Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted this chapter to be, and then longer to flesh it out. Anyway, enjoy!
It was New Year's Eve and Maya and Carina had basically decided that this day would never be a crazy party day. They had never spent one partying, and now with kids, they probably never would.
Their first New Years was during a pandemic and they spent it together at home, just appreciating being alive and having one another.
The following year, they had plans to party with their friend to celebrate leaving the pandemic behind, but an unfortunate bout of food poisoning for Carina instead kept them home, Maya holding her girlfriend's hair back instead of kissing her at midnight.
The year after, they were on a plane from Italy back to the States.
Then, they started trying for babies and were in the throes of a miscarriage the next year.
Last year, they were in the hospital, trying everything to get Rowan and Nora to make their appearance.
This year, they were home, Carina baking cakes while Maya blew up balloons for the first birthday party they were having for the girls the following day.
They knew that normally, they weren't going to be able to have their party on the actual day of their birth, but for their first birthday, they really wanted to. Luckily, their friends were all pretty free, and because they were having it at 4 pm, even Vic and Travis, who had New Year's Eve plans, agreed they would be there.
"I can't believe a year ago, we were in the hospital waiting for them to come," Maya said.
"That was one of the longest days of my life," Carina said, shaking her head, "I thought they would never come. Turns out, they were just stubborn like their Mommy."
"They just wanted to make their birth extra special," Maya shrugged as she tied a string on another balloon, "And now they are going to be one tomorrow."
"Our little bambinas are growing up," Carina sighed as she put the cakes in the oven, "I never dreamed that I would be making this cake for my own kids. Mamma used to make it every year for Andrea and me, and when they left, she would make it for me at Christmas when we celebrate my birthday."
"Your birthday is in July," Maya said, confused.
"Si," Carina nodded, getting to work on the icing, "But I only was allowed to come at Christmas, so we celebrated my birthday at Christmas. My Zia Sofia would make me a cake for my birthday in the summer, but it was never as good as Mamma's."
"And this is the torta setteveli, right?" Maya said, having had this cake a few times before.
"Good pronunciation Bambina," Carina said, smiling, "Si, but I am making two small ones for the girls."
"And you are picking up the other desserts during the twins' nap tomorrow," Maya nodded.
They had decided to get an array of Italian pastries from their favorite bakery in leu of cake for the rest of the guests, but both of them agreed that the girls should have this special cake for their first birthday, and probably every birthday after that.
Like other holidays, birthdays in the Bishop house were never anything special. Maya and Mason would usually get a new pair of shoes and other running gear. Maya, with her birthday in August, usually got some school supplies. However, the blonde was determined to make their girls' birthday as special as possible.
"Alright," Maya said, finishing up with the balloons while Carina stirred the frosting for the cakes, "I am going to go start building the kitchen."
"I will come help when I am done," Carina promised as Maya went into the living room/playroom.
It had just been Christmas, and the girls had gotten plenty of nice toys, books, and clothes so for their birthday, Maya and Carina had decided to get them only a few bigger presents little kitchen with all the fake food and dishes to go with it, and bikes that were able to be pushed by an adult but would then convert to a proper trike when the girls got bigger. They had a bike trailer for Maya's bike so the blonde could take the twins on bike rides with her, and both babies loved it, so they were pretty sure they were going to love the bikes.
Maya got to work on the kitchen, happy that this seemed to be easier than most baby things.
Carina came and helped her when she was about half way done, the two of them getting it together within an hour.
"Alright," Maya said, standing up, "Do you have the stuff to put in it?"
"Si," Carina said, disappearing for a minute before coming back with a few different packages.
They got all the food and dishes set up in the little red kitchen.
"I think they are going to love it," Carina said as they finished up.
"I think Rowan is going to chew on every piece of food in this kitchen," Maya said, laughing.
The blonde baby was currently working on cutting 6 teeth and everything from her shoes to Maya's phone had been used as a teething toy.
"Probably," Carina said, shaking her head, "She tried to put Amelia's stethoscope in her mouth yesterday."
"Alright, what do we still need to do tonight?" Maya said as they headed into the kitchen as the timer went off for the cakes.
"The lasagnas," Carina said, pulling out the pans.
