"Come on you, let's go and see if we can see something in the garden" Harry told Gabriel as he carried the crying baby downstairs, he had given him some more baby medicine and he hoped it started working soon. "Leave mummy to have some more sleep"

This was the fourth time either of them had been up with Gabriel since they had gone to bed three hours before but they hadn't been able to give him any medicine for his hurting ear until now.

"Daddy is going to go and get some proper medicine to make you all better" Harry continued as he turned the light on in the downstairs hallway and then opened the living room door, turning that light on as well and stepping into the room. "Because I hate it when you are ill and I can't do anything about it"

Gabriel continued to cry against his naked shoulder, Harry feeling his baby's tears on his skin as he picked up a tissue from the box he was passing and then gently wiped Gabriel's running nose as well as his cheeks. Making his way over to the double French doors at the back of the living room Harry leant against the wall next to them, moving Gabriel to his other shoulder so the little boy could see out if he so wished, the light from the room bathing a bit of the garden in a glow so they could see out.

"We sometimes get foxes in the garden" Harry explained to his son, kissing his soft blonde hair gently as he spoke "And hedgehogs as well, that's only a night though. Well we sometimes get hedgehogs in the early evening" he breathed in the comforting smell of his child as Gabriel began to calm down listening to his father speak to him "You have to look after your little brother Gabriel okay? Because he can't hear anything. That doesn't make him any less capable of anything but I want you to always look out for him just in case, I'm sure you will anyway, you're both very attached to each other now aren't you? But a lot of people won't understand what's wrong with him and will try to make out that he's different, well he is but not in a bad way, but you can defend him when mummy and daddy aren't there and keep him safe"

Gabriel let out a loud sob and brought his small hand to his infected ear, more tears falling down his cheeks before Harry gently wiped them away and pushed away from the wall, walking over to the sofa and sitting down. He settled Gabriel into his arms and cradled him against his chest, his son's head on his shoulder and the rest of his small body pressed against Harry's torso as his cries began to weaken again as the medicine took effect and made him drowsy.

"Mummy and daddy are going to give you and Donny the best life we can" Harry informed Gabriel quietly "Because we're going to study hard and become doctors and people will know that just because we had you two at a young age it doesn't mean we're bad people who don't know what we're doing" he smiled at his son as Gabriel smiled up at him, his green eyes filled with tears as his bottom lip trembled slightly "And you never know you might get some more younger brothers or sisters as well, mummy and daddy want more children but we haven't decided when. And of course we're going to get married as well" Harry's smile grew as he continued to talk "Mummy will look even more beautiful in a wedding dress and you and Donny are going to be handsome pageboys" he then realised that Gabriel had fallen asleep and chuckled "I don't know whether to be offended or not"

Harry carefully stood up so he didn't jog his son too much, not wanting to have to calm him down again if he woke him up. He then walked from the room and turned off the light with his elbow, doing the same to the hallway light before carefully making his way upstairs and back to the nursery.

Nikki shifted in the bed as Harry climbed back in and she turned onto her back so she could look at him through the dark.

"Is he okay?"

"I thought you were asleep" Harry chuckled quietly as he snuggled up to his lover, draping one arm over her waist and kissing her cheek.

"I heard you putting him back" Nikki replied just as quietly, moving back into his strong body despite the warm night, the windows open so a cool breeze could circulate the room.

"He's fine, I gave him some medicine and we went downstairs to look out at the garden" Harry told her and Nikki chuckled slightly, entwining the hand that he had draped over her stomach with her own and squeezing it gently. "He settled down quickly though"

"The medicine knocked him out" Nikki amended and Harry nodded against her shoulder as he pressed a soft kiss to her skin before laying his head on the pillow, his lover moving so she could nestle her head underneath his chin as she closed her eyes and let out a contented sigh. "I can't wait to go to university"

"Neither can I" Harry smiled through the dark as he stroked her hand with his thumb.

"It'll be fun I think, better than school"

"A lot better than school" Harry agreed with his lover and his thumb caught the engagement ring on her finger "Nikki?"

"Hmm?"

"When do you want to get married?"

"I was thinking about that earlier before bed" Nikki admitted as she opened her eyes again and peered into the darkness of the room "I was thinking about after our first year of university maybe, during the summer so the weather is nice, the boys will be almost two and.." she paused "That's pretty terrifying. But it gives us a year to plan it and book everything"

"You are full of bright ideas" Harry chuckled and Nikki giggled loudly, nudging his chin with her head as she did so.

"I know"

"We'll talk about it more in the morning"

"Okay" Nikki nodded, closing her eyes and snuggling back into him a little bit more "I love you"

"I love you"

"Morning" Nikki smiled as she walked out of the bathroom and saw Harry just making his way back into the bedroom.

"Good morning beautiful" Harry replied with a grin as he walked over and wrapped his arms around his lover's waist, pulling her closer to him as she looped her arms around his neck.

"How long have you been up?" she then asked as she pulled away from the kiss, Harry resting his forehead on hers.

