"head count!" i shout as the family lines up at the door.

"here!" willow and nicole say in sync.

"me too!" victoria says excitedly.

"and i've got the baby," tommy says with our one year old in his arms. there's also a backpack hanging off his shoulders, probably filled with toys and snacks so the three hour car drive isn't too painful.

"are we ready to go? has everyone gone to the bathroom?" i ask.

"i haven't," nicole says.

"me neither!" willow says with a giggle. i sigh.

"what did i tell you guys earlier? go now!" i usher nicole to the bathroom upstairs and willow to the downstairs bathroom.

when i turn back around, victoria starts darting up the stairs.

"and where do you think you're going?" tommy asks.

"i forgot my ipad!" she whines.

tommy and i sigh. a house of six is a lot to handle.

as we wait for the three older kids, tommy turns to me.

"you excited?" he asks.

"very excited! and even more excited for everyone to see the kids again. i just hope they behave."

"remember when the twins met wilbur for the first time? jesus christ..."

i groan. i would rather not remember the time willow and nicole completely ripped apart wilbur's house and spilled tomato sauce on a rug he bought the night before.

"i like to think that now that they're nine they've calmed down a little bit," i say, rubbing my temples. "why did you have to remind me of that? i was finally starting to forget about it." tommy laughs and apologizes.

the four kids all congregate back at the door when they're done taking care of business.

"here we go-" i start, but then willow lets out a yell.

"why are you yelling?" i ask.

"i didn't say bye to moonlight!" she cries out as she zooms around the house, looking for our husky.

"i didn't say bye either!" nicole shouts.

"me neither!" victoria cries. then cameron starts whining.

"oh lord," tommy says as he tries to rock cameron and calm him down. "please don't cry, please don't cry, please don't-"

he starts crying.

"fuck," tommy mutters quietly under his breath.

"i heard that. i told you no swearing in front of the kids," i scold him.

"sorry sorry!"

we search around the house for our three runaway daughters and dog. eventually we find the four of them in the laundry room, with the three girls all petting the poor dog and cooing at her. moonlight looks both extremely happy and extremely confused.

tommy kneels down next to the dog so cameron can reach out and caress her. he does, and moonlight gently licks his cheek.

"alright! we've said bye bye to moonlight!" i say.

"are we actually ready now?" tommy asks.

"yes!" the three kids say. cameron, the baby, doesn't give an answer. obviously.

"then let's go." we go back to the door, tommy opens the door, and the kids finally dart to the car. they climb into their car seats and booster seats. i buckle cameron into his car seat and slide into the front seat.

tommy routes the way to brighton from our house in nottingham, and we begin the journey.

it's been a while, so i think i should explain what's going on. since you probably have a few questions.

willow and nicole are the oldest kids. they're nine years old, fraternal twins, and the best of friends.

willow sarah simons was born a minute before nicole. her first name, willow, is inspired by wilbur's name (A/N CREDS TO MEI FOR THAT GENIUS IDEA) and her middle name, sarah, is after tommy's mom. she's a carbon copy of me, with long, wavy, dark brown hair and green eyes. though she's me and tommy's kid, she reminds me a lot of wilbur. she's very smart, funny, and even wears glasses that look just like his.

as for nicole kristina simons, she's the slightly younger twin. she has light brown hair, which is like a mix of me and tommy's hair, and tommy's ice blue eyes. her first name, nicole, comes from both niki and nick's name (it so happened to work out that way, which was really great) and her middle name, kristina, is after my mom. she cut her hair into a bob like niki's, and is definitely a lot more feminine than her twin. she takes pride in her mostly pink closet and, even though she's still young, has already broken into my makeup stash a couple of times.

the middle child is named victoria alexis simons. victoria, nicknamed (and more commonly known as) tori, is named after toby. her middle name, as i'm sure you can guess, is after alex. she looks exactly like tommy, with light blonde hair and sparkling ocean blue eyes. she's obsessed with her two older sisters and aspires to be just like them. i think the way she acts is very similar to tommy. even though she's four, she's very funny. maybe it's part of her toddler charm. tori is also very outgoing and already very creative and artistic. she loves technology (as seen with her panicking when she didn't have her ipad). i can definitely see her being the one to continue the simons streaming legacy when she's older.

