A/N:

Alrighty guys! Dropping in with another chapter! I'm officially breaking my own rules with this one...but it's my story and I'll cry if I wanna. LOL. X;DDD

Anyway, this will be a two-parter, I had intended to make these only one chaptered, but this one I feel would have been a beast if I didn't split it up. So hey...more chapters...yay! X;DDD

I also have a special announcement to make, keep your eyes peeled cuz I'm currently in the works of another fun little side project. It's going to be in this same universe and could have been one of these. But I felt it better to make it a stand-alone project in the end since it would break my rules for these stories. It will make sense for future chapters of these as well...hence why I'm going ahead and working on it now.

Also feel free to hit me up with ideas of what you guys would like to see with these! I'm very open to suggestions and ideas!

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Trolls related all of their content belongs to DreamWorks and I own nothing of the franchise or series.

I do however own my own OC's and would appreciate you asking before they are used. Thank you!

Chapter 3: All on our own! (Part 1)

It was a little before lunchtime in Pop Village and the normal hustle and bustle were going on, trolls going about their daily lives.

The Royal Pod of King Branch and Queen Poppy was no different, though currently, the occupants of said pod aren't interested in preparing for lunch.

"You're sure about this?" Branch asked for the millionth time that morning as he turned to look at his wife a look of concern etched on his face as he studied her as she juggled both of their children in her arms eventually having them come to rest on her hips.

"Yes, Branch...we'll be fine, you need to go help your brothers..." Poppy said giving him a reassuring smile before she turned her attention to the twins causing them to giggle happily at their mother.

It was only a few days until the twin's Presentation Ceremony to...well...everyone beyond family. And things had gone hectic, to say the least.

Clay and Floyd had gone to Bergen Town to help with the preparations, and JD and Bruce had returned to Vacay Island to help set everything up for Brandy and the kids to be able to come to the ceremony. Viva and the Snack Pack were still looking after the village, and Poppy and Branch had been sort of caught in the middle of it all in between caring for their children.

Everything so far had been going smoothly, until Smidge arrived on their doorstep early this morning informing them that Viva had received a letter from Clay with an entire list of issues from the setup in Bergen Town.

Just a glance at the list and the Royal Couple knew one of them was going to be needed there to help put everything in order. The issues weren't just simple things that could be solved in a few minutes and it very well might take a day or two to resolve them.

To Branch's surprise, Poppy had volunteered to stay with the twins while he made the trip to Bergen Town. Knowing his wife he'd figured she would have jumped at the chance to go visit Bridget and the other Bergens.

But his wife had yet again surprised him when she'd explained that she knew that these issues were important to get sorted as quickly as possible and that he was the better of the two in terms of time management to get the job done.

He also had a feeling she wanted the chance to prove she could handle taking care of the kids on her own.

It wasn't that he didn't trust her on that level, he knew she'd had more experience than he ever had with children. Between her royal duties of teaching the kids of the village, and her constant babysitting their friend's kids and other villagers.

But he knew that caring for your kids was different, and this wasn't just for a few hours and they'd be going home. No this was going to be her on her caring for her kids, and he had certain reservations about the idea. But seeing how excited and determined she was he'd put up less of a fight to the idea than he'd thought he would.

And he also knew she was correct in that these issues needed resolving as quickly as they could other things wouldn't be ready for what was certainly going to be one of the biggest events they'd thrown since their wedding.

"Alright, you've got everything you should need for a couple of days. Viva and your Dad are both on call if you do need anything..." Branch said running through his mental checklist of things as he made his way once more around their kitchen before heading into the living room.

Poppy followed behind him rolling her eyes playfully at his normal way of being over-prepared for anything that came out. She loved it whenever he got like this, it brought back memories of whenever he'd go overboard.

"Got it, Capetian." She said grinning at the look he gave her.

"Seriously, Poppy...I just want to make sure you'll be alright." He said sighing as they reached the door where his bag was sitting.

"I know, and we're gonna be fine, I promise." She said giving him one of those looks that he knew he'd give in.

"Tell Daddy we're gonna be just fine, it'll be like a slumber party!" She said as she bounced the twins up to look at him, Piper immediately reaching out for her father to take her.

Branch chuckled as he took his daughter from Poppy and held her up above his head laughing at her before he brought her back down into his arms and tickled her belly.

"That's what has me worried..." He said as Piper squealed with delight at getting her father's attention.

