Archive of Our Own ^beta

June 2024 - May 2025: Premier League

Ted looks around the sitting room of their rented house as he is shooed out of the kitchen by his mother who tells him she can handle prepping dinner. It was the least she could do after the day they’ve had here in Kansas. Henry is on the floor in front of Rebecca as he finishes up his homework that’s spread out across the coffee table. He’s heard the quiet musings of both of them as she helps with his last history worksheet from her spot on the couch. 

Sophie looks a little milk drunk as Ted steps closer and surveys the couch. She’s propped against the nursing pillow next to Rebecca, her eyes drooping as she blinks heavily. Rebecca sits on one end, arms full of Daniel, and the four-month-old has just discovered he can reach his hand up and touch his mother as he eats. A rhythm known only to him as his little fist opens and closes against Rebecca’s chest as she talks to him between helping Henry when the boy leans back against the couch, holding his workbook up in the air for her to peek at. 

“You know, I thought I brought the whole gang back from Henry’s school today, but I’m counting y’all up and I just can’t find little Claire Bear,” Ted exaggeratedly tells the sitting room occupants. He ignores the little pile of pillows opposite Rebecca that starts giggling. Or that a little foot hangs out from the pillow pile as Claire wiggles her toes in anticipation of being found. 

“We got mama bear and brother bear and baby bears but no Claire Bear,” Ted shrugs though the one in question can’t see him. “Guess I’ll just take a load off and give my puppies a rest until my little bear makes it home.” 

He moves around to the mound of pillows, keeping a watchful eye on her little foot as he sits on the very edge of the cushion and leans back into the pillows, sighing. 

He hears Rebecca chuckle as he wiggles into the pillows. 

A brief, muffled giggle sounds out from behind him. 

“Huh. There’s something lumpy about this couch cushion,” he says aloud, leaning forward, reaching around to pat the pillows, and leaning back again this time he shuffles a little further back. 

“Goodness, we might need to buy these folks a whole new couch. This thing is lumpy as all get out.”

He leans forward again, this time taking the top pillow away and mischievous brown eyes look up at him, a toothy grin, and dirty blonde hair wild with static frame her face as she tries to push it out of the way to scold him properly. 

“A’ squishy, Daddy,” Claire informs him. 

“Oh, I squished you? I thought you were a part of the couch. So sorry my lil’ Claire Bear,” Ted plays along and his hands slip between the pillows. He feels the soft cotton of the romper she wears and he tickles her as he leans in to kiss her cheeks. 

She laughs a deep, hearty giggle that’s loud enough for Daniel to get distracted and a mouthful of milk spills over his cheeks and onto Rebecca’s t-shirt. Sophie startles and begins to cry, her little fists reaching up towards her face as she curls into herself. Her cries trigger Daniel, and Ted looks up at Rebecca, a silent apology shared between them. Rebecca shrugs, guiding Daniel back to her breast and he settles moments later. 

“Uh oh. We woke up Thing One, bear,” Ted whispers as he picks Sophie up and begins to hum as he lays her on his chest, patting her back as she curls into him. 

“Soap night, night?” Claire flops into him, her hands reaching out as fingers touch Sophie’s hair and Claire pats her as gently as she can. “I help.” 

“Nah, mama was just feeding them because they were hungry. If we let Sophie sleep now, she’ll be up before the roosters. We gotta entertain the little lady until dinnertime. Here, let me get her settled and then you can hold her, okay?” Ted tells Claire as Sophie only cries harder as he stays still.

He stands with the baby, rocking in place as Claire attempts to stand up on the couch to make herself taller.

“Ah, no,” Rebecca leans over as far as she can without displacing Daniel and tugs at the fabric of Claire’s romper. “We sit on couches.”

Claire sighs a huffy little thing that reminds Ted of the times when Rebecca doesn’t get her way and he bites the inside of his cheek as he sways in place. 

“Okay, Claire, I think Sophie is ready for some cuddles. Lean back like mama,” Ted nods his chin to Rebecca and Claire flings herself back into the little corner she had been in. 

“Hey, bud, can you get the pillow,” Ted asks Henry.

Henry nods, leaning back and shoves the nursing pillow Sophie had been in the middle of, over to Claire’s lap.

“Here we go,” Ted whispers as he places Sophie in Claire’s lap as she’s supported by the nursing pillow. “Look at that. What a cool big sister helping mama and daddy out with Sophie.”

Claire cheeses at the compliment. Her toothy grin and wrinkled nose squish her face as she is praised for her efforts. She leans down and presses a kiss to Sophie’s head as Sophie grabs for Claire’s hair but misses. The baby instead coos as Claire copies Rebecca and takes Sophie’s hand, pressing a kiss to the baby’s palm as Rebecca does it to Daniel.

Ted sits on the middle cushion as soon as he’s confident Sophie won’t need any intervention and he leans over his knees and rubs a hand through Henry’s hair.

“Need some help, bud?” Ted wonders as he looks over Henry’s shoulder.

“Nah, Rebecca helped and I think I got it.”

“Okay,” Ted leans back into the couch and shares a look with Rebecca.

If Ted reaches out his hand and she lets go of her hold on Daniel’s wayward arm to squeeze at his fingers, it's a little moment just for them in the midst of pre-dinnertime chaos that they wouldn’t have any other way.

—

He leans against the door frame later that night, a soft smile blooms on his face as he listens to her hum and Sophie’s answer back as she babbles and makes Rebecca’s hand move back and forth as her tiny hands grip two of her mother’s fingers. He’s quiet enough that he doesn’t distract Sophie, considering Rebecca’s trying to get her to sleep, but he knows Rebecca knows he’s there watching. 

“I know, you’re very confused by the time change, pipsqueak, but you will be ornery as hell tomorrow and that’s not going to work since we’re taking you to the fair for fireworks and other very American things for your sister’s birthday tomorrow,” he hears her tell Sophie. 

Sophie only continues to move Rebecca’s hand back and forth. At five months old, she hasn’t truly grasped the nuance of sleep and time zones even when they’re back home in London. Their trip to Kansas to pick up Henry and spend some time with his mother has only confused the tentative sleep schedule they had in place with Claire, Sophie, and Daniel. 

Claire had to be carried to bed from her spot on the couch in the rental house not far from his mother’s place when she has given into sleep thanks to Henry playing outside with her after dinner and homework. Daniel’s sleep regression had at least tuckered him out twenty minutes ago and he was in the portable crib made up on Ted’s side of the bedroom. And, Henry fell asleep not long after Claire -- excited to spend the day with his sister since her first birthday had been through a FaceTime call.

He motions with his hands as he catches her eye and she nods her head. He can tell she’s exhausted. His mother had been over this afternoon after Ted had picked Henry up from his day of school, attempting to help with their routine but neither Daniel nor Sophie were wanting to have anything to do with a stranger, even if the stranger was their grandmother. It’s the thought that counts, he thinks, even if dealing with two fussy babies and concerned Claire tripled the affection Rebecca dished out to all four of their children this evening.

He walks into the room, over to the side of the bed she’s claimed as hers and peeks over to show his face to Sophie. Her bright, glassy eyes lock onto his face and she gurgles around the finger she’s trapped in her mouth. 

“Hey, trouble. You want to hang with dad while mama sleeps?” Ted asks with a tilt of his head. 

Sophie pauses at the sound of his voice and almost as if she knows what he’s said, she looks at her mother. 

“Mummy’s tired, unlike you,” Rebecca confirms. 

Sophie pulls away from gnawing on Rebecca’s fingers and makes a noise that he takes as reluctant acceptance. And, he understands. He’d rather cuddle with Rebecca, too, if given the choice. 

He reaches under Rebecca’s arms, scooping Sophie up and curling her to his chest as he pats her back when he feels her tense. It only takes a moment before she realizes she’s in his arms and trusts him to hold her steady as she starts to gum at his t-shirt-covered shoulder. 

“I can take this next shift with the two of ‘em. Let you get a little sleep and give you a break from cuddle time.”

Being the default parent between the two of them considering they mostly eat and sleep, she spends a lot of time holding and caring for the babies. She loves it, he knows, and they really do try to split time evenly, but it’s a lot when they’re upset and just want her and sometimes she just needs a few hours to herself after they’ve all calmed themselves. 

“I, umm, I pumped after Claire’s bath and there should be two bottles in the fridge if you need them. Your mum wrote the time on them I think,” Rebecca runs her hand across her forehead as she tries to remember if he’ll need anything else as she scoots down into the pillows and sheets, laying down instead of sitting upright. “There should be formula just in case, but you can also wake me since Sophie’s not wanting anything to do with the bottle lately.”

“Hey, we’ll figure it out. She’s easy-peasy with her need to cuddle since you just fed them both. You sleep, okay?” He leans over and presses a kiss to her forehead. “Love you.” 

“Love you, too,” she whispers and lets out a deep breath as she shuffles down further into bed and turns towards his side of the bed as she closes her eyes. 

—

He takes Sophie from the bedroom and softly closes the door as Rebecca gets comfortable under the covers. He leans his head back and away, checking on Sophie, as she gums at his t-shirt.

“You getting a tooth, little lady?” He asks as he changes his hold on her and sticks his finger in her mouth, rubbing at her gums. She makes a grunting, unhappy noise around his finger, scrunching her face and entire body, getting ready to cry.

“Hey, hey, just checking for little teeth,” he tells her as he takes his finger back and sets her upright on his chest again as they enter the sitting room of the rented house in Overland Park. “I can’t feel one so you ain’t teething enough to bite your mama. Well, if you are teething. It’s a toss-up between that and sleep regression like your brother.”

She gurgles and her little tongue pokes out as he moves her from sitting up against his chest to curling into his arm.

“Or it could be you taking a page from my book and catching insomnia early. But, uh, I sure hope it’s not that since you need sleep to grow and keep mama happy. She sure likes it when you’re a happy little baby and not a grumpy gus.”

He brings his finger up to the bridge of Sophie’s nose, rubbing it softly and watching as her grey-ish-green eyes flutter closed before they pop open again. 

“Just like your mama, you know,” Ted leans more fully into the cushions of the couch. “You remind me of your mama when we first got together. Gosh, she’d curl up with me in bed and just entertain herself by looking at me for hours. Sometimes I’d do that to her and her green eyes would pop right open and she’d let out this little laugh when I asked her if maybe I had something on my face she was so fond of lookin’ at for hours and she’d reach her fingers out and stroke my moustache or pop her finger into one of my dimples.” 

Sophie blinks up at him, always entranced by the sound of his voice. 

“You think maybe if I tell you another story about your mama, you’d do us both a favour and go to sleep for a few hours?” Ted hums. 

Sophie lets out a quiet squeak and he takes that as her agreement. 

“All right. Well, since it’s your sister's birthday in a few hours, maybe I’ll include her in this one. Got plenty of mama and Claire stories.”

“Your mama was something else when she was pregnant with your brother. The fellas and Uncle Beard and Uncle Roy and I had just got done with training for a match against Leeds which just happened to be the season opener opponent. In the second trimester, you’re supposed to get your energy back,” he tells Sophie who continues to blink slowly as she listens to his familiar voice. The tone is soothing and the slight rumble of his chest as he speaks calms her. “Well, that might be the case with most but your mama also had Claire afoot at home and in the office. I know you know that your sister is a little chatterbox of pure chaos when she wants to be. And goodness gracious she had a little stage where she absolutely protested naps unless your mama was there with her. Oh, sure, I could assist, but unless mama was right there with her, she wasn’t having a nap. No, ma’am. But that one day after training, my spidey senses were tingling and I went up there as we let the fellas shower or leave for home after training. And, well, shoot if that wasn’t one of the cutest scenes I’ve ever laid my eyes on in your mama's office.”

He sighs a little with a fond quirk of his lips, remembering the day.

