"Have you decided what you're going to make yet?" Colby asked as I leaned against the counter. "I don't know." I sighed as I skimmed through the pages of dad's cookbook.
"Did you want to maybe invite some people over so you can cook fancy things?" Colby asked as I nodded.
"We can. I still don't know what I would make though." I said with a sigh. "Maybe something challenging, I know you like to challenge yourself." Colby said as I nodded.
"Yeah. Maybe something Italian." I said then skimmed through the book again.
"Help me, girls." I said and looked at the twins as they stared at me blankly. "They're babies, V. I don't think they even know what you're really saying." Colby said with a laugh. "Don't care. I want them to pick." I said then walked over the girls.
"Okay, ladies. Smile when you want me to stop." I said then ran my thumb along the pages of the book, fanning through them.
I only did it for a second before both Nova and Luna smiled and fussed with joy. "Good job!" I cooed as I laid the book down on the table so I could give them kisses.
"I'm impressed." Colby said as he picked the book up and looked at the page I stopped on.
"Not Italian but still probably delicious." Colby said as I walked over to look at the page. "Oh.." I whispered and ran my fingers across the page. "What's wrong?" Colby asked as I smiled sadly.
"Nothing. The last thing my dad made from this book was his pot pie...I can't believe that's what it landed on." I said as I traced the writing with my fingers.
"Maybe it's a sign." Colby said as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer. "Maybe." I said then leaned my head on his chest.
"It takes a while to make so I should start now." I said then pulled away and turned to get some of the ingredients.
"Shit. We also need to go to the store. I don't know if this is possible." I said and huffed out a breath. "What do you mean?" Colby asked as I sighed.
"I don't want to have to take another pill." I said quietly as he frowned. "Send me with a list, and I'll go to the store. You start making what you can and I'll be back before you know it." He said as I sighed.
"Are you sure?" I asked as he nodded. "Of course, now get that cute ass moving so you can get this done before the medicine wears off." Colby said then smacked my ass.
"I just need these things." I said the wrote him a list. "I'm gonna get Oreos too." He said as I laughed. "Good." I said then went over and kissed him. "Thank you." I said quietly and caressed his cheek.
"You're welcome. I'll be back." He said then turned to the girls. "Be good for mommy, she's stressed." He said as I breathed a laugh.
"I thought they don't understand what we're saying." I teased as he shook his head. "They understand me." He said as I nodded. "Right, because you have like 3 brain cells total so they relate to you more." I said as he flipped me off.
"Bye, babe!" I said as he walked out of the house. "It's fun to tease daddy, huh." I said as the girls smiled at me and kicked their legs out. "Yep." I said then turned to the cook book.
I started making the dough for the crust because it was basically just a simple pie crust. I had to stop about halfway through though so I could feed the girls and bring them upstairs for their nap.
"Okay, little cuties. I love you so much." I whispered as I laid them down in their cribs. I stood there and admired them for just a second as they both started to fall asleep.
I couldn't get over how big they were getting. They were barely even over fifteen pounds at this point but it was still a vast difference from how small they were when they were born.
I felt myself starting to get a little emotional, hating how fast time was going.
I wanted to just pause time so they could be this mall forever. I could protect them if they stayed this small.
I sighed, then turned and left the room. When I got back to the kitchen Colby was in there unpacking the groceries he just got.
"Hey, babe. You okay?" He asked as I nodded. "Yeah, I just got a little emotional." I said as he grinned. "About what?" He asked as I sighed.
"The girls are growing up too fast." I said then got back to work at making the pie crust. "They aren't even six months old, V." Colby said with a laugh.
"I know but it feels like they were just born yesterday. I don't know. The world is just a scary place and I want them to stay this little so I can protect them." I said as he sighed and came over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
"No matter how big they get we are going to protect them. The world is scary but we aren't going to let anything happen to them. Ever." Colby said as I sighed.
"We can't help it though. People are crazy." I said and shuttered, thinking about Peter and how crazy he was.
"We're going to do our very best. There's no use in worrying about it now anyways. We can protect them with our lives right now and we're going to." Colby said as I nodded.
"Yeah. You're right." I said then pulled away from him so I could continue cooking.
Colby and I spent the next couple hours recreating the recipe my dad perfected all of those years ago. It felt good to be back in the kitchen, doing what I loved the most, but it didn't last long.
I got through most of the recipe before the pain killers started to wear off. I tried to push through and finish since everyone was coming over soon, but I was having a really hard time.
"V, you don't look so good." Colby said as I leaned against the counter. "Everything hurts." I mumbled as he sighed. "Why don't you lay down for a little? We can finish this when everyone gets here." Colby said as I shook my head.
"We're almost done. I can do it." I said as the girl's cries sounded through the baby monitor. "Okay, I'll go get the girls then." Colby said then kissed my cheek before jogging out of the room.
"Fuck." I whispered as the steering pain filled my abdomen. I was getting a little concerned that something was seriously wrong, because it shouldn't be hurting this much.
I cringed at the pain as I lifted my sweater up, revealing the deep bruise that was covering my entire stomach.
It was a pretty nasty bruise so I shouldn't have been surprised that it hurt so bad. I remember them vaguely talking about internal bleeding so maybe that was why it hurt so bad.
It was probably fine.
As I rolled my shirt back down I heard a knock on the door, meaning everyone was probably here. I sighed then went to go answer the door, ignoring the pain that was starting to radiate into every part of my body again.
"Hey!" Ki said with a smile as I opened the door. "Oh, you look like you're dying." She said as Shawn smacked her arm. "Ki!" He scolded as I breathed a laugh. "It's okay Shawn, I like how Ki keeps it real. I am dying, thank you for noticing." I said with a laugh as they made their way inside.
"Where are Sam and Kat?" I asked as Ki giggled. "They drove separately, they should be right behind us." She explained as Colby came down the stairs with the girls.
"How are my favorite nieces!?" Ki cooed as Colby came over to us. "Nice to see you too, Ki." Colby said with a laugh. "Fuck you, I wanted to say hi to these little cuties first." She said then tickled the girls bellies.
"Whatever." Colby said as Sam and Kat came into the house. "How are my favorite nieces!?" Kat squealed as she ran over to the girls.
"We're chopped liver, V." Colby said as I laughed. "Yeah, I'm more like ground beef since I look like I fell into a meat grinder." I said as Ki held back a laugh.
"You don't look like that." Sam said with a laugh as he opened his arms to hug me. "I feel like that though." I said then hugged him.
"The pain hasn't gotten any better?" He asked as I shook my head. "Not unless I take opioids." I said as we made our way into the kitchen.
"That sucks. Your face is looking a lot less swollen though, so that's good." Sam said as I breathed a laugh. "Thanks, Sam." I said then went back over to the pot pie so I could put it in the oven.
"Ow." I whispered to myself as I bent down. "Are you okay?" Kat asked as I nodded, holding my stomach. "Yeah, it's just really bruised." I said as she chewed her lip.
"Are you sure? You look like you're gonna be sick." She said as I shook my head. "I'm fine, I promise." I said then gave her a reassuring smile.
I wasn't really totally fine, but I didn't want to miss out on hanging out with everyone and I sure as hell didn't want to take another pill today.
I just had to hope it would get better as time went on.
I would be alright.