Chapter Seven: In a flash

It's been a very long time since I updated!  University tends to sneak up on me like that, but I'm back now, so let's get back into the story, hm?

 Marlin wanted to just spend all day in bed, pretending that Toni was just downstairs, reading a book and waiting for him to wake up and join her for breakfast.  He didn't want to pull himself out of the covers and face a reality where he didn't have her by his side.

 He did though, because there were three little lives relying on him.  Each one of them was a little bit of Toni, and they were the only reason he kept pulling himself back to reality.  They were the reason he could even think of getting past the grief that seemed to be choking him.  Anippe and Akila, his little girls, and Abubakar his little boy.  Even their names were a remnant of Toni, who had enjoyed the trip to Egypt so much she'd been looking at egyptian names for their child.

 After morning cuddles and diaper changing Marlin would drag himself downstairs, where he would force himself to eat something-often pancakes that he nibbled on throughout the week, until he was forced to make more.

 Then, once the triplets were fully awake he would be done eating and ready to give each of them a bottle.  They slept surprisingly well for newborns, though within just a few weeks Marlin was beginning to feel the lack of sleep.  Between nightmares and their needful cries, he just didn't get more than a couple of hours a night, if he was lucky.

 Somehow he managed to build a little site for Toni, so that she could be near her children even in death.  Early in the morning he would go to tell her about what they had done the night before, but he often began to cry too hard to talk  before he had said all that much.

 The help of his family might have been the only reason he was able to make it through that hard time.  His mother and father were always willing to come over and care for the triplets to let him get some sleep.  Richard gave him the number for a reputable babysitting service, urging him to get out of the house every now and then and just not think about anything.

 He took the advice, though it was only because the money was running thin and his boss had told him that if he didn't show up to work soon he wouldn't have a job to work at.  It was the kick he needed though, and things began to look up again.

 The night of the triplet's birthday he was even sure he felt Toni lay down beside him as he fell into bed.  He was gone when he woke up in the morning, but he was sure that was just because she had gone to get breakfast-the pancakes he found on the table had to prove that.  She wasn't completely gone, he was sure of it.

 In some ways, it was easier to care for his children as toddlers, but in other ways it was harder.  Teaching them all the things they needed to know to grow up well was hard, and if they slept for a solid eight hours, it didn't guarantee they would choose the night hours to do so.

 At least they were able to mostly entertain themselves, and being able to bring them downstairs meant he could take a quick nap on the couch every now and then.

 Money was tight, even with him taking overtime.  There was always something needing the skills of a repairman, Marlin being either too tired or too busy to tackle whatever new problem popped up.  The bills seemed like they increased in frequency, though he knew that was just because time seemed to be speeding up.  His angels were growing so fast, and he was gone so much he was afraid he was missing everything, but what could he do?

 At least they had a steady babysitter, and not a stream of different people coming to care for them.  They all adored her, though Marlin couldn't have told anybody her name.  Sometimes he wondered why she wasn't in school when she sat for him during the day, but he was so happy that she was doing such a good job he didn't often spare too much thought for it.

 He did try to spend as much time as he could with them while he was home.  Whether it was  by playing with a toy, or teaching them to walk or talk.

 Of all of them, only Akila seemed to have inherited any of his magic.  Even as a toddler she was radiating it, much like he remembered Richard doing.  She had the habit of popping her toys into the ether as well.

 Somehow he remembered Jin.  If his tank was dirtier than it should have been, he didn't lack for food or water.  Though he was stuck quite firmly in that cage and nowhere near biting distance.

 Anippe was the first one to take her first successful steps, which soon turned into a tornado of little feet as she tried to get into everything.  He had to start locking the bathroom door to keep her from drowning in the toilet (how would he have explained that to a judge?)

 Akila was the most demanding, requiring some sort of snuggle or attention nearly all of the time.  Not that he was upset about giving them to her.

 Abubakar, meanwhile, was the first to learn to talk.  Marlin had the sneaking suspicion that he was the one that taught the girls because shortly after that they began to demand things with words.

 Though he suspected that Jin had died because his cage had become almost unforgivably disgusting, he told the kids it was just because he was old.  And he was, though Marlin had no idea how old a snake could live.  He'd been a part of the household before they were even born, and well, time had flown.

 They would be starting school soon.  Marlin gathered them all together to lay out some rules and assign some chores, raising an eyebrow at Anippe's chosen outfit.  She was a bit odd, wearing clothing that very rarely matched the occasion.

 The cribs in their bedroom were replaced by a loft for Abu, though he did still have to share with his sisters.  There simply wasn't anywhere else and Marlin didn't have the money to build on to the house or to buy a new one.

 The girls got bunk beds, of course, with Akila quickly claiming the bottom one.

 Anippe's chore-to clean the dishes-was always done on time, though nobody could ever catch her in the act.  She claimed "Cuddles" had done it.  Marlin wasn't sure when it stopped being healthy for a kid to believe in an imaginary friend, so he kept his mouth shut.  All the same she didn't bring it up again, although her siblings confided that she was often whispering to thin air in the bedroom.

 Akila was in charge of making the beds in the house.  She also took it upon herself to clean the sinks.  Marlin forbid the cleaning of the stove though, not wanting her to hurt herself or burn the house up by accident.  He just said that was his chore though.

 Abu was in charge of the trash...And that was all he did.  He didn't relish taking on more chores just to be nice, so he didn't.  Not that Marlin blamed him, but with three kids and a nearly always-absent father, without chores the house would have devolved into a pit of trash before long.

 Marlin wanted to be home more often, but if he had thought that the demands on his wallet would decrease with the triplet's birthdays, he had been sorely mistaken.  They ate more, somehow his bills had increased in the amount due, and everything seemed to be more expensive everywhere.

 He couldn't help but think that if he were home more, Anippe would talk to real people more than her imaginary friend.  She didn't have any at school, although at least her siblings were close friends with her.

 Perhaps Abu would be less prone to pulling pranks.  Marlin knew it was him, he couldn't pull the innocent act off well enough, but without catching him in the act he couldn't punish him fairly.  Which just meant Marlin had to put up with dyed hair and spraying sinks.

 Of all of his children, Akila was the most well-adjusted.  Though her fascination with "horror" escaped him.  He just hoped she wouldn't start dating a vampire.  They may have been better with all of the reforms, but he couldn't help but think of the Bridgeport vampire scare, where a group of them (what did they call those, covens?  Or was that witches?) had actually killed all of the guests at a bar...

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So.  Um.  Triplets.  Yea, I hadn't really been trying too hard for multiple birth.  I think one of them had the fertility treatment (it's been a while), and there may have been kids music on sometimes, but that was it.  So if it seems rushed, it's because a single dad with triplets is HARD.  At least for me.  And uh, they may not have gotten potty trained.  And I may have been at liberty, by suggesting they were all talking...