Please note: This story is an MMF menage romance and as such will contain sexual encounters between both male characters as well as the lead female character. Proceed accordingly.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

The sun filled the bedroom with light quite early in the mornings since they had been in Paris. Ed contemplated getting out of bed to pull the curtains then rolled over into Olivia and cuddled up with his back to the sun instead. She lay on her side facing away from him near the edge of the mattress; one arm buried underneath her somewhere and the other beneath the pillow cradling her head. Ed flung an arm across her waist and a leg across hers and pulled her back against him to snuggle close.

"Hmm," she moaned, burrowing her head further into the pillow. Before he could decide whether to wake her further or close his eyes again as well, he heard a tap-tap at the door as it squeaked open.

"Anyone awake in here yet?" came a low voice from the direction of the doorway.

"Hard to sleep with all the light hitting me in the eyes," Ed grumbled as Olivia whined in protest and burrowed into the pillow again.

"How about breakfast in bed?" came the cheery voice with the sound of clanking metal.

"What time is it?" Olivia mumbled without raising her head, the pillow garbling her words.

"Just before six," Trevor replied.

"Are you insane? Go back to wherever your cheery morning ass came from," she ordered attempting to throw covers over her head but she was unsuccessful since Ed had a leg thrown over them.

"I have hot croissants, juice and coffee," Trevor tempted.

"Bring 'em over here," Ed motioned him with his hands while his legs still fought Olivia for the covers. "You're awake. You're not going back to sleep now."

Trevor settled a tray on the bed beside Ed and held onto it, hovering, as Olivia sat up flinging her pillow in Ed's direction, the covers slipping over her deliciously naked curves.

"Here, have some coffee," Trevor placated offering her a cup while eyeing her glares at Ed carefully.

"Why are we up this early on vacation again?" she asked pulling up the sheet, tucking it under her arms and taking the cup from Trevor.

"Because we're jet lagged," Ed said taking a cup for himself from the tray and looking over the selection of pastries before choosing one that appeared to be filled with chocolate.

"Speak for yourself," Olivia countered, "some of us were sleeping just fine."

Ed opened his mouth to reply but Trevor just shook his head telling him that he was just digging his hole deeper and to let it go.

"What did you and the kids do last night?" Ed asked instead.

"Noah and I set up an elaborate obstacle course and race track across the living area," Trevor informed them.

"Who won?" Olivia asked.

"Well," Trevor hedged, "we had a hard time actually getting to the racing part because Aidan kept knocking everything down before we could get started."

"Aww, he was trying to help," Ed said defending the toddler.

"He probably didn't understand the purpose of the obstacle course," Olivia pointed out.

"Well, Noah had infinite patience with him," Trevor informed them. "As soon as Aidan knocked over an obstacle, Noah would quietly and calmly just follow along behind him and set it back up. This went on for quite a while until I finally told him let's just race around the wrecked course, that would better test the skills of the drivers."

"I think that Noah is doing a fine job as a big brother," Olivia said.

"Yeah, he's very watchful. He sits back and observes a situation before he acts," Ed said.

"I still worry that he doesn't talk much," Olivia contemplated.

"I'm not sure that we should worry," Ed intervened, "I think maybe it's Noah's personality to be a quiet observer. He may just not want to say anything in any given situation."

"He does appear to understand everything we tell him," Trevor replied to Ed's observation. "So I don't think it's exactly a language issue but I do think that he doesn't like to be the center of attention. Maybe the way they're testing him is a problem."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll look into that when we get back," Olivia said. "I've noticed a lot of complaints about standardized testing. Maybe you're right and we should try something else with him."

"Maybe 'they' whoever 'they' are," Ed said, "should stop trying to fit everyone into a box and realize that kids are all individuals and that they develop in their own way."

"Still, Ed, there are certain milestones that every child should hit along the way," Olivia pointed out.

"But they don't need to hit them on some time schedule that someone arbitrarily made up based on averages or whatever the hell they use. I think all of this 'milestone' crap just causes unnecessary worry to parents and that just puts more stress on the kid. At this point, with Noah's history and personality, I don't think that it's a cause for concern yet that he's not communicating more. Let him develop in his own time. When he actually starts school and has a serious problem learning with the other kids, then we can worry about finding new ways to learn; if that happens, big if. People get caught up in bragging about their kids learning to read by age three or whatever. Ma will tell you that I couldn't be bothered to sit still at that age to do any of that. I didn't learn to read until I was in school and could sit still for more than an hour at a time. We didn't even have kindergarten back then, much less pre-K. Didn't hurt my education long term that I didn't read at age three. I have a graduate degree. They put too much pressure on kids these days, way too early. Let 'em be kids," Ed gestured simply with his coffee cup and drained it sitting it back on the tray while Trevor and Olivia looked at him with wide eyes. "Sorry, soapbox. Let's change the subject."

