day five woooooo!!!
the twins are six here!! i think this is the oldest they'll be in this book so enjoy it while it lasts :)
enjoy!!
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"Good morning, my little elves!" Janis greets as she goes to wake the twins up for the morning. "Time for breakfast!"
Both girls groan sleepily and roll away from the light. Leo grumbles, "Five more minutes." into her pillow.
"No way, come on," Janis chuckles. "What's up?" It's unusual for the twins to be so lethargic, especially Layla. She's usually full of energy in the morning.
"Tired," Layla grumbles. Janis pouts and goes to sit next to her on the bottom bunk.
"You guys went to bed on time," she hums thoughtfully. "Why are you so sleepy?"
"Didn't sleep," Leo grunts.
"Me either."
"Neither of you slept? The whole night?" Janis asks in shock. Both her daughters shake their heads. "Why not?"
"I'm so itchy," Layla complains, scratching her arm for emphasis. Leo nods in agreement.
"Uh oh," Janis murmurs to herself. "Lemme see your arm, Ladybug."
Layla blearily stretches her arm out. Janis rolls up the sleeve of the too-small Christmas jammies from last year to assess the situation. It's just as she suspected.
"Leo, stop scratching and let me see yours," Janis says to confirm she has the same thing. Leo lets her look at her own arm as well. "Yep. You guys have the chicken pox!"
"The what?"
"Chicken pox. Those little bumps," Janis explains. "It's why you're so itchy. You were supposed to get a shot for it at the doctor next time, I guess school beat us to it."
"I don't feel good," Layla whines. Janis frowns and kisses her forehead. She does have a low fever.
"That's part of it too. You guys get to stay home for a few days," Janis says. "So you don't give them to anyone else."
"Will we get you and Mama sick?" Leo asks in concern. She coughs a few times and winces at the scratching in her throat.
"No, Bee, it's okay. Once you've had the chicken pox or the shot for it you can't get it again. I had them when I was your age, and your mama got the shot when she was little." Janis comforts.
Cady comes in then, to see why they haven't come down to breakfast yet. "Jayjay, what's going on? They're gonna miss the bus at this rate."
"We gots the chicken pops!" Layla cheers almost happily. Cady laughs at that.
"Pox, darling," she corrects gently. "Both of you?" Her twins nod. "Huh. You poor things, let me see." She frowns when she sees the little red marks peppering her daughters' skin. "My poor little cubs. Let's go get some food in these tummies and then we'll see what we can do to get the itch to go away."
—-
Her twins absentmindedly scratch through their whole breakfast of eggs and bacon, until Janis and Cady notice and stop them. Cady gathers their plates to do the dishes. "Jay, can you go get some stuff we'll need?"
"Yep," Janis agrees around her last mouthful, gently batting Layla's hands away from her itchy leg. "What do you need?"
"Oatmeal, pantyhose, some sort of anti-itch lotion or cream, and some cookie dough."
"What the fuck?"
"Mommy!" Leo laughs. "You didn't ask!"
"Sorry," Janis says sheepishly.
"Oh, and some duct tape," Cady adds.
"What the fuck?!"
"Mommy!"
"Two dollars, Mommy," Layla teases, pointing to the swear jar on the counter. Janis grumbles and goes to get her wallet. She only has one dollar bill, so she adds that and four quarters she managed to scrounge up from the bottom of her bag.
"There." Janis says. She pulls out her phone and makes a list of everything Cady has asked. "What are you going to do to them?"
"You'll see," Cady replies, adding the cleared plates to the dishwasher. "It won't hurt them, I promise. They grew in me, I'm not gonna do anything that won't help them."
"Then what is the duct tape for?!"
"Would you just go buy it?" Cady chuckles, coming to kiss her. "Have I ever intentionally harmed anyone? Let alone our babies?" Janis shakes her head with a pout. Cady smiles and kisses her again. "Exactly. They're gonna be fine. Just try to go fast so they don't have to deal with the itch too much longer."
Janis nods and kisses her daughters' warm foreheads before she tugs on her coat and is out the door.
—-
"I'm back!" Janis yells when she returns. "With your weird serial killer supplies!"
"Janis," Cady huffs. "Would you let that go?"
"Maybe," Janis retaliates. "What are you gonna do to my precious babies?"
