said standing up and moving to the speakers. Mia and Nicholas followed her like little ducklings.
"Really?" Claire asks.
"Yeah, look." She went down her playlist and played 'You drive me (crazy)'.
The minute the music started playing the twins immediately started moving, and the moment Britney started singing, they lost it. Claire and I laughed, and I pulled out my cell phone and recorded about 30 seconds of it, because soon enough, both Nicholas and Mia kept calling us.
"Guys, I think they want you to dance. Come on!" Alex said never stopping his dancing.
I stood up and started dancing immediately. Claire just looked up at me for a second and then succumbed to peer pressure.
"Fine!" She stood up and let go like I've probably never seen her do before.
The song ended and another song immediately followed. A very electronic song came on, with the laser sounds and the strong beats. We all immediately changed styles. Alex and Isa where in their comfort zone there, Claire and I started pumping it like Jersey Shore, and the twins were doing the same thing as before, but with more erratic moves.
Out of nowhere though, Mia put her hands on the floor and started twerking. I stopped dancing.
"Look at her go! Go, Mia! Go, Mia!" Isabella kept encouraging her, and Mia kept doing it. Then Isabella started twerking, and of course Nicholas started twerking. And apparently twerking is contagious, because next thing I know, Alex started twerking and then Claire started twerking. Yes, Claire. They were all following Mia's lead.
And I refused to encourage my daughter to twerk!
I walk over to the speakers and pause the music. Everyone immediately started complaining.
"Hey! Buzz kill." Isa told me.
"Why did you stop the music? We were all having a lot of fun." Claire said.
"I'm sorry. Did you not see our almost 12 month-old daughter twerk?"
She widens her eyes a little. "I did. And she was enjoying it."
I looked at her perplexed. "No daughter of mine is going to twerk!"
"Oh crap. Just wait until she's at least 13 and tell her that again; she's going to hate your guts!" Isa started laughing and everyone followed.
Claire crossed her arms. "I'm sorry. Nicholas was also twerking and I don't see you bothered about that."
"It's different. He's a boy." I told Claire.
"Ohhhhh." Alex and Isa said. "You did not just make that comment in these feminists times, Owen." Isa told me.
"You know what? I'm not going to say anything because I know that's your protective side coming out, but know that Isa is right. If you talk to her the way you just did right now, when she's a teenager don't expect her to be all 'Yes, daddy. Whatever you want, daddy', cause that's not going to happen. Especially if it turns out that she really is like me." She smiled at me with that smile that tells me she's 100% sure she's right.
"I don't like this." I told Claire.
She rubbed my arm in a fake soothing manner. "I know. But if I were you, I would let her twerk her little butt away now, while it's cute, you know?"
"Think about it, Owen. If now, at almost 1 year old, she's this good, when she's my age she could be a professional twerker." Isa told me. I turned to her slowly and pushed her.
She laughed and we continued… twerking.
That was yesterday, and I am still not over it. But maybe Claire is right, if Mia gets it out of her system now, maybe later she won't even care. And whom am I kidding? That was stinking cute. Mia and Nicholas twerking was just cute.
For the last month or so, Nicholas and Mia have been climbing out of their cribs and walking to our bedroom in the morning. Thank goodness they only do that on Sundays. Don't ask me how they know only to do it on Sundays, but they must've figured out what days we're up early and what days we stay in. Since their birthday is today, and today happens to be Sunday, right on schedule, we hear the patter of little feet outside the door.
Normally, we open the door and we immediately take them to the kitchen to have breakfast. We figured that if we let them in our bedroom, then they would get used to it, and we didn't want that. But, today is their first birthday. I think we can make an exception.
I stand up from the bed and open the door. They think we're going to the kitchen, so they stretch out their hands like they usually do, but I lean down and pick them both up and close the bedroom door with my foot. They look confused at first, but when they see Claire lying down on the bed, a big smile on her face and her arms stretched out to them, they start calling her.
Claire pulls down the bed sheets and I put the twins down on my side of the bed, but they quickly scurry away to Claire.
"Mama." They both say.
