Okay there's 56 other chapters, see one of them if you need a reminder of the disclaimer. Anyway, that aside, thanks again for reading and all that jazz. Because of you guys this has become one of my favorite stories to work on. Anyway, enough of the A/N, on with the fic!
Matthew walked back from the bathroom, wiping is hands on his pants. "Stupid air dryer…." He mumbled as he saw Katyusha talking with Arthur and Francis who was holding Charlotte and making noises like an airplane while she was gigging. "Hey, seems like she likes that a lot." He smiled. Charlotte was now about 6 months old and it was clear she had gotten Matthew's wavy hair and his violet eyes but he swore that she looked just like Katyusha did as a baby based on the few family photos she had of herself at that young an age. Katyusha always argued she saw more of Matthew in Charlotte but Matthew said it was just because of the hair and the eyes. "So where's Natalya and Toris going?"
"Oh I think they are going to have a sleepover at Vanya and Fredka's house with the twins." Katyusha said.
"Oh." Matthew said slightly dejected.
"Are you jealous of them?" Katyusha laughed.
"Slightly…. I thought I would be the cool uncle to them." Matthew sighed as Francis, Arthur and Katyusha laughed. "What's so funny?" He demanded "I got them an inflatable indoor hockey set and come Christmas if they like going to the ice-skating rink I'll get them skates of their own."
"Bozhe, ni. Vin khoche, shchob usi lyubyly khokey, yak vin..." Katyusha sighed as she took back Charlotte and rocked her close. "You know it is perfectly okay if the twins don't like skating or hockey. You will still have Charlotte you can teach that to when she gets older."
"And any more grandchildren you give us." Francis said as Matthew and Katyusha blushed.
"Well to change the subject, I have found us a house that would be a better distance for both our jobs." Arthur said. "It even has a nice conversation pit like from the 70s. I had always wanted one but never had one because well, you know how Alfred is. He was worse as a child and would hurt himself."
"Oh, so I know who to blame for their bad taste in interior decorating." Katyusha sighed. "I had told Matthew no on a house with one of those for much the same reason you never had done. Seriously you two if you want us to bring the grandchildren over you need to think of things like that."
"Grandchildren you say?" Francis smiled. "So you and Mathieu are planning more…."
"PAPA!" Matthew blushed. "But no, if you do decide on that one, at least get some kiddie gates for that room or something…."
"Matthew, do you not trust your papa and I to take certain necessary precautions when we have the grandchildren over?" Matthew paused, not wanting to offend his father but he knew sometimes they got careless from his own childhood, remembering times they had brought Alfred home from the park after struggling to get him off the equipment but forgetting him. "I will take that as you don't trust us, but know this, we've learned since you two have grown up. Especially with how Alfred was as a kid…."
"Sure Dad…." Matthew sighed.
"Bollocks." Arthur sighed. "But there are a few others too, I learned well to not have your heart set on one only." He then turned to Francis, "Come on Frog, there's still time for some of the open houses out there."
"Well I will see you later. Au revior." Francis waved as Arthur dragged him along
"See you later Papa, Dad." Matthew said as he took Charlotte from Katyusha. "How about you spend some time with Daddy huh?" He smiled as Charlotte looked at him confused. "Why does she always look like she is saying 'Who are you' when I hold her?"
"It's not all the time. I've seen it." Katyusha sighed. "Don't get discouraged, Charlotte is still little yet. In no time she'll be calling you 'papa' or 'daddy' or whatever you want her to. Then soon she will be the same age as Nikita and Dimitri are, then off to school and college."
"God, I am not getting old…." Matthew said.
"Well come along," Katyusha sighed. "It's almost time for Charlotte's nap,"
"Fine." Matthew said.
"And I could use one too." Katyusha said.
"Of course." Matthew said.
"Oh you are clueless sometimes…." She blushed looking away.
"Huh…what?" Matthew asked then it dawned on him. "Oh. Ooooooooooooooh." He smirked. "I am probably getting tons of flannel for Christmas this year."
"Maybe, but it's still rather early to think about that." Katyusha sighed. "We still need to get through Halloween."
"Al was talking about a family group costume with the twins." Matthew said.
"Let me guess Batman and Robin were some of his ideas…." Katyusha sighed.
"How'd you know?" Matthew said surprised.
"Vanya told me. He was trying to see what the twins had because he frankly did not like the idea of trying to find a superhero costume for himself." Katyusha explained.
