#FF Rodney

[get-rammed]

Can I get an info dump about Rodney?

I know he's a bastard as well as a bit of a soft boy with a praise kink, which really intrigues me.

I will always take opportunities to spew about my silly bug boy. This is Rodney Osmund

He's a character of mine.

This is his true form, and secondary form. The humanoid one above is his tertiary form, and what I usually draw him in.

He's had many names and many lives in his history. Within the universe I've made, he's a Fiend and can die and be reborn any time Trevor dies. Trevor being one of his 3 siblings. Veronica and Caroline being the other two.

He was once a Warlord by the name of Bog Belly. A scourge upon man and Demon (Demons being an alien race by the name of Tymos who eventually just adopted the name Demons as a secondary and or primary name)

Bog Belly slaughtered thousands simply because he was born angry over and over again, and wanted to have everyone under his heels. No truama there. No reasons. Just a dick because that's his true nature. Though he was kind to his cult members, and his breeding stock.

But roughly 200 years ago, his sister Veronica defeated him in battle. Ending his reign of terror. Veronica heads a group called the Hunters. They were formed specifically to track and kill Bog Belly. After that goal was completed, they more or less ended Warlords being a problem, and now are a government body.

Veronica is the bad twin between herself and Caroline. So she saw zero issue with parading around a defeated Bog Belly. Forcing him to be an act of sorts for a few years before making him work with Colton (Trevor) to improve his morality.

When James (Trevor) picks a fight with his sister and gets all of them killed, they're reborn into their new and current lives.

Every one of Rodney's parents have always been cruel and mean to him. Forcing his nature to always be mean spirited. Except things were different this time.

Rodney's mom was endlessly patient with him, and always showed him true compassion and love. No matter what he did. Rodney is her baby boy, and he's an absolute mama's boy.

Being there for him as he spiraled into drug problems, and there when he cleaned up. He loves his mother. The first person he's ever truly loved.

So when he regained his memories and his full personality, he was far more docile than he had ever been. Not to say he's not still a bastard. He would absolutely kill you with zero hesitation and not even flinch as you cry for help.

But he's definitely trying to feel more empathy and understand what it's like to be normal. But it's a struggle for him. But he is trying.

This man needs. A lot of therapy lmao.

- He hates going to Hunter bases because he's been assaulted a number of times in a multitude of ways.

Rodney leveled a Hunter base in Ohio because of this. He's banned from the state of Ohio. Veronica covered this situation up as she understands why he did it.

She doesn't know he's still assaulted at some bases :( and he won't tell her because he doesn't believe anything will be done about it.

- Rodney can open his pupils to freeze in terror whoever looks at them, in place

- Rodney had front horns like his sister Caroline, but Trevor snapped them off in a fit of well deserved rage.

- Rodney overall is a dick (but he's trying to get better), and uses sex, various drugs, and alcohol to try and survive instead of getting therapy.

- He is taught about in schools as a part of history. People recognize him sometimes and point and talk about him. He's used to it and generally just ignores it.

- Even though he's trying to get better. If given the chance to get his power back. He would. With no hesitation.

- Rodney uses humor and acts like a dipstick so people don't expect too much from him. It upsets him a little hit to be labeled as a man whore who has no real thoughts besides memes, but he also knows it's better than the alteratives.

- Fiends have incredibly low fertility rates, but Rodney has eggs. He has roughly 100 kids, but he acknowledges none of them. "You're my son? And? I ain't got shit for you besides some protips. Get away from me or I will kill you."

- Rodney's spit is dual functional. It is both the most caustic venom known to man or Demon kind. But it also a heavy aphrodisiac. It completely depends on his mood. So it's a risk if you kiss him lmao

- He has a motorcycle and often will still ride it around

You can read more about him, his siblings, and the universe overall here. Just as a warning though. It's long lmao

[feralfiendsvn]

Been working on things quietly. Doin' GOOD

[fuck-customers]

Come back early from my break to coworker saying there's some pissed off guy out the front wanting a refund and she can't get hold of a manager. No worries, I know how to do them and have managers codes for that exact reason so we're chilling. I'm still technically on break for another 10 mins so I have my headphones hanging around my neck and drink in hand (because who gives a fuck, my job sucks ass and I'm not currently being paid atm).

Bro looks me over and immediately goes, "wow. Real professional." I'm on my break pal, just popping in real quick to get you out of the fucking queue 🙂 As I'm doing the refund he's complaining about the quality of his food as if I'm the one who made it. Like, homie what part of 'im on break' isn't getting through that thick skull of yours? I wasn't here ergo I didn't make your food. Just stick your card in the EFTPOS machine already ffs. This is exactly why I normally steer clear of the building during breaks, but alas, my bladder betrayed me lol.

Posted by admin Rodney

[drconstellation]

The Assistant Book Seller

Edit 1 Dec 2023 - added missing information on the "ribbon pattern."

Edit: 3 Dec 2023 - correct information about middle pattern from creator

GABRIEL: Greetings! I'm Jim! It's short for James, but I don't need to keep telling everyone that. I'm an assistant book seller.

I'm sorry. Before I do anything else, I need to apologize for something I need to write further in. I didn't plan to write it, I just kind of bumped into it and, well, I can't ignore it. So...sorry. It's said. Forgive me for what needs to be done.

Although he arrived with nothing but a cardboard box and Rodney the Stunt Fly, Aziraphale made sure Jim was clothed in appropriate raiment while under his protection. We'll forgive him that he took a step back about, oh, fifty years or so to the 1970's, as Jim's overall look is a nod to the famous old sitcom "Open All Hours." So if he looks a little bit out of place, or, a little bit familiar, even, that's why.

While we are used to seeing angels in overcoats, it's Jim's vest that is the particular feature here. But I will take a moment to comment on the overcoat - not just the colour but its lapels. Aziraphale has obviously given him a colour with an earthly connection and one that indicate that he has bought Jim under his protection, but the lapels look quite neutral, with one up and one down. (Muriel is the same in their Inspector uniform, btw) This is the first indication they are between two things at the moment.

Onto the vest.

There is so, so much work and thought put into this vest! It was a one-off commission for the show, and the creator, Sandy Higgins, has said she is not allowed to give away the final design pattern. I have tried to contact her, and I'm waiting for a reply, so in the mean time I thought I would ask my keen knitter of a sister-in-law about one of the patterns I'm not sure about. "Well, that's Fair Isle knitting," she said, but she knew nothing about the individual line pattern I was interested in. Hmm, I kind of know that already, its in the notes that are guiding me for this meta, but hey, why not do a broader search and see what comes up?

So once I got back home I did. "Fair Isle knitting patterns" hmm...Wikipedia page for starters...what on *earth* is that at the bottom of the page...? YOU ARE. FRIKKING. KIDDING ME!!!!!!!

"See also: Gumbys"

oh ffs

I am so sorry that needs must make me mention Monty Python yet again, but here we are. And we must mention them, because this link is just too...unbelievably, deliciously good.

If you aren't familiar with the Monty Python catalogue, and don't recognize the mention of Gumbys, they were a set of characters that dressed and spoke in a certain way but the main points to take away were they wore woolen vests in the Fair Isle knitted style and their catch-phrase was - wait for it - "My brain hurts!"

