Every time you make a move

24, Pt V

Garden Lodge

Monica folded her arms as she shivered slightly against the nippy morning chill, leaning against the gateway as she watched her brother load his bags into the back of the taxi to Heathrow.

"I'll only be a minute" he told the driver he slammed the boot shut, and he made his way over to his sister, head hung low.

"Well, aren't you going to say something?" He spoke.

"...It's a pity you're not staying another night"

He looked down...

"I have to be in Coleraine tonight. I have a lecture for my Urban studies module in the morning..."

"I see. Sounds big." She breathed.

"It is, very big stuff" Her brother nodded, hands tending by his side.

But then again, everything about Lenny was big now. She left him a boy, reunited with him as a handsome young man.

And the fact that Freddie was attracted to him horrified and pained her.

"...I'm not uncomfortable." He finally said.

"It's okay if you are," She assured him. "I should've seen the way he was acting around you... I should've known sooner"

"I think he was just... over exaggerating. I mean, he was drunk! And you and I both share features, so I wouldn't be surprised if I reminded him of you-"

"He spoke about you in such a way that he hasn't spoke about me in such a long time" she cut across him, drawing a sharp breath.

"Well, how come?"

Her voice cracked, "Before the twins, well, long ago anyway, he always used to make me feel on top of the world... like, I was something special for once."

"Oh Mo," he put an arm on her shoulder. "I've seen the way he watches you-"

"He looks at you that way too, Lenny"

"Well, maybe," he giggled a little. "But you're a mother of twins who is starting work in a male-dominated industry and you're engaged to one of the greatest rock stars currently on the planet, and you're not even 25 yet!"

His poor big sister, slouched against the doorway in her pyjamas, her sad gaze elsewhere.

He held her face in her hands. "You've left the expectations of suburban Belfast behind for something much bigger! You don't need Freddie to tell you that you're special, you just are!"

Tears were on her lashes, "Oh Leonard... I'm so glad you dropped by"

He opened his arms, "I'm glad I met you all at last"

She sobbed into his shoulder the moment she collided.

"I'm sorry you didn't even get any birthday cake" Lenny whispered.

"Call me when you get home," she whispered. "Phoebe answers it all the time, so you can just ask for me"

He nodded, backing towards the taxi and climbing in. She waved back, and the cab driver slammed the door after him.

"So long little brother. I'll see you again in god knows how many years..." she watched the car move away and disappear around the corner before shutting the front gate after her.

"That's him gone then?" Phoebe called over from the washing line where he was hanging up the twins' freshly washed bed sheets from the night before.

"Yep," her breath hitched as she rubbed her hands together in the cold. "When you've finished can you please look for Johnny and Roshni? I'm going to call the Deacons now.... they can't stay here"

Phoebe nodded, "I'm on it. Get inside and wrap up"

Upstairs...

Johnny and Roshni, still in their pyjamas, pried the slider doors of their mummy and daddy's bedroom apart, and it didn't even occur to them to knock.

Freddie was passed out on the mattress, belly down and face into his pillow with a basin of sick by his side.

With great difficulty, Phoebe managed to get him undressed and into bed the night before despite his boss's reluctance and aggressive slurs.

He got out of there as soon as he could in order the change the children's bed sheets after Straker's New York friends had romped in it, then made up a sofa bed for Monica.

"EUGH, YUCKY!" Roshni wrinkled her nose as she picked the basin up and peered in at its contents.

Johnny pulled the neck of a deflated balloon he had found to let air out, producing a deafening squeaky screech which only cats being dragged against a wall could replicate.

Freddie stirred, letting a weak grunt out as his eyelids twitched, and they giggled.

But that wasn't the reaction that they wanted from him. They wanted to play.

Johnny threw the balloon away and scrambled up onto the mattress after his sister who was now trying to tug her father's arm.

"He's not moving!" Johnny got up onto his feet.

They started to jump up and down.

But Freddie couldn't handle the commotion in his hungover state.

He lashed out, "GET OFF, OFF! GO ON! COME BACK LATER! OFF!!"

Johnny and Roshni tearfully scrambled off the bed and out the door, and he flopped back onto his bed as remorse sunk in.

"You fucking, fucking idiot..." he hissed as he punched his pillow, and leapt up after his wailing children to avoid screwing things over more, "Wait... daddy is sorry"

He fell to his knees and caught them before they ran out the slider doors, and they snivelled into his shoulder.

It hadn't come so close to the end of their relationship in so long, not since that awful night he learned that Monica was pregnant with them.

"Even then, it was all my fault" he felt tears stinging his eyes.

"Daddy... Daddy's got a headache, my dears" his throat tightened as he kissed their heads.

They lessened their trembling as they simply nodded, eyes red and cheeks wet as their whimpers quivered with such shakiness.

"Oh, hell... these two are even more beautiful than Lenny ever will be... and their mother too. You've always known that."

He stayed put and held them close to him for a good minute as they eventually soothed felt comfortable again.

Monica was about to enter the bedroom to get dressed when she saw him embracing them.

She resentfully shook her head as she entered the bathroom, calling after her, "Get your things, you two. You're going to the Deacons. John will be here in five minutes"

They cheered and wriggled out of their father's grasp, darting through the double doors as Freddie wore a look of bewilderment.

"Monica," he scrambled up onto his feet after her as she stomped into the bathroom. "Don't go, you can't take them away from me-"

"Would you relax?!" He she furiously filled a glass under the tap. "They're only going for a sleepover for the night while we figure things out!"

He threw his hands up in he air and turned around at a loss for words, but turned back around when he heard a smashing sound immediately after.

Monica slammed the glass too hard onto the basin in anger, shattering it in her hand, "Shit..."

"Get back, watch where you step," he grabbed her arm and inspected her now sliced open hand, "Phoebe! Get a brush and pan in here!"

"Don't distract him over nothing, it's fine!" She drew her arm back, ignoring the blood that was now dripping on the floor tiles.

"You're bleeding!" He exclaimed.

"Since when did you care?!" She snatched her hand back and fled the bathroom.

"Fucking bitch!" he muttered under his breath as he heard her march downstairs.

But that only made him feel worse.