Run, Girl (If You Can)

Keeley didn't know what Aaron had been so worried about with this dinner. Gray hadn't done anything weird. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself if the unusually genuine smile on his face was any indication.

She had been right—he really did like his younger brother. Well, that was good news for them. Having a dangerous person on your side was better than having them work against you.

Everyone continued sitting around talking in the living room as she and Aaron dealt with feeding the fussy babies. Gray seemed more animated than she had ever seen him before as he and Aaron swapped stories about going to college in Boston since MIT and Harvard weren't that far apart.

Keeley couldn't participate in the conversation because as far as her father knew she had never so much as visited Boston, let alone lived there. But she noticed that most of the things Aaron mentioned were ones they did together. He just happened to keep her name out of it for Robert's sake.

She couldn't help but wonder what Aaron did during college in this life, aside from recruit Cameron and work on starting his takeover plan. Did he ever do anything fun without her there? Had he ever revisited the places they spent time together?

Knowing how much of a sentimental sap he was, he probably had. A weight settled on her heart. He must have been so lonely during those years. Being constantly reminded of her everywhere he went had to have been hard.

She reached over and mussed his hair to let him know she was thinking about him. He flashed her a sweet smile and continued his conversation.

"My roommate and I lived on nothing but fluffernutters for a week because someone gave us a huge jar of marshmallow fluff as a white elephant gift one year around Christmas time. I ended up getting a cavity," Gray said with a tragic expression.

"I've had one of those before. Not quite my cup of tea," Aaron admitted. "But my friend insisted I try it because her roommate swore by it."

Keeley rolled her eyes at the jab. She remembered that because it was one of the rare occasions back then where he actually made a face at something. Usually his expression was completely blank.

"Have you ever had a fluffernutter, Keeley?"

"Oh yeah, I ate them all the time in college. One of my roommates grew up in Boston and introduced me."

"Which one was that?" Robert asked in confusion. Crap. She forgot that he knew most of the people she had lived with.

"Someone from my sophomore year. She didn't live with Valentina and me for long," she lied.

"Ah, I can't keep track of everybody. I mostly remember Valentina because you kept inviting her over on holidays." Phew! She was safe.

She glanced at the clock. It was getting late—the babies needed to go to bed soon and they still needed their baths.

"I may have to give you guys brownies for the road. It's almost the babies' bedtime."

"I'm so glad I don't have to deal with bedtime anymore," her father chuckled. "You and Kaleb would have stayed up playing all night long if we had let you."

She stuck her tongue out at him in response. Serving up the brownies and putting a few on two paper plates only took a minute. She handed them off and hugged her dad tightly before wishing the guests a good night.

Keeley flopped down on the couch tiredly right after. Watching what she was saying when she really wanted to contribute to the conversation had been draining.

"There were some close calls tonight," she lamented.

"Yes but we handled them. I think tonight went pretty well," Aaron said as he sat down next to her and stroked her hair.

Kaleb cooed at her from his bouncer and she sighed. Baths were time consuming and she wanted the babies to be asleep already so she could go to sleep too.

"Do they really need a bath tonight?"

"They didn't have one yesterday or the day before so I'm going to say yes. Come on, I'll take Kaleb if you'll take Violet. We'll get it done fast so we can go to bed early."

"You read my mind," she said fervently.

They set up the baby bathtubs side by side in the master bathroom and got to work. Thankfully the process didn't take much longer than fifteen minutes. Keeley was about ready to pass out, especially knowing she would be up in a few hours to feed them again.

Once the baths were done, they put new diapers on and dressed them in their matching striped onesies before giving them each a quick bottle and putting them down in their bassinets. Keeley barely had enough energy to shower and brush her teeth but she did it in record time so she could lie down.

At least the babies fell asleep fairly quickly these days. She didn't want to imagine how much worse it would get when they were toddlers and wanted to stay up longer to play. She would cross that bridge when she got to it.

"I'm so tired, Aaron," she mumbled into his shoulder once he climbed into bed next to her.

He held her against his chest and kissed her hair. "I know, sweetheart. They won't be waking us up all night long forever. It'll probably only be a few more months before we're back on a somewhat normal sleep schedule."

It seemed like that day would never come. Right now the babies usually woke them up no less than three times in the night. She had no idea how Aaron even managed to make it through work without falling asleep.

Sometimes she managed to get away with a short nap while the twins were asleep during the day but he couldn't do that at the office. Poor Aaron. And yet he was still so patient and loving with them when he came home at the end of a long day.

Keeley wouldn't have pegged him as a patient person yet here they were. She snuggled closer and fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.