Layla shrieks in surprise as Janis picks her up and holds her across her shoulders. "Mommy!"
"What?" Janis replies, tilting her head to the side to kiss Layla's cheek. "I can't hold my baby?"
"I'm not a baby," Layla huffs indignantly. "I'm six and a half."
"Yeah, yeah, you're my big kiddo now," Janis sighs sadly. "But I can still carry you."
"Fine," Layla sighs, resting her head down and accepting the events. Janis chuckles and sets her down, switching her out for Leo.
"Yay!" Leo cheers when she gets wrapped around her mommy's shoulders.
"Crazies," Cady chuckles affectionately, kissing Janis and then Leo. "Alright, munchkins, who wants to go first?"
"Me," Layla pleads. "I'm so itchy, I'll do anything."
"Poor thing," Cady hums sadly. "Come on, then, this should help."
-
"What are you doing?" Leo asks, still curled around Janis' shoulders. All three of them are watching curiously as Cady pours a solid quantity of the oatmeal into the pantyhose Janis had purchased.
"You two," Cady says as she ties the oatmeal sock to the faucet of the bathtub. "Get to have a nice oatmeal bath."
"You want us to have a bath in breakfast mush?" Layla asks suspiciously. Neither of the twins turned out to be particularly big fans of oatmeal.
"Yep," Cady chirps, switching on the tap and waiting for it to get warm. Once it's at a good temperature, she plugs the drain so the tub will fill. "Helps the itch."
"Why does oatmeal make itch go away?"
"I dunno," Cady shrugs. "I learned about it in Kenya. I'll Google it while you're in there."
She switches the water off once it's full enough and shoos her family out of the bathroom. Layla gets handed a fluffy towel.
"Alright Lala, take your time in there. But not too long, Leo needs one too," Cady explains as she ties up Layla's hair. "Just relax, try to get the water over as much of your skin as you can. And don't scratch."
"Okay Mama."
—-
Layla finds them in the master bedroom about half an hour later, wrapped in her towel and shivering slightly with the cold. Cady looks over at her with a smile. "Hey, Bug. You finished?" Layla nods. "Alrighty, come here. Jay, can you go drain the tub and then fill it up again for Lolo?"
"Yep," Janis says. She and Leo head into the bathroom to prepare another oatmeal bath. Cady gets Layla comfy on the bed and heads into the twins' room to grab them both some new pajamas to change into. They're not Christmas patterned, but they fit, and that's more important right now.
"Okay, Ladybug, put on your undies for me," Cady says, handing them over and turning around to give her daughter her privacy. "Done? Okay, lie down and I'll put some of this lotion on you."
Layla lies down on her tummy and sighs in relief at the cool lotion being massaged into her back.
"Feel better?" Cady chuckles. Layla nods happily. "I used to do this for you and Lolo aaaaall the time when you were babies. Every time you took a bath. Had to make sure your skin stayed baby soft."
"Who was cuter?" Layla asks with a yawn.
"You're identical," Cady laughs. "You both were absolutely precious. In different ways, though."
"What was I like?"
"You were my wild one," Cady recalls fondly. "Still are. You were always getting into things you weren't supposed to, or trying to get away from me and Mommy to go explore. But you were so funny, you always knew how to get out of trouble. Had Mommy totally wrapped around your little finger. You had the biggest eyes, too. Mommy and I spent hours holding you and just looking at you."
"What about Leo?"
"Her too," Cady agrees, flipping her over to put the lotion on her arms and legs. "She used to cry every time we set her down."
"Really? What did you do?" Layla giggles.
"Never put her down," Cady replies with a chuckle. "We always had at least one of you in our arms. Both of you were little cuddle monsters."
"Do you miss it?" Layla asks quietly. Cady looks up at her with a small smile.
"Sometimes. I miss you guys needing us," she says. "But I'm so happy to see you now, too. You're both growing into such incredible people, and you can do so many cool things now. And I don't have to change your diapers anymore."
Layla giggles at that. Cady smiles back and pulls her up to sit.
"Alright, little miss chicken pox, here's some clean jammies," she says as she hands them over. Layla pulls the shirt over her head and tugs the pants on, then yanks the socks onto her feet with some effort. "Looking good. I'll be right back."