Poppy rolled her eyes at him, even if a smile was tugging at her lips as she watched him dote on their daughter.

"Alright, if I don't go I'll never leave." He said resolving to his choice as he gave Piper one more cuddle before kissing her on the temple and handing her back over to Poppy before he took Reed from her.

"Come here, hotshot...one for you too." He said as he raised Reed into the air and then gave him a quick tickle and cuddle before also kissing him on the temple before handing him back to Poppy.

"Hey now...I'd better get some of that too." Poppy said as she took her children and gave her husband a pouty look.

Branch paused for a moment before thinking for a moment.

"Hmmm...I guess that could be arranged." He said with a mischievous smirk.

Poppy realized her mistake too late when he closed the distance between them wrapping his arms around her and proceeding to try and tickle her.

She flushed a deeper pink and giggled as she wiggled trying to get away, careful to balance the twins.

"No...no...Branch not in front of the kids." She said in between giggles as Branch finally relented his arms still around her waist and the kids balanced between them.

"Fine, but I know where to find you when I get back," Branch said waggling his eyebrows at her which only caused her to flush again and bump her head against his chest in defeat as she laughed before looking back up at him.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, I love you." He said softly as he leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"I love you too, and I'm gonna keep you to that promise." She said as she arched an eyebrow and smirked at him.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." He said winking at her as he broke their embrace and reached down for his bag.

He hesitated for a moment before he took a deep breath and reached for the door handle.

"Tell Daddy bye-bye...he'll be back before we know it," Poppy said as she juggled the twins in her arms to get them to giggle and smile at him.

Branch turned to look at them over his shoulder before he smiled and gave one last wave before he opened the door and left the pod.

Once Branch was through the door Poppy stood staring at it as the twins began to babble and entertain themselves in her arms.

Sure she'd known this moment was going to come and that Branch was actually going to be leaving, but now standing all alone in the living room with the twins she suddenly felt all her bravado leave and she immediately felt overwhelmed.

"It's alright, we're gonna be fine." She mumbled to herself as she took a deep calming breath.

"I got this...we got this." She said her pep talk helped as she felt her confidence grow.

"Alright, munchkins...how about we have some fun before lunch? Oh, I know! Let's make Daddy a scrapbook with pictures from all the fun we're gonna have!" Poppy said her confidence renewed as she placed the twins on the floor of the living room and went about gathering her scrapbooking materials.

Piper and Reed both watched their mother with curiosity from where they sat, she soon returned with paper, glitter, glue, and several other materials. Though she made sure to keep the scissors safely tucked away in her hair.

Poppy grinned happily as she sat the materials down spreading them out around them.

"Alright, let's see here...you two aren't getting the scissors. But I think the rest should be alright..." She mussed as she found a couple of felt Cutouts and handed one of each to the twins.

Reed and Piper were both fascinated by the little fabric trolls they were handed.

Piper waved hers around wildly as she giggled and shrieked with delight, Reed on the other hand tilted his little head before he popped the head of the troll into his mouth and began to gum it.

Poppy cringed as she watched her son, making a mental note to not use that cutout, or at least not until it dried thoroughly.

She couldn't help but giggle softly as she watched her children play for a moment, her heart swelling as she did.

Carefully not to disturb them she pulled her camera out of her hair, quickly snapping a couple of pics before she sat the camera to the side.

Satisfied with the pictures she gathered up the other materials and began to work on the front of the scrap book cutting out various letters and shapes.

Poppy swore she'd only taken her eyes off the twins for a second, just a brief second. But she was pulled out of her scrapbook Zen by the sound of a squeal.

She glanced up her pink eyes widening in horror as she saw what was about to happen.

Piper had grabbed the bottle of glue she'd sat out, and her daughter was currently holding it in both hands and about to squeeze.

"Piper Puff please don't..." Poppy started as she tried to reach out for the bottle, but was just a fraction of a hair slower than her daughter.

Piper squeezed the glue bottle as hard as she could, causing the cap to pop off and much like a volcano the entire tube of glue exploded across her, Reed, and Poppy.

Piper blinked in surprise at the sticky mess she'd made before she let out a gurgling laugh at her handy work.

"Squeeze." Poppy finished her sentence as she looked at her daughter with what could only be described as her best impression of Resting Branch Face.

She took a deep breath to calm herself before she looked at her daughter who was still incredibly proud of herself.

"It's fine...nothing a little water and a rag can't fix," Poppy said nodding to herself and forcing a smile to come across her face as she wiped at some of the glue that had gotten in her hair.

