Chapter 33: Kid Swap
Hey guys, welcome to another chapter! Hope you all enjoy. Thank you all for your lovely reviews on the last chapter! I would really appreciate it if you could read the note at the end of the chapter an respond :)
Clary and Simon were playing with Phoebe and Jamie in Simon's backyard, when Jamie falls back laughing in the grass.
"He seems happy," Simon says, picking Phoebe up and holding her above his head, blowing raspberries into her stomach.
"He is, I think," Clary says, bending down to tickle her son's exposed stomach.
"So everything's sorted out with the twins then?" Simon asks, placing B up onto his shoulders. He begins walking under the trees so she can try and grab some of the leaves.
"Not in the slightest," Clary says, laying down next to her still laughing son, "why do you think we're spending so much time over here?"
"I thought it was because Jace was working and you were lonely," Simon says, smiling at her.
"I'm not lonely," Clary says, "you can't be lonely with three children under three - trust me, I've tried. And Jace isn't even working that much, only a couple of hours a day - tops."
"Considering he doesn't have to do anything at the moment, that's a fair amount," Simon says, gently placing B on the ground next to James. They snuggle up to each other and begin whispering nonsense to each other.
Clary smiles at them before turning to Simon, "and why are you under the impression that my husband doesn't have to work?"
"Izzy told me that he's taking some time off," Simon says, sitting down on the ground next to Clary.
"From filming - he's still writing. He's going to direct his next movie," Clary says, wiggling her eyebrows.
"A man of many talents," Simon says, laying down on his back.
"We're very proud," Clary tells him, laying down as well. The four of them lay in the grass for a while longer, Simon and Clary watching the cloud drift lazily across the sky, while Jamie and B continue their hushed conversation of baby babble.
"So what are you going to do about the twins," Simon eventually asks, breaking the silence.
"We've got some plans in motion," Clary says, and subconsciously puts her hands over her stomach. She moves them back to the grass before Simon notices anything. "But in the meantime, I'm just trying to figure out why they don't all get along. I can see that Jamie makes an effort sometimes, but I don't really blame him for not trying. Ella seems to think she's only allowed to play with her brother."
"Have you tried telling her that James is also her brother?" Simon asks, smirking.
"Oh wow, we didn't think of that, Einstein," Clary says, lightly hitting him on the chest. "Of course we've tried explaining. I think she just chooses not to listen."
"I wonder where she gets that from?" Simon says.
"Hey! I always got along with my brother - and your sister for, actually," Clary says defensively.
"But you're also famously stubborn," Simon says.
"Jace is too!" Clary says, refusing to accept what Simon is saying.
"So is it any wonder you have a stubborn child - I think you've just got to give her a bit of time," Simon says, chuckling as Clary rolls her eyes.
"I guess I really don't have another choice," Clary says, slowly sitting up.
"She'll come around," Simon says, sitting up as well.
"Hopefully," Clary says, "I should really get going, but thanks for everything Simon."
"I'm always here to talk," Simon says, standing and then pulling Clary to her feet.
"Come on bubba," Clary says, walking over to Jamie and Phoebe, "it's time to go home."
After a moment of hesitation, James hugs Phoebe and then holds onto his mom's outstretched hand.
"Bye!" Jamie calls out, looking over his shoulder at B.
"Goo bye!" B calls back, waving her pudgy little hand.
"Was that fun?" Clary asks James as they are driving back to their house.
Clary looks in her mirror and sees Jamie nodding his head enthusiastically. "We'll come back soon, yeah?"
He lets out an excited noise and they sing along to the radio for the rest of the ride home.
"I think you should hang out with Jamie today," Clary says.
"Look, Simon's a great guy and everything, but I don't really need to spend a whole day with him," Jace says, while bouncing a squealing Teddy up and down on his knee.
"I mean, you could do a lot worse than Simon," Clary says, "but he's busy today - you'll be hanging out with Izzy. And that's only if you actually want to go see Phoebe. Jamie loves it, but I'm sure he'd be happy doing something else."
"Oh," Jace says, "well then maybe I could go over - but we've got a good thing going here."
"You need to spend time with James, and I need to spend time with the twins," Clary says. "He's an easy kid. You'll do fine."
"Whatever you say honey," Jace says, and lowers Teddy onto the ground, kisses Clary on the side of the head and then goes over to James to tell him that he'll be taking him to see B today.
"What do you two want to do today?" Clary asks the twins a little while after Jace and James have left.
Just as Ella is about to reply, Clary feels a lurch in her stomach and rushes towards the toilet. Her morning sickness had started about a week ago, but really seemed to be ramping up recently.
