It is a wise father that knows his own child.

Morning came. An inevitability. Yet, it was the first time in months that in her own home Melissa Hayes had been afforded the luxury of sleeping in. She rose a little after then when, upon first waking, she realised she was alone. Lifting her head from the pillow initially she realised she’d ended up curled up in a little ball on Keiran’s side of the bed but, as she soon realised, she was docked a husband – he was gone. Her brows furrowed as she looked around with bleary, fuzzy eyes. Her hand reached out, curling around the arm of her glasses, and once they were fixed on her face she glanced around with a little more clarity but that didn’t mean she could find her husband any easier from the vantage point of their bed.

Rolling out of bed, Millie decided to sneak a shower first before she alerted either Keiran or the twins to her presence and wakefulness. Once the travel was scrubbed from her skin and replaced with the soft scent of strawberries, she dressed, finding a pale blue tunic and a pair of white shorts out from one of the drawers, and donned a pair of pop socks before making her way down the hallway. Sure enough, she found exactly who she was looking for. Three sleepy campers. She smiled a little, shaking her head, and pulled the door to before making her way downstairs. It was a brighter day than it had been for a while – it was as though the sun truly was finally shining.

After making a cup of coffee for herself, Millie slid her feet into her sandals and opened up the patio doors to let some fresh air in. It was cool but not completely unpleasant and it did something to alleviate the stuffiness of the house. Returning to the kitchen, she found a stack of letters and the Daily Prophet sat on the island with a rather shabby looking owl waiting for payment. After granting him an oat or two, the owl slid off out of the window and Millie was left with the post, setting aside Keiran’s before opening up her own which contained notices from her college as well as a few thank-you letters from some of the couples she and Elliot had done flowers for when their weddings had taken place a few months back. She smiled a little but returned them to the envelopes, making a mental note to take them to the shop in the next couple of days. However, now it was time for the newspaper.

The shriek of one of the cat’s alerted Millie and she lifted her head to see Lucius run into the kitchen, Liam on his hands and knees furiously crawling behind the animal. Millie frowned a little and slid off of the stool, rushing over to scoop Liam up off of the floor both for his own sake and for the stricken cat who darted out through the patio doors. Millie turned the baby over in her arms and looked at him with a curious smile while he leaned over, grabbing at her hair.

“Where’s your daddy, mister?” She inquired with a smirk. “Give him the slip, did you?” Liam merely grinned toothily at her. Millie shook her head.

Taking her seat back on the stool, Millie set Liam in her lap and gave him a peach to nibble on, content to wait with him until Keiran and Kelly showed their faces. It’d be a while, she didn’t doubt. She could recall a few instances where Keiran had gotten up in the night. It seemed as though they’d put him through their paces. Liam was a trooper, though. He could stay up all night and still get up early. There was a high chance he’d been up a while, especially if the crayon on his pyjamas was indicative of anything. He’d been waiting for movement and it seemed as though the cats moving as a result of Millie was an incentive enough. Keiran and Kelly would take a little bit longer – the former not used to the long nights and the latter always a difficult little creature to wake up, especially if she’d found somewhere warm to roost. She’d wait.

Keiran woke to Kelly’s wiggling, amazed at the amount of sleep he had actually been allowed. Perhaps he had just gotten lucky, and the twins were more quiet than usual. He wasn’t sure. Figuring he would find out one way or another, he turned his head to look down at Kelly, only to find her staring back at him. A little giggle, bright though it sounded, escaped as she pushed herself up and rolled to face him. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with one hand, Keiran extended his spare hand to meet her part way, taking her little hand in his. “Morning, you.”

Sitting up, Keiran leaned towards her and offered a smile in greeting. “Where did your brother get to, then?” Her brow furrowed slightly as she reached a hand towards him, ending up setting it on the tip of his nose. He quickly lifted his chin, pressed a kiss into her tiny palm, and moved away as her face registered amused surprise. “C’mon. Let’s go find them, hmm?”

Keiran stood, moved around the bed, and lifted Kelly into his arms before making his way out of the room. On the assumption that the pair would be downstairs by then – the sun had clearly been up a while, he started down the stairs and walked into the living room. With no sign of either, Keiran stepped around the cats and decided to try the kitchen. Sure enough, the pair were sat together.

Pausing in the archway, he took in a breath and waited for Liam’s eyes to catch his before he moved into the room proper. Keeping hold of Kelly with one arm, he poked Liam’s nose gently before letting his hand rest on Millie’s back as he leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “Hello, love,” he murmured, pulling away slightly to glance over at Kelly as she babbled something to her brother. “I think she’s saying she woke me up,” Keiran teased lightly.

