Cristiano

I scrunched my nose at the sudden tickle at the tip of it. A small thumb pulled up my upper eyelid and I blinked from the eye irritation. I groaned sleepily, and resettled my head into the pillow.

"Daddy." She called in a whisper. "Wake up."

I wrapped my arm around her small body and pulled her toward me. "Rosie, go back to bed." I mumbled, letting go.

"I don't wanna." She said, her little voice wavering.

I opened my eyes slowly, and I frowned at her frightened expression. "Okay, I'm up. What's wrong, rosebud?" I sat up and lifted her up to sit her on my lap.

She hugged her bunny close to her, and I pulled her thumb from her mouth as I didn't want her to continue that habit. "There's a—monster." Her words were choppy with post-crying hiccups. She sniffled, and I hated seeing her cry.

"Hey, it's okay. How about you show me where the monster is and I go and take care of it? I won't let it hurt you." I assured, standing up and holding out my hand. She took it and held onto my hand as we walked out of the room silently so we wouldn't wake up Harlow. "So where is it?"

"My room." She whispered. We walked down the hallway to her bedroom and she walked closer to me as we walked in. She shakily pointed her finger to her closet, and I suppressed a smile at the fact that she thought there was a real monster in the closet. But then I furrowed my eyebrows at a thud and shuffling noise that emitted from beyond the closet door.

She gasped and hugged onto my leg in fear. I rubbed the back of her head and picked her up onto my hip. I went toward the closet slowly and opened the door, turning on the small light.

I smiled. "It's just Haydn." I put her down and she pouted adorably in annoyance.

"He scared me!" She stomped her foot and crossed her arms.

I whistled softly and snapped my fingers, getting his attention. "Haydn, out." I ordered, and he whined as he trotted past us and jumped onto her bed to lay down. But I noticed him licking around his mouth. He had been eating something.

I crouched down to search for his little midnight snack and Rosaria yelped. "Wait, daddy—"

"Rosaria, what is this?" I held up the open lunchbox that had a messily half eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich hanging out of it.

She looked at the floor guiltily. "A sammich." She mispronounced.

"Weren't you supposed to eat this for lunch at preschool?" I narrowed my eyes at her. "Why did you waste your food? You know not to do that."

"I didn't! Haydn ate it!" She defended, poking out her lip, knowing I found that incredibly cute. But it didn't work this time.

"Rosaria, how many times has Haydn eaten your sandwiches?" I asked.

"I'm tired of peanut-jelly sammiches." She said, not answering the question. I nodded slowly, telling her to answer the question. "A few days."

I sighed, wiping my hand over my face. "Haydn could get very sick from eating too much jelly. Did you know that?" She shook her head, her black, long little pigtails swinging.

"I'm sorry, daddy." She sniffled again and I brought her into my arms.

"Rosie, if you didn't want peanut-jelly sandwiches anymore, you should've just told me instead of feed them to Haydn. Does Eros throw away his sandwiches too, or is it just you? And be honest, little girl." I said sternly. She knows I don't tolerate dishonesty.

"Just me." She answered shamefully.

"You know you have to be punished, right?" I asked, knowing that she knew. She nodded. "One week—no TV, okay?"

"Okay." She sighed. I led her to her bed and let her get in.

I pulled her sheets and blanket over her, tucking her in. I kissed her forehead, and she leaned up to peck my cheek with a loud 'mwah'. "Goodnight, rosebud." I said.

"Goodnight daddy." She grinned sadly on account of her punishment.

I left her room and went right across the room to check on Eros in case we woke him up. He didn't hear me come in, and I crossed my arms and leaned in the doorway. I cleared my throat, and he looked up and put the phone behind his back quickly as if I didn't already see it. "Hi daddy." He smiled toothily, his silver eyes bright with mischief.

"Hey bud. What're you doing up?" I asked suspiciously.

"Um...I can't sleep." He lied, which is going against the first rule I set in this house. No lies.

"Hm," I slowly walked toward his batmobile bed. "Maybe that's because of this." I snatched the phone from him, recognizing it as Harlow's phone. He must've taken it while we were tucking in Rosaria the first time. "Go to sleep, Eros." I shuffled his short black hair before going back to bed.

*****

I woke up the next morning to my beautiful wife. Her gorgeous smile was the first thing I saw and it caused me to smile tiredly. "I heard about last night." She said, brushing locks of my hair out of my face.

"Then you know that Rosie got in trouble." I sighed.

"Yeah. Are you taking Haydn to the vet to see if he's okay?" She laid beside me, cuddling close to me.

"I promised that I'd take the twins to the park today, so Annalise is coming by later to take him." I glanced at my phone, and it was twelve o'clock. "I slept that late?"

"Yup. But it's okay, Eros is still asleep too." Right as she said that, they both came running in. "Never mind." She outstretched her arms and they both jumped onto us.

"Daddy, can we go to grandpa's house?" Eros asked as he landed right between us, his knee coming too close to crushing my manhood, and he completely demolished the plans to go to the park.

I groaned. "I thought you wanted to go to the park?" I sat up against the headboard.