"So I kept the kids up late last night so hopefully with all the running around they did all day, you'll get a little reprieve this morning and they'll sleep in. I'll just take this back to the kitchen," Trevor said picking up the tray and starting to clear out, "and let you two have some more alone time."

"Trevor," Olivia started, "we had plenty of alone time last night. Please stay and keep us company."

"We missed you," Ed said simply.

"Yeah?" Trevor asked looking back to check and make sure they were in agreement.

"I'm not really sure why since your fingerprints were all over last night," Ed said wryly.

"How so?" Trevor asked innocently, setting the tray on the bedside and dropping back on the bed beside Olivia with a bounce.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because you picked the restaurant and made the reservations," Ed started.

"You also selected our menu and the wine we drank," Olivia added.

"Hell, Olivia was even wearing lingerie that you bought for her," Ed continued.

"I picked out her shoes too," Trevor grinned.

"You're a manipulative bastard," Ed accused.

"Did you know that they have almost half a million bottles in their wine cellar?" Trevor asked seriously, leaning across Olivia and placing his left hand flat across the mattress to support his weight while he taunted Ed.

"I love you," Ed said leaning forward and capturing Trevor's lips in an affectionate kiss, sucking on his bottom lip and pulling it back towards him a little as he shifted back on the bed before gently releasing it.

Trevor looked at him intently enjoying the moment. He was still getting used to Ed openly declaring his affection. He had doubted for so long that they would ever get to this point as a couple. He turned to Olivia to include her in the moment and found her observing them intently with a crease between her brows.

"You okay?" Trevor asked checking in with her.

"I don't know," Olivia said honestly. "I guess I'm still getting used to this."

"What specifically?" Ed asked, concerned.

"Watching you show physical affection for each other in front of me, I guess," Olivia shrugged. "Part of me feels like its sweet and that part tells me to enjoy the moment watching you but not intrude, but part of me feels like a voyeur and that feels like it should be wrong."

"Should be wrong or is wrong?" Trevor qualified.

"That's the thing. I don't know. I feel like I should feel that it's wrong, but I'm not sure it actually feels wrong," Olivia shook her head at herself. "It's confusing."

"That's understandable," Ed told her. "You've never participated in anything like this before and I doubt you ever thought that you would be in this position. Just keep checking in with us and telling us how you feel."

"Let us know if we do anything that makes you uncomfortable, whether it's with you or in front of you," Trevor said. "It's very important that we communicate with each other. We don't want any feelings of resentment or other bad feelings to build up between any of us. Those can explode and cause huge problems later." Trevor gave Ed a look.

"Tell me about it," Ed snorted looking back at Trevor and shaking his head in remembrance of such a moment that had occurred between them in the not so distant past.

"I think I've adjusted to both of you individually, it's just the dynamics with the three of us together that I'm still struggling a little bit," Olivia admitted.

"Well, then we need to work on that," Ed suggested.

"No time like the present," Trevor agreed raising both eyebrows with a grin.

"What about the boys?" Olivia asked.

"Still sleeping soundly," Trevor assured, whipping out his phone and tapping his baby monitor app to show proof before propping it up against the lamp on the nightstand. "We'll hear the moment they are not."

"No, we won't," Ed pointed out. "Noah will lay there quietly, which is fine too."

"Okay," Trevor agreed, "correction, we'll know the second that Aidan wakes up because he will not lay there quietly."

"What are you trying to say, counselor?" Ed laughed.

"That having a big mouth is sometimes genetic," Trevor returned.

"Are you complaining about my big mouth?" Ed asked.

"That depends."

"On?"

"What it's doing."

"Well, right now, my big mouth wants to show you how much we missed you last night," Ed said sweetly. Trevor looked at him suspiciously.

"Come here," Olivia encouraged Trevor opening her arms to embrace him. "We really did miss your company last night but thank you for giving us some alone time."

"I'm not sure I want to turn my back on him," Trevor said but moved into Olivia's embrace anyway as she slid back against the pillows, casting another glance behind him at Ed who was giving him a questionably innocent look. He turned back to Olivia as she gave him a sweet kiss which quickly turned passionate, her mouth opening for his tongue which swept hungrily against her leaving a faint trace of his hazelnut flavored creamer behind.