I think we've heard that somewhere before?

CROWLEY: When you first arrived, you said you were here because they were planning to do 'Something Terrible' to you. So you remembered it then. Remember it now. GABRIEL: It hurts to remember. My head isn't built for that.

Right. Now we've got that out of the way...back to the serious stuff.

The colours used in the vest are not your typical angel colours. There is a base of angelic off-white and there are some bits of purple for his royalty around the shoulder area - sometimes you need to look carefully for it. Otherwise it is dominated by vintage shades of red and green. Well. Who's an agent of change driven by love, then?

The horizontal stripe pattern is partly to remind us of the classic biblical robes with stripes that ran along them, much like the style of Crowley's black and red robe in the Job minisode, but is also part of the traditional Fair Isles pattern work. And each row only has two colours, but up around the shoulder area we do see purple start to sneak in as a third colour.

On to the incorporated symbols! I'm going to go from bottom to top.

On the lowest two we feature Crowley and Aziraphale. We have Crowley's demon satyr tail from the Good Omens logo on the lowest stripe - the double-headed arrow.

The next stripe is Aziraphale, with a variation of the classic OXO pattern ("hugs and kisses.") The X is meant to represent his angel wings, and the O is modified to mimic the "o" with a halo in the Good Omens logo. I've highlighted all three in the image on the right.

The third row up is a Sumerian Star pattern that represents one of the flowers associated with Gabriel, the lily. They are supposed to represent the purity of Mary, mother of Jesus, as he had one in his hand when he visited her during the Annunciation.

The row above that is what I believe to be a Byzantium pattern, and is included to show "an Angel's ability to be timeless."

The next three rows are still under a bit of a question mark as I write this. I plan to come back and edit it in if I find the answer.

The bottom of the three is the Duke of Buccleuch pattern, "to celebrate the long and necessary contribution that the cottage industry of hand knitted items."

The middle one - ? (perhaps you, the reader, know? It looks like a spiralling ribbon if I stand back, but that isn't sparking any connections, either.)

Edit: @noneorother tells me in a reblog (below) that this pattern represents the shoelace from the magic incantation Aziraphale uses "Banana Fish Gorilla Shoelace." So it is ribbon-like! This then points to the Second Coming, as it the shoelace references the end of the book, and the last paragraph of the book references Yeats poem "The Second Coming" as well as the novel 1984. To me it is then also telling us there is a cycle occurring, or a cycle that needs to be renewed. This fits in with some other clues other meta-writers have been picking up.

Edit 2: Turns out none of that was correct - I heard back from the creator herself and it's actually the double-ended satyr tail pattern again! It just seems to make a bit of an illusion of a ribbon or shoelace.

The pattern below is a modified OXO pattern.

The top one looks like two rams horns facing each other. A hollowed out rams horn can be used as a trumpet, and is known as a shofar in Jewish religion. Gabriel was traditionally known to carry a trumpet.

The ancient meander pattern would be recognized by most people, included as another classic timeless pattern found all over the world. For some it symbolizes eternity and endless flow.

The wheels here appear to be Michael's ophanim wheels, that would have eyes around the rims.

The hourglass is to remind us that time is running out. Memento mori - "Remember that you die." It is a major theme in both series.

Right up high, just before we lose the rest of the vest inside the overcoat, we get a glimpse of a large diamond-shaped icon. I wonder if this is another stylized set of angel wings, like we saw in the Job minisode on Aziraphale's golden collar.

To finish off the outfit, he is wearing dark gray trousers with sneakers! I'm sure that's so he could keep sneaking up on Aziraphale in the shop, haha. His shirt seems a little too large for him and the tie is knotted too high and is not settled along his centerline. It's all at odds with his previous neat and sharp appearance as Supreme Archangel Gabriel.

I'd like to say a big thank you to @aduckwithears for helping me with information on the vest and finding the creator's other social media sites. You can see their two posts about it here and here.

[hellfighter8]

Last alarm box 46-40, October 19, 2023, Baltimore City Fire Department.

FF Rodney Pitts 10/19/23

LT Dillon Rinaldo 10/24/23

[twotales]

Rodney and Radek are parents.

Canon.

I'm not joking. They made life together.

They named her ffs.

Don't believe me? Then you don't remember the episode very well.

[total-drama-fugitives]

just realised my design for Rodney’s wife in tdf looks a lot like new emma ffs

[theofficialpeanutgallery]

Me: *gets invested in the show I’m watching*

The show: and now, for a completely unnecessary episode where one of the main characters wakes up from a coma or something in a mental institution bc they passed out during a thing they were doing and had a psychosis episode! (Except this whole thing is not real, thus the unnecessary bit) Enjoy this extreme warping of what psychosis actually is while you watch your fav character go through shit they shouldn’t have to go through!

Me, immediately: I have to leave

[ioannemos]

brOTP asks for like ... three or four sets of bros, your choice.

john and rodney (sga)

Who offers to get rid of the evidence and body whenever the other starts complaining about someone: if rodney was genuinely angry about someone, not just bitching, john would be the one to casually suggest murder as a way to deal with them. rodney would refuse the offer: he’s already thought through it, and–

Who shows up at the other’s house with food and movies when the other is having a bad day: they’d do this for each other, but in different ways. for instance, john would have to drag rodney away from his work first

Who sends the other tons of videos/phone game requests: john, mostly to annoy rodney in meetings

Who glares at the other til they sit down and eat: it’s not so much glaring as dragging, but john drags rodney

Who stands behind the other and signals to the person arguing with their friend that if the person hurts their friend then they will hunt the person down: john doesn’t signal, he just… Looms

Who starts the war on stealing food from the other: generally, steal food from rodney and lose a hand. john can get away with it, though

Who comes up with the bad ideas that they will regret in the morning and who stops them/goes with them to keep them from getting into too much trouble: rodney probably has amazing science ideas when drunk. just listen, if they set [material] on fire, the resulting chemical mess just might- john, let go, you’re not listening!

connor and hank (dbh)

Who offers to get rid of the evidence and body whenever the other starts complaining about someone: hank. connor is concerned: that’s illegal, hank.

Who shows up at the other’s house with food and movies when the other is having a bad day: it’s more that connor doesn’t bring up calorie counts or point out how emotional the people in the movie are acting. he’s trying, okay?

Who sends the other tons of videos/phone game requests: connor’s phone is in his head, which makes things a little awkward on that front. that said, i love the mental image of hank sending connor pictures of sumo as a puppy or requests for more candy crush lives. “we’re at work, lieutenant. shouldn’t you be working?” “the database is still loading. c’mon, i’ve been stuck on this level for a week.”

