"No, Alexander, put that down." Aaron's command attracted Alexander's attention, and he felt hope flare up in his chest.
"No," Alexander stated, looking Aaron directly in the eye as he threw another Mega Blok at Thomas. Luckily, none of them had hit the other child. Yet.
Aaron sighed and turned back to the tower he was building. Why he was stuck with this task, he didn't know. Peggy claimed it was to show the babies how to use the blocks and so they could knock the tower down, but he was certain she had taken a picture of him and had an ulterior motive. It seemed like a job she would enjoy more than he did, but no, she was just sitting on the couch with her sisters, watching the chaos unfold.
Chaos it was. Hercules had figured out how to use his push walker and discovered that leaning forward allowed him to go faster. So now they had a running baby to look after. That was George's job. Aaron reminded himself to ask the Schuylers to get some baby gates.
He felt a sudden pressure on his back and twisted to see John trying to crawl onto his head. John let out a laugh at being caught and tried to hoist himself up once again. Aaron picked him up and put him down next to his turtle a few feet away.
Aaron reached for another block for the tower and felt a smaller hand on it. Looking up, he made eye contact with Alexander.
"Don't–" he called out, but Alexander had already yanked the block out of Aaron's grasp and threw it at Thomas. Thomas, who was curled protectively around James, stuck out his tongue at Alexander, which only aggravated him more. He reached for another block, and Aaron made the quick decision that the tower was tall enough to be knocked over.
"Here." Aaron gestured to the tower desperately. "You can knock this down." Aaron held his breath as Alexander studied the tower and experimentally tossed a block at it. Unfortunately for Aaron, Alexander's aim was still terrible, and the block hit the side of his head. As Alexander reached for another block, Aaron took his hand.
"Stop throwing blocks," he told him. Alexander pouted, then walked straight into the tower, effectively demolishing it in a moment. He looked Aaron in the eye, then picked up a block from the demolished tower and flung it at Thomas. This block landed only a few inches away from the intended target, and Aaron decided it might be time to move on from the blocks.
Hercules ran past, pushing his walker at an incredible speed and screeching excitedly. He headed for a doorway that led into a different room, and George slipped in front of it just in time to stop him. Hercules crashed into him, then turned the walker in a different direction and started over. George followed, out of breath.
Yep, Aaron thought. We need baby gates.
He felt the pressure return to his head, stronger this time. Turning around carefully, Aaron saw Alexander standing beside him, grinning unabashedly. The pressure was still there, and a small hand slipped down on his forehead.
Suppressing a sigh, Aaron removed John from his head and placed him on the ground next to Alexander. He caught the Schuylers watching him and looked over at them desperately.
Peggy waved from her seat on the edge of the couch. "You're doing great," she called to him.
"You could help," Aaron countered.
"Nah." She leaned on the back of the couch between her sisters.
"You seem to have it under control," Angelica observed as Alexander threw another block at Thomas, this time landing a direct hit.
Aaron groaned. He picked up a furious Thomas and tried in vain to get him to calm down while Alexander smirked up at him.
Eliza took pity on Aaron and got up from the couch to help him.
"Thank you," Aaron whispered as he handed Thomas to her.
"You might want to change games," Eliza advised.
"I was about to," Aaron muttered. Spotting the music set lying untouched on the ground, he picked it up. Lafayette noticed what he was doing and squirmed from where he was sitting.
"He's older than John, right?" Peggy asked. "Why doesn't he crawl or stand?"
"Babies develop at different rates," Angelica reminded her. "And I bet he can crawl, but he just wants everything handed to him." Louder, she addressed Aaron. "Don't give it to him. Let him come to you."
Sure enough, after a few moments, Lafayette realized he wouldn't get the music set, and he reluctantly began to crawl to Aaron, grumbling the whole way.
"It puts him in a bad mood," Peggy observed.
"He'll get used to it," Angelica waved it off.
Eliza had managed to calm Thomas down, and she placed him back in his place beside James, who was now chewing on a bright yellow stacking ring. A loud crash rang through the room, drawing everyone's attention to Hercules once again.
He had apparently pushed the walker so fast he couldn't keep up with it and faceplanted on the floor. He stood up slowly and began running once again, wailing loudly the whole time.
"Oh, god," George muttered as he followed close behind him.
Lafayette pulled a maraca out of the music set and began to clumsily shake his arm up and down. Fascinated by the sound it made, John crawled over and took the other one.