"No one should ever accuse you of being stupid, counselor," Ed rasped hotly in Trevor's ear the moment his attention had been diverted and Ed moved up quickly behind him, trapping him flush up against Olivia.

Olivia grasped Trevor's arms as he started, bracing himself above her on the bed, holding his weight away from her and maybe a bit of Ed's as well. It was hard for her to tell what Ed was up to back there since Trevor's long body hid the other man from her view. Trevor leaned down to kiss her again but quickly broke off the kiss as she heard something akin to a groan or even a purr come from his lips then vibrate down his body everywhere it touched her.

"What did you just do to him?" Olivia asked Ed.

"Why?" Ed asked, his head popping up over Trevor's shoulder as Trevor's head dropped against Olivia's chest.

"He just made the most interesting noise and his entire body vibrated with it. Tell me what you did. Could I get him to make that noise?" she asked determinedly.

"Come 'ere," Ed said pulling her out from under Trevor and staying him with a hand to the taller man's shoulder. "You're overdressed for this party, counselor." Ed whipped Trevor's t-shirt over his head and tugged his sweatpants down his hips leaving him naked and facing the cushioned headboard.

Olivia moved around on her knees to face Trevor's back. Ed methodically took hold of Trevor's shoulders and smoothed them into a relaxed position. Ed tilted Trevor's head so that it leaned towards his right shoulder.

"Do you see the muscle that stands out here in this position?" Ed asked pointing to a line of muscle sticking out on the left side of the back of Trevor's neck as Ed rotated it away from them.

"Yes," Olivia commented.

"I bit him here," he said demonstrating with a light bite, which made Trevor groan, "then I sucked it. Just suck on the area where I left marks."

"Ed likes to suck on things," Trevor confided in Olivia with a wink.

"Watch it, counselor," Ed warned, "and he says that I have a big mouth."

"I don't have a big mouth," Trevor replied smugly, "I have a smart mouth."

"You do too have a big mouth," Ed retorted sounding like a petulant child, "and it's about to be full of something."

"Do tell."

"More like show and tell."

Olivia ignored their banter and leaned forward to suck on Trevor's neck lightly until she felt him vibrate with a moan that sounded like a purr. Olivia lifted her head back up to see that he was going to have quite the hickey there. "Sorry," she apologized.

"S'okay," he shrugged, "I kind of have a permanent hickey going on there. At least it's under my shirt."

"Does he make that noise with anything else?" Olivia asked curiously turning towards Ed.

"That's enough of that," Trevor replied instead, turning to grasp her arms and pull her back underneath him. "The boys will be up if we continue this conversation and I would rather not be interrupted. Enough talking."

"Looks like we've reached the end of our lawyer's patience," Ed observed. "That's okay, I'll show ya some stuff that makes him crazy another time."

Trevor growled over his shoulder in Ed's direction briefly before leaning down to kiss Olivia. He explored her mouth insistently while his hands boldly slid over her curves, palming her breasts and worrying her nipples that had hardened from the friction then slid one hand between her legs. He slid his fingers over her slick folds before pushing one then two firmly inside her, cupping her with the palm of his hand.

"Already wet for me?" he murmured against her ear as he slid his lips down her neck.

"Ed was kind of rubbing all over me before you came in with breakfast," she whispered breathily as shivers of pleasure danced over her skins where his lips and hands touched her.

"Yeah, he calls that cuddling," Trevor replied before gasping harshly against her shoulder. Ed was kneeling behind him, cupping his ball sac in his hands and gently squeezing and worrying them in his palm. He released them and Trevor settled between Olivia's legs, entering her with one smooth thrust, sliding slowly into her depths all the way to the hilt before pausing to let her adjust and move her legs into a comfortable position. Her right leg brushed Ed's as she moved her knee up to accommodate the width of Trevor's body against her.

She slid her hands around his back as he drew back from her to make a couple of tentative thrusts, then settled on his elbows and kissed her again, dipping in his tongue to lightly play with hers. Olivia felt a warmth against her arms and realized that even though she could not see him, Ed was leaning towards Trevor. Trevor moved both of his legs against Olivia's inner thighs, spreading her wider, as he spread his own for the man behind him, she realized. Trevor pressed more firmly inside her and gasped pulling his lips away from hers.

"Is he inside you?" Olivia asked curiously.

"Just his finger," Trevor replied before gasping again and thrusting against her in an almost reflexive move before correcting his words. "Fingers."