“I guess I should rewind a little. Give you some context. See, your Aunt Keeley and Uncle Roy were getting married in September and your mama was the maid of honour which is just a fancy term for a big giant helper of all things wedding. Anywho, your Aunt Keeley was in mama’s office doing wedding things with your mama, but I think mama and Claire decided it was nap time. Pretty sure it was mama more than Claire who wanted the nap if I remember the night before your mama was actually feeling well instead of being sick all the time and… well, we can skip that part of the story. Your mama was laying on her couch, her hand resting on this little bump she had at the time that had just popped. It was the sweetest thing watching her get dressed every morning and rubbing her belly as she picked out her outfit. But the cutest little thing was Claire who decided to use your brother as a pillow as she slept between your mama’s legs. As far as I knew, that had been the first time they had done that, but that position became Claire’s favourite when mama was cooking up your brother for all of us. Your sister also had one of Aunt Keeley’s planners in between the couch and your mama like she was a big helper. Pretty sure she was just scribbling all over Aunt Keeley’s careful plans but Keels loves you all way more than a bunch of paperwork.” 

He looks down to find Sophie’s eyes slipping closer to staying closed and he smiles down at her. She pops her eyes open as if she’s realised what she’s done.

“And your Aunt Keeley had to have been taking photos beforehand but your mama was just looking so comfortable on that couch that your aunt ended up joining in the nap time adventures.” 

Ted chuckles, remembering the sight of Keeley with her phone dangling in her hands, sleeping open-mouthed, head pillowed on Rebecca’s shoulder. A little cuddle time on the couch had certainly never looked so inviting.

“Then, little miss,” Ted rubs at the bridge of her nose again and he gets the slowest blink back as she settles a little more heavily against him, “there was nap time with you.” 

Rebecca had been more prepared this time around for the slight rejection they’d receive until Sophie was used to their voices, their smell, and their heartbeats being so different from what she was used to hearing in the womb. It still deflated her excitement ever so slightly in those first few days, but she bounced back quicker than she had with Claire. 

“You see, when you were itty bitty, your mama was getting prepared to have your brother and she was getting real uncomfortable at the end there, but she was able to take some naps sitting up on the couch rather than in bed. And after feeding you, she’d just stick you in the middle of her chest and you’d both have a nap. Claire would sometimes join you guys and use mama’s belly as a pillow. Sometimes, she’d stick you on her belly for tummy time and she’d just laugh as she told me it was technically tummy time for all three of you. Pretty sure she was a little sleep-deprived and really tired of being pregnant at that point, but she enjoyed the fact she didn’t have to leave the couch for tummy time with you since she had a built-in little levitation area. I mean, Claire would grabby hands for you and so your sister and I would take you down to the floor and let mama fall asleep watching us since she hadn’t been sleeping all that well at night. But golly I sure do remember all those nap times. Even better when it was the four of us and then the five of us all snuggled in our bed in that first month after you and Daniel were born when Nana was helping out.”

Sophie’s slipped into a light sleep at this point. Finally giving into the cadence of his voice mixed with the fact he’s cuddled her close to his heart. He waits a few minutes, making sure she’s far enough into dreamland that when he sticks her in the portable crib with Daniel, she’s not going to wake herself or her brother. 

When he enters the bedroom, he looks up at the bed to find Rebecca on her side, facing his pillow with an arm out. She usually slips her arm around him at some point during the night, since he often wakes up with an arm or a leg around him come morning or when one of them has to wake in the early dawn to soothe a crying baby (or both of the babies). But he is able to set Sophie down without a fuss and he watches as her lips move in a phantom suckle before she pauses and relaxes into sleep again.

He slips into bed, curling around Rebecca and whispering it’s just him and to go back to sleep as she stirs. And he gets a few hours before he wakes with Daniel and then an hour later with Sophie, letting Rebecca have the first night of uninterrupted sleep since their arrival in Kansas a few days ago.

His mother’s neighbourhood has a few pools for the homeowners in the development. Armed with the key fob, the stroller, and the knapsack, they walk to the closest one just two streets away after Claire’s requested breakfast of blueberry waffles. Henry delights in pushing the stroller with the two youngest passengers cuddled together like they are usually when they’re set in the same place. Claire sits on Ted’s shoulders, holding onto his forehead as she leans into him while she points out things she can see from her new vantage point. Ted curls her little legs around his neck, holding her secure with one hand as he holds Rebecca’s hand in his other. 

“Guess it’s a good thing we did those swimming lessons with Phoebe and Claire after all,” Ted hums.

To help ease the transition of three under two, and to try and give Rebecca some time to bond with the two babies without Claire running around, Ted tagged along with Roy when Phoebe informed her uncle that her new goal was to be an Olympic swimmer and she would need her uncle to teach her how to swim. This is why every Tuesday and Thursday after training, they would take Roy’s G-Wagon out to the aquatic centre near Roy and Keeley’s place and one of Roy’s old physio managers from his knee rehab taught Claire and Phoebe how to swim.

Rebecca hums. She had enjoyed the time with her mother and the youngest two as Ted had taken to making sure Claire had her own activities and her own time with her father much like how Rebecca made sure each morning, she’d spend alone time with Claire and watch Paw Patrol or whatever else on the telly at six o’clock in the morning.

Rebecca stays under the canopy for a while as Henry parks the stroller and deposits his things, flinging off his t-shirt and speed walking to the deep end of the pool, yelling for them to watch his cannonball. Sun cream had already been slathered on all of them at Ted’s mother’s house since Rebecca knew the draw of cool water would be too much for the Kansans in her life. Ted had been the same way as his son if only a little hampered by removing Claire from his shoulders and then getting his t-shirt off and Claire’s little romper as she babbled about Henry’s splash and how she needed to know if her babies would be coming in with her and she could teach mummy how to swim.

The fresh air and slow, rocking motion of the seven-minute walk from his mother’s house to the pool has too much sway on Sophie and Daniel who sleep in the shaded area in the stroller near Rebecca’s chair. 

She watches as Ted wades into the water with the water wings tucked under his arm, Claire bouncing on the first step in the shallow water as Ted splashes her arm and dunks the water wings in the water before sliding them up her arms and chuckling. 

“Okay, flap your little water wings, bear. Well, maybe we should call you baby bird or something,” Ted motions as he flaps his own arms and Rebecca shakes her head as Claire copied him and she can hear Ted laugh louder. 

Rebecca shakes her head and takes out her phone as she captures the beginnings of Claire’s birthday adventures. 

A half an hour later, Rebecca stands in the shallower end of the pool, a baby in each arm as she makes gentle motions back and forth. Daniel wiggles in her arms, his little feet getting splashed by the water and she goes a little deeper as they both adjust to the change and new sensation from their first foray into the pool. She’s glad they like bath time now, she thinks, since a pool to them would probably be the equivalent of a giant bath. Sophie is content with simply leaning against Rebecca’s shoulder. Her little foot dangles in the water as she hums against Rebecca’s collarbone.

Rebecca looks up for a moment, watching as Henry jumps into the water on the other side of the pool still, hoping for a big splash. 

“Should we go help mama with brother bear?” Ted asks Claire as he hefts her into his arms and starts walking towards Rebecca anyway. 

“I hold him?” Claire asks as she clings to Ted and whips her head back and forth between watching Henry and her mother on the other side of the pool.

“No, baby. Water is a little different and just me and mama are going to hold them. But you can hold them when we go to lunch or in the stroller at the fair. Okay?”

Claire heaves a sigh as they finally get to Rebecca. Rebecca raises a brow that arches over her sunglasses as she looks between Ted and Claire.

“Wanted to hold Daniel,” he nods his head to Claire.

“Ah,” Rebecca understands. 

“You want a free arm?”

Claire swims to the shallow part of the pool near Rebecca as Ted releases her. She swims with her head up out of the water and it’s a little comical to watch but she’s doing it all herself at two years old and Rebecca marvels at the effort. She’s definitely going to be the fearless one of their bunch, Rebecca muses.

Claire stands on the step of the pool closest to her mother and watches as Ted takes Daniel from Rebecca. He adjusts the red bucket hat on his son’s head and then puts him against his chest. 

“Mummy, up,” Claire asks as soon as her hands are free from Daniel. 

Rebecca turns and holds her free arm out for Claire. And the newly minted toddler jumps from the step she was on into Rebecca’s arms. 

Rebecca chuckles as she anticipates the jump and half shields Sophie from the little wave and splash Claire creates. 

“You are trouble, my little love,” Rebecca hums as she hoists Claire up in her arms. 

“You good with them?” Ted eyes Claire as she kicks her foot in the water. 

Rebecca nods. 

Ted wades a little deeper, Daniel making noises as Ted goes deeper and eventually reaches just far out enough when Ted bends his knees, Daniel's legs can be submerged. He’s between Henry and Rebecca and enjoys going back and forth as Henry practices swimming from side to side and Rebecca talks to both her daughters, even having Claire help fix Sophie’s own bucket hat since Rebecca’s hands are full. 

Eventually, Claire gets bored with being held and Rebecca convinces her to practice floating. One of Rebecca’s hands helps their two-year-old float as Sophie falls back asleep in Rebecca’s arms. 

“Dad, I’ll race you to the shallow end,” Henry declares as he bobs up and down as Claire declares she is hungry after moving to the steps in the shallow again. “But I get to swim and you gotta walk.” 

Ted accepts even though he knows Henry’s going to win. And Henry does win, laughing with Claire as she claps for her brother and as he declares himself a winner. 

“Thick as thieves,” Ted says as Henry whispers something to Claire and she wiggles in excitement and Henry helps Claire take the steps out of the pool.

“Wouldn’t expect anything less,” Rebecca tells him as she grabs his hand and pulls him closer. 

Henry brings out the fruit cups after rooting through the knapsack in the bottom of the stroller. A triumphant yip and Claire’s giggly pronunciation of Henry’s name with a yay is definitely the influence of Keeley Jones. 

“Can’t believe it’s been two years,” Ted shakes his head as he watches Henry open one for Claire and then one for himself. 

Rebecca hums in agreement, leaning in and pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

“Thank you,” she whispers and he knows why. She says it at each of their milestones and holidays. Thank you for making me a mother . Thank you for making us a family.  

“Ain’t anyone else, baby. Me, you, and our crew.”

Rebecca chuckles softly, shaking her head as he rhymes. 

—

“Up, up,” Claire reaches up and her fingers wiggle up at Ted. “Please up, daddy.” 

Rebecca still laughs at the way Claire still says peas for please but it doesn’t beat her pronunciation of fork. She’s had to elbow Keeley because the younger woman purposely holds back Claire’s fork so she gets the little Welton-Lasso to say fork, please , which sounds a little too much like fuck, peas . This afternoon is no exception to Claire navigating the English language as Rebecca brings up the rear of their group as they reach the barbecue joint after Henry declared some of his best birthdays feature him and his dad getting barbecue and Claire definitely needed some while she was here. 

Ted reaches down as they pause in the queue, Claire’s eyes get impossibly wide as Ted points out the grill that’s much bigger than theirs that they can see as they stand in line. And Rebecca thinks of the last barbecue when Beard was stacking wood chips with Claire. He definitely had an inkling of the right apprentice out of the Welton-Lasso children, she thinks.

Between Ted and Rebecca, Henry holds Daniel, the four-month-old quietly leaning against Henry’s shoulder after staying awake from the road trip from their rental house after the morning swim ran out of its lustre. 

Rebecca brings up the rear, swaying gently back and forth as Sophie whimpers grumpily in the baby carrier. She thinks maybe she should have stayed in the car to feed the baby, but it’s already hot and humid and she can hopefully wait until they’ve found their seats.

When they get to the trays, Ted manoeuvres Claire so she sits on his shoulders much as she did for their adventure to the pool. Reminding her to hold on tight since he’s going to have to balance the tray. Henry giggles as Claire shouts I tall mummy at Rebecca as Rebecca grabs for the other tray they’ll use.

“The usual?” Rebecca asks Henry as he sticks close to her.

Henry nods.

“Umm, when we get cups for the water, maybe I should have the kid cup so Claire doesn’t think she’s different even though I can handle a drink without a lid,” Henry tells Rebecca as he looks up at Rebecca with a serious expression on his face.

“You’d do that for us?” Rebecca double-checks.

Henry nods. He’d really do anything for his sister.

“Thank you, sweet boy,” Rebecca whispers as she leans down and presses a kiss to his temple.

Ted gets their lunch option with an extra helping of chicken to his usual order of the various meats like the first time they came here, knowing Claire is going to have whatever Rebecca has for lunch. After getting the meats, Ted tells Claire to duck as they step inside the barbecue joint considering the door frame only extends to a certain height as he crouches when the family in front of them holds the door open, commenting on how they certainly have their hands full.

