Page 36 of Interlude

“Not until you apologize for breaking his precious things and peeing in his pool,” Cas says firmly. “We do not pee in pools in human form. We use the bathroom like everyone else does.”

Jack pouts and crosses his arms stubbornly but mutters, “Sorry.”

“Jack, do you like it when Cordy smashes your block tower when you’ve worked hard to build it?” I ask him, trying to explain it in terms he might understand. They are intelligent for their age, but sometimes their emotions get in the way.

He shakes his head vigorously. “No, she’s mean. Mean, mean, meany bum,” he shouts and sticks his tongue out. Cordy ignores him, too enthralled with Nik’s belly to pay attention.

“Well, that’s how Daddy Nik feels about you breaking his precious things,” I tell him, and he stops glaring at his sisters and turns his attention to Nik. He wiggles in Cas’s arms to be let down, and Cas lets him. Jack hurries over, still as naked as can be, and jumps into the pool, splashing his sisters with the action. They squeal with annoyance, but he just smiles as he hurries over and wraps his little arms around Nik’s neck.

“Sorry, Daddy Nik. I love you.” He places a kiss on his cheek, and Nik melts. I roll my eyes and exchange an exasperated glance with Cas. Jack has learned how to work the room. His grandpas are giant pushovers, as are most of his fathers.

“Jack, to make it up to Nik, I think it would be nice if you draw him a picture next time you do crafts with Grandpa John so he can put it in place of his lovely statue until Daddy X can fix it,” Cas suggests. It’s not much of a punishment as far as they go, probably more of one for Nik than anything else, but both Nik and Jack beam. Another daddy wrapped around a tiny little finger. It’s a losing battle. I have high hopes for Tirrian and Silac. They haven’t been manipulated by these three yet, so there is still a chance that one of them will be good at disciplining, because the rest of us are failing—except Lila. She’s good at it, but she gets upset because she’s worried they are going to think she’s a bitch. Like I keep telling her, though, there’s only one mother in this family, so she’s automatically their favorite. I’m not sure it helps.

“How does it feel now?” I ask him, happy with the scans. I know what he’s having, but until he and Lila give the okay, I’ll keep referring to them neutrally. “The babies have moved slightly. Is it a little better?”

He flicks his tail carefully, and it moves freely, so he sighs with relief. “So much better, thank you,” he tells me.

“No problem. I’m happy to help in whatever way I can.” Cally is leaning against Nik, her head on his chest and her hand still on his stomach, and she’s smiling with her eyes closed. He gives her a little hug, his eyes alight with joy. Cordy and Jack are squabbling over who gets to touch his belly, but he just shushes them and puts both their hands on it just in time for them to kick again. He’s going to be a great father.

“Ugh, they must think my belly is a great, wide ocean. They swim constantly,” he complains, but the children are thrilled.

“Okay, I think you need to rest, and we need to get these little ones upstairs for some food and sleep.” Cas slips into the pool and separates his two quarreling children, because they’ve started to shove one another. “You two don’t get to swim back. Bad behavior does not get rewarded.” He has one under each arm, and he starts back up the stairs.

“See you soon, Nik. I’ll come back and check on you when I get a chance tomorrow,” Cas promises, and Nik looks a little surprised but gives him a wave goodbye.

“You’re a part of the family now, Nik,” I tell him, and he blinks a couple of times before a large smile stretches across his face.

“Thank you,” he says, bowing his head as I bend down and pick up our sleepy baby. She doesn’t argue, just presses a kiss to his cheek before wrapping her arms around me as I lift her.

“You have the communicator over there if you need it.” We put one on the edge of the pool in case he goes into labor or needs us for any reason. “We can be here in a flash. If the pain returns, let me know and I can try to move the babies again,” I tell him. “It might be a good idea just to stay in this pool for now.”

“Yes, I was thinking the same thing. I wish I could shift like Echo can, and then I could go upstairs. It’s a little lonely here,” he tells me.

“Yeah, I know. Lila would be here if she could. I’ll tell Echo to come visit. Do you have all the things you need for the babies?”

He nods. “Yes, it should all be waiting for us on Fluxx when we arrive. Echo and I did some shopping when he came to see me last time.”

“Okay, well, get some rest.” I wave goodbye and follow Cas and his two bundles of grumpy up the stairs. The path across the pool has been left open permanently so both Echo and I can come and go.

The smashed statue is still in pieces on the floor, but I know Cas wants to ask Xavier to use his magic to fix it, so I leave it instead of tidying it up. When Cally and I reach the landing near the elevator, Cas already has the kids redressed and is waiting for us. The wet towels lie in a pile to the side.

“I’ll come back and get both of those,” he tells me as I toss Cally’s wet one in the pile and dry her with a new one before dressing her.

“Can you grab my clothes too?” I ask him, looking down at my mostly naked body. I didn’t think to put them back on after I finished examining Nikos.

Caspian chuckles and winks. “You’re as bad as Jack, wandering around mostly naked.”

I shake my head as the two babies in his arms giggle. Cally is basically still asleep despite all the commotion and me redressing her.

“Don’t encourage them,” I scold half-heartedly.

“Nothing wrong with being naked. It’s a shifter thing,” he explains, and I just roll my eyes. Of course it is.

When we get back to our suite, I find the cats sitting at the counter, having a drink.

“Oh, you’re back!” Echo leaps to his feet and hurries over, taking Cordy from Caspian. “Saxon left bottles for them in the warmer. He said he added blood.” He hurries back to the counter and pulls the three bottles out of the special warmer we use. He gives them a shake to mix the blood into the milk before handing one to Jack and one to me. Cally is still resting her head on my shoulder, so I sit down on the couch and feed it to her. She drinks it down with her eyes still closed. Jack and Cordy both take their own bottles but stay in Cas’s and Echo’s arms.

“Saxon went to talk to Broderick on the flight deck. He was restless and wanted to make sure everything was okay,” Maxsim says, patting the seat next to him so his mate will sit down.

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