"Yeah, that sounds like something Al would do…." Matthew said as he secured Charlotte in her car seat and started up the car.
Meanwhile, Toris kissed Natalya as the twins stuck their tongues out. "They hate seeing kissing. They do that with us all the time." Alfred smiled.
"I do the same when I see you kiss my brother." Natalya said under her breath.
"Huh?" Alfred asked.
"Nothing." Natalya said. She then turned to the twins. "Your Uncle Toris and I have to get a few things if we are going to have a sleepover at your house but we will be over soon. Okay?"
"Okay." Nikita and Dimitri replied.
"See you soon!" Toris waved as he drove Natalya back to their apartment where they each dug through the bedroom for some clothes for the next day and some pajamas that they would wear while playing with the twins. As they moved around in the pile for a duffle bag for each of them and some clothes, Natalya sighed. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just realized it had been a while since any of us have done laundry." She said looking at the discarded clothes around the bed. She picked up a thin black lace nightgown and sighed. "I need to find something more appropriate but not like what I sleep in in the winter…."
"You do look pretty in that." Toris smiled as Natalya looked at him reproachfully. "You're right, not appropriate when staying with the twins…." Toris then pulled out his phone and began to text.
"Who are you texting?" Natalya asked with a suspicious look as she found a pair of yoga pants and a t shirt that was slightly too big for her. "Well this much more appropriate. I mean it's what I often wore around that roommate of mine." She scoffed knowing just how her roommate was. Grabbing some other clothes to change into she packed up as she looked around, wondering if they should bring something else over.
"Mr. Alfred." Toris said. "See if he wouldn't mind if we did some laundry while we are over there."
"I am sure he wouldn't, but my brother can be rather critical of you." Natalya warned.
"What, with a sister who is engaged to someone in medical school, where sleep is not known, and hectic deadlines abound while she herself is working for further education while working for a partnership who is well known in the industry, they are in under one of the most well-respected women in the firm? Us be so busy we cannot do laundry on but our very precious few days off? I think I can talk him into not being so critical of me." Toris said.
"Quite confident, are we? I've seen how you act around him." Natalya teased. She had recalled at the birthday party when Davie and Dimitri wanted him to help them play skee ball and Ivan looked over at Toris for eating another piece of pizza before Natalya had finished hers. Natalya was busy talking with Nikita and Winnie and listening to how much they like art time at school but always arguing over who was better, so she didn't notice until the end of the conversation and saw Ivan look at him.
"I'm trying to get better with that, and I know you want him to be as well." Toris said. He still remembered the previous Thanksgiving of how Ivan was with Matthew. But Natalya is not pregnant, and you are not jobless. There's a big difference between our situations and Natalya is more assertive than her sister. Toris told himself as he saw a ding come up that Alfred had replied back. "'Sure dude, I don't mind you using our stuff.'" Toris read.
"Well, it would be a good chance to catch up on some of this…." Natalya sighed as she started picking up some of her laundry and throwing it in their basket. "Why I just kept throwing some of this on the floor, I will never know…." Noticing that she had more professional clothing that Toris, she sighed. "It seems we may have to do two different loads. I take it they don't care how you dress in medical school?"
"Not really. Just must wear lab coats and such for certain classes, especially anatomy. And I have that one right after lunch. I know you told me to eat something but it's hard when I know what is coming up next…."
"Seriously?" Natalya rolled her eyes. "You can do this. You will see much worse when you actually get to your job. I have seen what some cancer patients look like."
"You never told me what your Great Uncle died of…." Toris asked as Natalya sat down on the bed and looked down at the mention of this. "Talya…?"
