The DNA tests came in, 2 negative, one inconclusive, and one positive. Carlyle was talking to the other lawyers. The one positive was from a very good brand, while the others were cheaper. However, if neither side challenged the results, there wouldn't be an issue. The rest could be done with the paperwork, and, since this had been delayed for so long, Carlyle was certain they could get a different judge at family court. Hopefully one in a better mood. Or one with an ounce of common sense.

Idina phoned pinged. It was Diane, sending her another picture of Elsa and Erika.

They both hate this one, but I think it's cute, she'd written below a picture of both girls looking very appalled and disappointed at something on Elsa's shirt. She was right, it was a bit cute. Idina had a plan of collecting all fop them and putting them into an album for Erika. She had so few pictures of herself. Aaron was thinking they should get her a sewing machine. He got a lecture on a bunch of different sewing machines on the weekend when they chatted. According to him, she kept a catalogue of sewing machines and other supplies on her phone. That didn't shock Idina. It probably hadn't even crossed the girl's mind that Aaron had been fishing for gift ideas since it was more Idina's method than his.

This new line of communication Erika had with responsible adults seemed to be improving her mood. Aaron wasn't surprised and Idina pleasantly was. She kept looking for signs that Erika might no longer want to go through with the adoption because she had other options, but there was no indication. Aaron kept assuring her Erika liked them. And besides, the girl wasn't fond of change. Not to mention she did not have time to start the process over again.

Baby yoga was more fun, and more irritating than Idina had thought it would be. She was the oldest person there. She wasn't fond of balancing her newborns a foot or two in the air. The youngest person there was a girl in Erika's class who was always trying to get pictures of everyone and everything, but the studio had a phone at the door policy which was strictly enforced since Idina wasn't the only big name in the room.

Aaron was the only man through, and everyone wanted him to help with stuff. He hated coming off as mean but he was there to spend time with his wife and children, and that was what he was doing.

Idina was fairly she and Aaron were the only ones taking the class seriously. They did the exercises in between classes. Idina wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but Erika would spend the morning with them doing the exercises with a baby while Jane slept after a long night of work. She wanted her kids to lead healthy lives. While Erika spent a lot of time doing schoolwork, her job was active, and it was starting to show. With a proper diet, Erika looked strong and healthy. While she did not have the body-builder silhouette, with a bit more than a glance one could notice she had some muscle tone.

They were holding planks, with the babies laying on their backs in between their arms, giggling and babbling away. Aaron was not holding form; opting to blow raspberries at Lucinda instead, cooing at her and talking to her.

"Butt down!" Idina teased.

Aaron, ever the most mature one in the room, stuck his tongue out.

"Bah!" Lucinda said, doing the same thing.

"Oh, what's that little Cindy?" Aaron asked. "Is that your tongue? Do you have a tongue?"

"Bah!" she shrieked again, clapping.

Idina had Soren nestled between her arms. He was watching her, not saying anything, but he stuck his tongue out when Idina did. She laughed and her son did the same. It was an amazing workout. Shorter, as the children tired quickly, and it was harder too, keeping the babies entertained with talking and laughing.

"How much longer, my leg's cramping," Erika complained.

"Just sit down then," Aaron said, doing just that. "it's time for airplane baby!" he exclaimed as he picked his daughter up.

"What, no, you guys have to stick with the program!" Idina chuckled. "There's fifteen-second left."

"I'm out," Erika said, breaking the plank and sitting down. She picked Zephyr up who giggled and pulled at her ponytail.

"Oh come on," Idina huffed.

"We didn't have babies Dee; we only have to do the bonding part of this. Recovery's your deal." Aaron counted her down and she collapsed on the floor.

"Oh!" Soren said.

"Yeah, oh," she said. "You going to do some work?" She asked the baby. "Stretch with mommy?"

"Mama," he said.

She grinned. Now that the children knew words would get the attention, they were doing the best they could to mimic sounds without their teeth. All three had mama down and Idina likes to believe them shrieking "Ahk" was them trying to say their brother's name. However, they often did it when he was not around, so Aaron argued it was something else.

Erika kissed Zephyr's chubby cheek and Idina grabbed her phone. "Smile," she told the girl.

"No," Erika complained, holding Zephyr up to block her face as Idina snapped a picture.

"Got you!" she exclaimed when she saw it. Erika was mid-raising the kid, he was blocking a bit of her face and she was turned away from the camera, but Erika looked adorable with her cheeky smile and a flushed face. Of course, Zephyr had a wide-mouthed smile on his face. "You two are so cute," she said, showing the picture to Aaron. His face melted. "Look," Idina said, handing her phone to Erika. "See, cute."

"My face is all red."