"That's right," Maya said, going to the fridge and grabbing out the ingredients they needed.
Luckily, they were both very good at making the dish, and soon enough, they had four pans of lasagna going into the fridge.
"Alright," Carina said, looking at the clock and seeing it was already almost 10 pm, "I think we should probably go to bed."
"You are probably right," Maya said, nodding, "God, I can't believe tomorrow, we are going to have two one year olds."
"Lo so," Carina nodded, wrapping her arms around Maya's waist as she gave her a kiss, "Some days, I still cannot believe we have two daughters."
"Same," Maya said, laughing, "And yet I can't imagine my life without them."
"Me neither," Carina said, giving Maya another kiss.
They eventually went upstairs, climbing into bed. Carina fell asleep pretty quickly, but Maya struggled to get her mind to shut off. Everything from the past year was running though her head, all the memories and milestones from their daughters' first year of life flashing through her mind, keeping her awake.
She wasn't sure how long she was laying there trying to sleep, but all of a sudden, she was shaken from her thoughts by Carina getting out of bed. Maya figured she was just going to the bathroom, but instead, the brunette walked out of their bedroom.
Maya got up, seeing her walk into the twin's room. She hadn't heard the babies, but decided to follow, figuring that if she was going to be dealing with insomnia, she could at least take whichever baby was fussing.
However, as she walked in, she was more confused when she saw both babies sound asleep.
"What's going on?" Maya asked quietly, walking over to her wife.
"Nora is officially one," Carina said, showing Maya the time.
Maya then understood what Carina was doing, looking at her and seeing a tear running down her cheek. Maya didn't say anything, just wrapping her arm around her wife as they stared at their older daughter.
Elenora Mason was such a funny little girl with big opinions. She knew what she liked and didn't like. She loved Travis and sucking on her fingers and reading books and did not like being woken up or the sippy cup they had been trying to transition them to recently. Nora was the calmer of the two, enjoying just sitting and being held or flipping through books on her own. She was much more cautious than Rowan, preferring to wait until she was very sure before trying something new.
She wasn't walking yet, but she could crawl so fast. Her brown eyes and hair made her look so much liked Carina, and her personality was much more like her mamma too. Nora was always the first one to go to someone who was hurt or upset to check on them, and she was very patient most of the time. She was always slower to wake up and if they let her, she would just roll around in her bed for almost an hour, just enjoying time by herself.
She did have Maya's compulsion to be organized, always wanting to put toys away and not liking when her sister made a huge mess.
"And now Rowan is officially one," Carina said, moving across the room to their other daughter's bed, Maya following her, "We have two one year olds."
Maya nodded, chin on Carina's shoulder as she stared at their younger daughter.
Rowan Andrea was a little firecracker with blonde hair and blue eyes. Along with her looks, Rowan was so much like Maya. She was always an early riser, and her determination was crazy. She would try and try and try until she got what she wanted or had a meltdown because she wasn't big enough to do what she wanted to. Rowan was also almost never still, always on the move, making some mess or getting into something she shouldn't.
The one thing Rowan got from Carina was a love of food. There was almost nothing she wouldn't eat, and she was always trying to get up and see what her moms were doing in the kitchen.
"We are parents of one year olds," Maya said, feeling tears well up in her own eyes.
"We survived their first year of life," Carina said, turning around and giving Maya a kiss.
"Somehow," Maya said, shaking her head as they walked out, "There were times I wasn't sure we were going to make it."
"But we did," Carina said, yawning a little.
"We need to go back to bed," Maya said, smiling as Carina finished yawning, "Oh, and also, happy New Year I guess."
"That used to seem like such a significant thing," Carina said as they left the twin's room, "A new year coming in, but now, all I can think about is the fact that we have two one year olds."
"Same," Maya said as they climbed into bed, "And this day will never just be a day to stay up late and party. It will always be Nora and Rowan's birthday."
Carina turned over, giving her wife a sleepy kiss before falling asleep in her arms.
Maya was still struggling to sleep, her mind running. By the time Maya finally calmed her mind down, it was nearing 3 am, meaning she was only going to get at most three hours of sleep. Of all the things she had passed on to the girls, she always hoped that her insomnia would not be one of them because it was honestly horrible.