When all the food has been obtained, Rebecca steps up to pay since Ted has declared Claire to have an advantage in looking for an open booth and she spots one. Rebecca’s actually grateful that they’ll all be mostly situated by the time she follows, hopefully.

Claire is situated on the inside of the booth so she can’t escape on a whim, standing beside Ted as he gets out a Wet Wipe from the few he grabbed near the register to wash her hands, kind of. Henry hovers at the end of the table to allow Rebecca to shove the knapsack in and he asks if she wants the inside so he can help his dad get drinks. She accepts the offer and slips the tray onto the table and then slips off the knapsack from her shoulders before she scoots across the bench. Sophie still whimpers and Rebecca watches as Henry exchanges Daniel for the four cups -- two small ones with lids and two larger ones -- that Ted grabbed off the tray she had set down.

“Bear, stay with mama and help her with Sophie while we get you some water.”

Claire looks across the table as Rebecca undoes the buckles on the baby carrier and her eyes light up as Rebecca turns Sophie around to face Claire and leans her back against her chest as soon as she takes the carrier off while she digs, one-handed, through the knapsack for the muslin blanket so she can feed Sophie as Ted will help build the sandwiches.

“Will you put this at your dad’s spot so he can hold your brother?” Rebecca asks Claire as she slides over the fabric sling she always has in the knapsack just in case the carrier is too bulky.

Claire bunches up the fabric and picks it up off the table, dumping it where Ted sits as he comes back with the two glasses of water for himself and Rebecca as Henry carries his own and Claire’s.

“You need help making your sandwich, bud?” Ted asks as they sit and pass the drinks but Henry shakes his head.

Ted nods, grabbing the sling and putting it around his shoulders and slipping the curious Daniel inside so he leans against Ted’s chest while keeping Ted’s hands free.

“All right, bear. You want a mama lunch or a Henry lunch or both?” Ted asks as he turns to Claire who is watching Henry build his sandwich next to Rebecca.

“Mummy a’ Henny,” Claire says as she leans into his shoulder, still standing on the bench.

“You got it. You can even help me build mama’s sandwich."

Claire looks delighted at the prospect.

Rebecca turns Sophie back around and drapes the muslin blanket over the two of them as she begins to unbutton the front of her dress under the blanket. The angle is a little awkward, but she makes do and Sophie’s cries cease as soon as she latches. Rebecca peeks down, making sure she’s settled as she adjusts her hold before she reaches her free arm out for her water.

Henry gives helpful tips to Claire as she helps Ted. There’s a little too much barbecue sauce for Rebecca, even though Ted assures her there’s no such thing with a wink. But she thanks her daughter as she’s passed the barbecue chicken sandwich.

Ted captures Claire’s first bite of real, authentic Kansas City barbecue. They may host a team barbecue before the season, but in Ted’s and Beard’s opinions, nothing beats the real thing from the actual joints in KC. Ted sends the photo and video to Beard hoping his best friend will share in the enthusiasm. And five minutes later, when Claire’s face has a ring of barbecue sauce and there’s a bit of a stain on her t-shirt, Beard’s atta girl is an appropriate response.

—

Rebecca is looking through the photos of today, Keeley suggested she post something for Claire’s second birthday when they had FaceTimed after lunch, and she thinks she’s finally found the one as Daniel snarfles in his sleep against her chest. And, she can’t help but smile as she curves her hand over his nappy-covered bum. Just last year, she had been nauseous as all get out as they celebrated Claire’s first birthday, hoping he’d stick around. And, now, he’s here and the snuggliest of her babies even if he is the pickiest at breastfeeding or eating in general.

“Weird, huh?” Ted asks as if he can read her thoughts. “This time last year.”

She hums as she watches him move around the bedroom.

“He sleepy enough to move next to big sis?” Ted nods to Sophie already sleeping in the portable crib.

“I think so,” she nods as she opens up her arms as he steps near her side of the bed.

“You think I can crop the Henry and Claire photo with just their little messy mouths and folks’ll understand?” Ted asks as he drops off Daniel and hunts around the room for his phone. And it finds it in the navy shorts he had worn this afternoon that matched her button-up, flutter-sleeved maxi dress.

“Should be fine,” Rebecca hums as she continues going through her photos.

Ted’s mother had captured the moment she’s paused on from the fair this evening. Ted’s mother had met them at the Wichita Fair, armed with a picnic basket full of dinner items that could be easily eaten by a two-year-old. Ted was laying on the large picnic blanket, his head pillowed on Rebecca’s thigh as she sat in the middle of the thing, propped up with her arms behind her as she took in the scene before her as they waited for the opening day band from their spot on the lawn. The double boppy pillow sitting at Rebecca’s hip ensconced Sophie and Daniel. The two of them kick their legs as they listen to the sounds around them and sucked on the pacifiers in their mouths. Henry and Claire were on her other side and had been wearing one of their old AFC Richmond training kits. Rebecca hadn’t known why in the entire suitcase of cute clothing she had packed for her daughter, Claire had ended up in a training kit top of all things. She honestly hadn’t even remembered packing the thing. But the Richmond Red hid the red ice lolly stain that was on Claire’s lips and chin and most likely the kit itself. Ted’s mother had captured the moment when Henry had kissed his sister's cheek as he thanked her for sharing the single cupcake Ted had brought along to the fair. The rest were waiting in the kitchen at the house but Claire would no doubt be off to dreamland before they got back home for the adults and Henry to share in the birthday treat. The angle was just right enough that you could only see the profiles of Henry and Claire, keeping with their tradition of not allowing their children’s faces to be posted on socials.

Rebecca posted it to her Instagram account with the emoji with the hand making the peace sign to signify Claire’s age. 

“Terrible twos, here we come,” Ted whispers as he slips into bed beside her after posting his own photo to celebrate Claire’s birthday before he dropped his phone on the night stand.

She sets her phone on the night stand closest to her and turns to face him, eyebrow arching. 

“Your mom give you any pointers for dealing with a mini you that looks like me?” Ted smiles and winks at her. 

“Plenty,” Rebecca nods as she scoots closer and presses a kiss to his jaw, and then his cheek, and finally his lips. 

“Weird advice,” he hums against her and he knows she’s rolling her eyes even without looking at her. “But I like Deborah’s style, I guess.” 

“Wanker,” she shoves him away and laughs just quietly enough that she doesn’t wake either of the babies.

—

Henry rides with Michelle and David to the airport. It had been Henry’s idea he had asked her about when he and Rebecca had gone out, just the two of them, to pick up lunch and then to the mall after his last day of school in the States because he needed to get his brother and sister their own octopus plushie like he had done for Claire even though this wasn’t the first time meeting his brother and sister. He figured the half-hour drive with his mom would give her extra time with him since the next time she’d see him would be the half-term break in late October since Michelle had wanted Henry to also share in the first Christmas with his two younger siblings the way he had with Claire. 

“I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to this,” Michelle says as she ruffles Henry’s hair and looks beyond to the jet sitting near a closed hanger. It’s only the second time Michelle has seen the jet. Well, second round trip. She had, after all, picked Beard up to get Henry all situated for the surprise Mother’s Day slash meet his new baby brother and sister back in March. 

“I think we have time to give you a little tour if you want,” Ted says as he moves from the driver's seat around to the back and opens the door to find Sophie still crying. 

“Maybe next time,” Michelle says with an air of sympathy as Rebecca opens the door to find Daniel getting ready to join in, but Claire had been patting his belly the entire time to keep him from joining in on the crying fest. 

“Thank you for helping with your brother,” Rebecca tells Claire as she leans over and unbuckles Claire before she starts doing the same to Daniel’s backwards-facing car seat. Claire slips down to the floor and faces Ted and Sophie, she pats Sophie’s head and it only serves to make her angrier. 

“Come this way, little love,” Rebecca tilts her head to the passenger side as Claire looks over at her. Before Claire protests, Rebecca tries a different tactic. “Henry might need you to show him the jet. He’s this way.” 

Ted focuses on unbuckling Sophie and once she’s all situated in his arms, she ceases crying. 

“She’s just in a bit of a pickle today. Grumpy the entire morning as we said bye to grandma. Thinking she was finally getting used to this time zone,” Ted clears the car and watches as the hanger staff start unloading the luggage and the car seats from the SUV into the jet cargo hold as he makes his way over to Michelle and Henry. 

Michelle looks at the family in front of her. Claire reaches up as she waddles over to Henry. And she watches as her son easily lifts his sister as she talks to him, her little fingers grabbing at his hair as she smooths down the locks before giggling and pointing that she needs down. 

Once down, Claire beelines for Rebecca and Michelle hugs Henry to her side once more. 

“Mom,” Henry turns a little pink as Michelle presses a few kisses to his crown and then his cheek. 

“Be good for your dad and your mum ,” Michelle tells him as she tries out a British accent and much like Ted and Henry’s, Rebecca laughs at how American it still sounds. 

“I know,” Henry sighs. 

“Okay, give me one more hug and then we’ll let you go.” 

Henry turns into his mom and hugs her tight despite his protests. 

“See you at your first school break. I love you.”

“Love you, too, mom,” Henry whispers just loud enough for Rebecca and Ted to hear.

Rebecca and Ted share a look before Rebecca drops her eyes to Claire who is watching the scene before her with anticipation. Claire doesn’t understand much about custody arrangements or the fact Henry is leaving everything he’s ever known, but she does understand the change meant her brother would be coming home with her at the end of the trip and she stomps her Nike-covered feet on the tarmac in anticipation. 

Henry swipes at his eyes as he leaves his mother’s embrace and shakes David’s hand before Michelle’s boyfriend whispers something that makes Henry giggle. He takes a deep, shuttering breath and turns to face his dad and Rebecca. 

“Ready, bud?” Ted asks as he gives his son a gentle nod of his chin. 

Henry nods, eying Claire who still has an arm looped around Rebecca’s leg, waiting for some sort of signal. 

“Want to show me where we should sit?” Henry asks Claire. 

“Me sits,” Claire takes that as her signal, toddling over to her brother and making a motion for his hand.

He tries to pick her up instead. 

“No up. I walk,” she declares. 

Henry looks up at his dad and then Rebecca who both shrug. 

All four adults watch the two start towards the jet before Ted steps closer to Michelle, thanking her for this time and the changes she’s made to make everyone happy.

The hug is a little awkward with Sophie held in his arms as she protests her mother being out of her range of sight. But it’s a heartfelt hug anyway. Both know there will be bumps along the road ahead for everyone. 

“Well, see you soon. Thanks for taking the baby bears with my mama for a few hours,” Ted says again like he did the night they went out for a no-kids-night date. “Appreciate you.”

“Still don’t know how you guys do it,” David chuckles as he wraps an arm around Michelle’s shoulders and pulls her in. 

It’s what they get every time someone realizes they have four children and three of them that are two or under. 

Even Rebecca takes a moment to hug Michelle and thank her, knowing how hard it was on Ted for the past few years to just have a few weeks at a time with his son.

Michelle sniffles a little as she watches them all head to the jet. It's good, she reminds herself as she waves to Henry who occasionally looks back at her and David.

Rebecca carries Daniel on her hip, watching as Henry holds Claire’s hand as they make their way up the steps. Claire counts, or attempts to, and when she continues to repeat two, Henry tells her the real number and she parrots back and then looks up at him for confirmation. It’s a slow-moving process but the crew is still unloading the bags from the SUV anyway so they’re not about to miss their scheduled takeoff. It’s just, if Henry didn’t have such a tight grip on Claire’s hand, she’s sure the toddler would have fallen a few times already. It would have been faster to just carry her up and into the jet, but she’s quite stubborn and if Henry can walk up the steps, so can she. 

