Seven Months Later.

“COME IN!” She hollered from the depths of the kitchen; Liberty was stuffing a pizza in the oven and turning the knob when Raya entered. She set her black bag on the kitchen table and surveyed Liberty’s housewife-y outfit.

“Where did that dress come from? Ma and Pa Kettle?”

Liberty spun around, glaring, “No. As a matter of fact, it was a gift from Dom’s mother.”

“She obviously detests you with all of her being,” Raya replied, a smirk on her lips.

Liberty adjusted the dress which was easily four sizes too large for her; she was swimming in flowery patterns that went down to the tips of her barefoot feet. “I know she does. I just don’t know why.”

Raya sat down at the table and pulled a file from the bag, “Probably because you have her son completely and utterly smitten.”

“I suppose that may be it.”

“But the question is: why are you wearing it?”

“She may drop by at any moment!” Liberty squeaked. “I wanted to appear to be…erm...what’s the word…domesticated.”

“Liberty, dear, you shall never be domesticated, and I hope that you won’t try to be any further. You, like me, are a working mother and you do it well. Don’t let her try and change you.”

“I was thinking when she gave it to me that she wanted me to wear it so Dom would be too horrified to come near me,” Liberty pulled out a chair opposite Raya and sat as Raya arranged several sketches across the tabletop.

“That is a very plausible idea,” Raya replied, sighing. “Though it would take a lot more than that for Dominic to not go near you.”

In spite of herself, Liberty smiled. “My sketches are in the office,” she said, standing again. “I’m going to change and then get them. Do you want some tea?”

“Yes, but I’ll get it. You go ahead, and de-hick yourself.”

When Liberty returned she was still barefoot, but had thrown a pair of faded jeans (with rips at the knees) on and a tight white t-shirt that bore the words ‘Hobbit Lover’ in big black block letters. She laughed when Raya gave her a questioning glance and went to check on the pizza in the oven, “Dom gave it to me a while ago.”

“Did you make that from scratch?” Raya asked, indicating the oven. “It smells delicious.”

“Good God, no,” Liberty replied, slapping a folder onto the table in front of her. “It’s a Mystic. I brought a bunch from the states. It’s the only frozen pizza I’ll eat. You know I can’t cook.”

“I do. I just had no idea how…extensive…your culinary abilities REALLY go.”

“You mean, you assumed I could cook at least a pizza? I can, I just don’t bother. I’m lazy. And what with Scarlett being round now and all…I haven’t got time.”

“That’s nonsense,” Raya commented, flipping open the folder and gazing at the organized sketches inside that Liberty had done for a new line they were creating.

“Yes, you’re right. It is. I just would rather play with her than make pizza, I guess.”

“But you do make lovely pizza. Dominic was telling me a bit ago that you make the best macaroni and cheese and pizza, though you’re crap at anything else.”

“I am, except sometimes I surprise myself. I made Chicken a la King the other night and it was so wonderful I nearly died in ecstasy. Dom passed out from shock.”

Raya chuckled, nodding towards a sketch, “That one is lovely. I like the colors.”

“Thanks, I was thinking we should go with some bold colors this time around.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” She handed her a few of her own sketches, “Look at that right there.”

“Oh,” Liberty breathed, “That’s brilliant, Raya.”

“Thank you,” she replied modestly. “Can you come into the office tomorrow? I know your maternity leave isn’t up for another month, but I’d like your opinion on some of the clothes we’ve finished.”

“No problem,” Liberty answered. “I can bring the baby or leave her with Dom.”

“Or Elijah,” Raya smirked.

Liberty raised an eyebrow, “Yes. I could leave her with Elijah. He doesn’t mind staying with her as she, quote, ‘just sleeps the entire time’ which she really doesn’t, but you know.”

“Yes, he’s less scared of her than he used to be with Priya.” Liberty nodded. “Poor Elijah,” Raya tutted. “I must be off. You enjoy your…frozen dinner.”

Liberty rolled her eyes, “I had to do a frozen dinner for lunch because Dom’s parents are coming tonight and I‘m supposed to cook this fifteen thousand course amazing gourmet meal. I don’t know what to wear.” She began nervously chewing on her fingernails.

“AH! The manicure!” Raya pulled her hands from her mouth. “Don’t start picking up Elijah’s habits, now, come on. We’ll find you something.”

*************

“I’m home!” Dom hollered, shutting the door and listening to the quietness he had just entered. It was unlikely the house was so quiet when he returned home. Usually the children would scamper out to greet him, often pulling him to the ground in a heap.

Liberty’s laughter drifted from the far corner of the house and she called, “We’re in here!”

He smiled to himself and walked into the bedroom where he saw his wife collapsed in a fit of giggles on the huge bed; Scarlett, Shane and Gemma were on top of her, relentlessly tickling her. “Where’s the baby?” he asked as he stood in the doorway, watching them.

She turned to smile at him, “She’s asleep upstairs in her room.”