"Hey Bug," Janis greets as she comes back from getting Leo all set up. "Mama leave you here alone?"
"She put lotion on me and then said she'd be right back," Layla explains.
"Huh. How's the itch feeling?"
"Better," Layla agrees. Janis gets comfortable on her bed and pulls her onto her lap. She still has a fever when Janis checks her forehead.
"Still feeling sick?"
"Yeah," Layla agrees. "Like a cold."
"You poor kids," Janis sighs sadly. Layla isn't usually so cuddly. Janis is oddly glad she's sick so she has an opportunity for some good snuggles. "We'll get some medicine in you once Mama comes back. Speak of the devil."
"Hey now," Cady chuckles warningly as she comes back. "I have some medicine and hot chocolate for you, Lala. Help that stuffy nose."
Layla swallows down her dose of cold medicine willingly for once, then takes her offered mug of hot chocolate. Cady added some whipped cream, which just makes it extra special and boosts the healing powers.
"Thank you," she says, followed by a small round of coughing.
"You're welcome," Cady says. "Now gimme your hands."
Layla holds up her hands in confusion. She's only more confused when Cady pops on a pair of oven mitts and duct tapes them to her wrists so she can't take them off. Layla moves her thumbs as if she has crab claws.
"What's this for?"
"To stop you scratching," Cady explains. "It'll just get worse if you scratch. So you get hand jail for a little bit."
Layla giggles at her phrasing and looks at her hands again. "How am I supposed to do stuff?"
"We don't have anything to do today," Cady shrugs. "If you have to do something we can take them off, but you don't have much to do today anyway."
"Okay," Layla says. Her twin appears in the doorway then, wrapped in her cushy towel. "Leo, lookit! I'm like a crab!"
Leo giggles and enters the room. "Why d'you have those?"
Cady suddenly snatches her up from behind and plops her on the bed by her family. "So she can't scratch. And now it's your turn."
"Man," Leo sighs. Cady chuckles and repeats the lotioning process on her. Leo lets it and her new jammies happen, but she bolts before Cady can stick her with the oven mitts.
"Hey!" Cady calls. "You little stinker, where are you going?"
"You'll never take me alive!" Leo yells. Maybe they've been watching too many old cop movies with her. Cady laughs and goes to find her. Janis picks up Layla and follows.
When they make it down to the living room, there's a suspicious gap between the couch and the wall that wasn't there this morning. It's just about six-year-old sized. Cady tiptoes her way over and peeks down to see her child curled in a small ball, but Leo doesn't see her. She bites her lip to hold back some laughter and heads back to her wife.
"Well then, I guess Leo doesn't get her special mug of hot chocolate," Cady calls a bit louder than she needs to. She hears a dismayed squeak from behind the couch, but persists. "Or the cookies we were going to make for a snack."
"No cookies?!" Leo yells in shock, popping up from behind the couch. She sees her family there and realizes she's been trapped. "Ah, dang it."
"Haha! Gotcha," Cady chuckles, leaping back over and snatching up her child. "Oh my goodness, you two are getting big. Alright, put up your dukes, little missy."
"Not the cuffs!" Leo cries in dismay as Cady sticks on her oven mitts and tapes them securely.
"We'll have to put you in some of Uncle D's acting classes," Janis chuckles. "Come take your medicine, kid."
"Fine," Leo huffs. She begrudgingly swallows her dose of the metallic grape-flavored syrup and chugs a few gulps of her hot cocoa to rinse the flavor out of her mouth. Once she finishes it, she pops her mug in the sink and goes to Janis. "Mommy?"
"Yes?"
"Can we pleeeeeease watch movies?" Leo begs, poking her lip out and blinking her long eyelashes pitifully.
"Oh, yeah, yeah! Pleeeease?" Layla joins, resting her head on Janis' shoulder. Janis looks between them and her wife, letting out a flustered grumble. Cady eventually gives a nod.
"Yes, fine," Janis agrees once she has her wife's approval. Her twins both squeal happily and hug her. "You two had to get Mama's eyes, huh?"
"We didn't have to, it just happened," Layla explains. Janis gently pinches her nose.
"Goofies. What movie should we start with?"
"Frozen!" They both cheer at the same time. Janis sighs, and Cady visibly deflates a bit.