Who glares at the other til they sit down and eat: not so much eating, but

connor: lieutenant i am fine, the damage is minimal-

hank: *Death Glare*

connor: *sinks back into chair*

Who stands behind the other and signals to the person arguing with their friend that if the person hurts their friend then they will hunt the person down: [hank slashes finger across throat]

Who starts the war on stealing food from the other: connor doesn’t eat, so…

Who comes up with the bad ideas that they will regret in the morning and who stops them/goes with them to keep them from getting into too much trouble: sometimes connor coming is enough all by itself to keep hank out of trouble

3 and 6 (grey on black on black)

Who offers to get rid of the evidence and body whenever the other starts complaining about someone: 

3: *grumbles*

6, from the other room: YOU SHOULD KILL HIM

Who shows up at the other’s house with food and movies when the other is having a bad day: 6. lots of food, lots of movies, lots of booze

Who sends the other tons of videos/phone game requests: 6. if he wasn’t paying for 3’s phone bill already, he would be after sending him memes and videos all day

Who glares at the other til they sit down and eat: they’re both bad at eating properly, tbh

Who stands behind the other and signals to the person arguing with their friend that if the person hurts their friend then they will hunt the person down: 3. he denies ever doing it

Who starts the war on stealing food from the other: 6. he’s not big on these things you call… boundaries

Who comes up with the bad ideas that they will regret in the morning and who stops them/goes with them to keep them from getting into too much trouble: 

6: let’s rob a bank

3: are you kidding? no way, 2 would kill us

6: :(

3: that bodega guy called me an asshole on monday, tho, so let’s go wreck his shit

6: :)

[ickeyandmian]

Why's Mickey acting like fucking Del Boy Trotter jesus christ this time next year we'll be millionaires Rodney

[theenbynightingale]

Thoughts on Big Mouth Season 5

I feel like I've had my thoughts on this bottled up for a while so I may as well just let them out.

I like that Jessi doesn't have a label. It could be because she hasn't fully figured out her sexuality yet but I think it's great that they're showing how you don't have to rush to figure out your sexuality. It takes time. If you don't wanna label yourself, that's also fine.

Speaking of which, I love that they're not even bothering to hide the fact that Andrew is attracted to men but not dedicating a whole arc to it. He's just Andrew. Him thirsting over men as well as girls is simply a part of him now.

Having said that, the Mr. Keating subplot was probably the worst part of the season. Maybe even the whole show. Andrew just straight up ruins a man's life and, despite his arc being somewhat dedicated to him being more sensitive and wanting to rise above hate, it's never brought up again.

Nick's arc was fine. I like the idea that some hate is valid and some isn't (with Nick's definitely being invalid) but the way it goes becomes a muted version of his arc from last season. It follows a few of the same beats but being more literal than metaphorical.

I feel like we haven't seen the last of Aiden or Samira. Matthew's choices may come back to bite him later on. Ali, on the other hand, seems to still miss Samira since her break-up was beyond her control so I'm not sure where this will go. But I am glad Ali won't be a glorified extra like Gina ended up being.

The Christmas episode was good (despite a few shoddy moments) but I feel like it should have been an extra episode like the Valentine's one was since it kinda disrupted the flow of the story.

I love Missy's arc and Ayo Edebiri's performance. I like her hate coming from jealousy and insecurity while Nick's just comes from spite. Her arc ends with her rising above it and trying to better herself and I'm really excited to see where else she goes.

Also, maybe it was because they kept making jokes in the finale about Jessi eating out Missy, but I honestly thought they were setting them up as a pairing at first. I'm glad they didn't because that would've been WAY too fast but I wouldn't mind seeing it in the future.

How the fuck did they get Hugh Jackman?

If we got Pillola, are we gonna get Bath MATthew?

I'm mixed on Matthew's story even though I'm glad he and Jay got together. They dropped the whole story with his parents to the point where they only have one scene. Does his mother accept him now? Is it just not brought up because he was single for 69% of the season?

But I love Jatthew. I like how Lola and Jay fell apart didn't feel all that forced. Couples fall apart and sometimes it gets ugly, no matter how great the honeymoon phase was. They had a good run but things change.

Rodney, just adopt Lola ffs

I'm starting to think that Gina's been forced into the background because the crew really doesn't want to give Gina Rodriguez a lot of screen time after all the shit she's said but they don't wanna make a big deal by firing her.

I kind of hope they do bring her back because I feel like the lid can't be kept on Charles Lu forever. I get Jay, Matthew, or even Andrew not outing him but Lola found out about it and she doesn't try to start more drama?

Also, where's Kat Dennings?

I wanna see an asexual kid whose Hormone Monster is Simon Sex. The kid doesn't experience sexual attraction so Simon doesn't try to make the kid horny. He just hangs around and chills with the kid. I dunno. It's funny to me.

Let Bernie be recurring. She's sweet and funny and I don't want Andrew to lust after is cousin anymore. No more incest please, even if the joke is that it's bad.

The lovebugs and hate-worms were fine even if the concepts don't make too much sense. Like, there's been plenty of love and hate before but they're just now showing up. I liked Rochelle and Sonya. Walter was funny at first but he ended up overstaying his welcome as both lovebug and hate-worm.

Mona's hot in a respectful way.

tl;dr I've just been murdered at EPCOT Center.

[get-rammed]

BABY GIRL 👆

CORRECT.

[feralfiendsvn]

Remembering this account exists by sharing Issac.

Issac is technically only half canon as he only exists if Rodney and Trevor die during a few of the endings of the in progress VN.

He's greasy and awful, not a good guy, but man :((((( I love him 😔😔😔

[fuck-customers]

As crazy as it sounds, scamming cashiers at large stores with fake bills isn’t harmless. Who do you think is punished by the company for it? The damn cashiers. Stop getting people fired. Ffs

Posted by admin Rodney

[sparrowsarus]

Aurora

Ronon ilu.

Let Elizabeth eat. She's so awkward, I love her.

Big "Steven honey, will you please take the kids to the park?" vibes

B

O

O

M

people stacks!

Steven's not a bad guy.

Aw, Rodney's so excited.

"Don't trust me?" RUDE!

Teyla is so manipulative, I love her.

"I was!" Well maybe you should have let Rodney go. (Do not let Rodney go)

John...FFS. Don't grin like that. It makes you look v. punchable.

Naughty Boys Go In The Naughty Cube!

I really love this woman's outfit though.

At least give him a book.

Daaaaaadddd!!!! Can I please go play?

"Oh, him." Rodney.

John, don't flirt with the Ancient.

Teyla is not paid enough.

"Oh no."

You are so bad at this buddy.

Spooky Skary Wraithytons

See, more people should just tell Rodney why he needs to do the thing.

"It's my turn"

"I'm sure I don't" He's so brave, Teyla and Ronon are impressed.

Team Technobabble.

Poor Caldwell, dealing with these people. Team Chaotic.

"There are wraith ships on the way?"

Big married couple vibes.

Just shoot , don't stare at him!

RUN AWAYYY!!!!!!!

B

O

O

M

git wreked

Those are weird-ass glasses.

[lastbluetardis]

Family of Six (14/14)

After James and Rose bring their newborn twins home, they work to find a balance between all four of their children, and each other. Ten x Rose AU, Soulmates AU.

This chapter: Teen, 7600 words

Ages of the Tyler-McCrimmons at the start of the chapter: James: 39, Rose: 34, Ainsley: 9, Sianin: 6, Twins: 5 months

If you like reading my stories, consider leaving me a tip? Or leave a reply on this post to tell me what you thought? And as always, reblogs are very much appreciated so more people can see this.

