Nicki POV
After Aubrey left for the second time that day, Blaire returned with six friends. Most of them were super excited to see me, and for the entire time they were asking tons of questions and telling me about how they followed me on twitter and thought I was funny or interesting. They admired my story, and loved watching my interviews. They wanted to know about Lydia and OJ, and me and Aubrey.
"Wow, you know what I just realized? Out of the 8 of us in this room, Drake has been with 4 of us." One of them recalled.
"Thats not really an appropriate conversation." Another snapped.
"You're just saying that because you were his mistress." The first rolled her eyes.
"I thought you guys were all friends?" I questioned.
"We are."
"I personally would never say something like that about a friend.. especially in front of people outside of your friend circle." I cocked my head to the side.
"Its not a secret anymore."
"I guess not." I rolled my eyes.
"She's right, that was unnecessary Tish." Blaire added.
"I just thought she should know what she's getting herself into."
The triplets woke up and I excused myself to go get them from their cribs.
"Hey you three." I greeted them, glad to be in the quietness for once. "There are a lot of friends downstairs okay? Don't be shy, Mommy will be there." I warned as I started to change their diapers on the floor.
When I finally got them downstairs everyone was excited to see them. The triplets immediately clung to me.
"Aww they're shy." One of the women remarked.
"Not usually." I sat on the floor so they could crawl into my lap.
"Maybe because its so many.." someone suggested.
"No, they're usually fine around paparazzi, and crowds in general. Especially Ali. Maybe we'll just give them some time, they may still be waking up." I rubbed Ali and Liam's backs.
Blaire came and sat next to me, "Can I hold one? They liked me earlier.."
"When they are ready to socialize, I will let them freely greet you guys. But they are a bit off right now." I shook my head.
"They're just babies-" someone butt-in.
"My babies." I corrected.
"Yeah, but the worst that will happen is they'll cry. But thats what babies do anyways.. You have to let them cry."
"Theres a difference between letting them cry and making them cry."
"You dont think you're giving them too much power?"
"My five year old son has more manners, a better attitude and so much more than I assume any of you could accomplish with your own. So you can torture your kids if you want, but I know how to raise mine." I said through clenched teeth.
"Okay, new subject." Blaire suggested. We did end up changing the subject for a while, and once the triplets loosened their grips enough for Blaire to cradle Ollie, the woman who had ridiculed my parenting skills sat across from her. Immediately, Ollie began crying. Ali climbed out of my lap and hit the woman's wrist.
"Ali that wasn't nice. Say sorry." I instructed.
"So much for manners." The woman scoffed. Ali began crying which triggered Liam.
"I think everyone should leave." I decided.
"Really?" One of the women who hadn't pissed me off yet sighed.
"Yeah my kids are uncomfortable therefore you should all leave."
It took a minute to kick everyone out. Blaire was the last one out the door, she had helped me get everyone to leave.
She turned to me as she stood in the doorway, "That did not go as planned."
"It started off okay, like I said.. the kids weren't comfortable."
"Are you and I still good? You're so amazing and chill to talk to and be around.. I hope that they didn't ruin-" she fretted.
"Don't worry, you're a doll. I'll look forward to your future visits." I hugged her, "stay in touch okay?"
"I am sorry they acted like that.. and that you found out about Aubrey's exes like that." She apologized.
"You do not owe me an apology. You can't control what other people do or say, and it doesn't bother me that he dated a few of them." I assured her.
"You sure?"
"Yes, now go have your girls night." I nodded.
"Also, Tish can't help but be messy. Its literally her job.. all she does is get paid to dish out gossip on celebrities and shit-"
"Was she one of the ones excited to come?" Something clicked in my head.
"Uh yeah, she's a fan of your work I guess."
"Tell your friend to make sure she spells my name right in the article, and it better be all true." I rolled my eyes.
Her eyes widened, "I- I swear I didn't know thats why she was coming. I wouldn't have brought her here.."
"She used you.. that was all on her, not you." I touched her shoulder. "Go have fun, I need to start packing."
The triplets calmed down almost as soon as I closed the door.
I went and sat by them, "You guys are like a little alarm system huh?" I rubbed Liam's back and ran my fingers through Ollie's hair. "I'm supposed to be the one keeping you guys safe, not the other way around." I tapped Ali's nose.
"Wuh" Ali pointed to me.
"What does that mean?" I questioned. "Wuh- water?"
"Wuh" she shook her head.
"Want? Do you want something?"