"I didn't learn until much later after Vanya had gone to college. It was summer break, and I was snooping around in the apartment that we lived in as Katyusha had a separate spot under her bed where she kept legal paperwork. I was young when he died. I was 8 years old and vaguely remember the night. He was not feeling too well, and rather disassociated from everything. He had sent Vanya and I to bed as school was the next day and he had insisted that we do well with our studies. To not waste the opportunities, we were given. Soon after he had seen us to bed, I heard a thud downstairs. I thought it was Katyusha coming home from college and went back to sleep until I heard sirens and saw flashing lights and Katyusha had told me and Vanya to stay in our rooms until she said it was okay. Once all was done, she looked like she had seen a ghost. She told us that our great uncle needed to go to the hospital, and we would visit him in the morning when they had made him better." Natalya rolled her eyes. "I guess it is her caring nature not wanting to upset us too much. "However, the next day when we visited the hospital, he was in intensive care with not very long to live. He had passed soon after we had seen him, luckily not having to put Katyusha under the decision to pull the plug was needed to be made. But when I was snooping, I had found the death certificate and corner's report." Natalya sighed and Toris looked on curiously. "Stroke main cause but significant cirrhosis was found. I am guessing he had a drinking problem but had overcome it before we moved in with him. There wasn't much else I could find that would support this either way. Soon after the funeral is when his estranged children came and took the house but not after Katyusha fought for them to help us financially and pay for Vanya and mine's college education." Natalya sighed again. "But I had seen a few cancer patients when I had snuck away from Katyusha in the same ward. They looked very skinny and pale and many of them were not that old."
Toris grabbed Natalya and held her close. "You don't need to act so tough all the time. I am sure he wouldn't have wanted you to be. I am sure your great uncle would be proud of what you and you siblings have done. Now Ivan being gay…. not sure how he would have taken that…. many of the older generations don't take well to that…anyway, that aside you would have made him proud, and I know you would want me to make him proud as well and see me as worthy, much like Ivan treats me."
"Thank you, Toris." Natalya sighed. "I love you." She said as she kissed him deeply. He pulled away blushing. "Yeah…. maybe later, we do have to go see the twins."
"Yeah." Toris said.
Meanwhile Ivan lay back on the couch, worn down from the birthday party. Sure, this time, there wasn't very many children but both Winnie and Davie found him interesting and wanted him to play with them at various times of the day. Ivan didn't know why, he remembered as a kid many people thought of him as scary, even through college until he was Alfred's roommate who wasn't afraid of him at all, they may have hated each other when they first met, but even then, he had to admire that Alfred wasn't like everyone else and ran from him before they got to know him. And the fact that Winne's father wanted them both to come visit his place for a get together also amazed him. He knew that Alfred would get along well with anyone, it was in his nature and Kyle seemed to get along with him well. "Papa, when will Uncle Toris and Aunt Natalya get here?" Dimitri asked climbing on top of Ivan and looking at him worried.
"Soon." Ivan smiled. "You surprised them with your idea that they needed to get some clothes for themselves."
"Why can't they stay here?" Nikita said. "That would be so much fun because they'd be here every day and we can have sleepovers all the time."
Alfred came in from setting up the toy hockey set in the backyard that Matthew had given the twins just as Nikita said that. Don't disappoint the girl. Having Katy and Matt here was fine because they are both relatively quiet and Mattie's idea of messing with me is nothing but the tension that's there between Nattie and me…." Well, you see…." Fuck can't say to Nikita that her favorite aunt and dad don't get along and sort of hate each other and it drives her papa mad after a while…. "She and your Uncle Toris want to make a life of their own and sometimes couples want privacy-time to be with just each other- "Alfred clarified realizing he used a word the twins might now be too familiar with. "And eventually they'll have kids like your Aunt Katy and Uncle Matt, and we don't have enough room for that." Alfred blushed not wanting to make anyone upset. If he wasn't dealing with anyone who would get mad or hurt, he'd be honest and say that if he and Natalya were forced to be under the same roof too long, they'd do nothing but fight and he frankly couldn't be sure which person would come out alive. He had heard that while small, Natalya knew her way around self-defense, especially with a knife.
"Oh." The twins replied.
"But they will be here soon." Alfred said. "Your Uncle Toris just let me know. Oh, and he and Nattie need to do some laundry when they get here." He noticed Ivan roll his eyes. "Look you know both of them have been really busy lately and no, I am not going to get my aunt to go easy on Nattie, she wouldn't do it anyway and Nattie would hate me for it. I figured they're here, playing with the twins like they want, and laundry is pretty much set and forget so yeah. Help them out a little. You know what it was like when we were their age."
"That wasn't that long ago Fredka." Ivan sighed. "Natalya is 5 years younger than us. Please don't make me feel older than I do…."
"Well, in 10 years think what we're going to have to go through with these two…." Alfred teased.
"I'd rather not." Ivan sighed as he heard the doorbell ring. "That must be them."
"Yeay!" Dimitri said as he effortlessly jumped off of Ivan and ran to the door with Nikita soon after.
