"Aaaah ah!"

Gillian stirred slightly. Then there was silence. She was pretty sure she had heard something. She felt pretty sluggish this morning though, not in the mood for leaping out of bed to attend to the cry of her son. If it was the monitor, she would be in there in a flash; had bruised her knee to hell stumbling through the doorway, asleep, after that alarm; or she thought she had heard that alarm. She was a little more weary now.

Then another squeal. She turned over slowly to check the time. Why they even set an alarm she didn't know. They were always woken before it, either by Owen calling out or Lewis coming in, or sometimes, they stupidly just woke up.

"Aaaaaaaaah aha hup!"

"Owen," Lewis spoke up.

Gillian flicked back the covers to get out of bed. Cal's arm shot out to grip around her waist and drag her down. "Shh," he murmured before she managed a proper protest. "Listen."

Gillian stopped, half on one elbow, her legs getting cold as she listened to her boys on the baby monitor. Lewis made soft, cooing, calming noises and Owen mimicked them. No more distressed calling out. Cal pulled her towards him, encouraging her to settle again. Gillian eased back against the bed, ready to move again if she needed to. Cal's hand shifted to the blankets and covered her over. Then he put his arm over her waist once more, tightly, and snuggled his nose into her neck. "Lewis has him."

Gillian relaxed a little more as it became clear Lewis really did seem to have Owen. There was no way Lewis could lift the four-month old Owen from his crib, and they had purposefully made sure he didn't know how to drop the side to make it easier. He could climb in though, the little monkey. She wondered what they were doing in there. Was Lewis playing with Owen nicely until one of his parents came in to get him?

"Means we can cuddle," Cal added.

Gillian smiled slightly and closed her eyes again, letting the last tension go and placing her hand over the back of her husband's. "For a little while ok?" The alarm would go soon anyway.

"Mh hm," he agreed. "Big day today."

"Yeah," Gillian agreed with a spasm of nerves. She really was awake now. Lewis didn't seem bothered at all but it played on her mind. Her little man was starting school today.

"How often do we get to do this?" Cal murmured pulling her thoughts away abruptly.

"Hardly ever."

"More like hardly neva." He held her tighter, pressing against her. Gillian turned over to put her arm around him and they settled hip to hip, chest to chest. "Don't tease," Cal grumbled.

Gillian gave a slight smile. They hardly ever got to fool around either. With Owen's apnoea they had barely had a minute alone without a child around. Someone always had to be with Owen, watching, on edge, waiting for the damn heart and breathing monitor to go off. Gillian still got up in the night to check on him; the monitor was still there, even though he had been apnoea free for about a month now, according to his doctor. It was hard to let that kind of thing go. Not with the way Lily had died in the back of her mind. Always in the back of her mind.

Owen was technically only four months old but it had been six since his birthday. The double age thing screwed with them so much they tended to just deal with an 'adjusted' age. When Owen was forty-two weeks gestation his age became two weeks adjusted. So he was four months old adjusted if anyone asked. Then they would explain he had been born prematurely if it warranted it.

"I can feel you thinkin'," Cal whispered. "What's on your mind?"

"Just... hard to believe our baby is off to school."

"Yeah," he paused in agreement. "Course there's two parts to that sentence, our baby, for one, and off to school, bein the otha."

Gillian smiled again. Yes, the insanity of having another kid this late in life had not worn off, let alone the fact that they had even managed to have another kid at all. Not when they were exhausted and had zero time for anything else, including themselves. Not when Gillian wasn't supposed to be able to have kids without IVF. Not when this time last year Cal had been in the hospital with a brain injury severe enough to worry both of them into thinking he may never recover his memories. But all of it was worth it for a morning like this, hearing Lewis apparently reading to his brother through the baby monitor, while she cuddled up in the warmth of her bed with her husband. The boys must be in the crib together this time. Gillian had gone in on other mornings to find Lewis crouched on the floor beside Owen's bed playing with blocks while his brother looked on with interest through the bars.

"Is it get up time?"

"When the alarm goes off," Gillian told him. She smoothed her fingers through his hair, around his scalp.