The jet's engines aren’t on so Daniel and Sophie don’t have to wear their noise-cancelling headphones like they did when they arrived in Kansas City a few weeks ago. Daniel delights in this change. He arches a little in her arms, looking at the plane and outside and turning his head as he listens to the familiar voice of Claire. She bops him on the nose with her knuckle as he looks at her and he giggles then buries his face in her clavicle. She looks behind her as Ted carries Sophie like an American football. Her deep belly laugh belays the jagged crying she had done almost the entire ride from Overland Park and across the border into Missouri. Their Kansas trip had been a lot for her and their littlest members of the family. But it had been necessary. Rebecca wasn’t about to tell Ted to ship Henry over on their usual British Airways flight and pick the boy up. Not only would the paperwork be a bit of a nightmare, but it would be different from Henry’s usual flights. She’s already prepared to deal with the little ones as Ted checks in on their oldest boy, making sure he’s okay as he processes the changes happening. He may be excited, but he’s still leaving everything behind to start something new and Ted knows a thing or two about that uphill battle.

“Ready?” She asks Ted, reaching the top of the stairs as he looks back at Michelle and gives her a wave.

“Let’s go home.”

—

She bites the inside of her cheek as she looks down at the absolute disaster of the bed, trying not to make a face or laugh as Sophie lovingly gnaws on Claire’s hand since Claire had stuck her hand in Sophie’s after she had fallen over from sitting up on the bed and was content to lay there and watch Rebecca finish getting ready. And Sophie, at seven months, loves to put anything in her hands, in her mouth. Her own sister’s hand was not above a good gnaw, apparently. 

“What are we doing?” Rebecca wonders as she secures the baby carrier to her chest. 

“Funny,” Claire giggles and a second later, she rolls into Sophie and puts her other hand on her head and forces the baby’s head away. “No, soap.” 

“Did she bite you?” Rebecca raises a brow as Sophie looks startled before she starts to cry. 

“Mummy, bite,” Claire holds up her hand where it’s a little pink. Sophie and Daniel are both cutting a tooth or two. Sophie’s are a little more prominent and Rebecca’s sure the two bottom ones will come in soon enough. But she gnaws on anything to help. They’ve started to freeze her pacifiers and the little baby's sigh of relief melts and breaks her heart at the same time. 

She takes a moment to breathe in and out slowly, having a look at Claire’s hand to make sure Sophie hadn’t broken the skin and presses a kiss to her eldest daughter’s hand. 

“Go see the boys and maybe Henry will help you wash it and then kiss it better if you ask him really nicely. Okay?”

Claire sniffles, despite not shedding a single tear, and she wonders how that little face gets Ted every single time. It’s gotta be the eyes, she thinks. The big, brown saucers that just pull you in just like his own. Different from Henry and Daniel’s hazel eyes. Henry has the darker hazel, almost bordering on brown whereas Daniel’s are lighter, a little greener. And, then, there’s Sophie with her green eyes that are carbon copies of her own. 

As Claire scoots off the bed, Rebecca leans over and picks up Sophie as she continues to cry, quieting as Rebecca presses her little ear to her chest and smooths a hand down her little back. The gurgled grumble is Sophie’s reluctant acceptance of getting on with the day and Rebecca’s at least grateful Paris, France is only an hour ahead of London, England rather than six hours behind like they were in Kansas a few weeks ago. 

Rebecca buckles Sophie into the baby carrier and presses a kiss to her dirty blonde curls before she checks one last time that she’s got everything she needs from the bedroom before they have the housekeeping staff come in and tidy up. 

Rebecca holds in the laugh as she finds the rest of her family waiting outside in the suite's sitting room. Henry and Claire sport the second kit of the United Kingdom’s national team. Henry sports Jamie Tartt’s number while Claire sports Isaac’s. She’s not sure if they were really thinking about how messy Claire gets while eating when they knew Team GB would be in the white kit this afternoon. Ted opts to wear one of the AFC Richmond white and red kits with her last name on the back. She herself carries one of the Lionesses' new kits made up by Nike after the players protested the all-white kits. She knows the Lionesses are different from Team GB, but she does have a special deal with Nike for the AFC Richmond kits and Team GB was an Adidas product. She’ll put it on after they walk to the stadium since using the baby carrier adds to the heat of the day and Sophie is already her own tiny portable heater. The new design of Team GB reminds her of last year’s AFC Richmond kits which is why Ted probably has his on with one alteration. Less to make a statement of Team GB copying their Premier League design and more to support both his boys that had made it onto the team after scouting and tryouts. It’s only Daniel and Sophie who are dressed in light cotton onesies with little shorts since they’re still learning how to regulate their body temperature. 

They’re all in Union Jack bucket hats and shout (quietly) happy birthday to her. And she can’t help the genuine laugh as she shakes her head at their antics. 

She tosses her kit top to Ted and tells him to finish packing the knapsack as she gathers all their passes to let them into the Olympics areas and, most importantly, the football field. 

—

Ted chuckles when they finally sit in the box suite and she can unstrap Sophie to sit in her lap. 

“Sophie’s got her own sorta soup bowl in mama’s collarbone,” he points out as he gestures to Rebecca’s chest. She can’t see anything, but she can feel the wet collarbone. Sophie decided she found something tastier than her own fingers or hand on the walk over from their hotel to the football stadium, she thinks. She extends her neck, the dip in her clavicle disappears for a moment and she can feel the baby’s slobber drip down towards the neck of her camisole. 

“Oh, Sophie,” Rebecca chuckles. 

Ted throws a burp rag between her and Sophie before the slobbery mess makes it to her camisole top even if she is going to exchange it before the boys’ match starts in a half an hour.

“Sophie’s spit soup. Coming to a clavicle near you,” Ted presses his lips together and brings his fingers to his mouth, making a kissing motion. 

Rebecca shakes her head. 

“Disgusting,” Rebecca announces and for a moment she’s taken back to when Jamie had watched Ted change Claire’s nappy when she was littler and realised that solid foods for babies are far more potent than grown-ups and shared his feelings on the matter.

At this moment, the rest of the team along with the Higgins family, Beard, Keeley, Roy, and Phoebe all descend, throwing confetti and singing happy birthday as Rebecca turns to greet them all. Keeley happily takes Sophie from Rebecca’s arms as she snuggles her poppet. Rebecca assures the baby that she’s just going to be gone to the loo for a moment to switch out her camisole for the Lionesses kit and make sure all the sparkly confetti doesn’t stick to her spit-covered collarbone.

It takes a moment, Sophie watching for her mother and then not finding her before she starts to cry. And, despite Keeley’s best, Beard takes Daniel from Ted’s arms and Ted takes Sophie from Keeley.

Keeley sighs, pouting a little, but she watches as Ted presses kisses to the baby’s temple and tells her that her mama will be right back. Eventually, it soothes Sophie, and Ted rubs his nose against her little one and she even gives him a belly laugh.

When the team does come out, Dani lifts Claire onto his shoulders as she yells Isaac’s name in the way she can, and it sounds more like sick than anything else. But he knows what section they’re in and both he and Jamie wink and salute the box of their found family and Isaac’s family members and friends in the section just below the box since the box had a seating capacity. But the field-level seats Rebecca had bought for any family member of the AFC Richmond family members who wanted to support the boys weren’t bad. Paul had even hugged Ted in thanks once he realised Rebecca probably wouldn’t welcome a hug from a stranger for the tickets she had purchased for Baz, Jeremy, Paul, and Mae. Mae hadn’t minded that the Crown and Anchor would be closed for a few days as they took in the elimination rounds, knowing Team GB never quite made it far in recent history.

She never could quite imagine spending her forty-fifth birthday with her AFC Richmond family, her four children, and her partner at the Olympics with a date night planned in a few hours. But here she is on the big screen in the stadium as she presses a kiss to her youngest son’s cheek as he faces her with a happy little grin as she holds him around the middle as he bounces up and down as he stands on her thighs as she waits for her half-time topped chips and surprise birthday biscuits.

The post-match press when the team won in a 2-1 victory featured Jamie Tartt, who had thanked his team for showing up and told the press the goal he had scored was for her birthday, and for him, but also for her birthday.

She wakes up not to the sound of a fussing baby but to the trail of his fingers against her skin. It was a light, barely there skim of his fingertips, but she felt it when he hit the dips and when she had to change angles. 

“Morning,” he whispers as he presses a kiss to her shoulder, hooking his chin over it as he watches her eyes flutter open. 

She stretches against him as he curls around her. Joints popping as she breathes in and out before curling back into him with a hum. 

He tightens his arm around her and the other continues its adventure up and down her arm, around her neck, and around her silk-covered hip before he brings it back to rest a little too innocently out of the way. 

“Morning,” she whispers back just as quietly as he does and it takes only a moment before she’s bored with her view of the entrance to the washroom and turns to face him. 

He’s sleep rumpled and his hair a mess but his dark eyes are alight with joy that seems to be contagious. He always looks at her like this in the morning if she’s still in bed when he wakes up, but today he has an extra case of joy and she can’t help but reciprocate the feeling. 

“Morning,” he repeats. 

“How long have you been up?” She deduces he’s at least checked on at least two, if not all, of their sleeping children. 

“Oh, uh, half an hour maybe?” He peeks over at the clock. “I was checking on Claire and Henry’s fort situation downstairs when Deborah said she’d take care of getting our kids breakfast and such. Was just sitting there in the kitchen with a cup of tea. Scared the bejesus outta me for a minute. Kinda grateful we don’t have an open concept house after that happened when she sneaks over.” 

Rebecca cards her fingers through Ted’s hair and he almost purrs like a cat as she does it again and again. 

“You’d think my mother would be the traditionalist and try to have you kicked out with Beard at the guest house for the night and have your best friend sleepover since it was postponed due to the Olympics.” 

Their annual barbecue was in a few weeks rather than today since the Olympics put a bit of a wrench into the Premier League schedule this year. Ted had mixed feelings. On one hand, he was grateful that it allowed them to watch Isaac and Jamie extend their skills. On the other hand, the team was still in Paris to get ready for the group stage elimination match for the GB Ladies team and couldn’t be here today in person. But Beard had already set something up with Keeley because there was no way their family was about to skip out on watching Ted and Rebecca’s ceremony. It also helped that they would be there in Paris considering the press was still up in their business and they’d rather have a low-key ceremony. And, the entire team missing a match when they went to the one before would colour the press suspicious.

“Nah,” Ted presses his lips to her neck and her fingers move from carding through his hair to holding the back of his head and giving his hair a slight tug as he moves his mouth against her delicate skin. “Think she knows fighting you on that subject would have led nowhere.” 

It’s not that either of them had a strong feeling about the superstition of seeing one another before the ceremony. It’s just she had seen Ted stick his hands in his pockets earlier that day when they landed in Lincolnshire. She knows it’s not the kind of anxiety to trigger a panic attack but this means a lot to him. To them, really. It might not be a religious ceremony but it was a written contract that was just as valid, minus the whole religious aspect. So, naturally, they both had a bit of anxiety about it. But they’d been honest and open since that day she proposed in his office for her truth bomb and she hadn’t wanted to spend the night away from Ted any more than he had wanted to be away from her. 

“You better not be attempting to give me a moustache burn on my neck a few hours before we have to pose for photos as we do this ceremony,” she tugs her away from her as she leans away ever so slightly. 

“So, a moustache burn elsewhere is okay is what I’m hearing.” 

“That’s,” she trails off as he lifts and presses a kiss to her lips, letting her melt into the soft pillow and sheets that make up their bed. And before she can protest that’s not what she meant, he makes a dramatic flip and tug of the sheet as she can’t help but laugh before he straddles her thighs and leans close before he promises he won’t leave a visible mark. 

She wants to tell him that he can’t know that because he hasn’t seen her dress, but his hands curl over her hip and underneath her lavender-coloured silk nightie and the protest morphs into a content sigh and a whisper of his name. 

—

The ceremony is at four o’clock to allow the county registrar assigned to their civil partnership documents to do his day job before he comes out to a farm in the middle of Lincolnshire. She had taken Ted here when they had first gotten together during their “weekends” that weren’t weekends when they were still exploring this thing between them without involving their friends (minus Beard who had quite literally been there since the beginning). It wasn’t nearly as vast as the field in Kansas but he loved it all the same. So, when she had proposed making this relationship official but didn’t want to involve the church or have a particularly grand ceremony or guest list, he proposed this location. Just them, their kids, and their two witnesses. So, they had filed their request for the civil ceremony in Lincolnshire after settling on August 1, 2024, four years to the date they made their relationship official. 

