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The baby was grinning.
Mike was fretting over him, completely unaware of the stunned ghosts watching his every move. Alison had left the room as soon as the baby was placed in the crib - the crib that Mike had only brought into their room 10 minutes previously - but the ghosts hadn’t followed, too focused on the tiny boy laughing at Mike.
“She wasn’t pregnant.” Pat said, finally. He tore his gaze away from the baby to look at the others. “Was she?”
“Surely not.” Thomas spluttered. “We would have noticed, how could we not?”
The others went quiet, trying to think of how Alison had been yesterday. They hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, even if very few of them knew what she was looking for.
“She might have been deliberately hiding it.” Fanny proffered. “Wearing baggy clothes and the like?”
“Or she just didn’t show much?” Julian suggested. “Margot barely grew with Rachael, I thought she was pulling my leg a couple times.”
“Baby not Alison’s.” Robin grunted. Of all of them, he was closest to the crib, squatted next to the bars and peering in. It was lucky the baby was so distracted by Mike, he might be scared if he looked sideways and saw the caveman. “Face wrong.”
“Be you sayings that theys stole the baby?” Mary gasped.
“Balderdash!” The Captain scoffed. “Alison would never do such a thing. Maybe they’re just fostering the little chap for a day or so.”
“Oh, oh, maybe they rescued him?” Kitty squealed. “From a villain who wanted to hurt him and-“
Kitty cut herself off as the baby, still grinning, turned his head to Robin. Robin, in turn, pushed his head forward and through the crib bars. The baby giggled and clapped and tried to touch Robin’s face.
“Hello” Robin said, sneezing slightly when the kid got his nose. “This bed very big for you.”
At that moment, the door opened again and Alison entered holding a bundle of fabric, with a girl none of them knew. Alison raised an eyebrow at all of them - especially Robin, who jumped backwards as if to pretend he wasn’t doing anything.
“Thank you for doing this.” The unknown girl said. The Captain raised his eyebrows at this, as if the words confirmed his theory. “You didn’t have to let me…”
She trailed off, as if she was going to cry. Mike stood up as Alison moved towards the crib, placing the bundle down next to the boy. She moved the fabric away, letting the second baby squirm free and join her brother.
“Now, don’t be silly.” Mike said, rubbing the girl’s arms. “We’re the ones who should be thanking you. And, if you ever want to visit, you’re more than welcome. You’ve got an invite to every Christmas and birthday, that’s a promise.”
The girl laughed, nodding. “Okay. You won’t be able to shake me. I’ll be their favourite aunt, just you wait. Like a guardian angel, watching over them.”
“Ooh, you’ve got a lot of competition there.” Alison chuckled. She turned her head, smiling softly at the girl. “Are you sure you don’t want to give them names?”
“No, no.” She smiled, though tears bubbled at her eyes. “They’re yours, you should name them.”
Alison smiled back at her, then glanced at Mike. He seemed to get the hint quickly.
“Why don’t I get you a cup of tea, hey? Then we’ll get you set up in a guest room.”
“No, I can’t stay. But tea would be lovely.”
Mike nodded, guiding her out of the room. She looked back, once, at the babies before turning and quickly running out.
Alison sighed, looking down at the children. “Okay. Ask your questions.”
Surprisingly, no one said anything and Alison looked up, shocked. She was expecting a barrage of questions, all lapping over each other. Instead, they were all staring at her in shock. So she turned her head to Robin.
“What do you think? Do you like him?”
Robin, still crouched next to crib if not halfway into it, nodded slowly. “Good boy, happy boy. She good too.”
Alison smiled. “They’re both good. Barely cried once on the journey over. That was their mum just there, well their birth mum. I’m their mum now.”
“You’ve adopted them?” Pat said, stepping closer.
“Yeah.” Alison said, after a pause. “Turns out, I can’t have kids. Didn’t tell you, seemed depressing but there it is. And here they are, our new babies.”
“Do they have names?” Kitty said, bouncing forwards. Slowly, the other ghosts shook themselves out of the trance the babies had put them in.
“Yes. Well, sort of. Mike said I could pick the names but I wanted to check with Elsie before I told him. They’re her babies after all.”
“Yes.” Humphrey said, held gently in Mary’s arms. “But they’re yours too.”
There is a lull in conversation as they all look down on the twins, glancing between the ten figures looking down on them. It was Julian who eventually broke the silence.
“Bagsy godfather.”