Trevor paused again taking a deep breath before he resumed his thrusts picking up a steady rhythm that had Olivia forgetting that there was someone behind him in bed with them until she heard Ed speak.

"We really did miss your company last night, both at dinner and in bed," Ed rasped. Olivia heard a plastic cap snap shut then felt something bounce across the bed as Trevor pushed back in to the hilt again and stopped, suspended above her, his arms shaking as the pressure against her body became even more intense. Olivia studied Trevor's face watching him wince and bite his lip as his breathing became harsher then he moaned with pleasure or pain or maybe both.

Trevor tilted his hips up and back to accommodate the man behind him, which caused his body to brush up against Olivia's clit. He arched his back and brushed his pecs against her hardened nipples simultaneously and she moaned with pleasure of her own. Then he rocked against her even harder, and she realized he was moving in concert with Ed, pulling back when the other man moved away and pushing further into her as Ed pushed forward, pressuring into them both from behind him.

Olivia sucked in gulps of air trying to grab hold of an anchor, her hands behind Trevor sliding between his slick back and Ed's chest. Ed grasped one of her arms, placing her hand around his left bicep, then planting that arm on the bed to give him purchase, while he grasped the leg on her other side with his right hand, throwing it behind both men to grip his buttock through the ride.

"Oh, God," Olivia panted gripping Ed with one arm and leg, planting her other foot firmly against the mattress as her other hand still slipped along Trevor's slick body. Trevor groaned in response, trapped between the push and pull of his two lovers, unable to control any more of the movements on his own.

"Is it too much?" Ed asked Olivia as he continued the momentum of his movements, believing that a pause might break their rhythm.

"No," Olivia whispered, "Don't stop."

"I can't…" Trevor shook his head, "It's…" Trevor collapsed against Olivia, his body shuddering on top and inside of her as Ed continued to thrust into him from behind, rocking Trevor's body against Olivia's until she cried out her own pleasure then finishing his own. Ed quickly withdrew, careful not to place any more weight on the couple below him. Olivia's breath was heaving with the weight of Trevor's body still collapsed on top of her.

"I love you," Ed whispered to Trevor, placing a small gentle kiss on his shoulder before he moved to the side and kissed Olivia's cheek, "and I love you, too."

Trevor's head was buried in the pillow beside Olivia's head. He nodded in response and slid his body to Olivia's other side, freeing her from his weight as he slowly came back to his senses. He turned his head so that it faced Olivia's on the pillow finally catching his breath, his blue eyes smiling at hers.

"So you two really missed me, huh?"

…

"Wow," Ed said crossing his arms over his chest and widening his stance.

"There she is," Trevor nodded his head taking a similar position on the other side of Olivia to hold the crowd at their back and sides at bay.

"She's so much smaller than I expected," they heard a female voice exclaim as she tried to muscle her way back through the crowd of people away from the roped off area.

"I've heard that so many times that I think I expected her to be a miniature by now," Ed said in a low voice so just the people around him could hear.

"I know, right?" Olivia replied nodding her head. "She's actually bigger than I expected because of that. Looks like a pretty normal size compared to a modern school portrait to me."

"But not compared to other portraits in these rooms," Trevor shrugged. "Though I will admit, it's actually not in my top ten favorites in the museum."

"I wish Cillian were here to tell us all about all the different techniques Da Vinci used to paint her," Olivia said quietly to Ed.

"Yeah," Ed replied. "I definitely have ta bring him here someday."

"I think we should do whatever we have to do to make sure he attends the Sorbonne when he's done with his art program at NYU," Olivia said pointedly. "This is a mecca for artists and if that is Cillian's passion then he should definitely spend some time here."

"We'll work it out," Trevor agreed as Ed took the camera out of his front pants pocket, snapping a couple of shots of the infamous painting.

"Ready to move on?" Ed asked, glancing Olivia and Trevor's way.

"Let me lead," Trevor suggested after Olivia nodded. "Just follow in my wake and I'll make a path." Olivia crowded up against Trevor's back and brought both hands up to grip his belt, slipping her fingers between his gray slacks and the blue button down that was tucked into them. She felt Ed lightly grip the outside of her arms as the trio slowly shuffled from the middle of the crowd gathering to view the Mona Lisa back into the more spacious area of the room.

"It's really not all that crowded," Olivia observed with amazement. "Just right in the front of the painting."

"Seems like we got here early enough," Ed said.