"Alright, go get it set up," Janis says, finally putting Layla down. The twins both barrel upstairs to the big cozy bed to get the TV set up, and Cady comes to kiss her wife.
"Maybe we'll get some good cuddles," she offers. "Make up for the movie."
"They'd better," Janis huffs. Cady chuckles and kisses her once more before heading to follow her daughters.
"Come on, my love."
————-
The combination of lack of sleep, sickness, and the medicine winds up striking the twins down a bit sooner than they had expected. Leo is dead asleep on top of Janis before the movie even ends. Layla manages to make it to the final number, but rapidly follows her twin to dreamland as she's cuddled tightly by her mama. Nobody complains.
"I've missed this," Cady murmurs, gently stroking a stray chunk of dark hair away from Layla's sleeping face. "Having a little one snoozing on me."
"Me too," Janis replies as she carefully traces the shell of Leo's small ear. "This one still likes cuddles, at least."
"This one does too, just not as often," Cady chuckles gently. "We got so lucky with them."
"That we did," Janis whispers. She yawns suddenly. "Man, I need a nap too."
Cady's always down for a nap. "Sleep when they sleep, I guess." Janis carefully inches herself and Leo closer and rests her head on Cady's shoulder. Cady cuddles in as well and shuts her eyes contently. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Peanut."
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They're woken by bouncing. The twins have, evidently, woken up before them and elected to wake their mothers by jumping on the bed near their feet. "Wake up!"
"What?" Janis groans. "Whatdyouwant?"
"We have to go to the bathroom," Leo complains, holding out her mittened hands.
"Free us," Layla adds. Janis laughs and sits up, followed by Cady. Once the duct tape has been unwound, the twins both scatter in different directions. Janis and Cady can faintly hear them yelling at one another to get out of the way.
"They're definitely your kids," Cady tuts affectionately. "Little weirdos."
"They're yours too," Janis retaliates. "Little nerds."
Cady chuckles and nods at that. "What kind of cookie dough did you get?"
"Chocolate chip and those Pillsbury break and bake Christmas tree ones," Janis replies. Cady perks up at the last option and scrambles out of bed too. "Wait for me!"
—-
"Ooh," Layla squeals excitedly when she finds her mothers in the kitchen and sees the cookie dough and trays. "Mama, I'm itchy again."
"Poor thing, come here," Cady tuts. Leo comes barreling down the hallway at the same time. "Bee, how are you feeling?"
Leo sneezes a few times and gives a disgruntled whine. "Sick. But I don't itch so much anymore."
"That's good, at least," Cady hums sadly. "I want to get some more lotion on you anyway. But Layla can go first since she's all itchy again. Leo, do you want more medicine, love?"
Leo nods with a cough. Cady knows she must be really feeling it, since neither of her kids are spectacularly willing to take medicine.
"Okay, come here. Jayjay, can you help Layla?"
"Yeah, c'mon, Bug," Janis coaxes. Layla takes her hand to get another layer of moisturizing while Cady measures out another dose of the cold medicine for Leo.
Leo downs it and pulls a face at the icky fake fruit taste. She gratefully takes the offered juice box and sucks down several large gulps to rinse the flavor from her mouth. She leans into Cady for comfort once it's down and she has to wait for it to kick in.
"My poor little bumblebee," Cady hums sadly. "You're okay. You should be feeling a lot better tomorrow, and you'll be all better in a couple days."
"Hate being sick," Leo whines against her mama's belly. Cady frowns and carefully combs through her dark curls with loving fingers.
"I know, baby. I hate when you're sick, too," she hums sadly. Leo tips her face out and rests her chin against her belly.
"Will you snuggle me?"
Cady grins slightly at that. "Of course. I'll always cuddle my baby. Come here."
Leo happily lets her mama lift her up and carry her to the couch, and curls up on her chest once they lie down. Cady holds her close and kisses her warm forehead, gently tracing little patterns on her spot-speckled back.
"I love you so much, pumpkin," she murmurs. She feels Leo grin slightly and nuzzle further into her neck.
"I love you Mama."
"Do you remember the first time you got sick?"
Leo shakes her head, and Cady nods.