AO3 | TSP | FF | Perfectly Matched Series

Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 | Ch10 | Ch11 | Ch12 | Ch13 | Ch14

The Monday after his blowup with Rodney, James dreaded going into the university. It broke Rose’s heart to see him dawdling through his morning routine, allowing himself to get distracted with the girls to keep him from leaving for work. He asked to bottle-feed the twins, and while he did that, he played a game of Scrabble with Ainsley over the breakfast table.

Rose stood behind James’s chair and draped her arms around his neck to watch him play the word “veneer”.

“What’s that?” Ainsley asked, cocking her head to the side.

“A layer of something to make it more aesthetically pleasing,” James answered. “Usually applied to old wood or stone to make it look a bit nicer.”

Rose could almost see the gears of Ainsley’s mind working as she catalogued the word, then shifted her attention to her own playing tiles.

“You don’t go easy on her, do you?” Rose murmured into his ear.

“She’d fillet me alive if she knew I let her win at this,” James retorted.

Rose watched her daughter set down the word “quiver” with a proud smirk that looked just like her father. The ‘q’ landed on a double letter bonus and the ‘e’ reached the double word bonus, earning her a grand total of fifty-six points.

“Do you feel sorry for her anymore?” James pouted, scribbling down her score. With that word, she had soared into a healthy lead.

“Not one bit,” Rose said, grinning. “Though I’m beginning to feel sorry for you.”

“How is that game any fun?” Sianin asked as she stuffed a spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth. “It’s like school all over again. We’re on summer holiday, Ainsley.”

“It’s fun to try and make words from a random assortment of letters,” Ainsley said, pulling a new set of tiles from the velvet bag.

“We have very different ideas of fun,” Sianin grumbled.

Rose snorted, and contented herself to stand behind her husband and watch the progress of the game. When it was over—with James narrowly winning by three points—and the twins had finished eating, James jumped up to help with the dishes.

“No, you’ve got to get to work,” Rose said gently, placing a hand on his chest to halt him from going to the sink.

His face fell.

“We’ll be by for lunch,” Rose reminded, rubbing her hand up and down his chest. “Just think of that. A little less than four hours to get through before you see my glorious face again.”

The corners of his mouth lifted in a halfhearted attempt at a smile.

“I love you very much,” Rose said, sliding her hands up until she could wrap her arms around his neck.

He hugged her tightly.

“It’ll be okay, love,” she whispered into his ear. “It’ll be okay. You’ve got some students coming to your office this morning, then you’ll have lunch with me and the girls, then you’re covering what’s-his-name’s class this afternoon. After that, you can come home. See? Easy peasy.”

“I know,” he sighed, turning his head to kiss her cheek. “Thanks.”

She gave him one final squeeze then released him. After goodbye kisses to the girls, James scooped up his bag and coffee thermos and headed out the door.

“What’s wrong with Dad?” Ainsley asked, settling beside Rose at the sink to help with the dishes.

“He had a small argument with one of the people he works with, and he’s a little nervous to see him,” Rose answered. 

“What were they arguing about?” Sianin asked.

“It’s none of our business,” Rose said.

“But Daddy told you,” Sianin pointed out.

“Okay, it’s none of your business,” Rose amended. “It’s grown-up problems.”

Sianin let out a long-suffering sigh, but didn’t push any further.

All morning, Rose worried about James. She wrote encouraging messages on her arms, as well as little doodles and outlandish declarations of love. He drew smiley faces beside each note, or a series of x’s and o’s, but otherwise didn’t respond.

When it was time to meet James for lunch, Rose corralled the girls into the car along with a bag of swimming gear, as she promised to take them to the pool that afternoon.

“Sian, take Ainsley’s hand,” Rose commanded as she worked on getting the twins set up in their pram in the university car park. “And don’t go anywhere.”

“There’s no one around,” Sianin said.

“It’s good practice,” Rose said. “Besides, in a couple years, you and Ainsley will be big helpers to make sure the twins don’t go racing off across the road.”

As she buckled the twins into the buggy, she heard Ainsley and Sianin sniping at each other. It didn’t sound too rude, so she let them handle it themselves.

“Ready?” she asked.

Ainsley and Sianin turned to her and nodded. Ainsley kept hold of Sianin’s hand as they walked towards the science building. Once inside, Rose waved cheerily at the employees in the front office and ducked inside so they could ooh and ahh over the twins and exclaim about how big Ainsley and Sianin were getting.

Five minutes later, Rose loaded the kids into the lift to take them to James’s office on the sixth floor. Knowing the way, Sianin bolted out of the lift the moment the doors opened and nearly jogged down the corridor.

“We use our walking feet when we’re indoors,” Rose called after her.

Sianin made a small effort to slow down her pace, but when James poked his head out of his office, she sped into a full-out sprint.

“Daddy!” she squealed, as though she hadn’t seen him in four days rather than four hours.

“Indoor voice,” Rose chastised, but she couldn’t help but smile as Sianin jumped into her father’s open arms.

“How is my favorite six-year-old doing today?” James asked, pressing a kiss to Sianin’s cheek as he stood with her on his hip.

“Good,” she replied. “How’s my favorite daddy?”

“Favorite daddy?” James squawked. “Last I checked, I was your only daddy.”

He bounced her in his arms and tickled her ribs, making her squirm and laugh, batting at his hands. The sound of an office door—Rodney’s—slamming shut startled him into stopping.

“Oops,” Sianin whispered, cringing. “Sorry.”

“It wasn’t you, darling. Your volume was fine,” James said firmly.

He gave her a squeeze and set her on her feet, then greeted the rest of his family. He kissed the top of Ainsley’s head, then peeked into the baby buggy, but both twins were napping. With a bright smile that never failed to turn her bones to liquid, he turned to Rose.

“Hi,” she said, smiling back at him. “Have a good morning?”

She tilted her cheek towards his offered kiss.

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad,” he said with a nonchalant shrug. Addressing the girls, he asked “Ready for lunch?”

Ainsley and Sianin led the way back to the lifts, leaving their parents behind. James slipped his arm around Rose’s waist and kept pace with her down the long corridor.

oOoOo

James hadn’t been lying to Rose when he said her opinion of him as a father and husband was the only one that mattered to him. However, it wasn’t enjoyable to be surrounded by people who, he now realized, had been silently judging him. Nevertheless, he kept his head high and a smile on his face as he passed his coworkers in the corridors.

With his shortened summer term hours, he didn’t need to spend too much time at the university. Any time he did spend there, he was either teaching, marking papers, or meeting with students to help them with material they didn’t understand. After all of his work was finished for the day, he was free to go back home to his family. He wasn’t sure how he would adapt when the fall term started; he certainly couldn’t hide in his office for eight hours every day.

Lunchtime was the hardest for him. He usually would eat in the faculty lounge with the rest of his coworkers, but ever since that dreadful confrontation between him and Rodney that everyone had witnessed, it had become awkward.

So James took to eating alone in his office. If he felt particularly pathetic, he would ask Rose to join him. If the weather was nice, he would eat outside or trek to the dining hall, where there was a faculty lunchroom on one of the upper floors.

He usually sat alone, but one day, a stranger decided to dine with him.

“You’re new here.”

James was absently twirling his fork through noodles when a woman slid gracefully into the seat across from him at the little two-person table he was eating at. The woman was around his age, give or take a few years, with big bushy curly hair.

