three's a crowd

Picking up the last of the petri dishes, Theo set it under the microscope and began to scan for signs of bacterial growth. He’d set one last test for his summer school students – a last chance to get a passing grade (and some of them had definitely needed it. Identify the bacteria, choose an appropriate antibacterial substance and apply it with a sensitivity square. Top marks for clear dishes. Most had managed it too, although this last one still showed signs of a streptococcus colony. Sighing, he added it to the stack, marking the grade off of on the corner of the paper submitted with it. A C, not the end of the world. They’d still passed and, hey, that meant it was time to get out of here.

Theo scrubbed his hands carefully, making sure he wasn’t carrying anything home from the lab with him. Bo’s immune system was fully developed, but they hadn’t gotten him vaccinated yet. If they’d had him in a hospital the whole process would’ve been kick started immediately. Instead they’d gone down the – what was it he’d heard it called? - crunchy route. Give the little guy’s system time to do what it was meant to and then when he started at preschool. Maybe with Hazel starting at the campus sized petri dish of Whitmore that would change – the students were definitely way less careful with hygiene than the professors were – that would change, but for now, they were sticking with the plan.

God, that time was coming on way too fast. He stared at the girls dorms on campus as he drove past. Hazel could’ve gone anywhere in the country for college, running as far away from her parents and the weird shit that went on in this town. They’d have tried to talk her around, but how could you make a kid stay? Lock her up in the attic and tell her she didn’t get to go anywhere ‘til she was 40 at least?

Sniffling in a breath that was more watery than it should’ve been, Theo got into his car. He’d have been a total hypocrite if he’d tried. After all, Hazel had heard enough stories about how her dad had found his way here to Whitmore – arriving all on his own from halfway around the damn world at 18. Thousands of miles away from his parents and his twin brother, feeling like he’d lost a limb on top of his hearing. He’d adjusted, and Hazel would’ve done too – she was an amazingly resilient kid – but they’d wouldn’t have done. The fear for their kids that was always there would’ve eaten the pair of them alive. At least on campus they could be there fast and he would be every day when term started. Him and Frank mortifying the poor kid every five minutes.

He puffed out a sigh and headed out onto the road. Term was really creeping up too fast. The afternoons he managed to snatch at home with Bo and Freyja were running short and he was gonna hate that as much as not knowing that Hazel was sleeping just over their heads. Theo tried to tick the pros off in his head as he drove, but he was still misting up. How long did they have until they were entirely empty nesters? If Bo grew up overnight the way Hazel did – and thank God he didn’t seem to be in danger of it at the moment – it could be just tomorrow. Nope. He wasn’t gonna run himself off the road grizzling over things that absolutely weren’t gonna happen.

By the time he pulled up to the house, he was tear free at least. His sinuses still burned a little as he glanced in the rear view mirror, but there were no tell-tale tear tracks to out him. Theo gathered up his bag, already cursing the time he’d have to put in this weekend. Saturday morning maybe, in that stretch between Bo getting his parents up at an ungodly hour for a feed and Hazel finally coming out of her den on the one day she could usually sleep in. They’d try and do something as a family – if Hazelnut didn’t have plans with friends in that end of summer rush to see people who would soon be spread across the country. Sunday it was church and dinner at Frank’s place. Now that was a tradition that wasn’t gonna change when Hazel was away, not even if they had to drive over there and drag her home for it.

The minute he was in the door, Theo was setting his bag aside. Not tonight. Tonight he was gonna put together the spaghetti he’d promised days ago and make the most of that window of opportunity before Hazel did get home and they were caught up in that rush to get Bo fed and bathed and down to sleep. ”Hihihi,” Theo crooned as he turned back towards two out of three of his favourite people in the entire world. ”Daddy missed you. Both of you,” he added, slanting Freyja a grin before he turned it back on Bo. ”Looks like you missed me too.” Bo was already well into his account of what they’d been up to that day and he was making questioning noises back, opening his mouth in a gasp like he’d just heard that Bo had been busying forging a copy of the Mona Lisa while was gone.

”I’m sure you got bigger while I was gone,” he said to Bo as he scooped him up, balancing that padded rump on his forearm. His other hand caught at his wife’s waist, his head dipping for that kiss. It probably lasted all of five seconds before Bo was breaking it up with a happy little T-Rex screech, adding his own kiss by rocking his head forward to rub drool over his dad’s beard. ”Alright, alright, you get one too,” he promised his son, dipping his head down to blow a raspberry against one pudgy cheek, then he hefted Bo up to blow one against one of those grasping, equally drooly palms.