"Come here." She tells them and they do. They are practically on top of Claire. "Happy birthday, my loves." She gives them each a couple of kisses.
I get into bed again and cover us with the bed sheets. "Guys, today's your birthday! You're turning 1 today!" I grab Mia and Nicholas' ankle and pull them down the bed a bit and start blowing raspberries on their stomachs. They laugh their butts off and Claire continues giving them kisses. We have our regular breakfast; the only difference is that we all can't stop smiling. We get the children and ourselves ready, and we go to the zoo.
I haven't even told Claire what the twins' surprise is. I just told her I had managed to get them 40 minutes with the newest members of the zoo. She made me promise that as long as the surprise wasn't playing with tigers or swimming with alligators, she was okay with being surprised too.
Since we found out yesterday that the twins love Britney Spears and Laura Pausini, I downloaded all of their biggest and most famous hits and played it on the car on our way to the zoo. The moment I put the music on they started their babble and started dancing on their sits. We have little dancers in our hands it would seem.
It takes us almost 30 minutes to get there, but the twins don't even notice. They just keep dancing. I park the car on the opposite side of the main entrance, where I usually park for work. We each take a twin from their sit and put them down on the floor. Mia takes my hand and Claire, Nicholas'.
"Will you now tell me which animal they're going to be playing with?" Claire asks, following me into the offices.
"Just a little longer. We'll both get to play with them too."
"So there's more than one?" she asks.
"Yup. And if it's any comfort, they're both 5 weeks old. So pretty much harmless."
"They better be." She says under her breath.
"I heard that." I say pointing to her.
She just smiles.
We walk through a labyrinth of hallways until we get to the restricted area. I pull my pass from my back pocket and tap it on the scan. I wait for the sound of the locks unlocking and push the metallic door open. I walk in first with Mia and hold the door for Nicholas and Claire.
"What is this area exactly? What kind of work is done in here?" Claire asks.
We pass several laboratories, all with floor to ceiling glass windows, much like the ones in the laboratories of Jurassic World; but friendlier. The twins slow down and start looking curiously around, but we keep moving.
"This is were I spend most of my days when new animals are brought in. To the left over there, there's a huge room with monitors everywhere. That's where I sit with my colleagues and we analyse the behaviour of the animals, we develop theories, that kind of thing. The days I'm not doing that, I'm in my office, which is on the 10th floor of this same building. It gives us a beautiful view of the zoo."
Claire nods. "I've just realised we've never been in each other's offices."
I look at her and think a moment about that. "Yeah. That's weird. We could go to mine after we're done here. There's not much to see, but you'll love the view."
She nods. We make a right and I open the last door at the end of the corridor. There are a bunch of balls and colourful mats, and the twins start moving towards them when they see them. It's not meant for them, but it'll keep them occupied while I go get their surprises.
"Okay. I'll be back in a minute, I'll go get their birthday present." I tell Claire.
"Okay." She sits down on the floor and Nicholas starts kicking the ball, while Mia starts picking them up and dropping them next to Claire.
I exit the room and close the door behind me. I turn to the left and open the door to the feeding room. It's about lunchtime for the cubs, so they should be there.
"Hey, Owen."
"Hi, Emma. How's your Sunday going?" I ask her.
"Good. What's better than feeding a baby polar bear?" She says while holding one of the baby bears and feeding it with a bottle.
Emma is an intern vet. She started working at the zoo 6 months ago. She's one of those people who is always smiling and willing to help anyone and anything. Which makes her kinda perfect for the job.
"Your wife and kids are here?" She asks me putting the bottle down.
"Yeah, they're in the playroom. Are both bears fed?"
"Yep. They're all yours. Oh, uh – " She puts the bear behind the small barrier to prevent it from running away. "Arthur went to look for you on Friday to your office but he didn't find you and he had to get on a plane, so he couldn't contact you, but he wanted to know if it was okay for me to record your kids with the bears? He said it would be a good source to consult on the cubs' behaviour and if the video was cute and fluffy, maybe they could upload it to the zoo's webpage."
