Choosing Life

Chapter Thirty Five

Ben woke up with a small smile on his face, as had been the case ever since his twins were born. Waking up every day next to the woman he loved, knowing his kids were safe and sound? What more could a father ask for?

Hearing the gentle snores of his wife, Ben gently slipped out from under the covers though he frowned slightly at the ease he was able to do so. Normally both he and Mal were pinned to the bed by their Cerberi until said dogs decided it was time for breakfast or to go romp around outside.

Maybe Dean let them out...or Mrs. Potts did if she came in earlier and we missed her, Ben thought as he made his way out of his room and over to the nursery to check on his kids. Of course, he had to smile as he walked in, the mystery of the missing Cerberi answered.

"So this is where you two were?" Ben whispered as he saw Estelle and Nyx lying on the floor in front of Stephanie and Maurice's cribs. "You were on 'pup protection' huh?"

Estelle looked up and nodded, giving Ben a doggy grin as Nyx continued to slumber away.

"Good boy," Ben smiled. "Anything to report?"

Before Estelle had the chance to respond, Stephanie started to whimper softly. Ben quickly made his way over and picked her up.

"What's wrong my sweet girl?" Ben asked, keeping his voice down as to not wake up Maurice. "You hungry? Need a change? Just want to be held?"

Judging by how Stephanie's whimpers seemed to die down as she was held in her father's arms, Ben got the answer to his question.

"It's okay sweetheart, papa will hold you for as long as you need," Ben whispered, going over to sit in the nearby rocker. It was amazing how much Stephanie had grown even in the past few months; something Ben attributed to her divine and Fae background.

Yes she was still a baby but the wisps of hair that had been there at birth had developed into full strands of light brown hair, though there were a few strands that were obviously blue and purple.

Looks like you're getting some of your maman's genes too, Ben thought with a small smile. Good. It means you won't always be compared to me or how I was as a baby. Plus it'll mean people will stop asking Mal if she adopted you. I love the general populace of Auradon but sometimes...they can be missing a few braincells as your Uncle Chip would say.

Though Ben had to smile as he thought of Mal's retorts to such questions, his favorites being 'How can she be adopted if she's a twin' and 'Considering I saw the doctors pull her out of me, I can assure you there was no adoption'.

Which, considering how some members of Auradon's populace acted concerning Lady Steph's adoption of Mal, you would think they'd understand the first time Mal had to say it.

Meanwhile Maurice had clearly inherited his mother's purple hair; no signs of Ben's genetics evident there at all. Ben didn't mind in the slightest though; he loved looking at Mal's purple hair when the sun would shine through it and having a mini-Mal was more than he could ask for.

I think Mal's just happy neither of the kids inherited her eyes though they did manage to get the gold flecks that Mal has in her's, Ben thought as he continued to rock Stephanie. I don't completely understand why, her eyes are beautiful after all, but if she's happy I'm happy. Besides, in a few years we'll try to give Stephanie and Maurice a brother or sister and maybe they'll have Mal's eyes.

They had talked about that, one night when they were both relaxing after the twins had gone to bed.

"Ben, our children are infants," Mal said as she looked over at her husband. "Not to mention you're not the one who'll have to carry this hypothetical child."