"It's cute," Idina replied. "And I'm smart so I know I'm right."

"Just don't post it anywhere," she said.

"I won't, promise," Idina said, crossing her heart. She had no intention. The triplets had maxed out their internet presence for the next year of their life. Stupid paparazzi, always taking pictures. Stupid her overexcitement at having three alive children who were too ungodly cute it was killing her slowly. It was the best death imaginable.

She sent Erika the image, knowing even though she was getting some resistance Erika would secretly cherish it. Things worked best with her if you did not make them a big deal. Gerda Snow had suggested post-it notes. Little messages like 'thanks for doing the dishes without being asked' left somewhere she would find them. Then she knew they noticed and appreciated it but did have to worry about an awkward confrontation. They also know she hoarded the notes in the bedside drawer. Aaron thought they might be plateauing, getting to the point where things might not change for a while. She was comfortable around them, had the right amount of teenage embarrassment about her guardians, and was generally happy. All in a year. Nothing could make up for the sixteen years they missed, and they'd never have the same connection as her and Walker. Idina wasn't sure she believed this. Even if it took twenty years, she wanted Erika to know implicitly that they were family, and she was loved.

"Can I send the image to Diane?" Idina asked Erika nodded and she did so.

This morning, she wrote. Still camera-shy.

She got a heart in return.

"So," she continued," Walk's still sleep, so," she said. Aaron knew what she was trying to suggest. "Disneyworld," Idina said. Erika gave her a confused look. "I was thinking you might like to visit Diane and Roger, and Walk wants to go to Disney World, so, Erika, if you're comfortable with that I was thinking Disneyworld over the holidays, maybe universal studios too."

"That sounds nice," she said, a bit shocked. "I would like to see them if you don't mind."

"No, of course not," Aaron said. "We're just glad you're happy," he informed her. The tension grew in the air because they still weren't at this level of comfort. This involved uncomfortable emotions, mainly Erika's and complex feelings.

"Okay, cool," she said, standing up. She handed Zephyr back to Idina and went upstairs to shower and change before school.

Aaron shrugged. Maybe something would click one day, and things wouldn't be so awkward. Erika was doing things with them. Most teens did do anything with their parents, period.

"There's parent-teacher meeting tonight," Aaron commented, making Idina nod. They weren't nervous. Since getting testimonies, they knew most of Erika's teachers well and were on good terms with them. There were a few they still hadn't met yet.

There were errands to run, paperwork to fill out. Hungry babies to feed. Idina's stomach growled as she used a towel to dry off. The triplets would be hungry; she would have to wait.

Idina changed, then started nursing in the living room as the sun poured on through the windows, her belly growling, growing louder as she rocked in the chair Aaron had set up for her. She wasn't quite sure why, but Idina wanted to see if she could still feed all three of them in one go: no bottles.

Aaron brought her a plate and sat down in front of her. "Eat," he prompted.

She chuckled. "Feeding fetish," she teased. "I'm fine."

"Chickadee, you're singlehandedly creating food for three growing humans, eat your breakfast," her husband ordered. He waved a forkful under her nose.

Her stomach growled in response. She was hungry.

"That's good," she said after taking a bite.

"' Course it is," he said. "Only the best for you."

Idina blushed. "You drop anything on the babies, and this is over," she informed him. She could still see the steam coming off the eggs. She did not want that falling on their delicate skin.

"I won't," he promised.

Idina relaxed and let her babies eat. She finished her meal and Aaron cleaned off the plates as she fed the last kid. Lucinda was greedily suckling, annoyed to have been last.

"Dee?' Aaron shook her.

"Hmm?" she asked, looking around. Something was different.

"You dozed off," he said, handing her a bottle.

She looked down. Lucinda was disgruntled, suckling, then fussing, and trying to suckle again. She felt the sting, signifying there was nothing left for her youngest.

"Are you alright?" he asked as Idina tested the temperature of the milk on her inner arm.

"I, uh, I think so," she replied. "I was just thinking about nothing," she told him, then nodded. "Just thinking, it doesn't feel like an episode."

"Okay," he said, kissing her cheek.

Lucinda grunted in content as she found the bottle full of food, making Idina smile.

~

Aaron had taken Louie out and Idina was watching the sleeping infants when her phone rang. It was the secretary from Erika's school. She did not say much, only to come to pick Erika up. The girl was in trouble.

Idina called her husband.

"I don't know, I don't know," she told him. "It's the afternoon, I could ask Jane to drive me," Idina said. No one had called Aaron. He was just as clueless as her.

She felt bad waking her nanny, but it was the afternoon and Jane had said to wake her anytime if there was an emergency and needed help.

She went upstairs and knocked on the door while texting the other sitter and asking if she could come in for around an hour to make sure the triplets were okay.

