"I can't believe you told your father that you cared about Kai to his face," Helene told Adrian as she came up behind him after clearing the dinner dishes away and kissed his neck. "What did he say to that? It was a very nice thing for you to do."

"He turned into a wolf and attacked me," Adrian said dryly. "There's a big surprise; Dad is jealous and acted like a kid. Something that's happened a million times."

"Well, I'm just glad you're okay," Helene told him. "I wouldn't want you to be really hurt."

"That's so sweet, babe," Adrian smiled and pulled Helene onto his lap, giving her a kiss as his hand went up her thigh. "I love you too."

"You should tell Kai what you said," Helene told him. "I'm sure he'd love to hear it."

"Guys don't tell each other stuff like that!" Adrian exclaimed, looking so horrified that he stood up quickly from his chair and Helene fell on her butt on the floor with a cry. "Don't you go calling him or anything like that and inviting him and Victoria to dinner. If she sees me pouring out my feelings, it will be worse. Don't do it!"

"Why not?" Helene asked. "The guy needs a friend, and I like being around Victoria. I don't care what you say, I'm inviting them anyway!"

"Be sure to make lots of food at dinner," Adrian warned her. "Remember how Kai eats us out of house and home."

"Oh, I will," Helene assured him. "Don't worry. And is it all right if I tell Victoria it's all right for her to bring their babies with them? I know you have a thing about children, especially ones who are close to showing their powers, and the twins are around five months old now. Although, thanks to the circumstances under which they were born, who knows how long it will be until their powers come? I don't think you have anything to worry about. If I did, I wouldn't suggest it."

"All right," Adrian nodded after taking a deep breath. "I know you like seeing them so I won't wreck that for you. I'll probably be so busy with Kai that they won't bother me anyway."

"Thank you," Helene said as she headed to the phone. "It'll really be a fun evening for all of us. I just know it."


"Thank you so much for letting us bring the babies to dinner," Victoria thanked Helene as she and Kai both brought Finn and Molly in, setting the five-month-olds and their carriers in the living room and put the double stroller by the kitchen table. "But it really wouldn't have been any trouble to have someone watch them."

"Oh, don't be silly," Helene replied. "I like seeing them. And they're so well-behaved. It's really no trouble at all."

"Does Adrian still have a thing about children?" Kai asked. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Usually when you see them, he's not here, but this time, he is."

"He might still have a thing about babies, but one, he's mentally prepared for these two being here and will behave himself accordingly, and two, if Adrian knows that he won't have to keep the kids forever, he's much calmer with them," Helene assured her. "Everything will be fine. Don't worry." She called to Adrian that Kai and Victoria had come and when Adrian came down the stairs, she was surprised to see how neat he looked. He actually wore a navy blue polo and corduroy pants instead of his usual t-shirt and ripped jeans.

"You look very nice," she commented. "In fact, you and Kai both do."

Kai was wearing a black shirt and dark jeans. He caught Adrian's eye and said, "I wanted to look nice. Thanks for noticing." They then turned away from each other, slight blushes coloring their cheeks as they busied themselves with setting the table.

"I don't think we're the ones our husbands wanted to look nice for," Helene whispered loudly to Victoria as they each cradled one of the babies. "Aren't they just adorable?"

"Yep," Victoria nodded. "I couldn't agree more."

Once the tables were set and the twins were sitting in their high chairs with Victoria and Helene going back and forth between feeding them and feeding themselves (especially with Molly, this was a necessity. Anytime Kai tried to feed her, he would always have his own food near him and be tempted to give it to her when she wasn't ready yet, and she'd even taken to reaching for it herself.)

Meanwhile, Kai and Adrian chatted, ate, and drank, seeming to really enjoy themselves, which had been the point of this meeting in the first place.

After they ate, Kai could barely move and he and Adrian had finished several beers between them, so Helene stood up and said, "Why don't we go take a walk? It'll clear both your heads."

"Our heads are fine," Kai replied. "Adrian has nice hair." He reached out to play with Adrian's hair. "See? Pretty." Adrian smiled and looked as if he enjoyed being petted like an animal.

"I still think we should go out and walk around," Helene repeated as she and Victoria helped their husbands up and put the twins in their stroller. "Maybe we could go walk around downtown? Look in the windows?"

"That would be fun!" Victoria exclaimed.

"Would it be too much for the twins?" Helene asked.

"No," Victoria shook her head. "They can sleep in the stroller while we walk."

"All right then," Helene said. They rounded up their husbands and soon they had arrived downtown.

"All right," Victoria said, trying to take hold of what limited attention Adrian and Kai had. "I want you two to hold each other's hands, all right? That way we'll be less likely to lose both of you." Of course she realized that they could both run off at once, but she didn't think that they would.

"Okay," Kai nodded. Thankfully they were both hammered enough that they did what she asked without question. If they'd been sober, there would have been a fight and she didn't have it in her to deal with that.

As she and Helene walked with the stroller and looked in the shop windows while the twins slept, Kai and Adrian stumbled after them. When they heard a cry, they paused the stroller and turned around just in time to see Adrian catch Kai as he stumbled on a bit of pavement. He held him a little too long and whispered something in his ear, presumably asking whether Kai was okay or not.

It was while this was going on that two other couples happened by. One looked at them with disgust and muttered something about how men like them should have the decency to only show affection in private, and the other saying with fond smiles, "Aren't those two boys cute? They make a lovely couple."

This caused both Victoria and Helene to burst into giggles as the remark made Kai and Adrian spring apart, shock in their eyes, while Adrian shouted after the second pair, "We aren't a couple! Our wives are right there!"

But the second couple was too far away to hear them and when Kai and Adrian returned to their wives, they seemed much more clear-headed than they had previously been.

