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[everymonstrousthing]

They find a rhythm. Two babies means there's always something to be done, something that needs to be happening and, gradually, they figure it out. For the first time in his life, Kaz trusts other people with his businesses so that he can stay home with his wife, his children. His family. Maybe a time will come when thinking that word doesn't feel like somebody has suddenly kicked him in the breastbone.

Inej is sleeping. There's laundry running, bottle sterilsing and both of the children are quiet but alert in their bassinets. The alertness might last, the quiet probably won't. Kaz knows that it's a while until their eyes start to focus, but, sometimes, he could swear that they're watching the world go by.

When the doorbell rings, he buzzes Marcus up and leaves the front door of the apartment ajar, going back into the kitchen.

"We're through here," he calls, when he hears boots at the threshold.

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[pushbackthedarkness]

Marcus gives them time first, knowing there's going to be a rather steep learning curve in their first few weeks, not wanting to interrupt them. There are people who can help get them settled far better than he knows he would ever be able to, but when he checks with Kaz if it's alright to come meet the new babies, he gets the go-ahead, and so he's here, holding a little gift bag in his hands.

He's not carrying a typical gift. In fact, he thinks Inej will appreciate the medallions inside the bag more than Kaz, but he'd wanted to get them something he felt strongly about. He'd chosen Saint Jude and Saint Mark for the babies, forms of protection according to Catholics, and in a similar style to the Saint Benedict he wears around his own wrist.

There's also a soft green frog and a soft purple hippo inside the bag, too, for the babies themselves right now.

"Hi," he says when he comes through to find Kaz in the kitchen.

[everymonstrousthing]

"Hey," says Kaz, a smile touching his mouth, his bitter tea eyes warming a shade when he sees his friend. "You caught us in a good half hour. No-one's screaming."

[pushbackthedarkness]

"And should I be preparing for them to scream or you?" Marcus asks with a smile, setting the bag down so he can go and look at the twins in their bassinets. Their eyes are open and Marcus doesn't know enough about babies to determine whether or not they can actually see him, but they look in his direction when he leans over them.

"Aren't you two something," he murmurs softly.

[everymonstrousthing]

"It could go either way," says Kaz, leaving what he's doing and limping over to Marcus, joining him in looking down at the babies. He's got his sleeves pushed up to his elbows and, in that moment, he realises he's possibly never been this relaxed, this unbuttoned, in front of his friend.

"They look like their mother," he says. "Thankfully."

[pushbackthedarkness]

"Oh and that might change down the line, too," Marcus answers with a smile, then turns to retrieve the bag and hands it to Kaz. "There are some things inside for them, though I think Inej might have more of a connection to one of the gifts than you will. Couldn't help myself, though."

He might not seem like a Catholic any longer, but he still is, in his heart. They've taken everything away from him, his position as a priest, his ability to claim himself as part of the religion, but he still feels it. The medals of the saints, meant to protect the babies, are all part of it.

[everymonstrousthing]

Kaz takes the bag and opens it, peering inside. The soft things he extracts immediately, studying them and then presenting them, one at a time, to his son and his daughter. They aren't interested now but, he knows, things gain sentimental value as you grow. For most people, that's true.

"More fucking saints," he says, but he's smiling when he says it.

[pushbackthedarkness]

"More fucking saints," he agrees with a smile. "Saint Mark and Saint Jude. Catholics believe wearing their medallions bring protection. I got ones for them that look similar to my own."

Saint Benedict hasn't left his place around Marcus's wrist since he was twenty years old.

"They're more for Inej than they are you," he adds, his smile growing.

[everymonstrousthing]

"She'll appreciate that," says Kaz, knowing that she will, knowing that she'll recognise the kinship between her saints and Marcus'. "She wants to wait until they're a little older to decide on their saint's names; wait until we know who they are." He looks down at him. "Kaz is sort for Kazimir. It's a Saint's name."

[pushbackthedarkness]

"And what sort of saint was he?" Marcus asks curiously. There's a Saint Mark, but Marcus has never gone by that and has never imagined his parents cared enough about any sort of religion to give him a religious name. Half the time he's surprised they bothered to name him at all, but he supposes when he was only a newborn they might have held some fragile optimism about their lives.

[everymonstrousthing]

"A farmer," says Kaz, barely restraining a roll of his eyes. "Martyred. And where his blood spilled, flowers grew." He studies the coins in his hand and then tucks them away in their pouches to await Inej's approval. "Do you want to hold them? One of them, anyway..."

[pushbackthedarkness]

"I absolutely want to hold one of them," Marcus says. "And then the other."

He loves children when they belong to other people, when he knows he can give up the responsibility when they begin to get difficult. It's not something most people expect of him when they first meet him.

[everymonstrousthing]

"Pick one then," says Kaz, glancing sideways at his friend, leaning down to ghost one hand over the crown of his son's head, then his daughter's. He's still almost ginger with Jordie, still figuring out how much world needs to be taken up by this new Jordie Reitvald. His smile is warm, a touch sly. "Opa."

[pushbackthedarkness]

"You seem to think I mind that name much more than I actually do," Marcus answers with a bit of a smirk as he leans over the babies, then gently reaches to pick Jordie up and into his arms. He knows things he shouldn't about Kaz and his brother, things that were never meant for him and things the demon plucked from Kaz in an attempt to cause pain.