When she got to the school, Jane stayed in the car while Idina brushed the wrinkled out of her skirt and went over to the reception.

Erika was sitting in the principal's office and there was another guy with a tissue on his nose. Another woman was there, the boy's mom she found out soon as the woman pounced on her.

"Your street rat of a child assaulted my son!" she screamed, making Idina's head pound.

"What?" she asked, looking past the wild woman to Erika, who was sitting in a chair in the corner looking like she was about to cry.

"You bring some uncultured child into this school," the woman continued, "and she assaults my son unprovoked in the halls."

"Mrs. Carter," the principal said.

Idina sighed, maybe he would be reasonable. She looked past the principal and Mrs. Carter to Erika, then pushed back them.

"Are you okay honey?" she asked quietly, kneeling to be on her level. "What happened?"

"I just wanted him to leave me alone," she mumbled. "I didn't mean to hurt him." She wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry," she muttered quietly. She seemed almost scared of her.

"It's okay," Idina said, even though she wasn't sure what was going on. She rubbed her daughter's arm comfortingly.

The boy's mom was still yelling, and it wasn't just unsettling Idina. She could see her kid was feeling the same way, maybe worse. She was fingering the cuffs of her sleeves and not looking Idina in the eyes.

"I don't think you did anything wrong," Idina said because it was true. She knew Erika. "We'll figure this out, let's just be calm," she said, more for herself.

Erika nodded. "Okay," she said, looking unsure.

Idina gave her hand an encouraging squeeze and smiled before standing up. The principal asked all four of them to come into his office, out of the reception area. He wanted to go over the security footage.

"This was near your locked?" he asked Erika.

She nodded timely and Idina put her arm around her. There were two chairs in the office and Mrs. Carter and her son took them without a second thought.

"I need both Ms. Rivera and Mr. carter to fill out event reports before we do this," the principal said as a security guard brought in the tapes.

He handed both kids a clipboard and pen. When they were filled out the principal took them back and read over them.

"Are you sure this is what you want to report?" he asked both. "They're different accounts. If you both can come to an agreement it will save us a lot of time."

"She's lying," Mrs. Carter said, pointing to Erika.

"No," Erika said quietly.

"You're going to get expelled," Mrs. Carter said, with so much poise and sweetness Idina wanted to vomit. "Lying doesn't work here, neither do tears, honey," the woman continued. "My son is younger than you," she continued. "How can you even justify beating up someone younger than you? Just because you got held back a year doesn't mean it's suddenly okay."

"I highly doubt Erika is lying," Idina said.

"How can you sure? You've only known her a year. I've known Thomas my entire life! He'd never fabricate a tale, nor attack someone unprovoked. Also, Idina, dear, I don't think you have a good track record with character judgement."

Her nails dug into her palms, but she said nothing, grinding her teeth.

"We can just review the footage," Erika said. Idina put an arm around her. If Erika were lying, she highly doubted the girl would want to see the footage.

"Yes," the principal said. "I'm sure we all have places to be."

He brought the video up on the monitor and turned the screen. Erika was in a sea of students, pulling some books out of her locker when Hudson came by. They signed to each other, something about not liking their homeroom substitute this week. The angle was bad and Idina's vocabulary wasn't as vast as she wanted it to be. She was trying to see if she could teach the triplets some words because a few articles claimed they would be able to communicate earlier with signed instead of waiting for their mouth muscles to develop and get the mental capacity to string together sentences. And some of the older babies in the yoga class could do it.

He left while Erika put her laptop in her locker and locked it up.

"Hey, Erika," someone called.

She looked up in surprise. The boy, Thomas got excessively close to her. Erika tried to duck away but he grabbed her wrist.

"Tom, leave her alone," someone with a familiar accent said. It was the teen she'd met in the mall.

"She thinks she's going to go to university," he scoffed. He turned back to Erika. "You're not," he told her.

Idina's blood was boiling. How long had this been going on? Erika should have told them!

"Please leave me alone," Erika said firmly.

"That's not going to work," he said. "Stay in your place; you're not special. Stop acting like getting some good grades is going to do anything. You're not going to have the money to go anywhere special, stop making the rest of us look bad with your tutors and study clubs. Actual academics don't need crutches." Erika kept trying to pull her wrist free as he continued his rant. "You think the pop signer's going to send you through uni with three more babies? She's going to spend all that cash in medical bills and put the rest away for her real kids."

"Please let go of me," Erika said again, firm, pulling away again.

Sacha told Thomas to stop again.

"What, got a crush?" Thomas taunted. "You should be worried too. It's sob stories like her that take spots from the rest of us. You're graduating this year, so you don't have to worry about it, but I do. Thank your lucky stars she was dumb enough they made her repeat a year." He got even closer to Erika who was started to tear up.

