Simone came over and she tickled the babies' stomachs, “And you all are going to be good for your uncle Xeik and your daddy right?” They giggled up at her and Glyn even kicked his feet. “Okay, I’m going to go away for most of the day and you can’t be stubborn.” She spoke to Janus who expressed his discomfort in her being away. “I know you are just like Daddy and you need me.” She babied him and kissed his forehead softly.

“I made snacks for the twins, it’s in the kitchen. They got fresh apple sauce and I made sure that they have a wet nurse on hand. Especially for Glyn. Be careful because they are getting mischievous and Janus has a bad habit of just be– why am I telling you this… You know.” She kissed Lewis and looked at Xeik.

“Is Mia pregnant yet?” When she was dissatisfied with the answer she made a face, kissed Lewis, and headed out the portal, “Mommy loves you babies!” The portal closed and Simone started work on her novels.

Lila waited for Xeik and Lewis to put them down for their afternoon nap. They were in the great room playing chess since Lewis didn’t know how to play. All of the kids had gone for a nap nearby. Lily managed to climb out of the crib and wander near but undetected for the moment. She grabbed hold of a tablecloth and tried to get the shiny down.

A huge crash happened and Lila looked at the broken vase. She picked up one of the bigger pieces and carried it over to Lewis handing it up to him.

With Simone out of the house, Lewis felt…incomplete. They still had not gotten used to the separation, though it was always getting a bit easier each time. They would never be truly apart, though, and it put his mind at ease that she was merely a portal away. With Simone’s mind focused on words, Lewis let his own mind focus on the game at hand. The rules, while simple, were not so easy to grasp once the board ended up in a complicated state.

“Check,” Xeik said.

Lewis squinted at the board. “No…how?”

“Here, and here,” Xeik said, pointing. “You were wide open. Shouldn’t have moved the knight.” Xeik smirked. “Want to go again?”

“Yes, now-” He was interrupted with the crash from the other room, and when they went to investigate, they found Lila with a grin on her face and a piece of a broken vase in her hand. She walked over and handed it to Lewis, who took it. “Well well…looks like we have a wild deviant here,” he said as he tossed the broken piece to Xeik, and picked up Lila with his good arm.

“You should be asleep,” he said with a smirk. “We’re going to have to figure out what to do with you….” She giggled at her father, and shook her head.

“No!” she said with a grin. “Da!” she pointed at Lewis’ face.

“Bed,” Lewis repeated.

“No!”

Lewis rolled his eyes. “Nap.”

“No!” Now she was laughing. She knew very well she was being a brat, and was relishing in it.

“Xeik…can I use a sleep tonic on her? Pretty sure I have one…”

Xeik sighed, “I would argue against it…not recommended.” He couldn’t help but smile at Lila. “She’s definitely got a wild streak.”

All Lewis could do was take her back to her room, and tuck her in. “Bed…go to sleep, Lila. We can play when you get up.”

“No!” Lila replied with a frumpy face. “Play! Da!”

Lila looked up at him, “Nooooo.” She was whining now.

Janus woke up next to where she was and held just a grumpy face, “No.”

“YES,” Lila looked at her brother as they both started to grump. They grumped back and forth until Glyn started to cry his little eyes out. He was a year younger than they were and he still wanted to sleep for long periods of time. Lewis picked Glyn up and left the room to help him settle back down. Maybe it would be better for him to sleep next to the chess players instead of the deviants.

Lila sat up as soon as Xeik turned his back. She started to climb out of the crib. “NO,” Janus yelled at her.

“YESSSSSSSS,” Lila yelled from the top of the crib.

“You two are little terrors,” Lewis grumbled. He was lucky, though, as Xeik was there to aid the struggling father, and laughed when he heard the arguing exchange between Janus and Lila. “Don’t encourage it,” Lewis said quickly as Glyn started to cry. He sighed, shushing the poor baby boy, picking him up and walking out of the room in order to try and calm him. “There, there Glyn…it’s okay.”

As Lewis left the room, Xeik walked over to Janus, and re-tucked the boy in, “It’s okay Janus.” He turned around to check on Lila, and was surprised to see that she had already climbed her way out of the crib, and was starting to make her way to the door. “Well, well…you’re quite the speedy little one.” He chuckled and picked her up. “It is your naptime, though, little one.”

“Nooooo,” Lila whined.

“Yesssss,” Janus groaned from his side of the room. “Nap, nap.”

“NOOOO!” Lila yelled back. Xeik rolled his eyes, but was surprised when a portal opened beneath him. He and Lila crashed into her crib, and immediately Lewis was in the room with a now docile Glyn.

“What…the hell?” Lewis asked.

“I’d like to know the same!” Xeik exclaimed as he worked his way out of the crib, still holding Lila. The poor girl was frumping, displeased with her brother’s attempt to make her go to bed.

“Bed!” Janus grunted, and another portal opened beneath Lila.

“Oh not this again,” Lewis said with a sigh. “Janus, you know better…”

“No. Lila bed!” Janus said with a frump.

Lila looked at Janus displeased. “NO. STOP. BAD.” As Janus started to portal her back and forth.

Janus grumped from his crib but didn’t bother to move. His eyes were looking directly in his sister’s direction though. He was well aware of where she was.

From Xeik’s arms though there was a tiny blue fire. “BAD.” Lila yelled as she tried to throw the fireball at her brother.

