Six Months Old

"Maybe I should call just one more time…" I suggested, my hand quickly dipping into my handbag in a desperate attempt to find my cell phone before Jane took it away from me. I had dialled all but three of Angela's numbers before I realised my wife hadn't moved from her place across from me. I looked up at her suspiciously while she sipped on her beer.

"If you need to call again; you need to call again." She told me in a soft voice of understanding. I took a deep breath and closed my phone, trying to remind myself that there was a reason we had these weekly dates. "Thank you." She whispered when I slid my phone back into my handbag reluctantly.

Having a baby was hard, and I cannot imagine anyone ever telling you different. But having two babies? Having two babies got ridiculous sometimes. There was nights of endless fights between Jane and I over who should be bathed first, over who should be fed when and when each of us had to get up during the night. Having children tests your relationship, and Jane and I were not willing to ever let our romance fizzle out.

"Are you excited about going back to work?" She asked me, a frown making its way deep onto my face as she spoke. I had happily been living in denial about when I would have to go to work, but the closer the date got, the more I knew I had to start preparing. It wasn't only me who was going to have to adjust to not spending every day with the babies.

When they woke up from their naps, I was there. I gave them their lunch. I played with them. I changed them. I dressed them. That was all about to change. It was about to be a stranger at day care doing all these things for them. The mere thought made me sigh dramatically.

"It was hard for me to, but you'll find your rhythm again." Jane promised with a sympathetic smile as she pushed her long, black curls away from her striking face.

"Do you want to have more children?" I asked casually as I took another sip of the red wine that was sitting before me, a smile breaking out onto my lips as Janes face fell flat at my question.

"Why… What… Do you?" She asked me in disbelief, her eyes wide as though I was telling her I was pregnant. This was one of the pros of being married to Jane Rizzoli; No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get me pregnant. Sometimes I think she forgot that.

"Not right away, but one day I would like more children."

"Children? As in plural? Like more than one more baby?" I nodded at her words, not quite sure what about the suggestion was scaring her so much. She took a long sip of her beer, her eyes wide as she stared at me.

"I'm not talking about tomorrow." I reminded her with a playful giggle, leaning across the table to place a reassuring hand on hers, my thumb stroking the back of her hand in the most calming manor I could.

"Good because I'm only just learning how to be a mum to the babies we already have." She responded in a quiet, almost guilty, voice.

"I love you." I reminded her with an affectionate smile, lifting the wine glass in my hand to my lips and sipping it slowly, never breaking eye contact with Jane. She bought her beer bottle up to her lips again, purposefully taking the whole tip of the bottle into her mouth. It made a quiet yet familiar popping sound when she took it out, licking her lips slowly; all the while never breaking eye contact.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked, both of us needing nothing more than a bottle of wine, each other, and our bed. Angela had been a wonderful with spending endless time with her grandchildren one night a month, though it made me uncomfortable knowing that she more likely than not knew exactly what we were doing.

The drive back to the house was far longer than either of us liked and I started wondering why we left the house on date night at all. The second the front door was closed behind us, Jane pushed me backwards toward the kitchen counter, her lips on my instantly letting me know she felt exactly how I did.

She effortlessly lifted me up onto the kitchen counter, giggles escaping my mouth as all the bottles that were drying on the counter were knocked loudly to the ground. I knew it wouldn't be funny when I had to re-sterilise them all; but the babies were the furthest thing from my mind at the moment.

I pulled her shirt up over her head, tossing it across the kitchen while her lips worked their way along my jaw, gently biting down every now and again causing my loud moans to echo through the room.

"Sofa." I instructed her, earning nothing but a nod in response as she pulled me tight against her. I wrapped my legs around her hips in a practiced manor, knotting my hands in her hair and taking her lips in mine again as we made the short trip to the sofa.

When we were a mere three steps away from our destination, the sound of Jane standing on a squeaky baby toy rang thorough my ears. Her lips separated from mine just in time for her to mutter fuck before she tripped over another toy, our bodies crashing down onto the sofa awkwardly. We both stayed where we were on top of each other before we both started to laugh, Janes light chuckle echoing in my ear before she pressed her lips gently against my cheek.

She shifted off my lap, sighing quietly as she rested her head on the back of the sofa. Our heads both fell toward each other, small smiles playing on both our lips as we tried to figure out when this had become our lives.

"I am so tired." I admitted, earning another husky laugh from Jane who just nodded in agreement, placing a hand on my thigh reassuringly.