“I’m Professor River Song,” the woman said, extending a hand towards him. “Anthropology department, focus in archaeology.”

James set down his fork and took her hand, shaking it once. “Professor James Tyler-McCrimmon. Physics department. And chemistry, I s’pose. They’re in the same building. They sort of overlap, don’t they? Well, depending on the topic. But they complement each other nicely.”

James’s cheeks heated at his rambling, but the woman just smiled at him in amusement.

“How long have you been here?” River asked, spearing her fork through her plate of pasta.

“Oh, I’m not new,” James explained, remembering her opening line. “Nah, I recently decided to take my lunches here. New experiences and all.”

The woman looked like she didn’t believe him, but she didn’t press it. Instead, she asked him about his research interests and what he had studied in graduate school. She, in turn, told him about her graduate school experience, and how she’d gotten to travel across the world to various archives to write her thesis.

They talked for over an hour until River’s phone chimed.

“Oh, hell,” she sighed. “I’m twenty minutes late for a meeting.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you,” James said, hoping none of his own students had stopped by yet for office hours. “I should probably get going too.”

“This was nice,” River said, sliding her phone back into her pocket. “We should meet up again some time.”

“I’d like that,” James said, smiling.

“Laters,” River said with a wink, then she strode out of the dining hall.

James met up with River a couple times a week for lunch, talking about everything and nothing. They had similar interests outside of the university, and often discussed politics or sports or books. Taking lunch with her made the work day much more tolerable; he was glad to have a friend who wasn’t associated with any of the drama happening within the department. 

Rodney had well and truly written James off and barely acted as though he existed, causing the rest of their coworkers to walk on eggshells around them both. Mark, it seemed, was the only one who stood up for James; however, James often saw Mark chatting and laughing with Rodney, too. He tried not to be too offended. 

He confided in River a little bit about what was going on between him and his colleagues without going into specific details. He merely told her that he and his mates had “very different opinions that made situations slightly uncomfortable”.

“That sounds like a load of shit,” River said cheerfully. “And extremely unprofessional. Grown adults should be able to put aside their differences, eh?”

James rolled his eyes and sniffed. “I won’t set aside my morals to make peace with someone.”

“Not sure taking the high road is working in your favor, mate,” River drawled.

“I made a new friend out of it,” James said, gesturing towards her.

Her eyes twinkled as she grinned at him, and they continued their banter until James’s phone buzzed in a text.

Pipe burst under the sink in our room. Plumber can’t come ‘til tomorrow morning. I’m currently sifting through the mess.

“Oh dear,” he murmured under his breath. “So sorry, River, but I’ve got a wee emergency at home. Burst pipe.”

“Sounds like a delight,” River said, sipping her coffee. “Take care, James.”

He hastily bade his goodbyes than rushed home to help Rose. He didn’t know exactly what he could do to help, but he was sure she would appreciate another set of hands to clean up.

When he arrived at the house, he found the twins in the living room and Rose in their en suite, sitting before a damp vanity and shoulders-deep into the cabinet beneath.

“Where are Ainsley and Sianin?”

She flinched. He winced when he heard a thunk.

“Shit,” she hissed, massaging her elbow as she retreated from the cabinet.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, folding his legs under him as he sank to the floor beside her.

“Your dad offered to entertain them for the afternoon,” she said. “Good luck to him, though; Ainsley’s in a mood today.”

“Oh?” he asked, frowning.

“Yeah, it was weird. She had a bit of an attitude and was short-tempered with everyone. Not sure who pissed in her cereal, but I was so tempted to shut her away in her room until she sorted through whatever mood she was in. Then I lost my temper with her when she flat-out refused to move from the sofa to grab a bag of nappies from the nursery. She then claimed I’m a lazy mother for always making her look after her little siblings.” Rose rubbed her palm into her eyes. “I thought she liked helping with Sianin and the twins.”

“She does,” James soothed. “She’s just… having a really bad day, I suppose.” He rested his hand on her thigh and gave it a squeeze. “I’m sorry love. And I’m sure she is too. You can talk it out when you’re both in better moods.” He jutted his chin towards the open cabinet door. “Have you shut off the water line to those pipes?”

“Nah, I figured I’d let it keep dripping all over our stuff.”

James pinched her leg, then scooted closer to the cabinet to reach inside and haul item after item out for inspection. 

For the next hour, they worked together to mop up the water and sift through everything to determine what could or could not be salvaged.

“We’ll have to remember to replace those,” James said, inclining his head to the soggy, ruined box of tampons and pads. “And soon. You’re just about due, aren’t you?”

Rose hummed noncommittally, as though she hadn’t particularly heard him, and continued taking inventory of her makeup kit. Entire palettes of eye shadow and rouge and foundation had been lost.

James chucked a couple rolls of toilet paper into the garbage bag between them when Rose asked, “What’s the date?”

Her voice was faint, and he turned to her. Her cheeks had lost all color.

“You all right?”

“What’s the date?” she repeated impatiently.

“Ehm… August seventh? Eighth?”

Rose scrabbled for her mobile and began tapping at the screen, muttering under her breath. She ticked her fingers against her leg, as though keeping count.

“Rose, what’s the matter?”

“It can’t be… I can’t be!” Before he could ask again, she said, “I didn’t get my period. It should’ve come… I don’t know when. Two weeks ago? I can’t bloody remember when it was I last had it.”

James’s ears began to ring dully, sure he’d misheard her. “Excuse me?”

“I missed my period.” She buried her face into her hands, digging her palms into her eyes. “I can’t be pregnant. I can’t be. We’ve been careful!”

“Not necessarily,” James said, his stomach churning uncomfortably. “There have been a few times we’ve chanced it, when you said we were safe.”

“So this is my fault?” Rose snapped.

“Of course not. I didn’t mean it like that.”

Rose’s shoulders slumped. “Shit. Shit shit shit!”

James mechanically rose to his feet, his brain full of cotton and static as he tried and failed to process the influx of information. But he took it one step at a time, and the first step was to actually confirm their suspicion. “I’ll go out and buy a test. I’ll be back.”

“Shit, James. What are we going to do?” The helplessness in her voice broke his heart.

“You are going to stay here and continue cleaning up,” James said, nodding to their soaked cabinet. “I am going to go out and buy a pregnancy test. And then we’ll figure out what to do. Together.”

James walked out of the room without another word. He gathered his keys and wallet and made his way to the chemist’s.

Pregnant. Rose might be pregnant. Again. The universe must be playing a cruel joke on them, for making it so difficult to conceive the last time around, only to bring them an unplanned pregnancy mere months after they’d had their twins.

She might not be, said a little voice in his head. Don’t panic until you know for certain.

James tried to listen to the little voice in his head, but it was hard. He didn’t know if it made him a worse father for wishing Rose wasn’t pregnant, or for dreading the idea that she was.

Time blurred around him. He was vaguely aware of the drive into town then back home again, a small bag of pregnancy tests in the passenger’s seat.

Rose had made no more progress on cleaning their en suite, but he didn’t blame her. She was sitting in the exact same position as when he’d left her, and she jumped when he called her name softly.

He wordlessly handed her the bag of three pregnancy tests, then sat on the floor to wait. She joined him a minute later, and together they stared at the developing tests.

