Elijah and Tobias woke up on a Saturday morning with their mother kissing the both of them on the forehead. Both the boys yawns, stretched, rub an eye and leaned against each other. Their mother smiled and knelt beside the bed.
"Good morning you two, how did you sleep?" She said and smiled warmly, both the boys looked away from her gaze.
"Good." They said in unison, Elijah looked at his mum again and grinned.
"I dreamt of dragons, they lived on clouds!" Elijah's voice was eager and excited, albeit a little stunted.
"I dreamt of a afternoon storm with Elijah." Tobias's voice was calm and pronounced perfectly but his face didn't emote.
"Really?" Their mother was pleasantly surprised, "Were the dragons scary? Was the storm bad?"
"No it was good." Both the boys said in unison once more.
"Well I'm glad! Come on, let's get you two dressed and ready for breakfast." Their mum said, standing up once more. Elijah and Tobias held hands as they got off the bed on the same side, with Elijah scooting across the bed for that to work. Both of the boys wore comfy, plain, light blue pajamas and stood up before their mother. She stripped them with care and grabbed clothing from their wardrobe. A pink shirt for Elijah and a purple one for Tobias with light blue overalls. She dressed them as as Elijah spoke more about his dream with Tobias watching and listening intently. Occasionally the mother would look up as she engaged with Elijah so he wasn't ignored, as well as catching a glance of Tobias smiling at his brother. She would brush their hair and smooth out their fur so it wouldn't look messy. Lastly she would help them put their tail through the hole of their pants and then ask if everything is comfortable for their comfort is all she wanted. Elijah is the kind to voice discomfort almost instantly but Tobias would have to be asked directly as he would not speak up. Thankfully no hiccups were made and the boys were dressed as how they wanted. As their mother led the way Elijah and Tobias walked behind holding hands. A pleasant breakfast smell of pancakes and juice awaited them. Both the boys loved a particular kind of juice, it was concentrated orange and passionfruit. The boys were obsessed with that beverage and often would forgo water, which was a serious problem when they both got sick one time. Consumption of juice when they were sick only had them chuck it all up and refused to drink water. Thankfully that was in the past. Both the boys climbed up the chairs next to each other and sat at the table. Two full pancakes and maple syrup were in front of the each of them. Their father sat at the table and greeted them with a smile
"Hello hello~. How did you two sleep?"
"Good." Both of them replied,
"What did you two dream about?"
"Dragons!"
"A storm."
"Well you two sure sound like it was great." He stood up and started to slice their pancakes up. "Now how do you want them?"
"Like pizza!" Elijah cheered with Tobias looking at his brother. Their father cut them into pizza like shapes and sat down once more. Their parents shared a quick kiss before starting to eat with Tobias and Elijah taking turns sticking a piece of pancake on a fork and putting it in the other's mouth. They would imitate eating along with the other, whether it was a silly thing or part of who they were wasn't entirely certain. Both of the parents to chat about current events in a peaceful tone, even if the news wasn't good. It was to make sure that the boys didn't pick up any stress coming from the both of them, more so for Elijah and how sensitive he is to mood. But he has gotten better at maintaining it thanks to the child psychologist who has been working with the two of them from as young as 1 year and 1 month. Which is a really, really great thing as the parents recently got approved to take in 2 more children from adoption. The mother grew up in relative normal household but since moving out has shared homes with mentally ill people, she was always the sympathetic kind and an emotional sort. As for the father he grew up in a dysfunctional family with an abusive father, the sort to threaten rather than do anything sort but would occasionally act on it to prove it. They both have come so far after meeting each other that they felt like they could undertake more by adopting, they just hoped it was the right thing to do. They both already explained to the boys that they will be getting a new brother and sister soon, or rather today, so they were glad they didn't have to explain it now. They both have been preparing for a week now, buying new clothes and cleaning out 2 rooms just to make sure it was ready for them. They even had to buy a bigger car so it could fit everyone comfortably, one with seats behind the backseats for Elijah and Tobias could sit together. It was especially good that they boys were at preschool a lot of last week, made it easier to clean and move things around without them. However having them accept some change of the household setup did take a while.

After breakfast was done the boys sat on their chairs swinging their feet together as their parents got their socks and shoes, as the boys did not know how to tie shoelaces still. With a quick check over things the boys were pronounced ready and the parents got their stuff together. The mother brought her bumbag while the father grabbed his wallet, his glasses and a small esky full of water bottles.
"Are we ready to go?" The father asked,
"Yep I got everything." The mother replied with both the boys nodding. The twins got of the chairs together and holding hands they followed their parents. The father got behind the wheel with the mother in the passenger seat, the twins had a double seat at the very back of the vehicle. The backseats behind the parents however was empty, it was where the two new siblings would seat. As they started to drive to the adoption establishment both the parents felt considerable worry and stress, they wanted to help and their hearts are crushed from what they've heard but there was a nagging worry that made them feel unworthy. As they waited at the traffic lights they turned to each other and held hands with a smile, both the twins saw and copied the act. The drive was a little long but they made it to the adoption establishment. As their parents got them out of the car both Elijah and Tobias shivered. 
"What IS this place?" Elijah said with some difficulty, Tobias looked at his brother before speaking,
"We're here, the adoption place."
"I don't like it."
"Me either."
"Come on you two, we gotta go inside and we'll be out of here in no time." Their father said while picking them both up with a bit of heave. Both the boys clinged around his neck and his shoulder as he held them up from underneath. As they walked in the secretary at the desk was on a call, but as she saw them her face lit up in joy. She moved her lips as if to say 'Hello, please wait' to the family. After a little bit she said her goodbyes on the phone and stood up with an stretched hand for a handshake.
"Hello there! Good to see you two, how are you?" She was perked up with a stressed undertone to her but it was clear she was happy, only the mother shook hands because, well, the father was carrying his two boys.
"We're fine, fine yeah." The father said with nervous anticipation, 
"Yeah yeah we're fine. A little tired and pretty nervous."
"Aw I understand, but don't worry you are doing an incredible thing today." The secretary grabbed some folders from the desk, "Now I got these for you two to read over. Be sure to be in sound mind for it though, it isn't easy to take in and that's all we have. We're doing everything we can here but, that's it I'm sorry."
"No need to be sorry, thank you so much." The mother said, "Can we collect it on the way out?"
"Absolutely! Now can I get you two anything? A coffee or tea?"
"We should be fine. How long will it be?"
"Oh not too long, please sit down for now." The family sat down with the twins being put down on the ground together. They started to suck each other's thumbs and wandered around the room. The secretary smiled with adoration as she watched the two walk around. "Oh my goodness they're so cute. Do they do that often?"
"Yes they do. We would be worried if they weren't so consciously aware of each other." Both the secretary and the mother had a good chuckle before. Some time passed and a door was heard open with another worker beckoning friendly towards the family.
"Hello! Come on over to meet them." She called, both the parent's hearts started to beat faster but both smiled and stood up.
"Alright, come on you two." The father said as causally as he could manage, both the boys turned around and followed them once more. The hallway felt longer than it actually was for the parents and when they finally entered kids play room they saw both of the two kids, a kangaroo and a tamarin monkey. The monkey's tail was fully curled up showing significant stress and anxiety while clinging onto a teddy bear, while the roo cautiously watching with a mix between worry, hope and a hint of skepticism. The two sat on a lounge together holding hands with the monkey having her teddy tucked under her armpit, they evidently knew each other and is why the twin's parents adopted the both of them. The roo wore a green and white striped t-shirt and short jeans, while the monkey wore long jeans and a red t-shirt white with black outlines showing a bear.
"This is Eliza and this is Felix." There was a moment of silence that the parents smiled and waved, only the monkey waved back with Felix unmoving. He looked at the two twins and narrowed his eyes. 
"It's good to meet you two,"
"What's your names?" Felix asked quietly with his face showing more alertness,
"I'm Rita and this is Nathan." Rita knelt down before them as she didn't want to talk down to them, Eliza smiled back with her tail tightening around itself with Felix unmoving.
"Good, I'll call you those then I won't call you Mum and Dad."
"That's alright yeah. We can handle that." Rita replied with a nod, Eliza moved forward with a few fingers on the arm of her teddy.
"I want to call you mummy. Will you be nice?" She said with some difficulty, her expression hardly shifted and with each word she had the teddy wave.
"We will do everything we can to help." Nathan said as he bent down as well. Elijah and Tobias kept waving at their two new siblings, Elijah smiled showing excitement while Tobias didn't show any emotive changes. Eliza looked at the twins and grinned widely with glee, she let go of Felix and grabbed her teddy from under her armpit and directed the teddy to wave back. Felix looked at Eliza and watched her, he still showed considerable concern and worry but he looked like he was about to cry.