The blonde woke up at 5:30, groaning but getting out of bed to go for her run.
She got home a little after 6:30, happy that it seemed like everyone was still sleeping. She stretched quickly before going upstairs, hearing noises from the nursery.
"Hi Rowan," Maya whispered, picking up the little girl, "Happy Birthday Patatina. You are one today."
"Mommmmmy," Rowan said, smiling at Maya, "Mamma?"
"Mamma is still in bed, I think," Maya said, checking and seeing that Nora was still sleeping, "Should we go find Mamma?"
"Mamma," Rowan said again, nodding her head.
Both girls had been getting her vocal and trying to talk and communicate so much recently, and it was so cute to watch. Maya carried Rowan down the hall and into the master bedroom.
"Mamma," Rowan squealed a little as Carina sat up, "Uu."
That was her little way of saying up and Carina held out her arms, taking the little girl.
"Buon compleanno," Carina said as Rowan smiled at her.
Normally, first thing in the morning, Rowan wanted to nurse, but about a week ago, the little girl had just completely stopped.
Carina had worked a 24 hour shift on December 22nd to the 23rd, getting home right before the twins went to bed that night. She picked up Rowan to nurse her before bed only to have the little girl push away, wanting nothing to do with it.
"I didn't give her a bottle yet tonight," Maya said, shaking her head, "Maybe she's just not hungry?"
However, when Rowan saw Nora's bottle, she reached for it, whining.
"She's been very into her sippy cup today," Maya said, "I'll go get one."
Carina tried not to think about it too much, knowing there had been other times that Rowan didn't want to nurse.
However, the following day, Rowan also only wanted her sippy cup. Carina knew this day was coming. It had been harder and harder to nurse with work, but she didn't think it was going to happen so soon.
After Maya finished putting the twins to bed on Christmas Eve, she found Carina in bed in tears.
"What's wrong?" the blonde asked, worried, "Did something happen?"
"I think Rowan is done nursing," Carina said, trying to hold in the tears for a minute, "And I knew it was coming, and I know it wasn't something we did as much as we did when she was little, but I didn't think it was going to happen right now."
"Oh Carina," Maya said, climbing into bed and holding her wife, "I'm sorry."
"I don't even know why I'm crying," Carina said, leaning on Maya, "I just…It was something special that I had with just her and it made me feel close to her, and even when she always wanted you, she always needed me to feed her and now it's over and I wasn't ready I guess."
"It's ok," Maya said, running her fingers through Carina's hair, "It's ok to be sad about this. It means she's growing up, and it's sad, but you connect with her in other ways."
Maya had held Carina for a long time that night, the brunette just feeling sad about their girls growing up. It had now been over a week, and Rowan had not shown any desire to nurse at all, and because the girls were transitioning to regular milk instead of a mix of formula and breast milk, Carina had stopped pumping and just allowed her supply to dry up.
Rowan started babbling, pulling Carina out of her thoughts about how big her daughters were getting.
"Are you good if I go grab a quick shower?" Maya asked.
"Of course," Carina nodded, "Patatina and I will just hang out here until Nora wakes up."
Once Maya was done in the shower, Nora was awake, and all four of them headed downstairs.
"Look," Carina said, setting Rowan down, "What's that?"
Rowan smiled, taking off walking toward the kitchen as Nora crawled after her as fast as she could. Maya grabbed the camera, taking pictures of the twins playing with their present. As predicted, Rowan put everything she touched in her mouth. Nora inspected all the pieces of food before putting them back where she found them. Maya and Carina smiled as they watched their daughters play, loving to see their drastically different personalities shine through.
Soon enough, the girls were hungry, and Carina went to make breakfast. Breakfast was French toast and smoothies, two things the girls absolutely loved.
After breakfast, they decided to bundle the girls up and take them out to see their new bikes. They decided not to put them in their clothes for the party until after their afternoon nap, right before the party so they just put them in some play clothes before putting them into jackets and shoes.
"What are those?" Maya asked as Rowan toddled toward the bikes, smile on her face as Carina held Nora's hands to help her walk too.
Rowan looked at the bikes as Maya grabbed the helmets off the shelf where they kept them.
"Do you guys want to ride them?" Carina asked.
