Marriage is Murder

Jim watched threw half closed eyes how they managed to get in and send silently word to Kate and Robert to let them know the girls were in the potions room again. Jess looked at Kate as she stood up " there back " she said and chuckled " Jim's playing possum until you get their he has sen how they get in" she added waiting for them to head up Cassidy shook her head in disbelief at how two, two year old girls could get past a strong spell. Jack staid sat in the couch knowing Robert and Kate had things in hand. Jim shifted gently as if sleeping in the chair he watched Abby and Dakota making sure they didn't play with anything else than the dolls house in front of him.

Robert went back upstairs and saw the girls having such a good time in the doll house. He went over and crouched down between them.

"For me, Papa?" Abbey asked.

"No, MINE!" Dakota became possessive. Abbey scowled at her.

"No, its for you to share," Robert said. "But this isn't a very pretty room to play in. Shall we take it to the playroom?"

"No," Abbey said firmly.

"No? Why not?"

"No room," Abbey said. "Too many people. Its a little room."

"Ah," Robert said, understanding what drove them to look for other surroundings. The kids were geting bigger, they were exploring more, and to them, he was sure, the room was starting to look too small.

"I bet if we ask Uncle Jack and Uncle Steven and Uncle Jim they can make the room a lot bigger," Robert said. "How would that be?"

"No boys?" Dakota asked.

"You don't like boys?"

"They loud, Papa," Abbey said, "And they no like pink."

"I'll see what I can do," Robert laughed. "Jim? Do you think you lot can make this work for them somehow?"

Jim woke and sat watching he smiled at their words and nodded to Robert " I'm sure we can do something" he said smiling as he knelt beside Robert " pink and no boys " he said then he stood up walking down to the main living room " okay guys, we got a little girls playroom to make , pink and no boys " he said Jack and Steven chuckled and nodded all three moved up to the main playroom and looked around Steven found a large store room " Jim walked over and looked at it.

" this will do nicely , we can extend back and up to give them plenty of room" he added and Jack began casting the spells to make it bigger. Steven did the same and soon it was as they took to be wide enough , Jess and Cassidy then walked in smiling.

" our turn , no boys remember" she said and smiled closing a door which suddenly had a smaller one in , in the shape of a castle door . Cassidy and Jess worked for several hours leaving only for a moment to get something to drink.

" Abby its ready " she said smiling at her " Robert would you care to cover her eyes and bring her to the nursery" Cassidy said smiling.

Robert brought the girls from the old playroom to the new one, but Abbey pushed him back away from the door.

"You no come in," she said firmly.

"Me? Why not?" he asked.

"You a boy! No boys!" she said. He laughed out loud.

"Thank you for noticing--I think," he laughed. "I can't come in at all?"

Abbey thought a moment. "For tea. Maybe," she said.

"Thank you," he said, "Now, go and enjoy." Abbey and Dakota were the first ones in the playroom, and they were delighted that it was just for girls, in pinks and purples and sparkles. "You did a great job," Robert told everyone. "Thank you. That will hopefully solve their wandering about--at least a little bit. Did anyone cast an age line over the air returns to stop them from using them as tunnels again?"

Jess and Cassidy smiled to each other as Abby stopped Robert from entering the room . " I did on the way down earlier. " said Steven moving away and down to the living room Cassidy made the castle dolls house float to the room and settle into its place before she headed down to the living room.

" ow its inevitable as they get older they will want there own rooms" she said and sat down knowing for now pink and frills would make them happy for now.

"Thank you," Robert said. "I don't want them getting into the toxic things in here. But lets not give them ideas about the bedrooms. I'm sure Brian will deal with that when they're a bit older. For right now, it seems to work out well with the three girls in one large room and the boys in another. Now, if its all secure here, I will go tell their parents so that they understand that we have two playrooms now instead of one.

"Oh, and you might want to consider a bit of a re-do for the boys so its a bit more for their likings, since the girls have a room of their own now. I do know that some of the boys seem to like boats and some like animals. Perhaps a sailing theme with an island or two with animals on the island? I don't know. I do know you've put a lot of hours into the playroom for the girls today. Let's deal with the boys' room tomorrow.

"For now, if you'd all help with getting the kids their baths and into their jammies, I'm sure Michael and Angus will be serving dinner any time now. The kids can eat in their jammies and then maybe enjoy a longer storytimebefore bed. I'm sure Angus probably has some cookies made by now for them. It should work out just fine for them, I would think."

Steven nodded and smiled as he and Jack smiled at each other " that's just the theme we had in mind " he said as they saw the girls head up to wash and change the children Jack headed up to wash the boys smiling as he looked at the blue and pink walls of the nursery and thinking to himself what he could do in it to make it more of a boys room.

" Jack stop thinking of the room , it can wait till tomorrow " Jess said carrying Jaylen to the bathroom as she giggled wrapped in a towel ready for her bath her onesie was hung over Jess's arm, Cassidy held Caitlin the same and a nursery worker held Abby who was also ready.

" okay bath time I found some wonderful pink bubble bath for the girls and blue and green for the boys " Cassidy said smiling " the girls sparkles "

"Good. Sounds like they'll enjoy it," Robert said. He went to find Brian and Khaat. He told them aabout the minor misbehavior of the girls and their frustration at not having more space in the playroom.

"Abbey did mention that to me last night at bedtime," Brian said. "I didn't take it very seriously, but I probably should have. Angus said the boys were talking to him about a bird they wanted. Somebody bought them a story book on pirates, and they've taken a liking to the colorful parrots in the books. It seems they now want one--a red one. Just what we need is another darned big bird around here. But I think they must have talked about it so much that it started to get on Abbey's nerves a bit. And Dakota can tick her off just by being Dakota. So, yeah. Space was definitely a good idea. Khaat mentioned to me that she thought we needed to perhaps look at that. But I'm glad you did it."

"I haven't seen Khaat this afternoon. Where is she?"

"Michael made the mistake of leaving some old first edition book in our room and she's been glued to it."

"Well, do go root her out, Lad. Its time to eat," Robert said. "Or it will be soon."

Jack and Jess smiled " well we could give them a toy one I have sen those that make sounds when your close but with out all the mess a real one gives or we could just paint on on the wall " he said Jess looked at him and chuckled " okay, toy one it is, I'll send Steven to fetch it tomorrow" Jack said and smiled as Jess kissed his cheek.

" good now that's sorted lets finish washing these kids and settling them for sleep. Cassidy had finished Caitlin who had almost fallen asleep in her arms as she walked to the nursery to get Dakota for her bath. Jess put Jaylen down and placed her blanket over her as Jack placed James in his.

Once the kids were settled, they gathered downstairs for dinner. Michael revealed his dinner. For appetizers he served a traditional shrimp cocktail, followed by a beautiful French Onion Soup. The main course was Beef Wellington, with a savory potato tart. And for dessert he served a flawless Bananas Foster.

"What are we celebrating, Michael?" Khaat asked, knowing how long it had to have taken him to do this.

"Life, my dear," he said. "Just life. Thats all."

"If thats the case, do you plan on doing this every day?" Robert asked.

"No, thats Angus's department," Michael said.

"By the way," Robert said. "The kids are old enough to enjoy some of the traditional Easter things this year. I was thinking perhaps we ought ot go to the south of France that weekend for a long weekend, and enjoy things being in full bloom and let the kids hunt Easter eggs--It will be the perfect time to do that."

"We don't have a place in the south of France," Khaat frowned.

"We didn't," Robert grinned. "We do now. I have several new safehouses for us, scatterred all over the world."