A/N: Sorry I haven't updated for awhile. This is another kind of cute chapter, at least I think so anyway. I seem to write mostly cute things for the boys for some reason, even though my favorite genre is angst. But I am trying to write something a bit darker for future chapters, so please stay tuned. I can't thank you all enough for the follows/favorites and especially the reviews. I now understand when a writer is so thankful for these things because that is what I am...thankful. You have all been very kind & I thank you all once again, from the bottom of my heart.

It was Murphy who she had worried about. He was the one that could be a bit shy, less eager to try new things, more scared of the unknown. He was the one that would quietly watch his twin do something first, before finally following suit. He always seemed a bit reluctant, at least to his mother.

Connor, on the other hand, she hadn't given a thought to how he would react. He was outgoing, the first to try something new without hesitation, fearless. He was the one who couldn't wait to start school, asking almost daily if tomorrow was "the day," and then pouting in disappointment when his mother responded, "not yet, luv."

Annabelle had tried to prepare her twins for their first day of school, telling them what to expect, answering their endless questions, encouraging them to be brave, especially Murphy. She'd even gone so far as taking the boys to meet their first teacher, Mrs. Williams. She was a sweet, middle-aged woman with a gentle manner, kneeling down to meet the boys, smiling softly at them as they stared back with matching wide blue eyes.

Murphy took a step backwards, away from Mrs. Williams, practically cowering behind his mother. His little hand reached up & grasped Annabelle's skirt tightly, pulling it to cover his face with only his eyes showing, watching silently.

Connor had hugged Mrs. Williams, to everyone's surprise, and Annabelle had chuckled in response as her hand went to Murphy's head & stroked his hair. She felt a slight tremble beneath her palm as she comforted her boy, gazing down at him.

As Connor pulled back, his eyes saw the toys across the room, and they widened in awe. He'd never seen so many toys in one place before, there had to be at least a million, all waiting for him to play with. Sure, he & Murphy had toys, but not very many, and they shared everything they had. But this...this was overwhelming.

"Murph!" His excited voice was loud as he turned to look for his twin, his finger pointing to the toys. "Look at all the toys!"

But Murphy didn't look at the toys. He didn't even look at Connor, which surprised both his mother & his twin. Instead, his unblinking eyes remained locked on the strange woman smiling at him, his new teacher.

"He's quite the shy one, isn't he?" Mrs. Williams quietly observed with a slight smirk on her face. "Your little one is so cute, Mrs. MacManus. Both your boys are just darling."

Connor turned back to look at the toys, their draw undeniable, they seemed to call to him. He wanted to rummage through them, pick something to play with, something that both he & Murphy could play with together. He turned to look at his scared twin & took a step forward, reaching out with his hand, expecting Murphy to grab hold, like always.

When Murphy didn't respond, Connor was confused. Murphy had never not taken his hand when offered, what was wrong with him? Connor stepped closer, his voice concerned. "What's wrong, Murph? Don't cha wanna play?"

Murphy shook his head 'no' quickly, his eyes unmoving, continuing to watch Mrs. Williams as she slowly got to her feet. He began to chew on his thumbnail, something he had recently started to do when he was nervous or scared.

"Connor, why don't you go look at the toys, aye? Your brother will stay with me. It's all right, go on," Annabelle quietly instructed, hoping that once Murphy saw Connor with the toys, he'd want to join him. That was his usual pattern, he'd quietly watch Connor first before joining in whatever his twin was doing. She hoped this would be no exception.

With a final look at his brother, Connor slowly made his way across the room, to the marvelous toys. When he reached the shelves & bins that held things Connor had only dreamed of, his eyes scanned for something that Murphy would like, something that would make him come over and play.

He dug through the first bin, tossing aside stupid girl toys like dolls and jump ropes, pink hats & even pinker purses. There were cars & trucks at the bottom of the bin, but he didn't find anything that screamed 'Murphy' so he moved to the second bin, hoping for better results. In that tub, there were dozens of action figures, army men, balls & legos. Murphy liked playing with all those things, but Connor knew they weren't enough to draw his brother over, not when he was so scared.