"Sss," Nora said, nodding which was her way of saying si.
"Alright," Maya said as they put their helmets on them before putting them on the bikes, "Let's go."
They took the twins on a walk, both girls laughing as they rode on their little bikes. They ended up at the park, but neither baby wanted to play on the equipment, instead only wanting to ride their bikes.
"I think we picked good first birthday presents," Maya laughed as they pushed the girls.
They took the girls home before putting them down for their morning nap.
"I am going to go pick up the pastries," Carina said after they had the girls down, "Do we need anything else?"
"We need salad dressing," Maya said, looking in the fridge, "I'll get the salad made while you're out."
"Sounds good," Carina nodded, giving Maya a quick kiss before heading out the door.
The blonde had the salad made before the twins woke up an hour later, Carina not quite home yet. Maya brought the twins downstairs, letting them play in the little kitchen while she made them some lunch. Carina got home just after the girls woke up.
"Sorry it took so long," Carina said, "The grocery store was crazy."
"It's fine," Maya said, stopping cutting avocado to help Carina with the things that needed to be brought in, "The girls are playing with their birthday present."
Once the girls had eaten lunch, both moms spent time playing with them and reading to them before it was time for their second nap.
By then, it was 2 pm, and crunch time for the party. Carina started frosting the cakes for the twins while Maya started cleaning up.
At 3:30, the house was pretty much cleaned up, the snacks were set out, and Maya and Carina were both dressed before they heard crying from the nursery.
"I'll get them," Maya said because Carina was finishing her hair. She walked into the nursery, picking up Nora before going over to Rowan, realizing they had a major problem.
"Car," Maya called as she looked down at Rowan who had evidently had a major blow out in her sleep.
"What?" Carina asked, coming into the nursery, wincing as she looked down at Rowan, "Oh. Do you want to change the sheets or do the bath?"
"I'll do the bath," Maya said, picking Rowan up, "Oh man. This is bad."
"It's probably from her teething," Carina said, knowing they hadn't had a blow out in a while since the girls started solids, "It's probably making her tummy a little upset."
"Yeah," Maya nodded, brining Rowan into the bathroom, putting her in the tub before rinsing her off, "Oh, Ro, you are a mess."
"Mommmy," Rowan babbled, smiling at her as she chewed on a bathtub toy.
"You're lucky you are so cute," Maya said, shaking her head as she let Rowan sit in the tub, knowing they didn't really have time for a bath, but she needed to wash Rowan's hair just in case.
As she cleaned Rowan, Nora crawled over to the tub, pulling herself up.
"Hi Piccola," Maya smiled, "Your sister is getting a bath because she made a mess."
Rowan squealed, hitting the water, splashing a little. Nora smiled, babbling at her sister. Five minutes later, Maya was pulling Rowan out of the tub as Carina came into the bathroom.
"The sheets are changed and in the wash," Carina said, picking up Nora, "It's already 3:45. People will be here…"
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"Now apparently," Maya said, "Go let whoever that is in. I will be down with the girls in a few?"
Carina nodded, setting Nora down in the nursery before going downstairs, finding Vic and Travis at the door.
"Hello," Carina said, opening the door.
"I know we are early," Vic said, "But we were out and didn't want to go back home."
"It's fine," Carina said, "Maya is just upstairs. Rowan had a blowout during nap, and needed a bath."
"Does she need help?" Vic asked, "Or do you?"
"Help would be appreciated," Maya yelled down from upstairs.
Carina laughed as Vic went upstairs, finding Maya trying to change Nora's diaper while Rowan was ripping books off the shelf.
"Can you get little miss tornado in this?" Maya asked, gesturing to a pair of maroon overalls with a black ruffly onesie.
"Sure," Vic said, picking up Rowan who smiled at seeing Aunt Vic, "Come here Ro."
"Thanks," Maya said as she managed to get Nora's new diaper on, "Hey. How are you?"
"Good," Vic nodded, "Travis and I went out last night, and didn't get home until almost 3 am, but we slept most of the day today, so I'm feeling pretty good."
"I was up til 3 am last night," Maya said, earning an eyebrow raise from Vic, "With my lovely insomnia, but I have been up since 5:30."
"I don't know how you do it," Vic said as she snapped the onesie on Rowan.