"Feels nice," Cal muttered into her shoulder.

"You know what else I'm thinking?"

"Is it dirty?"

"Sort of."

"I'm interested."

"I'm thinking maybe with Lewis's first day at school he'll be all worn out and might need an early night."

Cal's head pulled back and he gave her a bleary but interested expression. "Don't tease."

"I'm proposing," Gillian went on, running her fingers around his ear. "An early night for the boys."

"And for us?"

"Lewis should be easy."

"Owen's the troublemake-a," Cal finished.

"Hmm," Gillian mused.

"I'm willin' to give it a try," Cal went on.

"Definitely give it a try," Gillian agreed. The alarm bleared suddenly and Cal leaned over her to shut it up. Owen gave a sudden cry. "Time for breakfast then."

"I'm gonna go have a wank in the showa."

"Lovely," Gillian muttered as they went their separate ways. "Think of me," she shot over her shoulder.

"I do," Cal retorted, pushing the bathroom door closed behind him.

Gillian headed down the hallway, picking sleep out of her eyes, and pushed open the boys' bedroom door. Yep they were both in the crib. Lewis had a book propped up on his knees as he lay beside his brother. Gillian snuck out again quickly before either of them noticed her. She needed a camera. She rushed back to the bedroom for her phone; the handheld was downstairs. In the bathroom, she could hear the shower running. The boys didn't notice her come back in. She crept up on them again and snapped of a candid image before Owen let out a squeal and didn't let up until she picked him up; arms and legs flailing.

"Me too!" Lewis held out his arms, tossing the book to the side.

"I can't lift you baby," Gillian told him, gesturing with one hand while shaking her head 'no'. He was too heavy. Plus, she already had her arms full of a sixteen-pounder. She retrieved Owen's heart and breathing monitor and tucked it between him and her body so it wouldn't fall. Owen immediately grabbed a fist full of wires in his left hand and raised them too his mouth. "Climb down the same way you climbed up."

Lewis hung on to the railing, rocking back and forth so the crib banged against the wall. He pouted at her. 'Don't show him how to drop the side,' Gillian reminded herself. 'Don't show him.' That was just begging for trouble. Honestly, she could just think of a half dozen ways that would be completely stupid right now. "Stop that," Gillian instructed sharply, giving a sharp one-handed 'finish' gesture, which meant 'knock it off' and Lewis came to a slow halt. Owen grabbed a fist full of her breast and made her wince. Yeah she got the point, he was hungry. Gillian held out her hand to Lewis. "I'll help you." He took it and swung a leg over the rail falling awkwardly to the floor, swinging from his mother's hand as she jerked it upright to break most of his fall. "You ok?"

Lewis looked up at her from his knees on the carpet. He hooked his finger over his ear and gave her a questioning expression. Gillian nodded 'yes' and he went to retrieve his hearing aids from the case that now lived on the little table beside his bed. He was learning to do them himself and he was very proud. He had to know in case he needed to take them off at school for whatever reason. Swimming probably, was the most obvious, but there could be other reasons. He already knew how they worked; he had shown Cal after all. So while Lewis sat on his bed and put his hearing aids on carefully, Gillian changed Owen at the table, putting him in a dry diaper and t-shirt and shorts. She kissed his soft head once she had finished, savouring the sweet baby smell for a moment. She told Lewis to get dressed, to which he nodded, and she headed out again, baby in one arm, apnoea monitor in her other hand. She stuck her head into the master bedroom to see Cal was putting clothes on himself. "I'm heading downstairs."

"Lewis?" Cal requested an update.

"Is getting dressed."

Gillian headed into the living room, pulling back the curtains to reveal a bright cloudless morning. "It's going to be a nice day Owen," Gillian told him.

"Ah ah," he responded, slapping a hand against her collarbone.

"Yeah," she gave him a smile and headed for the couch. She pulled a pillow closer, laying him back against it and getting comfortable. Owen already had his mouth open eagerly, looking up at her patiently with those beautiful deep blue eyes. Her eye colour this time, sort of; it was darker than hers but certainly not as light as his father's.

