Sleeping was not fun when you had to do it alone, knowing there was someone you could be cuddling comfortably just outside of the bedroom.

"Come back to me, Kiwi!" I called out desperately, feeling very grumpy this morning.

"Vivi, I can't, the girls and I are drawing." Kiara said to me.

"Leave them." I said, making her sigh.

"Vivi." She complained, coming into the room and giving me a pointed look.

"What?" I asked.

"Stop." She said.

"Come cuddle." I said to her.

"I'm taking care of two toddlers." She informed me.

"I know. But you can just come cuddle and let them draw." I told her.

"No I can't." She told me.

"Kiara." I whined.

"Stop being a big baby. Come join us. You can rest on the couch." She told me.

I groaned and got up, following her to the couches. The girls all sat on the floor and they were drawing. I made sure Kiara sat right in front of me.

I ran my fingers through her long, soft hair. She nibbled on a cookie as she drew a flower for the girls, colouring it in with the blue coloured pencil when Mila instructed her to do so.

Mia watched me carefully, watching how I was playing with Kiara's hair, then she got up and she moved towards us. She took my hands and she grabbed a hairbrush from the table beside Kiara. What I didn't expect was for the toddler to push my hands away and stand between Kiara and I, using the hairbrush to brush her Aunt Kiara's hair.

"You're brushing my hair, Sweetie?" Kiara giggled.

"Mhm. Vee ruined it." She said.

"Did he?" Kiara laughed, looking back at me in amusement.

I sighed and turned away from them facing the back of the couch. How could two tiny toddlers steal my girl from me? They just so effortlessly dragged her away from our bed, then they wouldn't even let me play with her hair. She was my kiwi. Not theirs.

For the rest of the morning, I wasn't allowed to get near Kiara without the alarm that was Mia going off in full blast. I eventually just scooped Kiara up and took her to the couch, holding her tightly against my chest.

"No! Vee! No! My Pwetty!" Mia screamed, kicking me and pulling my arms off Kiara.

"No. She's my Kiwi." I said to the screeching toddler.

"No! Let go! Stop! Vee!" Mila joined in.

That's when there was a knock at the door and I went to answer it with Kiara still in my arms and the two toddlers pulling on my sweatpants.

"Stop it. My pants are going to fall off. Stop." I said to the girls. When I opened the door, both my Nanas stood in the doorway looking at the scene before them in confusion and amusement.

"What in the world is going on here?" Nana Isabella asked.

"Pwetty! My Pwetty!" Mia said.

"No. Stop it, Mia." I said.

"Put the poor girl down." Nana Lucie said to me.

"No, they stole her from me and I'm reclaiming her." I said.

"Vidal. You're twenty seven, not three. Put her down." Nana Isabella told me with a sigh, coming in and putting a bag on stuff down on the ground.

Kiara was still giggling in amusement. She didn't seem to mind that my Nanas were here without any prior notice.

"We brought you guys some of the strawberries and blueberries we just picked." Nana Isabella said.

"Kiwis?" Kiwi asked.

"We also bought you two a bag of kiwis before we came." Nana Bella laughed.

"Yay! Thank you!" Kiara smiled.

"My poor Angel. Have you been left alone with three babies?" Nana Lucie asked Kiara.

"Yeah." Kiara giggled.

"Alright. Put the poor girl down, Vidal." Nana Isabella said.

"This is not fair. No one is allowed visiting for the next week after this." I said, putting my baby down and kissing her on the side of her pretty head.

"Don't mind him, he's just grumpy because the girls woke him up." Kiara laughed.

"That's not true. I'm grumpy because I didn't get early morning cuddles." I said, making Kiara's face turn bright red in embarrassment.

"Pwetty!" Mia screeched, still crying.

"Aw, it's ok, baby." Kiara said, picking her up and kissing her chubby cheek.

Mila tugged on Kiara's shorts and Kiara also picked her up. She carried them both into the apartments with my Nanas following behind her.

"This is not fair." I said, watching Mia hugging Kiara tightly and sticking her tongue out at me.

"My pwetty." Mia said with a pout.

"Of course. I'm all yours, Sweetie." Kiara told her.

"Do you see this?" I asked my Nana Lucie.

"Aw, my big baby. Come here." She laughed, holding her arms out for me to go to her.

I went up to my Nana and hugged her tightly. Then I looked at Mia and stuck my tongue out at her. This was a special child though, she started playing with Kiara's hair, knowing she was the one that won, not me. She also knew I wanted to be cuddling my kiwi and running my fingers through that long blonde hair, but I couldn't right now. It was so unfair. Losing to a three year old was not fun, at all.

"Hey, Kiara. I've got something for us to do." Nana Lucie told her.

"What?" Kiara asked.

"We're going to make a scent for you, and I'll save it in our system, you can name it whatever you want and every time you need soap or shampoo or lotion or anything, you can get it unscented or with your personal scent. How does that sound?" Nana Lucie asked her.