Slowly, a faint little negative sign bloomed across three different test windows.

Not pregnant.

James breathed out a sigh of relief, the tension flowing out of his body.

“Dodged that bullet.” Though Rose’s words were grateful, her tone was clipped.

He turned his head to look at her, but she had her eyes locked on the three tests in front of her.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah.” She smiled at him, but the expression was brittle, and her eyes made it seem like she wasn’t seeing him. “Really. I didn’t want to be pregnant.”

He nodded slowly, wanting to believe her.

She stood abruptly. “I need some air. I’m going for a walk.”

“Talk to me,” he said, shooting to his feet.

“Please, James. I need a minute.”

Déjà vu squeezed his lungs until he couldn’t breathe. How many times had she been so disappointed by a negative test result that she’d gone on a run to brood in her thoughts? How many times had she gone off on her own and cried over her heartbreak and feelings of failure? How many times had he overlooked just how upset she was?

“Don’t shut me out,” he begged. “Please. Talk to me. Please.”

“How can I talk to you about what I’m feeling when I don’t even know how I feel?” Rose asked, her tone a little sharp. “Please, James. I need to think. Let me think. Then we’ll talk.”

“Promise?” he rasped, feeling childish for making her swear it.

Her face softened. “Cross my heart.” She drew an X across her chest, then across his, like he always did with their kids. “I need to be alone for a little while, but I’m not shutting you out.” Something in her eyes cleared, and her brows furrowed. “Are you okay? Will you be okay if I leave?”

Part of him selfishly wanted to tell her no, but he wouldn’t make her stay when she wanted space to think alone. So he nodded, and focused hard on breathing. Rose said she was okay, and that they’d talk. He had to trust that, to trust her. They would talk. They would sort out their emotions. They would be okay.

He repeated that mantra again and again as Rose pulled on her shoes.

“I’ll be back within an hour,” she promised.

He nodded, and then she was gone.

His brain screamed at him to go after her, to demand that they talk right now and fix whatever it was that was bothering her. He needed to know if she genuinely was happy that they weren’t pregnant.

What if she realized she was upset by the test result? Unbidden, he was taken back five years, to when Rose had taken a pregnancy test that turned out negative but sparked their desire for another baby. Was history repeating itself? Would Rose realize she wanted another baby, and they would go back down that road of uncertainty and failure and heartbreak and…?

Stop it, he hissed.

Desperately needing a distraction, he wandered into the living room where the twins were napping in their swings. The knot in his chest loosened as he beheld the two beautiful babies that were the end result of his and Rose’s pain. They were worth it. He would do it all again if it meant having Hannah and Maddie in his life.

But he didn’t particularly want to do it all again. He didn’t want to see the devastation on Rose’s face as they tried and failed month after month to make a baby. Besides, wasn’t their little family perfect as it was? Did he even want more children? Surely if he said he was finished fathering children, Rose wouldn’t make them try for another baby? But was he even one-hundred percent sure that he was done fathering children?

He tried to think ahead a few years. The spread of ages of their children was quite varied. By the time the twins were toddlers, Ainsley would be almost a teenager. Would he want to start over again with a baby when Ainsley was going through puberty and Sianin was only a few years away from it, too?

But on the other hand, if they wanted another baby, it would probably be a good idea to have one within a couple of years so that the new baby would be relatively close in age with the twins. However, they had twins. They already came as a paired, package deal. They could entertain each other as they grew up.

James’s head began to throb, and he sank to his bum in front of his babies. “Oh, my darlings, your daddy is having a day.”

He slowed the rocking of the swings and unbuckled each twin, bringing them onto the floor with him. Though they each stirred upon being moved, they eventually fell back to sleep. He lay down beside them and gazed into their faces.

They were the most gorgeous things he’d ever seen. Their soft, pale skin. Their little button noses. Their fair hair. He grudgingly had to admit that Rose might be right: their hair did appear as though it was growing in red. He made a note to ask Rose where the red-haired gene came from—her father had had red hair, hadn’t he? And Donna had gotten her red hair from somewhere. Though they were distantly related, those genes were swirling somewhere inside of him too.

“I love you both so much,” he murmured to the twins, his throat closing. “I love you so, so much.”

Tears burned behind his eyes as he watched his babies sleep. He didn’t know how he could feel simultaneously happy and sad. How he could feel like smiling and crying.

“Do you think you two would like having a baby sibling one day?” he mused, watching the rise and fall of their chests as he breathed. “Or do you think our family is complete as it is. A family of six. Six is a great number, innit? Half a dozen. Way better than the family of four that we used to be before you two came along. Though what about a family of seven? Oh, Lord. What if we had another set of twins? Family of eight? That might be a bit much, eh? Oh, I dunno…”

He heaved out a sigh that was loud enough to make Maddie flinch. “Sorry, darling. Daddy’s having a bit of trouble right now. You see, your mummy thought she might be pregnant again. She’s not. And I think she might be a wee bit upset about it, even though she said she’s not. Am I being paranoid? Am I overthinking things? I probably am. I wish she’d come home so we could talk.

“What if she wants another baby, though? I have no idea if I want another one. I mean, we just got you two. I’d like to enjoy you both for a little longer before considering adding a new baby to the mix. Obviously if your mummy fell pregnant a couple months from now, I would love that baby so much. I love all of my babies. But I think it’d be a bit hard.

“What am I even doing? Why am I obsessing over this when I don’t even know what your mummy is thinking?”

He scrubbed a hand over his face and continued chatting softly to his sleeping babies as he waited for his wife to come home.

True to her word, Rose returned home fifty-three minutes later. He was still on the floor, but pushed himself to a sitting position when she walked in.

“I’m so sorry,” she said by way of greeting. “I’m sorry I just… ran out on you.”

“Are you feeling better?” he asked, patting the floor beside him.

Rose plopped down beside him and scooted the twins closer to them. She began absently playing with Hannah’s feet as she said, “Yeah, I am. I’m sorry. I got stuck in my head, in my memories. Seeing those negative tests brought back all the times I sat on that very floor in our loo, praying for a positive result. Only today, I was praying for a negative one. And even though the test came out the way I wanted it to, I couldn’t seem to escape all of the times I’d had my heart shattered again and again over the course of four years. And not just my heart, but yours too. I kept seeing your disappointment and hurt in my head, and being in that room, sitting there with you… it made it all come rushing back, and it was just as painful as it was the first time ‘round. But at the same time, I was so relieved to not be pregnant again. I was confused and needed to be alone somewhere that didn’t have memories associated with it. I’m sorry.”

James placed his arm around her shoulders and tugged her into his side. “I understand. You don’t need to apologize. I completely understand what it’s like to get stuck in your head. Well, my head. You know what I mean. Are you okay?”

“I am, yeah,” she said. “Are you?”

“I am now,” he replied. “I… I’ll admit I was panicking a little bit while you were gone. But Hannah and Maddie are great little listeners.”

“Your turn. What were you panicking about?” she asked.

“It’s stupid,” he confessed, because it really was now.

“It’s not,” she argued. “Please, James?”

“I thought you would decide you wanted another baby, which would put us back on the track we were in five years ago. I began panicking that we were about to spend the next four years trying and failing to get pregnant.”

