They wake to the sounds of tiny fists knocking on their bedroom door. Carol instantly rolls over and buries her face in his shoulder, whining for five more minutes.

"Mommy? Daddy?" a high-pitched voice asks through the wood.

He instantly regrets moving them into Big Girl beds.

The knob turns and a second later, two tiny bodies push through, both with sleepy pouts and bed-ruffled hair. One of Tess' pajama pant legs is pushed up to her knee, and Kate's shirt is on backward, and it makes Doug chuckle.

"Hey, babies!" he says to them, and the girls take that as their cue to climb into the bed and wiggle their way under the covers.

"Hi, mommy," Kate says, snuggling closer to her mom's side.

"Hi, baby Bean," Carol murmurs, still not really ready to get up. "What happened to your shirt?" She asks, finally noticing the disarray of the garment.

"The monster did it," Kate says with a frown.

"The monster, huh? Did he give you bad dreams too?" At her daughter's sad nod, Carol hugs her close. "Daddy will get rid of that monster. He won't be mean to you anymore, okay?".

"Really, Daddy? You will?" Kate asks, turning to her dad.

"Of course I will, Kate," he smiles.

"Thank you, Daddy!" Kate cheers, diving into him for a hug. Tess, who had been on her father's other side, gets a face full of sister and shoves on Kate to get her to move, which, inevitably, starts a fight between the twins.

"Hey, hey, none of that," Doug says, pulling his girls apart. "No fighting on your birthday."

"Our birthday!" Tess cheers, sitting up quickly. "Mommy! It's our birthday!" She says, crawling over her dad and sister to get to her mom.

"I know! Happy birthday, Bear!" Carol says, wrapping her arms around her daughter. "Do you remember how old you are now?"

"Two?" the girl guesses.

"No, you were two. But now you're three!"

"Three," she parrots, holding up three fingers.

"That's right!"

"And we're bringin' our Stitch cake to school!" Tess says, remembering the cupcakes the girls had picked out to bring to preschool to celebrate their birthday.

"You are," Carol agrees. "You ready to get dressed?"

"Yes!"

"No," both twins answer at the same time.

"Well if we don't want to be late, we have to," Carol says, getting up, and hauling Tess into her arms. The two head for Tess' bedroom, leaving Kate and Doug alone.

"I just wanna stay in my jammies," Kate says, sprawling herself out on the now empty side of the bed.

"I know," Doug says, rubbing her belly. "But I saw your birthday clothes, and they look really pretty. And if you stayed in your jammies all day, I wouldn't be able to see you in your pretty birthday clothes."

Kate thinks on her dad's statement for a moment before quickly rolling out of bed to the floor and whipping back to her dad. "I'm gonna go get dressed!" she grins, and a second later, all Doug sees of her are the ends of her hair.

[] []

An hour later, the family has congregated in the kitchen where the girls are helping their dad put the finishing touches on their special birthday breakfast: cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate.

"Mommy! This one is for you!" Kate calls from her perch on the counter. She holds up a plastic plate where two heavily frosted cinnamon rolls sit, her fingers covered in icing, waiting happily for her mom to take it.

"Thank you, Kate!" Carol smiles, grabbing both the plate and the girl and bringing them to the kitchen table. She sits down, with Kate in her lap, and offers one to her daughter. "I would love to share with you."

"Okay," Kate says, grabbing it and taking a huge bite, getting the icing all over her face.

"Mommy!" Tess shouts, running into the kitchen, her long pigtails swinging wildly. "Can I have lipstick?"

"Yes, but come eat first. We'll put some on after, okay?" Carol says, taking the pink tube of lipgloss from her daughter and setting it out of reach on the table. Tess climbs into her seat and starts eating the food her dad sets in front of her.

And for the first time that morning, the Ross house is silent save for the electrical hum of appliances and the sounds of chewing and the occasional sip of a drink.

[] []

It's a mad rush to finish getting ready and out the door. Breakfast dishes are stuffed into the dishwasher, ten tiny fingers and two identical faces are wiped free of sticky icing, four feet are slipped into shoes that complete two little girls' special birthday outfits: grey leggings, a layered ombre pink skirt and a pink and white baseball tee with 'Birthday Princess' written on it in glittery pink cursive. Tess' lips are smeared with a layer of pink gloss before a lime green jacket is slipped over her arms and she is herded out of the house with her mom to start the car.

Finally, everyone is in the car headed to work and preschool. Kate and Tess chatter happily about their plans to spend the day and sing along to the music on the radio, and their parents smother laughs when the toddlers get the lyrics wrong. Traffic is average for that time of day and eventually, Doug pulls the car into the hospital's parking garage.

[] []

A few hours later Doug and Carol took the elevator up from the ER to the daycare to watch their girls enjoy their birthday cupcakes with their friends. To say their day had been busy would be an understatement, and once the elevator door close, Carol instantly relishes the quiet, leaning back against the wall and taking a few deep breaths.

"You know there is talk from upstairs of me becoming an official Peds attending," Doug says, confiding the secret to his wife.

"Really? Oh my god! Doug, that's amazing!": Carol cheers, smiling. She steps off the wall and kisses him, still smiling. "You gonna get it, I know you are."

"But if I do get it it will mean longer hours and me not working much with you anymore. And not seeing the girls."

"We'll figure it out," Carol says, grabbing his hand. "We will," she looks up at him, eyes big and serious. "We will."

And suddenly the bell rings, the doors open and they are on their floor.

"I mean after today, I don't even think I wanna take it," Doug continues as they walk down the hall. "I loved what we did down there. That rush, us doing our thing, helping sick kids. I loved it."

"But like you said, you don't even know if you got it. So let's not get all worked up. When we know, we'll talk about it."

"You're the best, you know that?" He asks, dropping their hands and wrapping his arm around her shoulder and kissing her.

They're both smiling as they enter the primary colored daycare classroom, watching as all of the kids get settled into chairs at colored tables. They pick out Tess and Kate right away; hard to miss two little girls wearing crowns made out of construction paper. When the twins notice their parents, they squeal and dash over.

"Mommy! Do you see my crown! I'm a princess!" Kate says, grabbing onto her mom excitedly.

"I see, baby," Carol grins, straightening the lopsided pink crown. "Just like a princess."

Tess had pulled her dad over and was showing him the project they had made that day using crayons and paper to make rubbings of fall leaves.

"Can we have cupcakes now?" Kate asks their teacher, running over to where the treats sit on a high counter before getting an answer.

"Yes, will you help me?"

"Yes!" Tess and Kate answer eagerly. Their teacher hands Tess a stack of napkins and Kate a bin full of juice boxes and tells them to hand out one to each kid. It's a slow process, but eventually, everyone has one and are excitedly waiting for the completion to their snack.

The teacher tells Tess and Kate to sit and starts handing out cupcakes. She reminds the kids of the 'birthday kid has to take a bite before you can eat' rule and switches the empty plastic trays for a lighter.

Carol leans into Doug, suddenly getting emotional, watching as the teacher lights a candle in each of her daughter's cupcakes and leads the class in the Happy Birthday song. She watches as Tess and Kate blow out their candles and smile widely as they dig in.

They look so grown up sitting at a table with their preschool friends. But still so young with their tiny hands and fingers and little, delicate features. Tess with her swinging pigtails and Kate with her braids. Both girls with blue frosting all over their faces.

Her babies really aren't babies anymore.