Of course right as she said that she heard another giggle, this time from Reed who at that very moment had managed to pick up and open the jar of multicolored glitter.

He looked at his mother with those devious big blue eyes...before he gave the glitter jar a hard shake...causing it to puff out all around them like a cloud.

For a brief moment, Poppy couldn't help but laugh at what was happening. Surely this was payback for every time she'd glittered her husband.

"Couldn't let sissy have all the fun, huh?" She asked her son who much like his sister was way too impressed with the chaos he'd just created as he clapped happily.

Poppy pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath to collect herself.

"It's fine..." Muttered before she opened her eyes and looked back at her children. She had to admit, despite the mess it was pretty cute seeing them so excited at what they'd managed to do.

She chuckled as she reached behind her and pulled out her camera, quickly snapping a couple of pictures, including a selfie or two with them.

"Alright, let's get cleaned up and I think it's lunchtime." She said as she looked at herself, her children, and the living room that now looked like a glitter troll exploded.

"I'll clean the rest up later." She said with a sigh as she gathered up her supplies, making sure the glue and glitter were placed on a very high shelf.

Some part of her felt guilty over what had just happened, why hadn't she thought ahead of the glitter and glue? Why hadn't she seen what was going to happen? She'd promised Branch that she was going to keep things under control.

And during the first activity, she'd already made a mess of everything...all she wanted to do was have fun with her kids.

She quickly shook her head deciding to not focus on those thoughts, it was just one slip she could still make everything alright.

She quickly gathered Reed and Piper into her arms and went to give them a quick deglitter.

Lunch went slightly better for Poppy, bottles and berry mash were on the menu for the twins, and a sandwich for herself.

She smiled happily as she watched them eat and babble to each other, Reed gesturing a lot as if he were trying to get his point across to his sister and mother.

Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing, a few handfuls of berry mash being thrown here and there, and both Piper and Reed getting more on themselves and around the kitchen than their mouths.

But that was a pretty normal lunch all things given.

Poppy giggled as she looked at her children, quickly snapping a few more pictures of the three of them for the scrapbook she was still intent on making.

"Let's get cleaned up, again...and we can play." She said finally getting up from the table and gathering up the dishes. Making another note to come back when the twins go down for a nap to come back and clean up the kitchen.

She grabbed a clean wet cloth and turned back to the twins, quickly wiping away all the stickiness from them before removing them from their high chairs and taking them back to the living room.

She had to stare once again in wonder at the state of, glitter and dried glue covering almost everything.

"Let's play in the nursery..." She said finally as she tried her best to avoid eye contact with any of the mess that she knew she'd be cleaning soon.

She decided to not think about it as she carried the twins into the nursery, setting them both down on the floor as she got out several of their toys to play with.

Reed saw her take out the tambourine his father had given him and immediately started making grabby hands towards the instrument.

Poppy looked at her son and giggled before handing it to him.

"Here you go Reedler." She said smiling as her son took the tambourine and began hitting and shaking it.

Piper watched her brother before turning to her mother and making grabby motions with her own hands.

"One sec, Puff," Poppy said as she turned back to the toy box, eventually digging a tiny electric keyboard out of the box and putting it down in front of her daughter.

Piper looked at the instrument with curious pink eyes, Poppy smiled at her before reaching down and pushing one of the buttons.

Piper blinked in surprise at the noise, but she quickly recovered giggling happily before she began mashing the buttons down making her version of music.

Poppy winced at the racket that was being created, but after a moment she couldn't help but smile as she watched her children. She quickly pulled her camera out of her hair and snapped a couple more pictures.

Once those were taken she got out a few more toys for the kids, but seeing how much they were enjoying the instruments she paused.

"Well...if you can't beat 'em...join 'em." She said after a moment as she shrugged her shoulders and pulled out her cowbell from her hair.

She tapped her foot to get a rhythm going before she began to beat the bell to her own beat.

Upon hearing the noise Piper paused to look at her mother, the teal trolling seemed to think for a moment before she reached over and started pressing one of the buttons on the keyboard to the beat her mother was creating.

"Hey, you got it, sweetie!" Poppy said happily as she continued to hit the cowbell to the beat.

Piper looked over at Reed who was still just shaking the tambourine, she paused in her playing to reach over to him which caused him to start. She motioned to the instrument before nodding her head for him to hit it.