Aaron was starting to get a headache from all the noise.
Alexander wobbled over and looked curiously at the drum. Aaron groaned and began to pull it away.
"No!" Alexander cried out, reaching out toward it. His bottom lip began to tremble, and Aaron quickly gave the drum back to him. He happily grabbed the drumsticks in his fists and began to hit the drum much harder than necessary.
He still has the same sense of rhythm, Aaron noted, wincing as he thought back to when Alexander and Lafayette had played the air guitar.
Hercules's wail got particularly loud, and Eliza stood up. "I'm going to make food for them," she announced as she began to walk towards the kitchen.
"I'd better help." Angelica began to follow her sister. "There's a lot more people than usual."
"Sorry," George apologized as he rushed past to prevent Hercules from going into the bathroom.
"No, you're fine," Peggy called in his general direction. "We don't mind."
James turned his head toward the "music" with interest. He slowly began crawling towards Lafayette, John, and Alexander. Lafayette got bored with his maraca and set it down, moving onto a xylophone. James picked the abandoned maraca and began to shake it carefully.
Alexander eyed James, then turned his attention back to the drum. Aaron breathed a sigh of relief, then, catching sight of Thomas, he realized he had relaxed too soon.
Thomas was glancing between Alexander and the drum. Babbling aggressively, he crawled toward Alexander and reached to take a drumstick from him. Alexander barely spared him a glance before throwing a drumstick and hitting him right in the forehead. Thomas let out a screech, picked up the drumstick, and began to hit Alexander with it. Alexander grabbed the drumstick and tried to pull it back, but Thomas would not relent.
Aaron, who was trying to decide how to intervene without making one of the children even more distressed, sent Peggy a desperate look. Peggy rolled her eyes good-naturedly and got up from the couch.
"C'mere," she whispered to Thomas, scooping him up. Thomas protested and waved his arms toward the drum, but Peggy only rubbed his back.
"I know," she soothed, bringing him back to the couch. "You can have a turn later." She sat down and set Thomas on her lap, making sure he was fully facing her and unable to see Alexander.
Thomas began to rant angrily, and it was hard for Peggy to keep a smile off her face. It was awfully cute, though she knew any outward signs of that fact would only aggravate him further. Instead, she settled for gently running her hands through his hair. Thomas let out a startled noise and stiffened, but he soon began to relax into her touch. His gestures slowly became less aggressive, as did his tone of voice, and soon he was making soft sounds of content.
"That's it," Peggy encouraged as she brought his hair into a ponytail. She paused. Something about that seemed familiar. A giggle from John got her attention, and she looked over to see Lafayette gently poking his side with the xylophone mallets.
So that's what was familiar.
"Angie! 'Liza! Do you have a hair tie?" Peggy called out, startling Thomas.
"Check my bathroom," Angelica called back.
"I don't wanna get up," Peggy whined. Sighing, she pulled out her own hair tie and used it to tie Thomas's hair in a ponytail. Thomas began to shift, and she picked him up and held him against her hip.
"Look," she said to Aaron, picking up Lafayette in her other arm. "Don't they look similar?"
Aaron squinted first at Lafayette, then at Thomas. "No?" he said hesitantly. "Other than the hair, I mean."
"How do you not see it?" Peggy jerked her head in an attempt to get her hair away from her face. It didn't work. "Eliza! Come here," she yelled, setting a squirming Lafayette down on the ground. "I need you to tell me Burr's wrong."
"Burr's definitely wrong, whatever it is," Angelica said from the kitchen as Eliza made her way back to the living room.
"Thanks, Angelica," Aaron deadpanned.
"There's more where that came from," she responded cheerily.
Eliza entered the room, looking quizzically at Peggy. "What's going on?"
Peggy pointed between Lafayette and Thomas. "Tell me they look similar."
Before Eliza could answer, Hercules ran between them and fell on his face once again. He didn't bother to get up this time; he just wailed into the ground right where he fell. George picked him up and held him against his chest.
Eliza watched Hercules sympathetically. "He's probably tired and hungry. He's been running around for a while now."
"Eliza!" Peggy tried to get her sister's attention impatiently.
Turning back to Lafayette and Thomas, Eliza inspected each carefully. "I guess… they do look a little similar," she concluded.
"What do you mean a little?" Peggy exclaimed indignantly. "They're practically identical! Does anyone else see this, or am I going crazy?"