They were renting a house not far from Vine House Farm. They had arrived last night from Paris and would be staying until tomorrow morning when they’d fly back to Paris to finish out the Olympics and watch the men’s and women’s football teams advance, and then head to the Algarve region of Portugal with their kids, Keeley, and Deborah for a week. The latter two would be there so they could have some kid-free activities considering it was technically their honeymoon of sorts as Beard and Roy got training all sorted for the Premier League season that would start in September. Ted promised her a kid-free holiday next year when they were all a bit older since, at six months, seven months, two years old, and ten years old, half of them still relied on Rebecca for most of their sustenance. 

Beard was helping Deborah in the kitchen when Ted came out of the bedroom after helping Rebecca settle in for a tandem feed with Sophie and Daniel. 

“Good morning,” Ted chirps a little as he watches Beard at the stove with streaky bacon on a sheet pan as Deborah pours a cup of coffee.

“Hello, Ted,” Deborah greets as she slips the coffee over the island as Beard nods his greeting.

“Ooh, Rebecca’s got some stiff competition,” Ted hums after trying a sip of Deborah’s coffee she had made him.

Deborah preens, a cheery grin on her face as she picks up her teacup.

“Henry’s in the shower and Claire is just finishing up,” Deborah nods to the table where Claire is playing with her blueberries before she eats them. It's a new thing after Henry had told her to pretend she’s a dinosaur eating the leaves off of trees when she protested eating her broccoli a few days ago. So, she’s now a dinosaur every chance she gets. And, if it helps her eat, none of them mind.

“Morning, little bear,” Ted greets as he settles down in the seat across from Claire.

“Is’a boo-berry,” Claire points out helpfully as she holds up a small round fruit.

“It is a blueberry. Your favourite.”

“Fab-oh-it,” Claire parrots.

“Close enough,” Ted shrugs.

A few minutes later, Beard deposits a bowl of rolled oats and berries in front of Ted.

“Aww, man. No bacon? You fed my kids this and they ate it?” Ted frowns a little.

Beard laughs and shakes his head as he deposits his own plate of breakfast at the setting next to Ted’s. It has scrambled eggs, streaky bacon, and four golden pancakes with a berry syrup. And as Deborah sits down, hers is the same as Beard’s with smaller formed pancakes.

“You have the stomach for this?” Beard asks as he cuts his pancakes with a fork, looking at his best friend.

Ted checks in with himself, knowing his best friend is correct. He’s a little too nervous to eat more than a few bites. It's not nervous nerves, just… its finally here and he’d like to be officially partnered with Rebecca already kind of nerves. He thinks Beard would understand. Maybe even Deborah. Rebecca sure as heck shares the sentiment. Said as much when he helped her make sure Sophie was latched properly before she asked him to check in on Henry and Claire and maybe he could make her some buttered toast when she’s done feeding them.

“You’re right,” Ted confirms as he picks up the spoon and looks at Claire as she gives him a beaming smile full of blueberry skin. “Thank you, Coach.”

—

As the clock strikes two in the afternoon, Deborah declares it's time for Rebecca to start getting ready.

“Come on, Sausage. The hair and makeup team Keeley sent just got here,” Deborah leans over the back of the couch and finds Rebecca laying on the couch, Sophie half-asleep on her chest as Ted props himself up as he’s sandwiched between the back of the couch and Rebecca’s form, his fingers gently making their way through her hair.

Rebecca eyes her mother with a quick nod and then turns her eyes back to Ted.

He reads everything she can’t say aloud at the moment. Her heart was in her throat. He nods, understanding, and leans in and presses a kiss to her forehead that makes her close her eyes as she tries to keep the tears from welling and spilling over.

“Go on,” he whispers against her skin and lets her carefully sit up so she doesn’t disturb Sophie. “I’ll check on Henry and Claire and make sure they’re ready or send Claire to you. However you want to work that out.”

Daniel was already napping in their room, where she was headed.

“Hey,” he calls out, his head popping up from behind the couch and she turns back. “Can’t wait to call you my wife.”

Rebecca’s stomach flips at the term, a giggle sounding out before she can stop it.

“I love you,” she returns his sentiment in her own way before she follows her mother down the hallway.

She’s not sure where the makeup chair came from. Maybe the team brought it with them as she takes a seat and they all fawn for a moment over Sophie who still fluctuates between asleep and awake but is content to be in Rebecca’s arms despite the gaggle of people staring at her. But Rebecca’s had this treatment enough times in the past few years that she merely asks her mother to get the muslin blanket when they start bringing out the powdery things that may drop onto her chest and therefore her seven-month-old.

As it approaches three o’clock, Sophie refuses to settle in anyone’s arms that is not her mother. Deborah tries first, taking Sophie from her daughter as Rebecca steps into her new clothes for the afternoon.

Her civil ceremony “dress” is actually a top and a skirt. The top is a silk polka dot jacquard with a deep v-shape in the front and a plunging v-shape in the back. It's a loose-fitting top and she briefly thanks (silently) her mother for giving her the good tits gene, even as she continues to breastfeed since she’s not able to wear a bra with this particular top. And, she silently thanks Keeley, as she remembers her best friend's words as she had tried on this not-dress and told her that her tits would look more amazing in this than in her Mallorca photos, and Rebecca knows exactly how much Keeley enjoys the Mallorca photos.

Deborah helps Rebecca with the six buttons as Sophie starts crying in earnest as she’s so close to Rebecca, but her mother doesn’t grab her.

“Sophie, I’m going to need to stop crying for two minutes while mummy puts this skirt on and then I’ll take you,” Rebecca leans in and presses a kiss to Sophie’s cheek.

The high-waisted skirt allows Rebecca to show off her waist and hips. The silk satin and organdy fabric with the godet pleats are irregular and create a more voluminous look without being heavy. She has one layer of ivory silk satin, allowing for opacity as she requested four panels of the organdy godets instead of the two the skirt came with originally as it divided the three layers of organza in a dusty pink almost the colour of her biscuit boxes. The waistband has a fabric clip on the inside that allows easy on and off, which at the moment, seems to be a godsend as Sophie starts to cry even louder.

“Let me feed her and see if it helps,” Rebecca tells her mother. 

“She is particularly ornery today, Sausage,” Deborah notes as she hands the baby back over as Rebecca sits down in the makeup chair and moves her shoulders enough that the thin strip of silk that holds the two sides of the dress fall and lets the top slip off without wrinkling the fabric as she figures that’s the easiest way to adjust the neckline of her top and motions for Sophie back. 

“Well, that’ll be handy for Ted tonight,” Deborah comments with a wink as she nods to the top now at Rebecca’s waist.

“We think she’s cutting a tooth. I can actually feel it when she eats,” Rebecca ignores her mother’s observation as she looks down at Sophie as she holds her up, her little crocodile tears spill over her pink little cheeks, hiccuping to a stop as she realises she’s once again in her mother’s arms. Rebecca is thankful it’s just her, her mother, and Sophie now rather than the team of hair and makeup artists who left five minutes ago to let her step into the not-dress. 

Rather than close her eyes, like usual, Sophie’s familiar green eyes look up at her and Rebecca wonders if she looked like this when she was this little. 

“She’s got a bit of Ted in her overall face. The little roundness, but otherwise it’s like a spitting image, Sausage,” Deborah hums softly as she watches Rebecca wipe away Sophie’s tears. 

Rebecca hadn’t realised she had posed the question aloud. 

She lets out a long breath as Sophie doubles down on her latch, a little noisy hum as she closes her eyes and her fingers splay out against Rebecca’s breast. Shuffling her hold without displacing her daughter, Rebecca runs her hand through Sophie’s hair, curling her locks behind her ear. Sophie opens her eyes, her little fingernails scratching in response to Rebecca’s ministrations. And she can’t help but smile down at the baby with a small chuckle. 

“That was a look I’ve seen your father give me, pipsqueak,” Rebecca boops her knuckle against Sophie’s nose. “Whenever I cut lazing about time short, your father gives me that same pouty look.” 

She hears her mother’s iPhone camera shutter and looks up as Deborah Welton grins behind her phone. 

“Did you,” Rebecca pauses she looks down at herself. “Did you really take a photo of me with my breasts on display?”

“Don’t worry, Sausage. Between your arm and Sophie’s tiny head, you can hardly tell. Keeley demanded a photo of how you look.” 

“Since when do you and Keeley text?”

“When did I start texting Ted?” Deborah offers. “Darling, do you know what the fire and the tongue emojis are supposed to mean? Does that mean she likes it?”

“Jesus christ. Will you give me my phone for the FaceTime I’m about to receive? Will you also go and check if Daniel has been fed? I really don’t want the uneven feeling.”

Deborah hands Rebecca her phone just as she gets the request from Keeley and Rebecca waits until she hears the door shut before she accepts the call.

“Hi, babe. Holy shit you look amazing,” Keeley offers as a greeting.

“Thank you,” Rebecca says with a soft smile. “But the top looks better on than around my waist.”

“Eh, I think Ted and I will definitely have the same opinion in that the top looks better this way.”

Rebecca shakes her head.

“But, seriously, how are you?” Keeley asks as she gets closer to her phone.

Rebecca honestly ponders the question. It’s different this time around, Rebecca thinks as she tries not to go too far back into that part of her life. Doesn’t want to relive those moments even after going through them time and time again in therapy with Brigitte. It’s not just the whole marriage versus civil partnership difference either. She feels lighter. Happier. Loved. Cherished. It’s a little overwhelming but feels right.

“I’m good,” Rebecca says finally. “We had a bit of a lie in this morning and this afternoon while Sophie slept, we laid on his enormous couch and we just… talked.”

“I bet you did,” Keeley winks with a familiar chuckle.

Rebecca rolls her eyes.

“Anyway, just wanted to check in and tell you that you look fucking fit and the boys are already in the conference room with drinks and crisps and shit like it's a film. Roy’s even got the Kleenex ready.”

“I love you,” Rebecca tells Keeley honestly.

“Love you most, Rebecca Welton. Give Ted and my nieces and nephews kisses. Can’t wait to see you and your new ring tomorrow.”

“Yes, see you at lunch,” Rebecca confirms. They rented out Gabin to celebrate with the team when they’re back in Paris before Isaac and Jamie’s match that evening.

When Keeley hangs up, Rebecca finds her text thread with Ted and sends two purple heart emojis.

—

Beard FaceTimes Keeley long before the ceremony actually starts. Letting the team in on the adventures of Ted, Beard, Henry, and Claire as they’re the first to arrive at the farm and meet with the county registrar who quickly interviews Ted to verify all the answers on their application for the civil partnership match what he had written.

After passing with flying colours, Ted greets Trent Crimm, the only journalist with exclusive access to this event who just happened to bring his partner and their seven-year-old daughter around. His partner just so happens to be a photographer who was thrilled to finally be able to take photos of this sunflower field. When Ted had announced to Rebecca he found a way to hire an exclusive writer and photographer for this ceremony all in one fell swoop (he had a few tasks she had given him on the ceremony to-do list) she had been wary but she liked Trent and eventually accepted.

Ted rounded up Claire and Henry, the former is very excited to ride on a tractor pully wagon to get to the sunflower field. And, as he hoists Claire into his arms so she doesn’t get dirt all over her lavender cotton dress, the owner of the farm asked Claire if she wanted a daisy chain crown, presenting one as Claire looked at Ted.

“Mummy,” Claire says as the crown is put on her head and Ted takes out his phone to show her what it looks like considering there’s no mirror out here.

“Yep, just as cool as the one mama made you back in Kansas at grandma's house. Now, let's head to the field and wait for her. Okay?”

Claire sticks her hands in Ted’s navy suit jacket, her sign she’s ready to go. And, everyone but Trent Crimm’s partner and the country registrar heads to the tractor to take them to the sunflower field.

And, fifteen minutes later, when Rebecca, Deborah, Sophie, and Daniel show up, Trent’s partner introduces himself before he starts taking photos of Rebecca before she has to be interviewed, too. Luckily the clerk allows Sophie to tag along with Rebecca as Deborah gushes about the quaint little farm and no wonder Ted had selected the venue.

Rebecca passes the unofficial official test, too, and the owner of the farm comes back out from the barn and holds out the laurel wreath crown and the bouquet of sunflowers.