"You better, you fucking better." Felix sniffed leaning back into the lounge, both Rita and Nathan knew that Felix was a swearer as he didn't know better, but they didn't wish to control his language so soon. As far as they were concerned he was using the best words to express himself comfortably. Tobias showed a little irritation on his face but changed to a nervous smile for a moment.
"Hello. Nice to meet you." Tobias said impassively, while Elijah grinned in excitement.
"Hellooo!" Elijah said excitedly right after Tobias. 
"We('re) Elijah and Tobias." They both said together.
"Helloooo!" Eliza said back with a bop on the spot and using her teddy to wave once more, her tail straitened and relaxed more.

"Is everything going well?" Asked the worker, she was smiling feeling very pleased. Rita and Nathan nodded to each other and back to the worker. "That's great. I'll leave you 6 for now, I'll be at the entrance for when you go." She walked off with a wave down the corridor. Rita properly sat down with her legs crossed and sighed with a stretch.
"What do you two want to do?"
"Get the hell away from here,"
"Eat!" Commanded Eliza and her teddy.
"Well we can leave with you two right now and as we go home we can get some fish and chips, or something else if you prefer. Would would you two like?" Nathan stood up, both Elijah and Tobias moved around him to be on either side of their Dad, clinging. Eliza was stumped and silent as she stared off trying to think, while Felix looked down and shuffled his feet in a look of dull surprise.
"I like pizza." Felix finally said in a quiet tone, Eliza perked up with her teddy and bobbed up and down in excitement.
"Pizza pizza!" She kept bobbing up and down on the lounge with Rita and Nathan smiling at the two of them. 
"Pizza it is!" Rita said with a cheerful smile, both Felix and Eliza held hands once more. 
"I look forward to it, I want to get the hell away from here." His face looked tired but his voice sounded glad and hopeful. Rita stood up with some help from Nathan and picked up both Elijah and Tobias to carry them.
"Then let's go. No point staying here any longer. Are you two alright?" Rita looked at each of the twins, they both nodded back. As Rita carried them off Felix and Eliza started to pick up their backpacks, which all were very full.
"Let me carry those for you two." Nathan offered, both of them looked up at him and handed their bags to him and followed Rita; this feeling of freedom was all too familiar. Nathan picked the bags up and followed right after. Rita and her boys were about to leave the front before the secretary called to her,
"Don't forget these!" She held 2 thick folders towards Rita, Rita looked relieved and surprised that she had forgotten.
"So sorry I didn't mean to forget that!" She turned around and headed straight to the counter but Nathan had beat her to it.
"I got them." He had one full backpack on his back and carried the other in his left hand, he grabbed the folders in his right. "Thank you so much again." The secretary waved at each of the family as they left, Felix did not acknowledge her as he only wanted to leave but Eliza waved alongside her teddy. As they all got outside Felix sighed and shivered, he was feeling more anxious by the minute as this has happened too many times and expected their tones to shift in any way possible. He still followed the rest while putting his hands in his pockets to brace himself for whatever comes. As they all approached the car both Felix and Eliza looked in a relieved awe, it was nowhere near as small as the previous ones either of them experienced. They remembers being crammed and uncomfortable, even more uncomfortable as Hanna, their delusional and broken mess of a foster mother, would try to touch them as well. The boot was opened so Elijah and Tobias could get into the very backseats and the bags were put in behind them. The backseat doors opened with plentiful space for both Felix and Eliza to sit in. Eliza came running to the car and looked inside with marvel with Felix staring at the car.
"Is this new?" Felix asked with wonder,
"Yes but no, it's second hand. We bought it from an older couple who didn't need it anymore. But it's new to us!" Rita had a bit of a laugh as she opened her door. "Pick a seat and get comfortable."
"Ok." Felix replied. Felix sat on the lefthand side of the car with Eliza sitting on the right. The smell of the car was not what they expected, it was pleasant and not foul or suspicious in anyway. The seats were soft enough and not torn up, not like the ones they've experienced. Both Felix and Eliza looked around the car as they waited, Nathan was putting some things in the boot still as well as getting something out of the esky. As Nathan sat at the driver's seat he turned around and held out 2 bottles.
"We got cold water, do you two want it?" Eliza nodded with her teddy and Felix looked down for a moment, he looked back and gave a nod. Both of the bottles were given to each of them with Felix looking cautious.
"Does this have drugs in it?" He asked alarmed feeling a heightened sense of worry, as memories flooded his mind of similar incidences. "I don't want it anymore." Felix threw the bottle at Nathan that knocked his glasses off his face and rolled down at his feet. Elijah immediately started crying, covering his ears and shutting his eyes with Tobias doing the same without the crying. Rita was taken back and reached down to grab the bottle as well as his glasses. Nathan tried to do the same and the both of them fumbled for a little bit.
"Are you ok?" Rita asked concerned,
"I'm fine, yeah." Nathan said with a bit of pain. Neither of them wanted to chastise Felix, noticing now that his face dropped to a guilt ridden worry. Nathan got his glasses back with Rita holding the water bottle. "The water is fine, it hasn't been opened yet." Nathan eventually replied as he rubbed his snout.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." Felix covered his face with his hands, Rita cracked open the bottle and started to drink from it. 
"It isn't drugged, mate. Honestly it isn't. I just drank from it now, do you want some Nat?" Rita rubbed Nathan's snout, he nodded and took the bottle to drink from it.
"I-I know I just...! Please don't send me back!" Felix looked rubbed his closed eyes in frustration and panic, then turned to the crying Elijah in a panicked agitation, "And would you shut up already!?" Felix yelled at Elijah.
"It's alright Felix! And please don't yell at them, they're autistic and can't help it." Nathan said before getting out of the car to go around to get the boys.
"No," Eliza sobbed, Felix looked at Eliza with a sudden hit of sympathy. The boot was opened and Nathan took the twins out to walk them around as he carried the both of them. Felix watched as Nathan carried and walked around the parking-lot, his mind was still freaking out and he closed his eyes in a brace for more to come. He expected punishment and he wanted to yell more, but he didn't get that.
"Fuck I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, please don't send me back." Felix looked away once more and covered his eyes. Eliza started to cry and clenched her teddy even closer.

"It's alright Felix, breathe in and out slowly. We won't send you back, I promise. Breathe." Rita's eyes were soft and sensitive, something that Felix noticed, he expected her to get angry and violent. "I can't begin to fathom what you two actually went through before we adopted you. We know you are troubled. That's why we adopted you two, to give you a real family."
"What even is a real family?" Felix said with a muffle,
"One where you can feel safe, be loved, be supported."
"And I threw a fucking water bottle into Nathan's face. I don't want to be in fucking trouble!" 
"I know, we believe you. It's going to be alright Felix." Rita went quiet as she said all she needed to, Felix shivered and thumped the seat in frustration and panic. He felt angry, so angry at himself. It wasn't until Eliza held his hand with a stressed and worn out expression and squeezed his hand very tightly. He started to breathe slowly and calm down while looking outside again to see Nathan comforting the twins. He looked in a mystifying awe and desire, of what those twins have right now.  He envied the twins so much that it hurt. He watched as they were taken back to the backend of the car to be put into their seats once more, neither of them said anything but looked drained, exhausted and detached. Nathan came back and sat in the driver's seat.
"They're alright, everything's all good. I walked them around and they talked about their dreams again."
"Yeah! About the dragons!"
"And the storm." Both the twins replied,
"Dragons?" Eliza asked in wonder, 
"Yeah! I had a dream about dragons that lived on clouds. They were beautiful." Elijah did his best to speak properly although he struggled a little bit.
"I dreamt of a stormy afternoon, it was beautiful." 
"I like dragons." Eliza said stroking her teddy. Felix felt uncomfortable and detached, the mood shift caught him off guard and he doesn't know how to process it. But he felt better with Eliza holding his hand and no one scorning him, it felt like a nightmare no longer.
"Dragons are alright." Felix added with a swallow, "I do like storms though, dark days more so. I don't like sunny days." Felix said darkly, to his surprise Tobias replied back.
"Same. It's nicer when it's dark but I love the rain, makes me sleepy and calm." As Tobias said it Elijah slid closer to his brother, hugging and kissing him on the cheek. Tobias kissed back to which Elijah would kiss back, and thus it continued on. Felix watched feeling strange and somewhat uncomfortable, but it wasn't bad. He just never seen such behaviour, it felt nice even. 
"Do you want something to drink, Felix?" It was Nathan again. Felix looked at it with a tired look, looked down and nodded. He grabbed the water bottle that was being held towards him, cracked the lid off and took a drink. The water was nice and cold, and it felt like it was the tastiest water he's ever had. His nerves picked up once more as caution took over him once more.
