'Day-full, Ah-Shay, pay safe.'

Beckett laughed as Tessi kept a watchful eye on RJ like mother bird watching her hatchling to make sure he didn't stray too far from the nest. 'He's okay for now, Tessi.'

'I be big sisser, I gotta paddis.'

'I know you need to practice.'

'Papapapa,' RJ gurgled, his handsome little face lit up like a sun. 'Bububub.'

'He noisy, Datie. He talkin' soon?'

'Not for a little bit yet.' Beckett checked her watch. It was almost one in the afternoon and since the babies had both had their lunch, she knew it was almost nap-time. 'Right now time to tidy up and get ready for a nap.'

'Book?'

'Yes, we can read a book, but we need to put your toys away first.'

Tessi nodded, her dark blue eyes shining. 'No mess.'

'Exactly.'

The detective watched, fascinated as Tessi carefully picked up her blocks and animals and dumped them into the wide plastic red tub that served as her toy-bin, took them ones RJ picked up gently and added them to the container as well. When they were all cleaned up, Beckett cracked up as Tessi bunched RJ's fingers together and helped him feed the birds, then turned to look at her.

'No mess, Datie. Book now?'

'We'll read a book now.'

She plucked RJ up off the floor and Tessi raced ahead with Arturo, who streaked past like a giant honey-brown motion blur and plunked himself on the floor beside Tessi's bed. Beckett set RJ in the playpen with his blanket and his stuffed bunny, put the Billy Joel CD in Tessi's stereo then selected one of Tessi's favourite stories, The Paper Bag Princess. Beckett sat in the comfortable stuffed armchair and read to her young charges, her voice going quieter and quieter until she heard RJ's soft buzzing snore and Tessi smacking her lips together. When the story was ended, Beckett pressed play on the CD player and was almost out of the room with the baby monitor when she heard Tessi's sleepy voice.

'Datie, that not Fansha.'

'No, princess, it's something RJ likes.'

'Who?'

'His name is Billy Joel and he's a piano player.'

'Billy Sho. I like.'

Beckett smiled. 'I'm glad. Now try to sleep.'

Tessi nodded and rolled to her side, Crush in her arm as she too began to snore softly. Beckett left the room with the door closed just enough so that Arturo could get out if necessary, then went into the master bedroom and almost laughed at the sight of Meredeth's belly in silhouette while her friend napped. She shut the door and then crawled into bed beside her.

'Mere.'

'Mm.'

Merry-Cherry,' Beckett sang softly, tickling the tip of her friend's nose, and grinned when Meredeth batted comically at Beckett's fingers. 'You know better. On your side, madam.'

'You're worse than Javi some days, you know that?'

'No one comes close to Ryan. Think of what your life would be with him as the baby-daddy to your twins.'

Meredeth jutted out her bottom lip. 'Why you gotta be mean and make me think about things like that?'

'What would you rather think about?'

'Having healthy babies, a happy daughter, good eats for dinner and hot sex with Javi when he's home tonight.'

'Well, I think I can help with all of that except the hot sex part. That is all for your man,' Beckett teased her, pleased and relieved when Meredeth turned onto her side. She pointed at the portable DVD player that Meredeth always had plugged in to watch in bed during the day. 'What were you watching?'

'Oh, um, Blood in the Water, it's a recreation-style documentary on the Jersey Shore attacks that inspired Peter Benchley to write Jaws.'

'So that's why Tessi loves her fish so much, it's genetic.'

'I think so. I remember being in college and around the corner from my apartment was an aquarium warehouse type store, like Costco for fish, right? Anyways, whenever I was having a stressful day, I would go there and watch the fish swim and it was better than yoga for meditation.'

'Sounds very nice.'

'Now it's Discovery Channel specials. Yes, I know, I know,' she muttered, rubbing her belly where she felt the girl twin kick her near the belly button. 'You play nice in there, my girl.'

'That is so cool you're growing one of each inside you at the same time, Mere.'

'I think so too, though last night I couldn't get to sleep right away because it felt like I was some kind of alien incubator. I can't believe RJ's almost seven months already,' Meredeth added, continuing to rub her belly to soothe her girl twin. 'Is Alexis spoiling him like mad now that she's home for a few months?'

'Like you read about. She loves spending time with him. Him and Shane are her two main priorities right now.'

'How are you feeling, now that you've had a little time to get used to them as an item?'

'Most of the time, I'm cool with it, though the first time Shane stayed over at the loft was a little weird because we didn't know he'd stayed the night, so to see him in the kitchen the next morning was a little awkward. I think because I've been there, as a girl dating an older man, I understand it a lot better than Rick thought I would.'

'And how's he handling it?'

Beckett laughed, scratched the back of her neck. 'Better, it really threw him for a loop when he figured it out, and every so often he has his moment, like...' She trailed off into a hysterical giggle fit. 'Remember the night I told you I was going shopping with Alexis for her six months with Shane?'

'Yeah.'

'Well, obviously, it's a night that's going to involve some romance and-'

'Eine-kleine-bang-bang-Musik?' Meredeth finished, using one of her favourite Howard Wolowitz jokes. 'Sorry, continue.'

'Exactly, so I ducked off to do a little browsing in the boutique next door to Fantasy while she picked something out for her night. We get home and her father asks to see what she bought.'

Meredeth snorted through her nose as she began to laugh hysterically, so much so tears trickled out of the corners of her eyes. 'No...he...didn't...Kate,' she wheezed.

'Hand to God, and he didn't understand why Alexis didn't want to show him.'

'Oh, my word. Five bucks says Javi's just like that when Tessi starts dating.'

'See, that's just going to be so cute because she'll be with Dell,' Beckett pointed out. 'This is a little different.'

'True.' Meredeth looked around, frowned a little. 'Um, Kate. I gotta pee, think you could help me up?'

'Oh, sure.'

She popped up, rounded to Meredeth's side of the bed to help her friend to her feet; when Meredeth had done her thing in the ensuite, she came back and sat down.

'I bet RJ's going to be teething soon. I saw my toothbrush in there and I thought of it.'

'Yeah. I hear it can be a real pip.'

'Is RJ a fan of sweet things like apple juice?' At Beckett's nod, Meredeth pursed her lips. 'You might want to get some kind of dairy-free sherbet to keep just for him.'

'Yeah?'

'Uh-huh. Tessi's a sweet-tooth like her daddy, and I used lemon sorbet when she was teething because it was cold and sweet.'

'Excellent tip.'

'You want anymore, you know where to find me.'

R&R&Enjoy.