Terri's Peep Hut ~~ Fiction Archive

Comments: This is really just a foofy little ficlet that was written right after "Having Babies." My mom and dad claimed that I didn't sleep through the night until I was almost a year old-sometimes I still don't ;)-but I think they're exaggerating. Besides, who needs sleep anyway? Lastly, the numbers song is from Sesame Street-I bet you moms out there will recognize it :)

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They're almost sleepin' through the night now. Jeannie says that we're lucky they're doin' it so early-four months. I said of course they're doin' it early, they're our kids, they're gonna do everythin' early. I gotta tell ya, I don't mind havin' 'em go down for the night. Gives me a little time to get frisky with my wife.

"Logan-is that Nat?" I swear, she's got some kinda special mom-hearin' 'cause sometimes she catches on to them wakin' up sooner than I do. Of course, the fact that I was gettin' her naked may have somethin' to do with my little lapse of attention there.

"I'll get her. She's probably hungry. She didn't eat that much before I put her down." Now, that's one thing that I find just amazin'-breastfeedin'. Sure, it's the natural thing and all, but to watch Marie do it makes it seem so incredible and special. The first couple weeks were rough-it was hurtin' Marie and sometimes the babies didn't quite get enough. But after a while, they got goin' into a pretty good pattern. I think Marie started noticin' that I was feelin' a little left out right about then. I'd sit and watch 'em-sometimes she'd do both at once-and I'd find myself scootin' over to sit beside her, to just put an hand on her or one of our kids so that I could feel like I was a part of it. It's this really primal thing-food comin' from her to the kids, her body usin' energy and all to make enough milk. I kinda felt like there should be somethin' like that I could do too.

And I think Marie caught on to that-one day I brought both of 'em over to her for feedin', and she told me to sit down behind her, to help prop her up. Well, I did and she started feedin' Nat while I held Sam in one arm and Marie in the other. Lemme tell ya-I never felt more love goin' through me than I did right at that moment. All the important people in my life were right there in my arms. It was incredible. Marie just turned to me when it was time to trade babies and smiled. I think she knew how much that meant to me just by the look that musta been on my face, so we've been doin' it that way ever since.

She'll probably bring Nat back to bed with us and do it here. That way, I can cover her a little bit with the blankets to make sure they're both, you know, warm, and all cuddled in. Marie and me decided that they weren't gonna sleep in bed with us-the bed is for just us-but they can eat and play in here with us if they want, at least while they're still real little.

"I toldya you were bein' all sexist." She always usedta say when she was carryin' 'em that one hadta be a boy 'cause he was always movin' and kickin' and stuff. Well, when they came out, it was Nat that started showin' her daddy's temperament. She cries more, sleeps less, gets fussier if she don't get her way. At first, I thought Sam was gonna be like me too. He was a little ornery right when he came out. But Sam's definitely more like Marie in the personality department. Kinda quiet, but don't cross him 'cause then he'll make a bigger fuss than Nat even.

"Hmph." She's handin' Sam off to me 'cause he's probably just awake, not fussin' or nothin'. Definitely more like Marie. Some days we go in to get 'em in the mornin' and Nat's screamin' her little lungs out while Sam's just layin' there, lookin' up at the little mobile he's got. "I'm going to try to rock her a little. Do you mind?"

Well, kinda, but I know Nat eats more like that sometimes-with just her and Marie in the rockin' chair in the kids' room. She likes to monopolize her momma's attention. Yep, that's definitely my personality comin' out there. "Sure-you go ahead. I'll try to get him back to sleep."

"If he wants to eat, let me know." There she goes, hips swayin' just a little bit, givin' me a real nice view. She's almost lost all the weight she gained from bein' pregnant, but she's still got great breasts. Jeannie said to keep breast feedin' 'em as long as she wants, as long as they seem to wanna, and I second that completely.

"Well, whaddya say, Sam? Wanna curl up with daddy for a while?" If I put him on my chest and rub his back, he usually drops off. He's already yawnin' at me now. "Lemme get you all snug there." He likes to be wrapped up and warm-that's just like Marie there too.