Setting Kelly in a highchair, he made his way over to the cabinets, searching for some sort of cereal. “Already eaten, Mills?” Glancing over his shoulder, he paused his attempts at finding something for himself and instead set about making something for Kelly. She almost certainly needed breakfast more than he did.

A glance at the time told him he was not yet due at work. A slight scoff escaped before he voiced his thoughts aloud, “Well. I could just not show up to work, but that would definitely take away the satisfaction of walking in and quitting. I’ll have to leave in an hour, about.”

Two pairs of socks were abandoned on the kitchen island. One little orange pair and another pale blue pair were folded up next to a terracotta vase of hydrangeas which Bridget must have picked from the garden. For Liam, Millie had cut up a peach and the pair was eating it contentedly, both making very similar noises as they fought to chew and stop the juice from running down their chins at the same time. There was nothing particularly interesting in the Daily Prophet, Millie found, nor in the post which was largely junk owl mail though there was a letter from her grandmother who had recently gotten divorced, gotten engaged to a young Spanish waiter named Pablo and was trekking through the mountains of South America. Needless to say, Millie was never opposed to a letter from her.

As she pored over that, a little Liam hand went out for another piece of peach and as he grabbed it up into his little fist, another hand met Millie’s eyes as another fell to her back. Looking up, Millie smiled, feeling Keiran’s lips on her still slightly damp hair. She smiled, picking up her own piece of peach before turning, swivelling on the stool with Liam still in her lap. She looked down at him, wondering whether he was still hungry and, seemingly reading her mind, he nodded. Millie smirked at him, putting down her slice of peach.

“Breakfast for two, please,” she laughed, sliding down off of the stool. Balancing Liam on her hip she shifted around the island before plopping him down in the high chair next to his sister. He frowned a little bit but she bopped him on the head with her lips before handing him the plate of peach. “Share,” she warned, arching her eyebrows as he reached for a slice. He pouted and Kelly reached over happily, taking up her own piece. Liam did glare but he waited until his mother turned her back before stealing back the peach Kelly had taken.

Millie wound her arms around Keiran’s middle from behind and pressed a kiss to his shoulder blade.

“You could write them a strongly worded letter,” she offered with a smile. “Or just never ever go back!” She suggested, letting him go.

Turning around, Millie was just in time to see Kelly lay a well-placed slap on Liam’s arm. The latter, catching sight of his mother, immediately quivered his lip and burst into tears, leaving his sister to glare at him indignantly.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Millie spoke over him, putting her hands down on the counter as she resumed her seat. “None of your crocodile tears, Liam. Share with your sister otherwise you can forget about having any more peaches.”

Kelly was triumphant. Liam relinquished a slice of peach, sniffling all the while. It was going to be one of those days, wasn’t it?

Keiran paused in getting together plates and silverware, letting one hand drop to settle over Millie’s arm. As his fingers ran from her forearm to her hand, he turned his head as though he could see her where she stood. A low chuckle left him before he swung around, resting his elbows on the counter’s edge. “What’s this, Liam? I thought you were the man of the house!” He joked, letting an amused gaze settle on his son. “Big boys don’t cry over sharing food! Especially not with their sisters.”

After shaking his head, Keiran glanced at Millie once more. “Cheerios for them, you think? Messy, perhaps, but it involves less sharing.”

Searching in the cabinets, he pulled out the yellow box and two bowls, into which he poured a good number of the little circles. As he walked over to set the two in front of the twins, he crouched down so that he was at eye level with the pair of them, slightly amused to find that their gazes followed his movements. “Now, you don’t know this yet, but Dad does not like messes. You’re probably going to end up tossing these things, but hopefully that habit is one we break early…”

Regardless of the fact that the twins had no real clue what he was on about, Keiran figured that chatting with them was better than just setting the cereal there and letting them have at it. He wasn’t quite sure why, exactly, that thought came to mind, but it seemed to go back to his chatting with them in the middle of the night. It just seemed like what he was meant to do. He set the two bowls on the trays attached to the twins’ chairs, then returned to the main portion of the kitchen to search the fridge.

“Y’know,” he added very belatedly, “I could send them a very sarcastic patronus message.” He leaned around the door to the refrigerator to toss a smirk at his wife. Then, turning back to pull out the carton of eggs, he added, “Something like, ‘Thanks for this job you gave me. Actually, no thanks. I don’t think I’ll be coming back,’ perhaps.”

The door closed behind him as he stepped away and moved to the stovetop to set about making omelets. The clatter of cheerios hitting the floor caught his ear and he closed his eyes for a moment but made no move to go over and clean it up. That could wait until they had finished covering the tiles with their breakfast.