"If this gets me sick or I randomly fall asleep I will kill you." He said it with a growl and a sniff. Nathan smiled with a nod and sudden laughter coming from Elijah. Felix felt irritated, he felt like he was being laughed at. He turned around with an angry look to only see Tobias repetitively kissing Elijah on the cheek. He felt relieved and with a sigh he relaxed. As he relaxed he heard a crunch, he looked down and saw his hands gripping the bottle tightly in his grasp. He softened it upon realizing it, then rested his head against the wall of the car with a deflated look on his face. Nathan started the car and cool air came from the air conditioner,
"Is that too cold?" Nathan looked over his shoulder to Eliza and Felix, both shook their head so he Nathan started to get the car moving. As they drove off Eliza whispered to her teddy as Felix watched everything move away. He felt... nervous but happy. Despite his action he wasn't punished and taken back, something he felt worried about but overall relieved. The twins, were autistic? He only reflected on that now with everything going on. He lived with autistic kids before so he knew how much of a challenge they can be but these two looked and sounded better. So that was a plus. The drive was pleasant, Rita turned on the radio so all could listen to some music. Rita called the local pizza shop an order for 4 pizzas and 2 garlic breads. Elijah and Tobias shared one cheese pizza with Felix asking for a meat lovers while Eliza expressed she wanted pepperoni, and lastly Rita and Nathan ordered a vegetarian pizza for them to share. More than likely the twins would have some pizza left over so Rita and Nathan assumed they would have the leftovers. Felix wrapped his arms and looked at Eliza who was still whispering to her teddy. She was playing her imaginary game, or world, whatever it was. Felix never really got why Eliza did that but he did guess it was because after all she's been through. He didn't want to question or make fun of it either. They stopped off at the pizza shop, they didn't wait long until they were on the road again with Rita holding everything. The smell was so enticing, it made Felix more hopeful by the second. Even if his gut feeling was expecting the worse. 

As they pulled into a driveway Felix and Eliza saw their new home, it had a steep driveway but layered gardens as it climbed up. They parked into the open car port and the car stopped, Felix's nerves picked up once more. His gut felt like wrenching as if he discovered everything was a lie, he believed himself to be in danger but had no rational proof of it. Rita put the pizzas and garlic breads on the bonnet as she closed her door, Felix and Eliza got out of the car and saw Rita get the twins out of the far backseat. By the time she had both the twins Nathan had opened the house and came back.
"Would you two like to do the honours of holding the pizzas and garlic bread?"
"Not really." Felix said feeling alarmed,
"No." Eliza said using her teddy once more,
"Okie, not a problem." Nathan picked up the pizzas and garlic bread and took a sniff of the delicious food he held. Eliza and Felix followed their new parents into their new home, they paused as they looked at the living room. It was right next to the front door and not in the back corner of the house like they were use to and it was all clean. Rita put her boys down on the great so they could hold hands and walk together, Nathan had rushed off ahead to put the food on the table to come back past everyone. "Excuse me, just going to get your bags." Nathan said as he passed them all to go back to the car. Eliza held her teddy in amazement with Felix's eyes open wide and his heart pumping faster with relief and excitement, so far so good.
"We're going to eat at the dining table, come along." Rita said leading in front with the twins right behind her, Felix and Eliza followed close to each other as they looked all around. There was a room directly next to the front door, the corridor opened up to yet another living room with the dining table. To the right was a clean kitchen that had a room just past it, with a quick look Felix ran through the kitchen and saw that the room was connected to the first living room and to his left was a door to the backyard. He came back in a huff and saw a mini corridor that was just to the left of the kitchen, from there was a door close to the kitchen and was another bedroom. This bedroom was obviously twins as it had toys, clothes and schoolbags in it. He looked down the corridor on the left was another door that had the toilet, another door next to it was the bathroom. The bathroom was spacious enough with a decently sized bathtub with a shower cubicle next to it. At the end of the hall was another door which was another bedroom and to the right was yet another bedroom. This bedroom was behind the wall of the second living room but the wall had a closet that looked thick enough to block sound. Both the bedrooms had windows, made beds, clean walls and with some furniture for storing clothes and personal objects. Felix stepped back and leaned against the wall in shock and awe and started to cry so he covered his mouth. He turned around and saw Eliza who followed him everywhere, she too was shaking in amazement and joy. Felix grabbed her hand and walked her back to the dining table in the second living room.
"This has to be a joke, this HAS to be not true. I must be dreaming, I must be in a fucking coma. I must be in a fucking boot of Noah's car again." Felix's voice shrieked with him trembling in his words, he then walked past the dining table to the living room, 2 chairs and one large lounge with a TV and DVD collections neatly stored around. "No fucking way, no FUCKING way." Felix yelled once more quivering, he sat down and huddled into himself, he begun to break down.
"This is all real, Felix. Come on, have some pizza then you'll know." Nathan said warmly, he put their bags on the ground against the wall. Felix stormed over and grabbed a piece of pizza and immediately shoved a lot of it into his mouth. It was real, and still a nice warm temperature as well. He broke down fully as he screamed in shock, sitting down on the floor and embraced himself crying in a shivering mess. Elijah, who was sitting at the table with Tobias, upon seeing this started to cry once more with Tobias's face trying his best to also show sadness. Both Rita and Nathan stopped eating their slice and came over to Felix and Eliza who was standing right next to him. They got low and hugged Felix, who started to scream bloody murder for a couple of seconds before going back to uncontrollable crying. "Don't fucking touch me!!" Felix yelled out of a furious reaction, Eliza looked down and shivered feeling left out like usual. Until Nathan and Rita asked her if she wanted to join in, her face lit up rushed into the middle of Nathan and Rita hugging Felix. Rita repeated 'everything will be alright' while Nathan repeated 'you are strong, be strong'.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. This is all too good to be true." Felix quivered, he then softly pushed against Nathan. "Can you two please let me go now?"
"Of course." Rita said with both her and Nathan letting go, Eliza refused to let go of them however. Nathan picked her up and cradled Eliza who now was looked shocked, somewhat alarmed but looked like she was screaming in glee. She rubbed her head against Nathan's shirt and giggled erratically. She felt love and affection, finally. 
"Come on now, Eliza. Your pizza is getting cold. You too, Felix. Come on, lets get back to having lunch."
"More hugs!" Eliza screamed into Nathan, refusing to let go of him. Felix stood up and watched as Eliza was held, she looked really happy, perhaps too happy. Eliza has been so devoid of affection, positive affection that is. It helped that Nathan was more focused on swaying and hugging her more than touching her like Noah and Hanna would. Felix rubbed his nose as he sniffed,
"Come on Eliza. I'm hungry and I know you are. We don't want to have cold pizza again." Felix said as he looked at her, Eliza shook her head in response. Rita moved on over and kissed Eliza on the forehead, something that Nathan did as he pulled her up to him. Eliza's face was beyond joyful and started to kick her legs. With that Nathan put her down carefully and Eliza jumped on the spot erratically. She would turn to Felix, then to Nathan and Rita, and back again as she giggled excessively. Upon grabbing Felix's hand she tried to run with him around, but with some persuasion was convinced to go and sit up at the table right next to each other to eat. Nathan swapped pizza box with another for the two to have their pizza right in front on them as they ate. 

Felix and Eliza devoured their pizza as if they weren't fed breakfast and it felt like the best lunch they've had since ever, and not because of the food. It was the combination of the food, the company, where they were now and how safe they felt. They licked their lips to get all the pizza sauce off in beyond appreciation. Both of them saw Elijah and Tobias taking turns feeding each other, Eliza smiled and bobbed up and down with a smile. With a sniff and rubbing an eye, Felix cleared his throat to get rid of the pizza grease to speak clearly.
"They are so weird, I mean not in a bad way but. Do they do that all the time?" Felix kept watching the twins as he said it, both Rita and Nathan nodded with a soft chuckle.
"They stopped liking us feeding them when they were 3 and a half, all they want nowadays is for us to cut it for them. Ever since they discovered they could feed each other they never wanted us to feed them directly again. The boys are extremely close to each other, we see them at times as one little boy sometimes. They love each other way more than they love us. Don't you two?" Nathan asked with a cheeky grin, to which both the boys nodded back with Elijah giggling. "See, hehe. They understand that enough, and we're proud about that."
