Little Ones [A Vikklan, Poofless and Merome Fanfiction]

↞Chapter 22↠

Lachlan's P.O.V.

Vikk posed an interesting question and after a few minutes of thinking it over and thinking about Ella, what it would do for her and for me, I accepted. The specifics weren't thought about then because all I needed to know was that I had a roof over my head, my daughter was sleeping soundly and Vikk was by my side, ready to fight whatever was thrown at us.

Holding both Oliver and Annabel for the first time was an amazing experience. Looking down at them and knowing that these were my best friends children was so special to me and- perhaps- it was more special than the first time I held Ella. Both loved me just as they loved their dad and within a few weeks both knew me by sight and sound, falling asleep in my arms and allowing me to comfort them just as they would Vikk. Ella accepted Vikk a little less readily but I supposed it was because she didn't have her hearing to rely on. If someone picked her up, she wouldn't know who it was until she saw their face, but she knew my touch. However, after a month, we had sort of slotted into this messy, confusing family dynamic that I loved.

After that first month I had no thoughts of going back to Australia. Sure all of my belongings were still in my house, as were most of Ella's, but I didn't care about any of it. I could sell that house at a profit, fully furnished, and get someone to ship over some of my clothes, work stuff, mementos, photographs and Ella's stuff.

I was already in the process of switching doctors, recording on Vikk's set-up when I had the time, and I had seen Vikk looking at larger houses on the market- some with as many as 5 bedrooms- when he thought I wasn't looking. I didn't say anything about it because honestly, I thought it was a good idea. Raising three kids in a two bedroom flat was easy but our current situation, the twins in with Vikk and Ella in with me, worked for now.

My eyes were sliding shut, Ella asleep in my arms, when Vikk sat down beside me and picked her up. I startled but quickly sank back into the couch as he whispered that he was just putting her in her cot upstairs, the baby monitor was sitting on the table next to me. He came back down a couple of minutes later to beautiful, peaceful silence. All the kids were asleep, but I honestly wasn't sure how long it was going to last.

"How you feeling Lachy?" He asked gently, settling in right against me. I sighed a bit and nested my head in his shoulder, closing my eyes again. "Tired, huh?"

"Very." I grumbled, tucking my knees up to my chest now. "I just wanna sleep."

"Then sleep."

Instead of pushing me to go up to bed though, he instead moved and pulled a blanket from behind us, wrapping it around the both of us. I sighed again, happily this time, and sank down into its warmth until I was practically lying in Vikk's lap and was buried under the blanket. Vikk only laughed and began running his hand through my hair.

For a few minutes there was silence, Vikk's eyes fluttering shut too, until he leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. I couldn't help but jolt, startled, and Vikk looked surprised that I was still awake.

"Oh!" He flushed red. "I-I didn't know you were still awake." I was red too now, moving to sit up and I think Vikk took that as me getting up and leaving because he grabbed at my arm, now frantic. "No, no!" He cried. "Don't go Lachy, please!"

"I'm not going...?" I said quietly. There was an awkward silence.

And then I leaned him and kissed him right back.

When I pulled back Vikk seemed to be off somewhere on a different planet, eyes blank until he fell back into reality. Red flooded his cheeks and he looked away from me, struggling to find words to say. I was pretty much the same, red and stunned into silence at my own actions.

"Holy shit..." Vikk eventually breathed, turning to stare at me. "You kiss good."

I couldn't help but giggle, red all the way up to my ears.

"Is this the start of something new?" I whispered, wringing my hands.

I think Vikk's kiss was answer enough.

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'Ella.' I signed, motioning for her to copy me. I pointed to her. 'That's you.'

'Ella.' The one and a bit year old signed back with shaky hands, tongue stuck out in concentration. She pointed to herself, brows furrowed. Given how young she was I wasn't entirely sure she understood what I was trying to teach her and to be honest she probably saw my lessons as more play time, which I supposed was a good thing. I laughed.

'Good girl.'

I pushed her to go and play with the twins and she ran off happily, interrupting the two who had been playing with blocks of some sort. The three had worked out some form of wordless communication because even though they were young they seemed to have realised that Ella was deaf and couldn't hear their babbling. They instead communicated with gestures. Vikk and I would teach them sign eventually, once they were a bit older.

As the kids grew older it honestly surprised me how much they grew to resemble us- Ella to me and the twins to Vikk, clearly. Ella was blonde and tall for her age, with a very similar face shape to mine. Oliver and Annabel became more and more identical, despite being, well, not identical, with cinnamon skin, deep brown eyes and silky black hair. All three were loud- Ella was louder than both of them simply because she didn't know she was making noise- boisterous and drove Vikk and I crazy half the time but we loved them. I loved the twins like my own and Vikk loved Ella like she was his. It was a lovely arrangement.

Speaking of a lovely arrangement, Vikk came up behind me and secured his arms around me waist. He practically deflated into me, sighing happily.

"Hey Vikky." I whispered, hugging him back. "How was recording?"

"Alright." He grumbled. "I got everything I needed to do done but now I'm tired and the kids aren't going to bed for another hour."

I glanced over at said kids but could tell they were tiring, so it would probably be less.

"Tell you what, how 'bout we just sit on the couch and watch them, turn on the television and relax. The kids'll be tired out pretty soon and then we can go to bed."

Vikk nodded, and that was exactly what we did. We sat on the couch, watched the television and kept an eye on Oliver, Annabel and Ella as they played with blocks and trains and the plastic kitchen set, all while creating an awful lot of noise. I smiled because god, a little over two years ago I couldn't even imagine that this was where I would be in life with a daughter, a boyfriend and two adopted children that I considered my own. At the time I hadn't known that Ella would ever be around.

But although this life was never what I imagined, I was content with it. I could see our future raising our kids, we had plenty of money saved to potentially fund us and them for the rest of our lives and our families... well, they had all be amazing. Vikk's family was ecstatic and took a huge role in their grandchildren's lives, counting Ella as one of them, and Mitch and my sisters often took trips up to England to see them. We had gone back down to Australia twice since I left, all 5 of us, and they were just as happy. The arrangement wasn't perfect, but it was as close as I could get and I was fine with that.

Ella clambered into my lap, Oliver on my right side, Vikk on my left and Annabel on his left. We were one big, happy, crazy, messy family and I couldn't have asked for anything more.