They're friendship hasn't been destroyed, though. The demon wasn't able to ruin anything at all and now Marcus is holding a baby named for Kaz's brother.

[everymonstrousthing]

"I don't think you mind at all," says Kaz, watching as Marcus picks up Jordie, as he cradles him gently in his arms. Right on cue, Ana starts to fuss and grizzle and Kaz leans down to pick her up, lifting her to cradle her againt his shoulder, murmuring softly to her in a mixture of Kerch and Suli.

[pushbackthedarkness]

"Hello there, little man," Marcus says as he looks down at Jordie. "Your father likes to pretend he's a much harder man than he truly is, so don't let him fool you. He hasn't fooled me one bit."

Marcus has no doubt Kaz is strong and capable and can be vicious, but Marcus can be, too. That doesn't mean there's not still something soft beneath the surface.

[everymonstrousthing]

Kaz rolls his eyes at that, but he's smiling too when he turns away, his daughter cradled against his shoulder. He picks up a spare muslin cloth, draping it over Marcus' shoulder before he turns back to the kitchen. "Something to drink?"

[pushbackthedarkness]

"Tea or coffee if you have," Marcus answers. "And if you're making it. Otherwise I'm fine with water."

The little boy in his arms is so tiny, so much smaller than Marcus would have expected. He doesn't spend much time with children this young, as the infants and babies in the Home have special carers for them and the volunteers don't spend as much time there.

"My God, but they're tiny, aren't they?"

[everymonstrousthing]

"This is a good Kerch house," says Kaz, rolling his eyes. "There's always coffee brewing. How else do you seal a deal when it's done?" He pauses, for a moment, fixing a sling across his chest, getting Ana situated, before he walks back into the kitchen. "Twins usually are, I'm told. They were early. Needed to make a grand fucking entrance like their mother."

[pushbackthedarkness]

"I never did much sealing of deals in my life," Marcus answers. "Usually a bad idea when you're dealing primarily with demons."

But he doesn't want to talk about demons now. He wants to focus on the babies.

"Is Inej prone to dramatics?" he asks with a grin. "And have you let her hear you saying that?"

[everymonstrousthing]

"There's a lot of people in Ketterdam who would have said that about me," he says, coming back into the sitting room with two cups of coffee, gesturing for Marcus to sit down, setting his cup where he'll be able to reach it when he wants it. "Absolutely not," he says. "Though you can never be quite sure when she's listening. We don't call her the Wraith for nothing."

[pushbackthedarkness]

"And I feel you and I have beaten that particular horse to death," Marcus answers with a soft little smile as he sinks down with the baby still in his arms. Kaz is who and what he is, but he's not the demon he might have once been.

Or maybe he is. Maybe Marcus is just lucky.

"Well, I do hope your Wraith is taking the opportunity to rest," he says. "I imagine you'll both need it."

[everymonstrousthing]

"It's definitely not an argument that we need to have again," says Kaz, padding back into the kitchen to get his own coffee and then settling, freeing Ana from the sling and settling her in the crook of his arm. "She is. I'm trying to let her sleep. It helps that they'll take a bottle."

[pushbackthedarkness]

Marcus has had no doubt that Kaz will be a present father, helpful to Inej, and there for his children. It doesn't surprise him at all that he's letting her rest, glad to hear it.

"That's probably the happiest you'll make her," he says with a grin, then looks down as Jordie's eyes open and he blinks up at Marcus. "Hello, again."

[everymonstrousthing]

"I do my best," says Kaz, and he knows that there's nothing in the world he wouldn't do to make his wife happy. Ana makes a soft snuffling noise and he ghosts one hand over the top of her head. "That suits you. Holding him."

[pushbackthedarkness]

"Mm, I'm a natural," he agrees with a faint, but pleased smile. There's no sense pretending he doesn't truly adore this, holding this sweet little boy, born of a man who has become a truly good friend.

"I was never going to have any of my own," he says. "And I've always been very comfortable with that, but it's nice to be around others who have. I get to enjoy all the parts of it I always knew I would."

[everymonstrousthing]

"Well, you're family now," says Kaz, looking from Ana's face, a smile just touching the corner of his mouth. "So you can enjoy it."

[pushbackthedarkness]

It's an incredible thing to hear, something Marcus had never imagined for himself. Never expected. Something he thought he never really wanted either, but he doesn't mind having been proved wrong in this instance. Everything he's always been good at, protecting others, it can mean something else here but still be of the same importance.

"Want to switch?" he asks, grinning over at Kaz.

[everymonstrousthing]

"Absolutely," says Kaz, shifting so that they can start the process of transferring the babeis between them. "Though, you should be warned - she's got her mother's temper."

[pushbackthedarkness]

"Well, as her mother's never been anything but terribly kind to me, I should figure that's a good thing," Marcus answers, grinning as he takes Ana and transfers little Jordie. "Though she does put up with you, so I suppose there's quite a fierce woman behind all the kindness she's shown me."

[everymonstrousthing]

"That's because you're on her good side," he says, settling Jordie into his arms, curled into the crook of his elbow. "Long may you stay there. You wouldn't want to be on the other side." Kaz has been there himself, one or twice. It's not necessarily a fun place to be.