The days and weeks following Billy and Charlie's arrival were nothing shy of chaotic. Tony and Angela spent a lot of time just getting to know their new kids, their personalities, likes and dislikes, sleep patterns, and just who they are. Both got a crash refresher course in caring for an infant, though one never really did forget how to change a diaper. But other changes hardly came as easily. Thankfully, the timing of their arrival couldn't have been better. Tony's summer break had just begun, as had Billy's, so he wouldn't have to face changing schools mid-year. Angela was able to shift around some work so that she only had to go into the office four days a week, giving her and Tony time to learn to be parents of young children again.
Billy was quiet in the initial days, often spending time playing video games by himself or entertaining Charlie. Tony hoped that the outspoken, precocious boy who had stayed with them seven years before would eventually emerge, but as children got older, the rigors of change became harder to deal with. And Billy, at the tender age of eleven, found himself without parents or grandparents, in the home of people he really didn't know all that well anymore. He was polite at dinner and did what was asked of him, but by the end of June, he was as quiet and reserved as he'd been that first day, with only occasional unguarded moments, usually brought about by Jonathan. The two had reformed an immediate bond, and when Jonathan and Melissa were over, Billy was animated and talkative in a way he wasn't around anyone else.
Charlie, however, made it clear from the beginning she was a people person. She cuddled and cozied up to whoever was holding her, more often than not smiling and cooing as she practiced rolling over and sitting up.
Tony and Angela spent a lot of time trying to remember and accept that these were their children now and that they were not simply babysitting, as it sometimes felt like. The compromises and sacrifices that they hadn't had to make in upwards of ten years began to descend like meteors as they juggled schedules and feedings, playtime and dinntertime. But amid all of the tension and frustration came a nostalgia and intimacy that neither had felt in a long time. They sat on the couch with Billy between them, Charlie curled in Angela's arms sucking greedily at a bottle, Tony's arm stretched across the back of the sofa to stroke his wife's shoulder as they watched a mixture of new movies Billy brought and old ones left by Sam and Jonathan. One night it was "Toy Story" and the next, "The Goonies." Angela dusted off Jonathan's old issues of Reptile Weekly and dug out every book she could find ranging from Hardy Boys to The Boxcar Children to the Goosebumps series.
Together, they carried the children upstairs to bed, sure to grab the baby monitor from Charlie's room, and then returned to the couch where they sat down, as they had for so many years, to talk about their lives.
"Tony, I don't know if I have the energy to breathe, let alone think about tomorrow," Angela began, her head resting on the arm of the sofa.
"Tell me about it. I never realized those cat naps had gone from a luxury to a necessity. Angela, what are we going to do when fall semester starts?" he asked, exasperated.
"I don't know," she answered, equally overwhelmed by the magnitude of the changes that were taking place. Though they had known what raising two children would entail, there was a cognizance that came with being in the situation that couldn't be anticipated no matter how well prepared they were. "Why don't we focus on tomorrow and deal with the fall in the fall."
"Sounds good to me."