"Wuh!" She poked me in frustration.
"Are you saying an actual word? Or just a sound?"
"Wuh!" She hugged me.
"Boys?? You guys are supposed to help me out." I urged.
"You." Ali pouted.
"Me?"
She nodded, "Wuh"
"You .. wuh me?"
She nodded.
"You wuh me? You.. you love me?"
Ollie clapped.
"Babygirl! I love you too." I hugged her, "I love all of my babies." I pulled her brothers into the hug.
On the plane, the triplets had fallen asleep so Aubrey leaned in to talk to me.
"I was thinking.."
"Yeah?"
"Does- does OJ speak uh, French? You know?"
"Um.. no." I shook my head. "Why?"
"Its just, you and Lydia do.. so why not-"
"We literally speak French maybe once a month.. its just an alternative to whispering honestly." I explained, "its not like its our culture or something, we happened upon learning it."
"So why not offer that to your son? Theres so many opportunities knowing a second language could open.. people he could meet, places-" he reasoned.
"I don't know.. we never considered it. If it were something important to us, maybe. But its not." I shrugged, "You know, I love cooking and fashion, those are big parts of me and Lydia's lives.. so we've taught him that. Same with Liyah."
"Well, would you consider teaching our kids French?"
"What do you mean our kids? Liyah is almost 18 and OJ is like-"
"You know what I mean." He interrupted.
"You want me to teach the triplets French? But not OJ and Aaliyah?" I confirmed.
"Ideally they could also learn.. but the triplets are especially young enough to do well." He shrugged, "maybe me too, who knows."
"Where is this coming from?"
"I just, know that whenever I'm in a French environment all I can think is, well if Nic was here she could translate.. and honestly if I at least knew a bit I wouldn't be so lost. So I thought, maybe our kids can skip that feeling."
"We can find them some sort of schooling or a tutor or something." I put my hair in a ponytail.
"Why?"
"I'm not a French teacher. I don't know enough of the language, I don't know how to teach it. I'm having a hard enough time understanding their English... it'll be too confusing." I shook my head.
"Too confusing for who?"
"Everyone okay? What happens when they start trying to speak french to you or Liyah or OJ and you guys don't understand? I can't be a personal translator in my own home."
"Can you just think about it?"
"You're giving me a lot of things to think about lately..." I pointed out.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, I'm sorry. Don't get mad, I don't want to argue." I retracted.
"You don't get to do that Nic."
"Do what?"
"Say some shit, then tell me I'm not allowed to react." He growled.
"Fine, react.. once we're in the house and the triplets are in their cribs. I don't want to wake them okay? You can yell at me and be angry or whatever you want.. just don't wake the babies." I hugged him. He didn't respond, he just held me and rubbed my back the rest of the trip.
Once the triplets were in their cribs, we retreated to our bedroom.
"Okay, I'm listening." I sat on the bed.
"Don't get like that, I don't like when you're like this." He shook his head.
"Like what?"
"Submissive.. I hate that. You have an opinion, you have a voice. That's what I fell in love with, how strong and powerful you are. Not how quiet you can be."
"We both know I'm not truly those things."
"That's not true."
"I don't want to fight. You deserve to let out your frustrations here and then. And, I really need to work on listening. If we both get all worked up, we end up at square one." I told him, "I'm not being submissive.. I'm just listening, taking it all in, I'm processing it. I'm hearing you out, and I'm letting you get it all out. Trust me." I touched his wrist, "I love you."
"I love you too." He kissed my forehead.
"I'm sorry if I upset you on the plane." I stared into his eyes.
"No, you were right.. I can't expect you to think anything through if I keep piling more things on." He pushed my hair out of my face.
"Thanks." I smiled at him.
"Just, let me know how far along you are with thinking." He sighed.
"Well, which one is the most important to you?"
"I- well, I don't know.. they are all pretty important. To me at least."
"I know babe. And I wish I could just say yes to everything-"
"Then why can't you?"
I paused and stared at him, "because that wouldn't be fair to me."
LYDIA POV
I woke up to the text that Nic had landed and made it home safely. I shot her a good morning text and advised her not to be an early bird today considering her late return. She responded asking how Aaliyah and OJ were.
L: why aren't you asleep?
O: Sleep is for the weak, I'm brushing my teeth.
L: ugh you never rest!
O: i rested all weekend, come on I don't want to fall behind
L: i have it covered babe.. rest, and come by after lunch
O: im fine. Im already up anyways..