as for cameron, not much can be said about him, considering he just turned one. his full name is cameron david simons. cameron is a play on the name clay (and karl insisted that it was also a play on karl because he wants a kid named after him) and the name david comes from george's last name. he doesn't have much hair yet, but what he does have is pretty dark. but his eyes are my favorite part about him. he has heterochromia, and one of his eyes are blue and one is green. the blue eye is the exact same shade as tommy's eyes, and the green eye looks exactly like mine.

"are you guys excited?" tommy asks.

"yes!" willow shouts from the very backseat. "uncle wilbur will be there, right?"

"yup," i say. "and aunt niki." i look at nicole through the front view mirror and see her head shoot up when i mention niki's name.

"aunt niki?" she clarifies. i nod. nicole squeals in delight. "do you think she'll do my nails?"

"i doubt there's nail polish at the airbnb, and i doubt aunt niki brought nail polish with her."

"but uncle karl might've brought nail polish!" tommy adds. nicole claps her hands and kicks my seat. i look at tommy and shoot him a look that says "thanks a lot, now she's digging her child feet into my back." tommy shrugs and smiles lightly.

"mommy?" tori asks. "who is going to be there again? i forgetted."

"you mean forgot, tori," i correct her, trying to teach her about vocabulary early. "and you're gonna see a lot of your uncles and aunt niki."

"like who?"

"clay, george, nick, karl, alex, toby, niki, and wilbur."

"googie!" cameron laughed from his carseat.

did i mention that cameron's first word was googie? yeah, tommy was pretty proud of himself for teaching him that one.

i swear, i would hear tommy early in the morning talking to cameron and egging him on, saying things like "say goo-gie! googie!"

i never thought cameron would actually say it. but then he did one day, and tommy bought a cake with the word "GOOGIE" written in big blue letters on top to celebrate. i can't tell you how badly i wanted to smash that cake in his smug face.

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as soon as we arrive at the airbnb i let out a long, happy sigh. it's so nostalgic, looking at this place we stayed at with our friends so long ago.

"how long ago has it been since we last came here?" i ask tommy as i climb out of the car, mentally preparing myself to wake the kids up.

"um... we got married ten years ago, started dating five before that... so about fifteen years?"

"damn..."

"you said no swearing in front of the kids!"

"that's hardly a swear. and they're not awake, genius."

"you can never be too sure."

we wake the four kids up, and cameron starts crying. i calm him down before we go in.

once we get inside the place, i'm hit with an even bigger wave of nostalgia.

"this is insane," tommy mutters.

"this is amazing," i add.

"is anyone home?" tommy asks a bit loudly. there are a few cars parked outside, so we assume there's at least a couple people here.

"is that tommyinnit?" karl asks as he runs down the stairs. the girls start smiling when they hear karl's voice, and tackle him in hugs when he reaches the bottom floor.

"uncle karl!" they shout happily.

"do you have nail polish?" nicole asks enthusiastically.

"i-uh-no?" karl says hesitantly.

"mom said you would!" nicole pouts and points at me.

"i didn't! i said he might!" i defend myself.

"i painted my nails last week, though! do you like them?" he shows nicole his dark purple nails and nicole gasps, admiring them.

tori waddles back to me and tommy and tugs on tommy's fleece jacket.

"do you think uncle toby is here yet?" tori asks.

"yes he is!" toby says as he appears in the hallway, drying his hands on his shirt. he probably just got out of the bathroom.

"uncle toby!" the girls all migrate to toby and take turns hugging him. tori is definitely the most excited to see him.

while they're talking to toby, tommy and i walk over to karl and hug him.

"it's been a while!" he says, flashing his signature karl smile. "how are you guys?"

"good!" tommy says. "we've got our hands full, though." he motions to cameron sitting in my arms. the baby reaches out to karl, wanting karl to hold him.