That broke the spell and soon they were all arguing and yelling over each other. Throughout all this, the twins just giggled.
~*~*~
It was eventually decided that the ghosts would split the group, with four of them being Teddy’s godparents and four being Bobbie’s. Humphrey would be godfather to both as he technically counted as two ghosts. When Alison asked if she had any say in this, they all pointed out that she wouldn’t actually be able to name them as godparents at the christening, so she couldn’t tell them how to watch over the newest members of Button House. She had at least insisted on being able to choose who watched over who.
Robin, Kitty, Julian and Fanny were in charge of Bobbie, which gave Fanny ample opportunity to complain about the girl’s name and ask for the full name. Alison just grinned and told her to wait until the christening.
That left Thomas, Mary, Pat and the Captain as Teddy’s godparents. The Captain had been a bit strange since meeting the boy, especially since hearing his name but the others all assumed it was just a name from his past that he refused to talk about and he was being his usual uptight self.
The family got into a new rhythm. Julian, Robin, Fanny, Pat and Mary were all on hand constantly to give advice - not always helpful advice - and Thomas and the Captain often pitched in with anecdotes about their younger siblings and cousins. The godparents soon had a rotation going of who was watching the babies, though it often ended up with the whole group bringing the club of the day to the twins.
Alison bought a broken Bluetooth off eBay and had it fitted whenever she and Mike were running events. She told the clients it was attached to a baby monitor, when it actuality the monitor was a ghost running frantically to tell her that Teddy was crying or Bobbie was coughing. After the seventh time of Kitty or Thomas dashing in to tell her that they were doing something utterly adorable and she must come and see, she had bought a video camera and propped so it faced down into the crib. That was, Julian could start the recording and she and Mike could watch when they weren’t rushing around after wedding planners.
The business was getting better and the ghosts started pitching in, in their own way. Alison would leave new contracts out on the table and the Captain would scan over them, looking for a fault, and then Julian would follow, looking for any loopholes that might be being exploited. When Mike had gotten around to setting up a website, Fanny had filled them in with as many facts as she could think of and Thomas and Humphrey had followed up, taking the history page of the website all the way to Humphrey’s time. Robin and Mary had an extra page all to themselves, talking about the different ceremonies and traditions that had be seen hundreds and thousands of years ago. That brought in new tourists and clients who wanted to experience these, with the two helping Alison run them while Mike looked after the kids. Similarly, Pat and the Captain helped her run outdoor sessions and organise events with local Scouts and Cadet troupes.
Everything was running very smoothly be the time the babies were a month old and then it was time for the christening.
~*~*~
Not many people came in the end, mostly Mike’s family and a few friends from their uni days. Everyone gushed over the children, unaware of the small army standing protectively behind their parents. When Angela held Bobbie, Julian had stood to the side, kneeling next to baby Nancy and chatting away about how great a job her mum was doing, and look at his little goddaughter. When Leila had been given a hold of Teddy, Thomas and Pat had immediately started blubbering and yelling until Alison boiled down their complaints and made sure Leila was supporting the boy’s head properly.
Soon, it was time for the actual ceremony to start and everyone shuffled to their seats, Alison taking Teddy from Mike’s mum and Mike swiping Bobbie from his cousin. Everyone took a seat, one or two glancing awkwardly at the row of empty chairs behind them, assuming they were laid out for people who hadn’t bothered to turn up. Of course, every time they glanced, the ghosts sat on those seats either awkwardly waved or turned their own heads, trying to figure out what they were staring at.
Soon, the celebrant was droning on about welcoming new life into world and the honour it was to be the caregiver and protector of such young souls. The ghostly godparents all smiled at each other, even Humphrey perched on Robin’s shoulder. Mary nodded happily when the babies had water wiped over their foreheads and they all stood when the priest turned to the crowd. Alison explained that normally this would be the point that godparents would do something but, since they couldn’t exactly do that, they were just skipping it and jumping to the end.
“Allow me to present,” The celebrant said with a smile. “Theodore Patrick Thomas Cooper and his sister Robyn Stephanie Katherine Cooper.”
Alison forced herself not to wince as everyone on the back row suddenly started yelling. In her arms, Teddy started laughing, leaning towards the crowd and reaching his arms out at the ghosts who had began to crowd forwards, uncaring of the people around them. Bobbie began giggling at them, looking between each face before settling on Robin who had stopped stood in front of her, staring down at the young girl named after him.