"Still I'm glad you made arrangements with the nanny to take the kids for something more fun. She seems like she knows what she's doing," Olivia commented still a little trepidatious about leaving the children with someone she did not know personally.

"She has plenty of experience. Jean-Claude employs her when his family is living in the apartment during the winter season and he has twice as many kids as we do plus she usually takes on any subleases he has for the rest of the year, if they have kids." Trevor explained again trying to put Olivia's maternal worries at rest. Jean-Claude was a client who lived half the year in France and half the year in the States. He had loaned his family apartment as well as his French nanny to Trevor for their vacation to Paris but usually subleased it through a management company for most of the season.

"You mean he has twice as many kids as we have here," Ed replied, "Cause if you wanna start adding up kids, I think we're starting to get near double digits all together."

"Sounds like a goal to me," Trevor remarked with a grin.

"My god" Olivia shook her head, quickly changing the subject back to the nanny. "Squeezing through all those people would not be fun with a two and three year old in tow, for us or for them. Hopefully they're having more fun playing in the park," Olivia still missed the boys even though she realized that they needed adult time on their vacation too. This vacation could either set the tone for their future as a family or it could send a torpedo right through the heart of it.

"Let's walk the perimeter of this room then go back and hit a few of the more popular pieces that we passed on the mad dash for the pièce de résistance before those rooms get crowded as well. Then we can wander slowly through the big corridor and just share what we like," Trevor suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Ed replied looking over at Olivia who nodded in return. They started in the back of the room slowly perusing the paintings as they kept each other in sight. Eventually they made their way back to a room filled with large canvasses. Trevor stopped in front of a large painting with a woman standing over bodies waving a French flag.

"This is one of the must-sees in the museum," Trevor began then looked at Ed and pointed to the placard beside the painting. "Liberty Leading the People and it's by one of the artists that Cillian mentioned that he admired, Delacroix."

"Oh, yeah," Ed said lighting up at the mention of his son. He whipped out his camera and walked across the room to get a full view of the large painting, waiting for some people to pass so he could get a good shot without heads in the way. Then he returned back to the couple waiting as he took a closer look at the painting then took a picture of the placard.

"The contrasts between the light and dark is striking," Olivia commented.

"There are several other Delacroix pieces in this room. His paintings tend to be dark," Trevor replied pointing out a few of them. Olivia wandered over to a painting of two tigers.

"The boys would love this. Remember how they loved the tigers in Tulieries?"

"We'll try to walk this room again when we come back with them," Trevor replied.

"Isn't this the guy who did the frescos we wanted to see in that church that Cillian told us about?" Ed asked.

"Yeah, I hope we get a chance to get over there and see those. I haven't been there before," Trevor said.

"We'll make time if it's important to you," Olivia told Ed and Trevor. "Plus, it's important that you see and experience some things that you haven't before while we're here."

"Oh, I'm not having any problems with that," Trevor replied with a twinkle in his blue eyes. "Shall we go back to the big corridor and take a leisurely stroll? I think there are some Raphael's in there that I would love to see again. His blues are just so vivid."

"Whom else are you looking forward to?" Olivia asked curiously.

"The Vermeers," Trevor replied, "but they're on a different floor so we'll probably hit them on another visit." The trio slowly meandered through the large corridor, commenting on paintings that caught their eyes. Trevor lingered over a few Raphael's admiring the vivid colors and figures.

"I like the way the frame on this one brings out the blue in the painting," Olivia said, standing back from a small painting near the one that Trevor was viewing. Trevor walked over to stand beside her.

"Ah, Saint Elisabeth with John and the Holy Family. This painting is attributed to Romano; he was a student or apprentice of sorts to Raphael. The students in Rafael's workshop often painted from sketches that Raphael drew to plan for his compositions. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether it's the student's own work or not." He wandered along a little further with Olivia as she approached another painting.

"What's up with all the paintings with this creature hovering over the sleeping woman?" Olivia asked as Ed joined them. "This is at least the fourth painting I've seen since we've been here."

"This is Jupiter and Antiope. Many artists have used this myth as subject matter in their paintings," Trevor told Olivia.

"So what's the story?" Ed asked.

"Well," Trevor looked a little uncomfortable, "apparently Jupiter, or Zeus depending on whether you're talking Greek or Roman mythology, was very taken with Antiope. So he took the form of a satyr and came to earth to seduce her."

"Seduce her?" Ed asked. "Looks like she's asleep to me."

"Great," Olivia said, rolling her eyes. "Rape culture in the Renaissance."