Connor turned to the shelves next, seeing exactly what he was looking for. Murphy loved to color, draw and paint…he'd choose that over anything else, even over playing ball in the yard, which was Connor's favorite activity. There on the shelf, just waiting for Connor's twin to notice, were dozens of coloring books, boxes full of crayons, finger paints & chalk. All the things Murphy wouldn't be able to resist.

Connor smiled, glancing over his shoulder to find his scared baby brother. Murphy still wasn't looking, still wasn't enticed enough to watch him instead of their teacher.

Connor pulled out a coloring book, the largest one there. It was huge, almost as tall as he was, and he put it on the floor before grabbing the crayons. He got on his belly and paged through the book before stopping on a page with puppies on one side & kittens on the other…..two things Murphy could never resist.

Connor chose the puppies to start coloring, picking out shades of brown for the fur. As he began to quietly color, he kept his eye on his twin, willing him to notice what he was doing. But still, Murphy didn't notice.

Sighing, Connor called out, "Hey, Murph...what color is a beagle s'posed to be?"

This got Murphy's attention & he finally looked away from the adults, finally looked at his twin, finally noticed what Connor was doing. He watched Connor color for a moment, his attention now consumed with what Connor was doing, his eyes dancing over the crayons spread out on the floor. Murphy stopped chewing his nail & let go of Annabelle's skirt, taking a brave step away from his ma, toward Connor.

Connor glanced up, seeing Murphy's slow movements, and he quickly looked back to his coloring, not wanting to spook him, waiting patiently for his twin to make his way quietly across the room. When he saw Murphy's shoes directly in front of him, he looked up into the nervous face that he knew so well.

"Can I color with you, Connor?" Murphy's voice was soft and quiet, almost a whisper, really.

"'Course ya can, Murph. You wanna color kittens or puppies?"

"Kittens." Then he was on his belly next to his twin, Connor pushing crayons toward Murphy before turning back to his puppy coloring. As they colored, they talked about kittens & puppies, and what colors to make each one, what color their eyes should be, what color for their collars. They even picked names for each one on the page. Murphy forgot all about Mrs. Williams & he began to smile as he finished the last kitten on the page, his nervousness & fear a distant memory.

"Boys...time to go now. Put away the crayons," Ma quietly instructed to loud groans from both boys. They knew better than to argue & they quickly put everything back where it belonged. Connor took Murphy's hand as they returned to their mother's side, both women smiling at the boys.

"I think they'll do all right on their first day," Mrs. Williams softly said, even though Murphy wouldn't even look at her now. But he did look at Connor, who was smiling gently at him.

"Just wait, Murph, you'll see. School will be fun," Connor promised. "And when we come back, we can color some more."

Murphy nodded, not really looking forward to that day, even with coloring thrown in.

The next 2 weeks went by quickly, Annabelle continuing to talk about how much fun school would be, how proud she was that her boys were starting school, how much they'd like it. Murphy still wasn't convinced but he never said a peep about it, but Connor knew anyway. Connor was certain they would be just fine, there really wasn't anything to worry about, he was certain.

Then it was here, the day had finally arrived. Ma made them a special breakfast, pancakes with cinnamon, before taking pictures of them in the yard next to the lilac bush...her two little men, one smiling, one scowling.

She walked them to school, brushing tears from her eyes when they arrived, walking them past the children playing in the schoolyard. They arrived at the classroom where they had colored a few weeks prior, Annabelle leaning down & cupping Connor's face in her hands, kissing his cheeks. She turned to Murphy and repeated the same action before standing up & looking at her boys.

"You boys be good, don't give Mrs. Williams any problems, you hear?"

"Yes, Ma," Murphy responded while Connor remained silent.

Mrs. Williams had approached with a large smile on her face, "It's nice to have you boys back. Welcome to school."