A chorus of screaming voices interrupted their chat, then with, “DAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!” and the three of them tumbled off the bed and ran at him.

Dom was laughing, but suddenly became serious and counted heads. “Wait, there’s only three of you. Where’s your brother?”

Scarlett stood back, bouncing around the room singing, “Colin went with John and Tessa to the playground.”

Dom looked up at Liberty, flabbergasted, “Orlando’s taken an extra kid of ours? Doesn’t he have enough of his own?”

Liberty chuckled, rolling towards him, “He wanted the twins to have someone else to play with.”

“Well that was…nice.”

“Raya had an interesting proposal, earlier.”

“Uh huh.” He sat on the bed and pulled a squirming Shane into his lap where he began to tickle him.

“She thinks we should hire someone to watch all the kids so that the four of us can go out for a nice quiet evening…out.”

Dom grinned, “That’d be brilliant.”

“I know,” she sat up and Scarlett scrambled into her lap.

“Can you do my hair, mummy?”

Liberty began braiding Scarlett’s hair while she talked, “She’s calling Elijah to see if he’ll do it.”

“Elijah?” Dom repeated, holding back laughter. “Elijah will pass out before the evening’s up. There’s eleven kids to watch, love. And four of them are in diapers.”

“I think he’ll be okay. We can put the four diapered ones to bed before we leave, and we can feed the rest. All he’ll have to do is put in a movie and sit them down in the living room.”

“Where will they be? Here?” he looked around at his semi-clean house. “I’ve gotten rather accustomed to having all our things in one piece.”

Liberty laughed and patted Scarlett’s head to tell her she was done. Scarlett jumped down and walked from the room, presumably to go read. She was the only kid out of eleven who would rather sit and read a book than do anything else. Her choice of this particular day was a Bernstein Bears book. “They’ll be at the Blooms. There’s more room. Plus, they have that huge playroom AND several extra bedrooms so we can just stay there the night instead of carting the kids home after they’ve gone to sleep.”

Dom leaned over and kissed her, “Well, it seems you’ve thought of everything.”

“Can I have some milk?” Shane piped up, bouncing on the bed.

“What do you say?” Dom asked sweetly.

“PLEEEEEEEASE!?” Dom nodded, took Shane’s hand and they went into the kitchen together. This left just Liberty and Gemma in the bedroom.

“Mummy,” Gemma said, batting her eyelashes as she looked up at her mother. “Will I get to play with Rose alllllllll night?”

“It looks that way,” Liberty replied.

“YAY!” Gemma cried, throwing her little hands in the air and dancing around.

“You’re going to have to be good for Uncle Elijah, though…otherwise he’ll faint from exhaustion.”

“I’ll be good,” Gemma nodded, smiling sweetly.

“You will, I’m sure,” Liberty replied, standing and taking her hand. “I’m just not so sure about the boys. You know how they are when they get together.”

“They’re boys,” Gemma said as she padded into the other room with her mother.

“Dom,” Liberty called before she saw him. He poked his head around the kitchen door. “I’m going upstairs to pack them some bags and check on Kiera. You okay down here?”

“Of course,” he flashed her a smile and turned to Gemma. “Come along in here with Daddy, Gem. I’ll get you a glass of milk.”

“Prune juice, please.”

“Has Uncle Orlando been giving you that junk? You shouldn’t drink it, it’s for old people who LOOK like prunes.”

Gemma giggled, “You’re funny, Daddy.”

Dom shrugged and they went into the kitchen, the door swinging shut behind them. He bent down to his daughter’s eye level. “How about some chocolate milk?”

“Prune juice.” He helped her into a stool at the bar next to her brother.

“But Shane’s got milk.”

“I don’t want milk.”

“She wants prune juice,” Shane sighed, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. He was flipping through a Thomas The Tank Engine magazine while drinking.

“We haven’t got any,” Dom said, opening the fridge. “We’ve got…erm, how about a beer?”

“No,” Gemma made a face, squishing her nose up. “Mummy says it’s bad for you.”

“Well,” Dom laughed. “It may be bad for YOU. Not for me. You are a tad underage though. How about some lemonade?”

“Strawberry shake?”

Dom glanced in the freezer where he located ice cream and frozen strawberries then he swept his eyes around the room, looking for the blender. “Sure thing. One strawberry shake coming up.”

“Can I have one, too?” Scarlett asked, trotting into the room with a book tucked under her arm. Dom, busy throwing things in the blender, just nodded and his eldest daughter took a seat at the bar, on the last and third stool.

She set her book down and turned to her father who was across the rather large room. “Do you think Uncle Elijah will be okay watching all of us?”

Dom squinted at the buttons on the blender; it was a new model and he hadn‘t worked it yet. He and Liberty had gotten it for a wedding present, but Liberty had just gotten around to unpacking it. “No, but I’m sure it’ll be okay. Priya will help.” He sighed. “LIBS!!! HOW DO YOU WORK THIS THING!?”