"Depending on the story you go by Antiope was taken by or fled to Epopeus, the hero and king of Sicyon. She gave birth to twins, Zeus the father of one and Epopeus the father of the other but she abandoned them to be raised by herdsmen," Trevor concluded the story there and started to walk along to the next painting.

"You're so sexy when you nerd out like that," Ed said quietly near his ear with Olivia listening from the other side. "Will ya wear your glasses for me later?" Olivia pressed her lips together to keep from laughing while Trevor just sighed, shook his head and kept moving further along the long corridor, commenting on paintings here and there that caught their eyes until finally Olivia stopped them.

"All of these paintings are starting to look the same to me. Whether it's just the repeated subject matter or we're actually walking in circles or my brain is just shutting down because it's processed as much as it can take, I don't know."

"It was considered the norm during this period to copy the masters. As a matter of fact, that's normally what patrons expected when they commissioned a painting. Artists made their living providing what the patron wanted which was the same as what everyone else had. Funny how creative individuality and conforming to the norm is a battle of the ages," Trevor contemplated. "There are only two more sections left at the end. Let's hit those and then we'll call it a day, for paintings, anyways."

Olivia nodded reluctantly as they trudged on to the end of the corridor. The museum was starting to fill with more people and occasionally an alarm would go off indicating someone had stepped out of bounds. Ed followed behind stowing his camera back in his front pants pocket. He seemed to be tiring of the crowds as well. Olivia and Ed slowly walked the room together. She stopped in front of a painting.

"What do you think of this?" she asked.

"Eh," Ed merely shrugged back at her moving on to the next one. She continued looking at it for a moment before moving to one past Ed. Something in it caught her eye and she turned to ask Trevor about it but he was not within her sight.

"Ed, where's Trevor?"

Ed looked up from his phone where he had been comparing the description of a painting to what he was seeing in front of him and looked around.

"I don't know."

Olivia craned her neck up to see around the numerous people that were starting to fill in the Spanish and English rooms and finally spotted him moving into the next room. She headed straight for him with Ed slowly meandering behind her still reading the history of the painting that had caught his eye.

"Hey," she startled Trevor out of his revelry, "I looked up to make a comment and you weren't there. Didn't enjoy the paintings in this room?"

"What?" he asked looking confused. "Sure I am."

"Sure you are?" she questioned, smiling knowingly. "Which artist painted the last five paintings you just blew through?"

"Huh?" he asked.

"It's time to go," she prodded, "we can hit this section on another day when we're fresh and you can appreciate these paintings the way you should. Time to look for the exit, Ed."

"On it," Ed replied looking up and seeing a blue sign in the corner that said 'Sortie'. "This way." Ed led the trio out of the room and started following the blue Sortie signs through the adjoining rooms back the way they came.

As they bounded down the stairs from level one to level zero, Olivia had a thought. "Hey, we may be all painting'd out but why don't we hit a few other must-sees on the list while we're here and it's not too crowded yet? If we come back later that might not be the case."

"How about Venus de Milo?" Ed said pointing to the signs on the stairs.

"Yeah, good idea," Trevor replied following the signs with a photo of Venus de Milo pointing this way to the Greek wing.

"Hey!" Olivia said passing a grand staircase and looking up, "Isn't that Winged Victory?" Ed shrugged.

"Yeah, let's hit that on our way back," Trevor said, "then we can knock that one off the list too."

They continued following the signs until they reached a more crowded room with a variety of Greek statues.

"I thought she had no head?" Ed looked confused as he perused the large statue in front of him.

"Ed," Olivia laughed, "she has no arms."

"Oh!" he laughed. "That's right. I'm getting confused about everything now. It was the other statues that we saw at Notre Dame that lost their heads right?"

"Right," Olivia laughed, "let's just enjoy her and go. I'm getting hungry and all of our brains seem to be overloaded at this point."

The trio slowly wandered around the statue viewing the figure of Aphrodite from all angles. Ed took out his camera and snapped a few photos. They slowly perused the rest of the room while they were there then, reaching the end; they looked at each other and nodded their heads in agreement.

"Back the way we came," Trevor said, "We'll have a closer look at Winged Victory on the way to the exit and go find some lunch. It's after two."

"No wonder I'm hungry," Olivia said turning down a hallway.

"Wait," Ed held up an arm. "Is that the way we came? I thought we came from over there?"

"I'm pretty sure we came this way," Trevor indicated a direction from the middle. Olivia took out the brochure map and looked to see which room they had ended up in then shrugged.