“Ready?” Deborah asks as she takes a final look at her daughter who takes a deep breath in and out as she makes the final adjustments to her wardrobe and accessories.

Rebecca nods. 

It feels like she’s been waiting forever for this moment.

—

Beard tells Ted to turn and face the sunflower field as Rebecca and the remaining guests (including the owner and her family) pull up in the tractor pully wagon going extra slow to not pick up the dust.

“Holy shit, bruv,” Ted can hear the tinny voice of Isaac through the FaceTime call and Ted has no doubt the camera is focused on Rebecca before Beard pats his shoulder and heads away.

The county clerk steps up to Ted a few minutes after Beard leaves, with a nod and small smile as Ted looks over at him before he focuses back on the sunflowers.

Deborah holds Daniel until she finds her seat with Henry and passes him to his older brother and takes the half-asleep Sophie from Rebecca’s arms as she sits down next to Claire.

Rebecca clears her throat, standing a few metres away from where Ted stands with his back to her.

“Son, I think she wants you to turn around,” the registrar prompts as Rebecca starts to laugh as Ted continues to look at the sunflowers.

When Ted turns, she watches as he catches her eye, his shoulders visibly relaxing, before he realises that he should take in the whole of her outfit. He takes in the curled hair half put up into a twisted bun as the other hangs loose and frames her shoulders. Her makeup looks just like it does every day at the training centre. But the dress, or what he thinks is a dress. And, now he knows why he, Beard, and Henry all have pale pink pocket squares and why Daniel wears a navy onesie and shorts with pale pink socks. Her top half is as white as the fluffy clouds above them but the skirt is as pink as his pocket square and the Air Jordan 1 Atmosphere Nikes that he found with his and Henry's suits rather than the original brown oxfords he had picked out.

“Holy smokes, Rebecca,” he whispers as he meets her halfway. “Sorta wish I could kiss you right now since I can’t think of any words.”

She laughs quietly, the breath she had been holding releasing as he offers his arm and helps her to stand in front of the registrar.

Sophie lasts all of two minutes in Deborah Welton’s arms and Ted chuckles, releasing her hands as he asks for a pause before they get to the rote repetition of the civil ceremony words. 

“Bear with,” Rebecca motions for a pause with her finger and she heads to where their audience slash witnesses sit, holding her arms out for Sophie as she cries and motions for Rebecca. 

“I help, mummy. No, I help,” Claire tells Rebecca as she leans into her grandmother’s side.

Rebecca squats down carefully, curling her fingers into Claire’s hair, and tucking a wayward lock behind her ear. 

“I know, little love. But I think your baby just wants mummy today and I can hold her while me and daddy finish this, okay?”

“I help,” Claire asks, her lips wobble and Rebecca silently hopes she’s not about to deal with two crying babies because that will also trigger Daniel even if he is perfectly content in Henry’s arms right now. 

“Yes, you’re a big help. And maybe after mummy feeds her again, you can help burp her. You’re very good at getting Sophie to do that. But let’s finish this little bit of paperwork for mummy and daddy and then we’ll do that, okay?”

Claire looks at her mother with a serious expression before nodding and releasing her arms from around the still whimpering Sophie. 

“Will you do mummy a favour and hold her flowers since I have to hold your sister?” Rebecca asks as she offers up her bouquet.

Claire sighs but accepts the responsibility and Deborah leans in and tells her that holding the bouquet is a very big deal and maybe she could finagle a second piece of cake out of mummy and daddy tonight.

Rebecca apologises again as she returns with Sophie in her arms, held in an almost football hold so Rebecca has at least one free arm for what she still has to do. She’s sure the baby’s nappy or bloomers are on display since the sage green dress required the bloomers, but she’s only seven months old and Rebecca had forgotten what angle she had been standing at with Ted.

As Ted repeats the scripted words, he knows the ring he takes out from his pocket is not as expensive or as fancy as a diamond flanked by diamonds that Keeley had suggested. It’s not as if he couldn’t afford that. But he offers the ring he had made for her despite the brief moment of hesitation of maybe he should have gone with Keeley’s suggestion. The platinum band holds a two-carat emerald cut peridot almost the shade of her eyes. He had been drawn to the almost jade grey colour of the loose stone at the jeweller Roy took him to after he had convened a Diamond Dogs session and wondered if anyone had any ideas on a jeweller who could have something ready by the end of July if not sooner a few days after Rebecca had proposed to him. The peridot was flanked by a total of six small, brilliant round diamonds, three on either side of the peridot. Roy’s jeweller had come through in the perfect period between their return from Kansas and the start of their Olympic adventure. And, for that, Ted’s ensured the man has a loyal customer for life.

“I’ve had some pretty stellar August firsts,” Ted tells her with a slight blush colouring his cheeks. “But I think August 1, 2024, is surely gonna stand out as my favourite.” 

He’s gentle as he takes her hand, making sure Sophie is still supported as she lays quietly in Rebecca’s arms now. He slides the band over her knuckle, twisting it so it sits comfortably on her finger that she usually wears her Mother’s Day bands. Today, though, they’re on her right ring finger for this ceremony. 

Ted hands Rebecca his band he had worn since that day in May when she’d offered it up. It had been polished today, of course. She offers the rote words through a grin as she carefully slips the band onto his finger.

“I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else but you,” she tells him honestly.

The registrar nods when Rebecca finishes slipping the band on Ted’s finger. The only thing they have to do is sign the document. But for all intents and purposes, they are now bound together as far as the United Kingdom is concerned.

And Ted takes the moment and wraps his arm around her waist, fingers and palm resting on her back. His hand was warm on her own skin. And as his thumb brushes her spine, he’s careful of Sophie and presses his lips against hers as he pulls her as close as he can get her. 

“I love you,” she whispers as she pulls away and she licks her lips as he grins at her.

“Love you, wife of mine.”

She can’t stop the fluttering feeling in her belly at the term again but this time, she gets to kiss him instead of walking away. And she laughs into his kiss as they hear the tinny whooping cheer of AFC Richmond as Beard gets closer and lets them hear the rest of the family celebrate them.

—

Two weeks before the term starts, Rebecca and Henry are outside Twickenham Primary Academy on the swing set on the grounds of the primary school. He’d had an outburst earlier in the week when they’d got back from Portugal and she had let Ted handle it. But it had reared its ugly head again two nights ago and Henry had snapped at Claire as she was following him around the garden asking him to play ball with her before Ted got home with dinner. He had thrown the squishy pink ball against the fence and told her that her ball was stupid and not even a real ball and kids only play football here anyway. 

Rebecca, who had been watching from the window in the kitchen, saw Claire plop down in the grass before she let out a sobbing cry, attempting to kick at Henry when he snapped out of his funk to try and apologise and hug her to stop her tears. But she had wanted nothing to do with her brother and Rebecca made her way out to the garden, picking Claire up as the two-year-old cried into Rebecca’s shoulder. 

“Henry,” Rebecca calls out his name as he refuses to look at her. She tries again. “Henry.” 

“Can you just send me to timeout already?” He mumbles. 

“Fine. Ten minutes on the stairs. Start your watch when your bum hits the step.” 

Ted had come home in the ten-minute timeframe, noticing Henry on the stairs, his head in his hands as he stared at himself in the full-length mirror.

“Bud?” Ted asks as he toes off his Nikes and locks the front door. 

“I got mad at Claire and threw her ball against the fence and called her stupid.” 

“How many minutes of timeout have you got left?” Ted asks as he looks at his watch. 

“Three,” Henry lets him know as he looks at his own watch. 

Ted hums. 

“You gonna have a good attitude or do you want to have a bath in three minutes and then come down and have dinner with us?” 

Henry shrugs. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear a shrug. You gotta use your words.” 

“Bath then dinner.” 

“Well, all right. When the timer beeps, you’re gonna go up and think about how to apologise while you have a bath then.” 

Henry nods. 

Ted looks him over for a minute before he sighs and heads further down the hall and into the kitchen where Rebecca sits in a kitchen chair a little way out between the two high chairs as she watches Daniel and Sophie try out peaches, potatoes, roast turkey, and blanched and shelled peas. Claire is on her lap, hiding her face as Rebecca rubs her back. 

“Hey,” Ted greets her as he sets the takeaway on the counter before he slips over to the high chairs and presses a kiss on Daniel and Sophie’s heads and then leans down to do the same to Claire before he leans over and presses his lips to her own. 

“Hi,” she whispers against him and reaches up to pull him back in for one more before she lets him stand up straight and move to the back of the chair so they can observe dinner time. 

“He really call her stupid?” Ted asks with a hint of shock as he hears Henry’s watch go off and his steps as he moves up the stairs.

“He called her ball stupid, not her.” 

“I mean, I’m not a fan of that word, but I’m a little relieved it was directed at the ball and not at her.” 

“She did try and kick him. So, she’ll get two minutes when she’s calmed down.” 

Ted rubs his forehead. 

“I dunno what to do. I tried to tell him to tell Doc K how he’s feeling, but I don’t want to break the confidence they got going to ask if he did or not.”

Doc K, or Doctor Kate, was Henry’s child psychologist Michelle had found in Wichita after they had realised Henry was being bullied and perhaps he’d benefit from seeing someone. They hadn’t found anyone in Richmond yet as Ted wants to wait to see if maybe the school has some recommendations or even some programs that will help ease the transition. 

She watches Sophie reach over to Daniel’s high chair and steal a piece of his roasted potato, mashing it in her fingers before she reaches out to him and he mouths at her fingers before they both giggle. And she’s pretty sure Daniel just giggled out potato onto the floor or at least between himself and the high chair. No wonder why meals now take forever, she thinks. 

She leans her head back for a moment, looking at Ted. 

“Do you trust me?” She asks, knowing the answer. 

“Of course,” he says without thinking. 

“Let me handle it?” She’s a little more tentative despite the words he just uttered. She tries not to interfere with how Michelle and Ted have a standing way of dealing with Henry’s outbursts. But in this case, she thinks she knows it has to do a little with her and she wants to nip it before it even becomes a bud. 

“Okay,” he nods. “Let me know if you need help.” 

“Of course,” she echoes. 

And she had put her plan into motion that night. The plan required Ted to watch Daniel and Sophie and Claire while she took Henry for the afternoon two days later. 

“I’m sorry, Rebecca,” Henry says again, breaking the silence that’s settled between them as Rebecca thinks about two days ago. 

“I know you are, Henry. But I’m not the one you need to apologise to for your actions.” 

Henry scuffs the toe of his old Nikes on the concrete.

“I tried. She started crying and ran to Dad and Dad told me to let her have a few minutes.” 

“Henry, she’s two. She doesn’t understand words like you do. You scared her.”

Henry wiggles on the swing. 

“Henry, can I ask you something?” Rebecca watches as he begins to sway since he can’t touch the ground. 

He looks over at her. 

“When I told you to get your things today, you flinched,” Rebecca tells him her observation. “Did… Did you think I was going to send you back to your mum?”

Henry refuses to look at her and she thinks she got it right. 

“Henry, will you please look at me?” She leans closer to him, her head tilting. 

He has tears in his eyes when he does and it makes her take a deep breath before she gets up from her swing to hold onto his and squat in front of him, her hand reaching out for his own that sits folded in his lap. 

“I don’t know who told you that I would ever send you back to your mum on a whim. I hate to tell you this, but you’re sort of stuck with me, Henry,” she tilts her head as she gives him a soft smile. “And not just because your dad can call me his wife or your mum gave us primary custody so you can grow up with your brother and sisters.” 

She feels as he takes her hand, his fingers touching the band that has his and Claire’s birthstones, then her ring Ted had given her almost two weeks ago, and then the ring with Sophie and Daniel’s birthstone. Each of them the physical symbol of the most important people in her life. 

“You may not be my kid the way Claire and Sophie and Daniel are where we share DNA, but I think that’s okay. You know why?”

He shakes his head. 

“Because we chose each other. I choose to love you like you’re my own kid. To me, you’re no different from your little brother and sisters even though Michelle is your mum. It’s an honour and a privilege to be loved by you, Henry. I hope you know that. I know, I know I’m not the best at physical affection or feelings, like you Americans, but I am trying.” 