"Hold on you two." Alfred said, letting Ivan stay on the couch, wait for me to open the door. How do you know it is Uncle Toris and Aunt Natalya?" He said as he opened the door to find them standing there, Toris holding a large basket of laundry and Natalya was holding a few bags of her own.
"See, it is them, we could have gotten the door for you Daddy." Nikita said.
"Yes, but sometimes it may not be, and you don't need to be talking to strangers." Alfred warned. "Hey guys, laundry's that way." Alfred pointed as Toris nodded and dragged the basket along.
"I do not wish for us to impose but…." Toris began when Ivan cut him off.
"You two are in school and Natalya is working as well. This is bound to have happened. Do you know how messy our dorm room was in college? Or before Fredka and I secured our jobs after we graduated ourselves?" Ivan said with a smile that he attempted to be warming, especially after Alfred had told him to be nice to Toris and reminded him of how messy their first apartment was when he was working on the house and Alfred had to work his internship and the various retail and fast-food jobs he had until he was taken on as a full employee. "I had restored this house much on my own. You know how Great Uncle taught me everything he knew about construction before he passed Natalya."
"Yes." Natalya nodded. "However, it's time for the birthday slumber party you wanted with your favorite aunt and uncle." She said as Nikita and Dimitri hugged her legs.
"Never thought you'd be a little kid's favorite aunt, did you?" Alfred teased Natalya.
"Well, when Charlotte gets old enough to start having preferences of her uncles and aunts, let's see who she likes more, you or me." Natalya growled.
"Hey with how your sister is, if Charlotte doesn't like me the best, I am sure she and Mattie will give us a few more nieces and nephews. Besides, Matthew and I are taking bets on who your kids will like better between us." Alfred teased.
"Well, that is even if our child could tell you two apart." Natalya said. "And no Vanya, this is purely hypothetical, there has been no more scares like the last one."
"There had better not. Not until you are at least married." Ivan said.
"He can be quite traditional like our Great Uncle was but yet he married a man…." Natalya said.
"Can't help who you love." Alfred shrugged.
"But I can question his choices…." Natalya said to herself.
"Huh?" Alfred said. "But you know Vanya wants what's best for you guys and you know it can't have been easy on Katy and Matt their situation and he doesn't want that for you."
"I don't want that either." Natalya said. She then turned to the twins. "So, what do you want to do?"
"Candy Land!" They said together.
"Of course. I have brought over another game you might like," Natalya said holding up a Hungry Hungry Hippos Box.
"You two will love that. Your uncle Mattie and I had this as kids. And I always beat him." Alfred smiled proudly. Natalya rolled her eyes disbelieving him. "Okay Mattie got some over on me too. But you all can play easily at the same time. 4 hippos and you all can pick one. And there is a pink one." He added causing Nikita to smile.
"We have a few movies set out they may like," Ivan said pointing to the television and the stack of DVDs of various kids' movies that Alfred had picked out that he had recalled from his childhood based on things that Sherrie and Tom had told them that they had liked.
"I got an idea of what we can do as our group costume!" Alfred smiled. "The twins can be Luke and Leia, and you can I can be Han and Chewbacca!"
"Bozhe moy, net, eto slishkom smushchayet. Prosto dayte etoy ideye umeret'. Pozhaluysta. Radi lyubvi ko vsemu svyatomu..." Ivan sighed.
"I like that idea." Toris said.
"Maybe you be Padme and Anakin." Natalya said. "And you are Padme as you are the shorter one." At this Ivan laughed as Alfred looked at her annoyed. "I actually liked the Prequel series. But I doubt my brother wants to go as a large furry animal for Halloween."
"Have the twins even seen Star Wars?" Toris asked.
"Not yet…." Alfred said.
"Eventually and we'd have to watch it with them. They are still young." Ivan replied. "Some of the scenes would give them nightmares."
"Well, let's get this sleepover started then." Alfred said. "And the movies we picked won't give them nightmares."
"Yeay!" The twins replied.
Translation Guide
(Obtained via Google Translate)
Bozhe, ni. Vin khoche, shchob usi lyubyly khokey, yak vin...-Ukrainian-Dear god no. He wants to have everyone love hockey like he does...
Bozhe moy, net, eto slishkom smushchayet. Prosto dayte etoy ideye umeret'. Pozhaluysta. Radi lyubvi ko vsemu svyatomu...-Russian-Dear god no, that is just too embarrassing. Just let that idea die. Please. For the Love of all that is holy...
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Otherrealmwriter
Aka
Realm.