Oliver woke naturally on Thursday. He groaned and rubbed the sleepy dust from his eyes. Something wriggled beside him and for a mad minute he thought that Mai had come home early.
Then he realised the wriggling creature was far too small to be Mai.
"Maggie, what are you doing in my bed?"
But Maggie was still fast asleep. She had evidently joined him at some point in the night and from the look of her red patchy skin around her eyes, had been crying. Oliver frowned, how had he not woken?
He pulled the duvet over her sleeping form and let her sleep.
Oliver met Gene coming out of the bathroom.
"Did Maggie wake you in the night?" Oliver asked.
"No, why?"
"She crawled into my bed at some point. It appears she's been crying."
"Nightmares?" Gene guessed.
"Or missing her parents," Oliver said, nodding.
"They'll be back tomorrow."
"Yes, but I'm not sure she has much concept of that."
A loud wail caused both twins to turn towards Oliver's bedroom. They rushed in unison to find Maggie crying. The toddler crawled towards them and Gene rushed forward to embrace her.
"What's wrong?" he asked in a soft voice.
But Maggie did not answer, she just cried into his shoulder.
Gene looked to Oliver, concerned. Oliver shrugged.
"At least she hugged me this time," Gene mumbled.
Oliver rolled his eyes.
"Really? That is your concern right now?"
Gene looked away, ashamed, but did not release the crying toddler from his arms. Then he grinned.
"How about we make cake!"
Oliver rolled his eyes and walked away.
"What do you think, Maggie? Cake?"
Maggie just continued sobbing onto his shoulder.
X~X~X
Oliver spent a quiet morning working, relenting only when his stomach began complaining so loudly that he could not think straight.
"... put sprinkles on the top," Gene was saying as Oliver entered the kitchen.
Correction. Bombsite.
"What have you done?"
"We made cupcakes," Gene explained.
"Cupa!" Maggie agreed.
Oliver could not quite identify the variety of sticky substances on Maggie's face, fingers, t-shirt and hair. Was that… Apple sauce?
Something of his disgust evidently showed on his face, as Gene hastened to explain.
"Maggie helped you see, but everything was safe for her to eat raw so—"
"I am not cleaning this up."
"Cupa!"
Maggie held up a sprinkle covered lump that Oliver guessed to be a cupcake.
"Noh cupa!"
"No."
Maggie pouted.
"Noll, it's vegan and everything," Gene said, also pouting.
Oliver sighed down at the two idiots staring up at him. He gingerly took the cupcake from Maggie and sniffed it.
"Eat," Gene said.
"Eee!" Maggie agreed.
Grimacing, Oliver took a bite.
The cake was not awful… But Oliver was not a fan of cake to begin with and this particular cake was rather sweet. Yet when he looked at Maggie's hopeful face, he could not bring himself to upset her. Crying children were a nuisance after all.
"It's lovely."
Maggie clapped her hands in delight, splattering the gooey mixture on her fingers everywhere.
"I am not cleaning this up," Oliver repeated.
"It's fine, I'll—"
The sound of a doorbell interrupted Gene's reassurances.
"I'll get it." Oliver left the kitchen and headed straight for the front door. He opened it to find Lin and Madoka standing there.
Oliver blinked, confused.
"What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be back until tomorrow."
"Where is my baby?" Madoka demanded.
She did not wait for Oliver to step aside, but pushed past him and headed straight down the hallway. Oliver looked to Lin for explanation.
"We missed Maggie," Lin stated with a grave expression. "Apologies for giving you no notice, but the first flight was very early this morning, as I am sure you can imagine."
Oliver raised an eyebrow, but did not question it. He let Lin in and they walked together to the kitchen to find Madoka hugging the messy toddler without a care for her own clothing.
"Mama! Dada!"
Maggie wriggled from her mother's grip to fetch a cupcake for each of her parents. They took them procured treats and tried them with as much enthusiasm as Oliver had shown. Yet Madoka actually seemed to enjoy hers.
Oliver removed himself from the scene to collect Maggie's belongings. A moment later, Gene joined him.