"Long enough to brush my teeth and check on the boys" Harry replied, Nikki nodded and extracting herself from his arms before walking back over to the bed.

"Are they okay?" Nikki enquired as she climbed back onto the bed and pushed the sheet away from her feet.

"They're fine, they're both still asleep surprisingly" Harry nodded as he too climbed onto the bed and pulled Nikki down so she was laying on her back, his lover giggling loudly as he did so and making him grin at her. He ran his hands up her bare legs until he reached her sleeping shorts before leaning down and nuzzling her stomach which had been exposed slightly when her t-shirt had been pulled up. "So, what shall I do with you? Hmm?"

"I can think of a few things" Nikki told him as she ran one hand through his hair, tugging at the strands gently and making him moan slightly, she made her point clear though as he moved up her body and pressed his lips to hers in a soft but passionate kiss, resting his hands either side of her waist on the bed as Nikki wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand still buried in his hair.

"So what we spoke about last night about us getting married" Harry mumbled against her neck as he nibbled on her warm skin gently but not hard enough to leave a permanent mark "Did you.."

He was cut off when they heard one of the babies began to cry down the baby monitor and Harry sighed against her neck, Nikki sighing as well as he moved away from her slightly and pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose, the blonde woman giggling quietly.

"I'll go" Nikki told him as she sat up and pushed Harry back so he was kneeling between her legs, his hands moving to her hips "It's their breakfast time anyway, you know what they're like about food. They take after you"

"Of course they do" Harry smirked proudly as Nikki giggled and climbed out of the bed, leaning down to steal a quick kiss from her lover before walking from the room, very well aware of Harry's eyes following her scantily clad body as she did so.

"Gabriel will be better soon" Harry assured Nikki some hours later after he had gone out to get Gabriel's proper medication to help clear up the ear infection. It had knocked the baby out almost straight away and the almost nine month old was fast asleep in his cot upstairs while Donovan sat in his highchair eating some mashed up carrot and potato that he loved so much.

"I know" Nikki smiled at nodded at her fiancé before walking over to Donovan and leaning down to kiss him on top of the head before taking his hand away from the food bowl and making him look at her with a shocked look on his face. She couldn't help but giggle at him as she wiped his hand free from the carrot and potato concoction and then scooped some from the bowl onto a baby spoon and fed it to him, her son grinning at her and eating it greedily as he clapped his hands. "Do you like that?" she signed and spoke to him and Donovan laughed happily "Do you like carrot and potato?"

Donovan looked at her hands closely and then mimicked the word for carrot, his parents smiling proudly at him as Harry walked over and pressed a kiss to the top of his son's head.

"Clever boy"

Donovan continued to sign the word even as Nikki fed him and his mother couldn't help but feel a little bit prouder of him every time he did so. She could still hardly believe that nine month old babies could sign and understand many words but the twins had picked it up quickly like many of the young babies at the signing club they used to attend every Saturday had done.

"So how does it feel knowing that you are going to be able to brag that you go to Oxford?" William asked Harry and Nikki later on that day as the friends, minus Ada, sat in the living room. Angela and Georg were sitting on the floor playing with Donovan who loved all the attention he was getting but they had noticed that occasionally he looked around him with a frown on his face before continuing to play.

"Oh amazing" Harry replied dryly from his position on the floor, Artemis walking over his legs as the cat strolled around the room "But really, there's no bragging"

"I think you should" William commented and glanced at Georg who nodded as well "You both worked damn hard to get there and if I was in your shoes no-one would hear the end of it"

Nikki giggled at the couple and shook her head at them, William beaming at her as Harry tutted and chuckled.

"Auntie Nikki are you leaving?" Angela asked quietly as she looked up from where she was stroking Eos gently, the black cat purring in contentment "And Uncle Harry?"

"Yes, we're going to Oxford" Nikki explained and Angela's face dropped "Now come on" she smiled kindly "You knew we might be leaving"

"And Gabriel and Donny?"

"Them as well" Nikki nodded and Angela looked down at the floor "But we'll be back as much as possible, we're not leaving forever"

"It's not the same" Angela shook her head as Eos climbed into her lap and curled up "Will and Georg are going as well, and Ada"

"It's not forever" Nikki repeated "And we'll be back for most holidays if not for a bit of them"

"Promise"

"We promise" Nikki nodded and smiled as the little girl nodded once and gave her a small smile back "And we can't take Eos or Artemis with us either so you can come and look after them with Anne sometimes if you want, give them lots of cuddles from all of us so they don't feel lonely"

"Yeah"

"Me too?" Jurian asked as he looked away from Donovan, a hopeful smile on his face.

"You too sweetheart" Nikki smiled and the boy grinned happily before looking back at Donovan who was looking around the room again. The deaf boy then looked up at Nikki and signed the word for brother repeatedly, his bottom lip trembling as he looked around again before crawling over to Harry.