She did this in sync with the way Poppy's cowbell was marking the beat until her brother was also in rhythm with his mother. She smiled at her brother before she turned back to matching the rhythm herself on the keyboard.

Poppy smiled at her children feeling a surge of pride as they continued with their music session.

As all children do the twin's attention spans with their current game only last so long, and soon they had moved on to playing with some of their other toys.

Poppy had at this point retired to the rocking chair, she'd pulled out some of the scrapbooking supplies she always kept in her hair and was working away on the book she was making for Branch of her and the twin's adventures.

A sudden wail caused her to look up and quickly shove the supplies back into her hair.

Piper and Reed had been playing together with some blocks, and Reed had unknowingly knocked over the tower Piper had been working on causing her to cry.

Reed hadn't even noticed he'd upset his sister until she'd taken one of the blocks and had thrown it at him causing it to bounce off the side of his head. Which in turn caused him to start crying.

"Oh...oh...it's alright, Piper he didn't mean to." She said after processing the situation she scooped up her daughter who continued to make her frustrations known to the world.

"Reed, sweetie, it's okay...she's just a little cranky," she said as she scooped up Reed who was now also crying unconscionably.

It was at that moment as she juggled both twins that Poppy realized how alone she felt, the twins crying in her ears overwhelmingly loud.

"Shhh shhh shhhh." She said softly trying to soothe both of them, but failing.

It was time for a nap.

The twins continued to cry, Poppy's idea of keeping them occupied to distract them from Branch's absence was failing.

Because after several minutes of it only being her there to comfort the twins it just made them more upset. And the more upset they became the more they continued to cry and scream.

And the more they cried and screamed the more tired and frustrated they became.

Poppy could feel her panic setting in as she realized neither was calming down, she tried everything she could think of.

The story didn't work, it wasn't like she could talk over their crying anyway.

Toys didn't work they just got thrown back onto the floor.

Talking softly only made them wail more, humming had the same effect, and even her singing a few lyrics of a song didn't help.

Poppy could feel her frustration growing as she finally just sat down in the rocking chair in defeat the twins sat in her lap and continued to cry.

"Please, guys...I'm sorry you stuck with me at the moment...please just stop crying." Poppy begged feeling tears welling up in her eyes, the feeling that Branch had been right that this was a bad idea settling into her brain.

She felt like a failure as the dam finally broke and she felt her frustrated tears start rolling down her cheeks.

It was Reed who noticed his mother's mood change, he'd been pressed against her chest where he could hear her heartbeat. He sniffled as he listened for a moment before he looked up at his mother he could see the tears running down her cheeks.

He looked over at Piper who was still crying, his little pink hand finally reaching out to her and patting her leg. His twin stopped to sniffle and look at her brother, her gaze following his up to their mother's face.

Poppy was too lost in her frustration to notice that the sounds of upset babies had stopped. She blinked when she felt two little bodies suddenly snuggle up against her under her chin.

She sniffled as she looked down, seeing both of her babies cuddling against her as if trying to get her to stop crying herself.

She let out a breathy laugh as she sniffled again, feeling a new wave of tears start rolling down her cheeks. This time they were tears of both relief and of love for her children.

"Sorry guys...Mommy's alright." She said softly as she snuggled both of the twins up against her and let out a happy sigh.

They sat like that for several minutes cuddled together and rocking back and forth.

After several minutes of quiet Poppy looked down to find both of her children sound asleep against her chest.

She smiled fondly as she smiled contently feeling herself growing drowsy as she gently continued to rock her babies.

Using her hair she reached into the cribs, grabbing the twin's blankets before gently tucking them around them.

She sighed as she leaned her head back against the chair, her mind drifting to the dirty kitchen she'd left, the messing living room, and the toys that were currently scattered everywhere around the nursery.

She'd said she'd pick everything up once the twins were down for their naps, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen.

And at the moment she was alright with that, she'd do it later. Right now she had more important things to enjoy.

That was the last thought she had as she slowly felt herself drift off to sleep.

This is how Viva would find them some time later when she came to check up on the family.

And that's it for the first part of this one! We'll see where the second half goes soon!

As I said, keep your eyes open for the new...thing...I'll be working on it as I work on part 2 of this. So hopefully it'll be up soon!

Hope you enjoy it! I'd love to hear you're feedback! Knowing anyone gets enjoyment out of my hard work makes my day!

Please read, enjoy, review, and do all the nice things you do for these sorts of things! Thank you so much!