I can hear Marie talkin' to Nat in the other room-she usually talks to 'em or sings to 'em when she's with 'em, especially when she's playin' with 'em or feedin' em. And she don't like to use baby talk with 'em. She talks to 'em just like you would normal people. She thinks that they'll learn more words and have a better vocabulary that way.

"Go on, have some more. I know you're hungry." Nat's always hungry-I wonder what foods and stuff they'll like as they get older. "There we go. Good job, Nat." There goes the rockin' chair, squeakin' a little against the floor. I gotta fix that. "You know, your momma was just about to have some special time with your daddy when you got hungry. You and I-we girls have to have a talk about that one of these days."

Heh. It's not like either one of us resents 'em for interruptin' like that, but it's a sure bet that as soon as they're old enough to understand, we're gonna fix that. Scooter gave me this long talk when they came up to see the babies. Logan, you can't expect your sex life to be the same as before. You have two small kids, and they need a lot of attention and energy. Give Marie some time and space. Uh-huh. She was the one who jumped me first. And no, things aren't the same-I mean, we don't do it more than once a day or so now, which is nothin' compared to when she was really hormonal-but they're still real good. And it's not like she don't wanna do it or I don't. We just like bein' with the kids and takin' care of 'em too.

"All done? Want a song?" Marie-her voice won't ever be on a CD, but I like it. The kids like it too. And she's always singin' 'em education songs. "How about the numbers song?" Like that one-she's always tryin' to make sure they learn stuff and get smart. Even if they both got my brains insteada hers, they'll turn out smarter than me. "One two three four five-six seven eight nine ten-eleven twelve. One two three four five-six seven eight nine ten-eleven twelve"

She's got all kindsa good ideas about how to bring 'em up. There's still a coupla things we haven't decided, though. Like what to tell 'em about God and religion and all that. And whether to send 'em to regular school, to Xavier's, or to home school 'em. We got a few years before we hafta decide that one. We also gotta figure out what to tell 'em about bein' mutants. Scooter suggested takin' a 'you're special' angle and tellin' 'em how lucky they are to have special powers and shit. Well, we dunno what powers they got, and we might not for a while. And I ain't gonna sugar coat things for 'em. Yeah, there's good stuff about bein' mutants, and it don't make you bad or anythin' like that, but sometimes it makes your life suck too. I don't wanna pretend to them that life is all sunshine and roses and shit, 'cause then they'll be blindsided the first time it's not like that. On the other hand, I don't wanna be all gloom and doom, or make 'em not trust people or feel good about themselves. I think Marie's with me on those general principles, but neither one of us have figured out just the right way to do it.

"Another song?" Nat must be havin' a hard time goin' back to sleep. Sam-he's already out. Little head just layin' on me, little fist grabbin' my chest hair - another thing that Marie does too. "How about a talk?" Sometimes Nat just gets more excited by the singin'. She likes music. That-that's one thing that ended up in her from Marie. "Hmm. Let's see. I guess I can think of a few things we can talk about. I wanted to tell you that even though you pulled on my hair pretty hard and I yelled 'ouch' for a second, I wasn't mad at you. I wanted to make sure you knew that. And when you scratched daddy in the eye-he made a look that kind of scared you for a second and made you cry a little, but he wasn't mad either. We were both just surprised. You don't have to worry about either one of us getting mad at you."

She tells 'em stuff like that a lot. Even if they don't understand the words, I think they understand the love comin' outta her. Plus, Marie does it partly for herself too, to reassure herself that she's not gonna be the kinda mom that her mom was. She wants 'em to know it's not gonna be that kinda house-yellin' and fightin' all the time.

"Your daddy and I love you a lot. You're the best little girl ever, you know that? You have a lot of your daddy in you, and that's a really good thing. He's strong, and brave, and kind, and loyal. And I bet you're going to grow up to be all those things too. He'll always look out for you and Sam, and I will too. You can always count on us." When I hear stuff like that, it's so easy for me to think about the kid she musta been and how shitty it musta been never to hear that from her parents. They always say that you copy what your parents did with your own kids, but she's goin' outta her way to avoid doin' that. Yeah, whatever brains they got are definitely from her.