"Me neither," Maya said, shaking her head, "But that's how it's been since I was really young so it's whatever at this point. Here, you dress Nora while I do Rowan's hair, not that I don't think you can do it, but she only sits for about 30 seconds so it's a practiced art."
"She is so your kid," Vic said, shaking her head as she put Nora in a maroon onesie with black overalls.
Maya and Carina usually didn't think much about matching or even coordinating the girls because that was too much work, but today, they wanted them to look cute for pictures. Maya managed to get Rowan's blonde hair up in one pony tail before the little girl ran away.
"You can take her downstairs," Maya said, "If you want. I'm going to get Nora's hair done and I'll be down in a minute."
"Sounds good," Vic said, getting up, "Come here Tiny Tornado, let's go see Uncle Travis."
"Tee?" Nora said, looking at Maya.
"Are you talking about Uncle Travis?" Maya asked, smiling at the little girl.
"Tee," Nora said, looking around. "He is going to love that," Maya said, laughing, "Yes. Uncle Travis is downstairs. I am going to do your hair and then we can go find him."
Nora was much better about getting her hair done, Maya scooping the slightly curly hair into two pigtails that were much longer than her younger sisters, adding two little bows before picking the little girl up.
"Alright," Maya said, coming down the stairs, "Here's the other birthday girl."
"Hi Nora," Travis said, going over to her, "Happy birthday."
"Tee," Nora said, reaching for Travis immediately.
"Did she just…?" Travis said, looking at Maya.
"She just started doing that," Maya nodded as she went to find her wife who was in the kitchen, "I think Nora just made Trav's year. She started saying his name."
"Really?" Carina said skeptically, knowing Travis was a hard name for a baby.
"Well, she's calling him Tee," Maya said, "But she's talking about him."
"That is so cute," Carina said, putting the lasagna in the oven, "They are both talking so much more now."
"I know," Maya said, "I am pretty sure Rowan told me no the other day."
"Oh, I am not ready for either of them to learn that one," Carina said, shaking her head.
Soon enough, their house was full of their friends and so many kids.
Rowan and Harper had recently become almost inseparable at daycare and it seemed to be the same here.
Nora preferred to be with Travis or Andy's little girl Ronnie who was almost 6 months old although she did go play with Harper, Rowan, and Luca in the little kitchen.
Maya was in the kitchen checking on dinner when Andy came in.
"I still can't believe you have two one year olds," Andy said, leaning on the counter while Maya pulled the salad out of the fridge.
"Neither can I," Maya said, shaking her head, "Is it weird that I feel a little sad that our babies aren't really babies anymore?"
"No," Andy said, shaking her head, "I felt the same way about Luca, and I'm already feeling that way about Ronnie, and she just started sleeping through the night."
"Have you and Robert talked about more?" Maya asked.
"We are done," Andy said, shaking her head, "Two is enough for us. What about you two?"
"We haven't talked about it since we got pregnant with the girls," Maya said, shaking her head.
Andy nodded, knowing Maya and Carina had both struggled a lot, especially during the first 6 months of being new moms.
"Dinner is ready," Maya called, effectively ending the conversation with Andy.
Everyone grabbed food, sitting at various tables Maya and Carina had set up. The twins were so happy with their lasagna, showing it by rubbing it in their hair as they ate.
"I don't even know why we give them baths," Maya sighed as Nora took another bite of one of her favorite foods.
"I am so happy to be out of that stage," Teddy said, shaking her head, "It was nearly impossible to get food out of Leo's curls."
"I can't even imagine," Carina said, laughing.
Everyone enjoyed dinner before they moved on to presents.
"Let me do the clean-up," Vic said, seeing Maya going to start getting the kitchen back in order, "Go watch your kids open presents."
"Thank you," Maya said, leaving the kitchen to go help the twins.
They got lots of fun toys and some clothes though Nora was much more interested in the boxes and Rowan just wanted to rip the wrapping and try to eat it.
"Ok," Maya said, pulling the last of the paper out of Rowan's hands, earning her a scream from the little girl, "Who's ready for dessert?"
They put the girls back in their high chairs, Maya lighting the candles on the cakes before she and Carina carried them over.