L: i'll get you an extra shot of expresso
O: such a doll❤️ can we talk when you get there?
L: everything okay?
O: yep. Just need to collaborate with the other half of my brain 🥴
L: Sure thing.
O: love you, see you in a bit
L: love you too.
I got ready for the day and bumped into Aaliyah in the hallway.
"Hey, Nic and your dad came back this morning. Did you want to have dinner with them or something?" I offered.
"Isn't Anita coming over tonight?"
"Possibly yeah. But that doesn't mean you and OJ can't see your other two parents. We can all go over or whatever.."
"Can I stay here?" She asked.
"You okay?"
"Aren't they supposed to be figuring out how to be a family or whatever anyways?"
"Well, yeah.. but its hard to do that without their kids." I pointed out.
"They have the triplets." She shrugged.
"Wait, do you think they care more about the triplets than you?" I asked.
"I don't know." She turned away.
"I can assure you, both of them love you AND OJ just as much as they love the triplets. Babies just require a lot of attention, and Nic asks me about you guys several times per day. She wants you to stay with them again." I told her, then I paused, "but you can't blame her.. or your father for any of this. You are the one who continuously chooses not to stay over there, they invited you to Canada and you said no."
"Why would I go somewhere with people who-"
"People? You mean your parents?" I interrupted, "Have you been purposely shutting them out?"
She didn't respond.
"Aaliyah?"
She exhaled, "not my dad.. just-"
"Nic? Why?" I forced her to look at me.
"I don't know. Just since I told her- she just.. ugh! I can't stand her! Okay?"
"Do you get the position you put her in? The position you put both of us in? When you asked that."
"Its whatever." She rolled her eyes.
"Its not whatever. Nic loves you and cares for you, and you're holding this against her without even telling her thats what you're doing." I shook my head, "she is under the impression that you guys patched this up."
"Well we didn't. And I don't think she should be allowed to put on this super innocent face for all her interviews and pretend like she's some lesbian feminist savant that can handle her family and her job when she can't. Before the triplets were even born she couldn't, and she can't consider herself a lesbian if she is with my dad. She made it clear she doesn't want me to be apart of her wedding, if there's even going to be one. She didn't support me when I thought I wanted to know about- and I just don't think she's all she pretends to be. And I'm sorry since you are super connected to her, but even like her whole family being dead thing. Her family found her and she still refused to meet them, she doesn't want a family, she likes having the stupid sob story." She ranted. "She didn't even want to adopt me." She fell into a pit of tears.
I hugged her, "I can't tell you how to feel.. you are definitely entitled to your opinions and your emotions."
"But?"
"But, you should talk to her.. or at least your father about these things." I suggested, "express your concerns-"
"He's just gonna get mad." She rolled her eyes.
"Then talk to Nic, she's the one you have a problem with anyways." I bit my lip, "I can assure you, she won't get mad. And she'll be rather compliant in trying to fix what she can. She wants you to feel comfortable and to like her."
"Really?"
"Just know.. if you're gonna call her out on her shit, be prepared for her to do the same. Don't start anything you can't finish." I warned.
"Can you- be there?"
"Sure.. if thats what you want."
Nic and I were packed with meetings all morning for the Bride to be project. When lunch hit, I briefed her on the talk I had with Aaliyah this morning.
"She hates me?" She bit into her sandwich.
"She has a lot of emotions. Probably not so much hate, but there are many concerns." I took one of her fries. "I told her she should talk to you about it."
"We were so close.. i feel like ever since she wanted me to kiss her, things went downhill. But then we talked and stuff and she seemed fine." She wiped her mouth with a napkin, "Do you think she wants her father to leave me? Is it that bad?"
"No, she mentioned the wedding. So I'm pretty sure she is Team Wedding."
"I really can't keep up with her." She shook her head, "It feels like just yesterday she was going above and beyond to earn my approval for whatever reason. And now she can't stand me? Its so weird."
"Teenagers." I shrugged.
"Ugh is this what I have to look forward to?" She rolled her eyes.
"Maybe with Ali yeah. It might be a girl thing."
"Speaking of.. you know Aubrey asked why we never taught OJ French." She transitioned.
"Easy, I'm not french, neither are you." I bit my sandwich.
"He feels as though since we both speak it relatively well, we should have taught OJ so he could have more opportunities in the future." She relayed.
"I think having two moms who are well known and successful, already gives him plenty of opportunities in the future." I clicked my tongue.