Almost going cross-eyed to read it, Theo dipped his head down, hitching Bo – who obviously saw it as a new game – at the same time. The baby’s hands were finding his beard, anchoring themselves as they always did (one of these days he was gonna develop bald patches). ”Mama got you new clothes huh? Or one of Hazel’s outfits? Don’t tell me … diaper blow out …” Again. No matter how quick you tried to get to those dirty diapers there were still those times when it seemed like everything your kid had ever eaten was emerging all at once. That was a double …

Screw hiding it, the tears were already in Theo’s eyes as he glanced up. He had to blink to read it again, but that second B had been enough to guarantee that Freyja hadn’t just dipped into anything they’d kept from Hazel – who’d already been a teenager when her brother had come along. Big brother. ”This isn’t just a hint right? Woo, we’re gonna start trying again? It’s …” He let out a chuckle that was definitely bordering on one of those sobs of joy that could roll in just as quick as the tears of fear or anger or true heartbreak could. Theo dropped his hand again, fingertips lightly kissing a stomach that might soon be growing full again, disturbing another year’s worth of Thanksgiving dinner and sweet potato casserole.

Tagged: FREYJA DAMASCA * Word Count: 1260

”Of course I’m gonna be getting sentimental, you’ll be at Whitmore soon.”

Him welling up wasn’t unusual, but it'd been more than that. How could you not be watching your kids constantly once you realised more than ten years of their life could flash by in a second? Hazel was old enough to realise something was off, but Theo knew they couldn’t hit her with another sledgehammer blow of a secret they’d been keeping from her. Finding out she was a banshee and that her parents weren’t the normal, kinda embarrassing people she thought they’d been, had been bad enough. Bo was still young enough that the added attention, the hugs where he’d held on just a little too long, those scrutinising looks searching for some sign that they were growing up too fast, was just ‘extra attention from dad! Yay!’.

The fears had eased a little in the months since, his emotional version of the mother of all muscle cramps slowly softening until he could look back at what had happened and finally understand all those weird little choices they’d made. Like why the hell they’d waited sixteen years to have another baby when they were obviously so freaking good at creating amazing kids. That one decision to get on with it – starting with skinny dipping in that swimming pool and all that happened when you were somewhere warm and wet with the person you had built that crazy, amazing life with – had kick started the life that seemed to be on hold. It had given him that little bundle of joy and drooly smiles in his arms.

Chuckling against Bo’s palm, Theo rolled his eyes up towards Freyja. ”He had to make sure he was good and empty before dad got home. You save all the trouble for momma huh?” He pretended to gobble up Bo’s fingers before he straightened up. It was so easy to make them happy when they were that small, the worst things in the world could be fixed by a hug from your mom or dad. They were magicians, the people who whipped away the dirty diapers and filled your belly, the ones who kept you warm and absolutely couldn’t resist when they saw something that was gonna look ridiculously cute on you at the store.

There was probably still an entire store’s worth of Hazel’s stuff packed away in the house, tucked away because he was definitely too sentimental to have parted with them unless they’d been absolutely beyond salvage. The girlier stuff had been set aside when they’d been preparing for this little chonker, but it was still all packed up for emergencies or when (not if) they had another girl. This one wasn’t flowered, the lettering on it fresh enough that he should’ve noticed it right off the bat. Big Brother.

He was lucky that Freyja was close enough to grab Bo if the sobs of delight hit too hard. Theo beamed at her through the tears, trying to blink them back enough to see Freyja tearing up too – he definitely couldn’t just say she’d caught it off of him anymore, this was the hormones talking too. ”I think Hazel would kill us if we gave her room away,” he snorted. ”We’re having a baby.” The words were practically sobbed into the kiss until it deepened and any thought of blubbing until they were practically swimming melted away.

Drawing back as Bo broke his parents up with an invading hand and a squeal, Theo blew out a long breath, mouthing a wow around it. ”You better get used to it bubba,” he crooned, bouncing lightly as Bo clapped, celebrating something he probably wasn’t gonna understand until the baby came. ”So, no crawling into my lap with a pee stick this time huh?” The grin was starting to hurt Theo’s cheeks but it was going to take a miracle to have it easing any time soon. ”Did you make one for Hazel too? Are we gonna tell her tonight?” If they left Bo’s onesie on it’d probably end up being obvious to their daughter far faster than it had been to him. He looked down at it again, tugging lightly at the fabric to take it in again. It wasn’t like with Bo, they hadn’t made that decision to try again so soon after Bo had been born, but … oh, those negronis had a lot to answer for.

Tagged: FREYJA DAMASCA * Word Count: 738