"Oh. I'm cool with it, but really, the one with the decisive vote is Claire. You'll have to ask her." I say going over the barrier and picking up one of the bears.
"Okay. Let's go then." She says. I pass her the bear I'm holding and I pick up the other teeny tiny bear.
We walk the few steps to the playroom and I open the door. As soon as I do, Mia, Nicholas and Claire turn towards me and their eyes widen.
"Oh my God." Claire laughs.
Emma steps in behind me and closes the door. We walk to the middle of the room and sit down in front of the twins.
"Happy birthday, guys." I tell them and let the bear free. Emma follows my lead. "Claire, this is Emma. Emma, my wife Claire."
Emma stretches her hand out to Claire. "Nice to meet you, Claire."
"Nice to meet you, Emma. Are you in charge of the bears?" Claire asks her.
"For the weekends, yes. During the week I take care of the chimpanzees and the sea lions. A very glamorous job, as you might imagine. But quite rewarding."
We laugh and turn our attention to the kids and the bears. Currently Nicholas is having his hand nibbled by one of the bears and he finds it hilarious. And Mia is hugging the bear and it couldn't be more content with all the love it's receiving from my girl.
"Hey Claire, Arthur, Owen's and I's boss, wanted to know if it was okay for me to record Mia and Nicholas with the bears for about a minute or so. He wants footage of how the bears interact with people that are normally not around them, and if it's a cute video, maybe the zoo will upload it to the official webpage."
Claire looks at me. "What do you think?"
"I'm cool with it. Up to you." I tell Claire.
"I'm going to focus more on the bears than on your kids, if that's something you're concerned about…" Emma tells her.
Claire nods. "Okay, sure."
"Great. Thanks." Emma pulls from her pocket a Go Pro camera, turns it on and places it on the floor in front of her.
Both bears start going to the balls and Mia and Nicholas proceed to take it away from them and throwing them as far as they can, and the bears chase after it happily. Once they get to them, they push them with their noses back to Nicholas and Mia so they can throw it again.
"That was almost too perfect." Emma says picking up the Go Pro camera and turning it off. "Thanks again. I'll tell Arthur to send you the link as soon as it's up on the page."
I nod and we continue watching the kids. At one point, one of the bears walks up to Claire and starts climbing on her lap. Claire starts rubbing its back and Nicholas starts copying Claire's moves and rubs its back too. Mia is lying down on the floor letting the bear lick her face as much as it wants.
40 minutes pass by, and I can already tell the twins are not going to be happy when we take the bears away.
"Okay, guys. Time to say bye-bye to the bears." I pick up the bear that's on Claire's lap and Nicholas immediately starts complaining. "Can you give him a kiss goodbye, Nick? Give it a kiss bye-bye."
He leans forward, gives it a sloppy kiss and pats his head. I give Emma the okay to take the bear that Mia is playing with.
"Give it a kiss bye-bye too, Mia. Time to say bye-bye." Claire tells her. She does, much like Nicholas and tears immediately start filling her eyes. Claire holds them both to stop them from following us. They start full on crying when I open the door.
"I can take them both, Owen. Don't worry about it. Just give me a second. I have something for the kids." Emma says, and I pass her the bear I'm holding.
"Okay." I close the door after her and walk back to Claire. She lets go of Mia and she runs towards me. I pick her up. "It's okay, Mia. That was fun, wasn't it? Don't cry. It's your birthday! You're supposed to be having fun. You too, Nick."
I stretch out my hand to Claire and help her stand up. She picks up Nicholas and wipes his tears with her thumb. "Did you two have fun with the baby bears? They were cute, weren't they?" She rubs Nicholas' back.
"That was really amazing, Owen." She leans forward and gives me a kiss.
"So I don't have to sleep on the couch or anything like that?" I ask her.
"Nah. You're okay… for now."
Mia and Nicholas have stopped crying, but they are still sniffling. The door opens and Emma comes in again, holding 2 stuffed polar bears. The twins' backs straighten right away as soon as their eyes land on the stuffed bears. Emma walks up to us and hands them each a bear.