“You’re not gonna send me away when I make you mad?” Henry whispers. 

“No, my sweet boy. I don’t plan on sending you away ever. Okay?” 

“Even if you get real mad?”

“Even then.” 

“Promise?”

Rebecca holds out her pinkie and nods her chin to his hand. 

“Pinkie promise.” 

He falls from the swing and into her arms. And she releases a breath as he hugs her tight, crying into her coat. 

“I love you, Henry Lasso,” Rebecca whispers as she presses a kiss to his temple. 

“Love you, too, mum,” he tells her. 

She hugs him back tightly, another kiss to her temple as he giggles. 

“You want to know why I brought you here?” She asks him as he pulls back and wipes at his eyes with his jumper. 

“Here, don’t use your jumper since it is merino wool,” she pulls out a Kleenex pack from her purse that sits on the concrete near her swing and hands it to him. 

He nods. 

“I figured you’re also a little nervous about starting at a new school. So, I brought some friends along to help you navigate the ins and outs of the term before the term begins. They’ll make a right proper Year Five pupil out of you yet.” 

She texts Roy they’re ready and it’s a few minutes later that Miss Bowen, Nora, Shannon, and Phoebe all make their way over. 

“Thank you,” Rebecca mouths from her seat on her swing to Roy and Miss Bowen as Henry greets Nora, Shannon, and Phoebe with a hug each. 

Roy sits on the swing Henry abandoned, Miss Bowen taking the one on the other side of Rebecca. 

Shannon uses her football as a seat. Henry sitting next to her on the concrete. Phoebe comes around to drop her bag off with Roy as Nora clears her throat and asks Henry if he knows what taking a piss means. 

“Oh, fuck,” she whispers to herself as Nora begins her lesson on how to survive primary school as a weird kid with the first step knowing what are insults and what isn’t. 

“That’s a bad word, Aunt Rebecca,” Phoebe whispers as she holds out her palm. 

Rebecca raises a brow at the new term as she hands over a tenner. 

“Trying it out,” Phoebe shrugs. “Henry calls Uncle Roy and Aunt Keeley, aunt and uncle.” 

“Sound logic,” Rebecca nods. “Does that give me a bank to draw down then?”

“Sound logic,” Phoebe parrots as she opens up her Uncle Roy Swears Like A Sailor notebook, writing Rebecca’s name at the top of the page and today's date in the very back with one quid marked as a withdrawal and a tenner marked as payment before she goes and sits next to Henry to learn new things about primary school. 

—

The first day of term starts early for them. Sort of. She doesn’t know what wakes her but something does and Ted’s side of the bed is warm, but it’s as if he’s been missing for longer than it takes to give either baby a bottle which tends to be the reason he’s not in bed at 2:24 in the morning. Turning towards the baby monitor, she looks and sees both Daniel and Sophie sleeping peacefully. She listens and can’t hear him in Claire or Henry’s bedroom which leaves one place. And as she gets up, she thinks about moving to shrug on her dressing gown but it’s 2:24 AM and it’s already going to be a long day.

She slips behind him as he stands at the kitchen sink, looking out at the garden. Her arms wrap around his waist and a hand slips under his KC t-shirt as she perches her chin on his shoulder. 

“It’s two thirty in the morning, love,” she whispers as she presses a kiss to his neck. 

He tilts his head and hums as he leans into her hold. 

“First day of school jitters, I guess. I just. I want him to have a good time and his accent ain’t as midwestern as mine but it sure isn’t y’all’s English. And, I know you and your trusty sidekicks have shown him the ins and outs of school here but I just can’t help it. Shoot, when Claire goes into preschool.” 

“Reception,” Rebecca corrects. 

“Reception,” Ted tries. “I think I’m gonna be the same mess. So, you gonna find me down here every year at this time I suppose.”

“Perhaps,” she shrugs and he can feel it. She doesn’t try to dissuade him from having feelings about something he has zero control over. It’s not rational, he knows, but he worries. Like every parent. Parenting is allowed some moments of chaos and non-logic. 

“What are you doing up?” He asks after he exhales a long, slow breath. 

She holds him tighter in response, not using words at the moment. Her hand moves under his T-shirt, that soft, soothing motion she uses on Claire and Sophie and Daniel to lure them into dreamland. She’s quite good at it, too, she thinks, particularly when she hums. 

“I know what you’re doing,” he tells her as she meets his eyes in their reflection in the windowpane. 

“Do you?” She continues her ministrations and hums the melody of can’t help falling in love with you. She blames Keeley for that one when she realised the video Beard sent her with them swaying together in the sunflower field was a stolen moment and not the first dance. Keeley had taken it upon herself to make room between the tables at Gabin and use her iPhone to play the sappiest of love songs on shuffle for the team to see them dance. 

“Mmh,” he sounds out, a hint of exhaustion in his tone. 

“Come to bed, Ted,” she whispers as she presses another kiss to his neck before she releases him and steps away. 

It gives her a thrill that his body is in tune with her and it almost unconsciously follows as she pulls away. 

“That rhymed,” he notes as he turns to face her. 

“It did, yes. Come to bed.” 

“Mm’not tired.” 

“You are.” 

“Nah.” 

“Fine,” she steps closer and licks her lips before her hand finds his hip and she presses her hip into his. “Come to bed.”

He closes his eyes and counts to three. 

“You know, you’d make a real good siren. Like in The Odyssey?”

“I know the epic, Ted.” 

“Right, right.” 

He opens his eyes slowly, carefully, as if he’s been imagining her. 

“If you’re going to stay here will you at least defrost what I pumped in the afternoon last week? Keeley’s going to need it if she’s going to watch the little ones when we pick Henry up.” 

She presses a kiss to his cheek and releases him, her hips sway with only a hint of intent as she escapes the kitchen and goes back to bed. 

If he scrambles through the freezer for the requested milk, shoving it in the refrigerator, and quietly makes his way upstairs before he locks the bedroom door and sheds his t-shirt to find her shucking off her silk camisole, well, it’s a good first start to the new term in his book. 

—

Rebecca wakes at six in the morning, escaping the arm Ted’s thrown around her waist as she searches for her sleep shorts he’d flung near the washroom as she makes her way there before she goes to check on Claire and start their morning routine. 

Claire’s cuddly at this hour. A gentle good morning, my little love , and Claire requests to be held as they make their way downstairs instead of telling her that she will navigate the stairs all by herself like every other hour of the day. 

“We have a repeat of daddy’s interview on Sky Sports , Peppa , or Paw Patrol . Or whatever Henry and Nora left it on the other night,” she tells Claire as she pulls up the guide. “Taskmaster.” 

“Daddy,” Claire quietly declares as she settles in Rebecca’s lap, head on her chest as Rebecca changes it from Channel 4 to Sky Sports . 

She doesn’t fast forward through the recap of the Premier League fixture as the analysts make their predictions of the matches that begin the week after next. Instead, she zones in and out as she runs her fingers through Claire’s hair and thinks about how many various reactions this house can go through on Henry’s first day. 

She’s handled Ted’s for the most part. The boys will distract him with gym and training for their opening match against Arsenal and then she’ll ask him to have a nap with Sophie and Daniel while she and Higgins entertain a few requests for sponsorship offers and Keeley has a fashion show with Claire to test the fabric of the new merchandise they’re planning on bringing in mid-season. 

Claire, though, is going to have a meltdown at some point during the day. Whether it be here at home, as they bring Henry to the grounds, or when they reach Nelson Road, it’s all up in the air. 

She holds Claire a little bit tighter at the thought. She loves Henry and doesn’t quite know where to put all the big feelings. Even when Henry got mad and threw her ball, she had only spent a day and a half after the incident of being scared of her brother before she had gone into his room, climbed up in bed next to him, and then pinned him in place for two hours when Rebecca had told her she needed to go have a nap before her father got home and found she didn’t have a nap that day. Henry learned quickly that a sleeping two-year-old is next to impossible to move by oneself. 

Her phone beeps a few minutes after Ted’s interview is over and Rebecca stops the alarm before she presses a kiss to Claire’s head. 

“You want to help your dad wake your brother?” She asks. 

She receives an interested hum in reply. 

—

They each have a tell. Henry’s sign of anxiousness appears to manifest as a restless leg as he slurps the milk in his cereal bowl as she winces at the sound. She loathes slurping. And she has to close her eyes as Claire joins in, louder than Henry by default since she hasn’t quite grasped the concept of an inside voice. Claire spills her bowl, though, milk sloshing over and onto the place mat and down her dress and leggings. 

“Uh oh,” she whispers. 

Rebecca waits for her name to be called as she spoons another helping of rice cereal into Daniel’s mouth as she sits between the high chairs. 

“Daddy,” Claire yells instead and Rebecca relaxes her shoulders, a slight sigh of relief coming out. 

Ted pops out of nowhere, slipping into the kitchen in an olive green jumper and black trousers. 

“Yeah, bear?”

“I spill,” Claire attempts to stand, but Henry shakes his head and she remains seated.

Ted comes closer, absently running a hand across her back as he passes her to reach Claire. 

“That you did. Let’s get you cleaned up. Hey, Hen, can you maybe help clean up here while Rebecca wrangles the little rascals?”

“Okay,” Henry gathers his bowl and Claire’s and heads to the sink.

Rebecca watches him out of the corner of her eye as she continues to alternate between Sophie and Daniel as they try the new rice cereal as they transition to more solid foods. Like his father, he’s better when he’s able to focus on a task. And, he quietly cleans up the mess his sister has made. Even throwing the milk-soaked place mat into the washer for when Mina comes along this afternoon.

“You have all your things packed?” Rebecca asks as Sophie refuses to open her mouth.

“Yeah,” Henry nods and he shuffles a little closer to her chair.

“Nervous?” Rebecca eyes him as Daniel hums and bites the spoon as he gets too enthusiastic in his chomping on his sister’s spoonful before he spits the spoonful out. A sure sign they've both had enough.

Henry shrugs his shoulders.

Rebecca nods in understanding.

“Want to get the flannel for me so I can clean them up while your dad supervises the tiny fashionista?” Rebecca asks.

Henry gives her a nervous laugh at her description of Claire and moves to the drawer to get two of the baby flannels and runs them under the warm water before he returns.

“Come on bear, we gotta walk brother to school, Ted nods to the door as they come down in a new outfit just as mismatched as the one before. But it’s better to give in and let her dress herself they’ve found. It’s why Rebecca’s office in the very back room now has its own collection of tiny Claire clothes in the closet since she doesn’t understand seasons as long as she can wear “ lello .”

Rebecca hands Ted the second baby carrier as Henry holds Sophie who seems to be fascinated by the academy crest on Henry’s purple jumper as Claire takes the stairs one by one.

The meltdown happens as soon as Henry puts his shoes on. Sophie is strapped to Ted and Daniel in the baby carrier strapped to her chest, quietly humming on the end of his pacifier. 

There’s a moment where she wants to tell Ted and Henry to go and she’ll deal with Claire. But Henry steps up, shoe on but not laced, and he lays down on the floor next to her, reaching out for her hand.

“What if I let you wear my extra jumper and you can do Miss Bowen’s worksheets I didn’t finish and you can pretend you’re going to school, too. But you gotta do it in mum’s office, and it has to be at the table and you gotta ask Higgins for a chair because at school you don’t get comfy chairs like in mum’s office.” 

He looks and sounds so much like Ted in this moment of intervening comfort that she looks down at Daniel, pressing a kiss to his dark hair before he tilts his face up, dropping his pacifier somewhere between his body and hers in the carrier and opens his mouth to slobber her cheek and chin in the way only babies who think everything is a boob can make a rooting instinct feel like a (wet) kiss. Henry reminds her of Ted and how he stayed with her on the washroom floors in the early days of being pregnant with Daniel. The one time before Claire came and she had a panic attack while he was out with Beard and he found her lying in Claire’s closet with a tiny onesie asking him if they were really ready to do this, if she was fit to be a parent. It’s too much and yet such a welcome sight that she doesn’t know what to do with all these feelings. So, she just listens as Claire’s wobbly voice protests Henry leaving but yes she wants his jumper and she also wants mummy and daddy and her babies and Henny to stay here forever. 