"You're going crazy," came Angelica's voice from the kitchen.
"You know what, Angie? Fu–"
"Children," Eliza reminded her.
"Frick you," Peggy amended.
Aaron choked back a laugh as Eliza gave Peggy a look. "They're foul-mouthed as adults, you think that's going to change anything?"
Eliza shifted the Look to Aaron. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have that become Alexander's new favorite word."
Alexander looked up at the sound of his name. "Fick?" he asked.
Eliza smacked Peggy's arm. "You see what you've done?"
"It's better than the actual word." Peggy shrugged.
"I mean, that's fair." Turning to Alexander, she gently scolded him: "Don't say that again, okay?"
Alexander stood up. "Fick fick fick fick fick!" he shouted, pushing against Aaron's back and looking up at Eliza with a huge grin.
Aaron groaned. That's not going away anytime soon.
George looked over at Alexander and shook his head. "No, son. That's not a nice word."
Alexander toddled over and tugged on George's shirt as he looked up at him with wide eyes. "No fick?" he asked innocently.
George nodded. "No fick," he repeated.
Peggy snorted not-so-subtly. Thomas began to wriggle and reached out toward the abandoned drum, which had once again attracted his attention.
"Okay, you can go now," Peggy decided, setting him down while Alexander was distracted. Thomas took a step, then crawled the rest of the way over to the drum. He used the drumsticks to hit it a few times, and James began to shake his maraca more intensely, clearly happy to be playing with his friend.
Upon hearing the noise, Alexander turned back toward the drum and promptly fell down. He crawled angrily to where Thomas was sitting, but then stopped in confusion and looked between Thomas and Lafayette.
"See?" Peggy gestured to Alexander. "He knows what's up."
Thomas glared at Alexander as he continued to play the drum. The hair tie, which was already loose, fell out; and Thomas's hair returned to its usual poofy state.
"FICK!" Alexander screamed, pushing Thomas over. Thomas grabbed hold of Alexander's ponytail and yanked it, only causing Alexander's screams to grow louder.
"That's enough," George said, setting Hercules down and picking Alexander up. Hercules crawled back to his walker and began to run once again. Sighing, Aaron got to his feet and followed him around the house, ready to stop him if he tried to go anywhere he wasn't supposed to.
Alexander grabbed George's shirt in his fists and began talking rapidly. George couldn't make out any words, but it was clear he was distressed, so he began to pace around the room in an attempt to help him relax.
Lafayette watched George walk past him and raised his arms up, holding his croissant in one hand and clearly wanting to be picked up. Shifting Alexander into one arm, George complied, and the two babies cooed contently at each other.
"Hold up," Peggy called, running into the kitchen. "I've got just the thing." She ran back out a moment later, holding the double baby sling. "Put this on." She took Alexander and Lafayette from George while he put it on, then helped him put one in each sling. The sling held both babies in front of George, with one next to each of his arms. Alexander reached out to Lafayette, and Lafayette reached back and grabbed his hands, squealing happily. George looked down at them, smiling, then looked back at Peggy as he heard the click of a photo being taken. She winked at him.
"Can you bring two of them?" Eliza called from the kitchen. "The food's done."
"Go on," Peggy said to George, making shooing motions with her hands. "They need to eat."
"Shouldn't Hercules eat first?" George asked. "He was getting fussy, it's only going to get worse as time goes by."
"Yeah, but Burr's still trying to catch him," Peggy responded, glancing back to where Aaron was keeping a careful eye on Hercules. He looked up at her.
"I could catch him if I wanted to," he protested. "I just think it'll only upset him more."
"Suuure," Peggy drawled, turning back to George. "Really, though, you should take them."
"Okay." George headed into the kitchen, though not before Alexander turned to face Thomas.
"Bye bye, fick," he said loudly, smiling cheekily.
"No fick!" Peggy called out, trying to hide her laughter.
George sighed and where he was greeted by two high chairs set up next to a small table.
Eliza bustled over to him and took Lafayette out of the sling. He tugged gently on her hair as she strapped him in a high chair, and George did the same for Alexander.
Angelica brought the food over. "They may have a preference on whether they want to feed themselves or be fed," she warned.
George nodded slowly as she passed a bowl to him. "I'll keep that in mind." He turned to Alexander, scooped some food into a spoon, and held it out for him to eat.
Alexander slapped his arm away. "No no no," he shouted, his voice gradually increasing in volume.