"It was a long time ago, you were just a tiny little baby. You were only about eight months old," she says. "One of us gave you the flu. And it was just you, Layla dodged it, somehow."
"What happened?" Leo asks quietly.
"I don't know how we gave it to you, we did a lot to try to keep you away from germs. But you were so precious. Your little nose was so red and stuffed up," Cady recalls almost fondly. "You wouldn't let us put you down. You never did, but when you were sick it was even more heartbreaking. You didn't even cry, you just looked at me like I had betrayed you in the most vile way. It was so sad."
"How do you know? When a baby is sick?"
"With you it was pretty easy," Cady chuckles. "Because you were sooooo grumpy. You were my sweet one, you were always smiling and giggling at me. And you looooved to play, but when you were sick you were so quiet and sad and just wanted me to cuddle you. Basically like you are now."
"Oh," Leo giggles.
"But I got to cuddle you a whole bunch that day," Cady continues. "You scared the wits out of Mommy, though."
"Really?" Leo laughs. "Why?"
"You couldn't tell us what was wrong, and you were still so little. Your lungs were still weak and you kept coughing," Cady explains. "She was watching you like a hawk. And every time you coughed she wanted to take you to the hospital. But you woke up the next day almost back to normal, you just wanted to play and crawl everywhere and climb all over your sister."
"Oh," Leo says. "I was smaller, right?"
"Yeah," Cady hums, feeling a sort of weight in her chest as her mind flashes back to the twins' early days. "You weren't even five pounds when you were born."
"Wow," Leo says in awe. Cady chuckles.
"My littlest baby," she says. Layla comes barreling down the stairs and leaps in to join the cuddles. "And there's my other one!"
"Layla," Leo whines. "Get off."
"You always get to cuddle Mama!"
"Hey, hey, whoa," Cady calms. "Don't fight, I have plenty of cuddles for both of you."
"But she's in the way!"
"You're in the way!"
"Hey!" Cady repeats. "Deep breaths. Leo, move here." Leo squeaks in surprise as she's tugged so she's resting more against Cady's side than on top of her. "There. Now Layla here. See? Plenty of room for both of you."
"What about me?" Janis pouts when she enters. Cady massages the bridge of her nose.
"You get to make us dinner and cookies," Cady offers. Janis pouts harder. "Come here." Janis shuffles over and lets Cady pull her down for some kisses. "That should hold you over until it's your turn. Now feed us, please?"
"Okay. Coming right up."
————-
"This is good, Mommy!" Layla chirps as she tries the first spoonful of her chicken soup.
"You sound surprised," Janis chuckles.
"I am, this is better than usual, lovey," Cady adds. "Good job."
"Why thank you," Janis purrs, leaning in for a kiss.
"No kissing at the dinner table!" Leo insists.
"Who came up with that rule?" Janis asks.
"Me," Leo says. Janis and Cady burst out laughing.
"Fair enough, Bumblebee, we'll stick to your rule," Cady chuckles. "You could be a judge someday with that attitude."
Leo does a little happy dance in her seat and takes another bite. Janis leans over and ruffles her hair.
"Goofy. Make sure you don't choke."
"Yes, Mommy."
"Good girl."
—————-
After another oatmeal bath and layer of lotion, and their usual book and kisses and cuddles, the twins are tucked into bed with their mittens securely on and hearts full of love.
Or so Cady and Janis think.
About an hour later, as they're getting ready for bed themselves, two little blanket ghosts appear in the doorway, wrapped in their blankets and clutching their respective stuffed animals.
"What's up, loves? You should be asleep," Cady says, coaxing them to her as she puts down a paper she had been grading in bed.
"Can we sleep with you and Mommy?"
Cady grins slightly. "Yeah. Come here, cuddle close."
Leo and Layla both smile at her with their gappy teeth and crawl in next to her. Janis returns from the brushing her teeth to find her spot being encroached on.
"Sleepover?"
"Yeah!"
Janis chuckles and squishes the twins between herself and her wife. "You better not snore, then."
"Mommy!"
"Shhh. Goodnight," Janis hums, grabbing Layla and aggressively cuddling her. Layla giggles and accepts the treatment.
"Goodnight. Don't let the bed bugs bite," Cady says softly.
"Goodnight, moms."
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hope you enjoyed!! have a great day!