"One for the birthday boy, and one for the birthday girl. Happy birthday, little ones!" Emma says.
They forget they were upset and hold on to those bears for dear life.
"Thank you so much, Emma. You didn't have to do that." Claire tells her.
She waives it off. "I knew they would be upset when it was time for the bears to be taken away. I reacted the same way when I was kid. Maybe you have a couple of animal lovers in your hands."
We laugh. "I'm starting to think that." I tell Emma. "Thank you so much."
"It was nothing. I hope you four have a lovely day. I'll leave you to it. Nice to meet you, Claire."
Claire gives her a sideways hug. "Can you give Emma a kiss bye-bye, Nicholas?"
Nicholas leans forward and gives Emma a loud, wet kiss and I ask Mia to do the same, and she does. (May I note that we didn't have to repeat it twice? Maybe Isa was onto something with the whole having fun thing.)
We say our final goodbyes, thank Emma once again and we walk back to the parking lot to move the car closer to where the birthday party is going to be.
"Oh, wait. We said we would stop by the office so you could see it." I tell Claire.
She pulls her cell phone out of her back pocket and checks the time. "Maybe we could come after the party or some other day, it's 11am already. Guests should start arriving soon."
I roll my eyes. "You and your itineraries. Fine, let's go."
She stays in her spot and looks at me for a second. "You know what? I changed my mind." She tells me.
I nod, turn around and start walking back into the building.
"You can sleep on the couch tonight."
I stop abruptly. "Hey! I thought you meant… argh!"
"Where's your cell phone?" Claire asks me.
I pat my pockets and feel nothing. "I must've forgotten it in the car."
"Isa just texted. They're already here and the rest of the guests can't be far behind."
"Oh. Okay. You're right. You're always right. I don't' want to sleep on the couch, please." I do my best puppy dog eyes.
"I'll think about it." She turns around with Nicholas and walks to the car.
We move the car to the east parking lot, which is the parking lot reserved for the people who are having some sort of event at the zoo. Apparently, we're the only ones celebrating something today, because we are the only car in the whole parking lot. There's one other car, which I'm assuming must be Alex and Isa's rental. I park next to them and turn off the engine. I see the door of the car next to us open, and as I thought, Alex comes down. He looks a little out of breath for some reason. He waives at us and then walks to the other side of his car to, I assume, open the door for Isa.
I get out of the car and take Nicholas out of his car sit and Claire does the same with Mia. We put them on the floor and we walk to Alex and Isa. I lock the car.
"They make it look so easy in movies. We're never doing that again." I hear Isa whisper to Alex.
"Yeah, we probably should've thought that one a bit more through. Still hurts?"
We round the car and see Alex with his arm around Isa's back, holding her up. They move a few steps and I see that Isa is limping.
"Hey, what happened? Are you okay?" I ask her.
She nods. "I'll be okay. I think I pulled a muscle. I just need to walk it off. I don't think it's that bad."
She says trying to put some weight on her right leg.
"How did you do that?" I ask her.
Alex and Isa look at each other for a second, and I can see the blush creeping up their necks.
"Um, don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to, Owen." She tells me.
I frown and look at them, not understanding what could possibly have happe-
"Oh! God! Isa! At the zoo?!" I ask her trying to erase the mental image that has undeniably settled on my brain.
"We got here 30 minutes ago, we had some time to kill and the parking lot was empty…" Isa says.
Claire starts laughing. "I tried that once. Yeah, not as advertised."
"What?! When?!" I ask her in shock. "You know what? I don't even wanna know." I tell Claire. Jesus!
She smiles at me. "Yeah, you probably don't wanna know."
Isa starts moving forward, still limping, and manages to kneel down with a grimace on her face.
"Happy birthday, Mia and Nico! Give me a hug!" She tells them.
They let go of both our hands and give Isa a big hug. "Those are some nice bears. Are those your birthday presents?"
They nod and hug those bears a little tighter. "They got to play with baby polar bears. And when it was time for them to be taken away, they started crying. Emma, the vet, gave them that as a present to try and calm them down. It worked." I tell them, making sure they see the slight disgust in my face.