Okay. George took a breath. "Do you want feed yourself?" he asked, putting the spoon back in the bowl and holding it out towards Alexander.
Alexander reached out to hit the bowl away, and George pulled it back just in time. "No!" he repeated firmly.
"You need to eat," George explained softly. "You'll feel better, I promise." Alexander looked at him doubtfully. "Please? Do it for me?"
Alexander continued to look at him but didn't say anything. When George held out another spoonful of food, Alexander hesitated before reluctantly opening his mouth. Watching him eat that first bite felt like a huge victory for George.
Meanwhile, Eliza was trying to get Lafayette to eat. She held out a spoonful of food, and Lafayette dropped his croissant to take it from her as it approached him. He screwed up his face in concentration and carefully put it in his mouth.
Eliza set the bowl where he could reach it, and Lafayette began to clumsily feed himself. Upon seeing his friend eat, Alexander reached out toward his own bowl and grunted. George handed him the bowl, and he too began to feed himself.
Soon both bowls were empty, and Lafayette slowly stretched his arms up towards George. George unbuckled him from the high chair and let him lean against his chest. Lafayette's hand curled into a fist and he gently wrapped his arm around the back of George's neck as he struggled to stay awake. George rubbed Lafayette's back slowly, and soon he was fast asleep in George's arms.
Eliza noticed this and smiled softly. "We can put him in a Pack 'N Play so he doesn't wake up," she whispered. "Follow me."
She led him into the guest room and began to put together one of the Pack 'N Plays. George was about to set Lafayette on a chair so he could help, but Eliza stopped him.
"Don't bother," she told him. "I've got this."
She finished quickly and pushed the Pack 'N Play against the wall. George gently placed Lafayette in the center, and Eliza put his croissant next to him. They watched him for a moment, and Lafayette made a noise in his sleep.
"I've got to help feed the others," Eliza whispered to George. "You can stay if you want, though." She quietly left the room.
George gave himself one minute with the sleeping Lafayette. He looked so peaceful lying on his back, sound asleep as if there wasn't a problem in the world. George found himself thinking back to how both Lafayette's parents had died in his youth. In one of his few moments of seriousness, Lafayette had once mentioned that he was only two when his father died. He had said that he didn't have many memories of his father, and when he had needed a father figure in his life, there was no one.
George smiled sadly to himself. It was about time for that to change.
Alexander was less than happy at being left behind in the kitchen. Angelica had released him after he had began to squirm impatiently, and once he was back in the living room, she and Eliza had taken John and Hercules to eat something. His unhappiness only increased at his friends being taken away.
So what else to do than bother Thomas?
Unfortunately for him, his plan was foiled when Peggy picked him up. "Leave him alone," she advised as she swung him onto her shoulders. "Let's go bother Burr."
Alexander babbled angrily as he repeatedly hit Peggy's head. She took him off her shoulders, frowning.
"What's wrong?" she asked, inspecting him carefully. Alexander made wild gestures with his arms as tears began to form in his eyes.
"Woah, okay, we can fix this. Don't worry," Peggy went into the kitchen, still holding Alexander. "Eliza? Alexander's in a bad mood."
"Fick," Alexander huffed as Peggy passed him to Eliza.
"No fick," Peggy and Angelica countered at the same time. Alexander whipped his head around to glare at Peggy. "Or, you know, fick," she corrected herself, raising her hands in surrender.
John made a happy noise and raised his arms up, excited to see Alexander. Alexander looked over at him, but didn't seem to cheer up very much.
"Maybe he needs a nap?" Eliza suggested. "Lafayette fell asleep almost right after he finished eating, I'm sure he's exhausted."
"No!" Alexander yelled. "No no no no no!"
"He doesn't seem to like that idea," Peggy observed. "Shame, really, sleeping's the best. Wish I could take naps."
"No one's stopping you," Angelica told her as she fed John another bite of food.
"Hey, I don't want to miss something just because I went to sleep for a few hours."
"Shh," Eliza shushed her sisters and began to slowly rock back and forth, holding onto Alexander tightly. The room fell silent except for the soft noises of John and Hercules eating. Slowly but surely, Alexander's eyelids began to droop. His movements became less and less energetic, and after a few minutes, he allowed himself to rest his head against Eliza's shoulder. She stood still for a moment to make sure he would not awaken immediately, then began slowly walking to the guest room.