Rose let go of Hannah’s feet and turned into him to wrap her arms around his waist. He clutched her fiercely to him, burying his nose in her hair. It smelled like wind and sunshine and summertime.

“I love you,” she whispered into his neck.

“Love you, too,” he mumbled into her hair. He pulled back to look her in the eye. “We’re okay, right?”

“Yeah, we’re okay,” she answered, smiling faintly. “Though I’m upset this brought back bad memories for the both of us. I mean, it’s been years, and we’ve got the twins now. I guess I’d thought we put all of those demons to rest, y’know?”

“We went through something traumatic,” he said gently. “An old wound is still a wound, no matter how healed you think it is.” He paused, but then asked, “So… is this indicative that we’re done having children? If we were so relieved we’re not expecting again, does this mean we’re happy with our family as it is? If so, we can get some sort of permanent birth control performed. It doesn’t even have to be you; I’ll gladly have my bits snipped away, just say the word and…”

“Slow it down, love,” Rose said, amused. “I don’t know how permanent I want our birth control to be. I don’t know if our family is complete as it is. I am perfectly content with my life, and I’m so happy and in love with you and our girls. But I don’t know if I’m done having children. Unless…” She cocked her head to the side. “Are you finished having children? Are you dead set against any more?”

“What if I said I was?” James asked carefully, trying to buy himself some time. Despite brooding over it for the past hour, he still hadn’t come to a conclusion about whether he wanted to have more children or not.

“Then I’d happily drive you to the hospital tomorrow to get your bits snipped off,” she said playfully. More seriously, she added, “I don’t want any more babies unless you do as well.”

“Before anyone snips at my bits, let’s take some time, eh? I think I’m in the same boat as you… I don’t know if I’m ready to permanently close myself off to the idea of having more children. I don’t want any more right now, but within the next couple of years?” He shrugged. “And maybe I’ll never decide that I’m ready for another child. But can you make me a promise?”

“I’ll try,” Rose said, wary.

“If you decide one way or another—either you really want another baby or you really don’t—let me know immediately?”

“I will make that promise as long as you do, too,” Rose said.

“I promise,” he said. “Cross my heart, pinkie swear, deal.”

He drew an X across both of their chests, then hooked his little finger around hers, and finally shook her hand, sealing the vow. He grinned when Rose laughed at him.

“Oh, I love you, you daft nutter,” she said, her eyes bright.

“Your daft nutter loves you too. Very much.”

“I’ll have a chat with Elizabeth about alternate forms of birth control,” Rose said. “I don’t want to go back on the pill again; it threw my hormones and emotions all out of whack the last time I tried to go on it after Ainsley was born. But maybe there’s an injection or an implant or something I can get. I’ll try to remember to give her a call to schedule something.”

“Sounds good.” He leaned his head against hers. “Shall we go back to cleaning up?”

It took another hour or so to clean up the mess. When they were done, they loaded the twins into their car and drove over to Robert’s house to collect their eldest children. Robert and Sianin were in the front garden playing when they arrived.

“Mummy!” Sianin said, racing up to them. 

“Hi, baby. Are you having fun with Grandad?”

“Uh huh! Grandad said we had to play outside since Ainsley’s ill. He taught me something called football. But not football. American football! It’s played with a weird-shaped ball and nobody actually touches it with their feet.”

“Ainsley’s ill?” James repeated.

“Sianin, why don’t you start cleaning up?” Robert suggested. While she picked up the toys and games from the grass, he explained, “I think she might have gotten a migraine. She complained that her head hurt, then all of a sudden she said everything hurt. The TV was too loud, the lights too bright, her clothes too scratchy. I set her up in her bedroom. She’s been asleep for nearly three hours now.”

Rose made for the house, and James followed on her heels. They walked to the room Ainsley and Sianin shared when they slept over at Robert’s house, and saw their daughter curled in a tight ball with her pillow over top her head. She was utterly still except for the slight rise and fall of her chest.

Not wanting to disturb her, they backed out of the room.

“That might explain her short temper,” James mused.

“God, why didn’t she tell me she wasn’t feeling well?” Rose asked.

“Maybe she didn’t know what it was?” he suggested. “I’ve gotten migraines before where the first symptom was irritability because everything was too overstimulating. It’s not ‘til later that the headache and sensitivities began.”

“Still feel awful,” Rose mumbled.

“Speaking of feeling awful, we left the twins in the car.”

Rose groaned and jogged outside, but Robert had taken the babies out of the car and was sitting with them and Sianin in the grass. Sianin had both babies’ hands in each of hers and was rocking them backwards and forwards. Each baby was giggling and squirming with delight.

“Mummy, Daddy, watch this!” She then proceeded to push and pull the babies, sending them into another fit of laughter.

They stayed at Robert’s for another half hour. Ainsley eventually found them outside, and though she claimed she felt much better, she was pale and shaky.

James and Rose bade Robert farewell, then loaded up the kids into the car and drove home. Though she’d slept all afternoon, Ainsley immediately went to the couch and laid down.

“Let’s try to be quiet since Ainsley’s not feeling well,” James whispered to Sianin. “Indoor voice only, and the television must stay quiet.”

Sianin nodded and, to their surprise, she went to the sofa and sat by Ainsley’s head. The six-year-old stroked her elder sister’s hair and turned the television volume down so low that it was virtually impossible to hear.

Ainsley fell asleep almost immediately, and after a while, so did Sianin.

James and Rose took this opportunity to play with their babies. They cringed any time a baby squealed with delight, but when it was clear their oldest children were dead asleep, they stopped worrying so much about Hannah and Maddie staying quiet.

Both babies rolled all over the floor—the newest trick they’d learned—and James and Rose amused themselves by placing objects around the living room floor for the twins to roll to.

“James, look!”

James tore his attention from Hannah, who was more interested in sucking on her toes than rolling towards her stuffed rabbit, to look at Maddie. His heart nearly stopped when he saw his five-and-a-half-month-old baby was on her hands and knees. Though wobbly, she maintained the position.

“How’d she do that?” he demanded, racing across the floor to plop beside Rose and Maddie.

His sudden appearance startled Maddie, who flopped face-first onto the floor. Her eyes went wide, then scrunched as she let out a wail.

“Oh, no, darling,” James cooed, picking her up to set her on her bum. “Daddy’s sorry he frightened you. You’re all right. No harm done.”

Maddie blinked big wet eyes at him, her bottom lip pouting out. James smiled reassuringly at her, and she grinned in return.

“There we are,” he said, tickling her ribs lightly. He swiped his thumbs under her eyes to wipe away the unnecessary tears.

Maddie babbled out a string of sounds, then she reclined onto her back and rolled onto her tummy. She lifted her head to look at her parents, as though making sure they were watching her.

“Go on, Maddie,” Rose urged. “Let’s get up on those hands and knees again, eh?”

Maddie beamed, then she looked down at the floor, enthralled by her hands like she’d never seen them before. She then planted her palms on the rug and began doing pseudo-pushups.

“Come on,” Rose said. “You can do it, love.”

Maddie surged her weight backward, finally getting her knees under her.