"Cool. You guys look in love with those." She says, ignoring my facial expressions.
"Yeah, I think we're gonna have a hard time separating them from those bears." Claire says.
"Good luck. Alex, help me up." Isa tells him.
He goes immediately to help her and we start walking, albeit slowly, to the hut we booked for the twins' birthday. The birthday party was officially a success. The whole family and friends were there and the twins had a blast. We did too.
3 months pass by, and Claire and I are going to Switzerland to finally celebrate our belated honeymoon. The night before, Claire let the twins sleep in our bed, and they happily obliged. She was starting to get anxiety and started telling me that maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
"What if something happens? We're going to be in a whole other continent, we won't be able to get here fast enough." She tells me from the shower.
I open my suitcase and start checking for anything I could be missing. "What is going to happen, Claire? Nothing's happened in the 15 months they've been on this Earth."
"I know. But something could happen."
"If something does happen, I'm sure my parents are going to be more than capable to handle it while we get here. But I really doubt anything will, to be honest. Mia and Nicholas are mellow babies. Plus, Jane already talked to my parents and she's more than willing to come help them out if they need to. So stop trying to find excuses to not go to Switzerland." I tell her putting my headphones and my iPod in the pocket of the suitcase.
"Don't make it sound like I don't want to go with you, cause I do! It's just that I don't want to leave them." She says and I hear the sound of the water stop.
"They need this as much as we do. Do I need to repeat all of the reasons as to why it's okay to leave them for a week?" I say closing the zipper of the suitcase.
"No, you don't."
"Good. It's going to be okay, Claire. Really. We're going to have fun, and you're going to show me your favourite places, and I'm sure I will love them as much as you do. And maybe someday, when Mia and Nicholas are older, we could go back with them. It's okay to feel anxious, but don't let that influence your decisions. Do you really want to be that mum? The ones that are practically attached to the hips of their kids, and their kids hate them?"
She comes out of the bathroom wearing a robe and a towel wrapped around her head. "No. But you're right. I remember in school I was so grateful I had the mum I had, because others had mothers that I would have slapped a long time ago. You're right. You all done packing?"
"Yup. You?"
"Almost."
Claire finishes getting her suitcases ready, and when they are all ready to go, I bring them out to the living room. The doorbell sounds in that moment and I go to open the door.
"Son, good to see you."
"Hey, dad." I hug him and pull his suitcase inside the apartment. "Mum. How was your flight?" I hug her too.
"It was good. No eventualities." He tells me. "Where's Red?"
"She's finishing getting ready. Maybe you can give her some reassurance, mum. She's supper anxious about living Nicholas and Mia." We sit down on the couch.
"Trust me, topolino, that's completely normal. Ask your father how I was when I went back to university 6 months after you were born."
"It took 40 minutes to convince her to go into classes. She was standing outside the classroom and refused to let go of you." He says.
"Wow." I say.
"Yeah. I think she's handling better than I was. I see all your suitcases are ready." She says pointing to them.
"Yeah, that's why I told her a while back, so she would have time to process it." I say.
"Hello." Claire says stepping into the living room with the baby monitor in her hand. Mum and dad stand up and hug her.
"Your flight okay?" she asks sitting besides me.
"Yes, everything went perfectly. Owen tells us you're very anxious." Mum tells her.
Claire nods a bit embarrassed. "Yeah. I mean, rationally I know both of them couldn't be in better hands, but at the same time…"
"You feel that nothing's happened to them because you've been here." Mum finishes for her.
"Yeah." She says.
"Look, I was a nervous wreck the first time I had to leave Owen too, but the worst part is the first day. After I came home that day and saw he was his usual happy self, I realised there was nothing to worry about."
"Yes, but I won't be seeing them for a week. I think that's what's messing with my head." Claire tells mum.
"I know the circumstances are different. But times have also changed. You get to see them even though you're in a completely different country. You can call us via Skype every day and see them, if that's what will help you see that there's nothing to worry about. But the point is, you should get to enjoy yourself on this trip. If your mind is going to be here all the time, then what's the point in even going?" Mum asks her.