"hi baby!" karl says as i hand him the boy. karl has always been one of the best with cameron, he's somehow so good with children.

after everyone arrives, with lots of cheerful hellos and children knocking our friends over, we all settle down in the living room. we sit on the couches and chairs, with nicole on niki's lap, willow on wilbur's, tori on toby's and cameron still in karl's arms. george sits next to karl, interacting with the baby.

"look who it is!" karl says in a baby voice. "it's your uncle googie! he was your first word!"

"don't remind me," i warn and everyone laughs.

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"you three!" i say as i point at willow, nicole, and tori. "come here, your dad and i want to show you something."

"we do?" tommy asks. i nod and tilt my head towards the stairs. he continues to give me a perplexed look and i roll my eyes.

"we do!" i motion them towards me, but they stay glued to the laps they're sitting on.

"did you not hear your mom?" tommy asks as he takes cameron from karl's arms. "she- we.... have something to show you."

"i want to stay with uncle wilbur!" willow whines as she buries her face in wilbur's neck. wilbur smiles as he strokes her hair.

"i'll come to visit soon and take you to get ice cream if you listen to your parents," he bribes her. it doesn't take long for willow to jump out of her seat and run towards tommy after that.

"will you buy me ice cream, uncle toby?" tori asks with pleading eyes. toby looks around and laughs nervously.

"yeah, uncle toby. are you gonna buy her ice cream?" tommy teases. i sigh. after decades of being friends, they still find the most discreet ways to make fun of each other and drag each other down.

toby shoots tommy a death glare.

"of course i'll buy you ice cream!" toby says. "now follow your parents, i don't like the way valerie's looking at me."

"what do you mean?" i ask.

"you have an impatient look on your face. like if your kid doesn't follow you right this second you'll throw something at me."

"maybe i will. we'll just have to see." toby's eyes grow wide.

"i know that tone means she's not joking. come on, tori." tori begrudgingly gets off of toby's lap and walks over to me.

"one more left," tommy says as we walk over to the kitchen. "nicole!"

"yes?" she asks as she turns around. she's helping niki bake in the kitchen, and by help i mean she's getting the utensils for niki (everything except knives). i don't let her use the oven just yet. that would be her chance to play with fire and take after her uncle nick, and i really don't need a ten year old arsonist roaming around the house.

"i have something to show you and your siblings," i say as i reach my right hand out to grab hers, tori gripping tightly on my left hand.

nicole obliges quickly and skips over to me, taking my hand.

we make our way up the stairs and walk down the hall for a bit until we stand in front of a door. i can see tommy smiling out of my peripheral vision.

"now i know what you wanna show them," he says.

we push open the door to tommy's room from fifteen years ago. it's still decorated the same, with the same two beds, same blue bedsheets, same huge window on one of the walls.

"why are we here?" willow asks as she runs over to the bed. her and her sisters all start jumping on the bed. i don't even bother stopping them, because i'm too busy reliving some of the happiest days of my life.

"this is the room where your dad and i first met in real life," i tell the kids as tommy rocks a sleeping cameron in his arms. "we had met online before then, but this is where we were when we first saw each other."

"was it love at first sight?" nicole asks as she lays down on tommy's old bed. "i've read about stuff like that before. like cinderella!" nicole turns to tommy. "is mom your cinderella?"

tommy smiles as he sits down on the bed with the three girls. they copy him, sitting down, and crowd around him.

"yeah. she is my cinderella." tommy smiles and looks at the floor as he talks.

i move to the bed and sit with them.

"tell us how it started again," tori pleads. "please!"

"how what started?" i ask.

"how did you guys meet?" willow asks. i now find myself smiling.

"did you forget again? we told you last week as your bedtime story!"

"tell us again." willow lays down next to nicole and tori follows shortly after.

tommy and i look at each other. then i feel him subtly take my hand.

"well..." i say, retelling the story for the hundredth time. but somehow it never gets old.

"it started when we were on a show together called love or host..."