"Getting sleepy, huh? Well, that's OK, you just close your eyes. Tomorrow, when you wake up, we're going to give you and Sam a bath. I know you like baths. And then we might take you into the living room to play while daddy works on his furniture." Made a pretty good deal with Evan, the guy that was here for the kids' birth. Sent him two cribs kinda like the ones I made for Sam and Nat. He sold 'em right away and he's been askin' for more stuff ever since. Me, with a normal job-weird, huh? He's a pretty good guy, even if he has seen parts of Marie naked.

She's puttin' Nat down, I can hear her movin'. So I'll just get Sam to-whoa-eyes open. He's up again. I woke him when I moved. You know, I can move as stealthily as a cat-no security guard or jungle animal would sense it. But Sam here does. Maybe he got a little of me in there too after all.

"Nah. I got 'im." I like holdin' 'em just like I like holdin' their momma. They feel good and they smell good-that's another thing they both got from Marie, their smell has hers in there, a lot-and I like havin' 'em feel like I'm here for 'em. Like I'm with 'em and lookin' out for 'em, like she said.

"Nat ate a lot. She should be good for the night." Marie likes touchin' 'em too. I think that she's still scared that one day she just won't be able to or somethin'. She loves strokin' their little heads. They both got a lotta hair for small babies. Sam noticed she's touchin' him and turned to see her. "Hey there." Sam won't yell for attention like Nat, but he likes havin' the both of us all to himself just as much as she does. You can tell by that smile on his face. I'm so glad they both got Marie's mouth and eyes. They're gonna be some seriously gorgeous kids.

"We were just havin' a little male bondin'. Right, Sam?" I can't wait to teach him to hunt and fish and do all kindsa stuff. Marie said to start teachin' 'em little stuff about fightin' as soon as I thought they were ready. It's sad, but we both know they gotta be able to defend themselves, and the sooner we start teachin' 'em, the better. Besides, Sam's gonna be a big guy, I can already tell by those broad shoulders he's got on 'im. He's gonna be good at fightin' even if he don't have the temperament to always go pickin' fights like I got. Like I usedta have. Huh. Just realized I haven't been in a good fight for more than a year, and I don't miss it at all. Not one bit.

"I'll take him to his crib." And I'll be a little more stealthy this time. I wanna get some special time in with Marie tonight. "There ya go, little guy." He's out for sure this time. Just rolled his head to the side when I laid him down and sighed. I just wanna stay with 'em for a few seconds. I just wanna be with 'em a while.

They're both so little and so beautiful. I usedta wonder with Marie-how'd I get to be the one to take care of somethin' so beautiful? Feels that same way with them. I never admitted it to Marie, not to anyone, but I worried about how they'd turn out a little. They coulda turned out kinda bad if they got too much of me in there, too much of the violent, animal side that I got. I shoulda known that anythin' Marie had a hand in makin' would turn out real good. They ended up gettin' the best of both of us. Just goes to show me and Marie make a good pair. Speakin' of-I gotta get back to my wife.

"Yeah, darlin'. But I'm not plannin' on lettin' you get any sleep for a while." She's still got that amazin' bedroom smile that I love. "Come here, woman." I love, love, love bein' able to touch her. We talked about it, and decided against usin' birth control. These two came out so good that maybe we could have another one or two. We'll see. I don't mind tryin' it out to see what happens. Nope, don't mind that at all.

"You know, I keep trying to remind myself to ask if you still find me sexy. But we've been having sex every spare moment we get, so" She did say somethin' once about her stretch marks-she got real big with two babies in there-but I can't hardly notice 'em. And she did say somethin' about her havin' the babies bein' all gross and now her body's a cafeteria, not a sex object. I didn't know why the hell she thought that would make me not wanna have sex with her, and I told her so. I mean, she's providin' for 'em, takin' care of my kids. She hasn't said nothin' like that since then.

"Damn right. And you shouldn't hafta ask, darlin'. But I'm willin' to provide a demonstration if you'd like." There's a big smile. Yeah, it's a pretty good life-havin' sex with my wife and takin' care of the family. It's a real good life.