32"How did everyone sleep?" Allison asked, pouring milk on Ben's cereal, and then Lucy's. Tom, sitting next to Amy opposite the two four-year olds felt a swift kick on his ankle.
"Fine." Amy answered sweetly. "Lucy doesn't kick so much as she used to." Lucy looked outraged. Tom had taken Amy's room last night, while Amy had shared Lucy's bed, in what used to be the spare bedroom. Three months before Ben and Lucy had decided that they were too grown-up to share a bedroom, so the spare bedroom had been painted pink and adorned with frills and fluff. The old nursery, now Ben's room, had in turn been painted blue, and Greg had decorated one wall with a giant mural of monster trucks.
"I never kick." She said through a mouthful of cereal.
"Yeah you do. You kick all the time. Kicker! Kicker! Lucy's a kicker!" Ben sing-songed. Amy shot a sideways glance at Tom, who was casually reading the newspaper. He rested a hand gently on hers under the cover of the table.
"Lucy, don't talk with your mouthful, and Ben, don't tease your sister." Allison said, sitting at her seat with a mug of coffee and a plate of buttered toast.
"Did Dad have to leave early?" Amy asked. She had been slightly hurt when she had entered the kitchen to find Allison alone, clearing up the remnants of the twins' birthday party.
"We have a patient." Allison said sympathetically.
"You aren't there." Amy shrugged. Even at 21 years of age she could still sulk like she was Lucy's age. Ben pushed his empty cereal bowl across the table, and looked expectantly at his mother.
"Can I go now?" he asked.
"You may be excused." Allison corrected, and Ben slid off his chair and wandering out of the kitchen, still dressed in his red and blue checked PJs. "Lucy? Are you done?" Allison asked, and Lucy spooned the last few mouthfuls of cereal into her mouth. She chewed it hurriedly, swallowing before she was done.
"May I be excused?" she asked with a cheeky grin, already slipping out of her seat to follow her twin brother. In pink PJs with fluffy trim, and her shoulder-length hair hanging loose around her shoulders she looked like a fairy.
"You may." Allison replied, taking a sip of her coffee before gathering up their empty dishes. From the living room, the not-so-gentle sounds of two four year olds watching cartoons resonated.
"I'll help." Amy said, getting out of her chair. Allison stood, resting one hand on the back of a chair, and balancing two bowls in the other.
"Tom, if you want to grab a shower before the twins wreak havoc on the bathroom, go ahead. Towels are in the cabinet next to the sink."
"Thanks Allison." Tom said, turning to Amy as soon as Allison's back was turned to kiss her on the cheek. "Good morning." He murmured against her skin.
"Good morning." She replied, taking his breakfast plate from in front of him and helping Allison to load the dishwasher.
"So you slept well?" Allison asked subtly. Amy felt a blush spread over her cheeks and tried not to remember last night. As soon as she was certain Lucy had fallen asleep she had crept along the hallway to her own room, where Tom was sleeping. Or not sleeping, as it had turned out.
"Amy..." Allison said, slightly warily, and Amy blinked rapidy, trying to get certain thoughts out of her mind.
"Yeah?" she answered absently, sipping her coffee.
"You're careful, right? I know you're not a child anymore but you are being careful, aren't you?" Amy didn't know whether to laugh, blush or what.
"You...heard us?" she asked timidly, scarlet with embarrassment and Allison laughed.
"I didn't hear "you", at least not in the way you think. The thing about having twins is that you learn to pick up noises no-one else bothers with. Like, for example, how the floorboards outside Lucy's room creak, or that the carpet is thinner outside of your bedroom door, so you can hear whenever someone goes in or out." Allison took a sip of coffee and looked at Amy over the rim of the mug. "I'm not telling you not to have sex. And I'm not saying you're wrong to want to. But promise me you're being careful."
"I promise." Amy said.
"Are you going to have babies with Amy?" Lucy asked, as Tom pushed her higher on the swing. Tom laughed.
"One day, I hope."
"Girls or boys?" Lucy persisted. Tom looked over towards where Amy was buying ice-creams, with Ben closely at her side. Allison had gone into the hospital to check on their patient, leaving the twins with Amy and Tom for the afternoon.
"How do you mean?" he asked, swinging her further. She kicked her feet and went higher.
"Do you want boys or girls? I think girls are better." Lucy stated in typical four year old fashion.
"Both." Tom replied, holding onto the chains of the swing to stop the little girl swinging too high and falling off. "You don't like boys?"
"Boys smell."
"Ben doesn't smell.
"Ben's not a boy. He's my brother!" Lucy giggled. Tom laughed with her, her innocence and simplicity was cute.
"I'm a boy. Stupid." Ben said, coming close to the swing with an ice-cream in his hand. Amy was behind him, holding Lucy's ice-cream in one hand, and her and Tom's in the other.
"Don't insult your sister." Tom said as he slowed down Lucy's swing. She rolled her tongue cheekily at him, and took her ice-cream from Amy.
"Thank you." She giggled.