"He wants me to speak French to the triplets" she added.
"Are you gonna?"
"I told him I'd think about it.." she sipped her water.
"Do you have any reasons not to?"
"Besides the fact that I don't really know it that well myself? Or the fact that OJ and Aaliyah never learned so it doesn't seem fair." She suggested.
"You can't compare them to Aaliyah because she was already done being raised by the time you met her. And its not too late for OJ." I evaluated.
"Well, like you said I'm not french-"
"I said that because thats the reason why we didn't teach OJ-"
"So the same applies."
"Let me finish."
"Okay.."
"Neither of us are french, therefore it made the fact that we know the language a very minor detail. So we never THOUGHT to teach him, the idea just never really surfaced.. at least not enough to matter." I explained.
"So the difference is that, now the idea was proposed." She collected.
"So you can either find a legit reason to object, besides being afraid. Or, you can comply and at least give it a try, it won't hurt them if they only end up learning a few words." I reasoned.
"You're right." She nodded.
After lunch we spent time in our offices doing paperwork, sifting through emails and drafting proposals. We collaborated on a few things which consisted of several emails and texts back and forth to each other until our next string of meetings with different teams. The day seemed like it took FOREVER to go by, we were finally finishing up around 6:30. While Nic worked on her last few things in her office I searched up a few articles about raising bilingual babies and teaching your kids a second language without knowing the language yourself, and found a few places they could consider taking the babies to have more access to french as well as private french teachers and tutors. I printed all the information out just as she was coming out of her office.
"Whats that? Do we need those faxed or something?"
"No, these are for you and your husband to look over." I handed them to her. "If I had time I would've annotated for you."
"Well, good thing this is personal, not professional." She hugged me before putting the stack into her purse.
"Do me a favor,"
"Yeah?"
"Relax, stop doubting yourself, and try to enjoy your relationship." I told her. "You're happy Nic."
She nodded, "You're right. Thanks."
"Give your babies hugs and kisses from their favorite aunt okay?" I pointed to her as I walked towards the elevator.
"You're not coming over for dinner?" She followed after me.
"Not tonight, Aaliyah requested a dinner with Anita, Zoe and OJ." I pressed the button to call the elevator.
"Okay, well... if you can convince her to talk to me. That would be great." She leaned against the wall, "I just can't believe she really doesn't like me."
"Well, if I know you.. you can charm her back over to Team Nicki." I winked as the elevator doors opened.
"How are Anita and Zoe anyways? Zoe is such an angel honestly." We walked into the elevator together.
"Considerably, amazing." I pressed the L button. "But no, they are doing well. They spend the night a lot now, especially since Zoe and OJ are inseparable."
"Didn't you say something about the possibility of her moving in with you?" She questioned.
"Yeah but do you really think now is a good time to-" I scrunched my nose.
The elevator doors opened and she shrugged before exiting, "Zoe is comfortable. Anita loves you. They both could use close support after a loss like theirs."
"Yeah I guess that makes sense" I followed her.
"See, I can handle your problems.. and you're better with mine. I feel like it would be so much easier if we just traded lives instead of having to consult." She joked.
"Nuh uh. Your life would drive me crazy. You have a crazy jealous husband, a unique past, and 5 kids. Plus more."
"Your past wasn't picture perfect either." She pointed out.
"And the rest?" I cocked an I eyebrow at her. "My girlfriend was only slightly jealous but now she's fine. Your husband is paranoid. And I, only have 2 kids and 4 nieces and nephews."
"I keep forgetting you aren't claiming the triplets." She rolled her eyes, "so is Zoe your 4th?"
"Yeah, and you know.. I like the Aunt role. You get all the fun and half the work." I clicked my tongue. "But you should get home to your family, I need to start getting dinner ready."
We hugged once more.
"Okay babe. Text me later, I had something else I wanted to talk to you about but I'm so drained at the moment." She squeezed me tight.
"Told you to rest. You never listen."
"I know I know."
QOTD:
- Uhhh... Aaliyah doesn't like Nicki?!?! Thoughts?
- Blaire's friends??
- Should Nic teach the kids French? Or is she justified in not wanting to?
--
I started a new story, its not fanfiction or anything. Its extremely personal and nonfiction. Its called "The Masks We Wear" I totally recommend it, but please be sure to read the description before reading it. Its something I contemplated for a few years and I think I am finally in a state of mind to do it. Hope you guys enjoy it or at least pass it on to someone who could use it.