Fifteen minutes later Cal and Lewis came in. Lewis got his bowl out of the cupboard and his spoon, making half a dozen trips across the kitchen, back and forth for each item he required to get his own breakfast. He had nice tidy clothes on and his hair had been combed forward to where it stuck up at the front; he'd just had a haircut. Gillian watched him from her perch. Cal went straight for coffee. He had his fist sip black, then got the milk from the fridge. It was interesting to see how the boys moved around each other. It was amusing to see the way Lewis carried his full bowl carefully over to the table, two hands, micro-steps, determined concentration.

Cal brought her toast and a very weak coffee with lots of milk and she thanked him with a smile. "Anythin' else?" Cal hovered.

"Nope I'm good," Gillian looked up. Domestic bliss that made her heart ache with the joy of it? Oh yeah.

PJ

Cal crouched down to Lewis's level. The classroom was buzzing with many voices and they weren't the only parents hovering around with their children about to start Kindergarten. Except, most of the kids already knew each other from the year before, the pre-kindergarten class, what they called primary. Concord Hill took children from age three, which was pre-primary and some of these children had been together even since then. Cal gave Lewis's shoulder a slight squeeze to get his attention. They had been worried about his hearing aids in a classroom situation like this. But it had worked out ok at the day care, even when he had moved into the pre-K programme and had more structured sessions. He seemed to cope with that fine. Concord Hill had a small teacher to child ratio. And they were fully aware of his different requirements. They were excited to use him to encourage the other children to learn to sign and they had assigned a teacher aid with sign language skills to his room.

Cal realised he was nervous. Probably more than Lewis was, though the boy didn't look particularly happy right now. He looked up at his father with a slight pout. The tiniest purse of his lips that Cal recognised as him showing displeasure. That and the fact that he had gone quiet. "All right buddy?"

Lewis nodded. "Lots of strangers." He moved his hand in front of his face and then both on either side of his body, in front of him, his fingers pointing straight outwards, palms facing each other.

"Yeah I know, but they won't be stranga's for long. By the end of today you'll know all of them." He signed a double 'know' by touching his forehead twice with an open hand, to mean 'familiar'.

Lewis looked around the room dubiously. There were two or three other new students amongst the group. Lewis turned his gaze back to his father. "You pick me up?" He made a pinching gesture with just one hand to indicate he meant to get picked up after school, instead of signing the entire phrase.

"No Mum's gonna pick you up afta school," Cal reminded him gently.

"And Wen."

"Yeah and Owen," Cal agreed. "And then late-a I'll be home and you can tell me all about your first day all right?" He signed 'after', 'home', 'talk' and 'day'.

Lewis nodded.

"All right. Hug?" He rubbed his fists up and down his upper arms quickly.

Lewis leaned forward and put his arms around his father's shoulders. Cal planted a kiss against the side of his head and gave him a fierce squeeze. The bell rang and Cal let him go. Gillian gave him a hug and kiss too and then his teacher called the children to sit on the mat. Cal went to stand by his wife. "Are you going to stay for a bit?" She asked.

"I can't," Cal declined softly. "Said I'd meet Reynolds about somethin'. You?"

"Just for a bit."

They both watch the other parents saying goodbye and starting to leave. "All right. See you late-a then," he gave her a quick smile, and turned to start walking away. He had a business meeting to get to.

Gillian's hand gripped his arm lightly to stop him from leaving. "Are you ok?" She seemed a little amused.

"I don't actually know," Cal admitted. "You have any idea how long it's been since I had to leave a kid at school on the first day?"

"At least you've done it before," Gillian retorted softly.

Cal leaned in to give her cheek a kiss. "Lewis on the otha hand, seems fine." He gave her a proper smile this time and headed for the door. Gillian turned to see Lewis sitting amongst the children, hand already raised in response to the teacher's question. Yeah, she sighed, he was going to be fine. Gillian turned to Owen, who had woken up and was watching her from his seat. She gave him a smile and he waved his arms and kicked his legs at her in response.

"Shall we go home?" She asked him in a whisper.

"Ah," Owen answered and gave her a smile.

PJ

Just wanted to say thank you for reading and for reviewing :)