As soon as the singing of happy birthday started, Rowan looked around and burst into tears, reaching for Maya.
"It's ok," Maya said, squatting down next to the high chair, trying to calm the little girl without picking her up, "It's fun."
Rowan continued to scream, Maya picking her up and comforting her. Nora also looked taken aback and held Carina's hand the whole time but was much less upset than Rowan.
As the English singing finished, Carina was going to blow out the candles when suddenly, the Italian happy birthday started, first with just Andrew and then everyone else joined in.
"I emailed everyone a video of how it goes," Maya whispered in Carina's ear, seeing the confusion.
Carina felt tears in her eyes as everyone sang. Once that ended, Carina blew out Nora's candle as Maya did Rowan's, though the blonde haired birthday girl was still very upset.
"I'm going to take her upstairs for a minute," Maya said, knowing the amount of noise was probably what was getting to Rowan.
That was another way Rowan was a lot like Maya, often overwhelmed by too much stimulation.
"It's ok Patatina," Maya said, sitting down in the rocker in the nursery, Rowan slowly settling in her arms, "There you go. I know. That was a lot, but everyone was just celebrating you and your sister. Singing on birthdays has always felt strange to me too, but it's what most people do. We never did when your Uncle Mason and I were little because of Lane, but most people do. We will for all your birthdays so you are going to have to get used to it, but I will hold you every time until you are more comfortable."
Rowan looked up at Maya, rubbing her eyes.
"Are you ready to go have some cake, because Mamma worked really hard on it, and I think you will really like it," Maya said, looking at her little girl.
Rowan wrapped her arms around Maya's neck as the fire chief stood, walking downstairs.
"Is she ok?" Carina asked as Maya put Rowan in her chair.
"She just needed a minute of quiet," Maya said, looking at Nora who was touching her finger to the cake and licking it.
"Here you go," Carina said, setting the other small cake on Rowan's tray.
Unlike her sister, Rowan stuck both hands into the treat, squishing it between her fingers before putting it in her mouth, smiling as she tasted it.
"It's good, isn't it?" Carina said, smiling at Rowan.
"They are such opposites," Andrew said, walking over to his sister.
"Lo so," Carina nodded as Maya went to get the camera.
The rest of the evening was fun, Rowan eating a ton of cake, Nora eventually also eating some too.
By 8 pm, Nora was sound asleep on Travis, and Rowan was very fussy in Mason's arms.
"It's good practice," Maya said, going to rescue her brother from her daughter.
"Lyla is only two months pregnant," Mason said.
"And before you know it, your child will be this big," Maya said, bouncing a little as she soothed Rowan.
Mason and Lyla had told Maya and Carina their exciting news on Christmas, and Maya was overjoyed for her brother.
"We need to get going," Mason said, looking over and seeing how tired his wife was looking, "We'll see you guys soon."
"See you soon," Maya said, giving her brother a hug.
Soon enough, the house was empty, their friends all heading home. They got the girls into bed, both of them having fallen asleep during the party because bedtime was 7 pm.
"I can't believe our babies already one," Maya said as she brought more cups into the kitchen to be washed, "They aren't babies anymore. They are turning into toddlers."
"I know," Carina sighed as put the extra lasagna in a container.
"I am kinda going to miss having babies," Maya sighed, shaking her head.
"Me too," Carina said, putting the pan in the sink and going over to her wife, "You know, we could have another one."
"Are you serious?" Maya asked, looking at her wife, "You would really want another baby?"
"I don't know," Carina said, shrugging, "But I think maybe we should talk about it. We have two embryos frozen or we could look into adoption. Only if you want to though?"
"I think I do," Maya smiled, abandoning her clean efforts for a moment "I mean, we have two of the most perfect kids. Why not add one more to the mix?"
"Yeah?" Carina said, pulling Maya close.
"Mmhmm," Maya said, pressing her lips into her wife's, grateful that she had such an amazing person to raise a family with.
What did you think? This is the last chapter of this story, but not the last think I will write in this universe. I am thinking of doing some one-shots of various points in the twin's life. Would you like that? Thank you so much for reading! This story was originally going to just be a one-shot when I put it up, but it evolved into one of the longest stories I have written. If you have any one-shot prompts, or any Marina prompts, let me know!