"Gabriel is ill" Harry signed to his son as he gently pulled him onto his lap "He has to sleep"

Donovan let out a frustrated noise that Harry and Nikki knew meant he wasn't very happy and they couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction.

"Can't Gabriel come down?" Georg asked and Nikki shook her head as she stood up and scooped Eos into her arms, the cat purring loudly as her owner tickled the top of her head.

"The medicine really knocks him out for a while" she told her friend as she sat down again with the cat on her lap "He'll be awake soon but he'll be grumpy about it, he won't want to see any of you and that's not meant to be rude"

"Ah that's okay" William shook his head "As long as he gets better soon"

"I'm sure he will, we're dosing him up with medicine" Harry informed them as he moved Donovan away from him slightly where his son was burying his face in his chest "What's wrong with you young man?" he asked, moving Donovan so the baby could see his lips "You're missing Gabriel aren't you? Shall we go and see him?"

"Don't wake him" Nikki warned her partner as he stood up and placed Donovan against his side, the little boy smiling happily as Harry pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

"We won't, will we Donny?" Harry asked their son and Nikki chuckled and rolled her eyes as he walked out of the room.

"How do you think it will be? University?" Georg enquired of Nikki and she shrugged "With Gabriel and Donny?"

"I think it will be fun" Nikki admitted and the two males nodding "But it will be hard work, it would have been fun and hard work without them but it'll just be even more fun and a bit harder. Especially when we get placements which take us away out of university hours I think, we don't know much about it yet. And we will probably do a lot less partying than you three will be doing" she giggled when she said the last part and her two friends laughed along with her.

"That's true" William nodded and his boyfriend chuckled "But we will try and see each other as much as possible? I know we're quite a bit away from each other and there's the money issue but.." he trailed off as Nikki nodded.

"Of course we will, we're not just going to forget about each other, you are my children's godfathers after all" she chuckled "I can't have them both growing up not knowing their uncles can I? Who's going to teach them the things that Harry and I say no to"

William and Georg laughed and nodded at her as Nikki smirked at them.

"Anyway like I said we'll definitely be back for the major holidays, we have to because we can't leave Anne out of her grandchildren's lives either" Nikki continued, settling back in the armchair a bit more as Eos curled up on her lap and began to clean herself "How's Ada doing?"

William and Georg exchanged looks and Nikki frowned.

"What's wrong?"

William then discreetly motioned to Angela and Jurian who were playing on the carpet and Nikki nodded knowingly.

"Come on you two" Nikki told them both and the children looked up at her "It's a nice day how about you go and play in the garden"

"Can we go swimming in the pool?" Jurian asked and Nikki shook her head

"Sorry sweetheart it still needs to be cleaned" she hated lying to them, it had been cleaned a few weeks before "But you can go and play in the rest of the garden"

"Come on" Angela grinned as she stood up "We can play football"

"Okay" Jurian nodded, standing up as well and following Angela out of the French doors into the bright garden.

"How come we can never get rid of them that quickly?" William asked, glancing after his younger cousin as Nikki giggled at him.

"It's a skill. Now what's wrong with Ada?"

"We're worried about what she'll be like at university" Georg told his friend as Nikki curled her legs under her, shifting Eos on her lap and making the cat meow in displeasure "I'm not stupid I know what my sister gets up to, those men that she's had, those women as well"

Nikki sighed and rested her head against her hand, leaning her elbow on the arm of the armchair as Georg continued.

"If she's like that here when she has us around what is she going to be like at university when she has all that freedom?"

"Maybe it will knock some sense into her" Nikki suggested, wondering just how much of his sister's life Georg knew about.

"And maybe it won't" Georg shook his head "You're her best friend, she obviously tells you things. What do you know?"

"I can't tell you" Nikki sighed and shook her head "Look Georg I wish I could but I can't, Ada is my friend"

"She tried to kill herself because of you" Georg told Nikki loudly and she frowned at him "Well not because of you, because of her feelings for you and she was being a selfish.." he trailed off as William placed his hand on his boyfriend's thigh "Please, I want to know. I won't tell her that you told me"

"Still, I can't just.."

"Please" Georg begged "She's my sister"

"Exactly"

"Nikki"

"Georg please I can't" Nikki shook her head, running one hand through her hair as she spoke "I want to but I can't betray her like that, I promised her I would never tell anything about what she's told me or done"

"So she has done more than I know?"

Nikki sighed and nodded, blinking away her tears as she did so.

"Don't make me betray her"

"Nikki she made you feel so guilty when she tried to kill herself over your rejection" Georg told his friend calmly and Nikki swallowed heavily as she nodded "Why should you keep these things just because it will make you feel guilty again? It's not fair on you"

Nikki thought for a few seconds, stroking Eos as she did so before she sighed and nodded.

"You can't tell her I told you"

"What if I want to confront her about something?"

"Georg please you can't" Nikki begged him loudly "Please, she'll hate me"

"I'll make sure he doesn't" William interrupted and Nikki looked at him, looking for his sincerity before she nodded.

"Okay"