Henry tells her to wait a sec and grabs his jumper and sticks it on Claire. It’s far too big but so is her happy little grin as she declares them twins like her babies and Rebecca hears Ted chuckle at that, bringing her back to the present, as he reminds Henry they’ve gotta scoot their boots. 

He turns from locking up and she kisses him. Quick and sudden and far too short, but they were going to be late. 

She opens her mouth to tell him he’s done good. He’s raised his son right. He should be proud of the boy he’s raised. And she loves him more now, at this moment, than she thought she had felt a month ago in a sunflower field when they became official in the eyes of the government. But nothing comes out. Words can’t really paint the picture. 

“I know,” Ted nods, his hand reaches up and cups her cheek, thumb brushing her cheekbone. 

She releases a breath. Her hand comes up to capture his and she entwines their fingers. 

“Who's ready for the first day of term?” He says in his coach's voice, loud and proud they’ve made it this far. 

Henry and Claire both shout me and Rebecca can’t help the giggle as Ted corrals Henry to hold Claire’s hand and stick close to the pavement now as he takes the outside end as he continues to hold Rebecca’s hand as they all head to the first day of primary school.

Ted’s mother passes the day Keeley comes into her office and announces she’s expecting. Ted gets exactly four hours and twenty-six minutes of being over the moon for Keeley and Roy when an unknown number with the Overland Park area code calls his phone, asking Theodore Lasso to call the sheriff’s office back while he’s out on the pitch with the team. 

He doesn’t think too much of it since in Overland Park, everybody knows everybody and Ted’s been put down for a number of character references. So, he calls the number back as Beard logs into the computer to record some training stats for their review before the Premier League break that Ted thinks is supposed to substitute for some kind of December break before the holidays actually begin. 

Beard watches Ted’s jovial chat turn a bit sombre and without any confirmation, Beard stands and taps Roy to go get Rebecca. And for once there’s no preface of a curse and reminder that he’s not Rebecca’s minder. 

“Ted? Ted.”

Her voice sounds far away, almost through a fog horn. And it's like Liverpool all over again as her face comes into focus, hovering above his own.

“It's okay,” she moves her hand from his shoulder, down his arm. “It's okay. Try to breathe.” 

“I can't. I don't…”

“My love,” Rebecca grabs his phone from his hand that’s sort of just dangling, the screen black, and tosses it onto the desk. His hand, now free, grabs at hers blindly.

“I don’t know what's going on. I'm... I'm sorry.”

“It's okay. You're having a panic attack. Just breathe. Match me, Ted. Come on.”

She takes his other hand, pressing it to her chest as she leans into his at an awkward angle. But it's more about his comfort than hers at the moment.

His breath catches. Almost a gulp, and then he returns to the breathing technique Sharon Fieldstone taught him.

“All right. There we go. In and out.”

She hears the shuddering of his breath and then she’s being crushed into his arms and she had to sit in his lap and he almost topples his chair before she can steady the both of them. And he takes a moment, whispering it against her cheek as she leans into him.

“Shit,” she whispers and she’s sure he doesn’t hear it.

She mouths mum to Beard over Ted’s head as he drops his head and sinks into her and starts to cry against her frame.

Beard nods, taking Roy’s arm as they stand awkwardly on the outskirts of the manager’s office before Beard pulls them out to the dressing room and shuts the door so it's just Ted and Rebecca.

She doesn't say much. Her hand run through his hair as he alternates between a heaving sob and panicked breaths to a stilled silence as he continues to hold one of her hands.

“I should call Michelle. She should hear it,” he trails off as he finally catches up to his racing thoughts. “She should hear it from me.” 

“Okay,” Rebecca nods, her thumb still brushing back and forth against the back of his hand as he almost crushes one. 

“I gotta pick up Henry. I should do that before I call Michelle. Or maybe I should call her first? What time is it?”

“Ted, breathe. You have to breathe. I can pick up Henry and you can call Michelle. We’ll figure it out. But, first, I need to get you home and then it’ll be time to pick up Henry anyway.”

—

She wrings her hands as she stands with the parents and childminders congregating at the entrance of Twickenham Primary. She can feel the stares of the others and it feels like they know why she’s here, alone, when it’s Ted or Beard picking Henry up because she has meetings until after six today. The rational side of her mind tries to tell her that she’s a celebrity of sorts so that’s why they’re staring. She half wishes that Claire or Daniel or Sophie were with her so she’d at least be able to do something with her hands or occupy her mind listening to Claire babble or keep her hair out of Daniel’s mouth or watch Sophie stare at people as they try to make her smile when they make faces. But she’s alone because Ted needed them more than her. Needed to keep himself occupied until the news sank in tonight when she would no doubt have to coax him into bed or end up with her head in his lap on the couch as he stared at the telly without taking anything in. 

Henry doesn't seem to mind the change in who picks him up, but she senses that he knows something is up when he notices she's driving herself and it's not the Rolls-Royce that she will pick him up in on Tuesdays when she has to stay late at the club and he has tutoring.

For Claire, Ted’s mother was not a monumental architect in her life. The passing won’t really register until she’s older and asks about her other grandparents since she is just down to a Nana whom she sees on a regular basis and misses when she’s gone. 

For Henry, Ted’s mother was a tangible person having grown up near her and having the memories. He cries, a little confused as to why and what happened and if mom knows and what happens next. And Ted sounds like himself as he walks Henry through what happens when a person dies. What he has to do now and what has to happen eventually. Henry looks confused and pokes at his snack, but he eats after noticing Claire copying him. And, Rebecca's thankful for the gesture as she watches Ted and finds her mother's eyes across the kitchen.

Deborah stays to make dinner. Something light but sustaining, leaving a plate made for Ted as he occupies himself with feeding Sophie and Daniel over feeding himself, claiming he's not hungry.

He helps Henry with his schoolwork and does bath time one by one. He asks her, as they exchange Daniel for Sophie during bath time, if she minds if he gives them a bottle tonight. He knows the early morning and nighttime feed are the two she hasn't dropped yet. She nods and tells him that she'll get her mum to take Daniel and she'll start pumping if he can wrangle Claire and Sophie with Henry's help.

She's half tempted to listen to the baby monitor, see if he talks to his little secret keepers, but she doesn't. Instead, she changes into joggers and his KC Public Library crew neck jumper and heads downstairs to where her mother is in the kitchen, making shepherd pie with a cheesy top since she's still not sure what Ted's comfort food is but she hasn't run into anyone who despises her pie.

"He'll be okay," Deborah lets her know as she watches the potatoes boil in the hot water.

"You can't know that. His mum died. His only family member he had," Rebecca trails off.

"He has you and your children, Rebecca. You're his family, too."

Rebecca bites her lip.

"Sophie and Daniel have two photos with her. Claire has maybe five. How. What are we supposed to tell them?"

"You and Ted will figure it out. I promise."

Rebecca huffs, wiping at the tears that fall without her permission.

"Come here," Deborah drops the hand strainer on the countertop and opens her arms up for her daughter.

“I have a lot of time to make up for, Sausage. I know I can’t change the past, but I can be better for my grandchildren,” Deborah whispers as Rebecca clings to her. “Plus, Tish told me I would love a very long, very fulfilled life, and then be reincarnated into a monarch butterfly. I’ve always wanted to go to Mexico.” 

Rebecca can’t help the bubble of laughter, quietly releasing it as she loosens her hug. 

“I love you,” she whispers to her mother for the first time in what feels like forever. 

“I love you, too, my sweet girl.”

—

On a chilly Saturday in the middle of January, almost a month after Ted’s mother passed, in an already crowded church, with Ted sitting in the front pew beside Rebecca, psyching himself up for the eulogy, the creak of the door has him turning to watch twenty-five footballers walk into the church. Twenty-five footballers who were supposed to have played West Ham today. Followed closely by Leslie and Julie Higgins, Roy Kent, and Keeley Jones. 

Each of them takes the time to salute Ted the way they saw him enter the church for Paul Welton’s funeral not that long ago. 

Sophie’s asleep in Deborah’s arms at the far end of their pew. Claire blinks like she’s about to follow suit as she leans against Henry. Henry waves, for a moment, he forgets why they’re all here. His smile lights up as he finds his best mate of the club, Colin, trailing in next to Isaac. Deborah gives Ted a soft, almost knowing smile as he looks at her again. 

Ted looks over at Rebecca, watching as she fiddles with Daniel’s sock as he tries to take it off like he’s successfully done with his other foot. He knows how much winning against West Ham means each time they’ve done it. But, this, this is a deliberate withdrawal and forfeiture of points. 

It’s only when the door creaks again, signalling all the boys have made it into the church, does she turn towards him. 

“They love you,” Rebecca whispers as he wraps his hand around hers for a moment before he stands up to deliver a speech about biological and found families. “And, you’re worth it.”

“Uh, oh. Here comes trouble,” Ted leans back in his chair in his office when Rebecca walks in and shuts the door.

“I can walk back out if you wish,” Rebecca arches her brow and he’s amused that she’s amused the arch no longer phases him like it once did. 

“Nope,” he shakes his head and pats the edge of his desk.

She smiles at him, one of her fond ones that makes her nose scrunch that he sees in each of their kids, as she walks from the closed door to his desk. Even Henry has adopted the mannerism when he giggles which Rebecca draws out quite frequently. 

She leans against the desk, slowly sliding back so she sits comfortably on the otherwise uncomfortable desk, and he scoots closer in his rolling desk chair. 

“Prolly not gonna win the whole fuckin’ thing this year,” he tells her as he reaches out his hand. 

“You know, I once heard someone say that they don’t really concern themselves too much with wins and losses,” she hums as she turns her hand over as he reaches out for her hand.

“Well, I reckon that knob head hadn’t ever won the whole fuckin’ thing before.” 

She shakes her head as she chuckles. She knows he still doesn’t care since all he really loves to do is coach. Likes to teach the boys to be the best versions of themselves on and off the pitch. 

He’s different from the first time they did this. So is she. And, yet, he still looks at her like she hangs the moon and the stars and the sun in the sky each morning and night. She doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of the life lessons he’s walked through with her over the past handful of years.

She tilts her head, a little smile gracing her gestures before she kicks out her leg and then settles it. 

“I love you,” she shrugs. 

He takes a moment, a little purse of his lips. He thinks about stroking his moustache but then thinks differently. 

“That’s it?” He asks with a hint of scepticism. 

“I fucking take it back. Wanker,” she sighs and this time kicks at his chair as he rolls out of the way with a chuckle. 

“Nah, no takesies backsies. You’re stuck with me for life, little wife.”

“I am hardly little, Ted.”

“Au contraire,” Ted butchers the French saying and can’t even hear how wrong he makes it sound, sort of like Zoreaux’s name.

She rolls her eyes and stands just as he does. And he wraps an arm around her waist.

“Love you, too, mama bear.”

“You and your nicknames.”

“You love ‘em,” he counters as he leans in and rubs her nose against hers. Drawing out a little scrunch and a giggle.

“I do not.”

He kisses her nose, then her forehead, and each of her cheeks. And he leans back, watching her pout before he presses his lips to her own.

She hums as he pulls away, opening her eyes slowly. Her left hand cupping his cheek and she pats the side of his face as he blinks.

“Henry has chess club until seven and my mum is already watching the babies. You want to go to the Crown and Anchor for dinner with Beard and his new girlfriend?” She asks.

“Pretty sure if Claire heard you lumping her in as a baby, she’d riot.”

“Lucky for us, she’s not here right now despite her best efforts this morning.”

He nods.

“Meet us down here then?” Ted asks as he lets go of her waist and sits back down in his desk chair.

She nods and begins to back out of the manager’s office the way she came in. And he watches her leave, his brow furrowing as she pauses when she opens the door and turns back around.

“Oh, umm, Keeley said yes to this Oprah, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle interview for us on sports and mental health and family dynamics, so we’ll have to go to the Santa Barbara area once the season is over. They’d like to do an interview and a magazine spread with you and me and the kids with our usual terms applying for interviews with the little ones,” she raps on the door with her knuckles, laughing as she leaves while he’s still processing. 

“Rebecca!” He shouts as he gets up from his chair, stumbling a moment before he follows her, and sees her breezing up the stairs to her office, giving him a wink.