Her Normal

Chapter 40

About a year had passed. It was September 15, 10 days until Ellie and Eli turned one. Spencer and I had started going back to work; we left the kids with Beth while we worked and whenever we had cases. Ellie had already said her first word, which was mama, and was learning quickly to walk. I was convinced that she had gotten Spencer's brains, but he always tried to tell me that that kind of stuff isn't genetically passed on.

Spencer and I were on our way to pick up the kids. We drove up and I went inside with him to find Beth playing with them.

"Hey Beth," I greeted her as I walked in the door.

"Hey honey," she smiled. "How was work?"

"Good. Were they okay?"

"Yes," Beth sat up and gave me a look. "Guess who decided to speak today."

I gasped. "No way! Did Eli...?"

She nodded, "I was feeding him and he said dada."

I looked at Spencer. "Aww," I cooed. "How cute, that's wonderful."

"Congrats, you have two talkers now." Beth laughed.

I laughed with her a second before taking the kids and going back home. We sat them in the kitchen in their high chairs and got out their food and began feeding them.

"Can you believe they're almost a year old?" I asked, smiling at Eli as he sloppily accepted the spoon of baby food.

"Time flies baby," Spencer replied. He smiled at me.

We finished up and put them to bed. We were sitting in bed when a random topic of conversation came up.

"It's been a long time since we spent time together," Spencer said.

"Yeah, well we have two kids that are in constant need of attention. It happens," I shrugged. I had to admit, Ellie and Eli kept Spencer and I apart a lot. We hadn't had any actual alone time since they were born, which kind of seems crazy, because it is.

"Do you think we could hire a babysitter for them for a weekend or something?" He asked.

"I don't want some random person watching our kids," I said. "Too risky."

"Why is it risky?"

"I just don't feel like some 14 year old girl would do as good as someone who knows us and has kids, like JJ or something."

"You need to lighten up," he told me. "I don't think any 14 year old girl would be out to harm our kids."

"You don't know that," I replied.

"I think I do know that." Spencer gave me a look. I glared at him and got out of bed. I went to the bathroom to do my routine.

"All I'm saying is I don't trust just anyone with them," I said, getting defensive.

"I wouldn't expect you to, I'm just saying you don't need to be suspicious of every single person," he said. He didn't even look up from his book.

"Whatever." I finished everything up and laid in bed, facing away from him. He got up and went through his own routine. A few minutes later, I felt a dip in the bed before a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and tugged me over to a firm chest.

"We can ask JJ if it would make you less tense," Spencer said quietly. "I want you to be comfortable with whatever choice you make. But you also need to relax."

"I can't-"

"Take a deep breath." I breathed deeply and did my best to relax. "Love you."

"Love you too," I said. He kissed my shoulder and buried his face in my neck. A few minutes later he was asleep. I stayed up a while, just watching the baby monitor on the bedside table. Occasionally, one of the kids would make a small noise that made me smile. I loved to listen to them.