According to my parents, they own everything that I consider mine, so I definitely don't own this. Sigh.
Why is it that without warning, it hits me that this is the last chapter? I know my stories like to have lives of their own, but you'd think they would give me fair warning, wouldn't they? By the way, there will be a sequel.
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Chayim giggled.
Charlotte looked down at him, startled. That's the first time you've done that, little brother.
Ari dashed across the room from where he'd been watching the snow and touched Chayim's cheek. "I wonder what's so funny."
"Maybe he just likes to laugh. It does feel good…"
Chayim shrieked with laughter, almost as if he were agreeing with his older siblings. Before long, all three of them were in convulsions, Chayim having been dumped rather unceremoniously into his bed because Ari and Charlotte were literally rolling on the floor from laughing so hard.
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"So then I said to her, 'Do you like movies? Because there's a theater not too far-'"
"Tony, that's a really lame pickup line, and I really don't need to hear all about what or who you did last night, okay?"
"McCan'tgetadate, my worst pickup line stands head and shoulders above all of yours put together."
Nasya laughed, waving a hand in the air. Tony smirked at McGee, who glared back, switching back and forth between his teammate and his honorary niece. Then he relaxed and joined in laughing.
"I'm laughing at how cute this kid is, not your awful comeback line."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
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Finally, it was time to leave the hospital. Chayim had been ready for a while, but Gibbs had gotten this strange feeling that both twins would have gotten really ticked off if they had been separated. Once Nasya had been released from the NICU, she and her brother had been put in the same room. The team and the Margers- now best of friends were overjoyed that they could now visit both babies at once.
Since then, any time they were more than five feet away from each other, the twins insisted on wailing hysterically. McGee and Abby thought that they had gotten so used to one another's presence in utero that they needed the same contact now; Tony freaked out whenever it happened, saying that he didn't understand kids; the Marger parents figured out an easy way for one person to hold both babies comfortably in anticipation of raising the twins; Charlotte didn't really get the concept of a crying baby; Ari could actually manage to get one or the other of the twins to fall asleep in his arms, a trait it seemed on occasion Eli might share; and Gibbs…
Gibbs couldn't entirely put into words what he thought about the twins' overactive bond. If he had been able to, he would most likely have admitted that he suspected that they might on a subconscious level know what had happened to their mother, aunt, and uncle…
But then he would tell himself that it was just his imagination.
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Ari opened the door to his new room. Although his new family had moved into their new house several weeks ago, he had wanted to hold off on moving in to his new room until his baby siblings came home. That way, they were all coming home at the same time.
Sunshine streamed through the windows, almost blinding him for a moment. When it cleared, he smiled. He loved his new room.
The walls were painted a dark blue, a pleasant contrast to his baby blanket, which lay folded on the bed. The bedspread and sheets were also different shades of blue. His favorite color, admittedly perhaps for no other reason than for its association with the one link from his mother he'd had all those years.
He walked in, and noticed that the carpet was black and fluffy, tickling his bare feet. He stood still and enjoyed the feeling for a while.
Glancing around, he noticed that all the furniture -the bed, the two bookshelves waiting to be stocked with whatever books he discovered he liked, the dresser full of nice new clothes, the desk where he could do the homework he got from the school he'd started going to…
The thought of school slightly tarnished his good mood as well as disrupting his train of thought. He enjoyed learning, but spending all that time away from his siblings…
Then he remembered what he'd been thinking about. Gibbs had revealed earlier that day that he'd made two cribs, two rocking chairs, a changing table, and a playpen in the former boatshed in his basement. He must have done the same for Ari. Ari resolved to thank him.
Speaking of the twins…
Ari walked across the hall and slipped into Chayim and Nasya's room. The nearly-three-months-old twins slept peacefully, breathing in unison. He smiled at them.
In her sleep, Nasya lifted her hand and waved vaguely at Ari. He waved back, then noticed that Charlotte had walked in as well and was standing next to him. She smiled up at him, happy.
All was well and good in the land.
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Author's note: Keep watch for the sequel. And, before you go, kindly leave a review? I do so love reviews. Or you could always check out one of my other stories. Either way, have a nice night.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, the eleven pipers piping picked a peck of pickled peppers.