"This map is useless, but I think the staircase with Winged Victory was over there," she took off in one direction with a confident stride while the men followed her. Olivia stopped when she came to a room with a dead end.

"I don't think we saw this room before," Ed said staring into some of the cases.

"Yeah, you're right," Olivia mused.

"Well, there's no telling where we are now," Trevor shrugged. "This place is massive. Let's just look for the exit signs again."

Ed looked up for the telltale blue of the exit signs, found one and pointed it out to the others and they headed in that direction. Fifteen minutes later after wandering through room after room of exhibits and turning corner after corner following the little blue signs, Olivia finally sighed in weariness and paused to plop on a bench. "Where the hell are we? This place is a maze."

Trevor took the brochure map from Olivia while Ed fiddled with his phone again. Trevor looked around the room they were in and looked back at the map.

"There should be a staircase to take us back to the ground floor right around that corner," he finally said pointing. Olivia jumped up off the bench to head in the direction Trevor indicated and Ed put his phone down to follow. The trio rounded the corner to find another dead end into a white wall.

"No staircase," Olivia sighed.

"It's right here on the map," Trevor insisted.

"Then it's behind that wall," Olivia said looking at Ed for ideas but his head was back in his phone. "What are you doing, Ed?"

"I'm downloading a museum app. Maybe it can tell us where we are and how to get the hell outta here," sweat was starting to trickle down his temples.

They wandered into the next room, yet another room that looked unfamiliar, to find it crowded with people. "Definitely time to get outta here," Ed mumbled following along still fiddling with his phone. Trevor found a museum monitor in this room and asked which way to the exit and they pointed to the opposite door. Olivia shrugged and followed towing Ed in their wake. They paused in the next room looking for another monitor or a blue sign to follow. Ed opened his newly downloaded app and discovered endless paragraphs of information about what was in the museum, no indications of where anything was located.

"Well, that was useless," he said pocketing his phone again.

"Just keep following the blue signs," Olivia sighed.

Ten minutes later, they found themselves in a larger area with an influx of people moving in the opposing direction.

"This looks like another entrance," Trevor commented.

"This looks like a mall," Ed replied indicating a Fossil storefront on their right.

"Ah," Trevor replied, "I know where we are now. This is the underground entrance to the museum. We should be able to get out here too. Then we can find a café and relax for a while."

"I just wanna drink," Ed sighed.

"Me too," Olivia agreed, "and some food, I'm even hungrier now than before."

They wandered through Le Carrousel du Louvre looking for the exit for another ten minutes.

"I feel like I am in shopping mall hell," Ed complained as they passed a Jo Malone London storefront on their left. "Are we gonna spend thirty minutes trying to get outta here too?"

"There's an escalator," Trevor pointed, "Hopefully that will take us up to ground level. Did you have a café on your list that you wanted to try today, Liv?"

"Yeah," Olivia said, "there were two or three on the list but I'll take anything right now. I don't care."

Ed pulled the list Olivia had jotted down earlier from his pocket and told Trevor the names and addresses on it.

"Let's see where we end up, when we get to street level," he commented.

Olivia pulled out her phone, pulled up her map app and plugged in the first café on the list as they were dumped out on a street.

"What street is this?" Ed asked looking around for a street sign then heading right for a corner.

"Doesn't matter," Olivia commented. "The first café on my list is nine hundred feet away, I just need to figure out which direction."

Olivia followed Ed down the street to the corner with Trevor at her back.

"Looks like we need to cross the street here," she commented. Trevor stood back and looked around at the buildings trying to get his bearings while they waited for the crosswalk light to turn green. They crossed the street and Olivia said, "It should be on the other side of this building but I'm not sure which side."

Ed looked up the building observing the sign on it that said La Comédie Française. "Hey, isn't this the theater that's on the corner at the end of the street with the apartment building?"

"Yeah," Trevor said looking up at the theater with Ed. He looked up and down the street around the corner. "I think we're that way," as Olivia one-eightied in front of him.

"Oops," she said, "I think it was on the other side of the building. We seem to be getting further away now." The trio went back around the building and discovered Café Le Nemours directly in front of them.

"Looks pretty crowded," Ed observed.

"Yeah, that's a good sign," Trevor agreed.

"There's seats inside but I'd rather be out. It's too hot to sit inside. Right now, I could use a drink more than anything." Olivia indicated a table with three chairs shoved up against the wall at the far end near the Palais Royal entrance. The table still needed to be wiped down from the previous occupants but would do fine for them. They quickly made their way through the other patrons to snag it before anyone else could.