Janus reached out and caught the tiny fireball. “NO, YOU. BAD. BED.” Janus yelled. The fireball went out and Janus tried to portal his sister yet again. Getting Xeik back into the crib with Lila. This time he also ported a blanket that fell over them covering them. "NIGHT."

Lewis watched the exchange between the two, and poor Xeik who got caught up in between. When it started to hit a high point though, he slammed his foot down with a glare at both of them. “Both of you cut it out!” he said with a stern voice. At once, the two froze, and looked to Lewis with hurt expressions.

“Lila bad.”

“Janus bad.”

“Both of you are bad,” Lewis responded. “Look at poor Uncle Xeik.” The Divine Mender was on his back on Lila’s crib, somehow still holding the deviant little girl.

“Oh.”

“Oh.”

The two looked to their Uncle Xeik, and then at Lewis with apologetic looks on their faces. “No…that’s not going to cut it. Apologize,” Lewis replied. “To each other, and to Xeik.”

“Sowwy, Uncle Xeik,” the two said in unison. However, when they looked to each other, there was hesitation.

“Lila bad first,” Janus said. “No nap.”

Lewis groaned, “Yes, but you’re not helping.” At that, Janus frumped, and apoligzed. “Good…now, Lila?”

“I no nap,” Lila replied with a displeased look.

“Lilllaaa,” Xeik groaned. “Can I at least get up?”

“No. Play!”

Lewis took a deep, deep breath. “Lila…how about I let you watch us play chess? You can be in my lap.”

Lila seemed to think about that for a moment, then nodded. “Play!”

“Good. Now Glyn and Janus can get their nap.” Lewis walked over and put Glyn back into his crib, where he snuggled right back in and went to sleep. Lewis took Lila from Xeik, and helped the poor healer up, and the two went back to the main room where they had been playing their game.

“Okay…now…” He looked at the board. “So it’s…pawn first. And…” He started to move the first piece.

Janus rolled over and sprawled almost instantly in his crib. He had no time for these shenanigans his sister was getting into. Naps were a very important part of his life.

Lila was looking over the chessboard and looked at it, “What dis?” She kept asking until she knew all the pieces. “Like dis?” She looked up at Lewis and moved the pawn forward the best she could. “Like dis?”

She watched a few more rounds and listened to Xeik telling Lewis the various rules and moves. When Lewis went to do a move she didn’t like she kicked her feet, “No! Not dat one.” She took Lewis’s hand and moved it over to the knight. “Dis one. Dat way.”

It was mentally draining on her though and eventually, Lila passed out after making a few more move suggestions.

Lewis and Xeik were both surprised when Lila started making her ‘suggestions’ on what moves to play, and to Xeik’s surprise, they started to put Lewis in a better position than he had been in. Lewis was very much a ‘trial and error’ kind of person when it came to learning, and while he was slowly getting the hang of the game, Lila seemed to grasp, at least on a fundamental level, the basics of the game. Thinking ahead. Where will things be the next turn? What possible moves to make? In that regard, Lila was much like her mother.

Still, eventually she tuckered herself out, and with a sly smile, Lewis merely pet her hair. “I knew you were tired,” Lewis said softly as she curled up on his lap. The two finished their game, and Lewis leaned back in his chair, holding Lila. Xeik got up and tended to the fireplace.

“How long is Simone gone for this time?” Xeik asked.

Lewis shrugged, “Who knows. She’s been really into the writing lately, and now that she has a private place away from these little hellions, it’s been a bit of a sanctuary for her…”

Lila was very much like Simone in much of what she did but she also had a lot of Lewis’s traits. Mostly the way she scowled at things she didn’t like or thought were necessary, like naps.

After about ten minutes she popped her eyes back open and looked around, “Play?” There was that young vibrancy she had with all of her energy. Janus and Glyn were still out and would probably stay out for a while.

Simone came back home not too long after, “To answer your question…” She opened her arms and as if she knew Janus ported himself into her arms. “This is why I need to go to the guild.” He was still so sleepy but now he was laying in her arms. “I decided to go come home early. I missed them…”

That was very much like Simone to set a timeline for herself and not be able to keep to it because for one reason or another she missed them. “How were they? I only just now turned the resonance back on so I have no idea what they have been up to.”

“Lila… Bad.” Janus murmured.

“Was she now?”

“Play!” Lila gave her a toothy grin and Simone smiled a bit.

“Xeik… You are all bruised what happened?”

It didn’t take long for Xeik to recount what had happened, and when he finished Simone was smiling in a way that was almost showing how proud she was of her little deviants. Lewis held Lila as she squirmed about, and finally he let her loose. Immediately she went for the chess board, and started to set it up to play the next round.

“When did they start doing this?” Xeik asked curiously. “I’ve never seen kids use this much magic at a young age. At least, not intentionally like this.”

Lewis shrugged, “I dunno…a few weeks ago? We were trying to get Janus to walk, and instead of walking he portaled over to Simone. So we told him no, he wasn’t allowed to portal himself, so he portaled Simone instead. Ever since then, it’s just been getting worse.”

Xeik thought for a moment, “I wonder if I can find a way to limit their magic. At this rate, it might get dangerous.” He sighed. “I’ll have to ask Ang…magical restraints aren’t really my forte.”