"Are they even your children?" Felix asked inquisitively,
"Yeah they are." Both Rita and Nathan pulled out their wallets, Rita's showed a picture of the two in the arms of her after giving birth with, Nathan's picture was with a family portrait of the two bubs with them together in a photo. Felix believed them once he saw those pictures, but he still felt very odd having them as brothers. "Elijah is sensitive to emotions, he is the one who socializes and express his feelings. He helps display emotions for Tobias as well. However his sensitivity makes it easy for him to cry or laugh, most often enough cry as it gets too much for him." Explained Rita,
"Now Tobias on the other hand, he struggles in expressing emotions on his face. His voice doesn't react or show any a lot of the time but we do know that he does. He just can't convey his feelings on his face. He also is the who does most of the complex thinking, things like figuring out how to solve an issue and often does so with ease. He speaks very well, he's the communicator between the two. When Elijah struggles, and he struggles a lot when it comes to speaking, to say what he means or the right word to say Tobias steps in. Thankfully just by being in Tobias's presence helps Elijah to speak better." Nathan added.
"Pre, shench?" Eliza asked with a confused expression.
"Presence. Means being around something or someone. An example would be you and your teddy, whenever he's with you do you feel better?"
"Yes!"
"His presence gives you strength, Eliza." Rita smiled warmly at her causing her to grin back widely. "That's what Tobias does for Elijah, they can't be separated. Tobias is the reason why Elijah can read, we tried our best but we couldn't manage it so. Much like them we shall never take your teddy away without your permission."
"Upon the pain of death?" Felix quipped,
"On the pain of death." Rita said with a laugh. Now how was your pizza?"
"It was so good."
"Yummy!" Eliza took control of her teddy once more and did a voice for it, "Yummy yum!" Rita and Nathan smiled with a chuckle.
"Does your teddy have a name?" Rita asked, Eliza nodded back
"Mary."
"That is such a lovely name." Rita replied with adoration over her face. Eliza scooted to Felix and wrapped her arms around him in ecstatic joy, something that Felix was glad to see. Felix blinked a few times as he sat feeling fed, warm and relieved that it only now hit him he is exhausted. He did not sleep well at all last night, he was worrying himself sick to sleep. After a little while Nathan got up and picked up Felix and Eliza's bags.
"Well it's time for you to choose your room." Said Nathan, it took Felix and Eliza a little bit before they knew what he meant.
"Our room?" Eliza asked curiously, Nathan shook his head.
"Your room. You two get a whole room to yourself, come on and choose which one you want." Nathan clarified. Felix looked down feeling a mix of shock and indecision, he saw the rooms but with how tired he is feeling he didn't really comprehend the two rooms at the end was for each of them. Felix got out of his chair with Eliza holding his hand and they followed Nathan down the corridor to their new rooms. They followed closely to Nathan and mostly saw his very furry tail for the most part, but when he stepped to a side both of the rooms were visible. The two kids stood looking into each of the rooms in silence and unable to decide on what one they liked the most. 
"I'll be honest, we never had a room for ourselves." Felix admitted, "Are you sure we get one room for ourselves?"
"I'm absolutely sure." Nathan replied, "But if you two prefer to share a room-,"
"I don't want to share a room, I want a room for myself but. I can't fucking choose... this is unbelievable." Felix stood feeling frustrated at himself, Eliza's tail wiggled as she started to jump on the spot. 
"Have you chosen, Eliza?"
"Yes! I want this one!" Eliza pointed to the room on the right that was behind the second living room. Felix looked into the room Eliza had chosen and nodded to himself, it had a window to the backyard and had vision of the playground, swings, a slide and a sand pit.
"I guess I'll have this one." Felix said as he looked into the other room. It was only slightly bigger than Eliza's and had vision of the backyard as well, but it did not show any playground equipment. It only showed the stone fence that was just a bit bigger than a metre tall. One could walk on the wall and also walk up the hill it was at the bottom of, presumably it went to more housing. Felix didn't mind the view from his window as it looked like the sun would not directly shine through it, something he was most happy about.

Nathan walked into Felix's new room and placed Felix's bag on the bed, moved to Eliza's and did the same for her. Both Felix and Eliza sat on their respective beds and looked around, suddenly feeling so very small and too open. They opened their bags and took out their spare clothes as well as some personal belongings. Eliza's didn't have much special to her but for a empty cigarette box with a smiley face that Felix gave her and a card with a love heart that another older kid drew. Felix's bag had clothes but a stash of cigarettes, a few half empty lighters, a few magazines and a pocket knife hidden in a secret spot. Nathan had walked off for a moment and came back to check on the two of them and watched in concerned silence. Felix looked up and saw Nathan looking his way so he looked away, Nathan could smell the tobacco from Felix's bag.
"Hey, Felix?"
"What?"
"I know you smoke, I could smell it from your bag."
"What of it?" Felix said feeling defensive.
"I just want to say that if you have to smoke, could you please go outside to smoke?" Nathan said as compassionately as possible, Felix looked up in silence. "That's it."
"Aren't you going to try to take them away from me? What kind of adult wouldn't do that?"
"One that knows that withdrawals are the worst." Felix looked up at Nathan who was now crossing his arms with a concerned look.
"You don't smoke, why do you say that?"
"Mate, I use to smoke a lot." Nathan walked up and sat next to Felix on the bed, "I smoked a lot as a kid, teen and early adult years."
"Why don't you smoke now?"
"Well, my boys truth be told. Smoking is really bad for you and worse if you plan to have kids, I couldn't let myself do harm before they were ever born."
"Maybe that's why they're autistic." Felix said while digging into a pack for a cigarette. 
"That's rude Felix," Nathan replied sternly, something that Felix hasn't heard yet. "Regardless you could be right. But they would be worse off if I still smoked, as well as myself for that matter. I'm concerned how it affects you now, but I won't take them away from you. That won't help anyone."
"So, I'm just supposed to smoke them outside?"
"If you smoke it outside it won't stay in the house and make the twins sick. Rita and I will allow you to smoke for now if you do that, is that fair?" Nathan was trying to bargain with Felix and thankfully it looked like it was working.
"Yeah."
"I'm glad. Maybe one day we could have you try out vaping instead."
"Vaping? Why would I want to do that?"
"Well for one it's cheaper, it's better for you and you still get to smoke overall. But look, all I care about is your health."
"I don't get why." Felix kept looking down, "Why do you care about me so much anyway?"
"We just do, Felix. I don't know how else to explain that but we're being honest." Felix put grabbed a cigarette between his fingers, grabbed a lighter a nodded.
"Alright. So where should I smoke exactly?"
"Come along with me and I'll show you." Nathan got up with Felix following behind with a cigarette in his mouth unlit. They walked into the dining area with the second living room and a big sliding door showing the outside, Nathan opened it and walked outside. The concrete pavement before the grass and play equipment had a bunch of tools neatly stacked in a bunch, Nathan walked to the stone fence and lifted himself up to sit on it facing Felix. "By all means you can smoke sitting along here, doesn't matter where but so long as it's up here. You can get rid of your ash just on the dirt on the otherside of here, there's plenty of dirt as well." Nathan explained, Felix lifted himself up to sit on the stone next to Nathan and sighed with the cigarette still in his mouth, his feet now 14 centimeters away from the ground. It felt nice being at a slightly higher point on the stone fence that felt reasonably comfortable enough, the fact that Nathan told him to leave his ash on on the dirt behind or next to him felt also good, ease of access and use. Felix lit the cigarette and started to smoke with a silent Nathan looking all around, as Felix inhaled and exhaled he felt more comfortable by the second. These adults, this house, it all felt like a dream still. He blew the smoke away from him and Nathan before turning to Nathan looking up.
"This is a pretty cool spot." Felix finally said, Nathan nodded in silence for a moment.
"It sure is." As Nathan said it Elijah and Tobias rushed outside to play on the playground with Eliza following behind. Both the boys were inviting her to join them so she did. Felix and Nathan watched in silence with a smile the twins and Eliza played a make believe game. The playground was a castle, the twins were king with Eliza and Mary, her teddy, as Queen. Felix puffed more smoke to his left, away from Nathan and the rest and softly kicked his feet forward as he watched them play. Eliza and the twins would wave to both Nathan and Felix who watched smiling back who both waved back.

The next few hours felt like an eternity had passed, in a good way that is. The twins played with Eliza with Felix eventually joining in. He was a little rough at times picking up the twins to lift them up back on top of the playground but the twins did not complain. Felix however didn't stay for too long, at least it didn't feel like it to him, as he kept feeling weary and overwhelmed. He went back to his room and laid down, it did not take long for him to sleep. He forgot to get under the sheets and felt cold as it neared 6pm. Then his dreams started to haunt him, memories of Noah's fucking face and Hanna's deranged look with a dozen hands getting closer to him. He kept rubbing his snout into the sheets to try to hide, but nothing could hide him from his fever dream. He screamed and yelled at the hands to fuck off with images of naked children getting molested, looking down he only now realized he too was naked. As the hands got closer he could already feel them and no matter how hard he cried it wouldn't go away. He woke up to see Rita putting a comfortable blanket over him looking concerned and startled. Felix was breathing heavily and erratically. He gripped the blanket and stared at Rita in frozen silence as he slowly calmed down.