Idina knew that expression of fear in the girl's face. It's the one that haunted her the first night they made it home. Helplessness, fear.

"I have to go to class," Erika muttered again, This time her voice shaky.

"Being a bit late isn't going to hurt the teacher's pet," Thomas said.

"Stop it," Sacha said, this time trying to pull Thomas off. It made the whole scene worse as the two teenage boys started fighting.

Erika shirked away, but Thomas still had a grip on her. She tried to pry his fingers off, then pushing him away from her. At some point, she snapped and clogged him in the face, closed fist. That's when the principal arrived on the scene and Thomas began hollering that he'd been attacked unprovoked.

"Why didn't you tell me this was going on?" Idina whispered as the tape wrapped up.

"He just started bugging me today," Erika whispered back. "Honest," she added.

"Okay," Idina replied, hugging her, and pulling her close.

The kids were sent out of the room. There was some talking, yelling; luckily, nothing was thrown. Both were getting suspended. Erika for excessive force and Thomas for harassment. Idina tried to fight it, but her efforts were futile.

~

When they got home, Aaron was waiting for them. He got a bearhug from Erika, who had been holding her tears in the whole time. Jane gave Idina a hug and some encouraging words and Louie was running in circles trying to figure out what was happening.

They settled down on the couch and Idina relayed everything to Aaron.

"Suspended?" he asked in disbelief.

Erika nodded. "And they didn't let me grab my laptop from my locker. I won't be able to turn in my assignments, or- "

"That's not happening," he replied.

"Aaron?" Idina asked.

"I'm going to go talk to the school."

"Don't," Erika said quietly, "you'll make it worse." She had Louie curled in her lap and was stocking him methodically.

Aaron kissed her forehead. "I'm not going to make it worse, I promise," he said. "But this isn't fair. And we've both promised we are in your corner. Trust me to fight some battle for you?" he asked.

"Uh, okay..." she said, squeezing him. She didn't want him to leave yet.

Idina suggested she change out of her uniform while she made some tea. She pulled a cozy blanket out of storage from her New York days. It still smelt a bit like the apartment she had with Taye, but she knew Erika would appreciate the texture. And besides, it needed to be aired out. It still smelt like that goddamn apartment!

When Erika came back down Idina wrapped her in the blanket. She had been right. Erika kept stroking the blanket and pulled it tighter around herself and rubbed a corner on her cheek.

"It's soft," she said. Idina nodded and sat down beside her, handing her some chamomile tea. "The colour is ugly," Erika added, making Idina snort.

In an hour, Aaron returned triumphantly with Erika's laptop and the news that she was no longer suspended and was given a day off tomorrow.

"Apparently, they called the moms because they thought it would be easier," Aaron replied. "His dad was there too, apparently this wasn't his first time lashing out at classmates. They're sending him to a boarding school in Europe now," Aaron informed them. "Told you nothing wrong would happen," he said.

Erika smiled. "I guess you were right," she said as he sat back down on the couch.

Squished between the two of them, Erika suddenly realized she'd missed this. Once upon a time, she had been a small little girl with parents who hadn't known she was adopted, and she'd climbed into bed with them when she was scared. One day they left her all alone and she was still waiting for them to come back. But it had been over thirteen years. They were not coming back.

Despite all their effort, Aaron and Idina could never make up for that loss. They could never reverse the years of damage life in the system had done. She believed they loved her; they were going through too much trouble for it to be anything else. Yet it would never be the same type of bond they had with the triplets. Walker would probably have a better bond with Aaron than she ever would.

A few stray tears fell down her cheek and she buried her face in Aaron's shoulder and Idina's blanket so that no one would know.

When she imagined her brain and her walls, she imagined a grassy patch inside a citadel. Idina and Aaron were inside the citadel, a place that had once just been hers. But what they didn't know was inside the citadel there a glad wall. Unlike her citadel, the stuff on the inside knew what was on the outside, and it wanted to get out. Sometimes it forgot there was glass there and would run out, then faceplant. Getting into the citadel was easy, you just had to get the guard to open the gates. There were a few of them, with mazes in between, but it was easier than trying to get out of the glass.

And buried in the glass were the things Erika wanted most of all. They were just sitting there, unable to come out. Mother, Father, Family, Love. All the thing no amount of force would make her mouth say.

They wanted out. And they were pounding. But they did not know that they were safer in there. Erika knew that. She had a wizard keeping them there. A wizard who did not listen to her. But a wizard who looked out for her made the glass stronger every time they got out and the whole world went up in flames. A wizard who wanted to make sure they never got out again and the gardens remain peaceful and quiet and safe.