"Amazing! I didn't know I could do that." Kiara said.

"Come here. Put the girls, down. Vidal can handle them..." Nana Isabella said.

Kiara put the girls down and then went to sit between my Nanas.

I, on the other hand, had to take care of my new rivals. Two seemingly angelic, evil three year old blondes.

"Come here. Colour." I said, handing them each a crayon and pointing at the abandoned papers from earlier.

Mia and Mila happily sat down and started colouring and I sat there watching Kiara sniff little pieces of paper and trying to mix scents. I was grumpy, I wouldn't deny it, and I sure as hell wasn't trying to hide it.

I wanted to cuddle Kiara almost constantly now. I just wanted to hold her in my arms and run my fingers through her hair, or rub her back for her. Anything, as long as there was some form of physical contact.

Arabella made me take some strange test one time and told me that my love language was physical touch. I now understood what that meant. It meant that I wanted to constantly touch Kiara, in the most innocent way possible, of course. It was normal for my body to react to her in certain ways, but that didn't mean I was constantly thinking about sex or that I was obsessed with the idea of it. Cuddles were the best thing ever, as long as they were with Kiara.

I honestly never thought I'd be this touchy and sappy. But things were different with Kiara. I wasn't the same around her. I just felt all warm and fuzzy when I was with her. Maybe that was stupid coming from a large man, but I was beyond caring. I didn't feel like hiding how I felt about her. From the moment I saw her and held her in that hospital room, it was obvious that she brought out a gentle side of me. Heaven knows I'm not gentle, but when something is precious enough, I definitely can be.

Nana Isabella came to me soon after they all made a scent for Kiara, handing me a little slip of paper and telling me to smell it.

"She's going to smell like this?" I asked, smelling the paper which smelled oddly like a tropical fruit.

"Hey Kiara, come let him smell your wrist for a second." Nana Isabella said.

Kiara bounced over happily and put her wrist in front of my face.

"It smells different." I said.

"Yeah. Each person can make a scent slightly different based on their skin. Like if it's oily or dry, their hormones and the pH of their skin." Nana Isabella described to me.

"That's too weird." I laughed.

"You like it?" Kiara asked.

"I sure do." I smiled, kissing her wrist gently, which set off the Mia alarm again.

"Hey. No screaming, Mia." I said trying to be stern but falling victim to those cute green eyes. She stopped screaming anyway though, which was good.

"Come here, Sweetheart." Nana Lucie said to Kiara.

Kiara skipped off and Nana Isabella stayed with me.

"How have things been?" Nana asked me.

"Good." I smiled.

"She's doing a lot better than when I last saw her." Nana said.

"That was a long time ago." I laughed.

"Not that long ago... just a little over two months, right?" Nana asked me.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Has she panicked recently?" Nana asked me.

"No. Not since the day Theo came over." I said.

"Did he scare her?" Nana asked me.

"No, no. Folding laundry brought back some bad memories." I explained.

"I see." Nana nodded. "What about you? How have things been for you?"

"I've been alright. I just can't seem to control my affection anymore." I explained.

"That's normal. You don't have to. Just don't take it too far." Nana told me.

"Nana. Do you know if there's anyone I can make her caregiver instead of me?" I asked.

"Why would you want to do that?" She asked me.

"Because, I can't be in a relationship with her until I do that." I explained.

"Maybe your Nana Lucie?" She said.

"Oh. That's a good idea." I said with a nod.

"She might be too old for them to accept her. But you can always ask Remi or Papa Teo about those rules." She said, kissing my forehead and resting against me.

"You're right. I'll do that. I just want someone who I can trust completely and someone who won't ever get between us." I explained.

"Yeah. I'd stay within our family, Vidal. I just feel like this needs to be kept within the family. Kiara is not someone who should be handed around like that. She has feelings. She's not immune to feeling unwanted and handing her around will really hurt her if she isn't under someone's care that she trusts and knows won't ever take her away from you." Nana explained.

"Yeah. I know." I nodded, hoping that when the time came, she wouldn't be made to feel like she was unwanted.

"But you're doing such a good job. She looks beautiful and healthy. She's really happy too." Nana Bella smiled, watching Kiara laugh about something with Nana Lucie.

"She's been doing great. Honestly, I think I'm the one who's being taken care of at this point." I laughed.

"I don't doubt that, honestly." Nana laughed, kissing my forehead.

Soon after that, Micah and Arabella came over and took their little troublemakers home with them, leaving me and Kiara with my Nanas.

They both talked to her and showed her all the delicious berries they brought. Then they talked to her and got to know her really well. Things were great. It felt like a huge relief that two more people had been crossed off the list of people she had to meet, and nothing bad had happened. It was sudden and unexpected, but no panic attacks were had and not even a single frown, either. Just pure happiness and a beautiful, laughing woman. My Kiara. My Kiwi.