Rosaria perked up and smiled. "I wanna go to the park!"

"Thank you baby—sticking to plans." I pulled her onto my lap and kissed her temple. Harlow frowned suddenly.

"Rosaria, why did you take your hair down? You know it gets tangled easily."

"I like my hair down. I brushed it." She defended, and Harlow looked at me. I ran my fingers through her hair, and it really wasn't tangled at all. She had long curly hair down to her waist and every time we cut it by four to five inches, it grew even longer within three weeks. Eros' hair was the same, but we kept it cut all the time.

"Yes, she did. So are we going to the park, or grandpa's house?" I asked, and they erupted in arguments.

"I wanna go to the park!" Rosaria shouted.

"I want grandpa's house!" Eros shouted back at her. "I'm older!"

"Uh, by a minute and 56 seconds, Eros." Harlow chuckled.

"Mommy's not helping!" He pouted and told me as if he were telling on her.

I sighed, rubbing my hands over my face with annoyance at how quick they were to shout and argue with each other. "Okay, how about we go to grandpa's house, then the park after. Is that okay?" They both nodded and I smiled. "Brush your teeth and go get dressed."

They scrambled to the edge of the bed and slid off, running out of the room and closing the door. "Cristiano."

I looked at Harlow. "Hm?"

She stood on her knees and leaned forward into me before crashing her lips into mine. I smiled against her lips, cupping her face with my hands and kissing her back. Even after nearly five years, kissing her felt like our first kiss all over again. I meant it when I said to keep it sexy. And we definitely kept it sexy.

She pushed on my chest, biting her lip when she pulled away. "You, go get in the shower." She smiled mischievously. "And the sooner you get in, the sooner I get to join you." She pecked my lips again and I smiled.

"Then I'll get in there yesterday." I rolled off of the bed and headed quick into the bathroom. She laughed and followed me in.

*****

Harlow

"GRANDPA!" Eros shouted as soon as we stepped foot into the estate.

"Eros, don't do that." Cristiano instantly scolded, though I could barely hear him because my ears were still ringing.

"I think I'm gonna need a hearing aid after this." I plugged my left ear with my forefinger. Eros found that hilarious, as he giggled until his pale face turned pink.

Dominic came from the downstairs bedroom hall in a grey shirt and sweatpants, and an open red robe. "Wow, that...is shocking." Cristiano raised his brows in a small nod.

"What?" Dominic shrugged. "I'm not capo, I don't have to wear a suit."

"Correction—you're not capo, so you don't have to eat, sleep, and breathe in suits anymore." I grinned, putting Eros down so he could go smother him.

"Grandpa!" He started to run, but tripped on the small single step that goes from the foyer to the area near the stairs.

"Woah!" Cristiano and I yelped at the same time, which startled and annoyed Dominic who clearly thought we were overreacting. "You okay, bud?" He asked, putting Rosie down.

Eros had landed on his knees, and he moved into a crouch to pull up his jean pant legs and check his knees for rug burn. "Yeah."

Rosaria made her way to him, and pulled on his arm to help him stand up, which made me smile. Dominic gave them both hugs and Cristiano went to check up with everybody business wise.

We went into the kitchen, and I helped the twins get on the stools at the island counter. Dominic searched through the fridge for something. "Somebody's birthday is coming up."

"Daddy's!" Rosaria chirped. "Me and mommy and Eros are gonna make a big chocolate cake with fifty-nine candles!"

"Woah, twenty-nine candles not fifty-nine, baby." Cristiano looked horrified at what she had said as he walked in. "How old do you think I'm going to be?" He spun her stool toward him to look at her.

"Uh..." She thought for a moment. Yes, it was a simple question with an obvious answer, but she is five.

"Am I that old that you have to think that long?" He asked.

"Ten!" She smiled.

"Up." He shook his head.

"Ninety nine!"

He grimaced and shook his head. "Lower."

"Twenty six!"

"Just a little bit higher."

"Twenty nine!" She finally guessed correctly and he kissed her forehead.

"You hit it right on the nose." He poked the tip of her nose and she scrunched it. She suddenly frowned and squeezed her eyes shut, which alarmed both of us. "What's wrong?"

"My tummy hurts." She held her stomach. She hiccuped, and my eyes widened.

"Cristiano back up." I warned, and right as he did, she threw up all over her clothes. It was like a water gun squirting out the heaviest amount of water ever. If he hadn't backed up, she would've covered him in puke too and the germaphobe would've had a panic attack.

"Dammit, that was your cutest outfit." He groaned, accidentally letting a curse word slip out.

"Daddy that's not a nice word!" Eros scolded.

"Only for you and your sister. Come on, Rosie." He picked her up bridal style but kept her away from his expensive clothes and carried her into the TFO for some reason.

"Stay with grandpa, I'm gonna go see what's wrong with—" Eros soon repeated Rosaria's action and hiccuped before puking the same white chunky liquid as her. Except he didn't throw up as much. "Okay, let's go."

I picked him up on my hip and followed Cristiano. He was helping her change into another outfit, and I set Eros down next to her. He noticed the puke down his shirt and groaned again. "Okay, what's wrong with you guys, why are you throwing up?"