"Thank god because I am exhausted." It turns out being parents of twins made us more excited about a long night of cuddling and sleeping than it did about having sex; and I was perfectly okay with that.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It turns out a lot can happen in six months. Our babies were sleeping through the night, they only fed twice a day and they were rolling over and sitting up like they had been doing it their whole lives. It was a quiet Saturday morning in the Rizzoli-Isles household and we were all following our usual routine.

I had fed the babies and Jane had gotten them both dressed, though it was now that Jane had decided to surprise me with the fact she had managed to get Noah and Harper spots in the local swim school this morning.

"I don't understand why this is something we have to do." I complained, stomping my foot as I placed both my hands on my hips; refusing to take the nappy bag Jane was holding out to me.

"What if there's a flood?" I pursed my lips at her response, trying the best I could to contain the smile that was playing on the corner of my lips. I had spent the past month trying to convince Jane that taking our babies for swimming lessons was something that could wait until they were a little older and as it turns out, her only argument was what if it floods?

"Well where are we going to be?" I asked her, sitting down on the floor beside Noah who was sitting up and playing with the goggles I had bought for him. Jane looked down at me with a frown on her face as she tried to figure out what my question meant. "When it floods; where are we going to be?" I clarified, her eyes rolling dramatically when she understood.

"I just want them to know how to swim, is that so terrible?" She snapped at me, picking Harper up off the floor and resting her on her hip while she pulled our baby girls swimmers out of the bag she'd packed.

"Just promise that the second they start screaming; I can take them out of the pool." I responded, smiling across at Noah as he tried to hand the goggles to me. In true Noah fashion, the second I touched them he pulled them into his chest using the hand that wasn't holding himself up with a cheeky smile all over his sweet face.

"Can you just help me get him ready please?" Jane asked, her tone suddenly sickly sweet as she threw me the pair of swimmers we had gotten for our little boy. I forced a smile down at Noah, knowing fine well he was not going to make it easy for me to put these on him.

"Do you really think Harper will go in the water?" I asked curiously, Jane sitting down beside me as she starting dressing our baby girl in her swimsuit that fit her perfectly. Over the past three months it had become painstakingly clear that Harper was a cautious child. Noah was up for anything, so I knew swimming would just be another adventure for him, but Harper? Harper I wasn't so sure about.

"I think she's braver than we all give her credit for." Jane told me truthfully, beaming down at the little girl before her while I tried to dress Noah who was squirming underneath me. "Are you planning on getting in the water?"

"I'm not going to make you take both of the children." I told her with a frown. The mere thought of Jane holding both our six month old babies in the pool was enough to make my heart race.

"Cailin's coming though so I thought maybe she could help." I didn't plan on admitting it to Jane, but her words sent a wave of calm over me. I could sit outside of the pool with no pressure of having one of the babies screaming at me.

"I don't know if you're even going to get Harper in the water." I joked again, Janes following glare letting me know she didn't find my joke remotely funny.

An hour later I was sitting poolside in the first bikini I had dared to wear in a year and a half. The babies were happily sitting in the middle of Jane, Cailin and I; completely unaware of what they were about to have to do. We had all of fifteen minutes of sitting quietly with the babies before the swimming instructor started getting the parents and babies into the water.

I pursed my lips and sat silently as Cailin stood up and lifted Harper to rest on her hip. My daughter frowned down at me, obviously wondering why everyone was getting up and moving while I was staying where I was. Cailin and Jane walked side by side to the pool, none of us surprised when Jane walked down the stairs into the water and Noah didn't react.

Cailin made it all but three steps into the pool before Harper started screaming, clawing at her aunts shoulder trying to get her body as far away from the water as humanly possible. My sister turned around to face me; pain all over her face as her eyes pleaded with me for help. I tried to hold in my smile at the fact that I knew my baby girl better than anyone else as I made my way to the pool.

"Come on." I told Harper with a smile, lifting her out of her auntys arms and away from the water. Her screams ceased the second I got her back to where we were sitting. I cradled her close against my body, softly patting her back until she calmed down and pushed away from me gently. I sat her back down in front of me and placed her white hat on her head to protect her from any sunlight that made it through the umbrella we were underneath.

I watched on nervously from where I sat as Cailin and Jane took turns with Noah in the water, a huge beaming smile on our little boys face the whole time. Meanwhile Harper was sitting looking between her brother and the book I had bought with me to read. How could twins be so different?

I lifted my little girl back into my lap, quickly grabbing the book and opening it in front of us when she started to fuss. While Jane was swimming with our little boy, I was reading to our little girl.