Two Years Later

"Shh, rajkumar, mama is still sleeping," I hear Ren whisper. It's still dark, so Nik must have crawled into bed with us.

"No, daddy. Tiger!" I hear Nik beg.

"Later, Anik," Ren says firmly. "Back to bed now."

"With you, daddy!"

Ren sighs good-naturedly. "Alright, rajkumar."

The bed shifts, and I feel Nik wiggling around between us. Then, unsurprisingly, I feel tiny toddler fingers start patting my face.

"No, Anik," Ren laughs quietly. "Leave Mama alone."

I inch my hand up from where it was laying at my side, keeping a straight face before quickly tugging on his foot. Nik startles and tries to turn to look at what touched him, but I've already put my hand back. While he crawls around, I quickly sit up, grab him and tickle his belly. Ren flops back onto the bed and smiles at Nik hysteric giggles.

"Okay, buddy," I say, once the giggles have subsided and I notice the clock says that it's three in the morning. "Do you want to sleep with us, or back in your room?"

"Here pease mommy," he says, content with my kisses. "Daddy tiger."

"Yes, baby, Daddy is a tiger. Maybe you can play with tiger tomorrow if you ask nicely."

"No, Mommy, now," he demands with all the urgency a three year old can muster. He looks over at Ren for help, but all Ren does is shake his head.

"Sorry, Anik, you know Mommy's the boss around here. What she says goes." Ren lays down pulls the covers up, scooting over closer to us. I also lay back down, and kiss Ren's cheek.

"Now tiss me, Mommy," Nik says seriously. He gets very jealous when I give anyone else kisses and not him.

"I don't know," I say thoughtfully. "Kisses are only for people who are going to sleep."

"I sleep, I sleep," he whispers, burrowing under the covers by my knees.

"Up here, Nik monster," I say, pulling him up to eye level. I kiss him loudly on the forehead. "Okay, sleepy time now."

"Otay Mommy. Tisses in de morning?" he asks, eyes drifting shut.

"Always, sweetheart."

Our bedroom door swings open slowly, and my eyes slowly slide up to meet Ren's. He nods, telling me he's got this. He rolls back out of bed while I hug Nik to me tightly, and he pads over to the door. I see his dark form still behind the door, and he either bends down or morphs into a tiger, I can't tell which. I look down at Nik, who is already fast asleep.

I hear murmuring, and as much as I strain my ears, I can't tell who is talking or what they are saying. A shape bigger than Ren would be on his own rises up and walks towards the bed.

"Someone had a bad dream," Ren murmurs pressing his lips to two year old Madison's forehead.

"I'm glad we sprung for the California King," I whisper, scooting back with Nik to make more room for our entire family. Ren lays Maddi down next to Nik and crawls in, still cradling our daughter to him for comfort. She clings to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he strokes her back and whispers to her in Hindi.

Once Maddi calms a bit, she wiggles over closer to me and looks up at me with her big blue eyes.

I pull my hand through her hair and rub my thumb across her cheek. "Did Daddy make it better?" I give my daughter kisses as well, though much more gently. She nods seriously and huddles back to back with her older brother, taking my hand with her.

Ren reaches across both our babies to lay a hand on my waist. "I think there's room for one or two more, iadala" he says, only partly teasing. He's been trying to convince me that it's the right time for more kids for a few weeks now.

I roll my eyes and smile. "Alright, fine. Why not," I concede. "But you're taking point at the zoo tomorrow." Trying to wrangle our two and Ana and Kishan's twins is crazy even when all four of us are there. They live in the duplex next door, and all four of our toddlers are already thick as thieves, which is only vaguely terrifying when I think about what their teenage years will look like.

"I live to serve," Ren agrees, leaning over to kiss me softly. "I adore you, hridaya patni."

"And I love you, Dhiren." My eyelids start drooping as exhaustion takes over. Ren rumbles a laugh at me, presses kisses to each of our foreheads, and lays back to pull the covers back up again as we hope to get at least another two hours of sleep.

A/N: Wow wow wow. It has literally been seven years. I started writing this my freshman year of high school, and I am marking it complete exactly two weeks before I begin coursework for my master's degree. Even though I took years off of writing this at a time, I never went more than a month without thinking about it. I may come back and write a few one shot scenes, post-epilogue, because I'm going to reread the series soon, so that might spark something. Thank you all so, so much for reading this, even if I am a highly mediocre author. In case anyone's curious, in double spaced 12 point Times New Roman, this fic is 193 pages long. So, that's something. Thanks for you comments and private messages, and I hope that I brought a smile to your face at some point, and maybe even a tear or two to your eye. Love ya!