Olivia took a seat to the side facing the restaurant door on the end while the two men took seats against the wall facing out towards a courtyard of concrete where several streets intersected and dozens of motorcycles were parked. A bustling waiter flew by them dropping off checks, drinks and food, asking them in French if they would like food or just drinks. Trevor replied in French that they would like lunch but drinks now and asked if he could bring at least one English menu. The waiter pulled a cocktail menu out of his pocket, quickly cleared their table and before he could walk away, Olivia ordered water and a spritz. Ed quickly picked a random beer off the list and Trevor ordered a St-Germain cocktail without bothering to look at the menu.

Olivia's phone dinged and she checked the messages. She laughed and passed the photo the babysitter had sent of the boys playing in the park and another of them conked out on the apartment couch.

"Looks like they had a full day already," Ed replied laughing at them sleeping with arms and legs all akimbo across the couch in the living area.

"We have too," Olivia agreed turning to Trevor. "So the person you spoke with this morning suggested that we should go to Versailles tomorrow?"

"Yes," Trevor replied. "He said not to do it on the weekend or on Tuesday when a lot of the museums are closed. It's more crowded then."

"Friday's not too close to the weekend?" Olivia checked.

"Apparently not," Trevor replied.

"Okay, if he says so," Olivia smirked and sighed with contentment as the waiter set their drinks in front of them with a lunch menu for them to share. Olivia turned to look at the square in front of them sipping the refreshing drink. She picked up the menu to peruse then set it back down. Ed was on his phone again already and she just shook her head. She turned to observe Trevor who had a contemplative look on his face.

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"I was just watching this group of people, trying to figure out their relationships," he smiled back at her.

"Do you think people do that to us?"

"I do it, so I'm sure there must be others out there wondering the exact same things about me," he smiled, leaning forward on an elbow while he brushed his lips with the fingers of his left hand.

"And do you think they guess right?" Olivia asked raising an eyebrow in his direction.

"Not in a million years," he laughed reaching for his drink. The waiter stopped by again to take their order. Trevor and Olivia ordered a couple of sandwiches for the trio to share while Ed just shrugged in agreement.

"Is that the same cocktail you ordered when we were on Ile Saint Louis the other day?" she asked.

"Yeah. This heat just calls for something light and refreshing," he held it out in her direction, "You wanna try it again."

"No, I'm good with my spritz though I did like the taste of it. What's in it?" she asked curiously.

"St-Germain," he replied with a smile that he knew was going to get him 'the look', so he quickly laughed and continued, "It's an elderflower liqueur."

"Hmm…interesting," Olivia laughed. "Well, these are certainly refreshing. We need to live on these when the heat and humidity in New York takes over."

"Looks like we're gonna get a double whammy this year with the heat wave here on vacation and then back to the city just in time to have a little break before we get the heat wave there," Trevor said sardonically sipping his drink and watching the people behind her again. The waiter stopped by their table again to drop two cups filled with homemade cheesy chips that looked suspiciously like Doritos.

"The problem with those," Ed jumped into the conversation, pointing at their cocktails, " is that the champagne will go flat if you don't keep drinking until its gone."

"And that's a problem why?" Trevor asked with Olivia laughing in agreement as Ed just rolled his eyes as a small bird jumped up on the table and flitted away with a chip from the cup before anyone could move.

"Did you see that?" Ed asked incredulously. "That little thief."

"You finally going to join us in Paris or spend the entire meal on your phone?" Olivia asked.

"I was telling Cillian about the Louvre," Ed pocketed his phone and picked up his beer, turning to look at the people bustling around the square as well.

"Little early for Cillian to be up isn't it?" Olivia asked.

"Kid probably hasn't gone to bed yet," Ed snorted.

"Maybe we should have brought him too?" Trevor said looking guilty.

"Nah. If we had brought Cillian, then we would have had to bring the girls too. Then to be fair we would have had to bring the boys and this vacation, a first for us as a couple or whatever ya call us, would have turned into the zoo that is already our lives back home. Aren't you looking forward to that?" Ed asked Olivia with a smirk.

"You have no idea," Olivia said dryly, thinking to herself how wonderful it would be to have a home full of family that was her own. Okay, maybe a home with eight children between her and her partner(s), plural, was not exactly what she had in mind but it was still going to be hers.

…

Author's note: If you would like to see the photos to accompany this story, head over to instagram and look for tucksonplus – Ed is posting his best vacation photos like crazy – wink, wink