Someone was shaking him.
"...ake up. Please wake up!"
"No," Jim groaned, turning his head away from the desperate voice. "I'm having a nightmare."
"No," the voice replied, gripping his arms and forcefully pulling him up into a sitting position. Jim blinked open his eyes to see the teenaged girl that was supposedly Ellie crouching in front of him. Her blue eyes were filled with tears and were roving over his face hungrily, like she hadn't seen him in forever. "I'm sorry, Daddy. It's not a nightmare."
"We can't stay here," the blue boy said, and Jim looked up to see the boy standing near the mouth of the alley (when did that happen? Jim was pretty sure that they'd been in the middle of the street before). His back was to them, and he was keeping nervous watch. Jim felt a thrill of recognition as he saw Claire's Moonlight Bow strung across the boy's back, along with a quiver of arrows with glowing white tips. The boy turned back to them, his gaze meeting Jim's. "It's not safe here. We have to get back."
"Wait," Jim gasped, shaking his head in confusion. "Claire! Where's Claire?!"
"Chill, Daddy!" a younger boy's voice said from the side, snickering. "Mama's over here. She and Uncle Merlin just haven't woken up yet."
Jim looked toward his right and spotted the red-headed twins seated on the ground on either side of a passed out Claire. The one in the blue sweatpants was leaning forward slightly and gently brushing Claire's hair out of her face. Behind the one in gray sweats, Merlin was sprawled out on the ground, a puddle of drool pooling around his open mouth. Jim stumbled to his feet, gently pushing away Ellie's helping hands and leapt to Claire's side, landing in his natural crouch beside her. The boy that had been brushing his fingers through Claire's hair leaned back to give Jim room, but then nuzzled into his side, small purrs and whines of familial greeting rising in his throat.
"Eric, stop it!" the blue boy hissed, grabbing the younger boy's tail again and yanking him away from Jim. "He doesn't know who you are!"
"But..." Eric whimpered, crouching down by the older boy's feet and hanging his head dejectedly.
"Given that I'm looking at my teenaged daughter, who I know was only six months old an hour ago," Jim began, looking up from his unconscious mate and toward Ellie and then back toward the blue boy. "...and I'm familiar with Time magic, and everyone is calling me Daddy, I'm sure I can guess who you all are."
"See?" Eric said to his older brother, sticking his tongue out at the boy before flinging himself forward again, and nuzzling himself back into Jim's side.
"Where's the little one?" Jim asked, glancing around for the littlest member of the group as he gently hugged the young boy leaning into his side. It was a little weird, but the child seemed desperate for affection and Jim's protective and paternal instincts responded to that. He'd have time to sort the confusion out later, but right now, the boy needed him, and he wasn't going to deny him.
"Sophie's tummy hurts," the other twin said, his gaze longing and jealous as he watched his brother cuddle into Jim's side. Jim held out his other arm for the boy, and his blue eyes lit up. In the next second, he was on Jim's other side, nuzzling, purring, and whining too.
"Is she sick?" Jim asked, his heart beginning to pound in worry. Again, he looked around for the child, but couldn't find her. "Where—?"
"She's down that way," Ellie assured him, nodding her head toward the closed end of the alley. Jim looked over to see a small shadow shuffling against the wall from behind a large dumpster. Now that he was paying attention, he realized that he could also hear gagging and retching sounds.
