Three Months Old

I stood quietly staring out the window in our living room, the sound of thunder reverberating through the house as I slowly rocked my body side to side. Harper was happily lying in my arms; her eyes watching the rain begin to fall in our front garden with her thumb in her mouth. I had picked a hell of a day to try and venture out with the babies on my own.

"Just let me help you." Jane groaned in frustration as I snatched the nappy bag she was holding out of her hands, slinging it over my shoulder before I made my way to the car. I completely ignored her while I buckled Harper into her car seat, placing the bag on the floor in front of her before I made my way back toward the house.

"You go back to work in three days. Jane, I need to learn how to do this alone." I reminded her in a quiet voice as I lifted Noah from his rocker. My wife watched me hesitantly, biting down on her bottom lip as I made my way out the front door. I buckled Noah into his respective car seat as a drop of rain landed on the back of my neck sending a shot of shivers through my body.

"What if I come but don't help…" Jane suggested as I closed the car door, placing my hands on my hips as I smiled across at her with the most calming smile I could muster up on my face.

"I'm just going to pick up their Halloween outfits. I'll be an hour; two at the most." I promised, placing my hands on either side of her face before I pressed my lips against hers. I felt her sigh into the kiss, her hands moving to rest against my lower back, holding me in place when I began to pull away.

"Did you grab the pram rain cover thing?" Jane asked when she finally let me go, a small smirk playing on her lips as she snuck in one last kiss. I nodded, walking backwards towards the car. I blew her a kiss as I climbed into the driver's seat; my heart starting to race at the realisation I that this was the first time I was going to be alone with both the babies.

I could hear both of the babies cooing quietly to one another, and every now and again I caught a glimpse of one of them seeming to reach their hand out to the other. There was no doubt that these babies loved each other, that's for sure.

"Which one of you wants to be the lion, huh?" I asked them as we pulled into the dress maker's car park. Jane and I had argued endlessly about what to dress the twins as for their first Halloween. She had insisted that we dress them as Thing One and Thing Two from the Cat In The Hat. I had failed to see any humour behind her suggestion, so we had decided to go with something sweet instead of comedic.

Dressing them in matching outfits had been my favourite part of having twins; but the older they got the more individuality I had hoped to give them. I didn't want to raise them thinking that they always had to match or do things together. They were twins; but they were their own people.

"I need you to be really good for mommy, okay?" I bargained with Harper as I lifted her out of the car seat and into the pram. I could imagine Jane pacing the living room at home anxiously waiting for us to come home, and the mere thought was enough to make me speed up the process of getting our babies back to their mamma.

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"Why did you take so long?" Jane asked impatiently, taking Harper out of her car seat while I lifted Noah into my own arms. I rolled my eyes at her question. I should have known that even being a minute longer than two hours would have caused some sort of panic.

"I had to feed them." I shrugged, not wanting to go into detail about how irritating and exasperating it is trying to feed two babies in the backseat of a car, especially when you're trying to do it between two car seats.

I sat down on the sofa once we were inside, placing Noah on the floor in front of me with his sister joining him moments later. I didn't want to admit to Jane just how gruelling taking the babies out alone was; but my eyes fighting to stay open gave me away.

"I have a little surprise for you." Jane whispered, standing before me. I forced my eyes open, looking up at her suspiciously as she picked Noah up from the floor. She placed her index finger up toward me, signalling for me to wait patiently for her to return.

Having twins generally meant nothing was ever done when it should have been. It was Halloween in a week and I only today picked up their outfits. We still had to sort out what Jane and I were going to wear, I was exhausted and the absolute last thing I felt like doing was sitting around waiting for Jane to surprise me with something.

I stood up and decided I wasn't going to just sit there and wait. Yoga; yoga always made me feel better. I did a few quick stretches before I moved to hover over Harper, bending at my hips and placing my hands by her head. I closed my eyes and took three deep breaths; letting the immediate calm that came over me take over.

It lasted all but five minutes before Harper got a grip on my pony tail, pulling hard and putting my hair in her mouth. I groaned loudly, carefully removing my hair from her little hand before I fell back on the couch. My eyes drifted shut up, my scalp pulsating.

"Are you ready?" I heard Jane call from the bottom of the stairs. I forced my eyes opened and just nodded, having no doubt her head was sticking out from behind the wall looking at me. I pursed my lips, my eyebrows furrowing together in confusion as she placed Noah on the ground in front of me. "He's a turtle!" Jane exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together. Noah pushed up off his hands so he could look back at his other mother.