They shrugged, and I sighed. "The only thing they've eaten so far is Rosaria had cereal and Eros had yogurt."

Cristiano paused, and looked at me. "So items with lactose in them?"

"You think they're lactose intolerant?" I furrowed my brows at him. He stood up and searched through a drawer, before pulling out something and looking at them.

"Okay, this, is a hydrogen breathalyzer. Basically, this says if milk makes you feel sicky. Blow." He held it up to her and she blew in it. He looked at it before resetting it, and Eros blew into it, and he looked at it.

"They have high levels of hydrogen in their breath, which means there is undigested lactose in their intestines, which pulls  water into the intestines and makes them have stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting issues, and, if there's high ingestion of lactose, diarrhea. But luckily, you two don't eat in large portions." He poked their stomachs lightly.

"So for now on, you guys cannot drink regular milk. And nothing that has milk in it like ice cream, yogurt, cheese, and butter." I told them as we finished changing their clothes which Cristiano always kept their spare outfits in a messenger bag he carried.

They grew horrified expressions, and Rosaria pouted. "No ice cream?"

"No ice cream, I'm sorry." I kissed her head. Cristiano took out their spare toothbrushes and they left to go upstairs and brush their teeth.

He sighed and looked at me running a hand through his hair. "Lactose intolerant."

"At least it was vomiting and not diarrhea." I smiled positively, hugging his waist and looking up at him.

"Yeah, I love them but I think I might've passed out if I had to go back three years of potty training." He said tiredly, making me laugh.

"Daddy I can't reach the water!" Rosaria shouted from upstairs.

"Stand on the step stool, it's in the closet!" He shouted back before looking at me. I smiled cheekily at him and he looked at me weird. "Are you okay?" He asked slowly.

"Mhm." I nodded, standing on my toes slightly.

"Then why are you smiling like that?"

I got all the way on my toes, and our noses touched. "Because it's July."

He rolled his eyes with a smile. "Right, my birthday is in three days. So what's the big deal that makes you smile like that?"

"You're closer to hitting thirty than me." I grinned smugly.

"Well, yes, you're 25. Doesn't mean that I'm getting old."

"I know, I just wanted to tease you. So do you want time away from the kids, with the kids, or time alone?" I moved my arms to around his neck.

His hands grasped my hips and he smiled. "Why would I ever want time alone from my family? But I wouldn't mind a day or two alone with my sexy wife."

I smirked a little and my lips brushed against his. "And the kids?"

"They can have a super sleepover with Nicky. I'm sure Eli and Lola can handle three 5 year olds. Plus, Rosie's the more calm and less hectic twin. Plus, they haven't seen E in awhile."

We heard footsteps pounding down the stairs, followed by an ear-splitting scream. Rosie ran into us as we came into the foyer. She was on the verge of crying and Cristiano picked her up.

"What, why are you screaming?" He asked in alarm as she hugged tight onto him.

Eros came running in with a bright smile. "Mommy look!"

"Ay dio!" Cristiano stepped back from us fearfully and I crouched down to look at the largest spider I had ever seen come in this estate. It was the size of his palm. Luckily, it wasn't poisonous. It was a daddy-long-leg spider.

I smiled and we took turns holding it as it crawled. Eros was just as into bugs and nature as I was, and Rosie was just as chicken as Cristiano. But it was just big bugs and spiders that terrified her, Cristiano hated all kinds of bugs.

"Uh, babe?" I looked at him and he nodded to Rosie who was shaking with fear.

"Oh. Eros, c'mon, let's take it back outside." I grabbed his hand and stood up so we could go outside. He let the spider go and after a few minutes, we came back inside and Rosaria was fine.

"Okay, good news guys!" I grinned at them and Rosaria smiled hugely back as she jumped.

"You're having a baby? I bet it's a girl!"

"No, it's a boy!" Eros argued.

"No it's a girl!"

"Mommy why aren't you fat?" Eros asked me.

I looked at Cristiano who looked horrified with the subject of having another baby. I looked back at them. "I'm not having a baby. Do you want—" Cristiano put his hand over my mouth and cleared his throat.

"Mama isn't having a baby, the news is that you guys get to have a sleepover at Uncle Eli's house!" He said with extra enthusiasm because the more excited you get them, the more they forget what they were just talking about.

Okay, we're definitely talking about this later.

They jumped up and down with excitement. They loved Eli nearly more than Zach, and Zach has been basically their best friend since they were born. Mostly because Eli and Lola make cookies every time they go over.

"Okay, grandpa has Nutella and strawberries in the kitchen for you, go ahead." I said, turning them toward the kitchen. They cheered and ran in. I turned around to Cristiano. "You seem horrified by the thought of having another child, babe. I should be horrified, it would be coming out of me."

"Don't you think two is enough? Plus, we agreed on just two. Do you really want to have another baby?" He asked, taking my hands in his.

"I was just asking you, we don't have to have another baby. I think giving birth twice is enough for me." I smiled assuringly.

Little did I know, the very next year I'd give birth to another baby boy named Ares.

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