"Why did they come back?" Gene asked in a low voice. Oliver thought he sounded almost annoyed.
"Lin said they missed their daughter."
"She was just starting to like me as well," he muttered, scowling.
Oliver rolled his eyes and continued to pack Maggie's things into the bag - how had they managed to spread so far?
"It is not like you won't see her again."
Gene's pout did not soften.
"Yeah but we really connected over the apple sauce."
Oliver's eyes were in danger of becoming exhausted from the amount of rolling he felt the need to do. Refraining from repeating the action, he handed Gene the now packed bag.
"Come on."
They found the happy family still in the kitchen, Madoka gently wiping Maggie's face clean.
"It looks like you had fun here," Madoka said.
Maggie clapped her hands and giggled.
"Was she any trouble?" Lin asked.
"Not at all," Gene insisted. "Perfect little angel!"
Oliver raised an eyebrow.
"You're deluded," he muttered in a low voice.
"I can't be rude about a toddler," Gene hissed back.
"Now say 'byebye' to Oliver and Gene," Madoka instructed.
Maggie toddled over to the twins and hugged each of their legs in turn.
"Byebye Noh, byebye Gene!"
"Goodbye Maggie," Gene said, before elbowing Oliver.
"Goodbye."
And as soon as she had come, Maggie was gone.
Gene cleaned up the kitchen while Oliver cooked lunch. They ate in silence. Both twins' eyes frequently glanced to where Maggie usually sat, but there was no need to cut up food or pretend that each bite was an aeroplane.
"I miss her."
"Hmm?" Oliver looked up from his meal.
"I miss Maggie."
Oliver shrugged and continued to eat.
"Don't you miss her?"
"Not really. She has been gone less than an hour."
Gene poked at his food, spiking a piece of broccoli onto his fork and staring at it for a while. He sighed.
"We never got to do our science experiment."
"We can do it next time we see her," Oliver pointed out.
Gene sighed again.
"What?" Oliver prompted, wanting to get Gene's pining out of the way and done with.
"I want a baby."
"Really?"
"Yeah…"
Gene sighed yet again.
"I'm not ready to be an uncle. Four days was enough."
"It was only three really," Gene pointed out.
"Babies puke everywhere and cry and keep people up all night."
"Yeah but Maggie was so happy when she'd helped with the cupcakes…"
"So babysit her more often, you don't need your own."
"But I want my own," Gene insisted. "Then Lin and Madoka can't take them away."
Oliver sighed.
"How do you plan on getting one though? You work full time with long shifts and so does Yasuhara. Oh, and neither of you have uteri."
"Yeah that would be an issue…" Gene agreed. "I could get a surrogate… Or adopt! We were adopted, it would be a great way to continue the family tradition. Or I could ask Mai, she has a uterus."
Oliver frowned.
"I feel like Mai might get attached to anything she kept in her womb for nine months," he said.
"She could share it."
"Do you want me to ask her?" Oliver inquired, concluding that all reason had left the conversation.
"Nah, I'll ask her myself."
"And what does Yasuhara think about children?"
"I don't think he's opposed to the idea, but he always said it in the 'one day when I'm older and married' kind of sense," Gene answered.
"I see."
"But I wouldn't mind that, fancy being my best man?" Gene asked.
"No."
"Aww, what? Why not?"
"Why would I?"
"Because you are my best friend, that's why!"
"I thought Yasuhara was your best friend."
"He's my other best friend. But he can't be the groom and the best man."
"Why not? It would save me coming at all."
"You wound me." Gene clutched his heart and feigned pain.
Oliver rolled his eyes.
"I am not organising a stag do," he said a minute later.
"That's fine," Gene said, grinning.
"But when you've got around to organising the wedding, could you have it on a Sunday so I don't have to miss work?" Oliver asked.
His tone may have been disinterested, but his slight smile said otherwise. Gene laughed.
"Right, I will bear that in mine. Hurry up and finish eating," Gene said.
"Why?"
"So we can go ring shopping of course!"