"Are you alright, Felix? I only came in to tell you dinner was ready soon and you were tossing and turning. It's also cold in here." Felix didn't say anything yet, he rubbed his eyes as he could feel tears forming. 
"I'm fine, sorry. Just a bad dream." He said feeling asphyxiation. Rita kneeled down before Felix still showing concern.
"What was it-?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Felix spoke abruptly. 
"Alright then. Are you sure you are alright? Did I upset you?" Rita asked once again, Felix just wanted to hide under the blanket to not look at his new foster mother's eyes. She was nice but this was the wrong time for this crap.
"Yes, I'm fine." Felix's breathing was close to normal but his tone hadn't changed from his upset and defensive tone. 
"Alright then, mate. You'll be alright. Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes, want me to call you then?" 
"Yes." Felix paused and sighed as Rita stood up once more, as she turned her back to walk out Felix looked over to her feeling awful. "Yes please." He spoke quietly, Rita turned and smiled warmly at Felix as she closed the door and left. Felix laid still in bed staring at the ceiling in silence, there was a soft but cold breeze coming through the window. "I'm so fucking glad to be here. I'm so, so, so fucking glad to be here. Thank you so much, fucking oh my god." Felix whispered to himself as he cried. He never wanted to leave this house, never setting foot into the world outside of this 'mansion'. It wasn't a mansion but it bloody well felt like it was. Originally he and Eliza were in the US with Noah and Hanna, upon being adopted they had to travel all the way to Australia and he remembered how stupid it all sounded. "Why the fuck are we going to Australia? I know I'm a fucking kangaroo but just because I am doesn't mean I should be sent back." He complained loudly at the time, only getting tired and uncaring looks back. They told him he's lucky he's going anywhere at this point, that he and Eliza were adopted together. He expected to be in the hands of more sick fucks that will cause him to commit homicide. But it didn't happen, he got so very lucky. He lifted the blanket and sat up on the side of the bed, looked around at the clean room without any foul smells; he's never felt so at home in his life. He got up and left his room, he could hear talking in at the end of the corridor where dinner probably was. He looked at Eliza's room and peered in to see if she was there, and she was. She sat on her bed silently with her teddy looking outside seeing the twins still play, Felix guessed she got tired. He opened the door more that ended up in a creak that got Eliza to spin around and see him.
"Felix!" Eliza rushed off the bed and wrapped her arms around him, she sobbed and giggled as he slammed into him and refused to let go. Felix rubbed to top of her head in silence, he guessed she was just wanting him to be around. "I missed you. Don't go away."
"Eliza geeze, I only went to lie down."
"Mum sayz you got nightmare. Noah and Hanna?" Her broken words sounded more sad in her distress.
"Yeah... I did. I'm fine now though." Eliza looked up at Felix who's face was a mixture of sad, concerned and love. "They're gone. They're gone! We'll be fine now, they can't hurt us now." Felix wasn't just saying this for her, he had to hear it for himself. Eliza's composure while not bawling her eyes was a petrified look of discomfort, while she smiled and it was sincere, she didn't truly feel safe. Not with the memories and trauma still fresh in her little mind. Eliza nodded and leaned into Felix once more which almost toppled him over. "Whoa fucking hell Eliza, it will be alright dammit! I promise." Felix tried his best to comfort her, but she still wasn't calming down and he hated this. This powerless feeling of being unable to stop what happened to her, to himself, and being unable to consult her. He wasn't frustrated at her per se but it still bothered him. "Come on let's sit on your new bed. Let's talk to Mary." Felix was looking for any excuse for her to let go, and it worked as she let go to only have him grabbed by the hand and led to the bed. "How are you Mary?"
"I'm hungry and want love." Eliza spoke for Mary,
"Have you been hugging Eliza?"
"Yes I have. I want to hug you now." Eliza held Mary to Felix, he grasped her and hugged her close.
"There you go." Felix said as he gave her back to Eliza. They smiled to each other for a moment only to hear dinner being called out, so Felix and Eliza got off the bed and walked down the corridor together holding hands. As they turned the corner the table was set with plates, cutlery and cups with steam wafting from the food. The rest of the family sat in their seats, Nathan and Rita at the head of the table facing each other with Tobias and Elijah sitting next to each other on one side. Eliza let go of Felix and rushed to her seat with excitement with Felix following behind her at his own pace. As they sat at the table they looked over their dinner.

Felix and Eliza saw their plate with steamed vegetables comprising of peas, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and a full cob of corn. In the middle of everything was a nicely cooked lamb chop which smelled absolutely amazing to the both of them. Neither of them had dinners like this, often instant dinner boxes, fast food or bare basic food without anything added to it; like cooked spaghetti with no sauce or seasoning. The twins were already eating together as their food was cut prior but the both of them waved silently to Eliza and Felix, Rita and Nathan smiled at the gesture as they chewed on some food.
"This looks..."
"Amazing!" Felix and Eliza said after another, Felix was stunned with Eliza looking in awe. Neither of them started each as they just stared at the food in wonder.
"Is something wrong?" Nathan asked,
"No! No-no far from it. We've... never had something like this. This is a broccoli right?" Felix pointed to the green thing on his plate,
"That's right". Rita replied, Felix leaned back into his seat making sure his tail was comfortable poking out behind him.
"We've never, ever, ever had broccoli. I mean we've had potato, right Eliza?" Felix explained, Eliza nodding back to him. "We've had potatoes but that was it. Our last..." He paused trying to think of the right word to say, what would he call those monsters.
"Your last foster parents?" Queried Nathan.
"No. No! Absolutely not, I refuse to acknowledge them as 'parents'."
"They were mean, awful..." Eliza added.
"They were literally the worst, we are so glad to be away from them."
"What shall we call them then?" Nathan asked with some concern.
"I don't fucking know, monsters maybe?" Felix snapped, Rita and Nathan looked at each other in silence as they listened, they both were concerned. "I hated them, we hated them so much."
"Ok then, Felix your feelings are valid. We could call them 'them' or 'it' if you want." Rita added,
"Evil." Eliza spoke up once more,
"We'll think of something later on, for now you two should dig in. Your food is getting cold." Nathan concluded, Felix and Eliza picked up their cutlery and stuck it into their food. Felix knew how to eat with cutlery but Eliza struggled with holding them. She turned to Felix and looked at him with 'help me' across her face.
"I could help you, Eliza. Would you like my help?" Nathan asked courteously. Eliza didn't know what to say or feel, she always liked it when Felix would help her. However she understood that her new parents were nice, so she nodded back to Nathan and rested back into her seat. Nathan cut the big vegetables into pieces but halted over the lamb chop, "You know, in our house it's perfectly ok to eat lamb chops with your hands, but if you want I can cut your lamb chop up." Eliza grinned widely with glee as she shook her head, she grabbed her chop and started to eat it. Felix copied Eliza as he left his cutlery beside his plate, it felt natural to eat the lamb chop using your hands. Both Eliza and Felix had devoured their lamb chop as well, when it came to the vegetables both were more cautious as they didn't know what to expect. Felix ate through the broccoli, corn and peas but got stuck on the cauliflower. While Eliza ate the peas, broccoli and her corn but struggled to eat the cauliflower and potato. In fact Eliza spat out her cauliflower and potato.
"Yeeuuukk." Eliza said with a cough, Elijah began laughing with Tobias nodding his head at Eliza.
"We don't like it either."
"But that's why you have your drink." Rita added. "But before that could you try adding some salt to your cauliflower and your potato? It might make it better." Eliza shook her head at first before momentarily deciding to do so anyway, unfortunately even with the salt she could not eat the 2 veggies. "That's alright. We do expect you two to eat your veggies but don't worry, Tobias and Elijah struggle to eat all their veggies as well." Rita gestured to the boys. Elijah stopped laughing and looked puzzled while Tobias nodded back. Tobias gestured to Elijah to take a small drink and hold his mouth out and open. Tobias grabbed a piece of potato and put it into Elijah's mouth who then quickly swallowed it. Upon done with the demonstration Tobias hugged Elijah who hugged him back giggling. 
"And that's how our boys do it." Nathan said as he swallowed some food. Both Felix and Eliza weren't sure what to make of this as they both still didn't want to eat the vegetables they did not like.
"I still don't want to eat this, it tastes like shit." Felix added, both Rita and Nathan looked in discomfort.
"Felix, do you think you could have phrased that differently?" Nathan asked firmly but showing leeway in his tone.
"What?" Felix looked at him in confusion, sounding a tad alarmed and anxious. "Why, what was I supposed to say?"