Suddenly, without warning, Connor burst into tears, reaching up & grabbing onto Annabelle's hand with white knuckles. He had begun to shake as he looked at all the children in the room, hot tears streaming down his cheeks.

Murphy stood in place, watching, not knowing what to do. Annabelle looked at her oldest twin, shocked by his reaction, she had been keeping her eye on Murphy, expecting him to cry, not Connor. She leaned down, quietly talking to Connor, telling him that it was all right, that he'd been so eager for school to start, that he'd be with Murphy.

But Connor kept crying, louder with each passing second. He couldn't stop.

Mrs. Williams smiled softly, telling Annabelle that sometimes children had this reaction, they were overwhelmed with excitement or fear, much like Murphy had been at their first meeting.

Murphy reached for Connor's hand, grasping it tightly as Connor looked at him with wet eyes, tears continuing unabated. Connor held tightly onto his brother & mother, his tears not slowing, his breath in halting bursts.

"Don't be scared, Conn, I'm here with you," Murphy whispered.

Both mother & twin comforted him, tried to calm him, tried to assure him for over 10 minutes. The rest of the children had now arrived, some were crying but none were as upset as Connor. Annabelle picked her boy up & he clung to her, his arms wrapped tightly around her neck as his tears wet her shoulder. He was trembling as he looked down at Murphy and Connor noticed his brother's lip begin to quiver as his own tears built in his eyes. Murphy was scared, too.

Then his ma was saying something about leaving Murphy at school & taking Connor home. Alone. Without his Murph. No...he couldn't let that happen.

But she began to walk away with Connor in her arms & from over his mother's shoulder, he locked eyes with Murphy, who began to cry.

"Murph!" Connor wailed, his arms reaching out in vain for his darker half.

"Connor!" Murphy wailed back, giving him a look that Connor would never forget, a look of quiet desperation, a look that screamed 'don't leave me.' But Connor left in his mother's arms, left Murphy behind. Alone. Murphy tried to follow but Mrs. Williams held him back. And then Connor was gone.

Connor cried all the way home, begging for Murphy, while Annabelle rubbed his back, telling him to calm down. But he couldn't, now while separated from Murph, he'd rather go back to school than be home alone.

They had just arrived home, Annabelle had just put a glass of milk in front of a still crying Connor, when the phone rang. It was the school. Murphy wouldn't calm down, he wouldn't stop crying, he kept calling for Connor. They were asking Annabelle to come back & take Murphy home.

She sighed as she hung up the phone, worried about her boys & how they were acting. She took Connor by the hand & they walked back to the school. The closer they got, the happier Connor seemed to become, pulling on her arm.

When they entered the classroom, the other children were enjoying playtime, their loud laughter greeting Annabelle & Connor. But Connor was searching for Murphy. He wasn't coloring. He wasn't playing with the trucks, or the action figures, or playing catch. He wasn't playing at all. Finally, Connor's eyes were drawn to a lone figure across the room.

Murphy sat on a chair on the other side of the room, his head down, crying softly...alone.

Connor pulled wildly on his mother's arm, trying to get away, trying to get to Murph. Annabelle finally let go, allowing her oldest to run to her youngest.

Murphy felt Connor's presence before he heard his twin running toward him, calling out his name. He jumped from the chair & they hugged each other tightly, both boys still crying but now with happy tears. Annabelle stood watching as her boys pulled apart, each wiping the others face, each trying to smile for the other.

Mrs. Williams joined Annabelle as the boys walked toward the adults, hand in hand.

"Can we go color, Ma?" Connor asked quietly, glancing at Murphy who smiled in support, both trying to be so brave.

"Do you boys want to stay?" she asked carefully, hoping that they could be here without her.

They nodded in response, together.

"Are you sure?"

Another nod.

"Go ahead then, go color." She watched them run to the shelf, still hand in hand, releasing their hold only so Connor could get the coloring book & Murphy could get the crayons. They returned to the same position as the last time they were coloring, both finally smiling once again.

Annabelle was finally able to leave the twins at school, together.

They had been very brave that day, swallowing their fear. For each other.