Claire nods. "Yes, you're right. If we don't go, I'll probably regret it later. Thanks, Emilia."
"Of course."
10 minutes later, the twins wake up and we go pick them up from their cribs and walk to the living room with them. They're still groggy, so they both lay their heads on our shoulders.
"Their hair has started to curl." Dad says.
"Yeah, it's darker too. Almost the same shade as Isabella's." I tell them. 20 more minutes pass by, and it's time for Claire and I to head to the airport.
"Oh God. Okay. See you in a week, sweetheart." She says kissing Nicholas' temple. "Behave for nonna and nonno, please. Oh, they love to climb out of their cribs on Sundays, they always stand outside our bedroom, but no one's going to be there, so keep an eye out for that." Nicholas wraps his arms around Claire almost as if he knew he wasn't going to see her in a little bit.
I pass Mia to Claire and she passes Nicholas to me. "They also love to snuggle with their stuffed polar bears, so if they have a fit, just give it to them. There's one in each crib. Remember the ones they had at their birthday party?"
Mum nods. "I remember."
"Okay. I'm going to miss you, Mia. Are you going to be a good girl?" She asks her.
Mia nods, pacifier still in her mouth. Claire gives her a kiss on her forehead and lingers for a little bit. "See you in a few days. I love you." She passes Mia to dad.
"Okay, bud. Be good and don't pee in nonna's eye. That would be rude. Got it?" I ask Nicholas.
He doesn't even bother to nod. I kiss him on the temple and pass him to mum. I move our suitcases to the door and we say our goodbyes to mum and dad.
"Thank you again for doing this, guys." I hug them both.
"That's what we're here for. Have fun you two. You'll be amazed when you realise you can have an adult conversation without feeling like you have to look over your shoulders every 5 seconds." Dad tells us.
I laugh. "I look forward to that."
Claire hugs mum and dad and gives the twins a final kiss. "If anything happens, even if it's something little, please – "
"It's okay, Claire. They are going to be fine. I promise. Now go. Have fun!" mum tells her.
Claire nods and looks at the twins one more time before turning around, and we both leave for the airport.
I'm not going to tell you all the details about our honeymoon, 'cause I could go on and on and on. But in summary, I can tell you that it was amazing! We went in August, so there was no snow. Claire kept telling me to shut up, 'cause every time I saw a mountain I started singing 'The Sound of Music". I couldn't help it! We had a blast. We really did. And mum was right too. The first 2 days we called to see how things were going and the twins couldn't have been happier. After that, we only called 3 more times. The food, the sights, the city, the people, the hotel room (ahem), everything was beautiful and perfect. I saw why it was Claire's favorite place. But before we even landed in Switzerland, something happened at the airport in Philly. I met someone I never thought I would meet. I hadn't spared that person a thought, but unfortunately we met. Now I do feel like telling you about that, 'cause it still pisses me off!
So, Claire and I were on our way to the airport, she kept drumming her fingers on her thigh, looking out the window.
"Is there anything I can do for you to make you feel less anxious?" I asked her. I knew at that point, it was pointless to tell her not to worry. We were officially leaving the twins for a week and she wouldn't be able to see them until we got to the hotel.
"I think I could have a glass of wine right now. I don't even care that it is…" she pulled out her cell phone and looked at the time. "9:30am. I really don't care."
I smiled. "Okay then. We'll go into the lounge and we'll have a glass of wine. We can look like alcoholics together. Yolo, right?"
She laughs. "Yolo."
And that's what we did. We went through security and all that complicated, boring crap and we went to the lounge we had access to because of our first class tickets.
"Go wait for me at the bar, I need to use the restroom." I told Claire.
"Okay. Any particular wine you're craving at this early hour?" she asked me with a smile on her face.
"No, m'dear. I'll have whatever you're having."
"Okay."