Liberty came into the kitchen a few seconds later, a gurgling Kiera lain against her. “What thing? The blender? Just press start.”

“Yes, but what do I put it on?”

“What are you making?” She pulled a couple bottles from the fridge and deposited them in a baby bag which was bursting with diapers, toys and other essentials.

“Strawberry shakes for the girls.”

She laughed, “Put it on shake. I’m going to give Kiera a bath before we leave.” She kissed Dom and left the room. The other three children turned to watch him, suddenly interested.

“I wanna color, Daddy,” Gemma said, bored with watching Dom prance around the blender.

Dom didn‘t turn around, he was just about to press start, “Scarlett, will you go grab a coloring book and crayons for your sister, please? Thanks.”

Obediently, Scarlett went to retrieve the coloring things; when she came back, Dom was sticking straws in very thick looking pink shakes and placing them in front of their owners, looking proud of himself.

****

As Colin was already at the Bloom residence, it was only 7 Monaghans standing on the doorstep two hours later waiting to be let in; Elijah was set to arrive at 5, and they had dinner reservations at 6:30.

“Hi!” Priya’s smiling face greeted them all. “Come in. Mummy’s getting ready and Daddy’s teaching Colin and John how to play football.”

“Is he?” Liberty asked, stepping in first; the two girls clung to her skirt while Shane held onto Dom’s hand.

“They’re not very good,” Priya said honestly. “But as they are only two, it’s to be expected.”

“At two, I could kick a football circles round my brother,” Dom mused as Shane dropped his hand and pulled off his trainers. “Where shall we put everyone, Priya?”

“Well, Daddy’s out back, so we can’t ask him.” She sighed thoughtfully. “Maybe we should go see Mummy and ask her.”

“While she’s getting dressed?” Dom asked. “Not a chance. We’ll just set the bags in the playroom.”

Priya shrugged, “Okay.” Kiera began to fuss so Liberty jiggled her around a little. “How’s Kiera? Is she gassy? Maybe she has the croop. I could get her some baby Tylenol.”

Liberty smiled, following Priya, Dom and her kids downstairs to the playroom. “No, thanks, Prie. She’s all right. She’s just tired.”

“She’s only six months old, correct? When John and Tessa were six months old they had to sleep about every hour. Is that how Kiera is too?”

Liberty nodded; Priya pushed open the door to the playroom revealing a huge room that ran the span of the entire house and held a little play house in the corner, a play kitchen in another corner and at the other end of the room was a small basketball court.

“I’d like a room just like this,” Dom said, setting the bags on one of the couches in the middle of the room. “Except not a miniature everything. I’d like to be able to fit in the little house in my room.”

Priya giggled, “You’re so silly. They don’t make play houses for grownups.”

“Ah, but maybe they should.”

She nodded, “Uncle Billy would like that. Want me to take Scarlett and show her my room?”

Liberty looked behind her where Scarlett stood immersed in her newest book, one of the Babysitter’s Club series. “Scar? Do you want to see Priya’s room?”

Scarlett shrugged and allowed herself to be led out of the room by Priya, leaving just Monaghans in the room. Shane was busy dribbling a basketball across the room so Dom and Liberty sank onto one of the couches with Gemma in Dom’s lap and Kiera cuddled up in Liberty’s arms.

“This ought to be interesting,” Dom said, yawning and plucking at his shiny deep blue tie. “We’ve never left them all alone before for longer than an hour without at least one parent.”

“Yes, because that’s how long it takes before you get so worried that you hyperventilate.” She leaned her head on his shoulder while Kiera sucked on her thumb. “Can we try for two hours tonight? It’ll be a record, annnnnd you’ll beat Orlando, who hasn’t made it past two hours yet. Remember last week, when we were watching the kids and they came right home directly after they left? The movie hadn‘t even gotten to the part where Ariel meets Eric.” She laughed, “Poor Orlando.”

As if on cue, Orlando burst through the door with Colin, John and Tessa clinging to his legs; they were all giggling hysterically.

*

Elijah was flustered.

“Bloom number 3...stop hitting number 2”

“We have names, Uncle Elijah!”

“Thank you, Raya junior. I know what I’m doing.”

“Monaghan Three! Stop throwing that block at Bloom 4!”

Scarlett and Priya were busy sitting on one of the couches together, reading books. “I don’t think he’s doing very well,” Priya commented, flipping a page.

“No,” Scarlett agreed, placing a bookmark in her book. “Perhaps we should help.”

Priya giggled. “No way.”

“That’s it!” Elijah yelled, jiggling some of the Blooms off his legs (as they were clinging to him in an attempt to climb up and practice being monkeys). “I’m calling Uncle Billy!”

Every single child yelled in happiness.

As soon as Billy arrived yelling, “UNCLE BILLY TO THE RESCUE!” Elijah shrieked like a girl and fainted.

He was obviously not cut out for babysitting.