"You weren't supposed to say anything specifically. But I thought perhaps you could try to rephrase it differently." Nathan explained, "I understand you speak the way you want, people are allowed to speak their mind and I'm not saying you shouldn't. But it wouldn't hurt to explore more language to express yourself more politely." Nathan sighed, he looked to his twins and then back at Felix. "I'll be blunt, I would prefer if you didn't always swear or curse in front of the twins."
"But people swear all the time." Felix added, he wasn't necessarily complaining but he was trying to understand the problem.
"That is true, but just because some people do it doesn't mean all do. Or that you should do it either." Nathan then stuck a piece of potato into his mouth and started to cough, his face scrunched up with a look of disgust and he spat it onto his plate. "Oh that's really awful." He wiped his mouth and then looked with a smile at Felix. "That's an example."
"That's so lame." Felix said with a weirded out face.
"Lame it may be but it is something both Rita and I would appreciate. I will write down a list of replacements so all you have to do is read it, memorize it and then say it instead of swearing." Nathan cleared his throat and coughed a little bit, "Bloody hell that was uncomfortable." Nathan sniffed and started to get back into his food.
"Isn't bloody a swear?" Eliza chimed in,
"Yeah it's a bit of a swear ain't it, Christian folk don't like it but ah well. Look I'd be fine if you two would say 'this tastes bloody awful', you're in Australia and well that's alright by me." Nathan looked over to Rita who nodded back with a laugh. Felix looked down at his plate feeling some levels of discomfort, but admitted it wasn't the discomfort he expected. He sighed and then gave a go at the slogan,
"Bloody hell this tastes awful." Felix gave it half a go, it wasn't the same as saying it tasted like shit but it at least wasn't pansy sounding. Eliza looked at Felix with a grin and then back to Nathan.
"This tastes bloooooody awful!" Eliza said with the help of Mary.
"There you go! Now eat up your veggies and use your drinks if necessary." Nathan cheered, both the twins started to clap at the cheery looking Eliza and the slightly perplexed Felix. This was a really weird family, but it felt so comforting still. There wasn't an underlying sinister or messed up crap hidden in any of the actions, reactions or the words. That Nathan wasn't trying to stick his hand down Felix's pants and trying to rape him in an isolated room was also on his mind. He stuck the potato and cauliflower in his mouth and took a swig of juice, it went down well enough. 

After dinner was dessert which was a chocolate icecream on a stick, the kids (the twins, Eliza and Felix) moved to the first living room as they sat on the lounge watching TV. Eliza between Felix and Elijah on and stared at the icecream as it was handed to her by Rita, her breath was taken away. To Eliza this home, the caring parents who are more than happy to love her was all she could have dreamed; but now they're giving her a treat that isn't tarnished? She started crying as she held the icecream by the stick feeling so overwhelmed with joy and... feeling so undeserving. One time she was given a bowl of icecream after having to agree to be touched and fucked by Noah. It ended off with Noah cumming all over her icecream and sticking his fingers in it after fingering her pussy. After what happened the nice bowl of icecream was ruined, half of it was melted and she could smell nothing bot Noah's disgusting scent. So holding her untarnished, pristine icecream that was still mostly frozen was too much of a sight. She stuck it in her mouth as she cried, whine and her tail coiling up tensely. Felix held his icecream on his right hand as he wrapped his left arm around Eliza comfortingly. Elijah with a icecream in his mouth turned to Eliza and put a hand on her shoulder as she sensed her emotional distress. Both Felix and Eliza looked at Elijah in shock and confusion, Elijah felt bad and wanted to help but, they didn't know him. Elijah's eyes wavered and his large ears folded back in fear, discomfort and submission; Tobias looked over and wrapped his arm around Elijah.
"You're scaring him. He feels your sadness." Said Tobias, his voice didn't show much emotion but his voice wavered like he was concerned or upset. "We don't like people sad, it makes us sad. Why are you crying?" Tobias explained,
"We're from a bad family. Awful people." Felix said plainly, he sighed to himself as he knew he had to elaborate. "Every day was bad, we either cried or hid. It happened so much we got stuck this way so we're like this. You also don't know us, it's weird when you two try to make us feel better." Felix felt that he did his best, Elijah looked down as if he struggled to understand. Tobias clicked his tongue with a murmur, something Elijah knew all to well and snapped his focus onto his twin.
"They're sad, they're often sad. Bad family. We only just met, so we can't help despite wanting to." Tobias spoke clearly staring into Elijah's eyes.
"But I wanna help them!" Elijah cried with some of his throat clammered up, Tobias kissed Elijah on the forehead. Eliza watched as the two spoke and her tail unfurled slightly, she felt guilty and hurt more by the second; something Felix had noticed.
"I'm sorrwy." Eliza said with a sniff, she grit her teeth to be strong. Rita entered the room to hear some of the commotion, as she walked to them her face was of sweet concern but with a warm sense of easiness.
"Nothing to be sorry at all. Nothing to be sorry at all, Eliza." Rita said as she knelt before Eliza, she reached her hand and stroked Elijah's head comfortingly. "You aren't wrong for how you feel, if the twins make you uncomfortable that's alright you come to me or Nathan, but it's also alright if you don't. Remember all bad feelings will pass, know that you are safe and loved and don't let your guilt overwhelm you, Bubba." As Rita finished Eliza smiled widely with tears forming widely once more, so tightly that she nearly broke the stick of her icecream.
"Bubba??" She exclaimed in surprise and confusion.
"Bubba, like baby. I love all my bubbas, these two right here and you two." Rita stroked Eliza's head as she affectionately spoke, Eliza started to bob up and down on the lounge once more jittering in nervous excitement. "Come on now, you still got your icecream so don't let it melt. Felix I hope you make sure she eats it all." Rita turned to Felix with the same affectionate easy going warmth, Felix looked down momentarily before looking back up at her and nodded with a slight smile. "Fantastic." Rita moved over to the twins and kissed the both of them on the forehead as she stroked their heads, she then turned to Eliza and Felix looking at them as if to offer the same.
"Please, no thank you." Felix said, feeling uncomfortable and suddenly felt Eliza's energy surge up.
"Me me me me me!" 
"Alright now, Bubba." Rita kissed Eliza on the forehead and stroked her head like she did to the twins, Eliza was ecstatic before coiling her tail in submission.
"Can I hwave another?" She said feeling uncertain and afraid, but before she knew it she was kissed on the forehead once more.
"There you go. Now there's plenty more hugs and kisses later on, but do me a favour and finish your icecream." Said Rita with loving eyes, as Eliza nodded erratically she sucked on her icecream as she continued to smile at her new mum. Felix watched in heartfelt relief to see Eliza so happy once again. "Oh! Where's Mary?" Rita followed up, Eliza reached to the cramped space between her and Felix as she pulled out her teddy. "Oh there she is! I'm glad she with you, I was worried she'd gone walk about." Rita said jovially. Rita stood up and stretched her back with a few soft cracks. "Alright I'll be in the other living room if you need us." Rita said with a wave as she left, something both the twins and Eliza waving back while Felix smiled feeling relaxed. They ate all their icecreams as they watched a cartoon on the TV, a TV show about a bunch of Crocodiles getting involved in a lot of hijinx. Eliza and Felix had seen better drawn cartoons but this one had a strange charm to it, it helped that Elijah laughed a lot at the sound effects and expressions. They all chatted about other cartoons where both Eliza and Felix felt open enough to chat about. Whatever Elijah didn't understand Tobias would explain and no further conflict would happen that evening. A sudden rumble underneath them was felt to which both Felix and Eliza looked alarmed by, but the twins stuck their arms up in the air.
"8-o(ah)-clock rock!" Elijah cheered with Tobias saying it more milder. 
"What was that?" Felix asked feeling very confused and left out.
"There's a mining place nearby. There's also a salt mine as well. At 8 o'clock they exploded some bombs in the mine to mine." Tobias explained.
"It's really cool!" Elijah added, "I wanna go to a mine."
"It would be awfully dirty though, Mum said she would kill us if we were completely covered in dirt. Or something, I can't remember the word Mum said." Elijah giggled as Tobias said that their Mum would kill them, something both Eliza and Felix thankfully understood to not read into too much. 
"Mum wants to kill a lot of things." Elijah laughed, and now both Eliza and Felix were lost and concerned.
"When mum gets angry, annoyed, or when she warns us to not get very dirty she says 'I'm going to kill you'."
"You didn't do the voice!" Elijah leaned against Tobias,
"I'm not good at doing voices, you do it."
"I'm going to -keeeel- you!" Elijah clenched his hands against his chest as he did a high pitched and silly voice, Elijah barely could contain himself.
"Before you ask, she's not serious. It's just funny, and she tries hard to make it her catchphrase."
"I like it!" Elijah kept on laughing, Tobias only now was starting to smirk at his brother. 