“Right,” Alison said, addressing the crowd she now couldn’t see. She had gotten very used recently to not yelling even if felt like she needed to. “Shall we have some lunch?”
~*~*~
It took a while for the ghosts to be able to talk to her and they shuffled around for the rest of the event, split into two groups to watch over their godchildren as they were passed from person to person. Eventually, the babies were set down in cribs and the ghosts formed a strange shield around them, talking to the little ones who hung on their every word, keeping them entertained and sending one of the group to grab Alison if anything looked even slightly wrong.
Eventually, the last of the guest left and Mike kissed Alison, wishing her luck with what was about to happen. It’s not like they hadn’t been expecting it. She kept up the act as long as she could, checking in on the kids in their crib - both passed out by now - then double checked all the locks were bolted before sitting down next to the crib and looking at her ghosts.
“Do you like the names?”
They started talking over each other instantly, a mixture of positive appreciation, confusion and slight offence (well, it was Julian so it was more than slight). Alison waited it out, keeping an eye on the twins in case they stirred but they both just smiled in their sleep and shuffled towards each other.
“Okay.” She said finally. It was soft but it still managed to shut them up. “Let’s go one at a time. Hands up, any questions?”
Every hand shot up, even Humphrey’s body raised his hand. Alison chuckled.
“Okay, Kitty, you first.”
“Does this mean you love us? Like, really, really love us?”
“Of course, you’re my family. I didn’t want that to ever be in doubt.”
“But does that means I’s not be in your family?”
“No, Mary, of course not!” Alison frowned, picking up Bobbie as she started to fuss. “There were just a lot of names and we wanted to save some in case we have more in the future.”
“You better!” Julian blustered. “Little Mary Julia, better be the next one.”
“Not putting yourself first?” Thomas smirked. “And what about dear Humphrey.”
“Oh, don’t worry about me.” Humphrey said from the crib. Teddy had woken and was trying to poke him in the eye. “It’s not the best name to hoist on a kid.”
“Although, speaking of names, this little one has a rogue one. Where did Theodore come from?” Pat smiled, pretending to fuss with Teddy’s hair.
“Precisely. If you’re going to ignore some members of our family, you’ll need to explain the extraneous name.” Fanny added with a frown.
“Ahem, well, actually.” The Captain said, sitting down next to the crib and smiling down at Teddy. “It’s my name. Theodore, Theodore Whitely, if you must know. He’s named after me.”
The others paused at this, glancing between Alison and the Captain who were now sharing a fond look. Robin, crouched next to Alison and cradling his hand around Bobbie’s, smiled at the rest of them.
“Our new family. We watch them and we love them.”
The others all smiled, happy to agree.
~*~*~
Life - and death - moved on in Button House. They babies grew and the ghosts almost seemed to grow around them, guiding them as them grew and always there to offer comfort. When the twins started to walk, Mary insisted they would stop being able to see them but that didn’t happen. They ambled towards their godparents, phasing through and giggling each time. Strangely, it didn’t nauseate them the way it normally did, they just felt a small warmth as the toddlers walked through them.
“Part of us.” Robin said, when Alison look confused. He was sat with Bobbie who was babbling away at him. “Couldn’t hurt us ever.”
More babies did follow. They adopted a little girl when the twins were three and named her Julie Maria and then a little boy, Humphrey Michael, two years later. The children all grew with a large family around them, even more so as the downstairs ghosts came up to add to the care and love. Alison smiled throughout it all and, as the children grew, they chuckled at their dad’s inability to see the rest of the family.
On the eve of the twins heading off to university - Teddy to study History, Bobbie taking Anthropology - Alison crept away from the party to stand with her ghosts, all two dozen of them. She was struggling not to cry and them knew that instantly, crowding around her in the closest they could give her to a hug.
“They’ll be okay, our little ones.” Someone said, the voice lost in the crowd.
“And we’ll be waiting for them, whenever they want to come home.”
“They know they can come home at any time.”
“Or call, we’re always here.”
“They know we love them.”
“And they love you.”
Alison nodded, smiling around at the others. There was movement at the door and she turned, seeing the twins in the doorway. They shook their heads at her.
“Stop hogging the godparents, mum, you’ll have them all winter.”
“Come on, everyone’s wanting for you upstairs.”
Alison smiled, looking around at her friends. She stepped forwards, kissing each of her children on the forehead and then letting her lead her - and their army of ghosts - to the next part of their life.