Leo hesitatingly held baby Chris in his arms, grinning like an idiot as the baby took his first scream, wrapping him comfortably in the blanket Phoebe added to the first one that already encased his second son. Ever so carefully, as if he were made of glass, Leo passed him to an exhausted Piper, who managed to smile through the tears and positively radiated joy. Indeed, the entire room seemed to be filled with it. To one side, Paige held Wyatt securely and talked to him about how he was a Big brother now, with a Little brother to look out for. She was careful to mention that he was still special, just that so was Chris.
Phoebe looked over Piper's head, catching Leo's proud eyes with her own.
"Magic died again and he came out in orbs, Leo. That wasn't supposed to happen. Big Chris was shocked when he heard Wyatt came out swaddled in orbs."
"Why? Things have changed, the Elder's must have decided that Wyatt's singular mass of power wasn't good, even with Him gone."
Phoebe's eyes widened in disbelief, "So now Chris is Twice-Blessed too?"
"I guess so, I mean, he has the same parents as Wyatt doesn't he?"
"Good point… but won't that mean…"
Piper lifted her head up from cooing at her baby, "Our children are Twice-Blessed. All of them. Welcome to the world, Christopher Leo Halliwell."
Leo wrapped his arms gently around the pair and whispered, "What happened to Perry?"
"I think he suits Leo better, those big green eyes the pair of you share, and he deserves a name to be proud of."
"My grandfather's name was Perry, what's not to be proud of there?"
"It's not your name, honey. I want you two to be as close as possible -" she paused at his resistant expression, giving him time to cut in,
"Caden called him Perry -"
"So Grams can have her P, but not officially how's that? Will you quit your whining? Chris and I need our sleep, y'know?"
Leo's smile widened further, to the point where Piper's tired mind idly wondered if it would split in two, and he kissed her forehead, orbing them all to their bedroom with a slight nod to Phoebe and Paige.
"Will everybody just HOLD IT!" Piper shouted, her hands thrown outwards as the entire studio froze. Well, everybody save Paige and her family, Phoebe and her family, and Piper's own loud and rowdy brood. So, actually, about eight people in total were frozen.
The other five parents sighed in relief and thanked the eldest sister, even as Caden bawled loudly from the floor.
"Hey now, what's wrong, Cadey?" Leo asked his youngest, swooping her up off the cold marble and holding her close.
"She's tired, dad," said Wyatt, even as he shifted uncomfortably in the shirt and tie that all the males were wearing for the day, "She had a nightmare last night so she was up with Chris an' me."
"That explains the storm then," Jason mused as he straightened Nathan's shirt, "Blew over half the garbage cans in the street -"
"They weren't over this morning?"
Chris coughed and raised a hand guiltily, "I put them all right again,"
"So did I." Wyatt admitted.
Leo gave them each warm smiles, "What your mother doesn't know won't hurt her,"
Wyatt's eyes widened, "But, personal gain -"
"It was for your sister, and magic, I suppose. Just get me and we'll do it by hand next time, y'hear?"
Both grinned widely, nodding in unison as Piper called them all to get back to their positions and that they-all-better-behave, an opinion seconded by Phoebe and Paige. Having had separate family photo's taken already; this was the last one to be done and nobody wanted to be there any longer than thirty minutes ago.
"JOSHUA RICHARD MATTHEWS-MONTANA YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!"
"DOMINIC KIERAN HALLIWELL THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO!"
Paige and Piper's shrill voices resounded around the studio, making Caden cry harder and every other child snicker. Until a second ago, the two cousins (less than one month apart) had been making snowballs and orbing them at the walls and frozen mortals. With an annoyed shake of her head, Paige orbed to the boys to their 'previous positions' without a word.
"Everybody ready?"
Leo handed Caden to Wyatt and took his place next to his wife.
"Well here goes."
The room unfroze and the studio came back to full life, albeit missing seven minutes, and the children stayed still and smiled under duress of punishment from their respective parents.
"All done!"
"Can we go now?" Sam and Scott whined, already yanking at their ties.
"We can go," Piper said, "And I'll make some cookies when we get home if you're all good, okay?" When they made no move to go anywhere in favour of fighting with the ties some more, Piper nudged them in the direction of the car, "Car, go!"
Chris and Ryan were quick to follow their little brothers, even as Wyatt collected Dominic from where he'd drifted over to play with Josh, Paige and Richard's youngest, and Cadey sat at Leo's feet.
Jason eyed his own family as Phoebe rounded them all up to leave, "Is everything still okay for their birthday dinner?" he asked Leo.
"Seven o'clock, the cake's arriving in the morning," he nodded, "Piper's kept half the restaurant free for all the kids and, ten friends, right?"
Jason's eyes slid over to his soon-to-be-nine twins, Nathan and Evelyn, as they fought over who would sit where, "Right, and don't forget the valium."
Leo laughed, knowing he would have a similar situation to deal with in about a minute too, "Never leave home without it."
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Author's Note: meh. that's the end. ta daaa. now i just got to finish my star wars one and i will allow myself to post a new one :D
Review Thank You's and Replies: Sparkling Cherries: this is the last one! ever:O
bunn2007: wooo! i got a reader for the story if i write it :) that is actually very good to know cause that's always a big fear of mine -that nobody will read the stuff i write :(
Avius: lol hay hunny, i'll give ya a hug when i see you cause you're so loverly :)