"Man, Rita's weird." Felix said blinking, he shifted in his seat to sit up proper, "But that's kinda cool." As Felix said that the twins got off the lounge and started yawning together in unison, they almost walked out of the room before Eliza spoke up,
"Whys you two going?"
"It's 8, we are getting ready for bed. I'm exhausted,"
"I am also tired." With Elijah saying his last bit the twins had left the living room.

Eliza turned to Felix with hopeful and emotional eyes, something Felix hadn't seen in, well, forever. She hugged Mary tight across her chest and with a happy sob she cried looking at Felix.
"We are safe... we ARE safe!!" She started to breathe heavily in quick succession, but not quite hyperventilating. She then rested her head on her teddy and trembled, after a moment or so she yawned. "Sleepy... (yes yes sleepy time), ok Mary." Eliza said alongside her voice for Mary. Felix sat motionless and quiet as he watched Eliza talk to herself. A few footsteps were heard to his right as Nathan walked around the corner.
"How are you two doing?" He asked showing consideration and care his tone.
"Sleeeepyy, (sleepy sleepy)." Said Eliza and Mary, Felix looked up at Nathan, looked away, back again and back down once more.
"I'm alright." Felix said plainly, he was feeling tired but he didn't want to go to bed so early. 
"You look tired to me, or do you still have 'Jet lag'? You two did turn up in Australia a day ago."
"I guess." Felix couldn't help but feel hesitant to sleep, a sudden worry about something involving Eliza. Nathan moved over to Eliza and knelt down before her, 
"Do you want to go to bed? If so it would be a good idea to have a bath, or a shower, and then brush your teeth." Said Nathan with care, both Felix and Eliza looked at Nathan in confusion.
"Why?" Asked Eliza,
"Yeah, why should we shower or brush our teeth. We should only do that every 2 days or when we have bad breath." Felix stated, something Nathan got caught off guard by.
"Showerz too," Eliza then looked at Felix with worry across her face and then back at Nathan. "You are going to be in the bath too??" 
"What?? No no." Nathan's breath was taken away, he couldn't believe what he was hearing and he felt afraid. "No. No no I won't be joining you, unless you'd want me to help you clean. But if you don't need my help then I won't join you." Nathan had to catch his breath as he was still in disbelief. "You also need to brush your teeth at least once a day, twice is preferred but I won't force you to brush twice." Eliza's expression changed from worry to confused as she listened to Nathan, Felix felt relief but also gotten slightly confused.
"But Noah..." 
"Isn't here! Eliza had started to speak but was cut off by Felix, he felt awful for cutting in but he didn't want Nathan to find out. They didn't have to know. "How do you brush your teeth?" Felix asked Nathan without losing a beat.
"I can show you two how I do it, would that be alright?"
"Yes, sure." Felix jumped off the lounge and stood up, Eliza shortly copying what he did. Nathan stood up and continued to feel sickly in his gut, he led them to the bathroom down the hallway and opened up the cabinet underneath the sink. He pulled out a packet of clean and unused toothbrushes and showed it to both Eliza and Felix.
"Alright, pick your colour." Said Nathan, 
"I like purple, is there a purple one?" Asked Felix, Nathan placed the packet next to the sink and went searching in the cabinet once more and found another packet. 
"There we are, this one has a purple one." Nathan opened it up, grabbed the toothbrush and handed it to Felix. "What about you, Eliza?"
"She likes orange." Spoke Felix to which Eliza nodded with a smile, she held her teddy real close to her heart. Nathan grabbed one of the toothbrushes from the packet and handed her an orange one. 
"Thankz!" Eliza said with a big grin, Nathan smiled at the both of them. Nathan spent the next 5 minutes instructing the two kids of how he brushed his teeth and getting them to copy what he was doing. Both Eliza and Felix found it easy to follow what he was saying and found it particularly easier when he led by example. His encouraging tone certainly helped with Eliza who already struggled to brush her teeth all that well. At the end of the brushing session Nathan walked to the bath, knelt down and put the plug in as he started filling it up with warm water.
"Now do you two have pajamas, or clothes you tend to sleep in?" Nathan turned his head back to the kids, to which both shook their head. "You don't have any?"
"We sleep naked." Felix said looking down with Eliza unchanging in her expression looking back at Nathan.
"Would you two want pajamas?" Nathan asked caringly. Eliza and Felix looked unsure at first before both nodding back, they never had 'any' kind of clothing at all to sleep in. Felix particularly didn't like how vulnerable he feels when he slept, Noah particularly loved everyone to be naked most of the time but especially when sleeping; that way he got to fondle with them as they tried to sleep. Nathan stood up from the bath,
"Alright then. Could you two keep an eye on the bath tub? Turn the taps to the right to turn off the water when it's enough."
"Do you want us to share the tub?" Felix asked before Nathan had started to leave the bathroom.
"If you two want to share the tub then that is perfectly fine. The twins always do. I will be right back." Nathan left the room to head to the master bedroom leaving both Felix and Eliza alone. Rita was already in bed reading a book as Nathan entered, he grabbed a suitcase and opened it on the bed to grab the pajamas for both of the kids.
"Everything alright, darling?" Asked Rita.
"Yeah, yeah... just getting pajamas for the kids. They er, apparently never slept in any clothes. And Eliza thought I would join her in the tub." Nathan made sure to share everything with her, he felt uneasy and still sick with worry. Rita didn't respond at first but sighed with sadness,
"Gods... it must be true. Are you feeling alright?" Rita replied with grief,
"I feel sick, I'm upset and I'm angry. They didn't know how to properly brush their teeth along with everything else. Apparently only brushed once every 2 days or 'when they have bad breath' this coenciding with bathing or showering as well." Nathan sighed as he rubbed his forehead with his eyes closed. "But right now I need to get their pajamas, maybe they won't like them but it's better than nothing." Nathan paused once more with another sigh, he had grabbed the pajamas and almost left the room before turning to a worried Rita looking back at him in bed. "I have a hunch, hun. A hunch that we will be woken up in the middle of the night."
"Why do you say that?" Rita asked needing to feel sure what he meant by that.
"Bed-wetting is also a sign of abuse." Nathan's eyes were growing more softer by the moment and his ears were fully pulled back. Rita nodded and waved her hand to tell him to go back to the kids, so Nathan left without saying another word. 

He got back to the bath with it still filling, it being nearly at a good height of water. He handed the pajamas over to each of the kids with a feigning smile to show that he isn't nearly as upset as he actually is. The pajamas were both a top and bottom with the fabric being comfortingly soft, something both Eliza and Felix already liked at this point. Nathan walked past them to turn off the water and went back to the sink cabinet.
"Would you two like a bubble bath?" Nathan asked seeing if he could find a way to comfort the two further,
"A what!?" Felix exclaimed in horror Noah loved 'bubble baths' as to him it was went he would have a kid lie on their back in the water to either blow kisses on their stomach, or lick or suck on their privates. Nathan was startled as he held a big bottle that said bubble bath on it. 
"...to add bubbles to the water?" Nathan felt like he was in trouble, but it quickly subsided as Felix's horrified and angry expression shifted to a relieved look of contentment.
"Oh... sure." Felix's heart was pounding from a flood of bad memories soaked his mind, the shock and horror wore off but he still felt shaken. Nathan didn't say anything further as a way to allow Felix to relax by pretending to not 'get' what was going through Felix's mind. Nathan dripped some of the bubble bath liquid into the bath and swished his hands in the water to make the bubbles come up. Eliza watched as Nathan did it and felt a sense of wonder, she moved quickly beside Nathan and bobbed up and down without leaving the ground.
"Do you want to make the bubbles as well?" Offered Nathan to Eliza, whom nodded up and down breathing heavily. "Then swish and flap your hands in the water, make sure you don't drop Mary in the water." Instructed and cautioned Nathan. Eliza held tight to Mary in her left as she swished her hand in the water rapidly, more and more bubbles were produced. Felix watched with his arms crossed as he calmed himself down, he felt wanting to join in but didn't feel like it was right. Nathan turned around to look at Felix with a comforting smile, "Would you like to join in too? You can take over my position." Offered Nathan, Felix softly nodded and walked on over and squeezed himself between Nathan and Eliza. Nathan stepped aside and watched the two of them play with the water, he leant against the wall near the door. A minute had passed. "Alright you two the bath won't stay at a good temp forever, I'll leave you two now. Have a bath in what ever order you want to, or go together. The towels are hung up against the wall here, the twins use the light blue and purple one so please use a different towel. They get upset if you use theirs." Nathan pointed to the wall with the towels, aside from said towels the twins use there was a red and a green towel. Felix nodded back and with that signal Nathan left to go back to his room. With Nathan gone Felix sighed as he was left alone with Eliza, relief once more fresh in his body. He took a deep breath before facing Eliza who was still holding onto the edge of the bath bobbing up and down excited.