"What…" I started; seeming a loss of words as I looked down at Noah dressed in a tortoise costume. The bright green shell was sparkling back at me as I tried to understand what exactly was going on.

"Because he loves Bass…" Jane started, gesturing toward me hoping I would hurry up and share her excitement over our son dressed as my beloved spurred tortoise.

"But I thought we agreed he was going to be a lion for Halloween?" I questioned, my head dropping to left as I looked down at him; wondering if I had wasted my time by going out this morning. Just as Jane opened her mouth to speak; Angela came through the front door. I instantly noted the redness in her eyes.

"Ma?" Jane asked quickly, obviously seeing before her exactly what I did. Harper started to fuss from her place on the floor, so I lifted her onto my hip and made our way over to where Angela stood. I didn't hesitate to shift Harper into her grandmother's arms; Angela's eyes seeming to instantaneously soften as our little girl reached out and touched her face gently.

"You can't baptise the babies at our church." Jane directed her mother to the sofa as she spoke, picking Noah up and removing the shell attached to his back before placing him back down on his stomach. "Because…" Angela stopped, frowning as she looked down at Harper who was grinning up at her.

"Because we're both women." Jane realised, her eyes closing before she placed her head in her hands. I sat there awkwardly, not sure what the appropriate thing to say in the situation was. Did I apologise? Did I make a joke? I opted for silence. "Then we'll just do it at another church." Jane concluded, sighing quietly and placing a soothing hand on her mother's back.

"I wanted your children to be baptised in the same church you were." Angela responded, sniffling quietly. Harper frowned up at her, trying to understand why her grandmother looked so sad.

"I know, but that's not how it's going to play out." Jane smiled at her mother apologetically, clearly unsure of what else she could possibly say to make it okay. Nothing about it was ever going to be okay; our children were only three months old and they were already being discriminated against because of us.

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"Are you comfy?" I teased Jane when I came into the living room, placing the beer I had gotten from her on the coffee table. She smiled up at me sweetly, struggling to keep her eyes open as she held Harper on her chest. We had dressed her in the bear costume for Halloween to see be sure it fit and now we were struggling with wanting to take her out of it. Her eyes were utterly focused on the television, the pacifier in her mouth bobbing up and down as she sucked on it.

"Just until she falls asleep." Jane promised when she noticed me staring at the green and white thing in our little girl's mouth. I nodded slowly, lifting Jane's legs and placing them over my thighs as I settled in with my two favourite girls.

"You should follow your brother's lead." I told Harper whose eyes barely shifted away from the television as I spoke to her. Noah was a fantastic sleeper. He took two naps a day and slept nine hours through the night. We assumed he was sleeping so much because he was going through a growth spurt but Harper? We were lucky if she took one nap a day and even luckier if she slept more than eight hours through the night.

"It's your fault she's like this." Jane joked, chuckling quietly as she played with one of Harpers covered feet in her hands. I knew she was right. According to my mother the second I hit three months old, I stopped napping which, at the time I had found it amusing; though now I was living it, it suddenly didn't seem so funny.

"I miss you." I told Jane truthfully, and in less than five seconds Jane had stood up and was placing Harper down on her Little Einstein play mat. I couldn't contain the giggle that escaped my lips as she dropped back down on the sofa, turning to face me with a sweet smile that pleaded with me to kiss her.

"I love you." She told me softly as I leaned closer to her, pressing my lips tenderly against hers. I smiled at the taste of beer that remained on her lips; some things never changed. I had never been able to fully appreciate the taste of beer before. I had always found it bitter and far too strong, though the taste that lingered on Janes lips from the beer was always my favourite taste. Well, it was one of my favourite tastes in relation to my wife.

"We should go on a date." I suggested, pushing her hair away from her face so I could really look at her. It had been too long since I had been able to just... Look at her. I had never realised how much I had taken our free time for granted until right now.

"I could ask ma to watch the babies." She agreed, another sweet smile coming onto her lips at the suggestion. I looked down at Harper to ensure her eyes were still on the television before I leaned down and pressed a hard kiss against Jane's neck, letting my tongue escape my mouth and gently drag along her pulse point.

"Maybe she could watch them overnight." I heard a small moan escape Jane's lips at my words, and if we were as alike as I thought; we were both sincerely hoping Angela was home tonight.

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HI EVERYBODY! I just wanted to quickly thank you all for all the amazing support! I've put so much of my heart into this story, so hearing all your positive feedback is honestly so incredible. Thank you! If you have any suggestions for where you think this story should go; tell me!