"Yas queen!" Peggy whisper-yelled after her. Eliza smiled and shook her head fondly.
George passed Eliza on his way out of the guest room. His eyes widened as he realized he had left Alexander alone. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, half to Eliza, half to Alexander, even though he knew the child couldn't hear him.
"It's okay," Eliza reassured him. "He just need some encouragement to sleep. He's fine."
"I left him." George shook his head. He had left Alexander in favor of Lafayette. "That's not okay."
"Hey." Eliza stopped and faced him. "Just because one needs your attention at the moment doesn't mean you don't care for anyone else. You did fine."
George sighed. "You're right," he said, offering Eliza a small smile. "Thanks." He started walking again, but Eliza could tell he hadn't quite forgiven himself yet.
She set Alexander down in another Pack 'N Play, and quietly backed out of the room. By the time she got back to the kitchen, Hercules and John had finished eating and had gone back to the couch.
Aaron had carried James into the kitchen, and was now feeding him out of a bottle. He glanced up briefly as Eliza entered, then turned back to the baby in his arms.
Thomas was being problematic. No matter what Peggy or Angelica offered him, he refused to eat.
"Is there anything you want?" Angelica asked. Thomas only huffed in response. Angelica sighed and took him out of the high chair.
"Tell you what," she said as she walked over to the cabinet. "I'll show you what we have, and you can choose anything, as long as it's soft enough."
While Thomas was digging in the cabinet, they heard a thud. After exchanging a look with her sisters, Peggy stepped out to see what had happened. It appeared that Hercules had started to run with his walker again, and now he was lying facedown on the ground once again. Truth be told, she wasn't surprised. She moved to pick him up and found that he was half asleep. Chuckling to herself, she leaned him over her shoulder and looked up at George, who was sitting on the couch with John curled up beside him.
"I'm going to put him in the room," Peggy half-whispered, half-mouthed to him. George nodded and stood up.
"I'll bring John in, too." Together, they put each child in a separate Pack 'N Play.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Thomas clutched the Kraft Mac 'n Cheese box to his chest and cheered.
Angelica sighed. "I did promise," she reluctantly agreed. "But this is a one-time thing," she told Thomas, pointing a finger at him. "Don't get used to it."
Thomas gave her a look that clearly said he was already used to it.
As Angelica put Thomas down and began making the pasta, James slowly began to stop drinking the formula in his bottle. His eyes had closed a few moments before, and now Aaron was stuck awkwardly holding the sleeping baby.
"Um, Eliza?" Aaron asked. "I think James is asleep."
"Not surprising," Eliza said, coming over to him. "Everyone else is asleep, too, except for Thomas. Put him in the guest room in one of the Pack 'N Plays."
Aaron obediently followed Eliza's instructions, and paused a moment before walking back out of the room. These were his coworkers, and yes, it was strange, but he still felt a protective instinct when he was around them. It's probably a side effect of their newly-acquired youth, he supposed as he left the room and joined George in the living room.
Back in the kitchen, Peggy was in the midst of a crisis.
"I was saving that box of mac 'n cheese!" she exclaimed to Angelica.
"It was the only thing Thomas wanted," Angelica explained tiredly, stirring the mac 'n cheese in a saucepan.
"But that was the last one!" Peggy sighed and dramatically collapsed in a chair. "You better enjoy it," she jokingly threatened Thomas. Thomas waved happily at her, kicking his legs in anticipation.
"He looks excited," she commented. Angelica poured the mac 'n cheese into a bowl and set it down in front of Thomas. He dug in messily, squealing eagerly between bites.
When he finished, he pushed the bowl away from him, and it was saved from shattering on the ground only by Peggy's fast reflexes.
"Be careful," Peggy scolded gently as she moved to wash the bowl. Shifting her gaze from Peggy to Thomas, Angelica noticed his movements were starting to become more forced. She carefully picked him up and brought him to the guest room.
"See?" she whispered in Thomas's ear, pointing to James. "James is sleeping. You can sleep, too, if you want." Thomas nodded slowly, and Angelica placed him in the last Pack 'N Play. She watched as his movements came to a stop and his eyes slid shut.
Before leaving the room, Angelica plugged in the baby monitor and turned it on. She headed to the living room, where she found Eliza and Peggy were sitting across from Aaron and George.
Angelica joined her sisters on the couch. "Well," she said, looking around the room. "That was unsuccessful."