I made a left and went to the restroom. I emptied my bladder, washed my hands and went to the bar. And this is what I see as the bar comes into view. I see Claire having a discussion with a man, and I know her, so I can tell, even from afar, that she's pissed. I stopped for a second not knowing if I should interrupt or not. Since Claire is more than capable of defending herself, I decided to not interfere. I stood there watching her, making sure things didn't escalate. And I took a moment to examine the guy she was directing all her rage at.
He was tall, had dark hair, looked successful and smart, he also looked like an asshole. He was sitting on the bar, swirling a glass of, what looked like, whisky, and he looked completely unfazed at the fact that Claire was pissed. He raised his head every once in a while, mainly to say something to her, which caused Claire to get angrier more than once. She was containing her anger, if the redness on her neck and the popping veins were anything to go by.
Claire said something that made him stop swirling the liquid in his glass and he sat up straight and looked at her. The smug smirk he had on the whole time disappeared from his face. Claire raised her voice a little and I heard the rest of the conversation.
"You know what? I should thank you. Because as much as what you did hurt me, my life turned out great; more than great, actually. So thank you and I hope I never have to see you again."
She turned around, and his hand shot out and grabbed her by the forearm. And that's when I started moving. I felt the same blind anger as I did back in the hospital when I broke Castell's jaw. She yanked her arm away.
"Don't ever touch me again!" She yells at him.
As soon as she said that, my hand slammed flat against his chest and I pushed him backwards against the bar. "Touch her again and I'll rip your arm off. Understood?" I said close to his ear.
I pulled back to look at him. He thought Claire was alone, I realized as I looked at him. A smug smile started to appear on his face again and he moved his head to look at Claire.
"Is this your bodyguard?" he asked her.
"He's my husband."
"You got married?" He asked her a bit surprised.
She laughs bitterly. "Where you expecting me to feel lost without you, Patrick? You always thought you were so important."
Patrick? That Patrick? Oh, how I wanted to punch his face in that day. But I held myself back and let Claire punch his face in the figurative way.
"Let's go, Owen. He's not worth it. He never was." Claire tells me.
When I didn't move, she touched my arm lightly and I looked at her. I could tell she just wanted to leave, so I looked at Patrick one more time and took my hand off his chest. We turned around and I put my arm around Claire's shoulders and we left the lounge. I was honestly expecting him to say something. Thank God he didn't, because I don't know what I would have done. After that, we waited in our gate and settled for a beer instead. We talked for a little bit about what happened in the lounge, but we didn't focus on that, as Claire said, he wasn't worth it.
When we came home the twins were taking their afternoon nap, and mum and dad were picking up all the crayolas and sketchbooks from the floor.
"There they are!" He puts the sketchbooks on the dining table and hugs Claire and I. "How did it go? You had fun, I hope?"
"Yes, it was amazing. We had a lot of fun. The city is amazing!" I tell dad.
"It is. Switzerland is one of those countries where you cleanse your soul. It is pretty wonderful." Mum tells me.
"How long ago did Mia and Nicholas fall asleep?" Claire asks mum and dad.
"About 15 minutes ago, so there's still a little bit more waiting for you two. But tell us about your trip." Mum says sitting down on the couch.
"Oh my God, Emilia! You're not going to believe whom we run into at the airport lounge." Claire tells mum.
"Who?" Mum asks. Curiosity picked.
"My ex-fiancé, Patrick."
"What?! What happened? What did you do?! What did you do?!" She turns to look at me at the last part.
We tell her and dad all about our little meeting with the asshole. When Claire gets to the part where I pushed him, mum and dad were surprised I hadn't actually punched him.
"I've changed since I became a father. I only aggressively push people now." I tell them.
We talk about what they were up to during the week. They tell us that they went to the park, they watched movies, and that the kids have actually started repeating some words in Italian.
"So if they ask for acqua, that's on me." Mum says.
Right on cue, we hear the patter of little feet. I turn my head and see Nicholas walking in, rubbing his eyes.
"Hey, look who's up!" I stand up and pick him up. "I missed you, buddy. Where's your sister? Is she still asleep?"
"Dada." Nicholas says.
"Hi, bud." I kiss him and sit back down next to Claire.