“How marvelous, darling!” James breathed. He reached behind him for Rose’s mobile, and he opened up the camera app. He snapped a series of photos of Maddie on her hands and knees, then took a short video as she rocked herself.

She soon tired of the position, and she sprawled onto her stomach and rolled onto her back. She let out an annoyed squawk and lifted her hands into the air. Rose placed her index fingers in Maddie’s palms, and helped the baby sit up onto her bum. She grinned at them.

“Who’s my strong little girl?” Rose cooed, bouncing the baby’s hands in front of her. Maddie squealed happily, flailing her hands wildly. “You’re my strong little girl!”

Maddie leaned forward towards Rose, reaching out and babbling. Rose picked Maddie up and brought her to her chest. Rose leaned back against the couch, taking care not to disturb Ainsley and Sianin, and brought her knees up, letting Maddie sit back against her thighs.

“She’ll be crawling before we know it,” James said, tucking himself into Rose’s side.

Hannah noticed that her parents were no longer paying attention, and so she let out a loud shriek. James winced and crawled to his other baby. She beamed as he stared down at her.

“You can roll over to us, darling,” James said dryly, picking up the baby and crawling back to Rose and Maddie.

“But why would she when she has a daddy to carry her around everywhere?” Rose asked sweetly.

He stuck his tongue out at her.

“It’s going to become a madhouse when these two can get around on their own,” Rose said.

“Gotta start being conscious with baby proofing,” James agreed. “And getting Ainsley and Sianin to realize how important it is to be more careful around the house, too. No more leaving small pieces of things laying around. Covering electrical outlets.”

Rose sighed, taking Maddie’s hands in hers and clapping them together gently. The baby cooed and watched her hands in fascination.

“All right?” James asked.

“Yeah. The house just… it seems so much smaller now at the prospect of these two becoming mobile.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like… Ainsley and Sianin have their toys spread throughout the whole house. But we’re going to need to move them. At least the ones with small, loose pieces. We can move some of them to their bedrooms, but there’s already loads of toys in their rooms.”

“Sounds to me like we need to have a toy cleanse,” James teased. Rose didn’t answer, and James knocked his shoulder against hers. “What are you thinking?”

“That we ought to consider moving into a larger house,” she said honestly. “Meaning we ought to consider moving up to your family’s manor in Scotland.”

“Oh?”

Rose nodded resolutely. “Our kids are only going to get bigger and start accumulating more stuff. And yeah, we can try to limit the amount of stuff they have, but I don’t want to force them to get rid of things they’re not ready to part with. And it’s just… all of the rooms in the house are taken. I feel awful that you have to mark papers in our bedroom when you want someplace quiet to go. And I don’t have a space with good lighting to work on my art, unless I want to do it here in the living room. And from our conversation this afternoon, what if we do decide to have another baby in the future? We have nowhere to put them. The manor is probably far too much room than we actually need, but—maybe I’m spoiled for saying this—I’d rather have too much space than not enough.”

“Rose, breathe,” James said, amused. “You don’t need to defend yourself, love.”

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly. 

“You’ve clearly been thinking about this for a while,” he noted curiously.

“Maybe a little bit. Though it’s always been in the back of my mind since learning we were having twins. D’you remember?”

Now that she’d mentioned it, he did recall the conversation they’d had upon returning home from the sonogram exam with the knowledge they were having two babies. They’d discussed moving to the Scottish manor one day, and clearly that day had arrived.

“Okay. So let’s say we decide to move up to Scotland,” James mused. “When would this move take place? Now? In a couple months? In a year?”

“I was thinking next summer,” Rose said. “That gives us plenty of time to get the girls mentally prepared to leave the only home they’ve ever known. And we would have time to get the manor ready, if any repairs or updates or renovations are needed.”

“We’d have to find a time to go up to Scotland to check out the house. Get an idea of what work we’d want done to it.”

“Christmastime,” Rose supplied. “We’ll be there anyway. Might as well poke around and make notes and maybe talk to a contractor or two.”

“You’ve considered everything, haven’t you?” he asked, tugging at the end of her ponytail.

“Perhaps,” Rose said. “And if we moved in the summertime, there’s the added bonus that the kids will have the summer to adjust to the move and their new home before starting at a new school.”

James smiled at his wife, incredulous and impressed with how well thought-out and planned her idea was. He reached over and rubbed Maddie’s belly slowly, watching the slow blink of her eyes as she succumbed to sleep, then turned to Hannah. She was chewing on the side of her fist, drool dripping down her chin and cheeks.

“Charming,” he drawled to his baby.

She beamed and gurgled up at him. He couldn’t help but smile back at her. His heart was so full of love for his family. Though a small pang went through his chest at leaving behind the home that he and Rose had raised their children in, he couldn’t deny that he would love to share his childhood home with his family.

“Would being in Scotland be too difficult?” Rose asked quietly. “For you or your dad? Because your mum…” She trailed off with a small, helpless shrug.

“I can only speak for myself, but no. I miss my mum, and will always miss my mum, but thinking of her doesn’t hurt anymore. At least, not usually. All I have left of her is my memories, and those are happy things. So no, I don’t think it would be too difficult to live in that house. Besides, I grew up mostly in the United States. From growing up, the Scottish house holds memories of holidays, and we’ve already had loads of holidays there since Mum died.”

“Will you let me know if you change your mind?” Rose asked, slipping her arm around his waist.

He nodded, and rested his cheek on top of her head. He glanced to the two babies in their arms, listened to the quiet breathing of Ainsley and Sianin behind him, and basked in the warmth of Rose radiating into his side. His entire world existed solely in this room, and his heart swelled with how much he loved his perfect little family.

“I think moving to Scotland is a good idea,” he concluded, kissing the crown of Rose’s head.

“You don’t want to think more about it?” she asked.

It felt like he’d already been thinking about it for eons. When he imagined his family in Scotland, a sense of rightness settled over him like a blanket, as though that was always where they were meant to end up. Part of him knew that it was inevitable; the house was always passed down through the family, and so he knew he would one day inherit it. But that didn’t mean he had to live there. However, he wanted to.

“No,” he said simply. “It logically makes the most sense, but more than that, I’m excited to move back home. Maybe I’ll get my Scottish accent back.”

He reverted back to the brogue that had disappeared as he had gotten older. He’d often been teased as a child for his Scottish accent, and so it had slowly morphed into a more refined English accent.

“You have no idea how sexy that is,” Rose murmured, eyes darkening.

He gave her a theatrical wink and knocked his shoulder into hers, leaning close to rumble, “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind later tonight… If you want…?”

She shoved her shoulder into his. “Behave.”

He laughed and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Right. So a new chapter awaits our little Tyler-McCrimmon brood, eh?”

“Seems like it,” Rose said, nestling her head into the crook of his shoulder. “So. Reconnaissance mission at Christmas, renovations next spring, relocation next summer?”

“Sounds like a plan,” James said with a happy hum. “A very alliterative plan.”

It was a good plan, and they both were smugly satisfied with themselves for such preemptive thinking.

They relaxed into each other, confident in the new direction their family was headed in.

The End

We’ve made it to the last chapter! This turned out to be nearly double the length I originally thought it would be. Thanks to everyone who has read this story.

As always, reblogs and comments are greatly appreciated.