"Mommy 'ick?" Teddy asks when Clary comes back out of the bathroom.
"Mommy's fine, beautiful boy. I've just got a funny tummy!" Clary tells him.
"Why?" Ella asks. Clary and Jace had brought up how to tell the twins she was pregnant. They figured that they would be able to notice a lot sooner than James. They had originally planned to tell them when Clary's stomach started getting bigger. She definitely wasn't going to tell them now while Jace wasn't here.
"I think it's something I ate," Clary tells them. They look at each other, and Clary explains, "sometimes, when you eat something that isn't good, it can make your tummy not feel so good. But you two didn't eat it, so you're both okay."
They nod back at her, and each hug one of her legs.
"Thank you babies," she says, rubbing both of their heads. "Now, what do you want to do today?"
"Dog!" Ella calls out suddenly.
"You want to go see some dogs?" Clary asks her.
"Dog!" Teddy confirms.
"Do you go see dogs with daddy?" Clary asks, unsure about where she's meant to go find any dogs. They both nod, so Clary helps them both get dressed and into their car seats, all the while thinking about where they could go see dogs. She first thought about going to a shelter, but she doubted that they frequently went to animal shelters. Either they or Jace would have told her by now. She decided just to drive to one of the parks close to their house, and sure enough there was a dog park there.
Once Clary gets them both out of the car, they rush towards the dog park, and start pointing at their favourite ones. Many of the dog owners let them pet the dogs, and so they spend a while there. A few people come up to take photos with Clary, but for the most part they go undisturbed. Clary takes them both out for lunch, and by the time they get home Jace is already home with James.
Jace is in the kitchen making lunch while Jamie is on the ground playing with Honky. When Ella and Teddy see Jace they run up to him and hug his legs, and he quickly drops down to hug them back.
Jamie smiles up at Clary, but looks pretty tired.
"I think it's nap time soon!" Clary says, and the twins start arguing, and Clary understands that they don't want to go to sleep before Jamie.
"Once Jamie's eaten his lunch then everyone can go have a quick sleep - mommy included!" Clary says, and then lifts Jamie up into his high chair so he can eat lunch.
"Are you okay?" Jace asks quietly once all the kids are occupied.
"Just tired," Clary says, gently resting her hand on her flat stomach. "Who knew it would make you tired growing another human inside you?"
"I think I remember something about that…" Jace says, kissing the side of her head.
Clary takes James to bed while Jace puts the twins away, and he soon joins Clary in their room.
"How are Izzy and B?" Clary asks quietly while laying on the bed with her eyes closed.
"They're good," Jace answers, and she feels him lay down on the bed next to her. "It's kind of weird hanging out with just Iz and not talking about work."
"It's good to have friends," Clary says, smiling a little bit.
"Seems like B and James are already good friends," Jace says.
"You already knew that," Clary tells him. She rolls onto her side and opens her eyes a little bit. "How was Jamie?"
"You were right - he's a lot easier to handle than the twins," Jace says, "but I've always loved a challenge. What about you, what did you get up to?"
"We went to the park for a bit, and then got lunch," Clary says, yawning.
"Go to sleep baby," Jace says, "but I do need to talk to you about dogs when you wake up."
Too tired to question him further, Clary rolls back onto her back and quickly drifts off to sleep.
It turns out that Jace had suggested to the twins that they might be able to get a dog. Clary didn't hate the idea. But she first had to make sure that Jamie and Honky would both be okay with having a dog.
When they take James to the park the next day, he quickly becomes obsessed with the dogs, and it seems to be something he and the twins actually get along about, which makes Clary think it's an even better idea.
They get their friends to bring over their dog a few days later, and Honky seems pretty indifferent to another animal being in the house, so Clary gives the dog the idea the go ahead.
Over the next few weeks, they visit shelters looking for a puppy that everyone in the family gets along with, and they finally settle on a golden Labrador. Since Clary got to name their cat, she tells Jace that he can name their dog, since the kids are still too young to come up with anything usable.
Jace eventually comes up with Alfred, after his favourite director Alfred Hitchcock, but he quickly becomes known as Alfie.
They have everyone over to meet Alfred, and Jace puts music on. Clary rolls her eyes as one of her songs begins playing, but notices that the twins start bopping along and trying to dance to it straight away, so she doesn't say anything, and instead watches them dance to the music.
Hope you liked that! I was really hoping that you guys would have some ideas of what you would like to see in this story. I know the big events that I want to happen, and generally how I want the story to go, but I'm struggling to come up with anyways to actually make the chapters enjoyable to read! Sorry if this chapter felt a little stilled, and please share any ideas you might have! I hope you're all happy and healthy and I'll see you at the next chapter :)