"Hello, sweetheart. I missed you so much. Did you have fun?" Claire says caressing his cheek.
"Mama." Nicholas says reaching for Claire.
Nicholas stays content in Claire's arms. Mia wakes up not too long after and she stays content in mine.
The twins grow and grow. It almost seems too fast. It's so rewarding seeing how they understand more, how their sentences start coming together better. They become their own little people. Mia loves books and asks us to teach her how to read the summer before they start pre-school. Nicholas loves soccer, he even watches it on tv. And they still love dancing. And I mean love. We put them in after school classes once they started pre-school.
Claire and I scramble to catch up with them.
It's amazing to see how their personalities develop. It's fun to see the ways in which they are like us, but it's more fun to see the way they're unlike us. One day, after I pick them up after classes, we go home and wait for Claire to have a late lunch.
She brings some food from some healthy restaurant, which I can't deny, it's not bad. And we sit down for dinner.
"How was school today, guys? Did you learn anything fun?" Claire asks them.
"They're teaching us math." Mia says.
"It's boring. I like it better when they teach us about the animals that live in the sea, or the air, or land." Nicholas says.
"I like math and Daniel likes it too."
"Who's Daniel, Mia?" Claire asks her.
"He's my boyfriend."
I choke on my food. "What?!"
Claire starts smiling. "Calm down. You have a boyfriend? Since when?"
"Since yesterday." Mia answers and continues to eat her food.
"Oh. And how did he become your boyfriend? Did he ask you or…"
"No, I asked him."
"She did. I saw her. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. Yuck." Nicholas says sticking his tongue out.
"He did what?!" Oh hell no! "Tomorrow when I go pick you up, you're going to show me who Daniel is, okay?"
"Okay, calm down. She's 3, Owen. What are you going to do? Mess up a 3 year old?" Claire asks me.
I look at her. "Yes."
"Don't worry, Mia. Daddy is just being a little overprotective, that's all. I have a question for you, though. And this is the only thing that matters, okay?"
"What is it?" She asks curiously.
"Does he make you laugh?"
Mia smiles. "Yes! He makes Nicholas laugh too!"
Nicholas laughs. "He makes funny faces. Like this." And he pulls his ears and puffs his cheeks.
We all laugh. Later that night, when Claire and I are in bed, she tells me that if it really bothers me that much, she could talk to Daniel's mum and invite them over for a play date, since Nicholas is friends with him too.
"No dates! No dates." I tell Claire.
"Jesus! Relax! Now you're starting to miss the days when she used to twerk, aren't you?"
I don't say anything. But I do.
What we honestly didn't think about was the questions they would ask. When Nicholas realizes about Claire's scars and asks her how she got them, or when they start teaching the kids about dinosaurs and we come up in class. We kinda forgot about those. We had to come up with simple enough explanations for them to understand without completely freaking them out. Especially with Claire's scars. You don't want to tell 3 year olds their mother died for 10 minutes.
But yeah, our lives are pretty good. From running away from dinosaurs, to a normal live in Philly with my two kids and wife. I can't complain.
I've learnt through this whole journey, that you never know where life will take you. That you should embrace every change, every good change that comes into your life and to never take for granted the opportunities that have been given to you. Live life to the fullest and like nonna said, 'exploit every second'.
Forgive me for getting philosop-
"Owen, since the day we started living together I've told you to not leave your towel on the floor! How many times do I have to tell you?!" I hear Claire yell at me.
"Sorry, babe. Bad habit."
See? Everything is like it's supposed to be.
AN:
The end has come! I want you to do me a favor, guys. If you have a couple of minutes (or hours) to spare, please read the whole fic and let me know how the story flows, if there are any discrepancies, if my writing got better or worse. What was your favourite chapter? From the characters I created, which one was your favourite character? If I have time and inspiration hits over the summer, maybe I'll write something. If I do, would you like me to continue with this story or create another one? Tell me your hopes and dreams and let's see if I can do something about it. But I can't promise anything! Chemistry and calculus are going to be the death of me! Thanks for the love! Hopefully you'll see me around! I definitely hope so! Love you, guys!