"Do you want to go first or-" 
"Join me! Eliza cut Felix off, her face slowly turned to confused and embarrassed. "I don't know how to, Noah..." Eliza lost track of what to say,
"I know yeah, I know." Felix sighed, he felt relieved strangely enough. "Alright then, we can go together." Felix smiled to Eliza who gleamed back, they undressed and got into the bath together; Mary was placed nearby on the floor. The water was comfortably warm and the bubbles made it feel all the more happier. It did not take long for them to splash each other, just like in the ads and movies they watched. 7 minutes had passed and the twins walked into the bathroom, both were holding hands,already naked and both of them waved. Eliza waved to them with Felix turning his head to see the twins.
"We're still bathing." Felix said, feeling defensive and embarrassed.
"We know." Tobias said, the twins sat down on the floor together facing them. "We like the bubbles, makes us feel like wizards. Like we turned villains into bubbles and we smack them."
"Yeah! It's fun!" Added Elijah
"Why are you two sitting there? We're not done." Felix said once more,
"We can wait!" Elijah chimed in with a grin, Eliza kept waving to the twins to which both of them waved back. Felix felt frustrated but knew it was pointless, even though they've only known them for a day; it's just that he's embarrassed and weirded out by their strange ways. The twins stuck a thumb in the other's mouth and sucked on them as they looked around as they patiently waited. After a few more minutes Felix stood up out of the bath, bruises were shown on the inside of his leg. As he got out Eliza stood up as well following him, the twins remained on the floor and watched in silence as they sucked thumbs.
"Why do you two do that? Sucking each other's thumb?" Felix asked feeling curious, he was told by Nathan but forgot exactly why.
"To be closer." Tobias replied with Elijah removing his thumb for the moment, "It's nice to suck on Elijah's thumb, he tastes nice."
"Yeah!" Elijah said with Tobias removing his thumb for the moment.
"Do you guys wash your hands?" Felix asked, he walked over to the towels and grabbed the green and red ones.
"Mhm!" 
"We wash our hands a lot. We don't like germs." Tobias added. Felix handed the red towel to Eliza and started to dry himself with the green one.
"But you two share germs a lot." Pressed Felix, the twins turned their heads to one side with a look of confusion and silence. "You two share germs." Repeated Felix. 
"They're not germs, germs are other things. We aren't germs to each other." Explained Tobias with Elijah nodding, they continued sucking the other's thumbs. Felix looked away and thought to himself as he dried himself, it dawned on him that they don't perceive each other like everybody does; that and it jogged his memory of what Nathan said. 'One unit, huh.' Felix thought to himself as he dried his tail and then his hair. It wasn't long until he was dry enough to put on those pajamas he was given, he turned to Eliza who still was drying herself before him with a smile of comfort; Eliza loved the feeling of being clean, it was such a shame that most of the time she didn't feel clean. The twins stood up together and walked on over to the bath and hopped in with assistance from each other, they submerged to get totally soaked before resurfacing again. Tobias moved over to Elijah and laid over him in the tub with Elijah giggling as he held him close, Felix watched in silence feeling a sense of tranquility from the twins. Felix finally started to get into his pajamas, it was a plain dark blue top and bottom. As he fit into it he felt so warm and dry, he rubbed all over his chest feeling a little bit too warm. He wasn't use to warm pajamas, it felt wrong even, but he felt protected and that's what felt important to him. Eliza fitted into hers and it was a light orange of colour, something she was all the more happy about. As Felix and Eliza left they waved to Elijah who waved them off. A final hug between each other Felix and Eliza said goodnight and went to bed.

As Eliza slept she squirmed in her big bed, feeling alone and vulnerable. In the moment of silence she felt like she could hear Hanna whispering to her, her tail clenching around her own body. The whispering had gotten louder and it felt as if something was moving behind her. No matter how tight she bunched up she could feel someone moving behind her and into the bed, then suddenly she felt wet and warm. She woke up gasping and trembling as she sat up in bed, her pants now soaking in her urine. Without thinking she lifted the blankets up and got out of bed stumbling to the door, she turned to Felix's door and hesitated as she panicked. She wanted to wake him up but hated waking him up and in a split moment she remembered Nathan and Rita. She stumbled the way down the hallway, through the kitchen and living room to get to her new parent's door. She opened the door in a panic and stood motionless in the doorway.
"Hmm... Eliza...?" Eliza could hear a voice in the dark, her heart thumping in a desperate plea of comfort. A bedside lamp turned on and it was Rita looking partially groggy, upon seeing Rita Eliza felt like running away but felt paralyzed. "What's wrong, bubba?" Rita lifted her blanket and beckoned her hand to get Eliza to come to her, Eliza hobbled over trying to not feel urine down her leg towards Rita. "Oh my gosh, Eliza are you alright?" Rita sat up more as she saw a soaked pajama pants with a coiled up tail sticking from underneath her crotch. Rita stretched her arms to invite Eliza for a hug to which Eliza rushed into Rita sobbing and hyperventilating. "It's alright, bubba. I got you. Nathan, hun?" Rita spoke up and kicked her foot back under the sheets to wake up her husband. 
"Hm.. wha-what?"
"Wake up, Eliza is unwell." Rita said sounding alarmed. Nathan woke up and pulled the sheets of him as he pushed himself out of bed, he sighed and walked around the bed to Eliza and knelt down.
"Oh darling..." Nathan said in heartfelt, Eliza let go of Rita to turn to Nathan and cried into him gripping onto him tightly. He stroked her back breathing deeply and whispered that she is safe. He directed Eliza's head to face his, "Is your bed wet? Did you have a bad dream?" Nathan asked comfortingly, Eliza nodded back while sobbing. "That's not a problem, Eliza. Shhh..." Nathan as he stroked Eliza's head. "It's alright, don't stress about the bed or your pajamas now? This isn't your fault." As Nathan said that Eliza shuddered and calmed down a bit. "Now stay with Mum while I go to dry your bed, Mum will quickly dry you in the meanwhile. Stay right here, alright?" Nathan said, Eliza nodded back and let go of Nathan. Rita nodded to Nathan as he went off out of the room and down to Eliza's room. Rita got out of bed and took Eliza to the ensuite bathroom and turned on the light, pulling out a spare towel she bent down to Eliza.
"Excuse me darling I'm going to dry you, alright?" Rita said with a towel in her hands, Eliza nodded quietly. Rita patted the areas that was wet and after a little bit she had decided that it was just a bit too wet. "Alright, I'm going to get you another pair of pajama pants, alright? These are a bit too wet for it to dry comfortably. Alright?" Rita said carefully, Eliza nodded and looked down. Rita left and searched for the suitcase that had a bunch of clothes in it, the same suitcase that Nathan opened up prior. Both Rita and Nathan had asked in advance what the children's sizes was so they could get brand new clothing for them, and they were so thankful they had done the preparation. Rita found a second pajama pants and and grabbed a pair of underpants for Eliza and went back to the bathroom. "Alright, now Eliza I got you another pajama pants and I got you some dry knickers, it's not a problem at all hun." She bent down before Eliza. "Would you like help putting them on?" Eliza nodded back as a reply, so Rita pulled down the pajama pants and then the underwear as well. Rita tried her best to not look at Eliza's privates but however caught some bruises on the inside of her leg. In no time she had Eliza step into her clean underwear and pajama pants. Rita put the wet ones in to a clothes basket nearby and breathed deeply with a smile. "There you go, bubba. Do you feel better?"
"Yes." Eliza stuttered. 
"That's good, do you want to sleep with Dad and I? You can be in the middle between us, you'll be safe with us. Would you like that?" Asked Rita, Eliza's eyes widened in shock of happiness, she nodded softly.
"Alright then, I'll carry you to bed with me." Rita picked up Eliza and carried her to the bed, as Eliza laid next to Rita she already felt safer. A minute had passed as Nathan came back into the bedroom, a warm smile on his lips.
"Now that's a good idea, good thinking hun." Said Nathan to a weary eyed wife, Nathan moved to his side of the bed and sat down on it facing Eliza. "Now I got someone for you," He passed Mary over to Eliza who gasped and grasped her teddy. "Mary was lonely, I talked to her as I dried your bed. She's very worried about you, Eliza but I told her I'll take her to you. Now she's much happier." Eliza looked up at Nathan with adoration as she rubbed her chin against her teddy. Nathan got his legs into the bed and laid down, he faced Eliza and Rita with a yawn.
"It's time to sleep now, we got you, bubba." Rita stroked Eliza's arm,
"Ok." Eliza stuttered with a grin. Rita turned off the light leaving only breathing sounds for Eliza to hear, it was vastly better than the whispers she heard. As Eliza laid between her new parents and holding her teddy close to her heart she sighed as she closed her eyes.