Always Us

minor adjustments

Sienna and Jackson hovered nervously at the front door, watching their dad's black Escalade pull up the driveway.

"Wait until they come inside," Laura warned softly when she noticed her granddaughter trying to inch forward over the doorframe.

"I wanna see," the eight year old whined.

"You'll be seeing them plenty, don't worry," Grace chuckled.

Next to his sister, Jackson was a bit more hesitant. All of this was new to him. Just a couple days ago, his parents had, all of a sudden, left in the middle of the night. He knew because his dad had come into his room and whispered into his ear that he loved him. When he woke up the next morning, his parents were still gone, but both of his grandmas were in the kitchen making pancakes and waffles and whatever else he and his sister wanted.

Now they were back.

Spencer came out of the car first, smiling and waving at his kids. His daddy looked tired, but it calmed Jackson's nerves to see him. The real relief came though when he spotted his mom.

"What about now?" Sienna threw her head over to shoulder, eyes pleading with her grandmas.

"They're coming, mama. Be patient."

Jackson's eyes bugged out of his head when his dad finally came around the back of the car with not one, but two, carseats. One in each hand.

"Two babies," he mumbled, looking up at his sister to check that she was seeing the same thing he was.

"Yeah, Jaxie. They're called twins," Sienna explained for the millionth time. "Like mommy and uncle Jordan."

But his mom and uncle Jordan were full grown adults, who lived in their own houses, and had their own lives. This wasn't making sense.

"Hi baby," Olivia sang, coming in behind Spencer.

Jackson's arms shot straight up.

"Mommy, can't pick you up right now," she frowned, leaning down to rub her hand on his back.

He tried again, but she just continued to look down sadly.

"Come see," she cupped her hand behind his head, guiding him down the hall.

Ahead of them, Sienna walked backwards in front of Spencer while she hounded him with questions. "What are their names?"

"This is Caleb," he set down one carseat, then the other, "and this is Gianna."

Jackson jumped onto the couch, examining his two new siblings from afar. He wasn't sure how he felt about them just yet.

"Can I hold them? Wait no, can I hold both of them at the same time?"

"After they wake up and your mom feeds them, you can hold one at a time."

"Gianna looks just like me," Sienna stuck her head into her sister's carseat.

The eldest daughter was Olivia's clone, but by the looks of it, Spencer's genes had made a little more effort with Gianna.

"You two look like sisters," Spencer assured her.

While Sienna kept spitting off questions, Jackson took in his surroundings. On one side of the room, his grandmas were fussing over his mom, who was walking away from them with her hands over her ears. When she dropped on the couch, they gave up and went after his dad. Already losing his patience with Sienna's voice getting louder and louder, he snapped at them. Then quickly said sorry and asked Sienna to calm down.

Everything was moving fast.

His mom was already falling asleep. His new siblings didn't even know how to open their eyes and say hi like normal people, and they kind of looked like aliens. Sienna was no longer anywhere to be found. And now, one of his grandmas was guiding his dad to the table while the other brought him leftovers from breakfast. It was like his parents had become the kids, and grandma Laura and Grace were the mommy and daddy.