"Can you believe those people?" Adrian asked Helene and scoffed. "Thinking Kai and I are a couple. Are they dumb or what?"

"Oh, I don't know," Helene replied, a sly smirk on her face. "You two were looking awfully chummy. I was beginning to get jealous."

"Yeah," Victoria added. "Me too."

"Oh, shut up!" Kai said and pouted. "I wanna go home now." He crossed his arms and then stomped back to the car with Adrian following him.

Helene looked at Victoria and sighed. "I know we said we were gonna look down the whole block, but we really shouldn't let them drive themselves home, should we?"

"No, we shouldn't," Victoria agreed. "We can always come back later on our own." As they headed back to the car, Finn woke up and began crying, so Victoria picked him up, held him for a bit before putting him in his car seat, and thinking that maybe they picked the right time to leave after all.


When they got home, Victoria fed and changed the twins and then put them to bed before meeting everyone else back in the living room, where Kai and Adrian made an announcement.

"Kai and I have decided that he and Victoria aren't gonna leave yet," he said. "And if you don't like it, then tough for you." He sat down then and looked very smug.

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Helene told him and then caught Victoria's eye. "It'd probably be best for the two of you to stay here in the state you're in. If it's all right with you, that is."

Victoria shrugged. "Well, we already have the twins settled in the other room resting comfortably, so why the hell not?"

They stayed up until Adrian and Kai drifted off to sleep, leaning against each other on the sofa. Then Helene and Victoria went to bed solo for a good night's rest of their own.


Adrian was awakened early the next morning by the sound of one of the twins crying. He looked around and stood up, which made Kai, who had his head against his shoulder and was snoring gently, fall onto the sofa, ending up on his side. He opened his eyes and looked around. His head was pounding and he was hungry. "Do you feel up to hunting?" He asked his friend. "Or do you feel like someone stuck a sword through your head too?"

"Oh, yes," Adrian nodded and fell back onto the sofa. "Fortunately, we have two very kind wives who'll probably be more than willing to feed us. What do you think?"

Kai shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt."

They went in search of Victoria and Helene. Adrian found his wife first and said, "I don't feel like I can go hunting, but I'm hungry. Can I just take some from you for now?"

"I knew you'd ask that," Helene replied and patted the mattress, a corner of her mouth up. "Come on. But you have to give me some of your blood back, remember?"

"Of course," Adrian nodded. "Do I need to get a bowl or something for you to hold onto in case you feel like you need to throw it up?"

"I think I can handle it now, but that probably wouldn't hurt," Helene agreed. "Thanks for checking."

Adrian went to get a bowl and put it on the mattress while Helene pushed her long dark hair off her neck and then took a deep breath. "All right," she told him. "I'm ready."

He put his arms around her and kissed her, helping her slip off her clothes and soon, they were both naked, sweaty and clutching each other tightly. Helene breathed heavily, her nails going down his back as she waited for the feeling of his teeth against her neck. When it came, she stiffened for a couple of painful seconds and then he began to draw her blood out while running his hands over her body. Then he backed out of her and rubbed her gently, feeling her calm at last as he stopped feeding and lay her back down on her pillow. "Are you okay?" He whispered against her ear.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." She looked dazed as he licked the excess blood off her neck, but that was normal so he wasn't worried. Now came the hard part. He went to get a knife and cut his arm, holding it out to her after putting the bowl in her lap. "Ready?" He asked, his blue eyes full of concern. "We don't have to do this until you're ready."

"I'm good," Helene nodded resolutely. "Let's just do this before I think about it too much and chicken out." She grabbed his arm and slurped with gusto before quickly letting his arm go and swallowing before she really registered the taste of it. This made her cough and sputter, but since she managed to get most of it down, Adrian thought she'd be okay.

"Good job," he praised her as he took her in his arms and she laid her head against his shoulder. "You're a real champ."

"Thank you," Helene chuckled a little. You're too kind. Do I have any blood on my face?"

"Just a little," Adrian replied and put some spit on his finger to wash off the bit at the corner of her mouth. "There," he said after. "That's better. You're beautiful."

Elsewhere in the house, Kai and Victoria, of course, weren't having the same trouble, as blood-sharing was more of a typical thing for them than it was for their friends.

"You're such a good wife," Kai told Victoria as she zapped them both up coffees afterward.

"I know," Victoria told him. "But you'll pay me back for all this later. Helene and I are gonna go out shopping again and I'll need you to watch the twins then. Just don't go giving Molly any real food. She's too little."

"I have reasons why I do that," Kai informed her. "The stuff you're giving her is garbage. I tried those mashed up peas and they're gross even with blood mixed in." He shuddered. "You know I'll eat anything, but that's where I draw the line."

"I can't believe you ate baby food!" Victoria told him, even though she'd sneaked some mashed up bananas at one point herself.

"It was only one time," Kai told her. "Molly wasn't eating it and I thought she would if I was an example. I don't think the disgusted look on my face convinced her, though. And just for experimentation's sake, I tried it again with the blood, and it was still gross."

"Well then I guess we can sit back and be grateful that we're big enough for grown-up food, can't we?" Victoria asked dryly.

"Definitely," Kai nodded. "You won't hear any complaints about that from me." He then turned his head. "Speaking of grown-up food, I smell bacon."

"Me too," Victoria agreed. "Someone must be making breakfast."

"Well then why are we sitting here?" Kai asked. "Let's get the twins and go downstairs!"

"All right," Victoria said, standing up and opening the door for him. "Are you well enough to carry one of them?"

"Yeah," Kai nodded. "I'm sure I can. I'll take Molly. You take Finn."

"Good," Victoria replied. "Sounds like a plan."